Butchers had roamed the earth as part of guilds as far back as the Middle Ages, when their original job was to slaughter goats–they were called bouchiers then. Their skills were greatly appreciated and they grew more and more popular.

Their customers–people like you and I–learned from the butchers and became very good at roasting and barbecuing meat (and pairing it with good beer and wine in their backyards).

Butchers were serving humankind very well, indeed, and were repositories of butcherly protein-knowledge. But over time and during a dark and ugly period of our food history, butchers were cast out, excommunicated, from greater society. It was all part of a larger corporate, President’s Choice-ification and Monsantoizing of our food supply.

It was an epoch of industrial, ersatz food in which only an Orwellian “Processese” was spoken.

Flat iron cut of beef.

Butchers, who previously could be found happily plying their craft (even in sterile, “food-less” Grocery Stores to some extent) suddenly vanished. It was a time of protein gloom: small children believed that a steak or pork chop grew through spontaneous generation and magically appeared on Styrofoam(TM) trays and came abiogenetically wrapped in cellophane in a box from the bulk freezer section.

People had little idea about animal husbandry and preparing animal flesh and muscle for human consumption. They shied away from these terms and sanitized the pure fact that they were eating an animal. They lost all concept of how an animal was raised and taken care of–or how it should be raised and taken care of.

In fact, people never saw these animals whole because they came from sad feedlots hundreds and hundreds of miles away and without little context for their place on the dinner table.

Pig cheek.

But slowly, butchers re-grouped. They rose up to smite the gods of Spallanzani and his Moloch of spontaneous generation, and they took back their razor-sharp halberds, their high-tensile, stainless-steel meshed and Kevlar gauntlets and started butchering again. And it was good. And more customers tasted and said it was good and demanded more butchery and less Styrofoam(TM).

And a new era dawned (and some butchers were even happy enough to remain open on the Seventh Day).

Pink clodhammer; that is: rotator cuff.

Well, all facetiousness aside there is still a lot of work to be done in all of this reconnection with our food. But it is heartening to see the Bradys, DiPietros, and The Bauer Butchers of the world walking among us again and no longer shunned. Galen’s grip is still strong but it is weakening slowly.

These bouchiers are among the first crusaders out of the post-industrial and processed-food darkness that has clouded what we eat and our understanding of it. And we need to continue to “worship” them and build these reconnections. We need to do it for our health and the sustaining of our food supply.

One thing we need to do is have a little better idea of what we are even eating when we eat good meat. So please set aside a few moments now: in the accompanying video, Matt Kendrick–The Bauer Butcher–takes us through a short course in breaking down beef. With a few slashes, some snicker-snack cuts, and a big ol’ band-saw, Kendrick shows you several cuts of beef and makes a few suggestions for how to cook them.

[Sorry about some of the audio interference which makes some sections of the video sound like they were recorded inside NASA's International Space Station--Ed.]

Parmigiano Reggiano is "The King of Cheeses."

Stay tuned … starting Monday, May 22, right after the long cheese weekend.

Amuse-bouche: What they call “progressive American cuisine” is very good and located in downtown Sarasota’s Rosemary District.

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Some of the best food experiences happen when you least expect them. Call it accidental culinary tourism. A recent trip to Sarasota, FL, turned up an absolute gem–and it seemed as if it came out of nothing.

I had been previously familiar with what is referred to as downtown Sarasota’s “Rosemary District,” an interesting and beautiful collection of buildings and architecture–and in that, a quite long history too. No need now to dredge up a miserable past that we all know, except to remind ourselves that Florida was a slave state and the Rosemary District, established in 1886, is part of that era.

Derek's in Rosemary District.

But much more importantly for today, however, Rosemary is a manifestation of change and the dedication of a community determined to build itself a vibrant and engaged citizenry that can forge a robust economy and unity. There’s some boutique shops, art galleries, condominiums, quaint smaller homes with pretty colours–and generally a lot of energy being donated to really refurbish the area into one of increased sophistication and genuineness.

I applaud that determination, and here’s where food comes into play. I stumbled upon Derek’s Culinary Casual Restaurant quite by accident, and I’m very glad I did. The restaurant’s work is progressive or modern American cuisine, and chef and owner Derek Barnes has spent some time with Emeril Legasse and has picked up for himself a James Beard accolade as a semifinalist as Best Chef, South in 2009.

Some of the crew.

Just about as much as anyone–including during the woeful economic climes of “The Recent Collapse”–Barnes has been a leader in Rosemary, and his restaurant is the sword he brandishes in helping nudge change and improvement along. The sword cuts and slices some terrific cooking, along with his kitchen staff and a bright and energetic front-of-house team who work in a dining room with brilliant and alluring works of art on the walls. It’s a casual and attractive setting just right for the food.

On a menu that you might say is a forward-looking American classics or comfort-foods-tweaked presentation, you’ll find “Small Plates and Bowls” and “Principal Dishes”–and in them lots of interest. The former offers about 16 dishes; the latter a dozen or so and then several “Simple Grills.”

Some stellar gougeres started this Good Friday meal: these are buttery and nicely textured choux pastry annointed with a touch of Parmesan. I gobbled eagerly–and when more arrived, I gobbled again. An amuse-bouche of steak tartare arrives and has a pleasing texture and a slight hint of pepper served with spring onion and a Tuscan olive oil that is itself both peppery and grassy.

Gorgeous gougeres.

A wee sip of Francois Montand (N.V.) sparkler joins Maine lobster and ginger dumplings with a braised daikon, shiitake and crab broth. It was just a touch salty but the lotus root added some excellent crunch to the dish. This was followed by the crisp acidity of a 2010 Las Brisas sauvignon blanc and verdejo from Spain (Rueda DO), a “surf and earth” sampling, if you might, of nicely cooked calamari with tomatoes and New Orleans-Italian muffaletta toast, P.E.I. mussels in a delicious broth, and crisp steak frites with roasted garlic aioli. Together, they were all delicious.

Lotus root gives great crunch texture.

Derek’s Cortez bottarga and pasta was something special: the Sicilian cured roe delicacy ain’t easy to come by, even when considering it comes in from the waters off Cortez, FL, as mullet roe. The stuff sells for about $25 per ounce. It’s served like cheese on house-made pasta, and it’s beautiful.

A triumvirate of taste.

In Kitchener, once a sort of bastion of Portuguese culture and language–and to some extent still true–there is a quirky little restaurant called The Algarve. They used to make a great arroz con mariscos, a rice and seafood stew. Derek’s is lightly breaded shrimp with powerful shrimp flavour, Corvina (a whitefish), squid, and mussels with white beans and a light, invigorating pilaf-like rice. Fresh peas and lemon gave the dish considerable zing, but Peruvian aji panca–a smokey, fruity mild pepper–rounded things out very well. The wine, a 2010 Lange Estate Willamette Valley pinot noir, had a defined Bing cherry flavour and a nice acidity.

Arroz con mariscos.

Crispy duck is next and is glorious: rice, daikon, peas, carrot, cucumber, it is contrast of textures and flavours and I can just imagine it as a Saigonese banh mi. By this time–a time when a 2009 Kermit Lynch Cotes du Rhone appeared–I was getting pretty tuckered out from eating.

Crispy duck with veg: made me think of a banh mi sandwich.

But as Batali says, “Wretched excess is not enough!” So, we used that lovely Rhone to sip with a succulent and tender short rib with a cola and Malabar pepper reduction and smoked oyster mushrooms (smoked out back at Derek’s). It sat atop a just as wonderful and simple cauliflower and potato gratin.

Beef short rib was very good; cauliflower and potato gratin was its equal.

The finishing dish was a honey-lavender poached pear with a black pepper and caramel sauce accompanied by goat cheese ice cream with basil. Served with Alvear Solera 1927 Pedro Ximenez–notes of caramel, maple syrup, and coffee–and the result is divine.

Poached pear with honey and lavender. Or was it lavender honey? Doesn't matter. Just damn good.

Of course, it is not likely that you might find yourself at Derek’s from here in Waterloo Region, but if you do happen to winter in Sarasota, this really is a place to try. If that is completely off the radar, then it’s worthwhile to simply imagine some very good food being served in a neighbourhood where a group of people and activities are trying to make a difference and build strong community. I have always thought that that is among the many roles that food and restaurants play in our lives.

The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro is about to open officially this week at the former Janet Lynn’s Bistro location at  92 King Street S, Waterloo. It’s an ambitious outfit: they have plans for openings in 50 Canadian cities. The Waterloo owner is Shirley Maclean who grew up in the Region.

Factory / industrial decor with classic rock tunes.

The Works serves something like 70 different varieties of burgers–and I think I heard a number somewhere around 400 when it comes to various menu combinations. It is a sizable menu indeed set in an industrial or factory backdrop with classic rock for sound and large doors and windows opening onto the King Street sidewalk.

Thick shakes come in measuring cup vessels.

The burgers are big and hefty with meat from the Orillia area being hand-pressed into patties in-house. The patties are then cooked on flame to 145-degrees and finished in the oven to bring their internal temperature up to 160-degrees. The menu has a variety of proteins including an eclectic elk burger, as well as burger-resto standards such as fries, a half-dozen poutine, and shakes that start out as ice cream.

Sides include slaws and greens, and mashed potatoes and sweet potato strings. You can also get non-burger sandwiches and desserts as well as beer and wine.

Burgers are named for local personalities, from mayors and sports figures to global corporations and former prime ministers.

Die-cut fries with tzatziki and a burger whose name I forget there are so many of them. It was big, whatever it is called.

From 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, The Works will be serving “free” food–that is, when you visit during these times, your full donation of dollars will be sent to the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre. And that is great thing and a notable initiative by the restaurant. The Works is then open for its regular hours and service May 18.

Co-owner Andy O’Brien, president and CEO of The Works brand, says that a Works restaurant will send out something approaching 400 burgers on a busy Friday or Saturday. Let’s hope we see those numbers May 17 to support the Region’s great cancer care facility.

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The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro
92 King Street S, Waterloo  N2J 4V1
waterloo@worksburgers.com

Having annually enjoyed business retreats to Stratford–including a breakfast or ten at Tango Cafe & Grill at Mercer Hall–I have to admit that I was disappointed slightly when I learned that the restaurant was closing for refurbishments and re-conceptualization. On my last Tango visit, for instance, I had breakfast with CSI: New York pathologist Sid Hammerback, played by Canadian Robert Joy (Sid of the funky break-apart pince-nez reading glasses). Okay, we sat across from each other at Tango, but you know what I mean. I’ve just always loved the place.

These things count: a simple but elegant table.

But, you know what? I am not disappointed at all in Tango’s new iteration, “The Restaurant at Mercer Hall:” I’ve just enjoyed some very good food there and front-of-house service as well, as they embark on their journey as Stratford’s newest dining venue (let’s call it MHResto like their Twitter handle). So, here are a few tasting notes from my visit last weekend as a sort of introduction to their grand opening today.

The menu will continue to evolve, no doubt, but I chose from several hot and cold “Nosh” and “Indulge” selections (from $7-$28, the latter of which is foie gras) of small plate preparations. Many of these will continue to be available even as Mercer gets its lunch and dinner entrees rolling into play in a more formalized way.

As you peruse the menu, pretzel buns with house-made mustard arrive and are simply terrific: together they make quite a clever play on the ball-park classic soft pretzel with mustard–these creations are terrific with soft and crisp texture and a suitable hit of the salty. I’m sure they could be packaged and sold as a take-away item.

MHResto’s charcuterie board comes next. It’s a sizeable chunk of wood chock-a-block full of some good artisanal meats and pickles. A former Church Restaurant cook, Tim Larsen, who oversees things back-of-house in the kitchen here, has done his fair share of butchery and curing and that much is evident in the craftsmanship and quality: smooth duck rillaud, chorizo, prosciutto, pork terrine, and coppa (like my name, it has to do with “head” in Italian: so this delicious meat comes from behind the pig’s noggin). For wine, the Washington State Stimson Estates merlot hailing from the Columbia Valley was excellent. If you have the opportunity, give it a try.
Tasting highlight: duck prosciutto was superb, with the slight strip of fat just so buttery and smooth.

Sweet, salty, sour: the best thing about cured meats, pickles, and chutneys.

Then on to diver scallops. These are brilliantly prepared to have the faintest hint of translucence inside and some gentle crisp and caramelization with a wicked-smokey celeriac puree and a few dollops of ramp pistou (a Provencal “pesto” sans pine nuts).
Tasting highlight: a nicely acidic sofrito, the Spanish garlic, tomatoes, and onion that form such a marvellous flavour base in a host of cuisines. A bit of the Ontario version of the Burgundian Aligote had some good crisp acidity and some minerality to accompany the scallop dish.

Several different textures and flavours for the scallops to play with.

To make the surf something of a “turf,” along came some Parmesan-dusted frites with what the MHResto kitchen has identified as “Red Screamer” potatoes.  Whatever they are called, these spuds were cooked to a beautifully smooth and creamy texture inside to which is added the piquancy and bite of the King of Cheese as an added layer of enjoyment. Who doesn’t love really good “frites”?
Tasting highlight: house-smoked ketchup and roasted shallot aioli are simple–and simply delicious.

Fries are dusted with the "King of Cheeses" and arrive with a prince of a smoked ketchup.

If you’ve ever visited the Megalomaniac winery in Vineland, Ontario, you’ve seen the quirkiness of the place and the organization, but their wine is very good I think: I’m told the Pompous Red (see what I mean) is cab-franc, merlot and cab-sauv and together it has a meritage taste for me though a bit heavier. It was perfect for a tartare of tenderloin and a “65-degree” sous vide egg yolk with microgreens (not yet baby greens) and just a hint of lemoniness.
Tasting highlight: the richness of the tartare with a touch of mustard heat was only missing a saltiness–until you nibbled some beautifully crisp lattices of potato gaufrettes. The coordination of those ingredients was very good indeed.

Tartare and 65-degree egg yolk is 360-degrees of flavour and texture.

After all this, things are pulled back into fresh, crisp simplicity with a Bibb lettuce salad that has its defining butteriness and a few simple herbs and a delicate vinaigrette.
Tasting highlight: the visual and taste beauty of crisp, paper-thin radishes, heirloom ones.

Refreshing and crisp.

MHResto’s Caesar salad isn’t a deconstructed one precisely, but it is a more composed version of the Cardini original, which was, incidentally, whole leaves of lettuce meant to be eaten with your fingers. The dressing is creamy and garlicky but not slathered on like a thick paste while crisp croutons are a crunch elevated over that of the crisp Romaine.
Tasting highlight: one word; five favourite smokey letters: b-a-c-o-n.

A play on Cardini's salad and dynamite "liver and onions."

I was told by staff that the chicken liver mousse was very good: and indeed it was. Satin in texture, it was full-bodied and creamy but with none of the metallic quality that I find in some liver preparations. This was devilishly good. A Cypress Vineyards chardonnay was along side as was a Niagara Kacaba Vineyards cab-franc ice wine whose slightly sweet, dried fruit quality and hint of pepper worked quite well with the creamy mousse.
Tasting highlight: again some really, really good creamy chicken liver mousse.

Next, manchego fritters are delightful little morsels lightly “battered” (but that certainly doesn’t begin to describe the light crispness here) and served with a touch of cured ham and honey. Manchego is both a sheep and the region of Spain–that region from which the Man of La Mancha hails, if you must know.
Tasting highlight: a dusting of smoked paprika, which instantly had me wondering about Basque piment d’espelette, that France-Spain food cross-over.

To dream the impossible fritter.

The cheese course was delicious, as was some bread pudding.
Tasting highlight: well, the cheese. ‘Nuff said.

Cheese: Ontario and French.

Changes and tweaks are inevitably ahead–there can’t be any doubt of that in a restaurant merely hours old. That is the point of testing out the menu items as you open up. MHResto has made a good start with some very good cooking coming out of a kitchen that has a blend of experience and new talent (including a Stratford Chefs School cookery instructor and a couple of promising young SCS cooks who have been featured here at WREats lately) as well as competent and engaged front-of-house staff who clearly are passionate about food without being too serious about it.

I unfortunately missed sampling a few things on the menu as I gave the food a test-drive: the foie gras, the marrow, the burrata, the arancini, for instance. But I will be back and will hope that some of them are still there. Who knows? Maybe I will be able to share a meal with my old Tango buddy Sid.

Forager Ryan Horne, who has a green thumb when it comes to locating and identifying foraged products in and around Waterloo Region, brought in a small smorgasbord of ingredients from the fields: ramps, wild ginger, spruce tips, violets, elder flowers, garlic mustard, and the most interesting of the lot, “dryad’s saddle” or pheasant’s back mushrooms.

I don’t know which name is the more interesting: the former alluding to the nymph’s of Greek mythology or the reference to the markings on the ‘shroom which make it look like the body of a pheasant. The fungi are also known as hawk’s wing mushrooms.

Nick, Nat, Ryan Horne and a bucket of foraged ingredients (the bucket of ingredients is in the foreground).

Second-year competitors Ken Hodgins and Lee Wilcock, from Enver’s, took on first-time challengers Darryl Haus and Andrea Cassidy of The 41. Evidently, the night was characterized by head-wear and could just as easily have been nicknamed “Battle Bandana.” This, I’m sure, was an Iron Chef first.

Cassidy and Haus from The 41, Nick and Nat, and Wilcock and Hodgins from Enver's of Morriston.

The 41 started off with a bruschetta with tomato and a lovely soft goat cheese on an olive bread, while Enver’s countered though remained in the Italian vein with an asparagus “pasta:” fine ribbons of asparagus were “sauced” with a number of the fresh, foraged ingredients. The former dish offered simple, basic Italian flavours, while the latter ramped tastes a bit.

One of the 41′s best servings was pupusa with a gently acidic curtido salad accompaniment. Pupusa, virtually the national street-food of El Salvador (and several other Central American countries), is a corn flour “pancake,” usually stuffed with cheese, beans, pork, or a grassy and pungent herb called loroco. It is then grilled. The 41′s was a good rendition–and it obviously was a nod to Haus’ familiarity with the four or five locations in downtown Kitchener serving the dish. I enjoyed The 41′s version.

Hodgins and Wilcock also put up an excellent good risotto–though somewhat under-seasoned–with a nicely balancing vinaigrette made with pheasant’s back mushrooms. The risotto also featured a melange of seafood making it a quite complex dish to put together in the pressure cooker that is NN-U21 Iron Chef Kitchen Stadium. The Enver’s team also served a delicious fried chicken, which, judging by the colour, looked as if it might have been fried too long but that wasn’t at all.

The night was elevated on all counts by the presence of a couple of strong desserts. The 41 revealed the simplicity and delicious taste of an apple crumble set off very nicely by foraged wild ginger–the dish missed full marks by virtue of missing some sort of garnish: I would have thought that a violet petal or two would have been obvious.

For their par, the Enver’s team created a wonderful wild ginger ice cream with blue spruce tips–this delicious ice cream picked up on the Central American theme of earlier with some incredible churros, the Latin-American and Spanish “doughnut,” inflected with bits of the foraged ingredients. A quite remarkable achievement for the fast pace of Kitchen Stadium.

The Enver’s crew came out on top tonight, but again the success lies not so much in the competition but in the camaraderie. And most importantly, of course, this version of Uptown 21 Iron Chef raised about $400 for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. The event is on course to break its record from last year. What can you do? Well, try to get here, buy an admission ticket, and a raffle ticket and support this important cause.

Wednesday night’s extravaganza, beginning at 9:30 p.m., pits a tandem from Conestoga College’s school of culinary and hospitality against the Stratford Chefs School. For more information, visit Uptown 21.

Kimchi is more than a staple of Korean cooking and meals: it’s a focal point for Korean families. And a versatile one too. It can be a side dish–banchan–or a condiment. The fresh, robust dish combines some raw veg, the foremost of which is lovely Napa cabbage, daikon, some garlic, ginger, salt, green onion sometimes, chilli powder, and fish paste. It’s packaged up, and it ferments. The result is something certainly pungent and heady but delicious. There is a nice contrast between the refrigerator cool and the gentle but noticeable spice heat.

My homemade source of late is courtesy of Christopher Kim, who works at a popular uptown Waterloo restaurant. Kim, 37,  shares his kimchi with friends and restaurant colleagues in the Region, and he says the labour of preparing kimchi is one of love that, though it was unintended, has opened a few doors of cultural self-perception. His father is Korean and his mother Canadian, but he tells me that he didn’t necessarily have a lot of exposure to the paternal side of his background.

“My aunt cooked a lot of good Korean food and we often went out late at night to Korean restaurants in Toronto,” Kim says. “That was really my only introduction to Korean culture, and it wasn’t actually until quite later in life that I really started to appreciate Korean food.”

He only started cooking Korean food and experimenting with different kinds of kimchi fairly recently. “It is quite an undertaking and quite a process,” says Kim of the steps to make a good kimchi. “It’s eaten pretty much with every meal for Koreans.”

In fact, he adds, Koreans eat on average about a quarter-pound of kimchi daily. “People even eat it a breakfast with a kind of porridge.” He also shares an interesting website which captures kimchi fact and culture.

Gochugaru: powdered Korean pepper flakes.

“I do a traditional Napa cabbage kimchi and a daikon one, as well as a vegetarian one which doesn’t have the salted shrimp or fish sauce. The Napa and the daikon varieties are pretty much the same and almost exactly like making sauerkraut,” he says of the dish familiar to Waterloo Region and its Germanic vestiges.

Kim starts by salting the cabbage or daikon to soften it and then rinses it before adding the other ingredients, including hot pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, fish sauce. “Traditionally, you’d take the paste and put it in between the cabbage leaves and store it in a clay pot then leave it at room temperature for a week or so. Most Korean people have a separate Korean fridge,” adds Kim. You can appreciate why.

The last batch he made was derived from 80-lbs of cabbage, I was surprised to learn. “It’s a lot of cabbage,” he says with a laugh. Yet the individual ingredients and how they are prepared go beyond mere kimchi, Kim has also learned of himself.

“I originally never thought about why I was doing this, but I guess it is a good way to connect to my dad’s culture and learn a little bit more about it on my own terms. It’s been fun, and I’ve gotten good feedback from my family. They’re all proud of what I’m doing–kind of spreading the Korean culture.”

Owners Carly Blasutti and Ryan Murphy cater weddings and cocktail parties in a discriminating way that keeps them true to their values and beliefs. That means great flavours and that’s what really counts, as evidenced by the various dishes pictured herein.

The young company is also particularly proud of their dinner party catering (one of their self-proclaimed favourites) and their casual delivered Sunday Dinner catering service.

Waterloo Region Eats caught up with Carly Blasutti this week.

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Waterloo Region Eats: Carly Blasutti of MamaPapa Catering, welcome to Waterloo Region Eats. Tell us a bit about you and Ryan.

Carly: Well, Ryan is K-W born-and-raised and completed the chef training program at Conestoga College. He spent some time cooking at Hannah’s Bella Bistro and then trekked to Spain and Mexico and Montreal. He calls those highly influential trips. But it was at Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain, that he had a “lightbulb moment” and realized how amazing food could be. He knew that he had to be a chef and from that moment he read and tasted everything he could.

Ryan Murphy is the Papa (photo: Ben Kane).

He has a deep appreciation for all the early French chefs as well as [Juan Mari and daughter Elena] Arzak, Adria, Keller, Boulud, the Roux brothers and anyone else that dedicated their lives to raising the bar in food. He went to Vancouver and became sous chef at Raincity Grill and Provence Marinaside before returning to Waterloo Region to be sous chef at Hannah’s, then chef at Artbar. His most recent resto job is Uptown 21.

WREats: And what about you?
CB: I was raised in K-W for the most part. I identify myself mainly with my mother’s big Dutch-Canadian family. Alway’s a focus on food, to say the least. I didn’t go out to play unless forced. I mostly stayed in and watched my great grandmother cook or knit. I had an appreciation for Asian, Caribbean, and Indian cuisine from a young age. All of my friends were from these places. I made a rule for myself when I was about 13 that I was to never turn down an offering of food that I had never tasted before. When most of your friends are from Laos, that can mean some crazy shit! I moved out at young age, and decided I was going to be a good cook. Read everything and began cooking professionally at various places in Oakville.

Pan seared Manitoulin trout with wild rice and seasonal veg (photo: Ben Kane).

WREats: You would say that you learned a lot from local cooks?
CB: Yeah, though I haven’t got much varied restaurant cooking experience, I do consider myself a strong line cook and some of my most valued learning has come from Nick as his first garde manger at Uptown 21 and the countless things Ryan has taught me over the years. I also served at Hannah’s where I learned a ton about proper customer service from the likes of Nat Benninger and Chris Kim.

WREats: So now we have MamaPapa Catering Co. How did that come together?
CB: Ry and I met while working at Hannah’s in 2008. We now have two kids together and my two from my first marriage makes for a big busy fam!

Roasted chicken supreme with new potatoes and Brussels sprouts (photo: Ben Kane).

WREats: Yes, a big family. Kind of like your mother’s big Dutch-Canadian family? And as a group you’ve taken on the role of cooks and entrepreneurs?
CB: Yes, we started MamaPapa Catering a little over a year ago after trying to acquire funding for a resto. Which is our eventual goal.

WREats: It’s a big step to the entrepreneurship of a restaurant, but you’ve said you’re very dedicated to the catering side. Why?
CB: We will keep a catering division even upon opening a restaurant because we feel very strongly that the Waterloo Region benefits from smaller, chef-driven catering companies with a focus on real food.

Raspberry semifreddo in puff pastry with milk chocolate sauce (photo: Ben Kane).

WREats: What do you think makes MamaPapa Catering special? I mean in addition to the Goldilocks allusion?
CB: We want people to come to us and know that their experience will be a little different. It’s more customized. We don’t just offer “package A, B, or C” and that’s it. We consider individual tastes and backgrounds and tailor the food and service to what customers want and need.

Roasted chicken with carrots and new potatoes, family style (photo: Ben Kane).

WREats: So the porridge won’t be too hate or too cold but just right? Like that?
CB: You got it.

Holy Guacamole expanding into nearby space.

Perhaps leading the charge is Holy Guacamole. The small take-away restaurant, brightly decorated, warmly welcoming and not much bigger than a food stand, has, perhaps quite suddenly, just about completed renovations, having taken over the space of some nearby neighbours on the block. That’s great: Holy Guac has captured the imaginations and tastebuds of local restaurant-seekers looking for quick-service, casual–and fresh–Mexican. The place has been quite busy since it opened a few months, and expansion beckoned.

“We spent all weekend renovating the kitchen which will be double the size of what we have now,” says co-owner Mike Snider. “This will give us more opportunity to cater events, do more online orders, and so on. We are anticipating a May 22 opening.”

Snider adds that he and partners and staff will be adding some new menu items to complement the existing menu–and staffing and logistical plans are in the works that will permit Holy Guacamole to stay open later on Saturdays. “Hopefull [we can] stay open later…but [we] really need the staff for it first,” Snider says.

Food on Duke: some of the block between Queen and Frederick streets.

Fresh vegan and vegetarian cookery is covered by the popular Duke Street Muse, so we wish them continued success. Unconfirmed reports are that a shawarma place will be opening in the block sometime this summer. Tale has been told, too, that a wood-fired pizza joint is working through the various bureaucratic layers and will make it a half-dozen or so venues to eat along this “boutique strip” between Frederick to Queen.

Will it be something to exclaim?

Exclamat!on, goofy name that it is for a Chinese-style restaurant, is currently in the build-out stages at the former (and former down-at-heels) Frederick’s Restaurant at the corner of Duke and Frederick. I won’t be holding my breath for anything special there just yet, but it is quite good to see something fresh move in.

Furthermore, and unconfirmed, city and business authorities have plans to create open-air seating arrangements immediately in the vicinity of this boutique food-block with the possibility of live music playing weekly during the summer. That’s all very good to hear, indeed. Let’s hope it comes together and gets done correctly. It will be an important addition to the casual and distinctive food offerings and restaurants in this block of the east end.

Two squads with U21-IC experience, Stratford’s Bijou and Cambridge’s Langdon Hall, duked it out over a fully loaded half-hog supplied by Mark Lass of Lassdale Farms. The first techniques revealed were those of the butcher: while The Bauer Butcher Matt Kendrick broke down the hog, the chefs planned their courses.

All flashing steel and snicker-snack Jabberwocky sounds, Kendrick worked at a feverish pace I have never seen in a butcher–and remember this is in the close confines of the kitchen with a very sharp knife and ten fingers, a couple of forearms, and other sundry and assorted appendages most of which I’m sure he is quite fond. Kudos for Matt for keeping it real–and whole (except the pig which he dismantled expertly in mere minutes).

Those crazy butchers! It was right around this time that I asked Kendrick if he has seen "The Gangs of New York" and its raw knife work.

The butchery process, one I’ve seen several times and I always enjoy it, is something that more people should observe (if it is not too unsettling for them). I just think it is important to recognize where our food comes from and how it gets to us. It does not start and end with a Styrofoam tray and plastic wrap at the supermarket.

Nick Benninger started the night off in his usual witty/smart-ass demeanour but always with his knowledgeable, confident, and dedicated passion for food; the vibe at U21 was excited and mellow at the same time and that made it a very nice atmosphere indeed.

The Langdon and Bijou teams, both experienced Iron-Chefers, worked at a quick yet relaxed pace. Bijou kicked off the tastings for the judging panel–which included ticket-draw winner Bonnie Benninger, Susan Cook-Scherer, and the Farmer Lass who raised the pig on a good portion of milk–with a perfect starter: a pork carpaccio with the first of the season’s fiddleheads and asparagus. Tasting highlight: the bright acidity against the soft, slight sweetness of the pork contrasted with the crunch of the greens. An elegant and nicely plated dish.

Bijou's pork carpaccio.

Langdon countered with roasted kidney finely sliced and marvellously tender. Tasting highlight: a nice tangy acidity that contrasted with the roasty, substantial mouthfeel of the kidney. Nice baby beet greens, I believe, for garnish.

Langdon's perfectly cooked kidney.

Next, Bijou put up a stellar schnitzel dish–a case of a Perth County cook paying homage to the food that historically has schmecked in Waterloo Region. The dish was plated casually–as if to be haphazard–but there was a constructed artistry and presentation to it. Sitting near Aaron Linley as he plates was impressive. Tasting highlight: the breaded pork had some crisp with a soft inside and some fruit that had a slight toothsomeness to it. Ideal.

Das Schmeckt! Perth County cooks Waterloo Region fare ... deliciously so.

Langdon Chef Terry Salmond next described a delicious pork tenderloin dish: I missed taking a photo of it. Tasting highlight: the perfectly done, pinkish meat with a gently caramelized sear on the outside. Cauliflower beignets were delicious.

Linley then offered his riff on classic Chinese-Canadian sweet and sour pork. The meat had a lovely breaded crispiness and was tender inside while the sauce was a harmonious union of sour and a slight kick of chili heat. Tasting highlight: yellow pepper trompe l’oeil that conjured an image of pineapple. Not sure it was intended but that is what I interpreted, so touche Chef Linley.

Yellow pepper in S/S pork: trompe l'oeil pineapple?

The final course for Langdon Hall was a deconstructed ravioli, at once playful and scrumptious. Likely the riskiest dish of the night, the liver posed the threat of being cloying, iron-laden, and sort of puckeringly tannic in the mouth. Tasting highlight: danger fully averted and expertly so with the addition of some beer to moderate the liver’s impact and some soft, creamy pasta. Kudos.

We would expect Langdon to do a deconstructed dish: expert handling of liver (with beer).

Bijou’s final dish was orchestrated ideally, though it divided the judges somewhat. Roasted morsels of heart were hidden treasures in a salad that included the rice-wine condiment mirin. What the Bijou chefs had served was a refreshingly light dinner denouement that brought the palate down nicely as the meal ended. Tasting highlight: Call me silly, but I absolutely loved the playfulness of this dish as you teased out the bits of heart from amidst the cabbage–getting to the heart of the matter, one could say. All in all, a satisfying way to close out the plates.

Treasures of the heart.

The cooking challenge ended in a tie, according to the enumerator, and this is probably entirely justified. All the dishes were quite enjoyable and although Bijou served one more dish in the formal part of the competition, the Langdon boys sent out a tasty poutine as sort of amusegueles. Noone can complain about that.

Kudos to all!

I need to point out a few things, irrespective of the outcome, win, lose, or tie. Thanks to the Eastwood Collegiate “film” crew for recording events and sending to the Internet, and to the great and generous suppliers Benninger draws on.

That said, a big tip of the cap to the Uptown 21 crew who put on Iron Chef annually.

These are hard-working folk who keep the restaurant open when otherwise most of them could be at home with family and friends likely quite a bit earlier in the night. Why? Because they are food-stalwarts dedicated to their craft, whether that is front-of-house or back-of-house. Thanks guys and gals!

The result that really counts? Iron Chef Uptown 21 was the catalyst, as it has been over the four seasons, for raising several thousand dollars (did I hear just over $500 on this night alone?) for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Wonderful.

And thanks, too, to the audience who came to support the cause–and have some fun. Stay tuned: there’s more to come.