An ode to al fresco dining + a winter/spring restaurant update
Birthday dinners, speaking engagements, and I started a cookbook club!
It’s snowing outside as I write this. It’s mid-May, and it’s snowing. As I look out at my barren front yard, I’m dreaming of warmer days and al fresco dining. I love eating outside. I’ll force anyone to sit outside with me if there’s an option – one Mother’s Day, I forced all my guests to drink Aperol spritzes on my deck, just because I wanted to be outside. I don’t need a view or a particularly charming patio – if you have seats outside, I’m sitting there.
Some of my best food memories have taken place outside. While attending a wedding in Thailand, one of our best meals was sitting in an active construction site, devouring bowls of green curry and plates of roasted pork neck while construction workers whizzed by on their mopeds. Another fabulous al fresco meal took place on a hillside in Madrid, an angled street filled with Indian restaurants – our daal was almost sliding off the plate. Last summer in Charlevoix, I ate a hyper-local meal on the most enchanting patio while tourists strolled up and down Baie-Saint-Paul’s main drag.
I’ve always thought there was some evolutionary connection to one of my most endearing qualities (according to my husband), but it turns out eating outside is actually good for your mental health. Everyone knows that fresh air is good for us – our brains need the outdoors to thrive, but that high concentration of oxygen is beneficial because you’re less stressed outside, and digestion is easier.
So the next time I force you to eat outside with me, keep in mind I’m doing it for your overall health, okay?
Winter & Spring dining update
Every year, I think the winter months will be calm and relaxing. A time when I can hibernate and relish my new home. And while I was hunkered down most of the time, cooking up curries, pastas and other comfort foods, I ate at some great restaurants.
In January, I headed to Halifax to dine at Mystic, the East Coast’s newest fine-dining restaurant (see the full review of my meal here), and managed to eat a million more meals on the Queen’s Marque. Among them was a delicious lunch at ToriDori, which included some great sashimi and very good egg rolls with a red currant sauce.
At the end of the month, we celebrated the Lunar New Year with a pop-up in the old Chinched space hosted by a group of chefs from around St. John’s, spearheaded by Chef Ken Pittman. Steamed cod with Sichuan and chili, icy Sichuan wontons, red-cooked pork belly and of course Seto’s famous fried rice topped with grilled beef and butter “hollandaise” sauce. It was a great time!
In February, my sister Maggie and I had a fantastic dining experience at Rabble, Chef Todd Perrin’s newest endeavour. She has some pretty unique dietary restrictions right now, and the restaurant was so accommodating, even amending the menu with substitution options. We devoured salty oysters, hot French fries, and I finally got to try the famous duck leg curry everyone has been raving about – it was fantastic.
Adam and I escaped to Mexico in March for a few days of sunshine and relaxation and had a surprisingly good Thai meal at the resort. March means Burger Month in St. John’s and despite having been a judge in recent years, I only tried one burger: Toslow’s “Cheeseburger for the Seoul” was fantastic with a smashed Anderson’s patty topped with Korean burger sauce, cheese, shredduce, quick Korean pickles, crisped rice paper and an orange gochugaru seasoning.
April was a month of feasting, as it usually is for me, considering it’s my birthday month. Three St. John’s restaurants put off a new promotion called “Be Our Guest”, where they offered up three-course menus for $59 per person. I was invited to try a few meals, and wow, what a guest experience indeed. From Terre’s Coquille St. Jacques to Merchant Tavern’s iconic beef tartare, let’s just say I indulged. Considering a meal for two at a big chain restaurant would cost you well over $100, I think these menus have great value and, paired with great vibes and fantastic service, why wouldn’t you head downtown instead of Boston Pizza?
I spent my birthday in Toronto while speaking on a panel at the RC Show. Adam and I celebrated my birthday at Dreyfus, which was fantastic from start to finish – I’m still thinking about those perfect little agnolotti stuffed with chicken pate. We also went to Mamakas Taverna on Ossington with friends and enjoyed the Chef’s Tasting menu. Talk about another fantastic bang for your buck – whole fish, lamb chops, minty lamb meat balls, not to mention all of the dips (taramosalata was my fave). And I finally got to try the social media sensation slices at Badiali (which we ate outside, naturally) – worth the hype. Could definitely go for a slice of that spicy vodka pie right now.
We started a cookbook club!
My girlfriends finally had our inaugural cookbook club meeting in February! Here’s how it works: the host selects the cookbook and we all plan the menu, each choosing a dish to bring (usually there’s a cocktail in there too), then we feast! We’ve had two wine-fuelled “meetings” now and are planning the third for this summer.
There will be more on this in a future newsletter – is this something you would like to see?