Admittedly, I don’t put much stock on the Michelin star rankings. However, to experience Burdock & Co is to understand and authenticate their star. There is good reason why they are the first female owned and operated Michelin Star restaurant in Canada. An honour Chef Andrea Carlson has maintained for three consecutive years.
And today we were here to try her latest featured menu: Submerging Stones Under A Sturgeon Moon.
“At Burdock & Co, Chef Andrea Carlson composes her moon-themed tasting menus around hyper-regional botanical motifs that wax and wane with the microseasons. The full-moon names are drawn from Indigenous calendars and the Old Farmer’s Almanac.” (As taken from the press release).
The menu is meant to reflect on summer’s abundance, explore the ocean’s health, and embrace the quiet beauty of letting go as we transition into fall. This menu is available until the end of September.
Our six courses and then some
began with a non-alcoholic spritz. A taste and reminder that they have zero-proof pairing for their entire menu. Each beverage crafted by chef Andrea Carlson with the same ingredient-driven focus as the menu itself. However, as one who appreciates wine with my meal, I gravitated towards the more traditional pairing of wine.
Nonetheless our starting non-alcoholic drink was brewed with tea from China infused with botanicals and made into a kumbucha. It is aged in oak to mimic and pair well with food like wine would. I found it a great way to open the appetite and complimentary to the savoury bites with its tart cherry and herbaceous sage. It also serves well as a welcome beverage thanks to the bubbles that playful prickled the tongue like sparkling wine.
This was partnered with an amuse bouche of pea tuille tart. This was innovative with the thin tart cup made from the shell of peas. It was filled with house made stracciatella cheese, lightly blanched peas, and pickled daylily. I got so much depth of flavour from this single bite. The mint and pea melded together with the salty butter-like cheese. It stays on the saltier side until the pickle comes to play, giving it a sweet end on its final transformation.
Not part of the moon tasting menu, but worth trying is the Savoury Éclairs. One of a handful of shared starters, should you want to round out your six course meal. I ordered this out of curiosity, as I have more of a savoury tooth than a sweet one. These are Savoury Éclairs with goat camembert, caramelized mulberry, and pickled shallot. It is slightly overwhelming with the goat spread, but the mulberry jam does help to cut into it. For my taste I wanted more of the cheese crusted and crisped bread with roasted seeds, for a 2:1 ratio of bread to cheese.
As for the Submerging Stones Under A Sturgeon Moon menu, the first course was Rosehip glazed scallop. Cured scallop and tomato dashi with fennel. Here we got another lovely tomato tuille, which the scallop wore like a fascinator, that you had to break into to get to the seafood and gel.
The tangy dried tomato was on the salty side, but the sake pairing cuts into it well with its creamier mouth feel, allowing the caramelized bbq glaze on the scallop to shine. This is best eaten with a spoon to be able to take in a bit of everything. I also thought bread would have been nice as a platform to balance out punchier flavours.
For the menu’s wine pairing, Maisie Ryan, their wine director has focused on wines that “champion young winemaker rewriting the rules” and she herself has done that with the unexpected first course pairing of scallops and sake. The Sohomare Kimoto Tokubetsu Junmai has lovely floral notes. It is reminiscent of effervescent champagne to run alongside the sugars in the tomato and scallop.
The second course is a charred corn risotto without any rice. Roasted corn, w fermented crab apple & sugar rush peach chili broth, olive, and purslane.
The sweet corn nibblets are given depth and a richer texture to not miss the thickening starch of a risotto.
However, we thought it could still use some bread to help temper some of the salt and to soak up the meatier broth that pooled. Therefore we ordered a side of bread from their shared plates menu. Arctic Sourdough Bread with house cultured butter. This was the perfect addition, and was worth having alone.
Our wine pairing here was from an organic vineyard in the French Appalachian mountains, that matched with Burdock’s values. This boldness of the roasted corn was rebutted by the higher acidity of the Chardonnay.
The Pork collar with uni XO glazed geoduck, braised celery, and spotted shrimp cream was as sumptuous as it read. Fatty and rich in all the ways you want a pork that softens in your mouth to be. The sauce had the texture of a squash purée, but with the umami toast of uni. The refreshing celery and greens helped to wash. And we chose to have the bits of geoduck separately, to be able to appreciate it fully.
The unexpected pairing for our first meat course was a white pinot noir. The striking label is designed by a local artist. It had the levity of a dry acidic white for the seafood, but the full body richness of a red to go toe to toe with the fattiness of pork.
The next bottle is chosen for to the winery’s profit-sharing principles, where 60% of all profits goes back to the farm. And that all the immigrants that pick the grapes are also taught how to make the wine. This red is a blend that is mostly Syrah, and pepperiness goes well with medium lamb.
The Lamb saddle was refined with a caramelized plum & poppy seed clafoutis, garlic scape jus, and preserved plum & dill seed compote. It was prepared to perfection with fragrant and refreshing dill at the forefront, otherwise, thanks to the cranberry and the roasted onion it felt very fall. Together, this was a profile that develops and evolves the more you savour it.
The most iconic and my favourite of the entire tasting menu was the Uni gelato with
candied almond, braised burdock & fig, Creanza olive oil, and fennel pollen. This is the restaurant’s contribution to the Ocean Wise Sea Forestation Biodiversity Project. A creative and playful way to bring seafood into the realm of sweet dessert. It was more savoury and salty, with the quick to melt ice cream becoming a sauce for the cornbread-like cake. I didn’t get much of the uni without searching for it. It was more olive oil, which complimented the mix of diced textures and the slightly bitter flowers.
The Ben Rye 2021 from Donna Fugata was our dessert wine. Adding on a syrupy and caramelized finish to our three courses if desserts. I didn’t find it all that complimentary with its sweet peach cobbler and almond characteristics, but did think it flowed well with everything else.
The presentation of Sour Cherry Sakura reminded me of a gnome with its fluffy bits and pointed hat. This was meringue, sakura milk custard, and cherry blossom ice. It was playful to crack into. The tart and juicy cherries were my favourite bites, balancing out all the sweet meringue and lush cream. This is another one where you want to take a bite of everything for the perfect assembly.
And the nought was an excellent ending exclamation, see-sawing from savoury and sweet. Black garlic and blue cheese with almond. Sticky and chewy I have never had nought this fresh. It was a tease to have only one piece each.
This was such a lovely meal with so much meaning. We left full and reenergized, a lovely light offering on a hotter day. I can and will be recommending this one.
Submerging Stones
Under A Sturgeon Moon
is available Thursday to Monday until the end of September.
Tasting menu: $165
Wine pairings: $85 and $125
Zero-proof pairing: $65
Reservations encouraged
Bar walk-ins welcome
Burdock & Co.
2702 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3Đ•8
(604) 879-0077
burdockandco.com
