DNA

In February we went to DNA for a Montreal Highlights Festival event, we had a really nice time and wrote a review of the evening. Although our experience and the food was great, the set menu at the event was a little more on the safe side than DNA's menu items generally tend to be. We had been looking forward to getting back to try a more representative menu of the restaurant and Chef Derek Dammann's style of cooking. So, this past weekend that's exactly what we did.

We returned to DNA anticipating a meal to remember. Upon arrival we are greeted and brought to our table, which oddly enough was the EXACT same table we had been seated at the last time we ate there. The decor is very modern; in our previous review we likened the feel of all the glass in the dining room to a "foodie fish bowl". All the tables are full and the restaurant seems to be in full stride. After being seated, we're greeted promptly by our waitress who immediately takes our drink order and provides us with bilingual menus. 

We make our order and soon after our waitress returns with house made "peasant bread" and a Quebec produced sunflower oil to dip it in. The bread was very hard on the outside but tender on the inside. It was not the most refined of loaves (rolls in this case) but certainly tasty and likely authentic to its "peasant" roots. The sunflower oil was great tasting and matched very well with the bread, it's flavor was assertive and was a nice change from the normal butter or olive oil. Shortly after the bread we were surprised with an amuse bouche course we hadn't expected. It was house cured lardo that had been perfumed with rosemary and lemon. Neither the rosemary nor the lemon were overpowering but they were nonetheless detectable and the lardo melted away on your tongue.

Amuse Bouche - House Cured Lardo, Rosemary, Lemon

Our first appetizer was a savory custard that had been made of bone marrow and likely veal stock then poured back into the bone itself to set. The custard was topped off with a layer of salty briny whitefish caviar and served along side a bacon "jam" and fingers of toasted brioche. The custard itself was very smooth with no air bubbles, like a perfectly executed but savory creme brulée. The fish eggs on top took the place of a hard caramelized sugar coating. The bone marrow flavor was detectable but faint, the flavor of veal stock came through most predominantly. Next to the bone marrow custard was a quenelle of sweet bacon "jam" which was excellent, it seemed like candied bacon bits suspended in just enough room temperature bacon grease to hold it together, but then again, who knows but the kitchen? Perfectly baked buttery brioche was served with the dish as a vehicle to get the deliciousness from the plate to your mouth. Maybe the most impressive thought about this dish in retrospect: expertly balancing so many inherently salty ingredients to create a dish that somehow wasn't too salty when the sum of its parts were combined.

Bone Marrow Custard, Bacon Jam, Whitefish Caviar, Brioche - 12$

Our second appetizer was also fantastic. If the season of spring were a band, this dish would be the greatest hits album. Beautiful, luxurious morel mushrooms and fiddleheads paired with green asparagus, the most flavorful white asparagus we've ever tasted, a tiny bit of wilted lightly bitter dandelion greens, and tender, creamy, smooth borlotti beans (a.k.a cranberry beans) all served over a poached duck egg and a thick toasted slice of the same stellar brioche that was served with the bone marrow dish. Chef Dammann's humble nature won't seem to allow him to embrace the truth out loud but we're happy to say it for him - this brioche was better than the one we had two mornings in a row at Bouchon in Las Vegas. When the egg broke and the yolk oozed (yes, ooze is a word - spell check acknowledges it) all over the dish it provided the fatty sauciness the dish needed to complete the experience. Eggs and toast always hit the spot, when you add the MVP's of spring produce how can you go wrong? This dish satisfies a perennial restaurant truth and cardinal menu planning rule: no matter what time it is, people always want to eat breakfast!

Morels, Fiddleheads, Asparagus, Duck Egg, Brioche, Borlotti Beans - 16$

We were certainly off to a great start and the meal would only get better. At first glance, mains at DNA appear to be a little on the expensive side (more than 30$ for each of the main dishes we chose) but once they arrive we can see why, the portions are huge! This is not the restaurant you bring your father to only to listen to him complain that there's "nothing to eat on the plate" or that "this is just food to look at". The portions are extremely generous, they may be pricey, but you certainly get what you pay for. We ordered a pork dish and a rabbit dish. The pork was a thick cut of perfectly cooked ham (the pig's hind leg). What makes it particularly special is that this is 10 week old milk-fed piglet from Gaspor Farms in St-Canut, pork sought after by some of the best chefs in North America. The tenderness of the meat is magnificent and its flavor is unparalleled. It's skin beyond ideally crispy, it was served with white and green asparagus, fennel frawns, a text book béarnaise sauce executed flawlessly, and a rich jus at the bottom of the plate. This dish was by far the shining star of the evening.

St-Canut Farms Piglet, Béarnaise, Asparagus - 31$

The rabbit dish was also extremely generous. A 1/2 a rabbit (including 2 kidneys) that had been brined, then smoked for a short time, lightly breaded and fried crisp in a cast iron pan. It was simply served with refreshing lettuce and lemon. Rabbit can overcook easily making it taste bland and dry but this rabbit did not. Most likely the brining process kept it as moist and tender as it was, the breading by no means overwhelmed the meat and the smoke was present but not so much as to drown out the fantastic taste of the rabbit itself. Although the whole dish was great, for us, the kidneys were the best part. We would order a bowl full of them done exactly the same way anytime.

Stanstead Rabbit in Cast Iron, Lettuce, Lemon - 34$

After our enormous main dish portions we had preemptively decided that we would not be having dessert before our waitress arrived. Once presented with our dessert options however, that all changed. Simply put, here's why: What self respecting foodie would ever pass up the opportunity to eat a dessert crepe made with pig's blood? Not us that's FOR SURE! A thicker than ordinary crepe made with pig's blood was covered in rum, raisins, currants and sea-buckthorn butter all topped with a scoop of sweet dandelion-honey ice cream. The crepe was certainly not shy on the blood flavor but the melting ice cream and rum kept it tasting like a dessert. The crepe itself tasted of quatre épices, which is typical of blood sausage but also typical of some desserts such as pumpkin pie for example, so the flavor profiles weren't so foreign to a dessert context. Not as intimidating of a dish taste-wise as some people might find it to be description-wise, it was delicious and certainly very original. Our second dessert was the rhubarb tart with mascarpone ice cream. The crust was super tender and delicious, the rhubarb filling wasn't overly sweet and neither was the velvety mascarpone ice cream. In the end our stomachs may not have been thrilled with our overly-indulgent appetites, but our taste buds and satisfied curiosity were happy we ordered dessert.

The food and the service at DNA are terrific, so far we've been twice and both meals were excellent. It may be a little pricey but as we said earlier in the review: you certainly get what you pay for. DNA is no stranger to food lovers in Montreal, but with delicious and edgy cuisine in addition to recent celebrity guest chef appearances, accolades, endorsements and good reviews from some international kitchen and all around food industry heavyweights, look out for DNA to start making a bigger splash than it already has on the international restaurant and dining scene in the year to come. 

Pork Blood Crepe, Sea Buckthorn Butter, Dandelion Honey Ice Cream - 12$

 

Rhubarb Tart, Mascarpone Ice Cream - 12$

Restaurant DNA

355 Rue Marguerite d'Youville, near McGill

Montreal QC

514-287-3362

www.dnarestaurant.com