Celebrating Canadian Cuisine with Prairies

The Paisley Notebook Pop-Up, Kelowna

In spite of her apparent youth, Aman Dosanj is a veteran of the Kelowna food scene. Her family had one of the most interesting restaurants that city’s ever seen. Poppadoms was pure Indian in style but pure Canadian in its ingredient choices. It was the go-to place for dinner for many of the region’s chefs…when they wanted a night away from their own restaurants. Aman’s brother, Harry, is an outstanding bartender and has always been a strident advocate for B.C.’s best wines. But Aman’s path has diverged. She is passionately devoted to her series of SOURCED dinners where diners travel to the farms/vineyards that produce the food she serves forth. For her it’s all about seasonality and hyper-local ingredients. It’s all about Canada. For Food Day Canada 2020 she hosted a special 6-feet together FDC pop up dinners at Roche Wines in Naramata. Winemaker/Owner, Penelope Roche. Their stories have always kind of synced up, so it was the perfect pairing for this dinner. Aman is also an extraordinary story teller so I’m going to print her FDC letter to me verbatim with great thanks and admiration. BTW…she’s eating one of her Scotch Eggs in the image at the left. 1st Course: Two Rivers Scotch Egg with Okanagan Tomato & Plum Chutney The first course was all about my childhood memories of playing football and my English roots. One new addition to the Roche vineyard this year were chickens, so I soft-boiled the eggs the old school way with a 6-minute egg (because runny yolks are a must). The BC Pork mince was mixed in with grated apple from my garden, fennel tops from my friend Chloe’s garden and my Royal spice mix, then the breadcrumb was Anita’s Organic Flour and my leftover sourdough ends and day-old bread in the freezer for zero waste. Pickled some shallots to cut through the richness and served it with a ‘ketchup’-style chutney using all-local ingredients, including the Pacific sea salt, honey and vinegar. Can I also add that another red and white team won the FA Cup Final yesterday, too – CHAMPIONS! Paired with Roche Wines oaked Pinot Gris – the wine that was the first of their varietals on the Poppadoms wine list. It was a super cool pairing and Penelope’s favourite food and wine pairing 2nd Course: Kadhai-Spiced Charred Carrots with Mint Yoghurt, Hazelnuts A mix of Unearthed Farm and Puzzlegrass Farm Rainbow Carrots, spice-rubbed with my Kadhai spice (savoury with fennel, cumin and coriander seed), then charred and smoked using pruned vines, bringing us a sense of place, sense of time and taste of place. The mint yoghurt was made using BC milk and mint from the winery. Hazelnuts are also local and from Jenn CK’s place which she shared with me when I came for a catch-up – so a true sense of Naramata. Paired with the 2019 Roche Wines Rosé. 3rd Course: Cache Creek Natural Beef Keema with New Potatoes, Ramano Beans and Chapatti Roti I won a scholarship with Les Dames Escoffier a year or so ago and visited the ranch and their natural environment. With FDC starting with the boycott of beef way back when and now there being COVID outbreaks in factory-raised plants, I wanted to use beef to share stories about the good side of the meat industry and how giving the animals the life they deserve is important. The Keema is a mince with last season’s roasted and frozen tomatoes to get people thinking about stocking their freezers and pantries during the season for later on (especially if there’s a second wave), Unearthed Farm and Roche Wines onions, slow-cooked with Roche Wines red. When...

Crave Kitchen and Wine Bar, Regina, Saskatchewan

When it comes to developing new dishes for this great Regina-based restaurant, Chef, and owner Jonathan Thauberger blends classic culinary techniques with local products to create dishes that reflect the city’s diverse culture and brings to light the steady growth of local producers. The newest exciting find featured on the menu is Snow Beef. Producers Ian and Nicole Crosbie have crossed their Holstein heifers with Wagyu. The beef has received national attention and locals are flocking to the restaurant to get a taste. The menu features an assortment of dishes that speak to any palate from Rabbit Tortelli, rabbits raised by Fenek Farms, to Seared Acadian Sturgeon, and Caviar service using Acadian Sturgeon & Caviar to customers favorite Duck Confit. Always on the lookout for new products, he has built long-term relationships with producers that include but are not limited to Heliotrope Organic Farm, Stellar Gourmet Mushrooms, Green Sister Gardens, R + J Milling, North Prairie Family Farms, Quill Creek Bison and Over the Hill Orchards. “Craig’s List” takes on a new meaning as the beer, wine and cocktail menus are curated by managing partner Craig Perrault. I love the idea of a Prairie Kir…rhubarb vodka, Saskatoon Berry liqueur, sparkling wine and berries. Here’s to Crave celebrating Food Day Canada every day! Menu Crave Regina 2020 Contact them at the number below to reserve a Food Day Canada table. Contactez Crave directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre Journée des terroirs réservation. Crave Kitchen and Wine Bar 1925 East Victoria...

River Café, Calgary

Located in the middle of Prince’s Island Park, on the lagoon where the Bow River passes though downtown Calgary, River Café has featured “Seasonal Canadian Cuisine” since the mid-1990s. Inspired by the natural setting of the Bow River Valley, the restaurant has the feel and nostalgic appearance of an old Rocky Mountain fishing lodge with an open-hearth fieldstone fireplace and panoramic views of the park and Calgary’s dramatic cityscape beyond. Fly-fishing artifacts honour the Bow...

Skye Café & Bistro, Regina, Saskatchewan

The dynamic husband and wife team of Chefs Milton Rebello and Louise Lu have named Skye Café & Bistro after their daughter who is “super proud of her restaurant”. The dining room and the patio overlook Wascana Lake topped with the beautiful blue prairie Sky. Although the menu of these award winning chefs is has a strong global influence they are fiercely proud of the local seasonal ingredients that have helped him make their mark...

Harvest Eatery and FreshMarket, Shaunavon, Saskatchewan

Chef Garrett “Rusty” Thienes and his wife, Kristy, are, in many ways, pioneers in this region of pioneers where the best cooking has for generations been found in home kitchens. Like the marbling on their locally raised Speckle Park beef, Harvest Eatery is unique. This 45-seat, award winning restaurant creates an intimate, elevated dining experience in rural Shaunavon, SK – population 1700ish. 50km off highway one and nearly 350km from the closest international...

Vendome, Calgary

Celebrate Food Day Canada by checking out the recently renovated and re-opened Vendome in vibrant Sunnyside, Calgary! From drinks on the west facing patio to delicious coffees, Vendome has the perfect fix for your summer cravings. Always a Calgary brunch staple, Vendome’s new expanded menu features a lot more than just eggs, sharable snacks as well as larger offerings are sure to satisfy. Growing what they can from greens to veggies, Vendome has always...

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charbar, Calgary

There are few things I find as exciting as watching the evolution of a restaurant team like that at CharCut and how they dream in such a large scale. To most anyone else, the old Simmons building would be just too much to tackle. But not for Connie DeSousa and John Jackson. This seriously...

VG @ The Fairmont, Winnipeg

Located in the heart of Downtown Winnipeg, in the Fairmont Winnipeg, the VG Restaurant offers contemporary Manitoban fare using fresh, locally sourced produce and ingredients. The Fairmont Winnipeg is the city’s only luxury hotel with 340 luxuriously appointed rooms, 19,000 square feet of stylish...

The Guild, Calgary

Calgary is such a new and modern city that older buildings are truly treasured. The original Hudson’s Bay is one of them and it’s now the home of Oliver and Bonacini’s The Guild Restaurant. It’s the first real foray outside of Ontario for the super-talented O&B team, a...

Sidewalk Citizen Bakery, Calgary

Baker Aviv Fried has a fantastic story, self-propelled with great good humour. Self-taught at the start (after a Masters level degree in Bio-medical engineering), he trained in Vermont at King Arthurs Flour with Jeffery Hamelman and in Paris with the famed sourdough bakery, Jean- Luc Poujauran....

Pig roast on our sidewalk!

Smack in the middle of summer, Canadian chefs make culinary hay on Canada Food Day — a national celebration where local ingredients inspire local chefs from coast to coast. Victor Restaurant Chef David Chrystian is visiting CHARCUT in Calgary from Toronto for the event to collaborate in the...