The upcoming Pop-Up: Speakeasy Hamilton St. Valentine’s 3-Day event is pretty well sold out, but there are still a few tickets available for Thursday 12th February via the Popup Hamilton website or by calling 289-788-3283. It promises to be a fun event conjuring up the shades of the naughty goings on that came about as a result of Prohibition. There’ll be food, wine and craft beer. As usual the Pop-up is at a secret location (as befits a speakeasy of course) to be announced to participants two days prior to the event.
A baker’s dozen or so brewers, will be at the Burlington Winter Beer Festival, at the Waterfront Hotel, Friday, February 06, 2015 - Sat, February 07, 2015. Tickets are available now for both an
exclusive three-hour beer and food pairing event ($125) and the more moderately-priced fest itself ($25: includes a mug and five 4oz samples).
Soup’s on! At Soupfest 13, Tuesday, February 24th at the Hamilton Convention Centre. This popular (5000+ soup sippers are expected!) is “a very important fundraiser for the Living Rock Ministries, and directly supports programs for youth at risk” said Julie Conway, Development Director for the Rock.
Advance tickets are just $12 for adults and less for seniors and kids: see the website for how to acquire them. (A “Souper Deal” ($50) gets you two tickets and the Soupfest Recipe Collection that includes nearly $300 in 2-4-1 entrée coupons available at 19 featured restaurants) This year, about 25 local restaurants are joining in to support the Ministry, competing to win in various categories, including most creative soup. Local bands and dancers will perform onstage from 11:30am-9:00pm., and various celebs and politicians will be helping dish soup.
Feb 22nd to March 15th is the prix-fix Taste of Burlington. I’ll have a take on the recent, well-attended launch event in my next column: it was a huge success and it was clear most participating restaurants had stepped up their game which bodes well for visitors to the establishments. I’ve observed with interest the strong showing, over several events, of a couple of (very-different) chefs in particular.
Chef Will Edsall of the Queen’s Head Pub and Chef Mitchell Lamb of Lake House Restaurant have been serving up interesting food, lately with a molecular cuisine twist. Both now have 3 trophies apiece and there’s been some chatter about having them face off. Here’s hoping for a Chef Street Fight #3 at Centro Garden this summer between them, though I’d be hard-pressed if I had to bet on one over the other…
Incidentally, perhaps taking their cue from Burlington, the first iteration of the inaugural A Taste of Oakville goes from Jan. 26 to Feb. 12 and features 26 restuarants.
Tickets will be on sale soon for the April 17-19th Hamilton Food and Drink Fest. The line-up is yet to be announced, but it is always a great time. Of note is that the Fest is moving from the Careport Centre to the Hamilton Convention Centre this year.
The Ancaster Mill plays host again to an Earth to Table Feast fundraiser, Thursday May 28th 2015. It’s for one of my favourite causes, Tastebuds, Hamilton’s Student Nutrition Collaborative. Tastebuds is also challenging teachers to register their students to participate in The Great Big Crunch Thursday March 12th. Crunch into a crisp locally-grown apple that is. And Tastebuds will even supply the apples for free. Readers can learn more on the website about how astonishingly-well Hamilton has crunched in the past and get on to their kids’ teachers to help increase those numbers…
Finally, though their website has yet to be updated, the Mill’s Executive Chef, Michael Stauffer, has recently moved on as after a scant 8 months. There’s no news as yet of who will replace him, or what Stauffer’s plans are. With Andrew Macleod departing Spencer’s on the Waterfront last year (with the gifted Ryan Gallagher replacing him), and a new Maitre ‘D being sought for the Cambridge Mill, that’s quite a turnover of top talent at Pearle Hospitality (previously known as the Landmark Group)
To see all past columns please see (and “like”) the Food for Thought Archives
Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info or on twitter @AlexBielak)
Alex (Alex can be reached at fft@thehamiltonian.info or on twitter @AlexBielak)
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