Le Bremner

This is the second post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year. Other posts in this series include St. Viateur Bagels.

Chuck Hughes is Canada's darling when it comes to food TV. He was one of only two Canadians ever to win Iron Chef America on TV, beating Bobby Flay. He currently has a show called "Chuck's Day Off".

Le Bremner is Chef Hughes' second restaurant. Located hidden almost beneath street level with the inconspicuous words "restaurant", we almost missed it. In fact, the cab driver had to recheck the address again before we confirmed that, yes, indeed this little red sign was our destination.

Although his first restaurant Garde-Manger is more popular and harder to secure, more than one food enthusiast has remarked that Le Bremner actually is better and it's where Chuck hangs out more, often working the line.

Le Bremner is dark inside, with almost a taverny feel. There's a definitely loud energy to the dining room, complete with a funky blend of "oldies" ranging from Cheap Trick to Bryan Adams (well, I guess he is Canadian).

All their sodas are made in house, such as their root beer, lemon soda, cola, and tonic water. The special drinks offered that day sounded fabulous, but I decided to go with the simple gin & tonic.
It was good, although a bit too sweet for my tastes. I still preferred Jaleo's versions of gin & tonic.

The menu definitely focuses on seafood (yay!) and is divided up into seven sections: Chilled Items, From the Outside, Bread & Cheese, From the Stovetop, From the Broiler, Vegetables, and Dessert.
Many of the dishes are designed to be shared, sort of like tapas. Because there were three of us, we were able to order a nice, wide variety of dishes to share, which made it really fun.
Scallops on the half shell ($6) were served with a pickled celery vinaigrette and lemon, though the server actually suggested skipping the mignonette and just eating it straight up with lemon. These were pretty good, though not the best I've ever had (not quite as good as the incredible raw scallops in the sushi world).  Still perfectly enjoyable, of course.

Raw Scallops Tartare (one of the specials of the day) was fresh, flavorful, and delicious.

Spicy Raw Salmon ($18) sounds simple enough, but it's actually salmon that has been cured in beet juice so it looks like tuna. It's topped with a dill mayonnaise, capers, and crispy tempura flakes. Lovely flavors, even though it was weird to eat something that tasted like salmon but looked like tuna.

Kimchee Snow Crab with Crispy Rice Cake ($22) definitely had the strong, bold flavors of kimchee. I personally felt that the kimchee overpowered the delicate sweetness of the snow crab. Nevertheless, the dish did have an interesting textural interplay between the crispy rice cake base, soft tender crab, and mushy, fibrous kimchee.

This creamy seafood dip (I can't for the life of me remember if it was raw fish or scallops!) was fresh and creamy with subtle flavors from various herbs and spices. The salty umami of the pork cracklings added just the right amount of zing and crunch to really completed the entire flavor and texture profile. I enjoyed this one a lot and definitely came back for second helpings.

Lobster Toast au Gratin was under their "foccacia" section, though I really had a hard time distinguishing this from a good old pizza. It was nice enough, with a buttery crust and flavorful, bold toppings.  However, it was a bit underwhelming for me since it really just seemed like a nice, fancy pizza. They did crack a poached (or sous vide?) egg on top, which was quite lovely.

Hake and Clams ($25) was beautifully flavorful - what a good idea to combine clams with any fish, really. The pieces of hake were cut up and almost stuffed inside the clams. Although the clams were a bit rubbery, the dish had a lovely, very flavorful seafood broth that was fantastic.  I loved the bits of Brussels sprouts on the side as well - one of my favorite dishes.

Cornbread With Broiled Garlic Shrimp ($20) was nice and savory, an inspired twist on shrimp and grits. The cornbread is pan seared in butter (oh my) and then topped with a fragrant sauce (made with seafood stock, herbs, celery) as well as microgreens. The flavor combinations definitely reminded me of shrimp & grits, but probably much healthier!

The Beignets came with three filling choices, of which I can only remember two: chocolate and raspberry. These were fine, but nothing particularly special.

The Blueberry Lemon Tart had wonderfully juicy blueberries (and generous amounts of it, might I add), which worked great with the tart.
My favorite? The Pancakes were incredible! - soft, fluffy, buttery, reasonably yeasty (or was it baking soda?) and nicely salty. It was addictive with the sucre and melted butter on top. Even though I was full, I took several helpings of this one. It was fabulous and most definitely my favorite dessert.

I had a fabulous time at this little restaurant. The food is excellent, though definitely a bit expensive for the portion size. We ordered the equivalent of 3-4 courses a person, and we essentially ate everything. Both appetizers and main entrees hover in the $20ish range, so it can add up pretty quickly,

The ambiance is dark, pretty casual, and very comfortable. The service was great. The server spoke fluent French and English (almost everyone in Montreal does), and she offered a lot of great advice about the food.

Though we did not take advantage of it, the restaurant has an amazing "terrace" where you can eat outside.

Afterwards, if your feet are up to it, walk down the cobbly roads through old Montreal back to downtown. It's a lovely walk (if the weather is cooperating), and you really get a great tour of old Montreal.

Of course, I paid for it with a horrible blister (yes, I was wearing heels), but I don't regret it one bit.

Le Bremner
Old Montreal
361 St. Paul
East Montreal,
QC H2Y1H2

St. Viateur Bagels

This is the first post in the Oh Canada series, summarizing some of the great eats I had when visiting various Canadian cities this past year

There's truly something irresistible about a fresh, piping hot bagel.

When my Canadian-Boston transplant friend found out I was going to Montreal, the first thing she requested was that I bring back some sesame bagels. For her, the memories from college (when she was at McGill) were priceless.

"It's super fun to go in the middle of the night and grab a fresh piping hot bagel as it rolls down the wooden chute."

"sooooo good."

Yes, exact words from her email. She really wanted these bagels.

What could I do? I had to make the special trip.

In Montreal, you typically hear about two bagel places: St. Viateur and Fairmont. The two are only a few blocks from each other (one on St. Viateur Street, the other on Fairmont Street), so you could really visit both if you wanted. I had a tight schedule (a flight to catch!), so I could only choose one.

I hailed a cab and told the driver my plans. I only had about 15 minutes to head to a bagel place before I had to rush over to Schwartz's to beat the lines.

The driver assured me that St. Viateur was the better place. He thought the bagels were different at the two places, and he much preferred St. Viateur.

"Everybody who is visiting Montreal always wants to go to St. Viateur. Trust me, that's where you want to go."

I guess I decided to trust him. He seemed to be telling the truth. In fact, he even stopped and picked up some bagels himself when he took me there.

St. Viateur is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. You can really stop by at any time and "grab a fresh piping hot bagel as it rolls down the wooden chute."

It was quite clear that sesame was the most popular flavor. They were making HUGE batches of sesame bagels compared to all the rest. It just so happens that sesame bagels are amongst my favorite as well, so I ended up ordering eighteen (!) sesame bagels, and 6 others (assorted flavors).

It's also fun to visit St. Viateur because you get to watch all the bagel making action.

Check out that huge slab of dough, ready to be cut into bagel sized strips.

Montreal bagels are a little smaller than American bagels. The hole is bigger and the overall bagel is "thinner."

It's really cool to see the rows of bagels going into the huge wood-fired oven.

Though there's no way you can eat them all, I would highly recommend eating one bagel fresh on the spot. They are definitely hot when you get them, and that's by far the best time to enjoy them. The exterior is crispy (I love how the sesame seeds toast a bit and become super fragrant), and the inside is just a hair sweet and chewy.

Soooo good.

Once you take them home, try to freeze them as soon as possible. According to my Canadian friend (who apparently has some experience doing this), if you freeze it the day you buy it, it tastes almost as good as fresh when you re-toast it.

If you have a vacuum sealer, you can vacuum seal them, which will keep them from drying out. Any remaining bagels that you don't finish within a day or two can be sliced up, toasted, and made into fantastic bagel chips.

I ended up liking all the other flavors I bought as well. The 9-grain and flaxseed were both nutty, fragrant, and sweet. I had really wanted the "All-dressed" (everything), but it was still baking in the oven when I arrived. Because I was short on time, I had to forego it this time around.

Are they as good as New York bagels?
Oooh, hard to say - they are different, and I think it's a matter of preference.  Any fresh bagel out of the oven beats a non-fresh one, so in that sense they are both fantastic. If I had to compare them, I would say that Montreal bagels are smaller, less dense, and are just a tad sweet (which I like). Both are delicious, especially if eaten fresh. Gosh, I really can't choose between them.

In any event, all I'm saying is that St. Viateur is most definitely worth a visit.

St. Viateur
158 St-Viateur
West Montreal, QC
H2T2L4

Oh Canada

Our neighbors up north are hiding a lot of awesome things up there. This past year, after a decade-long hiatus, I finally had a chance to visit various parts of Canada and explore some of the amazing things it has to offer.

I'm no stranger to Canada. In fact, I grew up an hour outside of Windsor, Ontario. My family used to drive there all the time to eat dim sum and get Chinese groceries. It was one of those day trips I always looked forward to . . .

Ever since moving to Boston, however, those visits have diminished to nearly zero. My last visit was the Jazz Festival in Montreal during the summer of 2000. Yes, its' been that long. It wasn't until this past year, for a number of very different reasons (wedding, funeral, work), that I ended up hitting three major Canadian cities in one year.

As always, can you guess where I went?

Pop in anytime to get hot, freshly baked bagels which are made 24-hours a day.

Stand in a long line to get a taste of one of Montreal's most famous bites - the smoked meat sandwich - so, so incredibly good.

Just look at the chalkboard for the daily menu. On any given night, this Anthony Bourdain-blessed (and thus now internationally famous) restaurant may offer you bone marrow stuffed with fois gras, horse filet mignon, hand picked greens from their greenhouse, or the crazy "double down" deep fried fois gras sandwich.

One of only two Canadian chefs ever to ever win Iron Chef America, this Food Network star pushes the edge on creative interpretations of seafood small plates with his second restaurant in Montreal.

And just a tiny small peek into Toronto . . .

A simple Chinese chain serves up solid, fantastic Chinese dim sum dishes and congee. *Sigh* - Why can't we have such Chinese chains here??

How do the xiao long baos taste at the "knock-off" Din Tai Fung?

What can I say? Chinese food in Toronto is just pretty freaking awesome.

And Vancouver .  .

World famous roasted squab that people supposedly fly all the way from Hong Kong to eat.

*       *       *       *

I may intersperse the Canada posts with some other trips I've taken, but definitely be on the lookout for full posts about the restaurants described above in the next couple weeks!

Rasika West End

This is the seventh and final post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, Jaleo, The Federalist, and Peregrine Espresso. I hope you enjoyed the series!

I hardly ever eat Indian.

It's the one cuisine that Bryan refuses to eat. Even though he's not the biggest fan of Korean or Southeast Asian food (ever notice the death of posts for those types of restaurants on this blog?), at least he willing to occasionally try those two cuisines.

But Indian? Forget it. He tried it once in college, absolutely could not stand it, and has refused to set foot inside an Indian restaurant ever since.

So if I want Indian, I basically have to fend for myself.

Of course, this also means that my knowledge of Indian food is woefully elementary. I hardly am aware of the "basic" Indian dishes, (e.g., tikki malasa, samosas, and saag paneer), let alone some of the more exotic stuff.

Which is why I was all the more excited when I found out that we would be visiting one of the hottest Indian restaurants in Washington D.C.

Palak Chaat Crispy baby spinach / sweet yogurt / tamarind / date chutney

Rasika West End just opened in March of 2012. It's the sister restaurant of Rasika, Ashok Bajaj's wildly successful and very popular first Indian restaurant, which he opened in 2005. Bajaj has been nominated three times for the James Beard Award for "Best Restauranteur" due to the incredible success of Rasika, which focuses on modern upscale Indian cuisine.

Reservations are always hard to get at Rasika, so Rasika West End is a great alternative. Although the meus are not exactly the same, there is some overlap of the most popular dishes, such as their signature dish Palak Chaat, shown above, which, by the way, is absolutely incredible.

This dish is like no Indian dish I'd ever had before and I loved it. Baby spinach is coated in chick pea flour and flash fried into crispy, delicate leaves, which are served tossed with yogurt, tamarind sauce, and date chutney. The mix of flavors is vivid and intense. I would come back just to order this one dish.

Cauliflower Bezule Mustard seeds / curry leaves / green chilies / lemon juice

A portion of the menu is different from the original Rasika menu. This menu offers a lot more vegetarian options plus a brand new section called "Nosh Farmana" (translation: to eat or to drink) which includes dishes such as the Cauliflower Bezule shown above. Furthermore, the new, trendy modern decor (from James Beard winner restaurant designer Martin Vahtra), is a great place to relax with a cocktail (of which they have many) or a wine from their international wine list.

 Fish Chutneywala Sea bass / cilantro / mint / coconut

Having only tried Indian food a handful of times (mostly at cheap Indian buffets around Boston), I was floored by the variety of flavors and textures available here. One of my favorites was the Fish Chutneywala, which I really thought even Bryan would enjoy. Sea bass is cooked inside of a huge leaf and slathered with a rich pesto full of cilantro (Bryan's favorite) and mint. It really reminded me of the cilantro dipping salsa that comes with the bread at The Helmand in Boston (which Bryan really likes).

I wish I knew more about Indian food so I could talk more in detail about these dishes. Unfortunately, this was my first time ever sampling a lot of these flavors. In general, I loved the restaurant. Virtually all of the dishes were multi-dimensional and full of complex (and very good!) flavors. For me, most of it was quite foreign, and therefore delightfully surprising and totally fun.

Because I'm less familiar with Indian food in general, I had a harder time keeping track of the names of all these dishes, for forgive me if I don't label everything correctly. I think I'm reasonably accurate, but I'm much less "sure" about this set compared to if all these dishes were Chinese!

Paneer of some sort?
Malai Fish Curry was made with halibut in a creamy and fragrant sauce made of coconut milk, onions, bay leaf, and lots of curry.
The Mixed Grill was a great way to sample three of their meat entrees, such as the Kali Mirch Salmon, Scottish salmon with pink & black pepper and green pea chutney; Coorgi Murgh Tikka, chicken flavored with balsamic vinegar, black pepper, and cumin; and Seekh Kebab, minced meat mixed with spices.
I cannot for the life of me remember what this was - maybe sweet potato? Or carrots?

Sweet Potato and Sago Tikki was flavored with cumin, green chilies, curry leaves, and served with pineapple chutney.

The Roti Pe Boti with grilled lamb, onion, tomato and tawa paratha (a soft tandoori bread) was one of my favorites. It totally reminded me of the Singaporean version of this dish, which I always order.

Here are both types of bread - Naan (Indian flat bread) on the bottom and Mint Paratha (the soft layered bread) on top. These were both fantastic!

A lovely plate full of a little bit of each one of the dishes on the table!

Desserts
Although the meal was fantastic, we thought that the desserts were only OK. I did appreciate the fun use of certain types of "modern" food techniques (such as spherification) to achieve some of the unusual textures in a subset of the desserts.

However, by-and-large, I still stand by my original opinion about Indian desserts: I just don't like them that much. I think it's largely personal preference. In general I dislike cardamon, cloves, and similar flavors. I'm also not a huge fan of rose water.

In spite of all that, the desserts were beautifully plated and hit that spot (you know, that sweet craving you get at the end of a meal?).

Coconut and Lemongrass Panna Cotta
Cardamom ice cream with honey soaked cake
Rice Kheer - saffron and green cardamon
Mango and Jasmine Sorbet
Rose Compote Ice Cream

Overall Thoughts
Like I mentioned earlier, this restaurant had really good food. Washington Post gave it 4 stars, the highest score you can get. Definitely try their signature Palak Chaat, which is pretty incredible. Seriously, though, you can't go wrong with the rest of the menu. Try an assortment of different little dishes with friends, and get lots of naan. It's the most fun way to eat, and you get to try more dishes that way.

Personally, I think it's fine to skip dessert and just save more stomach space for the awesome food. However, if you really have a sweet tooth, my favorites were the cardamom ice cream with honey soaked cake or the coconut and lemongrass panna cotta.

Washington D.C. is super fortunately to have such "cutting edge" Indian food. It's a far cry from the Indian buffets I've tried in Boston, and definitely something I enjoyed a lot more.

Heck, I seriously even think I could convince Bryan to like Indian food if he tried this.

Rasika West End
1177 22nd St NW
Washington, DC 20037


Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector.