Earlier this month, Taste T.O. was inadvertently the first place in town to review Garden@Eleven when Amy Grigg went to check out its previous incarnation, Eleven, and found that not only had the name suddenly been changed, but chef Brad Moore was gone and replaced with Pat Riley (ex-Perigee).
A few weeks later, and former Taste T.O. contributor Corey Mintz turns in the second review of Garden@Eleven for his debut as the Toronto Star's restaurant critic, replacing Amy Pataki for the next year while she's on maternity leave. And it also ends up being the final review of the place, as it was shut down this past week without warning, either because the property has been sold (as Riley tells Mintz in a follow-up interview) or due to $75,000 in unpaid rent (according to a thread on Chowhound).
Despite the drama, Mintz still goes to the trouble of reviewing some of what he ate, which he finds good but not nearly up to the standards set by Riley at his previous gig:
[O]n a menu absent of surprises, each dish came with a deft little touch; like the sharp parmesan custard of almost matzo ball density lying in a bath of chilled, sweet pea soup.
Or the cool, white, poached asparagus, mildly sweet and lemony, cuddled end to end with blanched and grilled green asparagus. When a flawlessly poached egg was pierced, its gooey centre made a dash to marry with a pool of aioli (laced with a non-intrusive air of truffle).
More asparagus (Riley had a rule at Perigee that if there was an ingredient prominently featured in one dish then it was off limits to the others) accompanied a mound of pulled pork so smoky it saturated the whole body.
Generous, six-ounce portions of salmon or pickerel were well- executed, and cutely paired with elements like sautéed olives, roast purple pearl onions, artichokes, crunchy fingerlings and lemon yogurt sauce. But, really, from the guy who once served us chestnut gnocchi with crab apple sauce?
Also in the Star, Gord Stimmell suggests five New Zealand wines from the latest Vintages release.
Over in the Globe & Mail, Joanne Kates pays a return visit to Colborne Lane, a restaurant that she loved when it first opened, but now she seems to be in agreement with those who have subsequently been more critical:
The downside of [chef Claudio] Aprile's creativity is that sometimes he's like the tragic hero in a Greek drama whose greatest gift becomes his tragic flaw because he takes it too far. As pride becomes hubris, Aprile's forays into molecular gastronomy sometimes feel like gimmickry over taste, as in his popped corn soup with ham hocks using freeze-dried corn and brown butter powder. The waiter pours corn chowder from a small pitcher into the soup bowl and - shazam - a puff of smoke rises thanks to the corn that has been freeze-dried with liquid nitrogen. But after the smoke clears, what's in front of me is a bowl of not-very-sweet corn chowder with freeze-dried corn that is somewhat dry and hard.
And what about the puffed flatbread "buttered" with smoked red-pepper jam and sunflower and pumpkin seeds? Cool idea, but the taste is MIA. Same for his almost too-clever play on beets in many guises: This is just too much beet and too intellectual an approach to the taste of things. There are red- and yellow-beet vinaigrettes with a sheet of red-beet gelatine draped on top of them. There are dots of intense red-beet mousse and a red-beet sponge, a fuchsia doughnut that tastes like a cross between a beet and a sponge cake. The fab-tasting little goat-cheese fritter and the almond milk foam on the side are grand, but so many elements on one plate!
Also in the Globe:
- Beppi Crosariol explains why the Priorat region of Spain is the Sidney Crosby of the wine world.
- Laura Serra sips a "Sour Nutty Russian Martini" at the recently opened Bar 244.
- Lucy Waverman shares a few recipes from some old Canadian cookbooks.
- Margaret Webb contributes the first in a series of four articles on culinary tourism in Ontario, focusing this week on Grey-Bruce and Simcoe.
- Sinclair Stewart and Paul Waldie investigate the role skyrocketing investments in the commodities market has played in the global food crisis.
- Marina Strauss looks at the success Peller has been having with their female-oriented "lifestyle wine" brand, XOXO.
- Kira Vermond reports on the trend towards companies supplying healthy and nutritious lunches and snacks to their employees on a free or subsidised basis.
In the National Post, Gina Mallet isn't quite as enamoured with Grace as we were, finding some dishes sweeter than they should be, but the good mostly outweighs the bad:
I resist the pan-seared scallops in a cucumber and Pernod sauce with charred tomato and fried capers ($18) and pick instead a glazed quail, like a hermit crab's gleaming shell, stuffed with spring vegetables and garnished with parsnip puree and peas. I have no difficulty eating the whole thing except for a couple of bones. The fish fiend at the table can't say enough good things about the halibut poached in olive oil with a citrus and fennel salad, but the order of roast lamb is a teeny bit controversial.
The lamb arrives medium pink and the eater is disappointed. Why didn't the server ask her how she liked her lamb? Good point. On the other hand, advises Toque, why didn't she say how she liked it?
The server says the lamb is cooked the way the chef likes it. Another good point. Roast lamb isn't like a steak -- it's an organic dish, the flavour is in the cooking. We all taste the tender lamb and three of us think it's cooked just fine. The disgruntled eater yields to peer pressure -- "Oh, OK" --after she's eaten the excellent accompaniments of wild ramps, fava beans and sun choke.
Also in the Post:
- Margaret Swaine reviews six wines in a wide range of styles - red, white, rose, sparkling, and even a unique apertif.
- Jason Chow hunts for the season's first pick-your-own strawberries.
- Ben Kaplan marks the final night of service at Susur with a series of memories, quotes and anecdotes from departing chef Susur Lee and many of his family, friends and associates. Nightclub impresario Peter Gatien also chimes in with a bit of advice to Lee on what to expect in NYC.
- In the Weekend Post section, there's a series of articles aimed at budding oenophiles including a bluffer's guide to wine by Bruce Deachman; some simple wine and food pairing tips from sommelier Peter Boyd; Vivian Vassos asks a number of experts about the importance of using the correct glass for each type of wine; Alan Richman offers "eleven wine tips that will change your life"; and Margaret Swaine answers some common wine newbie questions.
- Amy Rosen gets drunk with chef Martin Picard.
- Bonnie Stern makes everyone who wasn't able to attend the recent James Beard Dinner at the Drake Hotel jealous with her brief summary of the night - although I guess the recipes she shares from some of the participating chefs could be considered a consolation prize of sorts.
