DELICIOUS AND EXCITINGLY LOCAL

Have you heard about it? Have you tasted their food? Have you gone to Ballygiblin’s?

It’s a modern little restaurant with a boutique feel, casual attitude and some outstanding food. It’s in a beautiful little country village called Carleton Place just southwest of 

Ottawa and if you’re inclined to take in the country, there’s a charming stone inn on the main intersection with a cozy outdoor patio that’s perfect for people watching in the sleepy little village.

It’s the quintessential country experience and Ballygiblin’s is located among the quaint shops on the main street decorated with pretty hanging flowers. Surrounded by farms and fields, Executive Chef Roger Weldon cherry picks the best producers and lines up his menu to reflect the best flavours the region has to offer.

He has an obsession for planning his menu’s from what he can find from local farmers. I met Roger at Alpenblick Farm where he introduced me to one of his food sources before dinner.

Alpenblick is a natural farm.

The animals roam freely so you have to close the gate behind you when your come or go. Roger wasn’t wearing the traditional white chefs jacket but a t-shirt that said “Eat Local”. 

Thought he was a bit cheeky wearing that while he walked among the cows and sheep.Farmers Robert Oechsli and Petra Stevenson raise their animals in a safe, natural way and the resulting meat just can’t be compared says Roger.

Back at the restaurant the large black menu says Ballygiblin’s is “linking pleasure and food awareness and responsibility with agriculture and ecology”. What that means is that Chef Weldon not only knows where his food comes from, but that he selects farms that have respect for the animals and natural food production practices – it leaves a good taste in your mouth.

We started with maple planked brie with market raspberries. It was cheese from Alpenblick Farm, Robert himself makes a small amount of hand crafted cheeses and sells it to a few lucky customers. As far as I know, Ballygiblin’s is one of the few places you can get Roberts brie – it’s worth the effort – it’s not to rich and big in flavour. A refreshing change to the commercial types.

Next we all had burgers! Hand made 1 ½-inch thick beef patties, all natural, fully organic burgers made from Alpenlick farm beef. I had lots of hot peppers just picked from the field, cheddar and sour cream to help with the heat. Difficult to eat, it was piled high and sandwiched between two slices of thick artisan bread – yum! It comes with “made from scratch”, ketchup, maple mustard, sweet relish and house mayo.

Ask about the food and it’s like a guided tour to the neighboring farms. The menu includes interesting tidbits of info like, “Did you know that Roger went to Terra Madre in 2008!” and “Find locally produced foods that have traveled fewer miles from field – market – kitchen. These foods have a smaller carbon foot print or “FOOD PRINT”.” They’re just so in love with local flavours!

Make a reservation, I was there on a Sunday evening and the place was packed! It’s refreshing to find such a delicious locavore restaurant at a comfortable and reasonable price level. They don’t all have to be five-star dining establishments.

Ballygiblin’s – Eat Local, 151 Bridge Street, Carleton Place, ON, 613-253-7400, www.ballygiblins.ca

EATING LOCAL IN WOODSTOCK

Six Thirty Nine is an exciting new restaurant on 639 Peel Street in Woodstock, Ontario. Chef and Owner Eric Boyar is young and deliciously talented. I found Eric in the kitchen on his day off, so I sat at the Chef’s Table and he treated me to a new dish he’s putting on his menu.

The Chef’s Table is a beautiful wooden bar much like a butchers block with 4 bar stools that face the kitchen and large window that brings in the beautiful outdoor gardens. I perched myself at the bar and watched as the chef made a local dish from some fresh rainbow trout he’s just picked up that morning.

Boyar has a passion for flavour and that motivates him to go beyond what many chefs would. The back pantry is filled with baskets and bags of fresh vegetables he just picked up from the market and I love it – his bicycle is leaning up against the cupboards – he’s a wholesome chef who treats his customers to his wholesome cooking! But don’t be fooled, wholesome in my world never tasted this amazing.

He served me a bowl of Truffled Mushroom Soup and Duck Confit, I suppose in a chef’s kitchen you can never be without food. He started to prepare his rainbow trout dish.

Six Thirty Nine Restaurant was a home transformed in 2005 into a modern 28 seat restaurant with a sleek sexiness and welcoming appeal. Boyar is classically French trained and inspired by farms and fresh farm produce from his childhood of working on farms. The duck in the soup came from Everspring farm, the pea shoots from Sleger’s Organic Farm and the mushrooms from a farm on County Road 54.

As Boyar moved around his extremely well organized and neat kitchen one task flowed into another with the grace of movement of a dancer. He was amazing to watch, dusting the skin side off the trout sharing some tips with me. “Don’t dust the flesh side of the fish because crisping up that side tends to dry it out”. He warms a mixture of butter and olive oil in a skillet and lays the fish, skin side down and leaves it to work on the rest of the dish.

He takes some previously blanched vegetables and warms them in more butter and olive oil. He adds some home smoked bacon, chantrel mushrooms and when he’s content with his flipping them around in the skillet, he finishes it off with a tiny bit more oil and a handful of Swiss chard.

For now the dish is jokingly called Trout a la Eric and it’s an impromptu dish of his favourite ingredients. He pulls warm dishes from his oven and spoons a large smear of cauliflower puree on the bottom. On top of that he adds the vegetable mixture and to my surprise he adds some green and yellow beans he had going in another skillet.  On top of it all, he lay the trout fillet which was now cooked to perfection.

Now wouldn’t all of us love to have a chef cook amazing and brilliant dishes like this for us all. The meal was an interplay of textures and flavours that comforted the palate and soothed the soul. The beans were fresh and clean, the bacon veggies were savoury and warm, the cauliflower puree luscious and creamy and the trout clean with a bright buttery flavour. They all came together in one sophisticated mouthful.

As well as delicious the dish read like a geography lesson; trout from Goossens in Otterville, fingerling potatoes other veggies from Tim Creton’s Vegetable Farm in Tavistock, the beans and cauliflower from the market, pork belly for the bacon from Rudy’s Meats and the sprouts from Slegers.

Six Thirty Nine Restaurant is definitely work the trip to Woodstock. Book the Chef’s Table ahead of time and remember it only seats 4. In the summer they have a 16 seat patio in a beautiful garden.

Six Thirty Nine Restaurant, 639 Peel St, Woodstock, Ontario, 519-536-9602, info@sixthirtynine.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIFE IS GOOD, EAT IT UP!

BERRY SEASON

I just picked up some cherries from the Fruit Shack on Niagara Stone Road and they're absolutely glorious! Big, blackish red, ultra sweet and brilliant. So many of Niagara's cherries fall short of being really good. Don't know why, I'm guessing it's the variety, but the folks at the Fruit Shack grow these beauties under hoops to protect them from rain and give them much needed extra warmth to ripen this variety. The sweet cherry season is almost over, so get them now!

I was walking with Diana DeMarco at Bluemin' Acres on Line 1 yesterday afternoon and she has a bumper crop of blueberries. The same bushes that produce the delicious blueberries in previous years are producing giant berries that are bursting with amazing flavour - they love this weather. While there, Kelly Nemeth from Toute Sweet came by for some berries. She's the ice cream lady in Jordan who mixes the best Niagara fruit with ice cream on a frozen marble slab. This is her with Diana picking out the best blueberries!

Bluemin' Acres open for the season so go down with your own containers and buy them by weight. They're very reasonably priced - in case you're comparing.

I just spent the morning in the kitchen working with these delicious berries. I made sweet cherry mouse and tuile that I thought I could use as a sandwich, but the tuile shrunk, so I'm turning it into sweet cherry pate with the tuile as toasts - it's amazingly delicious!

With the blueberries I made blueberry crumb squares - don't know about the recipe I put together - think I'll have to work on it - too crumbly. I may have to make some ice cream and turn it into a blueberry sunday.

I also have some blueberry cornbread coming out of the oven - yum!

It pays to find the best berries out there. Get some and let me know what you've done with it!

A LOCAL VICTORIAN WINERY LUNCH

Niagara Cooks is celebrating local cuisine with a casual winery luncheon on the giant wrap-around porch of the beautiful Grand Victorian Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake - right in front of Reif Estate Winery. 

Come and join the fun!

July 18^th, the local lunch starts at 12:30 p.m. and goes until approximately 2:00 p.m. and is being prepared by Robin Howe based on recipes from Niagara Cooks. I will be there to tell the stories of the growers and after lunch enjoy a winery tour and tasting.

There are only 6 tickets left so hurry and get yours - call Reif Estate Winery at 905-468-7738.

Menu

 

Select Hors d'oeuvres featuring local produce paired with 2006 Reif Gamay Rose.

 

Niagara asparagus in individual puff pastry with a Riesling sabayon and parmesan paired with Reif 2008 Riesling.

 

Local pork medallions with a Merlot reduction paired with Reif 2006 Merlot Reserve.

 

Lavender crème brulee  with Niagara rhubarb-strawberry compote paired with Reif Select Late Harvest Vidal.

$50 per person

 

 

CHERRY ALERT!

If you love cherries, you have to go to The Fruit Shack on Hwy #55 in Niagara-on-the-Lake. This weekend they'll be picking their big, black, ultra sweet cherries! They're the only ones in the region that I know of that grow such delicious cherries. If you know of any others, let me know!

White cherries can be had at Peach Country Farm Market on Victoria Avenue in Vineland - they're also ultra sweet! If you find any other white cherries, let me know.

Happy eating!

Lynn

For all you fiddlehead lovers, tonight was the fiddlehead feast at NorCliff Farm in Port Colborne. A fantastic chef flew in from New York City and cooked up dishes like coconut curry fiddlehead primivera - yum!