Vol. 3: No. 134 − March 4, 2010
Via Rail
We had not been on a Via train for sometime and what with all the reports of super high speed trains being installed in China, the US and Europe, we thought we would try Via when going to Stowe in February via Montreal. Comparing the experience to say Eurostar between London and Paris, the Via experience is laughably downmarket. The train itself, which was styled as a “Renaissance” train, was somewhat clapped out giving off a well-used impression although the seats were comfortable and private. The advertised Wifi is hopeless. The second drawback was a stream of on-board announcements to the effect that the train was slowing down or stopping en route because freight trains were in the way. As a result, the train arrived late on both of our journeys. Since Via does not operate the tracks, not even Mussolini would be able to make the trains run on time in Canada. The food was pretty awful. On the return journey there was a very watery and tasteless lobster salad followed by arctic char, cooked as dry as a bone. This was washed down by Hildebrand white wine which was a hair of being skunky. Happily we had, earlier in the afternoon, nipped over to Montreal’s Old Hebrew Delicatessen (Schwartzs) for a stupendous smoke meat sandwich and fries. Since the train served the food at the unfashionable hour of 6 pm (no exceptions), we were not that hungry and the food did not matter that much. So what was good about the experience? Just being on the train, reading drinking and talking in a moderately comfortable seat is still a most pleasant way to pass the time between the two cities. Also, the CAW workers really do care and are uniformly pleasant and accommodating to deal with. No point in complaining to them about anything because they remain powerless to implement changes. Once one understands this, these are good people to deal with. Over the years, we have always been told that the speed of the train is limited by the state of the rail bed and the substantial number of level crossings which present danger to fast moving trains. It was always argued that it would cost unimaginable sums to put bridges over the level crossings but if CN had done a few every year for the last 30 years, they would be all be done by now eliminating a major excuse for the relatively low speed the trains operate at. Despite the imperfections in the trip, it remains a great pleasure to ride the rails. Now, if we could build a specialized Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City high speed train using Canadian Bombardier technology………. Okay that’s not going to happen. How about reviving the Expo parking lot airport in Montreal for Porter to fly into? Okay then, why not continue to muddle through and just improve the food and wine. That’s possible.
The first problem encountered was the demand as you checked in that you check your bags (other than something small which would fit under your seat). Only in Canada does anyone design a rail passenger car without room for bags! On the way back to Toronto, delays in retrieving the bags did add an extra 20 minutes to the trip. This requirement is limited (we think) to “Renaissance” trains, the rest presumably being sensibly designed for passengers.
Years ago we proposed to Via Rail that we equip and operate two of their cars as private restaurant cars running once per day between Toronto and Montreal. Encouraged by a few of Via’s directors, we presented our proposal to senior management who reacted to the idea about as keenly as if we had been trying to sell them a load of rotten fish for their trains. They first attempted to dissuade us by saying that we would have to use union labour. When we pointed out that we had had a labour agreement with the same union when we owned a former railway hotel and liked dealing with that union, they shifted gears to argue with our proposal to reinstate tipping on the service. Not surprisingly, this had been a sore point when management ended the practice. We then discovered that the Via senior marketing manager had come from a trucking operation where his job consisted of shipping packages of goods. If only the passengers could be treated like packages, marketing problems would vanish. Needless to say, there was only one meeting on this project.
Giant food scandal reported but what does it mean about commercially produced tomato products?
The New York Times last week reported the results of a major fraud perpetrated against Kraft Foods from 2004 to 2008. Apparently one of its buyers had received kickbacks on about 230 million pounds of processed tomatoes supplied to Kraft from a US supplier - SK Foods. What’s worse was that some of the tomato paste supplied was moldy, 3.4 million pounds in 2007 alone according to the Times. A spokeswoman for Kraft said in the article that while Kraft did a variety of tests on the ingredients it uses, in the case of mold it relied on the tests by suppliers. The perpetrator of this fraud went to jail for 27 months and, in February, the owner of SK Foods was arrested and charged with fraud upon getting off an airplane from Switzerland in New York. The prosecutors said that there may have been as many as 55 companies which received tainted shipments. SK Foods went bankrupt and was bought by Olam International of Singapore. The answer may be that processed tomatoes are likely produced like concentrated orange juice. According to the book, Juiced, which we discussed recently, after fresh oranges are boiled or pasteurized, the result is a brown sugary liquid. To restore it, some frozen orange juice and flavouring are added to bring back the orangy taste and look. The book states that so far, the industry has not been able to duplicate the taste of naturally squeezed orange juice. Perhaps the same process is applied to processed tomatoes. How else the Chef says, can tomato products have exactly the same taste no matter when or where the tomatoes were picked unless the taste is manufactured? Indeed, something does not add up. Another good reason to eliminate all processed foods from your diet.
We spoke to the Chef about the effect of using moldy tomatoes. He told us that a moldy tomato was comparable to having a moldy oyster in a barrel of oysters. Such an oyster would taint all the oysters in the barrel.
To us, the real question behind all this and not addressed by the Times was how was it possible for these processing companies to use tainted tomatoes without affecting the taste of the final products they produced. The Chef assures us that the moldy taste could not be covered by for example adding something like sugar. And nothing was said about the public complaining of the taste of these products.
So how do you avoid tomato products made from moldy tomatoes. Most of the year fresh tomatoes are pretty awful. But we suggest that you try the canned variety from Italy from San Marzano. These do the job in sauces and the like. Available throughout the year at Pusateri’s, they are admittedly expensive.
The omnivore’s dilemma – how to argue with a vegetarian politely!
There seems to be no common ground between vegetarians and non vegetarians. Witness the recent article in the February 26, 2010 Saturday Financial Times by Emily Stokes, "Lunch with the FT: Jonathon Safran Foer". Ms. Stokes, who professes to love food, reports on her lunch in the New York restaurant Gobo with novelist Foer who had just published a book, Eating Animals. Ms. Stokes hears out Foer’s comments on eating meat and other things while struggling through what sounds like a horrendously awful vegetarian meal. Mr. Foer tells her “I find a certain kind of foodiness silly, gluttonous and embarrassing.” Stokes responds that that her major complaint of Foer might be that not only does he not like meat but he doesn’t really like any food very much and indeed is somewhat of a negative personality.
This exchange perhaps leads to the heart of the ongoing debate omnivores have with vegetarians. As a discussion of the subject advances, the omnivore gradually begins to reveal his contempt for the vegetarian because he considers that vegetarians really don’t like food very much. Because of this, omnivores consider that vegetarians should disqualify themselves from the debate.
See the article for an entertaining read on all of this. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b76e832e-2261-11df-a93d-00144feab49a.html
March, the quiet month at the Ontario Food Terminal
Chef Loseto reports that the Terminal is not busy. Most of the Ontario farmers and jobbers dealing with farmers have seen their cold storage stocks of Ontario vegetables run out and have stopped attending the Terminal. Nonetheless, he was able to purchase what was likely the last of the cold storage crop including beets, golden beets, leeks, celeriac, onions, parsnips and carrots. He continues to wonder whether some of these items actually came from Ontario, despite the assurances he receives.
March is a tough month in Ontario because not only does the Ontario cold storage produce run out but even vegetables from Italy and California finish their season to be replaced by products from South America and Asia.
The Chef bought Italian golden and green kiwis and Italian blood oranges. There were Italian plums and pears and even peppers available which the Chef thought looked good but were expensive compared to US produce as well as being well out of season. All this is expected to finish soon. From California, the Chef found good looking rapini, fennel, artichokes, squash and brussel sprouts. These will soon be finished as well to be replaced by vegetables from South America and Asia.
Ironically, this season seems to have the year’s best assortment of tropical fruit. The Chef bought California lemons, lime, oranges, avocados and from South America mangoes, passion fruit, grenadillas (like a passion fruit and some times sold as such), Hawaiian papayas which are wonderful but expensive. He avoided the grapes which are on the sour side. The chef contends that California strawberries are currently as good as they get. Of course, even in high season, California strawberries tend to be picked prior to ripening so they can be transported long distances. This diminishes their appeal greatly but if you need a strawberry fix before Ontario berries appear, he suggests that you go for them now because he does not think that California strawberries will be getting any better.
There is a marked absence of Florida produce including the superior basil which the Chef likes to buy at this time of year. It seems the frost has caused considerable damage to crops in Florida.
As the season for European and California produce comes to an end, replacements from India and China enter the Toronto market. The Chef noted that snap peas and snow peas from China are on sale. He does not favour Chinese produce but he remarked that there has been virtually no domestic snap peas offered in Toronto for two years now. It seems that Canadian and US growers have given up on them. In the case of snow peas, the Chef notes that they were only available from this continent last year for a period of one week during the year.
Our wild mushroom supplier is delivering west coast chanterelles and black trumpets to us. In the latest shipment he included miners lettuce. This is a wild plant picked from Northern California to British Columbia. It is fresh, spicy and superb raw. Cooked it tastes a bit like spinach but not as strong. It’s called miners lettuce because it was gathered from the wild by gold miners in California when winter was ending to deter scurvy.
We continue to offer heavier winter meats including Ontario venison and quail. Our Quebec duck breasts are magnificent. The Chef uses a sous vide technique finishing them in a hot roasting oven with butter for 4 minutes. We really have to buy one of these new home sous vide machines which have just been introduced. We have located an outstanding Ontario striploin as well as Alberta wagyu beef. We had been using Ontario wagyu beef but noticed that it seemed to lack the well marbled look of our previous Allberta supplier. This rancher had been supplying the Japanese market which had fallen apart a few years ago when mad cow’s disease closed that market. Even though the market re-opened, the Alberta farmer had built a following among Canadian restaurant users and continues promoting his products to them. When the rancher visited us in Toronto to insist we compare his product to our Ontario source, the Chef was convinced that the Ontario wagyu was not nearly as good.
We mentioned last month that we have joined the Ocean Wise fish programme sponsored by the Vancouver Aquarium. This programme is only available to restaurants committed to purchasing fish which the programme certifies are harvested in a fully sustainable way. This means that we have altered the fish we buy. The delicious fresh Louisiana wild shrimp we were serving are now off the menu. For every pound netted, the nets also bring in and destroy eight pounds of marine life. The only shrimps we are permitted to serve are from BC and have not yet come into season. We will continue to offer the Nunavut turbot but surprisingly the New Zealand Kampachi which had been one of our favourites is not caught in a sustainable way. We will be serving an Albacore tuna from BC which the Chef thinks is delicious.
During the last of the Olympics our pastry chef Elysha prepared the most superb dessert worthy of a gold – a seasonal mango pudding with caramel sauce finished with a ginger crème anglaise.
In line with Elysa’s desire to bring more Ontario cheese into George, she has obtained from Ewenity Dairy, Mouton Rouge, suprisingly a raw sheep’s cheese, semi soft with a washed rind. She has brought back one of her favourites from Quebec, the Bleu d’Elizabeth which is a raw organic cow’s milk cheese.
Jimson Picks from the Vintages March 6 release
Provided to Olliffe customers so they can match their purchases with the most interesting wines offered at the LCBO next door.
2008 Domaine de l’Idylle, l’Altesse, Savoie $16.95
Great value from the foothills of The Alps.
Highly aromatic with crisp acidity, spicy food or
herb marinated chicken would be a great pairing.
2007 Chardonnay, Château de Chaintré, Burgundy $16.95
Excellent value very dry Chardonnay, it has a big
finish with ripe peach and oak floral aromatics.
Try this with Olliffe’s Provimi Veal dishes.
2007 Dom. Galévan Paroles de Femme, Côtes du Rhône $14.95
A wonderful example of a Rhône red – big, dry,
and full-bodied, loaded with dark fruit notes.
Try it with grilled meat – particularly the Hangar Steak.
2007 Carmenère, Montes Alpha Apalta, Colchagua, Chile $19.95
This grape was originally used in Bordeaux blends, and works particularly well by itself in Chile. This is a fine example – spicy, smoky, very dry, with a long fruit finish. It needs a rich full flavoured meat dish – like a braised shortrib or beef stew.
We cannot wait to taste the Savoie wine. Reminds us of happy days in Courchevel at this time of year.
Returning to his roots and inspired by the Italian Slow Food movement, Chef Lorenzo Loseto is hosting an Italian Dinner Series at George Restaurant
The Slow Food movement in Italy was founded to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. First Fourth Montforte Toscano, Blood Orange Marmalade Fifth Pettole, Blood Oranges, Marsala Zabaglione Friday March 26th 7pm @ $75 per person, with optional local wine pairings for each course @ $65 per person.
From March until October on each last Friday night of the month, Chef Loseto will draw on his cultural heritage and host a series of special dinners focusing on featured seasonal and sustainable items.
The first of the series will be held on Friday March 26th and the featured items this month will be Qualicum Bay Scallops, Ontario Leeks and Sicilian Blood Oranges.
Scallops Crudi, Roasted Fennel, Blood Orange Vinaigrette
Second
Pork Belly, Roasted Scallops, Leek and Artichoke Soffritto
Third
Veal Tenderloin, Broccoletti Stuffed Leeks, Warm Lentil Salad
For reservations: please call 416-863-6006 or go to www.georgeonqueen.com
George Restaurant
111C Queen Street East, Toronto M5C 1S2
Le patron
