DINING WITH FLAIR
Innovation is on the menu
Have you heard of Daniel Vézina? There have been few mentions of this chef in English-language media, besides several reviews in this space of his Laurie Raphaël restaurants in Montreal and Quebec City. And yet he is a bona fide star, not only due to longevity — the Quebec City location opened in 1991 — but because of his ever-expanding media presence.
Vézina has written six cookbooks, hosted several cooking shows and, most Saturdays, co-hosts the food-centred RadioCanada program On n’est pas sortie de l’auberge.
This year he returns as a sort of kitchen mentor and host on Radio-Canada’s TV reality cooking show Les Chefs, and if you’re taking a flight on Air Transat any time soon, a selection of gourmet meals inspired by Vézina’s signature recipes are available for purchase.
Vézina also happens to be a heck of a nice guy. Along with his BFF Normand Laprise, he is considered one of the pioneers of Québécois cuisine. His menus are laden with the province’s best ingredients, his plate presentations are complex, and his restaurants are occupied by seasoned gourmets ready to fork over for pricey tasting menus.
In 2008, Vézina took over the restaurant in Montreal’s Hôtel Le Germain, a difficult space on the mezzanine that had undergone several incarnations. Named after his two children Laurie and Raphaël, the Montreal operation got off to a rocky start. It was crowded, the food was finicky and service was all over the place.
But when I reviewed it for a second time in 2011, I had one of those all-time memorable meals — seriously delicious and interesting food combined with sharp service. The style was modern, as in molecular-cuisineinfluenced with foams, powders, crumbles and jellies used to highlight dishes that were often deconstructed, reconstructed, rethought or reinvented.
That sort of food can be hit or miss, but Vézina’s hit — or, more precisely, Raphaël’s did, as the chef’s 23-year-old son was managing the kitchen at the time.
Today, while dad juggles TV, radio and airplane food-making tasks, Vézina junior is back at the maison mère in Quebec City. The space was completely renovated last year and is sure to top my eating destinations the next time I’m in the provincial capital.
Meanwhile, with all the action around the Laurie Raphaël brand, I wondered what was going on at the Montreal location, where chef Samuel SauvéLamothe now runs the kitchen. Reviews have always been positive, but I can’t think of the last time it made a best-of-Montreal list.
The vast majority of critics tend to review restaurants when they are new — and then, adieu. But in reality, restaurants change dramatically over time and should be revisited, especially places like Laurie Raphaël, where innovation is the name of the game.
For example, Joe Beef 2017 is not as it was when it opened. Neither is Toqué or even Café Ferreira. Now you can add Laurie Raphaël to that list. And after my dinner there last week, I wouldn’t hesitate to call this one of the most underrated restaurants in the city.
The room appears more open than I remember. Though the best seats are close to the window overlooking the street (riddled with construction cones), the new banquettes lining the entranceway around the staircase are roomy yet tight enough for intimate conversation.
The restaurant offers a tasting menu format with either a 10- or five-course tasting, or à la carte. We opted for the latter, beginning with an amuse bouche. Wait a minute — amuse bouche? When was the last time you saw one of those? Not lately, but this one — made with sea urchin, shrimp and a great little granité made with lovage — impressed.
The menu items follow a somewhat dated format with producers’ names woven into dish descriptions. Sprouts are from forager François Brouillard, cheese from Fromagerie Au Gré des Champs, caviar from Lac StPierre. As much as it all sounds a tad de trop, one can only admire Vézina for his commitment to his suppliers.
The use of avocado and pineapple indicates the menu is not strictly local or seasonal (as in brussels sprouts in May). Nonetheless, the results are excellent, especially as the plates are so artistically assembled — a rarity on our increasingly casual dining landscape.
To begin, three appetizers featuring trout gravlax, snow crab and marrow paired with whelks.
Garnished with a pine branch, the gravlax was silky and luscious and topped with a wafer-thin tuile of fish skin. Flavour enhancers included marinated juniper berries, puréed ramps, pickled pearl onions, edible flowers and greens interspaced with dabs of creamed cheese. What a beautiful plate.
The snow crab starter was even prettier, with crab rolled into spring rolls, stuffed into a golden cannelloni made of potato ribbons, and served solo, pink and pristine, leaning on a rice chip.
And then there was the marrow, served in a big hollowed-out bone mixed with fried croutons, bits of sea snail and caviar, with charred wakame, seaweed butter and wine vinegar providing an added flavour hit.
Mains were just as wow-worthy. There was a perfect piece of walleye served in a pool of green sauce topped with fiddleheads, peas and lettuce. Such a welcome taste of spring in that dish.
Then came a tender smoked loin from Gaspor Farms in StJérôme with grilled pineapple, aligot-style potatoes, a maple grand-père cake, pork crackling and the aforementioned brussels sprouts. Even though I found the texture of the smoked pork oddly rubbery, I enjoyed this sort of ode to the cabane à sucre plate.
The most stunning dish was
the duck magret served with strawberry compote, broad beans and nasturtium leaves. The colours, textures and bold sweet, bitter and earthy flavours all played nicely together, though I wish the chefs had kept just a bit more fat on the duck breast for an added layer of richness.
Desserts have always been a strength of Laurie Raphaël, and that’s still the case. Two of them are pour-over style, meaning they are set underneath a dome that dissolves as quickly as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz when hot sauce is poured overtop.
The first was a white chocolate dome doused in hot butterscotch sauce, which collapsed to unveil coconut ice cream, candied almonds and pineapple chunks. Ouf! — and that tasted even better than it sounds. The second was a chocolate sphere filled with maple ice cream and a buckthorn-and-maple foam that was melted with the aid of a maplewater caramel sauce. More fun!
The third, alas, was hardly as riveting — just a meringue pouf filled with runny maple taffy served with candied pecans and ginger ice that was great, but not as captivating as those caramelsoaked domes.
Add to all this a superb wine list, fine service (though a notch less sharp than at my last visit) and good times had by all while admiring all the pretty plate presentations and delectable taste combinations.
Despite the star power behind this operation, Laurie Raphaël may have fallen under the radar. Ridiculous. For a night of creative fine dining, I can think of few Montreal restaurants that can deliver the goods with such gusto.
Restaurants change dramatically over time and should be revisited, especially places like Laurie Raphaël, where innovation is the name of the game.
criticsnotebook@gmail.com twitter.com/LesleyChestrman You can hear Lesley Chesterman on Ici Radio-Canada Première’s Médium Large (95.1 FM) Tuesdays at 10 a.m., and on CHOM (97.7 FM) Wednesdays at 7:10 a.m.