Squid Eats: Bleu Marine

My wife and I recently spent several days in Quebec City, partly to celebrate our wedding anniversary and partly to facilitate the emotional transition to summer.  While we visit Montreal as often as we can, this was only our second trip to the provincial capital.  The last time was ten years ago.  

via Wikipedia

Quebec is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, dating back to 1608.  It's a prettier city than Montreal by a long shot and more touristy, too.  It's also more French.  The average Montrealer switches effortlessly between at least two languages.  Quebec is different.  While most in the service industry speak English a far sight better than either of us speaks French, the accent is strong and there's a lot more searching for words.  Geography matters.  Quebec is further from Ontario and further from the US border than Montreal.  Sure, New Brunswick isn't far away but the northwestern part of NB is also largely French-speaking.  Quebec has historically, and probably not coincidentally, held a lot firmer to its own Francophone identity than Montreal has.

We stayed in Old Quebec amid all of the prime-target sightseeing spots.  Naturally, there are plenty of lovely restaurants in the area.  Our first night, we went to Bleu Marine for dinner.  The restaurant's concept is unusual.  You choose between four or six courses.  Chef Claudine Déry picks the dishes, each with a wine pairing (optional).  You explain any dietary restrictions and the night is on.  The pace is slow, the warm and knowledgeable wait staff attending only as needed to explain the dishes (and wines).  No hovering.  As you relax into the evening, the conversation flows.

For my wife and I, it all began over food.  Before we started dating, we went out to dinner with a group of mutual friends at Soho Steak, a long-gone French bistro in Lower Manhattan.  She and I had only known each other about a week.  She ordered steak tartare as an appetizer, something I'd never even heard of before.  I turned up my nose at it - raw beef mixed up with raw egg? - but asked to try.  She was impressed that not only was I willing to try it but also admit that I liked it.

For me, that single bite was about so much more.

The steak tartare was not merely good.  It was a revelation.  Flavor exploded, then melted gently on the tongue.  Mouth feel.  I didn't know mouth feel was a thing until that steak tartare.  I didn't know food could be like that.  Who was this woman who knew such secrets?  It was a profoundly exciting moment in my life.  And deeply sexy.

Before meeting her, I can't say I knew much about food.  My parents appreciate a good meal and certainly taught us to do the same.  I had just spent two years in Japan, a culture that takes eating quite seriously indeed.  But I didn't actually know anything about what I was experiencing.  

My wife started cooking for her family when she was 14.  What began as a chore became artistic expression.  She read about food.  (All those books I post about?  She read them all first.)  She worked for food magazines and listened when she was taken out for meals.  She drew from her Lebanese heritage.  Combine the accumulated knowledge with her inherently sophisticated palate and her genius for project management and you get quite a talented cook.  She even considered a career in the the profession.  Luckily for me, she didn't pursue it.  We probably never would have met.

A dinner like the one served at Bleu Marine would not have happened in my life before meeting her.  Fine dining wasn't part of my experience and not only because of the price.  (Full disclosure: Bleu Marine ain't cheap.)  Previously, food, however good, was part of the back drop to the event.  With my wife, the meal is the event.

Our dinner (four courses):

Gazpacho

Scallops dusted with bacon

Sweetbread - a first for me

Deconstructed strawberry shortcake

The scallops were our favorite, though the gazpacho was nearly as dazzling for me.  Sweetbread - lamb pancreas - was not as weird as I was expecting.  It's certainly better than haggis!

Bleu Marine is a definite winner.  I'd go again, provided it's for a special occasion and/or someone else is paying.