Well, another foodiePrint went up on Ottawa Tonite. Its subject: Petit Bill's Bistro's annual Newfie Night Dinner."

Here is a screen capture for posterity:

Dining in Newfoundland Tradition: Newfie Night at Petit Bill?s Bistro

To re-iterate, Jenn and I had great fun and enjoyed our dishes. We shared the cod tongues and pickerel cheeks appetizers. I had the Jigg's dinner for my main and figgy Duff, lassy mogs, and jam jams for dessert. Jenn, the rabbit stew and the Newfie pound cake for dessert.

Also, after we posted the entry, Melissa Dimock of Refashionista (@refashionista) exclaimed on Twitter how familiar she was with the dishes served. She even forwarded me a link to her Great Grandmother's recipe for Molasses Cookies. She, a maritimer hailing from Nova Scotia, says they make great jam jams.

I think jam jams using Melissa's Great Grandmother's cookies will be this year's Christmas cookie. Stay tuned for my attempt :)

Particulars:
Petit Bill?s Bistro
1293 Wellington Street W.
(613)729-2500

More after the jump...

Two nights ago the foodiePrints team, under our day job guises, attended the United Way (Centraide) Ottawa's Schmoozefest charity fundraiser for 2009. A "schmoozefest", as is described on the United Way's website, is an "opportunity to network with leaders from local businesses, government, and community." Promoters on both Twitter and FaceBook billed it as the networking event to attend of the year.

It is no wonder, that evening, organizers gathered together a large variety of VIPS (Very Important Persons) to feature. Here is a subset from the list given to attendees:

• Ion Aimers: Founder and Owner of The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro
• Michael Blackie: Executive Chef of the National Arts Centre
• Jason Burke: Directro and CFO of IBM's Analytics and Performance Management IBM
• Candace Derickx: Co-owner Best Tools for Schools
• Max Keeping: Vice President News and News at 6 Anchor of CTV Ottawa
• Robert Lane: Co-Founder of Overlay.TV
• Jame McCracken: Director of Education and Secretary Treasurer of the Ottawa Catholic School Board
• Tuan Nguyen: President of Ottawahealth.com
• Darren Nippart: Managing Director of Accenture

The event was held at Lago Bar-Grill-View at the Dow's Lake Pavilion and was hosted by the United Way's "Next Generation Cabinet."

After the event was announced, approximately a month ago, I decided to buy a ticket. I wanted to take the opportunity to meet Candace Derickx, half of the amazing business team who launched and operates Best Tools for Schools. Best Tools for Schools is an ingenious concept that creates a much needed service for parents of school-aged children to supply them with an approved set of school supplies. Inside a Best Tools for Schools "kit" is a year's worth of writing implements, art supplies (crayons, markers and glue), rulers (geometry sets for older children), notebooks, and paper that a student will need. Best Tools for Schools literally eliminates the anxiety and frustration that come from wandering in the back to school "war zones" at large retail stores.

Jenn eventually decided to join me to promote her work in an evening math school, Spirit of Math. Spirit of Math is devoted to equipping children with effective problem solving skills and reinforcing concepts taught in regular day school. I have found the program actually expands on the regular Ontario curriculum, filling a much needed gap when it comes to developing an approach to solving word problems and learning more complex math. Having attended several open-houses, I am continually amazed by the sheer enthusiasm the program cultivates in students and the abilities students as young as 6 years old develop. Had I been enrolled in such a program as a child, I think it would have given me the tools to have struggled less and learned more as I went on to high school and university.

When we arrived at Lago, Jenn and I were literally shocked by the sheer number of young professionals seemingly mingling together. Besides offering the opportunity to "mix it up" with others in our respective fields and exchange contact information, there were also silent and live auctions of donated items from local United Way supporters. Items included sessions at various spas, gift certificates to fine dining restaurants, weekend stays at hotels, author signed books, tickets to sporting events, signed sports memorabilia, rounds of golf at local courses, and bottles of wine.

Lago provided complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a $100 gift certificate for the silent auction. Hors d'oeuvres included vegetarian Vietnamese spring rolls; skewered tandoori chicken; chopped tomato caprese tarts, topped with feta; and phyllo wrapped spinach and cheese packages. There was also a cash bar where a glass of coke and red wine ran us $13, $3 and $10 respectively. Happily, the bartenders were very pleasant to deal with, even though they were often overwhelmed by the large number of "schmoozers" going to the bar.

All in all, I found the experience positive, coming home with a dozen business cards, scribbled phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and twitter handles. I did however find that attendees grouped themselves clique-ishly, spending the majority of the evening banded together. Several VIPS like James McCracken also came late and spent their time with United Way staff. To fill the gap, a number of equally recognizable non-VIPS made themselves accessible. They included Susan Murphy, one of Ottawa's social media luminaries and co-owner of Jester Creative; Sean Fitzpatrick, co-owner of Petit Bill's Bistro; and Dennis Van Staalduinen, brand expert and founder of Brandvelope Consulting.

After the event, attendees were given a "swag bag"

Schmoozefest Swag Bag
Mine included a Schmoozefest branded waiter's cork screw, an Accenture branded pen, Royal Bank branded post-it notes, United Way branded anti-bacterial hand sanitizer and a $10 gift certificate to Lago. The ringed notebook is a United Way Journal that most of us who participated in a balloon draw received.

Jenn bid on and won the Stephen Beckta gift certificates in the silent auction.

Gift Certificates Signed by Stephen Beckta
You can expect foodiePrint-style reviews of both Beckta Dining and Wine and Play Food and Wine in the near future.

Speaking of which, Jenn and I are excited to attend next year's Schmoozefest. Though, next year, we encourage United Way Ottawa to add ice-breaker activities and include Twitter-handles on name tags. The ice-breakers can encourage more intermingling. The Twitter-handles will allow more of us to put faces to some of the tweeps we follow. In fact, Jenn and I spent a portion of our time trying to match faces to Twitter avatars from memory.

Update: This entry has been cross posted on Ottawa Tonite.

Particulars:
Lago Bar & Grill View
1001 Queen Elizabeth Dr
(613)235-5246

I woke up atypically early this morning, so I decided to check the blogs I subscribe to via RSS on Google Reader before breakfast. A new piece from Ottawa Citizen's food writer Rone Eade popped up. When last I e-mailed him, he replied that he was going to this past Wednesday's BC Scene event, hosted by Whistler's Gold Medal Plate recipient Chef Melissa Craig and Ottawa's own Chef Michael Blackie. Given that I couldn't fit tickets to the event at the National Arts Center (NAC) ($120/ticket) into this month's budget, I have been eager to read Eade's determinations.

Between the plates of "Okanagan Pear Mousse, Agassis Hazelnut Ganache Hemp Seed Nougatine, and Ice Wine Elderflower Jelly" and "Duck Confit Sage Dumplings, Wild Mushroom Duck Broth and Fresh Asparagus", my yogurt and granola breakfast didn't quite satisfy. I vaguely remember Fettuccine's on Elgin serving duck confit ravioli years ago, but Chef Craig's looked spectacular.

Afterward, to my surprise and sheer delight, I found a foodiePrint above the BC Scene piece.

Seafood Poutine
Source: Captured from Ottawa Citizen's Omnivore's Ottawa

He even quoted me (Don "the blogger") on why I thought Allium's seafood poutine superior than Le Petit Bill's, which Eade blogged about earlier this week.

To Ron Eade, many thanks for the mention! Cheers!

BTW, for those of us who follow you on Twitter, it is not difficult to guess what restaurant will be hosting your inaugural supper club dinner. I've a feeling that the glass of wine with the 12 course meal is generously contributed by the restaurant you've chosen. Though I'm dying to try what wonders its executive chef or his staff will make with that "well traveled" grill, I look forward to the next dinner.

During our visit to Le Petit Bill's Bistro last week, an item on the tasting menu had us discussing the virtues of choosing artisanal bread for dishes. The tasting menu was meant to celebrate the bistro's first birthday. The menu item that had us discussing bread was a two ways serving of lobster: bisque and creamed. The creamed lobster was served on a rather stale piece of pan fried rye bread. It was an unfortunate dish. Were the bistro to have employed fresh artisanal white bread such as a baguette, the base of the creamed lobster dish would have been lighter. It would have fried up crisper, and it would have been slightly more resilient to handling. Instead, we found ourselves thinking about requesting a knife and board to cut through the soggen slice of toughness. I spent so much effort chewing that the lobster flavor was completely lost to me.

I strongly recommend the chef re-think bread-based servings and consider the texture, flavor, and aroma that comes from artisanal bread.

When it comes to artisanal bread, my thoughts immediately goto one bakery and the oft-sought after skills of its master baker, Kevin Mathieson. During the past 2 years, it has become difficult pickup a foodie magazine in Ottawa without seeing some mention of Mathieson, his wife Stéphanie, or his Art-is-in bakery. I first read about this bread virtuoso in the November 2006 edition of the Ottawa magazine. He had just closed up shop in the Thyme & Again catering kitchens on Wellington and started a venture with Chef Robert Bourassa, former executive chef of Café Henry Burger, in Hull.

Today, Art-is-in baked goods are prized commodities and grace the shelves in many stores. According to its website, Mathieson's hand crafted wares can be found year round at Thyme and Again, the Ottawa Bagel Shop, Il Negozio Nicastro (Wellington West location), Epicuria, Jacobsons, and Pastina (Gatineau). From May to October, Art-is-in bread is sold at the Ottawa Farmer's Market at Landsdowne Park. Of course, you will also be served Art-is-in bread when you visit Beckta, Social, Juniper, and Le Café (National Art Center).

According to dictionary.com, the following is a definition of an artisan

a person skilled in an applied art; a craftsperson

What does an artisan's bread look like? It looks like this:

Art-is-in Display at the Ottawa Bagel Shop

Potato Onion Bread

Sliced

Amazing Texture

The experience Mathieson developped from working in New York, Monaco, and Paris shows and you can taste it. A slice of Art-is-in bread betrays the expert care taken to work and raise the dough. Just try holding a slice of factory-made bread to the light. Art-is-in bread's taste reflects the organic flour used and the fact that Mathieson takes two days to bake it: 1 day to develop a mature pre-ferment and the next, to work, score, and bake it.

As the Art-is-in entry on ottawfoodies.com site states, "every time you pick up a loaf of bread from Art-is-in, you are not disappointed." They're absolutely right. The bread carries a well developed flavour and exceptional texture. Most importantly, it is fresh, usually baked the morning of.

Can you live on bread and water alone? No, but artisanal bread once in a while enriches the soul.

One of the proudest entries I have ever posted on foodiePrints is the write up of a sneak preview dinner at Le Petit Bill's Bistro (1293 Wellington St.). It was one of my first restaurant-related entries. One of the most interesting aspects were its circumstances. One Friday afternoon, my better half and I happened by the location of the soon to be opened Le Petit Bill's. An owner, Terry, saw us peeking through the window and welcomed us in. Seeing an virgin reservation book, we asked to eat there that night.

A year later, Jenn and I were again on our way to the grocery store when we happened by a flier advertising Le Petit Bill's anniversary dinner in the restaurant's window. Terry again saw us through the window. He invited us in. He gave us a copy of the flier to take with us, and, we made reservations to attend. Besides, how many foodies can turn down a 5-course tasting menu?

Here's the signage that appeared in front of the restaurant the evening of the dinner:

Signage

Here's the menu:

Menu

Here are my determinations:

First Course
Our menu described the first course as being garnished with a mustard sprout and herb aioli. We found the sprout. If the aioli were present, it was just as discernible to the palette as it was to the eye. Conversely, the Waldorf Timbale was apparent. True to its namesake, its apples were sweet, but tart. Its half piece of walnut provided a nutty crunch. Its intention was likely to cut the savoriness of the ostrich. Unfortunately, whatever texture or flavour contrast was intended were lost to an unyielding piece of ostrich.

Ostrich meat is red, so serving it as sashimi is a novel idea. However, it would have been better served sliced thinly across the grain. This way, each slice mimicks more traditional tuna sashimi, which falls apart in the mouth. There is a reason that the classic steak tartare is thoroughly chopped. You cannot expect your diner to bite through a quarter inch thick piece of ostrich meat. I had to swallow mine almost whole. My better didn't fair so well.

Second Course
Yarmouth lobster is lobster that hails from a major fishing town in Nova Scotia. According to wikipedia.net, Yarmouth is sometimes called "The Gateway to Nova Scotia." My question: Why would anyone use lobster from a reputable source to make such unremarkable preparations? Overcooked lobster, served in an overpowering cream sauce, on stale fried bread was the first preparation. Soggy bread, hard (impossible to bite through) crust, and tough lobster meat make a mediocre dish, bordering on bad. The better tasting of the two preparations was the vanilla lobster bisque. This was more because it confused my palate. While it is not unknown to sauce lobster with dairy flavoured with vanilla, the high concentration of vanilla in the bisque made it a peculiar complement.

Third Course
This de-constructed cannelloni includes a slice of buffalo mozzarella, a red pepper sauce (seasoned with parmesan), and two squares of fresh pasta. It was finished with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Sweet, sharp, and savory, it was pleasant compared to the previous courses.

BTW, while I am not Italian, isn't the point of Cannelloni to serve rolls of thin pasta, stuffed with a savory filling? Two squares of stacked pasta, fresh or otherwise, do not make a roll. Perhaps, the dish should have been renamed: open face ravioli?

Palette cleanser
The palette cleanser was by far the best part of the tasting menu. Consisting of a lime-basil sorbet and carbonated Elderflower water, it is a brilliant take on the classic root beer float. Because it was served in a thin champagne flute, you eat/drink your sorbet as you inhale the scent of elder flowers. The scent, carried by bubble of CO2 escaping, was heady and sweet. The tartness from the limes indeed cleansed the palette for the final two courses.

My only previous culinary reference for Elderflower was a champagne that was made by Hugh Fernley Whittingstall on an installment of River Cottage. This sorbet was a particular treat for me because, when elderflowers are in bloom, my allergies ususally prevent my enjoying their scent.

Fourth Course
With Easter just past and Thanksgiving upcoming, I looked forward to this dish to provide novel inspiration. I was disappointed by what was essentially a re-worked frozen turkey dinner. Instead of shaved turkey breast, I was served a roulade-type preparation with embedded pieces of shitake mushrooms. Happily, it was tender, but slightly dry. The gravy tasted authentic, likely owing to it coming from real pan juices. Instead of scalloped potatoes, the turkey was accompanied by a potato pave (gratin by another name) whose only distinct flavour came from the scant shavings of truffle. Everything was accompanied by a roasted heirloom carrot. Passable, yes. Great, no.

Fifth Course
The chocolate mousse was light and rich as a mousse should be. It was served with a tart raspberry puree and a fresh raspberry on top. Both cut the richness of the chocolate and provided a punctuated fruity sweetness.

Jenn was served a slice of blueberry pie instead of the chocolate mousse. According to her, the filling was made from local blueberries. They were sweet and fresh. The crust was slightly dense, but flaky and buttery.

Unfortunately, better executed desserts do not redeem a meal whose best part was a palate cleanser. On the bright side, Terry actually recognized me and my order from a year ago: a bison burger. Apparently, the bison burger is no longer on the menu.

I guess I'll check back in another year...

Cost of 2 tasting menus, drinks, and taxes: $87.15

The owners' business cards follow after the jump:

More after the jump...