Insider’s Tips - March.20
New dish featured on our Instagram, @georgeonqueen earlier this week: Poached Lobster, Squash Tamago & Mango
It used to be that the first arrivals of fresh produce in any year was marked by wild plants showing up mainly from the West Coast. This is changing. Chef reports from the Ontario Food Terminal that the first arrivals this year are coming from our extensive hothouse network in Ontario. Chef found many excellent hothouse items were offered this week, including some superb cherry tomatoes from Leamington, Ontario, as well as peppers, eggplants and rhubarb. He has come to prefer hothouse rhubarb over field rhubarb. He worries that field rhubarb is usually awfully woody for relish and other cooked uses. As the weather warms up, he expects that Ontario hothouse zucchini will arrive next week.
We previously reported that Holland white asparagus was being imported, although it was very expensive. However, due to a recent cold surge in Holland, very little is now available here. Chef will wait to start buying asparagus until the Washington State crop arrives.
Chef also noticed that there seemed to be a greater proportion of Mexican produce available compared to American produce. Mexican celery, fava beans, English peas, asparagus and cauliflower all looked good. This coincided with our observation when we were in Mexico this month – vegetables there seem to taste better and better. Are the Canadian importers in Toronto substituting Mexican and other produce for American products in response to the Trump tariff effect, or is this wider Mexican offering just a coincidence?
The wild products from BC we mentioned last week are starting to arrive – but more slowly than we anticipated.
Ontario cold storage produce is still available, and Chef bought yellow beets, turnip and sunchokes. Celery root is finished for the year.
Noteworthy on the GEORGE menu is roasted glacier bass with cavatelli and wild pine mushrooms. As a first course, try New Zealand raw harimasa, which resembles Japanese hamachi. For meat, try the pan roasted veal with chimichurri or pan roasted wild boar with foie. Chef particularly recommends his pork belly.
The traditional Puglia Italian pastry, pasticciotto, mentioned last week, has received excellent customer reviews.
Chef has been working hard on his special Italian Dinner featuring Puglian specialities from Chef’s birthplace. It’s scheduled for March 28 – and it looks delicious!
In an effort to make dining more accessible this month, GEORGE continues its March promotion with a new special Staycation menu, which includes a pre-dinner cocktail in Secrette and a three-course dinner, all for $110 pp. Well-matched and well-priced wines from Puglia are also available.