I went to the Beverley hotel yet again for lunch with a colleague. I was going to blog it right away until I heard that chef Eric Wood was going to be on Chopped Canada. I figure I’d wait to see if I could boast that I dined at the restaurant of a Chopped champion.
Ironically enough was the fact that Wood was taking on Bryan Birch from Barque, another place I managed to hit in the last year. With two very different styles and figured it would come down to the ingredients and the moods of the judges. What I didn’t expect is how moody they could be…
I’ve reviewed the Beverley twice already. I like it because it’s relatively quiet, has a nice ambiance, takes reservations and has a menu that can appeal to the masses. I started with the Butternut and Tarro salad. I enjoyed the balance of the sweetness of the squash and dates with the flirt of acid in the dressing. The tarro and beans offered a great textural contrast and an earthiness to this unique salad.
Eric Wood is know for his 4 play; a structural sound square meal; a snapshot of his id and ego on any given day. Typically, it’s an appetizer, salad, main and dessert. On this particular day, it was shrimp and mussels in a coconut broth, a sage and sunchoke gnocchi, an heirloom tomato salad with pressed ricotta and a sea buckthorn cheesecake with grape jelly. Foreplay like this makes me want to put out. The shrimp were delicious and were cooked to perfection. The gnocchi was nicely caramelized and was far from boring. Although I’m not a huge tomato fan, the cheese compensated and I really liked the dressing. The dessert hit the spot as well although it was a little sweeter than expected. I wanted to be totally overcome by the delicious tartness of the fruit especially in the midst of the super sweet jelly.
My Take
Chopped Canada is a double edged sword. In one sense it can assign subjective culinary supremacy to any of a number of aspiring and established chefs. On the other hand it can be a shot to the ego and reputation if one were to lose.
Eric Wood’s appearance on Chopped Canada was consistent with his restaurant philosophy: respect for ingredients highlighted with bold flavours. Despite this, Susur Lee couldn’t see the forest (in particular morel) mushrooms through the peas. From the minute Eric missed the infamous snack cake on the plate, Susur had it out for him. Perhaps it was some kind of king vs queen street rivalry or maybe a textbook example of workplace bullying, but it struck me as odd. After sulking about the snack cake, Susur went off on Eric’s blue rare duck, his accusations of making excuses, missing tahini, roasted morels that had the texture of leather and the inappropriate use of cardamom dust with key lime pie. Meanwhile, he turned a relative blind eye to things like overcooked salmon offered by other competitors.
Three’s a charm at the Beverley. In a sense, it has become my go to for a reliable place with a relevant and diverse menu in a beckoning environment. In particular, the 4 play is a fun spin on a lunch special, featuring the freshest ingredients used to construct a tongue-tickling portrait of a complete meal. There is a wide diversity of appetizers including the tasty butternut and farro salad. Perhaps chef Lee should drop by the Beverley hotel for a little 4 play and if he’s still grumpy after that, maybe he should just get Bent.
Fare..Eat..Ales 