Ideas in Food [Events]

2011 Apr 5
Last Monday a once in a lifetime event was held at Atelier - a meal prepared by one of the authors behind Ideas in Food (popular blog, tweets & book www.ideasinfood.com/) and the helping hand of the Atelier crew. Ideas in Food is followed by many chefs worldwide, where they find inspiration, share ideas and form new ones. This night turned out to be one of the most memorable meals I've ever had, playing on existing food memories and creating new ones. It ended up being a 15 course meal, some of these courses rank up there with Michelin starred food I've eaten... it was incredible. What was also incredible was the turnout, 2 sold out seatings, lots of chefs, food bloggers and food lovers were out for an unforgettable evening.

Interesting to note, no Ottawa journalists covered either this event or the food demos being offered at Urban Element... opting rather to cover food "competitions" in Ottawa. I'm serving public notice to them for dropping the ball on this one. The amount of talent, knowledge and experience sitting in the room that night was immense. It goes to show that what you read in the paper or magazine shows only a sliver of Ottawa's culinary world. Ottawa is so much more than phoney food competitions and gala events, and this night proved it.

The bloggers present (foodieprints, she eats bears, sheltered girl meets world, etc) covered the experience, but I see nobody has posted here re: their night at this event, so here you go... a tour into the mind's eye of Ideas in Food... first up, a delivery truck with "specialty gases" is unloading at Atelier... we're in for a wild night...

2011 Apr 5
So we arrive and are offered parmesan popcorn to snack on - yum, this didn't last long because I love this combo already.

2011 Apr 5
Chefs Lepine & Talbot come out and introduce themselves, say they want to get the show on the road and get eating & drinking! Why of course, if you insist.
First course - meyer lemon ice cream, lemon ash meringue, whitefish roe. Flavours were interesting, one was a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of whitefish roe, but overall a good refreshing plate to start the night off. The lemon ash was shocking and added an intense aroma to the dish.

2011 Apr 5
Second up - fried chicken heart with Tabasco infused honey & coleslaw cream. This dish was the ultimate stoner food - nothing I'd know about - and as you can see I was a bit eager and forgot to take a photo until I had already eaten most of this dish. Pass the dutchy to the left hand side, this one was a homerun. Reminiscent of McNugget & KFC flavours, I wanted more. It made me feel dirty (in a good way).

2011 Apr 5
I read that on the IiF blog, but I wasn't sure it was the 'Atelier' in Ottawa.

2011 Apr 5
Third up - salt cured musk ox, brown butter mayo, radish & chives with pickled cattail. This dish blew me away - the meat was so tender, so delicious, melted in the mouth. I wanted more. The brown butter sauce was so amazing and added a richness to the whole dish, while the pickle & radish added a little tang and texture. Chef Talbot explained that the musk ox meat has a spongy texture to it if left uncured - I'll have to remember that the next time I find myself with a slab of raw musk ox (!?) This dish makes me want to farm musk ox.

2011 Apr 5
Numero four - surf & turf, sea urchin, duck tongue and watercress. Holy pewp. My partner was a bit skeptical when she read this one on the menu but I assured her she would like it, as I was imagining the flavours already in my mind... we both got hearty slabs of urchin, unctuous-sea-butter-like, and the crispy nuggets of duck tongue were just right, a perfect counterpoint in terms of texture. I want this dish again.

2011 Apr 5
Five - turnip soup, young coconut cubes and fried sweetbreads with black olive powder. This dish was so mellow, the soup base was supremely tasty, the sweetbreads were ultra tender, the coconut was a nice textural addition with some mild sweetness... something was missing though, some heat? Chilli? Not sure. Overall, it was tasty, it was well seasoned, but something was amiss. That said, I still cleaned my bowl.

2011 Apr 5
Six - sweet & salty, dried sweet potato chip, sweet potato glass, sweet potato green, green olive powder (?), sweet potato jam & caramel drop. This one was a textural bonanza. I enjoyed it, reminded me of sweet potato fries on steroids - the sweet potato-nator. I'll be back.

2011 Apr 5
There was a review of this book in Slate, which I originally posted in the forum topic Naythan Myrvold's book. Forum - Nathan Myhrvold's Book

www.slate.com/id/2289396/

This one is only $18 on amazon.ca.


2011 Apr 5
Seven - forbidden congee, a play on congee & forbidden rice, it was congee made with forbidden rice. It had sliced duck gizzards and an egg yolk drizzled in it, garnished with chive. Overall, this dish was alright. Lots of earthy flavours, it could have used a bit more yolk and a peppery/spicy component. Perfectly executed gizzards, ultra tender (sous vide'd) and very tasty.

2011 Apr 5
Eight - squid rings, with green papaya, pistachio, culantro and chilli. Very reminiscent of viet & thai flavours, I thoroughly enjoyed this dish. The squid was perfectly cooked, sous vide, not rubbery at all. The papaya was nice, offered a slight textural difference. My partner found the shallot/raw onion flavour to be overwhelming.

2011 Apr 5
Nine - baby halibut served family style with soy/butter/lemon/fish sauce and chinese celery/potato puree. This dish was stunning and delicious. Everything was so tender, the meat literally falling apart and off the bone. It was an interesting juxtaposition to the entire evening, serving this fish whole, on the table... very classic presentation. Don't forget the cheeks, tender and scallop like. Fish sous vide - it's a good thing.

2011 Apr 5
10 - cabbage and corned tripe - this just tasted like kimchi to me (which I love). Not a huge fan of tripe. I'm just going to leave it at that.

2011 Apr 5
11 - smoked oatmeal topped with shredded beef tongue, watercress stems, and Dr. Pepper sauce/soundwaves. This dish was amazing, and I meant to inquire re: the preparation of the tongue, if it was cooked sous vide or in a pressure cooker. Anyway, it was delicious. Subtle. Tender. Ultimate comfort food. Dr. Pepper sauce added a nice twang to the whole dish and the plating was fun and visually striking.

2011 Apr 5
12 - elk loin cooked sous vide, then seared, served on sunchoke hazelnut puree, topped with pickled milkweed pod and greenbrier. The meat was perfectly prepared, tasted excellent atop what I would call savory Nutella. The milkweed pod and greenbrier offered crisp & salty additions to this dish. Overall, very tasty and I want the recipe for the hazelnut puree.

2011 Apr 5
13 - getting into desserts, first up is the cheese course, sauvagine, birch syrup, black garlic powder and baby basil leaves. I love everything on this plate. It all tasted amazing and I was shocked at how mild the black garlic powder was, almost sweet? The sauvagine cheese was plopped in nitro, frozen & smashed into bits. Was almost chewy in texture, like high cream ice cream.

2011 Apr 5
14 - shaved shortbread with poprocks, palm sugar ice cream, on top of citrus 'cells' - this was a standout dish, contrasting flavours, textures, acid, cream, delicious!!! The poprocks added a whimsy factor which drove this dish over the edge. Loved it.

2011 Apr 5
The final dish - chocolate pudding in a tube, sweet cream granita. Super fun, it brought out the kid in me to dirty up this dish and shoot brown rockets & pudding skidmarks all over the plate. Mwahaha! But seriously... how the hell did the pudding get into that tube? Delicious. Give me more. Does it really have to end here?

2011 Apr 5
Overall, amazing night. Chef Talbot came out at the end to welcome applause. He made his rounds, greeting each table and saying thanks, parting some wisdom with each patron... he was even kind enough to sign my cookbook of his. Very cool, easy going guy with lots of great ideas. Will Ideas in Food be back to Ottawa? One can only hope. For now, go buy the book, read the blog and take part of the discussion with chefs & cooks abroad in experimenting & developing new techniques in the kitchen.

2011 Apr 6
Did you find out about this event from a blog or was this just a surprise evening?

2011 Apr 6
To be honest, I can't remember where I found out about this, if it was via twitter or through friends who had heard about it. Definitely not from a blog, I think it was word of mouth. Though, Ideas in Food did advertise on their site that they were coming to Ottawa, I'm sure many people found out this way as well. A handful of people were traveling from abroad to attend this dinner... impressive draw!

2011 Apr 6
I'm pretty sure Marc Lepine tweeted about it numerous times. It all looks amazing!

2011 Apr 6
I forgot to mention that the service was very good throughout the entire meal, considering the logistics with the number of plates, cutlery, wine pairings at some tables, etc. they had their hands full and managed it quite nicely from where I was sitting. This is the type of service that I have come to know at Atelier - professional, knowledgeable, courteous, personable, yet non-intrusive and fairly casual, always looking to find ways to make the meal more enjoyable... very much on par with service I've received at excellent restaurants abroad (very close to that of wd~50, in fact). Truly a standout in Ottawa.

2011 Apr 6
Thank-you very much for such a thorough report.... my mouth is watering looking at those pictures. Thanks so much for this - I am thoroughly jealous and sad I missed it.

I also wanted to make a comment regarding your statement: "Interesting to note, no Ottawa journalists covered either this event or the food demos being offered at Urban Element... opting rather to cover food "competitions" in Ottawa". Some of you may wish to tune out as what follows is simply a rant.

I have never subscribed to the view that there is a "big difference" between journalists and bloggers with one exception: Too many journalists have egos that are not commensurate with their "abilities".

I will be curious if any of the so called "professional" journalists who read this site will bother to respond to your calling out. I think they should as this was certainly a news worthy event.

You provided us with a great description and excellent photos and they missed the boat. It seems to me, too many of them feel they are accountable to no one save for one higher power - their editor.

2011 Apr 6
Medicinejar - thanks for your comments, I can't say it enough - this was a serious food(ie) event, truly memorable and sort of a marquee event for Ottawa. I expect something like this in NYC or elsewhere, but Ottawa? It truly shows this city has grown into something that seems to be out of the grasp of many food writers, an event that sells out and draws people from out of town to attend (!) I don't really want to derail the content of this thread with commentary re: journalists v. bloggers, perhaps creating another thread to discuss would be more appropriate? I definitely have some views on that issue, but do not want to detract from the food & experience from that evening.

2011 Apr 6
"I don't really want to derail the content of this thread with commentary re: journalists v. bloggers, perhaps creating another thread to discuss would be more appropriate? I definitely have some views on that issue, but do not want to detract from the food & experience from that evening."

You are probably quite right and I suggest people ignore my little rant.... It's a pet peave of mine but you are right, the focus should be on the food experience and the pet peave is my problem - more deep breathing is needed on my part ;-) .

I am a big fan of Atelier and was very surprised to find that Ottawa had such a cutting edge gem the first time I went. I have been to the Fat Duck and very much enjoyed it. In terms of value for money, I don't think I have gotten any better of an experience of both wine and food than Atelier. This event seems to have taken it up a notch. I thoroughly wish I had been there.

2011 Apr 6
I enjoy that the evening of deliciousness began with a delivery from the MEGS Specialty Gases truck. :)

A great write-up Chimichimi. Thank you very much.
We have a small but growing list of super-fine and thoughtful restaurants/chefs in Ottawa/Gatineau that are shifting the balance to quality over quantity. Nice.

2011 Apr 7
Thanks AMR - the MEGS truck parked out front was hilariously appropriate, and basically set a tone/expectation for what was to come. I agree with your comment re: the shift in this region.