The Marc (Birthday Dinner 2010)

Nick took me out to dinner for my birthday at the Marc restaurant downtown last night. The food was some of the best I've eaten in a long time - likely because I'm currently obsessed with simple classic french cooking, but also because the menu is concise and well thought out. 

The atmosphere is clean and simple - a definite reflection of the food. There is no booths, just banquets and sleek wooden chairs, so it's not exactly cozy and romantic, but still definitely comfortable and inviting.

We started off with one of their specials that evening, fois gras with bone marrow, homemade pickles and a simple cherry compote, served with grilled french bread crostinis. Nick and I have been quite interested about trying bone marrow after hearing about it from a friend in toronto (a new popular dish in that city). It's very hard to describe what it tasted like - very soft and buttery but packs a lot of savory, fatty flavour. The fois gras was also great, very smooth and delicious and was complemented well with the salty, sour pickles and the sweet fruit compote.

For my main dish I chose their seafood casserole, which was poached mussels, shrimp and white fish in a saffron, garlic aioli. It came with a spicy hollandaise and more crostinis. It was amazing. The seafood was cooked perfectly and everything was flavoured with the very delicate aioli. The hollandaise was a really interesting addition to the dish. It was very creamy and delicate to match the seafood, but had a really spicy finish to it that really heighten the flavour of the entire dish. Such simple elements that came together so well to make a very delicious dish.

Nick had the steak frites, and from the few bites I stole, it was also simple but well thought out. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and was juicy and tender. The steak came with a fois gras butter that complemented the steak and made it even more savoury. The frites were also really interesting, salty but not the way fries normally are - they had a depth of flavour to them that was unexpected. They came with a delicious truffle aioli.

For dessert we ordered their sugared beignets which came both with a chocolate and a caramel sauce, as well as their special almond tart. The beignets were fresh and soft but nothing as spectacular as the almond tart. This tart was stunning!!! It was the perfect nutty flavour and texture, and the whipped cream and citrus syrup that accompanied it turned every bite into heaven. Nick and I both agreed that we could have eaten 1000 pieces of this.

So overall I was really impressed with the Marc. The food is fancy in a very simplistic way - they use a few high quality ingredients well and layer flavours in such a way that their small menu offers a lot of depth. Nick and I were also very pleased with the price of our meal and would definitely go back in an instant! The restaurant's website is HERE.

So beyond dinner, I also got a great gift my my friends Casper and Amanda which I've been reading non-stop this morning:

I unfortunately won't have time to make anything from it until after my vacation but I'm already getting giddy about all the recipes I want to try (especially the fresh pastas and the sauces sections)! This book is giagantic so expect a lot of recipes on my blog from it in the new year! Thanks guys!

So this will likely be my last post until I'm back in town! Just want to thank those who follow me regularly and happy holidays - hope it's delicious!