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Everyone I know who’s been to Provence is smitten by the bucolic sun-drenched fields, the rustic villages and the intoxicating fragrance of herbs and lavender wafting through the air. Most also come away with the realization that the food in Provence is not about the occasional night out to a Michelin-starred restaurant. Instead they recount trips to the markets to chat up farmers, fisherman, butchers and vendors, and to poke and pinch to find the best in season tomatoes, eggplants, lemons, olives, poultry, sausages or truffles to bring home for the table. Food in Provence is day-to-day life, savoured in the company of family and friends. Alice Waters, the doyen of Californian cuisine, praised Provence as a place "where eating together nourished the spirit as well as the body - since food was raised, harvested, hunted, fished and gathered by people sustaining and sustained by each other and by the earth itself."
But if a trip to Provence is not in your budget this year due to escalating fuel costs, don’t despair, your yearning for a taste of Provence can easily be sated by paying a visit to Jean-Francis and Alessandra Quaglia’s popular waterfront restaurant in Yaletown, Provence Marinaside. In fact, when seated in the warm, bright room lined with floor to ceiling windows designed by Alessandra’s father, or on the sidewalk patio overlooking the ranks of yachts in the marina, let your imagination roam a little, and you might well be transported to Nice. Or to Marsaille where Jean-Francis’ passion for good food was nurtured from childhood by his Mamie Suzanne who was known as “La Mère Marseillaise” for her famed restaurant in the Vieux Port, Le Patalain.
Setting aside, it is the handsome couple’s food that really completes the experience here. In the introduction to their new cookbook “New World Provence – Modern French Cooking for Friends and Family” Jean-Francis and Alessandra remarked, “Provence is a region full of color, sunshine, and simple yet robust tastes. … Thankfully, the West Coast lends itself well to the needs of the Provencal chef, with an abundance of fresh fish and local farms. That’s what our cooking is all about….” A recent sampling of some seafood dishes illustrated why their success is richly deserved….
To begin, we had a Plateaux De Fruits De Mer heaped with boiled Dungeness crab, prawns, kusshi oysters, swimming scallops and a tasty salad of octopus, scallops and mussels, served with a cocktail sauce, a mignonette and a rouille – saffron mayonnaise – so good we saved it to spread on bread while awaiting our main courses: Roasted wild Sockeye salmon was accompanied by a savoury, crunchy-textured relish of olives, caper berries and caramelized onions over buttery herbed rice and served with perfectly sautéed and seasoned spinach. Seared Ahi tuna was set off superbly with a tomato-fennel-orange vinaigrette over fluffy raisin-studded Moroccan couscous and crunchy-perfect snap peas. Grilled halibut – a fish I usually consider bland – was bold and lively, napped with a preserved lemon and basque pepper sauce, and |
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garnished with local fingerling potatoes and baby green beans. A risotto of lobster and crab with herbed “Bamboo” rice was silky, creamy and colourfully and thoughtfully contrasted with ripe cherry tomatoes, snap peas and chervil. Jumbo live BC spot prawns, grilled to lightly smoky perfection, were served with a potato and spinach salad dressed with a grainy mustard, crisp bacon vinaigrette. And lastly, a whole Dungeness crab, pan-roasted with seasonal vegetables Provencal style completed the feast. And what a feast it was!
As we all know, Vancouver is not the most sunny spot on earth, but rain or shine, a visit to Jean-Francis and Alessandra’s Provence Restaurants is guaranteed to be a heartwarming experience. | |
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