Pace on Earth

Soul Food

After talking to Adam on Friday and him explaining that his restaurant was only 30 seats and therefore could not accommadate a party of 10 on such short notice it was decided that Sunday would be the best night for a a visit. So we made a reservation for 10 and planned on seeing him then.

On Sunday morning we had breakfast in his neighbourhood so I decided to stop in the restaurant to see if he was around. Luckily enough he was. I met his wife and daughter, caught up briefly and told him I looked forward to dinner. As a goodbye he told me "I look forward to cooking for you". It was the first time anyone has ever said that to me.

After our long day Saturday I was ready to spend the day lounging and waiting to gorge myself that evening. Barry would have none of that and insisted that we build up our appetite playing 3 hours of basketball on the courts at Granville Island. We did and it worked. I was starving by 8.

Now if anyone stumbles across this post because they are looking for a review of La Quercia first of all welcome. Second of all, I am no foodie. I lucked into this meal by way of lucking into living with Adam Pegg in his previous haunt of Victoria. My memories of Adam consist mainly of me lounging around the house trying to find the best record to hit Adam's hunger nerve so he would decide to "whip something up". His idea of "whipping something up" was sometimes braised lamb chops and was always amazing. I looked forward to this meal.

We arrived shortly after our reservation time which was fine as they cleared our table and set up for our party of 9. Our waitress was from the East Coast and she explained, in her downeast manner, that we would not be ordering off the menu, but not to worry because we were in for a very special feast. She was not lying.

We were all into it the night before so there were only a few of us enjoying wine. Before the wine arrived we had bread on our table. After the wine came she quickly brought out a meat plate of prosciutto and assorted salamis. This was another forgotten treat from the house in Vic and the vegetarians at the table missed out on some succulent treats. They were not left in the lurch though as a green salad with a interesting toasted cheese base in a vinaigrette arrived moments afterwards.

As a second salad Adam prepared us a pan-fried pork belly with a frise salad. The pork bellies were perfect...and again thanks to the 3 veggies, I got more than my fair share.

The next offering was the most daring of the evening. Our waitress brought us what looked like individual jello molds that were pale green in colour. She told us they were eggplant custards and the thin slices of eggplant that draped the custard confirmed this. I was skeptical at best. I am a texture guy and anything that has the consistency of butterscotch pudding but does not taste like butterscotch pudding usually fails my inspection. Much to my surprise the eggplant custard, however, was beautifully flavoured, sweet and smooth. It would be hard to call it the best course of the evening but it was certainly the happiest surprise.

By now we were ready for our mains but we were told to sit tight as we still had a couple more courses before it was time for that. The next one to arrive was a wild mushroom risotto that was rich and creamy and full of fresh local mushrooms. I would have stopped here and eaten all of it but I knew I had to save myself for the pasta.

The Pasta - in Adam's world pasta is not a main. Pasta is the middle part of the meal, which is ridiculous but wonderful. He prepared 7 different dishes for us 3 with our vegetarians in mind: a tuna and caper rotini in tomato basil sauce (capers = salty = right up my alley), a garlic prawn spaghetti (nice and light), and an insane squash ravioli in a light cream sauce that nearly caused a fistfight. For the meat lovers there was a classic beef bolognese tagliatelle, a rich lamb penne, and a ham penne (all three of which I hardly tasted), and a sausage in rosee sauce that I loved but almost forgot. Forgive me.

The 9 of us could not get through more than half of the pasta. At that point the waitress told us that we would now be served our fish course and then our main. We, sadly, had to tell her that we could only do one or the other and went with the fish course. Soon afterwards, out came dish after dish of fresh steamed rapini, cauliflower, spinach and roast potatoes. That was followed by three generous platters of scallops and sole in a light sauce with hints of maple. The fish was perfectly cooked, tender and juicy. Again, due to the previous 6 courses we barely got through half of the fish but that said nothing of its quality.

Dessert started with a lemon craime fraiche with fresh berries that was so perfect that I nearly killed myself finishing it. A platter arrived afterwards with assorted goodies but I was tapped out. Adam joined us once dessert was brought out after 3 hours in the kitchen cooking for us.As we sat there with our top buttons undone, asking question after question about each of the dishes, Adam seemed very content, if a bit tired (no shit - I saw him there at noon). At first I was a little disapointed that he didn't come out to greet us when we arrived but then I realized that's not his style. He lets his cooking do the talking and when he says "I look forward to cooking for you" he really means it. He also means "I will be expressing myself through food" I left his restaurant pretty secure that I have a good friend in Adam Pegg.

Best. Meal. Ever. I wish I had more hands, I'd give it 4 thumbs up.

Pace out.

Labels: Adam Pegg, La Quercia, Restaurant, Vacation, Vancouver

posted by Vitamin S @ 6:42 p.m.