Jean-Georges Vongerichten delivers terrific dishes in a gorgeous setting — and it’s incredibly accessible
Mia Stainsby
Sun
David Foot has no problem surrendering his own creativity to Jean-Georges Vongerichten. ‘I’m learning new things.’ Photograph by: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
David Foot in the kitchen of Market by Jean-Georges Photograph by: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
MARKET BY JEAN-GEORGES
Overall 5
Food 5
Ambience 5
Service 5
$$/$$$
Shangri-La Hotel
1115 Alberni St.
604-695-1115
Open for dinner, daily
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
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When a three-Michelin star chef comes into town, you expect swashbuckling swagger. Well, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has none of that Jagger swagger. In my interviews with both him and for that matter, Daniel Boulud, the other iconic New York chef to have opened here, there’s no wasted energy on inflating their egos.
When I visited Market by Jean-Georges at Shangri-La Hotel, I couldn’t believe the great value for such ravishing food. And the thing that gives Market buzz is its accessibility — our bill wasn’t much different than meals at Cactus Club. And yet, the quality of cooking orbits into the stratosphere. (Entree prices range from $19 to $29.) And service is pretty much beyond reproach. I’d tell you of how they went out of the way to correct a problem we encountered but it would identify me — suffice to say, they went above and beyond.
The room is uncluttered with a soft monochrome of creams with touches of red. The simple background brings diners to the forefront.
One might wonder how a chef overseeing 24 restaurants on three continents can manage quality control. One way is to limit menus to his own tried and true recipes. “I have 3,000 in a data base,” Vongerichten said. (In a New York magazine article, he’s quoted as saying his recipes are bulletproof when they leave his hands but his fight is to “only lose five or 10 per cent of himself” when he delegates those recipes.)
Market chef David Foot says all the recipes are scaled out to a tenth of a gram. When the dish is plated, he says, “it’s perfect.” I asked Foot if he’s okay suppressing his own creativity: “Absolutely!” he said. “I get to work with Jean-Georges! I’m learning new things, new techniques. It’s been a steep learning curve.” Market’s recipes, he says, are “the best of” from Vongerichten’s restaurants.
The first dish I ordered was a $12 shrimp salad with mixed greens, avocado and champagne dressing. I expected three perfect tiny shrimp nestled in a mouthful of greens. What I got were five large prawns dressed in that lovely dressing, avocado slices and the dish was nearly a meal. Other starters were equally impressive — sea urchin toast with yuzu glaze and jalapeno (okay, maybe the paper-thin pickled jalapeno was a touch blunt with delicate sea urchin); warm Okanagan goat cheese custard with sweet and sour beets and crushed pistachio (ethereal); Dungeness crab dumplings with meyer lemon and celeriac tea (a gently Asian dish). I tried two fish dishes, Arctic char and sablefish, and both were handled beautifully, cooked not a second beyond doneness.
Carnivores will rhapsodize over the soy-glazed short ribs with apple jalapeno puree and rosemary crumbs. The meat is braised for three hours with soy, Asian pear, lemongrass, chili, galango, ginger and white wine. The broth is reduced to a glaze and the green apple puree adds a palate-cleansing counterpoint to the richness. Parmesan-crusted chicken (organic) with salsify and lemon sauce tastes of chicken, which today, is a big deal.
I was, however, disappointed with a side order of truffle mashed potatoes. It didn’t deliver on the truffle flavour despite the many flecks of black truffle dotting the dish. Foot says it’s because they couldn’t get winter truffle peelings and relied on canned summer peelings.
For dessert, you gotta try the apple confit with green apple sorbet, one of Vongerichten’s classics. Thin apple slices become a dense cake of apple and orange zest. The sorbet has an incredible lightness of being. A creme fraiche cheesecake becomes something more than itself with the port-poached cherries and red wine sorbet lifting it out of the ordinary. I didn’t try the pavlova but after hearing about it, I wish I did — the meringue is a perfect sphere with passion fruit filling its hollow middle.
The good news for fans of Vongerichten is there’s talk of opening another of Vongerichten brand restaurant in Vancouver called Spice Market. “The boys are talking about it,” says Foot.
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