#HamOnt #RestaurantScene

               Everyone talks about how Hamilton’s food scene is finally up and coming.  Sure, the restaurant scene in this city is certainly evolving, but let’s not forget about the owners who have endeavoured in this city to provide its residents with delicious fare over the years. Read on to discover the past, present and future state of food in Hamilton as it looks right now.

The culinary trends in this city right now are interesting and new and should be talked about and celebrated as much as they are but let’s pay homage to those who have been around through thick and thin.  Though the list is largely composed of ethnic restaurants, they have certainly kept our mouths happy for many years.  I am sure that if you were born in Hamilton then you have certainly frequented some of our old classics: Lo Presti’s (high-end classic continental), Bronzies (casual Italian), Ventura’s (Portuguese), Black Forest Inn (casual German), Wild Orchid (Portuguese), Gate of India (you guessed it, Indian), Shakespeare’s (high-end steakhouse) and many others.  These establishments are just that: established.  Many of them have been a part of our restaurant scene for over twenty years and show no signs of decline despite the fact that it has the same feel when you walk in that it would have when it opened years ago as many have maintained most of their design and (often times) original staff.

Also on this list of notable long time eateries are those who constantly update their menus and their décor to keep up with the ever-changing needs of their patrons.  This list includes but is not limited to the following: La Cantina (Italian), La Piazza (Italian), The Old Mill (Classic Fine Dining), and The Rousseau House (Classic Fine Dining).  The latter two I mention despite the fact that they are in Ancaster because they have always been great places for Hamiltonians to go to for special occasions like Mother’s Day, Anniversaries, any sort of church celebration and any other time we feel like treating ourselves.  If you haven’t been to these restaurants in the last couple of years then you should as they have done a good job of updating their dining rooms as well as their food.

This, of course, brings us to the new additions to the city in the recent past.  I don’t have the word count to talk about all of them but I will mention those that have been noteworthy to me.  Here they are in (what I recall to be) the order that they opened: Jack and Lois (sandwiches), Bread Bar (casual farm to table), Chuck’s Burger Bar (tasty burger joint), The Ship (seafood Influenced pub food), Rapscallion (nose to tail), Culantro (Peruvian), Sarcoa (classic fine dining), McCartney and Son (salads and sandwiches), Burnt Tongue (soup), Two Black Sheep (oyster and charcuterie cocktail bar) and Aberdeen Tavern (neighbourhood restaurant).  All of these recent additions to Hamilton standout in their own way and are well worth adding to your list of places you have been to.

This leaves me with yet another list; the list of the up and coming. Most people have heard heard of the Gorilla Cheese food truck.  Well, owner Graeme Smith is now opening a brick and mortar grilled cheese restaurant at 1216 King St. E. near Gage Park.  That is expected in July.  Chris Preston, the creator of Chuck’s Burger Bar will be bringing you two new places to bring your mouth happiness.  The first will be the second edition of his popular burger joint on King William in the new Empire Times building (which is bloody gorgeous by the way); the second project is a cheese based restaurant on King St. near Hess village that will focus on grilled cheese and mac & cheese.  Both of these locations will open this summer.  I have to mention the elusive Lister Chophouse that has been “opening soon” for almost a year.  I would kill for a good steakhouse downtown but I have heard rumors that it may never open; that place seems cursed so far.  There is also talk of the Rapscallion/Two Black Sheep team opening a taco place on James North this year (my fingers are crossed not only because of my direct vested interest in the project but also because I really love tacos).

So what does one talk about after one has discussed what is soon to open in this city?  Well this girl tells you about the things that are buzzing among restaurant owners and what they want to think about maybe opening.  The “it” thing that is being thrown around right now within the industry is the brew pub concept.  Seriously.  I have heard about four or five restaurant and bar owners tell me that they hope to open a brew pub.  Will it happen?  Who knows?  I don’t predict the future; I just report the gossip on the metaphoric street.  Watch out for anyone recruiting brew masters is all I will say.

Overall, I would like to say how happy I am to watch this city evolve on every front.  My hope is that our food scene will continue to grow until it reaches a superior status amongst foodies like that of Montreal or Chicago.  We have everything they have with the added benefit of affordable leases (for now) and a population that is just waiting to be impressed. 

On Food Trucks

The concept of restaurants is ever-evolving.  For one, they are no longer confined to brick and mortar establishments. The food truck is not new but their trending popularity certainly is.  Ten years ago, most people would never have imagined the creative gourmet options they would be able to get from a food truck; something I remember, from childhood, presented on beaches and in parking lots serving up hotdogs, hamburgers and fries. To say that food trucks have come a long way would be equally understated as it would be punny.

The scene in Hamilton has grown exponentially over the last few years.  There are now common areas in this city where the food trucks unite and offer a place for people to go to taste all there is to offer.  The camaraderie among these trucks is admirable and I often wish that restaurants could be the same way.  They have certainly added to the progress of food culture in the City.

Graeme Smith, owner of the very popular food truck Gorilla Cheese, says, “I believe that food trucks can take some credit for the recent growth of food culture in the Hamilton. Since we started 3 years ago, Hamilton now has more than a dozen food trucks roaming the city, and a steady influx of new high-quality and independently-owned restaurants popping up all the time. It's contributed to a new-found excitement for food in the city, in which the best establishments will flourish and the not-so-bests are forced to improve their game.”  

In 2012, city council was debating whether or not food trucks could continue to operate as they had been as there weren’t many rules and regulations in place at the time to govern them. When this surfaced, many restaurant owners spoke out vehemently against them. There were also those of us who were happy to support them.  The dividing stance was that one side believed they would steal business away from brick and mortar restaurants without paying their fair share of taxes and expenses; the other side felt that food trucks added to the city and didn’t pose any threat whatsoever.  In the end, Hamilton became one of the first cities in Canada to permit food trucks to operate within reasonable parameters, allowing their owners to make a proper living.

The major issue with these businesses is that we live in Canada.  Personally, I would never get in line at a food truck in the winter as I like to be warm whilst eating.  Comparatively, I feel unbelievably sorry for them in the heat of our summers as they sweat over deep frying food in a metal box with the sun pounding down on it.  So kudos to those ambitious food truck owners who have the passion to fight the elements (including those on city council).

Today, there is incredible variety among the types of food you can acquire from a food truck: vegan food (Karma Charmealeon), authentic southern BBQ (Southern Smoke), high quality coffee (Detour), high-end chef-driven options (El Vagamondo Gastromondo), schnitzels (Dobra Jesti), smoked meats (Caplansky’s), grilled cheese (Gorilla Cheese), and so much more.  When they all gather at locations like the corner of Queen and Main (Savoury Saturdays) or at Longwood and Aberdeen (Food Truck Alley) it is a great opportunity to test out everything there is to offer from these travelling kitchens.

I will leave you with some eating suggestions as two prominent food truck insiders have shared with me their favourite meals from the Hamilton food truck scene:

Dobro Jesti – Za Razor (Pork Schnitzel with and marinara sauce and mozzarella)

Johnny Blonde - Spicy jerk chicken on homemade flatbread w/ apple, cabbage, cucumber and sweet carrot slaw in honey Dijon vinaigrette

Southern Smoke Truck – Smoked Ribs with homemade smoked beans and sassy slaw

Frankie Fettucine – Osso Bucco & Gnocchi poutine

Gorilla Cheese – The French Onion grilled cheese, with caramelized onions, crispy onion bits and gruyere on Cake & Loaf Cheddar/Onion/Beer Bread.

Dirty South-Dirty Southern Love-This is southern fried chicken in Louisiana hot sauce layered between 3 buttermilk waffles, candied bacon, arugula and house made ranch sauce.

Karma ChaMEALeon- Jamaican Jerk Taco, the right amount of heat with no meat. 

Nudulz-2 Alarm Coconut Curry over Orzo, curry is perfectly spicy and the chicken melts in your mouth.

The Salted Pig, the bacon candy is amazing.

 

Moving forward

I have had the privilege of travelling the world and experiencing distinctive cities in all their uniqueness and, when I long for home, I am fortunate to come back to Hamilton.  I find this city to be the perfect combination of what I love so much in other cities; there is, of course, some exception. 

We have the inimitable escarpment, gorgeous waterfront (the nice part), quick access to the largest city in Canada as well as wine country, a predominantly unpretentious population born from a century of blue-collar labourers, a flourishing art scene, and genuine distraught amongst its residents about how misunderstood this city is by outsiders.  We have all watched Hamilton’s music scene develop; now the attention is on the growing art scene.  I am so unbelievably excited for the day that Hamilton catches up to other relevant major cities in another very important category: food. 

When I travel anywhere, I am most excited to experience new styles of food, original dining concepts, and unconventional tastes.  Hamilton, in the grand scheme of its life, is just starting this foray into the interesting world of food.  I am going to write about this from two perspectives: as an eager diner discovering what this growing city has to offer and as a person from the restaurant industry offering commentary on Hamiltonians as diners. 

Ultimately, I look forward to uncovering the culinary innovations in my hometown, Hamilton. 

See my articles in The Main www.hamiltonmain.ca

BLACK TREE - BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

Black Tree – Burlington, Ontario

Eating with Andrew (restaurant owner), Jennifer (wife of restaurant owner and picky eater), and Matthew (chef)

To preface this negative blog I would like to say that this was my first time going to this restaurant.  Matthew had been a few times previous and, while he agrees that the experience was awful, he assures me that if we go again it will not be.

To begin there was wine service.  We ordered  wine, Cain Concept, (year unknown dure to poor note taking) $140.  The server decanted the wine before offering someone to test it and then  Andy had to ask for the proper wine presentation to actually happen.  The server didn't wait for confirmation before pouring (yes, now I am just being super picky)
             Bread was offered with foie gras butter, like a little orgasm in my mouth. We were offered an amuse bouche of beef heart and beet for valentines week; it was a great idea but an execution failure.  It tasted like nothing. 

We ordered everything to share between the four of us:

First course

Octopus ($20)

Lamb Carpaccio ($20)

Duck Tastes ($18)

Arctic Char ($18)

Second course

Foie Gras with peanuts pineapple passion fruit and puff pastry (mine without peanuts) ($48)
Paired Sauternes with the foie gras ($14/gls)

Third Course
The Game: was red deer with braised beef tongue ($44)
The Fish: was scallop and black cod ($38)

Bass and Cheek ($40)

Hen and Sweetbreads ($38)

The first course octopus was tender and tasty, though I'm not a fan of foam as a garnish. The lamb carpaccio was beautiful but there was a lack of flavour.  It was described at the table as though the kitchen put away all the salt and vinegars challenged themselves to make dinner without any of the flavours to see if people would notice.  Well, we noticed.

The foie gras, which is difficult to do poorly, was similar to the previous course.  It had no flavour, no salt, no anything of note. Again, it was a very beautiful dish but as far as taste is concerned, he could have served us water and we wouldn’t have known the difference.

Our next wine selection was the Camus Zinfandel 2008, $98, which was far more delicious than our first choice.  Also, when I took a washroom break, I have to say that they very creatively made the washroom experience worth talking about.  You will have to see it to understand, but certainly very cool.
            The palette cleanser was tamarind coconut; when Matt tried to take it back like a shooter, the cleanser remained intact in its vessel.  Epic fail by Matthew, laughing ensued and lightened up the experience.

             I am not going to go into detail about our final course, except to say that it didn’t taste like anything.  Where was the salt that day?  I don’t know.  This dinner was shockingly average for what we paid.

Dessert
Port Taylor 20yr Tawny (12$)
Cheese (Complimentary)
Jen and Matt shared Chocolate Tofu (Complimentary)

Final Bill: $650.88

Tip: 20%

Overall Grade: 10%

Likeliness to return: 90% (Because Matt feels it necessary to prove that this awful meal was a one-time thing)

CHEZ L'AMI LOIUS - PARIS, FRANCE

Chez L’Ami Louis – Paris, France 

Eating with Jennifer (Wife of a restaurateur, but she doesn’t like pepper so there’s that)

This restaurant was recommended to Jennifer by a big foodie who frequents her husband’s restaurant; we will not thank her when we see her.

The reservation was made two weeks in advance and the only opening they had was 10 p.m.; fair enough, we took it.  We phone the morning of to confirm and to see if there were any openings earlier, but there were not.  We asked if there was a bar we could sit at if we came early; there was not.  So when we showed up at 9:55 we were met with sneers and French servers turning their noses up to us.  After looking us up and down they gave us a menu to look at, assuming it would quickly scare us away due to the unbelievably high prices.  Our pride, and the fact that everything else was closed at this time, made us suck it up and stay.

When we were sat we were met with one of the rudest humans I have ever encountered, I will call him rude waiter.  He told us that the kitchen wanted to leave and that we must order immediately.  I, having just as much attitude, told him that we would order when we were ready; he huffed dramatically and walked away like an ass.  When another waiter came by, who I will call nice waiter,we ordered the foie gras appetizer and two kir royals. 

Our order: (sharing)

First Course

Foie Gras (59€)

Second Course

Coquilles St.Jaques (60€)

Third Course

Confit Canard (48€)

Veau (some sort of veal nonsense) (54€)

We ordered wine on nice waiter’s recommendation, La reserve de Louis, Saint-Emilion Grand cru, France, 2008 (80€).  The foie gras arrived and was more than disappointing.  The portion was double what it should be and the quality was half of what we had eaten the night before at a much cheaper place.  When the scallops arrived we were pleasantly surprised, they were the best thing we ate that night.  The sauce was the perfect combination of onion, garlic, etc…

Our entrees arrived and, despite the fact that they were told about allergies, they brought out a big plate of fries which remained on the table even after they were told we didn’t want them.  The duck confit was lovely but typical, certainly not worth the price but good never the less.  The veal chop that came out was an embarrassment, it could have easily been confused for an oversized pork chop you might receive at a roadside diner somewhere.  It is funny how bad food can be when it is grossly overpriced to begin with; maybe we were being overly critical but I think that is allowed when you are paying prices such as those. 

We couldn’t afford the 25€ desserts so Jennifer just asked a table close by if she could have one of their oranges (yes she did) and nice server ran and grabbed us one out of kindness.

Overall, the wine was amazing, as were the scallops.  Everything else was either typical or under par in my opinion.  The service was, for the most part, terribly pretentious and rude. 

Final Bill: 301€

Tip: 10% (Any tip you leave after the bill in France is being generous, this extra tip was mostly left as a pride thing, I hate when people make assumptions about wealth.  So I left that was more of an F U)

Overall Grade:  5%

Likeliness of Return:  0%

THE NIAGARA STREET CAFE- TORONTO, ONTARIO

The Niagara Street Café – Toronto, Ontario http://www.niagarastreetcafe.com/

Dining with Matt (chef), Laurie and James (Teacher and Server, Two of the best diners I have ever met)

To preface the dining experience, I feel that I should explain how I met James and Laurie.  One night I was working at a restaurant when this couple came in (without a reservation of course) and they sat at the bar.  It was later in the night and I liked the way James sauntered in with this fine woman on his arm so I decided to take them as my table.  The condensed long story goes something like this: They ordered cocktails, beers, great wine and every single item on our menu with few exceptions (a total of sixteen items).  They were hilarious, they loved food, and most importantly, they bought everyone working a drink at the end of the night.  It was love at first serve.  They were an impressive pair who ended up returning frequently and almost always eating and drinking as much as they did the first time.  Time passes…James and Laurie invite Matt and me to their place for dinner.  After some time together we are now DINK friends; and lose the dirty mind, it means dual income, no kids.

This brings us to Niagara street café on a Sunday night in late summer.

Before dinner we met at their place and played a round of asshole (the card game) and had some drinks.  I had the privilege of drinking a corked Brunello.  When we arrived in Toronto, we were all a little buzzed.  When we sat, we handed them the two wines we brought with us; I believe corkage was $25.  We ordered cocktails as Matt and the chef had a chat (of course they knew each other) and without missing a beat the chef sent us out a water buffalo pastrami, amuse bouche.  After very little deliberation the four of us decided to have one of everything on the menu with two exceptions: the fish and the soup.

Our order (the chef decided the order in which we received it):

1^st Course

Lobster Mushroom Voule au Vente $13

Crispy Ontario Smelts with Green Curry Mayo $12

Spicy Black Bean Escargot $13

2^nd Course

Roasted Nagano Pork Loin with Brown Butter Spaetzle, Pickled Ontario Pecans, Wild Mushrooms, Pea Tenders, Smoked Apple Jus $24

3^rd Course

Slow Roasted Kings View Lamb Shoulder with Lamb Bacon, Potato Sour Dough, Tomato Pistou, Matchbox Arugula, Natural Jus $25

4^th Course

Crispy Confit of Olliffe’s Ox Tongue with Smoked Pommes Purée, Chorizo Piperade, Panko Egg Yolk, Arugula, Wanda’s Truffle Oil, Natural Jus $23

5^th Course

Grilled Smoked Cornish Hen with Panzanella, Cherry Tomatoes, Monforte Mozzarella, Matchbox Arugula, Wild Leek Pesto $24

6^th Course

Olliffe’s 60 Day Dry Aged Rib Eye (for 2 or more)
Arugula, Shaved Mushrooms, Monforte Toscano, Lemon Vinaigrette $37/per person

7^th Course

Cheese

            So, because the menu itself took up more than half a page I am going to go through each course quickly.  We began with the Innisfree Cabernet Sauvignon, USA, 2008 (LCBO vintages $37.95) and they decanted the Zenato Amarone, Italy, 2006 (LCBO vintages $49.95) we brought.  The appetizers were amazing, each one with amazing and interesting flavour, they were served all three at once.  The Pork course followed and they split it four ways for us but they forgot about one of my allergies on this course which was immediately corrected.  It was good but I preferred the starters because I felt they had much more flavour.

            The Lamb course was split four ways as well and was fabulous.  The ox tongue was the next to come and I would like to pause here and express how much my tongue enjoyed this tongue; wow, rich delicious mmmness.  Cornish hen came next but on one plate to be split so, of course, Matthew carved her up for us.  Again, Hen was good but I was still drooling over the tongue.  This is about the point in the evening where everyone was getting pretty full except, of course, for me because Matt had eaten half of my portion from every previous course as I was wise enough to pace myself.

            Next to grace our table was ‘la piece de resistance’, the house specialty, one of the most impressive versions of steak I have encountered: The Ribeye.  This was by far all of our favourite course and there is a reason that this item does not come off of their menu.  It is served sliced and sprawled across a long wooden serving platter.  Gorgeous presentation and amazing beefy goodness, cooked to perfection.  We all wished that it came first but despite the state of their stomachs they ate on (I happily ate more than my portion this course).

            Finally, because we were playing the roles of gluttons on this evening, came our cheese course.  Only James and I enjoyed the cheese and port course though the other two may have ordered something sweet, I just wasn’t paying attention.  Overall, we stumbled out of their more food drunk than alcohol drunk.  Amazing food, great intimate atmosphere, service impeccable and friendly chef (which is as rare as the ribeye was) (that was a good one).

Final Bill: $556

Tip: 30%

Overall Grade: 95%

Likeliness of Return: 100%

SPENCER'S AT THE WATERFRONT - BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

Spencer’s at the Waterfront – Burlington, Ontario  http://www.spencers.ca/

Eating with Matthew (chef)

            A few days before the Monday that we went out for dinner, we spent an hour rolling Matt’s change that he had laying around and he declared that we would use the rolled change to go out for dinner on our Monday off.  Driven by the offer of food I sat with him and rolled his change to earn myself a dinner out.  Turns out he had enough change for us to have a dinner out at Spencer’s.  The reservation was made immediately and I started to plan what to wear.

            On the Monday night we showed up for our reservation at 8pm and the hostess gave us two options: take a seat inside or wait for a seat on their patio overlooking the water.  We opted for inside with hopes that we could move out by the time we reached dessert, we were quite hungry and wanted to get our order in. 

The hostess then sat us along the windows overlooking the water; lovely view but we were seated on a high traffic walkway that was constantly used by staff and customers.  Because of this fact though, the manager passed by us and stopped to introduce himself.  When he found out that Matt was a local chef, he stayed to chat a little longer.  We asked him if he could recommend a wine for us within a certain budget and he explained to us that Spencer’s had recently had a winemaker’s dinner and he was willing to sell us one of the left over bottles at cost.  This excited us for two reasons: it was a Zinfandel, our favourite grape right now; and he was going to give it to us at cost, which is great for obvious reasons.  Our wine: Ravenswood Single Vineyard Zinfandel, 2007.

As we were enjoying our wine Matt and I talked over our potential menu choices and, to our surprise, appetizers started coming out.  The manager sent us out the foie gras appetizer (which we had planned on ordering anyhow) and a plate of dumplings.  We were also given a Canadian Cab Franc icewine from Niagara to pair with it, which was not disgustingly sweet and it was easy to drink.  The food was amazing and, to my surprise, the dumplings beat out the foie gras (not that the classically prepared foie wasn’t amazing, but the dumplings were the perfect combination of salty, savoury, goodness).  After we finished this lovely surprise, it was cleared and we were offered a table outside; we accepted. 

When we got comfortable in our seats with a view of the water, the server moved our wine for us and offered us carbonated water that they have on draught, which was fabulous and a pretty cool concept.  The charming young man then took our order.

Our Order (sharing everything):

First Course

Scallop and pork belly with corn, tomatillo, jalapeno, cilantro (14)

Second Course

Wild Canadian Salmon with tomato, chilli, pine nuts (which we ordered without), orzo(which he switched to rice), and lobster (29)

Forsyth Farm Lamb with fava, tomato, artichoke, goat cheese (45)

We very much enjoyed our outside table as the warm breeze was dancing around us, and slowly everyone evacuated their tables leaving us with our own private patio.  We took some pictures for this very blog and talked about how great it is to go somewhere and be treated like you are actually a big deal (when you clearly are not).

When our scallops came out, they also sent us out a gnocchi (served with fava beans, peas, chantrelles, farm egg) which was yet another pleasant surprise.  To complement our appetizers, we were also sent out two glasses of Vineland Estate semi dry Riesling, 2008, which was exactly as you expect it would be.  The scallops and pork belly dish = AMAZING + MMMMM; true story.  The gnocchi was very good but we were running out of room and had two more big dishes coming so we didn’t finish it (I have no math equations for the gnocchi).  I’m not giving a lot of details about the dishes because by this point in the evening I was quite dosed with alcohol and my notes are getting difficult to understand fully; seriously, this gets really vague. When this course was cleared, our server stood and chatted with us for a while proving that he was quite food savvy and he asked us a lot about Matt’s restaurant (which feeds the ego and very cleverly increases his tip significantly); despite the fact that he is paid to be pleasant to us, he seemed very genuine.

Our main course came out and they had forgotten to omit the pine nuts so he promptly removed it from the table and left us with our lamb.  As far as the lamb goes, I am dependant on my notes at this point because I was past the point of memory, I wrote “OMG” (yes I am a paid writer).  We gobbled it up quickly and when the salmon arrived I vaguely remember being disappointed but what I wrote was “I have nothing to say”; take that as you will.  After that course was clear, we were told about the dessert selections and a fine selection of cheeses.  We took the server’s recommendation and ordered the rhubarb ‘something’ (can’t read my writing) and apparently it was delicious but the professional who made it forgot to add the rhubarb to it.  We also ordered a Valpolicella port and an icewine by Megalomaniac (because we really needed to drink more at this point).  As we devoured dessert and drank our fortified wines we discussed the topic ‘Why is Cootes’ Paradise not a paradise?’; it was a thought provoking discussion about how many Hamiltonians don’t appreciate their waterfront.

While it was nice to sit out on their patio, and I’m sure we could have kept ordering for at least another hour, we took the hint when they had torn down every table around us as they prepared to finish for the night.  We requested our bill and were surprised how we managed to keep it so high when we got so much for free (but we do have a special talent of ringing up large bills), but the experience was well worth it.  We paid with the intention of going for a romantic walk but, it turns out, that was only my intention. 

           

Final Bill: $236

Tip: 30% (he was a very good server)

Overall Grade:  90%

Likeliness of Return: 100% (but only in the summer, otherwise you are paying a lot for less of an experience)