Acclaimed chef J.P. Challet is preparing to officially open Ici, his new French restaurant.
Ahead of the launch, Challet and his partners/fellow chefs — Peter Tsang and Jennifer Decorte — agreed to do a special game dinner for my friends and me.
We enjoyed a Chateau Larrivet-Haut Brion 2000 alongside hors d’oevres of goat cheese tarte with caramelized onion and a very mellow tasting onion tarte.
Next was lobster bisque with quenelles of whitefish, julienned cucumber and a dusting of powdered mandarin. The soup had a mild haunting flavour of fennel and the mandarin powder produced a delightfully appetizing aroma.
Along with a wonderful 1985 Clos De Vougeot by Bernard Raphet, we moved on to galantine of pheasant foie gras and coco beans accompanied by a fine green bean salad. The combination worked well as the pheasant was relatively dry with little fat and the rich foie gras brought its luxurious fat to the equation.
The fruit on the palate and feminine character of the wine also worked well with the foie gras and pheasant flavours.
Our next course, partridge tagine with crispy potato gnocchi, lemon harissa, truffles and coriander was a wonderful mixing of a relatively bland but gamey bird with mildly spicey citrus and earthy elements. The robust 1989 Armand Rousseau Chambertin was a complement for this complex tasting dish.
Savory duck tortiere followed. The pastry was flavourful, light and flaky. A mashed corn and saffron sauce and white truffle mashed potatoes were fabulous contrasts for the rich tasting duck — the corn particularly contributing a wonderful sweetness.
We enjoyed a 1988 Chateau Talbot, a big complex wine with a lead pencil element on the palate that matched so well with the duck.
Next, a rare duck breast with lemon ravioli stuffed with truffled mashed potatoes, orange and beet gastrique and lime caviar. The gamey meat and rich fat contrasted well with the gastrique and lime flavours. Despite the presence of the gastrique, the huge 1970 Chateau Lafite was not only a wonderful wine on its own but a heady complement for the duck with its cedar nose and black current flavours.
Venison followed, served with sweet potato and zucchini pancake, roasted parsnip cubes and truffle cream. We popped open a remarkable 1966 Chateau Pichon Lalande with the venison. The gamey flavoured venison and the earthiness of the truffle went so well with the grand fruit flavours of this wine.
Tarte tatin was the perfect dessert to go with our 1998 Chateau d’Yquem and 1989 Chateau Guiraud, complex wines with layers of fruit flavours.
Dr. Josh Josephson is the owner of The Cookbook Store and Josephson Opticians. He is a chevalier of Les Chevalier du Tastevin and the Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, a member of L’ordre Mondiale and a member and former president of the International Wine and Food Society, Toronto chapter.