Happy Canada Day!

This New York Times op/ed piece made me grin from ear to ear and my heart swell up with pride. Canadian expats in the U.S., including Rick Moranis and Kim Cattrell, pine for what they miss most about Canada.

Me, I can get a Coffee Crisp and spell “colour” with a U anytime I want. And I think I’ll go stuff my face with amazing Asian food too.

Raise your glass and Happy Canada Day!

Love it or hate it, it’s that time of year again in Calgary. You can tell, because store windows are all awash in cartoon cowboys and cacti.

Yes, the Calgary Stampede is back: 10 days of cowboy hats, plaid shirts, and boozy corporate get-togethers. And deep-fried things on sticks.

To be honest, the only thing that makes the week and a half bearable for me is the awesome, free Stampede breakfasts.

Two sites make it easy to follow the flapjacks every day of the Stampede:

• FlapjackFinder.com launched this month as far as I can tell. It’s easy to use, and includes Google maps to pinpoint your pancakes. You can also get it as a free app for your iPhone!
• StampedeBreakfasts.com has been around for a while with a simple search by date, quadrant, and postal code. It also includes other Stampede events like barbecues.

Start planning. Stampede runs July 3-12 this year. And yahoo! Or whatever.

Tags: breakfast, cowboys, pancakes, Stampede

Chef Claudio Aprile, who has been praised by critics around the world, opened Colborne Lane in 2007 to rave reviews.

He is an artist, if you will, pushing molecular gastronomy and elevating familiar tastes to make you ooh and ahh.

So of course, I was excited to be able to sample his talent — on someone else’s dime no less.

Because we were a large group, we sat in an airy private dining room downstairs with punchy — and very comfortable — orange chairs. A three-course menu had been chosen for us ahead of time. (The restaurant specializes in tasting menus of 10 to 15 small plates to showcase the chef’s work, but you can also order à la carte.)

For starters, we had a choice of yellowfin tuna sashimi or asparagus wrapped in bread. Both were beautiful and danced on our tongues.

The sashimi was dressed with little bursts of the chef’s handiwork: dabs of yuzu dressing, avocado pudding, balls of Valentine radish and frozen mayonnaise pearls.

Wrapped in a thin crêpe blanket, the in-season asparagus was served with some manchego cheese, fingerling potato, and fennel. It was painted with saffron mayonnaise and sprinkled with dehydrated black kalamata olive.

Both were paired with a delicious 2007 Cave Spring Riesling. (2007 was a very good year for the Niagara region.)

For my main, I chose the triple-seared Alberta beef tenderloin. It was seared, dunked into a room-temperature bath of sake, seared again, then dipped into soy sauce, seared a third time, and then bathed in salt water. The result? A lip-smacking piece of meat.

But that’s not all, folks. It was topped with hot horseradish and circled by a smoked tomato sauce. A kind of ragu of Brussels sprouts and sultana raisins on the side sounded strange, but tasted good.

A Trius cabernet franc from Ontario was paired with the tenderloin, while the other main had a pick of a Taz chardonnay or pinot noir from California.

The other main choice was a plate of caramelized seasonal vegetables, pickled ramps, wild mushrooms, black garlic infused mayonnaise, and dehydrated brown butter.

Was it cool? Very. Tasty? Yes. Way too small for dinner? Yup. I was kind of astonished there was no protein or carbs to sort of give the vegetable main dish a bit more heft.

Dessert was a cup of dulce de leche, frozen blackberry snow, dehydrated mayonnaise, Murray River apricot salt and lemon cake. Most of it was nice, but I didn’t care for the salt or the toffee texture that stuck to my molars from the salt and blackberry snow.

Overall, there’s no question the food was beautiful and innovative and tasty — but I was still hungry when I left. Take this with the recognition that I know we didn’t have a full tasting menu, which most people go to Colborne Lane to try, but at the same time you should be able to walk away from a table like this fairly satisfied.

As well, while our server was extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and smelled really good — I’m sorry, but I notice these things! — our three-course dinner took more than three hours to complete.

Colborne Lane, 45 Colborne St., Toronto, (416) 368-9009. Open daily for dinner, 5-11 p.m.

Disclosure: This dinner was part of the Eat Local, Eat Real food blogger sessions, organized by a marketing company representing Hellmann’s. There was no obligation or contract that required me to write about any part of it.

Tags: asparagus, beef tenderloin, dehydrated, dinner, dulce de leche, molecular gastronomy, ramps, sashimi, seared, tuna

Here’s how you can get fantastic fresh bread in Calgary while supporting a good cause at the same time. U of C graduate student Aviv Fried, who bakes organic bread at home, decided to put his talent toward helping CODE, which builds and supports libraries and schools across Africa.

Every Monday afternoon, he delivers his freshly baked loaves ($6) on his bike to homes and offices around downtown Calgary. You can also upgrade to the recession package ($12) a loaf of bread and some pâté/spread, or the bread and charcuterie deal.

What kind of bread are we talking about? Loaves Aviv has baked in previous weeks include Normandy apple bread, five-grain, cheese bread, roasted potato and rosemary, and ciabatta.

The web brochures haven’t been updated in several weeks, but I emailed Aviv and he assures me that he’s still going strong. Next week’s bread is multigrain, and the recession add-on is bourbon cherry butter.

He’s already met his goal of $2,500 to support the Chitenga F. P School library in Malawi for a year and its 1,451 students, but will continue to raise money for CODE projects.

Click here for more information. Aviv has also started selling his products at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Farmers’ Market on Wednesday (1320-5th Ave. NW from 3:30-7:30 p.m.).

(Thanks to Christina F. for the tip!)

On a totally unrelated note, I had no idea the first Tubby Dog Day was being held in Tompkins Park last weekend.

But Calgary photographer Duncan Kinney made this video to show us what we missed. And really, kudos to the lovely lady for making devouring a Tubby Dog look dainty.

Tags: bread, charity, hot dogs, malawi

The website of Peters’ Drive-In has a quote attributed to actor Hugh Jackman from the Calgary Sun in April 2003: “I also learned quickly Calgary has the best hamburgers in the world. My driver took me to Peters’ Drive-In one day. After that I’d find any excuse I could to go back there.”

Hey, Wolverine, you talkin’ crazy! OK, they taste good — for maybe two minutes.

I think Peters’ — named after original owner Gus Pieters, so I guess the apostrophe is acceptable — makes terrible, flat, greasy, cardboard burgers that sit in your stomach like rocks. (Yes, I know many of you will disagree…)

However, their milkshakes ($4.50) are awesome. They come in one size: big. So cold and thick and in your choice of 30 flavours or any combination therewith, they’re worth the nuttiness that’s the Peters’ drive-in/parking lot.

Peters’ Drive-In, 219-16th Ave. NE, Calgary, (403) 277-2747. Open 9 a.m.-midnight.

Tags: burgers, drive-in, milkshake, onion rings, Wolverine

The affable manager of Bonterra Trattoria, John, delights in telling the story of how Brad Pitt dined at his Italian restaurant, then returned a few days later with Angelina Jolie — “Ang” as she introduced herself — and their entourage in the summer of 2005.

(Pitt was in the area filming the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.)

John — ever the discreet manager — wouldn’t tell me what they ate, but said it was “off the regular menu” just like everybody else.

The sweet justice of Bonterra is that you and I can walk in there and get that same menu, and the same down-to-earth treatment as certain rich, ridiculously good-looking, globe-trotting celebrities.

OK, so you and I may never get named to People magazine’s world’s most beautiful people or world’s most beautiful family, but superstars eat their carbonara one forkful at a time too, just like the rest of us, damn it.

The restaurant

Bonterra’s front door on 8th Street, facing Mountain Equipment Co-op and next to an Edo franchise, is nothing to look at. That’s why you should enter via the back that takes you through Bonterra’s stunning, tranquil, garden patio.

I was looking forward to dining al fresco, but alas summer thunderstorms dashed any hopes of that. We ate instead in Bonterra’s airy, high-ceilinged dining room.

Bonterra has been around for several years. Online reviews I found from 2006 suggest it opened strong, and then food quality dipped, but it appears to have undergone a renaissance in the past few years with chef Glen Manzer, formerly of the River Café.

John told us the menu has recently been updated. He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of wine and picked the bottles we drank that night.

After he found out my favourite wine is amarone, he chose a 2004 5 Stelle Sfursat produced by Nino Negri. He kindly explained it’s from the Lombardy region of Italy and how the Nebbiolo grapes used to make it are air-dried, so it’s similar to amarone.

I mention this because he wasn’t condescending about it; he obviously loves wine and what he does and it certainly elevated our experience. And damn, the 5 Stelle Sfursat was a fine, fine wine.

Now, enough chit chat. Onto the mangia!

The starters

For appetizers, my beef carpaccio ($15) filled an enormous dinner plate, sprinkled with fried capers and shaved pecorino (I think), drizzled with horseradish mustard and extra virgin olive oil. Chef adds a wink with a salty anchovy atop some greens, and a handful of crispy thin potato chips.

Jason’s calamari ($13) was interesting. I loved the curry-type pesto sauce against some greens, currants, almonds, sundried tomatoes and olives; he liked it but wasn’t swooning like me.

Jane had one of the day’s appetizer specials, which was a kind of head cheese made from the extra parts of the roasted pig and lamb Bonterra cooked for its annual patio party a few days before.

But it was Martin’s Tuscan chicken liver ($10) pate that was by far the star of this round. Silky smooth and with an incredible depth of flavour, it came with cipollini onion, cranberry mustard, ciabatta crisps and sea salt on the side. In such a generous portion in a ramekin, it was definitely a sharing app.

The mains

I am an unabashed carbonara lover — and not the cream-laden Anglo version. Bonterra makes arguably my favourite carbonara ever. Ever. Mm-hm.

Theirs ($16) is made with linguine, wild boar bacon, chilies, grana padano, and egg. That’s it. Pure perfection in a plate. I’m usually all about the meats, but on this night, I only had eyes for my pasta.

But that’s not to say the meats weren’t sensational. Jane’s braised lamb shank ($26) tenderly fell off the bone, accompanied by pumpkin polenta, braised greens, beets and chestnut gremolata.

Martin’s venison ribeye ($39) — one of the day’s specials — was divine. But with seasonal asparagus and truffle polenta, how can you go wrong? Mmm… truffles.

Jason’s bistecca ($28) was a large piece of grilled prime top sirloin, atop cauliflower purée, gorgonzola cheese, and a surprisingly lip-smacking cherry sauce.

And yes, he would like to point out that he was extremely happy with the size of his steak, something apparently measured by his fist.

Us ladies were stuffed at this point (as I’m sure Angelina would have been), but the guys soldiered on with dessert. A peach cobbler had the right amount of comfort, with extra blueberries, a sprig of mint and a big ole scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The panna cotta blew me away. A creamy and sweet — but not too creamy or too sweet — concoction flecked with the seeds of vanilla beans, with some light strawberry sauce.

The night ended with a round of cappuccinos and many contented sighs (and no paparazzi buzzing around outside).

Bonterra Trattoria, 1016-8th St. SW, Calgary, (403) 262-8480. Reservations recommended.

Open for lunch on weekdays 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., dinner Monday-Thursday 5-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday 5-11 p.m., Sunday 5-9 p.m.

Tags: Angelina Jolie, Assassination of Jesse James, Brad Pitt, Brangelina, calamari, carbonara, carpaccio, dinner, head cheese, Italian, lamb, linguine, panna cotta, pasta, pate, patio, peach cobbler, polenta, steak, venison, wine

Janice Beaton — the queen of cheese (and I mean that in the best way possible) — is now making fresh sandwiches, which is very welcome news for my office which has to otherwise rely on whatever the lunch truck brings at the end of its route of construction sites.

There are three sandwiches on the Janice Beaton menu board:

• Ham and cheese
• Goat cheese and basil pesto
• “Whim of the day” (it was date and duck rillettes on the day I went).

They’re made fresh to order, on baguette that’s baked at the cheese purveyor’s restaurant, FARM, on 17th Avenue SW.

Committed to really local, Janice Beaton uses:

• Fresh tomatoes from Gull Valley Greenhouses in Blackfalds — I watched the store clerk pull one with stem still attached from a cluster in a basket
• Arugula from Hotchkiss Produce in Rocky View
• Maple pepper ham from Valbella in Canmore.

A sharp three-year cheddar really gave the ham sandwich some major zing. Meagan and Tracy loved the chevre and pesto one.

For the days I don’t pack a lunch, I think the sandwiches ($6.95) are a great option.

Janice Beaton Fine Cheese, 1249 Kensington Rd. NW, Calgary, (403) 283-0999. Other locations and hours.

Tags: baguette, cheddar, cheese, chevre, ham, lunch, pesto, sandwiches

In Calgary, we are blessed with not one but two fancy hot dog places, and they’re within walking distance of each other. I’ve posted about Tubby Dog before (here and here), so it was about time I tried the comparably cheekily named Le Chien Chaud.

Located in the Mission neighbourhood, the business’ mascot is Francis, a hot dog character who wears a beret and haughtily holds a hot dog aloft in his hand.

You can pick a wiener of pork/beef, all-beef, vegetarian, buffalo or bratwurst. The dogs average about $6.

The selection of 11 gourmet dogs features toppings that make them unique to a certain culture. The Chilean Completo has guacamole, mayo, chopped tomatoes and onions, hot Aji sauce and fresh cilantro. I accidentally took a bite of Tracy’s Chilean dog — and it was really, really good.

(It was an accident because her dog got put on my desk, and vice versa, and I just chomped into it without really looking at the toppings.)

I ordered a Chicago dog, with a sliced dill pickle, tomato wedges, mustard and relish, chopped cucumber and onion, sprinkled with celery salt. The menu said “topped with a sport pepper,” but I’m pretty sure I got a pepperoncini.

It was good too but I felt the cucumber was unnecessary, and the relish too sweet.

The dogs were a handful, but nothing like the overflowing volcanos that are Tubby Dogs. I do like the buns at Le Chien Chaud better.

Since there are inevitable comparisons, I will say that Tubby Dog is like a refreshing mug of beer, while Le Chien Chaud is a flute of bubbly champagne. However, I don’t think anything can beat street meat.

Le Chien Chaud, #3-2015-4th St. SW, (403) 229-DOG1. Open Monday to Saturday 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sundays noon-5 p.m.

Tags: Chicago, guacamole, hot dog, street meat, wiener