{"id":2673,"date":"2013-05-21T09:15:35","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T14:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=2673"},"modified":"2013-05-24T19:01:55","modified_gmt":"2013-05-25T00:01:55","slug":"marben-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=2673","title":{"rendered":"Marben redux"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A bubble of olive puree ready to burst on the tongue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m delighted to see chef Rob Bragagnolo back in Toronto and ensconced at the latest iteration of Marben, owner Simon Benstead\u2019s hot spot on Wellington West. I hadn\u2019t tasted Bragagnolo\u2019s food since he was at Lobby in 2006, one of two or three chefs in the city then offering a menu that showcased molecular cuisine. He had spent the previous five years working for English chef Marc Fosh at the one-Michelin-star Read\u2019s hotel in Mallorca and had picked up the molecular vibe so prevalent in Spain at the time. Coming home to Toronto was a great idea but Lobby\u2019s customers weren\u2019t the avant-garde audience he needed. Before too long, he and his sous chef, Sergio Fiorino, had moved on to Fumetti on Brant Street but again it didn\u2019t work out. Bragagnolo went back to Mallorca.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s back and Benstead threw a party to celebrate, inviting the media to dinner. It was a splendid meal \u2013 17 fascinating, well-judged courses that showcased Bragagnolo\u2019s mastery of many techniques, ancient and modern. The scale and sophistication of the meal took me back to the way Toronto used to dine pre-2009, when every chef worth his salt loved to put together a flamboyant and thought-provoking tasting menu. Wouldn\u2019t it be great if Marben started a trend back towards that sort of entertaining artistry and away from the heavy-handed, self-righteous and dull domesticity of so much of Hogtown\u2019s current hipster cooking?<\/p>\n

\"Carrot\"<\/a>
Carrot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here are some highlights from Bragagnolo\u2019s feast. He started us with a Szechuan button to numb the tongue and lips \u2013 like licking a 6-volt battery \u2013 and stimulate the palate, pairing it with a spoonful of citrus granit\u00e9 to further chill the cold heat of the tingling.<\/p>\n

Then came a brown bubble in a spoon that looked and wobbled like a raw egg yolk but burst into olive pur\u00e9e in your mouth. A fine beetroot brunoise was the sweet, rooty counterpoint.<\/p>\n

There was a Noma-style flower pot filled with layers of carrot pur\u00e9e, pistachio dukkah, preserved lemon cream, cumin and sesame seeds served with a fresh baby carrot to use as a scoop\u2026 So much was memorable! A thick sunchoke cream with sunchoke crisps strewn over it \u2013 so simple and delicious. Mini air chiabatta like crisp puffs or crunchy bread balloons, wrapped in gorgeous Serrano ham (chef acknowledged El Bulli circa 2003 for the idea).<\/p>\n

How about razor clam chopped and returned to its shell with chorizo dimes and a parsley and clam gel? It shared the plate with a Raspberry point oyster topped with hazelnut crumble and trout roe, eliciting a wow.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The delectable Canadian paella before the concentrated bisque inundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My favourite dish of the evening was the first of three main courses, a \u201cCanadian paella\u201d of crab, lobster and mussels with crispy wild rice, tiny moments of red pepper, almond and snap pea with a dab of saffron-paprika aioli. Bragagnolo finsihed the dish by pouring on an exaggeratedly intense, dark lobster-crab bisque of thrilling and uncompromising flavour. It killed the accompanying wine \u2013 a merry little ros\u00e9 \u2013 but blew me away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is uppity food,\u201d joked wine writer Konrad Ejbich who was sitting at our table. He is absolutely right and it\u2019s high time for it. Bragagnolo plans a chef\u2019s tasting menu as a regular feature at the new Marben. Hooray.<\/p>\n

Marben is at 488 Wellington Street West. 416 979 1990. www.marbenrestaurant.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m delighted to see chef Rob Bragagnolo back in Toronto and ensconced at the latest iteration of Marben, owner Simon Benstead\u2019s hot spot on Wellington West. I hadn\u2019t tasted Bragagnolo\u2019s food since he was at Lobby in 2006, one of two or three chefs in the city then offering a menu that showcased molecular cuisine. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,19,95],"tags":[175,771,772],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2673"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2678,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions\/2678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}