Ensemble, Vancouver, Top Chef Eatery



Roasted Beet Salad



I had chef Dale Mackay pegged to win Top Chef Canada by episode 2. And I was right, this guy can cook, not to mention that (from the show perspective anyway) he is ultra competitive, passionate and has a single minded  intensity that I think translates well to owning and running your own reaturant.
Enter Ensemble, Vancouver’s newest celebrity chef joint
I've had the opportunity to eat at Ensemble a couple of times now and here are some general impressions.
The restaurant is cosy if not a bit dark. It has the feel of a mom and pop place but mom and pop consulted with a slick modern designer first feel. Did I mention it was dark? The bar throws me off a bit as well, it takes a whole back wall but has only a small booze display that look budgety. The staff are friendly and attentive but not polished. I like the casual approach.

The menu is all about small plates. Order a bunch. Try a few different things. The suggestion for a typical meal are 4 plates (includes a desert). Still theses are small plates and I can see how a big eater might get into an uncomfortable financial position if they were to order with abandon. Hey, I know these people. These people are upon occasion me.

There are very many interesting and yummy things on the menu:
Here's a few of the things we had.

Sorry about the quality of the photos (did I mention it was dark)

I liked Ensemble

                         Sweet and Sour Eggplant

An Item voted Van Mags Best things to Eat and Drink in Vancouver 2011 – agreed, this was a standout favourite, Baba Ghanoush, Yogurt, Tomato all marry together, fabulous.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

The pulled pork, a dish Dale did on Top Chef. It was good but ya ok nothing to stand on the roof and scream about. The deep fried pickle was interesting if not a bit dry. How do you make a pickle dry? I didn’t get the watermelon, why was it there? Sorry, I’m just channelling a Top Chef Judge.

                                    Potato Gnocchi

Potato Gnocchi, soft, light, nice. But then so was the tomato sauce. It was ok.

Oysters

I love raw oysters. When I come across oysters on the menu I linger. I quickly scan for something else and then I order the oysters. Yes these oysters made me happy.

Cornmeal Crusted Scallops

With Tamarind-Date Purée, Cauliflower, good, if you like that kind of thing.

Beef Shin and Fritz

The beef shin was a surprise. Imagine taking a tough piece of meat, which for sure shin meat has to be. Cook it, probably boiled for hours until the meat falls of the shin. The meat would be in long strands. Take these strands add sauce and flavorings and pack into a tube mold. The result, a very unique texture, almost a stringy pate, but it works, this was really cool and tasty.

                    Chocolate Fondant

              Hazelnut-Nougatine Ice Cream

Refeul very disappointing

One of my favorite Vancouver burgers is from Refeul.

One of my favorite Vancouver Pizzas is from Campagnolo, Refeuls sister restaurant.

So it pains me to say that my last experience at Refeul was far, very far, from stellar.

Let me explain:

3:30 on a sunny Saturday my wife and I are starving we haven't had lunch so we decide to step into Refeul for a quick bite.

We are the only ones in the restaurant when we sit down; two other tables are occupied when we leave an hour later. It’s the dead zone between lunch and dinner service.

We order 4 appies. We ask that they be delivered all together.

10 minutes later Kate's salad arrives. It's a good looking salad and its tasty I only had one bite because Kate loves the beets. So I just watched her eat and then somewhere around her last mouthful of salad 8-10 minutes later my clams showed up.

The clams were very average; but the grilled sourdough was really good which made the dipping in the end very tasty. Kate doesn't like Clams so she watched me eat through the clams for about 10 minutes until the salmon and egg dish arrived.

Then I got the privilege of watching Kate eat for about 5 minutes until I got concerned and asked the server if perhaps my octopus salad is coming at all. Yes it's on the way...5 min later it arrived just as Kate took the last bite of salmon. So now Kate is watching me eat octopus.

The Octopus was not my favorite, I've had the octopus a Campagnolo were it was excellent, here the greens were just a bit strangely flavored and wilted.

In the end the food was very mediocre and the service egregious. If this was my first trip to Refeul I'd never go back and I would recommend that you stay far far away from this pace. Luckily I know they can do and have done better. Refeul please do better.

Oh, and the cherry on top of the bad service Saturday was on the way out when I noticed the fresh board advertizing in season fresh heirloom tomatoes. I would have loved some tomatoes if only my server told me about them. I walk away more disgusted then I was a few steps previous.

Willows Inn. Lummi Island Washington. The best meal ever.

The Inn

Easily my best meal of 2011.

Kate, my wife, called it “the best meal ever”.

New York Times dubbed the it as one of the 10 restaurants worth a plane ride.

Simply Outstanding. Truly the best in farm to table dining.

All beach plants, wild herbs and fresh spring shoots were foraged on Lummi Island. The Asparagus, kohlrabi, peas, radishes, watercress, turnips, herbs and flowers were harvested from our own Nettles Farm, a five minute walk from the Inn.



Table Flower Arrangement



The Chef Blaine Wetzel, only 24 years old mind boggling in itself, apprenticed at Noma in Copenhagen—the best restaurant in the world, according to this year’s prestigious S. Pellegrino awards.

All this only an hour and a half from Vancouver, go, run don’t walk, go now!

Our Meal



Smoked King Salmon



Smoked King Salmon, troll caught locally by Jeremy Brown, and delivered straight to our kitchen from his boat, last night.

Based on a pacific northwest bent box, the salmon chunks are delivered with smoking cedar embers, perfuming the salmon and the air. The fish was smooth velvety on the inside with a smoky slightly leathery skin. Just give me 4 pounds of this stuff a bottle of Pinot and hide me under the stairs.



Black cod on potato with sauerkraut



Decedent creamy black cod set against the acidity of the sauerkraut and the crunch of potato chips.



Salad and Dip

Fun and Fresh. The "dirt" is toasted seasoned and flavoured rye bread crumbles.



Herb Toast with Brown Butter Emulsion



They need to jar the butter and sell it online. I'll take a tub.

Oysters Sorel and Tapioca Pearls



Loved the presentation, river rock frozen like a winter pond and two beautiful delicate oysters frozen in the wilderness.

The oysters are harvested from Penn Cove.

Razor Clams, frozen horseradish, pea shoots, potatoes

The horseradish melts in your mouth and the creamy clams are soft and cool and good.

Quinault tribal members harvested the razor clams.

Nettles farm asperagus with fresh cheese and pine

There was a tasty asparagus broth that brought everything together including and surprisingly the slightly resiny pine.

Wine Pairing: 2009 Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc ~ Marlborough

Local spot prawns with pickled kohlrabi

A work of art. The spot prawns are caught locally and and kept alive in the seafood tank just outside the kitchen.

Wine pairing: 2009 L'Ecole Estate 'Luminesce' Semillion Sauvignon Blanc ~ Walla Walla Valley.

Nettles farm peas with mint and whey

The chef likes broths and once again the pea mint broth kept everything together. The whey was interesting and a jelly like globby goodness.

Wine pairing: 2010 Tonado Torrontes, Chardonney ~ Mendoza.

Slow roasted lamb shoulder with morels and salmonberries

Another work of art. I think I ran past the lamb farm just down the road.

Paired with: 2007 Chehalen Steller Vinyard Pinot Noir ~ Williamette Valley

King salmon

This was Kate's veggie substitution salmon course from our fisherman friend Jeremy. I don’t know what chef Blaine did to this chunk of fish but it was outstandingly moist and salmony flavour cubed. I can't believe it myself but I think I preferred the Salmon to my lamb.

Lummi Island wildflowers with lemon verbina

For desert, a bit of molecular gastronomy, frozen wildflowers popping and melting in your mouth.

A pretty darn good meal. A nice relaxing weekend away. Nice.