Ici Bistro

Ici Bistro

538 Manning Avenue

Toronto, ON M6G 2V9

Things are starting to get busy again. Now that the holidays are long over, Howard and I are getting back to our routines. The days are really just flying, we're already in mid-January! Even the weekends don't allow for enough breathing room, I am really looking forward to a long weekend or vacation.

But, it's always fun to look back, so while this post is overdue, it's bringing back memories of a fun experience we had before the new year.

For Christmas last year (can't say "this year," even though it wasn't too long ago), Howard and I treated ourselves to Ici Bistro as our holiday present to each other.

Always doing a bit of research, we read reviews from the National Post, enRoute Magazine, Toronto Life, and the Globe and Mail. The 24-seat intimate dining setting had us brimming with excitement, it'll be so romantic and intimate! We quickly made dinner reservations (a bit of phone tag) and waited for the night to arrive.

The restaurant was small and cozy. A curtain helps diffuse some of the chilly outdoor air, tables to the right and a bar on the left. All the way in the back, a kitchen, open for all to see.

Our hostess for the evening could have been Gail Simmons' twin (but with shorter hair). She welcomed us and took us over the menu. For each item, you can choose to have it shared or an entrée size.

Soon after we ordered, we were presented with an amuse-bouche of goat cheese and caramelized shallot tarts. Warm, rustic, and delicious.

Howard and I ordered a plateau of maritime oysters to share. They were so good that I snapped the photo after a few had already been removed from the plate. And get this, we got a lemon wedge for each oyster!

Howard's favourite dish of the night was the lobster bisque and shrimp frite. We had ordered just one, figuring we should share it, but was given two. At first, we thought they had split it for us, but realized that wasn't the case when we got our bill. No matter, this was very good. The batter for the shrimp frite was amazing!

Here were our entrées, Howard's duck magret à l’orange with Grand Marnier.

I chose the rack of lamb with Ontario leg of lamb cannelloni, monforte tomme, and mushroom truffle ragout.

And we can't skip dessert if a soufflé is on the menu. Praline or Grand Marnier? We went with the Grand Marnier since Howard isn't a fan of pralines.

This dish caused quite a stir among the other diners when it came out and was presented to us. I wonder if others ordered this after?

Emeril's New Orleans

Emeril's New Orleans

800 Tchoupitoulas Street

New Orleans, LA 70130

(504) 528-9393

For our last dinner in New Orleans, we celebrated the end of the week at Emeril's. We walked over after work, being early, we sat down and watched the team get ready for dinner service.

Right on the dot, the hostess showed us to our table. We were in the middle of the dining room, with a view of the bar and the open kitchen. Gosh, how I would love to sit by the kitchen! I kept looking at the lucky few who were there during the dinner. I like how you could sit and chat with a chef there.

The service was incredible as it was a rather large group of staff who stood ready for the guests. Our waiter, ever the gentlemen, even draped our napkins over our lap. Even for Howard! This immediately brought back the restaurant war episode on Top Chef Canada where Darryl Crumb was chaffed at for doing so.

Mmm, while we waited for our food, we were given a trio of baked goods to snack on. The cornbread was especially noteworthy. We also learned to stop eating them, because the staff would immediately refill your plate with more.

This is the Creole marinated calamari: flash fried with olive salad, smoked tomato sauce, and Parmesan.

Howard also decided to get the gumbo of the day, which was seafood! So hearty and satisfying.

Not captured on film, but the gumbo is brought out in a pot and they pour it out into the bowl when they serve you.

My colleague ordered the escargots in a Yukon gold potato fondue with amarelo, chorizo, parsley, and country bread. Luckily, we got to try some too and it was delish! We've had really bad escargots in Toronto (grainy ones - yelch), but these ones were clean and that fondue!! My goodness!

I picked the sweet barbecue glazed salmon with andouille-potato hash, crispy onions, and house-made Worcestershire. I don't know how they did it, but the salmon skin was so nice and crispy - the perfect amount of crunch. And I love potato hash!

Howard went with the sorghum smoked duck breast with "dirty" fregola sarda, red cabbage choucroute, and truffle pate.

If you want to see how fancy "Mac n’ Cheese" looks like, my colleague ordered it! There was sautéed gulf shrimp with trofie pasta, vermouth cream, guanciale, and brioche crumbs.

For dessert, we shared J.K.’s chocolate soufflé. I still had soufflé on the mind!

But really, I had every intentions of ordering Emeril’s famous banana cream pie (graham cracker crust, caramel sauce, and chocolate shavings), so maybe next time!

Lemon Soufflés

I did it! I seriously could not rest until I attempted this lemon soufflé again. It's the same recipe as the one I tried here. To help prepare, I probably watched this video of Gordon Ramsay making a passion fruit and banana soufflé five times. It's not the same recipe, but you can pick up a lot of tips from it.

This was the point where I said a little prayer, crossed my fingers, and wished the little ramekins good luck.

So far so good in the oven!

Still good! It's out of the oven and still stable! I was still worried that the cool air would sink it right away.

My mom took out a little box of decorative rocks for my photo shoot. <3

There were more... but I've limited it to these two rock photos. This one says "summer." =)

Time to dig in, nice and lemony! Have a great Canada Day!

Learning about Soufflés

For Father's Day, Howard and I wanted to make soufflés for my dad. My mom had told me that dad ordered a soufflé every night when they went on their cruise. We were also recently inspired by Mary Sue on Top Chef Masters and Dale MacKay on Top Chef Canada.

I spent Friday looking through a couple of cookbooks to look for lemon soufflé recipes. I found one in Ready for Dessert and showed it to Howard. In the short intro to the recipe, the author had written that there are chocolate people in the world and there are lemon people. So true! Howard's a lemon person and I'm a chocolate one. =)

Here's the super lemony soufflé recipe, slightly adapted from the book:

Lemon Soufflés

Recipe adapted from Ready for Dessert

(Makes about 6)

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1/3 cup of sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

A pinch of salt

2/3 cup of milk

4 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons of butter

Zest from 2 lemons

3 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

Extra sugar and butter to coat the molds

1. Lightly butter the bottom and edges of six ramekin or soufflé molds. Pour some sugar into each, tilt and rotate to coat the interior. Pour out the excess.
2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, and the pinch of salt.
3. Whisk in about 1/3 of the milk - whisk until smooth. Then add in the remaining milk.
4. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it thickens to look like custard.
5. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and butter.
6. Return to the heat and cook until it starts to boil and bubbles appear on the surface.
7. Turn off the heat, transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in the lemon zest and let it cool.
   
8. Stir in the 3 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice.
9. Using a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites on low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to high and add the 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk until the whites form stiff peaks.
   
10. Mix 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the soufflé base.
11. Then fold in the remaining whipped egg whites, be careful not to deflate them.
12. Divide the soufflés mixture evenly. Sprinkle each with a light dusting of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice. Bake until the tops are light brown, about 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Our first soufflé didn't turn out properly. It sunk in the oven and deflated when we took it out. I was pretty bummed out, but Howard tried to make me feel better by saying they are known for being tricky and that I shouldn't expect it to work on my first try (but I did expect it to work, I am good at following instructions). Then I debated doing a post about our deflated dessert and decided to. This is all a learning experience after all!

Perhaps you can help us? I do have a convection oven - not ideal for baking, but I've been able to make it work for cakes. Does anyone know if I should use a different setting with my oven?

We will be attempting the soufflé again. I can't let this get the best of me! I did some more research and here are some tips if you're going to making one soon:

• Just like baking cakes, have your butter and eggs at room temperature
• After buttering and sugaring the interiors of the molds, let them "set" in the refrigerator
• Adding a little bit of lemon juice helps strengthen the egg whites
• To avoid lumpy soufflés, fold in the egg whites until smooth
• Tap the molds down on a cloth to evenly distribute the batter, then fill the batter to the top and slice off any excess
• Using your finger, create a mini ring in the batter along the edge
• Set your oven temperature to be a bit higher, because when the door opens, the temperature drops
• Don't lower the temperature or open your oven door while the soufflé is baking
• Work quickly and have your equipment and ingredients ready

Do you have any tips or tricks?

We hope you had a wonderful Father's Day!