October 26, 2012
Ever since the second season of Top Chef Canada aired, I’ve been trying to enjoy a dish made by Chef Carl Heinrich, the winner of the competition. During the season he cooked with the most focus on the direction/style of his food; ‘from farm to table’ using all locally sourced ingredients. As a former chef at Marben, which produces some amazing food, his credentials were pretty badass to begin with. So I was highly anticipating when he announced that he was going to open up his own restaurant with his partner in crime Ryan Donovan, butcher at Marben,
And the time finally came…
The themed name “Richmond Station” was apparent not just from the location (Richmond/Yonge St), but also from the signage and exterior. Not flashy or calling too much attention to itself, if you weren’t attentively looking for it you might even overlook the restaurant walking by.
Once you step inside, it’s a little deceiving, as the narrow room with several rows of tables for two made the restaurant look tiny. But bank left and a whole new space opens up to reveal the true “L” shape of the interior. And what a sight beholds after making that 90º left turn at the end of the room; an open concept kitchen, with no glass wall separating the diners from the inner workings of the restaurant. There are even bar seats that face the kitchen so diners can watch the chefs at work while waiting for/eating their food.
I really love open concept kitchens, not just because of the honesty, but also because of that entertainment factor. Being able to see the artists at work in their domain is something I truly adore and gives me a much higher level of respect.
Experimenting with their newly developed menu, we asked the waiter for recommendations and what was standard on the menu and what new dishes they were trying out. But while we were still trying to figure out our main courses, we went ahead and ordered an appetizer:
Polenta Fries with spicy aoili and marinara sauce
This crispy delight was perfectly fried and the texture of the warm polenta could be felt and tasted inside. The Aoili had a tangy spice, but not overpowering. I was a bit confused with the marinara sauce, as i felt it was a bit out of place and the tanginess was doubled up aside the spicy aoili. I understand its attempt as a tomato-based dip, would have preferred a homemade ketchup. But not to take away from the main focus of the dish, the polenta fries, the crisp and crunch was a great light start to a meal. A simple dish, executed perfectly.
While we were gobbling down the fries, a man in a white chefs jacket surprised and greeted us. Lo and behold, Chef Carl himself was standing right beside us with a huge smile. I instantly greet him by name, and tell him how surreal it feels, as if we’ve already gotten to know him over the span of the 12 weeks Top Chef Canada ran for. But as we introduce ourselves he welcomes us happily to his new restaurant.
We tell him the three dishes we are interested in and he tells us the ‘Station Burger’ was a signature is going to be on the menu forever and that the trout was ‘wicked’ and the sirloin had just been put on the menu tonight, he was super friendly and was genuinely happy to meet us and was very excited/passionate about his new restaurant and menu.
Smoked Kolapore Springs Trout on top of soya hummus, sauteed kale and sun choke tomatoes, topped with diced antipasto.
Sweet light smokey trout, you could taste just how local and fresh the fish was, probably the freshest fish i’ve had since my last trip to the west coast. It also had a hint of a tart taste, but wasn’t off-putting, super delicious!
Sirloin with roasted cauliflower, arugula, on Parsnip purée with roasted parsnip and sautéed mushrooms
A perfectly cooked sirloin nested on top of a bed of earthy goodness.
Lemon + Hay Terrine
My curiousity got the best of me when i decided to order this dessert. And boy was I glad it did. Terrine’s are sometimes hit and miss for me, but the Lemon + Hay Terrine was more of a pate than lemon and hay suspended in gelatine. The blend was nice and light too, with the hint of lemon making a surprise appearance every once in a while. Plated with pumpkin and almond ‘soil’ crumble which added to the texture with flavours that I could distinctively taste and topped off with roasted apple skin. It was such an interesting dessert, that it took my taste buds on a trip through a farm, from the orchard to the pumpkin fields. I would highly recommend ending any meal from Richmond Station with this dessert!
After our meal was done Carl came by and kept his word on taking a photo with us. But instead of just having it done at the table, he brought us into his kitchen and chit chatted in there during our photo op. He made us feel welcome into this new home of his which was a great addition to the food.
Pantry that doubles as a semi-private dining room for parties of 8 to 12
snapshot gallery of the creation of richmond station
Carl envisioning restaurant design
Richmond Station features locally sourced ingredients with a very comfortable setting and honest, delicious cooking. This homely approach helps in lifting the common curtain of overcomplicated food, but instead delivers on both flavour and quality. Carl and Ryan’s new venture is already shaping up to be a huge success, we’ll see you guys again soon~
October 07, 2012
When a work project gave me opportunity to visit the east coast of Canada I was thrilled. I’d never had the chance to go and its reputation for great food, friendly people and beautiful scenery had me eagerly anticipating..
So I did what anyone visiting a new place would do, I googled my way. I didn’t want to just go to any random place for lobster/seafood, especially since there was an overabundance of locations in the Maritimes. I wanted a place with a little bit more history and heritage, not just for the food, but for the experience.
And there it was, The Shore Club. Its name didn’t sound very extravagant or fancy, or even like a restaurant at all. But what it lacked in a name, it made up in heritage.
Built and opened in 1946, by Roy & Lois Harnish, the first lobster supper of The Shore Club was served and first dance took place. The Shore Club continued its operations under Roy & Lois until 1985 when son Rhys took over and to this day, continues the legacy. But the history of the lobster supper dates back a decade before The Shore Club opened its doors. In the summer of 1936 The National Gyro Club contacted Roy’s father, Guy Harnish about hosting a “lobster supper” on Hubbards Beach. This prompted the Harnish’s to clean out a large cook pot that their family acquired from the defeated US warship, The Chesapeake in the war of 1812. And in this large copper cook pot, the original lobster supper had begun.
Unfortunately for us, the weather wasn’t the greatest, a bit rainy and overcast, but that’s okay since the Shore Club was originally intended to shelter guests from the weather anyways. The homey-ness started from the parking lot, which was just the outside lawn where everyone was parking. Inside there were more than enough things to make any guest feel welcome: warm fireplace, friendly servers (and guests!) and of course the yummy food!
Rhys Harnish himself welcomed and seated us to our table where Heather our wonderful waitress helped us with our seating and explained the how The Shore Club works:
Each dinner came with :
- unlimited steamed mussels
- unlimited salad bar
- unlimited pasta/potato salad
- unlimited self-serve tea/coffee
- dessert
Of course we ordered a lobster dinner each and attacked the steamed mussel and salad bar.
When we sat down to enjoy our unlimited appetizers, a banquet table beside us was celebrating a birthday. As the birthday lady’s cake came out, we all sang happy birthday in unison. After the cake was cut, a gentleman from the table came over with a plateful of cake for us! Soon after the cake was all distributed, Judy, the birthday lady, came over with two more slices of cake and chit chat with us for a while, she was so kind and gave us both kisses on the cheek before heading back to her table full of her friends.
Then came heather, our wonderful waitress with our lobsters! To complete the experience, she tied up plastic lobster bibs on both manwai and I and taught us how to go about cracking the lobster shell and dissecting lobster meat, might as well learn from the best, right?
My Original Lobster Supper
{ DINNER INTERMISSION: sorry i was too busy getting my hands all messy diving into my lobster dissection/dinner! }
Wow! what a succulent and delicious lobster! I was definitely spoiled by having a lobster all to myself, and what a lobster it was. My lobster was full of juicy sweet meat, which were really easy to pick out form the shell after being cracked by the cooks.Besides just sitting down and having a lobster, what i really enjoyed was the ritual of dissecting the whole thing and really working for the meat that was hidden inside. I was never a huge lobster fan, but after this experience, i’ve started to understand why people really love lobster.
To top it all off, our meal included one dessert each. We ordered a blueberry compote on a tea biscuit (made with Nova Scotia’s specialty lowbush blueberries) and a Chocolate brownie topped with vanilla icecream drizzled with chocolate sauce. The blueberries were the sweetest blueberries i’d ever had, and you could tell that they were naturally sweet, not via sugars. It made me wish that the dessert was unlimited as well :P The brownie was super rich and the chocolate sauce added to the sweetness of the brownie, thankfully it was served with the vanilla icecream that wasn’t that sweet (maybe in relation to the brownie) which helped balance out the dessert. Overall i enjoyed the brownie, since i like rich desserts, but if i were to order dessert again it would definitely go to the lowbush blueberry on tea biscuit, yum!
Overall, the meal was the best we had during our visit to the east coast. I would definitely come back and would highly recommend anyone visiting Halifax to take the short trip out to Hubbard’s (the drive along the coast to Hubbard’s from Halifax also adds to the fun). I can see why The Shore Club has lasted through generations; who wouldn’t want a delightful lobster dinner surrounded by amazing people in a warm and cozy place. I came looking for an experience and got more than what i bargained for, thanks to Rhys Harnish and all the staff at The Shore Club for making a simple lobster dinner such a wonderful meal, we will definitely meet again!
(and another happy birthday Judy!)
March 31, 2012
As a big fan of Susur Lee and an avid followed of the Top Chef franchise, I had been anticipating a visit to chef Dustin Gallagher’s (former sous chef of Susur Lee for 6 years) restaurant in Little Italy. Unfortunately when we arrived and asked if the chef was in, we were informed that he had left a month ago on a hiatus to do some traveling in Europe and is planning on opening up his own restaurant from the ground up (Im sure he’ll come back with a vengeance, hopefully back to Toronto). In the meantime, his good friend and replacement Kevin Castonguay (formerly sous chef at Woodlot) is heading service at Grace and judging by my overall experience, in Chef Dustin’s absence they haven’t flinched one bit.
Stepping into Grace is like walking a pastel painting. Soft creams and baby aquamarine wrapped around wooden furniture blanketed by warm sunlight. As we are greeted by our server, I’m glad to be seated at the front of the house where the outdoor light from the setting sun illuminates our meal. As we peruse through the concise dinner menu, our server returns with two glasses of iced water with some thinly sliced cucumber, which is cool and refreshing.
WEBER’S FARM POACHED SILKIE EGG ON TOAST
A lovely take on your everyday bacon and eggs with toast. The poached egg was smooth and silky, perfectly cooked with a thin sliver of salty lardo was like a micro bite of traditional bacon and eggs. which was all topped on the lightly sweetened toasted bread. Alone, this tiny deconstructed breakfast would have been pretty good already, but the added elderberry sauce brought it to a whole new level by mixing in some tartiness to the already smooth, sweet, salty combination.
GUINEA FOWL & FOIE GRAS TERRINE
Man, do I love a good terrine/tartare. And my very first dining experience with foie gras was breakfast in France on toast, so this dish was a little nostalgic. But the silky guinea fowl was a great addition to a classic. The chefs did not skimp out on the meat either, large chunks of meat that of foie gras. The tender, soft chunks of meat and smooth foie gras, mixed with the sweet, but not overpowering, apple butter were delicious on top of the crunchy toast that soaked in the flavours and adding that much needed crunch.
HALIBUT CHEEK TORTELLONI
Halibut Cheek Tortelloni
We ordered an appetizer-sized dish of tortelloni and the four pieces were enough for a good sampling. The delicate pasta looked thin and dainty, but were packed with a load of flavour. A salty punch was the first hit of flavour, not over salted, but almost a light hint of smokiness. And then came the light creamy sauce that was bright and tangy. The texture of the tender halibut cheeks inside the delicious pouches had a lovely chewiness and contrasted in significance to the delicate pasta housing.
‘BISCUITS & GRAVY’
Rabbit with Pistachio and Butternut Squash Puree with Fiddleheads
I think this dish defines the character of what Grace and ‘modern farmhouse’ style cooking is all about. Its like taking a trip to a farmers backyard. The gamey rabbit from the forest, the butternut squash and fiddleheads from the garden and pistachios from the orchard. All of these elements combined to make a earthy and warm dish. I could taste and differentiate each individual component; the rabbit done two ways: white meat poached and wrapped in bacon and the dark meat pulled and sandwiched between biscuits. The natural bitterness from the fiddleheads were counterbalanced by the sweet purees. I loved the vibrant colours, strong flavours and overall earthy taste of this dish.
MOCHA CHINO
Coffee-Cocoa Pudding with tiny crunchy sweet flecks and hazelnut crumbs
I usually don’t like the bitterness of coffee, but anyone who knows me well enough could tell you that I’m a sucker for hazelnuts. So I was sold on the ‘risk’ of having a coffee style dessert, with the possibility of the hazelnuts being its saving grace (no pun intended). Boy am I glad that I did! The dessert was a lovely combination of bittersweet. Its overall taste had remnants of tiramisu, but a little more upscale and refined. And the hazelnut crumbs added both a flavour and texture dimension. Pair that with the hazelnut biscotti and what a treat! I had to stop myself from scooping out all the pudding and gobbling it all up in one bite. Thankfully I held back, because dipping the biscotti into the pudding and taking a bite is probably one of the best dessert experiences I’ve ever had. Its got me wanting to come back just for dessert.
:)
