Insider’s Tips: June 5
This week, we opened our two glorious courtyards, which our staff planted themselves this year. The waterfall in the GEORGE courtyard is now on, and the fully enclosed space is bliss.
The first—and what Chef Loseto believes is the best—summer vegetables have arrived. Our affordable luxury offering this month is the First Taste of Summer experience, a three-course menu featuring the best fresh produce and early summer seafood, priced at $99++ per person. Produce will never be better this year than it is right now.
Our Sommelier is creating an optional premium wine flight, available later this week at a special price to accompany all this goodness.
All kinds of new produce were available this week at the Ontario Food Terminal. Chef was particularly pleased to buy zucchini flowers, romaine and other lettuces, strawberries, kale and medium-sized white potatoes. Try our zucchini flower tempura for a real treat!
The citrus season is ending, and the quality— even from South Africa—has diminished.
Prices are moderate at the Terminal, and even Mexican avocado prices have retreated somewhat.
Hats off to one of our readers, Melissa Li, who wrote to let us know that an Ontario farm in Bothwell, called Den Donk, has been harvesting a crop of white asparagus. We had previously mentioned that none were available in Ontario this year. Chef has since been in touch with the farm and placed an order.
This year’s asparagus seems sweeter than we can remember. Buy it soon before the later-harvested woody crop takes over.
BC wild porcini mushrooms have begun arriving.
We’ve had trouble receiving this season’s soft-shell crabs, which are in short supply in Toronto. Our supplier keeps assuring us they’re coming, but they have yet to arrive.
The BC Copper River salmon has been a success. Chef cures it and plates it with zucchini slaw and watermelon as a first course.
Vancouver spot prawns are still arriving and remain popular. They are sweet and flavourful, though the texture is a little soft.
Chef’s favourite dish at the moment is his potato-wrapped tuna with jasmine and peppercorn mayo. It’s the same dish that won him the Gold Medal Plates award a few years ago.
We now have a new Quebec supplier of squab. These squabs, which Chef roasts, are somewhat larger than the previous ones.
Our sweetbread dish continues to be popular.
For dessert, Chef offers his summery raspberry cheesecake. He’s also brought back his chocolate panna cotta.