eatdrink #45 January/February 2014

Serving London, Stratford & Southwestern Ontario № 45 • January/February 2014 www.eatdrink.ca

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Featuring

Thaifoon & A Coterie of Contenders Hunting for the Perfect Pad Thai

Following The Stratford Chocolate Trail A Valentine Voyage and More

London Training Centre Balancing Life & Spirit

The Little Inn of Bayfield

A Year-Round Celebration of Heritage and Hospitality

AND

Casual Contemporary Comfort Food at

Byron Freehouse

ALSO: 2014 Culinary Trends | Local Dairy in Ingersoll | A Year of Big Beers | Fireplace Reds

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Chris McDonell – chris@eatdrink.ca Cecilia Buy – cbuy@eatdrink.ca Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca ethicalgourmet.blogspot.com Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca Chris McDonell – chris@eatdrink.ca Michael Bell – finance@eatdrink.ca Chris McDonell, Cecilia Buy Jane Antoniak, Tanya Chopp, Darin Cook, Donald D’Haene, Dave Hammond, Bryan Lavery, Lori Maddigan, Chris McDonell, Kim Miller, Natalie Novak Steve Grimes, Bruce Fyfe Kym Wolfe City Media Sportswood Printing, Straffordville ON 519 434-8349 525 Huron Street, London ON N5Y 4J6

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OUR COVER: From the left, Byron Freehouse Restaurateurs Robbin Azzopardi and Kathryn Banasik with Chef Joshua Sawyer.

Photo by Steve Grimes.

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contents

11

ISSUE № 45

8

f o o d w r i t er at l a r g e

R E S TAU R A N T S

14

The Little Inn of Bayfield: A Tradition of Hospitality

18

The Ultimate Pad Thai: Thaifoon & A Coterie of Contenders

By BRYAN LAVERY

By TANYA CHOPP

By BRYAN LAVERY

C U LI N A RY E D U C ATIO N

24

Balancing Life and Spirit at the London Training Centre

By TANYA CHOPP

Fa r m ers & Ar t i s a ns

26

Keeping it Simple: Local Dairy, in Ingersoll

By LORI MADDIGAN

C U LI N A RY re ta i l

29

Discover Stratford: Following the Chocolate Trail

By EMILY CHANDLER

34

K i t c h en Des i g n

Z Z U B E H T

Transforming the ’70’s Kitchen!

By JANE ANTONIAK

38

29

By BRYAN LAVERY

Casual, Contemporary Comfort Food at Byron Freehouse

18 24

Has “Artisan” Lost its Meaning? and 2014 Trends

11

14

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

N E W & N OTA B L E

The BUZZ

WI N E 46

Fabulous Fireplace Reds from Ontario

By KIM MILLER

B eer m at t ers

48

A Year of Big Beers and Fine Imports

By THE MALT MONK

48

t h e at re

53 56

51

Donald DISHES on Theatre

By DONALD D’HAENE

B OO K S

54

Poor Man’s Feast by Elissa Altman

Review by DARIN COOK

c o o kbOO K S

54

56

The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook by David Ort Pimentos & Piri Piri by Carla Azevedo Setting a Fine Table eds. Elizabeth Baird & Bridget Wranich

Roundup by Chris mcDonell

TH E LIGHT E R S ID E 62

Soo Good

By natalie novak

navigate great № 45 | January/February 2014

TO

TIMES

in

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

food writer at large

Has “Artisan” Lost Its Meaning? and What is Trending in 2014

By Bryan Lavery

T

o stay current with the culinary upon critical assessments of the existing scene, I constantly talk and meet food systems that dominate the marketplace with restaurateurs, chefs, farmers and remain instrumental in driving the cycle and food artisans. When I tell of global famine. It seems to me, central people that I write about food and other to the local food movement is the desire culinary matters, they imagine a frivolous to support small scale farmers and food existence of dining in fabulous restaurants artisans, whose products are consumed night after night. You might notice locally, allowing them to keep revenues that I don’t dwell on pedestrian dining within the community and reducing the experiences or bad cuisine in the pages environmental footprint of agriculture. of eatdrink magazine. The reality is that I The prevailing agri-business conglomer­ am subjected to more than my fair share ates’ model is ridiculously expensive, toxic for of mediocre food and disappointing food both people and the larger environment, and I experiences, and I rarely write about them. think most of us will agree that it is unsustain­ However, no reader wants us writers to pile able. Global instability, dependence on other unrestrained acclaim on every restaurant, chef, countries, food security, farmer or culinary artisan. It gets rural welfare and smart obnoxious. At best, economics are among t a y one th ven I am a curious diner the most compelling ll ar•ti•san ia c e sp trade, e handwo noun and I like to discover arguments for us to a skilled gs by hand, e.g. cheese. in r e rk o aw king thin reak, goat’s milk new restaurants promote and lobby for a m s e lv invo gh b sourdou randomly but I also a sustainable local agri­ ized way n a textiles, h c e on-m listen to suggestions cultural sector. adjective traditional or n nts a ie from our readers and Local food move­ made in h-quality ingred ig using h a large network of con­ ments attract their tacts. In my quest to eat share of detractors, tion ash organiza green•w well, I get sent on many with the movement’s ted by an responsible a in n m u se o y n ation dis nmentall a wild goose chase, with ideals and initia­ disinformresent an enviro my most crucial caveat tives striking some so as to p age. public im being that I can forgive as inaccessible or too cerebral. Critics unpleasant surroundings maintain that eating has evolved from a ques­ or neglectful service if the food is good. tion of survival to a declaration of unrealistic We are living through a gastronomic elitist principles and moral superiority. No one renais­sance and more than ever my work wants to endure a 20-minute lecture about puts me in front of the orthodoxy of local eating a tomato out of season, however enlight­ food sourcing, business incubators, culinary ened it may seem. This type of grandstanding innovators and food artisans advancing has more to do with an individual’s personality the regionalism in our food culture. I can’t and politics rather than genuine principles. help but be enthralled by chefs and food Hand-crafted, regional, small-batch, signi­ producers that support farmers and food fier of quality, regional in origin, and the list artisans and pay close attention to the of virtues that denote the word “artisan” goes provenance of their ingredients. on. But what does the term really mean? In my Fortunately, the movement to buying and experience, an artisan is a craftsperson who eating local is showing no signs of waning. makes a high-quality or distinctive product The local food movement and sustainable in small quantities, usually by hand or using agriculture reform initiatives are grounded traditional methods. True artisanal goods can’t

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

be mass-produced: they are limited in quantity and generally have specific characteristics deemed to be specialty in nature.

Imagine my disbelief a few years ago when I discovered that a soft cheese with a rich buttery flavour that won a raft of awards, and which I had lionized, turned out not to be a handcrafted farmstead cheese and the very essence of Quebec’s terroir, but rather is a mass-produced cheese made with inferior ingredients instead of fresh milk. The “artisan” farmer featured on the packaging was nothing more than a figment of some advertising agency’s imagination.

The word “artisan” on a label is no longer the imprimatur it once was; it has become a buzzword and a warm and fuzzy marketing adjective. Now that fast food corporations and grocery chains have co-opted the idiom, it has lost its meaning and integrity.

You have to wonder if the term “artisan” has any credibility or if it has become another meaningless marketing ploy for the greenwashing of corporate food initiatives.

Speaking of greenwashing, the term relates to a practice in which green public relations is employed to encourage the false perception

that an organization’s products and policies are environmentally friendly, or that environmental responsibility is a core business ethic.

Being green not only has a certain cachet, it is politically correct and respected by both ecofriendly and not green customers alike. If you look closely it appears that bogus feel good environmentalism and eco-friendly fakery are not only on the rise, but continue to drive selfserving agendas when you least expect it to.

Studies reveal that grocery store shoppers consider the quality of the produce as most important to them in their choice of supermarkets. The trend is also helped by consumers’ growing concerns about food safety as food recalls, allergy alerts, and food borne Listeria outbreaks and concerns continue to shake consumer confidence in corporate businesses and products grown by agribusinesses.

The preference to purchase and eat local products has helped revive farmers’ and farm gate sales as an alternative to grocery store retailers. Farmers’ markets are not only increasing exponentially, but according to the most recent available statistics Canadians spend more than $1.03 billion at them each

EXPERIENCE DOWNTOWN LONDON

519.663.2002 | www.downtownlondon.ca 123 King Street

9

@Downtown_London

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year in annual sales, for a total economic impact of up to $3.09 billion. According to Farmers’ Markets of Ontario, “one way that farmers’ markets shape food systems is by fostering free enterprise and ethicallygrounded economic behaviour.”

There are many farms selling local foods, crafts and flowers from a farm gate stand at the end of a laneway. The farm gate helps build relationships between farmers and consumers as well as encouraging respect and generating awareness of the sustainability and seasonality of products and rural business as a way of life.

In Ontario the growth of niche, largely

What’s Trending in 2014

Bacon-flavoured chocolate is out. And, if that is not enough to break your heart, those who sold their souls for a bit of transitory fame by using foams, liquid nitrogen, carbon dioxide and emulsifiers are also on their way out.

Unless of course, you are a serious molecular gastronomist, Nordic, culinary modernist, or have a death wish.

Chimichurri, poultry, permutations on eggs benedict, regional Italian cuisine and anything remotely barbecue are still in; ramen noodles, pickles (can pickle juice really stop muscle cramps?) and the Southeast Asian cuisines are beginning to spike lots of interest among food enthusiasts.

One of the top food trends in 2014 will be the continuing obsession with chilies and heat. Food lovers and fire breathers everywhere are seeking out their next big chili high. Sriracha’s (think rooster bottle with hot, garlic aroma, vinegar kick and sweet finish) closest competition remains the Korean chili paste, gochujan, the savoury and pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt. Dab it on anything but be sure try it in your bibimbap, bulgogi and banh mi.

The Latin cuisines are big food trends that we have no quarrel with, thanks to a seductive blend of multicultural and native influences.

Rio de Janeiro and the Copacabana School of Culinary Arts will bring Brazil’s seafood stews, grilling techniques, and both local and rare Amazonian ingredients into the culinary limelight when the country hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.

The cemita, whose distinguishing characteristic is the liberal use of the minty herb papalo, originates in the Mexican state of Puebla and joins the banh mi, cubano, and panino as part of the contemporary

№ 45 | January/February 2014

rural-based culinary enterprises, whose innovations are concentrated on the production of specialty, high quality, artisan type products, continues to be on the rise.

Superior qualities of artisan foods over their mass-produced equivalents are seen as the main reason for their growth.

The term artisan, from the Italian artigiano, dates back to the 16th century to reference a skilled craftsperson. In just over a decade, companies like Burger King, Wendy’s, Domino’s, Quiznos and Starbucks have misappropriated the term, diluted its meaning and made it almost hopelessly meaningless. lunchtime sandwich canon. Peruvian, Cuban and regional Mexican flavours and ingredients are also being touted as the next big waves of interest.

Indian cuisine is having its day in the sun, emerging from its traditional confines with modernist interpretations. Think fresh sea bass cooked with Amritsari spices and served with chole (chick peas) inside perfectly fried aloo bhaturas.

The spreadable salumi Nduja (en-DOOyah), the fiery pork paste from Calabria, Italy, is becoming ubiquitous. Typically made with parts of the pig such as the shoulder, belly and jowl, as well as tripe, roasted peppers and a mixture of spices, it is giving pork rillettes a run for their money.

The culinary world is rapidly embracing smartphones, mobile apps and a host of convenient tools for the epicure in you.

Multicultural gourmet street food and food trucks continue to trend and grow in popularity despite opposition from outof-touch politicians. Food trucks stimulate culinary innovation, improve tourism, create employment and are an important part of the social and cultural fabric of a city.

Tattoos in the restaurant biz are hardly original, but the fact that chefs choose to ink themselves with symbols of their craft, specifically images of their ingredients or their ethos, is most assuredly worth paying attention to. Please don’t ask them to roll up their sleeves for a peek or ask them to dab a little sriracha behind their ears. And lastly, chefs: despite what you see on the Food Network, the head band is not back.

BRYAN LAVERY is a well-known chef, culinary activist and writer. Mr. Lavery has spent many years in teaching, consulting, and advisory roles with various culinary initiatives.

№ 45 | January/February 2014

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11

restaurants

Casual Contemporary Comfort Food at Byron Freehouse By bryan lavery Photos by Steve Grimes

S

tarting in his family’s coffee shop, Robbin Azzopardi has been active in the hospitality business for 17 years. A graduate of the culinary arts program at Fanshawe College, he was employed as an instructor in the curriculum for two years. Transitioning into a career as a chef and caterer (White Pomegranate), Azzopardi quickly made his name with his instinct for original flavour and texture combinations, keen sense of style and his belief that cooking is an expression of self.

As a culinary consultant and events planner with hands-on attention to detail he was a frequent participant and collaborator at high end culinary events. (We are well acquainted and I have enlisted his expertise for a number of charitable initiatives where he has generously donated his time.)

Employed at various restaurants in London, including the London Hunt Club, Waldo’s on King and the Tasting Room, Azzopardi was most recently settled in as General Manager of the Auberge du Petit Prince before making the jump to become part of an entrepreneurial duo with Kathryn Banasik to open the Byron Freehouse. The term freehouse is traditionally a term for pubs that are owned

The bar is a major focal point independently of the breweries that supply them. Contemporary restaurateurs are using this term to denote something hipper and more social than a sports bar while also taking many of their cues and influences from the gastro pub concept.

Banasik, no stranger to the restaurant community, started in real estate when she was 20. After being in the business for 12 years she decided to set her sights on a new challenge and find a way to articulate her vision.

As she describes it, “Robbin and I are best friends, like siblings, and his passion for the restaurant business inspired me.” As a team Banasik and Azzopardi have united all their strengths to create the Byron Freehouse.

The duo believes that business concepts must evolve to keep in step with changing demographics and economic conditions in order to create sustained public interest.

When a new and high profile restaurant opens it falls under intense scrutiny even when it has planned a soft opening. An important introductory stage, a soft opening is a time when a restaurant can iron out Partners Robbin Azzopardi (left) and Kathryn Banasik with Chef Joshua Sawyer

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the last of its challenges and measure how efficiently it will operate with customers.

The Byron Freehouse opened in August 2013 to praise, but not without the requisite growing pains in the smartly re-imagined premises formerly occupied by La Bella Vita Ristorante on Commissioners Road.

Conventional wisdom dictates that location is the most critical factor in a restaurant’s success formula.

“Some people have a pre-conceived idea of what we are because we located in an existing location but we were not out to reinvent the wheel,” says Banasik. “Creating an accessible and memorable experience, one that clients will want to repeat sounds easy; however, the far trickier proposition is to be able to quickly adapt to the dictates of your clientele, especially in a neighbourhood, once you have put your concept, vision and heart and soul on the line.”

“We saw that the space had lots of potential, a beautiful patio, access to parking, and could easily be gutted and redesigned for a new concept,” says Banasik.

“It was one of the locations that I wanted to pursue. Byron is a community that I have lived in and liked. We want to create our own niche in Byron and build relationships in the community. From conception to construction to being operational the project took three months to complete.”

The Freehouse is designed to have striking visual impact. The main room is a dramatic example of the openness of contemporary restaurant design with a variety of seating options and bold and spirited infusions of colour in the design, wood accents and meticulously scripted quotes decorating the wall.

“We took some inspiration from the success of the bar at the Tasting Room. Our bar was designed to be one of the main focal points of the room. [We made it] inviting and accessible by placing it near the entrance.

The open kitchen appeals to the fascination with what goes on behind the scenes, it adds to the experiential feeling and social aspect and not just on busy nights,” opines Azzopardi. “Clients like to see the chef and flames and steam and hear the din of pots and pans in the kitchen, it is all part of the theatre of eating out.”

Crafting a “kick ass” menu that really works comes after much trial and error and is ultimately predicated on learning from

№ 45 | January/February 2014

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past missteps. Tweaking a menu takes time, effort, imagination, collaboration, patience and persistence.

Chef Joshua Sawyer was selected not for his even temperament but for his solid experience and skill in delivering a menu of classic comfort foods, specifically updated riffs on gourmet versions of classic quickbistro fare. Sawyer’s is a mostly scratch

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

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The main room is dramatically open with a variety of seating options and bold and spirited infusions of colour .

Opposite page: 1 —Cedar Plank Salmon with pink peppercorn and Dijon butter; 2 — FreeHouse Burger with house ground brisket; 3 — Caesar Salad with crispy prosciutto; 4 — Sweet and Spicy Korean BBQ wings. kitchen and even condiments like mustard, relish and ketchup are made in-house and that increases the depth of the restaurant’s appeal.

“The menu is combination of things we like to eat that are approachable, everything from rack of lamb to hotdogs,” says Azzopardi.

The hotdog is actually a foot long frank wrapped with smoked bacon and grilled.

It is topped with cheese, chipotle aioli and tempura flakes. The kitchen has already dropped beef tenderloin from the menu and replaced it with meat loaf. The popular meatloaf has adopted the moniker, “Little Tommy’s Meat Loaf,” named after talented sous-chef, Thomas Waite, and comprised of pork infused with Asian aromatics, caramelized onions and served with a ponzu-like citrus soy glaze.

On the original menu Ahi tuna nachos with avocado, pickled ginger, red pepper, cilantro, sweet soy and wasabi cream were “the bomb” (in a good way). Chorizo nachos are house-fried corn tortillas layered with crumbled spicy sausage, caramelized onions and cheese and topped with fresh pico di gallo and yogurt. There are also mahi-mahi and pork tacos. Sweet and spicy Korean BBQ wings with sesame seeds and spring onion are meaty and fiery. The house ice cream sandwich is maple bacon ice cream inserted between two chewy ginger molasses cookies.

“It is a romantic, sexy business and you’ve got to remind yourself that it is a business first and foremost, and to take criticism ­constructively,” muses Banasik.

“In this business, you are only as good as your next meal.”

Byron Freehouse was conceptualized to be a casual, entertaining and enjoyable restaurant appealing to the Byron neighbourhood and all-encompassing demographic, including families. Says Azzopardi, “the restaurant probably has a more varied demographic than anywhere else in London. From the start, the restaurant has encouraged patrons and staff to have a little fun. It is casual and at times we don’t mind cranking up the music a bit.”

Recently opened independent businesses like Mark Kitching and Mark Navackas’s ­Waldo’s in Byron, a satellite operation of Waldo’s on King in the Covent Garden Market, continue to add another level of sophistication and choice to Byron’s culinary scene.

“We really think that it is great that Waldo’s in Byron opened next door to us.

Anything that encourages people to visit this neck-of-the-woods is good for us and for the Byron community,” says Azzopardi.

Byron Freehouse 1288 Commissioners Road W. 519-601-3300 www.byronfreehouse.ca monday to sunday: 11:00 am–close BRYAN LAVERY is a well-known chef, culinary activist and writer. Mr. Lavery has spent many years in teaching, consulting, and advisory roles with various culinary initiatives.

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restaurants

The Little Inn of Bayfield Heritage and Hospitality, Year-Round

By Tanya Chopp

I

n the quaint town of Bayfield, modern shops twinkle with Christmas lights draped over their historic facades. Near the end of Main Street, just a stone’s throw from the frigid winter waters of Lake Huron, the Little Inn of Bayfield glows, wrapped in boughs of balsam. As Ontario’s oldest operating inn the warm yellow building has a unique claim to fame, but the historic hardships of travel have been left in the past.

Behind the wreathed wooden door is an establishment of modern day comfort.

With an assortment of rooms to choose from, overnight guests may enjoy luxurious amenities such as Tempur-Pedic mattresses, whirlpool tubs, custom-made duvets, gas fireplaces and pricelessly picturesque views.

“I just want guests to feel at home,” says owner Gayle Waters, who states that while the Inn offers modern amenities, attention has been given to preserving the many original elements that have made the Inn a fixture in the community.

With a glance it’s easy to see that Waters has done a fine job of maintaining this dichotomy,

while resisting becoming outdated. The Inn is laden with the comfort of every lakeside cottage or grandmother’s house you’ve ever escaped to. It’s a place where tension melts and wood fireplaces burn, pine floors aren’t shy to show their knots and high-ceilings provide for large windows that blur the line between outside and in. It’s no wonder that guests — from individuals, couples and families to rock stars and literary giants — often become repeat customers.

The Inn’s 18-year-strong Four-Diamond rating pairs wonderfully with its 13-yearstreak of holding the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, which was granted for the Inn’s impressive cellar of 178 wines representing 150 vineyards. But if you don’t like wine while you dine, you can also choose from over 20 varieties of single malt whiskeys.

Just last year, the Inn was also awarded Huron County Tourism Association’s Tourism Development Award for their commitment to leadership, creative invention, partnership initiative, community impact and excellence in tourism.

According to Waters, local partnerships are actively sought and many of their “stay and play” year-round adventure packages, including winter horseback riding, geocaching, and snowshoeing, have been built around the diversity of offerings in the local economy.

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line between perfectionism in his craft and remaining down to earth. It is with a thorough knowledge of what constitutes technical culinary excellence that he grades his mother’s cabbage rolls as the perfect comfort food — though you won’t find them on the menu. What you will find is a plethora of comfort-driven options, including lobster and cepe mushroom ravioli, Hayter’s turkey poutine, braised rabbit ragu and slow roasted half duckling bigarade, all crafted with local The Guest Cottage at The Little Inn ingredients and created — a summertime retreat with Chef Petrinac’s meticulous attention The Cottage Garden In the kitchen, many local to detail. “Guests names can be found on the supand locals appreciate ply list, including Metzger Meat creativity, but it’s not Products, Soiled Reputation, just about being cute Bayfield Berry Farm, Schilbe and smart,” he says, maple syrup, Ferguson Apiaries noting that “where you and Out of the Blue Fish. take it from matters.”

Since 2009, Chef Joseph Chef Petrinac’s twist Petrinac has kept a careful eye on the ebb on the familiar also comes from applying and flow of business, while taking the time creative cooking techniques, such as using to get to know the clientele. Referring to one a water bath to create butter poached of his favourite quotes by Brillat-Savarin, lobster, and from using unique cuts, such as “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you tender lamb neck. While most of the menu what you are,” he notes that the key to the is consistent throughout each season, he restaurant’s success lies in tailoring the admits that from time to time he will add in menu selection to the guest’s moods and a change to bolster interest. Certain dishes, attitudes throughout the season. Whether however, such as the fish and chips and diners be locals or out-of-towners, the diver scallops, have become iconic for the adventurous or comfort driven, there is establishment and remain on the menu year always something for everyone. round.

“You need to understand what people The versatility of the Inn’s spaces, including expect and what they’re feeling,” he says. “In two dining rooms (maximum capacity the spring, people want something bright — 80 people), a private function room and but this time of year is nostalgic and reserved.” numerous meeting rooms, has made it a The Chef, who has trained and worked choice venue for hosting a variety of functions, in Windsor, France, Spain, Montreal and including intimate weddings, private parties, Toronto, has earned praise from food banquets and business meetings. critics, but keeps the ego in the kitchen The five-course, five-wine “Wine and Dine” in check. Like the Inn itself, he walks the packages, offered only on certain dates, are An airy, light-filled dining room

One of the many room choices, all with Tempur-Pedic mattresses

very popular and the Inn encourages the public to check the website for some ­exciting offerings slated to centre around Valentine’s Day and Family Day in February.

If you’re looking to find Chef Joseph Petrinac tradition without pretense, upscale dining without formality, an adventurous escape, or a place to wind down, the Little Inn of Bayfield is pleased to offer it all — only an hour’s drive from London.

Whether the road that leads you there is clear, snowblown, sundrenched or driven only out of curiosity, you may find a new tradition at this peaceful retreat on Ontario’s West Coast. And for those who are worried about winter travelling conditions — on the bright side, you may get lucky enough to be snowed in.

w ve No R e se r r fo ine’s Valenty!

Da

Seasonal Hours Always Closed Monday Reopening February 12 Reservations Recommended

519.238.6224 42 Ontario St. S., Grand Bend www.finearestaurant.com

Named one of the BEST RESTAURANTS in Ontario!

Little Inn of Bayfield 26 Main St. N., Bayfield 1-800-565-1832 or 519-565-2611 www.littleinn.com breakfast: 8 am–10 am lunch: 12 noon–2 pm dinner: 5 pm–8:30 pm

(some seasonal variation) TANYA CHOPP is a London-based artist and writer and a proud holder of a BSc. Her work focuses on exploring issues of health and wellness, travel, tourism, the arts — and, of course, the regional culinary scene.

“Evidence that you don’t have to be in a big city to create great things!”

— The Globe & Mail

www.eddingtons.ca 30 min North of London • 20 min East of Grand Bend 30 min West of Stratford

527 Main Street, Exeter ON N0M 1S1

519-235-3030

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â„– 45 | January/February 2014

restaurants

Thaifoon and a Coterie of Contenders Hunting for the Ultimate Pad Thai ‌

By BRYAN lavery

H

unting for the ultimate pad Thai may be a continuing quest. Most Thai restaurants appeal to a largely Caucasian clientele, which influences many of them to compromise their cuisine by taming the long and gradual development and release of flavour that is a Thai culinary attribute.

I am always looking for serious Asian restaurants that make no concessions to Western palates. Even in these enlightened times, they are few and far between.

Contrary to common belief, not all Thai cooking vibrates the Scoville Scale (the empirical measurement of detectable heat) and every region in Thailand has its own temperament which is reflected in the cuisine.

Despite the advent of the tourism industry in Thailand in the 1960s, Thai

cuisine had no real profile outside of Thailand until the late 1980s.

During the 1940s, as part of a campaign to promote democracy and nationalism in Thailand (formerly known as Siam), and seeking to reduce domestic rice consumption, pad Thai became widely embraced in a profile-raising effort by the government to encourage the sale of rice noodles from street carts and in small restaurants. Rice has always been at the core of Thai cuisine. To eat pad Thai became a patriotic act, one which allowed the government to make more rice products available for export.

In a few decades, pad Thai has gone from being virtually anonymous to becoming a ubiquitous restaurant and take out staple.

In reality, it is a minor dish in repertoire, but it has become a global ambassador for Thai cuisine. I confess, I have always been a disciple of Thai curry but indifferent to pad Thai. For the purpose of this article I embarked on a two-month quest to distinguish the different nuances in preparation and flavouring among a diversity of restaurants. When ordering pad Thai I now have a benchmark for authenticity and an expectation of fresh, firm, medium-slender rice noodles with a particular bite profile. Precisely cooked, pad Thai noodles are never starchy, gloopy or stuck together. The properly cooked rice noodle should be dry and with separate strands, much like correctly cooked al dente pasta.

Deconstructing the recipe for pad Thai divulges a collection of ingredients that are not overly remarkable. It is only in the combining and balancing of these ingredients that we discover the resulting dish is greater than the sum Eddy and Alex Phimprhrachanh of Thaifoon

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Thaifoon’s Peanut Pasta Chicken (left) and Pad Thai and Panang Curry the resulting dish is greater than the sum of its parts. Peanuts and nearly raw bean sprouts add a required, reserved crunch and counterpart for the rice noodles. A well prepared pad Thai divulges its flavour profile incrementally: restrained sweetness with bursts of salty, sour and tart flavours in a fresh tasting, lemony, hot dish.

Pad Thai is never sickly sweet or an undignified neon orange or fluorescent tangerine. It derives its colour and aromatics from tamarind paste and fish sauce, and is ideally an unassuming brownish-red shade, studded with bits of green onions, bean sprouts, tofu, chilies, salted radish, cilantro, toasted peanut and scrambled egg.

An inordinate number of non-Thai restaurants feature pad Thai (or credible variations) on their menus, yet in far too many instances they bear only a passing acquaintance with the properly executed dish. In knowledgeable restaurants, additional lime, fish sauce, chili pepper, and rice vinegar are optional and offered by way of condiments. No self-respecting cook would put peanut butter, ketchup, teriyaki sauce or shredded coconut in pad Thai. To those who claim that this is fusion, innovation or artistic individualism, I can assure you that it is not.

A decade ago, the name of London chef Dani Gruden became synonymous with pad Thai when he was the chef/co-owner of The Braywick Bistro. People flocked there to eat his pad Thai. Today, Chef serves a wicked Malaysian-inspired version with coconut milk, ginger, tamarind, cilantro,

brown sugar-beansprouts, green onions and cashews at Blu Duby. Tamarine by QuynNhi also does a stellar variation from the Viet-Thai repertoire.

The use of chopsticks is not a Thai custom.

Thai food is eaten with a fork (left hand) and a spoon (right hand); there is no need for a knife as food is served in bite-sized morsels, which are forked into the spoon and fed into the mouth. Thai meals typically consist of a single dish, or rice with several complementary shared dishes served concurrently.

Thai curries (kaeng, also written as gaeng) are unique because they are made with fresh aromatic roots, leaves and herbs, whereas Indian curries (masalas) depend on combining dry spice mixtures. All curry pastes vary widely depending on the tastes and techniques of the cook. Green is the hottest among all the Thai curries and cilantro root is commonly used in its preparation due to its intense flavour. Red is the original preparation and yellow is the mildest of the curry preparations.

Locally, there is a myriad of Thai, VietThai, and Laos-Thai and other Asianinspired restaurants. Due to the popularity of Canadian-Asian food, lots of Chinese restaurants pay homage to the Thai genre.

Thai culinary repertoire of Thailand, like Korea’s, has spicing techniques and aromatic infusions of curry-inspired recipes that are suggestive of India. That is just scratching surface of the Thai culinary canon. If you want to know how good the restaurant is, you only need check out the pad Thai.

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Thaifoon

B

rothers Eddy and Alex Phimprhrachanh are the proprietors of Thaifoon, downtown London’s upmarket Southeast Asian restaurant. Their with-it and tasteful take on the ancient Thai culture, with a décor that honours the past while embracing modernity, has earned both raves and admiration for their culinary vision and ambitions.

“Thaifoon has become more of a hub for my family these days,” says Eddy. “Our first few years we were focused on building the business and I was active in every role at Thaifoon. But the past few years I’ve

The dining room at Thaifoon, looking onto Dundas Street (left), into the corner bar (above) and into a corner nook (below) near the front entrance. really taken a step back and just let Thaifoon speak for itself. My brother Alex purchased into the business and he’s now running day-to-day operations. My sister who was the previous manager is now raising a family and my dad pops in to do maintenance once in a while. Thaifoon has become our family hub and our loyal customers enjoy not only our food and atmosphere, but my whole family as well. When my sister visits the restaurant she could easily step into the dining room at a lunch rush and catch up with a familiar face. It’s not uncommon for a customer to pop into the kitchen to say hi to myself or my mom.”

Eddy has never been one to rest on his laurels. The mega-successful Lavish ultra-lounge was opened in 2008 by Eddy to not only offer the LGBT community a welcoming and hip place to go at night, but to provide a premier high-energy night club to the London community at large.

Thaifoon continues to set itself apart with bang-on exuberant flavours and an eye for detail and presentation. The 30-seat restaurant is a tasteful and refined take on the ancient Siamese culture, with a soothing décor with a rich palette of browns and

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blacks with golden accents and pleasing Thai iconography. The minimalist room is sleek, with a sexy, upbeat soundtrack, rich dark woods and ultra-soft leather banquettes with cushions.

The kitchen’s oeuvre is a consistent show­ case of Thailand’s regional flavours of hot, sweet, sour and salty, honouring tradition while embracing modernity. Thaifoon is ­careful to give you just the level of spicing you want. The restaurant is very popular with ­vegetarian and gluten-free clients.

Won-ton bundles are flawless — wellexecuted crispy and crunchy parcels of chili-infused minced chicken accompanied by a ginger and plum sauce. Savoury ­curries surpass expectations with richness and ­variations on spiciness that are tempered with velvety coconut milk and fragrant aro­ matics. The pad Thai is proper with perfectly cooked noodles, firm tofu with a silky ­interior, egg, crisp bean sprouts, scallions, fragrant cilantro, minced peanuts, lime juice and the crucial sweet and sour tanginess.

“I think our secret to success is sticking to the basics of authentic Thai cooking. After the Thai-volution started in our city, classic Thai dishes were being re-invented at many restaurants. My mother, Arounvaty, who is the head chef at Thaifoon, kept her recipe grounded in how she was used to making and eating pad Thai back home — rice noodles cooked with fish sauce, sugar, tamarind, a few other spices and a touch of soy for the caramel colour. We’ve tickled around with measurements but our ingredients remain true to what we believe in.”

Thaifoon continues to receive raves and praise for their cuisine and responsive, knowledgeable service. Coconut and green tea ice creams are made in-house.

This is London’s premiere upscale go-to Thai restaurant. There is a top-shelf cocktail list, with head-turning mangotinis, lycheetinis and Mai Thais, and an above average selection of imported beers and complementary wines.

Thaifoon 120 Dundas Street (East of Talbot) 519-850-1222 thaifoonrestaurant.com lunch monday to friday 11:30 am–2 pm dinner every night 5 pm–close

KLEIBER’S A Downtown London Culinary Landmark at the Covent Garden Market since 1940

Anna Turkewicz’s delicatessen and catering have a reputation for personal service and offering a large selection of European specialties, including quality products from Germany, Holland, Poland & Switzerland

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Covent Garden Market 519-495-7753

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A Coterie of Contenders ...

Here are a few other Thai restaurants that are worth a closer look.

Mai’s Café and Bistro

This relatively new hot-spot in Wortley Village has a deceivingly unimposing frontage leading into a compact and stylish interior, where the intoxicating fragrance of Asian spices permeates the room.

There’s a satiating medley of traditional Thai fare and an ambitious and unexpected assortment of bistro fare form the unconventional menu. Although emphasizing the genuine Thai taste, Mai’s appears to want to be all things to all people. Kai, Mai`s sister, is a welcoming and knowledgeable presence in the restaurant. Overall Mai’s offers an above average dining experience with an enthralling flavour of Thailand, which guarantees the restaurant a constant stream of loyal clientele and first-timers.

Excellent curry dishes are on offer and the pad Thai is top notch. When you can order crispy Thai wontons with ground chicken, coriander and garlic — that are absolute perfection — why would you consider escargot in fresh basil cream sauce?

The tom-yum (hot and sour lemongrass) soup and the spicy drunken noodles (stir-fried rice noodles with chicken breast, fresh chilies and sweet pepper and basil sauce) are knockouts. Many of you will remember Mai as the former owner of Café Milagro in Byron.

142-A Wortley Rd. 519-679-1221

Thai Taste

An Old East Village neighbourhood favourite, this humble and unassuming hole-in-the-wall offers superior Thai food served with pride and attention to detail. Don’t be put off by the façade or the cramped interior — the food shines.

671 Dundas St., London 519-646-2909

Bangkok Pad Thai

This busy restaurant is a Richmond Row stalwart, with a casual atmosphere, pleasant ambience and friendly service. Despite the name, Pad Thai does not seem to be their raison d’être, but the restaurant remains a well-known crowd pleaser with above average Thai food and good prices.

735 Richmond St. (between Oxford & Piccadilly) 519-433-6634 bangkokpadthai.com

Stratford Thai Cuisine

Chef Nancy Senawong, formerly of Thai Angels restaurant in Toronto, opened her second restaurant,

Exeter Thai Cuisine

Stratford Thai Cuisine, to good wordof-mouth and great reviews. “I came

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Stratford Thai Cuisine

to Canada nearly a decade ago and was surprised to find only a few authentic Thai restaurants in Toronto. Having a childhood in the food industry and growing up watching my mom cook helped me to articulate my own style of Thai cooking. Knowing the right balance of spice and flavouring is the key to authentic Thai cuisine. Also, being chosen as one of the Toronto a la Cart (multi-cultural street food) program by the City of Toronto gave me encouragement to pursue my ambitions further.” 82 Wellington St., Stratford 519-305-2100 stratfordthaicuisine.com

Trust...

Taste...

Quality...

Comfort Food Specialties

Exeter Thai Cuisine

Exeter Thai cuisine is the new sibling restaurant of Stratford Thai Cuisine by chef Nancy Senawong. We are already hearing rave reviews about the food.

365 Main St., Exeter 519-235-3737 exeterthaicuisine.com Also worth checking out are The Banana Leaf in Woodstock, both Le Café Siam and Lotus Thai in St. Thomas, and Mone Thai in the market square in Stratford.

Bryan Lavery is eatdrink’s Food Writer at Large.

Open six days a week.

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culinary education

Discovering the Unexpected Balancing Life and Spirit at the London Training Centre By tanya Chopp

N

ourishing. Satisfying. Inspired.

Honest. These are words that can describe a well-balanced plate, and a well-balanced life. And if you were to ask a student of the London Training Centre’s (LTC) food skills program you might hear that they’re one and the same.

“From cradle to grave, a large part of what we do as humans involves food — whether alone or in concert with other people,” explains LTC Executive Director David Corke. “It’s connected intimately to our close relationships and it acts as a catalyst to engage other people.”

Considered to be a test-run in the food business, the free, three-week Local Food Skills program has been rapidly expanding over the past five years, incorporating each facet of the human relationship with food.

As a self-funded social enterprise, the LTC offers an astounding array of business channels that allow students an opportunity to gain a wholesome and practical perspective on what it takes to grow, harvest, process, retail, cook and serve healthy and unique food items.

In the past year the LTC has made a strong leap into catering and retail, offering students yet more experiences beyond the essential skills they learn in the centre’s kitchen. Local Food Feasts Catering offers students a chance to develop menus based

on local seasonal food at its peak. New Students get some hands-on experience of “farm to table” retail locations in both the Covent Garden Market and the Masonville Farmers’ Market place students front and centre, selling fresh produce and lunch fare that have been sourced from the program’s five-acre organic plot on the outskirts of London.

The LTC has a reputation for achieving excellence in whatever new programs it cooks up, and a holistic approach is the cornerstone of the food skills program. Students are often surprised by their own capabilities, and the passion they find in themselves. “During an evaluation someone in the program said ‘you’ve given me my spirit back,’” says Chef Instructor Josie Pontarelli. “When you see someone having that experience through food, getting that hope and confidence back — that’s pretty amazing.”

From the left, Program Manager and Head Chef Steve James, Chef Instructor Josie Pontarelli, and Executive Director David Corke.

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Local Food Skills dinners are offered monthly.

Reserve early for these popular events.

Head Chef and Program Manager Steve James, who joined the LTC five years ago, is no stranger to epiphanies striking in unexpected ways. After 30 years of an illustrious career as a chef, which took him around the world, James found himself uninspired and in search of meaning. He was drawn to the dirt, traded in his chef hat for a garden hoe for two years, and finally dug to the root of what it meant to have a human connection to food.

“When I left cooking and started farming I gained a greater respect for food — what it takes to grow it and, when it comes into the restaurant, how you should treat it,” he says, explaining that participants are taught how to draw out the best in each product. “A lot of people come out of here after three weeks and leave with the notion that there’s a lot more out there than they had been expecting.”

‘Unexpected’ could be a tagline for the LTC, which has been finding success in unique ways that keep the centre in touch with the community.

From the annual Food for Thought fundraiser hosted at their garden plot, to the monthly dinners in the centre’s kitchen, to food donations to local missions and the rental of their kitchen to up-and-coming food businesses, the LTC has found

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effective ways of keeping itself in the business of helping others.

Chef Pontarelli says it has been important for her to live the family oriented life that she teaches to her students. She feels that the pendulum guiding social interaction is due to swing back to favouring real human connections — like those we used to enjoy over the dinner table. “People are starting to ask why am I in the car for hours? Why are my kids enrolled in 20 activities? Why am I eating food from a box — and why do I feel unhealthy?” she says. “I come from a generation where, when I was growing up, food was prepared from scratch.”

Among her repertoire of baked goods Chef Pontarelli takes pride in her sour dough bread, and a unique treasure — a ginger cookie recipe that came from her grandmother’s grandmother.

It is evident from listening to the two instructors banter, and seeing the order of their kitchen and the large stores of preserves on their shelves, that these chefs have an easy but honest approach that translates well into a learning environment. Chef James jokes that Pontarelli’s office is like a grandmother’s cold cellar, packed to the rafters with pickled preserves.

Chef Pontarelli likens James’s excitement over seed catalogues to a child with a new Christmas toy catalogue.

With that kind Handmade sourdough breads and of passion channeled bagels, for sale at the market. towards advocacy for careers in food­service, and a commitment to a local and sustainable food system, it’s no wonder the program has been gaining incredible momentum. “Community and human impact work,” explains program director David Cork.

“Whether people are with us for three weeks or they encounter us at an event, or we cater their wedding — the impact is entirely tied to the way that my colleagues teach and the participants who are part of the food creation moments. Our commitment and our passion about the seasonality of food and durable communities are evident.“ TANYA CHOPP is a London-based marketing communications specialist and freelance writer whose work is focused on the promotion of health, wellness and support of the arts. She cooks with wine, and sometimes she even adds it to the food.

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farmers & artisans

Local Dairy Keeping it Simple, in Ingersoll By lori maddigan

H

ome to Canada’s first cheese factory in 1840, Ingersoll remains a cheese-producing town, thanks in part to Amarjit Singh and his family, owners of Local Dairy. Housed in the historic Ingersoll Cheese Factory, Local Dairy produces cheese, cultured butter, and yogurt, specializing in authentic Indian dairy products, Mennonite cheese, and traditional Mexican and Latin American crema and queso.

Indian dairy and cheese products are made using traditional production methods and natural ingredients

happy when outside grazing and eating at its own speed,” says Singh. He also notes that the milk must be antibiotic-free in order to make his cultured dairy products from it.

Walking into the office at Local Dairy is an experience unto itself. Albert Einstein once said, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” By Einstein’s standards, Singh’s mind is certainly full. Among the stacks of typical office paperwork are piles of trade journals and educational brochures. One thing is clear: if Singh does something, he does it right and that means learning as much as he can.

Lately Singh has been researching micronutrients, those important vitamins and minerals like b-complex and zinc. He has taken some nutrition courses but also reads a lot of books on the subject. Singh plucks a letter from the middle of a stack on his desk; it’s from a woman asking where to buy Local Dairy’s Perth County All-Natural Yogurt, reading, “it saved my mother’s life.” The yogurt contains acidophilus and bifidus, two probiotics important for reducing lactose intolerance and providing protection from

A true entrepreneur, Singh has operated a tire company, donut shop, fast-food restaurant and juice business, but dairy is his passion. It all began 20 years ago when Singh was frustrated by the lack of good Indian paneer in Canada. He educated himself in the fine art of cheese-making and opened up shop in Kitchener, Ontario. “We were the first for packaged Indian paneer,” says Singh. In 1999 he moved his business to Ingersoll because, he says, “Oxford County is the largest producer of milk in Ontario. We get the freshest milk from one or two local farms five or ten minutes away.”

La Vaquita products deliver an authentic Latin American Milk quality is crucial in Singh’s food experience, true to the flavours of the region. business. “A cow is a very finicky animal.

Lots of factors make a difference in the yeast and ‘bad’ bacteria such as E. coli. “We milk, even the weather. Of course the milk changes based on what the cow eats. If a cow were also the first to make the acidophilus milk,” says Singh. “Acidophilus is one of the is force fed protein for example, some of the hardest cultures to keep.” other micronutrients are lost. A cow is most

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Cleanliness is paramount at Local Dairy.

The equipment used to make the products is washed and sterilized after every use and again immediately before the next use.

“We are very concerned with quality and consistence,” says Singh. This is why he

Celebrating our 20 th Anniversary

Perth County Yogourt is made from milk ingredients with active probiotic acidophilus and bifidus culture and his wife Gurinder and their son Sajeev spend so much time in the factory. “I work hands on,” he says. “I know exactly what’s going to happen. Even when I’m not here they [employees] say I am still watching them.” Making cheese is all about time, temperature and handling, and at Local Dairy it is all performed manually. Small changes can make a big difference in the

481 Richmond St., London, ON 519.432.4092 dine@garlicsoflondon.com www.garlicsoflondon.com

Crème fraîche is a rich and flavourful addition to many dishes. Cook Cheese is a German-inspired cheese spread, popular in Southwestern Ontario product. “That’s why I have to be here 16 hours a day,” Singh laughs.

Although his competitors are using preservatives to increase the shelf life of products, Singh refuses to follow suit. “We only use milk and vinegar for our paneer — all our products are natural and very clean,” he says. Local Dairy’s La Vaquita quesos are made with milk, culture, and enzyme or rennet. Concerned about consumer misinformation, Singh does not add colouring to his products. “There are 25 ingredients legally allowed for colouring cheese that are not required to be named on the label,” he says, “I like to keep things simple and pure.”

Local Dairy also makes a cultured butter under its Asli brand. Cultured butter, like

Sun–Tues 11am–midnight, Wed/Thurs 11am–1am, Fri/Sat 11am–2am

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

Local Dairy Owners Amarjit and Gurinder Singh regular butter, is made from cream but because it is cultured with active bacteria it has a longer shelf life and is rich in probiotics. Asli butter is smooth, sweet and creamy and has a slightly tangy taste similar to yogurt.

In a world of mass production where food choices are becoming increasingly complex and nutrition labels list mysterious multi-syllabic ingredients, it’s nice to know that regional artisans like Local Dairy are keeping things pure and simple.

Local Dairy’s artisanal products are distributed across Ontario and can be found in and around London at United Supermarket, Smith Cheese (Covent Garden Market), Angelo’s and Remark Fresh Markets.

Local Dairy 139 Victoria Street, Ingersoll 519-485-4242 www.localdairy.ca lori maddigan is a fresh market aficionado from London. Recently becoming ‘too-young-to-be-retired’, she is happily devoting more time to her second career as a freelance writer..

Introducing...

Pleased to feed you.

1288 COMMISSIONERS RD W, LONDON • 519.601.3300 • byronfreehouse.ca

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

culinary retail

Take The Chocolate Trail A Selected Sweet Tooth Sampling of Stratford By emily Chandler

I

’ve always thought the best way to get to know a city is to linger in its shops and cafés. The Stratford Chocolate Trail allows you to do just that, whether you’re visiting from afar or live in the area. The Trail includes an eclectic mix of twenty Stratford businesses, all with a chocolate offering for those who redeem their ticket. For $25 plus HST, you can choose six locations (from a list of 20) to get your chocolate fix.

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It was a brisk winter day when I began exploring, so I headed to Foster’s Inn to warm up with a chocolate martini. It was a wise choice. The inn is a friendly spot with plenty of regulars. The owner, Craig Foster, chatted about the appeal of being offered a hot beverage to warm you up in both temperature and spirit, and his plans to change his chocolate item through the winter months.

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Walking on to Rheo Thompson Candies was a no-brainer: their mint smoothies are world famous. Personally I don’t care for mint with

First stop: warm up with a chocolate martini, at Foster’s Inn my chocolate (crazy, I know) and so chose four handmade cream and caramel centres, including my favourite, chocolate caramel.

Rheo Thompson — not just Mint Smoothies

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3+4

By now the martini was wearing off. I beelined to Bradshaws Kitchen Detail, the place to find kitchen essentials with an appealing aesthetic. Owners Jeremy and Carrie Wreford were clever and paired with a downtown restaurant for complimentary items. I picked up a Godiva tumbler and Brix chocolate, created specifically for pairing with different grape varietals.

Wine and chocolate? What could be bet­ ter! I crossed the street with said chocolates to complete the pairing at Mercer Hall. The 2010 Chateau des Charmes Cabernet paired wonderfully with both the medium and extra dark chocolate.

Manager ­Jessie Larsen said the Choc­ olate Trail serves as an opportunity for consumers to become engaged with the businesses, which is always welcome.

Mix and Match—Mercer Hall provides the perfect pairing for Brix chocolate from Bradshaws

Current Stratford Chocolate Trail Participating Businesses Bradshaws Chocolate Barr’s Candies Inc. Coffee Culture Café & Eatery Distinctly Tea Foster’s Inn Jenn & Larry’s Brittle & Shake Kitchen Connoisseur Let Them Eat Cake MacLeods Scottish Shop Mercer Hall Olive Your Favourites Revel Caffè Rheo Thompson Candies Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Slave to the Grind Espresso Bar Small-Mart General Mercantile Tea Leaves Tea Tasting Bar Treasures Turnbull & Stewart Your Local Market Co-op

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Revel Caffè serves fair trade coffee and cocoa

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Including Revel Caffè in my Chocolate Trail experience was a must — it’s my go-to place for a coffee.

On this occasion I was served the Revel mocha, their signature coffee made with fair trade cocoa and steamed milk. It’s a subtle but rich combination that I plan on having again soon.

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My final destination was a place you might not expect to find chocolate. Olive Your Favourites is Stratford’s first extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting bar.

The store has a really wide selection, one you could easily spend hours tasting your way through.

For the Trail, I tried their ­chocolate balsamic, which was definitely full flavoured. Owner Michelle Hern recommends pair­ ing it with fresh berries or ice cream and I’d like to try using it to compli­ ment a bold salad, perhaps garnished with pecans.

At the Olive Your Favourites tasting bar—chocolate balsamic vinegar!

Stratford has a strong reputation for its theatrical offerings, restaurants, shopping, and general charm. The Chocolate Trail provides a flavourful way to spend some time wandering the streets, chatting with Stratford’s unique proprietors, while satisfying your sweet tooth. Your pass is good for three days, but with 20 different stops to choose from, you just might want to go twice!

Having just returned from Europe, EMILY CHANDLER has a full case of the travel bug but happily resides in Stratford.

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Feb 20 – Muskoka Mar 20 – Silversmith Apr 17 – Beau’s

BRUNCH • LUNCH • DINNER • EVENTS 104 Ontario Street, Stratford | 519.271.92 02 | www.mercerhall.com Get up-to-date info on our series of exciting events!

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

kitchen design

Transforming a 1970’s Kitchen By jane antoniak | Photos by bruce fyfe

W

hen eatdrink photographer Bruce Fyfe bought a traditional and classic, centre hall, two story home in London’s Sherwood Forest neighbourhood five years ago he was excited to be moving closer to his job at Western Libraries and to Banting Secondary School where his daughter would continue her French Immersion education.

He knew it would be a good investment for his family to be located in one of London’s neighbourhoods loved for its trees, large lots, nearby parkland and quiet streets.

However, Bruce was also taking on a 1970’s home which had never undergone upgrades or renovations. The house had been lovingly maintained by original owners who didn’t care to change the layout which included a small and well-worn set of kitchen cabinets, a narrow hallway between the front door and kitchen and a separate dining room.

The dream for Bruce, an enthusiastic home cook who was single-handedly raising teenagers, was to turn this traditional but somewhat dated home into a modern space where he could gather with his family while enjoying cooking. He had renovated a kitchen in his last home as a do-it-yourself project. This time he knew he had to call in the professionals to take down walls, install flush support beams, remove windows and guide the project. It would be a complete gut, chuck and rebuild.

“It all started when my daughter said she wanted an island in the kitchen,” recalls Bruce. “She wanted to hang out with her friends in the house and we didn’t have the right kind of space for that.”

BEFORE: The original kitchen was closed in and worn out

The renovation includes a glass and slate mosaic backsplash, and island with butcher block Enter Bonnie and Craig Hardy of Covenant Construction, a family owned company based in London for more than 20 years and operated by a husband and wife team, which connected well with Bruce’s hopes for family space.

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Bruce was clear he wanted the walls to come down creating a 500-square-foot open kitchen with dining space. He also wanted a gas stove and lots of cupboards for his large collection of cookware, spices and bulk food

purchases. The project would also include a main floor bathroom renovation.

With Bonnie as designer, the island was made the focal point of the new space. It has seating for four and a built in butcher block.

A pantry was built around the fridge while a second beverage centre was added to ease pressure on the fridge and provide easy entertaining. Two windows were removed and a new one added across the back of the house, along with a large window in the back door, bringing in natural light from the back yard. “The key to any great design is listening,� says Bonnie

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Removing walls opened up the kitchen, creating an inviting and multi-purpose space Hardy. She quickly picked up on the family’s needs and added some flair.

“Bruce talked about his cameras and photography passion and I immediately knew we needed a place to display both his cameras and his art. We mirrored the floating shelf theme from above the bar area, to the bathroom vanity. Bruce loves to cook so a butcher block was a natural item to include in the renovation.

Dogs, kids and busy life meant that very durable flooring was important. Lighting is especially important for open concept multipurpose spaces for homework, cooking, entertaining.”

And, raising teenagers herself, Bonnie knew that cellphones, iPads and chargers were the kinds of things that get dumped on kitchen counters. So, a narrow cabinet with access to power was added to keep everything charged and away from cooking areas.

London’s Kitchen Renovation Specialists

“If you have teenagers to communicate with then you need a command centre. It all comes out of the conversation with the client,” says Bonnie.

Wanting low maintenance, Bruce opted for Hanstone quartz countertops by Coni Marble. “When I first visited the Covenant showroom it was all about white cupboards.

But I was nervous to have white because it seemed too stark,” he says. They settled on a combination of lacquered and stained cabinetry by Inspired Woodworks with raised panel doors. The lacquered cabinets are Benjamin Moore White Down and the island/bar area/stair railings are Chestnut on Maple. The butcher block is natural end cut maple.

Working on an original home, untouched by previous renovations, was actually a dream for Craig Hardy. He had done other houses of the same vintage so he knew he

Kitchens Bathrooms Large Additions Victorian Restorations 519.860.9640 www.old-castle.ca

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

had to give allowances (keeping a five to ten percent slush in the budget) “for those unforeseen water stacks, or HVAC issues that no one could see. Houses hide their secrets well,” says Craig. Luckily, for Bruce, his wellmade house hid no secrets! Led by Covenant foreman Graham Bice, the team did fix some creaky stairs and a small leak, but otherwise it was a straightforward job allowing them to finish on schedule and on budget. Bice was on site daily for over 10 weeks, co-ordinating service providers, doing clean-up and even hanging pictures!

Finishing touches such as a glass and slate mosaic backsplash provided through Greco Tile, a new staircase railing by Heritage Stair & Railing, and a splash of colour on an accent wall (Bonaparte by Benjamin Moore) tied in well with black lighting fixtures from London Lighting. Plumbing fixtures were also sourced locally, from London Bath Centre. Stainless steel GE profile appliances were purchased to complete the look.

Bruce is now enjoying the benefits of a modern main floor combined with the structure and setting of a traditional home in a great neighbourhood. “I really love living in this area. It is great to have modern touches combined with a classic home, and lots of room for my family.”

The Covenant team has done many large renovations to traditional homes, providing seamless changes even when walls and beams are involved. “Building science is changing so much, and design has come such a long way. What wall? Where’s the plumbing? Electrical — no problem, it can all be moved,” says Bonnie Hardy. “It is time to be creative within the footprint of the home.”

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A butcher block counter space was a natural consideration for a homeowner who loves to cook

JANE ANTONIAK is a regular contributor to eatdrink magazine. She is also Manager, Communications & Media Relations, King’s University College Western.

BRUCE FYFE gladly photographed his own kitchen renovation for this assignment. Often he can be found on the road for eatdrink as a contributing photographer. Bruce is also Librarian, Weldon Library, Western University.

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The BUZZ ... new and notable Newer Kids on the Block

Gabriel Sepulveda, a native of Chile, opened the Latin-American inspired Mas Café in downtown London a year ago. Sepulveda is an excellent cook. Mas Café locally sources its ingredients, including its butcher products. Pork or Beef Milanesa (breaded and fried cutlet sandwich) alone is worth the visit. Merkén, or merquén, is a smoked spice blend made with smoked chilies known as Cacho de Cabra or “horn of the goat.”The dried chilies are combined with coriander, cumin and other spices to create a unique flavour profile in many of his delicious offerings. Aromatic empanadas, a savoury treat, are stuffed with a variety of traditional fillings, and churros, delicious fried choux paste doughnuts, are made-to-order and filled with manjar de leche. 192 Dundas St. Lee Chul Wha’s Korean Restaurant continues to get great wordof-mouth with its delicious versions of bibimbap and bulgogi. Both the cabbage and the fermented radish kimchee at the Korean Restaurant are fiery and crunchy. 170 Adelaide St. N (at Hamilton Road) Chef Trinh’s CHI HI Vietnamese is the latest restaurant to open its doors in the OEV. The traditional Vietnamese fare includes black bean tofu subs, beef subs, pad Thai, vegetarian Singapore noodles and black bean tofu vermicelli. It is quickly making a name for its Vietnamese subs. 791 Dundas St. (beside Aeolian Hall at Rectory) Uber-restaurateur/caterer Jess Jazey-Spoelstra of The River Room Café and Private Dining and North Moore Catering is

getting set to open the Rhino Lounge Bakery and Coffee Shop in the premises previously occupied by the gift shop at Museum London. (Museum London, Ridout Street N. www.northmoore.ca/ theriverroom)

2014 London Wine and Food Show

Bigger and Tastier! The 2014 London Wine and Food Show expands to take over the West Annex and the Canada and Progress Buildings, with even more high-end wine and food experiences, complimented by an eclectic mix of industry experts, culinary masters and educational tasting sessions.

With never a dull moment to be had, guests can look forward to the 70’s inspired Constellation Disco within the show. You and your friends can take a break from the aisles and aisles of domestic wines, imported beers, spirits and food samples. Kick-back on glowin-the-dark, LED lit couches, and if the mood is right shake your bootie under the mirror ball on the multi-coloured disco dance floor.

Enjoy some tasty treats on LondonLicious Lane. This restaurant showcase focuses on local eateries and offers discounted lunch and dinner by participating restaurants. Walk the aisles of this fantastic food and wine showcase and check out your favourite eatery, or find a hidden gem and make a reservation for LondonLicious beginning January 24, 2014.

Visit the new garage-themed Man Cave. All the guys (and gals) will enjoy a taste of beer, spirits, and wine with manly consumers

January 24th – February 9th

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in mind. Catch the NFL Wild Card games in the Moosehead Lounge, and bikes from Inglis Cycle and Hot Rods from In Time Hot Rods will provide a little eye candy in man’s land.

This event is the ultimate place to explore new tastes and discover the latest culinary trends. Cheese presentations by Dairy Farmers of Canada as well as exhibitors from across London and south-western Ontario provide a show full of flavours. Purchase sample tickets from booths on the show floor and start your walkaround wine and food tasting tour.

The much anticipated London Wine and Food Show red carpet premiere takes place Thursday, January 16, 2014 sponsored by Harrison Pensa, KPMG and Libro Credit Union and includes the evening’s recipe for success: a highly anticipated stage show with Chef Bob Blumer of Food Network® fame. Bob is the creator and host of Glutton for Punishment and Surreal Gourmet, both of which air on the Food Network® along with his latest show, World’s Weirdest Restaurants. Adding to the evening’s atmosphere, It’s a String Thing brings the beautiful sounds of several stringed instruments to serenade guests as they sample a scrumptious blend of all that interests the savvy wine and food connoisseur.

Friday Night is the ever-popular Ladies Night, highlighting some of the industry’s hottest new products and promising the first 250 women through the doors a delightful gift bag. Take in a trendy fashion show highlighting the latest styles from Nova Vita and, on tap for this special evening, a ‘ladies only’ beer seminar.

Saturday is the finale of the three-day event and your last chance to sip and taste the wide variety of wine and food available. Saturday evening Savour the Night, sponsored by South Western Ontario Tourism Corporation, will entertain and inspire guests as food and wine ideas continue to tantalize attendees walking the aisles or partaking of an educational seminar or demonstration. The final evening also includes the ever-popular Jack Astor’s Flair Competition, a singles and couples bartender challenge that shows off some of the best in the business of drink slinging.

Admission to the show is $15 at the door, or $12 in advance of opening day. Advance ticket purchasers benefit from two show entry points and can access a special express line at each entrance, thereby avoiding waiting in line with walk up patrons! If you need more sample coupons look for ticket booths throughout the show: 10 Sample Coupons for $10. Show hours are 5 pm to 10:30 pm Thursday and Friday and 12 pm till 10:30 pm on Saturday.

You won’t get Heinz ketchup at Mike Smith’s restaurants anymore, due to a symbolic protest against Heinz closing its Leamington plant and putting 1,000 people out of work. The decision to close

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the Leamington plant is also expected to decimate the businesses of many area tomato growers. “I look what that decision is going to do to Leamington. It’s not just a setback — that’s huge,” said Smith, owner of Joe Kool’s, Fellini Koolini’s and P Za Pie, along with two London bars. “Heinz is allowed to make a corporate decision, but I’m making a corporate decision not to buy their product,” Smith said. “I hope others do the same.”

Built in 1893, home to the Featherbone Corset Co., and more recently the site of the Bud Gowan antique store, the building on Clarence Street was purchased by John Fyfe-Millar in September 2012. At the time Fyfe-Millar said, “What London needs is a stylish wine bar, featuring an appetizer menu and jazz, a place where mature From the Field

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crowds can go for a drink before or after an evening out. There are a lot of fabulous places to dine downtown. Ours will be a lounge area where you can have a drink, a glass of wine and enjoy some music.” Jess Jazey-Spoelstra tells eatdrink that she and Fyfe-Millar have come to an agreement and in fall of 2014 she will be opening something very special in the premises.

Windermere Manor’s Executive Chef Kristain Crossen built a stellar culinary reputation at the late lamented Braise Food and Wine, at Carter’s on Downie in Stratford, and at Langdon Hall with his sustainable culinary philosophy, and farm-to-table sensibility. On his new menus Chef and his culinary team showcase a selection of old favourites, signature ingredients, and taste experiences that change to take advantage of the seasons. www.windermeremanor.com

Meats & So Much More!

Hormone & Drug-Free Beef, Pork, Bison & Lamb 100% Local — from Our Farmers to Your Table

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We are your London outlet for Metzger Meat Products, The Whole Pig , Blanbrook Bison Farm and Lena’s Lamb, with sauces and spices from The Garlic Box, Pristine Olive, Stonewall Kitchen, Hot Mamas and the Hot Saucy counter with jerks, rubs, mustards & aioli.

Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market: Saturdays, 8am–3pm

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The Raja, London’s popular Indian fine dining hot spot, has changed hours slightly, and is now open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday, and closed Sundays. rajafinedining.ca Johnathon Gushue, former executive chef of Cambridge’s renowned Langdon Hall, is the new culinary director at the Torontobased Queen Margherita Pizza. Gushue has been replaced by former Luma Restaurant executive chef Jason Bangerter.

As a community group, Startup London aims to foster entrepreneurship in the city by providing people with a singular source for startup news, events, resources, and a place to connect.

Startup London is a grassroots community organization that is a part of the national Startup Canada not-for-profit organization. Startup London defines a startup as “an early stage organization with limited resources, experimenting with development of a business model, and searching for sustainability.”

Startup Drinks is the umbrella term used for Startup London’s networking events. Startup Drinks is held on the last Wednesday of every month. The organizers choose to hold their events at venues like Pub Milos, as opposed to franchise locations, because they realize that an entrepreneurial ecosystem incorporates everyone equally from the local hobby farm to the high-rise firm.

Fanshawe College professor Scott Baechler, along with Culinary Team Canada, won gold and silver at the Salon Culinaire Mondial competition in Basil, Switzerland. “It has been a huge honour and privilege to participate in this competition,” Baechler said in a statement. “It has been exhilarating, but also very intense. This is a game of fatigue as much as skill.” Baechler says he learned some new techniques from his colleagues and competitors, and plans to bring those skills back to the classroom.

The Salon Culinaire Mondial is held every six years, and is considered one of the three most prestigious international teamcooking competitions in the world. This year, more than 80,000 visitors attended the competition.

Patrick Dunham’s Kingfisher Coffee is a 100% Canadianowned wholesale coffee roaster on a mission to provide the highest quality blends that are locally roasted in London and ethically sourced. The company caters to the individual needs of customers while demonstrating proven and transparent community involvement. The business was borne out of a partnership between a café owner and a coffee roaster.

Starting in the restaurant business at the age of 15, Dunham received his Red Seal Chef Certificate at the age of 21. After traveling and cooking across Canada and Europe he settled in

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London Ontario. Dunham worked and managed many different food service establishments and has been an integral part of all aspects of the restaurant business.

After cooking for 15 years, Dunham turned his attention to roasting coffee and expanding his understanding of the coffee industry. Dunham has traveled across North America and to coffee farms learning all aspects of the coffee business from roasting and cupping to selling. Former Lead Roaster and Manager of Fire Roasted Coffee Company, he presided at the Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market location for six years.

Your love of all things Italian begins at

Felipe Gomes’s Aroma Mediterranean Restaurant evokes a strong old world ambiance. Established in 2001, Gomes provides an experiential culinary offering, with amenities and facilities for cooking classes, corporate team building exercises and a private conference room for up to 30. Gomes recently opened The Aroma Café as a Parisian- inspired coffee house, offering patrons a selection of speciality sandwiches, café au lait, croissants and patisserie. Aroma Café is the latest in a string of upmarket cafés that are part grab-and-go café, part bakery, and part casual dine-in restaurant. The café is attached to the restaurant, which fronts on Piccadilly St. www.fginternationalcorp.com Gregg and Justin Wolfe are currently working on opening “Rock Au Taco” next door to the Early Bird Diner. The idea is to have the small takeout taco bar with limited seats, that will also serve the Early Bird eat in customers if they want anything from the Taco list. www.theearlybird.ca London Ontario’s premier Historic Inn is under new management.

Now owned and operated by Farhi Holdings Corporation, Idlewyld Inn & Spa joins Elm Hurst Inn & Spa in the Farhi portfolio. Built in 1878 for former mayor Charles Smith Hyman, it was transformed into an inn in 1986. In October 2013, the Idelwyld’s then-owner Marcel Butchey announced it would be closing just over two years after he had purchased the business from former owners, John and Christine Kropp. Butchey told eatdrink that he would be returning to Switzerland. By the grand re-opening in April 2014, Farhi says he is hoping to employ between 30 and 40 staff.

Billy’s Deli on Dundas Street has been a downtown landmark for over thirty years. For the last eight years, Jeff Harvey has cooked up delicious meals at the deli. In mid-December, Harvey and his wife Sandi officially became the new owners, buying the establishment from Joe and Diane Pritchard, who have owned it since 2004. They took over from Vicci and Jon Coughlin, owner/ operators of Telegraph House Heritage Inn and Harbourtown Fudge in Port Stanley, who ran it for 18 years.

Overall, combining the desktop and mobile page views from January 1, 2013 to December 2, 2013, the Places to Eat section on Tourism London’s website has been viewed 331,094 times. www.LondonTourism.ca Kingsmill’s, the landmark downtown department store, could soon be become a shared headquarters for a number of community and arts agencies. The building was put up for sale in September, with the pending retirement of Tim Kingsmill, the fifth generation of his family to operate the landmark store, which opened in 1865.

Pillar Nonprofit Network has put in a conditional offer for the building, and has already lined up Emerging Leaders, the London Arts Council and the London Heritage Council as tenants, and has informal commitments from other groups.

Michelle Baldwin, executive director of Pillar Nonprofit Network,

ALWAYS a 3-course prix fixe menu option

432 Richmond St. at Carling • London www.davidsbistro.ca www.davidsbistro.ca

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STUNNING VIEWS EXCELLENT FOOD AMBIANCE GALORE

says the four agencies would occupy about 30,000 sq. ft. on the upper floors of the 73,000 sq. ft. building.

“The Pillar Network had been working on a shared-space concept for years and had developed a business plan. Pillar is looking for more potential tenants to make the concept work, including a ground-floor retail tenant. When this building came along we knew it would be an exceptional fit,” says Baldwin. The total investment in the building including the purchase price and renovation is about $6.3 million. They are looking for a tenant for 10,000 square feet on the main floor.

Your inner epicure will delight at the tasty destinations along Ontario’s Southwest Dining Detours. Be sure to head to The Early Bird diner for a decadent wake up call named The Fat Elvis.

This heavenly French toast sandwich is stuffed, and we mean stuffed, with smoked bacon and Elvis’ favourite combo of peanut butter, panko-fried bananas and honey and topped with maple syrup. www.ontariossouthwest.com/itinerary/dining-detours+74

café open tues to fri, 11–4 sun brunch, 11–4

OPEN for LUNCH, BRUNCH & DINNER during LONDONLICIOUS Booking Now for VALENTINE’S DINNER

at MUSEUM LONDON theriverroom.ca | 519.850.2287 “Reasonably priced, fresh, well-executed Ethiopian cuisine ...” — Bryan Lavery, eatdrink magazine

For thirty years and counting, Michael’s On The Thames has been regarded as London’s celebration destination, and for good reason. Owner-operator Brian Stewart, general manager Joelle Lees, executive chef Denis Clavette and their polished staff give patrons what they want, consistently, and that is why the restaurant is “perennially popular.” There is no attempt to be trendy or cutting edge at Michael’s. The restaurant has recently been refurbished to create a renewed sense of comfort and well-being.

Classic tableside cooking is part of the innate charm of Michaels On The Thames. Caesar salad for two is prepared tableside, as well as flaming dishes: steak Diane, Brome Lake duck à l’Orange, sole meunière, pepper steak and chateaubriand.

Cherries jubilee and strawberries alla “Marco” for two are among the items on offer for dessert. It’s classic French flambé for traditionalists who prefer a bit of flair in their dining presentation — and appreciate a bit of flare with their tableside preparation.

There are also many à la carte selections on the extensive menu that mostly sticks to familiar classics. michaelsonthethames.com For several years, trü restaurant and lounge was at the top of the restaurant game in London, employing some of our present-day restaurant stars. After almost nine years to the day, trü has closed its doors and ceased operations.

Vegetarian • Options • Takeout • Catering Reservations •Recommended

ADDIS ABABA Restaurant Tues–Fri 5–1pm • Sat 12–1pm • Sun 2–1pm

465 Dundas Street 519 433-4222 www.tgsaddisababarestaurant.com

Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) has appointed Jeff Schiller as manager of YOU Made It Enterprises. Schiller has previous experience as a management recruiter and trainer with General Mills Restaurants. He will lead Youth Opportunities Unlimited’s five social-enterprise businesses: recycling, wood products, Market Quality Preserves, YOU Made It Cafe and YOU Made It retail kiosk at Covent Garden Market.

A Taste for Life started in Ottawa in 1999 in support of Bruce House and the Snowy Owl AIDS Foundation. Since then, Ottawa has been joined by 23 communities from Newfoundland to Alberta. Participating Taste restaurants open their doors on April 23rd and donate 25% of their evening sales to AIDS Service Organizations in their community. Support the men, women and children in your community by going out to dinner. Since its inception A Taste for Life has raised over $550,000 and the agency, now Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC), serves the regions of Perth, Huron, Oxford, Elgin, Lambton and Middlesex counties. There is still no cure for HIV/AIDS. The number of

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clients needing support and services has also grown. It is more important than ever for A Taste for Life to both exist and flourish.

Monforte on Wellington in Stratford is among the new participants this year.

Chris and Mary Woolf are returning to St. Marys, at 159 Queen Street. Little Red’s Pub and Eatery will be opening early February. Chris and Mary Woolf always made a sojourn to the former Woolfy’s well worth the drive. The Woolfs have been true pioneers when it comes to supporting culinary regionalism, as dedicated and loyal supporters of the area’s farmers, artisans, sustainable and organic producers for two decades. Chris was re-interpreting culture-specific culinary specialties with homegrown ingredients long before the term “local” became part of our culinary lexicon. They know how to provide a warm and welcoming ambience. www.woolfys.com

Stratford Chefs School Dinner International Inspirations. Four to six course prix fixe dinner menus are served with this series. Menus feature selected International chefs’renowned culinary styles and it includes wine pairings. Reservations required. 6:30–9:30 pm The Prune, 151 Albert St., Stratford, January 7–11, 2014. stratfordchef.com, myreservation@stratfordchef.com Stratford Chefs School Lunch Series. Three course menus created daily by Level 2 students are served. Walk in guests are welcome, however reservations are strongly suggested as seating is limited.

11:30 am–2:30 pm Rene’s Bistro, 20 Wellington Street, Stratford, January 10 & 11, 17 & 18, 24 &25, 31 & February 1, 7 & 8, 14 & 15, 2014 . stratfordchef.com, myreservation@stratfordchef.com

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Stratford

The restaurant and lounge are now open at The Bruce, with the hotel opening May 24th 2014. The Restaurant is open for dinner Thursday through Saturday at 5:00 pm with the last reservation at 9:00 pm; The Lounge is open late night.

Executive Chef Aaron Linley describes his menu as “Nouveau Ontario” — imaginative, ambitious, eclectic cuisine marrying global influence, modern French technique and the very best of Ontario. Bronwyn Linley is the Food and Beverage Manager.

Owner Jennifer Birmingham sits on the board of the Stratford Festival, Stratford Summer Music, is in the cabinet of the Transplant Campaign at Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, and is a front line volunteer for Perth County Victim Services. In her free time, Jennifer can be found out and about with her trusty sidekick Eddie (the Golden Doodle) or scoping out luxury hotels in the name of research. thebruce.ca Critically acclaimed international chefs are invited for one week to demonstrate their unique culinary visions as International Chef in Residence at the Stratford Chefs School. From January 14–18, the school welcomes celebrated chef Ben Shewry from Attica in Melbourne, Australia. Includes wine pairings. Reservations are required. 6:30–9:30 pm The Prune, 151 Albert St., Stratford. stratfordchef.com, myreservation@stratfordchef.com From January 21–25, the school welcomes celebrated chef Alexandre Gauthier from La Grenouillère in Madelaine-sousMontreuil, France. Includes wine pairings. Reservations are required.

6:30–9:30 pm The Prune, 151 Albert St., Stratford, stratfordchef. com, myreservation@stratfordchef.com

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London’s Celebration Destination

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Baby Grand Pianist 6 Nights a Week

Tableside Cooking & London’s Best Caesar Salad

Lunch Weekdays Dinner 7 Nights a Week 1 York St. (just W of Ridout) Ample Free Parking with Reservations

www.michaelsonthethames.com • 519-672-0111

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Vintage Hotels is thrilled to welcome The Parlour Historic Inn & Suites in downtown Stratford, Ontario to its collection of luxury properties. Effective December 1, 2013, The Parlour Inn will operate as a Vintage Hotel under the leadership and guidance of current owners, Bill and Shelley Windsor. Vintage Hotels will assume full ownership of the property on February 3, 2014. theparlour.ca The Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival presented by GE Café Appliances will now take place earlier in the summer, on the weekend of July 18–20th. Historically held in September, the event has become one of Ontario’s largest food festivals celebrating local cuisine, talented chefs and passionate food producers. savourstratford.com

There’s a lot going on at Mercer Hall these days. The Craft Beer Dinner Series starts Jan 16th with Lake of Bays Brewery, Feb 20th is Muskoka, Mar 20th Silversmith, and Beau’s comes on April 17. Book your seats, they’re limited. Only $60/person includes a 4-course chef-inspired menu & four 10 oz craft brews! Limited seating, meet the brewery reps and talk about craft beer.

Supper Club — James Bond 007. Dust off your tuxedo and prepare to drink martinis — shaken, not stirred! The long-tabled dinner series continues with a culinary adventure drawn from the original Sir Ian Fleming books and the extensive narrative regarding Bond’s dining habits. Themed attire is encouraged but not required. 6 pm—10 pm. Mercer Hall, 108 Ontario Street, Stratford, January 26, 2014. mercerhall.com/supper-club Every Thursday night at Mercer Hall it’s Champagne and Oysters! Satisfy your oyster craving with $2 oysters and enjoy a lovely sparkling wine by the glass or bottle. mercerhall.com

EnjoyCanadian Celebrity Chefs Dinner: Chefs from across Canada, yourmany of whom are Stratford Chefs School alumni, come to the to share their skills and experience. Wine pairings included. life!school Reservations are required. 6:30–9:30 pm., The Prune, 151 Albert St., Stratford, January 28–February 1, 2014. stratfordchef.com, myreservation@stratfordchef.com

Rundles has announced that it will be open for its 37th season next year from May 23 to September 20, 2014. www.rundlesrestaurant.com

REGISTER TODAY!

Slow Food Perth County Sunday Market has moved indoors to The Local Community Food Centre, 612 Erie Street, Stratford.

Shop and support producers who practice good, clean and fair principles at this welcoming facility. Sundays 10 am–2 pm. slowfoodperthcounty.ca Love local food and great music? Join the crew at Molly Blooms

Classes starting in MarchStratford on a Thursday or Saturday for great specials and live Register now! entertainment. 26 Brunswick St., Stratford. mollybloomsstratford.com

CULINARY & HOSPITALITY

www.fanshawec.ca/ce

TAKE YOUR INTEREST OR PASSION TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL

For more information on courses & to register visit:

fanshawec.ca/ce

Stratford Farmers’ Market is a year round market operating since 1855 at the Stratford Rotary Complex Agriplex. Fresh produce, crafts, meat and cheese are on offer. 353 McCarthy Rd., Stratford. 7 am–12 pm. stratfordfairgrounds.com The popular winter bistro dinner menu is back at the Keystone Alley Café, 34 Brunswick St., Stratford. Enjoy two courses for $24.95 or three courses for $31.95. keystonealley.com Stratford Says Cheese! Week, to celebrate the Canadian Dairy XPO. Stratford and area restaurants have created special menus to highlight

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Valentine Bliss!

Reservations Required

bistro & caterer 46 Blackfriars Street, London | 519-667-4930 | www.blackfriarsbistro.com

www.eatdrink.ca

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their signature local cheese dishes. Visit these businesses and ask for the Stratford Says Cheese! specials: Boomers Gourmet Fries, Canadian Grub to Go, The County Food Co., Downie Street Burgers, Fellini’s Italian Mediterranean, Foster’s Inn, Let Them Eat Cake Restaurant & Dessert Cafe, Madelyn’s Diner, Monforte on Wellington and The Parlour. February 2–9 visitstratford.ca/cheese CheeseFEST is a complimentary networking social bringing the dairy products, commercial industry and the consumer together all under one roof. CheeseFEST takes place on the first evening of the Canadian Dairy XPO (CDX). CDX is fusing the gap between the Canadian dairy producer and the general consumer, while promoting the category of high quality and healthy Canadian dairy products. Features of the night will include a massive cheese buffet featuring cow, sheep, goat, Ayrshire and water buffalo cheeses, a world renowned cheese carver, local wines and micro brews (cash bar), European hospitality hub featuring Dutch specialty foods, 4-H Agri-Youth fundraising activities and live entertainment, with a fiddle band from 4–7pm. February 5. Stratford Rotary Complex, 353 McCarthy Road, Stratford.

Savour Stratford Tutored Tastings January 25: Beer and Cheese of the British Isles: English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh representation. Some interesting combinations to ponder and taste.

February 15: Beers from the Niagara Region and Ontario Cheese. Good things grow (and ferment!) in Ontario! Come and try out some of the province’s best local fare. , February 22: Belgian Beer and Cheese. The history of beer and cheese making dates far back in Belgium and as a result, some of the best beer and cheese in the world comes from this area. Come and discover some extraordinary pairings.

Tastings take place at The Milky Whey Fine Cheese Shop, 118 Ontario St., Stratford, 3 pm–5 pm. themilkywhey.ca. Age of majority required. Tickets are available for purchase on-line or by chance at the beginning of the tasting. visitstratford.ca/tastings.

Gala Preview Dinner with the Stratford Chefs School. A sparkling preview of our Annual Gala Dinner in Toronto — a four course dinner with wine pairings. Reservations required. 6:30–9:30 pm, The Prune, 151 Albert St., Stratford. February 21, 2014 stratfordchef.com, myreservation@stratfordchef.com Stratford Garden Festival: “Beyond the Garden Gate” is the inspiration for this annual indoor garden event. The Opening Garden Party marries delectable food and drink with the ultimate sneak peak amid live music and innovative garden displays. Presented by

The Lung Association and sponsored by Orr Insurance at the Rotary Complex, 353 McCarthy Rd., Stratford. February 27–March 2. Get all the dirt at stratfordgardenfestival.com

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Our readers want to know, so send us info about your culinary events, fundraisers, and regional news. We’ll print as much as we can, and there is no charge for this service. With BUZZ in the Subject line, send to: bryan@eatdrink.ca.

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

wine

Fabulous Ontario Fireplace Reds By kim miller

I

t’s the dead of winter and you have just finished a particularly gruelling day at the office. Emerging from the building, you are greeted by total darkness, pierced only by the lights of the vast parking lot, which really only serve to illuminate the enormous flakes of falling snow. You thoroughly clear the snow from your car, but as you open the driver’s door that annoying tuft of snow makes its way in onto your car seat. You brush it off with utter indignation. The warmth of the fireplace and red wine seem so far away ...

The best way I know to wind down after the slow, painstaking drive home is to light a fire and open one (or perhaps even two) of my favourite Ontario red wines. Here are three red wines of distinction that come from the Niagara region.

Zweigelt is a relative infant in the world of vitis vinifera. The variety was first introduced in Austria in 1922 and to this day it remains the most popular red varietal there. Derek Barnett is a dedicated Ontario vintner who has worked to develop this grape in Niagara for many years. His Lailey Vineyard 2012 Niagara River Zweigelt is definitely a must-taste, and is only $14 a bottle. (Available only from the winery.)

The initial nose is heaped with barnyard and dark berry fruit. The wine itself is a truly

beautiful dark ruby colour. On the palate you can expect flavours of dark cherry and strawberry. Though typical of this type of grape, the mouth feel did not prepare me for the intense and peppery finish. This is by far the best expression of a zweigelt I’ve tasted to date. Well done, Mr. Barnett, for bringing forth the best flavours from a tough varietal.

Inniskillin will always hold a place in my heart due to the fact that it is one of the founders of our winemaking industry in Canada. In 1974 Inniskillin¸ through the tireless efforts of Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser, was bestowed with the distinction of being granted the first post-prohibition license in the region of Niagara. This allowed them to grow grapes for the production and sale of wine.

I recently tasted a 2012 Inniskillin Pinot Noir, as the “heartbreak” grape is one of my weaknesses. Pinot Noir earned this nickname by being not only difficult to grow, but also diffi­ cult to turn into wine, often break­ ing the heart of the winemaker, when, despite his best efforts, he is greeted only with disappointment at sampling time. Thankfully such was not the case with this bottle.

Its colour is a light garnet and by first examination the wine will likely age well for a few more years. On the nose are intriguing tones of mustard, leather and dark chocolate. On the palate the fla­ vours become more minerally, yet showing layers of strawberry and blueberry mingling with the chocolate. This wine dis­ plays a full flavoured and long lingering finish of blackberries and vanilla. It is an excellent expression of what a pinot noir can offer.

My personal favourite among the three was House Wine Co.’s 2010 Cabernet Shiraz blend. Known not only for their fabulous wines but also for their brilliant m ­ arketing ploys, the Speck brothers continue to deliver superior and innovative products year after year. This wine comes dressed in

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

a boldly contemporary label, styled after a chalkboard, which provides their “house rules” (only one of which I’ve managed not to break here). At only $12.95 this is a delicious and ­approachable bottle of wine.

The colour is dark and rich.

Swirling in the glass, it displays an unusually heavy viscosity for a cool climate red. This wine has elements on the nose of a classic French cab, giving off scents of barnyard and mineral. However, the shiraz shines through on the palate with a great balance of ripe red fruits and pepper tones while achieving a lovely soft and velvety mouth feel. Ending with a long, smooth finish, and still bursting with flavour, this beautifully crafted wine is a winner.

To enhance the enjoyment of all different varietals of red wine from around the world I offer you the following tips: 1. Decant, decant, decant.

2. Drink from a good quality glass.

3. Curl up in front of a fire.

If you follow these simple steps you are sure to derive the most pleasure pos­ sible from your wine tasting experiences.

So, hope­ fully you will soon find yourself in your favourite chair, curled up in front of the fireplace with your wine glass in hand. Looking out the window now, you will be able to finally appreciate the slowly falling flakes for all their natural beauty. Embrace the winter with fabulous fireplace reds from Niagara.

Cheers!

Kim Miller lives in London with her spouse and two children. This is why she studies the many attributes of wine...

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

Beer matters beer matters

A Year of Big Beers and Fine Imports

By The Malt Monk

I

’d like to start by wishing eatdrink readers a belated happy holiday season and hope you experienced the warmth that the time of year brings, with good food and drink shared with friends, relatives and special people. This fall/early winter was also a period of blissful warmth with both locally crafted and import brews being big and dark and satisfying.

Looking back at 2013 craft brewing, we see indications the local craft beer culture is growing and maturing in its tastes. Last year saw six new craft brewing ventures open in our area — Forked River, Block Three, Northwinds, Rambling Road, 5 Paddles and Left Field Brewing, as well as new brewing companies like Bell City Brewing, Collective Arts, Liberty Village, Radical Road and Ontario Brewing Com­ pany. (Brewing ventures have capital equip­ ment i.e. they bought and use their own brewing equipment to produce their beer.

Brewing companies are marketing compa­ nies who have their beer contract brewed by someone else, usually a local craft brewer with some spare production capacity.)

This activity is further evidence the local craft beer industry is growing as the craft beer culture matures and becomes more

entrenched in the epicurean culture and hospitality industries. It’s a good time to be a craft brewer in Ontario — it’s also a good time to be a craft beer consumer in this local market. Just a few short years ago I would never have imagined the rapid expansion of beer variety and the eclectic tastes of craft beer consumers we have seen in the last year.

This cultural coming of age of the craft beer consumer seems to be reflected in the number and variety of outstanding beers that were released last year. As tastes mature there is an appreciation for more eclec­ tic brewing, for big robust satisfy­ ing brews (drinking better, not more), and we find that brewers are not afraid to push conventional boundaries. More robust, stronger brews are made for pairing with cuisine rather than sessioning. This matur­ ing in tastes was embodied in the big brews released last year — the most memorable brews of 2013 were big burley beers — barley wines, Belgians, barrel-conditioned, impe­ rial ales and lagers. We were treated to a profusion of these epic beers in both local seasonal releases and in the import section of the LCBO. So, without mincing words and wasting line space, here are the brews that stood out for me last year.

№ 45 | January/February 2014

Local Crafters’ 2013 Notable Brews

Better Bitters Brewing Company/Nickel Brook Beer has undertaken a bold expansion of its offerings. Most recently they went into barrel aging their big beers — two wet hopped ales, Russian Bastard imperial stout and their Immodest double IPA. Their Malevolent imperial black IPA impressed me the most.

This is Nickel Brook’s take on the Cascadian ale style. It’s a dark brown-black ale with a threefinger puffy off-white cap which has a viscous mouth feel. Aroma is very roasty with a healthy pine-citrus hop tone and, yes, there is a minty note created from the hop-yeast ester combo. The flavour has big roasty-toasty malts that assault the palate, hops balance with a resinous piney flare — complexity mid-palate with some spearmint, smoke, citrus peel, tobacco, roast walnut skins — then it goes to a rich viscous roasty-piney finish.

Every once in a while a local crafter produces a unique twist on a style that just lights up your palate — Malevolent is that type of great brew. I hope it becomes available year-round.

Peter Chodo and the brew team at Flying Monkeys produced a number of unique, boundary-bending one-off brews last year.

Among them were three notable offerings, all big brews: Matador (a cedar barrel aged imperial west coast IPA), BNL (an imperial chocolate stout using fresh coca nibs) and my favourite, Red on Red, an imperial red ale made in collaboration with Central City Brewing in BC. This brew is a lustrous copper-red ale with a foamy lasting cap and complex aroma big in tropical/exotic fruits, earthy pine notes and light caramel — pungent nose to it. Silken delivery but super robust ... the palate is deluged with lush tones of guava and papaya married to rich red malt sweet roastiness. The finish is slow and silky, accented by increased bittering — very lush and

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satisfying. I love this big red ale and I buy up all I can get when it becomes available. I’m hoping it will be released on a more frequent basis.

Beau’s Natural Brewing continued to excite interest with a series of new releases last year — most notably Beau’s quaffable Opa’s Gose (a revival rendition of an esoteric German style from Leipzig, saline-sour wheat beer), and Beau’s Winter Brewed (a delicious strong amber ale infused with fresh ground coffee). But my picks were, Beau’s Festivale Plus, a Düsseldorfstyled Sticke Altbier and Beau’s Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale (done in collaboration with famed brewer Anders Kissmeyer).

Festivale Plus pours a deep brown-ruby color with a puffy tawny cap that lasts. Gorgeous aroma of toasty grains, cocoa and filbert nuts. Medium-bodied, rich slick mouth feel.

Flavour profile has big roasty-nutty malts in the front, then a decent balance from German noble hops. As the brew breaks into the finish, the roasty-cocoa-nut flavours intensify to a hoppy terminus — a rich, robust and satisfying Altbier.

Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale pours a pale hazed straw color with a large sticky white cap. The aroma is the highlight of this brew, with the sharp pungent smell of herbs, herbaceous plants and spicy hops over light bready pale malt tones. Flavour is hop/herb forward with the spicy-herbal hop bittering riding just above the biscuity malts. The finish goes dry with increasing bittering and a sharp herb-biscuit kiss at the closing. A superbly designed specialty pale ale, where the natural adjuncts compliment the hops chosen … very pleasing, very drinkable and unique.

Cameron’s Brewing refuses to sit on its success with its great RPA (Rye Pale Ale) and released a world-class rum barrel-aged imperial porter called Obsidian.

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Cameron’s Obsidian is a good looking ale — dark black — a bit of ruby highlight, murky, unfiltered. It takes a hard pour to put a head on it. Two-finger creamy mocha coloured cap. Aroma is typical of a big porter — dark fruit, roast, succulent fruits, cocoa and some coffee.

Flavour is more well balanced than you expect of a big ale — lots of roasty astringency and hop bittering to balance off the thick malts — some vanilla, some light smoke, dried figs. Not overly complex but pleasant. Long rich finish with increasing bittering, clean, roasty. A really good big porter — good tasting, with light barrelling flavours. First rate offering from this craft brewer.

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Sorry, but I can’t stop raving about Bush Pilot Brewing’s Stormy Monday barley wine. To my mind this was the highlight of last year’s crafted beer offerings. Yes, it was pretty Vertical 2.375” W xsuch 3.935 gutsy for thisSize: new brewer to offer a bigH complex beer as its initial or offering but very welcome —dedicated craft beer devotees like Horizon W this x 1.905” H myself rarelySize: get to4.875” taste a brew complex.

This dark opaque big ale’s aroma is complex and layered, rich in spice, dark fruit, herbaceous tones, bedded malt aromas — amazing. Similarly, the flavour is complex — almost to a

“Barhopping into History is a delicious brew of art, heritage and London bar culture.”

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

point of chaos — assaulting the palate with a cornucopia of notes from piquant to subtle — spices, fruits, malts, herbs, wood, hops and various impressions caused by the amalgams of these. This is barley wine meets spiced ale meets barrel aging. An amazing offering done in collaboration with famous artisanal brewer Anders Kissmeyer of Norrebro fame.

Looking back to the lighter brews of last year, I was really impressed with an offering from Cheshire Valley Brewing: their Mosaic single hop pale ale.

CVB Mosaic is a clouded golden coloured ale with a one-finger dull white cap. Aroma is relatively uncomplicated but very dulcet — big wafts of earthy-pine notes over bready-sweet pale malt. The pleasing flavour essentially follows aroma with uncomplicated earthy-pine tones of the mosaic perfectly complimenting fresh bready malts — dries out slightly in the finish and offers some pleasant bittering. A very, very drinkable APA, uncomplicated but offering rich flavour and soothing.

Notable Imports of 2013

I have to mention the wonderful brews made available through the LCBO seasonal and brewer highlight programs. Again, the best brews released this last year seem to be consistent with the “big beer” meme that defined the craft beer landscape in 2013.

All have my hearty recommendation and I have quickly rated them according to my impression of the samples I tasted on a simple 1–100 scale.

St. Feuillien Grand Cru (Belgian strong blonde ale): 94 Brasserie Abbaye des Rocs Grand Cru (strong brown ale: 99 Amager Rugporter (a big rye porter): 98 Fuller’s Brewer’s Reserve Limited Edition No 4 (oak-aged ale Armagnac): 94 Maisel’s Weisse Dunkel (dunkel wheat ale): 98 Le Trou du Diable SMaSH IPA (single malt and single hop IPA): 92 8 Wired iStout (imperial stout): 96 Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner: 90 Founders Dirty Bastard and Backwoods Bastard (scotch ales): 89/99 THE MALT MONK is the alter ego of D.R. Hammond, a passionate supporter of craft beer culture. He invites readers to join in the dialogue at maltmonksbeerblog.wordpress.com/

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Beer matters theatre

Donald DISHES on Theatre

By DONALD D’HAENE

“Y

ou should be ashamed of yourself.” The recent comment to yours truly was not meant as a compliment, but such lines are music to my ears. I’m a producer; I have no shame.

I’m not a natural born producer but I was a quick study. If you want to survive, let alone thrive in the theatre world, you had better be. I get asked all the time, “How does one do it?” Well, we’ve already established that I’m shameless — something one is, not a trait that can be taught.

Nevertheless, I suggest one’s best bet is to study the publicity strategies of established theatres.

After reviewing for five straight years, I still usually have to search for information on amateur productions. Since my website (donaldsdish.ca) is the place for reviews for one hundred percent of those productions, you might think sending me info would be a priority. Think again.

When I put out the call for info on shows for my debut here at eatdrink I heard from five amateur companies over a period of weeks. When I put a call out to professional theatres to send me info for this issue, I heard from every one of them within 24 hours — 55 pages worth of material! Food for thought, no? Pro theatres appreciate the gift that is free publicity. New companies often are unprepared and wait until a week or two before their production hits the boards before announcing their shows.

With that in mind, and months ahead of schedule, here follows just a hint of what professional theatres in our area will be offering in ’14: Victoria Playhouse Petrolia’s new season will rely on the dynamic combo of laughs, fiddling and Canadian music — from

Church Basement Ladies to Fiddler on The Loose to Canada Sings The Greatest Music from Eh! to Zed. You’ll find yourself saying, “I didn’t know that was Canadian!” Expect a tribute to the late, great Stompin’ Tom Connors.

Drayton Entertainment’s Artistic Director Alex Mustakas tells us their ambitious new season playbill is all about expansion to new territory and audiences, on stages throughout Ontario: Dunfield Theatre (Cambridge), St. Jacobs Schoolhouse Theatre, Drayton Festival Theatre, King’s Wharf Theatre (Penetanguishene), Huron Country Playhouse and Playhouse II (Grand Bend).

From chart-busting Broadway hits to spectacular kid-friendly shows, exhilarating musical tributes to laugh-outloud comedies, and some dramatic murder mysteries, there is something for everyone.

Blyth Festival’s 40th season is a milestone, their ruby anniversary, and new Artistic Director Marion de Vries promises it will be, “a rich colour of commitment, loyalty, creativity, and love.” She is recommitting the theatre to its original mandate: to create and produce professional Canadian theatre that reflects the stories, culture, and concerns of its community, region, and beyond. Included is the world premiere of the musical Kitchen Radio which Marion de Vries wrote while Canada Council Playwright in Residence at Blyth.

Port Stanley Festival’s Artistic Director Simon Joynes helped to set the theatre’s record for a second year in a row last year.

The professional Equity theatre welcomed 15,420 patrons and sold out more than half

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a grand event

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

its 119 performances. ’14 will once again witness a debut of a new musical (Bingo Ladies by Grant Tilly) as well as several comedies, including the old Norm Foster gem The Melville Boys.

Shaw Festival’s new season “positions The Shaw as a theatre of contemporary ideas,” remarks Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell.

“Our upcoming season continues to explore a unique mix of works from both The Shaw’s original mandate, and modern works The Mountaintop, that not only a production from Shaw Festival and Obsidian Theatre embody Bernard Shaw’s spirited legacy, but look at the world through a Shavian lens.”

Shaw’s Studio Theatre continues to be home for contemporary Shavians, and the Court House The­ atre playbill will include a Lunch­ time production.

Shaw Festival and Obsidian Theatre in Toronto will again collaborate this year with The Mountaintop, a daring re-envision­ ing of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night on Cabaret earth in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennes­ see. Finally Maxwell promises to repeat the hat trick of 2013’s three acclaimed and popu­ lar productions on the main Festival Stage.

The program will feature a re-envisioning of Cabaret and the Festival’s namesakes’ origi­ nal version of The ­Philanderer.

And what about the granddaddy of them all in our area, Stratford Festival? Last year saw the largest jump in attendance since ’99.

Their biggest coup this year will be the return of Colm Feore after a five-year absence, to play the title role of King Lear. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Antoni

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Cimolino, Lear will open the new season.

Cimolino promises ’14 will be a thrilling year onstage.

“We have in our leading roles a number of actors who are at the height of their powers. This extraordinary ensemble will give us moments of both cathartic Colm Feore as King Lear, sadness and giddy at Stratford Festival joy as we explore the many faces of madness presented through this playbill.”

Each of these Artistic Directors is promising the moon. And why not? As Mel Brooks tells us, “If you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy and colorful and lively.” Mel’s right! You want bums in the seats; make some noise!

Happy New Year everyone!

Donald D’Haene is Editor of donaldsdish.ca. Twitter @ TheDonaldNorth and email: donalddhaene@hotmail.com.

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books

Poor Man’s Feast A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking

by Elissa Altman Review by Darin Cook

A

fter winning the 2012 James Beard Award for Individual Food Blog, Elissa Altman evolved her blog www.poormansfeast.com into the book Poor Man’s Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking (Chronicle Books, 2013, $31.95).

From childhood, Elissa remembers pining for cordial family dinners happily sharing food, like “fake families sitting around their own fake tables eating fake dinners” as seen on The Partridge Family or The Brady Bunch.

Her memories of the dinner table more often include silent meals of plain food with television game shows in the background like uninvited dinner guests. Except holiday meals which, in contrast, were extraordinarily fancy affairs. But between over-the-top holiday celebrations and mundane nuclear family meals, she wanted the familial warmth of a close-knit meal on a daily basis around a loving table.

Elissa craved conviviality and ultimately found it as an adult, oddly enough, through a long-distance romance after sending a plea through an on-line dating service for a same-sex relationship with someone who loved food as much as she did.

That someone was Susan, who admitted her favourite way of falling asleep was the foodie’s equivalent of counting sheep — reading alphabetical entries in Larousse Gastronomique.

Elissa was intrigued by Susan through their on-line chats, but also sceptical when Susan admitted to cooking roast beef for Thanksgiving, thwarting all tradition in favour of red meat.

But then they discovered their corresponding love of strong,

pungent cheeses, and their on-line talks led to a first date.

Elissa gained her reputation as a die-hard foodie with hip jobs at the upscale Dean & DeLuca grocery stores in SoHo, and food editor positions for New York webbased magazines. Susan is from small-town Connecticut, unfamiliar with the urban lifestyle that Elissa enjoys. As a couple, it turns out they have differing outlooks on food, but are both willing to learn from each other. Elissa is schooled in culinary basics, but enjoys Susan’s philosophy that “toast is the saving grace of otherwise humdrum food everywhere.” Susan admits to not taking care of her kitchen knives, which is hard to take for Elissa who can be fanatical about her own knife roll, and who writes, “All of them were kept in pristine condition: the moment I saw a ding in one of them, I hurried it to a specialty sharpener on the Lower East Side, like an hysterical mother who rushes her baby to the emergency room after a sniffle.”

The book bounces be­tween her current relationship with Susan and the past influence of her parents. Although she missed out on the Norman Rockwell family dinners, Elissa did grow up going to fine dining establishments in Manhattan with her father, secretly being introduced to gourmet specialties without Elissa Altman

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

her weight-obsessed mother overseeing.

Elissa writes: “Manhattan’s hushed halls of haute cuisine were my father’s temples of peace and reason, where he went to shake the detritus of disappointment.” Her relationship with her mother was more strained by their polar opposite interests in food. About her mother, she writes: “Constantly dieting from the day she turned fifteen, her staunch enemy has been the food on her plate. She takes no comfort or joy in that food; it’s an adversary meant to be manipulated and manoeuvred. Restaurants are places not to eat but to be seen.”

But the food she shared with her father at those restaurants was all the more comforting, Elissa reveals, after her parents divorced when she was a teenager.

Even amid her efforts to throw a surprise anniversary party, the marriage was on the brink of ending, unable to be saved even by the solace of a platter of her parents’ favourite deli sandwiches that 16-year-old Elissa paid for with her own savings.

Similarly, addressing the future of her long-distance relationship with Susan takes on a level of seriousness when Elissa discusses the kind of time it will take to grow a vegetable garden in Susan’s backyard. It takes three years after planting asparagus before it can be harvested — did they have that kind of commitment? Plus, being a New Yorker, foraging for food was not in Elissa’s repertoire — she shopped at grocers and ate at restaurants. Making a transition from refined to rustic would be breaking new ground, testing her relationship as well as her culinary skills.

The book is full of these juxtapositions between sophisticated, New York restau­rants and rural, Connecticut cooking. But the story

55

is mostly about how food has been a constant presence and a source of comfort for Elissa’s human connections, and her opening line in the book puts it beautifully: “There is poetry in food, kindness in the act of preparing it, and peace in sharing it.”

DARIN COOK is a freelance writer who works and plays in Chatham-Kent, and keeps himself well-read and well-fed by visiting the bookstores and restaurants of London.

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cookbooks

The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook

by David Ort

Pimentos & Piri Piri Portuguese Comfort Cooking

by Carla Azevedo

Setting a Fine Table

Historical Desserts and Drinks from the Officers’ Kitchens at Fort York edited by Elizabeth Baird & Bridget Wranich A Roundup by chris McDonell

I

requested a review copy of The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook as much for the title as for anything else, trusting that with a credible author such as David Ort (particularly well known in Toronto for his online contributions to Spotlight Toronto) and the subject matter at hand, eatdrink readers would, well, eat this up. To my surprise, the Whitecap Books publicist sent a couple of other books to us as well. The trio was compelling enough that I thought we should highlight all three.

If “Beer Can Chicken” is as adventurous as you’ve gone with cooking with beer, Ort’s book will be an eye-opener. While he also has plenty of pairing suggestions, almost all of the 75 different recipes presented include beer as a key ingredient. As promised, he sticks to genuine craft beers from across the country, recommending specific brands for each recipe. With national distribution of craft beer what it is (and maybe it is a good thing that every region has specialties that only locals can easily find?), Ort also suggests an import that might be more easily acquired, as well as describing the type of beer. I appreciate his recommendations, but

I also like that there is enough information that I can confidentally substitute an Ontario product such as Denison’s Weissbier (Wheat Beer) if I can’t get my hands on his first choice for a weissbier to go with his New England Clam Chowder, Vancouver Island Brewery’s Beachcomber Summer Ale. Each recipe is presented with some background information on the dish, placed in the context of the craft beer theme. Some of the recipes are brilliantly simple, such as using equal parts lager and water when cooking basmati rice, and for the more complex recipes Ort offers nicely detailed instructions full of interesting tidbits about beer and the other ingredients along the way. This is a great crash course in bierology for the neophyte while offering plenty for aficionados as well.

Recipe from The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook © 2013 by David Ort. Published by Whitecap Books. All rights reserved.

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Soba Salad with Sriracha Dressing Recommended Beer: Schwarzbier or black lager

Dark 266, Cameron’s Brewing (Ontario) Serves 4 Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 10 minutes Sriracha Dressing 2 Tbsp (30 mL) sunflower oil 2 tsp (10 mL) toasted sesame oil 2 tsp (10 mL) Sriracha 4 cloves garlic, minced ¾-inch (2 cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated ¾ cup (185 mL) black lager 1/3 cup (80 mL) soy sauce ¼ cup (60 mL) maple syrup 3 Tbsp (45 mL) rice vinegar 1½ tsp (7.5 mL) cornstarch juice of 2 limes For the dressing, heat the oils in a medium saucepan over medium heat until they start to shimmer, about 3 minutes. Add the Sriracha, garlic and grated ginger and sauté until fragrant, only about 1 minute. Pour in the beer, soy sauce, maple syrup and vinegar and whisk to combine. Bring the dressing to a simmer.

Meanwhile, prepare a slurry from the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of cold water. When the sauce is shimmering, pour in the cornstarch slurry and whisk to combine. Continue to gently simmer for 5 to 7 minutes so that the liquid reduces slightly and the cornstarch thickens the sauce. Take off the heat, whisk in the lime juice and refrigerate the dressing.

Soba Salad 1 lb (500 g) soba noodles ½ red onion, cut in thin, short slices 1 carrot, peeled and grated ¼ head napa cabbage, cored and thinly shredded ½ English cucumber, quartered, seeded and chopped 1 Tbsp (15 mL) sesame seeds ¼ cup (60 mL) cashews ¼ cup (60 mL) cilantro leaves 1 avocado, pitted, sliced and peel removed

For the salad, follow the instructions on the package for cooking the soba noodles. Set a large colander in your sink for draining the cooked noodles.

Do not overcook the noodles. Taste a noodle 1 to 2 minutes shy of the prescribed time. As soon as they don’t have any raw-noodle crunch in the middle, remove the pot from the heat and dump the noodles into the colander to drain. Run cold water over the noodles and once they’re no longer scalding hot, toss the noodles so that all of them are exposed to the cold water. Drain thoroughly.

Combine the noodles and vegetables in a large serving bowl. Garnish the salad with sesame seeds, cashews and cilantro. Pour between half and twothirds of the dressing over top and toss to coat.

Serve the salad with the sliced avocado on the side and the remaining dressing as a dipping sauce.

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With Pimentos & Piri Piri, Carla Azevedo has revisited her cookbook from over 20 years ago, Uma Casa Portuguesa, and completed an almost epic survey of Portuguese comfort food. Azevedo was born in Toronto to parents of Italian origin, but her husband had a Portuguese background, and she developed a serious passion for Portuguese cooking. A trained chef and journalist, she combined her education and interests and produced a worthy first book that was part of her own learning process about the cuisine. Now a teacher, and with a couple of decades of experience, Azevedo’s new book substantially updates, revises and expands her earlier cookbook. Pimentos & Piri Piri (or “pepper pepper”) has the heft of a box of Portuguese tiles, which serve as a design motif throughout the book.

While sparsely illustrated, this cookbook is chockablock full of helpful suggestions, caveats, and enthusiasm for its subject, with 330 well-detailed recipes included.

Divided into useful sections such as “Soups” and “Poultry and Game,” the book reflects Portugal’s traditional reliance on the sea

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for sustenance (particularly in the Azorean region) with separate sections for “Fish” and “Seafood.” No aspect of comfort food is neglected, from “Breads” and “Desserts” to “Sauces and Sweet Spreads.”

Azevedo includes a comprehensive introduction to the “Essentials of Portuguese Cuisine,” but this is a book geared to a North American audience, embracing the reality that the large migration of Portuguese immigrants over the past 50 years or so, and myriad global influences, have led to an evolution in Portuguese cooking. Azevedo often makes note of traditions that may be best left in the past, opting for improved methods and flavours that enhance a dish.

Hers is a creative approach, yet she also appreciates and embraces the nuances in regional Portuguese cooking, particularly the dramatic differences between even “traditional” dishes in the Azores and on mainland Portugal. While we’ve chosen a familiar Portuguese recipe here, Pimentos & Piri Piri includes a wonderfully broad range of Portuguese cooking.

Recipe from Pimentos & Piri Piri: Portuguese Comfort Cooking © 2013 by Carla Azevedo. Published by Whitecap Books. All rights reserved.

Custard in Puff Pastry Shells — Pastéis de Nata When making the sugar and liquid reduction, to prevent the crystallization of the sugar, do not use a spoon to stir; instead, swirl the pan over the heat occasionally.

Makes 12 Pastries ¾ cup (185 mL) granulated sugar ¼ cup (60 mL) water 1 cup (250 mL) cold whole milk 1 ¼ cup (310 mL) whipping cream 2 tsp (10 mL) finely grated lemon zest one 2-inch (5 cm) cinnamon stick 2 Tbsp (30 mL) cornstarch 3 egg yolks 1 egg 1 lb(500 g) Puff Pastry (see next page) Ground cinnamon In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water.

Boil over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until the sugar is reduced to about ¾ cup (185 mL) of syrup. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, heat ¾ cup (185 mL) of the milk, and the whipping cream, lemon zest, and cinnamon stick until hot. Set aside to cool briefly.

In a deep skillet, combine the cornstarch and remaining ¼ cup (60 mL) cold milk. Gradually

add the hot milk and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking for about 1 minute, until thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and egg until well blended. Gradually add the prepared sugar water, followed by the milk and cream mixture, and beat for about 1 minute or until well blended. (Be careful not to form too many air bubbles in the batter or it will not bake well.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve just before using.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one-half of the puff pastry into a 12-inch (30 cm) square about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Cut out six 4-inch (10 cm) circles. Press each circle into a muffin tin (wet fingers will make this easier) and prick all over with a fork. (If the pastry gets too soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes before continuing.) Repeat with the remaining puff pastry and refrigerate until muffin pastry shells are cold. Fill the shells three-quarters full with the custard filling.

Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Bake the tarts in a preheated 450 F (230 C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbly with a few flecks of golden brown. (If

the tarts are browning too quickly, cover them loosely with foil.)

Immediately sprinkle the tarts with a few drops of cold water and then sprinkle with cinnamon (the water helps the cinnamon stick). Let stand for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the muffin tins and carefully remove the tarts (clean the knife in cold water and dry it off after each tart has been removed). Let the tarts cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour (this allows for the bottoms to cool and the custard to set).

Although these tarts are best eaten the same day you make them, you can reheat day-old custard tarts (storebought and homemade) in a 350 F (175 C) oven for a few minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon and icing sugar and eat immediately.

Puff Pastry — Massa Folhada Flaky, buttery puff pastry is the base for countless Portuguese sweets, savoury pies, and tartlets.

Puff pastry is not difficult to make, but it is timeconsuming. Frozen pastry is an acceptable shortcut.

Makes 1½ lb (750 g) dough 3½ cups (875 mL) all-purpose flour pinch fine salt 1¼ cups (310 mL) cold water 11/3 cups (330 mL) butter In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the water and stir briskly with a wooden spoon until the dough holds together. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board. Using your hands, knead until the dough is smooth. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Roll out into a 16 x 10-inch (40 x 25 cm) rectangle about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Set aside.

Place the butter on a floured board. Using a floured rolling pin, pound the butter until 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Fold the butter in half. Continue pounding and folding, sprinkling the board with enough flour to keep the butter from sticking, until the butter is

soft and pliable but not melting (if it gets too soft, refrigerate it for 20 to 30 minutes). Carefully roll or pound the butter into approximately a 12- x 6-inch (30 x 15 cm) rectangle. Set aside.

Place the dough on a lightly floured board with the short end toward you. Place the butter in the centre of the dough, leaving about a 2- inch (5 cm) border on all sides. Gently fold one-third of the dough rectangle over the centre; then repeat and fold the other side one-third over the centre. Using a rolling pin, press the short ends together to seal. Roll out the dough lengthwise into a 24- x 12- inch (60 x 30 cm) rectangle (you will be able to see flecks of butter when the dough stretches out). Fold the dough into thirds; press the short ends together to seal, and rotate the dough. (If the butter begins to melt and the dough becomes difficult to work with, refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes in between rolling out the dough.) Wrap the dough in waxed paper, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Repeat the rolling and folding 3 more times, refrigerating for 30 minutes each time. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

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Setting a Fine Table is both history book and cookbook, making “Historical Desserts and Drinks from the Officers’ Kitchens at Fort York” accessible to modern day cooks. The War of 1812-era Fort York is a national historic site near the lake in downtown Toronto, and operates as a living museum by the City of Toronto. A variety of educational programs run year-round, and the culinary history of the fort comes alive through the work of Bridget Wranich and the Historic Foodways Programme, with invaluable assistance from the Volunteer Historic Cooks, which includes renowned food writer Elizabeth Baird as a member. Baird and Wranich have edited

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some of the volunteers’ years of challenging work of understanding the typically cursory recipes from 200 years ago. Archaic ingredients, techniques and implements have been decoded, and the recipes refined to reflect historic accuracy in taste and texture, then written out using today’s language and tools. Since visitors to the Fort York kitchens most frequently request the sweet recipes, Setting a Fine Table follows that direction, helping the reader connect with Canada’s past through recipes. chris McDonell is Publisher of eatdrink.

Recipe from Setting a Fine Table: Historical Desserts and Drinks from the Officers’ Kitchens at Fort York © 2013

by City of Toronto; editors Elizabeth Baird and Bridget Wranich. Published by Whitecap Books. All rights reserved.

Mackeroons Today, mackeroons (now spelled macaroons) are a meringue made with coconut, but until the mid-19th century they contained finely chopped or pounded sweet almonds.

Makes about 80 mackeroons.

3 cups (750 mL) whole blanched almonds 4 medium egg whites (½ cup/125 mL) 2 tsp (10 mL) orange flower water 2 cups (500 mL) superfine granulated sugar Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, chop the almonds, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time, until they are the consistency of very coarse sand with some slightly larger pieces. Set aside.

In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites with the orange flower water until soft peaks form. Add the sugar about 2 Tbsp (30 mL) at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

Sprinkle the chopped almonds over the egg white mixture and fold in to distribute evenly.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls (6 mL) about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake in the centre of a 325 F (160 C) oven until they are dry to touch, but still white, and lift easily off the parchment paper, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Let cool on the pans on a rack.

(Make-ahead: Layer in airtight containers. Store at room temperature for a few days or freeze for up to 2 weeks.)

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

June 20–22 2014 Enjoy the true tastes of summer!

Western Fair District is excited to launch the second year of its annual Beer and BBQ Show for a NEW Three-day Run! Craft Brews Cicerones & Brewmasters Grill Master BBQ Cook-Off Backyard Games & Music Wines, Spirits, Mock-tails & Munchies

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№ 45 | January/February 2014

the lighter side

Soo Good By natalie novak

M

y husband and I met almost 40 years ago, and this past year, as we planned a road trip to the city where we met, I thought back to our courting days. We lived in Sault Ste. Marie and in those early years, with steady pay cheques but no children or mortgage, money flowed like wine and evenings out for dinner and drinks were more habit than indulgence.

Eventually we moved to London, and while our kids were growing up, travelling north to vacation at the family cottage was a summer ritual. But that cottage was 45 minutes away from the Soo and so we rarely ventured into town — and certainly not for a romantic dinner for two!

Now the kids are grown and the cottage is sold, and for the first time in years it would be just the two of us making the trek north.

It was quite an exciting prospect, and visions of visiting our favourite haunts danced in my head!

For those not familiar with the culture of Sault Ste. Marie back in the 1970s, think amazing, genuine Italian cuisine. My memory is filled with restaurants with names like Aurora’s, Cesira’s, Sorrenti’s, Minelli’s — names that rolled off your tongue as deliciously as their homemade pastas, soups, sauces and salad dressings. Chefs had emigrated here from various regions of Italy, and the scent of roasting chicken, veal, lasagna and other tempting aromas wafted from their kitchens.

But it wasn’t just the fine dining establish­ ments that I appreciated. There was the walkin-and-buy-a-slice pizza guy across from the main bus station downtown. While you were waiting for your bus home at end of the night you could wander over and watch him spin the dough over his head. The bigger the audience, the higher he would throw it. Then he’d dress the freshly tossed crust with sauce and top­ pings with such flair, it seemed more an artistic endeavour than simply creating a fast snack for the late night crowd. And there was Peachy’s with its long plank tables covered with plastic red-and-white-checkered table cloths. You

could buy a jug of beer and a pizza for about ten bucks — and oh, those toppings! Nero’s Notion, piled with mushrooms, pepperoni and home-made Italian sausage was my boyfriend/ future husband’s personal favourite. About the only other ethnic food you could find back then was at the Chinese restaurant — another popular end-of-evening-snack option — or the authentic Mexican restaurant across the river in Soo Michigan.

So imagine my surprise when we visited Sault Ste. Marie and discovered how much the restaurant scene has changed. There is a locally owned Japanese restaurant, and you can also grab some sushi, Thai or Indonesian cuisine. There are trendy cafés, roadhouse-style eateries, cakeries and even a poutinery now.

We stumbled across a few newto-us gems, including Ernie’s and Mike’s — two 50s-style diners that serve up all day breakfasts, which we love!

Both apparently opened long before we were even born, but we had never even been aware that they existed. Very cool discoveries!

Sadly, we also learned that some of our frequent dining destinations were no longer around. The store front where the pizza man performed is now a nail salon, and Peachy’s is just a deserted building. Restaurants have closed, but a whole new generation of Italian chefs has emerged at Arturos, Ubriaco’s, Solo Trattoria, Vincenzo’s, Quatro and other establishments.

Nostalgia being what it is, in the end we were drawn back to one of our favourite places, Giovanni’s. It was a relative newcomer back in our dating days and has managed to stand the test of time. More comfortable than romantic, the atmosphere was just as wonderful as we remembered. A leisurely dinner in good company, reminiscing over fall-off-your-fork ribs and a glass of fine wine — blissful! Who says you can’t go home again?

NATALIE NOVAK is a freelance writer and transplanted Northerner who now calls London home.

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