BEST OF 2012

This past year Montreal's food scene has seen it's share of triumphs and controversies with openings that went from heavily anticipated to much debated. We've seen a community band together and make leaps and bounds in the direction of hopefully ending an outdated moratorium on street food, and an increase in international recognition from filmed and printed food media. We've witnessed hard working restauranteurs, cooks, chefs and staff see their congratulations marginalized as they were caught in the crossfire of a heated dialogue that stirred up over the validity of a list aggregated by a certain national food writer with a suspicious personal agenda to omit some of our provinces biggest culinary ambassadors. As a city, we partook in our first official restaurant week and saw Montreal rise to become the true culinary destination native Montrealers always knew it has been. Perhaps most notably though, the magnificent bounty of our beautiful province has never before seen such a well deserved position in the pantries and minds of some of the worlds best chefs; to which much credit is due to an innovative homegrown distribution company Quebecers have a lot of reason to be proud of: Societe Orignal. 

 Foodie Date Night itself has seen a fair amount of attention, for which we would like to take a moment to thank all of you, our readers. Your continued interest and support further fuels our passion for everything food and has resulted in seeing our little blog grace the printed pages of The Montreal Gazette and the airwaves of CBC Radio One. A blog amongst many that began as a humble push to maintain a place in our lives for that which we are enthusiastic about has continued to grow at a rate that we initially never imagined possible. This year Foodie Date Night went beyond the borders of the Island of Montreal to Toronto, St Louis, Cleveland & Chicago expanding horizons and sharing our discoveries with you along the way. We plan on bringing you more content in 2013 and hope we can continue to rely on your readership, your feedback and your constructive criticism, all of which helps us make Foodie Date Night the best possible version of itself we can offer.

Last year, as we compiled a list of our favorite restaurants for our Best of 2011 post we decided to switch gears. Rather than publishing a post of our favorite restaurants, we wound up writing about our favorite dishes of the year. Continuing in the same spirit we bring you a list of our 10 favorite dishes of 2012 from Montreal and abroad in no particular order, enjoy!

 Kadu Chalow (Pumpkin)

A charming family business in the west island suburb of DDO, Aryana is an Afghan, bring your own wine restaurant that is worth the trip every time. Sons Sho & Shekib work the floor with an innate knowledge of the food being prepared in the kitchen by their mother, sister and father. Available in your choice of main or side dish format, cubed pieces of pumpkin are served in a savory and faintly spicy sauce derived from their cooking liquid, topped with a drizzle of tangy yogurt and dried dill. It may be a cliché thing to say, but you can really taste the love in the food at Aryana which is likely the reason a vegetarian side dish has left such a lasting impression on us. Other dishes not to be missed are the Kabuli Palow (Lamb) and Badunjan Burani (Eggplant). The love, the pumpkin and the BYOW policy may be the reason we've found ourselves eating here so often since our first visit, if you see us in the dining room come say hello, we're the people who look like bathroom signs. 

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit. 

Aryana

4886 Boul Des Sources

Dollard Des Ormeaux, QC

514-683-9595

 Fried Sturgeon (Pressed-Sushi Style), Oreilles de Crisse

Chef Martin Picard's Cabane À Sucre au Pied de Cochon, open during maple syrup harvesting season each spring never disappoints. This destination restaurant north of Montreal remains the hottest ticket around for food lovers everywhere, selling out months worth of reservations in a matter of hours on December 1st at midnight each year. Amidst this year's spread of maple-drenched offerings was a pressed-style, fried sturgeon sushi appetizer topped with oreilles de crisse, guacamole, maple mayonnaise and gold leaf. It was the unanimous favorite this time around amongst our group of 10, let's just say someone may or may not have been stabbed in the hand with a fork for the last piece.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

Cabane À Sucre Au Pied de Cochon
11382 Rang De La Fresnière
St-Benoit De Mirabel, QC
450-258-1732
www.cabaneasucreaupieddecochon.com
www.cabanepdc.tumblr.com

 Roast Cornish Hen for 2, Goat Cheese, Roasted Vegetables

If you're looking for a romantic dinner for two in Montreal, look no further. The guinea hen for two at Dominion Square Tavern is stuffed with goat cheese, roasted whole and served over roasted vegetables in a cast iron pan with a sharp knife for you to do the carving yourself at the table. Cooked to perfection, the legs separate effortlessly and the breast meat remains impossibly juicy, the drippings in the bottom of the pan make a beautiful sauce. Sharing this bird with a good bottle of wine in Dominion's dining room that has been virtually unchanged since the 1930's was a real treat. Dishes like this dangle the proverbial carrot before your face to use the adjective "simple" but as anybody who's ever worked the line in a professional kitchen will tell you, refining the technique to consistently prepare this dish at such a high level during a busy dinner service is anything but simple. At 38$ (less than 20$ per person) it also might be one of the best bargains in town.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

Dominion Square Tavern
1243 Metcalfe, near St Catherine
Montreal, QC
514-564-5056
www.dominiontavern.com

 Strozzapretti, Egg yolk, Beef Fat, Duck Stock, Venison Liver

In July, chef Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Boccalone in San Fransisco visited Montreal on a leg of the promotional tour for his cookbook, titled Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal. While in town chef Cosentino made a guest appearance at Joe Beef, collaborating with chefs Fred Morin ( Joe Beef / Liverpool House ) and Derek Dammann ( Maison Publique / Formerly now defunct DNA ) to prepare an unforgettable 15 course feast that was served family style. The venue was unsurpassable as the chefs took several opportunities to sit and talk with guests seated amidst the Joe Beef garden on a breezy summer night. One of many memorable dishes that night was hand-formed strozzapretti tossed in a rich sauce made primarily of beef fat, duck stock and a raw egg yolk nestled in amongst the pasta. Chef Cosentino then made the rounds finely shaving copious amounts of a salty, dried venison liver, irony in the best sense over top of every tables pasta bowl.

Click HERE to see the full version of our original post

 Horse Tartare

The motivation behind a weekend trip the two of us took to Toronto this year was to eat at The Black Hoof, a restaurant with a cut-no-corners approach to charcuterie and undervalued, secondary cuts of meat. What we found was a restaurant that not only met, but exceeded most of our expectations. The standout dish of the night was a lean, horse meat tartare embellished with dollops of a "caper béarnaise"  that provided classic flavor in an unorthodox form and fried matchstick potatoes that offered a salty textural component, taking the dish over the top. It all came together to create a spectacularly well-rounded dish, convincing us that horse is the most well suited meat for the application of tartare. This dish left a lasting impression on us, forever changing the way we perceive one of our favorite preparations of meat. For those less enthusiastic about meat The Black Hoof has recently opened Hoof Raw Bar next door where the focus shifts to seafood and fish, raw, pickled, cured and cooked.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

The Black Hoof
928 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON
416-551-8854
www.theblackhoof.com

 Pork Neck Bone "Gravy", Ricotta

Ever sit down to a bowl of ragu and soak up the sauce in the bottom of the dish with a good piece of crusty bread? Of course you have, who are you kidding. Well, why not skip the middle man and cut straight to the point. The pork neck bone gravy we ate at The Purple Pig this year turned out to be the most memorable dish of our entire trip to Chicago. Even after a visit to Alinea, it was the dish we couldn't shake from our memory on the plane ride home - and to think we almost didn't order it! Pig's necks are roasted and then braised in tomato sauce until the meat falls off the bones. The sauce, studded with succulent pieces of pork is then served with a dollop of creamy ricotta in the center and a pile of grilled bread to deliver the love from the plate to your mouth. Best 9$ we've ever spent.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

The Purple Pig
500 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
312-464-1744
www.thepurplepigchicago.com

Snow Crab Tagliatelle

Ryan Gray and chef Emma Cardarelli, both alumni of Liverpool House, are now cranking out astoundingly good Italian food with enough of a twist to call it their own but not so much to stray from tradition. Their restaurant, Nora Gray, earned a well-deserved spot amongst enRoute magazine's coveted Canada's Best New Restaurants list for 2012. This outrageously great dish of homemade tagliatelle with a copious amount of sweet Quebec snow crab at the peak of it's short season was dressed in a bright tomato sauce, we couldn't get enough of it. When compiling this list we debated between adding this pasta or the porchetta we ate on the same night but honestly, we could easily make an argument for both of them deserving to have been included in our best of 2012 post. The only thing that rivals the food at Nora Gray is the expertly selected wine program and the hospitality, Ryan is an inimitable host and a professional in the truest sense, a meal at Nora Gray is always a pleasure.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

Nora Gray
1391 Saint-Jacques
Montreal, QC
514-419-6672
www.noragray.com

 Kakimayo (Baked Oysters)

Baked giant B.C oysters smothered in an airy spinach mousse, garlic mayonnaise and mushrooms before being gratinéed with a layer of melted cheese and served piping hot at Izakya Guu in Toronto paired together with giant glasses of ice cold Sapporo like bacon and eggs. The lineup was lengthy at this restaurant that doesn't accept reservations but once inside the rowdy dining room, it was all worth the wait. A total of 9 dishes and 2 liters of beer were a bargain at less than 100$ including tax and tip and the boisterous atmosphere was a blast. Not knowing when the next time we'd return to Toronto would be we wanted to try as many of the menu items as we could but in the end, this spin on oysters Rockefeller remained not only the standout menu item of the night but one of the best of the year. Other notable dishes at Guu were the salmon tataki and the tontoro (pan fried pork cheeks).

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

Guu Izakaya
398 Church Street
Toronto, ON
416-977-0999
www.guu-izakaya.com/toronto

Sheep Milk Cheese, Honeycomb, Foie Gras

Undoubtedly wishing to capitalize on a commodity who's demand outweighs it's supply, chef Martin Picard and his staff opened reservations to Cabane À Sucre au Pied de Cochon for the first time this fall focusing not on maple syrup, but another one of Quebec's most bountiful crops: apples. The entire meal was as radical and monumental as we've come to expect from the PDC crew but this appetizer in particular had a delicate touch uncharacteristic of a kitchen team known for their no-holds-barred approach to excess. A thick and creamy, spreadable sheep's milk cheese was topped with cubes of sweet honey comb and a generous helping of foie gras torchon shaved over top. Smearing the simultaneously sweet and salty works over a crisp crouton was so good we couldn't resist seconds, even though we knew how much food was on the horizon.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit. 

Cabane À Sucre Au Pied de Cochon

11382 Rang De La Fresnière

St-Benoit De Mirabel, QC

450-258-1732

www.cabaneasucreaupieddecochon.com

www.cabanepdc.tumblr.com

Balloon, Helium, Green Apple

While in Chicago this year we seized the opportunity to eat at Alinea. The result was a meal we will never forget. Innovative, immersive, fascinating; these are all words that only begin to scratch the surface of such an uncompromising, awe-inspiring experience. Through 15 courses and 4 1/2 hours, interactive and playful dishes that were calculated down to the custom-made china and cutlery with which they were served wowed again and again. Dishes like hot potato cold potato, scallop acting as agedashi tofu and the truffle explosion were masterpieces, not to mention the dessert plated directly on our silicon tablecloth covered table by chef Achatz himself. But it was the second to last course that made us giggle like children eating pop rocks on a playground, it evoked an emotional response from both of us that resonates even today, nearly 6 months later. Our waiter arrived holding the strings of two balloons with tweezers, each fastened to a stainless steel nail that was set on the table before us to prevent the helium filled balloons from flying away. We were instructed to lean forward and kiss the balloons. When we did, they popped and the whisper-thin green apple fruit leather that the balloons were made of stuck to our lips. Everything but the nail was edible, even the string. We smiled like kids on Christmas morning, except this wasn't a fairy tale of an imaginary man that had brought us presents in the night. It was the very real tale of a visionary chef who creates magical meals for big kids like us who just like to eat.

Click HERE to see the full post of our original visit.

Alinea
1723 North Halsted
Chicago, IL
312-867-0110
www.alinea.com


As we close the archive on 2012 and look forward to the year ahead, we'd like to wish you and all your families a happy, healthy and delicious new year full of great culinary discoveries and dining experiences. Cheers & bon appetit!