Townsman, 1991-02, Page 34Unique
dining experience
at La Brassine
BY THE BOYS
La Brassine on Kitchigami Road,
a little south of Goderich, doesn't
advertise. Word of mouth is all this
restaurant needs to keep business
booming. When word reached us, it
was, as owner -chefs Nicky and Tom
Blanchard-Hublet predicted in a
summer issue of The Townsman,
through friends who'd dined there,
and wished to dine there again.
One can't drop in on La Brassine
simply to get something to eat when
you don't feel like cooking. Reserva-
tions must be made and a specific
meal ordered 24 hours in advance.
This policy ensures that dinner will
be a genuinely special occasion,
both for customers and hosts.
The personal charm of the Blan-
chard-Hublet team is evident from
the first telephone call to La
Brassine, where the order of busi-
ness is how to obtain a menu. I had
assumed, since this is a husband
and wife team operating in their
private home, that there would be
limited choices. In fact I learned La
Brassine offers no fewer than 60
dishes. For instance, under the
heading Appetizers, there are 15
items listed. including four prepara-
tions of shrimp, and three of
smoked salmon. as well as snails,
scallops, and oysters. There are
eight soups, including Lemon Chic-
ken Consomme with mint, and
Sorrel Veloute. Main courses offer
many treatments (including com-
binations) of fish, trout, and sea-
food, as well as of steak, lamb, veal,
pork and poultry. Described dishes
involve various herbs, wines,
liquors a great deal of cream. and
sometimes puff pastry or pate choux
(cream puff batter).
For the most part La Brassine
creates rich French cuisine, nothing
nouvelle about it. Let me quickly
add that it is possible for the
cholesterol conscious or for total
abstainers to select a meal to satisfy
their taste buds, physicians and
consciences. For those of us without
dietary scruples however, the menu
is Paradise Regained.
Fortunately, as we had made our
initial call a full week ahead of the
date we reserved for, we had time to
peruse the menu and make our
decisions at leisure. That week also
gave time for our party to grow, so
instead of my usual regrets that
there are only two of us to sample a
restaurant, this time there were 11,
proven hedonists all, willing and
eager to order something different
in the service of Townsman readers.
I fear we were not highly organized
and many have imposed some
stress on Blanchard-Hublets as
names were added to our list and
orders multiplied. However they
handled any challenges we may
have thrown at them with ease,
courtesy and flair.
Our evening at La Brassine went
smoothly from the moment Tom
Blanchard-Hublet met us at the
door of his large white farmhouse
and ushered us into a welcoming
parlour where we could wait for our
party to straggle in. The couples
who had been before were recog-
nized and greeted like old friends.
Through the opening to a dining
room we could see a festive table,
with crisp linen, crystal, silver, and
flower arrangements all laid on
especially for our enjoyment.
And enjoy we did, beginning with
sections of bagette spread with
garlic, or tarragon; or a very good
Austrian brown bread. Those of us
who estimated their appetites as
limitless started with Fiery
Shrimps, cooked in garlic and hot
peppers in a not so little casserole.
Both the menu and our host warned
that hot meant very hot, and he
spoke the truth. He did not know
that for the pepperophiles among
us, the word "too" in "too hot" has
no meaning. Logically, the shrimps
must have been frozen, but it was
impossible to tell from the texture
and flavour. By happy mistake,
32 TOWNSMAN/FEBRUARY-MARCH 1991
Snails Cassoulette was placed in
front of me, and I had time to savour
the garlicy crust and inhale a
wonderful whiff of wine and cream
sauce before the rightful owner
snatched the dish away.
A competitive spirit as to who had
ordered the best dishes arose in our
group. Those fortunate enough to
have ordered Mushroom and Clam
Veloute definitely won the soup
sweepstakes. Any clam lover would
have to adore this flavourful,
creamy combination. Those who
had taken a chance with Soup of the
Day were quite pleased with a
different flavourful creamy combin-
ation that not one of us could
identify. We decided it must be leek
asparagus and potato, only to be
humiliated when our host scored us
one out of three. What we had taken
to be a blend of asparagus taste and
pureed potato texture turned out to
be the humble, not to mention
invasive, Jerusalem Artichoke.
We'll be forever grateful to Tom
Blanchard-Hublet for this addition
to wild -food cookery, which depend-
ing on season and circumstance is
subtitled "get even with weeds
cuisine", or "recession rations".
Salad (like soup of day, included
in the main course price) was
colourful and crisp, lifted out of the
ordinary by radiccio, sprouts and
grated cheese. Of the three dress-
ings offered, a spicy Italian was the
most popular. Every little bit of
vegetable was scraped from the
family style serving plate to give an
excuse for just one more tiny
spoonful.
Then came the main courses:
Assiette Neptune Ostendaise and
Shrimp Gourmet were pronounced
very good. Quail stuffed with wild
rice and pecans, and Duck Jocelyne
were good. Our own dalliance may
have been responsible for the quail
being a smidge over cooked, and
while garlic and black olives en-
hanced my juicy duck, 1 couldn't
detect promised ground almonds.
The "meal of the day" served to
four of our party prompted special
praise for presentation -- a single
huge ring of pate choux filled with
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