Pardon my…
The 2010 Culinary Lexicon
Morcilla (noun)
Spanish black sausage, found in the stuffed squid with grapefruit vinaigrette at Mis Trucos (Vancouver) and Portuguese-style at F Bar (Montreal).
Chayote (noun)
Also called mirliton in Louisiana; green-skinned gourd, appearing in the egg tofu dish at Bao Bei (Vancouver).
Sriracha (attributive)
Thai hot sauce, found in the Chinois duck wrap at Origin (Toronto).
Gribiche (adj.)
French egg-enhanced vinaigrette, appearing in the fried pig-face croquettes at Parts & Labour (Toronto) and with asparagus and smoked trout at Charcut (Calgary).
Bresaola (noun)
Italian air-cured beef, appearing on meat boards across the country.
1 Decision-free dining
At Ruby Watchco, chef Lynn Crawford makes it easy on everyone, particularly herself – she dishes out only one meal a night at her Toronto restaurant. The four-course prix fixe works family-style: When we went, diners shared scrumptious cheddar biscuits, pristine salad of smoked trout with crème fraîche, flank steak and piña colada sundaes (the only meh-ish part of our meal). Just like home – if Ma happened to be a raven-haired, tattoo-palmed entrepreneur.
2 Charcuterie-free dining
There is life after animal products for Ottawa chef Caroline Ishii. Zen Kitchen dares to take vegan cuisine out of the tree-planting mess hall and into fine dining. Ishii presents clean, creative and beautifully plated food – best expressed in small dishes like sesame-encrusted mushrooms with anise-tamarind reduction and prickly-sweet chilies that are as good as fried chicken (does that sound crassly carnivorous?) – while sommelier David Loan arranges Ontario-forward wine pairings. So hold your tempeh-weary sigh for the end of the meal: It should be a contented one.
3 Irony-free
Head of Montreal’s ever-innovative Toqué!, chef Normand Laprise brings a refreshing straightforwardness to brasserie classics at t!. The coquilles St. Jacques are just that – and all that: scallops in a deeply creamy sauce with piped potatoes on a half shell. Same for the French fries and the brandade, which seem to come straight from the land of cane chairs to this glass box of a restaurant (no, it’s not a bus shelter) in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. Who really needs a deconstructed chocolate éclair?
