When Carey Melnichuk, Proprietress & Creative Director of Secret Location, decides to update the food component of her design ‘destination’ she does it with great style.

The motto of Secret Location, located in Gastown,  is music to my ears.  Eat . Drink . Shop.  

As they write, it’s “one part lifestyle boutique, one part restaurant.” Theres women’s fashion and literature, gadgets and home decor…and there’s Jefferson’s food and Pastry Chef Kira Desmond’s great sweets. 

Secret Location is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.

Secret Location est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. 

Secret Location
One Water Street, Vancouver
V6B 1A1
T: 604.685.0090

http://www.secretlocation.ca

“Wood Fired Meats & Locally Sourced Eats… Slow Food Done Fast” 

With the rising trend of Food Trucks in Canada, the Smoking Pig is ahead of the game. Although not mobile, the Smoking Pig BBQ has become a staple within the community as a choice take-out & catering option. Chef Jesse Vergen takes his passion for local, organic food combined with the concept of authentic roadside BBQ and brings it to life in the Smoking Pig BBQ, located in his hometown of Quispamsis, NB.

While living on an organic farm himself, Chef Jesse grows and raises produce and live stock, which is then served in the Smoking Pig. He explains, “I’m a chef who lives on an organic farm where I grow and raise with my family what we prepare and serve in our restaurants using the most advanced, sustainable, eco-friendly practices possible”. His enthusiasm for local food and traditional slow BBQ is evident and radiates throughout the renovated train caboose, which is home to Smoking Pig BBQ.

Some of the traditional BBQ specialties include Pulled Pork & Smoked Pulled Chicken Tacos, Smokehouse Chicken or Burnt Ends Sandwiches, Texas Beef Brisket and Dry Rubbed Ribs, just to name a few! The Smoking Pig provides the community with a simple take out concept, which is rapidly building a reputation for redefining “fast food”.

While the Smoking Pig is Chef Jesse’s home project, he also puts his culinary skills to test at the Saint John Ale House (SJAH), another Food Day Canada restaurant, located in Saint John, NB.

Smoking Pig is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.

Smoking Pig est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs.

Smoking Pig BBQ
515 Hampton Road
Quispamsis, NB E2E 3W8

T: 506-847-7672

http://smokingpig.ca

In a recent interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Wiseguy food truck owner Robin Wasicuna commented: “Being local and sustainable in Yellowknife can be challenging. I’ve just started working with local foragers who provide me with wild mushrooms, wild onions, berries, different wild greens like myrtle, dandelion, chicory, and we’re able to incorporate them into interesting side dishes, salads and garnishes.”

When he’s not in the kitchen, Robin volunteers with Food First NWT, a group that works to promote healthy food options for kids in schools. He was the NWT representative at the Canadian Chefs Congress in Nova Scotia September , 2012 and at Northern Scene in Ottawa May 2013.

His meaty menu varies from beefy burgers with some pretty neat toppings like kimchee to pulled pork tacos. A spicy sausage and pepper burger is pictured at the right.

Wiseguy Foods is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. 

Wiseguy Foods est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs.

Wiseguy Foods
22 Taylor Road,
Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L1
T: 867-445-5035

www.facebook.com/pages/Wiseguy-Foods/251886878163036

Photo Credit: Pat Kane

Located in a quiet neighbourhood a few blocks from Guelph’s downtown the Delhi Street Bistro is a small but impressive go-to for those in the culinary know

Dedicated to local, fresh food, their list of local suppliers is the same length as their menu, a menu which is free of descriptors and instead lists ingredients so you know these are the focus. The Caprese salad, for example, leaves no room for interpretation: tomatoes,  buffalo mozzarella, proscuitto, arugula and basil vinaigrette.  When it’s served the intimate dining room fills with the fragrance of crushed basil and good garlic.  The Ontario buffalo milk mozzarella is mild and clean tasting.  Later in the season, there’s a panzanella salad where perfectly grilled bread is added.  It’s baked in the great stone oven of Polestar Hearth, one of the most artisan of artisan bakeries in the region.  Sometimes the great loaves may come from The Grain Revolution, another very local, very artisan bakery.   I have never tasted better asparagus, even in my home kitchen. He grills it ever so lightly, serves it with maitake mushrooms under a cloud of tarragon-scented Bernaise sauce.  

The rest of the menu follows suit: the soft and light ricotta gnocchi are served with spicy sausage, olives, rapini or cauliflower, anchovies, tomato sauce, and hot peppers. No more, no less. We love this.   And the steak frites?  Amazing!  

Owned by Chef Luke Philp and his partner/wife Kathryn Huszar, the bistro reflects his extensive experience, particularly in Montreal where he lived and worked for 8 years.   Self-taught, he is versed in flavour.  The menus change weekly depending on what’s available in the Guelph market and environs.

In the heat of summer he plays with the season’s ripeness…a watermelon, cucumber & fennel salad with red onion mint and goats milk cheese.   You can taste Kevin Smith’s potatoes in the crispy potato salad heaped with frisée, smoked ham and potatoes then topped with a poached egg and mustard vinaigrette, then finish with one of their daily desserts from maple crème brûlée to a variety of goats milk ice cream.

Delhi Street Bistro  is one of about 250 restaurants participating in Food Day across Canada. To reserve a table contact them at the number below.

Delhi Street Bistro est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Delhi Street Bistro directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation pour Journée des terroirs.

Delhi Street Bistro
64 Delhi St.
Guelph, ON N1H 5T6
T: 519-265-6758

delhistreetbistro.com

In the 1980s,  long before others were even thinking ‘local food’, the dining room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver was bastion of Pacific Northwest Cuisine.  Then-chef Kerry Sear haunted the farms and docks of the lower mainland and, along with other visionaries like John Bishop and Sinclair and Frederique Philip, blazed a culinary trail like few others in all of Canada.

With the leadership of Executive Chef Ned Bell the tradition continues – with flare!  

“Food doesn’t need to be complicated, but it is important to know where it comes from,” says Chef Bell. Naming his own food philosophy ‘Globally Inspired and Locally Created,’ – a process that begins with premium ingredients, sourcing the best of what is available locally and seasonally, and then focusing on flavour. It’s this belief system that has driven him to become of the most vocal advocates for sustainability in our oceans. Ned hasn’t looked back unless it’s to watch for other cyclists as he tears up the highway raising money and awareness for all sorts of sustainable programmes.  He has just completed a 900 km bike trip up the full length of Vancouver Island in support of Oceanwise, the Vancouver Aquarium’s sustainable seafood programme.

YEW Restaurant is absolutely on the cutting edge of Vancouver’s culinary scene.  The food is elegant, intelligent and exceedingly well prepared.  As of 2011, the fish is 100% Oceanwise-approved  and the produce is largely organic  

The supporting cast in YEW is exceptional.  

Pastry Chef Bruno Feldeisen was born to the culinary arts in the small French town of Clermont-Ferrand.  Raised by his Italian grandmother and German grandfather he remembers making gnocchi by hand as his grandmother showed him the ‘way of the kitchen’ at 6 years old.  Over the year’s he perfected his art apprenticing in one of France’s most renowned chocolate shops, Les Palets d’Or in Moulin, France.  After graduating with the highest score in the country he was scooped up by world-famous Chef Alain Ducasse, where he worked as a Chocolatier developing a line of truffles for the Hotel De Paris in Monaco.

Then there’s  Justin Taylor, one of Vancouver’s top mixologists. He wakes at night dreaming up new cocktails, some of which raise eyebrows at times. “I think I blew everyone away when I decided to put a chunk of buffalo inside a bottle of vodka,” he says.  He takes bar-tending to an entirely new level not only serving the classics but creating an experience.  He interacts, whenever he can, with the diners, encouraging them to let him make them a special cocktail.  ”We make it, YEW shake it.” he quips.  He also creates and/or ages all sorts of concoctions from  falernum (pronounced fah-learn-um) the sweet syrup used in Caribbean and tropical drinks to an in-house, barrel-aged, Hornitos tequila he uses to build his “Unusual Margarita”.  It’s worth waiting till spot prawn season for his Ebi Sunomono, a great mixture of gin, cucumber, yuzu, honey, rice vinegar, celery bitters, nori flakes and a perfect BC spot prawn as garnish.  I’ve heard that he sometimes uses smoked salmon instead.

YEW Restaurant and Wine Bar is one of about 300 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

YEW Restaurant and Wine Bar est l’un des 300 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . Contactez YEW Restaurant and Wine Bar directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

791 West Georgia,
Vancouver, BC, V6C 2T4
T: 604 689 9333

http://www.yewrestaurant.com/

How does one wine and dine the global elite, many of whom have eaten at the top-rated restaurants on the planet but, like it or not, haven’t usually got a clue when it comes to the ingredients of Canada, yet provide cutting-edge cuisine?   The choice of engaging Chef Daniel Boulud to carry the culinary banner was a brilliant one. His culinary standards are stellar, his reputation is impeccable and his brilliance extends to the hiring of a talented Canadian, Tyler Shedden as Chef de Cuisine.

Tyler Shedden grew up on Quadra Island, a forested chunk of rocky rainforest embedded in Discovery Passage and surrounded by some of the most interesting and freshest ingredients anywhere in Canada.  I lived there for several summers and it was as close to a watery Eden as anyone can ever get.  Tyler’s love of the ocean and passion for cooking seafood is in his blood. “As a kid I’d go fishing with my grandfather, and then cook up great dinners for the whole family with my grandmother.”

In his teens Tyler worked as a commercial seafood harvester in oyster, clam, and mussel farming, as well as on commercial fishing vessels for Pacific salmon, spot prawns, and Dungeness crab, and by age 20 he was running the restaurant in his parents’ historic 100-year-old Inn in the tiny coastal village of Heriot Bay.  But then he headed to Vancouver and met Robert Clarke, the chef who became the god father of Oceanwise and the inimitable Robert Belcham!   Europe, New York and London followed in swift succession and then he touched down in the kitchen of  Daniel Boulud.   The four ‘muses’ of the Boulud philosophy, and the backbone of the restaurants menus, were easy for Tyler to adopt: La tradition, classic French cuisine; la saison, seasonal delicacies; le potager, the vegetable garden; and le voyage, exploring the flavours of international cuisines. They have been his way of life, almost forever.

Spring brings soup of petit pois with mint and crispy pepper bacon.  There’s the requisite foie gras in a terrine with rose-poached rhubarb.  Someone was doing their homework as there’s Kolapore brown trout, Chantecler chicken and Cumbrae beef.  The roasted beet salad has Mario Pingue’s speck and Monforte feta.  Black Cod (a.k.a. sable fish) is served with a clam and parsley broth and a handful of coco beans.  The crispy duck egg is set in a bed of wild/cultivated mushrooms. The blueberry vacherin is paired with goat cheese sorbet.

The wine list is vetted by Sommelier Drew Walker and while it focuses on France, it could serve as a guide on how to build your own Ontario cellar.

A few of this year’s kudos: 

• Best New Hotel in Canada: Travel + Leisure’s It List 2013
• Best Hotel in Toronto: Robb Report’s Top 100 Hotels of the World
• Best New Hotels: Condé Nast Traveler USA Hot List 2013
• Best New Spas: Condé Nast Traveler USA Spa Hot List 2013
• Best New Hotels with Great Food: Condé Nast Traveler USA Hot List 2013
• Best New Hotel in Canada: Condé Nast Traveller UK Hot List 2013
• Best Business Hotel in Canada: Business Traveller UK 2013

About Daniel Boulud: Chef Boulud was born in Lyons, France.  He relocated to New York City in 1982 but always stayed true to his culinary roots.  Boulud is the author of seven cookbooks, the recipient of three James Beard Foundation awards, including Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Restaurateur and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government, as well as Chef of the Year 2011 by The Culinary Institute of America. 

CAFÉ BOULUD is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.
CAFÉ BOULUD est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs.

CAFÉ BOULUD Four Seasons Hotel Toronto
60 Yorkville Ave,
Toronto, ON M4W 0A4

T: 416-964-0411

http://www.cafeboulud.com/toronto/

I love Juniper! The food, the wine list, the service and most of all, the chefs who are as talented and dedicated as any on the Food Day roster.

Chef /Owner Norm Aitken hails from Prince Edward Island where he cooked with the inimitable Chef Michael Smith.  He loves seafood (hence the image) and is able to rise to almost any culinary challenge.

On a recent occasion a group of Canada’s foodies landed in, unannounced, and he and his team created a tasting menu to rival any.  The oysters were incredible but the dish that I’d go back for in a heartbeat is titled Pork/Pork/Pork on his menu…grilled loin, slow cooked belly and slow smoked ribs with grilled sweet potato polenta, apricot chutney and a smokey maple-bbq sauce. Thankfully a dampened napkin was provided along side the dish.

Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Juniper Kitchen directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar
245 Richmond Street,
Ottawa, Ontario KZ6 1W7
T: 613 728 0220

www.juniperdining.ca

This talented team inspire others and share their knowledge as well. Their book, A Year at Les Fougères, won the Gold Medal/Food Culture at the Cuisine Canada Culinary Book Awards in 2008.

Of course they’ve won other awards….the Prix d’Excellence du magazine Wine Spectator/Wine Spectator Award of Excellence; the Gold Medal (Ottawa) in the Gold Medal Plates competition; Cordon d’Or-Gold Ribbon – Self-Published Cookbook – for A Year at Les Fougères, but it’s the guests comments that mean the most.

Here are a few….

• “Of course the food is always superb but it is the service that always makes me glad I came and brought my friends. Life happens here, not just the ritual of dining.” – Karen
• “Un repas exceptionnel dans une ambiance incomparable. Merci d’avoir comblé toutes nos attentes! “- Suzanne & Brad
• “Innoubliable. Je viens de Montréal. Je vous ferai une très bonne publicité. Félicitations! Quelle belle soirée. Personnel impeccable et service parfait. Merci » – Monique
• “Dear Master Chef! What creations!! – of international standard. In from London visiting and my meal here this evening amazed me! You certainly know how to construct a total culinary experience. Regards, and looking forward to my return” Allan L., Mayfair London SW1

Food Day Canada 2012 Menu

Les Fougères is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Les Fougères est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Les Fougères directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Les Fougères
783 Route 105, Chelsea
J9B 1P1
T: 819 827 8942

www.fougeres.ca

In 2004, Chef/Sommelier Mark Filatow opened his intimate Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar. Up till then Mark had honed his culinary skills at some of the most prestigious restaurants in BC including Wickaninnish Inn, Vancouver’s Bishops and Diva at the Met and Kelowna’s Fresco Restaurant, now RauDZ Regional Table.

Mark is a brilliant chef — he’ll pot-steam a sablefish filet and serve it with a local corn fritter and a leek and Saltspring Island mussel chowder.  He serves his peppercorn-crusted flat iron steak with a Bordelaise sauce and buttery fork-mashed potatoes and each Thursday night the team spit roasts local, naturally-raised meats. In every case Chef Filatow can tell you exactly which wine will make your tastebuds dance with joy.

Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar  has garnered Awards of Excellence from the Wine Spectator every year since 2006 and in 201o was named the Best Okanagan Restaurant in the Vancouver Magazine Awards. This is a major accomplishment since the Okanagan has a cadre of some of the best chefs on the continent.  However, if you read the menu below, you’ll understand why.

Canada Food Day August 4th 2012

Crispy Kamloops Trout

Foraged Purslane, Wood Sorrel and Wild Spinach

Housemade Chorizo from Kootenay Alpine Whey Fed Berkshire

Cucumber and Tomato Ceviche Vinaigrette

~

Spit Roasted Okanagan’s Finest Striploin

Smoked Brisket

Black Raven Farms’ Early Corn Succotash

Housemade Sweet Mustard

Natural Jus

~

Wayne’s Loukoumades

Roasted Claremont Ranch Organic Tomcot Apricots

Arlo’s Elderflower Honey Sabayon

Eldorado Farms’ Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

~

Facts and Notes;

• All dairy is from Blackwell Dairy Kamloops

• The Berkshire Pig for the Chorizo came from Kootenay Alpine Cheese Co. and the pig was raised on whey from

their Cheese production. Local Pimente D’Espelette and garlic round out the flavours.

• All Eggs are from Springhill Farms in Westbridge

• All herbs are from the Chef’s backyard a.k.a Eldorado Farm

• All of the ‘wild greens’ were foraged in the Mission Area

• Arlo’s places a few bee hives near Mission Creek and are lucky to capture some honey that is ripe with flavours of the nearby Elderflower bushes.

• The Striploin was dry aged for us by Mission Meats

• The Bread served this evening is made from 50% local red fife and the starter was originated from Stoney Paradise’s grapes, the same farm where the tomatoes are from.

This menu was written and paired by

Chef/Sommelier Mark Filatow and Restaurant Chef Wayne Morris

It will be served and prepared by the

Waterfront Restaurant Food and Beverage Team who are all Canadian and care damn it!

Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Waterfront Restaurant directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Waterfront Restaurant and Wine Bar
104 – 1180 Sunset Drive,
Kelowna, BC, V1Y 9W6
T: 250 979 1222

waterfrontrestaurant.ca

Soft round notes of a hidden flute rise as the early summer sun sets over the Pacific. The shores become shadowy; frogs take over, singing their hearts out. Offshore a line of breakers surge onto a reef connecting the islands. 

This is Tofino, more specifically, The Wickaninnish Inn, the long time dream of the McDiarmid family located in an area that is now an official UNESCO World Biosphere.  It is also, according to the readers of Travel & Leisure, North America’s premier travel magazine, the #1 resort in Canada for 2012!  Condé Nast Traveler ranks it on their Gold List 2012 for Best Leisure Facilities. BRAVO!

On all three sides of the inn there is the often-pounding ocean, the backdrop is an old growth forest. When I think of The “Wick” I think of whales and storms and fabulous surf and equally fabulous food.  At night the only lights on the beach are from glimmering masses of stars, the lighthouse that flashes rhythmically and a few flickering campfires.

Tofino is rich in great ingredients.  Crab is harvested all year round; there are wild berries by the ton; the salmon stocks are healthy; the halibut that’s on the menu is landed almost in front of the inn.  There are gooseneck barnacles, fresh clams and fat, briny beach oysters.  The inn’s tremendously talented chefs from newly-appointed Executive Chef Warren Barr (at left), Chef de Cuisine Nick Nutting and Restaurant Chef David Sider, use them all  in The Pointe Restaurant, a dining room with a 240’ view of the Pacific.

They buy cheeses from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks where not only are traditional cows (Brown Swiss, Ayershire, Holstein) milked but so are a small herd of Canadiennes, the hardy breed brought over by Champlain in the early 1600s and which adapted so well to frigid Canadian winters.   They also serves forth David Wood’s near-legendary goats milk cheeses from Salt Spring Island. Fraser Canyon rabbit is sourced from the province’s northern interior while the fallow deer on the menu comes from the wild herd on Sidney Island, near Victoria, where it was first introduced in the 1920’s. The entire inn holds the ‘nose to tail’ philosophy dearly and it purchases whole animals from the heritage breeds of pork  (Tamworth, Berkshire, Hampshire) pastured at Sloping Hill Farm to be cured and alder-smoked into a variety of charcuterie including bacon and the sausages – all made in-house and varying “with the whim of the chef/saucier”.

From the first gray whales that roll and spout on their way north in the spring to the raging storms of winter, the Wickaninnish  is quintessential, coastal Canada. 

The Wickaninnish is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

The Wickaninnish est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez The Wickaninnish directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

The Pointe Restaurant
The Wickaninnish Inn
500 Osprey Lane at Chesterman
Tofino, BC V0R 2Z0
T: 250 725 3100

www.wickinn.com

And to go along with his food, be it a plate-full of  smokey bacon maple scallops or a perfectly grilled, peppercorn-crusted Maritime beef tenderloin, there are 29 + beers and ales on tap!

On the very first Food Day in 2010 Chef Vergen PULLED OUT ALL STOPS and cooked in three venues.  He wrote: ”Will be doing a Food Day Menu at SJAH, A “Food day Feast in the Feild At Farmers Hill (my farm, in Quispamsis..), and in the AM we will be doing The Kingston Farmers market BBQing local foods with my Smoking Pig Real BBQ outfit. here’s the break down. All Vegetables/herbs/fruit/honey will be harvested by my self and my sous/ and cooks off my farm…Lamb/ turkeys will be killed on farm by my self and my cooks…Berkshires from cedar lane farms( I’m working on a breeding program with them, Berkshire/Tamworth crosses), NB pork is from KB meats….and the SJAH menu will be paired with Local NB Beers”   

And every year since then this is precisely what he does…local, seasonal, casually delicious food!

Saint John Ale House is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Saint John Ale House est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Saint John Ale House directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Saint John Ale House
1 Market Square
Saint John, New Brunswick E2L 4Z6
T: 506 657 2337 (BEER)

www.saintjohnalehouse.com

Josee Savard and Chef Phillippe Lamarche have Klondike Kate’s Restaurant and Cabins, a lovely eatery plus accommodation, in a building constructed in 1904.

Josée  writes, “We embrace the adventures and hardships of a Northern lifestyle. A first glance at Dawson city’s growing season seems to afford a limited variety of produce. However, by emulating the resourceful culinary skills of seasoned First Nation peoples and by discovering unique Yukon ingredients, one can create an exciting new view of Canadian cuisine.”

Klondike Kate’s commitment to environmentally friendly products in the cabins and the use of local products in the restaurant goes hand in hand with Dawson City’s effort to embrace tourism as a healthy and sustainable industry. This commitment runs as deep as the Yukon River where much of the food used in the restaurant is harvested on or from.

She continues, ” All of our local fresh seasonal vegetables are from farmer Grant Dowdell who lives up river on an island with no electricity, and who uses a well that waters his crops by gravitational power. The Saskatoon berries for our muffins or pies are grown by a local farmer down river. The river-caught salmon is alder smoked by the First Nations in season.”

Klondike Kate’s also uses fresh edible flowers from their own garden including nasturtium, pansies, and a variety of herbs. The menu features caribou and bison smokies, Whitehorse Arctic Char, Alaskan Halibut used for fish and chip specials, fresh mushrooms (especially the famous morel) foraged by Philippe himself, which are then dried and stored for daily use. Many of the menu items, like the salmon entrée or the warm solstice salad, feature locally provided birch syrup. The restaurant serves locally roasted coffee beans, a variety of beers from Yukon Brewery, and offers delicious martinis made from vodka distilled in West Dawson and fresh local berries.

Klondike Kate’s always embraces Food Day Canada with great enthusiasm.

Klondike Kate’s is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Klondike Kate’s est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Klondike Kate’s directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Klondike Kate’s Restaurant and Cabins
3rd Avenue & King St.
Dawson City,
Yukon,  YOB 1G0
T: 867 993 6527

www.klondikekates.ca

The thoughtful menus (brunch/lunch/dinner) range from  appetizers like house made lamb pie with watercress salad right through to the all Canadian, housemade doughnuts with vanilla
anglaise and  caramel apple sauce.  There’s Jacobson’s cheese and charcuterie and fresh oysters; fat scallops with roasted squash in a chili~lime~cilantro broth (at left) to a perfect roast organic chicken with lemon butter, potatoes and mustard jus.   Aside from the doughnuts, desserts range from a butterscotch pudding with gingersnaps and ‘torched’ banana to a warm financier cake with sour cherries, oats and house made frozen yogurt.

Fraser Café is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Fraser Café est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Fraser Café directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Fraser Café
7 Springfield Road,
Ottawa, Ontario
K1M 1C8
T: 613 749 1444

frasercafe.ca

The extraordinary sensual beauty is overwhelming

Sooke Harbour House, and its visionary innkeepers, Frederique and Sinclair Philip, bought a small 3 bedroom in  1979 and in the intervening years have been honoured internationally with some of the most coveted awards for their hospitality and, above all, for their food and their attentiveness to the land and sea that they harvest and inhabit. Chefs are outside half a dozen times a day perhaps gathering a handful of sapphire blue rosemary blossoms to strew on a soup or to strip some lavender flowers to infuse into ice cream.Seals lay on boulders in a bed of kelp that fills the bay below the inn. The night, dark, filled with the smell of wood smoke and the sea and the kitchen. The summer air is soft and cool.

From  Metchosin Berkshire Pork Italian Sausage with wild oyster mushroom polenta, cranberry bean salad, roasted beets, red wine mustard reduction, grilled garlic scapes and roasted garlic aioli to the simplicity of sautéed spot prawns or a whole Dungeness crab with fennel butter, dining at Sooke, particularly when one chooses from the Wine Spectator-blessed wine cellar, is an experience unique  in Northern America.   As one restaurateur said to me years ago…”If they moved the restaurant 50 miles, it wouldn’t have the same menu.”

• Governor General’s Nation’s Table Award for Mentorship and Inspiration, June 2010
• Johansens Award for Excellence, Most Excellent Eco Resort, Condé Nast, 2010
• Gold List, World’s Best Places to Stay, Condé
• Nast Traveler, January 2009
• One of Canada’s Top Five Hotels”, Travel + Leisure, January 2009
• Grand Award, One of the World’s Best Wine Lists, Wine Spectator Magazine, August 2009
• Fodor’s Choice establishment 2008
• Sooke Harbour House was the first recipient of Eat Magazine’s Green Star Guide of Local Food and Drink Hero Award, Eat Magazine, December 2008
• Audubon International Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program, Four Green Leaf Hotel”, the highest eco-rating in British Columbia, 2004
• Ranked number eight ‘World’s Best Service’, Travel and Leisure Magazine, Reader’s Poll, June 2007
• Best Small Inn in North America, Readers poll and editors of Mountain Living Magazine, January 2007

Sooke Harbour House is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Sooke Harbour House est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs.

Contactez Sooke Harbour House directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Sooke Harbour House, Coastal Retreat, Spa & Restaurant
1528 Whiffen Spit Road
Sooke, BC, V9Z 0T4
T: 250 642 3421

www.sookeharbourhouse.com

John Taylor, along with a handful of other chefs across Canada, was/is one of the culinary pioneers of our nation.   Long before ‘local’ became hot and so obviously right, he and his wife, Sylvia, were serving forth the ingredients that said ‘home’ to so many.  Particularly in the nation’s capital, specializing in Canadian cuisine just made sense.

Anne DesBrisay, of Capital Dining, the definitive guide to the Ottawa food scene writes,” For nearly two decades now, John Taylor has been following the same guiding principle at his Domus Café – carefully sourced, top quality regional products, cooked creatively. His dishes are designed to bring out intrinsic flavours rather than showcase any tricksy sort of cooking methods. The menu at his ByWard Market restaurant is pretty short and sweet. Starters might include a mushroom bisque – Christophe Martineau’s cultivated and wild mushrooms with Woolwich goat cheese and snipped chives – or you might go for Taylor’s signature ‘stacked’ tomato salad, with Micha goat cheese and organic spinach. The menu changes gradually and constantly, but always there are “Canadian Coast to Coast” dishes – one from the water, one from the land, and the “Saturday Night Steak-Frites” – O’Brien Farms flatiron with russet fries – is an easy pleasure. The wine list is a treasure and strong on Canadian content.

Taylor has a very strong relationship with his suppliers, many of whom he has nurtured from the very early days in the mid 90′s.  He raises two drug-free beef cattle a year and sources all  his seafood sustainably like the B.C. sablefish served with wild mushrooms and farmed scallops, in the picture below.  ”Crazy Dave” grows his vegetables.

Domus Café is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.

Domus Café est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . 

Domus Café
87 Murray Street, 
Ottawa, ON K1N 5M5 

T: 613-241-6007

http://www.domuscafe.ca

Tiny quail skitter quickly between the rows of grapes (and across the roadways). The vineyards stretch down towards the water, disappearing over a ridge. The air smells of earth and of summer.

Quails’ Gate Winery is owned and operated by the Stewart Family, the name Stewart being synonymous with agriculture in the valley. The family arrived in 1908 and established greenhouses just down Lake Okanagan at Gellatly Bay. (Note for Foodies: Gellatly Nut Farm is one of Canada’s oldest tree nut nurseries and is really worth a visit!) As it became clear that the Valley had huge grape-growing potential the second and third generations of the Stewart started to plant vineyards.

I originally met Ben Stewart when he attended and supplied great Quails’ Gate wine for Northern Bounty 2 in Vancouver. It was the first time many of the Canadian food community who’d assembled there in 1996, had tasted truly premium wine from the Okanagan.  Today brother Tony Stewart is the CEO of the winery while Ben is the Liberal MLA in the Provincial Parliament.  Sister Andrea owns and operates the Okanagan Lavender Farm.

Now to the food!

Chef Roger Sleiman oversees their Old Vines Restaurant with its open panorama of the vineyards, the lake and the valley. And it’s the landscape that dictates his menus. This is where you truly are served up a sense of place on a plate.

The Okanagan Beef Tenderloin Carpacccio with local baby arugula and shaved Regianno cheese is superb. The wine pairing with this dish is the winery’s near-perfect Pinot Noir which is also paired with Fraser Valley pulled pork ravioli, organic smoked onion purée and Agassiz hazelnut pistou.  His summer menu literally makes my mouth water!

Old Vines menus showcase the amazing range of produce grown in the Okanagan Valley, so the cuisine served at the restaurant changes seasonally, as ingredients become available.

Food Day Canada 2012

Suncatcher Farm Walla Walla Onion Vichyssoise

Estate garden lovage & arugula pistou, Okanagan walnuts

Suggested Wine Pairing:  2011 Quails’ Gate Dry Riesling

Canadian Rangeland Bison Flat Iron Steak

Suncatcher Tuscan kale, zucchini & potato croquette, Second Wind Farm raspberry

Suggested Wine Pairing:  2010 Quails’ Gate Pinot Noir

Claremont Ranch Apricot & Agassiz Hazelnut Financier

Crème fraiche ice cream, Optima reduction

Suggested Wine Pairing:   2010 Totally Botrytis Affected Optima

Old Vines Restaurant is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Old Vines Restaurant est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Old Vines Restaurant directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Old Vines Restaurant
Quail’s Gate Winery
3303 Boucherie Road
Kelowna, BC V1Z2H3
T: 250 769 4451

www.quailsgate.com

Perched high overlooking the valley, Mission Hill Family Estate Winery is the most beautiful winery in Canada. From its bell tower, the noon chimes echo over Lake Okanagan. Every valley visitor should make a determined effort to have at least one glass of wine at Mission Hill, take a tour of the absolutely opulent cellars and have lunch or tapas at The Terrace, officially named as one of the top five winery restaurants on earth.

A Canadian milestone occurred in 1994 when Mission Hill Grand Reserve Chardonnay 1992 won the Avery Trophy for Best Chardonnay Worldwide at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London.  This first major award ushered in the new era of B .C. wine-making.

The Terrace Restaurant is a large part of Chef Matthew Batey’s domain. His dedication to regional ingredients has always been the foundation of the entire culinary programme at the Winery. Whether it’s the perfect Shipspoint oysters with Vidal ‘pearls’ dotted with lemon thyme flowers or a simple dish of poached egg with fresh asparagus spears and fingerling potato in a pool of preserved lemon butter, his team of chefs respond to the freedom he gives them with spectacular dishes. Dining on The Terrace, where every table has a view and where every dish has the blessing of Chef Batey’s team, is an experience to cherish for a lifetime.

The Terrace Restaurant is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

The Terrace Restaurant est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . Contactez The Terrace Restaurant directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation pour Journée des terroirs.

The Terrace Restaurant
Mission Hill Winery
1730 Mission Hill Road,
Central Okanagan, B.C. V4T 2T1
T: 250 768 6448

www.missionhillwinery.com

Scaramouche Restaurant with its incredible team – Carl Korte (General Manager) and Keith Froggett (Executive Chef) has been setting the bar as high as it gets in Toronto’s dining scene for decades.

Keith Froggett is a Canadian culinary superstar. Yet he does it quietly and without fanfare. The menu, which has been full to overflowing with Canadian ingredients forever, reflects his ” belief that less is more; that the finest ingredients classically combined result in a purity that transcends fads and fusion,”.

Whether its a ‘carpaccio’ of Scaramouche smoked salmon with a classic buckwheat pancake and some fresh horseradish or Ontario elk with smoked bacon, some leeks and mushrooms and hazelnut whipped potatoes or B.C. black Cod with its crisp curry crust, crushed fingerling potatoes and preserved lemon/green onions/tarragon brown butter sauce, his menu speaks to the absolute bounty of Canada. A word of advice, save room for Joanne Yolles’ inspired desserts! Warm brown butter cake is served with poached apricots, a toasted oat streusel and Chantilly cream but it’s her coconut cream pie that is (literally) legendary.

We are profoundly honoured to have Scaramouche Restaurant on our Food Day Canada roster!

Food Day Canada 2012

Chilled Heirloom tomato gazpacho
Summer vegetable salad
Green herb mayonnaise/Monforte Toscano
~~~
Nova Scotia lobster Ravioli
Chanterelles/west coast samphire
~~~~
Sustainable Blue sea bream
Sweet garlic whipped Pristine white beans
Kensington chorizo/tomato confit/saffron
Herb nage
~~~
Arctic rose panna cotta
Ontario strawberry granita/fresh berries/brown sugar meringues

Scaramouche Restaurant is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Scaramouche Restaurant est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . Contactez Scaramouche Restaurant directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Scaramouche Restaurant
1 Benvenuto Place
Toronto, ON M4V 2L1
T: 416 961 8011

www.scaramoucherestaurant.com

Chris and Graziella Aerni, a couple with huge food experience, bought Rossmount in 2001 and the gracious old property that came with it. A regional landmark high on a hill overlooking Passamoquoddy Bay, Rossmount has been reborn.  The deal breaker for them was that they also got to own Chamcook Mountain. Being Swiss, they found something quite special about owning a mountain and immediately phoned home to spread the news.

There’s a passion here that is rare. They not only honour their ingredients and the people who produce them, they search out new ones with enthusiasm that’s hard to find anywhere in Canada.

I met Chris for the first time on a hot August day.  Before I had unpacked we were off in his 4×4  to harvest rockweed, which grows in profusion all along the coast.  After blanching, it turns bright green and is perfect as a bed on which to serve fresh oysters or another local delicacy, steamed periwinkles.

For decades it’s been a challenge, as any Atlantic Canadian chef will tell you, to obtain fresh seafood.  But Chris has a beguiling way about him and the fishermen, bless them, have responded with some of the most interesting seafood you’ll find anywhere in Atlantic Canada.

While I was there, the kitchen was busy cleaning giant cultured scallops (the image is on our Awards page) and fresh Fundy herring, saving the roe to use as a garnish.  The herring is merely filled with fresh rosemary and thyme, then pan-fried.  If you’re lucky you may taste sea urchin but you certainly will be served Skip Wolfe’s great smoked salmon from Jail Island. The salmon is cut into small chunks rather than thin slices in order to make the most of the luxurious flavours.  There’s strong arugula and perfect peas and gorgeous tomatoes from organic grower, Beth Beurkel, “the godsend”, just down the road.   And for dessert?  As simple as a bowl of wild blueberries with cream or as decadent as meringue glacée with Swiss chocolate sauce!

“Food Day Canada”

August 4th, 2012

In celebration of “Food Day Canada”, our menu from

land, sea, farm, gardens, orchards + the woods 

Table d’haute

Heirloom sun gold tomato + shaved cucumber salad

Scallop mousse in daylily flower, sweet basil

Balsamic vinaigrette

* * * *

Surf + Turf

Braised beef short ribs

Glazed purpulette onions, chanterelles

Confit of halibut, carrot-ginger purée, chips and crudité

Chive-beurre blanc, nasturtium coulis 

* * * *

Bergamot-white wine poached Canadian peaches

Blueberry-sour cream ice cream, wild blueberries in bee balm consommé

* * * *

Local artisan raw milk cheese

Rossmount Country Inn is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

Rossmount Country Inn est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs. Contactez Rossmount Country Inn directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

Rossmount Country Inn
4599 Route 127,
St.Andrews, New Brunswick E5B 3S7
T: 506 529 3351

http://www.rossmountinn.com/

Bodega Ridge is not a restaurant in the traditional sense.  Situated on one of the southern Gulf Island, this secluded island resort hosts yoga reatreats, weddings and small conferences.

On August 3rd, there’s a wedding at Bodega Ridge and  bride whose wedding Jesse is catering is very pleased to be part of  Food Day Canada.  In fact, she thinks it’s pretty cool.

Bodega Ridge is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. 

Bodega Ridge est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs.

Bodega Ridge
120 Manastee Road,
Galiano Island, BC V0N 1P0
T: 877-604-2677

While they have a regular menu and a clear commitment to supporting the farmers and food producers of the region, they also showcase great cookbook authors. This year, the entire month of February was devoted to Prairie author C.J.Katz and her book taste~ Seasonal Dishes from a Prairie Table. If you’re in the market for a book to read, a bit to eat, or both, Prairie Ink Cafe is not to be missed.

Prairie Ink Cafés are some of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.

Prairie Ink Cafés sont deux de 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . 

Prairie Ink Restaurant and Bakery Winnipeg
1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg R3M 2A6
T: 204-975-2659

Prairie Ink Restaurant and Bakery Saskatoon
3130 8th Street @ Circle Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7H 0W2
T: 306-955-3579

http://www.prairieinkrestaurant.ca/

“We believe that sipping a glass of wine and sharing a meal that is fresh, creative and visual, in a beautiful, ambient setting, is simply the way it should be.”  

Like a diamond in the rough or a pearl found in the sea, The Pearl is one of PEI’s culinary treasures, located between the fishing village of North Rustico and Cavendish Beach. The location is set in a serene rural environment, where one may not expect to find a casual fine dining establishment. Owner and operator, Maxine Delaney, not only has experience in the restaurant industry, she has dabbled in the film and fashion industries as well. She has a kind hand to the ever-changing décor and energy present within The Pearl. During a recent renovation, Maxine completed the majority of the project herself, incorporating pieces of local history throughout.

Taking full advantage of local island produce, Chef Fred Dickieson, just returned from a full-on culinary career in England, ensures only the freshest ingredients are served to The Pearl guests. The menu speaks of the seasons. “Sustainability and knowing face to face where my food comes from has become the most important element in cooking for me” says Fred. “I feel that food should be enjoyably made, with considerately raised and procured products. My love of food goes from sun, sea and soil, to pan, plate, fork and all the goodness it does for you. I eat, cook, drink and think cooking and food, with the purpose of making happy food happily. Seeing my Island producing such great products, it makes perfect sense to come home and spend a season at The Pearl”. 

Try the freshly shucked oysters (PEI’s are the best on the planet) and lobster bisque shooters. For the non-seafood lovers, The Pearl also offers many land and vegetarian specials, and not to forget the freshly baked bread!

The Pearl is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.

The Pearl est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs.

The Pearl
7792 Cavendish Road
North Rustico, PEI C0A 1X0


T: 902-963-2111

http://thepearlcafe.ca/

The Merrill Inn is located in the heart of old Picton. It’s a gorgeous property with striking gingerbread trimmed gables and the home to Chef Michael Sullivan, a guy who cooks with his heart and his head.

Michael’s restaurant at the inn is a tiny place so he is able to craft exquisite meals featuring a vast array of County ingredients. Innkeepers Edward and Amy Shubert have followed up by opening a shop specializing in Inn-made products including some of Michael’s condiments.

The restaurant has been recognized by Toronto Life as well as Wine Spectator with an Award of Excellence for its wine list. This is one of the very best places in Ontario to taste Prince Edward County’s vinous wealth. Recently it was named in the Top 25 Small Hotels in Canada (at #14) by Trip Advisor. 

Michael’s menus reflect the terroir of Prince Edward County.  He sources as many of the ingredients as possible from the immediate region.  P.E.C. is, in fact, one of the leaders in culinary tourism in Canada, so a host of farmers/fishers carry the ‘local’ torch all year round.    The signature salad uses baby spinach baby spinach, boston lettuce, Black River aged cheddar, apple, spiced pecans, Merrill Inn Waupoos cider salad dressing. He bones out and rubs Cornish hens with smoked paprika before roasting them and serving them atop a Fifth Town goat cheese cheddar hominy (at left).   Of course, the menus change from time to time but his skill sets from working at some of the top restaurants in Toronto are well-honed and when the local ingredients are at their peak, you’ll find them in his seasoned kitchen.

The Merrill Inn is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

The Merrill Inn est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . Contactez The Merrill Inn directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

343 Main Street,
Picton, (Prince Edward County)
Ontario K0K 2T0
T: 613 476 7451

www.merrillinn.com

Chef David Friedman was not always a seafood lover. In fact, he only really developed a palate for the species in his adult years while working in kitchens across the globe, including in Italy, France, Japan, Thailand and of course his native land, Canada.  The menu at Red Fish displays Chef David’s diversity and passion for sustainable food practices, while ensuring that it is approachable for every diner. David works with seasonality to ensure he is providing the freshest fare on all his plates.

Looking for Sunday Brunch; Red Fish offers a house smoked salmon & home made bagel plate, which draws a crowd on the weekend. Hungry for dinner; try the Rainbow Trout Tartare, serving fish from Goosen Farms and caper berries. Not sure what you are in the mood for; the Chef’s Bored seems to be the way to go, allowing Chef David to have full creativity over your plate.

Alongside the sustainable seafood movement, Red Fish follows suit by ensuring all seafood used in their kitchen is from trusted suppliers and sources, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability. “At Red Fish, we take our commitment to sustainability seriously.” Throughout past experiences, Chef David has cultivated working partnerships with organizations like Ocean Wise and Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, and with suppliers such as Hooked and Jim Giggie, and collaborations with Neptuno Oysters. David explains that the goal at Red Fish is to have people look beyond their plates.

Red Fish is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below.

Red Fish est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs .

Red Fish
890 College Street
Toronto, ON M6H 1A3


T: 416-733-3474

http://redfishresto.com/

In 2008 I had an incredible book tour….and one stop was Montreal.  I love the Hotel Queen Elizabeth and headed to the legendary Beaver Club for dinner.   Chef Alain Pignard rolled out the culinary red carpet and I can’t think of a better way of introducing him than to quote my blog after that evening….

– “The Beaver Club (c.1785).  Pure elegance. A cart of chilled champagne and a menu that sings the praises and flavours of Canada and Quebec.

This is the experience of true dining with an eye to the future –foams and intensely concentrated flavours – and an eye to the best of the magnificent classic past…flambées and cloud-like souffles so delicate that they quiver. The crystal is crystal…the silver is silver…the mirrored room is richly paneled….the service cannot be better.  Anyone who wants to understand gastronomy must visit this dining room at least once in a lifetime.”

Since then their search for interesting ingredients that speak ‘local’ has continued and the Beaver Club has adopted two dairy goats – Blanche Neige  (Snow White) 1 and 2 from the local Fromagerie du Vieux St-François. While living at the fromagerie, they will produce cheese for the menu at The Beaver Club, as well as for sale at the Fairmont Store.  At the end of May 2011, Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel inaugurated its new rooftop garden on the hotel’s 22nd floor.This project, spearheaded by the hotel’s Environmental Committee, was inspired by the Executive Chef Alain Pignard’s dedication to sourcing local ingredients and his efforts to serve guests the freshest products.

The hotel has previously experimented with indoor and outdoor gardening, starting as early as 1976, when Chef Albert Schnell introduced hydroponic culture in his kitchen to grow varieties of fine herbs that were not available year-round in Montréal. In 1994, Chef John Cordeaux decided to grow aromatic herbs outdoors, on a low roof, accessible only by a window on the 4th floor of the hotel. (I remember crawling out that window).

The Beaver Club is one of about 250 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

The Beaver Club est l’un des 250 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . Contactez The Beaver Club directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

The Beaver Club
Fairmont Queen Elizabeth
900 Rene-Levesque Ave West,
Montreal H3B 4A5
T: 514 861 3511 x 2448

http://www.fairmont.com/queenelizabeth