I was honored to partake in the launch of Pure Spirits and House Oyster House‘s summer menu. Chef Jonathan and his team have really outdone themselves with mouthwatering seafood offerings and a surprise dessert.

A beautiful start of summer; an evening on the patio at the restaurant. A fitting venue for this feast. Every course was introduced by Chef Jonathan and each paired with an amazing drink.

We started with a shared dish of grilled shoshito peppers with huancaina sauce, herbed pangretto, sea salt paired with Cocchi Americano vermouth.

Next up was an Ontario steelhead trout rillettes with fine herb bavarois and croutes.

Our final shared dish is one of my favorites because I grew up with this. Baked Quebec snow crab clusters with Old Bay butter, and grilled corn on the cob. Superbly paired with a mini classic caesar. Get in there and get messy to dig out all that tasty sweet meat!

Are you hungry yet?

Our next tastings were individual plated servings.

Ricotta gnocchi with almond pesto, roasted garden vegetables, shaved parmesan paired with Rodney Strong cabernet sauvignon.

A beautiful summer salad with peach confit, tomato, candied almonds, treviso, and blue benedictine cheese.

My favorite of the evening, a melt in your mouth halibut poached in white wine served with a ‘ratatouille’ and summer nage, elegantly paired with Megalomanic pink slip rose.

And the knock your socks off piece was this individually cedar wrapped baked BC salmon wrapped accompanied with beet ribbons, Ontario kale, wild mushrooms, and smoked potato puree served with Domaine De La Villaudiere sancerre

Finally, the dessert for the evening. It was a perfect serving of summer fresh fruits – a strawberry rhubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream paired with Cocchi vermouth di Torino. The pleasant surprise is that this is Chef Jonathan’s mum’s recipe. She was sitting beside me, proudly beaming.