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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Dead Soldiers

Dead Soldiers

It is not every day that one gets invited to dine with a General. Particularly one who fell on the field of battle two hundred years ago!

It was just such an invitation I received from my sister-in-law, and of course accepted with alacrity. Thanks Adrienne. With a grandish title herself (Regional Project Manager for the Western Corridor War of 1812 Bicentennial Alliance), she was down to film some morning show segments with Lori DeAngelis for CHCH TV, as well as ensure that Major General Isaac Brock got to all the events during his historic walk from “Muddy York” (aka Toronto) to Port Dover.


The dinner in question held in the Round Room at the Temple of the Scottish Rite of Hamilton was warmly hosted by the Hamilton Branch of the United Empire Loyalists, many of who turned out in period costume. I sat between the General and a Captain of the Caldwell Rangers (played by Zig Mistiak, Chair of the Brant County War of 1812 Committee.)

The charming Bob Rennie UE (the initials after his name mean he can trace his lineage to colonists who

Friday, August 10, 2012

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Simply Simon's

Matsuri Sushi - Simply Simon’s

I distinctly remember the first time my wife (my exceptional first-line-of-defense-editor-in-chief) and I went to Dundas for Sushi about seven years ago. Yes, really. While the combination of Dundas and Sushi in a sentence may seem incongruous, bear with me.

I suppose we may have noticed the restaurant sign when we were doing our weekend shopping at Cumbrae’s, an expensive but excellent old-style butcher. We decided to pop across the street for an impromptu lunch. As we entered we were greeted by a loud “Namaste” from a bespectacled gentleman who was efficiently slicing fish of some kind behind a refrigerated display.

While there were tables available, we opted to sit at the counter. Putting ourselves in his hands may have endeared us to the Chef, Simon Wong as our relationship has blossomed since then. Over the course of our meal – and as he prepared a steady stream of orders - he


Friday, July 27, 2012

Food For thought with Alex Bielak - High Flying Food

  High Flying Food

An aerial theme this week, as well as a couple of more earthly delights for you to consider.

It turns out Food for Thought has a fan in Los Angeles. Deborah Bryan made the link between the Hamiltonian having a political bent, as well as a food and wine column.

She sent a link to a video titled “Flying Kitchens over parliament - Happy Beefgiving.” Produced for Meat & Livestock Australia, it pokes fun at two Australian politicians, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott.

Deborah wrote they “rarely get along,” but my Australian contacts (thanks Andrew and Fin) were basically a lot less polite about the two and the havoc they are wreaking down under.

I got the sense from them that even the rock bottom of the Chretien/Bouchard or Harper/Duceppe relationships would not be a match: So watch the video’s punch line and imagine our PM and the retired Bloc leader soaring over our Parliament, or perhaps, given the recent news, the Premiers of Alberta and B.C. spiraling over the oil sands.)

In more prosaic and culinary vein, the video features several chefs grilling over an amazing, and soon to be airborne grill. I want one!


Saturday, July 21, 2012

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- Fringe Food

Fringe Food


This week we are talking about Food in Theatre. (Or perhaps it is Food as Theatre, you be the judge.) The Hamilton Fringe Festival features two shows related to food and another that teases with a culinary expectation. (The three shows run Friday 20th to Sunday 29th July. See the Fringe website for all showtimes.) 

The one I am heading to first is “The Cooking Show” (at the Hamilton Theatre) directed by Hamilton’s own Ray Rivers. “It’s a spoof of sorts on the Food Network,” says Rivers who is Playwright, Producer, and Director for the show, as well as appearing in it as the Maitre d’ and Musician. It’s a real multi-tasking family affair as his wife, Jean, is Stage Manager, and deals with props and costumes as well.

The show promises “humour, romance and intrigue (in a) comedy with a surprising ending.” It includes “extra-curricular activities,” real recipes, and thoughts about lamb and wine. It also features a trip to the first restaurant in France that Julia Child ate at, one that inspired her culinary career. (It was 1948 at “la Couronne” in Rouen, and she loved the sole meunière.) 


Ray – who dabbled for a couple of years as a vegan, but is now a devoted meatie – is also politically active


Friday, July 13, 2012

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- A Dining Divide: The Alex and Rapscallion (Part 2)

Matthew Kershaw at the pass. 
A Dining Divide: The Alex and Rapscallion (Part 2)

During our interview (for Part 1 see last week’s column), Chef Matthew Kershaw, co-owner of “The Alex” and “Rapscallion” in Burlington and Hamilton respectively, told me some of his own favourite dining had been at places like Black Hoof in Toronto and au Pied du Cochon in Montreal. (Both are known for their relatively informal, snout-to-tail approach to cuisine.)

“I love fat, I love flavor and I love meat, so that’s what we wanted to do for Rapscallion”. The best meal he’s had in the last two years was at Chasse et Pêche in Montreal, with its hunting and fishing lodge theme, and renowned for its use of local meats.

He makes around half the charcuterie for his restaurants, including duck prosciutto, bresaola, and pancetta. Things that take longer (e.g. lonza, prosciutto) he sources from Woodbridge and Niagara. There’s a charcuterie board at the Alex which is at a very reasonable price point ($16), but Kershaw says it’s really a teaser for the one at Rapscallion which has a “much broader array…seven items (of ten) on any given day” ranging from “spicy soft salami you can actually spread on bread, foie gras, terrines, chicken liver brulé parfait and other smoked meats.”


Saturday, July 7, 2012

Food for Thought with Alex Bielak- A Dining Divide: The Alex and Rapscallion (Part 1)

Chef Matthew Kershaw
A Dining Divide: The Alex and Rapscallion (Part 1)

I first met Chef Matthew Kershaw during the Hamilton Food and Drink Fest earlier this year. If you’ve been following this column, you may remember I mentioned Kershaw - who together with his girlfriend and partner, Erin Dunham, owns Burlington’s “The Alex” and Hamilton’s “Rapscallion” - was part of a “culinary nexus that bears watching.”

I finally had the opportunity to eat at the Alex recently. It was during the Burlington Sound of Music Festival. My wife and I joined another couple (let’s do it again soon, Chris and Anne) for dinner at the “small plates” restaurant on Brant Street before going to enjoy Matt Anderson. (The great Maritime blues man was singing in soaring counterpoint to the Hamilton Symphony.) More on the interesting food we enjoyed will await a future column, once we have a chance to get to Rapscallion too.

After dinner we were able to sit and chat at length with the Chef about how he had come to be running the two establishments and what distinguished them. Bespectacled and with a ginger beard, he’s a big guy who at first take appears a bit diffident. Once he gets going, however, the words tumble out and his passion becomes evident. Good thing I recorded the interview so I could catch the plethora of rapid-fire thoughts and opinions, one atop of another.

Though he grew up in Ancaster, his formative time was in Hamilton where he was Chef at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club. He always wanted to open up his own place, and once he had the time and money and felt comfortable doing it, he looked “for the longest time” for a place in Hamilton.