No small potatoes for these incredible Island chefs
It may be a tiny province, but P.E.I. delivers two of the most amazing feasts Canada has to offer
“Instead of deciding on a menu and seeking ingredients, we scour this part of the Island for the best we can find, lay them out and write the menu.” Chef Hunter Guindon
Many critics consider them to be two of the best culinary experiences in Canada and they’re both on Prince Edward Island.
Each lasts three hours, includes seven creative courses and features the very best that this small, agriculturally focused province can offer from land and sea.
We were fortunate to be able to sample each on two successive, delicious evenings.
STRAIGHT FROM THE HEARTH
The first, called The Fireworks Feast, is the creation of Food Network celebrity chef, TV host and multiple cookbook author Michael Smith.
He and his wife, Chastity, run the five-star Inn at Bay Fortune and the even more upscale Inn at Fortune Bridge (guests at Fortune Bridge get transported to the nearby Feast in a vintage 1957 Bentley).
Every night, guests at the inns have priority seating at long, communal tables accommodating 86 patrons with food that Smith told us he wanted to be “real.” That reality comes from the adjacent 10- acre farm, 50 raised herb beds and an abundance of fresh seafood, much of it coming from the bay in full view of the lush resort.
The feast ($195 per person) starts at 6 p.m. each day, but we joined other patrons at 4 p.m. for an entertaining, one-hour guided tour of the grounds, herb gardens, greenhouses and vegetable beds from head farmer Kevin Petrie.
Then, at 5 p.m., the Fire Garden sizzles as guests meander among the Fire Alter, Smokehouse and charcoal grill for fresh fire-roasted oysters, smoked salmon, Yakitori chicken livers and tacos.
The heat and flavour that these sustainable hardwoods impart far surpass gas or electricity.
During this pre-feast hour, Smith is in his element as he parks himself at the all-you-can-eat Bay Fortune Oyster Bar shucking fresh ice-cold oysters and chatting with guests.
Smiling guests — especially those who love oysters — then file into the inn’s main dining room, where the Fire Brigade prepares the feast in front of a roaring hearth. The menu is generally the same each evening, but can vary, of course, depending on availability.
CREATIVE AND AMAZING MEAL
The feast starts with wood oven-baked sourdough bread made from heritage grains grown on P.E.I. It’s accompanied by maple brown butter, smokehouse paté and house made fresh cheese.
The bread is an outstanding accompaniment for the east coast chowder. Thick and delicious, it includes mussels, bar clams, scallops, salt cod, lobster and bacon.
The salad course, which Smith dubs the Harvest Bowl, looked wonderful and tasted even better. It included fresh herbs, shoots, stems, leaves, edible flowers and vegetables. Eating such a salad made us feel even healthier.
We were in awe of the great organizational skills as we watched the large, efficient staff assemble and prepare so much great food. This was especially evident for the complex main courses – a choice of lobster stuffed with savory, lovage and crab, smoked Island beef brisket with wood grilled flatiron beef or chia lentil vegan cake with Japanese knotweed relish.
Side dishes of potatoes, kale, radish, parsnip, turnip, milkweed and beets were so fresh and tasty, they would convert any vegetable skeptic.
Rhubarb was the star of dessert with a sorrel and rhubarb cake with lavender ice cream.
Smith wasn’t quite done with us, as all guests were given long sticks and homemade marshmallows and invited to roast them at an outdoor fire pit prepared by staff — a creative end to an amazing culinary experience.
‘NEXT STAR CHEF’
Smith is clearly the star chef on Prince Edward Island, but he now has competition from a relative rookie that the Globe and Mail called “one of the country’s next star chefs.”
A native of Ontario, Hunter Guindon is just 25 and fell in love with P.E.I. and its potential for great cuisine while attending culinary school on the island.
He actually began his career working for Smith at the Inn at Bay Fortune, but now is executive chef at The Table Culinary Studio in rural New London, P.E.I.
Located in a decommissioned church, The Table also features an exquisite and creative seven-course menu ($125 per person + $40 for a flight of five excellent Canadian wines), but differs in several ways.
Guindon told us his goal is to never cook the same dish twice.
“Every week, I change the menu from top to bottom,” he said.
He added that he plans his menus backwards.
“Instead of deciding on a menu and seeking ingredients, we scour this part of the Island for the best we can find, lay them out and write the menu.”
He and The Table owner, Derrick Hoar, take great pride in using only Canadian ingredients, with most coming from within 15 minutes of the 70-yearold former church.
The only exception is black pepper. “Instead of lemon and limes, we add flavour with rhubarb juice,” they told us.
Unlike the large crowd at the Fireworks Feast, The Table seats just 27 guests. Before each course, Guindon tells his guests about the dish and how it was created.
And what outstanding dishes they are!
A TRULY UNIQUE FEAST
Our menu started with Kentucky fried oysters with seaweed ranch sauce, followed by a salad of thinly-sliced cucumber with herb dressing and smoked yogurt.
The next dish had the most creative presentation we’ve seen in some time. The chef called it scallop raviolo, his version of bacon-wrapped scallop. Pasta surrounds a large, perfectly-cooked scallop and ground smoked pork, then is drizzled with lobster roe cream.
More unusual treats followed with popcorn polenta (popcorn cooked in cream, then put in a blender and strained) and garnished with peas, spring onion, herbs and asparagus.
The main course was a very tender eight-hour braised Island beef shoulder with ox tail jus and fresh vegetables.