Mike and Ron picked well again!
Big Easy's Seafood and Steakhouse, located on Preston Street, was the location for the 8th Omnivore's Ottawa Supper Club, where 45 or so of us gathered for good food.
Restauranteur Val Belcher greeted us with a glass of sparkling wine upon arrival (and I actually drank mine, though it took me the entire night to do so), while Chef Barrin Bruck and his crew put together a 5 course meal for us.
Warm bread was brought to our table with two butter choices: a "regular" whipped butter and a caramalized butter, which as divine. We had two of these at our table of four and could have used two more.
Appetizer Course: Madeira escargot on shitake mushroom with steamed leek, salmon flank frite with dill aioli and blood orange tuna ceviche.
The description of this course is what lost my husband's interest in joining me for this meal. Don't worry, I didn't eat alone. I went with a few friends, foodies themselves and we savored every course.
Salad Course: Jumbo blue crab, frisee, roasted corn, poached quail egg, sweet onion dressing, curry apple oil, sundried tomato confit and garlic oil.
You may have noticed over the last few years of my blog that I like to talk. I'm not shy with my opinions either.
When this course was over, we were asked by a friend at another table how we enjoyed it, and my boss, who was sitting beside me said, "It was so good that Jenny said nothing during that entire course!"
I had crab, I was happy.
Third Course, Duck and Shrimp: Duck-prosciutto-wrapped barbeque shrimp, White Stone Asiago creamed grits, with red-eye gravy.
Did you know you could replace the flour in red-eye gravy with ground kidney beans? I know I didn't. I didn't taste them, fortunately, but they matched well with the duck fat and the coffee to make a gravy that balanced the richness of those creamy grits.
This course was served with a Chardonnay, paired to match the smokiness of the prosciutto. It smelled very nice and didn't taste bad either. (You all know how much I love my wine, hehe.)
Happy Birthday to BC, who joined me for dinner! She waited until after dinner to tell me it was her birthday the next day.
Probably a good thing - maybe they would have made her stand on a chair while we all sang to her.
Or not.
Fourth Course: Where's the Beef? Chili pomegranate glazed tenderloin, gorgonzola pecan-stuffed croquette, smoked asparagus and caramalized chipolini onions and lattice cut potato chips. Served with a red wine (I have no idea what it was, I forgot to write it down, and I did not drink mine.)
Remember at last months dinner when I said the beef course was one of the reasons I will never be a vegetarian? Just take a look at confirmation of that belief. Melt in your mouth, rare tenderloin, paired with a croquette that was wonderfully crispy on the outside, but smooth and mellow on the inside. The onions were soft and beautiful, and when they said smoked asparagus, they meant SMOKED asparagus. So good, soooo good.
Final Course, Dessert: Sweet potato Canadian Maple Cheesecake with pecan-graham crust, Bailey's whipped cream, pepper tuile and spiced apple bourbon sauce.
Cheesecake that was so light it was mousse-like. The Bailey's in the whipped cream was so generous that we speculated how they managed to whip the cream. All of it amazingly good. We'd have licked our plates if it wasn't so rude.
This entire meal came to $85, including the sparkling wine, two additional glasses of wine, taxes and gratuity.
Many thanks to the staff, kitchen and dinning room alike, for a lovely evening. And thanks to Ron and Mike for organizing and setting up another winner.
Omnivores Ottawa Supper Club: Big Easy
Omnivores Ottawa Supper Club: Allium
When Ron and Mike announced the location, and menu, for the February Supper Club, I was interested. I admit it. I'd never heard of Allium, but the menu, oh the menu, it intrigued me.
The price was higher than my budget was comfortable with, but I was able to find a way, so reserved a seat for myself and a co-worker to go together.
Then I met up with Don and Jenn from foodiePrints, who gave me a glowing recommendation of Allium, and I was even more excited to be going.
Nor was I disappointed at all.
I chose not to go with the optional wine pairing (I know, everyone is shocked by this,) but those around me who did have it were quite pleased with the selections chosen by Owner/Chef Arup Jana, Sous-Chef Luke Baxter. The staff were both attentive and unobtrusive, and knowledgeable when we had questions.
First course: Seared sea scallop, crispy Prosciutto tuille, Tuna tartar with shiso (and truffle oil), and Lobster Roll.
Every sandwich I eat from now on should have crispy prosciutto in it. And I could eat the tuna and lobster every day. For breakfast.
Oh the scallop was good too, but the tuna was divine....
Second course: Maple cured roasted duck breast, on top of a cauliflower and goat cheese puree (and hiding some lovely sauted mushrooms,) melt in your mouth pork belly, puff pastry wrapped duck leg, braised and shredded, and Foie mousse, on a scallion pancake, with truffle oil.
No one had issues with the Foie mousse at our table, but if they had, there were plenty of us who would have stepped up to take that problem away from them.
Third course: Herb salad with lemon dressing, honey, walnuts, tender micro-greens and a salty Allegreto cheese.
This worked best if you could get a bit of greens, cheese and walnut in the same bite. 
Fourth Course: Flat iron sliced beef, braised shank (with a bright green and vibrant chimi sauce,) Angus tenderloin cube on top of tomato, and individual Tourtiere with a tomato ketchup/relish, served with a potato gratin.
A meat eaters dream, this course. I am not a vegetarian and will never be one, not if this is the kind of beef I can expect to eat in my life.
Oh and this Tourtiere has replaced all my memories of all the not so good pies I'd had growing up.
Final Course, dessert: Raspberry sorbet with blood orange slices, chocolate brownie on top of chocolate ganache, topped with vanilla ice cream, candied pecans, a drizzle of caramel and shaved chocolate.
I dislike pecans, unless they are candied and come with this brownie, the ganache, the ice cream....
And the raspberry sorbet was probably the best I have ever had, a bright fruit flavor, not artificial, not overwhelming.
Despite being very full, I ate every bite on this plate and would have done it again if another had been presented to me. You'd have had to roll me out afterwards, but it would have been worth it.
Omnivores Ottawa Supper Club: Liang's Village
BC and I were able to sneak away from our children and spouses for a night out last week, midweek. What else would we do but go eat?
Alright, we planned to abandon them and go try some funky and fun sounding Chinese food, the January choice of Ron Eade, Food Editor of the Ottawa Citizen, and his partner in crime, Mike McCracken, at Liang's Village, a family run business in the St. Laurent are (if you live in Ottawa and want to try it for yourself.)
If you are interested, here is Ron's take on our evening out.
Please excuse some of my pictures - I decided to try using my son's little point and shoot camera instead of my own camera. His has a food setting. Which uses no flash, great, but I had no tripod, the table wobbled, the lazy susan spun alot, and apparently I can't hold still for 1/30th of a second.
This is one of my new favorite things to eat. I could eat it for breakfast.
Except I don't recall any bok choy or bean sprouts. Oh well, there were mushrooms instead.
See that squiggle of squid in the middle - I ate that piece. And the rice with the liquid from the Szechuan fish was a great combination.
The ball, a piece of banana, surrounded by the dough and deep fried, was coated in the toffee and then dunked in the ice water, at the table, before being served to us.
It was a lovely night out, meeting some like minded foodies. I thoroughly enjoyed trying new things, exploring dishes I'd never had before, and am so glad I went.
Imagine, Chinese food without a fortune cookie in sight.
Many thanks to Ron and Mike for a lovely choice, and for Liang's Village, for all their work.
Omnivores Ottawa Supper Club: The Urban Pear
If you are part of the food world in the city of Ottawa, you likely know who Ron Eade is (and if you aren't, he is the Food Editor at the Ottawa Citizen and a fellow blogger, you can find his blog here.) He also plays host, along with Mike McCracken, to the Omnivore's Ottawa Supper Club, where food lovers can join them for an evening of good food at a local restaurant.
This month's featured restaurant was The Urban Pear, a cozy restaurant found in the Glebe. Forty foodies, including myself and fellow blogger Mary of Beans and Caviar, enjoyed a 4 course meal for the reasonable cost of $70, $93 if you wanted the wine pairings for the evening.
When the announcement for this edition of the Supper Club went up, I didn't ask my husband if he wanted to go - I asked Mary instead! Full of life and great fun to dine out with, I couldn't ask for a better "date".
First on the menu was the soup, a spiced cauliflower soup with a confit lamb tongue filo, green onion pesto and a preserved lemon and golden morel mushroom compote.
This soup was divine, creamy and thick. While I didn't find the green onion pesto added much to the flavor, the preserved lemon and golden morel mushroom compote was wonderful, bright and with a slight crunch. The confit lamb tongue filo was good, but did not seem to bring anything to the soup other than garnish. Floating in the soup, the filo was also a bit soggy, rather than having that nice, messy pastry texture that I so enjoy in filo. 
Our second course was a pan seared Albacore tuna loin and steamed manila clams with a kohlrabi puree, grilled okra, and a red pepper broth mounted with a house smoked smelt sour cream.
Try saying that five times fast!
The tuna was perfectly cooked, tender and melting. The clams hit that right point, not over cooked and chewy, but not underdone either. I'd never tried okra before but was happy to finish off my pieces, crunchy and not at all slimy as I'd expected they would be. The kohlrabi puree and red pepper broth were both full of flavor and everything in this dish matched well together.
Next was our main course, a beef tenderloin with a panzanella salad of 5th Town fedda cheese, organic tomatoes and balsamic marinated bread with grilled king eryngii mushrooms and a black olive tapenade with basil pesto highlights.
I love beef tenderloin, but only if it is done right, medium rare, pink throughout. This tenderloin melted into my mouth, soft and perfect. I needed my steak knife more for the panzanella, which was hearty and full of flavor. The organic tomatoes were sweet and juice, a lovely paring with the beef.
I didn't see any type of mushroom on my plate, let alone a king eryngii mushroom, which was a bit of a disappointment as I love mushrooms.
Our final course of the evening was our dessert, a roasted Niagara Peach with spruce and balsamic bacon cracker, blueberry infused white chocolate mousse (though funnily spelt mouse on the menu), crumbled oats and basil syrup.
I love bacon but did not understand the bacon for this dish. Nor did I "get" the basil syrup. I enjoyed my "mouse", bites of which I always tried to have with a piece of peach and some crumbled oats. Those flavors worked well together, a bit of a crunch along with the freshness of the peach and the softness of the mousse.
Our little corner agreed, however, that the dessert was not the highlight of the evening we expected it would be. After so wonderful a meal, dessert should wow you, and while we all enjoyed it, this one left us all feeling something was missing.
Chef/owner Ben Baird, and sous-chef Mark Currier, along with all the staff, did a wonderful job hosting us. The service was friendly and fabulous, the setting was lovely, and the food was very good. I'd go back for more beef tenderloin and for more of that fabulous soup.
Thanks to Ron and Mike for hosting (and I hope you get better very soon Mike!) a great evening out!
