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Don’t miss the Vegan Rumble & Shake at the Drugstore on June 15th at 8:30pm. Nutrisco and ‘Round Table Tours are hosting this face-off between ChuChai, Crudessence and Green Panther. Each restaurant will be backed by an urban farm: Lufa, D-Trois Pierres, Zephyr and Carya, by a food supplier: Prana, Les Douceurs du Marché and Truffe Import. They will also be associated with a blogger and exercise activity. 4 Corners of the Table is asscoiated with ChuChai, Amie Watson of Midnight Poutine with Crudessence and Marie-Ève Savaria of Brutalimentation with Green Panther.  The sports include hip-hop dancing with Ethel Bruneau‘s descendents, a work-out activity with Sportera and pilates with Goa. Participants sign-up in one of the three teams and follow their team’s activity. From the activity, the chefs will recruit assistants to help them assemble 300 bites! All fifteen recruited helpers  (five per team) will receive a prize. Twelve prizes of a value of two hundred dollars will be given including extravagant dinners, free sports and dance training, organic vegetable baskets and food tours as well as three prizes of a value of $75: food, food and more food). After the ‘Rumble’ comes the tasting and the ‘Shake’. There will be dj’s and mingling.

A bite that illustrates ChuChai's style and that won a prize for the best bite of the year. Imagine what chef Lily will do with local organic ingredients from D-Trois Pierres and specialty Asian ingredients from Les Douceurs du Marché!

Tickets are $20 and are available for sale at info (at) nutrisco dot ca and in the participating restaurants (ChuChai, Crudessence and Green Panther) Get them soon, they’re going like energy balls!

Crudessence's "smoked salmon" sushi. What are David Côté and Stéphanie Audet going to come up with with what their long-time suppliers and friends Lufa and Prana provide them?

Ingredients growing- some for the Rumble & Shake. Zephyr and Carya in Senneville are partnering-up to supply Green Panther. Zephyr provides space to Santropol Roulant for their peri-urban farm and grows seedlings for Urban Seedling. Carya hosts "soirées champêtres" or "country evenings" where top chefs are paired with a farm to serve a private five-course meal in Senneville. Get to know your local farmers and mushroom forager and truffle importer through Chef Luis' creations on team Green Panther!

How did a zany night like this come about you may ask…..

I have been hard at work on the development of various food tours for my new food tour company ‘Round Table Tours or Tours de la Table (recipient of the best female entrepreneurial project in Montreal in 2013.) The most recently added tour is called Vegan Montreal. It is a tour of tasting in vegan restaurants, food production sites and on urban farms. I wanted to do a tour that wasn’t about meat, sugar and booze, but one that focused on well-being, ethical business practices, sustainability and the future.

At the Crudessence loft with Mathieu Gallant for raw vegan culinary playtime on the Vegan Montreal tour. (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault: http://melaniedusseault.com/fr/)

I interviewed the owners of Crudessence, ChuChai, Aux Vivres, Prana, Lufa farms and the agricultural director of Santropol Roulant. I heard their amazing stories and saw businesses that were putting their deeper values to work and offering examples of what the future could look like. From Crudessence that strives to “be the change”, to Lufa that strives to grow vegetables in the city for the city without using more land, to Prana that creates organic, raw, vegan, gluten-free sustainable snacks, to Aux Vives that makes vegan food a “normality” with their comfort food approach and bringing food to the 80% non-vegan masses that is their clientele, and Green Panther that has created a lush and swinging oasis in the city. ChuChai redefines veganism as luxury and a party. Yes a party, they have taken control of the kitchen at the Drugstore and are catering the Piknik Électronik. It was when I approached ChuChai that I met their promoter Aisha Issa aka Nutrisco Sensorial Marketing. She right away proposed that we do an event to ring in the summer and announce their new presence at Drugstore and at Piknik as well as the beginning of the Montreal Vegan tour. She suggested we leverage with other vegan restaurants. She told me to think about it and get back to her.

Peaking at the Mother Mushroom in her lair at Rise Kombucha's factory headquarters. (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault: http://melaniedusseault.com/fr/)

I have had the privilege of being good friends with Judith Colombo the agricultural director of the largest organic farm on the island of Montreal, D-Trois Pierres, for ten years, and I know they are always looking for partners and I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great if there were urban farmers in the mix?’  My tours are about networking and team-building, so I started thinking of how I could incorporate a sense of team and participation into the event. I thought of Ethel Bruneau’s family of tap and hip hop dancers, Kevin Pillu of Sportera (winner in the Quebec Entrepreneurship contest for Services to Businesses) and Dana El-Hallack of Goa Pilates. We needed someone to put the event on an unconventional pedestal and bloggers seemed to be the way. I also thought that the bloggers should have a challenge and opportunity to collaborate, so I thought of different mediums to associate with each one: photo, paint and video (Mélanie Dusseault, Jean-Phillippe Cousineau and Rachel et Michel). This was great as the event became part of FIMA’s programming. The idea was so wacky, but if you’re going to leverage and be wacky, you may as well do it right. Everyone said yes and embarked on the collective craziness! (except Aux Vivres who was renovating and Santropol Roulant whose production is too limited in mid-June. Green Panther, Jardins Carya and Fermes du Zephyr quickly took-over)

The Vegan Montreal tour highlights innovation, new approaches and practices and those businesses that transcend conventional boundaries. It was in the Vegan community where I found a feverish enthusiasm, a can-do attitude and a love for creating outside-of-the-box. From the food production sites, to the farms to the restaurants I was met with goodwill and a desire to share and grow in collaboration.

The Vegan Montreal tour is tested and and raring to go. From visiting Lufa, the only rooftop commercial greenhouse, to ChuChai’s innovative fake meat in the thai tradition (no onions and garlic- Buddhist temple-style), to Crudessence’s workshops that spread the good news about live food and experimenting in the loft, to the pioneering of Aux Vivres, the funkyness of Green Panther, Rise Kombucha’s mother mushroom (!!!), Prana’s factory and Santropol’s oasis in the city, the Vegan Montreal tour brings you into a universe that you may think you know, but you really don’t until you get inside and behind the scenes!  All participants in the Rumble & Shake will receive a 20% discount on the Vegan Montreal Tour, and three people will win a free tour.

Come on out and Rumble, Tour and Shake!

I have the privilege of blogging for the ChuChai team and being on an all-girl team of chefs, dancers, farmers, shop managers and photographers. See the gallery below of the ladies on the team:

Yours truly with Thai chef Lily Sirikittikul of ChuChai. Gentle and demure, but Lily is a culinary powerhouse; she was born in a wok! (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault: http://melaniedusseault.com/fr/)

Judith Colombo: Long-time friend, organic farmer, great cook and member of the dinner club for 9 years!

Ethel Bruneau: tap dance legend with some of her family that will be breaking it down- old school! (Tisha, Majiza and Makita!)

Mélanie Dussealut: Photographe Extraordinaire! In front of the camera on this one. 4 Corners of the Table is lucky to have her at it's service for the event!

I don’t have a photo of Erica Dancose from Les Douceurs du Marché, but you’ll meet her there!

 

Myself, Mélissa Simard, blogger with 4 Corners of the Table in team ChuChai and co-organizer of the Rumble & Shake with 'Round Table Tours. Bringing people together around food everyday! (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault: http://melaniedusseault.com/fr/)

Librairie Espagnole in Montreal winter

The Librairie Espagnole on St. Lawrence boulevard: what a mysterious place! I have stumbled in there a few times over the years, usually eyeing the shelves suspiciously, wondering what they do here, but the whirlwind of food, books, pinatas, soccer jerseys, shoes, terracotta and cookware have started to settle in an arrangement that makes sense; or maybe I am just getting used to it?

Mini churros maker for homes, churros dough mix and drinking chocolate- ahhh

I first saw Benmar at El Centro Gallego, the Galician Social Club on St. Lawrence boulevard. I was quietly informed that his father had La Libreria Española, but had died and now his mother and him ran it. The tone that was used was one of solemnity and reverence. I later approached Ben in November 2011 for the profiling of the businesses on St-Lawrence boulevard that I was doing for a gastronomic walking tour for Fitz & Follwell. I asked if I could have a few minutes to collect the history and some anecdotal tid-bits about La Librairie Espagnole. We spoke for an hour and a half, and this little world made more and more sense as he told the story. Finally, I spent June 20th, 2012 with the manager and soon-to-be owner Benmar Franco to see what a day of his looks like, and to get to the bottom of this place.

Ben off work- Spanish soccer fan to the end! (At la Movida)

He was very apologetic as he explained the arduous process of detangling 40 years of inherited organizational chaos. Piles of product catalogues and samples stacked-up over the years furnished his office. The tasks of buying a freezer, fixing a fridge, etc heaped the to the to-do list. How did the 27 year-old Benmar get to where he is, feeling like he has never caught up or “got it together” staring st the pile infinite pile of work on hand?

The Food and Pinata mascots (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault: http://melaniedusseault.com/fr/)

The majority of Spanish immigrants came to Montreal as part of Spanish immigration projects (eg. Oreracion Bisonte, Operacion Marta) in the late 50’s and 60’s to work on cattle farms, as domestics or in the textile industry, or of their own device and always to flee a brutal post-war Spain. The Plateau became their neighbourhood. La Librairie Espagnole was opened by Jose Manuel Sanchez in 1964 on the corner of Roy and St-Dominique. It was a Spanish media store with newspapers, books and magazines that kept Spanish immigrants up to speed with what was going on in Spain. Narciso Franco immigrated to Montreal in 1967. He bought the Librairie in 1974. Benjamin Franco, Narciso’s brother, immigrated from Spain in 1976 to come and help his brother with the shop. Benmar Franco Iglesias, Benjamin’s son, said jokingly that a helicopter picked him up and dropped him directly in the shop. Narciso also bought a Latin American grocery and media store on Rachel in 1976 called El Hogar Latin. In the 70’s, La Libreria started importing Spanish food. In 1978, conflicts with a landlord, a flood and the need for more space pushed Narciso to move La Librairie from the St-Dominique and Roy location and consolidate it with El Hogar Latin in its present home at 3811 St. Lawrence boulevard. La Libreria Española became the go-to for Spanish food products. They were also the only importer of Latin American food products in the 70’s.

Back in the day

Ben’s mother, Maria Iglesias, of Spanish parents, grew-up in Montreal, but retained her Spanish Basque identity. Her father, Rodolfo Iglesias, was already importing coffee with Ben’s paternal Uncle Narcisso before his father Benjamin immigrated to Canada. His parents met in what is now the Salsathèque. Benmar was born in the 80’s and raised in Lasalle, but spent his weekends on the Plateau in the Spanish area. He grew-up with other second generation Spanish children, and the community was tight-knit through the 70’s and 80’s.

Delicious Colour! (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault)

In 2006, Benmar’s father died suddenly. Arrangements had not been made for the unforeseen death. Ben’s mom, Maria Iglesias who now owned Voyages Iglesias, became the owner, but did not have the time to run it. Ben had just finished Cégep at twenty-one and was on his way to study Publicity, but was nursing a dream of living in Spain. He left it all behind to take care of the family store.

Ben Mar Iglesias Franco and yours truly- Come and join us on 'Round Table Tours' Iberian Montreal tour: circuit of tapas, pintxos and petiscos. (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault)

Ben is sheepish of the imperfections and the store’s lack of focus, but through the colourful cacophony of products, there is a real desire to accommodate and please. He is learning, however, to choose his battles, and that he can’t please everyone. The book/magazine section is now all the way in the back and very symbolic. They don’t make money on the printed word section anymore as it occupies one third of the space in the store and only account s for 7% of the sales. They still bring the minimum magazines and newspapers, like ¡Hola!, for example, (the Spanish version of Paris Match, that the older women come to buy religiously each week.) The shipping of such a small number of copies eats all of the profit, but there is also the possibility that those crossing the bridge and paying parking to get a magazine or newspaper, will buy some olives or a piece of chorizo. Then there is the double-edged sword of supplying soccer paraphernalia, as people want jerseys for their kid, a big flag, bracelets, a scarf and a little flag for the car, etc., and if the team is eliminated they are stuck with the stock. But the gear is all there. This willingness to please, teamed with the unpretentious products jumping off the shelves and hanging on hooks, also gives a warmth and integrity to the store and demonstrates their ability to adapt. The store has morphed with the needs of the time and customers now supplying La Bellota the Rolls Royce of Spanish ham at $400/kilo. The store also serves as a bridge between first and second generation Spanish and the new arrivals from Spain. Ben does his best to re-create the tight-knit sense of community that his parents benefitted from by providing familiar products to new Spanish arrivals and directing them to the circuit of Spanish social clubs and the network of Spaniards in Montreal.

Still faithful to the original clients (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault)

The store is down to earth and genuine, but it is no small affair! They have warehouse space in the back and at another location. They import in a 40 foot container of turron (an almond candy) every year, three 20 foot containers of olives and fifteen twenty foot containers of yerba matte. The store’s sales have been stable throughout the recession: some clients buy less, but their clientele is always growing.

Turron en masse and the mega pallera on the wall (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault)

As the day progresses, I see the computer system Ben put in to replace the paper system, the assistant he is training to take over the office, invoices, and payments, the back-store he renovated and re-organized; the basement that he re-organized (that his Uncle deepened for three months with a pick!); the warehouse changes, the store’s changes, the elaboration of products, especially cheese and deli products, importation files and follow-up, calculating prices, all while greeting clients and receiving orders by fax, mail, e-mail, telephone and in person. He supplies, amongst others, La Vielle Europe, Exo Fruits, Grumann, Casa Tapas, Barraca and the terracotta for all of Montreal. They also ship to Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Calgary, Quebec City, Edmonton and Mississauga.

Spanish Western Novels: Old World Interprets New World

The store closes at 6:00pm. Ben says the most important lesson he has learned is “not to be afraid of making mistakes”. He claims he doesn’t have the natural inclinations of an entrepreneur: he isn’t aggressive enough, he’s too indecisive and doesn’t like taking risks. He is self-effacing, even though he has revolutionized the store, and he started the process at 21 years of age.  He juggles satisfying stores, restaurants, and individual clients that want anything from chorizo, to shampoo, to shoes, to Spanish Western novels, and he puts a personal touch on all transactions.   He is looking at buying property for another project,  investing in another business and he still nurses a dream of having a little pinxto bar and Spanish food boutique.

Venga Tapear con nos otros! (Photo by Mélanie Dusseault)

Please come tapear with me, go from place to place eating tapas, on the Iberian Montreal tour with ‘Round Table Tours : eating tapas, pintxos and petiscos  paired with great wine around Montreal’s original Iberian Quarter at three restaurants, a specialized grocery store and a food production site. Meet the chefs and entrepreneurs and hear their stories.

*Please visit the website of Mélanie Dusseault at http://melaniedusseault.com/fr/

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Holly Chute, making the new and healthier Southern-style chicken

Holly Chute, personal Chef to the State of Georgia’s Governor, Nathan Deal and his wife Sandra, found herself cooking for some 400 Montrealers in the celebration of America’s Independence. On the fourth of July, she was catering in the hopes of sharing Georgian cuisine, bringing new ideas from one food place to another. You may find it odd to hear Georgia referred to as a food place, but incidentally, Atlanta has become one. A Taste of Atlanta, an event akin to Montréal Highlights is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Food is an integral part of the Georgian experience and always has been. Barbecue may be king, but agriculture is queen, accounting for one in six jobs and offering fresh fruit and vegetables not only to Georgians, but to surrounding states as well. Health and refinement have become new players in Georgian cuisine: the prince and princess of this cultural staple.

Fresh Georgia- Don't forget the peach in your salsa!

For the Governor of Georgia and his wife, health is a requirement of service to their state, so the cholesterol has to be low. For the gluten intolerant First Lady Sandra Deal, the biscuit and fried chicken have had to be modified. Sandra Deal confessed that she always felt better when she wasn’t eating bread, but she says, in that sugar-cane southern drawl of hers, that “[she,] like the other ladies, I knew that was the way to keep the pounds off.” Her father’s unbearable abdominal pain in winter when they ate flour biscuits, she now realizes may also have been due to celiac or gluten-intolerance. Cornmeal breaded fish or chicken and corn bread are succeeding wheat flour in the First House. Pan-searing and baking have replaced frying, and fresh salsa is putting pressure on the sweet preserves. All of Georgia’s treasures such as greens, okra, corn and peaches are finding their place in the spotlight under Chef Holly’s watchful eyes. Chute is also one of four Chefs chosen to promote and represent Georgian agriculture through a program called Georgia Grown and is looking for ways to help children eat more vegetables through the understanding of their cultivation.

Symbiosis of the Chef and the Farmer= Harmony in the State's plate

Who is Chef Holly really? Her promotion of terroir and her health sensibilities scream “imposter from the north”, but this Vermont/New York State woman is starting a revolution in the South and marrying two worlds in perfect harmony. Despite her Northern roots, Jeff Foxworthy said “You might be a redneck if you bring a doggy bag from the Governor’s mansion,” and proclaimed that Chef Holly’s fried chicken was the best he’d ever had.

Chef Holly checking-out Birri's wares at the Jean-Talon Market

Nathan Deal is the sixth Governor that Holly has cooked for since she began at the First House in 1981. She has more than earned her place. She has witnessed the need for meat and starch be replaced with a need for health, longevity and freshness. She has replaced the mammy cook (after first getting the biscuit recipe of course). She has also seen rigidity, formality and her place behind the scenes replaced by familiarity, casualness and an elevation in the status of “Chef.” She is among the increasing number of women that have stepped into the ranks of the cooking elite.

So fresh and so clean: Quebec produce meets New Georgian cuisine

I had the privilege of guiding Chef Holly through the open-air Jean-Talon Market so that she could become acquainted with some of Montreal’s local products. We happened upon Arik De Vienne at Olives et Épices and he showed us sapote – a fruit with a flavour of wild sweet almond. Sandra Deal reminisced about the days when sweet almonds were used to perfume drawers in the south and the almond kernel oil that made the best body creams. Smells have a way of awakening memories.

The crème de la crème of spices with Arik De Vienne

Marché des Saveurs spoiled us with La Rhubarbelle, a non-alcoholic rhubarb rosée, Neige ice cider and Pied de Vent apple washed cheese of the Madeleine Islands. Sublime! This time Holly reminisced about Vermont’s Terroir.

Québec cheeses: reminiscent of Holly's Vermont terroir roots

Conrad at Racine let us sample the three strawberry varieties of the moment and the ensuing discussion went as follows:

Holly: “They’re good”

Conrad: “I know”

Modèste.” Holly replied with the sweetest French accent.

Quebec's berry treasures

We made our way to the beautiful Appetite for Books in Westmount where Holly cooked lunch in their gorgeous kitchen. She made flattened chicken breasts, lightly seasoned and pan-seared with a fresh peach salsa and a salad of greens from Birri with olive oil and lemon. The meal was finished with Quebec strawberries and wild blueberries, crème fraîche, mint and maple syrup. The food was light, refreshing, delicious, healthy and married well with the heat of the day and what was available locally. Isn’t that the way it should be? Holly Chute makes it happen from Montreal to Atlanta.

Aprons and Chef coats ready for duty at Appetite for Books

 

Two First Ladies: Sandra Deal and Suzanne Drouin of Le Marché des Saveurs du Quebec

Chef Holly Chute’s Watermelon Lemonade

8 cups of watermelon chunks

½ cup of sugar

1 cup of water

½ cup of fresh lemon juice

Dissolve the sugar in water over low heat. Set aside to cool.

In a blender, combine watermelon and lemon juice. Purée until smooth. Add cooled sugar mixture and pulse to combine.

Serve chilled with a sprig of rosemary or mint.

Recipes and Foodie Books Galore at Appetite for Books on Victoria in Westmount

 

 

 

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