Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Kitchen Nightmare

posted by jsbertrand at 15h05

Last Monday, I was in St-Sauveur for a food show. We spent the day walking through town, enjoying the much needed sun with a cup of great coffee on a terrasse. I normally hate eating in very touristic area because, for some reason, tourists are always offered crap. Either it is the franchise restaurant which are, let's be honest, at the best fine or it's large operation serving very generic food. Rarely the remarkable small independent restaurateur serving great food in a great setting.
Since I had to stay in the area for dinner, I looked in my restaurant guide for an address. Le Chat Botte on Rue Principale came up but it was closed(what do you expect on a Monday night in between season). So I did what I usually do in this situation, I asked the local for a recommendation. Gio's on Rue de la Gare was mentioned and we made reservations. The best pasta in town and real Italian food said the sign!
As I sat down, I realize that my experience wouldn't be extraordinary, all the element of a tourist trap were there: A bare table with cheap utensils and a cheap paper napkin, lousy bread, a way to large menu to be freshly prepared every day, a run-down dining room, dusty an outdated, with holes in the wall and grape wine hanged since the 80'. Should I leave? Nothing else interesting is open!
To start, I took something very basic, a Cesar salad. The most horrible Cesar salad I had in years. Store bought croutons, dressing, bacon bits and cheap Parmesan. A full bowl of sulfites! For my main, I choose another classic of the American-Italian cuisine: Veal Parmesan with spaghetti marinara. I ended up with a deep-fried pre-breaded veal scaloppini that tasted off, covered with bought tomato sauce( shame on you if an Italian restaurant doesn't do its own tomato sauce) and serve with spaghetti dressed with the same sauce. The pasta were al-dente, the highlight of my supper....
I want to go back to St-Sauveur this summer because, frankly, the town looks great. But were can I go eat? Readers please help me! And for my friends at Gio's, here is my recipe for Cesar dressing and salad, don't worry, it's easy to make!
In a blender, put two large eggs, the juice of a lemon, two table spoon of capers, one small can of anchovies(I love anchovies in a Cesar salad), one cup of fresh parmesan and half of a cup of Dijon mustard. Blend into an even puree. Slowly incoporate three cups of olive oil in the turning blender making sure there is no oil deposit on the surface. Finish with one cup of wine vinegar or WHITE balsamic. Drizzle on top of large leaves of romaine hearts with fresh ground pepper, crispy warm bacon chopped, more Parmesan and lemon juice and home-made croutons. The left-over dressing is good for two weeks.