Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Top 10 Do's and Don'ts for your Kitchen Renos

The Top Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Your Kitchen Reno

Thinking of re-doing your kitchen? Then here are the top ten things you should consider to save your sanity as well as some dollars. Rest assured you’re not just getting my views; I solicited input from some of the kitchen designers, countertop specialists and cabinet builders at the Fall Home Show and Sale in Hamilton last weekend. I also checked in with the designer of our own kitchen, and asked our long-time handyman and house reno consigliere, Mark Gilroy of Marx Group, for his top do or don’t do item when he dropped over to do some work at our place.

We re-did our kitchen a few years back. It’s awesome, and as soon as we had the butcher-block island countertop installed, it shifted the centre of the house. The kids immediately started to hang out and do homework in the warm, renovated bright space while we made supper. It was money well spent, but we learned some hard lessons along the way, not least when the company we hired to do the work began to go bankrupt. (They’re back in business in the same location but under a different name, so, as always, buyer beware. And yes we had checked references before we signed the contract. And yes contact me directly and I’ll tell you the whole story.)

So here’s the top ten:

1. Unless you have money to burn, you want to do the reno once and forever. Elysha Cesar, the designer for

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Going for (culinary) Gold

Going for (culinary) Gold

One of the joys of writing (and I hope reading) this column is the unexpected tangents it takes.

There I was thinking about a column about a local food outlet, when I was “cordially invited to the Canadian Food and Wine Institute ~ Benchmark Restaurant” as their guest.

It turned out that the Canadian Food and Wine Institute (CFWI - nowadays one of the top culinary training institutes in the country), needed sixty knowledgeable and critical eaters to provide feedback on a trial menu. Not just any menu that is, but a potentially golden one.

Before the dinner began, the Acting Dean of the college, Craig Youdale told us that the Canadian Culinary Federation hosts a Junior Competition every three years to allow young and aspiring Chefs to compete to

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Sips and Bites – Bumper Summer Crop Edition

Sips and Bites – Bumper summer crop edition

As I head off for a family holiday I thought I’d leave readers with a bumper, omnibus edition of Food for Thought, sharing some summer food and wine finds, and offering thanks to some friends and readers along the way.

I recently tried the recently-opened Amaya Express at 489 Brant St in Burlington. While it wasn’t very express when I visited (they were still working things out in the open kitchen), the service and the food were very good and dishes fairly priced. Their décor (unadorned pastel walls and barnboard) and menu are not what I’d call the traditional Indian we are all familiar with. “It is more a take on Indian street food, Indian with a twist!” said the friendly manager, Sachin, a member of the family that runs the Toronto-based Amaya food group.

My daughter – a butter chicken specialist – declared their version top notch: I loved the small pot of smoked

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Marie’s Menus – Going Social

Marie Pavone

Marie’s Menus – Going Social

I’m pleased to offer up the second serving stemming from my serendipitous discovery of food-related contestants participating in the Innovation Factory’s recent pitch contest. 

As she sits at my kitchen counter, Marie Pavone, runner-up in the hotly-contested event, is the epitome of poised charm. Trained as an engineer, the Ancaster mother of two, is cool, calm and in control. In fact, at times I feel like the one being quizzed: as she jots her own notes, she wants to know what my favourite restaurants are, and whether, as a food writer, I’d be interested in contributing to her potentially soon-to-be-revamped MenusOnly website which already has an average of 7000 unique visitors and 20,000 page views monthly.

I ask her to tell me about her pitch at Innovation Factory as I had had to leave before she got up on stage. She wants to give me some background first. She started the site about 7 years ago after a brainwave: about to go out to dinner after work with some friends, she Googled for a new place to go.

Finding navigating multiple websites and locating different menus time-consuming, she said to herself, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a website where all the menus were there for that city? That was when the idea was born.”

Pavone’s LinkedIN profile articulates her original intent succinctly. “My goal with MenusOnly.com is to

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - How Green Does Your Garden Grow?

Dean Hall of Growing Green Hamilton

How Green does your Garden Grow?

Space in my last round-up column precluded going into detail about a serendipitous meeting with two food-related entrepreneurs at the Innovation Factory’s recent pitch contest. Since then I’ve interviewed each of these go-getting Hamiltonians, and this week am pleased to tell you about Growing Green Hamilton’s Dean Hale. (Look for my piece on Menusonly.com’s Marie Pavone in the next column).

Dean is a passionate believer in the square foot garden. As the name suggests, this concept, developed by Mel Bartholemew, is an intensive, compact grid-based system that can produce 5 times the yield of a conventional row garden. “A 4 x 4 square foot garden

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Sips and bites July 2013

Cornerstone Winery - Jerry and Nina Kopanski

Sips and Bites - July 2013  A great deal is going on and while I present some highlights here, I’d invite readers to mention other events in the comments section.

The July 18-24, 2013 edition of Hamilton’s View Magazine is their annual “Best of Food 2013” Edition and you can see the winners (located in both Hamilton and Burlington) on the website or simply extract the double fold ratings from the print edition for future reference. While there are some well-deserved victors, I’m frankly surprised at who’s missing from the list, but who am I to argue with the voters?

I’m always astonished at the number of categories people get to vote in, and thankful the ratings here are simple (gold, silver) rather than the confusing categorizations I’ve seen elsewhere and which I suspect are made up to further maximise advertising revenue. (Do we really need four sandwich categories over and above subs and pitas? Who knows if Platinum trumps Gold but not Diamond?)

A possible future contender when it opens in late summer (Sept?) may be the 28 Lister Chophouse Grill

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak

Vinexx marks the spot - A Hamilton-based fine wine business

The façade of the Kirkendall-neighbourhood house belies what lies within. This is not just a gracious residence, but the ground floor is the headquarters of Vinexx, a Hamilton wine business employing about ten people and turning over a respectable $5 Million a year in a competitive market dominated by big brands.

Somehow, years ago, I found myself invited to a tasting of wines in Oakville which is where I first met Vinexx Special Projects Manager, Johanne Desautels. She organized the event: I had fun, ate some nice nibblies and tasted some decent wine.

Over the years it was always a pleasure to hear from Johanne about an upcoming tasting. I always enjoyed the events, and occasionally ordered a wine or two that I particularly enjoyed from her. The beauty of the events was the reliable mix of wines. Different varieties, at different price points, some available by private order, but many listed at the LCBO. Instant gratification, more or less.

In March, 2013 I found myself at Seasons Restaurant in Oakville, again tasting a variety of wines and

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - Hamilton Tastebuds

Hamilton Tastebuds – 23,000 breakfasts a day, and counting

In my last column I wrote about the jarring contrasts one can find on the streets of our city. Of juxtaposition and dissonance: of wealth and poverty. This piece showcases a remarkable collaborative effort to address the latter and to provide a nutritious breakfast to all children in Hamilton’s schools.

“Hamilton Tastebuds Student Nutrition Collaborative,” to use its full name, is the brilliantly re-branded Hamilton Partners in Nutrition (HPIN). It’s shepherded by the not-for-profit Social Planning and Research Council (SPRC) of Hamilton and managed by Senior Social Planner, Deirdre Pike.

To put it in perspective, Hamilton Tastebuds helps deliver 23,000 breakfasts a day at 144 venues, about 80% of them schools, and most of those in the inner city. That leaves almost another 100 schools without a program. (To find the current venues see the map on the old HPIN website that is slowly being folded into the new Tastebuds site.)

While those are stunning numbers for you to consider as your read this with Timmies in hand, or online at your local Starbucks, the program is not just about feeding kids in need; it is also about ensuring all children get a nutritious start to the day.

I’d first come across Pike when we were both part of the Spec’s Community Editorial Board, and recently became interested in an initiative proposed by SPRC to foster links between the breakfast program and local farmers. So I was delighted when she invited me to participate in a HPIN event, held in April, to honour volunteers in the program. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the large crowd and chat with some of the many partners (too many to list here) who have come together to make the program a success.

To say that giving Pike a microphone is like pouring gasoline on a fire is an understatement. It might be her