Just the Beginning!

While the official book tour ends on the coast of Vancouver Island, the real odyssey of Canadian cuisine is just beginning.  Across the land, Canadians are claiming local food as their own and these days they're making the choice, not out of necessity as was done in the earliest days of settlement, but out of pride.  Never before has a food book on Canada hit the Globe and Mail's best seller list, not just for one flash-in-the-pan week, but for two.  More than anything this speaks to the hunger Canadians have for an understanding of our collective food ways.  

Stay tuned!  The journey together continues. 

Culinary Campbell River

There are old businesses like Crabby Bob's which began selling seafood in the early 1980s.  The image I was able to take today was the first time I've ever been able to extract a smile - perhaps because he's finally decided to retire.  Having said that, Bob has been selling the liveliest Dungeness crab and spot prawns, fresh oysters and perfect frozen (local) swimming scallops for decades his barge-like floating store anchored near the Pier Street Market.  Bravo!  

One of the new, totally neat shops is Cheddar and Co on Shoppers Row in downtown CR.  The revitalization of the core is proceeding with lots of creativity and this shop could

easily be at home in any large urban centre.  From the superb cheeses of Saltspring Island - David Wood's gorgeous goats milk concoctions to Over the Moon Dairy's artisan cheeses from the cows that each have names, owner Michelle sells the finest cheeses from across Canada.  She also shops locally for her ingredients.  She tosses freshly steamed prawns onto Patterson Farms stunning greens...her breads are from Cakebread Artisan Bakery in Courtney but all the rest of her baking is done in house by a lady simply named Madonna.  How perfect.   

Roderick Haig Brown

Roderick Haig-Brown was a wise, ecologically brilliant magistrate - a naturalist - who lived on the banks of the Campbell River.  He fished and observed the life cycle of all the salmon species of the coast.  His legacy is profound. 

Today his home is used as a writers' retreat.  But it is is writing that, even today, rings true.  His message was simply that if there was ever a time that the salmon don't return, human-kind will be closer to its own extinction.  If only we would listen. 

Pier Street Market

This place is such fun---and it really is the soul of Campbell River. You can buy west-coast fished albacore tuna or buy a warm whole wheat crepe cooked on the spot and stuffed with cream cheese before being dolloped with stewed fresh rhubarb and whipped cream. Island-roasted, fair-trade coffee in any urban-esque variation you choose is made to order.

In the distance, beyond the ocean, are the snow capped mountains of the coastal range. Behind is the Marine Heritage Centre where BCP 45, the B.C.Packers ship that once appeared on our $5 bills, is being rebuilt by a cadre of local shipwrights.

The Museum at Campbell River

When I re-read my book, I realize how much material relates directly to the weeks I've spent here in this coastal community. When museum curator, Lesia Davis (recently nominated as Campbell River's Citizen of the Year), and city councillor Morgan Ostler, got wind of its publication, they organized a signing and celebration at the museum.  Outside of the galleries in a glassed in area overlooking Discovery Passage, we toasted the food of the coast and the stories that weave us together as a nation.  We ate local cheeses, drank good wine and finished off with Peggy Morris' Amazing Butter Tarts. 

Culinary Boot Camp in the Cowichan

At the end of every one of Mara Jeringan's culinary boot camps at Fairburn Farm in the extraordinarily lush Cowichan, she invites neighbours and friends over for an impromptu meal. Thankfully my timing was perfect! She began this one outdoors at here huge brick oven while her students and for me the most impressive part of the entire evening was the first buffalo milk mozzarella made in North America while the shy water buffalo pastured nearby.orth America while the water buffalo pastured nearby.

Landing on The Island

No trip to Vancouver Island is right unless I have even the briefest sojourn at Sooke Harbour House. At night a red heart hangs as a welcome sign over the driveway. At dawn, the sun streamed over the magnificent property filled with flowers. Even my morning eggs were strewn with blossoms.

Off the Main Road

Backroads are the best....particularly ones that wind and twist and turn high into the hills towards a new winery experience like Dirty Laundry. On a sun-soaked day we traveled through blossom laden orchards near Peachland en route to an excellent Gewurztraminer tasting!

Gyoza and Pavlova

As an appetizer there are few that I like as much as Japanese-inspired gyoza.   They are dipped into a spicy soy/chili sauce and, in this case, sits in a deep spoon with a pool of the sauce underneath. These were served in Mission Hill's teaching garden.  

The interpretation of June's Pavlova was one of the best renditions of this dessert that I've ever eaten.  YUM! 

Michael's Menu

Winery Chef Allemeier and Sous Chef Phillip Dionne created an incredible menu to honour my book matching each course with a specially selected Mission Hill wine. 

The Feast

Highwood Crossing Rye Loaf

with their cold-pressed canola oil

~~~

2006 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc

Tasting of Carmelis Goats Cheese p.226

chevry souffle, chabichou & asparagus, sorrel & vintage fritter

~~~

2006 Reserve Riesling

Prawns Peri-Peri p.91

pea greens

~~~

2006 Reserve Pinot Noir

Classic Chicken & Dumplings p. 139

freshly-harvested morel mushrooms

~~~

2005 Reserve Shiraz

Bison & Cheddar Meat Pie p.121

lovage gremolata

~~~

2006 Riesling Reserve Icewine

June's Pavlova p.228

Okanagan cherries

~~~

Espresso

The Red Shoe's Gingerbread p.25

Potato Buttermilk Doughnuts p.199

The Food Life of Mission Hill

Michael Allemeier makes most of us look as though we're standing still.  He's an absolutely top flight chef, a teacher, a leader, a champion at the barbecue (he won the coveted "Jack" last year for his mastery at the grill), a marathon swimmer, a dedicated husband and devoted father. 

He's cooked at Bishops, Sooke Harbour House (where we met), did a stint at Whistler's Wildflower just after Casavant left, put Calgary's Teatro onto the map and then headed for the mountains.   

The Mission Hill experience reflects Allemeier's total dedication to the regional ingredients which have always been the foundation of his menus.  Whether it's the perfect Shipspoint oysters with Riesling 'pearls' dotted with lemon thyme flowers or a simple dish of poached egg with fresh asparagus spears and fingerling potato in a pool of preserved lemon butter, his team of chefs respond to the freedom he gives them with spectacular dishes.

Culinary Synergy

Over the past few years, the food scene in the Okanagan has simply exploded.  From the early days when Chef Grant de Montreil defined what he called "Cascadian cuisine" (he's currently cooking at Hannah's near the waterfront with all its art) till today, some of Canada's finest chefs have coalesced into a culinary region that is one of the strongest in the nation.   Chef Bernard Casavant, another BC veteran who has mentored so many, has landed at Burrowing Owl's Sonora Room in the dry, desert-like setting near Oliver.  One of his protegees, Rod Butters has been cooking at Fresco in Kelowna for ages.  Rod, with his partner Audrey Sauro, were the opening culinary team at Tofino's renowned Wickanninnish Inn.  Ned Bell, of Food Network's Cook Like A Chef, is opening the Cabana Grill in Kelowna this summer.  There are young chefs -- Dana Ewart and Cameron Smith who have Joy Road Catering and impeccable credentials including Montreal's Toque! restaurant.   And of course, there's superstar Michael Allemeier, of Mission Hill...but more on his efforts in a later post.  This is a happening place! 

Artsy Kelowna

Over the years special friendships are formed and in my case it's usually around food.  Sandra Kochan is one of those amazing people.  We met while she successfully obtained the very first J license for a winery restaurant in the entire Okanagan Valley.  Seems people have forgotten this major accomplishment but had it not been for her moving and shaking many of the glorious restaurants in the Valley would likely have had a whole lot harder time setting up.  

Today Sandra is organizing public art for the City of Kelowna, a job that gives her a chance to stretch her creative muscles again.  I took a walk with her and it's really one of the prettiest night time strolls I've ever had.   Around the town, there are public spaces that are graced with some fabulous pieces.  

This one is Rhapsody by Robert Dow Reid in the Waterfront Park. It's one of 38 in the core of this gracious lakeside city. 

To the Valley

I was heading towards the Okanagan, en route to Kelowna.  By Hope wisps of clouds were flowing up the sides of the mountains.  The choice was to drive up the Fraser River route, a roller coaster highway that is one of the best drives in the country or via The Coquihalla.  If I took the first, I'd have to double back through the Thompson River Valley and through Kamloops. Or I could take a shorter route,The Coquihalla, officially called #5. This highway brought back memories of driving a van packed with camping gear and kids en route to the coast while the red light on the dash flashed urgent warnings in 40' heat.   The only way to cool the engine was to turn on the heat.  Needless to say, before the next trip I had the vehicle 'summerized'.  

But today, May 14, I was facing snow and spring that seems to come only sporadically and I didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing. I opted for the "Coq".  

The destination was Mission Hill....the Mandl family estate winery that can claim to be the most glorious winery in the nation.  Cellars are deep and barrel-filled and the bell tower rings across the valley on the hour.  Noon is a cacophony of music.  

   

The Tojo Experience

This is a separate post for a reason.  When you read this menu think of balance.  This is the mysterious concept of umami.  The elements are all here -- salt/sweet; crunchy/soft even gelatinous; the sea/the land; smokey and fresh; hot/cold. And of course, there's artful contrast visually.   The drink is chilled, fine sake.   

Freshly seared tuna is sliced in to small squares, blessed with a quick bath in a soy-based marinade and served atop mountain potato puree.  It's strewn with threads of green onion and seaweed, a shake of toasted sesame seeds and a bit of hot, Japanese pepper.  Then it's served in a nearly frozen bamboo bowl.  

The next layer added another element...crispy tempura batter encasing sweet scallops stuffed 

with creamy  sea urchin roe.  Beside it, a small battered Japanese green pepper.  Both were to be dipped into green tea (macha) salt.   

Another bowl....julienned daikon, cucumber formed the base of a snowy tower of the freshest, most tender octopus I've tasted.   Again...heat/cool; salt/sweet; crisp/salt.  FABULOUS!

The next dish contrasted the earthiness of morels with their ling cod mousse stuffing. Deep-fried they were strewn with small shards of bonito tuna flakes which, literally, danced with the heat.     

Under a paper cover tied with rattan and a pine needle garnish, smoked black cod swam in a the lightest fish broth.  I was instructed to squeeze a slice of lime over the fish which sat on fresh steamed asparagus and thick slices of king mushrooms. 

Then came the cone (the first to eat with soy) of goeduck clam, mayo, wasabi wrapped in a crisp nori sheet.   

The 'rolls' followed....a scallop, sweet shrimp, crab all wrapped with eggplant and topped with a spoonful of flying fish roe.   Cucumber is sliced into paper thin wrappers and nearer the end of the sequence, Tojo wrapped mango, yam, avocado, asparagus and just-fried tempura prawn into what he named a "Northern Lights Roll".  

With a communion glass of plum wine, 'dessert' was ginger-fresh pineapple sorbet, crushed dragon fruit topped with a single, bright red organic raspberry and served with a sesame wafer. 

Tojo creates heady food ... but it's also food that honours Canada's finest raw ingredients -- perfectly.   He cooks -- he creates -- with heart.  

   

Constant Reinvention of a Legend

High airy ceilings and string halogen lights and sleek woodwork has replaced the original Tojo's.  Leaving those earliest rooms must have been difficult where so many memories were created.  But this new environment is finally as elegant as the food that Hidekazu Tojo serves and has served for decades.  He was cooking local sablefish, salmon, tuna, scallops ... etc... since the mid 80's when I was so lucky to make his culinary acquaintance.  His is intelligent cuisine, perfectly balanced and absolutely delicious.   Sitting at the sushi bar is still the best place to watch his mastery and to catch the twinkle in his eye.  No jaded chefs here.  Tojo loves to cook and his staff have caught the spark.  

Vancouver - tastefully!

I shipped my winter coat home from Winnipeg where, when I left, residents were expecting a late spring snowfall.   Then I flew.  

This is the flower-strewn west coast where at least one runner I know complains of slipping on the cherry blossoms that drift the roads. 

The tastes are of new Asian fusing with our ingredients.  At the glamorous bar in the Hotel Vancouver, bowls of warmed salt and pepper edamame beans are a common appetizer to have with the local beers.  

Fishing boats sell the famous spot prawns and west coast tuna at the docks near Granville Island.  Go Fish is a hugely popular take-out beside them which serves fabulous fish and chips! 

 

The book signing was at Barbara Jo's Book to Cooks, Granville Island location, where Vancouverites head for fresh fish, superb farmer-dried apples and pears; Terra Breads and spectacular Oyama charcuterie...amongst them spicy wild boar salami that's served as part of the menu at a neat, prize-winning restaurant called Salt in Gastown.  Even with a problematic location -- down poorly-named, certainly-memorable and even a tad scary, Blood Alley.  Salt is a haven for those who love to graze on superb cheeses and meats or feast on a simple, perfectly grilled sandwich.   Great wine list!   But keep your wits about you.  

Grain, Edible Oil and the Future.

This is Canada!  Dozens of highly skilled researchers beavering away creating new ideas and potentially new products with darn near no recognition.  Buried in the downtown Winnipeg tower of the Canadian Grain Commission, a stones throw from legendary Portage and Main, teams of scientists delve deep into the properties of new varieties of some 21 different grains and oil seeds.  These people bounce back and forth between the global picture and the most minute detail of say...the colour of the durum wheat in a piece of pasta or whether the shape of a loaf of bread made with Canadian wheat will work for a traditional Columbian bread called Alinado or how light a particular variety of canola or flax or mustard or safflower works in making my fave salad dressing.  The work is as specific as one paper by Garth Paulley on the "Effects of Ingredients and Processing Conditions on Bread Quality When Baking Syrian Two-Layered Flat Bread from Canadian Wheat in a Traveling Oven." Here the 100 mile diet clearly makes absolutely no sense - particularly if Canada is to remain competitive and take her place in feeding an ever hungrier and needy world.  And besides, I want to bake good bread and make Alex's Perfect Pasta, the dish that absolutely relies on durum semolina, in my home in Ontario and it's these folks who make the new varieties work so that I can.  

GO CANADA GO!!!!  

In "The Peg"

Perfect weather and PERFECT foie gras.  Bernard Mirlycourtois grew up here and left to cook in France for decades before returning to his roots to serve "Cuisine De Tradition".  In his own classic French style he harvests Manitoba (the pickerel almandine really is perfect) and heads to Quebec for the foie to create his exceptional foie gras terrine.   An almost across the board challenge in this Province seems to be access to Canadian wines. So if you want a great late harvest Vidal with your foie, best bring your own. 

OPENING SOON!!!!

Maebell and her Calgary foodie friends have a big secret.  Behind these happy animal faces will be a one of a kind restaurant....sometime this summer when wonderful smells will begin to waft from the farmhouse kitchen.  

CULINARY CALGARY ROCKS!

Landed in fantastic sunshine and headed to The River Cafe.  Since the mind 90s Sal Howell has been 'doing' local food.  The angular glass and weathered wood restaurant is on an island in the middle of the Bow River.  The wine list reflects the forward thinking of the Alberta government -- no booze kingdoms here!  Highlights? Sprouted Red Fife wheat bread with restaurant churned butter.  The perfect salad of Desiree potatoes, various hot house, heirloom tomatoes and black cod; the stinging nettle chimichurri atop a venison loin and DESSERT!  A berry studded cake with creme fraiche ice cream and lots of caramel sauce.   

HAVE A GLASS OF WINE AND SIGN A BOOK!

Seems to me to be a very civilized way of signing my books .... a glass of crisp wine and a bin of oysters being shucked by John Bil.  Bon Appetit Books is at 388 Victoria in tony Westmount and people here love to eat, talk about food and read.  The store, operated by the young team of  Michelle York-Cheung and Jonathan Cheung, seems much more like a well-loved library and reminded me of New York's famous Kitchen Arts and Letters but without the attitude.  At Bon Appetit authors and chefs cook and share their knowledge in a great demonstration space.  It was such fun!  Off to Calgary!!! 

John Bil's Oyster Knives at the Ready!

MONTREAL!

MONTREAL!  Day Two!!!!!! Joe Beef is an edgy place.  Not a place to be seen but a place to really be.  Experimental.  Ancient.  Wrapped up in a small, crowded bar that's not much larger than my living room.  Offal, escargots, cracked bones with oozing marrow and pungent, biting flavours.  They also have the best oysters on the continent and the oyster philosopher himself, John Bil.  Teamed with his buddy Fred Morin this restaurant will be one we'll say..."Hey...do you remember when we ate shredded pig ears with poached eggs...my God it was amazing!" This is a restaurant that is ahead of the history books and one that'll go down in them.  

MONTREAL!

Night One -- The Beaver Club (c.1785).  Pure elegance. A cart of chilled champagne and a menu that sings the praises and flavours of Canada and Quebec.  This is the experience of true dining with an eye to the future --foams and intensely concentrated flavours - and an eye to the best of the magnificent classic past...flambées and cloud-like soufflés (mine was lime with a crunch of sugar that coated the baking dish.  So delicate that it quivered).  The beauty of this extraordinary mirrored and richly paneled room, is that with the masterful guidance of the brilliant Michel Busch -- it works!  The crystal is crystal...the silver is silver....the service cannot get better.  Anyone who wants to understand gastronomy must visit this dining room at least once in a lifetime. 

Byward and Onward

Touring the Byward Market is a bit like touring a community but when you're with the Market Manager, Philip Powell, well, he's a magnet and at least half a dozen vendors/shop keepers greet him with unbridled enthusiasm.  And this during the time when the outdoor vendors are barely there.  According to Powell, the market doesn't kick into high gear till after Mother's Day.  By mid-May it's a rowdy, aroma-filled place with fresh schnitzel frying, all sorts of meat being smoked and some of the best 'street' food anywhere.  For an extraordinary panini, as good as any I've eaten in Italy, built with meat from their own deli and toppings from their own kitchens, head to Nicastro's.

For a hockey player's appetite, there's the towering Bison Burger at Sweet Grass.