Takeout goes upscale QUATREFOIL
Quatrefoil and Pearl Morissette offer elegant options for dining at home
“Upscale” restaurants — higher-priced, the finest ingredients, prepared creatively and presented artfully — were special-occasion destinations, not date-night takeout. COVID-19 is changing this — and it works.
Quatrefoil celebrated its 10th anniversary in May while in lockdown and reopened for takeout in June, shortly before Stage 2 permitted patio use. Owners Georgina Mitropoulos and Fraser Macfarlane both have careers that include work in prestigious restaurants overseas. In fact, Mitropoulos left the kitchens of the iconic Marco Pierre White to return to the equally iconic Scaramouche where she and Macfarlane met. In her hometown of Dundas, they opened Quatrefoil, quickly garnering accolades and awards.
On their sun-dappled patio, I was handed a chic bag, filled with black and white containers. No quibbles with brown-bag takeouts, but this packaging telegraphed elegance. Macfarlane explained they selected packaging that matched their brand, showcased their food and kept the à la minute mains warm for the journey home.
Spring Pea Soup with pumpernickel shards featured the inspired addition of horseradish cream that added complex flavours. The salad of fresh “little gem” greens cleverly added slices of seasonal asparagus, with watercress, radishes and crumbled hard-cooked eggs adding colour, texture and flavour.
Coconut steamed rice topped with baby carrots cooked to perfection and gai lan (resembling rapini) was the side for a choice of mains. We chose Pacific Halibut and Braised Beef Short Ribs. In their respective boxes, both mains sat on a thick slice of Japanese/Asian sweet potato — yellow-fleshed with a subtle sweet flavour. It was braised in smoked butter and vegetable stock, then topped with thinly sliced white turnips and mustard pickle sauce. A delicious and unexpected part of the meal.
The dessert of Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie with white chocolate/cherry cream was a divine ending to a luxurious meal.
A week later, we did takeout from The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette (RPM) — just named #17 in “Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants.” Prepandemic you had to book months ahead for their multi-course prix fixe meal. Awards enhance the “upscale” status, but RPM was never “chi-chi.” In the Niagara Peninsula countryside, you approach past crops and ponds, ducks and cattle, to dine calmly in a serene black building. The high-ceilinged, uncrowded dining space, with no white tablecloths set the stage for the 8-10 course meal that, on the whole, was casual.
Could that experience be translated to takeout?
Mostly, yes. Our RPM box was filled with containers that combined to create a leisurely at-home meal. We did miss the plate descriptions delivered tableside by either servers or chefs.
The co-chefs are Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson, each with a long list of credentials earned in Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe (and in the case of Hadida, also Mexico and Peru).
Hadida has now filled the gap in our experience by creating short videos describing the week’s takeout. He’s easy listening and needs little coaxing to chat about RPM values — a style of food connecting to land, nature and place, building a sustainable restaurant that nourishes the team as much as patrons and creates a “gateway to a stable food system” that includes farmers/suppliers.
Early in the pandemic lockdown, they set up an online Country Market, continuing now as a monthly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription. “RPM At Home” began a few weeks ago. Hadida stressed that they want to “ensure that any new endeavour we take on continues to serve (those values) … that restaurant that existed before COVID (for now) no longer exists … it’s incumbent upon us … to rebuild what those values mean.”
Values were reflected in their choice of containers — some made from oven-safe sugar-cane pulp and the rest compostable or recyclable.
The five-course menu became seven with the unexpected addition of sourdough bread and fresh garden greens. The minimalist instructions invited us to “Enjoy your bread and crudité” while preheating the oven. The bread made from heritage flours was delicious along with a cultured butter kissed with sea salt.
The Crudités were not cliché. Fresh radishes were the colour-pop next to turnip and kohlrabi (my new favourite raw veg). The walleye roe pâté illustrates their kitchen practices. Since they clean their own fish they collect roe that is preserved, dried, hot smoked, cooked, blended and finally dressed with roe and lemon vinegar. We licked that container clean and might have treasured it even more had we known all that went into its preparation.
Colourful badger flame-roasted beets — served with pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seed milk and garnished with mint and pickled green peach — were delightful.
Black Angus Beef was prepared tataki style — seared on the outside, rare inside, sliced thinly and marinated, with a sauce that included black garlic and shellfish garum (fermented fish sauce). Roasted sweet onions and crunchy buckwheat added to the texture and flavour profile.
The roasted lamb shoulder was remarkably tender. Dry-ageing for about a month tenderizes and concentrates the flavour. Grilled over an open peach-wood fire it is then submerged in lamb fat — confit style — and, next day, is glazed in reduced lamb jus. Served with grilled baby fennel from their garden, and heirloom grains it was perfection.
A light dessert that delighted the eye and palette was strawberry cake with lemon balm mousse. 16 Sydenham St., Dundas 905-628-7800 https://quatrefoilrestaurant.com/ Hours: Thursday to Sunday 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. — contactless pickup of online orders; patio now open Thursday to Saturday 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Monday to Wednesday closed.
What I paid: Prix Fixe Dinner (4 courses) $50 per person
The $50 per person price was terrific value and surprisingly affordable since RPM uses the no-tipping model that translates to higher menu prices but enables living wages — all part of being an industry leader and food security advocate.
In Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine, Hadida says “If all you’re doing is making dinner, that’s fine, but why would you not work at making the world better if you have the chance?” Mission accomplished.