Eating My Way Through Montreal in the Fall, Part II

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A magnificent steelhead trout with caviar, yogurt and dill "sponge'' cake at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal.

MONTREAL, CANADA — One of the best meals I had in this city wasn’t where I thought it would be. It wasn’t in some storied white-tablecloth establishment that had been around for generations. Nor was it in some hip, counter-culture cafe headed by the latest bad boy-chef.

No, it was inside a museum, of all places.

The Musee D’Art Contemporain de Montreal boasts an impressive collection of modern Quebec art. It also has a restaurant worth seeking out, thanks to its young, self-taught chef, Antonin Mousseau-Rivard.

That Mousseau-Rivard is a chef at a museum is only apropos. After all, his grandfather, Jean-Paul Mousseau, was a famed artist whose works are part of the museum’s permanent exhibit, “A Matter of Abstraction.”

What the younger Mousseau-Rivard puts on the plate is equally a work of art — not only in looks, but in flavor and imagination.

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Eating My Way Through Montreal in the Fall, Part I

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Inside the magnificent Montreal Notre-Dame Basilica.

MONTREAL, CANADA — Bundled up tightly in a trench coat, boots, gloves, scarf and a wooly hat, I have left the still sunny Northern California climate to make my way around Canada’s second largest city in the chill of early November.

I am joined by eight other food writers from around the globe, all of us hosted on this trip by Tourisme Montreal.

Our mission? To eat, drink and get to know Montreal’s vibrant food scene.

Naturally, we are more than up to the task.

I should have realized just how serious Montrealers take eating when I disembarked the plane at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and went through Canadian customs. When the agent realized I was a food writer visiting his country for the main purpose of eating, he asked to see my itinerary, then proceeded to point out which restaurants on the list he had visited and which he particularly liked. If that isn’t an auspicious beginning to a trip, I don’t know what is.

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Ecopia Farms Introduces Salad Kits

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The very gourmet tasting "Winter Salad'' kit from Ecopia Farms.

Find yourself in a salad rut this holiday season, where you’re noshing the same ol’ citrus-, persimmon- or apple-topped one over and over again?

Ecopia Farms wants to help break that ho-hum cycle.

The innovative Campbell organic farm, founded by a former CEO of Solectron and a former president of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, grows gourmet micro-lettuces indoors under LED lights that now grace the plates of some of the Bay Area’s best restaurants. Now, it’s just introduced two salad kits for consumers.

Each kit comes complete with the farm’s artisan lettuce mix and micro-herbs. The “Holiday Salad” includes Point Reyes blue cheese, candied walnuts, brandied pears, a spiced apple cider vinaigrette, and Maldon salt. The “Winter Salad” includes pickled butternut squash, quinoa with currants, candied pumpkin seeds, Maldon salt and a tangy lemon vinaigrette.

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Take a Taste of Lark Creek Blue at Santana Row

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Flatiron steak at Lark Creek Blue in Santana Row.

Gone is the nautical theme, along with the fishing nets, boat wheel and seafood-centric menu.

Yankee Pier at Santana Row in San Jose was put out to sea this summer, then underwent a renovation and was re-christened Lark Creek Blue.

The vibe is now less kitschy and more sophisticated with dark wood tables, leather chairs, blue-hued walls, and striking drum lights in the dining room.

You’ll still find plenty of seafood on the menu, all of it adhering to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Seafood Watch” guide. But so much more, too, including Angus beef carpaccio with nori flakes ($11.50) , a 12-ounce Marin Sun Farms grass-fed ribeye ($39) and Bellwether Farm ricotto ravioli with confit tomatoes and black olives ($16.50). Each evening, a special “classic” dish is offered, too, from Southern fried chicken ($19.50)  on Mondays to Prime rib with Yorkshire pudding ($36) on Saturdays to an old-school crawfish boil ($23.50) on Sundays.

The warm-hued dining room with an open kitchen.

Recently, I was invited as a guest of the restaurant to try Chef Paul Bruno’s food. Bruno was formerly sous chef or executive sous chef at Mon Ami Gabi, Seablue and Michael Mina, all in Las Vegas.

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Wishing You A Gingery Holiday

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Ginger cookies, anyone? These might just be too good to share.

What would the holidays be without a perfect ginger cookie?

A whole lot of blah humbug, that’s what.

When these cookies go in the oven, the spicy fragrance that fills the kitchen is intoxicating.

With one whiff, you just know Christmas time is here.

“Molasses-Ginger Cookies” is from the new cookbook, “The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook” (Artisan), of which I received a review copy, by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day. They are the founders of the Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Ga. Cheryl is a former “Soul Train” dancer. Griffith is a funk musician. They met in their early 20s over a love for music, then reconnected 15 years later over a passion for baking.

Their bakery opened a decade ago. They actually got married inside of it, too. The cookbook reflects that very personal touch. It’s filled with homespun treats rooted in Southern tradition, everything from ‘Nana Cream Pie to Plum Custard to Butter Mints.

These cookies are big-fisted, possessed of a crackly sugary top and a chewy-good center — all things you want in a Christmas-time ginger cookie.

Don’t be alarmed by the generous amounts of ground spices used, including a whopping 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. That may seem like way too much. But the resulting flavor in the baked cookies is not overwhelming at all. The taste is spicy, but balanced.

A tiny bottle of Fresh Ginger essence with a big pop of flavor.

For good measure, I even upped the ginger quota by using a sample of Aftelier Chef’s Essences ($16.95 to $19.95) in Fresh Ginger, available at Williams-Sonoma. These tiny bottles of essential, all-natural oils come in a variety of flavors, including Asian Lemon, Sweet Basil and Warm Nutmeg. Of course, I had to try the Fresh Ginger one, being the ginger fiend that I am.

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