MontrealFoodie

DINNER October 26, 2007

For the last couple of years I have been avoiding Raza. When Mario Navarate Jr. opened Madre I avoided going as well. Why? We have friends who know the chef.  "Come eat there with us," they said. "Mario will make us something that's not on the menu." Who could resist? But we were never able to make that meal happen and now that they have a baby we will probably never see them again. So the JJ and I decided to strike out on our own to Madre and order off the menu like regular folks.

Madre is located on Masson, the little street in the east end that is starting to be worth the detour for devotees of chic little restaurants. The interior of this little space is kind of a monochromatic brown festooned with dull brown artwork but the back ends in glass doors opening up on a gleaming, well-lit and orderly kitchen, which is a treat. Still, a little color wouldn't be out of place here.

Chef Navarate is at the forefront of Nuevo Latino cuisine in Montreal. Nuevo Latino has been described as a modern interpretation of traditional South American cooking, but it could just as easily be called South American fusion, with traditional South American ingredients including various tubers, chilies and  fish. Chef Navarate is of Peruvian origin and Madre (in honour of his mother, which even us Spanish-challenged people might have picked up on)  is apparently themed around Peruvian inspired comfort food.

The meal begins with homemade sweet potato bread served with mojo cubano, a delicious condiment made from olive oil, citrus juice and finely chopped garlic and onions. My one-piece-of-bread policy was completely tossed aside for these tiny crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside hot buns. Often, a restaurants make their own bread in a display of authenticity, but the product is not up to par and the diner suffers. Not so at Madre. I loved the bread and loved the mojo cubano. If you think olive oil is a nice substitute for butter, wait until you try this.

The JJ opted for Yukon Gold potatoes in Huancaina sauce with marinated carrot. Boiled slices of potato were topped with a cheese based sauce accented with amarillo peppers and garlic. The dish had a nice texture, great flavour and the peppers gave it a nice spicy finish. I ordered the $35 table d'hote which started with a white fish arepa on Jerusalem artichoke purée topped with a tomato based salsa. It was divine. The arepa, a fish croquette, was crunchy on the outside and cooked to silken perfection on the inside. The freshness of the tomato salsa contrasted well with the  earthiness of the purée and also contained a little heat that rounded out the dish nicely. This was a masterpiece of bringing together different tastes and textures. High marks for both appetizers.

The JJ's main was baked blue marlin with an amarillo glaze. It contained more heat than a lot of people (here in Canada) would appreciate, but I thought it was incredibly succulent. I had the duck leg confit with beer and cilantro risotto. If I had one complaint it would be that the risotto was a little overcooked but the combination of flavours, from the lightly flavoured melted cheese on the confit to the freshness that the cilantro brought to the risotto showed, again, that Mr. Navarete has a very keen ability to combine disparate ingredients to make beautiful food.

We ended the meal with a sweet potato bread pudding served with a homemade marshmallow and dulce de leche ice cream. Not your traditional bread pudding, this came across as a bit of a modernist take with a neat square of pudding topped with a rectangle of marshmallow and a nice quenelle of ice cream. I found the marshmallow a tad cloying but the elements of the dish fit very well together and this dish was, again, a real winner.

Complaints about Madre? As I had heard, the wine list is short and awkward with few selections by the glass. A glass of the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, Carmen Curico Valley 2006 accompanied the fish dishes well but I was hard pressed to order a red wine that did not overpower the food. I liked Argentinian Syrah-Malbec blend, Lorca, Tunuyan Mendoza 2006 but it failed me in this regard. Affordable bottles of red wine are also sparse although having tasted the food, a full-bodied white might be a better match for the spicy fare. My biggest complaint, though? I will always regret not having eaten here sooner. It's nice to eat at a new restaurant in Montreal that is not just a twist on the French bistro theme. Madre is different though and well worth the visit.

Cost with tip: Approximately $130. Great bang for the buck.

Rating:  Four stars

Restaurant Madre
2931 Masson
514.315.7932