Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - Key Restaurant Challenges - A Taste of Burlington (and beyond) Part 2

 Chef Michael Stauffer
and crew - Rib Eye Jacks

Key Restaurant Challenges - A Taste of Burlington (and beyond) Part 2

My last column covered the launch of the currently ongoing Taste of Burlington 2014 and revealed the results of my straw poll of 23 chefs, owners and other professionals present. I had asked who is producing the most innovative cuisine in our area, but had other questions too.

The second related to the biggest challenges facing the various establishments. Once again the answers were illuminating and thoughtful. They ranged from the almost cuss-word emphatic (“Weather!” was the succinct response of Mike Lorinczi, DOWNTOWN BISTRO’s owner) to longer responses falling into several categories.

They essentially break down to time, staff, competition, innovation and seasonality. Where to obtain a Chef’s hat also featured, but read on for that tidbit.

Primed by ongoing interactions with Chefs in Hamilton, I was frankly surprised by what I did not hear. There was not a single complaint about the City of Burlington! Clearly the folks at city hall understand the “destination” potential of a vibrant culinary scene.

Congruent with answers to the first question, several restaurateurs said they were super busy and their

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- The Culinary Stars’ Stars - A Taste of Burlington (and beyond)

The Culinary Stars’ Stars - A Taste of Burlington (and beyond) 

Earlier this week I was invited to cover the launch of Taste of Burlington 2014. It was a busy event featuring 25 local restaurants: each served up a food sample aimed at enticing diners to try the promotional prix fixe menus that kick in from Feb 16th through to March 6th.

Given the number of food bloggers (or culinary writers as they were identified) in attendance, I knew there would be plenty of coverage of the dishes served, so I took a different tack. I posed four simple questions to the owners, chefs and front of house staff representing the various eateries to gauge what was happening in this part of our region. More on those later.

The dishes at the event were also judged by the 300 or so guests, and a panel of celebrity judges. You can see a full description of the results here: In summary, the judges voted the praline-rolled sweet potato donuts filled with Ontario maple cream – served up by the QUEEN’S HEAD PUB – as their top choice.

WEST PLAINS BISTRO shared the “People’s Choice” award for a complex and delicious roasted cauliflower soup. Co-winner, STONE HOUSE RESTAURANT, served up beer-braised short ribs with subtly-truffled turnip puree. Given what I’ve learned recently about fakery in the truffle business, I was happy to hear from Chef Mitchell Lamb that he is very careful to source pure truffle oil from his supplier of fresh truffles.

I’m grateful to my friend Heather Lang (check out her food and garden blog) for the use of some of her

50 Reasons why Alex Bielak's Food For Thought has been So Successful

Alex Bielak
 photo by Ninka Bielak

The Hamiltonian and our readership are truly fortunate to have Alex Bielak as our "foodie" and expert in the celebration of food and drink. Alex's enthusiasm for the appreciation of fine food and drink, is infectious and is laden with depth and elegance. With this week's edition of Food for Thought, Alex has reached a milestone marking this edition as his fiftieth.

Alex has definitely caught the attention of our readers and is also a sought after personality in the food and drink circles. He was invited to be a judge of the First Flamborough Chili Festival (http://www.waterdownlegion.ca/12415/Hall-Rental-Social-Events.htm) in support of the Flamborough Women’s Resource Centre and also a judge at the 1st Hamilton Battledish (http://dishcrawl.com/hamilton/) held last October. He has been to various food events including the Ontario Culinary Tourism Summit (https://ontarioculinary.com/octasummit/) and is a proud member of the Food Bloggers of Canada http://www.foodbloggersofcanada.com/ . 

His writing will also be featured with our friends at Hamilton Magazine and has an article in the most recent edition of upcoming “Wine Food and Friends". Alex will also be featured in http://rarerepublic.com/ in the future.

Alex tells us that he is most happy that people read his material and that he is having fun writing. Thank-you Alex for your hard work, enthusiasm and contributions to The Hamiltonian. 

In truth there are not fifty reasons for Alex's success in The Hamiltonian and beyond; there is only one- Alex Bielak.

Cheers Alex and thank-you. We are all looking forward to edition 100 of Food for Thought ;-) For now, let's enjoy the fiftieth edition by clicking here.  

Teresa DiFalco and staff of The Hamiltonian

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - Sips and Bites – the January 2014 Value edition

Sips and Bites – the January 2014 Value edition 

Certainty is elusive. The vortex is polar and the loonie is falling. But there can be value upsides.

The cold winter has been great for ice wine producers who have had plenty of time and optimal conditions to harvest what looks like a bumper crop. And the weather is appropriately brisk for the Ice Wine Festival that concludes this Sunday, January 26th. This means there is still time to nip down and partake of some of the excellent-value “Discovery Pass” events at a variety of locations, from Beamsville to Niagara on the Lake.

I’m pleased to have been invited to the sold-out preview event for a Taste of Burlington at the Burlington

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak - White Gold (and a missed opportunity?)

White Gold (and a missed opportunity?

What is whitish, mottled, lumpy, pungent, and might generally be qualified as visually underwhelming and unattractive, yet is a luxury food that normally costs in the range of $7 - 8,000 per Kilo?

My wife and I had the opportunity to find out just before Christmas at a $60 per plate event held at Konoba, the Croatian restaurant and lounge in Hess Village. The answer is of course a sought-after seasonal delicacy Tuber magnatum Pico. That’s white truffle to you and me, and no, we’re not talking the chocolate kind. Rather we were sampling the elusive fungus hunted with dogs (really – there are lots of videos on YouTube) in the Motovun forest in Istria, Croatia.

The white truffle is truly a luxury item available in the fall through to December. They are tasty (more on that below) and aromatic beyond belief, which is why dogs (and pigs) can be trained to find them where they grow in the wild. The most highly prized are from Italy and Croatia and, according to Wikipedia, stratospheric prices in the range of hundreds of thousand dollars have been paid for large specimens of a kilo or so.

We were among a small group of enthusiastic guests that joined Konoba’s Chef and co-owner, Vedran

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Sips and Bites – December 2013

Sips and Bites – December 2013

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