Graced with venom-tipped quills and a five-toothed mouth that looks like a special effects creation, the sea urchin doesn’t exactly call out for culinary attention. And yet Patrick McMurray, the oyster-shucking showman behind Starfish, was intrigued by stories from France of the spiny creatures served on the half-shell. Most chefs here don’t want the trouble. “When I first started, I’d hold them in my bare hands,” McMurray says. “Half an hour later, I’d feel weak in my knees.” These days, he serves them raw, as well as in a sublime twist on eggs Benedict. The roe’s mild green-tea and sea-spray flavours key delectably off the bacon’s smoke and the rich, creamy sauce. McMurray’s learned a thing or two about urchin shucking since those early days: “Now I always hold them in a towel.”
Starfish, 100 Adelaide St. E., 416-366-7827.