Have you experienced when a restaurant just falls off of your radar?  In the advertising business this is known as “erosion of top of mind awareness”.  There was a time when Earl’s was one of the highest restaurants on my hit list.  D, Daughter #1 and I liked to stop in for Margarita Mondays.  I loved the patio on Main to catch some rays at lunch time and the St. Vital Earl’s was the first place I ever tasted a Bento Box.  We used to meet clients at the very first Earl’s at Polo Park (on St. James where Tony Roma’s is now) and I would always order the Californian Shrimp Pesto Pizza.  In those days it seemed as if Earl’s had the corner on fresh, premium ingredients and a light-handed cooking style.

So did we just outgrow Earls or did something change?

For us, it was this:  My birthday is at the end of May and often heralds the beginning of those surprizingly hot summer days.  About Easter, I start thinking about how I would like to celebrate with my family and what patio we will assemble at for dinner.  For one of my special birthdays (where the right hand digit is a “0”) the weather in Winnipeg was awful-constant rain and the longest stretch without seeing the sun.  But because we are a resourceful bunch we said amongst ourselves, “let’s just find a covered patio and ignore the weather outside”.  And so it was that we found ourselves at the Polo Earl’s in the hopes of getting onto the patio (that has always reminded me of a circus tent).  As some of my readers know, our family is a bit tricky to accommodate because Daughter #1 gets around in a motorized wheelchair.   We often research ahead of time, which places have stairs or tricky washrooms to maneuver into.  We were eager for the afternoon that we were going to spend on the patio with lots of drinks and an never-ending stream of food.  Unfortunately, when we arrived at the patio, we saw that none of the available tables were the traditional height so we asked if they might possibly move a lower dining room one onto the patio for us.  When the answer was an unaccommodating “no” we left and I will admit that I was in tears (kind of like the lyrics to the old song: “You would cry too if it happened to you!”)  It seemed to us like a little thing for Earl’s to do but would have made all the difference in the world to us.

Now having been in the business ourselves, we know that there are fire codes, and rules and protocol and I don’t blame Earl’s for turning us away but somehow from this moment on, we did not consider ourselves part of the Earl’s family any longer.  We just felt like we were not young enough or important enough or attractive enough.  Do you understand how we were feeling?  I go to the trouble of writing this so that hospitality employees might see how their actions can effect a guests’ special day and even the years to follow.  That is how very important the role of a person in the hospitality business is.  In fact, I teach Food and Beverage Service and Front Desk Management for the Manitoba Tourism Education Council and I use this example (without mentioning Earl’s) as well as hilarious examples from U-Tube clips of Fawlty Towers of how not to conduct yourself and what the consequences might be.

Now it is not because we have held a grudge against Earl’s, it is just that as I indicated earlier, they just kind of fell off of our radar.  That was until the perseverant Cate Simpson of Earl’s found me on line.  Over the last couple of years she has invited me to special events at Earls that I have not been able to fit into my schedule.  So too, when I saw that the re-opening of their St. Vital Earl’s restaurant fell into an unbelievably hectic week, I thought that I would have to decline once more.  Happily, I was able to attend.

Sister #3 and I were immediately welcomed by Earl’s Big Cheese and we settled into a comfy little booth to get our bearings.  The facelift creates a light filled room that is sure to please.

We got a chance to order from their featured cocktails and loved the taste and presentations of both.

And then the food started coming out and we focused on tasting some for our first time.

And then the Californian Shrimp Pesto Pizza arived.  The first tastes were like reuniting with a dear old friend!

Sister #3 had never tasted the recipe before but will be back for more, I am sure.

The evening ended with hot ginger bread-the perfect way to kick off the holiday season.  The snow had started coming down heavily by this time and we had to venture back out into the night but something had changed for me:

Earl’s is back on my radar!

Kath’s quote: “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” ― Charlotte Brontë

Love-that is all.

I try very hard to eat food for the “right” reasons, that is to supply my body with the appropriate fuel that it requires for optimum health BUT I am human and sometimes slip into old habits. I’ll be frank, I  eat when I am stressed or to reward myself for (what I perceive is) a job well done.  Case in point, I have recently had a long stretch of teaching and speaking engagements along with a couple of food styling gigs.  I am such a  “pleaser” that I put myself under a lot of pressure to think of every single little detail for the chef and publicists that I am contracted to.  When the time comes that I am able to pack up and head home, I am relieved and looking for a way to celebrate.

My last commitment today was at the not yet opened Paterson GlobalFoods Institute at the Exchange campus of Red River College.  Lo and behold, I was parked right in front of Smoke’s Poutinerie and I hadn’t indulge with a treat from there since the summer that they opened.   Even though the menu was intriguing with chicken, pork, beef and vegetarian offerings, I am a purist and ordered the Traditional.  I enjoyed my first couple of piping hot bites but I had to get on with the rest of my day and so packed the majority up to finish at home.  By the time I unloaded all of the gear from my car, the dish had cooled off and I found that I enjoyed the tastes even more!  The gravy was rich and not overly salty and the authentic cheese curds had firmed up and retained their squeakiness once more. 

I have just finished a work entitled “My Canada includes Foie Gras” where the author Jacob Richler, Maclean’s food columnist, proclaims that “Poutine” maybe Canada’s only authentic food: “Our culinary identity abroad is more often rooted in unexciting single ingredients than actual dishes- things like maple syrup and “Canadian bacon” ( a minor stylistic rethink of a very common food).  And with the exception of poutine, a genuine Quebec original, most of our Canadian cuisine has far too much in common with its European antecedents to appear to others as something new.”

So there you have it-I rewarded myself and substantiated culinary research all at the same time (as if I needed a second excuse)!

Kath’s quote:  “The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite.”-A. J. Liebling

Love-that is all.

When you are able to reacquaint with good friends that you have not had the occasion to visit with in a while, it really doesn’t matter where you go or what you eat, does it?  The company was the most important thing and yet here we were tucked into a cozy corner table in the back dining room at 529 Wellington.  Because I have been acquainted with the WOW! Hospitality folks for many years, it was like coming home with lots of embraces and hugs.  I even was able to meet a twitter follower IRL (in real life).  She recognized me from my thumbnail photo and I was so glad that she introduced herself.

The room is warm and beautifully appointed and you can easily imagine the grand dinners that must have been common place in the restored mansion.  Our waiter was impeccable and did his best not to intrude upon our intimate conversations.  We all chose beef specials as they were relayed by our server:

 the calf’s liver with onions on mashed potatoes,

a Caesar salad topped with grilled tenderloin and enormous shards of Parmesan cheese

and an open-faced rib eye steak sandwich with sauteed mushrooms.  The flavours of the steak were rich and deep and even though the beef was extremely well trimmed, my taste buds found a nugget of fat the was silky smooth and absolutely sublime.  My lunch reminded me of the way in which my Dad would enjoy his steak-nothing fussy or complicated: just the finest cut with lots of age and a little bit of seasoning.  I have never seen the kitchen of 529 so I do not know how their steaks are prepared but I imagined that it would have been seared in a hot pan or over a hot flame to seal in the juices and then carefully watched until the perfect doneness was achieved.  I tasted salty butter on the accompanying mushrooms and if I am not mistaken on the steak as well.  Unadorned and divine. And don’t worry about me, I did get my quota of veggies later in the day.

I may try the beef carpaccio next time, remembering back to when Doug Stephen, one of the owners of the restaurant first opened a bistro in the basement of the Travellers Building, named Cibo’s. I remember their carpaccio from our first wedding anniversary dinner.  Fine dining and fine beef have always been a part of our lives. 

The menu states that less than 1% of all Canadian beef available is graded Canada Prime and that all the beef at 529 is as such.  No wonder our lunch was so very good.

Kath’s quote: “The quality of food is in inverse proportion to the altitude of the dining room, with airplanes the extreme example.”-Bryan Miller

Love-that is all.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Winnipeg’s first Blog Conference.  I have been to similar events in Washington DC and Toronto and was really impressed by the job that New Media Manitoba did for the event.  At similar events, I am always thrilled to rub shoulders with blog royalty and in addition to Catherine Connors creator of Her Bad Mother and Editor in Chief of Disney’s Babble, there were many” socialites” in the room.  Some I have met before and others only in cyber-space.  Meeting people in real life brings our on-line friendship alive.  This is often my favourite part of an event like this.

But because I of my food fascination, I wondered how the organizers would ” love us up” with culinary offerings.  They did not fail to impress.  Friday evening was a mixer at the News Cafe where there were a bevvy of little bites delivered round.  I especially enjoyed the seared scallops and mini grilled cheese sandwiches ( a wedge of panini with a goat cheese blend).  The casual opportunity to mingle with the conference participants was a nice way to kick start the weekend.

We awoke on Saturday morning to blowing snow but the breakfast provided by Diversity Catering, made getting out of bed worth it.  Pots and pots of steaming hot coffee, Balkan-style yogurt with a hearty granola to top it and a beautiful array of fresh fruit slices.  This is the breakfast that I select every morning when vacationing in Mexico and I was able to transport myself away from the blustery start of a Winnipeg winter for just a little while.  The bonus was the crispy edged cinnamon buns and the chocolate chip studded banana bread!

When lunch was being set out, the aromas told us that we were in for a savoury treat.  Chicken was roasted Mediterranean style and served with parslied and buttered, wide egg noodles and an amazing salad.  Buffet service is no easy fete at an event like this.  Just keeping the food hot can be a challenge but Diversity Foods obviously knows what they are doing where feeding large groups is concerened and every noodle tasted as if it had just been tossed in butter before our eyes.  There was some controversy as to whether our dessert was a trifle or a shmoo torte: it was rich and creamy and I didn’t really care what it was dubbed.

The afternoon was equally edifying and by the time we departed from U of W’s beautifully restored Convocation Hall, the sun was shining on the glistening snow.

Kath’s quote: “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”-Hippocrates

Love-that is all.

As soon as Steve Vodrazka, the owner of the Sonya’son Henderson Hwy. in Elmwood spoke, my sister and I recognized the accent.  He was from the same country that our Dad had immigrated from many years before-Czechoslovakia.  The posters of the picturesque Eastern European country confirmed that part of him must still yearn for his homeland.

Steve took care of every single table himself as well as the till and yet he was very patient when we had a hard time deciding what to order.  He asked if we wanted to try his minestrone which was his soup of the day.  He added that it was free “unless we didn’t finish it all and then it was $2”, so priced as his way of ensuring that food was not wasted.

As we ordered the perogies, he wondered if we wanted them boiled or fried.  We assumed that this meant pan-fried and indicated our preference.  When they arrived and we saw that they had been deep fried, we were originally disappointed as deep frying can sometimes toughen the delicate dough.  There were no worries with these: the dumplings had only been kissed by the oil and they were soft and absolutely as delicious as our own family recipe.  The sautéed bacon and chopped onions certainly enhanced the flavour.  The bacon itself was not overly salty but had a rich and smoky taste.

Next up was a boneless pork loin chop in a crispy coating which reminded us of the bread crumb mixture that my Grandma used to cover her fried chicken with.  The meat inside was moist and succulent.  Also on the plate was a tangy cole slaw and boiled potato cubes.

I opted instead for the little plate of French fries that I indulged in (for the sake of research….).  Oh my goodness!  I imagined the order going into the kitchen at which time the cook took a potato, sliced and cooked it.  That is how fresh tasting the fries were.  They were lightly fried, exactly the way I love them (contrary to the other members of my family) resulting in a soft and wobbly fry.  This may not be everyone’s description of choice, but it certainly is mine.  What do you know, a French fry that still tastes like a potato!

Recently, I saw in the Winnipeg Free Press that the Burger Club had declared that Sonya’s served Winnipeg’s best burger.  I wish I had known this previous to our lunch date as now I bet there will not be a seat to be had in the snug little place.

Warning: Sonya’s only takes cash and I don’t want you to be disappointed.

Kath’s quote: “Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.”-Doug Larson

Love-that is all.