this page is the only thing i can find that lists chef boulud, but on returning i couldn't find the entry :-S. another quick search turned up lumiere+chef feenie. so perhaps the current chefs/owners aren't the ones who appeared on the show. however executive chef macKay has worked in chef gordon ramsey's kitchen, and the food was fantastic.
there's only about 12 tables in this place, so it's very small. we walked in and were taken to the only round table, situated in the corner closest to the kitchen (it's down a hall so no, none of the stereotypical double doors with wait staff going in and out like mad. in fact it might be the largest table in the room without moving 2 tables together. the head waiter came over and started talking with us. he referred to the reservation - "you indicated you were interested in the chef's menu..." which is correct. online they have a couple tasting menus but don't mention a 'chef's table/menu' specifically, so i wasn't sure what we would end up with. we decided to start with a glass of local sparkling wine from the okanagan area of BC which was pretty good. and he brought over a menu for me to take pics of and for us to look through for fun. as it turned out there were a couple plates that were listed. while enjoying the brut we noticed that there were a number of 'little benches' and a lady at a nearby table was using one for her purse. yay! unlike 11 and ceil bleu, the tables were much closer together.
pacific coast oyster, cafir limei velate, sturgeon caviar
the lime velate is like a thin layer covering the oyster. and i couldn't taste the caviar :-(
otherwise i'm sure it was good but i'm just not into the oyster thing.
the bread was brought around and matt picked up sourdough, green olive, and a 7 grain
course 1 -citrus cured hamachi, red & yellow beets, white sturgeon caviar, and tofu
that white sheet underneath everything is a thin layer of creamy tofu. while it didn't really have any taste, it added a wee bit of texture to everything. THIS is how tofu ought to be used!
there was nothing left on this plate when we were done with it. i guess i'm getting a taste for hamachi... but i'm sure it also depends on the fish used and what it's paired with on the plate. served with:
course 2, 2a - was actually 2 different preparations of foie gras, so we also got 2 wines. matt and i split these plates in 1/2 so we could each try both.quebec foie gras mousse parfait sundae, brioche waffle, red wine reduction, apricot, hazelnut toppings
this was absolutely frikken amazing! it was (sorry chef) better than the foie gras ice cream we had at harvest vine. while i'm not a huge apricot fan, the acidity was cut by the foie gras. and it had a bit of 'caramel' texture. this was so light! it was served with
the other plate was a country style pate - a fraser valley venison pate to be exact. with cranberry jelly, cauliflower and a mustard sauce.
this was also quite excellent! it was my 1st venison pate. while there was nothing left on either plate, the mousse won my vote. this was served with
course 3, 3a - pan roasted qualicum bay scallops, potato puree, parsley, romaine lettuce, persimmon, scallop justhe scallops were really good, but i could've done without the lettuce. it was a bit too bitter for me. there's a wee bit of truffle on top of the orange stuff which is persimmon. it was served with the
matt was handed a plate with a marinated BC black cod, diced pear, cashews, brussels sprouts, and 5 spiced pork jus.
it was also quite nice. so far we've both managed to clean all the plates. this was served with
course 4 - fillet of arctic char, celery root 'spaghetti', braised red cabbage puree, black trumpets.
the celery root spaghetti is the rolled bit on the left, the puree is on top of the fish on the right.
my 1st arctic char. it was pretty good. nice texture for me, pretty mild in flavor, it was served with gasp! a red wine!course 5, 5a -
we opted at the start to pay extra for the addition of truffles on several of our plates. we also opted to include the foie gras course. this next course we had an option of a mascarpone risotto with white or black truffles. we chose to each get 1 so we could try both. after all the 2 truffles have distinctively different flavors. i only have a picture of the black truffle plate as matt couldn't wait and forked up several bites before i even picked up the camera! - but they looked the same except 1 had white 'dots' and you'll see the black 'dots' from the black truffles.
the 2 plates were so different i was amazed. i knew they'd be different but not by that much. the white alba truffles added depth to the risotto while the black added more flavor. if i had to vote it'd be tough but i think the black truffle won. but i might need to try both again to be sure :-) they were served with
course 6 -on the left is a duck foie gras with pepper glaze and on the right is a spiced glazed fraser valley duck breast, lentils, lam jus, diced radishes, apples. i think this was the 1st bit i didn't finish and let matt have the honors. i realized i wouldn't be able to keep going much further if i didn't start pacing.
these were quite good. i really liked the flavor of the breast. in fact my notes say "love=the duck skin, skin of duck phenom!" sadly the seared left me a little flat. they were served with
course 7, 7a - i was handed the roasted canon of opal valley lamb (shoulder), bulgar wheat, pickled radishes, black garlic lamb jusuh yum! served with
and matt was handed the duo of AAA prime beef, red wine braised short ribs, potato fondant, and seared rib eye, romaine, hen of the woods mushrooms
this was nice but i prefered the lamb. served with
matt tried every one of the breads but i only had a wee little taste. i agree bread is 1 of the best food inventions, but i have a small enough tummy i don't want to fill up on the bread. you never know what the next plate might contain.
a nice selection of artisanal cheeses
from left: blue, quince gelee underneath, almonds, dem burre? from quebec, a goat - st. something, comte on top, sheep manchego underneath i couldn't grab the name of all of them. our server said he'd email me a list of everything we actually ate but i haven't seen it. could be he got so busy he forgot, or it was filtered out by my spam and the subj line was something i didnt' recognize. oh well. luckily most of the plates i caught most of the details and are very similar to what was on the menu somewhere. anyway, the cheese was served with
oh so good!
pink lady apple pave, ginger cinnamon panna cotta, speculoos - that's the little jellies.
served with
hot and cold tiramisu sundae - deconstructed. in fact it was only during the writing of this post that the light bulb went off! here's what happened...
by this time we were both so full. even 1 of the servers at one point maybe about 1/2 way through said to us "chef won't be offended if you don't finish everything. it's all about tasting and trying new things". so we get this, the "hot" part of the tiramisu. it's got a wafer thing layer of chocolate on top which melts (as you can see it starting to do in the picture) when the hot chocolate cremeux is poured on top, and inside the little cup is a mascarpone mousse.
these are the ladyfingers that you find in your tiramisu. this version had no coffee anything in it which is fine with me. they were served with
top row left to right: chocolate macaroon, apricot or peach(?) gelee, lemon merengue
bottom row left to right: banana nutbread, lemon curd, chocolate with gold
so we actually had 11 courses, but several had 2 different plates, so we really had 16 courses. it was also during this dinner that we decided in the future we ought to just get 1 flight of wine with the food pairing and we can split that, too. there were quite a few glasses i didn't drain, and matt even let them take some away before he emptied them. we had wine with every course, JIC you hadn't noticed. really, go back up and check if you don't believe me. that was a 1st for us. had we known we probably wouldn't have had the glass of bubbles up front but oh well. and while i don't think we were ever given a 'refill' on anything but water and coffee, they were very generous pours to start with.
i would definitely go back, and recommend to anyone who wants a really nice meal in vancouver.
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