Eatdrink #44 November/December 2013

Serving London, Stratford & Southwestern Ontario
FREE
№ 44 • November/December
eatdrink
2013
www.eatdrink.ca
THE HOLIDAY ISSUE
T.G. Haile’s
Authentic Ethiopian
at T.G.’s Addis
Ababa Restaurant
PLUS
Our Annual
Epicurean
Gift Guide!
and Featuring
The Raja
Fine Indian Cuisine, in London
Limbo Lounge &
Sideways Classic Grill
Sarnia Siblings
Unique Innovations in Baking:
• Downie Street Bake House
• Lindsay’s Bakery
• Organic Works
ALSO: Holiday Wines | The Flavour Principle by Lucy Waverman & Beppi Crosariol

Savouring the magic
of STRATFORD
Come enjoy Stratford’s heritage district wrapped in fresh cedar boughs
and sparking lights as you wander the Victorian Christmas Trail
collecting stocking stuffers along the way.
Take an international gastronomic journey at dinner with the Stratford
Chefs School students. Celebrate the upcoming season with gourmet
ideas for the holidays and special tastings from our popular Scotch and
Chocolate to Blue Cheese and Port or Tea and Chocolate.
And lots of Christmas family cheer - from the musical pageantry
of Starbright, a Christmas family tradition, to a fresh adaptation
of the holiday classic, A Wind in the Willows Christmas.
Renew your holiday spirit on horse-drawn carriage rides and strolling
the Chocolate Trail.
NOVEMBER
Tue-Sat Stratford Chefs School dinners at The Prune
16 Savour Stratford Tutored Tasting – The Milky Whey Fine Cheese Shop
23-24 Heritage Downtown Christmas Open House
23-24 Yuletide Tour of Homes, Festival Jubilee Chapter IODE
DECEMBER
Tue-Sat Stratford Chefs School dinners at The Prune
8 Starbright, Festival Theatre
14-29 A Wind in the Willows Christmas, Factory163
15 A Christmas Carol, St. James Church
For all our holiday events visitstratford.ca/christmas

AUTHENTIC
CULINARY EXPERIENCES
FROM FARM TO TABLE, LONDON’S CULINARY CULTURE
IS COOKING WITH LOCAL FLAVOUR
WWW.LONDONTOURISM.CA/CULINARY

eatdrink
inc.
The LOCAL Food & Drink Magazine
eatdrinkmag
@eatdrinkmag
Think Global.
Read Local.
Publisher
Chris McDonell – chris@eatdrink.ca
Managing Editor Cecilia Buy – cbuy@eatdrink.ca
Contributing Editor Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca
ethicalgourmet.blogspot.com
Social Media Editor Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca
Advertising Sales Chris McDonell – chris@eatdrink.ca
Finances
Michael Bell – finance@eatdrink.ca
Graphics
Chris McDonell, Cecilia Buy
Writers
Jane Antoniak, Tanya Chopp, Darin Cook,
Donald D’Haene, Jennifer Gagel, Dave
Hammond, Bryan Lavery, Lori Maddigan,
Natalie Novak, Sue Sutherland Wood
Photographers Steve Grimes, Bruce Fyfe
Copy Editor
Kym Wolfe
Website
City Media
Printing
Sportswood Printing, Straffordville ON
Telephone & Fax 519 434-8349
Mailing Address 525 Huron Street, London ON N5Y 4J6
eatdrink.ca
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© 2013 eatdrink inc. and the writers. All rights reserved.
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of the Publisher. eatdrink has a circulation of 15,000 issues
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information, content and/or advertisements published in eatdrink
or online are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
represent those of the Publisher. The Publisher welcomes submissions
but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material.
OUR COVER:
Chef/Restaurateur T.G. Haile and a
traditional injera platter in her T.G.’s
Addis Ababa Restaurant.
Photo by Steve Grimes.
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Stuff stockings with fragrant herbs and
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contents ISSUE № 44
november/december 2013
20
28
36
48
12
16
food writER at large
8 A Reminiscence of My Culinary Life ...
By BRYAN LAVERY
RESTAURANTS
12 Eating Ethiopian at T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant
By BRYAN LAVERY
16 Sarnia Siblings: Limbo Lounge and Sideways Classic Grill
By TANYA CHOPP
20 Some Like it Hot ... The Raja Fine Indian Cuisine
By SUE SUTHERLAND WOOD
CUliNARY REtail
24 The eatdrink Epicurean Gift Guide
By LORI MADDIGAN
KitchEN Design
28 Lighten Up!
By NATALIE NOVAK
FarmERS & Artisans
36 Unique Innovations in Baking: Downie Street Bake House,
Lindsay’s Bakery and Organic Works
By BRYAN LAVERY
NEW & NotaBLE
42 The BUZZ
WINE
48 Wines for the Holidays
By JANE ANTONIAK
Beer mattERS
50 Harvest Ales and Late Season Brews
By THE MALT MONK
theatre
53 Donald DISHES on Local Theatre
By DONALD D’HAENE
24
THE BUZZ
53
BOOKS
56 Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
by Bee Wilson
Review by DARIN COOK
56
COOKBOOKS
58 The Flavour Principle
by Lucy Waverman & Beppi Crosariol
Review and Recipe Selections by JENNA GAGEL
THE LIGHTER SidE
62 Christmas Mousetrap
By SUE SUTHERLAND WOOD
58

navigate
№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 7
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№ 44 | November/December 2013
food writer at large
A Reminiscence of My Culinary Life
in 1,200 Words or Less
By Bryan Lavery
When I was a young teenager, our
friends and relatives reacted like
we were moving to Mars when
we left Toronto to move to our
cottage on Rice Lake. Our parents fulfilled a
long-held dream when they purchased the
hilltop cottage with an acre of cedar forest
backing on to the Ouse River. The site had previously
been part of much larger farm acreage.
The cottage was a prefabricated shell
with no amenities, in my unformed
mind a zeitgeist in the back-tothe-earth
spirit of the times, a
handyman’s special that we
idealized and that had the
potential to be transformed
into our dream home.
At first, I thought we had
landed in paradise, taking a cue
from my parents who behaved
like we had inherited heaven
on earth. It was a convincing gambit that
betrayed no hint of the hardships and
sacrifices ahead. We briefly emulated the
type of television family that enjoyed the
solidarity of breaking bread together and
took deep satisfaction from cooking meals
over an open-fire in the moonlight.
Our parents purchased an old cast iron,
wood-burning stove at a farm sale auction that
had to be moved on a flatbed pulled by a tractor.
The stove was connected by a stove pipe to
a temperamental flue that vented the smoke
outside. The stove was both a heat source
and cooker and would rarely burn
unattended for more than a couple of
hours. Gathering and chopping wood
became a necessity that seemed to
dominate our lives. If the embers
were allowed to extinguish no amount of
stoking, bellows work or fanning with a newspaper
would resuscitate the fire. It was on this
volatile stove that I became a fledgling cook.
I was most in my element in the kitchen, or
hunting and pecking on an ancient typewriter
in my bedroom with a thesaurus by my side.
The experience of moving to our cottage
was like going camping for an extended period
of time. Like any make-believe, reality often
crushes expectations. When the honeymoon
ended, practicality took over, and after several
months our pioneering spirit was replaced by
the “everything is awful” phase. For a teenager
accustomed to the independence of urban
life and navigating a large city on transit, the
realization that we were isolated
came as a culture shock, the effects
delayed but inevitable.
At fourteen, I proved myself equal
to stand a full day’s work. My first
job was pumping gas and clerking
at Heffernan’s, which was the only
general store and one of few gas
stations along a stretch of Highway
7 between Peterborough and the
village of Norwood. Heffernan’s
served a captive audience of hardworking
farmers who purchased their
weekly foodstuffs and farming supplies as
well as other passersby en route to small
towns or the near north. It was as a sidekick
in the kitchen at the back of the store that I
was indoctrinated into the art and science of
baking and those experiences contributed to
my life-long interest in cooking.
My formative years were spent managing
the kitchens of the Keg and the Corkscrew
chains, learning the business side of the industry
when salad bars and steak and lobster
were the very definition of middlebrow
cuisine. Despite the lack of innovation
in these kitchens I became an avid
reader of cookbooks; the recipes were
precise and I attempted to follow them
to the letter.
In my early twenties I was fortunate
to have several mentors with a dedicated
interest in gastronomy and was given the
opportunity to work with talented chefs and
restaurateurs, all with difficult temperaments
and strong skill sets that helped me develop
a culinary backbone. My real education and

№ 44 | November/December 2013
passion for the culinary arts began while
working at a series of French restaurants in
Toronto that were bastions of haute cuisine.
The way I saw it, French seemed to be the only
serious way to dine. Initially, I was an ardent
student of regional French cuisine but after
trips to Italy, I had to acknowledge that I was
more inspired by regional Italian cooking
and eventually I moved beyond France as my
primary focus of interest.
As far as I can remember, travels in Europe
and my introduction to food writers MFK
Fisher and Elizabeth David were how my passion
for food writing was incubated. In any
case, it was Italy where I first encountered giant
turtles fated for soup pots, wild game, a variety
of unusual feathered birds and truffle hunting
dogs. I enjoyed scouting the open-air food markets
in Pisa and Florence and the Rialto market
on Venice’s Canal Grande. The Italian market
was my nirvana, with its abundant varieties of
fresh and saltwater fish and shellfish, and the
night markets piled high with seasonal produce,
fresh fungi and local cheeses.
I was cooking at a dinner club in Chandler’s
Ford in Hampshire, England, just as mad cow
disease was evolving from a cryptic veterinary
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10 www.eatdrink.ca
conundrum into an epidemic affecting
120,000 cattle. Speculation about mad cow’s
relationship to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in
humans had created a state of panic. I realized
that I had been naive to put my confidence in
the perceived safety of our food chain. It was
about this time that I became politicized about
food security and began questioning our food
and farming policies.
A decade later I was chosen as part
of a contingent to partake in a culinary
journey with seven Canadian chefs to the
region of Emilia-Romagna. This was my
first introduction to “slow food” and the
movement to safeguard traditional regional
specialties, time-honoured techniques and
farm-to-table cuisine. It was on this trip that
I had an epiphany about food that boasted
of its regional authenticity, and became a
dedicated proponent of culinary tourism
and our own homegrown terroir.
I have had a rewarding career in the
culinary arts and am grateful to be have
established, owned and been in partnership
in many great restaurants that became a
way of life and, more importantly, an ideology.
More recently my involvement with the
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Western Fair Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market
gave me a platform to lead and support
innovative initiatives in the community during
a transformational time.
It was not that long ago that we lacked
dedicated local food media to report on
our culinary community. The food media,
including eatdrink, have an important role
in sustaining, mentoring and promoting a
healthy culinary community.
I have learned a couple of things
over the years. The first is that if you
are patient and dedicated enough a
transformational ecosystem of innovation
will emerge organically over time. This has
happened in the London, Stratford and
surrounding agricultural and culinary
communities. The other is that a sustainable
vision more articulate than any blueprint you
can draw, or business plan you can write, will
occur naturally if you are collaborative and
surround yourself with dedicated innovators
with lots of knowledge based capital.
BRYAN LAvery is eatdrink’s Food Writer at Large and
Contributing Editor.
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№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 11
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№ 44 | November/December 2013
restaurants
An Authentic Taste of Ethiopia
at T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant, in London
By bryan LAvery | Photography by Steve Grimes
Dining at T.G.’s Addis
Ababa is characterized
by the ritual of
breaking injera (the
traditional yeast-risen flatbread
which is spongy in texture,
crêpe-like in appearance and
has a sourdough tanginess) and
sharing food from a communal
platter, signifying the bonds of
loyalty and friendship. For more
than a decade, T.G.’s Addis Ababa
Restaurant has offered a tour de
force from the Ethiopian culinary
repertoire.
The modest restaurant is
tucked away off the beaten track,
in an unassuming brick building on the
south side of Dundas Street, near the
corner of Burwell and Maitland.
T.G. Haile
Chef/restaurateur T.G. Haile is dedicated
to supporting important cultural and
charitable initiatives and events, despite the
fact that she is a hands-on owner who does
all of the cooking at the restaurant. T.G.’s
Addis Ababa has been a stalwart participant
in the Taste for Life campaign to support the
Regional HIV/AIDS Connection.
T.G. supports the efforts of local student
organizers
at Brescia
University
during their
annual
Multicultural
Show, as well
as the London
Black History
Coordinating
Committee.
Recently, T.G.
was selected as
An unassuming
building facade
disguises a uniquely
original interior

Gather around and sip a taste of Africa
with an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
one of “I am London’s” successfully settled
immigrants from various countries that
have chosen London as their home.
Having avoided the Eritrean-Ethiopian
conflict in 1998, with little more than
determination and a leap of faith, T.G. was
eager to resettle her life in London. It was a
tough route that included being detained
in the United States for five months before
she received refugee status in Canada.
Initially, T.G. was employed at a variety
of jobs, attending classes to expand her
English at G.A. Wheable Centre for Adult
Education and training to become a hair
stylist. She dreamt of opening a restaurant.
Her passion for cooking was ignited as a
child; both her mother and grandmother
were restaurateurs.
T.G. is pleased to make her home in
London. “I chose to start my business in
London, but more importantly, I chose
to start my family here. It is a safe and
welcoming community, and there is
nowhere else I would rather build a future.”
Ethiopian cuisine has emerged as
a significant international cuisine in
recent times due to scholarly interest
and the re-interpretation of complex
regional culinary traditions to create and
popularize an Ethiopian national cuisine
by middle class Ethiopians in places of
emigration and diaspora.
The cuisine has garnered repute for
being blistering-hot, but truly authentic
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№ 44 | November/December 2013
A medley of dishes arranged on the traditional injera (left)
offers an enjoyable communal introduction to Ethiopian
cuisine, but a wide variety of other dishes are available.
Ethiopian cuisine is characterized by a
blending of flavours in order to produce a
harmony of ingredients. T.G. is a skillful
chef and her signature dishes from the
repertoire of Ethiopian cookery comprise
permutations of sweet, bitter, sour, salty,
hot and fragrant. These flavour contrasts
are the hallmark of T.G.’s cooking.
In recent times, T.G. had hoped to bring
her youngest sister to Canada to help
her with the demands and challenges
of cooking a labour-intensive ethnic
cuisine that requires specialized training.
Initial approval was given to T.G.’s sister
but because of her limited English there
are still obstacles with the Canadian
consulate in Ethiopia. T.G. hopes this
will be resolved so that she will be able to
spend more time with her young daughter.
At present she would find it difficult and
uncomfortable handing over the reins of
her kitchen to an outsider. T.G. is acutely
aware that there would be consequences to
employing someone who is not culturally
indoctrinated in the nuances of the cuisine.
Customarily made out of fermented tef,
injera is used as both the serving platter and
eating utensil. Decorum decrees tearing
pieces of injera off with your right hand,
pinching up and then wrapping it around
the meat or wat, and then popping it into
your mouth. No other utensils are required.
Various dishes are placed decoratively and
served directly onto the injera, allowing it
to absorb individual flavours and spices.
Dishes are always accompanied by
additional injera to scoop up the food with.
Sharing a medley of delicious dishes that
have been expertly arranged on a common
platter — the traditional way to eat — is
an enjoyable introduction to the cuisine.
During a meal with friends or family, it is
a common practice to feed others in the
group with your right hand by putting the
pinched up injera into another’s mouth.
This is called a gursha, and I have been told
that the larger the gursha, the stronger the
relationship or bond.
Berbere is the brick-red blend of 17
ground spices which is an essential
ingredient in Ethiopian cooking and adds
a fiery heat and stimulating boost to many
of the dishes that
reflect its national
culinary identity.
Meat dishes fall
mostly into two
distinct categories:
red stews (wat),
which include
berbere, and green
stews (alicha wat),
which do not.
Wats are properly
prepared with a
African beers, of course!

№ 44 | November/December 2013
generous amount of chopped onions, which
the cook simmers or sautés in a pot. Onions
are fried without oil, which gives them the
distinct taste central to Ethiopian cuisine.
T.G.’s menu includes several types of meat
dishes, such as zsil zsil tibbs which are strips
of beef sautéed with green onion and spices.
Ethiopian cuisine does not include pork.
Another of T.G.’s signature dishes is dulet
kitfo, which consists of freshly minced lean
beef, mixed and cooked with clarified butter,
onion, jalapeño and the traditional spice
mixture mitmita (a dry chili blend containing
ground cardamom seed, cloves and salt).
T.G. is a born communicator and guides
the uninitiated to select from a menu that
has been designed so you can order à la
carte or eat communally. There is a large
repertoire of vegetarian dishes, with a
diversity of deftly spiced preparations
based on lentils, split peas, chickpeas and
other pulses.
It should be noted that Ethiopian
culinary staples like injera and wat are
immortalized as a metaphor for prosperity
and security in the various writings of
nineteenthcentury
travellers.
Hospitality
is imperative
in Ethiopia,
and at T.G.’s
Addis Ababa
Restaurant it is
supreme.
Simple but evocative touches ...
T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant
465 Dundas Street (at Maitland)
519-433-4222
www.tgsaddisababarestaurant.com
tuesday–saturday: 11 am–10 pm
sunday: 2 pm–9 pm
BRYAN LAvery is eatdrink’s Food Writer at Large and
Contributing Editor.
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№ 44 | November/December 2013
restaurants
Sarnia Siblings
Limbo Lounge and Sideways Classic Grill
By Tanya Chopp
For those who have
exhausted their
bar-hopping days
but aren’t yet ready
to settle into the world of fine
dining, it can be a challenge
to find the middle ground
between those worlds.
Instead of seeing this time
in limbo as purgatory, Sean
Barlow chose to focus on
the opportunity it presented. In 2007, he
opened Limbo Lounge & Martini House
on 196 Christina Street North in Sarnia —
and carved out a unique space downtown
for the up-and-coming demographic that
appreciates inspired food at affordable
prices.
“We call it classy-casual,” says Front
of House Manager, Melissa Cameron,
who has over 16 years of restaurant industry
experience in Toronto’s competitive market.
Cameron is visibly passionate about
the business and it’s evident that she
and Barlow have a shared vision and
mutual respect that has paid off for the
establishment. Limbo’s interesting fusionstyle
menu and enticing promotions keep
patrons coming back for more.
An extensive martini list is updated to
reflect the season and Ontario craft brews
are kept on tap. The menu is inspired by the
cosmopolitan
travels of Barlow and his
employees, who have been
influenced by their time in
Australia, Southeast Asia,
Korea and throughout
Europe.
The space, which
seats between 50 and 60,
is complimented by a
back room with seating
for another 60. In the
summertime patio space opens up for an
additional 35 customers. The restaurant
is a popular place for private functions:
The bar at Limbo Lounge & Martini House in Sarnia
Christmas parties, bachelorettes, rehearsal
dinners and even small weddings.
According to Cameron, Salt & Pepper
Shrimp (an Asian style dish with the shrimp
flash fried and seasoned with kosher salt
and fresh ground pepper and served with
a sweet chili cream) is a popular appetizer.
And Chef Brian Hall adds that a frequent
dinner favourite is the Beef Tenderloin —
which is grilled, topped with gorgonzola and
finished with a port reduction before being
served over roasted potatoes alongside
grilled vegetables and crispy onions.
One of the creative fusion salads at Limbo Lounge

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 17
Salmon scented with ginger and lime, served with mixed vegetables
And just to ensure that there is some thing
for everyone, a green menu also offers vegetarian,
gluten-free and low calorie options.
“The chefs are classically French trained,
but we offer a variety of everything here,”
says Barlow.
Limbo is a participant in “First Fridays” — a
downtown revitalization initiative that offers
special incentives for downtown exploration
on the first Friday of every month.
To keep things fresh, Limbo also regularly
offers live musical entertainment
along with regular weekday incentives,
including date nights on Wednesdays,
where two can dine on appetizers, a main
course and a dessert for only $60. Thursday
nights are “girls’ nights.” Patrons are
offered the chance to enjoy four appetizers
and four martinis for only $40.
Chef Hall, who hails from Stratford and
was trained at Lambton
College, says that growing
up in the innovative
foodie town played a huge
role in shaping his ideas
of what food should be.
He regularly watches for
inspiration from other
chefs and sums up his
style in the kitchen as
never cooking anything
that he wouldn’t want to
enjoy himself.
If Limbo Lounge isn’t quite
your style, Barlow recently
opened up another
restaurant just a stone’s
throw away. Sideways
Classic Grill was founded
on the same brand of
Sideways lights up Front Street
creative fusion-style inspiration,
but with a different slant.
“I consider Limbo and
Sideways to be like brother and
sister locations,” says Cameron,
who oversees both restaurants.
“We’re like family, we share staff
and resources, but they’re very
different too.”
Sideways is so named because
it is diagonally located to
Limbo Lounge (at 154 Front
Street North), and offers its own
unique take on English pub-style fare.
The restaurant has earned a name for
itself with the way it has put a twist on the
Asian Chicken
Wonton Nachos
traditional. From wonton nachos to curry
poutine to chicken wing flavours that break
away from the usual
mild, medium and hot
and include Korean
BBQ, dill pickle, salt
& vinegar and Caesar
cocktail, Sideways
dresses up comfort food
in exciting new ways.
The bar offers a more
extensive beer menu than
Limbo, and large screen
televisions have been
added to keep sports fans
engaged.
The restaurant’s space
is elongated with high
ceilings. The building
was originally erected
in the 1870’s and many
of the original elements
have been restored by
Barlow, to reveal their
vintage splendour. Tin

18 www.eatdrink.ca
ceilings, millwork, wood
floors and exposed brick
give Sideways Grill a homey
atmosphere — and the buzz
of conversation that lifts
above the packed tables
indicates that many people
feel the same way.
Take-out menus are available
for both Limbo and Sideways,
and Barlow offers catering
services out of his restaurants
as well, so fans of the fare can
enjoy great taste, no matter
where their function might
be. A poutine bar, a s’mores
bar and draft beer on wheels
are examples of the creativity available
through the catering service.
Whether you live in Sarnia, or are
thinking of making a special trip through
this border city, stop in to their convenient
downtown locations for a meal that’s
sure to revitalize you. As a special note:
look for special promotions in November
№ 44 | November/December 2013
at Limbo Lounge, and in
February at Sideways Grill, as
each business celebrates its
respective anniversary. .
Limbo Lounge
196 Christina St. North, Sarnia
519-344-6097
www.limbolounge.ca
mon–thurs 11:30 am–10 pm
fri–sat: 11:30 am–1 am
sunday: 11:30 am–9 pm
Sideways Classic Grill
154 Front Street, Sarnia
519-491-0157
www.limbolounge.ca
mon–sat: 11:30 am–midnight
sunday: 11:30 am–10 pm
TAnyA CHOpp is a London-based marketing communications
specialist and freelance writer whose work is focused on the
promotion of health, wellness and support of the arts. She cooks
with wine, and sometimes she even adds it to the food.
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№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 19

20 www.eatdrink.ca
restaurants
Some Like it Hot …
The Raja Fine Indian Cuisine, in London
№ 44 | November/December 2013
By SUE SUtherLAND WOOD
The bond between
British and
Indian food is
complex and
well documented (soccer
fans may recall that whilst
playing for Manchester
United, David Beckham
would celebrate a victory
with a post-game curry
at his local ‘Indian’) but
even so, the relationship
has evolved greatly
and continues to do so.
Historically, the Brits have
been fond of putting their
own (often unfortunate)
spin on India’s regional
dishes and creating new
“mainstream” dishes such as curry and chips
or Chicken Tikka Masala spread thickly in a
sandwich. There’s even a strange tendency to
draw other cultures into the mix which is how it
somehow becomes acceptable to find (Russian)
Chicken Kiev in the UK freezer section —
but with a creamy curry filling! Even curry
powder itself, with its distinctively pungent
taste, is another entirely British invention
never actually used in any authentic Indian
cooking. So if you don’t like curry powder,
don’t assume that you won’t care for Indian
food — because almost certainly, there will
be no ‘curry powder’ involved. Nowadays true
Indian cuisine in all its myriad forms is being
recognized and lauded for its diversity and also
for an increasing ability to shine all on its own.
The Raja, located on Clarence Street here
in London (and an older sister establishment
on George Street in Stratford) will appeal to
customers who are seeking an upmarket Indian
cuisine experience or indeed, a superior meal.
Restaurateur Zahirul Chowdhury breaks
down the success formula for Raja into three
basic points: “excellent food, service and
A richly varied menu is offered, including extensive
options for vegetarians. Chef Nurul Islam, who
brings over 35 years of experience in Indian cuisine,
ensures The Raja’s food matches the restaurant’s
high level of service and atmosphere.

Holiday
Treats &
Seasonal
Specials
The Raja offers a respectable wine list, with elegant
“wine racks” on display in the dining area
atmosphere.” The restaurant can seat 116
people in total — this includes seating on a
patio outside — and there is also a separate
lounge which is popular for smaller office
parties or private get-togethers. On both
New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, special
dinners are offered and are well attended.
Chowdhury, who also credits “always
listening carefully and appreciating what
customers have to say,” shows impressive
attention to detail, visible throughout the
restaurant from the elegant Sant’Andrea
flatware to the white linen cloths that cover
the tables. Rich yellow-gold and warm reds
— perhaps echoing the spices that are used in
the meals — are used to great effect on walls
and fabric and contribute to the feeling that
one has gained admission to a private club.
As well as a respectable wine list, Raja
offers a thoughtful and varied selection of
beverages ranging from specialty cocktails
(Asian Pear martinis are popular) to beer,
with Indian brands Kingfisher and Cobra
being firm favourites. Chowdhury is
currently investigating the introduction of
British beers on draught, which are often
regarded as a natural accompaniment
to curry and, again, a nod to the high UK
demographic of London diners. The nonalcoholic
lassi (a rich but refreshing yogurtbased
drink) is available in a variety of
flavours such as mango.
The Raja menu is extremely varied and
features chicken, fish, seafood, lamb, beef
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and Polish Canadian Club Caterer
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Covent Garden Market 519-495-7753

22 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
The Raja is equally well-suited for intimate dinners or large groups,
with private rooms and business meeting amenities available
and one of the unique house specialties,
Bengal Duck. Vegetarians have an extensive
selection to choose from and there are
also pre-selected meals and appetizers to
inspire or share. Portion size is more than
reasonable. For those who are concerned,
the level of spiciness and heat is very clearly
identified on the menu — although a great
many dishes (such as Korma) are mild and
creamy — but the staff is extremely helpful
and affable in this regard so there is no
reason to be shy about asking.
There are two Tandoors (clay
ovens) in operation at Raja and all
breads are baked fresh in house.
As well as the more familiar naan
flatbreads there are also whole
wheat roti and a Peshwari naan
which boasts an almond and apricot
filling. Local ingredients are used
whenever possible and the meat
sources are exclusively halal.
Desserts can sometimes be uninspired
or a bit predictable at Indian
restaurants but the Raja counters
this nicely by offering a variety of
simple but elegant sorbets — an
ideal way to conclude a meal of
many courses.
Although Raja strives to make
dining a regal experience they are
also eminently pragmatic. During
the weekday lunch hour, when
time may be at a premium, there’s a
guarantee that lunch will be served
within 20 minutes of being ordered.
A similar nod to real life is reflected
in their menu for children. It offers a
friendly introduction to Indian food
in the form of mild dishes such as
Chicken Tikka or chicken fingers.
The Raja buffet — available on Sundays
— also gives a very affordable
sampling of some of the more popular
dishes and is useful to those who
might be unsure about what they
might enjoy.
Chowdhury’s simple trinity of
excellent customer service, outstanding
food and superior staff
is definitely working, because this
Raja certainly rules!
The Raja Fine Indian Cuisine
428 Clarence Street, London
519-601-7252
www.rajafinedining.ca
tues–sat: 11:30 am–2:30pm & 5 pm–10 pm
sunday buffet: noon–3 pm & 5 pm–9 pm
closed mondays
SUE SUtherLAND WOOD is a freelance writer who
also works in the London Public Library system. She lives in
London with her teenage sons and a floating population of dogs
and cats.

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 23
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24 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
culinary retail
The eatdrink Epicurean Gift Guide
Adventures in Kitchenware
By Lori MaddiGAn
The temperatures are dropping
and the days are getting shorter
— ’tis the season to retreat to the
kitchen! Whether you are looking
for something for holiday entertaining, for
hosting simple family
gatherings or to provide
the perfect gift, local retailers
offer plenty of new and exciting products to
choose from this season.
Items for Every Kitchen
Without a doubt, the hottest
new item in kitchenware
comes from Charles
Viancin. As an alternative
to plastic wrap, these
silicone lids suction to any
bowl or drinking glass, are
heat resistant, and come
in a variety of designs and
colours. “We can’t keep
these in stock!” says Carrie
Wreford, owner
of Bradshaws in
Stratford.
Wreford also
loves another ecofriendly
storage
solution: Bee’s
Wrap, touted
as “the ‘new’
old-fashioned
alternative to
plastic wrap”. BEE’S WRAP (16.95 a set)
CITRUS SPRAY ($19.95)
CUISIPRO DUAL GRATER
($14.99)
Made of
beeswax and
cloth, these
re-usable
wraps come in
three sizes and
can be molded
to create a
seal around
just about
anything.
Who doesn’t
enjoy a splash of fresh
citrus? Tapping into the
juice is easy with the
Lekué Citrus Spray.
“Plug this sucker into a
lemon, lime or orange
and spritz away!” says
Wreford.
Every kitchen needs
a good grater. Lawrence
Burden, owner of Kiss
the Cook in London,
VIANCIN LID
($9.99–$16.99)
equips his in-store kitchen with the
Cuisipro Dual Grater, coarse on one
end and fine on the other. “It’s good
for garlic, zesting, chocolate,
cheese, nutmeg, ginger. It’s easy
to clean — just rinse under
water,” says Burden. Priced
at $14.99 it makes a great
(pun intended) stocking
stuffer too.

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 25
“The knife is the most
used tool in a kitchen,” says
Burden. “Properly honed,
you might only have to bring it in
once a year for professional
sharpening.” Burden recommends
the Edgeware Oval
Ceramic Sharpening Rod
($21.95) for maintaining knives at home.
EDGEWARE OVAL CERAMIC
SHARPENING ROD ($21.95)
SWISS DIAMOND
NON-STICK
COOKWARE
(from $59.99)
[Swiss Diamond] do —
they just do non-stick and
they do it well,” says Carey.
Drinks Anyone?
“Coffee is huge right now,”
says Burden. “These Le
Creuset cappuccino
and espresso cups and
saucers bring vibrant
colour and life to the
kitchen when you are
having your coffee at
the beginning or end of the day.”
RAVI WINE
VACUUM STOPPER
($5.95)
LE CREUSET CUPS
($40-50 a pair)
Burden also loves the Ravi
Wine Vacuum Stopper he
discovered at a recent gift
show. “Until now they’ve
always come in two pieces,”
says Burden. “With this one,
you just pump out the air
and leave it on the bottle. A
simple idea — all in one.” This
functional item comes in a
variety of colours and
also makes a wonderful
stocking stuffer.
For the Serious Culinary Artist
Epicurean creations require functional and
reliable cookware.
“Nonstick cookware has become so
evolving, from Teflon and the scares of
PFOAs [perfluorooctanoic acid],” says
Burden. Kiss the Cook equips its kitchen
with Le Creuset’s forged hard-anodized
pans. “Trust me, my chefs put them to
the test!” says Burden. This
product has
proven
LE CREUSET
itself
HARDso
well
ANODIZED FRY
that it now
PAN (from $99)
comes with a
lifetime warranty.
Heather Carey, manager at Jill’s Table
in London, agrees that non-stick is going
to have a big challenge. Jill’s Table has
recently re-introduced Swiss Diamond
Non-Stick Cookware. “This is all they
Carey also recommends
Emile Henry pizza stones as
an excellent gift. “They go
on the barbeque as well as
the oven,” says Carey. The
stones come in round and
rectangular shapes and sizes and can be
used with the specialty pizza flours and
sauces available at Jill’s Table.
EMILE HENRY PIZZA STONE
($49.99–$64.99)
Although expensive, ranging from $500 to
over $750, the Vitamix blender has become
a popular item. It is powerful enough to turn
cooked food into hot soup and frozen fruit
into ice cream in seconds. “Most blenders
are good for maybe 2 years — this comes
with a seven year warranty, almost unheard
of in electrical goods,”
says Burden. “It’s a
huge investment, but
more and more people,
concerned about what’s
going into their bodies,
are committed to that
fast, powerful machine in
their kitchen — and the
seven-year warranty
makes it easier.”
VITAMIX BLENDER
(from $500)

26 www.eatdrink.ca
One-of-a-Kind Gifts
Beautiful wooden salad bowls and charcuterie
boards hand-crafted by Trevor
Ewert of Once Upon a Tree are available in
London exclusively at Jill’s Table. Each one
is unique and they come in a vast range of
sizes. “It’s a fabulous piece for Christmas,”
says Carey. “The very big boards are lovely
for the centre of the table — [Trevor] calls
them entertaining boards.”
“ONCE UPON A TREE” BOWLS & BOARDS (39.99 –$120)
Bradshaws & Kitchen Detail
129 Ontario Street, Stratford
519-271-6283
www.bradshawscanada.com
Jill’s Table
115 King Street, London
519-645-1335
www.jillstable.ca
Kiss the Cook
551 Richmond Street, London
519-850-5477
www.kissthecookonline.com
№ 44 | November/December 2013
For The Clean-Up Crew
Epic meals often produce epic messes.
Avoid cooktop spills with the Charles
Viancin Overboil Ring. This heat-resistant
SCRUBBIES
($2.95)
VIANCIN OVERBOIL RING
(24.99)
silicone device
prevents food
and liquid from
splattering and
boiling over. It is
also microwave
and dishwasher
safe.
Make cleanup
easier with
Scrubbies.
These colourful
little cloths are
only $2.95 each.
“They’re great at
the sink — great
anywhere, even
a ceramic stove
top,” said Burden.
“They last longer than anything you’ll
find at the grocery store and you just clean
them in the top shelf of the dishwasher.”
With so much to choose from, it is sure
to be a season of Happy Shopping and
Merry Cooking in and around London
this year!
LOri MADDIGAN is a fresh market aficionado from London.
Recently becoming ‘too-young-to-be-retired’, she is happily
devoting more time to her second career as a freelance writer.

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 27

28 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
kitchen design
Lighten Up!
Use lighting to get the most out of your kitchen design
By nAtalie novak
If you are renovating or
refreshing your kitchen
this year, says Cynthia
Rouse, “Perhaps the
most important aspect of your
project will be the decisions
you make about lighting. It can
dramatically influence the feel
of a room, making it warm and
inviting, cozy and comfortable,
or cold and distant at the flip of
a switch.”
Rouse, owner of Cynthia
Rouse Interior Design and
a lighting consultant for
Guildwood Lighting and
Fireside, recommends layering
the lighting in a kitchen. There are three
kinds of lighting you will need to consider
— general, task, and accent — and a
successful plan will involve all three.
Older homes might have just one light
fixture in the centre of the kitchen, which
creates a ‘cave’ effect says Rouse, because
there is not enough reflective light on the
ceilings and walls. It is better to have multiple
lights which can be turned on or off,
and brightened or dimmed, depending on
what they are needed for
A kitchen layered in three types of lighting: task lighting
over the sink and island, general lighting over the table,
and accent uplighting over the cabinet.
All photos supplied by Guildwood Lighting and Fireside
Task lighting is usually installed over
an island or counter, where you need good
lighting while you work. Pendants, undercabinet
and track lighting are common
choices for task lighting.
Track lighting can also be used to spotlight
the stove, sink, pantry or other areas
of the kitchen. And it can be used to direct
London’s
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Kitchens
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№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 29
the eye to a piece of art or to highlight a
focal point, for example an architectural
feature in an older home.
Accent lighting can add drama to a
space. “By illuminating the top of the
kitchen cabinets, adding under-counter
lighting or hanging a coloured pendant
over the kitchen island, you can create
islands of light that bring the grain of the
wood, the print of the wallpaper or the
colour of a wall to life,” says Rouse.
When working with a lighting consultant,
it is best to bring a floor plan that is drawn
to scale, with the layout of cabinetry and
existing electrical, and also to know the
ceiling height. “It is important to plan your
lighting even earlier than other decorating
ideas, because there are frequently decisions
that need to be made relative to the location
and type of electrical outlet installation
during construction,” says Rouse.
Each light will have its own switch and
often its own dimmer, enabling you have
light where and when you need it, and at
the proper level of illumination. Rouse
calls dimmers an inexpensive trick of the
trade. They can be manipulated to create
dimension or to set a special mood.
Once you have an idea of where you want
to have lighting, you will need to decide
on what kinds of fixtures to install. Do you
want mini-pendants or one large fixture
over the kitchen island? A chandelier or a
cluster of pendants over the table? Are you
interested in a decorative piece that will
make a design statement? Do recessed cans
for general lighting appeal to you?
One of the quickest and easiest ways to
update a kitchen is to use drum-shaped
hanging fixtures. The transitional design
provides clean lines and is like a chameleon
A cluster of pendant lights and a collection of candles
augment a space blessed with abundant natural light
that adapts comfortably to traditional,
modern or contemporary décor, says Rouse.
“Whether you decide to go with recessed
cans, lamps, chandeliers or pendants,
decorative lighting is probably the most
important accessory you can buy,” says
Rouse. Choosing unique, artistic fixtures
is one of the major trends that Rouse has
noticed. People are opting for clean and sleek
but upscale, with brushed brass, oil rubbed
bronze and satin nickel as popular finishes.
“Mini-pendants placed over islands
are being replaced with larger decorative
accents, and they frequently match or at
least compliment the chandelier in the
dining room, particularly if the rooms are
close together,” says Rouse. The threependant
configuration is disappearing,
with a move to either larger and fewer
(one or two, depending on the size of the
island) or to a cluster of smaller but more
pendants together.
Another trend Rouse notes is towards more
energy efficient lighting choices. “These days
people are greener than ever before. Lighting
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30 www.eatdrink.ca
Drum lighting works well with traditional,
modern or contemporary décor.
manufacturers are adapting their most popular
designs to LED lighting, using warm light,
which is closest to incandescent light, and
ensuring the LED is dimmable,” says Rouse.
Although they have come down in price,
the cost of LED bulbs continues to be a
drawback for some consumers. As their
popularity grows and technology matures
however, the price of bulbs will continue to
drop. Also, Rouse notes, it is not necessary to
purchase fixtures made specifically for LEDs
(which can be quite expensive); LED bulbs
can be used in most regular housings. Most
LEDs offer a 30,000-hour lifespan, compared
to the 8,000-hour life of a traditional compact
fluorescent lamp, she says, which you may
want to consider when you are installing
a chandelier, recessed lighting, or other
fixtures in hard to reach places.
Rouse recommends hanging pendants
30 inches above the island or counter top
in a kitchen with an eight-foot ceiling.
For higher ceilings, add one inch for each
additional foot of height, to a maximum
of 32 inches. Any higher, and the light will
dissipate too much, she says.
“Give lighting as much consideration as
other decorating decisions,” says Rouse.
Create a master plan of how you want the
finished kitchen to look. Think about how
and when you use this space. Is it a place
where children do their homework? Where
you entertain guests? What kind of general
lighting, task lighting and accent lighting
will you need for each purpose? What kinds
of fixtures will best suit your kitchen?
Fixtures can influence the look and feel
of a room as much as a piece of artwork,
says Rouse. “No matter what your budget,
opt for timeless materials like hand-forged
iron, bronze and glass over their plastic
counterparts. Timeless designs in top
materials will always look right and can
become family heirlooms.”
NATALie NOVAK is a happily transplanted northerner
who enjoys living in and writing about London.
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Sat and Sun 9–5 9–4
Christmas Trees starting at $30
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519-657-8817
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519-52O-3040 The Finest Fresh Coffee and Teas Single cups or take-home packages

№ 44 | November/December 2013
Artisan Cheese
Fresh Eggs
Talk to Carmela!
519-850-7806 carmels@sympatico.ca
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• The Produce Guy •
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Saturdays & Sundays: 9am–4pm
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SPECIALTY FOODS
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- almond flour - coconut flour - coconut nectar
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themilkywhey.ca
Beautiful made-to-order gift baskets
are available for the foodies on your list!

36 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
farmers & artisans
Unique Innovations in Baking
Downie Street Bake House • Lindsay’s Bakery • Organic Works
By Bryan Lavery
Really Good Bread From the Wrong Side of the Tracks
The sale of artisanal premium breads —
high quality, hand-crafted and free of
artificial additives and preservatives
—continues to be on the rise. Alan
Mailloux, a trained chef from Stratford Culinary
School with nearly 30 years’ experience baking
bread, has the skilled hands of a practiced baker
who knows how to perfect the ideal crust and
crumb. Kneading, long rises, multiple rises and
sourdough starters produce complex artisanal,
specialty breads of great diversity. The latest
incarnation of Alan and Barb Mailloux’s baking
career, Downie Street Bake House, has allowed
them the opportunity to experiment with long
Alan Mailloux
(above) and
his wife Barb
are hands-on
owners of
Downie Street
Bake House
Cinnamon Walnut Raisin, Sour Chocolate Cherry
Sourdough and Olive & Oregano.
Mailloux started baking at the age of 24, “when
my wife (the
lovely Shop
Girl) politely
suggested
that I might
want to get
a hobby. I
was newly
married; I
thought that I already had a hobby.”
They opened their first B&B in Windsor, in
Mailloux’s grandparent’s old house on the main
street. They did some baking for a local coffee
shop in the evenings after Alan finished work at
his “day job.”
They relocated to Stratford in 1990, so that
Mailloux could enrol in the Stratford Chefs
School. “Cooking was going to be my thing, but
something kept pulling me back to bread making.
We had an opportunity to take over the
Orbit Bakery in Stratford when it came available
in 1993, but thought I needed to practice my
cooking instead (so I trained the eventual owner
how to make bread) and moved on.”
“After cooking around for a couple of years,
we ended up back in Stratford in 1996 to open
a B&B. Baking bread on Friday nights to sell
and cold fermentation times for their breads
(giving better flavour and keeping qualities) and
expanding the selection. On offer is a variety of
bread baking that includes: Whole Wheat Rye, 12
Grain Sourdough, Plain (not boring) White, French
Country, Stratford Sourdough, Walnut Sourdough,
Mini Me Miche, Potato Currant, Rye Sourdough,
at the Stratford Farmer’s Market on Saturday
mornings was going to be a temporary thing to
do until the B&B became a success. Instead, the
bread making became a success, something we
could do year round and that people enjoyed.”
“Our first bakery was located in Sebringville
and it suffered from four problems: location,

№ 44 | November/December 2013
location, location and our impatience. No one
wanted to drive five minutes out of Stratford to
buy a loaf of bread and we just couldn’t wait for
the number of new and good farmers’ markets
to sprout up and provide us with an alternative
platform for selling our bread from such an
obscure location. So we sold up and moved back
to Stratford and hunted around for two years to
find the ‘right’ next location.”
In 2011, “the right location” became available
and the Maillouxes helped the landlord fix it up.
Alan was still working with Max Hollbrook at
The Parlour at the time. They began to research
the area farmers‘ markets that have become an
integral part of their success.
“The Western Fair Farmers’ and Artisans’
Market had an opening for a bakery. We applied
and were accepted. Our business there has
grown by over 50% since we started there two
years ago. The Sunday Slow Food Market was
also now located in Market Square in downtown
Stratford, just behind City Hall. Lindsay Reid,
of Lindsay’s Bakery, was kind enough to offer us
some of his space at his stall to help us get established.
The Garlic Festival and Savour Stratford
came soon after we opened and offered us the
opportunity to let a whole lot of people know
that we were back baking again.”
The Maillouxes have built a stellar reputation
as one of the best bakeries in the region. It is no
wonder that they share super-hero personas.
Alan is Baker Boy and Barb is Shop Girl.
Celebrating our 20 th Anniversary
481 Richmond St., London, ON
519.432.4092
dine@garlicsoflondon.com
www.garlicsoflondon.com
Downie Street Bakehouse
388a Downie Street, Stratford
facebook.com/DownieStreetBakeHouse
The Bake shop is open Thursdays: 10 am–4 pm;
Fridays: 9 am–8 pm & Saturdays: 8 am–2 pm
Markets: Thursdays: 3:00 pm-7:00 pm (June to October) Uptown
Market Square near King and Erb Streets, Waterloo;
Saturdays: 8 am-3 pm (year ‘round) Western Fair Farmers’ and
Artisans’ Market (900 King Street, London)
Sundays: 10 am-2 pm (May to October) Stratford Slow Food
Market (downtown, behind City Hall)
Sun–Tues 11am–midnight, Wed/Thurs 11am–1am, Fri/Sat 11am–2am

38 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Heavenly Hand-Crafted Baked Goods
from Lindsay Reid’s Sebringville Kitchen
Lindsay Reid’s motto is to “share really good
baking” that is made from scratch in small
batches, using high quality ingredients.
This requires patience
and precision — something he
appears to have in quantity in
the bake kitchen in the cellar
of his Sebringville home. Reid
incorporates only pure natural
ingredients, unbleached organic
flour, local eggs, honey and butter
in his baking. On offer are handmade
croissants, squares, tarts,
muffins and seasonal specialties. Reid has asked
me not to call his baking iconic — he and my
former London Free Press editor, Linda Barnard,
have recently declared a moratorium on “the
ridiculously overused pet adjective of lazy writers.”
So let’s call his delicious baking emblematic.
Reid has been employed in just about every
job in the “food biz,” beginning with an initial
stint at age fifteen, as a busboy at the Church
Restaurant in Stratford.
“A traumatizing experience to say the least.
At the time I vowed never to work in the food biz
again.”
High school jobs included night and weekend
baking at Buns Master Bakery and working in the
kitchen at the local A&W drive-in. Reid attended
the Stratford Chefs School after a two-year stint
studying journalism at university. Reid says, “I
felt the desire to follow a career path that involved
creativity and working with my
hands. A strong appreciation
for food and entertaining was
nurtured at home, so a career in
food seemed a natural choice.”
“My imagination and creativity
didn’t seem to be adequately
fired, being in my early
twenties where everything in
life seems to be either black
or white. I was much less experienced than the
majority of the apprentices when I began the
school. I remember Jim Morris (co-founder of
Stratford Chefs School) telling me to not move
around from job to job, best to stay in one place
for a while and learn absolutely everything you
can from the situation. ”
Reid apprenticed with Chris Woolf at
Woolfy’s (first incarnation) in Stratford. “Thanks
to divorce and my ‘All About Eve’ phase, (a
reference to the overly ambitious ingénue that
insinuated herself in to the life of an established
stage star and circle of theater friends in a
ruthless climb to the top, in the film All About
Eve) I ended up running the kitchen for Woolf’s
ex, who became sole proprietor.”
In 1992, Reid’s sister
Mari-Jane (M.J.), and
her family returned
to Stratford and they
decided to go into
business together. “We
purchased Tastes on
Wellington Street
and turned it into
Lindsay’s Food Shop,
offering deli, bakery,
and catering in 1997
and 1998. I also ran
Lindsay’s Restaurant
where Pazzo Taverna
is now located.”
Since leaving chefs
school, Reid has been
employed as a breakfast
cook at the Westin
Harbour Castle, server
at Canoe, and catering
and event manager
at Senses Catering in
Toronto. There was a
stage at Grano with
Lindsay Reid (centre) and
some of the delicious
baked goods

№ 44 | November/December 2013
Ellen Greaves when she was briefly the chef at
Winston’s. “In Montreal, I was a sandwich maker
at Café Titanic in Old Montreal until I took over
the kitchen at Olive et Gourmando.”
Reid enjoys the interaction with his regulars
and clients. “Relationships that are built through
weekly visits give meaning and feedback to a
baker; it helps me with my product consistency
and refinement.” It
is essential to Reid
to produce consistently
tasty baking
that he would want
to eat himself.
“My boss Dyan
Solomon of Olive
et Gourmando in
Montreal and I
would test items
for inclusion in our
selection of fresh
baked goods. We
would go over and
Lindsay describes his sister
Mari-Jane (M.J.) Lobodycz
(above) as “essential to
the business“ as agent and
sales clerk on market days
over a particular
item, i.e. brownies,
until we got
the exact result we
wanted. And when
it went on the menu
we would not vary
the item. The customer expects and should receive
the exact same quality of a particular item every
time they purchase it. ”
Crocks of mincemeat, made with locally harvested
apples, have been marinating since early
fall, and fruit mixtures in brandy and rum have
been baked into cakes and puddings. Reid finely
grinds whole almonds to make the almond
paste for the dark fruitcake. Again this year Reid
has prepared a selection of his and his family’s
personal favourites: Christmas fruit cakes, puddings,
mincemeat pies and tarts, panettone and
gingerbread cookies.
“Small business depends on many variables
lining up. Sometimes your concept gets adapted
to fit the variables. My initial concept was to
supply other businesses. I soon realized that I
could better control the quality of my product by
selling directly and that I could sell directly for
a much better price than wholesale. So, I began
doing farmers’ markets.”
Reid has decided to forgo the indoor Sunday
Market in Stratford this winter. He will rejoin
the Slow Food Market when it returns to Market
Square in May 2014. In the meantime, you
will find Lindsay’s Bakery at the Western Fair
Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market in London on
Saturdays from 7 to 3 pm.
Lindsay’s Bakery
519-276-0686
www.lindsaysbakery.com
Celebrating
3 YEARS in
Downtown London!
Contemporary
Southern
Vietnamese
Cuisine
NEW! Seafood
Curry Noodles
tamarine
by Quynh Nhi
118 Dundas Street, London
519.601.8276 www.tamarine.ca
café open
tues to fri, 11–4
sun brunch, 11–4
STUNNING VIEWS
EXCELLENT FOOD
AMBIANCE GALORE
AVAILABLE EVENINGS
for Private Dining, Weddings, Corporate Events,
Anniversary Dinners, Christmas & Birthday Parties
at MUSEUM LONDON
theriverroom.ca | 519.850.2287

40 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Great Bread: Soho’s Alternative Ethical Bakery and Organic Café
Peter Cuddy is a maverick, innovator and
passionate entrepreneur with deepseated
ethical convictions. Cuddy has
built the reputation of Organic Works
Bakery on integrity in several areas relating to
ecology and health. Whether engaging customers
in conversation in the Organic Bread Works
café, doing demos at trade shows as a
means of promoting his brand, undertaking
the leg work required for having the
bakery certified organic and
allergen-free, or learning from
his team of bakers on Saturday
mornings, Cuddy remains
tion’s Gluten-Free Program (GFCP) to verify that
the bakery meets all requirements allowing it to
use the GFCP mark on product packaging and in
marketing and advertising materials.
“The bakery started out with very basic breads
and five years ago converted to exclusively
gluten-free products,” says Cuddy. ‘‘A large
part of what we have done right is that
we have designed a product that has all
the needs and requirements of allergenfree
status that tastes good.”
Clients who want organic,
lactose-free, gluten-free,
vegan, vegetarian and allergen-free
products are often more knowledgeable
and demanding than their mainstream
bakery purchasing counterparts. They generally
also want stringent reassurances about
the origins of the ingredients and the products
employed in the bakery. Peter is on hand
to talk to his customers to educate, to assuage
Owner Peter Cuddy (above) ensures every aspect of his
business is “compliant with every possible standard”
while producing delicious and wholesome products.
Executive Chef Kat Charlebois (right) runs the popular
organic café and retail operation.
Organic Works Photograph by Steve Grimes
focused on the business at hand. He strives to
“keep Organic Works compliant with every possible
standard,” which is both time-consuming
and expensive, but ultimately gratifying.
Baking was never Cuddy’s vocation and he
still does not self-identify as a baker despite his
vast knowledge on the subject and his hands-on
approach to the business. He leaves the baking
operations up to head baker Lori Juric, who leads a
team of four full-time commercial bakers and two
retail bakers. Juric was trained by master baker/
pâtissier Roland Hofner, of the Tourism and Hospitality
program at Fanshawe College. Cuddy is quick
to point out Hofner’s success as an educator and
says, “I would gladly hire any graduate of Hofner’s
baking program.” The busy organic café and retail
operation is headed up by Chef Kat Charlebois.
One of the most time consuming and challenging
aspects of the business is the necessity
to deal with the volume of paperwork required
for allergen-free certification. The bakery has
organic certification from Pro-Cert Canada Inc.,
which is the overseer group accredited by Canadian
Food Inspection. The bakery has recently
been audited by the Canadian Celiac Associa­
their concerns, and to talk about how the ingredients
are sourced and how the products are made.
“Customers want to see ‘a clean ingredient
deck,’ meaning keeping ingredients to as bare a
minimum as possible.” Organic Bread Works is
a nut-free facility and does not retail any wheat
products.
Gluten-free products have become increasingly
popular because more people are learning
that celiac disease can be managed effectively if
wheat products are eliminated from their diet.
Wheat-free or gluten-free are not just for those
with a wheat or gluten intolerance. They are also
delicious alternatives catering to a demand for
more global, authentically produced artisanal
varieties of bread.
The building was originally purchased as a
new location for Gielen Design but those plans
changed. Cuddy’s wife is Kate Gielen, owner of
Gielen Design. She conceptualized the retail
area and café. The café has an earthy, natural
vibe with a touch of industrial aesthetic. A wall of
reclaimed doors separates the public area from
the main floor production facilities. The seating

№ 44 | November/December 2013
options include an eclectic
selection of chairs, leather
couches and elevated seating
by the large windows
that face the street. There is
additional seating outside
on the patio, and the café
has wi-fi.
“Originally I was going
to put the bakery on the
main floor, but my wife
convinced me otherwise,”
says Peter. “Putting the
bakery underground was
more good fortune than
scientific research. The
bakery is practically hermetically
sealed and when
combined with seven tons
of air forced through the
room, it makes an excellent
environment for leavening
breads.‘’
Besides the breads,
Organic Works’ gluten-free
offerings include banana
bread, brown rice buns,
raisin cinnamon loaf,
scones and cookies.
“I have been blessed
with good staff, good
fortune and certainly a
good partner in life. You
can strive to make all the
money in the world but
this type of work gives me
a deep satisfaction and I
find it is as much fun as
it is work. We continue
to walk the talk; we do
the certification to make
sure that we are safe from
any allergens,” explains
Cuddy, “Buying and sourcing
local is critical and it
separates our products
from [those of] other
people.”
Celebrate at the Lake!
Perch Dinner • Famous Pie
Country Breakfast
5 Star Accommodations
$99.00 p.p.*
Your Hosts
Jon & Vicci Coughlin
205 Main Street, Port Stanley ON
519-782-3006 www.telegraphhouse.com
*based on double occupancy
Special includes three-course dinner, king ensuite room and full breakfast.
Does not include wine or HST.
TRADITION.
QUALITY.
RESPONSIBILITY.
Organic Works Bakery
222 Wellington St, London
519-850-1800
www.organicworksbakery.com
Monday–Wednesday, 7:30 am–7 pm;
Thursday & Friday, 7:30 am –8 pm;
Saturday, 8:30 am–8 pm;
Sunday, 10 am–4 pm
Bryan Lavery is a eatdrink’s
Food Writer at Large.
Visit our website — www.laschicasdelcafe.com —
to find the nearest retailer or call us at 519-652-3642

42 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
The BUZZ ... new and notable
The London Wine & Food Show will be held January
16–18 at the Western Fair. The space allocated
will expand in response to the huge increase in
attendance last year. Celebrity Chef Bob Blumer
will be featured, and look for something special at the eatdrink
booth. Tickets $12 in advance. www.westernfairdistrict.com
Here at eatdrink, we are currently preparing London’s Local Flavour,
the 2014 Culinary Guide. The updated guide continues to
confirm that Londoners are not just advocating eating and drinking
locally and eating seasonally. More and more sustainable and
ethical options such as sustainable seafood, vegan, vegetarian,
gluten-free and organic are being offered. From farm to table,
London’s culinary culture continues to cook with local flavour.
Kathryn Banasik and Robbin Azzopardi’s Byron Freehouse
continues to receive rave reviews. The Freehouse opened to
accolades this past summer. It offers a sophisticated and dynamic
menu featuring global influences and contemporary comfort
foods. 1288 Commissioners West. www.byronfreehouse.ca
Chef Dave Lamers and business partner Rob D’Amico of
Abruzzi offer Italian cuisine with the authentic gastronomic
spirit that makes cooking and eating absolutely central to family
life. For the second year, Lamers and D’Amico are donating a
portion of sales in the month of November to the LHSC and
prostate cancer research. Last year they donated $3155.47 to
the cause. 119 King St. www.abruzzi.ca
Tamarine by Quynh Nhi is London’s sophisticated and adventurous
contribution to the evolution of South Vietnamese cuisine.
Tamarine is celebrating its third anniversary with a $9.99 lunch
menu with lots of new dishes. 118 Dundas St. www.tamarine.ca
Yoda Olinyk from Yoda’s Private Catering has recently
joined the culinary team at The Only On King. Olinyk is
known for specializing in customized menus for vegans and
vegetarians, and those with dietary restrictions such as gluten
intolerance and allergies.
Goodwill Industries recently celebrated the opening of a new
food services venture in London’s SoHo community (south of
Horton), part of an expanding dining scene. Edgar and Joe’s
Café is located in the front entrance of the Goodwill Centre at 255
Horton Street at Wellington. Fifteen new jobs have been created
since the Café’s soft opening earlier this summer. The Café, open
daily to the public, compliments several other meeting and
gathering spaces in the Goodwill Centre which are available for
use by non-profits groups and others in the community.
“Edgar and Joe’s Café serves several social purposes including
a focus on fresh, local and healthy ingredients at affordable
prices, combined with the opportunity to develop people on their
Book now
for an
exceptional
Holiday Party
or
New Year’s Eve
Celebration!
Quick Lunch | Dinner
Take-Out | Delivery
Gift Cards
Corporate Meetings | Multimedia Projector | Private Events
519-601-7252
428 Clarence Street, London
www.rajafinedining.ca

№ 44 | November/December 2013
journey to work through training and skills development,” says
Goodwill CEO Michelle Quintyn. “At Goodwill we change lives
and communities through the power of work and Edgar and Joe’s
helps us employ and train for the food and hospitality industry.”
Goodwill is collaborating with neighbours and other non-profit
partners who share common goals, including serving as a venue
for co-op placements for school boards.
On November 30, Chef Jerman Nunez of Che Restobar is
presenting a Taste of Peru which will be held above Edgar and
Joe’s Café on the 3rd floor of Goodwill Industries. A percentage
of the proceeds will sponsor the Canadian Latin American
Association (CALA). Tickets are $65, which includes a trio of
ceviche, an authentic Peruvian buffet and a Latin Jazz Band. Be
prepared to tango the evening away! www.latintaste.ca
Ogilvie’s Food & Artisan Market will feature an Outdoor
Christmas Market with great gift ideas, crafts, art, decor items,
food and more, Nov 16–Dec 22, every Sat & Sun 9-4. Christmas
trees are also available Mon-Fri 12-7. 1331 Hyde Park Road, just the
other side of the tracks from Crossings Grill & Pub.
Over the last 3 months Justin Wolfe of The Early Bird has
been completing a stagiaire, apprenticing and studying under
Master chef Graham Elliot at his Michelin-starred restaurant
graham elliot, learning new methods and techniques. Then
Wolfe was off to study butchery at Publican Quality Meats.
Wolfe is currently building a “greener” vegetarian-friendly
takeout bar at Fresh N Wolfe.
Your love of all things Italian begins at
Meats & So Much More!
Now Accepting
Special Orders
for the Holidays!
Vietnamese SUBS
First in London
Lunch • Dinner • Drinks
Hormone & Drug-Free Beef, Pork, Bison & Lamb
100% Local — from Our Farmers to Your Table
Authentic Vietnamese Dishes
Vegetarian Friendly!
We are your London outlet for Metzger Meat Products,
The Whole Pig , Blanbrook Bison Farm and Lena’s Lamb,
with sauces and spices from The Garlic Box, Pristine Olive,
Stonewall Kitchen, Hot Mamas and the
Hot Saucy
counter with jerks, rubs, mustards & aioli.
Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market: Saturdays, 8am–3pm
226-376-6328 • erin@saucymeats.com
Open from 11am Monday–Saturday
Closed Sunday
791 Dundas St. at Rectory • London
519 601-8448
Dine-in • Take-out • Delivery • Catering

44 www.eatdrink.ca
The Old East Village has added another new member to
its burgeoning “foodscape” and the restaurant has added
Vietnamese cuisine to the increasing culinary options in the
area. Chi-Hi (translation: eldest sister) is the most recent food
business to open its doors in the OEV, just west of Rectory and
beside True Taco. The traditional Vietnamese fare includes
black bean tofu subs, beef subs, pad Thai, vegetarian Singapore
noodles and black bean tofu vermicelli.
Sarah Merritt, Manager of the Old East Village BIA,
credits the renaissance in the area to entrepreneurs like
the Huynh family who have seen the opportunity in the
OEV and invested. “Good business people and in the case of
A Taste of Europe since 1974
CHRISTMAS
Luncheons & Dinners
3 Private Rooms for up to 85 guests
Murder Mystery
Dinner Theatre
$39 .99 per person includes a Mystery Unlimited performance,
salad, main course, coffee/tea, dessert, and gratuity.
See our website for more details.
Book Your Mystery Now!
Nov. 29 & 9 Shows in December
122 Carling Street (at Talbot, around the corner from Budweiser Gardens)
519-679-9940
Open Daily for Dinner
www.marienbad.ca
Lunch Monday–Saturday
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Chi-Hi, good cooks too, are enticing customers to come and
try the phenomenal meals. The OEV has such an eclectic mix
of food styles and menus that diners are very pleased with
the options and the tasting outcomes.” Merritt also notes the
spacing of the food businesses and restaurants on Dundas
Street is creating a very walkable food district.
True Taco owner Luis Rivas continues to wow guests by
providing the authentic flavours of both Mexican and El
Salvadorian cuisines at both his restaurant on Dundas Street
and every Saturday at the Western Fair Farmers’ and Artisans’
Market. Rivas’s expansion into new premises across the street
has been temporarily delayed.
Marcel Butchey decided recently to sell the Idlewyld,
billed as London’s historic boutique hotel with guest rooms,
banquet facilities and restaurant. Butchey rebranded the hotel’s
restaurant as Avenue Dining, bringing in a series of chefs that
included Alfred Estephan, Julie Glaysher and Jeff Fortner.
Tim Kingsmill, president of Kingsmill’s department store, is
the descendent of Thomas Frazer Kingsmill, who, in 1865,
founded Kingsmill’s on the same Dundas Street location where
it sits today. Kingsmill recently announced that he is retiring and
the business is for sale.
Auberge du Petit Prince’s chef Kyle Rose has been working in
professional kitchens since he began washing dishes at 13 years of
age and quickly worked his way up the ranks in various styles of
restaurants. After completing his apprenticeship through Fanshawe
College, he continued his studies in England, France and Japan. At
the Auberge, Rose focuses on contemporary French food, using
local ingredients with a combination of modern and traditional
techniques. Auberge’s new general manager, Mat Bennett, is also
an alumnus of Fanshawe College. After five years managing several
London franchises, Bennett is excited to be part of a growing and
talented team at the Auberge. www.aubergerestaurant.ca
Fire Roasted Coffee is creating a signature coffee and
chocolate bar that will be available for AIDS Awareness
Week in November. The company is still working out the
details but watch the website www.hivaidsconnection.ca. Sue
Brooks, Director of Community Relations, Regional HIV/AIDS
Connection, asks, “Start thinking now about ways you could
Upbeat Lunches | Intimate Dinners | Dietary Needs Accommodated | Ample Free Parking
bistro & caterer
46 Blackfriars Street, London | 519-667-4930 | www.blackfriarsbistro.com

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 45
use either the coffee or chocolate, or both, as gifts that would
keep on giving, as a portion of the sales will help us support
programs and services here at Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. “
For the second time, cancer has found another one of the
Fire Roasted Coffee family. Please join Fire Roasted Coffee
and the Western Fair Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market
(WFFAM) community in supporting their co-worker and
friend by purchasing a bag of specially-marked Pink Ribbon
Blend coffee, and know that the proceeds go towards a
wonderful person who means the world to many.
Erin and Andrew Jardine, who purchased Saucy: Meats &
So Much More! from Jane Antoniak, continue to provide
premium meat products available through the trusted, local
suppliers of Saucy’s. They saw the purchase of the business as
a natural extension of their commitment to sourcing local food
for their family. After only a year of operations at WFFAM, Saucy
has built a loyal following and the Jardines look forward to
continuing to grow the customer base by providing high quality
meat and sauces as well as exceptional, friendly service.
Allan Watts and Rick Weingarden’s Anything Grows SEED
Co. is now a permanent vendor at the WFFAM on Saturdays.
Hard-to-find seeds and organic sprouting seeds will be available
all year. More to come for the holiday entertaining season
— amaryllis and paperwhites, both bare bulb and potted
arrangements. Local organic garlic has been a specialty for years
— buy for eating or growing. www.anythinggrows.com
Monforte Dairy has won the Premier’s Award for Agri-
Food Innovation Excellence. The innovative capital-building
plan that allowed the company to establish itself in Stratford
has been recognized with a $75,000 award that was presented
to Ruth Klahsen by Premier Kathleen Wynne on October 6
at Queen’s Park. Plans are to use the money to open a school to
teach cheese-making in Stratford in 2014.
Bradshaws Christmas Open House: Mark this date in your
calendar and bring along a few of your friends for a fun night out
and the first look at Bradshaws in all its Christmas glory! Delicious
food samplings, hot new product demos, an assortment of holiday
giftware, kitchenware and entertaining items, and door prizes.
November 7, 5–8 pm. www.bradshawscanada.com
Chocolate Barr’s Anniversary Open House: On November 15,
Derek and Jacqueline invite you to raise the “barr’”and celebrate
a decade of making great candy in Stratford. Stop by to say hello
and taste complimentary samples. www.chocolatebarrs.com
A tasty new school year has begun at the Stratford Chefs
School. Explore different menus each night, created by student
chefs. Dinner reservations are available from 6:30 pm to 7pm,
Tuesdays through Saturdays. The Prune Restaurant, 151
Albert Street, Stratford. www.stratfordchef.com
Savour Stratford Tutored Tastings: Blue Cheese and Port, one
of the classic food and beverage pairings will be discussed and
thurs 10-4 Fri 9-7 sat 8-2
western Fair Farmers’ market 8-3
London’s Latin American Hot Spot & Cocktail Parlour!
Dinner Monday−Saturday | 225 Dundas St. | 519 601 7999
|
NEW
Mexican-Inspired
Menu
www.cherestobar.ca

Local is better
Vegetarian
Our Quinoa Maple bread
is made with fresh, locally-produced
Ontario maple syrup, and Quinoa
milled daily at our gluten-free bakery.
222 Wellington St. London ON N6B 2L3
519-850-1800
www.organicworksbakery.com
TM
№ 44 | November/December 2013
tasted with several variations of blue veined cheeses and three
different ports. Saturday, November 16, 3–5 pm. The Milky Whey
Fine Cheese Shop. www.visitstratford.ca/tastings
Christmas Cookie Classes: Does the sound of Chocolate
Peppermint Crackle Cookies, Gingerbread Biscotti and Salted
Caramels make your mouth water? Visit Stone Maiden Inn and
make 5 different cookies (one gluten-free) with Chef de Cuisine
Erin Delarge in this hands-on class. Take your goodies home to
share with friends and family during the holidays. Private classes
available for gr0ups up to 10. November 30 and December 7.
www.visitstratford.ca/tastings
Celebration of Culinary Arts Seminar: Join Fay Telfer and
Janis Fread for an exploration of food trends, changing tastes and
food habits from the early days. They will be showing examples of
kitchen utensils from the Museum’s artifact collection and providing
tasty recipes. Saturday, November 16, 9–11 am. St. Marys
Museum, St. Marys. 519-284-3556 museum@town.stmarys.on.ca
Mercer Hall Presents the SUPPER CLUB, a long table dinner
with a themed menu; guests are encouraged to dress up to match
the theme. Mad Men 1960s: ‘Home Cooked’ Ham Dinner, November
23, 6pm. Grinch Who Stole Christmas: Roast Beast & Who
Pudding, December 21, 6 pm. www.mercerhall.com/supper-club
Also enjoy Oyster Night at Mercer Hall: Fresh shucked
oysters and $6 glasses of sparkling wine.Year Round, Thursdays 8
pm until they sell out! www.mercerhall.com/oysternight
“Reasonably priced, fresh, well-executed
Ethiopian cuisine ...” — Bryan Lavery, eatdrink magazine
• Vegetarian
Options
• Takeout
• Catering
• Reservations
Recommended
ADDIS ABABA Restaurant
Tues–Fri 5–1pm • Sat 12–1pm • Sun 2–1pm
465 Dundas Street 519 433-4222
www.tgsaddisababarestaurant.com
www.davidsbistro.ca
ALWAYS
a 3-course
prix fixe menu
option
432 Richmond St.
at Carling • London

№ 44 | November/December 2013
Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre: A gastronomic 3-course dinner
teamed with a night of humour and entertainment! Saturday,
Nov. 30, Dec. 7 & 14, The Parlour, Stratford. www.theparlour.ca
Birtch Farms and Estate Winery offers many experiences
such as pick your own apples and pumpkins, a children’s
playground and a small corn maze. The winery features fruit
wines and gift baskets made from locally grown products as
well as tours, and tastings. Nov 1 to Tue. Dec. 24, Daily Birtch
Farms and Estate Winery, Woodstock. info@birtchfarms
The local producers of good, clean and fair goods in the Slow
Food Perth County Sunday Market have moved inside Local
Community Food Centre, Stratford. Sundays from Oct. 19–
May. 4, 2014 from 10 am–2 pm. www.slowfoodperthcounty.ca
A Wind in the Willows Christmas – Enjoy the holiday season in
a fresh adaptation by Alternative Theatre Works of A Wind in the
Willows , a delightful “family friendly’” adventure to Mole End. Dec.
10–29, factory163, Stratford www.alternativetheatreworks.com
fb.com/eatdrinkmag
twitter.com/eatdrinkmag
Our readers want to know, so send us info about culinary
events, fundraisers, and regional news. With BUZZ in the
Subject line, send to: bryan@eatdrink.ca.
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48 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
wine
Wines for the Holidays
By JANE ANTOniAK
Whether you are looking for something to
sip while wrapping presents, a perfect
pairing with your holiday meal, something
to uncork on New Year’s Eve or a gift for
your boss, the eatdrink Holiday Wine feature is here to
help! Our focus this year is on delicious, affordable and
local. ’Tis the season to support our Ontario growers
and producers!
A favourite wine road trip this time of
year is to Pelee Island Winery in Kingsville,
where the building is decorated for the holidays
and the selection of off-list LCBO wines
is certainly worth the drive. (Although their
sales reps will also make deliveries
to London-Stratford.)
The Vinedressers series is what
Pelee calls “the best of the best”
and some, such as Vinedressers
Cabernet Sauvignon, Red (a
blend of Merlot, Cabernet
Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
and Lemberger), and White
(a blend of Sauvignon Blanc,
Viognier and Chardonnay)
are available at some LCBO
outlets. The series includes
Pinot Noir, Shiraz and
Sauvignon Blanc Viognier. They
are all under $16 and provide
smooth, ripe, full fruit flavour.
The Red is rich with a shaved
chocolate finish. These are
crowd pleasers that are a step
above your house wine but still affordable.
The elegant gold label celebrates Pelee’s
historical connection to winemaking on
the Island, going back to the 1800s.
Ontario shines with rieslings which is
especially great news during the holidays
as the fabulous floral, honey and fruit
flavours go well with a variety of cheeses,
sushi, poultry, ham and, if you are like us,
the Chinese food
you order on New
Year’s Eve. Some
wine drinkers shy
away from rieslings,
thinking they
will be too sweet.
Certainly, German
rieslings are known
for their sweetness.
The Ontario (and
New York State
rieslings) vary from
dry to sweet and
are wonderful for sipping or at parties
where cheesy, spicy treats, and charcuterie
are on offer. Try the Cave Spring Estate
Riesling from the Beamsville Bench,
Niagara Peninsula which is dry, clean
and refreshing. Cave Spring also offers a
Medium-Dry Riesling and Dry, both LCBO
listed for under $15. If you like lobster or

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 49
crab at Christmas, and are not crazy about
chardonnay, this is your wine!
The great thing about riesling is that
nearly every Ontario winery offers it —
from Prince Edward County to the EPIC
trail near Windsor. The vibrant acidity
of the wine combined with pear, apple
sweetness makes this a “can’t miss” purchase
for white wine drinkers
— even for those who say they
only like dry! Check out listings
like Flat Rock, Featherstone and
Fielding.
House wines are important
at Christmas when the neighbours
come over, your cousin
drops by or you want to uncork
for yourself while baking,
wrapping gifts or watching
some favourite Christmas
shows. Palatine Hills Estate
in Niagara-on-Lake has some
fun and delicious wines like
their 1812 series. For
$13 you can have
a Cuvée first place
award winner with
the Merlot Cabernet,
which is blended with Cabernet
Sauvignon and Franc.
Palatine also offers a new
white blend, Quattro — as
the name implies it contains
four grapes: Sauvignon Blanc,
Gewurztraminer, Riesling
and Chardonnay. This is a
nice sipper and goes well with
a variety of cheesy snacks.
For a lighter, drier house
white give Singing Moon
from Pelee Island a try. This
Semillon Sauvignon Blanc
is a crowd pleaser and under
$13. Formerly known as Alvar, Pelee
Island changed
up the label to a
more attractive
blue, aimed at
the younger
audience. But
these Singing
Moons appeal
to all ages and
budgets.
If you’re looking
for a nice gift in
the $20 range consider Chateau
des Charmes Old Vines wines.
The Cabernet Merlot is estate
grown using the best grapes, hand
selected on the property. Chateau
des Charmes is also known for
its Pinot Noir which is also
offered in the Old Vines series
— estate grown and handled
with care by winemaker Paul
Bosc. Another interesting gift
is Ontario bottled mead. This
honey based wine is not quite
as sweet as late harvest and
is nice to sip with desserts —
which we tend to have plenty of
during the holidays! Rosewood
Estates in Niagara is owned by
third generation bee growers
who first brought mead to the
Niagara area. They offer five
different meads ranging up to
$40 a bottle. It is light and lovely and if you
can afford it go for the sleek 2007 Ambrosia
for a truly unique gift.
Holidays are not complete at our house
without Buck’s Fizz on Christmas morning
and more of the bubbly on New Year’s
Eve. While we were spoiled by enjoying
champagne caves
in California
this year, we
do support our
Ontario wineries
for “sparkling”
wines — especially
if it is going
to be mixed with
orange juice or
tippled late on
December 31st.
Secco, from Pelee Island, won me over several
years ago. It is light, crisp and not too
sweet. The bubbles rise rapidly in the glass.
Enjoying it makes me think of my friends in
Australia who taught me to enjoy sparkling
at all times of the holidays.
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
JANE ANTOniAK is a regular contributor to eatdrink — particularly
the drink side. Jane is also the Manager of Communications
& Media Relations at King’s University College, London.

50 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Beer beer matters
Harvest Ales and Late Season Brews
By The Malt Monk
Local craft brewers are beginning to
release their fall seasonals — fest
beers, wet hop ales, pumpkin ales
and big porters. This Oktoberfest
season saw a lot of great locally brewed
seasonal releases which rivaled the fine
selection of imported artisanal beers in
the LCBO fall release. I had a splendid
time sampling the many great seasonal
beers at the many fall festivals. The
appearance of three new craft brewers
coming on line and the increasing
diversity and innovation of styles are
indicators the local craft beer culture/
community is expanding and maturing.
Selection is up and so is the quality.
Notable Fall Releases:
Here are my impressions and recommendation
of a few notable brews
available this fall.
Amsterdam Autumn Hop Harvest
Wet Hop Ale (lcbo 337261) — One of the welcome
pleasures of the early fall harvest season is the appearance
of this year’s wet hop ales. Wet hop ale is made
with green hop cones, freshly harvested and
brewed the same day. Amsterdam has come in
with a great wet hop offering this year. This is a
deep gold ale with an aroma of floral-pine, hints
of peach and sweet pale malt. Medium bodied
with a bright fresh hop character. The flavour
profile has succulent hop humulones (pine,
herbal) in front with a sturdy pale malt spine
in a support role — goes to a clean bright
increasingly bitter finish with herbaceous
green hop bite at the end. Great harvest
time sipping.
Central City / Flying Monkeys
Red on Red Imperial Red
Ale (lcbo 360099, and on tap) — The
progenitor of this big double red ale
debuted at the Flying Monkeys tap takeover
at Milos Kral’s old London craft beer
venue Gambrinus. It was love at first sip
for me. The commercial release of this big imperial red ale
came together at last year’s Toronto Session beer fest, when
Flying Monkeys’ brewers hooked up with west coast
wonder-kid brewer Central City of Surry BC. Dubbed
a “collaboration ale”, the Ontario release of “Red on
Red” was rolled out in late summer on tap, and early
fall in bottled product at the LCBO. This is a brew
well worth seeking out — decants a shimmering
copper-red with a rich frothy cap that laces the
glass. Aroma is complex — big in tropical/
exotic fruits, earthy pine notes, sweet malts —
wonderful nose to it. Silken delivery but super
robust — the palate is deluged with lush tones
of guava and papaya married to rich red malt
sweet toastiness. The finish is slow and silky
accented by increased bittering — very lush
and satisfying. Making a single hop double
red ale with the new Mosaic hop and Munich
red malts was a stroke of genius. Flush with
mango, lemon, citrus, earthy pine, tropical
fruit, herbal and stone fruit notes, this great
red ale has a triple whammy of hop presence
in aroma, flavor and bittering which perfectly
complements the malts chosen. I love this big
red ale and I’m hoping it will be made available on a more
frequent basis.
8 Wired iStout (lcbo 328039) — Crafted
in collaboration with Kiwi artisanal brewer
Renaissance Brewing Company in Blenheim
New Zealand, 8-wired iStout is one of the
richest, most viscous stouts on the market.
Pours a deep black that seems to defy light. A
wicked creamy mocha cap lasts the whole
drink. Aroma is pungent and complex
— cocoa, coffee, dark dried fruit, roasty
malts, floral, citrus, hint of licorice — a
great amalgam of aromas. Body is big and
robust, rich viscous mouth feel. Flavour
follows aroma with more punch from
the hops, giving a decadent cocoa-dark
fruit-piney discernment — leads to a
long lush finish where roast malt and
hop battle for dominance. I’ve seldom
sampled imperial stouts that rivaled this
for richness or mouth feel. It’s definitely

an artisanal stout to
warm your winter
repose with a good
cigar or to create the
most decadent dessert
in beer geekdom: the
Imperial Stout Float (a
half glass of rich stout
with a generous scoop
of vanilla ice cream on
top). Enjoy!
Amager
Rugporter (lcbo
330381) — This rye
porter is the result of
hard roasted barley
malts and 16% rye.
I’m partial to rye
Amager Rugporter
beers because of the
spicy character. This is a Danish craft brew which combines
rye spiciness with the deep roasty-sweetness of a porter
and robustness of an imperial strength ale. It pours a
turbid unfiltered black with a three-finger sticky mocha
cap lacing the glass. Aroma is a wonderful blend of cocoa/
coffee roastyness balanced with an underlying piquant
spiciness. Flavour
has big chewy malts
in the front which
dissolve into a decent
roasty-spicey-herbal
bittering balance,
long rich finish where
the malts give way
to a complimentary
penetrating bittering.
Great lush porter
with a big spicy rye
character — highly
recommended.
Howe Sound Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale
www.eatdrink.ca 51
Eat Drink Magazine
Howe Sound Pumpkineater Imperial
Pumpkin Ale (lcbo 303610) — I have sampled this
big west cost pumpkin 1/4 beer page on a few occasions ad and it’s
wonderful to see it available in the Ontario market. A hazy
dark orange-amber high gravity (8% abv) ale brewed with
amber Vertical malt, fresh Size: roasted 2.375” pumpkin, west W coast x 3.935 hops, cloves, H
cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise. or Rich and spicy, it dries in the
finish — a superior well-crafted big pumpkin ale. Comes
in Horizon a one-liter capped Size: swing 4.875” top bottle W so you x 1.905” can finish it in H
two sittings. This beer is produced in very limited quantities
each fall so if you see it on LCBO shelves snag it. It cellars
fairly well.
“Barhopping into History
is a delicious brew of art,
heritage and London bar culture.”
Book available at select downtown
London retailers and on-line at
www.barhoppingintohistory.blogspot.ca

52 www.eatdrink.ca
New Brewers on the Block
The quaint Mennonite Village of St. Jacobs
is hiding a secret. St. Jake’s is now the home
base of Block Three Brewing Company, one
of the region’s newest and most promising
artisanal micro breweries. Once again we see
a commercial craft brewing enterprise started
by a group
of friends
who were
home
brewing
mavens,
who
decided to
take their
passion for fresh natural beer to the public.
This is a small 1.3 hectoliter brew operation
with seven hectoliter capacity; head brewer
Bryan Maher says the size works well for both
experimenting and ensuring fresh beer.
Block Three produces well crafted, fullflavoured
unfiltered natural ales. The brewers
ran out in their first week, supplying local
draft accounts and meeting bottle demand
from their walk-in retail store. I sampled
both flagship brews — King Street Saison
and Sugar Bush Brown Ale. Both were
incredibly fresh, flavourful and invigorating
renditions of these styles — very drinkable,
prime quality craft session beers. They will
also offer a rotating series of special brews —
rumour has it there is an Oktoberfest Marzen
bubbling away in their spare fermenter right
now. I can certainly recommend their brews,
and a trip to this rustic Mennonite village
brewery has its rewards.
Block Three Brewing Company
1430 King Street North, St. Jacobs ON
www.blockthreebrewing.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Malt Monk’s Pick of the Month
First Draft 1812 Butler’s Bitter (lcbo
34907) — It isn’t often I’m impressed with
an English Bitter or mild ale. These are
good sessioning pub styles but they’re
usually a tad wanting in body and mouth
feel for my tastes. Enter the current
offering from First Draft — Niagara
College’s Teaching Brewery.
Butler’s Bitter (4.4% abv) is a
mild bitter in name only. It
pours a clear shimmering redamber
with a sticky off-white
cap and a good cap retentivity,
which laces the glass wall
as you drain it. Moderate
carbonation as per an
authentic pub/sessioning
ale. Aroma is demure but
distinct sweet amber malts
over spicy-earthy hops and a
hint of fruit. Creamy mouth
feel, malty-fruity character,
medium-light body. Flavour
has hints of caramel,
succulent fruit tones, spicy
hopping and a solid malt
back bone — goes to a clean
lightly bitter finish. This is a
well crafted English-style session bitter
with Canadian crafted character. I could
tilt a few of these in a sitting — mild but
flavourful, very drinkable.
THE MALT MOnk is the alter ego of D.R. Hammond,
a passionate supporter of craft beer culture. He invites
readers to join in the dialogue at maltmonksbeerblog.
wordpress.com/

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 53
Beer matters
theatre
Donald DISHES on Local Theatre
By DONALD D’HAENE
“ I “dramas” I’ve sat through.
hate comedy!” a local thespian
is known to opine. Now that’s
funny. Especially after some of the
One of the most celebrated actors who
ever lived, Edmund Kean, is often credited
with this take: “Dying is easy, comedy is
hard.” I know something harder. (And no,
it is not keeping a straight face during one
of those dramas just mentioned.) Pulling
off an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy!
That isn’t stopping Passionfool Theatre.
They’re taking on Tom
Stoppard’s Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are
Dead — the playwright
at his intellectual best
(Nov. 8–23, The ARTS
Project). If you’re tired
of fluff but still want a
meaty good time, this
play is a worthwhile bet.
They’re not the only
ambitious troop in the
Forest city. The Hobbit,
Our Town, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat are just three of six Original
Kids Theatre Company’s shows running
at Spriet Theatre before year’s end!
Aptly named the “Season of Many Colours,”
it will be “a celebration of the colours and the
make-up
in the
world
around
us,”
promises
Artistic
OKTC’s Cast of Little Mermaid by Dana Couvillon Director
Andrew
Tribe. In theatre, he continues, “We breathe
life to the words on the page and bring them
onto the stage. We transform the black and
white text into a fresh, expressive landscape
of colour. The limitless tints and tones of the
characters in these plays will excite or calm
you, warm or cool you. The reds, yellows,
Raymond Moreau, Sarah Green and Chris Kevill in
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
blues — and everything
in between — that
shape our lives will
come alive in the stories
we tell.” Sounds
like a rainbow of fun at
Covent Garden Market’s
resident theatre.
Speaking of a colourful season, this fall is
proving to be one of the busiest for thespians
and theatre goers alike.
At the McManus Studio the fourteenth
season of The London
One Act Festival has
a four-day long
competition of short
plays of any genre
running 30 minutes
or less (November
6–9), immediately
followed by a missing
link theatre’s production
of Vigil by Morris
Panych (Nov. 12–23).
Last time London saw
this dark comedy produced was back in ’97,
upstairs on the Main Stage.
By the way, if you’ve been keeping tally,
so far our friend cited at the outset will be
hard up for drama this season. On stage,
anyway. Let’s see what else we have on the
theatrical horizon.
Well, the rest of us have a couple of
colourful old gems to consider: Musical
Theatre Productions kicks off their 25th
Anniversary Season with the 70 th Anniversary
of Oklahoma at the Palace Theatre
(Nov. 14–24) and Empty Space Productions
offers A Woman of No Importance at The
ARTS Project (Nov. 29–Dec. 7).
Who knows if any of these will be in the
running for my Fifth Annual Theatre DISH
Awards? I attend all comedies and dramas
in London each calendar year, and I have
a team of judges who take in the musicals.
Deliberations take place in December. Check
my web site later that month (donaldsdish.ca/the-

54 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
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DISH Awards photos by Richard Gilmore
№ 44 | November/December 2013
awards/) to see if some of your favourites
will make the nominations list.
Last January, we gave away a special
Ham DISH Award to the greatest ham
of all — Art Fidler. This time we have
created the best Drama Queen Award
in honour of Taylor Nesseth, who
passed away in 2012. When Taylor’s
parents Jane and Tim learned of my
fun DISH Awards they approached me
with the thought of creating an award
that would honour Taylor’s passion for drama
by honouring those who “play” all the time.
Two awards will be given out with a
$200 bursary attached to each. “We have
the honour of an award more befitting of
the way in which Taylor lived and how we
wanted it to be earned,” says Jane, “based
on character more than the academic.”
Sure the award Best Drama Queen might
at first glance appear silly (as awards do to
many). But trust me, it means a great deal
to two special people.
The last two shows I’m featuring this
issue are not eligible for my awards (as one
is professional, the other, out of town) but,
personally, I want to torture our comedy-
Art Fidler holds his special Ham
award (above). Kaitlyn Rietdijk and
Whitney Bolam (left) won for Best
Costumes at the last year’s DISH Awards.
hating Scrooge friend with a Christmas
gift of tickets to these two laugh-filled holiday
shows: The Grand Theatre’s Elf (Nov.
20–Jan. 4,) and St. Thomas’s Elgin Theatre
Guild’s Aladdin the Pantomime by Peter
Denyer (December 5–15).
Of course, I jest. To be fair to our theatre
friend who “hates” comedy, I do realize as
Woody Allen said, “When you do comedy,
you are not sitting at the grownups’ table.”
I knew there was a reason why I never
grew up!
DonALD D’hAene is Editor of donaldsdish.ca. Twitter @
TheDonaldNorth and email: donalddhaene@hotmail.com.

56 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
books
For the Love of Kitchen Gadgets
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
by Bee Wilson
Review by Darin Cook
We all know someone who loves
kitchen gadgets: those people
who walk into a kitchenware
shop and instantly start
drooling, as if utensils for cooking are as
tasty as food itself; those people who are
infatuated with the latest hardware that
will get things done better and faster. I
can’t say for certain, but I suspect that
some days my wife loves her KitchenAid
mixer more than me. Those kind of people
— the home cook and professional chef
alike who take pleasure in having excellent
kitchen supplies. A book by Bee Wilson
called Consider the Fork: A History of How
We Cook and Eat has just been released
in paperback by Basic Books and could be
a handy gift this holiday season for any
gadget lover in your life, especially if that
special someone already has four colanders
in different shades of green.
Unlike our ancestors who, until the
eighteenth century, made do with a
single cauldron to cook everything
(the original one-pot meal), modern
kitchens are perhaps overly equipped
with an assortment of utensils, tools, and
accessories for cookery
— some everyday
essentials like knives and
wooden spoons, others
for special occasions
like the turkey roasting
pan that may only
make an appearance
once a year. Julia Child
herself approves of using
excessive equipment;
in Mastering the Art
of French Cooking she
wrote, “A pot saver is a
self-hampering cook. Use
all the pans, bowls
and equipment
you need.”
Wilson starts
her book by
talking lovingly
about wooden
spoons as
the most useful
of kitchen implements, even if
they are unsophisticated compared to
the buttons, levers, and flashing lights of
modern equipment. Along with knives,
wooden spoons are the most rudimentary
of utensils, but have been designed with
all sorts of engineering and technological
properties in mind — concave shape and
length of handle for spoons; thickness of
steel and serrated blades for knives. Still
very simplistic compared to state-of-theart
cookware that can seemingly turn
a kitchen into a laboratory these days,
like the sous-vide machines for cooking
vacuum-sealed food in temperaturecontrolled
water with delicious results, or
the next big thing in refrigerator technology
which boasts of “a self-cleaning fridge
that would also do a
constant inventory of its
own contents, moving
goods nearing their
use-by-date toward
the front.” In contrast
to these ultra-modern
inventions, some old
standbys that are still
useful are really quite
old, like the ancient
mortar and pestle to get
ingredients pulverized
Bee Wilson

№ 44 | November/December 2013
just right, and the medieval invention of
the hourglass as an egg timer to achieve a
perfectly soft-boiled “three-minute” egg.
Wilson reports that an increased interest
in kitchen gadgets occurred shortly after
the first Cuisinart processor appeared on
the market in 1973. This mixing machine
was so successful in revolutionizing how
home cooks viewed work in the kitchen,
by replacing time-consuming knife work
with the press of a button, they sought out
as many gadgets as possible to continue
making their cooking efficient and fun. The
right tool for the right job is usually the order
of the day for gadget lovers and that is why
kitchens have esoteric utensils that seem
to have only one purpose. Many utilitarian
tools are multi-functional, like pots and
blenders, but we also have oyster shuckers,
escargot dishes, and lemon zesters which
all take some creativity to use for something
other than their intended purpose.
There is also the question of functional
versus decorative kitchen tools. The
first known pots have no archaeological
evidence of being used as vessels for cooking
over fire, but were rather used for religious
rituals or decorative purposes. Most modern
kitchen enthusiasts are in the market for
gadgets that are highly functional but also
sleek, funky-looking, and colourful. Le
Creuset cookware is known as much for its
trendy colours as for its high quality.
The inundation of gadgets gave us many
insights into the kitchen experience from the
luxurious (bean-to-mug coffee with a handheld
bean grinder and espresso machine
instead of instant crystals and boiling water),
to the redundant (melon baller — why not
just scoop with a spoon?). Even though it’s
highly unlikely that such a kitchen enthusiast
will ever have all the handy tools they need
for their dream kitchen, this book is for all
those people who love their mandolin slicers,
meat thermometers, rolling pins, muffin
tins, and pizza stones, and have an interest in
learning how these tools have influenced the
food we eat and cook.
Darin Cook is a regular contributor to eatdrink who works
and plays in Chatham-Kent, and keeps himself well-read and
well-fed by visiting the bookstores and restaurants of London.
Featuring specialty foods, kitchenwares,
tablewares, cooking classes & gift baskets.
115 King Street, London
519-645-1335 www.jillstable.ca
HOLIDAY BAKING IS HERE.
BE READY. VERY READY.
more ways to make baking better:
KISSTHECOOKONLINE.COM

58 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
cookbooks
The Flavour Principle
By Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol
Review and Recipe Selections by Jenna GAGel
Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol
have long been columnists for the
Globe and Mail, writing about food,
and wine and spirits, respectively.
Now they have paired their love of food and
drink into a book, The Flavour Principle, the
new standard for anyone who sumptuously
enjoys flavour.
“Every great dish has a centre of gravity,
and overarching flavour or essence that pulls
together other ingredients into a compelling
whole,” say the authors, explaining the
inspiration for their new book.
The Flavour Principle contains over
30 eclectic menus, organized around 11
different core flavours, such as earthy, spicy
and umami (one of the five basic tastes,
savoury but activating distinctly different
receptors on the tongue, as defined by
Japanese chemistry professor Kikunae Ikeda
— who, not coincidentally, patented the
manufacture of monosodium glutamate).
Well beyond wine, Crosariol gives us advice
on how to stock his version of a bare-bones
bar. Waverman weighs in with the basic
ingredients of a global pantry. Between the
two are the makings of a flavour extravaganza.
Wake up your taste buds with an old
Venetian favourite (but a new and trendy
cocktail in Canadian circles), Aperol Spritz.
We are warned not to deviate from the brand
name liquor. “Substitute an imposter and
the deceit stands out faster
than a Prada logo spelled
with two d’s. It’s in the
colour. Nothing delivers
the electric-orange dazzle
of Aperol, except maybe
for orange Kool-Aid.” Their
notes preceding the recipes
are a pleasure to read,
conversational and full of
humour.
Tired of turkey but
don’t want to break too far
from tradition? From the
Mediterranean comes
the inspiration for
Caramel-Pecan-
Dusted Sea Bass with
Cranberry Wine
Sauce. “The nutty
coating has a sweet-hot taste that,
when contrasted with the soft flesh of the
fish, gives an unbeatable flavour and texture
profile.” Crosariol recommends taking a cue
from the red wine sauce and serving a pinot
noir. “The ideal red for fish, medium-bodied
pinot keeps things light while delivering
berry-like fruitiness to complement the smoky
paprika in Lucy’s sea bass.”
Brussels sprouts are experiencing a
trendy revival, and Waverman’s Shallot
and Brussels Sprout Compote will have
even fussy eaters coming back for seconds,
especially when paired with Crosariol’s
suggested nutty white Burgundy.
Throughout the pages, the authors take
us on a global gastronomic journey, photojournaled
by Ryan Szulc, a Toronto-based
food photographer who has worked for
such major publications as Chatelaine and
Maclean’s and won numerous awards.
This is one of the best cookbooks Canada
has to offer and an excellent gift for any
home cook. The recipes and beverages are
completely professional, while the tone is as
welcome as an old friend. “We’re honoured to
be partners in your kitchen.
We’re just sorry we can’t
be there to help with the
dishes.”
This holiday season
tour the world via your
taste buds with Waverman
and Crosariol’s culinary
passport to flavour.
JenniFER GAGEL is a freelance
writer and can be reached at jennagagel@
gmail.com.

№ 44 | November/December 2013
Recipes from The Flavour Principle © 2013 by Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol. Photography © Ryan Szule.
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Shaved Root Vegetable Salad
Young, fresh vegetables give a whole different
look and taste to salads. Use whatever root
vegetables you can find for this one, such as baby
turnips and baby carrots. Bunches of baby beets
also work beautifully, but don’t mix red ones
into the salad until the very end or you’ll turn
everything red. The squash I call for is not a root
vegetable, but it adds another texture to the salad.
If you go with larger vegetables, use a mandoline
for shaving them. With the smaller ones, a
vegetable peeler works well.
Serves 4
Vegetables:
1 bunch baby white turnips, peeled
2 bunches baby carrots, peeled
1 bunch yellow or red beets, peeled
4 baby pattypan squash
Salt and freshly ground pepper
tO finish:
3 thin slices pancetta
2 cups peppery greens
½ cup shaved Pecorino
Romano or Parmesan
ShALLOt Vinaigrette:
1 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
1⁄₃ cup extra-virgin olive
oil
Salt and freshly ground
pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh
parsley
Shave turnips, carrots,
yellow beets and pattypans
using a vegetable peeler
or mandoline into a bowl.
Shave red beets (if using)
into a separate bowl.
Season with salt and
pepper.
Stir shallots, mustard and
lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk
in olive oil until emulsified.
Season with salt and
pepper. Stir in parsley.
Fry pancetta in a skillet until
crisp. Drain on paper towels
and finely chop.
Place peppery greens on a platter. Drizzle over a
little vinaigrette. Toss root vegetables, including
red beets, with enough vinaigrette to moisten.
Place on top of greens. Sprinkle pancetta over
salad and finish with shaved cheese.
PAirinG: Sancerre
I’m accustomed to eating radishes and carrots
straight fro the ground after giving them a quick
splash with my garden hose. But raw beets and
turnips were unknown to me until I tasted this
salad. I love the bitter earthiness, and if, like me,
you need a little liquid courage to give it a first
shot, make the wine a crisp, lean, citrusy Sancerre
from France, based on sauvignon blanc.

60 www.eatdrink.ca
Slow-Baked Arctic Char with Crisp Potatoes
Slow baking fish is not timeconsuming.
I like slow baking
fish because you get a very
even colour and a slightly softer
texture than when you use high
temperatures. The vegetable
accompaniment cooks on top of
the stove. The herb butter, with
its refreshing lemony saltiness,
makes the char even better.
Leftover herb butter will keep
refrigerated for a week or frozen
indefinitely.
Serves 4
№ 44 | November/December 2013
Crisp Potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 oz (55 g) bacon or pancetta,
diced
4 cups diced unpeeled red
potatoes
4 oz (115 g) shiitake mushrooms,
stemmed and diced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Herb Butter
¼ cup chopped shallots
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped chives
2 tbsp capers
2 tsp chopped fresh lemon
thyme
1 tsp grated lemon zest
¾ cup butter, softened
4 skin-on Arctic char fillets (8
oz/225 g each)
Preheat oven to 250°F.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high
heat. Add pancetta and sauté for 1 minute. Add
potatoes and sauté, stirring occasionally, until
a few potatoes start to brown, about 2 minutes
more. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook
for 8 to 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Uncover skillet, add mush- rooms, season with salt
and pepper and stir everything together. Cover
again and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes or until
mushrooms are tender and potatoes are golden.
Sprinkle with parsley. Reserve.
Combine shallots, parsley, chives, capers, lemon
thyme and lemon zest while potatoes are cooking.
Mix into butter.
Place char fillets skin side down in an oiled baking
dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush each
fillet with about 1 tsp herb butter.
Bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until white juices are
just beginning to appear. Place fish on serving
plates and dot with remaining herb butter.
Reheat potato mixture and serve with the fish.
PAIrinG: Pinot gris
This is the alter ego of pinot grigio. With the
popularity explosion of easy-sipping Italian
pinot grigio, a naming convention arose. Crisp,
simple quaffs tend to get slapped with the
grigio moniker, while more substantial “serious”
wines are called pinot gris (though there are
exceptions). The “serious” version is a specialty
of Alsace in France as well as Oregon and British
Columbia. The medium weight and subtle
fruitiness find their mark with this delicate fish
and earthy potato-based side.

№ 44 | November/December 2013 www.eatdrink.ca 61
Caffè Latte Panna Cotta with Decadent Chocolate Cookies
If you don’t have a hand blender or frother
to make the froth, you could easily just whip
some cream for the topping. The number
of servings will depend on the size of your
coffee cups. Have any leftovers for breakfast
the next morning and the caffeine will perk
you right up.
Serves 4 to 8
pAnna Cotta
1 cup cold strong coffee
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp gelatine
½ tsp kosher salt
1 cup whole milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
Froth
¼ cup whole milk
½ tsp gelatine
½ tsp granulated sugar
Combine coffee, sugar, gelatine and
salt in a medium pot. Bring to a simmer,
stirring constantly. Add milk, cream and vanilla
and continue to stir until mixture is warm. Cool
slightly, stirring occasionally to make sure gelatine
is well distributed. Pour into espresso or coffee
cups. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until set.
Heat milk for froth with gelatine and sugar in
a small pot over low heat until gelatine has
dissolved. Pour into a small bowl, cover and
refrigerate until it just begins to set.
Froth mixture with a hand blender until frothy.
Spoon froth on top of panna cottas. Sprinkle with
shaved chocolate if desired. Chill until needed, and
serve with Decadent Chocolate Cookies.
DeCADent ChOCOLAte Cookies
These soft, ultra-chocolaty bites complement the
taste of the panna cotta. Use very dark chocolate (70%
cocoa) for the biggest flavour hit. These can also be
made as larger cookies using a heaped table- spoon
of dough, which will yield 20 cookies. Bake them for 12
minutes. Large or small, they keep well.
Makes 70 small cookies
½ cup butter
4 oz (115 g) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
70 small (or 12 medium) squares chocolate
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with
parchment paper.
Melt butter and dark chocolate in a medium, heavy
pot over low heat. Stir until smooth. Remove from
heat and cool slightly.
Stir together eggs, sugar and vanilla. Blend into
melted chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl, sift
together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and
salt. Fold into chocolate mixture.
Place heaped teaspoons of dough on prepared
cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Press into rounds
with the back of a spoon. Cookies should be about ½
inch thick. Top each one with a square of chocolate.
Bake for 7 minutes or until the inside is still soft. Cool
on racks. The cookies harden a little as they cool.
Sprinkle with icing sugar.
PAIrinG: Recioto
I love the name recioto. It comes from recie,
Venetian dialect for “ears,” a reference to the
tendency of certain grape clusters to form two
little lobes that dangle from the main bunch. The
exposed lobes receive the most sunlight, yielding
super-ripe grapes that for centuries have been used
to produce a sweet wine in the Veneto region of
Italy, the precursor to a now more famous dry red
called Amarone. Recioto today is more typically
made using the whole cluster, left on mats after
harvest to dry and concentrate sugars. If left to
ferment to complete dryness, the wine becomes
Amarone, but when fermentation is halted part
way, it becomes recioto. Alternatives: California
black muscat or espresso coffee.

62 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 44 | November/December 2013
the lighter side
Christmas Mouse Trap
By SUe SUtherLAND WOOD
There’s no shortage of advice on
how to combat holiday stress,
including directives to think
ahead, make lists, delegate and
above all, keep it simple. But even after
distilling this strategy (and an alcoholic
verb seems appropriate here) the core
issue for me remains either doing what
I already know is too much, or else
forfeiting a cherished tradition and thereby
disappointing someone. Anyone. And let’s
be honest, family members know how
to select the skewer devised especially
for the heart and will use it ruthlessly if
shortbread — or lack of — is at risk. “But
how can it even be Christmas without
[insert labour-intensive
baked goods of your choice
here]. You always make that!”
This, delivered in a winsome
Tiny Tim voice, can usually
unsettle most mothers even
if the reclining someone
is conversing with you in
between festive blasts of
Grand Theft Auto (Of course Tiny Tim had
a crutch instead of a controller but I’ll leave
that comparative analysis alone for now.)
The enemies of the exhausted cook during
the holiday season are many. But social
media in its varying guises is the worst. Take
Pinterest: an enjoyable hour here and there
allows us to create the sumptuous illusion of
being productive, creative and ahead-of-thegame
but ultimately there’s the (cranberryvanilla
infused) rub! Rather than actually
making that Christmas cake with the lemonbased
royal icing and artfully scattering
some tiny silver balls (it’s like they’ve been
shot from miniature muskets, I always feel)
we are slowly becoming overwhelmed by
more and more (albeit extremely cool) things
to do while not having the time to actually
follow through.
Facebook is equally unhelpful. We’re
taunted by perfect photos of other people’s
apparent realities. Everyone else’s family
is “kicking back with mulled wine and the
whole house smells of cinnamon! Life is
good.” Am I the only one still folding laundry
at 9:45 in the evening so that my children
don’t have to dress by the light of the dryer?
There’s also a strange hollowness in all this
documentation. Lately, I have watched many
people carefully “styling” their meals before
posting online and I can’t help but feel how
much it detracts from the whole experience.
Similarly, seeing a neon shovel-full of Andy
Warhol-hued chestnuts on Instagram will
never rival buying them from a genuine
vendor on a bitingly cold afternoon and
singeing fingertips as you walk along eating
them in the street: hot, meaty and fragrant
from a striped paper cone.
There’s also the allure of
the wide open internet itself.
The quest begins legitimately
enough when I’m searching for
a misplaced recipe. But before
you know it, I’m obsessed with
learning how to make my own
soap from violets, which leads
quite naturally to a fascinating
piece on how wearing more stripes will
allow me to acquire Parisian chic, and
then a quick look-see just to confirm that
actor Chris Hemsworth is going to be roadworthy
as James Hunt. He is, by the way,
but it’s now 12:30 in the morning….
Stories abound of traditional dusty
fruitcakes still being desperately passed
around years later but mine is not amongst
them. I’ve heard family scorn about “those
store-bought cakes” only containing traces of
cherry DNA. Perhaps these so-called inferior
cakes have not enjoyed the meaningful
relationship that mine have with Sailor
Jerry. I cannot say — but I do know that the
Facebook status of my Christmas cake tin
will be “Just Crumbs Now.”
SUE SUtherLAND WOOD is a freelance writer who
also works in the London Public Library system. She lives in
London with her teenage sons and a floating population of dogs
and cats.

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