CityBites - Fall 2014 - 52

FALL 2014

16 HOT

TORONTO

CHEFS TO WATCH (WHO HAPPEN TO BE WOMEN) (P14) THE DRAKE DEVONSHIRE

Prince Edward County gets hipper (p5) Léonie Lilla

Chef de Cuisine, Farmer’s Daughter Eatery

OUT & ABOUT

Jamie Kennedy’s Gilead Café + Wine Bar (p10)

ONTARIO’S BEST PINOT? A visit to The Old Third (p34) Get More!

Visit us at PLUS! OKTOBERFEST BEER + SHERRY PRIMER + JUICE CLEANSE + COOKING FISH

citybites.ca

contents

FROM THE EDITOR

Fall 2014

No.52

It’s our favourite time of year, the fall. There’s something so lovely about wandering around the city and following the delicious wafting aromas emanating from our great restaurants and eateries.

The cooler temperatures and early darkness make it all the more compelling to dash inside for a bite or a drink at the bar.

Which brings us to our cover feature.

We hit on the idea of profiling the city’s top female chefs by visiting with them on

CHEF’S BREAKFAST Charlotte Langley’s beans and egg in a can. Read more on p. 26.

their day off, enjoying their communities and taking a well-earned breather.

With so many chefs to choose from, we

The Features

concentrated on what we loosely call “up

14

16 Chefs to Watch (who happen to be women) We caught up with some of Toronto’s finest chefs enjoying their day off in their ‘hood.

18

The Great Ontario Cheese & Ale Trail We map it, you eat and drink it.

22

Gender blender More and more female chefs are making their mark in Toronto’s hottest restaurants.

and comers” or “ones to watch.” But really, these are supremely accomplished chefs who we think deserve serious attention. So do take a wander and pop in at one of their fabulous restaurants.

Dick Snyder, Editor • dick@citybites.ca

The Restaurant Pages @citybites

city bites magazine

citybitestoronto

Editor Dick Snyder/dick@citybites.ca Art Director Craig Sinclair/craig@citybites.ca Senior Editor Natalie Goldenberg-Fife/natalie@citybites.ca Wine Editor John Szabo Director of Vinous Affairs Zoltan Szabo

5

Out of Town The Drake Devonshire brings funk to the County.

Zoltan’s Picks Three great wines for fall.

10

Out & About Jamie Kennedy’s Gilead Café + Wine Bar.

11

Clean Living How about a juice cleanse for fall.

Dan Donovan on how to cook fish.

32

The Ej Konrad Ejbich

Szabo on Wine John Szabo loves his sherry.

33

6

Crumbs Tasty little morsels of restaurant news.

7 8

Grow A modest proposal.

Director of Spirits + Beer Stephen Beaumont

9

Scene Ontario Spring Water Sake Company.

Contributors Dan Donovan, Konrad Ejbich, Natalie GoldenbergFife, Marc Green, Nick Green, Laura Pratt, Sarah Wright Photography and illustration Rick O’Brien, Dick Snyder

30 Fishmongering

Publisher Paul Alsop/paul@citybites.ca Sr. Account Manager Wendy Lyall Gardner/wendy@citybites.ca Email info@citybites.ca or visit www.citybites.ca Advertising Inquiries sales@citybites.ca

PHOTO: RICK O’BRIEN

The Experts 31

discovers Sagrantino.

Libations Stephen Beaumont rocks Oktoberfest.

The End Made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation

34 One Last Bite

Pinot Noir (and more) at The Old Third.

City Bites Media Inc., 26 Dalhousie St. Suite 200, Toronto, ON, M5B 2A5, 647-827-1705. City Bites is published six times a year by City Bites Media Inc.

Cover photo by Rick O’Brien.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

3

Atlantic Grill Bar Louie Bareburger Ben & Jerry’s Benihana Bibab Express Bill’s American Burgers Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza Blue Bottle Coffee Company Blue C Sushi Brant House Brassaii Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. BUCA C Lounge CC Lounge Carbon Bar Chipotle Mexican Grill Cipriani Crush Wine Bar DBGB Esplanade Bier Markt Fig & Olive Fionn MacCool’s Five Guys Burgers and Fries Forno Cultura Fresco by Scotto Gabriel Kreuther Haagen Dazs Hard Rock Café Hero Certified Burgers House of Blues Jack Astor’s Jacques Torres Jamba Juice Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar Joe’s Crab Shack Johnny Rockets ki modern japanese + bar La Colombe La Goulue Le Pain Quotidien Lucien Magnolia Bakery McCormick & Schmick’s McDonald’s Momofuko Morton’s The Steakhouse Nobu nota bene Organic Avenue Pickle Barrel P.J. Clarke’s Panera Bread Papa John’s Pizza Pei Wei Asian Diner Pravda Vodka Bar Pret A Manger Pukka Real Sports Bar & Grill Red Mango Richtree Market Restaurants Rodney’s Oyster House Rosa Mexicano Ruth’s Chris Steak House Sarabeth’s Shake Shack ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen Soma Chocolatemaker Splendido Spring Rolls Starbucks Steak N’ Shake Sultan’s Tent SweetLuLu The Capital Grille The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf The Market

by Longo’s The Palm The Smith Veggie Grill

One name in common.

From quick-service to chef-driven concepts, RKF brings sizzle to markets.

For more information, contact Steven Alikakos , President, Canada | Broker of Record at salikakos@rkf.com or 416.599.3700.

Some highlighted restaurants were involved in transactions with members of the Canadian team prior to their affiliation with RKF.

TRANSFORMING the RESTAURANT LANDSCAPE RKF.COM RKF GROUP CANADA REALTY, a Real Estate Brokerage

RESTAURANTS // COUNTY CHIC

By Dick Snyder

THE RESTAURANT PAGES

Drake on the Lake THE CULTURAL-HOTBED BRAND SOLDIERS ON WITH A STRIKING PEC RESORT

PHOTOS: DICK SNYDER; (BOTTOM RIGHT) THE DRAKE HOTEL

Fans of the Drake Hotel brand—for it surely is a formidable brand indeed—were positively giddy when the Drake Devonshire finally opened on Sept. 15, bringing the cultural juggernaut’s signature hipness to the tiny hamlet of Wellington in Prince Edward County. And what a gorgeous spot it is—a completely revitalized and re-imagined waterside resort stocked full of funky art, explorable nooks and crannies, a screened in porch and a ping-pong room. Call it Cape Cod chic meets Ontario hoser by way of West Queen West. Thirteen guests rooms are already booked up on weekends for the foreseeable future (but you can snag a weekday pad starting at $229/night).

Naturally, food and drink is a major focus, and Executive Chef Ted Corrado, who handles all three Drake properties, has put Matt DeMille (ex-Parts and Labour, Enoteca Sociale) in charge.

DeMille and his wife had moved to nearby Belleville in 2012, and worked for a spell at Wellington’s Pomodoro. When he heard about Drake Devonshire 24 Wharf St., the Drake Devonshire, he called Wellington them up. “I already know all the 1-844-898-3338 local suppliers,” he says, noting drakedevonshire.ca Prinzen Farms, which supplies his chicken and beef, and McColl Farms, which handles the lamb.

Diners can expect signature Drake fare on par with the Toronto locations, with a certain County flare. And yes, there will always be a burger. CB

The view from the porch and dining room.

Battered perch from Kendall Dewey Fisheries.

Matt DeMille and Ted Corrado.

Dining room and bar.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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CRUMBS

By Nick Green | @_NicholasGee

... Café Bar Pasta is whooping it up in celebration of their one year

for $5 each (1288 Dundas St. W., sociale.ca, @EnotecaSociale)

anniversary with a new 16-dish fall menu. Chef Jay Scaife draws on

... Stoney’s Bread Company, brought to you by Crave It Restaurant

French, Italian, and Japanese influences, serving up dishes such as

Group (The Burger’s Priest, Via Cibo) is opening a second location

sweetbread saltimbocca, and lobster and crab lollipops. Master Sommelier

in Etobicoke. Head west to check out their weekly brunch and no-

John Szabo makes his mark as well, curating a wine list that includes six

nonsense food (1045 The Queensway, stoneysbreadcompany.com,

wines on tap (1588 Dundas St. W., café-bar-pasta.com, @CafeBarPasta)

@StoneysBreadCo)

Get yer Crumbs on... ... Middle’terranean restaurants are kinda like the donut-mash-up trend; there’s got to be something special for them to rise above the

... Lay down a base before gettin’ yer drank on

at The Emmet Ray. The folks there have joined up with The Dock Ellis’ Trish Gill (ex-Beast, Queen and Beaver) to launch a new menu, featuring items such as a dish called the “Chef,” with beef heart pastrami, potato, and chorizo vinaigrette, complete

with suggested whiskey pairing (924 College St., theemmetray.com, @TheEmmetRay)

... Some Toronto favourites have opened new

rest. Let’s see if these two new spots will stand out. Fresh East is a new

locations. Sukho Thai has a new spot on DuWest that is now open

Liberty Village spot that is offering Middle Eastern-inspired sandwiches

for business (1442 Dundas St. W., sukhothaifood.ca, @SukhoThaiFood),

(120 Lynn Williams St., fresheast.ca, @FreshEast_CA)

... Essen is

bringing healthy Ashkenzi fare, with a plethora of European influences, to DuWest. With a name that is Yiddish for “to eat,” look forward to good old hearty Jewish fare (1282 Dundas St. W., essentoronto.com, @EssenToronto)

... Speaking of food with multiple inspirations, some

sushi is getting a Brazilian on the Danforth at the new Temaki Express.

Delica Kitchen is offering some sweet sweet sweets at their third location (920 Queen St. W., delicakitchen.ca, @DelicaKitchen), and Kinton Ramen is going NoBlo (north of Bloor, duh), bringing pork belly and noodles to North York (5165 Yonge St., kintonramen.com, @KintonRamen)

... The people at East Thirty-Six want to see you

in the light of day, which is why they’re offering a new lunch menu.

Their Japanese fare is rolling with Spanish, Brazilian, and Canadian

Fuel up with the bavette steak, served with celeriac puree, mustard,

influences, resulting in dishes such as the São Paulo Uramaki: smoked

and fried egg, served avec frites, or their gnocchi with rapini, garlic,

salmon, sun dried tomatoes, bocconcini, avocado and asparagus (269 Danforth Ave., temakiexpress.ca)

... And as the new arrives, so

the old must go. Ursa is closing its doors after three years of serving the city locally sourced, sculptural dishes, leaving us all to wonder who is now going to bring “boreal and freshwater ecology to the

lemon, and ricotta salata (36 Wellington St. E., eastthirtysix.com,

@EastThirtySix) ... At last, the Danforth has a resto with a manifesto.

Committed to British grub from local and sustainable sources, The Borough is now open (1352 Danforth Ave., borough.ca, @TheBoroughEY).

Email tips, opening soons and discoveries to info@citybites.ca.

forefront of … gastronomic practice.” Stay tuned for Phase Two from one of the city’s most innovative kitchens (ursarestaurant.com)

... Weeknights are the new weekend with two new special nights. On Tuesday hit Edward’s and have a weekly dinner special for only $22, such as the recent Coq Au Vin, served with a glass of Sangiovese. Follow Twitter for weekly specials (1290 Queen St. E., edwardlevesque.ca, @Edwards1290)

... On Thursdays check out financial district fave

Jump for Bourbon Thursdays from 5 to 7:30pm, where you can enjoy a live jazz trio, along with a $7 Woodford Reserve bourbon cocktail (18 Wellington St. W., oliverbonacini.com/Jump, @OliverBonacini)

... Okay, Saturdays aren’t a total bust, especially with the return of

Enoteca Sociale’s underground Back Door Bakery. From noon until supplies run out, you can get some of their yummy homemade loaves

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CityBites / Fall 2014

NEW LUNCH MENU The bavette at East Thirty-Six.

GROW

By Marc Green

A modest proposal BACKYARD GARDENING TO FEED THE WORLD To many, eating locally means anything from “within your own country” to what’s commonly known as “the 100 Mile Diet,” a concept first explored in the book of the same name by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon. Basically, it espouses the benefits, both “dietarily” and environmentally, to sourcing food from within 100 miles of where it is consumed.

Since my company, the Backyard Urban Farm Company, came into being five years ago, we have been exploring a new concept of local, one that asks: Can we eat even more locally than 100 miles?

What about 100 meters?

The results are still coming in, especially when it comes to things like meats, and wheat and corn products and byproducts.

However, what is becoming clear is that, for many months a year, huge amounts of our food can actually come from within 100 metres. In our tiny yard we have just over 100 square feet of raised bed gardening

space—not very much, really. However, we eat fresh from this garden starting in early May through to late November.

We give away loads of food to family and friends, rarely having to purchase fresh produce. In the winter we feast on harvests that have been dried, frozen, pickled or canned.

Certainly, not all neighbourhoods have this kind of space, but, a quick look at Google Maps illustrates that most neighbourhoods have plenty of yards large enough to support at least some food production. Now, imagine the block you live on, the whole rectangle on which there might be 100 houses or more. Now imagine healthy, thriving fruit and vegetable gardens in the yards of 50 of them, supplied with seedlings from a couple modestly sized greenhouses on the block. Then, in 25 backyards, there are chicken coups with five birds in each yard… that’s 125 chickens, and roughly 125 eggs. Every day.

Now imagine if a few people on your block know how to process foods by canning and preserving. And a few others have cold cellars for storage. And maybe someone wants to learn how to process cereal crops into grains for cereals and baking. And surely there will be at least one baker on the street. Now imagine a neighbourhood that, for a very large portion of the year, is trading and sharing their food with the folks next door and down the street.

For fresh foods, this is a model that could certainly work. In fact, the U.N. Commission on Trade and Development has released a report saying small-scale organic farming is the only way to feed the world. The only way. So why shouldn’t that start right in your own neighbourhood, right in your own backyard? CB MARC GREEN AND ARLENE HAZZAN GREEN own The Backyard Urban Farm Company.

BUFCO brings organic vegetable gardening to urban and sub-urban homes and businesses throughout the GTA Visit bufco.ca.

Over 120 specialty merchants await you at Toronto’s premier and historic market.

Where great things come together.

stlawrencemarket.com Fall 2014 / CityBites

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NEWS

By Dick Snyder

Sake town In just three-and-a-half years since it opened in the Distillery, the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company has almost single-handedly amped up the sake scene in Ontario. What? You didn’t know there was a sake scene in Ontario? Just swing by for a visit or tour, taste some sake, get schooled in the art of brewing with rice, and yeah, you’ll discover a sake scene that may just be cause for pause. Sake is not just a Japanese phenomenon. Today, modern sake breweries are carving out new territory throughout North America, with cult-like operations starting up in California, New York, Oregon and, of course, Toronto. You might say that sake is the new craft beer (or cider)… if you were a trend-watcher.

This fall, the Ontario Spring Water Sake Co. is amping things up around Toronto. In addition to finding their sake

@OnlyGoodWine

Our experts taste, rate and pick only the best Ontario wines – not available at your local store.

brand, Izumi, in hipper restaurants like Fonda Lola, Dailo, Canoe, Globe Bistro and George, as well as most of the ever-growing Izakaya joints, their new “sake on tap” program is rolling out across the city. On November 24, Chef Jamie Kennedy will host a sake dinner at his Gilead Café + Wine Bar, matching Izumi’s range of beverages with his signature take on local-meets-global cuisine. “Jamie has been a fan of our products since we opened,” NAMA CHO can be found in 100+ LCBOs. says Vivian Hatherell, “and was one of the first big local chefs to come enjoy warm sake and Japanese-style street into our brewery.” Further expansion snacks on their heated patio. Apparently, is in the works to get Izumi sakes to Santa is a big fan. CB For information on the Gilead sake markets in other provinces as well as the dinner, call the restaurant at (647) 288United States. Again this year, fans of 0680 or Ontario Spring Water Sake at the Distillery’s Christmas market will be (416) 365-7253. able to visit Ontario Spring Water Sake to

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Sign up now for our Holiday pack— a great gift for you or someone you love!

GOOD WINE LOVES COMPANY—JOIN THE CLUB! 8

CityBites / Fall 2014

PHOTO: ONTARIO SPRING WATER SAKE CO.

TORONTO’S OWN SAKE BREWERY IS AMPING IT UP

ZOLTAN’S PICKS

By Zoltan Szabo | @ZoltanSzabo

Three great fall wines Top Blaufränkisch Producers Here are my top Blaufränkisch wines from the spectacular 2011 vintage as tasted at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna for VieVinum ’14, the world’s most meticulously organized wine symposium.

TEXTURAL PURE

Strewn 2012 Riesling ‘Cottage Block’ Niagara Peninsula | $12.95

Southbrook 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Triomphe’ Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula | $22.95

REFINED

Rosewood 2010 Cabernet Franc ‘Origin’ Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula | $26

Apples, lemon and a shy minty/mineral nuance on the nose. Dense, pure and juicy with refreshing acidity and a remarkably long-lasting finish. Too good.

Organic and biodynamic, also vegan-friendly. A texturally superlative red wine with cassis, oyster shell and an herbal reflex, reminding me of a great PessacLeognan. Just delicious, I could drink it by the gallon.

Currants, red plum, tobacco, nutmeg, black truffle and tar notes. Not heavy, and with a really refined tannic skeleton.

Old-world style. My personal favorite at the recent Ottawa Wine & Food Show.

lcbo.com

southbrook.com

rosewoodwine.com

1 Moric & Roland Velich 2 Juliana Wieder 3 Anton Hart 4 Muhr-van Der Niepoort 5 Pittnauer 6 Familie Prieler 7 Wachter-Wiesler 8 Gernot & Heike Heinrich 9 Birgit Braunstein 10 Ernst Triebaumer

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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RESTAURANTS // OUT & ABOUT

By Natalie Goldenberg-Fife @NatalieGF + @CityBites

Where’s Jamie?

ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S MOST RECOGNIZABLE CHEFS IS COOKING EVERYDAY IN OUR OWN BACKYARD The Story Back at the turn of the century (2000, that is), Jamie Kennedy had two restaurants, a thriving catering business and an exclusive food contract with the Gardiner Museum. In order to keep up with what he anticipated to be an explosion of business, he opened Gilead Café in Corktown. Gilead was conceived as a commissary kitchen to service his other businesses, but it would also serve customers. “I always wanted there to be an element of public access so the space was designed for that to occur,” Kennedy says. “Once those businesses closed [in 2009], Gilead shifted from just a café to being home of Jamie Kennedy Kitchens.”

The Space

Those familiar with Kennedy’s resume—multiple critically acclaimed restaurants, an Order of Canada, god-like status—might expect a grandiose affair at Gilead. But the place is everything but showy. Even finding it, tucked away off King Street East, is challenging. The 40-seater is located on a small alley called Gilead Place. Once inside, you’re greeted by unpretentious and welcoming surroundings. Walls are lined with barn boards, jarred goodies and wine bottles. Chalkboards display daily wine and food offerings. One of Kennedys’ handsome young sons might take your order and Kennedy himself might serve your food. Gilead is warm and fuzzy to the max.

The Scene “It’s really what’s going on in the neighbourhood,” says Kennedy when describing the crowd that comes through his doors. “Morning regulars, workers from the body and collision shop down the street, come in for coffee. At lunchtime, we see more people from local businesses and even some folks from downtown. At night, folks come from all over the city. But all three dining services have solid foundations with the neighbourhood,” he says.

CHEF’S TABLE Jamie Kennedy at Gilead.

At night, folks come from all over the city.

The Food All polished (yet unpolished) foodstuffs are about what’s going on in Southern Ontario. Think sheep’s milk yogurt with granola and honey for breakfast ($6) and J.K’s Farm tomato soup for lunch ($9). At dinner, dishes are prepared to go alongside expertly paired wines. “I enjoy food with wine,” Kennedy says. “So the food-and-wine experience is important to me. If a wine can bring another level of appreciation for the food then that’s great.” Take the hot smoked Spanish mackerel with warm potato salad ($13) that becomes a little sweeter on the palate when paired with a glass of The Organized Crime Winery’s Pinot Gris 2013 ($11). Galantine of organic chicken with marinated Gilead Café mushrooms ($14) turns even more decadent and luscious and Wine Bar when combined with a glass of Le Clos Jordanne’s 2009 4 Gilead Pl. “Claystone Terrace” Chardonnay ($17). CB 647-288-0680 jamiekennedy.ca

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CityBites / Fall 2014

SUN-FILLED Casual comfort in Corktown.

PHOTOS: RICK O’BRIEN

The Drinks It’s all about local libations. There’s a G&T made with Dillon’s Gin and Fever Tree tonic water ($11) and a J.K. Kir Royale made with cassis from Kennedy’s farm in Prince Edward County ($12). The wine list (with lots by the glass) rotates often and showcases the best of what’s viniferous in Ontario—like 3630 “Bubble” Blanc de Noirs, ($12/glass) and Rosewood Estate Winery’s 2012 Semillon ($10.25/glass). A friend of Kennedy’s brings in a few anomalies from growers in the Loire and Burgundy.

THE DISH Apple-fed Grey County pork chop.

CLEAN LIVING

By Natalie Goldenberg-Fife | @NatalieGF + @Citybites

A juice cleanse primer NOW’S THE TIME TO GET LIQUID. IT’S A GREAT WAY TO RESET AND RECHARGE YOUR MIND AND BODY Juice! It’s what for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

That is, of course—if you’ve decided to embark on a juice cleanse, which are quite common this time of year. Back in September, Team Citybites (aka me and Dick Snyder) did a four-day juice cleanse created by Belmonte Raw. My raison d’etre was: 1) a new challenge, and; 2) to lose three pounds gained on a gluttonous trip to Paris and Provence. Dick hoped to kick-start a healthier way of life and eventually hit his desired weight goal. We both journaled our juice journey on the CityBites blog and had a pretty kick-ass time once the hangries—where hungry meets angry—disappeared. We had a lot of queries from curious followers about the whos, whats, whens, and whys of juicing. So here’s a quick guide.

Why juice? Carol Belmonte, owner of Belmonte Raw in Leslieville, says “you want to cleanse between seasons, particularly the fall, so you can rev up your metabolism going into the colder months.” Belmonte says she’s based her cleanses—which can range anywhere from one to 30 days—on how each ingredient in the bottle combines in the body, as well as their associative energetic principals. Take the “Shanti,” composed

you do it seasonally.”

Feel Good Guru— which has made its rep serving up organic vegan foodstuffs to the likes of George Stroumboulopoulus (he tweets a lot!) and Westside fashion folk—specializes in three-day cleanses.

“It’s a doable number of days to book off your social calendar mid-week and not an insurmountable ELIXIR MIXER Feel Good Guru’s Moira Nordholt. number of days to get through without chewing,” Nordholt says. Both Belmonte feel hungry. Hunger is a mental thing. and Nordholt recommend cleansing at Belmonte’s cleanse has you drinking least twice a year. every one to two in half hours. So the Backed by a science degree and a moment you start to freak that you’re background in Ayurvedic medicine, not going to make it—that’s when you Belmonte says her juices are primo get to drink another juice. because “we take out all the fibre and How can you expect to feel? Well, if therefore allow digestion to occur you’re a coffee drinker you can expect quickly while also resting the system. some pretty massive caffeine headaches The energy that would normally be used on day one. There may also be a few for digestion is used instead for cellular waves of nausea and flurepair. That’s why you feel you have so like symptoms on days Belmonte Raw $70 to $75 a day much energy when you juice. You are one and two as toxins + refundable bottle flooding your body with exit your body. But deposits, HST and delivery. nutrients.” with a little willpower, 1022 Queen St. E. Translation: A juice you’ll survive. By 647-340-1218 cleanse will help you feel day three, you’ll feel belmonteraw.com f--king awesome! energized, clean and Feel Good Guru Juicing has its critics. Some point to will likely have a little Three-day cleanse: deprivation and say that the human juice glow emanating $175 plus refundable bottle deposits, system is not designed to withstand such from your skin.

HST and delivery. withdrawal from solid foods. Others Both Belmonte and 917 Queen St. W. say you’ll damage your metabolism.

Feel Good Guru offer 647-748-5800 feelgoodguru.com “Everybody has their own opinion,” convenient delivery says Belmonte. “But any bottle from services. A favourite part us has between six and nine pounds of of my cleanse was opening the door at 7 vegetables. So you are not lowering your a.m. each day and seeing all my colorful metabolism. Rather, you are boosting it juices there waiting for me. while nourishing each cell.”

“Toronto demands a lot of people,” Will you get hungry? Belmonte says says Belmonte. “We want to take away as that 99.9 percent of people do not much stress as we can.” CB

PHOTO: DICK SNYDER

Translation: A juice cleanse will help you feel f--king awesome! of cucumber, kale, pineapple, lime and mint. This sweet and sour punch is one of my favourites and it has great enzyme powers that reduce stress and inflammation.

Moira Nordholt, owner of Feel Good Guru on Queen West, says juicing is the best method of cleansing because “it’s like filling your tank with premium fuel.” Cleansing is good any time, she says, “but your body is naturally in sync with the changing seasons so you’ll find it easier mentally and emotionally if

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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EVENTS Restaurants for Change Oct. 22 Restaurants for Change is a mind-boggling national effort to raise awareness and funds about the critical need for a healthy and equitable food system in Canada, organized by the Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC). On Oct. 22, 25 like-minded restaurants in nine cities will donate the proceeds of one dinner service to CFCC. Doesn’t that warm your heart?

In Toronto, participating restaurants include Bar Buca, Buca, Buca Yorkville, Edulis, Jacob’s Steakhouse, Richmond Station, Ruby Watchco, The Drake 150, The Saint Tavern and THR+Co. Order an extra appetizer, it’s for a good cause. @aplaceforfood, restaurantsforchange.com

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CityBites / Fall 2014

Eat to the Beat

Chowder Chowdown

Oct. 21, 7 p.m.

It may be the most highly anticipated annual dinner party in Toronto. Top female chefs are lending their time, talent and tongs to help raise funds and awareness for Willow Breast Cancer Support. Altruism never tasted so good. Tickets are $175 and include all samples.

Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., @EattotheBeat_ TO, eattothebeat.ca

Nov. 4, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A little healthy competition never hurt anyone. In fact, this one actually helps the Ocean Wise sustainable seafood program. Toronto chefs will don their whites and dish out their unique take on chowder in hopes of earning the hearty, stick-to-your-ribs title of Chowder Champion. $56.50; Fermenting Cellar, 28 Distillery Lane; vanaqua.org/chowdown

Cask Days

Gluten Free Garage

Oct. 24-26 With more than 300 beers and ciders over three days, what these special brews lack in carbon dioxide they make up for in character and creativity. Soak up the suds with eats from Toronto’s top chefs and savour the best in beer-label design. $35 tickets include four food/drink tokens and festival glass.

Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave., @caskdays, 2014.caskdays.com/tickets

Nov. 9, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Get ready to show your tummy some love. This safe haven for celiacs will include gluten-free goodies from vendors such as Gourmet Bitches, Bunners and Feast. The best part about nourishing your soul by noshing gluten-free? You can taste A LOT and leave without a heavy stomach.

Entry is $10 for adults and free for kids under 12.

Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St., @Glu10FreeGarage, glutenfreegarage.ca

Gourmet Food and Wine Expo

Canadian Artisan Tasting Fair

Nov. 20-23 The expo is kinda like any other cocktail party… if an any other cocktail party had more than 1,800 wines, beers, spirits and gourmet food to choose from. Come armed with patience, TO’s premier tasting event is a great place to mix and mingle since the event is equally notorious for it’s crowds as it’s gourmet selections.

General admission runs from $25 -$45 depending on the session.

Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W., @GFWE, foodandwineexpo.ca

Nov. 30, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Locavores rejoice! If similar food festivals have left you hungry for an intimate affair where you can chat up the butcher, the baker and charcuterie-board maker look no further. $35 Tickets include unlimited grazing, $10 in food coupons to spend at the event and enough carbohydrates and curds to easily reach your daily caloric intake.

Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St., @TastingFair, tastingfair.ca

The Perfect Match Ontario craft beer and fine artisan Canadian cheese — such a nice thing to do for your taste buds.

Enjoy a Perfect Match tonight!

ontariocraftbrewers.com

canadianmilk.ca

16

of Toronto’s Hottest Chefs (who just happen to be women)

Let’s be honest: it’s still a boy’s world out there in the majority of kitchens. So we decided it’s time to recognize the emerging wave of kick-ass female chefs making a name for themselves in Toronto. And we set about getting some input. We polled chefs, journalists and food fanatics and asked them to nominate their top female chefs… and we got responses ranging from “I don’t know any” to “check out The Caledonian—their whole kitchen is women!”

(We did, and it is!). So read on… and don’t forget to tell us who we left off the list @CityBites.

There’s always a next time. Photos by Rick O’Brien

Lora Kirk Executive Chef and Co-owner, Ruby Watch Co. BORN: Peterborough. PAST GIGS: Soho House (New York City), Allen & Delancy

(New York City), Four Seasons (Toronto). INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: Watching both my grandmas cook and feed their families. Everything was made from scratch. It was their passion and what they did. LOVE: Having an artistic outlet and then being able to eat it. HATE: There aren’t enough hours in the day to have fun. SIGNATURE DISH: Chicken liver parfait. I always twist it. It’s served with bread, a crispy crunch and a pickle garnish. CULINARY HERO: Angela Harnett, Neil Ferguson and, of course, Lynn Crawford. FAVE ’HOOD: Danforth and Jones. It’s quiet and also a great social area. People know my dogs. DREAM DAY OFF: Besides eating and drinking, I try to socialize. On a Sunday, I might go to the bar at Le Select Bistro. I’ll order a negroni, frisée salad and steak frites.

KITCHEN TUNES: I was always taught that music is distracting. My music is the pots and the pans. DYING TO EAT AT…: I don’t know. If I have a craving, I will cook it. I feel a little sheltered that way. GUILTY PLEASURE: Potato chips.

I like BBQ Lays and Miss Vickies salt and vinegar for that wicked crunch.

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CityBites / Fall 2014

Christine Fancy

Alexandra Feswick

Pastry Chef, Drake Hotel Properties

Chef de Cuisine, The Drake Hotel

BORN: Moncton, New Brunswick. PAST GIGS: Blackbird, Origin,

BORN: Hamilton; raised in Dundas. PAST GIGS: Samuel J.

The Gabardine. INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: Travelling to Europe and seeing the dedication people have to their crafts, even when they only have one ingredient to work with. LOVE: The people and the knowledge. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t taken that leap into cooking. HATE: That it’s hard to feel sexy when you’re strutting around in a flour-crusted apron, sporting chocolate smears on your face. SIGNATURE DISH: Pie. And that answer will probably never change. I guess it’s the combination of skill required to make the perfect pie dough, and the variety of pies you can make. CULINARY HERO: Jamie Oliver. His understanding of the food world extends way beyond cooking. I’d love to meet him someday! DREAM DAY OFF: Taking our two dogs for long trail walks in Prince Edward County. There are some amazing beaches and shorelines along Lake Ontario that could fool anyone into thinking they’re in another part of the world. KITCHEN MUSIC: With Simon Blackwell at Blackbird we listened to so much good music (thank you Simon!). No matter how many times I put Feist on repeat, one of my favourites is still “Gatekeeper.” DYING TO EAT AT…: Ze Ze Food & Drink. Chef-owner Haeyeon An is a gem of a person. If the food is anything like she is, it’s sure to be wholesome and sincere… and delicious, without a doubt!

Moore/The Great Hall, Brockton General. LOVE: Working with food, the cooks, the community, being creative. HATE: Working nights, weekends and holidays. SIGNATURE DISH: I love cooking eggs. They’re universal, and beautiful and absolutely delicious. Making quiche is probably one of my favourite things–the time it takes, the pastry, the variety of ingredients and accompaniments. When it’s done right, quiche is like heaven. CULINARY MENTOR/HERO: Jeff Crump is my mentor. I owe him more then anybody. Arlene Stein is my hero. She’s literally capable of anything with grace and absolute sincerity. FAVE ’HOOD: I love Queen West because of the art community and the shops, delicious restaurants and juice bars. But I mostly play at St. Clair and Oakwood. My latest love is going for brunch to The Gem (at Dovercourt and Ossington) with my husband and walking my dog through Cedarvale Park. DREAM DAY OFF: I usually go for a run in the morning, have breakfast, put on some tunes and cook as much food as possible for the upcoming week.

KITCHEN TUNES: Wu-Tang or Motown. DYING TO EAT AT…: The Emmet Ray. GUILTY PLEASURE: Pizza, bread, cheese, butter and cream… and my mother’s minestrone soup.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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RESTAURANTS // XXXX

Miriam Echeverria

By Some Body | @somebody

Chef, L’Unita BORN: Veracruz, Mexico. PAST GIGS: Brassaii, Mercatto.

INSPIRATION: My grandma. Every week we would have at

least one big family meal a week and I would always help my grandma cook. I didn’t realize that cooking for a living was something I could actually do until I met one of my friends who was in school for culinary and I thought to myself, why can’t I go for it and become a chef one day. LOVE: I love the fact that cooking is all about creativity and senses. For me, food is art. HATE: This profession comes with a lot of sacrifices. Time spent away from my family can be difficult sometimes. SIGNATURE DISH: I enjoy cooking any dish with fish because there’s something quite pleasant about cooking and eating a fresh piece of fish. It is such a versatile base for so many other ingredients. DREAM DAY OFF: Experiment with food at home and take walks around the city looking for inspiration. KITCHEN TUNES: Jazz. DYING TO EAT AT…: Bar Isabel. GUILTY PLEASURE: Pork belly bao.

Carolyn Reid Chef de Cuisine, Scaramouche BORN: Kingston. PAST GIGS: Palmerston, Acrobat, Chez

Piggy (Kingston). INSPIRATION: [Becoming a chef was] plan B after not getting into vet school and I fell in love with the job when I started at the Pig, my first restaurant job. LOVE: The social, convivial nature. HATE: When you need a day off—it always inconveniences someone else. CULINARY HERO: [Scaramouche Executive Chef] Keith Froggett. FAVE ’HOOD: I live on the east side and I love the relaxed nature of it. Nobody is trying to “out cool” each other. I love the House on Parliament for a pint. DREAM DAY OFF: Drink wine and cook, believe it or not. KITCHEN TUNES: Music depends on the season, but more and more it’s jazz. GUILTY PLEASURE: Guilt is the most wasted emotion there is!

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CityBites / Fall 2014

Amanda Ray Chef de Cuisine, Biff ’s Bistro BORN: Newmarket; grew up in Aurora.

PAST GIGS: Canoe, Auberge du Pommier, Maunders Food Shop. INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: When I first started cooking I worked for an Italian family who took me on an incredible food journey in Tuscany.

We went to their friends’ restaurant. The porcini risotto at da Fagiolino Trattoria has remained ingrained in my food memories since. LOVE: Feeding people—satisfying their taste buds. “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” — Harriet van Horne. HATE: Egos in kitchens. “Do right. Do your best.

Treat others as you want to be treated.” — Lou Holtz. (And don’t be a douchebag!)

CULINARY HERO: [Oliver & Bonacini Corporate Executive Chef] Anthony Walsh.

DREAM DAY OFF: Yoga or go for a run… clear my mind! I generally like to go eat, explore the city and catch up with friends.

KITCHEN TUNES: Love Songza when I’m at home cooking for an assorted mix.

DYING TO EAT AT…: Branca in the Junction.

GUILTY PLEASURE: Anything with cheese!

A delicious dirty sandwich. If I could eat anything it would be a Bánh Mi with a fried egg on top from Tiêm Bánh Mí Phuong in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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The Great Ontario Special feature sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada

Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese Within the rolling hills of Oxford County, Shep Ysselstein produces small-scale artisan cheeses in an authentic Swiss style using traditional recipes. TRY: Gunn’s Hill Soft, Gunn’s Hill Hard, Gunn’s Hill Artisan Curd.

445172 Gunns Hill Rd.,Woodstock, 519-424-4024 gunnshillcheese.ca

Pine River Cheese Local milk is meticulously graded to make 14 varieties of cheese, including an 8-year aged cheddar and some organic varieties.

TRY: Colby, Monterey Jack, Caramelized Onion Cheddar.

Mountainoak Cheese The Van Bergeijk family understands that great cheese needs great milk.

TRY: Mild and aged Premium Dutch Gouda.

635 Hwy 21 S., R.R. #4 Ripley, Huron-Kinloss, 519-3952638, pinerivercheese.com

3165 Huron Rd., New Hamburg, 519-662-4967, mountainoakcheese.ca

Railway City Brewing Co. Whether it’s a fruity seasonal pilsner or a full-bodied ale, each Railway City brew has a flavour as unforgettable as its name. TRY: Iron Spike Blonde, Dead Elephant Ale.

Bright Cheese and Butter Bright Cheese and Butter Mfg. Co. started in 1874 as a farm co-op and is one of Ontario’s oldest traditional cheddar producers.

TRY: Naturally aged cheddars.

R.R. #1, 816503 County Rd. #22, Bright, 519-454-4810, brightcheeseandbutter.com

Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery Seriously hoppy brews come in psychedelic looking bottles with quotes under each cap. Don’t let the whimsy fool you!

TRY: Flying Monkey Amber Ale, Hoptical Illusion Almost Pale Ale.

168 Curtis St., St. Thomas 519-631-1881, railwaycitybrewing.com

107 Dunlop St., East Barrie 705-721-8989, theflyingmonkeys.ca

WINDSOR LONDON

GUELPH

BARRIE

TORONTO

Jensen Cheese Established in 1925 by Arne Jensen, a master cheese maker from Denmark. Cheddar is a specialty, using old-world curing processes to maximize flavour.

TRY: Mild Cheddar, 4 Year Old Cheddar, Vintage Reserve Cheddar.

Steam Whistle Pilsner Three friends set out in 1998 to make a Pilsner that would compete with the best in the world. They did it. And it’s the only beer they make to this day.

TRY: Steamwhistle Pilsner.

The Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto, 1-866-24-0-BEER, steamwhistle.ca

37 Evergreen Hill Rd., Simcoe, 519-426-4523, jensencheese.ca Upper Canada Cheese Co. Unique flavours come courtesy of a rare Niagara herd of Guernsey cows, a recipe developed by Trappist Monks and minimal processing. TRY: Guernsey Girl fresh cheese, Comfort Cream, Niagara Gold.

Great Lakes Brewery Small batch brewing and local ingredients keep Ontario beer enthusiasts committed.

TRY: Devil’s Pale Ale, Crazy Canuck Pale Ale.

4159 Jordan Rd., Jordan Station 905-562-9730, uppercanadacheesecompany.com

30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd., Toronto, 416-255-4510, greatlakesbeer.com

Black River Cheese Old-world craftsmanship dating back to its 1901 beginnings as a co-op for local farmers.

TRY: Maple Cheddar, award-winning Mild Cheddar, and Aged Cheddar (up to 6 years).

913 County Rd. 13, R.R. #2, Athol 613-476-2575, blackrivercheese.com

Cheese & Ale Trail Muskoka Brewery Freshness and independence rule at the Muskoka brewery, where a selection of easydrinking beers is handcrafted in the heart of Muskoka.

TRY: Mad Tom IPA, Summer Weiss.

SUDBURY

Thornloe Cheese Old-fashioned techniques and fresh local milk from the district of Temiskaming give Thornloe cheese its trusted reputation.

TRY: Casey Blue, Evanturel, Temiskaming.

999697 Hwy 11 N., Thornloe 705-647-7441, thornloecheese.ca

13 Taylor Rd., Bracebridge 705-646-1266, muskokabrewery.com

Empire Cheese & Butter Co-Op The only cheese factory in Northumberland County, making cheese open-vat style for 135 years, to give maximum flavour.

TRY: Marble Cheddar.

R.R. #5, 1120 County Rd. #8 Campbellford, 705-653-3187, empirecheese.ca

Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company Beau’s very first batch won best beer at the 2006 Toronto Golden Tap Awards, and an extensive selection has been racking up the accolades ever since.

TRY: Lug Tread Lagered Ale, Wild Oats series.

Maple Dale Cheese Cheddars are a specialty and a crowd-pleasing fresh curd is made daily. The roadside store is packed with gourmet treats. TRY: “Outrageously Old” 6 Year Cheddar, Fresh Curd, Roasted Garlic Cheddar.

2864 Hwy 37 N., R.R. #1, Plainfield 613-477-2454, mapledalecheese.com

10 Terry Fox Dr., Vankleek Hill 866-585-BEER, beaus.ca

OTTAWA

Ivanhoe Cheese Dating from 1870, this award-winning operation began as a dairy cooperative located in the hamlet of Ivanhoe. Artisan aged cheddars are a specialty. TRY: Naturally Smoked Gouda, flavoured Monterey Jacks, Horseradish Cheddar.

11301 Hwy 62 N., R.R. #5, Madoc, 1-800-268-0508, ivanhoecheese.com

St. Albert Cheese Manufacturing Five generations of farmers have maintained St. Albert’s trusted recipes, from melt-in-your mouth curds to spiced-up cheddars.

TRY: Mild Cheddar, Cheddar Curds, Canadian Swiss.

Glengarry Fine Cheese A passionate family farm, making cheese from their own Holstein cows. TRY: Figaro soft cheese, Lankaaster Traditional Gouda, Barely Blue.

150 St-Paul St., St-Albert, 613-987-2872, fromage-st-albert.com

5926 County Rd. #34, R.R. #1 Lancaster, 1-888-816-0903, glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca

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Elia Herrera Executive Chef, Los Colibris and El Caballito BORN: Cordoba, Veracruz, Mexico. PAST GIGS: Canoe,

Scarpetta, Mistura. FOOD INSPIRATION: My grandmother and my mother. LOVE: Making people happy through what I do. When they smile that is all I care about. HATE: When I can’t satisfy 100 percent my guest. SIGNATURE DISH: Rajas Poblanas, because it is so simple but so rich in flavour… it is all about flavour. FAVE ’HOOD: [Downtown…] I love is that I have everything so close to me. I don’t have problems with transportation and I can minimize my day because of it. DREAM DAY OFF: Eat at other restaurants, visit my friends, spend time with my dogs. KITCHEN MUSIC: Michael Jackson—all his songs. DYING TO EAT AT…: Scaramouche.

GUILTY PLEASURE: Cookies. Love them, any kind.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

By Laura Pratt

Gender blender THE GIRLS ARE TAKING OVER THE KITCHEN—AND IT’S ABOUT TIME This past summer, Arlene Stein was on vacation in San Francisco, a trip whose highlight, she’d decided, would be a visit to one of the city’s standout restaurants.

Anticipating a $300 meal, Stein knew that she’d have to pick her dinner carefully, and had narrowed her choice down to two: Atelier Crenn, whose chef Dominique Crenn is the first and only female in the United States to be awarded two Michelin stars; and Saison, which also has two Michelin stars and happens to be run by a pair of male chefs. Stein sought advice for her dilemma, asking some 50 colleagues which she should choose.

Without hesitation, every last one gave the same answer: Saison. “Saison gets the press because its chefs are men,” says Stein, chair of Canada’s annual foodie celebration Terroir Symposium. “We have a natural inclination to go with what we’re familiar with, and that happens to be white men.”

It’s a reality that’s much to the detriment of not only the talented contingent of female chefs who share kitchens with men in increasing numbers, but the diners who’ll miss out on tasting

almost-all-female kitchens or restaurants that are doing cool stuff and understand the need to diversify. It’s women like these who place the male-female divide in the industry in threat of extinction.

“The industry would collapse without the young women coming in these days,” says Dooher, before conceding, “but it’s not without its challenges.”

That the professional kitchen is a male bastion is an enduring mystery, many chefs are quick to point out, given the first response men offer when asked about the genesis of their foodie passion. “You speak to chefs randomly about their mentors and best food memories, and eight out of 10 of them will say their mother,” says Oliver & Bonacini corporate executive chef Anthony Walsh. “Cooking is all about the female.

The whole philosophical feeding thing, the nurturing. It’s ironic, no?”

So why is the scene as testosterone heavy as it is? Certainly, says Walsh, it’s not a function of one gender possessing cooking skills that distinguish it from the other. “There’s no anatomical difference that says you’re a better chef just because you have a penis.”

“ There’s no anatomical difference that says you’re a better chef just because you have a penis.”

– Anthony Walsh their creations for lack of awareness.

But as frustrating as the professional culinary scene is for its glacial change on the gender front, so too is it hopeful for its ever-renewing guard of next-generation female gastronomic notables. Indeed, long-time girl-chef heroes like Mildred’s Temple Kitchen’s Donna Dooher, Ruby Watchco’s Lynn Crawford and Tutti Matti’s Alida Solomon now share the rarified female space with a raft of women chefs (The Dock Ellis’s Trish Gill, Los Colibros’s Elia Herrara and Farmer’s Daughter’s Léonie Lilla) who oversee

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CityBites / Fall 2014

Dooher speculates that the situation may have taken shape because of the different spots at which the sexes enter the profession. Men, she points out, usually come in at the level of foie gras; women get in at chicken pot pies. “With the boys it’s all of a sudden ingredients, reviews, stars. It’s a military brigade, really. Men approach the kitchen as a stadium. It’s where they do battle.” A superficial sweep of the massively popular cooking shows currently burning up food-based television networks confirms it. In programs with bellicose titles like

Hell’s Kitchen, Man Fire Food, Cutthroat Kitchen and Cupcake Wars, male chefs work to convince viewers that cooking’s all about aggression and who can bear the kitchen’s heat the longest.

Moreover, the heat tends to endure into the wee morning hours, establishing a male-led scene with which, Farmer’s Daughter Eatery chef Lilla believes, women had better be able to keep up. “I feel like if I’m not being one of the boys with them, hanging out and holding my liquor, then I’m not doing myself a favour.” Lilla says she’s been overlooked for promotions based on her gender many times. She chalks it up to instinct, with men naturally singling out other men, just as women do other women.

But chef Amanda Cohen refuses to participate in a perpetuation of this reality, laying the fault at the feet of perception. “I’ve never felt excluded as a chef because I’m a woman,” she says.

“My issues are more to do with how we’re portrayed in the media—or not portrayed.

It’s the press’s problem.” The media focus on male chefs, she says, and because women get less attention paid to them, they get fewer prizes, fewer honours, fewer invitations to festivals. From there, it’s harder to get customers into restaurant seats, “and without that you’re never going to be successful and attract the press. The cycle never ends.”

As chef and owner of New York veggie restaurant Dirt Candy, Cohen has taken on this fight with a vengeance. “There was a back-and-forth on Twitter about how few lady chefs are invited to take part in so many food events,” she recently blogged on her site. “Under-representation of female chefs seems to be a theme not just at events but with food coverage in general and the eternal excuse given by event organizers, writers, and press people is that there just aren’t enough women out there. I call shenanigans.”

Still, the long hours and abundance of heavy lifting long associated with professional kitchens don’t do much to advance the female chef’s cause. “From way back, this wasn’t considered women’s

work; it was men’s work,” says Stein. It’s why, says Lilla, women chefs looking to make their mark have “to toughen up, period. If you burn or cut yourself, that’s just part of the job. Put a Band Aid on and continue working. No one’s going to say, ‘Have a seat and put your arm up.’”

“You need physical stamina to work in a kitchen,” agrees Dooher. If you’re on your feet 10 or 12 hours a day, that’s simply not conducive to an eight-monthspregnant chef. And that, says Cohen, is the systemic problem that most needs correcting in this industry.

“We have a problem with keeping women in the system, but we have to if we want to keep moving forward. There has to be a change to the infrastructure that supports them better so they can have families.”

The good news on this front, says Stein, is the spirit of weariness setting in about the “macho bro culture” that’s long dominated the kitchen. Switzerland’s Gault Millau named a female chef, Tanja Grandits, as “cook of the year,” or “Koch des Jahres,” for 2014. And a number of the James Beard award winners this year were female chefs. Of all these developments Dirt Candy’s Cohen confides, “I’d feel a lot more comfortable if the same thing happened next year— and the year after that and the year after that, so they’re not just one-offs.”

You can count on it, asserts Dooher, who characterizes the current challenges female chefs face as much diminished from when she entered the industry 30plus years ago. “Young women today are very different and I have a lot of respect and admiration for what they’re doing.

They’re much more confident, they know what they want.”

Walsh is equally hopeful about the female chef’s future. A 25-year industry veteran who employs a host of women in his kitchens, Walsh espouses a conviction that all you need is one exemplary female chef—like Biff’s chef Amanda Ray, OB Yonge and Front sous chef Julie Marteleria or OBCG Bayview chef Zuzanna Hasaghy—to inspire the cultivation of others. “When young people come into the business, they see these women and are like, ‘Wow. Look at this monster of a chef! And she’s the big boss and she’s the one who makes things happen.’

I definitely think that has an influence.

Excellent female chefs beget other excellent female chefs.” CB Fall 2014 / CityBites

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RESTAURANTS // XXXX

Steph Raso

By Some Body | @somebody

Sous chef, The Caledonian BORN: Toronto. PAST GIGS: Parkette, The Keg, Windsor Arms

Hotel. INSPIRATION: At Pangaea in Yorkville, Martin Kouprie taught me about using local, seasonal and unprocessed foods.

I have carried that with me for the past 10 years. LOVE: The fast pace and the creativity. I like that every day is not the same as the day before. HATE: The over-the-top allergies are starting to get annoying. SIGNATURE DISH: Bolognese is probably it. Why? Probably nostalgia. It would have been the first thing I learned to make. CULINARY HERO: I really look up to chefs who take time to locally source their ingredients and change up their menus to fit the seasons. FAVE ’HOOD: My family has been living on College Street for decades. It has that small-town feeling within a big city, an eclectic mixture of old and new worlds. DREAM DAY OFF: Being able to catch up with friends, especially the ones who work the 9 to 5.

KITCHEN TUNES: As long as it’s not over the top pop-y or really slow I can pretty much listen to anything. DYING TO EAT AT…: Patois and Beast. GUILTY PLEASURE: I don’t really have a sweet tooth, but I do crave chocolate and peanut butter.

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CityBites / Fall 2014

Sara Phillips Chef de Cuisine, The Caledonian BORN: Montreal. PAST GIGS: Mad

Apples, King Edward Hotel; instructor, Fleming College, George Brown.

INSPIRATION: My parents were raised on rations in London during the Second World War, so they learned how to make do with what they had, which took some creativity. Also extensive travel as a teen (South America, Far East, etc.) tasting exotic foods that are very common here today.

LOVE: The excitement of the rush, watching people eat. HATE: People with imaginary allergies. SIGNATURE DISH: No signature dish or favourite but prefer good quality product with simple preparation. Love to work with fish and seafood. CULINARY HERO: Mom. [George Brown’s] John Higgins.

FAVE ’HOOD: [Around College and Dovercourt] there’s a great mix of people and I can walk to work. I can go to the West End Y to run before work, only one block away. DREAM DAY OFF: Golf, cycling, cross-country skiing and buy food and cook. KITCHEN TUNES: Upbeat. And, yes, I will sing along.

DYING TO EAT AT…: Bar Isabel. GUILTY PLEASURE: Egg McMuffin… mmmmm.

Therese DeGrace Executive Chef, The Good Earth Food & Wine Co. BORN: Toronto. PAST GIGS: Ste. Anne’s Spa, Lola’s Commissary.

INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: I told my parents I was going to become a chef when I was 5. My grandmother inspired me to cook and still makes food from scratch every day. LOVE: I love that this industry is ever changing. This challenges me to keep learning.

HATE: That being a chef has become the “cool” job. It is common that up-and-coming chefs watch food television and don’t have a proper view of what the industry is like. SIGNATURE DISH: I don’t have a signature dish. Going to the market and letting the food speak to me inspires my best cooking. Colour is extremely important, and Mother Nature provides the perfect products to make dishes shine. CULINARY HERO: Martha Stewart. She doesn’t just create spectacular food, she creates experiences. FAVE ’HOOD: We’re located in the Twenty Valley surrounded by fruit trees and grapes, which makes this area magical. DREAM DAY OFF: I am a bit of a market whore! I love them all. I have been shopping in Kensington since I was a small child with my grandmother. KITCHEN TUNES: The Moody Blues, The Guess Who and anything of that era… evoke feelings of happiness that I believe make food taste better.

DYING TO EAT AT…: The Hudson. Been following them on Instagram and the food looks deliciously approachable and unctuous.

GUILTY PLEASURE: When we are out I am a sucker for kick-ass fish and chips. Milk Duds and popcorn also rock my world.

Léonie Lilla Chef de Cuisine, Farmer’s Daughter Eatery BORN: Lausanne, Switzerland. PAST GIGS: Momofuku

Daisho, Auberge Du Pommier. INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: Making crepes with a chef that was working for my dad at his restaurant. He got me an apron and “toque.” It was so cool to see the flames, hear the pans and smell the food being cooked. It is still magical to me. LOVE: The culture of food. It brings people together yet is highly competitive.

HATE: Asking me to modify a dish before trying it.

SIGNATURE DISH: Fresh homemade bread. CULINARY HERO: Tanja Grandits (18 Gault Millau Points, 2 Michelin Stars). FAVE ’HOOD: The Junction. It feels like a community and people seem to know their neighbours. DREAM DAY OFF: Spending time with my dogs and wife. Buying comics.

KITCHEN TUNES: I love anything ’80s. DYING TO EAT AT…: Sushi Kaji. GUILTY PLEASURE: I don’t see any food as “guilty.” My family’s motto: “Life is difficult without jam, it’s better with butter.”

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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RESTAURANTS // XXXX

By Some Body | @somebody

Charlotte Langley Chef-owner, Groundwork Food and Scout Canning CURRENT PROJECTS: Softly launching Groundwork Food and Scout Canning as we speak. PAST GIGS: C Restaurant (Vancouver), Wellington Gastropub (Ottawa), Whalesbone Oyster House (Ottawa)…

I’m a nomad, aka identifying as a Mary Poppins character.

INSPIRATION: Fishing for mackerel in Nova Scotia, catching these beautiful, colourful and glorious fish, gutting them, tasting the raw flesh, lightly grilling them and gathering the wild greens growing along the coast. LOVE: Taking care of people, sharing and inspiring them to want more. HATE: Lack of integrity. SIGNATURE DISH: It’s the year of the mackerel for me. I love eating these bold flavours: smoked mackerel with toutans, slow roasted tomato, molasses, watercress, grilled lobster mushrooms and crème fraiche. CULINARY HERO: Vancouver’s Robert Belcham. DREAM DAY OFF: Exploring new food shops. Buying things I have never tasted, then cooking with them. KITCHEN TUNES: www.wefunkradio.com. These guys are the shit. I think I have been listening to these two for seven or eight years. DYING TO EAT AT…: My girl Lee’s [Lilla] place of work, Farmers Daughter. And I’m looking forward to the new menu Trish [Gill] is doing at The Emmet Ray. GUILTY PLEASURE: Pierogies, lots of dill pickles, boiled dinner.

Trish Gill Executive Chef, The Dock Ellis & The Emmet Ray BORN: Athabasca, Alberta. PAST GIGS: The Queen &

Beaver, Beast, Spin. INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: Having the whole animal venison dinner at Beast one Christmas.

I knew then I wanted to work with Scott and Rachelle [Vivian]. LOVE: Feeding people. HATE: Missing quality time with friends and family. SIGNATURE DISH: The fried chicken sandwich at The Dock. It’s got that sweet/ savoury thing going on. CULINARY HERO: Charlotte Langley. FAVE ’HOOD: DuWest! Everyone is so friendly and down to earth and just looking to have a good time. Love this ‘hood. DREAM DAY OFF: PS3 and beers on my couch. KITCHEN TUNES: ’80s hair metal.

DYING TO EAT AT…: Maple Leaf Tavern c/o Eric Wood, opening soon. GUILTY PLEASURE: Ben & Jerry’s (any flavour, really.)

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CityBites / Fall 2014

RESTAURANTS // XXXX

By Some Body | @somebody

Sonia Marwick Sous Chef, Fat Pasha BORN: Victoria, B.C. PAST GIGS: Beckta (Ottawa), Union Local 613 (Ottawa), Catch (Toronto) INSPIRATION: The first time I tried foie gras.

I was a recovering vegetarian and my chef friend prepared it for me late at night. It changed my life.

LOVE: Making guests happy. HATE: People who play Sublime in the kitchen. Ugh! SIGNATURE DISH: Fried clams because it reminds me of New Brunswick and it’s simple. CULINARY HERO: Stephen Yam from Wok with Yan. He was the first TV personality I was introduced to when I’d come home for lunch during school. He can really work a chicken. FAVE ’HOOD: I love that there are two other sister restaurants on the same street. It’s the Anthony Rose/DuPont trifecta.

DREAM DAY OFF: Sleep. KITCHEN TUNES: Anything Hairspray rock. DYING TO EAT AT…: Edulis. GUILTY PLEASURE: Grilled cheese.

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CityBites / Fall 2014

Reem Kamal-Al-Deen Line Cook, Fat Pasha BORN: Baghdad, Iraq. PAST GIGS: Rose and Sons, Acadia, Fire

on the East Side. INSPIRING FOOD MOMENT: My mother’s homemade flatbread made in an outdoor clay oven in our backyard in Baghdad. It cooks in minutes and is so delicious.

You eat it immediately. LOVE: Watching people eat. HATE: Not having time for important people in my life. SIGNATURE DISH: I’m still in an experimental phase but I do love making comfort food baked in a casserole dish. CULINARY HERO: My mom. I watched her cook my entire life and definitely owe my culinary instincts to her. FAVE ’HOOD: I like how we are starting a new scene on Dupont with three great new restaurants. DREAM DAY OFF: Sleeping in, making an amazing dinner, spending time with my boyfriend and enjoying great wine. KITCHEN TUNES: Madonna’s Immaculate Collection all the way! DYING TO EAT AT…: I’ve been there but dying to go back to Edulis. GUILTY PLEASURE: Chocolate.

Especially salted or with whole hazelnuts.

Helen Fang Head of Dumpling Program, DaiLo BORN: Shanghai, China. PAST GIGS:

Hannah’s Kitchen, Jerky Box. INSPIRATION: Being at DaiLo on opening night and watching how beautiful the food presentation looked.

There’s so much innovation here.

LOVE: I learn something new everyday.

HATE: Nothing. SIGNATURE DISH: Crispy style scallion dumplings soonto-be-on the menu at LoPan [upstairs at Dailo]. CULINARY HERO: Nick Liu [chef-owner Dailo]. FAVE ’HOOD: It’s so vibrant here on College Street. So full of young people. They keep me feeling young. DREAM DAY OFF: Watching TV shows like Dr. OZ, Chopped Canada and Top Chef Canada. KITCHEN TUNES: Traditional Chinese music that uses a two-string violin. It reminds me of when I was younger. DYING TO EAT AT…: I love trying new Chinese restaurants in Richmond Hill. GUILTY PLEASURE: Ice cream.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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EXPERTS // FISHMONGERING

By Dan Donovan | @HookedInc

Cook it right “How long should it take to cook?”

By far, this is the number one question we hear in our shops, from novice and accomplished cooks alike. While fish is not particularly difficult to cook, there is definitely a narrow margin between just right and overdone.

First off there are two standards to measure: food safety and culinary pleasure.

And it seems that they don’t jive.

Let’s look at food safety first. Like all meat, fish can carry parasites. In fish, seal worms and broad tapeworm larvae are the most common. While freshness is a key quality consideration for many reasons, it has no bearing on whether or not the fish contains parasites. All parasites can be killed either by cooking or freezing.

Health authorities recommend cooking to an internal temperature of 145ºF (United

Take the fish from the refrigerator 10 to 15 before cooking.

States) and 158ºF (Canada); or by freezing to -5ºF for 48 hrs. Be careful with freezing, as many home freezers are not cold enough to achieve this temperature. This is why most “sushi grade” fish has been commercially frozen and why careful fishmongers will always recommend that any fish to be eaten raw is frozen first.

CityBites_Fall_CityBites 14-10-01 3:30 PM Page 1

From a culinary perspective, aside from deep personal preferences, what sets the margin between “just right” and “overdone” are two key proteins. The first denatures (aka, “transforms”) around 105ºF and gives the wonderful melt-in-your-mouth feel. The second begins to denature FRY RIGHT 10 minutes per inch is a good rule of thumb. around 140ºF and gives that undesirable tough and dry result.

Give it time and, generally, it will release.

The trick is to get the internal Watch as the flesh turns from translucent temperature of the fish just to the to opaque at the edges, when all that minimum required temperature, remains is a small strip of translucence, without overcooking the exterior. gently flip the fish for a moment, then To help with this, choosing potions serve crisp skin up. that are of a similar size and shape will If you are grilling, start with a very allow you better control. Take the fish hot grill, place the lightly oiled and from the refrigerator 10 to 15 before seasoned fish skin side down, then cooking, which helps give you a better turn the heat directly under the fish to chance of getting the center cooked low and close the lid. Use the same 10 before the exterior is toast. Generally, minutes-per-inch guideline. with thicker the cuts, you want to Lastly, don’t stress. Cooking the fish use lower or indirect heat in order to is usually the last step in the dish. Try penetrate to the centre. to have everything ready so that you So how long will it take? Ten minutes can focus on watching the cooking, then per inch of thickness is a very good rule serve it as soon as it is done. CB of thumb. For pan-frying, begin with a DAN DONOVAN is a graduate of hot pan, place the oiled and seasoned the Stratford Chef School and a fish skin side down in the pan. Cooking veteran of the Toronto restaurant on the skin is advisable for most fish, scene. He and his wife Kristin run and once in the pan, leave it alone— Hooked (hookedinc.ca), Toronto’s more damage is done poking around and only seafood retailer 100% committed to sustainability. fretting over the fish sticking to the pan.

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CityBites / Fall 2014

PHOTO: INGIMAGE.COM

IT’S EASY TO COOK FISH PERFECTLY… IT’S ALSO EASY TO SCREW IT UP

EXPERTS // SZABO ON WINE

By John Szabo MS | @johnszabo

Falling in love with sherry A SHERRY PRIMER PROMPTED BY A RETURN VISIT TO JEREZ Fresh off the transatlantic and an hour’s drive south from Sevilla to Jerez de la Frontera, and I’m well into my fifth glass of Tio Pepe before the shadows stretch.

So crisp, so refreshing, perfect to wash down crispy calamari and whole tiny fried pescaditos. This is Andalucía, the postcardworthy setting of blazing sun in clear blue sky, whitewashed houses, giant black bull-shaped billboards perched on hilltops overlooking highways, and parched albariza soils. This blinding chalky white is interrupted only by the contrasting green of grapevines and olive groves scattered across the undulating landscape.

The mission is simple: renew my vows of devotion to sherry, a wine for which it was once worth sinking an armada. My Virgil is González-Byass capataz Antonio Flores, who has quite literally lived and breathed the stuff for every single one of his 58 years.

I’m no stranger to this ancient wine or González-Byass. I was married in Spain and hosted my wedding party in the vaulted historic bodega of GB where medieval quantities of Tio Pepe fino and Dul Duque amontillado fulfilled their purpose to the mournful thwangs of a flamenco quartet. Arriving at the bodega was like meeting an old friend.

For those whose knowledge of sherry is as hazy as the first day of marital bliss, here are the broad strokes. The D.O. Jeréz-Xérèz covers multiple types, broadly cleaved into two main styles according to two methods of ageing.

BIOLOGICALLY AGED SHERRY: FINO Finos are made from the most delicate, free-run juice of the Palomino grape, aged in barrels under a protective veil of fluffy white yeast called flor. Flor protects wine from oxidation, while consuming alcohol and glycerol. The loss of glycerol, which gives wines a slightly sweet sensation, is key. The result is pale, magically bone dry, lean, light and crisp wine despite 15 percent alcohol.

OXIDATIVE SHERRY: OLOROSO The other category is oloroso, from the Spanish word for “aromatic.” Olorosos are aged without flor, in contact with oxygen, and develop, nutty, dried fruit, “oxidative” character. They are amberbrown, with about 18 percent alcohol, and since they contain glycerol, have a slightly round, sweet impression.

From here it gets more fun. There are many more styles, such as amontillado, which starts life as a fino and ends as an oloroso. Or Palo Cortado, which has the character of amontillado but is technically oloroso. Then there are the sweetened styles like pale cream (a sweet fino) or medium and cream sherries, which are the names of medium-sweet and very sweet olorosos respectively.

P.X. is extremely sweet sherry made from Pedro Ximénez grapes dried on grass mats until fully raisined. But I’ll save the head-spinning details on those for another time.

ENJOYING SHERRY • Glass: standard white wine for all.

• Temperature: the lighter the colour, the cooler: 6ºC for finos, up to about 14ºC for the more robust amontillados and olorosos.

SHERRY AND FOOD The marked salinity of sherry works beautifully with umami-rich foods. Try these combos.

• Fino: Jamón Ibérico, charcuterie, anchovies, tempura, seafood/shellfish, sashimi, oysters.

• Amontillado: miso soup, consommé, marinated scallops, lobster, braised meats like oxtail, game birds.

• Palo Cortado: mushroom dishes, hard sheep cheeses, nutty grains.

• Oloroso: game meats, sweetbreads, chanterelles, porcini, truffles.

• Medium or Cream: blue cheese, fig or date tarts, dark chocolate.

STORING AND KEEPING All sherries are ready to drink on release.

Fino is best immediately after opening but will last up to a week in the refrigerator.

In general, the darker the sherry, the longer it will keep once opened, up to a month or more for the most robust oxidative styles. CB

JOHN SZABO is an acid-loving, white wine drinking Torontobased writer and Master Sommelier. He’s a principle critic for WineAlign.com.

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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EXPERTS // THE EJ

By Konrad Ejbich | @WineZone

An overdue discovery A RARE UMBRIAN GRAPE CALLED SAGRANTINO IS WORTH SEARCHING OUT wine made by hanging grape bunches outdoors until they started to look like raisins. When the market for these stickies all but disappeared, many producers converted their vineyards to other crops and left the business. A few switched their production to drier reds. Today, the number of wineries is growing again, as dry Montefalco Sagrantino slowly climbs up the ladder of respect.

There’s a huge array of aromas and flavours to encounter from the Sagrantino grape at its best and ripest. Not all appear at once, but after tasting through the portfolios of six top producers, I’ve compiled a list of typical descriptors.

Montefalco Sagrantino wines are firm and full, with thick tannins that give a solid chewy texture and a mouth-drying, dusty finish. They are dark purple garnet in colour and have very ripe dark berry flavours, usually a combination of black cherry and blackberry and occasionally black raspberry or black currant. Older versions can be plummy and most have some nuance of licorice, spices, cigar box, chopped rosemary, wood smoke, dry earth, dusty clay or crushed stone. The texture is thick, concentrated and viscous, with juicy acidity that leaves a long, clean aftertaste following every sip.

It’s not easy to find Sagrantino Montefalco in Ontario, for all the usual bureaucratic reasons. There are currently a few bottles of Tabarrini 2008 Montefalco

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CityBites / Fall 2014 RWC_CB_QP.indd 1

RARE DUO Perticaia Montefalco Sagrantino.

Sagrantino “Colle Grimaldesco” at $57 and a few cases of Arnaldo Caprai 2009 Montefalco Sagrantino “Collepiano” at $70. Both are terrific, but a wider selection would show that most producers come in at $25 to $45. A better option is the wine list at a fine Italian restaurant such as Buca, where the spectrum of offerings goes far beyond the LCBO’s top 10.

So interrupt your own thoughtful imbibing for a chance encounter with something different. Set aside the Napa Cabernet, Chilean Merlot, Argentine Malbec, and “ShirOz” for an evening and try a Montefalco Sagrantino.

Like me, you may find an old friend in a new wine. CB KONRAD EJBICH is an author, columnist, photo/ video-journalist, and host/ producer of Pro & Kon on YouTube. Follow him on @WineZone.

your wine deserves the very best home 416.285.6604

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established 1995

13-03-04 5:53 PM

PHOTO: KONRAD EJBICH

After so many years of thoughtful imbibing, it’s humbling to encounter a grape for the first time, especially a variety whose history in central Italy stretches to pre-Roman times.

Until this past spring, I had never heard of Sagrantino, a thick-skinned, blueblack pearl that thrives in an expansive Umbrian valley surrounding the medieval hilltop village of Montefalco.

It’s easy to miss Montefalco if you’re taking the autoroute from Rome to Florence. After a couple of hours in a car, it looks much like the rest of Italy, with its magical, hypnotizing pattern of silvery olive groves and lush vineyards spilling down hillsides capped with ancient abbeys, crumbling castles, or modern cell towers.

Twice previously on visits to Tuscany, I’d managed side trips to Umbria. Their foods and wines reminded me of what I’d tasted in the villages around Florence and Siena.

One key difference was a down-to-earth nature to the Umbrian people, a more-orless country version of the cityfolk I’d met in Tuscany. But for the life of me, I cannot remember tasting Sagrantino. I must have blinked if they served it.

This time, though, there was no blinking. One of 1,368 unique grape varieties listed in Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes, Sagrantino almost became extinct in the 1960s. For much of its history it was used exclusively for making Passito, a long-lived, sweet red dessert

EXPERTS // LIBATIONS

By Stephen Beaumont | @BeaumontDrinks

Sacred month of beer

PHOTO: MILL STREET

GET INTO THE OKTOBERFEST SPIRIT WITH THESE SEASONAL BEERS For beer drinkers, the month of October is almost sacred. Never mind that the reason for this exalted status is pretty much over by the time the rest of us are just starting to fill our steins—the bulk of Munich’s Oktoberfest actually takes place during September—it’s our month, dammit, and we’ll ein prosit if we want to!

The traditional beer of Oktoberfest is a style known as märzen—pronounced “mare-tzen”—which is typically a slightly strong lager with a robust maltiness and a bit of toasted grain character from the malts that give it an amber hue. Or at least that’s the textbook way of looking at it. In more modern terms, the märzens you’ll find being poured for the two-plus weeks of Oktoberfest are golden, still on the strong side at 6% to 6.5% alcohol, lightly sweet and firmly malty.

So what beer appeals to you from this year’s selection at the LCBO will depend on which approach you favour: historic, modern or, and more about this later, modern with a New World twist.

The classic on the shelves this month is the Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier. Golden in colour and fresh and floral in its offdry aroma, it is a marvel of balance and quaffability, with fresh hay sweetness up front and a dry, quite mildly bitter finish My suggestion for this one is to double up the bottles into a one-litre stein, sit back and think of Bavaria.

Equally balanced, a little crisper and more bitter on the finish, and almost a

percentage point lighter than the Hofbräu at 5.4% alcohol, is the Creemore Springs Oktoberfest. This one takes a bit of getting used to, since the shift from sweet malt to bitter hops arrives rather sharply, but once there it presents a pleasing midpoint between the traditional and modern takes on the style.

Along the same lines, although more on the traditional side, is the Mill Street Oktoberfest, packaged in a six-pack with the brewery’s pumpkin beer, Nightmare on Mill Street. Bigger-bodied that you might expect from its 5.6% alcohol, the maltiness has a gently toasty character while the hops serve more to dry the finish than add any significant bitterness, producing a beer that is as friendly on its own as it is beside a plate of bratwurst and sauerkraut or roasted ox meat.

The punning Black Oak Oaktoberfest, on the other hand, is a significantly toasty brew that you might want to reserve for mealtime. Almost ale-like in its round and full body, and the lightest of this year’s crop at 5% alcohol, the malt profile of this brew leans towards roasty in character, with the hops appearing mostly in the second half and finish.

The New World approach mentioned earlier involves the relatively generous use of hops in a beer that typically is not so hoppy, and it is best characterized this year by the Beau’s Night-Märzen. Malty and early in the front, the drying and bittering hoppiness of the mid-palate and

finish are not so extreme as in some Oktoberfest beers, especially those brewed south of the border, but significant nonetheless. That said, stylistic foibles should never stand in the way of enjoying what is a very lovely beer.

The sweetest of the group are Barn Door Brewing’s Oktober Fest Bier and Rickard’s Lederhosen, with a slightly buckwheaty and sweet graininess in the former and thinness in STREET FEST Mill Street’s the latter that seems very Oktoberfest much at odds with its 6.5% alcohol, and becoming almost paradoxical in the lingering bittersweet finish.

Finally, Beau’s has also produced a special Oktoberfest four-pack, which oddly does not include the Night-Märzen. What it does include, however, certainly makes it worth picking up, especially the toffee-nutty Zwickelbier, which is a great companion beer to the brewery’s flagship Lug-Tread, and perhaps more so than any of this year’s Oktoberfest beers—save the Hofbräu—is a brew I could see serving me quite well over a lengthy night of gemütlichkeit. CB STEPHEN BEAUMONT is on the road promoting his book, The Pocket Beer Guide 2015, which, like The World Atlas of Beer, he co-wrote with Tim Webb. Find out where in the world he is @BeaumontDrinks.

URBAN FARE FOOD SHOP

Fall 2014 / CityBites

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ONE LAST BITE

By Natalie Goldenberg-Fife | @NatalieGF + @CityBites

The quest for perfect Pinot SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL AT THE OLD THIRD IN PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

CULT COUNTY Pastoral settings and pristine Pinot at The Old Third.

It’s a heartbreaker, that Pinot Noir grape.

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CityBites / Fall 2014

The Old Third

251 Closson Rd., Hillier Prince Edward County 613-471-0471 theoldthird.com

PHOTOS: DICK SNYDER

It rarely plays nice. And yet, those who seek perfection keep trying.

Witness two newcomers to Prince Edward County, Jens Korberg and Bruno Francois, who scooped up an 1870s barn and a few acres on Closson Road in 2005. Interior designer Korberg and tech-geniusturned-winemaker Francois run one of the most minimalist-beautiful wineries in the County, and their tiny production of instant cultstatus Pinots have achieved 90+ ratings from Master Sommelier John Szabo and international wine writer Jamie Goode. Just as things were looking up, the frost of 2012 wiped out most of the Old Third crop.

Francois turned to cider to keep cash flowing, with a traditionalmethod 2013 Golden Russet Sparkling apple cider that’s hand-riddled and hand-disgorged. And it’s stunning, as is their Brut, a sparkler made from 100% Pinot Noir. “The Old Third is the real deal,” says Jacob Wharton-Shuckster of Chantecler restaurant. “Their sparkling is the best in Canada.” Get a taste at Gilead, Chantecler, Woodlot, Montecito and Nuit Social. Releasing this spring is the 2013 Pinot Noir, 2013 Cabernet Franc, 2013 Pinot Noir Blanc and the 2014 Golden Russet Cider. The wines will sell out in an instant but, since apples grow on trees, you’ll always be able to get some superb cider.

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