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

Café Bourgeois Farmers' and Artisans' Market at Western Fair   Please see my updated Post on May 8, 2015 Farmers' and Artisans' Market at Western Fair Saturdays 8 -3pm., 519 775 9917

The Springs on Springbank Drive - One of London Ontario's Top Restaurants BY BRYAN LAVERY The smartly appointed Springs Restaurant, housed in a beautifully refurbished church consistently receives rave reviews. Chef Andrew Wolwowicz’s innovative menus, list dishes crafted from local, regional and quality seasonal ingredients. The gastronomic scope of Wolwowic's repertoire is influenced by a commitment to a steadfast philosophy that advances the economic, ecological and social values of our local culinary and agricultural communities Local entrepreneurs and Wolwowicz's collaborators, Tim and Laura Owen wanted to integrate as much of the original church as they could into the new restaurant. Unfortunately, they learnt 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 and a slew of additional

Championing Local, Feast ON, and the Farm to Table Movement in Ontario By BRYAN LAVERY I am a dedicated reader of Sarah Elton, who tracks the culinary zeitgeist for CBC Radio’s Here and Now, and has written for  The Globe and Mail ,  The New York Times ,  Maclean’s  and  TheAtlantic.com . Her book,  Locavore: From Farmers’ Fields to Rooftop Gardens, How Canadians are Changing the Way We Eat , was an award-winning treatise on the local food movement in Canada. Elton’s book,  Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet , champions the movement away from global food production and presents an intelligent and engaging argument for the sustainable food movement and alternatives to the factory farming model. She  travels to rural farming villages in India and China, to France, and to Detroit’s inner-city to document the transformative nature of food. This is an up-to-the-minute account of the politics and issues surrounding sustainable food production, food security and locavor

Homage to Toronto's Yorkville Landmarks the Coffee Mill  and  Le Trou Normand U p until just a few months ago, Le Trou Normand remained the oldest operating fine dining restaurant in Yorkville. Coincidentally, The Coffee Mill a venerated European-style cafe which recently celebrated 51 years in business closed earlier this month. Martha von Heczey’s Coffee Mill opened in May, 1963, in the now-demolished Lothian Mews, on Bloor Street. In 1973 , von Herczey  moved two blocks north to a mini-mall with Yorkville Avenue on one side, Cumberland Street on the other. There was a secluded terrace with an expandable awning in the event of rain. The Coffee Mill was practically right across the street from Le Trou Normand and it was one of my Yorkville haunts for over 30 years. Ms. von Heczey’s late husband Laci, a well-known wrestling champion, liked to wander around Yorkville with a tame cheetah on a leash.    Interestingly, in 1984, von Herczey even

 Kingston’s Culinary Culture and the Rosemount Inn an Spa BY BRYAN LAVERY With a diversity of annual festivals and events year-round, Kingston is known to celebrate its renowned culinary culture. In downtown Kingston, history comes alive in the architecture and distinguished limestone buildings that have been preserved and enhanced and now house numerous stylish cafes and unique restaurants. The downtown has over 100 restaurants in a 9 block area. In fact, I have been told that there are more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in Canada. Rosemount Inn and Spa  A get-away to Kingston is made all the more appealing and relaxing when you stay at Innkeeper, Holly Doughty’s welcoming Rosemount Inn and Spa, an 1850’s Tuscan-style villa located in the heart of the downtown. The Rosemount is the personification of hospitality and comfort. Flare magazine once referenced the Rosemount Inn the “best B&B experience in Canada.” The inn’s 11 rooms and chalet-styl

Edgar and Joe’s Café Helps Lead the way in SoHo’s Burgeoning Restaurant District By BRYAN LAVERY   Since London’s beginning in 1840, the district of SoHo has existed within the same confines. Originally named St. David’s Ward, this community is flanked on the north by the CN railroad tracks, on the east by Adelaide Street, and on the south and west by the Thames River. The SoHo acronym is geographic in origin as most of it is situated south of Horton Street but I imagine it is also meant to evoke the vitality of the cultural and restaurant neighbourhoods in Lower Manhattan and London, England’s West End. SoHo is in fact a burgeoning restaurant district and home to many interesting dining options and bakeries including: Organics Works Café, Razzle Dazzle Cupcakes, Kambie Chinese Restaurant, Enat Ethiopian Restaurant, Hong Ping, El Ranchito, Walker’s Fish and Chips, Family Circle, The Soho Diner and Edgar and Joe’s Café. Striving to foster an economically vibrant neigh

Canadian Culinary Stars at Savour Stratford  By BRYAN LAVERY Since its inception six years ago, Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival has been a hands-down triumph. The event is an opportunity to meet and engage with a genuine fraternity of talented tastemakers and culinary advocates. A mecca for food enthusiasts and professionals, it has become one of Ontario’s most prestigious culinary festivals – if not Canada’s. In many ways Savour Stratford has become as much a cultural celebration as it is a gastronomical one. By changing the date of the festival from fall to mid-summer, the organizers hoped for increased accessibility, inclusivity and better weather. With two official days of sipping, sampling and taste education the festival again celebrated farm-to-table ideology and what modernist chefs are calling the “new culinary regionalism”. “Coast to Coast to Coast”, was the theme of this year’s festivities, as the chefs visiting the festival from Newfoundland to Br

2014 Savour Stratford Culinary Festival Taste Education and GE Café People's Choice award and Grand Tasting Awards    The seventh annual Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival supported a wide range of interesting and enriching activities that made the events programming the most accessible and inclusive ever. The festival celebrates farm-to-table ideology and “new culinary regionalism”  with three days of sipping, sampling and an innovative approach to taste education. Cathy Rehberg, Marketing Manager, Stratford Tourism Alliance, said the festival has strict rules on local content. Vendors are not allowed to sell non-local soft drinks. Instead, complimentary water is provided. This year the theme of the festival was “Coast to Coast to Coast”, as the chefs visiting the festival shared their regional food culture with their own long-standing traditions and culinary expertise from across Canada. F ood and wine enthusiasts descend on the festival, which