Being a Toronto Life Insider has its perks. As a foodie, members
can attend R&D dinners where restaurants offer a special menu, often
showcasing new dishes to come. It was almost comical when dozens of us
descended downtown, on a snowy Sunday evening, to visit The Chase to try their spring menu. With the blanket of snow pelting the city, it
certainly didn’t feel like spring.
The 7-course menu ($155) included wine pairings from
producers across Ontario, including a focus on Big Head, a little known winery
from Niagara-on-the-Lake. I was excited for the evening… we were surely in for
a treat given the restaurant is known for its luxurious menus drawing corporate
crowds flushed with spending accounts.
Indeed, our first bites fit the bill: a truffle beignet and
raw oyster. The beignet is nothing like the puffy pastry from New Orleans,
instead akin to a savoury crispy falafel. The truffle scent floods the mouth
with a bit of creamy freshness from the crème fraiche and chervil.
This was followed with a single smoked oyster - Taylor notes
spring is a great time to enjoy the seafood as the waters are still cold. The
smoked oyster was in fact refreshing, especially after the heavier truffle
falafel. It was simply flavoured with a wild onion mignonette that had just a
hint of spiciness to tingle the tongue. Generally, mignonette can be heavy on the
vinegar. At Chase, the condiment is balanced with Chardonnay so the tanginess
is mellowed and melds better with the seafood’s natural briny juices.
The shrimp and grit’s aroma proceeds the actual dish… if
only I could capture the smell to share with you. Taylor explains it’s a dish
he’s been tinkering with for years to really highlight his commitment in using ingredients
that can be sourced within 100km of the city. K2 Milling’s red crow grits sits
in a sea buckthorn hot sauce, rosemary oil and pork stock; each grain filled
with so many flavours, then taken to another level with chunks of
melt-in-your-mouth smoked pork hock strewn throughout.
Crowning the dish was a single shrimp grown in Stratford,
Ontario, the local farm raising Pacific white shrimp sustainably. The
sustainability theme is in each element of the dish – even the garnish of deep
fried wild onion roots, which adds a delicious sweetness instead of getting
wasted.
A dish that looks like spring is the bison. Indeed, you don’t
normally think of this wooly game meat during a flowery season, but all the
beautiful garnishes makes the plate seem like a flower box. The bison is
quickly cured and served carpaccio style with dollops of smoked buttermilk,
pickled ramp, wild watercress, and toasted hemp hearts. Each bite is
interesting thanks to the varying flavours and textures.
The raviolo arrives like a bright sun, plump from being stuffed
with an egg yolk and thin layer of truffle. In lieu of a cream sauce, it’s
topped with truffle gastrique
sweetened with maple syrup and chervil water.
Of the meal, it’s perhaps the most educating dish as Taylor
explains how the herbs are cultivated using hydroponics (a new technology that
raises herbs using water and fish in a closed loop system) and even provides
diners with tips on how to ensure the pasta is cooked while the yolk remains
molten: insulate the egg, regulate the pasta’s thickness, and never let the
water temperature drop.
While the raviolo looks impressive, as soon as you cut
through the pasta, the yolk is so runny it simply gushes out and mixes into the
other liquids. Which could be okay, but there’s perhaps too many elements and
flavours that it just didn’t tie together. Sadly, the mild truffle really didn’t
stand out. If anything, aside from the egg, a sweet herby flavour was most
pronounced.
I enjoyed the boozy palette cleanser, a tonic and cucumber
granita with unfiltered Dillion’s gin poured table side. It’s definitely not
your typical sweet granita and definitely more fun.
You can’t create a Canadian seafood dinner without cod – in fact,
Taylor tells us in Newfoundland fishing means catching cod – everything else is
known by name (such as going trouting). In line with his sustainable beliefs,
the meal featured the limited line-caught Fogo Island cod.
The fish is sous vide with morel butter, sautéed morels, sprouted
legume, and a maple vinaigrette. A lovely aromatic dashi (a concoction of bull kelp, morels, and wild onion tips) is then
poured on top. While it looks like there’s a lot happening on the dish, the
elements are rather mellow so the cod remains the predominant flavour with a hint
of earthiness. Overall, the fish was cooked beautifully, and was a tasty dish,
but a touch more seasoning will help.
Dinner ends with a lovely Ontario lamb wellington wrapped in
the traditional crepe, chicken liver duxelle
(heavy on the liver and light on mushrooms), and a thin layer of Swiss
chard. The lamb saddle is a flavourful but tougher cut, so the Chef ensures it’s
tender by sous viding it first. It was absolutely delicious and even more
commendable by featuring pasture raised lamb.
Child-like gasps and giddy laughter erupts as a behemoth
plate of buttermilk panna cotta is set down - we’re all astounded by the sheer
size of the dessert, yet plates are cleaned amongst our table. The panna cotta
is creamy and rich, but lightened with compressed candied rhubarb and dollops
of rhubarb gelatin. It certainly provided the relaxing and soothing exit Chef
Taylor intended.
When I first heard about the Chase’s R&D dinner, I was
excited to visit the restaurant to experience the luxurious seafood creations.
Yet, what surprised me the most (and has me returning) is learning the Chase cares
about using ethical and sustainable ingredients. In fact, dishes aren’t about fancy
exotic inputs, but rather supporting local whenever possible. It’s a restaurant
that’s proud to feature garnishes from ingredients that may otherwise be thrown
away… take that corporate accounts.
Overall mark - 8 out of 10
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How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 10 Temperance Street (penthouse)
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
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