Posted by Greg Clow in in the papers, news and media on March 1, 2008 at 1:11 pm
While I don't recall ever seeing a Saturday review hat trick, where the three major dailies all cover the same restaurant on the same weekend, there are occasionally double plays, such as today's write-ups about Eleven in both the Globe & Mail and the Toronto Star. These review duos are always the most entertaining when the opinions vary, and so it is this week, with the Globe's Joanne Kates giving reserved praise to chef Brad Moore, while the Star's Amy Pataki turns in a pretty vicious hatchet job.
Take, for example, their opinions on the side dishes. According to Kates:
Chef's sides are the mothers of invention as always. They particularly showcase his fluency with Indian spicing: Spiced onion strings, not strings at all but big onion rings, recall Moore's fabulously spiced onion bhajis from Xacutti. Stir-frying green beans hot and fast with lentils and coconut brings out their sweetness (à la Szechuan green beans) and the lentil-coconut combo is a grand gift of the subcontinent.
Not so, says Pataki:
Anyone thinking of spending $4 to $6 each for Eleven's lacklustre vegetables - dry-as-dust truffled mashed potatoes or peppered green beans in minuscule servings - is better off buying produce at the St. Lawrence Market across the street and eating it at home.
The reviewers also differ in their knowledge about what was up with Moore's sudden departure from Xacutti late last year. Kates refers to it simply as "mysterious", while Pataki does a bit of digging and uncovers at least some of the sordid tale which she shares in a sidebar.
Also in the Globe:
- Heidi Sopinka reports on the battle being fought by Michael & Nobuyo Stadtlander against a proposed gravel pit that would encroach on the serenity and ecological balance of their legendary Eigensinn Farm.
- Beppi Crosariol looks at some of the 2005 Burgundies that are starting to appear on shelves in Ontario and other provinces.
- Amy Verner compares and contrasts two of Toronto's latest buzz-heavy restaurants, Four and Nyood.
- Lucy Waverman shares three recipes inspired by her January trip on the Globe and Mail Caribbean Odyssey cruise.
And in the Star:
- Gord Stimmell reviews five wines from all over the style map.
- Mark Bittman's syndicated column looks at the many varieties of rice available to cooks today.
- Peggy MacKenzie test drives the travel mugs from Canada's four main coffee chains.
- Marion Traynor compiles a few statistics about food costs.
- In the Travel section, Richard Ouzounian enjoys six meals in Baltimore.
Over in the National Post, Gina Mallet, who is known for being fond what she considers to be true bistros - places she describes as "a few seats, a menu set in stone and a bill modest enough to prompt another Calvados" - is very happy to find that Annex mainstay Bistro Tournesol fits the description to a T. Plus, she's relatively impressed with the food, despite a couple of missteps:
Snails with garlic/butter are straight up. Duck pate with celeriac remoulade is irreproachable; a delicate crepe stuffed with goat cheese and shiitake, an ineffable bouche. A bowl of frites appears miraculously. The house Merlot is $36 a litre. The dinner is unrolling most satisfactorily. I can't believe how tender and tasty the rare slices of duck breast are and they're perfectly counterpointed by blackberry demi-glace. But there's a glitch with the sauteed calf 's liver. It's provimi, tender enough and medium rare, but one or two slices are mushy, rather like liver sausage. And the meat is literally drowned in a dark, rich demi-glace made with pine nuts and caramelized onion.
Also in the Post:
- A few blocks from Tournesol, Alison Broverman visits the very unbistrolike but still friendly Live Organic Food Bar.
- Kate Swoger and Jon Bricker check out the suburban Sri Lankan fare at Hopper Hut in Scarborough.
- Margaret Swaine recommends three big reds and a trio of whites from today's Vintages release.
- Bonnie Stern serves up three pulse-filled recipes from her book The Best of HeartSmart Cooking.
