A taste of Muskoka

Published in Muskoka Magazine - October 2008

When the quaint teahouse on Highway 118 between Glen Orchard and Port Carling was purchased several years ago, regular guests expressed their concern about losing a favourite eatery. But as soon as diners had their first taste of the fare offered at Rebecca’s seven seasons ago, the restaurant was readily embraced by both tourists and local residents.

What the chef describes as a French continental-fusion menu, combined with the cozy feel of the century-old home, allows guests to feel at home as they are treated to great meals and waited on by some of the most attentive staff in Muskoka.

“They’re all just guests in our home. We’re having dinner parties, that’s all,” says Rebecca Penwell, who owns the restaurant with her husband Charles, the head chef.

Charles and Rebecca met several years ago, while working at a restaurant in Burlington. From there, they travelled together operating restaurants throughout Ontario in the summers, and going south in the winter. Eventually they settled in Muskoka, which was around the same time they had their son, Morgan.

Though Charles enjoys keeping a low profile at the restaurant named in his wife’s honour, rarely emerging from the fragrant kitchen, Rebecca cruises the restaurant every night, stopping at tables to chat with guests, offer recommendations or clear a discarded plate. She always ensures everything is running as smoothly as possible. Compliments on the food are plentiful, and complaints seldom heard in this restaurant.

“There are some people that eat here three, four days a week. It’s unbelievable,” says Rebecca. “I think that our regular customers certainly expect and always do comment on the consistency. They can come in and it’s always good. Mistakes happen, things happen, no one is perfect, but we’re certainly striving for perfection.”

Rebecca’s is split into three separate dining areas. Guests can dine in the enclosed porch or in the candlelit dining room on the main floor, which is richly decorated in deep greens and merlots, with carpeted floors and walls accented by local artwork to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. Ascend the old home’s original pine staircase that creaks with age and guests will find the third dining area, a more serene and low-lit space often occupied by private parties.

As a restaurant that markets itself as casual fine dining, the food reflects the fine part of the restaurant’s name; casual is simply the dress code.

“We wanted people to know it was fine food, great quality of food, but it was casual in a relaxed atmosphere, because you’re in Muskoka,” says Rebecca, explaining the name. “People don’t necessarily come to Muskoka in dress clothes, they’ve left that behind and headed for flip flops and golf shirts and that sort of thing.”

As the restaurant has grown, both the menu and the wine list have evolved to reflect the changing trends in the culinary world, while keeping many of the classic menu items. A number of the specials offered on a nightly basis showcase the chef’s classical cooking style, fused with what has become his signature Caribbean flavour adopted while working in southern Florida and on the islands.

“I spent a lot of time in the Caribbean and a lot of time in Jamaica and I was always interested in food, so wherever I went, I’d find out about local food,” says Charles, sharing his culinary background. “At that time I was really into reading and research into the history of Caribbean cooking, and I got a lot of experience in Florida.”

His Key Largo crab cakes are a favourite among guests, as is his signature wild mushroom Chaumont – a dish adapted from a wild mushroom on toast he first tasted in Jamaica in the early 1970s. Today, the two southern delicacies are the most popular items on the menu.

“We do a lot of the seafood in Caribbean style, the way it’s cooked in the different tropical sauces,” explains Charles, describing the mango-papaya salsa served with many of the menu’s seafood dishes, like the grilled Mahi Mahi or Chilean Sea Bass.

Though menu offerings are diverse, Rebecca’s has an extensive list of specials available to guests every night as well. Mouth-watering meals include the seafood newburg, with shrimps, scallops, and crab soaked in a white wine dill cream sauce with a hint of sherry. It’s served baked, under a three-cheese gratin, and topped with half a lobster tail. The Arctic char is another favourite among guests, served this year with wild blueberries, or pan seared in a raspberry coulis. However, the sea bass with the mango papaya fresh mint salsa and a light wasabi drizzle takes the top billing, according to the chef.

“We’ve also been doing fresh grouper with the Mediterranean salsa, and Kobe beef with everything from figs and Stilton on it to wild mushrooms and a cabernet jus,” says Charles, listing some of the more recent menu additions. “It’s an item that people want to try, and to be able to say they tried it.”

Yet despite the vast selection of fresh seafood available at Rebecca’s, Charles is arguably best known for his homemade soups and sauces. A true saucier at heart, Charles is passionate about creating original sauces and drizzles for his specials and regular menu items. After igniting his passion for cooking at the age of 12 while attending a cooking camp, just outside of Montreal, he worked with a saucier in the restaurant business who trained him to experiment with different flavours and crèmes.

“I just really liked experimenting with cooking. I started working in a restaurant when I was 14, dishwashing and doing mostly prep, and then I started working with a saucier and moving into pots and stuff like that,” says Charles. “And the rest is history.”

Every night, Rebecca’s serves fresh soup created from scratch at the hands of Charles. These one-of-a-kind soups are often a point of discussion with both Rebecca and Charles, with guests requesting the recipes for the unique tasting creations. One of the soups he created recently found its way back into rotation at the restaurant. The Casablanca, as he calls it, is created using all-white ingredients – a cream base with leek, celery, white chicken breast and roasted garlic.

According to Charles, there’s nothing like it, and likely never will be again as he invents everything from scratch, and never writes anything down.

“I know a lot of the times I’ve been working and think, how about this idea? I’ll go get a pan, add a few flavours and use it for a sauce,” he says. “I do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen, or I’ll try a dish on someone, or I’ll make Rebecca dinner and I’ll say how about that? Rebecca is my guinea pig.”

While the appetizers and main courses at Rebecca’s are impeccable, diners will be equally tantalized by the dessert offerings.Charles is in the restaurant first thing every morning, whipping up everything from a fresh carrot cake with cream cheese icing to his favourite, hot butter and rum soaked Jamaican Bread Pudding.

“These are a lot of the dishes he came up with as specials over the years and they just became keepers – popular, loved items,” says Rebecca, referring to both the meals and desserts. “He’s cooked in restaurants for 42 years. He just loves cooking – his heart is in it.”

And for Charles, it’s the freedom to experiment – to constantly challenge himself to create more intricate, delicious flavours that he knows will be loved by both regular and first time guests.

“I have a lot of signature dishes that no one else does, and I think that’s what keeps us in good shape or on top,” says Charles. “I just like working with the staff, creating different specials and making sure that everything runs as smooth as it can. It’s the adrenalin rush of being so busy, run off your feet, and if everything was good, there are no complaints and people rave about the food, that’s what it’s really all about.”

Rebecca and Charles shared the recipe to one of their most popular menu items with Muskoka Magazine.

­Chilean Sea Bass Tropical

Ingredients:

4- 6oz. fillets sea bass skinless

1 papaya1 mango

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

1 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp Sesame oil

1 tsp Wasabi paste

3 tbsp mayonnaise

Alfalfa sprouts

Pepper/salt

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 400. Peel and cube the fresh mango and papaya, gently toss with ½ tsp of lime juice, sesame oil and the fresh mint, set aside. Combine Wasabi paste with mayonnaise and ½ tsp of lime juice. Increase or decrease Wasabi to desired level of heat/spice. Heat canola oil or clarified butter in pan on stove, season with salt and pepper to taste. Sear both sides of fillets on medium heat until golden. Place fish atop rice and/or vegetables of choice. Top with the fruit mixture, Wasabi drizzle, garnish with sprouts.

Bon Appetit!!

Serve with Joseph Phelps, Sauvignon Blanc 2005.