Some great places to eat, and wines to drink, are featured in this December round-up edition of Food for Thought. As this is published I’ll just have returned from a trip: It was for a meeting, but I took an extra couple of days to avail myself of the many culinary options during my first visit to a great Spanish city.
“Oooh...I'm jealous!” said Erin Dunham when she learned I was off to Barcelona. She’s Chef Matt Kershaw’s partner in Burlington’s The Alex and Hamilton’s Rapscallion, and was chatting with me online about their new venture, Two Black Sheep, on John St South in Hamilton.
“It is an oyster and charcuterie cocktail bar. We are making cocktails like a chef would; freshly squeezed juices and ingredients,” she told me. “It was inspired by a cocktail bar in San Francisco when we realized as much love could go into drinks as we put into food.” Very good point!
Their web site indicates they’ll “offer light fare of oysters, with a variety of garnishes; charcuterie and salumi; a selection of cheeses; and other offerings of pickled vegetables and crisps.”
Sounds like a neat destination, with less travel involved than Spain. So does Charred Rotisserie House on James North, which beckons with a neat logo, charcoal roasted chicken and “signature home made piri piri sauce.” Another I’m looking forward to visiting, 28 Lister Chophouse Grill, has announced it will finally be open for business in early January. It sounds as if they have been facing some frustrating delays because of construction and permitting issues.
They have apparently been keeping their other chops, the culinary ones, fresh by catering events in Hamilton and Toronto. I hear the food for a recent Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Business to Business event, held at the Tourism Hamilton Visitor Centre, apparently went down well… (To see some of their pictures check
