Last week, I attended a Prince Edward Country (PEC) wine and cheese fundraiser for Third Wall Theater Company's 10th Anniversary season. The event, dubbed "Go Local-Go Loco", was held at the Wallspace Gallery (358 Richmond Road). Its caterer, The Piggy Market (400 Winston Avenue).

Go Local Go Loco with Third Wall
Me, I was on assignment for Cheryl Gain's OttawaTonite.com when I attended the event and was delighted to have the opportunity to showcase The Piggy Market's food.

Chef/owner Dave Neil provided Prince Edward County raw and pasteurized goat, sheep, and cow's milk cheeses; locally-produced smoked meat; locally-reared heritage pork rib rillette; in-house marinated mushrooms; in-house pickled red and golden beets; and in-house baked mini-Jamaican patties.

At the end of the event, Chef Neil looked visibly relieved. He then informed me, The Piggy Market celebrated its first birthday. Indeed, it was a year ago, April 10th, when Jenn and I took our first Good Friday food tour down Wellington Street West and Richmond Road. We stopped into The Piggy Market, then newly opened. Chefs Neil, Warren Sutherland (Sweet Grass Aboriginal Bistro), and Pascale Berthiaume were just profiled in the Ottawa Citizen (a local newspaper).

A year later, The Piggy Market's storefront is ostensibly the same. Pascale is still making her now celebrated ice cream.

Pascale's Ice Cream Makers
It earned the 2nd spot on Ottawa Magazine's 101 Tastes to Try Before You Die list in its September 2009 edition. She is fast becoming a household name in the city.

Pascale's Image
Her image, now synonymous with rich and natural ice cream.

The Piggy Market still stocks many locally-produced products from preserves to juices, vinegars, and pickles.

Preserves and Pickles

Juices and Vinegar

And, loyal customers keep furnishing the foodie shop with pig-related memorabilia. In fact, every pig in the store is a gift. That is with the exception of the pig paintings at the front of the shop.

Flying Pig Paintings
These painted works are being displayed by The Piggy Market. They are for sale. The price tag: $300/painting.

More after the jump...

The confusing title is due to my increasingly coming across two words that substitute "sandwich" on the Internet: Sammich (or Sammitch) and Sandvich. This post is my way of clarifying the issue.

Sammich:
The sammitch is and example of what I like to call OJ, online joalle. Joalle is the Quebecois word for colloquial slang and encapsulates an entire lexicon of spoken words and phrases that does not exist in formal language. In the case of the "sammich", it is a bastardized word form of the English word "sandwich" and can be found in online forums, instant messages, and wiki's. In fact, it is pervasive enough to have 4 entries on urbandictionary.com. Here's the one that I feel is most apt.

noun . Two or more slices of bread with a filling such as meat, fish, cheese or any edible delights placed between them. "give me a bite of that sammich"

Source: UrbanDictionary.com

Sanvitch:
I first came across the "sanvich" in the gaming sub-forum of a large online forum. According to the Valve Corporations' website steamgames.com, the Sandvich is an item for "heavy class" players in Team Fortress 2.

According to wikipedia, Team Fortress 2 is a dedicated team-based first person shooter video game for the XBox and Playstation gaming platforms. It is celebrated for its gameplay, graphics, and comedic value. In the game, players can choose between nine player "classes", categorized into offense, defense and support roles. The heavy class player or "Heavy" is a stereotypical Russian character, depicted as a big brute with a heavy accent. He is obsessed with his guns and chomps on a cigar. He serves the role of heavy artillery. He can sustain more damage than any other class, but he is slow moving, owing to his carrying a minigun.

The sanvich functions as a healthpack for the heavy class player. It never runs out, but it replaces the Heavy's shotgun weapon during consumption. When eaten, it provides 120 health points and leaves the Heavy completely vulnerable for 4 seconds. To make matters worse, during those four seconds, the Heavy' produces chewing sounds that give away his position.

No matter the term, I find that properly made sandwiches balance taste and texture. They can highlight specific ingredients. They can be as equally messy to eat as satisfying.

Sandwich (neither sammich nor sanvich) Encyclopedia:
For examples of great sandwiches, head over to Esquire magazine's online sandwich encyclopedia. There you will find a somewhat dated listing (circa 2006) of the best places in the United States to buy a sandwich, but the list itself is a wonderful collection of sandwich variety. Be it the overstuffed Jewish-run deli Reuban, the authentic Italian porchetta, the herbal Vietnamese Bahn Mi, the fried French Monte Cristo, or the New Orleans Po' Boy, every time I go back to the listing, I find myself drooling.

And yes, when I get my fingers on a good sandwich, my sloppy chewing sounds will most likely give away my position!

This just in: Here's another great sandwich link from omglists.com. Linked is an illustrated list of 9 "underrated sandwiches." They Follow:

1. Po' Boy
2. Gyro
3. Dagwood
4. Banh Mi
5. Sloppy Joe
6. Fluffernutter
7. FalafelTorta
8. Croque Monsieur & Croque Madame.

These sandwiches are not underrated in my book. Currently, I am using the list as a checklist for sandwiches that I need to find, eat, and post pictures of to foodiePrints. So far, 3 down!

Like a lot of other foodies, I have a soft spot in my heart for sandwiches. From deli classics, like dagwoods, reubens, turkey and ham clubs, monte cristos, and muffulettas, to exotic Vietnamese Bahn Mi's, I've never met a sandwich that I didn't like. I adore freshly baked crusty loaves, carefully chosen cold cuts, savory cheeses, crisp vegetables, and conservatively applied condiments. It maybe the fine balance that classic sandwiches make between flavours and textures or the fact that sandwiches magically transform less than choice cuts of meat to something mouth-watering. Take for instance pastrami sandwiches. Pastramis is made from beef brisket, a cut of beef that is traditionally smoked to make it edible.

Imagine my happiness when I read a listing of Ottawa's Favourite sandwiches from the September 2007 issue of the Ottawa Home Magazine and realized that the sandwich shops listed offer only specialty sandwiches. Here is the list:

• DiRienzo's Grocery: 111 Beech Street(original location) - (613)729-4037 or 1121 Meadowlands Drive - (613)723-4664
• La Botegga Nicastro: 64 George Street - (613)789-7575
• La Gourmandise: 2200 Montreal Road - (613)842-9904
• Il Negozio Nicastro: 792 Bank Street(original location) or 1355 Wellington Street - (613)729-9100
• Pesto's Deli & Fresh Pasta: 471 Hazeldean Road - (613)836-5432

Save for La Gourmandise, the the restaurants listed specialize in Italian sandwiches. Personally, I'm interested in Pesto's Deli. According to the article by Laura Cummings, Pesto's Deli is owned by and run by the same family as Il Negozio Nicastro. Veal sandwich anyone?

For more details on the various sandwich purveyors, do pickup the issue of the Ottawa Home Magazine.