Eatdrink Waterloo & Wellington #5 February/March 2019

Issue #W5 | February/March 2019 

eatdrink 

The LOCAL Food & Drink Magazine 

Beyond Branding 

B•Hospitality 

Restaurants, Catering 

& Event Planning 

ALSO FEATURING 

Cerny Hospitality Group 

Blackshop, Melville Café & Solé 

Paris ON Road Trip 

I Love Paris When It Sizzles 

Craft Beer All-Stars 

Top Picks for 2019 

Serving Waterloo Region & Wellington County 

www.eatdrink.ca

2 | February/March 2019 

EXPLORING THE 

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and bakers. For just $30 you’ll get to sample our 

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Think Global. Read Local. 

Publisher 

Chris McDonell – chris@eatdrink.ca 

Managing Editor Cecilia Buy – cbuy@eatdrink.ca 

Food Editor Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca 

Editorial Consultant Andrew Coppolino 

Copy Editor Kym Wolfe 

Social Media Editor Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca 

Advertising Sales Chris McDonell – chris@eatdrink.ca 

Bryan Lavery – bryan@eatdrink.ca 

Stacey McDonald – stacey@eatdrink.ca 

Terry-Lynn “TL” Sim – TL@eatdrink.ca 

Finances 

Ann Cormier – finance@eatdrink.ca 

Graphics 

Chris McDonell, Cecilia Buy 

Writers 

Darin Cook, Andrew Coppolino, 

J.J. Francissen, Gary Killops, 

Bryan Lavery, George Macke, 

Tracy Turlin 

Photographer Steve Grimes 

Telephone & Fax 519-434-8349 

Mailing Address 525 Huron Street, London ON N5Y 4J6 

Website 

City Media 

Cecilia Buy 

Printing 

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Serving up 

Great 

partnerships 

OUR COVER 

This fresh salad 

typifies the approach 

of B•Hospitality, 

a multi-pronged 

organization with a 

growing profile in the 

region. Read the story 

“Beyond Branding” by 

Andrew Coppolino on 

page 14. 

Photo by Gary Evans 

Photography. 

© 2019 Eatdrink Inc. and the writers. 

All rights reserved. 

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regular printed circulation, replicated in full online, and is 

published six times annually. The views or opinions expressed 

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Contents 

Issue #W5 | February/March 2019 

Publisher’s Notes 

Making a Magazine 

Serving Readers and Advertisers 

in Equal Measure 

By CHRIS McDONELL 

6 

Restaurants 

Waterloo/Cambridge Pioneers 

A Brief History of 


By ANDREW COPPOLINO 

8 


B•Hospitality, in Southwestern Ontario 


14 

Wine 

The One That’s In Your Glass 

Favourite Wines ... Year ’Round 

By GARY KILLOPS 

18 

Beer 

All-Stars 

My Top Picks for 2019 

By GEORGE MACKE 

21 

8 

14 

26 

39 

44 

Road Trips 

I Love Paris When it Sizzles 

Paris, Ontario 

By BRYAN LAVERYK 

26 

The BUZZ 

Culinary Community Notes 

New and Notable 

30 

Recipes 

Yum & Yummer 

Ridiculously Tasty Recipes 

Review & Recipe Selections by TRACY TURLIN 

39 

Books 

Plate of Darkness 

Apocalyse Chow 

Review by DARIN COOK 

44 

The Lighter Side 

Behind Closed Doors 

By J.J. FRANCISSEN 

46 

21 

18

o u r n o t - s o - s e c r e t " s e c r e t " 

c o m i n g s o o n t o # d t k



Publisher’s Notes 

Making a Magazine 

Serving Readers and Advertisers in Equal Measure 

By CHRIS McDONELL 

There is nothing more exciting, and 

terrifying, than a blank sheet of 

paper for a writer. Of course, for 

most of us today, that is a blinking 

cursor in a new Word document on an 

otherwise empty screen. Like a skier looking 

down on an untracked hill of powder snow, 

we plunge ahead anticipating an exciting 

run but are somewhat unsure of how we 

will successfully 

navigate our way 

down the page. The 

creative process is 

underway. 

Each issue of 

Eatdrink magazine 

begins something 

like this. We set 

forth with some 

definite ideas in 

mind, but each 

writer is on an 

independent 

journey with their contribution. Their 

individual ski runs conclude with an emailed 

file to our Managing Editor Cecilia Buy, 

who takes a keen eye to their submission, 

ascertaining that they fulfilled their 

assignment with the grace we expect. Kym 

Wolfe is our diligent proofreader. Our Food 

Editor Bryan Lavery has a look as well, with 

the goal of ensuring that we are accessible but 

also accurate and appealing to the sophisticated 

diners and drinkers in our readership. 

While all this has been going on, our 

salespeople have been working on the other 

side of this business. While we place our 

editorial content as primary to maintaining 

our relevancy to readers, our advertisers are 

the lifeblood of the operation. Without them, 

we can’t afford to publish our efforts. 

Each ad is like each story, with a goal in 

mind, a beginning and an end. Studies have 

proven that the magazine reader sees the 

ads as integral to their experience of the 

magazine; they pay attention to them. In most 

other media, ads must work twice as hard to 

engage the reader, whose goal there is NOT 

to pay attention to the ads or commercials. 

Magazine ads have a definite advantage. 

About half of the ads in Eatdrink are 

supplied to us, and for the rest, we are directly 

engaged in the creative process of making a 

successful ad. Ultimately, readers make the 

decision on where 

they spend their 

money, but we 

give them plenty 

of enticing ideas. 

Marrying the 

ads with the 

editorial in a way 

that is pleasing 

for the reader 

and effective for 

the advertiser 

is the final task. 

We engage with 

readers on our website and through social 

media, and take that VERY seriously, but the 

magazine is the most tangible expression of 

our relationship with readers and advertisers. 

We have publishing Eatdrink since 2007 in 

London, Stratford and most of the western 

corner of Southwestern Ontario, but this 

is our first year with what I often call our 

“sister publication” serving Waterloo Region 

and Wellington County. We watched this 

incredibly vital culinary scene with some envy 

and anticipation for a number of years before 

the timing was right. We’re thankful for the 

welcome we’ve received, the amazing people 

we have met, and the invaluable connections 

that we have forged, but these are still early 

days. We’re excited to bring another great 

issue to you, and hope everyone is as pleased 

with this magazine as we are. That is our goal. 

Peace,

APRIL 25 th 2019 

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Eatdrink: The Local Food & Drink Magazine 

February/March 2019 | 7 

featuring 

Chef Michael Smith 

Tickets 

only $200 

Lindey McIntyre 

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Restaurants 

Waterloo/Cambridge Pioneers 

A Brief History of Cerny Hospitality Group 

Blackshop Restaurant • Solé Restaurant and Wine Bar • Melville Café 


With a 35-year history that 

began at the Blackshop 

Restaurant in the community 

of Galt in Cambridge, Cerny 

Hospitality has the distinction of being one 

of the pioneers of food entrepreneurism in 

Cambridge and Waterloo Region. 

“My mom and dad, Jan and Eva, opened 

Blackshop in 1983 as a 32-seat bistro on 

Ainslie Street North. I was about ten years 

old,” says their son John Cerny. 

The young Cerny started washing dishes 

and making salads and desserts in a family 

business that has grown to three restaurants 

in two cities: Blackshop and Melville Café in 

Cambridge and Solé in Waterloo. In building 

the hospitality group, with three different 

restaurant concepts, one thing Cerny has 

learned is that a restaurant has a soul. “It 

takes its own direction in a way. You can try 

to control it, and you can try to guide it, but 

it’s like a kid in a way. When customers ask for 

a certain type of food or wine or experience, 

you try to provide it,” Cerny says. At all 

venues, though, virtually everything served 

is made in-house, from demi-glace and breads 

to cheesecakes and other pastries, in-house. 

Overseeing it all is Dan Potter, Executive Chef 

of the group of restaurants, who joined the 

company in 1998. 

A Tale of Two Environments 

The Cerny tradition of paying attention to the 

details of food and hospitality service started 

6,000 kilometers from Cambridge. Jan Cerny 

went through formal hospitality training 

in the Czech Republic and began his career 

tending bar and managing restaurants. In the 

family’s last few years in the Czech Republic, 

Jan managed a ski resort and hotel in the 

Krkonose Mountains. “The family lived at the 

hotel,” John Cerny says. “My brother Alec 

Blackshop — where Jan Cerny started the tradition of 

hospitality in Canada for the Cerny family


and I grew up skiing. It was a beautiful 

environment to grow up in.” 

But realpolitik soon played a role. 

The Cernys came to Canada in 1980. 

John’s brother Alec (who passed 

away suddenly in 2013) had wanted 

to attend a particular hotel school 

in the Czech Republic but was not 

allowed to because the family were not 

members of the Communist Party. “My 

parents didn’t want us growing up in 

that environment,” Cerny says. The 

decision made overnight, the family left 

everything behind and took a significant 

risk to flee the country: they headed to 

Yugoslavia, ostensibly for a vacation. “We 

informed officials that we were having 

car troubles on our way back home and 

cut back through Austria and filed for 

political asylum there,” he says, adding 

that they were there about six months 

before being accepted by Canada and 

landing in Cornwall. The family never 

looked back; a relatively short three years 

later, they became restaurateurs and 

entrepreneurs, with Blackshop. 

In the meantime, none of the four 

spoke much English, but Jan got a job 

as a dishwasher at the London Hunt 

and Country Club before ending up in 

Kitchener — in what would turn out 

to be a serendipitous coincidence. “In 

1982, my father got a job working for 

Henry Krebs at the Ali Baba on Hespeler 

Road, and in precisely the same spot as 

Blackshop operates today,” Cerny says. 

“Though his English was still limited, 

he eventually decided he wanted to 

open his own restaurant and left Ali 

Baba to take the little house on Ainslie 

Street and turn it into a bistro.” The 

restaurant’s Blackshop name alludes to 

a family friend who was a blacksmith 

and created the original ornamental sign and 

ironwork. “The chandeliers that are above 

the chef’s table at the current restaurant 

are the originals,” Cerny says. With its oldworld 

approach to food and service, other 

than Greystones Restaurant and Scallions 

Blackshop was a primary destination for 

upscale dining in Cambridge — and it offered 

the first licensed dining patio in the city, too. 

A Family Business 

Jan instituted formal service at the Ainslie 

Street Blackshop but with genuine care for 


Melville Cafe is next to the Grand River in Cambridge 

building relationships with customers. It’s 

something that Cerny says has been carried 

on through all the businesses. “The staff is 

like family, and customers, both old and new, 

are an extension of that family.” After nineand-a-half 

years on Ainslie Street, and after 

Alec had graduated in business from Western 

University (John is a George Brown culinary 

graduate), the family decided to move the 

restaurant to Hobson Street. John designed 

the kitchen and worked with the chefs; Alec 

did all the financials, including what John 

calls “crazy magic” to make it happen. “The



move was a big risk,” he says. “There 

were few restaurants on the west side 

of Galt in 1992.” 

With its continental, northern 

European orientation, Blackshop 

stayed at the location until 2006 

when the family bought the building 

on Hespeler Road where Jan Cerny 

had earlier worked for Henry 

Krebs, and re-opened the 210-seat 

restaurant in 2007. Cerny points out 

the attention to detail that was paid 

in planning the various areas and 

rooms of the restaurant — each with 

its own atmosphere and yet with 

interconnected character — and the 

décor that is an homage to the Ainslie 

Street Blackshop. 

Throughout the evolution of the 

company both brothers essentially 

shared duties and oversight. However, 

in time John decided he didn’t want to 

stay in the kitchen and enrolled in the 

Bachelor of Commerce program in the 

School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism 

Management at University of Guelph. 

By 1997 Jan had started to slow down 

and take steps toward retirement — and 

the two brothers started thinking about 

another venture. 

“We had a café concept in mind 

but couldn’t find the right place.” 

They eventually learned about an old 

Seagram building in Waterloo where 

the Mediterranean-inspired Solé now 

operates: it had been empty for a decade 

— “a bird sanctuary,” Cerny called 

it — and was slated for demolition. 

Notwithstanding, in 1999 Solé was 

born. It was a big leap for the Cerny 

family, as well as for the building’s 

owner, to supply the needed services. 

“Waterloo already had the amazing 

Janet Lynn’s Bistro at that time but 

nothing with the Mediterranean 

element that we offered,” he says. The 

beam, post and brick interior of the 

150-year-old building is amplified by 

the rich and striking natural lighting 

— Solé — that pours into the 130-seat 

dining room. 

The Mediterranean-inspired Solé operates in 

the former Seagram building in Waterloo. 

A Full Portfolio 

While Alec has worked the numbers, 

John has seen to operations for the 

group. They always worked together,


and still did with the arrival of Solé, but the 

roles solidified to a degree: John managed Solé 

and Alec, Blackshop. Solé became successful 

quickly, a fortunate development that inspired 

the family to start contemplating yet another 

project: the City of Cambridge and the 

University of Waterloo School of Architecture 

approached them about creating a café in 

downtown Galt. “We developed a concept that 

would serve more than faculty and students. 

We came back to the previous café concept 

we had had and added more food service, 

with the same philosophy and approach as 

the other restaurants when it came to caring 

service.” Melville Café opened alongside the 

Grand River in 2004. “With three restaurants, 

we had our hands full,” Cerny admits, quickly 

adding there are no plans for a future venture 

at this juncture. The growth of Cerny 

Hospitality has allowed him to reflect. “The 

changes in food in Waterloo Region have been 

crazy over the time we’ve been here,” says 

Cerny, noting that the general public’s level 

of knowledge and education in food has, even 

in the last ten years, grown immensely. “It 

pushes everybody to improve and evolve.” 

A Legacy of Genuine Service 

In November 2018 Jan Cerny passed away. 

The family aspect of the business, including 

the staff and the relationships with loyal 

customers, remains the central focus at Cerny 

Hospitality because that is Jan’s legacy — 

and that has never been lost on John Cerny 

from the time he was a ten-year-old. “On the 

service side, it still comes down to genuine 

care that has been a core value for us. I don’t 

think that has changed.” 

Blackshop Restaurant 

595 Hespeler Road, Cambridge 

519 621-4180 

info@blackshop.ca 

monday to thursday: 11 am–10 pm 

friday and saturday: 11 am–11 pm 

sunday: 11 am–9 pm 

something 

for 

EVERYONE 

Cambridge Farmers’ 

Market 

Circa 1830 

Saturday Year Round 

7:00am - 1:00pm 

www.cambridgefarmersmarket.ca 

Melville Café 

7 Melville Street, Cambridge 

519-624-3984 

catering@melvillecafe.ca 

monday to friday: 8:30 am–8 pm 

saturday & sunday: 8:30 am–4 pm 

ANDREW COPPOLINO is a Kitchener-based writer 

and broadcaster. He is publisher of Waterloo Region 

Eats (waterlooregioneats.com). Andrew also serves as a 

regional Eatdrink Editorial Consultant. 

Solé Restaurant and Wine Bar 

83 Erb Street West, Waterloo, 

519-747-5622 

sole.ca 

monday–thursday: 11:30 am to 10 pm 

friday: 11:30 am to 11 pm 

saturday: 11 am to 11 pm 

sunday: 11 am to 9 pm


Stratford is 

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519.305.6464 

@redrabbitresto 

global tapas with local ingredients 

fresh cocktails 

Perfect for dinner, drinks and long conversations 

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85 Downie St, Stratford 

(next to Avon Theatre) 

519.305.8585 

85Downie.com


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watsonsofstratford.com 

519-273-1790


Restaurants 


B•Hospitality, in Southwestern Ontario 


B•Hospitality • Bruce Craft House • The Bruce Caboose • B@THEMUSEUM 

B•Elegant Catering & Event Planning • LOT42 Global Flex Campus 


Whenever opportunity 

has popped up, a certain 

Cambridge-based food and 

hospitality company has 

taken advantage. B•Hospitality is the group 

of companies that came into being in 2017 

and which includes the Cambridge Hotel 

and Conference Centre, B @ THEMUSEUM, 

The Bruce Caboose and Bruce Beast food 

trucks, and an impressive new kitchen 

facility at Kitchener’s equally impressive 

Lot42. The company got its start around 2005 

when the Guelph-based Skyline Group of 

Companies, co-founded by Martin Castellan, 

began contemplating a joint hotel concept. 

Unfortunately, Future Inns hotelier Bruce 

Brett, a partner in the business arrangement 

and someone who had become a mentor, 

passed away suddenly and plans were forced 

to change. 

Opportunity persisted, and in 2007 The 

Cambridge Hotel and Conference Centre 

opened, with good food in the community as 

a focus. “We wanted a full-service restaurant 

in the hotel because that adds to the guest 

experience, and we wanted to operate it in 

order to control our own destiny,” Castellan 

says. The restaurant was named The Bruce 

(and later Bruce Craft House) in Brett’s 

honour. The focus was for the venue to be 

“Cambridge’s hotel” and satisfy guests in 

terms of comfort and accessibility when 

it came to accommodation and dining, at 

the same time that it captured a share of 

the Cambridge community’s interest in 

the region’s burgeoning food and beverage 

While enjoying the culinary and beverage 

offerings at the Bruce Craft House, patrons can 

also savour such design touches as the elegant 

Chiavari chairs and crafted harvest table.


The plated salad (right), also seen on our 

cover, is from the 80 Ton room at Lot 42. 

Below right, the charcuterie board is from 

The Factory at Lot 42. 

scene. “There were lineups at The Keg 

because they do steak well,” according 

to Castellan. “We had to figure out what 

we could do well and give good value 

and comfort, and that’s the way it has 

evolved.” That aspect of the business 

model is the purview of Regional 

Executive Chef Aaron Clyne, who joined 

the company to develop the food and 

beverage program and shape its local 

nature. “Between 2010 and 2015, we 

spent a lot of time forging relationships 

with farmers and producers and our 

other partners, as well as finding the 

right staff and building the brand in 

the community,” says Clyne, a graduate 

of the George Brown College culinary 

program. 

In 2015 the group added the Bruce 

Caboose food truck. “We started to 

realize that the demand for the food and 

beverage we were offering was more than 

we could sustain within the Cambridge 

Hotel, so we took it to the people out 

in the surrounding community,” Clyne 

says. When Imbibe in THEMUSEUM in 

central downtown Kitchener closed in 

the same year, they took over the space 

and re-branded it as B @ THEMUSEUM, a 

quaint and cozy bar that is hugely popular 

with lovers of a diverse range of craft beer. 

“Our Managing Director Billie-Anne Arthur 

brought it to my attention, and we thought 

that it might be a good opportunity to work 

out some more catering,” Castellan says, 

adding that a Kitchener presence would also 

give the company a more regional face. And 

the catering, in fact, was growing. 

The following year the group launched 

B•Elegant Catering and Event Planning, 

before adding The Bruce Beast food truck 

to its rapidly growing portfolio in 2017. 

“We also revamped the Bruce Restaurant 

and Lounge and re-branded it Bruce Craft 

House,” says Clyne. The restaurant is a 

collaborative effort between the Cambridge 

Hotel and B•Hospitality with touchstones 

fire, craft beer and local food; a focus of 

the restaurant is the stone pizza oven that 

is used to make pizza, breads and bagels. 

There are about a dozen craft beers on tap. 

All of that opportunity was topped off in 

2018 when B•Hospitality built a magnificent 

7,500-square-foot catering and events kitchen 

at Kitchener’s mammoth Lot42, where the 

company is the food and beverage partner. 

Referred to as a “global flex campus,” Lot42 is a 

17-acre industrial complex built six decades ago 

on Ardelt Place, replete with original windows, 

open-web steel-joist ceilings, a gantry crane 

from the 1950s which straddles the space — one 

room of which alone occupies about 40,000 

square feet. “It’s what [Lot42 owner] Ron Doyle 

called an ‘industrial gothic cathedral.’ You don’t 

purpose-build something like that, but it’s 

there and it’s a unique and amazing space,” says 

Castellan. “The kitchen gives us the opportunity 

to do a lot of catering, and the team is excited to 

build the venue as a showcase piece.” 

The business’s evolution represents “a lot 

of growth in less than four years,” according 

to Clyne, but the idea of local food has never 

been lost. “To ask if you’re focused on local 

is a loaded question nowadays,” Clyne says. 

“The term has been used as a sales pitch, but 

I firmly believe it should refer to how you 

operate. We do a lot of fantastic things in this 

region, and I don’t think enough restaurants 

are capitalizing on that, though a lot more are 

now. I knew a lot of farmers and producers



B•Hospitality is the food and beverage partner at Kitchener’s Lot 

42. Below, comfortable leather chairs line the long table. 

from the past, and they do some great stuff. 

It just makes sense to work with them now,” 

says Clyne, who is conscious of minimizing 

the restaurants’ carbon footprint at the same 

time as showcasing great local products. The 

range of local product they use is significant 

too; the hotel’s in-room amenities might 

include simple maple syrup or chocolates 

made by Reid, but at the same time at Lot42 

crews are breaking down entire Wagyu cattle 

that come from a farm in St. Jacobs — and 

dry-aging it for 90 days in preparation for a 

company function. All the poultry comes from 

local farms, including Tanjo Family Farm in 

Millbank. 

Castellan is also a co-owner of Four 

Fathers Brewing located on Guelph Avenue in 

Hespeler, which is allied with B•Hospitality 

but operated independently. Three flagship 

beers are available at The Beer Store and 

LCBO, and about a dozen seasonal and oneoff 

products are available at the brewery, 

which also houses a small pub. “Certainly, any 

synergy and cooperation we can have with 

B•Hospitality, we’re game for that,” Castellan 

says. For his part, Clyne loves the 

beer scene. “It has just exploded. You 

once had to go seek out a craft beer 

spot, which was great for the craft 

beer spot but not for the consumer. 

Now everywhere has it, and it’s really 

accessible. There is so much going on 

with so many great breweries.” While 

he admits that it makes the industry 

more competitive, it also makes things 

more exciting. 

Future opportunities are, in ways, 

in progress currently, given the 

techniques and experiments that the 

kitchen at Lot42 is engaged in. “In the 

dry-age fridge right now we have a full 

bone-in tomahawk-style Wagyu rib 

that has been going for about 75 days,” 

says Clyne. There’s also cheese-making, 

smoking and curing that take place. 

“We do a lot of butchery. We’ll bring 

in 300 ducks and break them down 

and ship them to our various venues,” 

he adds. In a sense, it’s a production 

facility that is farm-to-kitchen where 

a farmer can pre-sell an entire lot of 

birds or beef. “It certainly makes the 

farmers’ business a lot easier and ours 

too when I know I don’t have to go 

to ten different farmers,” Clyne says. 

“We’re almost exclusive with most of 

our producers.” If you ask Castellan what’s 

ahead for the growing company, he, on the 

one hand, speaks generally that “this has been 

an evolution that’s about building a team 

and capability;” on the other, however, that 

team will be focused on the Lot42 kitchen, at 

least in the immediate future, no matter what 

shapes it assumes. “We want to showcase 

that kitchen as best we can,” says Castellan, 

noting that it can also be an instructional and 

demonstration space. “We want to be able to 

offer exciting and unique food experiences for 

people.” 


bhospitality.ca 

Bruce Craft House 

in the Cambridge Hotel & Conference Centre 

700 Hespeler Road, Cambridge 

cambridgehotel.ca/the-bruce-craft-house/ 

monday–thursday: 6 am–11 pm 

friday & saturday: 7 am–midnight 

sunday: 7 am–10:30 pm 

holidays: 7 am–10 pm


The Bruce Caboose 

cambridgehotel.ca/food-truck/ 

B@THEMUSEUM 

10 King Street W., Kitchener 

519-742-2337 

bhere.ca/themuseum/ 

monday: closed (available for private events) 

tuesday–thursday: 11 am–11 pm 

friday: 11 am–1 am 

saturday: 11 am–midnight 

sunday: 11 am–4pm (Brunch served all day) 

B•Elegant Catering & Event Planning 

belegant.ca 

LOT42 Global Flex Campus 

41 Ardelt Place, Kitchener 

519 603-5700 

For info on all spaces go to lot42.ca/our-spaces 


Farm to table award winning 

hand crafted alpine style cheese 

Gift Baskets & 

Gift Boxes 

Cheese Trays 

Fondue & Raclette 

Fresh Curds 

Tuesday to Friday 9am–5pm 

Saturday 9am–4pm 

Stonetown Artisan Cheese 

5021 Perth Line 8 

St. Marys ON 

ANDREW COPPOLINO is a Kitchener-based writer 

and broadcaster. He is publisher of Waterloo Region 

Eats (waterlooregioneats.com). Andrew also serves as a 

regional Eatdrink Editorial Consultant. 

519-229-6856 

info@stonetowncheese.com 

www.stonetowncheese.com 

REIDCHOCOLATES.COM 

AINSLIE STREET STORE 

42 Ainslie Street North, Cambridge | 519 621 6988 • 1 800 387 7731 

ELGIN STREET FACTORY 

39 Elgin Street South, Cambridge | 226 616 0720 

OLD QUEBEC STREET SHOPPE 

55 Wyndham Street North, Guelph | 519 265 8698



Wine 

The One That’s In Your Glass 

Favourite Wines ... Year ’Round 

by GARY KILLOPS 

What’s your favourite wine? 

Ask a dozen people and you 

will probably get 12 different 

answers. It’s a question I get 

asked all the time and for me there is no right 

answer. I like wine and I like a lot of different 

wines so I often use this canned reply: “My 

favourite wine is the one that is in my glass.” 

I follow up this impudent response by asking 

them what their favourite wine is. 

Now, I’m aware that many who ask me 

this question are doing so with the intention 

of learning a little bit more about wine. So 

when they tell me that they drink only red or 

white wine, I regard it as an opportunity to 

introduce them to something different. 

For me, wine really depends on the season, 

and often on the food I will be pairing it 

with. In the summer I tend to open more 

chilled, crisp white wines and in the winter 

find that I often reach for full-bodied reds. 

Change is good, and sometimes having a 

lively pinot grigio on a cold winter night just 

seems so right. 

There are several wines that I do tend 

to open a little more frequently 

throughout the year. These are 

inexpensive wines that offer 

amazing quality for the price. I 

guess you could call these some of 

my favourites. 

Vineland Cabernet 

Franc (LCBO #594127, $14.95) 

— On a recent visit to the 

LCBO I found bottles of both 

the 2016 and 2017 vintages on 

the shelf. The wine geek that I 

am saw an opportunity to do a 

vertical tasting. Both vintages 

offered ripe blackberry, juicy 

cherry, and a hint of cedar. 

Noticeably missing in both 

(and, to me, a good thing) were 

those herbaceous green bell pepper notes that 

are often found in Ontario cab francs. Both 

were fruity and medium bodied. 

Vineland Estate Winery, located on the 

Niagara Escarpment, is one of Ontario’s top 

producers of cabernet franc. A 2015 reserve 

cabernet franc with a $50 price tag sold 

out quickly at LCBO’s Vintages locations 

and between 2018 and 2019. Vineland’s 

winemaker will release a series of six “Cab 

Ride” wines that are all about “terroir.” They 

will come from six different Niagara vineyards 

(Neumann, Smith, Van Bers, Nichol, Hunter, 

Briar Creek). They are reported to all taste 

remarkably different even though the only 

difference is where the grapes are grown. 

These wines will first be made available 

to Vineland wine club members. Any that 

remain unsold they will be made available to 

the general public. 

For details on Vineland’s wine club visit 

vineland.com 

Pelee Island Pinot Noir Reserve 

(LCBO #458521, $17.95) — Good Ontario 

pinot noir can get a bit pricey. From time to 

time I have seen this wine on sale and I stock 

up. Pinot noir is so versatile. It 

pairs well with many dishes but is 

also enjoyable on its own. 

The 2017 Pelee Island Winery 

reserve pinot noir was 50% 

barrel-aged in French and 

European oak for six months. 

Red berry fruit surrounded 

by subtle vanilla and earthy 

notes. Ripe, crisp finish. 

I recently paired this 

wine with fresh grilled 

Atlantic salmon with citrus 

marinated plum tomatoes 

and balsamic reduction. It 

was perfect!

Your Local, Fresh and Wholesome Gourmet Market. 

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We may not bottle 

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Come explore Canada’s 

Hottest Wine Region. Our 

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Enjoy our scenic wine route 

by taking an unforgettable 

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adventurous, pedal your way 

around the county. 

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visitwindsoressex.com


Time to plan your next 

Road Trip to Lambton County! 

Our new drink trail allows you to sip 

and savour in any order you prefer. 

Quai Du Vin Signature Series 

White (LCBO #485821, $15.35) — I first 

tasted this wine last summer when visiting 

the winery. I purchased a couple of bottles 

on that trip and later wished I had 

picked up a few more. I shared it 

with company and everyone liked 

it. I am happy to see that it is now 

available at the LCBO, although 

currently somewhat limited in 

locations and supply. Buy some if 

you find it! 

An off-dry blend of riesling, 

vidal, pinot gris, and seyval 

blanc. Fermented in a 

combination of steel tanks and 

older French oak barrels, then 

blended. Red apple, pear, and 

lemon fruit notes dominate 

with a tasty off-dry lingering 

finish. 

Refined Fool 

Twin Pines Orchards 

& Cider House 

Alton Farms Estate Winery 

Widder Station Golf, 

Grill & Tap House 

Refined Fool (2 locations) 

Stonepicker Brewing Co. 

Widder Station Golf, Grill & Tap House 

Munro Honey & Meadery 

Twin Pines Orchards & Cider House 

Alton Farms Estate Winery 

Dark Horse Estate Winery 

Smackwater Tours –Transportation Service 

Wines To Look For 

Several issues ago I wrote an article 

on Alton Farms Estate Winery, 

which is located in Plympton- 

Wyoming, about an hour west of 

London. Since then the winery 

has been able to have 

two of their wines 

available in select 

LCBO locations in 

Lambton, Middlesex 

and Oxford 

counties. Both are 

$16.20 

GARY KILLOPS is a CAPS Certified 

Sommelier who loves to talk, taste, and 

write about wine. He shares his tasting 

notes on EssexWineReview.com 

Download the trail map at 

www.ontbluecoast.com 

1 800 265 0316



Beer 

All-Stars 

My Top Picks for 2019 

by GEORGE MACKE 

Anderson Winter. An amber 

ale spiced with cinnamon, 

orange, honey and ginger, 

Anderson Winter makes a 

beer drinker thankful for 

the cold weather when this 

seasonal from London’s Old 

East Village brewer reappears. 

True, Anderson is better 

known for its IPA and cream 

ale, but Winter holds special 

appeal. A fireside classic, even if the recipe is 

only two years old. 

Black Swan English Pale 

Ale. The Stratford brewery 

rebooted itself with a 

renovation and expansion 

last fall, and a commitment 

to creative new one-offs 

and seasonals. But no 

amount of recipe wizardry 

is likely to unseat this EPA 

as one of the biggest joys of 

the Southwestern Ontario craft beer galaxy if, 

like me, you like your beer malt-forward with 

a hint of hops. 

Cowbell Shindig. Sure, before opening 

their own barn-shaped brewery 

in Blyth they 

started by contract 

brewing Absent 

Landlord, a kolsch, and 

that’s likely the Cowbell 

beer most people know 

from the LCBO. But opening 

their own brewery has 

meant a dizzy whirl of 

new beer introductions 

Remember the Smash Mouth song 

All Star from the Shrek soundtrack? 

It’s an earworm right now as I think 

about my votes for the NHL all-star 

team and, since hockey and beer go handin-hand, 

has me wondering. If there were an 

all-star team of Southwestern Ontario craft 

beers, what would it look like? 

I know where my 12-pack of votes would 

land. Here goes. 

and while many are more flavourful and 

exotic, none hit the mark like Shindig Lager, 

a sessionable beer for all occasions 

and the biggest seller at the brewery. 

Elora Borealis. This grapefruity 

pale ale won a gold medal at the 

2018 Ontario Brewing Awards and, 

while it’s available at the LCBO, it’s 

best enjoyed fresh at the brewpub 

in the pretty Wellington County 

village of Elora. Maybe pair it with 

the pub’s warm pretzel and wild 

boar summer sausage platter before 

taking a stroll to the gorge or a short 

drive to the unique Wellington 

County Museum, located in the 

oldest standing poorhouse in Canada. The joy 

of craft beer is in the journey of discovery. 

Forked River Golden Boy. Released 

last fall in specially labelled cans as a 

tribute to London Olympic gold medal 

bobsledder Alex Kopacz, Golden Boy 

is a super easy drinking Belgian-style 

ale. The aroma is stone fruit, the wee 

spicy kick is from the yeast. 

This one’s podium-worthy 

and available at the 

brewery or its online 

store. 

Innocente Charcoal 

Porter. Is there something 

about Kitchener-Waterloo and dark 

beers? Innocente’s Charcoal Porter, 

a collaboration with Beertown 

restaurants, won a gold medal at the 

2015 Canadian Brewing Awards, and 

deservedly so. Think roasted barley

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and you get the idea behind this 

lighter-than-usual porter. 

Railway City Witty Traveller. 

There’s the famous Dead Elephant 

IPA and the summertime classic 

Orange Creamsic Ale. But I like to 

show a little love for Witty Traveller, 

a Belgian-style wit that’s light (4.2 

per cent alcohol) and flavourful. 

Sons of Kent 8 Track XPA. A 

West Coast IPA, 8 Track cranks up 

the volume with flavour coming out of all 

speakers. Named in honour of a 

music format that’s never coming 

back, 8 Track is big on citrus. Is 

that mango? And grapefruit? Yes 

and yes, just as you’d expect from 

the style. Skilled Sons of Kent 

brewers use three types of hops 

— Cascade, Citra and Centennial 

— to brew 8 Track. Pairs well 

with Horse With No Name 

playing in the background. 

Stone House Pilsner. A little brewery with 

a big beer, Stone House takes a page from 

Toronto’s famous Steam Whistle 

by concentrating on brewing 

a Czech-style pilsner. It’s 

brewed with aromatic Saaz 

hops, the same type used in 

international beers such as 

Stella Artois. Getting a taste 

means a journey to Varna in 

Huron County. 

Upper Thames Timber Beast Brown Ale. 

Sure, the workers from around the corner at 

the Woodstock Toyota assembly plant might 

prefer to end their shifts with an Upper 

Thames Backpaddle Blonde or Portage IPA. 

But it’s the brown ale from Upper 

Thames that makes my all-star list. 

Little bit toffee, little bit coffee, 

and a whole lot of interesting. 

Enjoy it at the original brewery 

taphouse at 225 Bysham Park 

Rd. or at its sister Brickhouse 

Brew Pub at 190 Fairway Road. 

Waterloo Dark. I’m so torn. Do I vote a 

rookie beer, Waterloo Salted Caramel Porter, 

as an all-star or stick with a familiar favourite, 

Waterloo Dark. On one hand, Waterloo Dark 

has been my go-to from their roster for years 

and it’s easy to understand why the Kitchener


brewery bills it as Ontario’s 

favourite dark lager. But Salted 

Caramel Porter speaks to their 

spirit of taste adventures, 

despite how big they’ve become 

(Waterloo Brewing announced a 

$9.6-million expansion last fall). 

Dark’s here for the long term, 

but Salted Caramel is a seasonal 

available at the Beer Store and 

the brewery. Your call. 

Wellington County Imperial 

Russian Stout. If you’re still 

thinking craft beer is a phenomenon 

invented by millennials, think again. 

Wellington Brewery in Guelph has 

been brewing great craft beer in 

the shadow of Sleeman since 1985. 

While some will point to Upside IPA 

as its best beer, I’ll put its bear-like 

eight-per-cent-alcohol stout on my 

all-star team any time. 

GEORGE MACKE is a Southwestern Ontario craft beer 

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The Charms of Paris, Ontario 

By BRYAN LAVERY 

Nestled in the valley where the Nith 

River meets the Grand, Paris benefits 

from its striking natural setting 

and its rich history dating back to 

1829, when the town was first settled. The wellpreserved 

buildings showcase architectural 

styles typical of small-town Ontario. The 

nickname “The Cobblestone Capital of Canada” 

pays homage to the churches and residences 

built with cobblestones pulled from the rivers. 

Voted “the Prettiest Little Town in Canada” 

by Harrowsmith Magazine, the town’s name 

originates from plaster of Paris, the product 

created from the gypsum beds that lay along the 

riverbed. Paris is the place to explore on a road 

trip or a weekend getaway. 

In the late 1800s the textile industry emerged 

as a key employer and economic force, driven 

by businesses such as Penman Manufacturing 

Company, which by 1880 operated three knitting 

mills in Paris. 

The Paris Wincey Mills Co. is the historic textile 

mill located in the downtown area, dating back to 

1889. (Wincey is not a surname, but a term used 

to describe a type of cloth.) The mill’s century-old 

hardwood floors have been rejuvenated, and the 

multi-paned windows uncovered and restored 

to allow access to natural light. The revitalized 

main floor is a well-designed space, reflective of 

Paris, Ontario 

Paris, Ontario has a historic tradition of textile 

production. Today, the Wincey Mills Co. building has 

been restored to house retail and food businesses open 

to the public, as well as upper-floors office space. 

its heritage, and showcases quality retailers in 

an indoor market hall setting. 

Blue Dog Coffee Roasters and 

Café and Tipperary Bog Fine 

Cheese and Gourmet Shop are 

open from Monday to Saturday. 

From Thursday to Saturday, the 

market features vendors like 

butcher Anthony Ferras’ Link 

Street Sausage House, Jiggs-n- 

Reels Seafood Shop, Florcita’s 

Classic Latin Foods, Sugar and 

Spice Bakery, Gourmet Popcorn 

and The Grilled Cheese Effect. A 

well-appointed, fully-equipped 

test kitchen was built with



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the express purpose of giving the venue 

a culinary focus. There is also an outdoor 

seasonal market and plans for future 

development of the lower floor. Office spaces 

on the second and third floors offer generous 

views of Paris and the Grand River. 

If you’re looking for a great place to stay 

in downtown Paris, the boutique literarythemed 

Arlington Hotel is a hip option. 

Originally known the Bradford House 

Hotel, the hotel has enjoyed several other 

incarnations. The hotel re-opened its doors 

last March following extensive renovation 

and redecoration of the circa-1850 historic 

building. Owned by The Other Bird group 

(who are behind Hamilton’s Rapscallion 

Rogue Eatery, London’s Hunter & Co. 

and four other culinary hot spots), the 

Arlington has 24 guest rooms inspired 

by authors and creative minds. From the 

playful Dr. Seuss room to the luxurious 

Oscar Wilde executive suite, each features 

unique decor and touches. The hotel’s 

blackboard-menu-based restaurant is 

named edit and was created by Executive 

Chef Matt Kershaw and Chef Paddy 

Townsend. The menu offers a rotating 

assortment of flavour-focused fare with 

playfully-named dishes like Smoky the Pear 

Salad, Darkwing Duck and Thanks Foie the 

Memories. There is Pork and Parsnip on 

the dinner menu with Pork Chop, Sausage, 

Pork Belly, Parsnip Purée, Brussels Sprouts 

in Chilli Maple Gastrique with Maple 

Demi-Glace. The hotel features a cozy bar 

and an intimate vibe. 1851 Public House, 

in the hotel’s cellar, is used mainly for 

private events. The space is defined by its 

stone walls, warm wood accents and retro 

furnishings. 

The Grand River Trails, transformed from former railway 

lines and just minutes away from the Arlington Hotel, are 

easily accessible and perfect for cycling, hiking and crosscountry 

skiing. 

Matt Cummings, owner of Paris’s Cobblestone Public 

House Restaurant and Midtown Kitchen and Coffee (billed 

as an artisanal New York deli-inspired coffee house), along 

with chef/owner William Thompson of Food Network’s Top 

Chef Canada and a Niagara Culinary Institute alumnus, 

have created a mixture of comfort, fun and affordable fare 

at Stillwaters Plate & Pour on the main street The restaurant 

features two outdoor patios including an 80-seat rooftop 

Juniper Dining Co. (above) is one of the many dining options available in 

Paris. Owners Brandon and Andrea Legacey are inspired by French bistros, 

and combine quality local and seasonal ingredients in their cuisine.


Discover Heather's 

Incomparable Journeys 

The Arlington Hotel opened last year after extensive 

renovations. Besides 24 guest rooms, the Hotel offers 

dining experiences from celebrated Chef Matt Kershaw. 

patio with panoramic views of the Grand 

River. Cummings and Thompson are set to 

open Trattoria at Midtown this winter, a 

new concept that will feature casual Italian 

riverside dining in a “cellar-like” atmosphere. 

The restaurant will include a temperaturecontrolled 

glass wine cellar. 

Since 1927 Paris Bakery 31 downtown Nottinghill Gate, on Grand Suite 203, 

River Street North has been Oakville providing ON TICO#50013851 the 

community and visitors with the finest baked 

goods. Owners Julia Pickard and Shannon 

Nunes feature baguettes and other artisanal 

breads. Homemade donuts, cupcakes, sausage 

rolls, meat pies bars and other specialties fill 

the counters of the tiny bakery. 

Off the beaten path on the less touristy 

side of the Grand River is Juniper Dining Co., 

which is worth the drive to Paris on its own. 

Juniper, owned by Chef Andrea Legacey and 

her husband Brandon, is the crème de la crème 

of the local culinary scene, inspired by French 

bistros and Lyonnais bouchons. (Bouchons are 

typically family-owned bistros that serve local 

specialties, with an emphasis on dishes that 

are heavily centred on meat and often feature 

heavy, rich and decadent cuisine.) Chef’s dinner 

menu is divided into sections — starters, small 

plates, sharing, and mains — featuring classic 

items like charcuterie, steak tartare, bone 

marrow, duck poutine, salt cod croquettes with 

malt vinegar aioli, olive oil poached halibut, 

celery root ravioli, and mushroom ragout. 

On the Lunch/Brunch menu there is a veal 

cheek Reuben, a 14-day house brined veal 

cheek pastrami, house-made sauerkraut, and 

Le Douanier cheese (Quebec cheese inspired 

by the classic French Morbier). There is a 

Lyonnaise salad with poached egg, pork belly 

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and duck fat dressing. At Juniper they combine 

quality local and seasonal ingredients with 

original cocktails, local beers and meticulously 

curated wines. 

Another iconic spot is the bright blue Cedar 

House Grill and Martini Bar (formerly an old 

mill that once operated between the Nith and 

Grand Rivers) that the Legaceys reopened 

earlier this year. 

If you’re looking for some real southern 

barbeque there is an amazing rack of smoked 

Alabama style ribs at Camp 31 out on Paris 

Road. 

If you’re considering a road trip to Paris, 

keep in mind it’s a four-season destination. 

It’s a short drive from Stratford, Hamilton, 

Cambridge and the Waterloo/Wellington 

County region, and easily accessible from 

London, Guelph, and the GTA. 

Eatdrink Food Editor BRYAN LAVERY brings years of 

professional experience in the hospitality industry, as a 

co-founder of the Lavery Culinary Group, food writer, chef, 

event planner, former restaurateur and mentor.



The BUZZ 

Culinary Community Notes 

New and Notable 

Compiled by ANDREW COPPOLINO, BRYAN LAVERY and THE EDITORS 

Arthur 

Word comes from CEO Keith Harris that KiKi Maple 

Sweet Water is now available from coast to coast 

across Canada. The small Arthur-based company 

has grown steadily over the past several years. 

Looking back on the past year, Harris says that 

KiKi products have been showcased nationally at 

grocery and food events but also in France, the 

United Arab Emirates and India, to name a few. 

He stresses that the maple water, in addition to 

being delicious, is an environmentally conscious 

“green product” and proudly Canadian. “All of 

our ingredients are natural,” Harris says. “And we 

have no synthetic additions to our beverages. All 

ingredients simply are very easy to say.” That’s a 

good way to start off this Buzz — and the new year, 

one which has been touted as a year of healthier 

eating. 

Baden 

The Nook Coffeehouse and Marketplace on 

Snyder’s Road in Baden opened in December. The 

venue, as well as serving soups, sandwiches and 

pastries also caters corporate lunches and foods 

for special events. There are also products for sale 

made by local artisans. 

Cambridge 

I guess you could say it is 16,000 square feet of 

“healthy.” Goodness Me! Natural Food Market 

opened on Hespeler Road at Sheldon Drive at the 

end of November. There are several other locations 

in the city, a testament to the movement to clean 

and healthy eating. The store features a bounty of 

organic produce and some local produce as well. It 

touts itself as offering small batch-produced grassfed 

beef and naturally raised chicken and pork. It’s 

also a good spot for consumers looking for various 

niche diet ingredients from vegan and plant-based 

to keto and gluten-free. 

Congratulations to Langdon Hall Country 

House Hotel and Spa and executive chef Jason 

Bangerter: 2018 was quite the year for the luxe but 

casual Relais et Chateaux country house tucked 

in amongst the woods in Cambridge. Bangerter 

claimed victory over iconic celebrity chef Lynn 

Crawford in “Battle Venison” on the Food Network 

television show Iron Chef this past fall. I guess I 

should say Bangerter “reigned supreme,” to use the 

quirky Chairman’s parlance. 

Langdon Hall was also informed that it would 

be included on La Liste 2019 as one of the best 

restaurants in the world. Selection to the list is 

based on the aggregation of dozens and dozens of 

guidebooks and millions of online reviews which 

are drawn upon by food critics and hospitality 

experts for evaluation. We can also add that 

Langdon was included in the top 50 Best Hotels in 

Canada by Hotel Addict. Experienced editors and 

travel writers associated with the online magazine 

visited and selected their favourite hotels across 

the country, and, based on service, amenities and 

design, created a shortlist of 50 top properties. 

With the departure of Brad Lomanto to Bloom 

Restaurant at Conestoga College this past fall, the 

Cambridge Mill welcomed Windsor, Ontario native 

Joel LaBute as Executive Chef. LaBute has cooked at 

Langdon Hall and alongside Stephen Treadwell and 

Keith Froggett. That is certainly a strong culinary 

provenance, and one he will use to carry on the 

culinary tradition at the Mill: fresh, local ingredients 

and ethical sourcing that has been in place since 

the Mill opened. LaBute will certainly add to that 

dedication — he and his wife run their own farm, so 

he undoubtedly knows food from farm to table. “I 

knew I wanted to be doing something with my hands 

where I could be creative, where I could feel proud at 

the end of the day,” LaBute explains in a posting on 

the Pearle Hospitality website. 

Saffron Indian Restaurant & Bar is an authentic 

Indian restaurant. Chef Kul brings the fine 

traditional cuisines of India to Cambridge. 

Saffron’s outgrowth, Dakshin, will be the area’s 

first dedicated South Indian restaurant and is


anticipated to open soon just across the road. 

605 Hespeler Rd, Cambridge, 519-267-8188, 

saffroncambridge.ca 

Elora 

Part of Pearle Hospitality, the Elora Mill Hotel 

and Spa, a classic and historic site, has been 

transformed and re-opened this past summer. 

Built by Scottish craftsmen between 1851 and 

1859, the original mill burnt to the ground in 1859, 

but changed hands and was promptly re-built. 

It opened as an inn in 1975, and was purchased 

by Pearle in 2010. The kitchen, led by Chef John 

Bakker, changes its menu with the seasons and for 

inspiration and ingredients draws on the bounty of 

local agriculture and artisanal production. 

Guelph 

Sugo on Surrey has opened in downtown Guelph. 

According to owner and operator Alex Tami, it’s a 

full-service, Italian-inspired and upscale-casual 

venue in a 150-year-old heritage home on Surrey 

Street East. Executive chef Brian Baxendale is in 

charge of the kitchen and the menu consists of 

shareable plates, a half-dozen or so hearty main 

courses, salads, pizzas and pasta dishes. “We strive 

to get the freshest local ingredients to prepare all 

of our dishes as well as work with local businesses 

to support economic growth within Guelph,” 

Tami says. Alex and Maria Tami’s Sugo on Surrey 

is a casual-fine dining restaurant with an Italian 

influence in a 150-year-old heritage home. 117 Surrey 

Street East, Guelph, sugoguelph.com 

A combined Abe Erb Brewing and Settlement Coffee 

Roaster will be expanding to Guelph this fall and 

will be known as Abe Erb at the Junction. It will 

occupy a former railroad building on Edinburgh 

Road in the Guelph Junction neighbourhood. 

Executive chef Joey Bornino’s Elizabeth Street Eatery 

is known for its farm-to-table approach. Chef works 


with small producers, with the ingredients inspiring 

the menu which changes weekly. 447 Elizabeth 

Street, 519- 265-0950, elizabethstreeteatery.com 

Decadently Yours, home of award-winning cakes 

and cupcakes, is celebrating its 5th anniversary. 

Congratulations to sisters Jenn Bonner and 

Tara Ridell. 119 Surrey St East, 519-262-5314, 

decadentlyyours.ca 

Artisanale Café is located in a heritage stone 

house where everything is made fresh, prepared 

Homestyle Cooking & Baking 

Family Owned & Operated Mennonite Restaurant & Bakery 

Homemade cooking & baking made fresh daily from 

scratch using the best ingredients! 

• 20+ Pies! • Muffins • Squares • Cookies • Sweet Buns • Donuts 

• Cheesecakes • Tarts • Cakes & Cupcakes • Bread & Dinner Rolls 

www.annamaes.ca 

519-595-4407 

Monday–Saturday 

7am–8pm 

Cash or Debit Accepted 

4060 Line 72, Millbank ON 

Saturday Brunch 

11am–3pm 

– Build Your Own Caesars 

& Brunch Mimosas! 

Dinner 

Tuesday–Saturday 

Catering 

Melting Pot Wedesdays! 

Chef’s Feature cheese 

fondues with a 

variety of dippers 

Toonie 

Tuesdays! 

Freshly shucked 

OYSTERS 

226.476.4418 

295 Lancaster St. W. 

Kitchener 

swineandvine.ca


in a French country style, using traditional and 

artisanal techniques. If you’ve never been before, 

the $35 Prix-Fixe menu on Wednesday and Thursday 

evenings is the perfect introduction. Lunch or 

dinner (Wednesday–Saturday), and Sunday brunch. 

214 Woolwich Street, 519-821-3359, artisanale.ca 

Park Grocery is Guelph’s latest restaurant by the 

Neighbourhood Group consisting of Borealis in 

Kitchener and Guelph and The Wooly Pub and 

Miijidaa Café & Bistro. The recently opened hot 

spot which is part bar, deli and grocery shop 

offers roasted piri piri chicken, sandwiches, 

salads and soups all made from scratch. The bar 

offers a selection of local beers and wine and is 

home to a barista-driven cafe featuring organic 

fair-trade coffee and tea alongside artisan sodas 

and milkshakes. With an eye to a sustainable 

future, Park Grocery supports a living wage and 

donates 5% of sales from the Neighbourhood 

Club members’ sales to local community and 

environmental initiatives. 294 Woolwich Street, 

519-265-9002, parkgrocery.ca 

The recently opened Fusion Authentic Indian 

Cuisine is co-owned by Jobi Joseph and Joseph 

Stephen. Chefs create “savoury dishes that are 

inspired and modern, yet comforting and familiar,” 

says the website. “Enjoy traditional dishes from 

North India or treat your appetite to delicacies 

from the backwaters of Kerala.” 96 Gordon Street, 

Guelph, 519-265-0999, fusionindian.com 

Founder of Taste Detours, Lynn Broughton is a 

certified Food Tour Professional. Not only do you 

have a guide who is charming, knowledgeable and 

well-spoken, but one who has the expertise and the 

savvy to provide a first-rate experience. Broughton 

recently introduced the Little Bites Food Tour. Join 

Taste Detours on this shorter appetizer tour. You’ll 

visit four local food purveyors to feast on their 

tastiest morsels. tastedetours.ca 

Crafty Ramen owners Jared and Miki Farrell make 

their own noodles in-house daily from Canadian 

wheat with a ramen noodle machine imported 

from Japan. The kitchen is dedicated to superb 

ingredients like earthy, pork-duck broth made 

with locally sourced meat and bones supplied by 

Trotters Butcher Shop. Jared and Miki are bringing 

their delicious ramen to Kitchener at King near 

Water Street soon. 17 Macdonell St, Guelph, 519 

824-8330, craftyramen.com 

Bryan Steele and his Guelph-based co-owner 

partners Conrad Aikens, Justin Corstorphine and 


Derek Boudreau, all of whom have experience 

in food, added another dimension to Guelph’s 

exploding culinary scene when they opened the 

88-seat La Reina last June. La Reina is an authentic 

Mexican restaurant experience start to finish. On 

top of tacos, which rival some of the best we’ve 

ever tasted, they offer 60+ different tequilas. Head 

chef Jose Matamoros brought with him chefs of 

Mexican background representing different regions 

of the country. You can “Tip the Kitchen” with Sol 

or Modelo beer. 10 Wyndham Street North, Guelph, 

519-265-8226, lareina519.com 

Kitchener 

Still yet unannounced formally, there’s a new 

chef and other well-known personalities at the 

popular Grand Trunk Saloon (GTS) in downtown 

Kitchener. And look for other new developments 

at the restaurant, according to ownership. Darryl 

Haus, a principal at GTS, says (while keeping his 

cards close to his vest), “Stay tuned in the early 

new year!” We will. 

Along Charles Street near Queen in downtown 

Kitchener, a confusing situation has cropped up 

regarding a “Royal” Shawarma that was in the 

process of getting ready to open. The sign now says 

“Loyal” Shawarma. Was the original name too close 

to that of Waterloo’s small chain Shawarma Royale 

on King Street near University Avenue, or some 

other legal or title snafu? 

Ambrosia Pastry Co., a Waterloo favourite, has 

re-branded as Ambrosia Corner Bakery and 

moved to the Central Frederick neighbourhood 

of Kitchener. Owner Aura Hertzog took over the 

space — once known by locals as Fischer’s Variety 

— that was previously occupied by Public Market. 

The new Ambrosia sells pastries and baked goods 

that are made in-house and many well-known local 

products, such as tortilla chips from Taco Farm and 

breads from Golden Hearth Bakery. 

Sadly, the so-called “Duke Food Block” in 

downtown Kitchener has been diminished with 

the closing of Bread Heads Wood-fired Pizza. 

Owner David O’Leary has chosen not to re-new 

his lease after several years of helping lead the 

pack in wood-fired pizza in Waterloo Region. LRT 

construction has had an impact on many of the 

businesses in the core, and it changed customer 

traffic flow and habits of patrons. O’Leary had 

difficulty taking deliveries due to ION transit tracks 

that run in front of the block. That said, look for 

a strong Bread Heads presence to continue in 

Waterloo Region and surrounding areas. O’Leary


plans to boost his mobile wood-fired pizza business 

by adding another unit in order to cover more of the 

many festivals and events he participates in across 

southwestern Ontario. 

The owners of a popular food truck, Breakfast, 

Blues and BBQs, have opened a small restaurant 

at 105 Victoria Street South between Michael and 

Joseph Streets. It’s the former location of the longstanding 

Sing Lee Chinese Restaurant, which had 

struggled under new owners of late. The BBQ folks, 

however, have gotten off to a fast start, and they 

will soon have lots of new residents living right 

across the street when a multi-storey condominium 

is completed. The restaurant serves the expected 

dishes of sandwiches, chili and southern barbecue 

fare, burgers, fish and chips and poutines, as well as 

all-day breakfast. You may also find banana bread 

French toast and claims for “all things chorizo!” 

Just a heads-up: during the week, it opens at 11 

a.m., so the all-day breakfast is a good strategy on 

the restaurant’s part. 


Platter (for two, comprised of short ribs, musubi 

and tartare), fresh fruit and root chips. 87 Ontario 

Street South, grandsurflounge.com 

Last year The Ignite Restaurant Group transformed 

the former Berlin into The Rich Uncle Tavern. When 

the building was remodelled as The Berlin, Ryan 

Lloyd-Craig spent eight months refurbishing and 

reclaiming the Renaissance Revival style of the 

building to create an 85-seat, street-level dining 

room with a long bar. The elevated open-kitchen is 

one of the focal points of the space. Chef Benjamin 

Award-Winning Cakes & Cupcakes 

Baked Daily from Scratch 

Custom Order for Special Events & Weddings 

— Vegan & Gluten-Free Options Available 

A Perfect Centrepiece for Any Event 

Top Choice Winners since 2016! 

A note posted on their door says that Taste at the 

Tannery (121 Charles Street West, Kitchener) “will 

be ceasing its daily operations indefinitely while we 

redesign and rebrand.” Interpret that any way you 

like. 

A recent notice in the newspaper indicates that 

bankruptcy proceeding are in progress regarding 

Fireside Deli and Family Restaurant on Ottawa 

Street South near Strasburg Road. There’s likely 

management and ownership changes coming. 

Conestoga College culinary graduate Alex 

Krawczyk runs the kitchen at downtown Kitchener’s 

recently opened and popular 30-seat The Grand 

Surf Lounge. The Lounge features exotic cocktails 

and a Polynesian-inspired Tiki bar themed menu, 

including poké, Flaming Crab Rangoon, the Pupu 

119 Surrey Street, Guelph 

519-265-5314 

decadentlyyours.ca 

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Lillico has an ethical and sustainable culinary 

philosophy, caring about the provenance of food and 

the way it is grown or raised. The restaurant has just 

launched a series of prohibition-themed dinners 

featuring beer pairings with guest brewers. 45 King 

Street West, 519-208-8555, richuncletavern.ca 

Located in the historical Tannery building 

Downtown Kitchener, Taste at the Tannery is closed 

for rebranding and remodelling. 121 Charles St W, 

Kitchener, tastetannery.ca 

Located below The Walper Hotel, The TWH Social 

has been a staple in the downtown Kitchener 

culinary scene since January 2015. Over the fall, 

talented co-chefs Grant Holdbrook and Carlo 

Atienza have crafted exciting new brunch, lunch, 

and dinner menus. The Lokal is the striking piano 

bar and lounge on the second floor. Breakfast is 

served in the Barristers Lounge. 20 Queen Street 

South, Kitchener, walper.com 

Best-selling cookbook author Donna-Marie Pye 

and fellow culinary enthusiast Maria Burjoski 

opened a stylish new iteration of Relish Cooking 

Studio and Kitchen Essentials a few months 

ago. 70 Victoria Street North, 519-954-8722, 

relishcookingstudio.com 

La Cucina features more than just mouth-watering 

pizzas from the custom-built Malagutti pizza oven. 

Other items include antipasti, homemade pastas, 

paninis and house specialties like Veal Parmigiana 

and Porchetta E Rapini. 320 King Street West, 519- 

954-5300, lacucinakitchener.com 

Gilt is a contemporary shared plate restaurant in 

a re-purposed space in the heart of the technology 

triangle. The bar, lounge and 65-seat restaurant 

is urbane, open, airy and sophisticated with lofty 

ceilings and a stylish and comfortable industrial 

ambiance. Chef de cuisine Alex Janke has been at 

Gilt since the beginning and has innate instincts 

when it comes to flavours, marrying global 

ingredients and enriching dishes by taking them 

to new dimensions. Janke’s repertoire includes 

influences from Thai, Indian, French and Mexican 

inspired cuisine. 305 King Street West, 519-954- 

6100, giltrestaurant.ca 

Jill and Mica Sadler recently celebrated Swine 

and Vine’s first anniversary. This is the perfect 

spot to share well-crafted cocktails, good wine 

and local beers, and build-your-own charcuterie 

boards. Other inspired fare like Bone Marrow, Beef 

Carpaccio, Octopus Salad and Jackfruit Spring Rolls 


are on offer. We love the tableside carving of the 

three-year-old dry-cured Jamón Ibérico served 

with warm olives. The pièce de résistance is a 

dessert board called Cookies n’ Milk for Grownups, 

featuring Triple Nut Biscotti with Frangelico and 

Chambord, Spiced Hot Chocolate Cookies with 

Rum Chata and Peppermint Schnapps and Milk 

Chocolate Orange Truffles with Grand Marnier and 

Kahlua. The Sadler’s also offer a fabulous Saturday 

brunch. Service is attentive and knowledgeable. 

295 Lancaster Street West, 226-476-4418, 

swineandvine.ca 

Ryan Murphy and Carly Blasutt’s Public Kitchen 

& Bar is a stylish independently-owned restaurant 

in one of Kitchener’s oldest neighborhoods. They 

take pride in creating delicious small, shareable 

plates inspired by the Iberian Peninsula. Cheese is 

a specialty; try the tasting featuring Iborez (Spain), 

Chateau de Bourgogne (France) and Bénédictin Blue 

(Quebec). They also offer well-crafted cocktails, 

new and old world wines and an all-Ontario craft 

beer list at reasonable prices. Menu changes 

sometimes on a daily basis. 300 Victoria Street N., 

519-954-8111, kwpublic.com 

Crumb Bakehouse is operated by Martha Borys, 

a master baker in her own right when it comes to 

breads, cakes and pastries. Borys is a graduate 

of George Brown College and the University of 

Waterloo, and has played a key role at prestigious 

businesses in the hospitality industry such 

as the Berlin and Langdon Hall. Borys has 

gained a solid reputation in KW since joining the 

Lancaster Smokehouse team for her unbelievably 

delicious homemade pies and baked good. Crumb 

Bakehouse currently resides within The Lancaster 

Smokehouse, but there are plans to expand into its 

own retail and kitchen space. 574 Lancaster Street 

W., 519-743-4331, lancsmokehouse.com/crumbbakehouse 

Chris & Cathy Corrigan’s Lancaster Smokehouse 

is a full-service casual restaurant inspired by the 

U.S. south and low country southern barbecue, 

made from scratch in-house with the best local 

ingredients, and using traditional southern 

methods. Tim Borys’ “inventive authenticityladen” 

approach incorporates all things local. 

He works with area farmers and food purveyors 

to keep “The Lanc” fresh and local. Think lipsmacking 

pulled pork, chicken, BBQ ribs, shrimp 

and grits, brisket, pig’s tails, gumbo and Cajun 

jambalaya. 574 Lancaster Street West, 519-743-4331, 

lancastersmokehouse.com

D in 

anada 


Waterloo 

Major renovations and re-conceptualization 

are underway at 12-year-old Wildcraft, one of 

the flagship restaurants of the Charcoal Group. 

You’ll find a bright new look at the restaurant and 

bar in early 2019. According to Jody Palubiski, 

Charcoal Group of Restaurants managing partner, 

both exterior and interior renovations will be 

undertaken. With menus and even staff uniforms to 

be revamped, it is a major changeover that includes 

a new cocktail, beer and wine program. “For more 

than a decade, Wildcraft has been fortunate to 

serve the community of Waterloo,” says Palubiski. 

“We’re so excited for our guests to experience this 

new chapter with us. The new year is a time for 

renewal and positivity which is exactly what we’re 

bringing to Wildcraft with the redevelopment of the 

restaurant.” wildcraft.ca 

We reported in our last issue that change was afoot 

with the growing Fat Sparrow Group: what has 

materialized is significant. The Group — comprised 

of Uptown 21, Taco Farm, The Harmony Lunch 

and Marbles — has acquired the holdings of the 

long-time Stone Crock Inc. in St. Jacobs, founded 

by entrepreneur Milo Shantz and his wife Laura 

in 1975. That means Nick and Nat Benninger and 

the Fat Sparrow Group will be gently refurbishing 

and adding their own distinctive touch to Jacob’s 

Grill, Stone Crock Meats and Cheese, Stone Crock 

Bakery, Stone Crock Restaurant, St. Jacobs 

Catering, Salad Division and Meeting and Banquet 

Rooms. “We have enjoyed great success in Uptown 

Waterloo with our current portfolio of restaurants,” 

says Chef Nick Benninger. “We’re really excited to 

be part of St. Jacobs now as it continues to grow and 

prosper.” Sandra Shantz, who has been overseeing 

the business since the 1990s, says she will be 

staying on with the Fat Sparrow Group. 1396 King St 

N, St. Jacobs, 519-664-2286, stonecrock.ca 


T&T Supermarket, a B.C.-based Asian grocery 

chain that is 25 years old and now comes under the 

Loblaw purview, opened to pandemonium in early 

December. Located in Westmount Mall, the massive 

superstore is over 30,000 sq.-ft. (interestingly 

making it the smallest of the T&T brand) and has 

an immense selection of food products, a bakery, 

hot tables, and fish in tanks (sure to raise the ire of 

some), a feature of which is cook-while-you-wait. 

OneZo Tapioca has opened at 140 University Avenue 

near Lester Street in the University of Waterloo 

Award Winning 

Artisan Cheese 

Come Experience Our World! 

Visit our cheese shop and sample our 

unique handmade cheeses. 

See and learn about how cheese is made. 

Enjoy the scenery on our 3-generation family farm. 

Group tours are available by reservation. 

MON-SAT 9-5 

445172 Gunn's Hill Rd, Woodstock, ON 

519-424-4024 

www.gunnshillcheese.ca 

ars! 

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36 | February/March 2019 eatdrink.ca |@eatdrinkmag 

area. It seems a new restaurant opens in the district 

every few weeks. Look for a new Chinese place to 

open in the former Chill and Grill location in the 

University Plaza that runs along Phillip Street. 

We reported earlier that Chic Pea Middle Eastern 

Kitchen was set to open on University Avenue 

near Weber Street, Waterloo, and across from 

the new Conestoga College campus, and so it has, 

in the former Pizza Hut building. Owner Nedal 

Alhares, one of the original founders and owners of 

Arabesque Family Restaurant on Victoria Street in 

Kitchener, has opened the 110-seat restaurant and 

open-kitchen concept with the intention of serving 

delicious food that’s healthy. He’s brought in unique 

charcoal rotisserie equipment for roasting chicken 

and serves items such as Turkish pizza, shawarma, 

kabobs, sandwiches, salads and a variety of Middle 

Eastern sweets. The restaurant is 100 percent halal 

and has many vegetarian options. 

The Loloan Lobby Bar menus are upscale, sensory 

experiences, meticulously conceptualized with 

sumptuously textured offerings that are tangy, 

spicy, aromatic and herbal. Loloan’s partners 

are seasoned restaurateurs and include General 

Manager Paul Boehmer of Bhima’s Warung, Renee 

Lees and Josh Koehler, of the Starlight Club and 

Jane Bond. Bhima’s manager Leanne Amort is a 

secondary partner. There are timeless cocktails 

and gastronomic forays through the regional and 

cross-cultural cuisines of Southeast Asia, with 

homage being paid to Indonesia, India, Vietnam, 

Singapore and Thailand. The cuisine packs heat and 

complex flavours in equal parts. 14 Princess Street 

West, 519-883-1010, loloanlobbybar 

White Rabbit is an intimate cocktail bar that 

can boast having one of the largest whisky lists, 

and stocking over 400 brands, many of them 

difficult to find. They make stellar handcrafted 

cocktails and have whisky and bourbon flight 

tasting paddles. 47 King St North, 519- 746-7540, 

whiterabbitwaterlloo.com 

Proof Kitchen & Lounge, located in the Delta Hotel in 

UpTown Waterloo on the site of the historic Seagram 

Barrel Yards, offers a first class, contemporary, 

chef-driven dining experience presented in a stylish 

dining room. Chef Jeritt Raney’s menus feature local 

ingredients with an emphasis on a fusion of global 

flavours. All seafood has the assurance of the Ocean 

Wise symbol. Menus are complemented by expertly 

crafted cocktails, a well-chosen wine list, and a 

diverse selection of local craft beers. 110 Erb Street 

West, Waterloo, 519 208 3333, proofwaterloo.com 

Red House in UpTown Waterloo has been converted 

into an intimate, relaxed bistro restaurant that 

has garnered great word of mouth from industry 

professionals. Chef/owner Dan Mc Cowan’s menus 

feature fresh food inspired by quality ingredients. 

The menu changes daily to incorporate new and 

seasonal ingredients and flavours. Entrées include 

beef, duck, curries, pastas and vegetarian dishes. 

Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Friday, and 

brunch and dinner Saturday. 30 William St W, 

Waterloo, redhouseuptown.ca 

Waterloo Brewing is celebrating a 35th anniversary. 

When the first small batch was brewed in 1984 

the simple goal was to make the kind of beer the 

owners would be proud to serve their friends, the 

kind of beer they’d choose for themselves. Back 

then, they were the only brew masters in Ontario to 

think that way. Turns out they were onto something. 

waterloobrewing.com 

Around the Region 

Who doesn’t like to eat and drink? The folks 

from EatDrink Magazine will be at the 2019 KW 

Wine & Food Show on April 5 and 6. This event 

allows visitors to indulge in craft beers, cocktails, 

wines and food from Ontario breweries, cideries, 

distilleries and local restaurants. Enjoy live 

cooking demonstrations, wine pairings and musical 

entertainment. Admission at the door will be $20 

(tax included) for Friday and Saturday evening 

sessions. The Saturday afternoon session will be 

$15 (tax included). Walk-up tickets will be sold 

based on capacity with preference given to advance 

ticket holders. kwwineandfoodshow.com 

The Ignite Restaurant Group (owners of The Rich 

Uncle Tavern, and Graffiti Market, Red Circle Coffee 

and Red Circle Brewing) have purchased the former 

Black Forest Inn in Conestogo. The Sawmill Road 

property is one of the oldest venues in the region. 

The group plans to launch Crowsfoot Ciderhouse 

and will offer its own brand of cider, brewed inhouse, 

using apples from Martin’s Family Fruit Farm 

on Lobsinger Line. The menu will be modelled on the 

traditional European smokehouse with a contemporary 

twist, combining German food culture and 

southern smoke barbecue. The complex is expected 

to feature a country market as well as serving as the 

new headquarters for Ignite. crowsfootcider.ca 

At The Belmont Bistro (formerly Village Creperie) 

Chef Brandon Gries, a Stratford Chef School 

alumnus, creates flavourful dishes from scratch, 

taking no short-cuts and changing the menu 

seasonally. 703 Belmont Ave W, 519-576- 5796



Celebrate the Culture of Cheese 

www.OxfordCountyCheeseTrail.ca 

1-866-801-7368 x3355 

tourism@oxfordcounty.ca 

@TourismOxford


Abe Erb Brewing and Settlement Coffee Roaster 

will soon be opening the doors to their new location 

in Ayr at 143 Northumberland. The brewery and 

brew pub will be known as Abe Erb at the Mill, a 

reference to the property’s storied history as a feed 

mill. There are also plans to grow into an event 

space with a 700-square-foot covered patio porch. 

We continue to hear raves about the traditional 

Danish comfort food (smørrebrød/open-face 

sandwiches) at The Danish Place at Sunset Villa, 

located in Puslinch, which reopens at the beginning 

of March, 2019. Join them on Sundays for the 24ft 

Smørgåsbrod! Open Thursday to Sunday. 7150 

Concession 1, Puslinch, 519-824-0539 

Eat Up Your February — From February 1–17, 

discover some of the best winter eats and local food 

options in Guelph and Wellington County with Eat 

up your February! www.tastereal.ca 

Wellington Brewery presents Queen of Craft Series 

Taking place each Friday evening in March, the 

series will include 5 sessions of beer education 

events for women. queenofcraft2019.eventbrite.ca 

Stratford 

It may be the end of another Stratford Festival 

season, which brought diners in droves to the 

city for prix fixe menus, but the city’s restaurant 

community continues to be open for business, and 

not just for the locals. Stratford has been known for 

decades for setting the benchmark when it comes 

to dining, but until just a few years ago it wasn’t 

feasible for many of the restaurants to operate 

year-round. That has all been changing and many 

great restaurants are open year-round. 

Drop by the Stratford Tourism Alliance for a 

slate of self-guided culinary tours. If you’re a 

choco-holic, the Savour Stratford Chocolate Trail 

is the way to go. Spend an afternoon strolling 

the Victorian streets of Stratford and sampling 

chocolate in a wide variety of manifestations. The 

self-guided Chocolate Trail is offered year-round 

and includes a gift at your choice of six of the 27 

stops. Tickets are just $30 (+HST) and valid for 1 

week from the date of purchase. No sweet tooth? 

There is also a self-guided Bacon & Ale Trail! 

visitstratford.ca/chocolatetrail 

Stratford’s newest micro-brewery is Herald 

Haus Brewing Co., situated in the historic Herald 

building, former headquarters of the Stratford 

Herald newspaper. The premises have undergone 

extensive refurbishment. It is owned and operated 

by Daniel J. Graver and a team which includes head 

brewer Jeff Macdonald and assistant brewer John 

Zippel. Drop by the taproom for expertly poured 

pints, cans for purchase and an exclusive menu 

prepared by the Hub kitchen team next door. Open 

Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 9pm. 21 Market Place, 

519- 508-1890, heraldhaus.com 

“A locally sourced restaurant, run by workers, 

owned by workers, shared by the community,” 

sums up The Red Rabbit’s ethos. Executive chef 

Sean Collins terms the cooking as “Flavour First, 

Ingredient Driven.” Chef’s mantra, “We cook food 

we like to eat.” We recently had a stack of luscious 

Buttermilk Pancakes topped with warm maple 

syrup and a generous slab of foie gras, followed by 

Vietnamese Caramel Fried Chicken and t savoury 

and nutty tasting Sunchoke Puree. 64 Wellington 

Street, 519-305-6464, redrabbitresto.com 

Jessie Votary and the folks at Stratford’s The 

Red Rabbit and Okazu 85 Downie love building 

new, worker-owned restaurants. The new Old 

Man & Son allows them another opportunity to 

offer fair wages and year round employment — 

and of course to serve the luscious, super fluffy 

pancakes, smoked bacon and sausage, avocado 

toast and other delicious food to early risers. At 

lunch there is a great selection of burgers and 

sandwiches with their own idiosyncratic twist. 

Open for breakfast and lunch, 7am–2pm. Closed 

Mondays and Tuesdays. 75 Wellington Street, 519- 

305-7575, oldmanandson.com 

Want to learn the trade secrets of making gnocchi or 

sourdough bread from the experts, or how to prepare 

a feast of Indian curry, or improve your knife skills? 

Stratford Chefs School Open Kitchen features a wide 

variety of hands-on cooking classes and learning 

opportunities for all home cooks and food lovers this 

winter. stratfordchef.com/open-kitchen 

We want your BUZZ! 

Do you have culinary news or upcoming events 

that you’d like us to share? 

Every issue, Eatdrink reaches more than 

50,000 readers throughout Waterloo Region & 

Wellington County in print, 

and thousands more online. 

Get in touch with us at editor@eatdrink.ca 

Submission deadline for the next issue is March 5. 

eatdrink.ca



Recipes 

Yum & Yummer 

Ridiculously Tasty Recipes That’ll Blow Your Mind, 

But Not Your Diet! 

Review and Recipe Selections by TRACY TURLIN 

Many of us will make a commitment 

to healthier living after the holidays, 

even if it’s a foggy memory 

of a New Year’s resolution shouted 

at a ceiling full of streamers. You may try a 

strict “I’m never eating cake again” approach 

but, for most of us, that just doesn’t last. This 

year I found a kinder, gentler approach to 

improving the quality of my diet that can work 

long after the New Year’s Day fog has lifted. 

Yum & Yummer; Ridiculously Tasty Recipes 

That’ll Blow Your Mind, But Not Your Diet! (One 

Spoon Media Inc: 2017) is Greta Podleski’s 

first solo book. The St. Thomas native is well 

known as half of the Looneyspoons team with 

her sister, Janet. Together, they’ve written 

four national bestseller cookbooks and hosted 

the Eat, Shrink & Be Merry television series on 

Food Network Canada. Greta, now based in 

Waterloo, has continued to share her love of 

good food with us. 

Podleski has a non-judgmental approach 

to healthy eating that makes us forgive her 

unholy love of puns. She’s a self-taught cook 

who is passionate about making real food for 

real life, preferring fresh, natural ingredients 

to something out of a box. Still, she does 

recognize that life is complicated and time is 

short. When a store-bought ingredient makes 

more sense, she advises reading 

the label carefully to choose the 

best one for your needs. 

For those who want all the 

details, nutritional analyses 

are included with each recipe. 

There’s an easy code with each 

dish indicating if it’s dairy-free, 

gluten-free or vegan. Most 

include extra suggestions for 

customizing the recipe or tips, 

in the form of “Kitchen Whizdom”. 

You can get the ingredients 

for all of Yum & Yummer’s 

recipes at any 

well-stocked 

grocery 

store and 

most can 

be made 

in time 

for a busy 

weeknight 

dinner. 

I think 

anyone 

could 

find 

something 

to love in this book. 

Podleski studied food photography so she 

could take the photos herself and the results 

are wonderful. There are beautiful pictures 

with every recipe in addition to a QR code 

(which she calls a YUM code) that you can scan 

with your smartphone or tablet to watch a 

short video. If, like me, you have a cell phone 

old enough to have a rotary dial, you can 

just go online to yumyummer.com to see all 

the videos. The only thing I enjoy more than 

cooking good food is watching someone else 

do it. 

The Apricot, Sriracha & Ginger-Glazed 

Meatballs are perfect as 

appetizers but I also tried 

Greta Podleski 

adding them to rice noodle 

bowls as a main dish and was 

delighted with the results. 

Made with ground chicken, 

they are light, sweet, spicy and 

tangy, hitting all the notes 

for a perfect snack. These are 

becoming a regular staple in 

my freezer. 

Move over Leek & Potato, 

there’s a new soup in town. 

Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup is


now my favourite cold weather food. It’s 

filled with all the flavours of a stuffed pepper 

but it’s easier to make and as a steamy bowl 

of soup is far more comforting. I usually have 

cooked rice in the fridge which means I can 

make this dish in one pot, in under an hour 

with pantry staples. Theoretically, this leaves 

extra time for more exercise, another New 

Years Resolution. Which I will do as soon as 

I’ve read through this book a few more times. 

And finished all the videos. I swear. 

Yum & Yummer is a very well rounded book. 


It’s informative, entertaining and visually 

appealing. Best of all, it shows you lots of 

ways to put more healthy food on your plate, 

keeping you satisfied enough to resist the high 

calorie, low nutrition offerings left over from 

the holidays. Which is not to say that this is 

“diet” food, just better food. Who couldn’t use 

more of that? 

TRACY TURLIN is a freelance writer and dog groomer 

in London. Reach her at tracyturlin@gmail.com 

Recipes excerpted from Yum & Yummer: Ridiculously Tasty Recipes That’ll Blow 

Your Mind, But Not Your Diet! (One Spoon Media Inc., 2017) by Greta Podleski, 

reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved. 

Apricot, Sriracha & Ginger-Glazed Meatballs 

As the saying goes, “These aren’t your mama’s 

meatballs!” Nothing against mama, of course. 

And I don’t believe that’s actually a saying. 

Regardless, I created this sweet-heat, partymeatball 

recipe specifically for Sriracha lovers. 

You know, the folks who carry around mini 

squeeze bottles of the trendy hot sauce on their 

key chains? Make these when you wanna kick 

things up a notch. 

Preheat oven to 400ºF. 

In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, bread crumbs, 

onions, hoisin sauce, egg, garlic, gingerroot, sesame oil, 

salt and pepper (using your hands works best). Form 

mixture into bite-sized meatballs, about 1 1/2 inches in 

diameter. Wetting your hands helps prevent the chicken 

mixture from sticking to them. (Ground chicken and 

turkey are kinda sticky!) You should end up with about 40 

meatballs. 

MEATBALLS 

1 ½ lbs (680 g) lean ground chicken 

½ cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs 

¼ cup finely minced green onions (with white 

parts) 

2 tbsp hoisin sauce 

1 egg 

2 tsp minced garlic 

1 tsp grated fresh gingerroot 

1 tsp dark sesame oil 

½ tsp each sea salt and freshly ground black 

pepper 

GLAZE 

1 cup no-sugar-added apricot jam* 

¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce 

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice 

1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce 


2 tsp grated fresh gingerroot 

½ tsp dark sesame oil 

Finely chopped green onions and toasted 

sesame seeds for garnish (optional) 

Place meatballs on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake in 

preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until cooked 

through. Stir meatballs once, halfway through cooking 

time, to brown sides. 

While meatballs are cooking, prepare glaze. In a 10-inch, 

deep, non-stick skillet, whisk together jam, soy sauce, 

lime juice, Sriracha, garlic, gingerroot, and sesame oil. 

Cook over medium-high heat until mixture is hot and 

bubbly and jam has melted. Add cooked meatballs and 

mix gently, ensuring every meatball is coated with sauce. 

Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, if using. 

Serve hot. 

Makes about 40 meatballs 

Per meatball: 40 calories 

1.5 g total fat (0.4 g saturated fat) 

3.6 g protein 

3.3 g carbohydrate (0 g fiber, 2.6 g sugars) 

20 mg cholesterol 

121 mg sodium 

* I found three brands of no-sugar-added 

apricot jam at my grocery store, including 

the ubiquitous Smuckers.



Scan the code for a How-To Video! 

https://youtu.be/mj_WR256irM


Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup 


We all know that guy who says soup’s not a meal 

unless it contains meat, right? I can see you nodding! 

I guarantee you won’t hear any “where’s the beef?” 

complaints when he eats this feast of a soup for 

dinner, since it’s meaty, manly and mighty filling. Plus, 

it really does taste like a stuffed bell pepper ... only 

much easier to make! 

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 ¼ lbs (568 g) extra-lean ground beef 

1½ cups diced green bell peppers 

1 cup diced onions 


1 ½ tsp dried marjoram 

1 ½ tsp chili powder 

½ tsp dried basil 

½ tsp dried fennel seeds (optional) 

4 cups reduced-sodium beef broth 

1 can (19 oz/540 mL) petite-cut tomatoes (with 

liquid) 

1 ½ cups tomato sauce (see Kitchen Whizdom) 

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper 

Sea salt to taste 

2 cups cooked brown rice 

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high 

heat. Add beef. Cook and stir until beef is no longer pink 

and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add bell peppers, 

onions and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to 

soften, about 3 more minutes. 

Add marjoram, chili powder, basil and fennel seeds, if 

using. Cook and stir for one more minute. Add beef broth, 

tomatoes with their liquid , tomato sauce and pepper. 

Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, 

covered, for 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if needed. (I 

almost always add salt at this point, depending on the 

broth I use.) 

If serving immediately, stir in cooked rice, then ladle soup 

into serving bowls. If you’re planning on eating the soup 

over the course of a couple days, keep the rice separate, 

otherwise it’ll soak up all the broth. 

Makes about 12 cups soup 

Per cup: 174 calories 

6.6g total fat (2 g saturated fat) 

12.7g protein 

16 g carbohydrate (2.4 g fiber, 4.6 g sugars) 

26 mg cholesterol 

222 mg sodium 

KITCHEN WHIZDOM 

I don’t like big pieces of vegetables in this soup, so I dice 

the onions and bell peppers small and use “petite-cut” 

canned tomatoes (usually with green peppers, celery and 

onions added ... a good compliment to this soup). You can 

use plain tomato sauce or your favourite, tomato-based 

pasta sauce for extra flavour. For example, I often use 

Classico brand Sweet Basil Marinara in this soup. By the 

way, the chili powder doesn’t make the soup taste like 

chili. It just makes it taste BETTER! Use the fennel seeds 

if you like the mild black-licorice taste of Italian sausage. 

Those with fennel phobia should leave it out. 

Follow Eatdrink on Facebook 

(facebook.com/eatdrinkmag) 

and watch for our contest to win a 

copy of Yum & Yummer, personally 

autographed by Greta Podleski. Coming soon! 

DINNER SERIES 

October-March 

Calendar, menus and 

reservations online 

StratfordChefsSchool 

@StratfordChef 

OPEN KITCHEN 

Hands-on classes for the 

dedicated home cook. 

Registration online 

stratfordchef.com



Scan the code for a How-To Video! 

https://youtu.be/fI6MPC2NPcU



Books 

Plate of Darkness 

Apocalypse Chow 

A Remix of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness 

by David Julian Wightman 

Review by DARIN COOK 

A 

Toronto-educated, Ottawa-based 

journalist has given the restaurant 

scene a wild makeover —not by 

cooking elaborate dishes, mixing 

exotic drinks, or waiting tables with exquisite 

aplomb, but by brewing up a fictional 

rendering of chefs in grand literary style. 

Introduced in Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart 

of Darkness in 1899, Kurtz and Marlow are two 

names oozing with literary history. Francis 

Ford Coppola famously adopted the characters 

into the 1979 Hollywood blockbuster 

Apocalypse Now. With a tip of the hat to 

both those classics, David Julian Wightman 

has written a parody of Conrad’s story and 

Coppola’s movie by giving Kurtz and Marlow 

new culinary identities in his self-published 

book, Apocalypse Chow: A Remix of Joseph 

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (2018). 

The story starts at Belly, New York’s hottest 

restaurant, with the usual 

suspects gathering after a 

weekend closing. Along with 

Wightman’s readers, the 

group of chefs, busboys and 

waiters are led down a path 

exploring the dark corners of 

the restaurant world. Charlie 

Marlow points out to his 

colleagues that Manhattan 

is “one of the dark places 

of the Earth,” but the rest 

of them know he has seen 

harsher territories in a swathe 

of illustrious restaurants 

jobs, the wildest of all being 

his time at Chow, a remote 

destination restaurant in 

northern Ontario. Walter 

Kurtz was the head chef at 

Author David Julian Wightman 

Chow and gained 

a reputation as 

the most talented 

chef in Canada. 

But he went 

rogue, and the 

restaurant 

owners wanted 

to part ways 

with the unorthodox 

chef. They recruited Marlow, a legendary 

restaurant manager in his own right, to track 

down and relieve the renegade chef of his 

duties. 

Nearly the entire novella is in Marlow’s 

words as he tells his restaurant brethren at 

Belly about his venture into the hinterlands 

to confront Chef Kurtz. As a veteran in the 

field, Marlow knows “the restaurant industry 

can be a stifling thing, a burden we choose 

to carry, to varying degrees 

of commitment. It can turn 

men into monsters.” He 

yearns to know what drove 

Kurtz over the deep end 

and into the weeds, because 

firing the best chef in Canada 

seemed a tall order without 

knowing the full story. It 

took some time for Marlow 

and his crew to trek by land 

and river to the secluded 

restaurant. He tells us how 

“the journey felt like a 

tortured night at work, when 

the hordes are at table and 

the restaurant struggles to 

cope … the madness of an 

out-of-control service.” He 

used the time to contemplate


his mission and to gain an understanding 

of the wayward chef by talking to others 

— renegade food truck owners, strung-out 

dishwashers, overworked kitchen staff, 

sycophantic food critics. Kurtz was so well 

known for his outstanding food, people didn’t 

know whether to praise him or ostracize 

him. Wightman’s readers are strung along 

to find out what will happen once Marlow 

tracks down this so-called visionary chef. 

Will Marlow be able to follow through with 

his mission, or will “the inestimable privilege 

of dining at Chow” and the enticement of 

delectable cuisine from a culinary genius 

distract him from the job he was hired to do? 

Readers not familiar with the namesake 

works need not worry, since Apocalypse 

Chow is an enjoyable stand-alone read that 

clearly comes from a writer who knows the 

restaurant world. The story Marlow tells 

is steeped in restaurant lore. Wightman 

could be part of that kitchen crew sitting 

around the table in Belly: “Between us was 

the bond of the restaurant trade, a common 

understanding among men who’d long 

served.” Wightman put himself through 

Ryerson journalism school by bartending 

and waiting tables in Toronto restaurants 

and Marlow’s recap of his own experience is 

influenced by those years of service, including 

observations about food security, the allure 

of celebrity chefs, the hierarchical tensions 

between restaurant staff at the front and back 

of house, and illustrious menus comprised of 

the prodigious bounty of ingredients found by 

foraging in northern Ontario. 

Marlow says that his trip to Chow “seemed 

to throw a kind of light on everything about 

me, and the industry, and the entire society 

we feed which in turn feeds us.” Marlow’s role 

can be narrowed down to one man telling 

his most prized story — same as Wightman, 

whose own story is appreciably influenced 

by the writing of Anthony Bourdain. In the 

acknowledgements Wightman expresses 

regret that the late author/chef who inspired 

him cannot read Apocalypse Chow himself, 

but it is easy to assume that readers drawn 

to Bourdain’s books will thoroughly enjoy 

Wightman’s retelling of the deep, dark, 

culinary relationship of Kurtz and Marlow. 

DARIN COOK is a freelance writer based in Chatham. 

He keeps himself well-read and well-fed by visiting the 

bookstores and restaurants of London. 

SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2019 

9AM – 4PM 

Wolf Performance Hall 

and adjacent Conference Rooms, 

Citi Plaza, London, Ontario 

251 Dundas St. London, ON 

• Shop Vendors 

• Tasting Workshops 

• Industry Speakers 

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The Lighter Side 

Behind Closed Doors 

By J.J. FRANCISSEN 

For many years I harboured some 

secrets. They were in my bedroom 

closet, hidden away from impressionable, 

young eyes. Once a week I’d 

bring them out. My spouse was in on my 

secret. One could argue, is it still a secret 

if your better half knows? Yes, because it’s 

something we kept from my young adult son. 

Anyone with a teen or young adult male 

in the household might be keeping the same 

secrets —for survival purposes. 

When my son left the house, I’d watch 

him disappear 

around the 

bend, wait ten 

minutes, and 

then call to my 

spouse, “He’s 

gone!” We’d 

race to the 

bedroom and 

eagerly open 

the closet door, 

or crawl under 

the bed for the 

contraband. 

Now that 

we’re on the 

subject of the forbidden, I kept a stockpile 

in my nightstand too. It wasn’t kinky toys 

or other naughty paraphernalia, nor was 

it bottles of wine, beer or other mood 

enhancers. We’re dull people. We had to hide 

food. Yep, you read that right — food. 

My son had a hollow leg accompanied by 

a fast metabolism. He’d eat dinner, have 

seconds and thirds, and an hour later rip 

into a bag of Doritos. And he wouldn’t just 

eat a few, or leave half the bag for later, or 

heaven forbid, leave some for us. No! Gone 

in one go. 

Our breakfasts might start with us finding 

only a dribble of milk for the cereal. We’d 

decide instead to start the day with toast, 

only to find that Wonder Boy had used all the 

bread for a midnight gobble. Then perhaps an 

egg dish? They had flown the coop too! 

We felt like the Dad in A Christmas Story 

when the Bumpus hounds made off with 

the turkey. We were so gobsmacked that 

sometimes the cussing didn’t come out right. 

Leftovers were lost. Nutella, none. Pop 

Tarts, pilfered. Granola bars, gone. Cookies, 

crackers and chips disappeared. The milk 

went missing, and the peanut butter. 

We started to buy doubles of items, and 

hide them, at first in other parts of the 

kitchen, but 

he somehow 

managed to 

sniff them 

out. 

When we 

wanted to 

watch a movie 

with a snack, 

we were like 

old Mother 

Hubbard with 

cupboards 

bare. Complaints 

and 

entreaties fell 

on deaf ears, probably because the crunching 

of the chips was too loud. 

We were forced to hide food in our 

bedroom, and even toyed with the notion 

of getting a mini fridge installed in the 

wardrobe so we could have milk and yogurt 

in the morning. 

Eventually Hungry Harry went away to 

college. No more stake-outs or secrets. We 

could finally live our true lives … out of the 

closet! 

J.J. FRANCISSEN resides in London,where she spends 

her time writing nature, travel, historical and human 

interest articles, and working toward getting her novels 

published.



a 

movement 

for 

restaurants 

who believe 

local food 

matters. 

® 

A Feast On® Certification means 

you’re fighting the good food fight. 

You’re supporting our farmers 

and putting local food first. 

To get certified, visit: 

ONTARIOCULINARY.COM 

@ONTARIOCULINARY #FEASTON



Friday, April 5 th 

5:00 PM - 10:30 PM 

Saturday, April 6 th 

12:00 PM - 10:30 PM 

At 

Presented By 

Advance tickets at: 

kwwineandfoodshow.com

Eatdrink Waterloo & Wellington #5 February/March 2019

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