Culinary Highlights of the Eastern Townships

The 11th edition of Montreal en Lumière starts February 18th and I'm looking forward to the "Wine and Dine" portion of this ten-day celebration of Montreal's winter urban arts and food scene.

One of my highlights of this year's edition is exploring the culinary offerings of the Eastern Townships, this year's featured region of Quebec, at the Jean Talon Market and at various restaurants around town. The activities at Jean Talon Market are easily the most accessible in this series. From 9am on Saturday and Sunday, February 20th and 21st, producers from the Eastern Townships will be featuring their products and available for questions. The activity is free, so check them out!

On the pricier end, four restaurants in Montreal will be welcoming chefs from the Eastern Townships into their kitchens to create menus featuring their local heritage. It certainly sounds like a one-of-a-kind experience for a night out. If you are interested, reserve early. I'm told these dinners can sell-out quickly.

• Chef Jeffrey Stirrup at L’Inconnu is pairing up with Geneviève Fillion of Sherbrooke’s Le Bouchon to create a five-course tasting menu with her region’s local produce taking centre stage. ($55, or $85 with wine pairing; details here)
• Chef Jean-Paul Giroux at Cuisine & Dépendance is teaming up with award-winning chef Alain Labrie of La Table du Chef in the Eastern Townships. French cuisine with local ingredients will be featured. ($70, or $115 with wine pairing; details here)
• Chef Jean-Baptiste Marchand at Bistrot La Fabrique is welcoming Danny St-Pierre of the Auguste restaurant, where he will be recreating some of his "market-driven" Eastern Townships classics. ($45, or $75 with wine pairing; details here)
• Chef Laurent Godbout at Chez L'Epicier is going back to his roots with chef François Tourigny of La Table Tourigny, with whom he first started his culinary career. French cuisine with a local twist takes centre stage. ($85, or $135 with wine pairing; details here)
  

Coffee with a Conscience in Verdun

Every now and then I stumble across a real delight. Case and point: Baobab Café on Wellington street in Verdun. Verdun is probably not where you'd expect to find a thriving socially- and environmentally-conscious café, but there it is. They also offers their patrons free Internet access.

The coffee is good and reasonably priced, especially considering that it is all fair trade. A small filter coffee served at the table set me back $1.75, and it was hardly 'small.' Baobab also serves espresso ($2.35), cappuccino and cafe au lait ($3.15-$4.25), hot chocolate ($2.75-$3.75), and chai tea ($2); all are organic and fair-trade. For an extra $0.50 you can replace dairy milk with soy milk.

If you fancy a nibble with your coffee, they have croissants, chocolatines, and a selection of muffins and scones for about $2. At lunchtime, they also have a selection of sandwiches starting at $4.25 and going up to $9 for a trio.

Finally, Café Baobab sells Camino fair trade products, including sugar, cocoa, hot chocolate and chocolate bars. They also sell their coffee en vrac for $10/lb.

All around a winner, I think. I'm sure I'll be visiting again.

DNA Delivers Ecogastronomic Delights

Earlier this week, some friends and I went out to DNA Restaurant to enjoy their special "Ecogastronomy" menu in honour of Slow Food week. Founded in 1986, Slow Food was started in reaction to the rise of 'fast food', and was perhaps one of the earliest promoters, although indirectly, of the farm-to-table approach to eating. Proponents of Slow Food believe that food should be more than sustenance in the belly. Food, in its full range of recipes and flavours, should celebrated, savoured, and enjoyed in the company of others.

Recently, Slow Food has added eco- and social responsibility to its gastronomic roots--hence ecogastronomy. According to the Slow Food Canada website, "Ecogastonomy is an attitude that combines a respect and interest in enogastronomic culture with support for those battling to defend food and agricultural biodiversity around the world. [...] It helps to safeguard local cuisines, traditional products, vegetable and animal species at risk of extinction. It supports a new model of agriculture, which is less intensive and healthier, founded on the knowledge and know-how of local communities."

The Ecogastronomy menu at DNA Restaurant was true to all these Slow Food principles. It was my first visit to DNA and my expectations were high. I'd been hearing good things about Executive Chef and co-owner Derek Dammann's culinary concoctions that honour heritage food traditions and use mostly local and sustainable-sourced ingredients, as well as the extensive Canadian wine list compiled with partner Alex Cruz.

Overall my dining companions and I were impressed. We all agreed that the $45 set price for the four-course menu was a steal for the quality and quantity of food. Far too often, farm-to-table dining is out of the price range for the average person. For this event, DNA makes it reasonably affordable. Good on them! In contrast, the $45 optional wine pairing offered to accompany the meal was a huge disappointment and grossly overpriced. Only three services were accompanied by wine and the quantity was very meagre compared to other wine-paired meals I've experienced. Instead, consider ordering your wine by the glass or bottle with help from the sommelier. The extensive wine list offers some affordable choices (as well as some luxury ones!) and a very exciting selection of Canadian wines.

Now, on to the food! Overall the ecogastronomy menu is ambitious and varied. Our waiter was fabulous at explaining everything on the menu, even offering insights into the ingredients themselves and how some of the dishes are prepared. In keeping with the celebration of food in all its ranges and flavours, much of the opening appetizer and pasta course options include ingredients that many of us are not used to, such as heart and testicles (Yes, you read that correctly!). This was a turn-off for some at our table, and the source of great excitement for others. It was really interesting to watch the range of reactions.

Some of the appetizers on offer included zupa di pane (bread soup), porchetta di testa (a charcuterie made from a pig's head), veal heart tartare with brioche, fresh oysters, and Kamouraska lamb carpaccio. The carpaccio, which was delicate and flavourful, was a big hit at our table; as was the heart tartare for the more adventurous and the zupa di pane, which was full of chard and beans and very rich. Appetizers were served with a variety of fresh-baked breads and olive oil, which stayed on the table until the main course.

Moving on to the pasta course, selections included ravioli al sole, kamouraska lamb cavatelli, and spinach pasta with fresh lobster and Matane shrimp, among others. The ravioli was stunning. Upon cutting into it, the barely-cooked yolk of a duck egg spilled out onto the plate. I'd never seen that before, although some of my dining companions had encountered it in their own culinary gallivanting, and even tried to reproduce it themselves(!). Aside from the egg, the filling of the ravioli contained duck liver, heart, tongue, testicles and foie gras, in a refreshing example of leaving no part of an animal to waste. The cavatelli was also well-received. The lobster and Matane shrimp was tasty with generous portions of seafood and married well with the fresh spinach pasta, but was very, very salty. This was a shame because the delicate flavours of the seafood were not allowed to come through on their own.

Main courses included boudin noir (a blood sausage), kamouraska lamb, veal loin, milk-fed piglet, wild coho salmon and striped sea bass. All were tasty, well-prepared and well-presented. The only missing element was vegetables, which were there but you had to hunt for them. There is still a lot of seasonal produce available at this time of year, so I'm not sure why the veggies were so starkingly absent; although it is in keeping with the bistro style that seems so popular among trendy restaurants these days.

Wrapping up the meal, the salted pine nut tart with ginger and olive oil gelato was the perfect finish. I highly recommend it. Other options included apple cake and a chocolate panna cotta made from a traditional recipe (Ask the server about the secret ingredient.). This was followed by almond cookies and coffee.

Overall a very pleasant night. A few final notes: Almost everyone commented on the decor, which is high-tech, modern, tasteful and inviting. The layout also feels very private and helps keep the din of surrounding diners to almost non-existent (A feat well-worth mentionning!). However, the service for the four-course menu was very long. We were in at 7pm and not out until well after 11pm. At that point many of us were rushing out the door, even leaving early before the coffee, weary of long drives back to Vaudreuil and the North Shore. Finally, this is no place for a vegetarian, although I suspect that non-meat-eaters could be accommodated with advance notice.

Sorry, no pics. I decided to sit back and immerse myself in the experience of the evening.

PS. The Montreal chapter of Slow Food is offering a 10% discount on annual membership upon presentation of the restaurant bill from the this week's Ecogastronomy menu. for more details contact them at info(at)slowfoodquebec(dot)com.

L'Origine in Old Montreal Disappoints

I'd really like to say that I enjoyed dining at Bistro L'Origine recently, but the truth is I didn't; neither did my dining partner. We both expected more. Located in front of the science centre in Old Montreal, L'Origine has been open since 2005 and bills itself as using local, organic or fair-trade ingredients in its menu which is inspired by Montreal's cultural heritage. You can see why I really wanted to like this place! Alas, it was not to be.

We started our meal with drinks. Disappointingly, most of the wines and beers were imports, I settled on a cocktail and my friend on the only local beer on tap on the menu. My Gingermania --a blend of gin, 7-up, ginger and other spices--was delicious and refreshing, however my friend had less luck. His pint of Chambly Blanche beer was served warm. Very warm. Not exactly refreshing on a hot summer's day.

The food was equally erratic. My soup of the day, maple-lentil, was delicious and an interesting blend of flavours. The market-fresh salad was also very good, and the plates of nachos and charcuterie we saw floating by headed to other tables looked fabulous. Our main courses, however, were both disappointing. I chose the Table d'Hote: a chicken in a tomato sauce served over couscous. It was quite tasty, but very ordinary. The server also couldn't confirm if the chicken was organic or not, which is odd in a restaurant billing promoting itself on sustainable principles.

My partner fared less well with his choice, roast beef and portabello mushroom on a bun with caramelized onions. It was simply horrible. On the menu, the combination sounded intriguing, but the caramelized onion was so sweet, and there was so much of it, that it just overwhelmed any other flavours. (Yes, that is all onions you see in the photo!) There was also only a single thin slice of roast beef in the sandwich. I'm not sure that we would have tasted it even without the onion disaster.

We arrived at 5pm. At this time the bistro had live entertainment. It was simply a singer and a guitar player, which would normally be fine, but it was so loud through the speakers that we could barely have a conversation. We were both relieved when the duo took a break. The subsequent 'chill' music provided by the dj was a much better match to the atmosphere.

On the plus side, our waitress was very nice and friendly; the prices are quite reasonable for Old Montreal; many of the local suppliers are mentionned by name on the menu; and the overall ambiance is perfectly suited to a terrace on the Quai. If I'm looking for a quick nacho nibble and a drink with friends while soaking in the sun in the Old Port, I'd probably go back. But I'd ask for a glass of ice alongside my drinks, and give the main courses a miss.

Savouring Sustainable Seafood in Ottawa

Before a recent trip to Ottawa, I asked around about restaurants serving up sustainable, local or organic fare. To my pleasant surprise, it turns out there are a lot of them in Ottawa, including a small seafood restaurant serving up sustainable fare. At the suggestion of FoodiePrints, I headed off to check it out.

The Whalesbone Oyster House is a tiny, rugged-looking but tastefully decorated little place located on Bank street. It is completely devoted to serving sustainable catches and is a member of the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise program, a program that helps consumers identify restaurants serving sustainable seafood. (Wilfrid's Restaurant in the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa is also a member of Ocean Wise.) In addition to being its own restaurant, Whalesbone supplies fresh fish and seafood to several Ottawa area restaurants and hotels. It also offers a catering service.

Oysters are the obvious focal point Whalesbone. So while we browsed the menu, we sipped on an oyster Caesar, a basic Caesar served with a fresh oyster. We also ordered a couple of oysters to sample. Being new to oysters, our hostess suggesting trying an east coast and a west coast choice and foregoing the sauces so we could enjoy the full taste of the shellfish. The PEI Colville Bay oyster, our east coast choice, was sweet and subtle; whereas the west coast Outlandish Gems from BC were smaller, meatier and saltier. Now I understand why our server suggested enjoying the east coast ones first!

My friend opted for the catch of the day: east coast lobster. It was served without its shell on a bed of Swiss chard and delicate finger potatoes. The sauce was slightly sweet with just the right amount of butter and garlic. Since eating scallops is a very rare treat for me, I opted for the hand-picked Qualicum Beach scallops from Vancouver Island served over bitter greens, garlic sprouts, and a mixture of white beans and bacon. The scallops were large and perfectly seared. Their natural sweetness, augmented by a light maple sauce was a perfect compliment to the bitter greens. A truly brilliant combination.

Unfortunately, we only had a bit over an hour to dine, so we didn't have time to try their new sundae bar featuring Pascale's Natural Ice Cream. We also passed on the wine list, which is divided in light-bodied, medium-bodied, full-bodied and sweet wines, making it easier to pair them with your meal. That's okay. We'll just have to go back!

Whalesbone Oyster House
430 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario
613.231.8569

Head Chef: Charlotte Langley
Owner: Joshua Bishop

Dinner for two, including oysters and drinks ~ $100

Strolling Plaza St-Hubert

I always love a stroll through Plaza St-Hubert: the stretch of St-Hubert street between Jean-Talon and Bellechasse. There seems to be a little something for everyone on this street. Whether you're looking for jewellery or junk, fashion or fabric, electronics or furniture, food or entertainment, you can probably find it somewhere in this covered strip.

When I'm shopping in the area, there are a few food places that I like to drop in on. They also happen to be close by each other and the Beaubien metro!

If you're not looking for it, you might miss Les Delires du Terroir (6406 St-Hubert), a tiny shop that specialises in local microbrewery beers and Quebec products. From its tasteful interiour explore fragrant honey from Iles de la Madelaine, wild spiced mustard made in Rawdon, or jams and jellies from the townships. Everything is the store is made by small producers and a lot of the products are seasonal. Not sure what you're looking for? Ask for a suggestion. The owners are happy to help you select a beer to match your taste, or pair it with a cheese or other local product.

Tucked away almost right next door, La Queue du Cochon (6400 St-Hubert) is an artisinale butcher that carries local and organic meat choices, including suasages. It also does sandwiches and prepared meals.

A little bit further south is Pousse l'Ananas (6346 St-Hubert), a produce store with green dreams. Plentifully mixed in among the standard fruiterie fare, you'll find local, seasonal fruits and vegetables (when available), meats from La Ferme Valens in Huntington, and a selection of organic and fair trade goodies. As well, Styrofoam trays often used to wrap up meats and produce are eschewed here in favour of an environmentally-friendlier version that take only three years to degrade in a typical landfill (as opposed to a few hundred years for standard Styrofoam!). Prices are very reasonable. Bring your own bag!

Finally, F Café (6323 St-Hubert) is a colourful cooperatively run coffee shop and boutique run by Compagnie F, which helps women entrepreneurs. Sit down and check you email over their free wifi while enjoying a quick bite and a cup of fair trade coffee. The café also doubles as the resource centre for Compagnie F.

Every time I go to the area I seem to discover a new hidden gem. If you know if one I've missed, I'd love to hear about it!

Guilt-Free Diner-ing in Vancouver

Nestled away on the rougher edge of downtown Vancouver on Granville street, from the outside The Templeton looks like a typical run of the mill diner (or greasy spoon as we call them in Quebec)--the inside as well for that matter. Its long single room has about seven diner-style booths complete with chunky, wall-mounted jukeboxes along one side, and a long counter with swivel stools along the other where patrons dine on burgers, beer, sandwiches, all-day breakfasts, coffee, and all the typical diner fare. However, a quick peak at the menu reveals something different: A diner with conscience.

The focus is on burgers and breakfast: organic and local burgers and breakfasts that is. There are three basic types of burgers on the menu—portabello mushroom (vegetarian), 100% beef, or chicken—which you can then dress up to your liking with a variety of toppings. All the ingredients are organic and locally-sourced. The burgers come with a side of local organic greens, french fries, garlic mashed potatoes or the soup of the day. For a couple of dollars more, you can upgrade your side dish to a vegetarian chilli or a poutine. Poutine? In Vancouver?

My dining choice was obvious: A 777 organic beef burger and poutine! According to the menu the poutine is made with French fries, aged cheddar cheese and vegan mushroom gravy. Not exactly a traditional poutine, but definitely a tasty choice. Although a bit on the salty side, the mushroom gravy tasted like a classic ‘sauce brun’; and paired well with the aged cheddar for a strong flavourful mouthful. The burger was large and juicy, topped with bright lettuce, tomato and onion. Exactly what I expected.

For a diner, The Templeton has a wide variety of vegetarian choices and is conscious to include vegan options as well. Some examples include Three-Cheese Organic Macaroni, Vegan Lentil Loaf and Pesto Grilled Veggie Lasagna. All veg*n dishes, including the portabello mushroom burger, are cooked separately from the meat dishes. This is a rarity among mixed restaurants, in my observation. If fish is more your thing, The Templeton has that too, including beer battered fish and chips from sustainable catches and tuna steak. Other diner offerings include salads and grilled sandwiches.

Templeton offers breakfast until 3pm. I had the pleasure of watching plates of pancakes, eggs and French toast float past me. Their “Mangled Eggs’ is described on the menu as bacon, scrambled eggs , and Montreal brie inside a toasted croissant, with a side order of rosemary potatoes (hmm More Montreal fare); and yes, the bacon is organic. You can substitute veggie bacon. Other breakfast offerings include huevos rancheros, farmer’s breakfast with sausages, tofu scrambler, omelettes, cereals, fresh fruit and more. Weekend brunches add a selection of “Benny’s”, or Eggs Benedict, to the menu as well as steak and eggs.

Well stuffed on my burger and poutine, I passed on deserts, which included a hot fudge brownie, vegan pear crisp, and blueberry mango crumble. The regular desert menu included deep fried Mars bars, which I haven’t seen on a menu since Scotland, and deep-fried Wunderbars. I was sad to pass them up.

Service was fast and friendly. The staff is clearly passionate about food. Following my meal, I had a fabulous discussion about local sustainable fare with my server, who herself was vegetarian. She also offered up a few other inexpensive restaurant suggestions to try in my quest for sustainable food choices in Vancouver, and also recommended some vendors to visit at the Granville Island market.

Assuming you get a straight meal at The Templeton, expect to spend about $15 after taxes excluding drinks. Breakfasts are a bit less. Deserts run about $5 each. A pint of brew will set you back a fiver, or try the local cider for abut a dollar more. Definitely a deal for guilt-free fare.

The Templeton
1087 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1L4
(604) 685-4612

Local and Organic (mostly) in Lasalle

The other night, I had the pleasure of dining at a new family-run restaurant in Lasalle. Not feeling like cooking, I quickly browsed the Internet to see if I could find somewhere new instead of one of my usual haunts. The description of Byla Byla in Lasalle caught my eye:

"Our meals are made as much as possible from fresh local, seasonal, organic and preservative-free ingredients. Most of what we make is fabricated in-house. We do this because we can’t imagine doing anything else [...]".

Okay... local... organic... and in Lasalle? How can I resist that? My partner and I packed into the car and headed west. We were not disappointed. The food was amazing. It easily rivaled the offerings commonly found at the more upscale downtown or St-Denis street bistros, and at half the price!

The opening carrot soup was rich and creamy with a hint of coriander without being overwhelming. The chef's salad was equally impressive: a mouth-watering mix of fresh greens, including water cress, artfully presented and served with a balsamic vinaigrette.

For the main courses, my partner's steak was cooked exactly as ordered and he declared that it was quite possibly one of the best three he's ever had in his life. It was served with a rapini ratatouille on a hot cast iron plate fitting into a cork server which kept the steak warm throughout the meal. Our only disappointment was that the steak was was not local, it came from Alberta; but there was certainly no criticising the quality of the meat or its preparation.

My own choice was the Cornish hen. We were told that it would take about half an hour to prepare, and it was well worth the wait. The meat was rich and moist, almost falling of the bone. The outside was subtly crispy. It was served with the same rapini ratatouille as the steak.

After this feast, we were so stuffed we didn't sample the deserts, although they all sounded wonderful. We also declined on the coffee, which we were told is direct-trade from a farm in South America.

It's not cheap, but it's not unreasonable either. They only offer a table d'hote and it's about $20/per person in the evening; less a lunchtime. Servings are plentiful; neither of us finished our meals. Wine prices are close to SAQ prices, with bottles starting at 16$. Service was excellent.

We visited on a Saturday night, and sadly were only one of three couples in the restaurant. Given the quality and price of the food, it really deserves to be busier than they were. So if you're looking for good food in the west end, consider paying them a visit.

Byla Byla is at 1395 Dollard Street in Lasalle, in a strip mall at the end of the shopping area of the street, just before LaVerendrye.