Chef to Go
2 Barnes Road
Ph. 754-2491
First, you need to know that Chef to Go is not a restaurant. It is a cooking school and catering business that occasionally offers prix-fixe dining evenings (a handful every year) to those lucky enough to hear about them through the grapevine. The dinners are held in the school’s classroom/dining room called The Douglas Room. Recently I was persuaded to purchase admission for an evening that featured a tasting menu put together by Chef to Go’s chef, Bob Arniel. That tasting menu was the motivation for this column.
A tasting menu is a meal consisting of several courses (in
this case, eight) designed by a chef to show-off the best of his or her
cooking. The meal might follow a theme but there should be a logical flow to
the order of each dish. Portion sizes are usually quite small because of the
large number of courses. You may have seen tasting menus offered by some
high-end St. John’s restaurants in the past few years. I like them because they
give you an opportunity to taste a variety of recipes in one meal, without
being completely overwhelmed by large amounts of food.
Bob Arniel began cooking while a callow youth in rural
Ontario. His first job was at a small “mom and pop” greasy spoon where he
became thoroughly acquainted with the griddle and deep-fat fryer. After many
subsequent cooking jobs, much culinary education and experience he landed here
in St. John’s - fresh from working for a tyrannical French chef at an upscale restaurant
in Halifax. In quick time he got a job at a Murray Premises bistro, eventually
went on to work as a cooking instructor for the Marine Institute and finally
worked in food management with the St. John’s Health Care Corporation. In the
latter nineties Arniel established Chef to Go and has made a success for
himself as a cooking school operator and caterer.
On this evening my companion and myself were joined by four
friends. Since Chef to Go does not serve alcohol we were permitted to bring our
own wines. This was fine because we had fun beforehand deciding which wines to
bring to accompany each dish. Enough wine was brought to cover a small glass
for everybody at each course. I’m not a wine expert but one of my friends,
Steve Delaney, knows the subject fairly well so we left it to him to guide us
with options on what we might bring. The wines worked well, especially the
starter - a beautifully structured blanc de blancs champagne made by Jean Paul
Morel and supplied by fellow diners Fred and Ann Hutcheson.
Arniel opened with a seared steelhead shooter. Basically it
was a small rectangular piece of seared trout floating in freshly made tomato
juice. It was served in a small, tall, bowl-shaped glass. This idea is usually
executed with oysters or mussels but Arniel was experimenting after a couple of
previous patrons expressed concerns about shellfish allergies. Normally, with
an oyster shooter most people would just tip their glass and down it. Sure,
it’s about taste but it’s also about mouth-feel, flushing a fresh, plump,
slippery oyster down your throat in a sea of fresh, spiced tomato juice. For me
it’s like a ritual, an invocation at the start of a meal. However, in the case
of a piece of cooked steelhead trout, downing it was not an attractive option.
I plucked out the trout and ate it, then drank the juice. It tasted very fresh
and I liked the acidity of the tomato juice in counterpoint to the trout. Of
course, given a choice I would have picked an oyster or at least something
slithery that I could down as a drink. In my opinion, being able to do that is
an essential element in the presentation, part of the ritual. It was called a
“shooter” and it was served in a drinking glass.
A couple of stellar seafood dishes followed. The hazelnut,
pistachio and almond coated prawn in a white wine herb sauce was huge. I loved
the way the flavours of the nuts and earthiness of a drizzle of truffle oil
worked with the meaty, buttery prawn. The herb sauce took a back seat in the
dish but not so for the spiced coconut orange glaze that came with the
Newfoundland coldwater shrimp and crab dumplings. Everyone at our table raved
about the coconut orange glaze. It was smooth and rich with an intense, yet
subtle orange flavour. Paired with the seafood dumplings it made a very
effective match. Of course, any time you marry citrus with seafood is good by
me.
I’m usually not a big fan of sorbet but as a palate
cleanser Arniel presented a St. Shott’s and Labrador bakeapple sorbet with
Rodriques bakeapple liqueur that was simply superb. One mouthful of the smooth,
dense confection set off an explosion of bakeapple flavour in my mouth. My
taste buds were pinched, squeezed, prodded and finally cajoled by Arniel’s
wonderful invention.
An outstanding example of cooking technique was evident with
the brined rack of pork served with smashed Yukon potatoes with parsnip, turnip
and roasted apples. The rack of pork had been brined - soaked in a salt
solution for some time. Brining produces a piece of meat that retains an
exceptional amount of moisture once it’s roasted. (By the way, there is a
specific formula that must be followed for brining.) Each of us received a chop
of pork with dollop of rhubarb chutney set on a small mound of root vegetable
mash, surrounded by a delectable pork jus. The pork was a tour de force, the
moistest, most tender chop I have ever tasted.
Having gradually built the meal from lighter seafood courses
to the heavier pork dish, Arniel added more weight next with a deep, thoroughly
dark beef dish called beef bordelaise with morels in puff pastry. Being a beef
lover, this dish thrilled me. I also appreciated the use of morel mushrooms
even though they had been rehydrated from dry - fresh ones are hard to find
around here. I find their honeycomb construction gives them an attractive
texture. The bordelaise sauce was outstanding, smooth and rich with distinct
flavours of red wine, onion, beef stock and earthy mushrooms. And how could
anybody not love the addition of puff pastry? We washed all this down with a
pinot noir that Steve brought along, a 2002 estate bottled Ontario wine from
Malivoire.
Dessert came in two acts. First we enjoyed a panna cotta, an
Italian creation of cooked cream. Arniel, a great believer in local
ingredients, made his a partridgeberry panna cotta served with partridgeberry
and fig compote. The contrast between the sweet, creamy, gelatin-firmed panna
cotta and the bursts of tartness from the partridgeberry jewels in the compote
was sensational.
It was a perfect prelude to the chocolate terrine with
raspberry coulis and crème anglaise that ended the meal. The terrine was a
layered combination of dense, dark chocolate cake and creamy white chocolate
topped with crème anglaise. An accent of raspberry coulis decorated the
opposite portion of the plate. It was thoroughly decadent and unremittingly
delicious.
We finished by reflecting and sipping. A Dow’s 10-year-old
port wine I had brought along did the trick. It was a wonderful evening,
something I would recommend to anybody with an interest in quality food
prepared innovatively and well. Chef Bob Arniel is a master in the art of
cooking. Let’s hope this mild, reticent Ontarian continues to flourish here on
the edge of the North Atlantic.
The prix fixe meal for two at Chef to Go, including gratuity
(but not wine) cost a total of $182.
If you’re interested in learning more about these evenings
please call Bob or Judy Arniel at Chef to Go.
Best Points:
Food that is beautifully prepared and beautifully presented.
Areas for Improvement:
Table candles or small table lights might be nice.
Ratings Category:
Chef Arniel’s tasting menu gets 9 out of 10 points.