Winter Chef Series - Marc Lepine [popup]

Matt Blondin of The Food Dudes presented Winter Chef Series, pop up sinners featuring top chefs from across Canada held between Dec 2nd and 21st. We attended the 3rd one featuring Marc Lepine of Atelier in Ottawa, a restaurant that I have been wanting to visit and what an amazing deal at $89pp for a 12 course dinner (+$45 for wine pairing).

 We were told to arrive early to hand and and enjoy some cocktail.

Guest Chef : Marc Lepine, Atelier, Ottawa

Host Chef : Matt Blondin, MBA Group, Toronto

Wines By: Mark Coster, Noble Estate, Toronto

Bottega Vino dei Poeti Prosecco, DOC, Bottega Spa, Italy

a needle in an avocado stack

~ avocado oil, lime

foie balls

~ foie gras, freeze dried fruit

hey mackerella

~ yuzu chicharonnes, shallot, tomato

beets ny dr. ray

~ beet root, sour cream, dill

Gruner Veltliner Federspiel 2013, Domaine Waucha Durnstein, Wachau, Austria

2012 shellfish competition

~ crab salad wrapped in lobster carpaccio w/ pickled mussel, puffed rice, scallion & tarragon

the deep trout

~ lightly smoked ocean trout marinated in tsume, w/ frozen cedar & the zest of buddah hand, also served w/ a piece of it's puffed skin

Chardonnay Bourgogne 2014, Maison Louis Jadot, Burgundy, France

le hoop

~ lime compressed apple, masala pearls, cilantro, coconut gel & a lemongrass crumble inside a crispy carrot hoop

Pinot Noir 2012, Thirteenth Street, Niagara Peninsula, Canada

wtf is salsify ?

~ it's a root vegetable! we mad a soup, paired w/ cacao & mushroom soil, huckleberry & grains of paradise

gone fishin'

~ alaskan sablefish served both soft and crispy w/ a rambutan curry sauce, floral herbs and caramelized cashew

Grenache, Cave de Rasteau La Donneliere 212, Cave des Vignerons de Gigondas, Rhone, France

durocwilder..

~ from the sebringville, ont, duroc belly w/ soured carrot juice, honey butter & a wafer of spiced graham

Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 2010, Agricolla Fratelli Tedeschi, Veneto, Italy

where the buffalo roam

~ bison hanger steak w/ miso molasses & screech marinade paired with barley, mushrooms and a corn husk/miso broth

Below Zero Riesling 2013, Thirteenth Street, Niagara Peninsula, Canada

dino egg

~ passion fruit egg w/ chocolate & olive oil cake, persimmon, tonka bean meringue and banana crumble

Verdict:

What an amazing experience even thou there was some misses but definitely more hits than misses.

Love pop up like these where the chefs can try out new dishes or ideas

And don't you love the name of the dishes, so fun.

And it's always fun to bump into people who is as passionate about food as you are, we had amazing company that night (communal table).

My only complain would be the long hours on a weeknight, it ended at around 11:00 that night.