Travel Blog

9 Jul

Bistro Pastis Celebrates Julia Child’s Centennial with Special Summer Menus

Bon anniversaire, Julia! Photo credit: Flickr user roland

Who is Julia Child to you? The chef who required extra-tall, custom counter tops as she expertly prepped a soufflé? The source of all French recipes? Meryl Streep in the 2009 film Julie Julia?

Julia Child, North America’s beloved 6’2 master of French cooking, was born August 15, 1912. 100 years later, Bistro Pastis is honouring the woman who taught us the joys of cooking French food at home with a series of 3-course prix fixe menus, based on Child’s biblical tome: Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The first Julia Child-menu is already on offer at Bistro Pastis; Julia Child menus will be available at Bistro Pastis all summer long, changing every two weeks. I’ve shamelessly included two menus after the jump, just to make you hungry.

Bon anniversaire, Julia!

Menu #1 – Starter, Artichokes and Hollandaise at Bistro Pastis. Photo credit: N. Wong

I’m a Julia Child buff and have toured her kitchen, which lives in Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian, more times than you can count on one hand. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of Bistro Pastis’ Julia Child commemoration is the fact that Executive Chef Tobias Grignon has annotated the menu with page numbers from the Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook, in case guests are tempted to replicate dishes for themselves. Each 3-course prix fixe menu is $39 per head.

The first menu, which runs July 3 to 15, includes such classic Child favourites as artichauts avec sauce hollandaise (p.426), thon à la provençale (p.219), the iconic boeuf bourguignon (p.315) and cherry clafoutis (p.655).

Menu #2 runs from July 17 through August 5, and I’ve included it below. Four different menus will be featured between the beginning of July and the end of August. As menus change, they will be posted to Bistro Pastis’ web site and Facebook page.

Julia Child Centennial Celebration Menu #2:

July 17 – August 5, 2012

Gratin d’Endives au Jambon   (p. 494)
Gratin of Belgian Endives Wrapped in Ham, Sauce Mornay
or
Oeufs en Meurette à la Bourguignonne (p.121)
Red Wine Poached Hen Egg, Mushrooms, Bacon and Red Wine Sauce
or
Vichyssoise, Poireaux et Pomme de Terre (p. 39)
Cold Leek and Potato Vichyssoise, Chives

*****

Blanquette de Veau à l’Ancienne (p. 362)
Slow Cooked Veal, Carrots, Turnip, Mushrooms,
Pearl Onions and Rice Pilaf
or
Sole à la Dieppoise (p. 214)
Poached Sole, Mussels and Shrimp, Steamed Potatoes
or
Epaule d’ Agneau de Pré-Salé (p. 335)
Braised Lamb Shoulder with White Beans, Roasted Tomatoes

*****

Pêches Cardinal (p. 630)
Vanilla-Poached Fresh Okanagan Peaches and Raspberries
Vanilla Ice Cream
or
Crêpes Fourrées Frangipane (p. 652)
Crêpes Baked with Almond Cream,
Dark Chocolate Crème Chantilly
$39.00

* page numbers refer to the location of Ms. Child’s original recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 40th Anniversary Edition, Volume One

Bistro Pastis is located in beachfront Kitsilano at 2153 West 4th Avenue.

Article source: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2012/07/06/bistro-pastis-celebrates-julia-childs-centennial-with-special-summer-menus/