Cooking With Ideas

Places I Have Eaten Lately

I was above the 49th recently for a variety of reasons and, yes, I ate. (Above the 49th, you ask? That means: I was in Canada. Thans, by the way, to mapsofworld.com for the picture!) Anyway, I wandered through the Byward Market in Ottawa and purchased some lovely terrines (rabbit with hazelnut -- or was it pistachios?) as well as quail and pork with pear) and cheeses. Yep, cheeses from an international cheese place (as well as from a small place in the Gatineau). I also bought mustard and cornichons, crackers and. . . But I also ate in restaurants both in Ottawa and Montreal.  Here are a few comments on some of them:

Domus -- this trip, we almost did not make it to Domus, one of our regular spots, because we were having so many nice adventures in eating and in visiting Ottawa. We were off our usual routine. But, then, at almost the last minute, we decided to stop at Domus for lunch. I was hoping, I confess, for asparagus soup or ramp soup, but the soup of the day was a tomato concoction, something which I never really want to order. So, no soup this time, but very good lentil dal with chorizo. I had my usual 3 truffles for dessert. (For previous mentions of Domus here at Cooking with Ideas, click here or here.)

Black Cat Bistro -- this is a return of an Ottawa favorite of year's ago, where I had never been. The ambience was great, the food delightful, and the service amazing. Indeed, we had the son of the former owner (and now the returned owner. I had a sort of fancy reese's dessert: chocolate and peanut butter. Mmmm. Before that we had venison carpaccio and my fave: local asparagus salad.

Murray Street -- ok, this is one of our newer faves (and not just because they link to a previous review of their food here at Cooking with Ideas). It was cold and rainy, and there was a private party, which meant the only place to eat was out back. Thank god/dess they had a heater; despite the walk down the alley past the trash, not all together appetizing, the meal was worth it. We had: venison terrine, duck liver mousse, elk sausage; two cheeses; and pork belly in some sort of sauce. The pork belly was absolutely great. The duck liver mousse smooth.

Montreal: On a whim, off we went. (Thanks, by way, to genealogyforum.rootsweb.com for the flag!) The concierge sent us off to a restaurant in Old Montreal called Bonaparte where I had sole Meurniere, plated in a beautiful way and served with very nice vegetables as well as a creme caramel. I had a bit of a taste of the duck confit; I agree -- the best duck confit ever. A quiet and traditional setting, the wine I had was only ok (I went with the wine by the glass suggested by the waiter-- a chardonnay, which is not usually my choice).  For Fodor's reviews, click here or for some other reviews, click here.

SANTE

Sante is a healthy Asian fusion place above street level (yep, the second floor) across from the Rideau Centre and not far from the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. A visit to the restaurant meant pho for several people and green chicken curry for several others. The pho (aka noodle soup) got very positive reviews from those who ordered it; I did not. I had the green chicken curry, which though plated in a surprising way, was pretty darn good. How was it plated? On a long, narrow, rectangular plate, with snow peas at one end, then (white) rice, then the chicken curry itself, and finally steamed broccoli. A sort of deconstructed curry, perhaps? Despite the plating, or perhaps because of it, the curry was swell. Light, with a bit of heat, and tasty. The pho came with some condiments, one of which was a bright green chili paste -- the owner (I think) assured you this was NOT made from Mexican chilies, but from Vietnamese chilies. (And, he informed us, that was his country.) Yes, the beautiful green condiment was fiercely hot. 

All in all, a lovely lunch, late on a cold day. Not my first pick in Ottawa, but it turned out to be quite good. The ambience is perfectly acceptable, with a bird's eye view of the shoppers on the street below and an equally nice perspective on the architectural details of the surrounding buildings. Plus, the art on the walls was fun. i particularly liked some black and whites of chickens as well as the more or less pervasive paintings of poppies.  Sante is, it turns out, also an art gallery. (For more on the gallery, and the artists exhibiting, click here.) And, it is more. What? A spa. When we reached the top of the stairway on our way into Sante, the aromas were not quite what we expected. It smelled incredibly spa-like -- by which I mean that tantalizing smell of massage and manicure and pedicure and relaxation I associate with such places. (For more on the spa, click here.) What had I expected? The odors of cooking. Yet, when we turned the corner into the restaurant per se, there they were -- the smells of curries, not at all marred by any intrusive spa scents. (How they manage that, I will never know. Air flow?) 

So: Sante. To your health! 

Address: 42 Rideau Street, Ottawa

Phone: 613-241-7113

Oh My God . . . Was That My Last Chance to Eat?

So, Gina Mallet wrote a book entitled Last Chance to Eat and subtitled The Fate of Taste in a Fast Food World. (For her blog, click here. You should go there for a variety of reasons, including her blog of February 10 stating that "local media are reporting" that Gordon Ramsay is opening a restaurant in Toronto. Or go here and read her views of Canadian artists in the National Post. Hmmm.) A 2004 book written by (if not obvious from what you just read) a Toronto-based writer, Last Chance to Eat chronicles in a quasi-memoirish way, the transformation of food and food ways from the author's parents' time to her own (yep, the present). ThingS have, surprisingly, deteriorated. By things, I mean taste -- but also smell, and all the sensory aspects of food. And, also, the cultures of food -- all sorts of aspects of enjoying food and dining on edibles that are, also and only inadvertently, wonderful for the world itself. But really, what do I mean by things?  Eggs. Bries. Tomatoes. Fish -- of various sorts, including the joy of fishing for wild salmon in Scotland. The peculiar Brit phenomenon called the Garden Marrow. More. All the while, taste per se seems to be disappearing. As the author moves through her life, and from site to site, her parents' world, and the worlds of her childhood and youth, drift away. While sometimes unintentional, taste goes as well -- for across her life time, industrial tomatoes and the loss of fisheries are matched by the imposition of new rules based on fear of bacteria, of proven-untrue-but-still believed horrors hidden deep within our food. The bloom of Brie -- bacteria. Dry aged beef? Bacteria. Eggs? Farmed salmon (it's a falsehood that reports said it was bad for us all). All sorts of media hype -- uncorrected once science reveals the falseness of hysteria. War-time rationing gives way to newer fears. And taste disappears. 

Is this my last chance to eat? Maybe, alas, our last chance has passed? Not to eat, perhaps, but to luxuriate in the tastes that Mallet recalls, or her parents knew, or we crave late at night when nostalgia (once a wartime diagnosis of yearning for home) and food mingle in our dreams. 

Apples to Oysters

A while back, I purchased Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover's Tour of Canadian Farms by Margaret Webb. I bought it at a great bookstore I was introduced to by my favorite Canadian, Octopus Books, in Ottawa. And everything I recognized in the book about Canada I know as a result of her. And I am grateful.

The read was wonderful. Not only is it a book about food (of course, I love that), and Canada (I love that), but it is, quite matter-of-factly, a book by a lesbian. (Or at least someone in a same gender partnership.) When did we get so matter of fact, I thought, as I read along about the author and her partner, Nancy? How wonderful. And then I thought: ok, this is one big difference between the US and Canada; they have a clue that this is a human rights issue and so even though they have their fair share of bigots, well, it is just different. Maybe it's catching?

The book is also wonderful for other reasons,including the smooth and articulate writing, and the wealth of juxtapositions. Scallop farming, I have to say, surprised me. Flax -- I knew about its role in bowel regularity and its healthy features, but I did not know that I may know this in part because I am influenced by Albertans who live right next to Saskletchewan where the transformation of flax to a marketable health food is saving some farmers. Canada is, it turns out, the leading producer of flax -- and was once (and apparently not any more) disproportionately constipated. Who knew? I did know PEI (aka Prince Edward Island)  mussels were a big deal, but the oysters (not really my thing), well, hmmm. Famously, it turns out, Colville Bay oysters.  And at they are most famously available at Catch in Calgary? (I have a vague memory of having been there once upon a time,many years ago.) I knew that the mere mention of "Alberta beef" seems to make some people drool, but I did not know how at risk the farmers and ranchers are, and how what the phrase means may be being saved by those who actually grass feed cattle in the southern foothills. I have, indeed, been tempted by the restaurant where Webb finds dandy Alberta beef -- again in Calgary -- River Cafe. I will go there before I die.  I knew that Sasketchewan is cold and Manitoba land locked, but not about pork in the latter or the sudden shout of blue that comes with the brief blooming of enormous flax fields in the former. And I know the taste of ice wine and was pleased for the paragraph about the decision that led to the creation of Henry of Pelham's Catherine Brut Rose (a sparkling wine from the Niagara region). And the cheeses, oh the cheeses. Yes, I have been to the market in Montreal and bought the cheeses. (Not to mention Kensington market in Toronto and . . . )  Descriptions of Yukon gold from the Yukon Territory were a reminder that sometimes a name is more than just an advertising gimick, though marketing is, indeed, key. Yes, I mean Yukon Gold potatoes. And depictions of hte effort to grow food well north of where it strikes me as even reasonable to try were inspiring. 

Just as I learned loads of wonderful things in this book about those who farm (and the author is a product of several generations of Ontario farmers, soon to lose their land and mourning that), I learned an occasional awful thing about industrial agriculture and its human consequences -- or was reminded of awfulnesses I vaguely recognized. Canada, it turns out, ranks well behind the US and Europe in farm support; see pp. 135-136. And there is what the author labels a day that "lives in in some infamy":
"when Environment Canada recorded pesticides raining from the sky across the provincial border [from Saskatchewan, the province Webb is discussing in the chapter in which this quotation appears] in the grain-growing belt, in Lethbridge, Alberta." (p. 144). The book, too, mourns the author's father, a victim of what she now suspects is the result of pesticide use, and was a puzzling dementia so a loss even before his death (after an autopsy, it turnedout to be Parkinson's dementia.) 

So Apples to Oysters is about both hope and loss. Woven through the farming and interviewing and eating and cooking Webb is offering readers a paean to the local, to the manyness and wonder that is Canada, and a serving of hope that the scourge of industrial agriculture will not demolish all that is beautiful and possible. The horrible realities and sadnesses, the backbreaking work of gardening and farming, and the risks, are never avoided or toned down. The book is a tour of the nation -- every province gets its due. And it is filled with recipes which remember the connection of farm to table. While not unduly romantic, the book is definitely about love. 

For most Americans, we know little about the world(s) above the 49th parallel. It is poorly reported here, we fail to learn about it in history classes or current events, and we assume all too often that those worlds are  just like the US -- and forget the complex ways our histories (and presents) are entangled. So, we should read this book. For Canadians, too, this will, I suspect, bring the bittersweetness of new knowledge, both sad and hopeful. Only part of that knowledge, of course, is about the many ways worlds are connected across the dark lines on maps. 

Read Apples to Oysters. Do.

For another review, click here or here or here. Yes, reviews from across the very nation she tours! And yes, skewed just a little bit toward Alberta. . . And the last one has the best quotation of all: Webb is the Stuart Mclean of Canadian food writing." 

Ottawa Still Eats. . . And So Do I

Ottawa is, of course, Canada's capital. Like Geneva, NY (and Chicago), it is one of those places where the weather changes every fifteen minutes, and the sky is less blue than one would wish. And yet, Ottawa (much much more like Chicago than Geneva) is a foodie wonderland. Here are a few mini-reviews of foodie delights to recommend in Ottawa:

Arc the Hotel is a boutique hotel in downtown Ottawa. Yep, walking distance to loads of fun stuff, including Parliament Hill, Byward Market and Elgin Street, for example. While I have never had dinner at the hotel, the menu looks swell -- and the breakfasts are quite nice. I had scrambled eggs with avocado, a bit of red pepper and chives that was good. The crispy bacon was, I have to admit, a bit weird. One of my pet peeves is when butter comes too cold, not true here, and the jams for the toast were runny and lovely. Ditto (ok, being silly) for the coffee (hot) and the orange juice (just right). The service is efficient and kind. And the tone of the whole place is welcoming, easy going and hip. 

Beckta is a fine dining joint often ranked in the top places to eat in Ottawa. The first (and only previous) time we ate there, we discovered an amazing foodie item - mango caviar. Yep, a sort of gastro-chemical taste explosion of mango made to seem like caviar. Dandy. For a review of that previous visit, click here. This visit was less thrilling, though the meal was quite good and the service as well. We began with a Henry of Pelham Cuvee Catherine sparkling wine -- though less perfect than their rose sparkling wine, this was a pear-y version that went well with the tasting menu we ordered. Among the delights were some house made papardelle and a foie gras terrine on top of a crispy bit -- which I cannot quite recall but which I remember as incredible perfect juxtaposition of textures. The amuse bouche was a tuna tartare with pickled fennel. MMMMM. A bit price-y but a good restaurant. 

Benny's Bistro is a small place beside/behind the French Bakery on Murray Street near the Byward Market area. We read their sign on Saturday and came back on Sunday to try out the brunch. While the ambience is nothing to write home about, the food was inventive and tasty. I ordered what was, for m, a bit risky -- a buckwheat pancake with a sunnyside egg inside, twice smoked pork shoulder and an apple cabbage slaw-like side. And I had a big bowl of latte. The meal was tasty and satisfying. Would I order it again? No. Why? I just simply do not really like sunny side up eggs, with the runny yolk going everywhere. I am not as adventurous an eater as I wish I was. Or, maybe I was adventurous but know what I do not like? Anyway, the pork was great, the pancake thin and light, and the slaw-like bit perfect. I am definitely glad I tried the bistro. And, besides, they have a wonderful side which is lardons of thick cut bacon and fingerling potatoes. Mmmm. 

Boushey's Fruit Market is a corner store (at 348 Elgin) with lovely tart cheese bread and other munchies as well as regular corner store grocery type stuff. We usually load up on the the cheesebread, but were moving a bit slowly and missed it. But we did get a spinach pie and a meat pie and ate them on the road back to lovely Geneva. Try them; you'll like them. For a few comments on Boushey's try here or here. 

Bridgehead Coffee is an Ottawa (originally Toronto, but now based in Ottawa according to their bags) chain, with 9 places in the city. It has been voted best coffee in Ottawa and focuses on fair trade and organic coffees and teas. I have been a fan of The Second Cup and may have switched allegiances. And, Bridgehead has pretty darn good shortbread cookies; I tried the pistacchio and cranberry with my eggnog latte. And the latte was great -- it tasted like eggnog but was not unduly sweet or thick. For more on Bridgehead, click here. 

Domus is simply one of the best places to eat ever. Previously reviewed here, I usually want their to-die-for soups, but this time was tempted into sharing a chopped belgian endive and quail's egg salad. (Seems quail's eggs are in the running for new-food-focus of the moment.) The salad was augmented with asian greens which had a taste -- and even more importantly, had a taste which melded well with the slihgt bitterness of the endive. We followed this with a second shared dish -- a substitute for a fish ravioli that Domus was out of. What did we have instead? Ravioli filled with braised lamb. Wowzers. A bit of black pepper, a lovely broth, some cheddar shavings. Then, I ordered a plate with a focus on suckling pig served in a variety of ways. I love pork. I loved this dish -- every bit of it was perfect. It includes: a stuffed pork loin, a chorizo sausage, a pork croquette topped with smoked pork belly, some pork shoulder confit, a bit of mashed potato and some spinach. Yes, each and every mouthful made me happy. I was not as much a fan of the croquette as the rest of the little piggy but I definitely made a little piggy of myself. Yes, this was one of the top Domus meals ever. And I ended with a bit of self-control and ordered the three truffles as my dessert.  Very chocolate-y. Service as always oo attentive and kind --and the view out the window filled with Ottawans and their hats. 

Metropolitan Brasserie is beneath another, unrelated, restaurant down a flight of outside stairs nearish the Chateau Laurier on Sussex Drive. The bar is where we had an afternoon snack of a few raw oysters (ok, not me) and french fries accompanied by a drink. The Malpeque oysters were 3 for $6.25 and came with 4 dipping sauces -- including freshly grated horseradish. (Horseradish too seems like a new trendy bit -- we had a schmeer of horseradish cream with something at Beckta as well.) The ambience at the Metropolitan is, as its full name suggests, very brasserie and the clientele varied from Parliament hill types to clueless people like me. 

Murray Street Kitchen Wine Charcuterie was recommended to us by the folks at Daya Spa. And wow, were we grateful. We went twice in two days and were very happy both times.  The menu calls Murray Street itself "restaurant alley" -- and yes, Domus is almost directly across the street. Anyway, our first visit, we wandered in during the late afternoon and had several cheeses (including a Back Forty Highland Blue cheese from Quebec and both of the available goat cheeses, including a Tomme de Haut Richelieu semi-hard which also turned up on Beckta's cheese plate) and a dandy (noton the menu) elk terrine. The condiments on the side included carmelized onions and raisins, and a grainy mustard. Not to mention the de rigeur cornichons and a bit of pickled yellow beet. The second visit we tried two terrines: yes,we repeated the elk and brandy but added a lamb cassis terrine. The two terrines were very dissimilar in both taste and appearance; the lamb was very finely ground meat with a pink coloring,for example. This time we tried three different cheeses including an alternate blue suggested by the (very helpful) bartender.This blue was a cow cheese, St. Benoit Benedictin unlike the Back Forty raw sheep -- though both were from Quebec. Before this delightful ($25 CDN for 2 meats and 3 cheeses) charcuterie board, I had a lovely soup (that kind of day) with wheat berries, carrots, and duck broth. I also go the chance to taste poutine in a fancy version, made with duck confit and spatzle. Once upon a time(until that very moment), I thought the idea of poutine disgusting. I was wrong. Again. (The spatzle, by the way, trumped the pretty darn good spatzle at Dano's.)  Yes, this time we were there for dinner so we indulged andi got dessert. Mine?  Chocolate espresso pudding with salted caramel on top and a side of a gingery- (very) compote. The ambience matched the food -- a tad darkly lit, and cozy feeling while hip. All in all a very very happy discovery, including the delightful draught St. Ambroise oatmeal stout I had with the first charcuterie board. 

So: we ate our way across Ottawa and were overly full when we left. And, by the way, I have a new  hypothesis about restaurant bathrooms in Ottawa: they are always way way way too cold.  

Where Have I Eaten Lately?

Yes, I have been traveling, which is always a good excuse to eat out -- or a reason to suffer through bad meals. Turns out that this recent spate of trips has involved a variety of tasty tidbits -- including some very good hotel food! And, while the airplanes themselves are utterly hopeless (ok, I occasionally buy snacks but the "free" things, even on cross-continental flights are truly bad). So, here are a few places I have eaten lately in absolutely no meaningful order (ok, maybe alphabetical is meaningful?):

Marriott Detroit Metro Airport: I wandered downstairs to the hotel restaurant simply because I was not ready to face room service. It was cold, but otherwise a nice venue with a menu that was surprisingly wide ranging for an airport hotel. (Ok, it was a Marriott rather than a Courtyard Marriott. Maybe that explains it?) In any case, I ordered a lovely organic chicken dish and was disappointed when the waitress returned to inform me that the chef was sorry but they were out of that dish. So: I went with lamb shepherd's pie as an entree to follow a salad. I was delightfully surprised. The meat was tender ground lamb, not gamey at all, and the gravy was subtle in a way that brought together a range of flavors from cinnamon-y to I don't know what. The potatoes were whipped rather than mashed, which was ok, but I always think that makes them a bit too soft to hold up to the fork (as it were) and wish restaurants would tell you whether you are getting whipped/pureed potatoes or truly mashed ones. Other than that, the other very pleasant surprise was the chef's apology for the absence of the chicken dish -- which involved paying for part of my meal. Yes, service and attention to the customer still lives -- and does to in unexpected places. Finally, the bread pudding, which I took back to my room for dessert, was light and the raisins soaked in brandy. I had half for a late dessert -- and half for breakfast with a pot of coffee. Overall -- this was a top of the line restaurant meal in many ways. It was not chi chi or snobby, but the food was well prepared and very good; the service was amazing.

Hotel Grand Pacific Room Service: The Hotel Grand Pacific is on the Inner Harbor in Victoria, British Columbia. I wish I had had a chance to try their dim sum afternoon tea, but instead had room service the first night I was in Victoria. I ordered hazelnut gnocchi and a salad. The gnocchi were reasonably light, the sauce itself not too nutty but nutty enough, and the meal fine. I ate it too fast and thus was not at my best to assess the meal. But I would order it again. The combination of crunchy hazelnut and al dente gnocchi was nice. My one complaint? When I asked room service for suggestions on something to drink that was non-alcoholic and without caffeine, the person at the end of the phone was baffled. Alas. I ended up giving up and just asking for cranberry juice.

Moe's Grill and Bar in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport: Some airports have spectacular food (Minneapolis for example). Others have terrible food. And Cinncinati? Well, I wanted to sit down and be served. And I confess I did not want Cincinnati's chili, served on spaghetti. The fact is, this just seems weird to me. So, Moe's it was: a sit down place where I could get pretty traditional pub fare. (there is one in Concourse A and I ate in Concourse C.) I had a blue cheese burger, one of my favorite things. It came with waffle fries. My review: the bun was just chewy enough. The 1/3 poundburger was a bit big for me (though I did finish it) and the blue cheese was actually cheese rather than the mayo/blue cheese mix offered by some places). The service was pretty darn good and they let me sit there for my oh-too-long lay over. For those who care (and I do not), they also serve Canadian smoked meat sandwiches. For an expedia article on being stuck in this airport, click here.

Niche was recommended to me by the concierge at the Hotel Grand Pacific. It is on Quebec Street and in a smallish building that looks like someone's home. The ambience was perfect;a fireplace in the middle of what might have once been the parlour. Not too many tables, it was very quiet when I arrived (circa 6 pm maybe) but got progressively noisier as it filled up. The waiter was attentive and informed. What did I have? Well, first I had the amusee bouche which was a crispy wonton with pork inside and a smear of jerusalem artichose puree served on what semed to be a slate tile. (The serving on slate turned out to be more widely true.) Then along came bread; not bad --but with a spread that was great -- squash and beans of some sort, right between savoury and sweet. Mmmmm. Then a salad -- a beet salad with a local blue cheese and arugula. The beets were of various colors -- and tastes --and at least some sliced so thinly I thought of a mandoline. For my entree I got the special: a duck breast with a chocolate and cherry theme. And then I had dessert. And it too came on a slate tile; on the left, a smallish chocolate cake-y bit, in the middle a fruit-y compote (which I think was the same cherries as in the duck), and on the right a spoon with sorbet (very berry, very purple, and very tasty). I thought I wanted the chocolate, but actually I liked the sorbet and cherries even better. The service was pretty good -- especially in what became an increasingly busy restaurant and I was a table of one. plus, I was reading, which I think is pretty out ofplace sometimes but I never know what else to do with myself when I am on my own in a restaurant. Anyway, Niche was a real hit. The best meal away from home I have had in ages.

Oak Bay Marina Restaurant: Oak Bay is near Victoria BC. The setting wasbeautiful, looking out over beautiful boats in the marina and into the harbor. And, the food was swell.KNown for its sushi bar, that is not what I had. I had tuna, done rare. Sometimes these days this is pretty standard fare. Not here: the tuna was indeed rarebut it was also soft, definitely sushi quality and beautifully presented. Dessert: a spicey pumpkin creme brulee was less exciting but also tasty. One great thing about this place: they participate in the Ocean Wise program and have a clue where their seafood comes from. In these days of wildly overfished waters, this is important.

Pescatore's Seafood and Grill: I was tired. I needed a walk but not too long a walk. And I was in Victoria. So, dwn Government Street I went -- and then I wandered into this place. It was dark, and it was late-ish for lunch. But, yes, they said, you can have lunch. So:I was hte only person in there. I had trout and potatoes and green beans and coffee (lots of coffee, very dark and very hot). The trout meuniere was very good and so was everything else. The potatoes were halved and roasted. I have no idea what the sauce on the beans was -- shallots, I am sure, and it was very dark and salty. I rubbed everything on the plate into it and ate every last drop of that sauce. I loved it. It was like the little nuggies I consume when I cook at home of things that absorb all the tastes of cooking. Wow. As for the service, well, considering I was the only person there it was fine, but the waiter did hover just a bit more than I like and it was a bit dark to read. But then again, who am I to complain when a whole restaurant is feeding just me?

Phillips European in the Rochester (NY) Airport: I end up getting sandwiches from this place a lot, since airplanes do not feed us anymore. What do I get? A french bread sandwich with some combination of roast turkey, provolone (only sometimes), jalapenos, and either spinach, sprouts or something else. Sometimes I get coffee, sometimes just my bottle of water for the flight and, when desperate, a coke and/or chips. (I am trying to cut down on calories and cutting down on coca cola has been my number one effort.) The sandwiches are made for you while you wait, and they are pretty predictably good. I admit, I am traveling so much though, they are starting to bore me. Maybe I will branch out; they have wraps and other sandwiches. One caveat: htey do not take airport vouchers so if you are stuck there and get a voucher, they are no help. Alas. There is a restaurant away from the airport. I have never been.

So: some options for you!

Victoria
Airport Dining
niche
BC
Detroit
Cincinnati
food and airport

Magazine Heaven

One of the things that happens when I go to Canada is I encounter wonderful magazines that are new to me. This time: maisonneuve. Their winter 2007 issue is entitled, you guessed it, "The Food Issue." And it is a great one, filled with delightful quirky wonderful nuggets. In fact, the magazine had enough on religion to figure into that interest of mine as well.

First: the cover. Yep. Maisonneuve won the "Newstand Cover of the Year" for this delightfully rendered depiction of tiny little fire fighters (ok, I thought astronauts) on top of some lovely carmelized sugar topping (no, not the surface of the moon) creme brulee. The cover is by a husband and wife team, Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle of minimiam fame. I would have bought the magazine for the cover alone! But then I read the editor's letter which answers the question: "What kind of food makes me happy" with three words that sung to my heart (ok, my stomach): macaroni and cheese. And, when it comes to the letter, it was not merely my agreement that macaroni and cheese is a major food group that demanded my attention. In fact, I did have one hesitation about the whole thing -- a hesitation that in fact confirms how brilliant the editor of Maisonneuve actually is. What is the title of the editor's letter? Eat Drink Write Read. Hmmm. Sounds eerily familiar. Oh, I know why! Cooking with Ideas uses the phrase Eat Drink Read Think. Great minds think similarly?

Anyway, there's much more to the magazine's 26th issue than the cover and the editor's letter. For perhaps the first time ever (except in my long standing relationship with Ellery Queen) I really really liked every article in a magazine. And, i liked the art, including the discussion of Nicholas Kashian's work under the rubric "The New American Gothic" and the poem by Lorna Crozier entitled "Onions." (As a side note, the poem, "The Light in My Mother's Kitchen" on Crozier's site is delightful too.)

Here are some ruminations on the 26th issue of Maisonneuve , both longish and shortish:

One theme throughout has to do with spirituality/religion and food. This is particularly the case in the piece by Mona Awad on Mormons and food, Mark Mann's one pager called "Methodists vs. Quakers," the oddity entitled "Crusty Monk: A Recipe" and the article by documentary film maker Tadzio Richards entitled "Spirit Food." It is also an implicit theme in an essay called "Catch and Release" by Taras Grescoe which focuses on Haida beliefs in relation to fishing. Awad, to quote the Maisonneuve web site is "a lowly Maisonneuve intern. She spent her summer staring at flash cards, drinking steadily. Whatever she learned, she soon forgot. Including Latin." Well, she certainly has not forgotten how to write; her piece on Mormons and food was very intriguing with a good analysis of the relation between Mormon food preferences and their situation in American culture. The authors of the other pieces focused on food and religion/spirituality are as quirkily identified in the magazine in bios that answer the question "What is your favorite midniight snack and why?" Whether one pagers or longer more relfective/analytic/investigative, the articles too are quirky. Mann captures loads of cultural difference (and similarity) in a very brief comparison where, yes, "Quakers win!" And the "crusty monk," also a one pager, captures both visually and in prose a fasinating aspect of the discipline which is (or might be) ascetic buddhism. "Catch and Release" reveals that this solution to the spiritual and environmental challenges of fishing is a mere pretend solution. Alas.

A second theme, running through a few of these as well, is more prominent in "The Family Recipe" by Maria Francesca LoDico and "Cooking Animals" by Marko Sijan. The theme: personal experience and self development. Family recipe begins with Mollie Katzen of Moosewood fame, an upstate NY reference with the best of them, and moves through the many ways we inflect our cooking with our histories and our own reflectiveness. Marka Sijan's piece "Cooking Animals" offsets every foodies fantasy of workign in a restaurant (those of us who do not) with somerealism about how hard it is (though his sense of humor is a bit over the top). The intertwining of experience and self reflection theme also appears in a brief memoirish bit on prisoner fudge authored by Sam Kean. (What's prisoner fudge? A recipe for fudge made by the author's father -- who worked in a prison. As a result, Kean raises, as well, the tensions of charity and work, secrets and honesty, prisons and so-called freedom.) Diana Wilson writes about "My Vegetarian Affair" in just the right tone of voice when she conjoins the focus on vegetarianism we all associate with Katzen with the personal in narrating her move into -- and out of -- vegetarianism. Here, too, we learn that not all self development is easy -- obvious -- or in a trendy direction. Nor is it, necessarily, seriously thought through. Thanks goodness.

Two additional articles entitled "Bugs: A Culinary Guide" by Jared Young and "Kitchen Scientists" by Rina Palta also fascinated me -- in their anthropological and scientific modes of talking about food. No, I do not intend to eat the bugs Young describes and pictures, though I am glad he did. I am tempted a bit more by the molecular gastronomy describes by Palta. I don't think, though, I am likely to begiin creating foams to serve to my guests. I do, though, love thre phrase "molecular gastronomy."

Last but not least, there was a bit from a new book, The Last Supper, which was actually one of my Christmas treasures this year, and which I read shortly after finding the magazine. I had not heard about the book and it is just the right thing to receive for Christmas -- a sort of coffee table meets food obsession complete with recipes. The premise: a game some foodies includiing chefs play late at night: what woud you want for your very last meal on earth. The book offers answers to this -- and a few related questions -- from 50 or so chefs ranging from Gordon Ramsey and Thomas Keller to . . . well, loads of wonderful chefs. Each is accompanied by a photograph. And, a review/response to the bookwill appear here one of these days in more detail. WHo can resist a book entitled The Last Supper?

So: Maisonneuve. Wow. I have not done the writing or the visual great service justice really. So you will have to find a copy and read it. I was surprised at how great its discussion of religion was; and the varied approaches to environmental themes and to loving food. I'd pick it up again, even if it were not the food issue! I may even subscribe. Next issue? No, not food again. An issue on Quebec. They say they'll accept submissions until mid-January and hint at the possibility of later. So if you think you have something, click here and send them a query. Hey, why not? You Eat Drink Read Think. Why not try Eat Drink Write . . .

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Shawnessy Vietnamese

So, the restaurant's name is "Shawnessy Vietnamese" which in itself seemed oddly pan-ethnic to me. (But it turns out to have to do with the name of the neighborhood in Calgary. Yep. For details click here. So, Shawnessy Vietnamese is not, alas, Irish Vietnamese.) Anyway, there it was, in a sort of mall somewhere in Calgary. Who knows where. Inside, a beautiful huge salt water aquarium with iridescent yellow fish and beautiful blue fish -- huge along a wall. And the menu had pictures of spring rolls. So, we ordered spring rolls with shrimp, spring rolls with shredded pork, and an order of lemon grass chicken which came with steamed (white) rice. And, of course some beer: Saigon beer. Was the food good? Yes indeedy. The chicken came with loads of crisp vegetables and a mild but tasty sauce. All of which was wonderful, augmented by the extremely hot sauce and the soy on the table. The service gets criticized on other sites, but seemed ok to me, though we did have to ask for plates to use to share.

The cuisine of Vietnam, of course, includes much much more than lemongrass chicken. But that is what I keep ordering ever time I enter a Vietnamese restaurant. Hmmm. Maybe it is time to move on -- to the subs that were on the menu (and appeared, for example, in a favorite cookbook of mine, Hot Sour Salty Sweet) or even the lovely vietnamese pork dish I regularly produce from Madhur Jaffrey's Curries and Kebabs which traces the diaspora/globalization of curry. Maybe I need to explore -- and cook more Vietnamese -- using recipes from here or here. Hmmm. 2008 -- a new year!

Where is Shawnessy Vietnamese? 16061 MacLeod Trail SE, Calgary, T2Y3S5
How do I call the restaurant? 403-201-3888
Has it been reviewed elsewhere? Yes, try clicking here and looking for the entry on Vietnamese lunch. Or check out Urban Spoon.