Today is May 7th, 2025. It’s high time I get back to what thrills me the most, aside from actually putzing around in my kitchen, exploring a dish, making breads, crackers, desserts, and that is, writing about food, memories of unforgettable, succulent meals, like the one I had in early December, many, many moons ago at Ristorante Da Emma.

I first dined at Da Emma when they were located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, near the corner of Saint-Viateur, a family restaurant that enlisted the gifts of several family members: Emma Risa herself in the kitchen with her husband, Lorenzo, their sons, Nazzareno and Luigi managing the restaurant and waiting on tables.

Then, they moved to Old Montreal in a historic somewhat gothic grey stone building that used to be a prison for women at the turn of the last century but which now houses several creative tanks. Da Emma, the restaurant, is in the basement of this collective of visionary minds. It is a Roman restaurant. You go down a few stairs into a kind of dungeon and there you have it: deep and dark and velvety, elegant without the ostentatiousness of luxury, a truly unique venue.

I, being the inveterate bachelor that I was and still am, took a place at the bar. I was greeted with a warm smile by a young man who offered me a royal prosecco with a touch of cassis to open the olfactory and gustative gates.

For the main course, my waiter suggested Emma’s Confied Guinea Fowl simply served with Fried Spinach and a Mousseline of Potatoes and Celery Root, and, of course, a beautiful Chianti Classico to go with my meal, a meal he promised would be memorable. And it was. I had never, ever, tasted fowl so incredibly delicious, melt-in-your-mouth delicious, tender beyond words and oh so juicy.

Once joyfully satiated, I asked if I could get the recipe from Emma and she was gracious enough to give it to me, orally.

Emma used no less than a whole bottle, 750 ml, of good quality olive oil, a whole bottle of good Pinot Grigio, an entire bulb of fresh garlic, skin and all, sliced cross-wise in two, a small handful of slightly bruised peppercorns, some rock salt and three large twigs of fresh rosemary. Bring to a simmer and cook for an hour or so, till the flesh of the fowl slides off the bone with a slight pull.

I have since redone it at home with Cornish hens and even quails with great success. I imagine it would be as delicious with chicken, the best grain-fed chicken you can afford.

Emma has since retired to sunny Florida with one of her sons and Da Emma is now run, masterfully I might add, by her grandson Luca and his mom, as well as Emma’s daughter, Olga.

They may not have this dish on their menu at the present time, it’s actually more of a winter dish, but be assured that your tastebuds will be in for an exceptional treat, a Roman treat.

Da Emma
777 de la Commune West
Montreal, Quebec
H3C 1Y1
(514) 392-1568
www.daemma.com