SubscribeDINNER February 21, 2009
François Mitterand’s last meal is a thing of legend. Esquire magazine’s Michael Paterniti famously wrote about the meal the former French president hosted eight days prior to his death at which diners gorged themselves on ortolans, little practically extinct birds that are eaten more or less whole after biting off their heads. While Americans found it fascinating, the French shrugged it off as part and parcel of being a powerbroker in the hexagon: mistresses, no speed limits and the illegal eating of protected species.
Chef Christophe Geffray, the owner of BYOW Restaurant Christophe on Van Horne who once worked as Mitterand’s private chef, probably doesn’t have a stash of ortolans on hand. But for this year’s Montreal Highlights festival he decided to leverage his own Mitterand experience to re-create the last meal he prepared for the great man. This has, you will understand, considerably less significance in the Mitterand myth than the ortolan meal or even Mitterand’s last meal as president. In the worst case, if it was really bad, he might even have been fired for cooking it. I’m kidding, of course, and took the meal as an opportunity to re-connect with a more classical French cooking that was once the norm but is now much harder to find in this city and elsewhere.
The president started off with a tartlet of mussels with Madras curry. The curry, more present in smell than taste, was faint and the tartlet itself might have been bought at Provigo and filled onsite. It was a little dry but the accompanying marinated peppers help get it down. Not an auspicious start. The next course consisted of three little foie gras cromesquis on a smear of reduced port set off with a little green salad. If I wanted to be a stickler I would say that the cromesquis were a little overcooked (the oil had separated quite a bit and spearing them with a fork resulted in great hazard for fellow diners). But these little crispy nuggets of foie gras were very tasty and I liked the fresh acidity of the green salad as a palate cleanser. Still, as one of my dining companions observed, it is no feat of magic to make foie gras tasty.
Next came a celery and mushroom velouté on which rested an impressive seared scallop topped with a poached quail egg. My egg was cold (intentionally or not, I’m not sure) and in any event didn’t seem to add much to the dish. The savouriness of the perfectly seared scallop and the earthiness of the soup played off each other well, though, resulting in a dish everyone agreed was quite enjoyable. The soup was followed by a filet of sole “bonne femme” that was traditional in name only, with the poached fish being accented by a bracing seafood jus and a strip of dried plantain. The surprising combination of flavours was almost tropical but worked very well together. The final savory course was a breast of free range guinea hen topped with a foie gras and truffle sauce and served with steamed and lightly sauteed parsnips and steamed rutabaga rolled in cabbage. The sauce, a delightful ode to cuisine classique, was rich, perfectly balanced and the focal point of the dish. It worked well with the sweetness of the parsnip and the subtle guinea hen meat. My only criticism is that the guinea hen itself could have been a little less tough. But this is a minor criticism as I thought the dish was a real winner.
For dessert, a chocolate stuffed pastilla was served with orange blossom ice cream and a fieldberry sorbet. A good balance of flavours and a simple enough dessert to top off a big meal, although the ice cream and sorbet had melted quite a bit by the time the dessert got to us.
For most chefs, the Montreal Highlights Festival is a time to play second fiddle to a foreign invitee. With the food not fully reflective of their establishment, the restaurant must distinguish itself through its service and hope that a pleasant experience will result in repeat business. Not so at Restaurant Christophe. Mr. Geffray has taken his menu in hand but, in many respects, it is different than the restaurant’s standard fare which is simpler, more modern and more market driven. When you sign up for a Mitterand meal, you don’t expect to spoon squid ink foam out of a brandy snifter and Restaurant Christophe’s Mitterand menu was an expected step back into the sauce-driven cuisine classique which Mr. Geffray, with his French pedigree (including a stint with renowned registered gun owner Bernard Loiseau), is well qualified to produce. Sadly, while the qualities of cuisine classique shine through in dishes like the guinea hen, as a whole the menu comes off as formalistic and stiff. When a menu is technique driven (as opposed to ingredient driven) the execution needs to be perfect and, on this night, it was not the case. The restaurant itself was a little less chic, a little more run down, than I recalled and the service, while workmanlike, was not particularly charming. While this wasn’t a meal that would dissuade me from coming back it also didn’t make me mark a return visit in my calendar. Too bad for Restaurant Christophe , which had the opportunity to leverage the Montreal Highlights Festival more than most.
Restaurant Christophe
1187 Van Horne
514.270.0850
www.restaurantchristophe.com
174627 2009-02-23
