Part one of my latest column in Winnipeg Women/Dish Magazine:

Our cottage is named “Life is Good” as indicated on this vase

Our drive to the cottage on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg is often delayed by a supper stop.  Barney Gargles on Main St. in Selkirk is a popular choice.  The décor is not fancy but the home-cooked food and baking is fabulous.  The platters of fish and chips that we thought we saw going by the table are actually their chicken finger platter.  Whole chicken breasts are covered in a crunchy beer batter.  The milkshakes are so huge they’re served in wine flagons. 

The Sandbar’s Breakfast Skillet

The Sand Bar Motor Hotel just outside Grand Beach Provincial Park is another favourite destination.  Tyler Gray is the chef putting out savoury breakfast skillets as well as confections like maple pecan Danish.  Friday nights we stop in for his steak special –an 8 oz. sirloin with all the fixings INCLUDING a beer or glass of wine for $10!  We also head there on Wednesdays for AYCE (all you can eat) Pickerel with their yummy hand-cut French fries. At $11, I know that they lose money on us.

Sandbar’s Omelette

Le Gouter is an amazing find on Saffie Road in Albert Beach.  Last summer they installed two huge crepes pans.  I like the one made with hollandaise, ham and cheese on a hearty Buckwheat crepe.  And although they do not use cheese curds in their poutine, every thing else about their offering is perfect in my humble opinion-sharp, gooey cheese, a savoury gravy and the best French fry along highway 59 north.

“Fisherman’s Breakfast“

The “other” side of Lake Winnipeg offers a bevy of exceptional dining too.  I recently enjoyed the Fisherman’s Breakfast at Mask Café in Gimli: pan-fried pickerel with a lemony hollandaise, crispy bacon, an egg and lacy hash browns.  Acquaintances also tell me of Jane and Walter’s Restaurant in Sandy Hook.  There is a lot of buzz from Facebook friends about Casa Bianca in an old house across from the park in Winnipeg Beach.  Samplers say that if you’re a garlic lover you’ll particularly enjoy it.  

Kath’s quote: “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” -Luciano Pavarotti

I was treated to a lovely and unexpected lunch last Thursday at the Garry St. Keg and together with my recent tastings of their chicken fingers at the McGillivray Keg for a light supper before the theatre, I’m prepared to declare the Keg the city’s best chicken fingers (imho).

I will be honest and say that I never did get to my son’s suggestion of the cafe at U of M to taste theirs.  But I did put them up against Confusion Corner (which I would give a honourable mention to), Lisis’s on Main St., Barney Gargles in Selkirk and Mitzi’s downtown and hearing no other nominations, the case is closed. 

My personal criteria is the combination of a crunchy coating and tender white meat inside.  They cannot be too heavily ladened and the coating has to have a taste of its own.  In addition, the dipping sauce is an important and the ability for the morsel to grab and hold onto the sauce is also to be considered.  Since the Keg’s chicken finger is kind of “lumpy” it provides lots of additional surface for sauce adherence.  Their honey dill combined with the seasoning of the coating satisfies my personal favourite taste combination of sweet and salty. 

So with this I conclude my two summer quests, this one and the Grand Beach area’s best French Fry-  the winner being the French creperie at Albert Beach.  Bring on winter….. 

Kath’s quote:  “To give life to beauty, the painter uses a whole range of colours, musicians of sounds, the cook of tastes — and it is indeed remarkable that there are seven colours, seven musical notes and seven tastes.”-Lucien Tendret

Let love be multiplied.

This summer we’ve been drawn to The Sand Bar in Grand Beach over and over again.  We love Chef Ty’s authentic Danish and have dropped in for his $9.95 Steak Nights on Fridays (including a beer or glass of house wine).  Recently, we went just in time to order breakfast (last call at 11:45).  I dug into a gorgeous spinach and feta omelet with home-style potatoes and rich, dark rye toast.  D decided to “go for it”,  ordering the “big Breakfast”.  Big it was-2 pancakes served first and then an enormous platter of garlic sausage, bacon, breakfast links, toast, potatoes and three perfectly cooked eggs-all for$9.95.

We went back the next night for his all you can eat beer-battered (or pan fried) lake Winnipeg pickerel also for $9.95.  A mound of hand-cut fries, cole slaw, tartar sauce and three pickerel fillets to start.  My hungry brother and husband (both Dougs)  enjoyed another couple of servings which were cheerfully provided.

We said hey to Ty and his young and growing family on the way out from breakfast.  We are so encouraged to see a new generation of young chef’s who are willing to invest in a community like Grand Beach.

Kath’s quote:  “I am not a glutton…I am an explorer of food.”  Erma Bombeck

I have always been motivated by rewards, even those that I have established for myself.  Today was my pack and tidy up day at the cottage.  I had spent a wonderful couple of weeks, working from the lake,  but it was time to head back to the city.  Since I had been on my own most of the time, I thought that the process would be pretty quick.  I was incorrect (or perhaps too thorough).  I was finally done about 1:30 and would have rewarded myself with a walk on the beach but the wind and waves were high and there was no beach left to walk.  I had not had lunch (or breakfast for that matter) so I packed up the car and turned north instead of towards Winnipeg.  My destination was Albert Beach to see what other goodies the little creperie called Le Gouter had to offer.  Appropriately named Le Gouter means: “to taste or have an afternoon snack”.

I not only found the area’s best French fry but what better place to indulge in a Quebecoise treat but in this little French beach community?  The poutine  was divine!  The lovely girl at the order counter even pronounced it authentically-not “poo-teen” as I requested but “poo-tin?” was her reply.  The gray was savoury and even though they serve a grated cheese rather than traditional cheese curds, the cheese was appropriately gooey and stringy.  The portion was so generous, that I took half of it home and we added it to the appetizer supper that we enjoyed in front of the football game on TV.

Kath’s quote:  “The potato, like man, was not meant to dwell alone.” – Shila Hibben

Over the years we’ve had many meals at the Birchwood Hotel on Highway 59 (between Grand and Victoria Beach).  When the kids were younger and we spent Christmas holidays at the unwinterized cottage, we would go to the Birchwood to shower before company came out for New Year’s Eve.  We would take a room just so that we could take turns having showers and watch some satellite TV.  When we were all gussied up, we’d have lunch in the dining room before heading back to our little cabin in the woods.

We’ve also enjoyed many barbequed steak dinners on the patio with various configurations of family and friends.

The special last night was pan fried pickerel and I couldn’t resist.    It included a homemade and hearty steak and potato soup.  Fish & Chips, Chicken Fingers & Chips and Chicken Quesadillas were also sampled.   The food they make from scratch is well seasoned and prepared, the items they throw into a deep fry basket, not so much.  But there is good value,  the beer was cold, Rascal Flats was playing and we had a lovely evening.

Kath’s quote: “Only a fool argues with a skunk, a mule or a cook.”
cowboy saying.