MontrealFoodie

DINNER December 14, 2007

After the JJ and I ate  at Madre, the Reverend (who had also recently had a great meal at Madre) and I decided to arrange a small dinner at Raza,  Mario Navarrete Jr.'s other restaurant, with a group of friends. Raza gets more buzz and is reputed to be the more avant-garde of the two restaurants. We were anxious to see what the top dog of nuevo latino cuisine had to offer.

Raza is housed in a small glass-fronted room on a smart strip of Laurier. Cream and reds predominate, offset by dark tables, leather chairs and colorful photos projected on the walls. We start with cocktails: a pisco sour made from scratch and a riff on a Cosmopolitan, with the cranberry juice replaced by blue corn juice. Both are well made with the latter possessing a toned down sweetness and earthiness. Innovative, interesting and recommended.

The delicious sweet-potato rolls of Madre are on offer here as well but seem a little less amazing tonight. A little less crispy and needing a touch of salt. An amuse bouche is presented a rich and creamy pumpkin soup with a hint of truffle.

The wine list presents the same type of challenge as at Madre.  There are more wines on offer at Raza but they are disproportionately skewed to the higher end. I appreciate the effort to build a regional wine list but it is ironic that a selection of wines from a region offering some of the better values around could not incorporate more of these bottles. We order a bottle of reasonably priced Uruguayan viognier, definitely a first for me. A nice tropical bouquet and a creamy texture matches up fairly well with most of the food but a wine with a little more acidity might have been welcome. I have to give full credit to our waiter/sommelier for his helpfulness and a great presentation of the wine. Very impressive.

The JJ and I fight over which of us will order the empanada. Lightly fried, stuffed with apples, pork, blue corn and foie gras and served with lightly pickled root vegetables, it ends up being well worth fighting over. I only got a couple of bites since I didn't win and my only complaint is that the foie gras tends to get lost with the other flavours. Still, a real winner. I am a little less impressed with my salmon tartare which features rocoto peppers, is topped with a chorizo foam and is served on a little arepa (like a little cornflour pancake). Available as either an entrée or a main, I like  the spiciness and the contrast of textures provided by the arepa but I'm missing the acidity I like in a salmon tartare. The chorizo foam adds a salty aspect but not a lot of distinctive flavour. Good, but not great (Mr. Navarrete suffers from having set the bar quite high). I regret not taking the ceviche of duck magret served on a parsnip puree but can only watch as two plates are devoured just out of arm's reach. Next time, perhaps.

Having developed an affinity for huancaina sauce (a light and spicy fresh cheese based sauce) on my visit to Madre, I cannot resist the grilled shrimp and scallops in hauncaina with quinoa and a salsa criolla. Perfectly cooked and with all the ingredients tossed together it is not what I was expecting but is delicious nonetheless. The quinoa, huancaina salsa criolla all mixed together stick to the shrimp and scallops like batter providing texture and spice to the morsels of seafood. The JJ orders the cornish hen stuffed with bread, prosciutto, pine nuts and served on a bed of carapulca, a tasty potato and meat based stew. Diverse flavours come together to form a delicious and unusual dish here. Another strong performer.

Only two choices for dessert but neither is a disappointment. I opt for the chicarones: little fried dumplings stuffed with pumpkin and sweet potato, dusted with sugar and paprika and served in a pool of chancaca, a sweeter and lighter version of molasses with dulce de leche ice cream. This is authentic and might not appeal to all tastes but I think they're fantastic. My only complaint, not enough ice cream...a minor quibble. Most of the table orders a chocolate cake crusted with salt, topped with flambeed bananas and served with the same dulce de leche ice cream. Nothing wrong here.

I was expecting a lot from this meal and it probably didn't live up to my expectations. This probably says more about how high my expectations were after going to Madre than it does about the meal, which was delicious, if not fantastic. The service was uneven. Friendly and personable at times, but not attentive, a fault accentuated by the small number of tables to serve. On the Friday night we were there, there were only three tables. Granted we were dealing with a big snowfall and in the middle of the holidays but unless Raza gets more turnover it's not going to be around for long. And that would be a shame, because the culinary scene in Montreal would be all the poorer for losing such an interesting restaurant. If you haven't been to Raza, I recommend a visit

Cost (for two): $230

Raza
114 Laurier W.
514.227.8712