Must Go in Mid-March: Haute Dish or Au Pied du Cochon?

Haute Dish opening in Mid-March. I simply can't wait.


With the staff they have listed, and the inspiration they have: this is going to be great. A great great great culinary combo.

I know this not because I've tried the dishes from the former Sea Change chef, or former Cafe Levain, or maybe I do love Barbette and couldn't be more excited to have the former Barbette chef's creations at Haute Dish. It was because of the owner has Au Pied du Cochon in Montreal as his inspiration for Haute Dish. That alone, enough said. I must try this restaurant. All because of Au Pied du Cochon.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about:



The famous, most famous, absolutely delicious: Duck-in-a-can
Duck meat and foie gras cooked and sealed in a can. Open fresh and heated for your enjoyment. The meat is so juicy with the foie gras so smooth. Heavenly combination.

And to pair with that extremely flavorful Duck-in-a-can, we had the Fries In Duck Fat. Also come with a side of extra duck fat for dipping. I don't know fries could taste so good. May I suggest McDonald's to start frying their fries with the leftover chicken fat? Oh wait, they are already doing that?

Handcrafted fries with duck fat! 

It wouldn't be fair to skip over the other amazing foie gras dish: Foie Gras Hamburger
Explain no more, see for yourself. Layers of tender soft duck livers with the amazing sweet and gamy glaze/sauce, sandwiched by two creamy and crispy pancakes. If that's what Canadians eat as "hamburger", I'm definitely moving to that largest piece of land, right now. But then I didn't, because you really can't eat that $40 of "hamburger" everyday...

In case you are done with foie gras, (and honestly, as much as I love foie gras and all thing gamy, I was pretty done after 3 dishes of duck and fat and livers) you can always go with the good-old pork. But beware, it's pork, but pork blood sausages. And it was a good change of taste after 3 overloading/overwhelming/over-tasting duck duck duck. And it's pork after all, who can beat that?

Having that Oven-Baked Apple probably was a little too luxurious. I should have just let the taste and texture of the all-night foie gras feast linger longer before washing it down with some warm apple sauce. But hey, it was a heavenly combo and a delicious way to end the dinner. You always need something sweet and tangy to finish off the gamy and creamy taste, yea?

That was so long ago. May 2008, what a time. That was just the beginning of my culinary adventure.


Haute Dish, are you ready for me?