Tagged: italy
Bicycle Thief Steals My (Culinary) Heart
Beef tenderloin, rare. Peppercorn crusted. Drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Fries sprinkled with truffle oil and parmesan. Vegetables bursting with flavour, al dente. Flawless.
Housemade peanut butter gelato sundae. Distinct, bright peanut butter flavour. Hot fudge. Chocolate, rich, smooth, neither grainy nor overly sweet. Peanut butter brittle. Crunchy-crumbly. Flawless.
Service: “we have a nice shiraz that would go well with the beef” and that showed up on the bill as 21.00 for a stated 5.5 oz pour. Nice indeed. Nice to know in advance it was in the steeper range–21.00 for a GLASS of wine in Halifax is not a “nice shiraz”.
Bill presented before dessert was finished. A pet peeve of mine, and a lost opportunity for a specialty coffee sale. Both dinners on one bill without asking if it was together or separate. Another peeve.
Music–too loud, a complaint I’ve heard before about this restaurant; we ended up yelling at each other.
Nitpick: plate rims are pale blue. Possibly the most unappetizing colour ever seen on dishware. Purely personal preference though.
Final verdict? Flawless food, flawed service. Expensive. Which I probably would not have minded without the service missteps.
Foodie souvenirs: the Good
Whenever I’m lucky enough to travel, I always bring back some food item. It could be the specialty of the region, something from a local market, or an unusual ingredient that I can’t get at home. For the most part, I like what I bring home and am very happy, as in the case of this 20yr balsamic vinegar from Stresa, Italy.
Aged balsamic vinegar is syrupy, fragrant, and sweet enough to be sipped straight. This bottle is no exception. When I finally cracked it open, after being stashed for 6 years while I waited for the perfect occasion, it was everything I could have hoped for. We paired it with an excellent olive oil and focaccia, and gave our thanks to the Italians for all that is good in the food world!
back to the blog
So the problem with taking off so much blog time is that all kinds of things happen, and then you don’t know where to start…
Since I last posted, Mix lost Ray Bear and closed after hobbling along a few more painful weeks, and idiotic comments about Bear and fine dining (or “dinning”, as one feisty blogger wrote) abounded.
I did the photo shoot for my soup book with the photographically gifted Scott Munn, and I’m even more exciting about the release next spring.
I had a fabulous evening with a couple of friends, during which I finally opened up a bottle of very, very old balsamic vinegar I got in Italy. Bellisimo!
Knives, my knives, how I’ve neglected them…now, thanks to a local knife sharpening fanatic, they are sharp and happy.
And although I’ve always been diplomatic with regards to other food critics, some recent goings-on have led me to wonder about the state of restaurant reviewing in Halifax.
What the hell has happened to Food Network Canada? How many shows about warring bakers can there be?
And what to do when Fabulous Fishcakes becomes Sustainable and Scrumptious Fishcakes?
More to come on these and other foods for thought in the days ahead.
critic on the critics thursdays-part deux
This week, CoastHill does the requisite summer roundup of street food with Bud the Spud starring, and HeraldSpurr goes Vietnamese with Indochine Bahn mi. Meh. (crickets chirping here). Although Spurr does go on the offensive and cuts off the typical response that comes with any ethnic resto review–somebody will write in to let you know that the restaurant cannot possibly be as good as the real they ate when they went to its culinary homeland.
I always wanted to answer by using words of wisdom from an old Norwegian chef I once knew. He said “Don’t forget there are just as many truckstops in Europe as there is in Canada”. His point? That just because it’s authentic, doesn’t mean it’s good. I’ve had poorly cooked pasta in Milan, and a horrible baguette in Paris. Just sayin’.
