Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - Sips and Bites – Coming Attractions, March 2014

Chef Tobias & Louise Sherwood
at Red Canoe

Sips and Bites – Coming Attractions, March 2014 

Coming soon. Spring. We hope and pray.

I’ll admit to feeling overwhelmed with matters culinary: I simply have too many ideas on the go to focus on just one this time around. So, I’ll alert readers to some neat opportunities both locally and a bit further “afield” (Ahem, almost a pun there, as you’ll see below). I’ll also share how stories can evolve organically and how inter-connected our culinary scene really is.

First off a reminder: the 9th Annual Food and Drink Fest at the Careport Centre on Longwood Rd., Hamilton is nearly upon us. On March 21 – 23, it is truly a wonderful event and draws good crowds. However don’t expect to see it featured much by either the Spec or our Community newspapers: They’re
conflicted as parent company Metroland Media, organizes its own event later in spring.

Over the phone, Jay Higgins, the Fest Manager, told me the Careport event again has a “stellar line up” of restaurants and (VQA and International) wineries... There are lots of gourmet coffees and teas as well as sauces, spices, rubs and marinades: more than any year before.”

Local restaurants will be doing demos including TWISTED LEMON (talented and returning Cayuga chef, Dan Megna), NELLIE JAMES (used to be “Chef and Wife”, in Dundas) My-THAI Restaurant (one of my favourites with several outlets locally), and Copetown Woods 4th-COURSE BISTRO chef, Nina Ruelens.

Higgins told me they’ve come to focus on local talent rather than “celebrity chefs from gimmicky shows.” That way, visitors to the Fest can see the demo, and easily eat at the participating restaurants. Experience has shown people find that more interesting, he said.

Close to (my) home, the Flamborough Review has launched a “Recipe Challenge.” Local residents can win a gift certificate by submitting a favourite recipe that uses a given ingredient: Asparagus is first on the menu (as selected by afore-mentioned Chef Nina from Copetown Woods) and entries, accompanied by a photo of the dish, will be accepted to Friday March 21st. Mmm, pan roasted asparagus, asparagus quiche, soup…

In Toronto, CBC Metro Morning host, Matt Galloway, hosts “Food on Film” beginning March 12th through to July 9th at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The series “brings together chefs, food experts and film lovers to enjoy the best of culinary cinema and conversation.” (And there’s yet another idea for a story: some of the best food and wine related films… Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Sideways, Babette’s feast etc.)

For something different, and with St. Paddy’s day in the offing, Fielding Estate Winery in Beamsville is
offering “the Irish Flight” a pairing of 4 Irish Cheeses with 4 of their wines. Sounds like fun, begorrah.

Having read recent columns, readers will know I got excited about the Taste of Burlington 2014. Though this showcase event ends this weekend (March 9th) I did get to eat at two participating eateries last week. In fact one meal led to the other, and to a slew of other possibilities...

It was my first time at RED CANOE: Chef Tobias Pohl-Weary opened it almost five years ago and has built a reputation as a master of innovative and modern Canadian cuisine based on a stellar culinary pedigree and thoughtful commitment to Ontario-grown food and wine. Not to mention the 70 hour weeks, particularly in the early days.

Emphasizing local producers he’s built a relationship with, about 70% of his food purchases are from Ontario (higher in the summer). A similar proportion of his wines are VQA. Impressively, Red Canoe is up for a 3rd-in-a-row Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence, for “one of the most outstanding restaurant wine lists in the world.” The highest praise in the business.

Pohl-Weary wants to make food to match, with all the ingredients on the plate carefully thought through and consumable by everyone: each course he offers includes a vegetarian and gluten-free option.

So, no surprise he’s in demand: not only is he cooking at the Food and Drink Fest, but, when we chatted, he mentioned an event that he was speaking at, the first Halton Region Food Tourism Summit. Given culinary tourism is one of my interests; I got an invite and spent a great day at the summit last Thursday.

There I learned about the launch of FEASTON, which sounds like a program with amazing promise. With a reach from “food trucks to fine dining” it sounds like something anyone in the restaurant or food business in Ontario should sign on to. Another story to tell there.

While at the Summit, I interviewed the affable Gary Carr, Regional Chair of Halton. I got his upbeat take about efforts to integrate food tourism offerings as part of a new citizen-driven strategic plan for Halton. Story #3.

As an aside during her engaging presentation on the “State of Culinary Tourism in Halton” Rebecca LeHeup, Executive Director for the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA), let drop that Springridge Farm would be supplying product this summer to the renowned Langdon Hall in Cambridge.

Intrigued, I spoke with Niki Hilton, who deals with the Farm’s PR, and Jesse Lauzon their food manager. I won’t pre-empt their announcement, but it will be the ideal capstone to a piece I’ve had simmering on Marmalade. And so it went, as I met a slew of other interesting folk, all with a story to tell. Story, story, story.

It was also during that lunch at Red Canoe that I got talking to the newly-minted editor of B City Magazine, the beyond-fabulous Louise Sherwood. It was she who suggested I accompany her on a photo shoot at TEST KITCHEN. There I got to chat at length with co-owners Alex Mickalow and Steve Rydtschenko about their new enterprise, and their delicious and ever-changing menu.

And that was yet another story to be added to the mix! As for the others, time will tell if, when and in what form they appear, but look for that particular one in the next edition of B City this spring!

For more pictures,  Click here

Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info ) or on twitter @AlexBielak

Food for Thought logo, designed and kindly donated by Ninka Bielak. Ninka can be reached at ninka.bielak@gmail.com.