Last week I was invited to Earls for dinner to taste some of Product Development Chef Reuben Major’s new dishes on their fall menu! All of the dishes in the 5 course tasting menu were new additions.

1st dish:

Potato Leek Soup | leeks, potatoes and bacon simmered with fresh cream

2nd dish:

Albacore Tuna Poke Nachos | crisp togarashi wontons, tuna, cucumber, avocado and tomato poke, spicy mango coulis, sliced serranos, crushed macadamia nuts.

3rd dish:

Maple Glazed Salmon Salad | green beans, warm butternut squash, farro, goat cheese, organic greens and spinach, dried cranberries, salted pumpkin seeds, lemon honey viniagrette, maple butter glazed salmon.

4th dish:

Gnocchi with Italian Rose Sauce | hand made potato gnocchi,  San Marzano tomato cream sauce, burrata cheese, fresh basil

5th dish:

Warm Banana Chocolate Cake caramelized bananas, chocolate rum cake, banana creme anglaise, caramel walnut gelato

I was quite impressed with these new dishes, all were good, the standout savoury dish goes to the Ocean Wise-certified Albacore Tuna Poke Nachos a twist on the pub classic featuring crisp togarashi wontons and spicy mango coulis, plus a dose of Hawaiian sensibility (cue crushed macadamia nuts); along with the dessert which was another standout, note that this Warm Banana Chocolate Cake will not be available at their Canadian locations until January 2012. Most of these dishes are now available at Earl’s locations around Vancouver as well as their 60-plus locations across Canada and the United States.

For locations and their complete fall menu visit www.earls.ca

By: Richard Wolak