It seems to be the thing, these days, to see celebrities flying in, making a splash, and flying out. Jean Paul Gaultier, überchef Gordon Ramsay – who’s opening a restaurant in town in February! – and also…. Charlie Trotter, who’s a veritable culinary legend in Chicago, where his restaurant Charlie Trotter’s has been among the highest-rated for as long as there have been reputable restaurant guides.

And yes, we spoke to him, too.

The acclaimed American chef was in town for little more than one day, to headline a posh benefit dinner in honour of local star chef Normand Laprise, chef-owner of Toqué restaurant, of whom he says: “He’s not only a great chef, but a great guy”.

Trotter  found time in his tight schedule to sit down with this Montreal Buzz correspondent and share his thoughts on the Montreal food scene.

Although he’s not in Montreal often, chef Laprise is someone he knows well and has amired for a long time. It was at restaurant Toqué!, in fact, that Trotter cooked back in 2001 when he presided over the gastronomic portion of the Highlights Festival – a whirlwind feast of cultural and foodie events that takes place here every winter. Laprise has also returned the favour and cooked at Charlie Trotter’s in recent years.

Trotter had little time to enjoy the city. He flew in from Chicago and was whisked away to Toqué!, where he had the tasting dinner, then had only the following day to prepare for the guests-only dinner and get ready to go home.

Staying at the fashionable Le Germain hotel in Downtown, he sat down for an interview. He talked about his views on seasonal cooking (there aren’t just four seasons, but actually 52, did you know?), what it’s like to run a famous restaurant (“I’d never allow my son to do this) and the great Quebec products that he’s tasted and given his stamp of approval: scallops, game, artisanal cheeses, etc.

The post CHICAGO’S TOP CHEF CHARLIE TROTTER IN MONTREAL TO HONOUR NORMAND LAPRISE appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

I first found out about Montreal photographer Benoit Aquin 2 years ago, when he won the Prix Pictet 2008, the most prestigious photography award in the world.  For this Prize, sponsored by the Pictet Bank, Aquin submit pictures of the Chinese Dust Bowl – although the theme of the contest was water.

His beautiful images, taken in colour, were reduced to almost ‘’sepia-coloured daguerrotypes by the muffling, choking dust’’, I wrote in vie des arts. Benoit Aquin’s new photographs are again full of dust.  But it is a grey dust, from fallen, cracked and broken concrete:  the aftermath of the earthquake in Haïti.  Galerie Pangée is presenting this series – Haïti after the Earthquake, Aquin’s second solo show  which was exhibited this summer at the Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne (Switzerland). Aquin went to Haïti as a volunteer with CECI immediately after the earthquake and then returned four months later.  Most of his photos were taken at night – hence the blue-grey dusk shades that bathe each detail.  Aquin’s attention to each element in his frame suggests a documentary approach.  Even in the spontaneity of a joyous soccer game, or the horror of a crumpled home, his images have a formality.  Their crisp complexity of detail draws the viewer in.  You are there.

Aquin’s work is part of private and public collections in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and in the permanent collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (Ottawa), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Quebec (Quebec City) and the National Archives of Canada.  A percentage of proceeds from the sale of the photographs will be given to the CECI’s humanitarian efforts in Haiti.  The prints are more than worth a visit.  You have to buy one if you can.

Galerie Pangée

www.Galeriepangee.com

40 St. Paul Street (just west of St. Laurent)

Métro:  Place D’Armes

514-845-3368

Until October 11, 2010

The post AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER SHOWS HAITI AFTER EARTHQUAKE appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.