Every February, Montreal plays host to the HIGHTLIGHTS FESTIVAL which, among other things, brings in chefs from around the world to create menus in some of Montreal’s finer restaurants. This year, one of my friends and I decided to make a concerted effort to partake of the highlight festivities (read: tasting menu) at one of our favourite restaurants – Le Jolifou. However, due to last minute financial restrictions, we decided rather than heading out for a tasting menu, we’d invite a number of guests and bring the tasting menu in. The menu plan for the evening was simple: each guest was to bring one small course along with a wine-pairing. We had briefly consulted with each other beforehand to make sure there were no duplicate dishes (we almost came to blows over beets – beets on repeat).
The evening began with cocktails, or rather hard liquor. While we sipped on any one of the following: whisky, vodka -- herbed and otherwise, as well as aged rum, we munched on spiced cashews and toasted baguette with herbed goat cheese and grapes. Following the hors d’oeuvres, the first course consisted of a small espresso cup filled with lentil soup. It must be said that this was one of the best lentil soups I had ever tasted (an “old country” recipe) -- it was hearty, without being heavy and had the perfect amount of spice. The soup was paired with a glass of “La vielle ferme” – a good Cotes de Ventoux stand-by. The second course consisted of a toasted corn tortilla (fresh from the Mayan store down the street-ish), topped with a combination of slow-cooked black beans, yam, onions, cherry tomatoes, cilantro and feta. The delicious dish was paired with a Domaine de Moulines “vin bio” merlot (2006), which promised, and did, go quite well with the vegetarian dish which was the only one to follow Jolifou’s menu of Latin-inspired dishes. The next course comprised roasted beets topped with a slice of ashed goat cheese and arugula, surrounded by a beet reduction. While the beets were tasty, the “reduction” suffered from being heated, and reheated ad infinitum, and ended up being dubbed “beet candy,” as it hardened as soon as it hit the plate. I can be critical as it was my own dish. The wine pairing fared better. I had asked the SAQ guy for a wine that would pair well with beets and goat cheese. He suggested a Cabernet Franc, and I ended up with an Alain Lorieux Chinon from 2005 -- also quite a good match. The fourth course consisted of a mushroom charlotte topped with a port sauce -- it was rich and filling and a perfect end to the savory part of the meal. As we already had a number of unfinished bottles of wine, we skipped the wine pairings and continued with the wines already on the go. The tasting menu was rounded out by a key-lime-esque pie with a hint of cream cheese and a graham cracker crust. The wonderfully tart and tangy slice of pie was equally well-matched with an amazing sparkling dessert wine -- Nivole Moscato d’Asti (certainly the wine highlight of the evening for me).
All in all it was an excellent evening. There was little jockeying for the kitchen, all of the courses were well-paced and there was a wide variety in the dishes. I had planned to take photos of each of the courses, but as the wine-tasting progressed, the photography suffered. The above photo is one of the few that turned out (and even that’s debatable). As such, I would have to pronounce the tasting menu a success. We may not have had the culinary chops of the Highlight chefs, but we made up for lack of skill in unbridled enthusiasm… or something like that.
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