Day 57 Dinner in Sherbrooke Quebec, Canada. Antidote Food Lab

oregano & onion bread

 seafood salad

 Duck Gizzard confit

 Beet Ravioli

 coffee serving set

brown sugar cubes

 Crackerjack (Popcorn ice cream)

http://www.antidotefoodlab.com/menus/ANGLAIS.pdf

So this dining experience was the result of a last minute road trip to Canada,   Sherbrooke, Quebec to be exact.

My friend Pablo is always good for an impromptu road trip and I have to say this was a different one. 

Not knowing anything about Sherbrooke, I googled best restaurants in Sherbrooke and the #1 restaurant to appear on the list was

“Antidote Food Lab”, well being that we were only going to be in Sherbrook for 1 evening (so 1 dinner) I stopped reading at #1.

Well we took a chance and didn’t make a reservation and just showed up, they were booked for the evening but they gave us 2 seats at the bar and in my opinion the best 2 seats in the house.

The bar seats are positioned so you can look directly into the kitchen and that is a show on its own.  The kitchen staff is a well-oiled machine moving around that kitchen like organized chaos, but each member of the team doing their part to perfection.

 

Each staff member I met (including the head chef/owner) was welcoming, friendly, and very informative of each dish I inquired about. 

Pablo and I were not partaking in alcoholic beverages that evening but I was watching the bartender make some fabulous looking cocktails all evening.

He brought us out a bucket (yes a bucket) of oregano & onion bread…..I’m going to let you think about that for a while.  This bread was amazing (we ate 3 buckets of it).

It was fabulous on its own, with a little bit of butter or sopping up the mushroom gravy from my entrée (I would use this bread to eat most my meals) .

Then we ordered an appetizer, the fabulous Seafood Salad pictured above.  This was visually stunning, with 2 kinds of shrimp, scallops, radish, cucumber and apricots. The seafood was super fresh, and a perfect blend with the dressing, squid ink, and toppings. There was no fishy taste or smell, which has disappointed me in the past at other restaurants.  Fresh fish should not smell fishy; it’s a very basic fact.

 

Pablo got the beet ravioli’s (which I was toying with ordering) and he enjoyed every morsel, the raviolis were plump and loaded with beet, mushrooms and goat cheese, beautifully plated around tomato and beets salsa, with a cream of candied garlic & tarragon foam. I was eyeballing his plate as soon as it arrived but he was guarding it cautiously.  A generous portion but not so much you wouldn’t be able to get dessert (Wait til I get to Dessert)

 

I got the daily poultry dish; it was duck confit with duck gizzards, potato and mushrooms, with a very nice puff pastry and served with decadent mushroom gravy. I enjoyed every bite; the combination of the mushroom gravy with the duck was heavenly.  I would make the trip up to Canada again for this dish alone. A generous portion, the duck cooked & seasoned just right and I could make a meal alone with that amazing bread and this gravy.  I know mushrooms aren’t for everyone, but if you are feeling a little adventurous I think this dish could make you a fan.

 

Now at this point we are both pretty full, but something caught my eye. The bartender was preparing coffee for a customer and the coffee serving set that comes with a mug of coffee, reminded me of one of the best things I love about European bakeries. They give you a black cup of coffee, and then they offer a jar of brown sugar cubes, a container of cream, a container of milk, and a jar of white sugar.  It’s the little touches sometimes and this is one that I just adore.  Well obviously if we order a delicious cup of coffee, we had no choice but to split a dessert and while they all sounded amazing, I had no choice but to use my veto power and order the Crackerjack (Popcorn ice cream, crispy caramel salted butter powder and popcorn) this is pictured above, and each bite was better than the last. So creamy and salty, the salted butter powder is served under the ice cream ball, and you want to make sure you get a little bit of everything with each spoonful.  This was the perfect size, just the right amount after the amazing dinners. Even less guilt if you share like we did, although I confess the sharing might have been 60/40 in my favor ;-) .

 

One of the things I am not expressing enough was how much I loved the creativity they show in putting this menu together, and the different culinary skills they use in their kitchen/Laboratory. Watching these mad scientists creating each dish is watching a labor of love and I can’t recommend the Antidote Food Lab enough to anyone who finds themselves in the Sherbrooke area.

 

Have a great night, and an even better mea.

 

Bon Jour

Kevin B.

Day 56 a taste of Tibetan cuisine at Martsa on Elm, in Davis Square in Somerville

 Pumpkin Balls

 Vegetable Momo's (fried and steamed)

 tofu, with pineapple & potatoes in red curry sauce 

 Tofu with zucchini , red peppers and garlic

So as the reviews in my blog indicate i am a big fan of trying different cultures cuisines, this particular choice was one i have been anxious to try for many years as Tibet is at the top of my bucket list.

Well when Lina mentioned trying Tibetan cuisine in one of my favorite little neighbor hoods , i jumped at the opportunity.  Her hot streak of picking fun restaurants continues, as Martsa on Elm was a fun and eclectic dining experience. A very clean environment, the staff very welcoming and friendly. Our waiter was awfully helpful in recommending authentic Tibetan cuisines to us. 

We thought we would start with a couple of appetizers , and 1 of them jumped off the menu at us both, The Pumpkin Balls…. wow, amazing. These are fried balls of pumpkin and different seasons, with a pepper jelly and drizzled with lovely aioli.  One of the best appetizers i have had in a long time and a great beginning to the Autumn delicacies that are popping up everywhere. Our waiter recommended the momo's as a real Tibetan delicacy , we went with all veggie but 1/2 friend and 1/2 steamed. I loved both but surprisingly i loved the steamed more. i think its because i could fully taste all the wonderful veggie flavors in each dumpling. They offer 2 sauces for dipping , 1 spicy and 1 mild….the mild was my favorite, Lina really enjoyed the spicy.

We both went for tofu dishes, ( a first for me), while Lina enjoyed hers i think she was a little bit jealous over mine. The red curry sauce was amazing , just bursting with flavor and a the perfect companion to the tofu, pineapple & potatoes.  I would definitely get this dish again, in fact i cold make a meal out of the sauce and the pineapple alone. The waiter recommended the rice, i at first declined but he wisely pushed it again as its a very saucy meal ( almost as saucy as the gentleman who ordered it) and the rice was a nice binder. 

So when you find yourself in Davis Square and are looking for something different to try. I would strongly suggest Martsa on Elm ( but i wouldn't recommend asking Siri for directions, as Martsa does not appear to be a word she understands too clearly)  ;-)

so have a great night and an even better meal.

Kevin B.