Smörgåsbirthday

We had every intention of keeping Michelle's birthday low-key this year, but, somehow, things got totally out of hand.



I know. When I look back on it, it just seems crazy. The theatre setting, the band,* the 5,000 guests. Totally ridiculous, right?  It wasn't "endless," exactly, but it was pretty close.

Anyway, the main thing is that we had a great time. And the smörgåsbord theme--complete with a Swedish Princess Cake finale--was a complete hit.

And, get this, if you want experience the smörgåsbord part of the experience in the presence of Michelle herself, you need only make your way to the FoodLab this week. There you'll find the following delicacies on offer, Wednesday through Saturday:

shrimp salad w/ Boston lettuce, celery, radish, apple, mayonnaise, and lemon zest

Swedish meatballs w/ gravy

beef tartare open-faced sandwich on pumpernickel w/ capers, gherkins, pickled onion, and egg yolk

house-smoked arctic char open-faced sandwich on brioche w/ crème fraîche, dill, caviar, and hard-boiled egg

house-smoked cream cheese open-faced sandwich on rye w/ Appenzeller, apple, and chives

Swedish cheesecake with cranberry coulis

and/or

Swedish Princess Cake (!)

Never had the pleasure of experiencing a true Swedish Princess Cake? It's worth a trip down to the FoodLab for that alone. You can find all kinds of crazy images of Swedish Princess Cake on the Internet (most of them suitable for Cake Wrecks), but, basically, it's a multi-layered cake that's domed with a thin layer of marzipan (tinted mint green, as per tradition, and usually decorated with a pink icing rose). The layers vary somewhat, but Michelle's includes whipped cream, genoise brushed with rum, custard, and raspberry jam, and the sum of these parts is one of the top three cakes I've ever had in my entire life. Honestly.

Skål!

aj

* The Band?

Northern Rites

fig. a: curling scene, Montreal

We, here at "...an endless banquet," have been spouting off about the affinities between Québécois culture and Nordic culture, and especially about the notion of Québécois cuisine as Nordic cuisine, since at least 2006. In fact, that's one of the very reasons that René Redzepi and Claus Meyer's New Nordic Cuisine struck such a chord with us--it seemed to provide a model for how chefs here in Quebec might reinvent the local cuisine, pushing it in a direction that was more seasonal, more sustainable, less dependent on imports, and truer to the terroir. But Quebec remains a culture of Nordiques turned Snowbirds, a culture that in many ways has lost sight of its essential Nordic-ness. A people that had once proclaimed "mon pays c'est l'hiver," took to proclaiming "mon pays c'est la Floride/le Cuba/le Mexique/le Las Vegas" a long time ago. And, thus, in spite of our agitating, the New Nordic Cuisine has yet to take hold. Montreal is still a city of open-air hockey rinks and tobogganing, of Montréal en Lumière, Nuit blanche, and La Fête des neiges, but it's also the home of the Underground City, and it could definitely use some more Northern rites.

fig. b: old-school

With this in mind, Team Laloux--namely chef Seth Gabrielse and AEB's very own Michelle--has devised a night of Nordic cuisine at Pop!: a good, old-fashioned Scandinavian-style smörgåsbord, complete with all the trimmings. Think open-faced sandwiches and Scandinavian sweets.

fig. c: new-school

Think gravlax, Danish teak, and aquavit.

fig. d: Krogstad Aquavit

Starting to get the picture?

Michelle's been so excited about this event that her birthday turned into an extended Scandinavian food- and fact-finding mission (alas, not east to Copenhagen or Stockholm, but south [?] to New York City). And, let me tell you, she found plenty.

And when we returned she also found Scandinavian prezzies sent by a psychic friend (!).

fig. e: proof of E.S.P.

So Team Laloux is ready for you, and they'll be serving up Nordic delicacies both "new" and "classic" in the Danish Modern splendor of Pop! one night only (!), this Monday, March 28th.

Smörgåsbord!
Monday, March 28th
6:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Pop!
250, avenue des Pins E.
RSVP: (514) 287-1648
Facebook page

Skål!

aj