I am no food reviewer, and its not often that I write about restaurants or the meals I've eaten in them, but when it comes to Les Fougerès, I gotta give them a shout out!
Charlie & Jennifer Part are the brains behind this operation that is found deep in the Gatineau Hills (Chelsea to be exact). Originally, they owned a little "boite" in Toronto called Loons, but after babies and the allure of a simpler life, they moved their brood to Chelsea where Jennifer's parents and sister happen to live. As a result, Les Fougères was born in the remnants of an old gas station. To be perfectly honest, my opinion of these two is biased, as I was once their sous chef (yep,that is me on page 142 of their cookbook!), but in the past thirteen years I have never had a bad experience. Yes, it is true that I got married there, and the ten course meal that we ate will go down in history as the best wedding meal EVER, but I won't let that sway my opinion.
After three years of staying away, Doug and I finally made the trek back to Les Fougères several weeks ago and enjoyed a most spectacular lunch! Chicken liver pate & Salade Fougères for me (my usual), and Dougie had the wild game terrine and the special of the day; a salad of garden greens, local beef tenderloin, strawberries, pistachios and a plethora of other garden goodies. Of course no meal would be complete without cheese, and with over a dozen Quebec cheeses to choose from we had our work cut out for us! To finish off our lunch I ordered a little sweet somethin-somethin to help me endure the trek back to Shawville - Frangipane of raspberries with Fleur De Sel ice cream.
After filling ourselves with sumptuous food, a quick stop at the Les Fougères food store was a must. Despite the fact that I would have happily purchased every single item in the shop, I walked away with their own brand of extra virgin olive oil and a few jars of anchovy stuffed olives.
Les Fougères will always remain a favorite for me, hold a special place in my heart and continue to inspire me to cook with balls! (as Charlie always told me to do!)