I returned to DNA shortly after my initial visit for an event and also as a sort-of a do-over among other things.

Same early and late seatings (boo! they have to get rid of this). No wait this time, but a different table, different wait staff and a different eating environment with somewhat louder electronica. I even ran into a fellow cytometer cowboy I had been in grad school with. One of these days I’ll have to talk about all of those chicken butts he had to deal with.

Dinner

Not a significant change in terms of the format: first, secondi as pasta, main, dessert. The only difference was that it wasn’t Canadian Wine Week, so what was available was more in line with their “standard” menu (and corresponding variability in price).

House-smoked scallop and salmon: offered as an amuse-bouche. Tasty, with a defined but not overly-pronounced smoke flavor contrasted by the salsa. Not sure I like having to scoop it off the plate myself (I know – lazy).

Oysters (Beausoleil): mmm… briny. Interesting because it was served with grated horseradish (that’s normal) and Québec-grown Charolais melons (that’s not normal). Sharp, sweet, salt – 3/4 Vietnamese flavors.

Pappardelle (champignons, mascarpone et citron): the same wild mushroom papperdelle was still available and they were showing off their basket of mushrooms so I elected to go with it again. I had an interesting discussion with the waiter over what matsutake look like because the example they had wasn’t a matsutake. It’s definitely a pine mushroom by the smell but the smell and taste are not quite true matsutake and the appearance certainly wasn’t. They had a Tricholoma magnivelare pine mushroom (松茸, or matsutake, is Tricholoma matsutake and costs a whole lot more), which was unfortunately fully open so it had already ejected the aromatic spores from the cap. Anyway, it looked like I got a lot of pine mushroom with my pasta because of the discussion so sometimes whining works. There were porcini and shimeji in addition to lobster mushrooms this go-around, and the mushroom aromas were more present.

Porc de chez Gaspor (topinambours, Xérès, feuilles de gourganes, « dragoncello »): yes, I had pork again. Unfortunately, the version they offered this tiem around didn’t work. It appeared to be sous-vide pork belly which was then crisped up but it definitely wasn’t cooked long enough because it was one tough and chewy piece of oink.

Cheese: unfortunately they didn’t identify the cheeses served.

Peach tart: a very pretty dish that was intensely flavored with peach and topped with crème fraiche.

Wine

A servicable 2008 Austrian Grüner Veltliner, whose name unfortunately escapes me. There’s only on on their wine list so it wouldn’t be hard to choose it again. I also received a glass of a rancio offered by the house (nice).

Photos

[View with PicLens]

Impressions

Another pretty good meal, with less odd wildlife. I found service was actually superior to the first time around and I think his pride in being part of the DNA team is actually genuine. I’ll probably wait a couple of months to let the menu really turn over before coming back, and I’ll have to add more pointed questions just to avoid a repeat of the pork incident.

Popularity: 3% [?]