Whither Winterlicious?

It seems like it was a very long time ago indeed, but 2003 saw SARS erupt as a pandemic that had pretty serious economic consequences for many of us in Ontario. Across the province, tourism got a nasty jolt and restaurants took no little hit with a slump in sales and a general malaise that took some time to slough off.

The city of Toronto tried to stimulate interest in restaurants–and sales–and created Summerlicious and Winterlicious: the latter usually runs during the first two weeks of February, generally a cold blustery doldrums of a period for the restaurant world, and seeks to prod and nudge moribund diners who are more inclined to ensconce themselves in the cozy confines of their homes and crank up the heat from the gas insert and watch another DVD than venture out into the cold.

The threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome has faded, but the summer and winter dining programs that feature prix fixe three- or four-course dinners at very low prices have lingered (but not with a touch of pneumonia). There are over 100 restaurants who have been “invited” by the city of Toronto to participate, and there is a scattering of restaurants in Waterloo Region who have created similar events.

Toronto’s program, for various reasons, stirred up both a helping of controversy and discontent on both sides of the dining relationship and even added a dash of outright pissed-off in some places. Here, there wasn’t ever the clamour or vitriol around the events. And, truth be told, I’m not really concerned with looking into all the details and issues therein. To each his own. Live and let eat.

I will, however, take you through a tasting of dishes I did at Oliver and Bonacini’s Cafe Grill in Waterloo. To be honest, this was the first time I’ve done a “winterlicious” event in a very long time. To be sure, the prices for the program can be very reasonable, even in Toronto at $45 for a multi-course meal. The O&B Waterloo version is called “WINTERFIXE” and costs $15 for a three-course app, main and dessert lunch and $25 for a three-course dinner. A white and red wine suggestion is $36 a bottle.

The chef de cuisine is John-David Jacobsen. He’s a cook with experience elsewhere in the O&B enterprise as well as some other local restaurants too. He has set down some local roots too: his partner is Tara Jacobsen who oversees pastry for the Charcoal Group of Restaurants.

Just about anyone can slap together a cured salmon–gravlax–but the trick is to have a bit of a feel for it and make sure the finished product has still got some salmon essence remaining. This version has some nice meaty body to it which could stand up to a citrusy-dill curing and nicely assertive lemon crème fraîche.

The direction is a classic one: capers, some red onions (but not overpowering red onions) and pumpernickel bread. Sometimes an allegiance to what is the “classic” is the best one. A dish like this, starter or otherwise, ought not be complicated. The salmon swam in from Jail Island, which is in Canada’s east coast. Other appetizers are a Caesar salad and a white pizza with prosciutto.

Classic gravlax ingredients.

Soup is next, and it is a hybrid of sorts involving coconut-rich curry and a straight-up roasted squash. Squash is my least favourite of foods, but the curry moderates it quite well. The soup’s strong elements were its smooth texture and good consistency but add to the that a fresh-onion garnish and some lightly roasted pepitas that introduce a pleasant crunch and you’ve got a delicious soup that lingers in the finish, subtly, thanks to coconut.

Coconut finish lingers.

Main dishes during WINTERFIXE range from trout, pork shoulder braised with Grand River Brewing Ploughman’s Ale, gnocchi, and brisket. Jacobsen’s trout gives what I think absolutely is needed in pan-fried fish: a crisp skin. Small chunks of red-jacket potatoes (properly cooked and offering just a slight toothsomeness) intermingle with the slightly sweet, slightly tart combination from some lovely braised leeks.

This is all heightened by the presence of smokey lardons of bacon from Stemmler’s Meats. A jus built around Kozlik’s mustard adds a bit of acidity and some crunch (including that froma  Maldon sea-salt garnish) that mimics thematically the deep rusty-brown colour of the trout skin–a fish courtesy of Georgian Bay and Cole-Munro Farms.

Neither overdone, nor underdone, a perfectly loved piece of trout is framed by a crisp skin and a rich Kozlik's mustard jus.

Next, Jacobsen rolls out a rope of sweet-potato gnocchi and cuts it into the lovely little dumplings and serves it with oyster mushrooms. To me, there is nothing better than a pasta or gnocchi with mushrooms and making gnocchi with sweet potato adds a layer of richness that pairs well with the heady mushroom flavours and texture. Brown butter makes this an even richer and heartier–and winteresque–dish. Wilted spinach adds some alluring colour and just the slightest nip of tartness. But it is the addition of the crunch of pistachio and a bit of fried sage sets it all off very well.

Sweet potato gnocchi with mushroom, spinach, and pistachio.

Brisket and braised meats make an appearance in many forms and at many different levels of dining. It’s nice to see Jacobsen and corporate chef for O&B Markus Bestig create a deeply flavoured braised brisket that brings into the mix a riff on southwest. This piece of delicious sub-primal comes from Stemmler’s and is rubbed with a spice mix before spending five hours or so braising gently. The result is a tender, meaty mouthful but one that retains a good heft and beefy chew that hasn’t been cooked away.

Black Angus brisket is braised five hours.

Perhaps taking a page from Joel Robuchon for pommes puree, a delicious elixir of uber-mashed spuds that have had worked into the mix hominy (dried corn kernels with shell and husk removed), some sweet corn and scallions that are pureed with Yukon Gold potato. The combination hits all the targets for taste and texture. A garnish of blue corn chips adds some important crisp to an otherwise soft-textured dish.

Yet again, I found myself loving the braised winter greens. Merely wilting greens does one thing, but cooking them carefully with just the right seasoning and supporting ingredients and what you get–or at least on my palate–is a rich, round, slightly sweet flavour that moves away from the merely vegetative and into something that is umami-esque: it carries in a slight but not visible caramelization and a full mouthfeel that satisfies like a protein.

The mole sauce (“mole” in Nahuatl means “concoction” because it uses so many ingredients) has a slight tartness and slight sweetness with slight heat components that together build into a very nice sauce. And, given that moles can often have two dozen ingredients, Bestig says that this version has nearly that many and is a long a complicated process of making essentially two pastes and blending them together with chilies and bittersweet chocolate. It is worth the few hours of prep and cooking time.

Desserts are carrot cake and bread pudding–two final courses that I ordinarily wouldn’t choose. However, it’s nice to see that the carrot cake is actually O&B co-owner Peter Oliver’s mother’s recipe (Sorry Ma! Carrot cake still is not my favourite!) and this version had good carrot flavour, a nice texture, some crunchy walnuts and a slightly tangy sour cream icing that was not too sweet as to be unapproachable. Courtesy of the popular SOMA, a lemon, sour cream gelato picks up the sour cream icing theme and is a tremendously invigorating gelato finish by the popular and respected chocolatier located in Toronto’s Distillery Historic District.

Peter Oliver Mere: carrot cake.

I also sampled a bread pudding with warming winter spices, cranberries, and pecans. Not generally a fan of the dish, this worked for me because it was moist and had to it a creamy quality as opposed to many I’ve tried that have been quite dry.  A beautifully simple but vanilla-rich crème Anglaise surrounds the individual portion serving (which I’m sure helped keep it moist compared the versions cut out of a larger pan), and there really couldn’t be any other garnish or sauce that works.

Homey bread pudding is a perfect winter fix.

Special winter pricing–like WINTERFIXE–offer diners a chance to visit restaurants they may not have visited before, or have not been visited for a while. It permits making some dining choices they wouldn’t ordinarily make. But it is also a good opportunity to experiment, to broaden culinary horizons and perhaps disabuse oneself of some notions about what restaurants are and aren’t.

While I’m not engaging in the Toronto-esque debate and issues that invariably crop up around Summerlicious and Winterlicious, I will add that these occasions do give cooks a chance to play around a bit with menus and ingredients and give potential new customers a chance to sample their craft. On this visit, Jacobsen and Bestig, et al. show how they can shine. And a little more light–and some new flavours in the tummy–during a gloomy winter is a good thing.

WINTERFIXE continues until February 9.