ETHICAL GOURMET / Remind me to Tell You About the Time I Looked in the Heart of an Artichoke

The Springs The Springs is London’s newest and highly anticipated gourmet refuge on Springbank Drive, under the creative genius and culinary guidance of Chef Andrew Wolwowicz. The smartly appointed restaurant, housed in a beautifully refurbished church, has been operating since mid-October. We are already hearing rave reviews about Wolwowicz’s interesting menus, listing dishes crafted from local, regional and seasonal ingredients. Wolwowicz’s collaborators local entrepreneurs, Tim and Laura Owen, tell eatdrink that although they were initially hoping for a soft opening, the restaurant has been busy every single night since opening. The Owens wanted to integrate as much of the original church as they could into the new restaurant, but they realized that the church’s foundation was disintegrating. Instead they levelled the church except for the original front vestibule, and rebuilt the structure from the ground up using 6,000 of the existing yellow bricks. Identical bricks from two house

Windsor Eats and Eat Your City On a recent trip to Windsor with the new Ontario’s Southwest Culinary Tourism Guide ( http://www.ontariossouthwestculinary.com/ ) in hand, I was not surprised by the vibrancy of the culinary culture in Windsor. Here is a bit of an update. It’s time to celebrate Windsor’s and Essex’s culinary community. From August 1 to August 7, 2011, you can visit any Eat Your City participating restaurant and indulge in a prix-fixe 3-course meal at lunch or dinner. Each participating restaurant will offer a unique Eat Your City menu. http://windsoreats.com/eatyourcity/ The menus will showcase the diversity of dining choices in Windsor and around Essex County. The prix-fixe menus are priced per person and do not include beverages, taxes or gratuities. Here are three participating restaurants that offer local, seasonal fare and are committed supporting local farmers and culinary tourism : Rino’s Kitchen Located within The House (formerly the Nesbitt Inn), Chef Rino Bort

Janine Bratt’s Taste Bud Bistro at the Art Gallery of Windsor Located inside the Art Gallery of Windsor, entry to this delightful riverfront bistro is accessible from the front without entering the gallery. There is an outdoor patio with comfortable wrought iron chairs for al fresco dining, and 14 foot windows inside the restaurant that also highlight a stellar view of the Detroit skyline. The dining room is minimalist with comfortable black chairs with white-clad tables that create an attractive domino effect against a dramatic raspberry coloured wall. The wall is enhanced by a blackboard featuring the menu. On the tables are small pitchers of perfect pink hydrangea blooms. Chef/owner Janine Bratt, a 2006 graduate of the Stratford Chef School and a former chef at Caldwell's Grant in her hometown of Amherstburg. Bratt spent three seasons refining her skills at Rundles in Stratford. Bratt also spent time at Oliveto in Oakland, California; The Sooke Harbour House in Sooke; Fresco Res

The Modernist Gourmet Burger at Motor Burger This high-energy, gourmet hamburger hot-spot is a departure for Little Italy or “Via Italia”, (Erie Street East’s restaurant row), and perhaps even more poignant because it replaced the ultra-sleek, sophisticated and highly touted Noi, that closed in late 2009. “There was a time you had to fight for a table at Noi – but the recession sent a chill through Windsor’s Little Italy.” Never ones to rest on their culinary laurels, savvy restaurateurs and business partners Jay Souillere and Gino Geusale responded to the change in Windsor’s lingering economic climate. They re-imagined the Noi premises and conceptualized the chic and funky, cow and car décor- themed Motor Burger. The fresh and original take on a contemporary burger joint was fashioned as a survival plan to the recession, and an intentional way to pay homage to Windsor’s automobile industry. The result was a stream-lined operation with a recession-friendly, gourmet menu that appeals to

The Local Food Connection — Yes, We Have No Bananas The Southwest Ontario Local Food Connection: Farmer / Food Buyer Networking Event and Taste it! Gala were an unprecedented success. The well-attended event, many months in the planning, exceeded expectations and identified many future opportunities for collaboration and cooperation in both the agricultural and culinary communities. This present era is, both sadly and ironically, characterized by an alarming ignorance about agriculture, environment and the standardization of our food products. The Local Food Connection was intended in part, to counteract this problem and shine a light on farmers and producers and the availability of local products. Representatives of restaurants, culinary retail, educational institutions and other institutions talked about what they like to buy and the challenges of sourcing local products. This networking event successfully showcased the region and helped further define the area as a whole, w