Sommelière Veronique Dalle at Pullman

I visited Montreal last month as a guest of Tourisme Montreal and as part of GFR’s work with the Terroir Symposium and Wines of South Africa. I managed to get quite a bit of eating and drinking done while I was there, including an amazingly fun and delicious dinner at Nora Gray, which I wrote about at length here. But that was just one stop of many. Here’s a three more old and new favourites from the trip.

Pullman – 3424 Parc
Sommelière Veronique Dalle at Pullman holds court at this wonderfully sophisticated wine bar that has become, for me, a must-stop, either as a cinq-sept warm-up for dinner (it opens at 4:30 and is perfectly centrally located whether you’re off to the Plateau, the Old City, Little Burgundy or wherever) or a casual and relaxed dinner. Dalle’s list is au courant for the current thirst in Montreal for natural wines, and leans toward the Loire and Rhone, but is also interestingly diverse. When I was there for a couple of hours one evening, she entertained not one, but two, visiting winemakers, while pouring me a number of lovely wines that were completely novel to me, while I snacked on just delivered seafood from the Iles de la Madeleines. I suggest unconditional surrender and letting her and her expertly trained staff of sommeliers do their thing and pour whatever they’re excited about.

Pastaga – 6389 St. Laurent
Martin Picard and The Joe Beef guys’ restaurants get tons of attention in the English speaking press in no small part because of their connection with Anthony Bourdain and David Chang. They are also great, innovative and expressive chefs who run amazingly vibrant, exciting and inspiring restaurants – it’s all well deserved. But there’s tons of other stuff going in Montreal outside of that Norman Laprise-trained group, including Martin Juneau’s Pastaga, which is up St. Laurent past Mile-End and into Little Italy. Pastaga has nothing to do with noodles, by the way, it’s a Provencal derivation of pastis and the cooking here Montrealais: Gallic takes on Quebec ingredients. Juneau won great praise as a young chef at the various incarnations of La Montée de Lait, which from 2005-10 was at the vanguard of the new casual Montreal restaurant scene (along with Pied de Cochon, Joe Beef and Chuck Hughes’ Garde Manger). Pastaga (opened in 2011) follows this style, with bare tables and big open kitchen at the back – they’re also launching a food truck this summer, which Juneau was busy converting when I was there. I ate at Pastaga at a Wines of South Africa sponsored lunch that Juneau cooked with Cape Town chef Peter Tempelhoff. Juneau’s standout dish was a family style tray of rustically grilled lamb chops, with the most exquisitely complex grape sauce, and his menu reflects this sort of tension between fine and simple dining.

Arlene Stein and Derek Dammann at Maison Publique

Maison Publique – 4720 Marquette
Maison Publique is often referred to as ‘Jamie Oliver’s restaurant’, which it is not. It is true that Oliver is an investor in chef Derek Dammann’s gastro-pubby boite, on a quiet and otherwise residential street near Papineau and St. Joseph. And since Oliver has never invested in any other restaurant outside of his own, and since Dammann was his founding head chef at Fifteen in London, and since there is definite Anglo bent to the food at this ‘public house’ the confusion is understandable, but the what happens here is all Dammann and all very Montreal (or dare I say Canadian?) in the end: a fusion of the new English sensibilities with this city’s French accent. The menu constantly changes and is super fresh, locavore and in season. The decor is fun and relaxed as is the service. And while Dammann, who has long been involved with the Terroir Symposium, and his kitchen crew don’t take themselves very seriously, they do the food. Expect to leave happy and full.

Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the not-for-profit corporation which publishes it. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley

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The most stunning of places to stay, The Wichery’s Inner Sanctum

Upon our recent trip to my hometown of Edinburgh we decided to celebrate by treating ourselves to one night staying in what must be one of the most over-the-top and special accommodations in all of the world, The Inner Sanctum at The Witchery on Edinburgh’s Castle Hill. As well as these baroquely extravagant lodgings, The Witchery is also highly regarded in culinary circles, recently being named fourth in a recently-published list of the Best Restaurants in England and Scotland put together by popular website The Daily Meal.

Owned by the Wildeanly colourful restaurateur and hotelier James Thomson OBE, The Witchery, housed in a delightful 16th century building within Boswell’s Court, has been in operation since the tail end of the 1970s. It was such an extreme pleasure to return to Edinburgh and have the opportunity to both enjoy the bountifully indulgent pleasures of The Inner Sanctum as well as the culinary and service excellence on display in the restaurant’s breathtakingly romantic candlelit Secret Garden.

Headed up by Chef Douglas Roberts, the kitchen showcases the very best of Scottish seafood, beef, lamb, and game. The room itself is expertly managed by the gracious hospitality veteran Steve Hall, another alumnus of the much-lamented Atrium restaurant. Service is up there with some of the very best I have experienced anywhere, Hall having assembled a crack team of the most knowledgable and passionate young professionals I have witnessed in quite some time.

If you do happen to find yourself over in Edinburgh and feel like indulging with that very special person in your life, I can recommend no establishment more highly than The Witchery’s charming Secret Garden followed by an evening within the glorious Inner Sanctum. You’ll certainly be glad you did!

For reservations and booking look at The Witchery website here.

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Click to view slideshow.

Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… And he just wishes that he had seen his old friend Roxy, Dolly.

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When dining on the streets or in a local restaurant in Southeast Asia it is almost guaranteed that the ingredients are as local as it gets. But this has yet to translate to the higher end restaurants or five-star hotels which rely on foreign, imported products.  Fortunately there are chefs like Frenchman Joannès Rivière at Cuisine Wat Damnak.  Born and raised in Roanne, in the Loire Valley, Joannès’ family supplied organic vegetables to the famed three-star Michelin Le Maison Troisgros.

In 2003, following his early years of apprenticeship in France and the eastern coast of the United States Joannès moved to Siem Reap, Cambodia to teach underprivileged kids at the NGO Sala Bai Hotel School. During this time, he wrote the first known Cambodian cookbook to be printed in English and French.

He then became Executive Chef at Hotel de la Paix, one of Siemp Reap’s most prestigious hotels. Increasingly Joannès researched Cambodia’s local produce and regional dishes eventually developing a degustation menu highlighting Cambodian cuisine. But it was a cheese course, in which a guest received three mass produced industrial imported cheeses, that was the tipping point for Joannès to eschew working with imported products and cuisines and to focus on refining and showcasing the best that Cambodia has to offer.

I met up with Joannès in the courtyard of his highly acclaimed restaurant, Cuisine Wat Damnak in Siem Reap, Cambodia to shoot the video interview below.

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Geoff Krieger and Iain Riggs almost ended up on the cutting room floor, but thanks to the “wonders” of technology we brought them back!

In the Spring of 2011 I was sent to Australia by the lovely folks at Wine Australia, all the while videoblogging for the LCBO and producing content for Good Food Revolution.

Unfortunately, after innumerable videos being posted online, my hard drive became corrupted, and I lost most of the footage I had shot in my last few days there …

Until last week that is, when I magically retrieved some great stuff with Brokenwood in the Hunter Valley!

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If you are having trouble viewing this video please click here.

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Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… And he is extremely pleased that he managed to recover this footage from April 2011.

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By Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, a certified “Good Food Fighter”

Jamie Kennedy presents an evening with Charles Baker

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013, 6:30 pm.

On May 23rd, Jamie Kennedy welcomes Charles Baker to Gilead for a dinner celebrating both Charles’ wine portfolio and their long friendship. Once a member of Jamie’s Palmerston restaurant team, Charles is an outstanding ambassador for Niagara winemaking. He’s the Director of Marketing and Sales at Stratus Vineyards and produces great Niagara Riesling under his own eponymous label, and is also a partner in Clos Thales, an intense wine-growing project in the south of France. Join us for an engaging gastronomicexperience involving all three wineries; Charles’ stories and expertise will accompany a spring feast paired with wines by Stratus and Charles Baker. This is another in our ongoing Local Food Movement event series.

Hors d’oeuvres & five course dinner ~ $75
Flight of wines ~ $25
(tax and gratuity not included)

6:30 pm Reception – 7:15 pm Dinner

Please call 647.288.0680 or email joanna@jamiekennedy.ca to reserve, space is limited.

Subscribe to our e-blast to be the first to know about Jamie Kennedy events by sending a note to Jo at joanna@jamiekennedy.ca.

Gilead is the perfect venue for your own private  family or corporate event: it’s like one big Chef’s table for up to 42 people! For private event inquiries, please contact our events department at 416-362-1957 ext. 209 or laurab@jamiekennedy.ca.

Gilead 647.288.0680 4 Gilead Place, Toronto, M5A 3C9 East of Parliament, South off King www.jamiekennedy.ca

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By Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, a certified “Good Food Fighter”

Jamie Kennedy presents

a Gilead SOMEWHERENESS Wine Bar

Friday May 17th, 6 – 10 pm

We’ll be featuring S O M E W H E R E N E S S wines at 3 Gilead Wine Bar events in May; the second one takes place Friday May 17th.
We’ll have bottle & by-the-glass wine lists of all twelve Somewhereness wineries, plus 4 extra feature wines by each event’s headlining wineries.

May 17th we welcome representatives from:

Hidden Bench, Tawse, 13th Street, and Cave Spring Cellars!

(we’ll have our usual drink specials too: beer $5, traditional cocktails $7)

Menu highlights include:

*Spot Prawn Bisque with Croutons

*Gratiné Beer & Onion Soup

*Ontario Asparagus with Mustard & Chive Vinaigrette

*Hot Smoked Whitefish Cake with Wild Leek Tartar Sauce

*BBQ Chicken Wings

*Poutine

*Apples Beignet in Beer Batter with Crème Anglaise

WHAT IS THE GILEAD WINE BAR?  Gilead Wine Bar is our happy hour of sorts. It’s a way to relax at the end of the work week or kick off your weekend celebrations. We have several drink features at great prices: a selection of beers, red and white wines, and cocktail or two. We still have our full list of lovingly crafted cocktails and our extensive Ontario-friendly wine list, with many by-the-glass choices. We put together a delicious menu for you to choose from: snack, share, or have a full dinner. It’s an evolving menu of J.K. signature dishes and seasonal treats.

No reservations are required, just drop on by.

*****

Subscribe to our e-blast to be the first to know about Jamie Kennedy events by sending a note to Jo at joanna@jamiekennedy.ca.

Gilead is the perfect venue for your own private  family or corporate event: it’s like one big Chef’s table for up to 42 people! For private event inquiries, please contact our events department at 416-362-1957 ext. 209 or laurab@jamiekennedy.ca.

Gilead

647.288.0680

4 Gilead Place, Toronto, M5A 3C9
East of Parliament, South off King

www.jamiekennedy.ca

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Andrew Richmond took a table at the Toronto Underground Market series of food events and turned it into a restaurant. La Carnita on College Street continues the guerrilla spirit of its origins, serving ‘gringo-style’ tacos and Tromba Tequila margaritas from a tap behind it’s big bar. La Carnita also reflects its founder’s interest in design and art, commissioning original works every month for the benefit of its guests and holding a food, music and art festival on July 19 at the Brick Works called DOS (it’s their second, the first one was called UNO).

DOS caught my attention when I noticed that Richmond had brought in another food “presenter” (or whatever the appropriate term is for this sort of thing). Alongside La Carnita will be a contingent from Chicago’s Big Star, the raucous, always-packed taco-joint established by Paul Kahane, co-winner of this year’s James Beard Foundation Award for most outstanding chef with David Chang. I sat down with Richmond at La Carnita to shoot the video below, to find out more about DOS, what lessons he learned going from pop-up to bricks and mortar and what exactly drives his success at La Carnita.

Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the not-for-profit corporation which publishes it. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley

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From the outside, 2540 South Service Road doesn’t look like the home of one of Canada’s top wineries. There are no signs, no welcome centres, no tasting rooms at Le Clos Jordanne. To enter the cinder block-built converted cold storage facility, an invited guest must find an unmarked steel door and hope he’s in the right spot. That’s what I did when I went to visit winemaker Sebastien Jacquey recently.  I found Jacquey in his office, tucked away from the fermented and barrel rooms, where he looked tired but happy – his wife had delivered his second daughter just a few days before.

Jacquey is in the process of bottling the 2011 Clos Jordanne Pinots and Chardonnays. It’s his second vintage as winemaker, having worked at CJ previously as assistant to Thomas Bachelder. We tasted through some of them, including red and white samples of the Villages, the bright Claystone Terrace and the rich Grand Clos. Then, we sampled some of the 2012s, still in barrel, which offered an interesting contrast and comparison. (I’ll let the uber-critics and tasters, like Jamie,  give their notes and scores when these wines are released, but sufficed to say I believe these wines will be enjoyed and recognised as expressive of the Clos Jordanne style, despite Vintage variation and the increasingly pleasant effects of vine age.)

After the tasting, Jacquey extended to me the rare privilege of at tour of the Clos Jordanne and Grand Clos Vineyards, a short drive away uphill towards the Escarpment, past cherry orchards in brilliant pink blossom. There, we shot the video below, wherein he explains the philosophy and practice behind Le Clos Jordanne, and tells the incredible story of how a young Frenchman from Burgundy ended up in Niagara.

Le Clos Jordanne and Constellation Brands Canada are certified Good Food Fighters. Please support the businesses and organizations that support Good Food Revolution.

Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the not-for-profit corporation which publishes it. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley

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Author, broadcaster and multiple Guinness World Record holder Bob Blumer says his ‘Stratusphere’ dinner at Stratus Winery on May 18 will feature a “greatest hits” menu of “surreal bites”. Blumer, who GFR reached on the phone from New York City, is looking forward to his visit to Niagara and plans to cycle from Toronto to the state-of-the-art winery just outside of the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. He told me diners will move around the winery to food stations maned by local culinary students in a laid-back and relaxed atmosphere. Asked why he’s cooking at Stratus, the renown oenophile (and occasional DRC grape picker) gave a succinct answer: “I love the wine.” And, just to add “fuel to the fire” Blumer has invited along Billy’s Best Bottles’ agent provocateur, Billy Munnelly.

Munnelly, reached on the phone from BBB’s command post in Prince Edward County, says his role is to assist Blumer as he can: “He’s the man, it’s his show.” Known for his theory and practice of matching wines to mood, Munnelly envisions a “Wildass evening – a light-hearted version of a winemaker’s dinner,” adding, “Stratus is such beautiful place and they make such delicious wines, you can’t go wrong.”

For more information, or to reserve a spot at Bob Blumer’s Stratusphere dinner, click here.

Stratus is a certified Good Food Fighter. Please support the businesses and organizations that support Good Food Revolution.

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A bottle of Beronia Rosada in the sun yesterday

2012 Beronia Rosada Tempranillo, Rioja, Spain LCBO Vintages #323519 $14.95 (June 8th release)
What could be better than a chilled bottle of Beronia Rioja rosado on a sunny day? I’ll tell you what… TWO chilled bottles of Beronia Rioja rosado on a sunny day… out in the backyard… Perfect.

Named after a Celtic tribe, the Berones, who inhabited Rioja Alta in the 3rd Century BC, the house of Beronia dates back to 1973, being purchased by the González family (of Sherry fame) in 1982.

This brightly coloured rosado looks particularly stunning in the glass, although you’ll probably want to go for a slightly more polished one than the glass I used to take the picture above. The bouquet is one of expressive red fruit, notably fresh red currants, apples, and cherries alongside an attractive rosewater nuance. In this vintage I find the acidity to be a little more pronounced than previously, this being an extremely good thing as much rosada Rioja tends towards the mediocre, flat, and tired. This example has sufficient juicy zing for my personal taste as well as a satisfyingly full and yet dry palate of ripe red fruits, desert herbs, and an alluring floral finish, echoing the rosewater on the nose. And it’s certainly at the right pricepoint.

Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… and he’ll be getting a few bottles of this when it’s released, that’s for sure.

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