October 28, 2007: Canvas Underground's Omnivore Table debuts
June 26, 2007: Culinate.com's "Fringe Benefits"
Twilight Greenaway, a featured Culinate writer, came to dinner at Kristy Regan's Oakland apartment a few months ago and her article was finally published on the front page of Culinate with many of my photos accompanying her narrative. It's exciting to see my point of view side-by-side with Jeremy's and Yelpers' about the evolution of Ghetto Gourmet. Check it out here.
June 23, 2007: Canvas Underground
Saturday, June 23, Chef Peter Jackson kicked off the underground revival of his restaurant, Canvas, with an elegant tribute to New Orlean's down-home cuisine in a beautiful outside setting. Candle-lit lanterns hung from the rustic vine-wrapped trellis ceiling overhead and glasses twinkled with the light bouncing from the votives on the marble farm table. Undeterred by traffic, fourteen hungry guests arrived and sat at communal dining tables to share a five course meal, including wild shrimp from Louisiana and boudin sausage. Here's what one guest wrote about the dining experience:
Peter,
I can only speak for my group in saying that we had an amazing time despite the dyslexia-inspired confusion. We were about to head out to a more traditional dining establishment when one of our number, fully blackberry-enabled, received the email with the correct address. And within a flash, we were at the doorstep, hunger barely in check, case of wine at the ready.
The amuse bouche was delicious and inspired. The she-crab soup was
delicious, though a bit under-seasoned. The addition of some salt and pepper fixed that. The boudin descended in front of each of us, followed shortly afterwards by small moans of pleasure. And while the traditional boudin was yummy, the deep-fried boudin ball was even better. (Of course, what isn't better deep-fried?) And though it was merely an embellishment, the pickled watermelon was a first for me, and a very nice counterpoint to the heaviness of the sausage.
(As an aside, my Romanian friend visiting from Maui said that while watermelon was frequently pickled in Romania, it was quite different from yours. He didn't elaborate, but I think vodka is involved.) The salad was sublime. I'm not much on salad, but yours impressed me. The greens tasted amazing with the pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette. This revelation alone was worth the price of dinner.
And the Flowers pinot noir complimented it perfectly. The tart was beyond wonderful, and every bite was like an explosion of farm springtime, with fresh cream countering the sharply delicious
berries. Where do you get your berries? Wow! Luckily, the D-Cubed zin I brought went amazingly well with the tart, which surprised me a little. (I worried that the zin would overpower the tart, but your astonishing pastry held its own.)
Thank you so much for allowing us to join you, and we hope we will be invited to future events of this sort.
Ron 'coyote' Lussier