Tuesday, May 6 2008
Much Depends Upon Dinner
Mmm, tree-ripened good and evil!
All human history attests
That happiness for man, - the hungry sinner! -
Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner.
–George Gordon (Lord Byron), The Island
Okay, I had to look that one up. I was familiar with the phrase, 'Much Depends Upon Dinner' from Margaret Visser's riveting book of the same name, but was unaware of Byron's original use of the phrase. Titian's painting of Eve, Adam, Apple and serpent hooks in nicely, surely the highest price ever paid for fresh fruit.
What this all has to do with me is dinner itself. I travel a lot, as regular readers (and probably the irregular ones as well) of this blog can see. While I do occasionally get to indulge in really nice dinners with lovely company, I miss more dinners on the road than I actually have. The last three weeks of travel I've missed a total of four dinners, literally going to bed without. Of course, this might seem to be pretty hollow whining from a man who weighs a seventh of a ton, but often dinner is the high point of my day on the road. Missing it really harks back to childhood memories of privation. No matter how grown up you try to be, it's really a sad little time for someone far from home to miss even the simplest of repasts at the end of the day.
But sometimes it all comes together. I'm on the road right now in Niagara, staying at the White Oaks. It's a very fancy-schmancy place indeed. However, because Winexpert's parent company has a corporate relationship with the hotel, it's very reasonable–when it's not booked up (as it frequently can be) we try to stay here as much as we can, not in small part to it's convenient location to four of our company's various operations and warehouses. I'm here for a seminar on 'Lean Manufacturing'. Fascinating stuff, well outside of my normal area of expertise. Our presenter for the three day course is both engaging and lucid (qualities sometimes lacking in corporate educators) and I really, really, groove on the oddly stuffy-headed feeling of my brain having to grope for new connections and new concepts.
But all that cogitating, along with a two-hour workout in the White Oaks fitness facility left me with an appetite for dinner, and all the meals I've missed needed acknowledgment as well. I went to the Liv restaurant tonight for a quiet meal on my own. Most of the other folks attending the seminar are staying at another place (he who hesitates to make reservations immediately is lost, I always say) or off to their homes (many live locally). I had a really good book by one of my favorite authors (how could I not love a book that has a protagonist that's a competitive weightlifter?) and a fierce appetite. Dinner consisted of:
A glass of Trius Brut–wonderfully crisp and rich–with shellfish 4 ways: crab cake on smoked tomato aioli; lobster roll with pineapple sauce; seared scallop on asian slaw and a jumbo prawn with roasted garlic puree. Brilliant execution, bright flavours and a perfect match to the sparkling wine. The prawn especially was wonderful: popping fresh and perfectly done, with a smoky-briny flavour excellently balanced by the garlic.
I chose a bottle of the 2004 De Sousa Pinot Noir VQA Reserve to go with my dinner, and had it decanted early. The winemaker, Andre Lipinski, is a respectful devotee of Burgundy, and it shows in this wine. Initially it was hard, closed and unlovely. After a half-hour it began to relax, at an hour it was very enjoyable and after 90 minutes it was darn near playful: excellent structure, intensely knit tannins, and yet it displayed delicate and gorgeous floral notes with minerality and length that would put the average Premier Cru Burgundy to shame.
Dinner itself was oregano scented rack of lamb in a dijon/panko crust with rosti potato and a gorgeous pan reduction, served with green beans. The green beans were heavenly, squeaky-crunchy and fresh, and the execution on the rack was utterly flawless: crisp and intensely herbed on the outside, it was perfect medium-rare all the way to the bone. Good chefs will know how difficult it is to get this exactly right on a fat rack of lamb, and the chef knocked this out of the park. The pan reduction made me sigh: in a previous life as a professional cook I could only have hoped to make a perfectly glossy, intense sauce like that.
Oddly the rosti (a potato cake made from long strands of grated spuds) was too salty. Liv, it is to be noted, has a light hand on the salt and no shakers on the table. That might seem affected or snooty to some, but I respect and enjoy that–if a chef has the stones to leave out the salt, he's declaring that the dish will stand without it, and when that works, it's a masterpiece of subtlety and layered flavour. It's a very rare note for Liv, and some might disagree with me, as I don't have the salt tooth that a lot of (both current and former) cooks have.
Other than that, the restaurant, decor, environs and service–most especially the service! Thank-you Ruth–were flawless, relaxed and flowing. I'm not missing my other dinners quite so much tonight, and that wonderful rack made me think of another passage from old Georgie:
–Lord Byron Don JuanMan is a carnivorous production,
And must have meals, at least one meal a day;
He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction,
But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey;
Although his anatomical construction
Bears vegetables, in a grumbling way,
Your laboring people think beyond all question,
Beef, veal, and mutton better for digestion.
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