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AWESOME THING WE ATE #889: A Lobster Vs. Pork Battle At Yew In The Four Seasons

Portrait

by Andrew Morrison | You know those urban myth horror stories that you sometimes hear about gigantic snakes swallowing entire pigs in one go? I happily joined their ranks over the weekend, eating my weight in pork and lobster at Yew in the Four Seasons. It was a special Visa Infinite supper, a course by course duel pitting Yew chef Ned Bell against John Jackson and Connie DeSousa of Calgary’s meaty Charcut. Greasing the rails were some outstanding local wines from Sumac Ridge, Meyer, Tinhorn, Le Vieux Pin, Painted Rock, and Orofino, with all being bookended by a couple of original Yew cocktails (one included a lobster claw and the other a strip of candied bacon). Personal highlights included the lobster bisque accented by vanilla and pineapple from Ned Bell (it sounds weird but it totally worked) and the savage, family-style delivery of ham hocks, Hunter sausages, and hominy from DeSousa and Jackson, two of the most enthusiastically pork-loving, burst-worthy chefs I’ve ever had the pleasure to blame for a morning of physical immobility. Take a closer look in the shots below…

  • The Claw cocktail of gin, yuzu, cucumber juice, honey, rice vinegar, nori, lobster claw
  • Sing Sing Lobster Soup flavoured with pineapple, vanilla, coconut, and lime olive oil.
  • Boar bacon and blood sausage on brioche
  • Connie and John of Calgarys Charcut
  • Lobster and cauliflower with kale pesto, cashews, and birch syrup puree
  • The dance card...
  • Yew detail
  • Yew | Kitchen action
  • Yew chef Ned Bell and sommelier Emily Walker
  • Yew | Hocks and hominy, family style
  • Yew | Hocks and hominy, family style
  • Charcut crew hard at work
  • Mmmm, a line up of Hunter-style pork sausages
  • The spread
  • The spread
  • Four Seasons' GM Kari Koskela serving family style (with John Skinner of Painted Rock)
  • Cpt. Steve Johansen of the good ship Organic Ocean
  • Connie DeSousa and John Jackson of Charcut (Calgary) wheeling out a whole roasted pig
  • Charcut chef John Jackson about to shred the pig apart with his bare hands
  • Ned, Connie, and John making short work of the whole pig
  • Ned, Connie, and John making short work of the whole pig
  • John Skinner of Painted Rock Estate Winery talking about his 2009 Red Icon
  • At left, my friend and soon-to-be publisher Robert McCullough of Random House
  • Ned Bell, Dale Mackay, Connie DeSousa, John Jackson, Donald House
  • The Hoof cocktail of rye, smoked maple syrup, denman bitters, orange oil and candied bacon
  • The Hoof detail
  • White chocolate crumble with lime meringue, yuzu curd and Northern Divine Caviar
  • Messing about at the end of supper

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