I’m a Yorkshire lad (pronounced York–sha) born and bred. Grew up eating scotch eggs and lard sarnies with crisps (chips) for Saturday (pronounced Sat-day) tea (evening meal).

So when I learned there was a British Butcher in town selling delights of my culinary childhood I was excited to visit.

The shop is located in North Vancouver (703 Queensbury Ave), a little off the beaten track, but is easy to find if you have a map. As soon as I walked in I noticed that it sells lots of meat products, pies as well as condiments and sweets (candy) from the mother land.

I was like a little kid who had been transported to their English youth. They sold Hula Hoops, which are crisps  in the shape of a band (like a wedding band) that you put on all your fingers and then bite them off. They sell English Mustard, like no other in the world. If you like wassabi you MUST try this, it’s amazing (my mum always brings me a jar from England when visiting).

They sell 36 different varieties of sausages. It was difficult to choose but I decided to be patriotic and buy the Yorkshire variety.

Then there was why I went, I had a craving for a Scotch egg. Put simply, imagine a circular lump of cooked sausage meet with a hard boiled egg in the middle, covered in bread crumbs, this is a Scotch egg. It was absolutely amazing. Great flavour and consistency, good quality meat, and was big enough for a small meal.

The one thing you realize when you visit the shop is how great the quality is of the products. On the website they say “we have found that it is not worth cutting corners to meet the demand as our customers have come to expect a high quality product”.

The website could do with a wee polish, but the food is first rate. Go there and spend lots and eat lots and then tell me how great it was.

Last Friday Steph and I were lucky enough to hit the Richmond Night Market with a bunch of our fellow foodists; we arrived with empty stomachs and we left stuffed with great food, on the verge of explosion. Starting with the first bite—which for me happened to be a BBQ pork skewer—everything was delicious and from Japanese Takoyaki to plain old corn-on-the-cob, there is something for everyone. Check it out: Friday, Saturday, and Sundays throughout summer, nestled at the foot of the Knight street bridge.

| Photo courtesy of Michael Yung

Thomas Haas – a name, that just until recently, was solely subject as an elusive element in my life. It is the name of a German-born man who now works locally as a pastry chef, a chocolate maker and all in all, a sensory seducer. I find it fascinating that one can glide so long in oblivion to something so enticing, and upon its accidental discovery, be suddenly seized by the immediate integration of its presence.

Last week, I wanted to surprise a companion of mine by breaking through his busy day with chocolate to serve as a momentary distraction. Knowing well of his sweet tooth and discriminating eye for design, I embarked on a lunch hour excursion to find him a blend of both. Urban Fare immediately became my initial destination, as they typically do well in featuring food products of both quality in taste and packaging design. So there I was, blowing through time and circling swiftly around their thick pillar of chocolate, when suddenly, my sight sunk on to a shelf of chocolate made by Thomas Haas. While trying to decide if my friend would like white, dark or something in between, I faintly recall him saying that he doesn’t eat a percentage of chocolate that scores better than him on a test. I grabbed the “Wild” bar at 67% and later, of course, learn that this would serve as a slight, albeit amusing insult.

The bar itself is made out of 45% Criollo and 55% Trinitario beans out of Bolivia, and the flavor profile promised brawny beans with nuances of banana and mango. Its design brazed bold and sober lines of colors in silver, brown and orange. I was impulsively sold.

Further to this introduction of epicurean serendipity, the following weekend had somehow weaved itself around a similar theme. Not only did I consistently continue to taste bits of this chocolate, but perhaps in retribution to my surprise delivery, I was driven out to the Thomas Haas cappuccino bar & Patisserie on Harbourside Drive in North Vancouver. Concealed to the side at the end of an industrial road, this is clearly a store that not only requires no advertising to gain attention, but no foot traffic to succeed in sales and flourish within its community. Indeed, a solid sign of quality work. While attempting to internalize my giddiness, my eyes glazed over the rows of truffles like honey. We went for one of each of their best sellers, which included the white chocolate ganache with fresh passion fruit filling, Tahitian vanilla beans and a splash of vodka, and the bittersweet dark chocolate ganache with delicate caramel and a touch of Fleur de Sel. As we bit into each truffle on our drive back home, we observed time slowly coming to a halt to capture the moment within. They were that good.

For after dinner, we brought back their award-winning Chocolate Sparkle Cookies that you bake yourself. Vij’s in South Granville also sells these and the Vancouver Sun called them “the best cookies in the world”. My verdict? Orgasm ensuing. Any further words here and I’ll have to pump you out a poem. I’ll be gracious and spare you the sappy sentiment, so long that you promise me to go on and explore.

Oh, and thank-you, Thomas Haas, for not working at Lindt.

Another little treasure from the same publisher was “Hugh Fearlessly Eats It All” weighing in at a whopping $5.00! This book has great articles on enjoying less popular treats such as junk food, hash brownies, brains, kidneys, fugu, trotter, sweetbreads* and yes, even reindeer. An entertaining read with a great big bag of humour being emptied onto the pages.

For $11.80, you will have some very tasty tidbits to enjoy! (All books found and purchased from Book Warehouse in Vancouver.)

*for Foodists interested in a dinner featuring Offal on July 7th, please see the Foodists Forum!

We just received a couple copies of a new book by Monica Ali titled In the Kitchen. I’m just reading it now, so stay tuned for a review, and we’re giving the other one away!

Coincidentally, the title is the same name as the previous incarnation of this blog, though I doubt there’s a connection. Anyway, as much as I like collecting cookbooks, they are not always engaging reading. Recent books on the topic of food I’ve rather enjoyed have been Heat by Bill Buford, My Life in France by Julia Child and of course Kitchen Confidential by none other than Anthony Bourdain to name but a few.

So, to the book.

Monica Ali brings readers into a rich and fascinating London subculture of the high octane world of the hospitality industry. She paints a vivid portrait of the immigrant workers who staff these restaurants and hotels and their personal hopes, histories and secrets they must conceal as they cook the food and make the beds for London’s elite. A better synopsis is available on the publisher’s website, though the story revolves around Gabriel Lightfoot, an executive chef ready to make his move on up. That is, until a worker is found dead in the kitchen’s basement and disturbs the tenuous balance of his life. I’m making it sound like a typical mystery novel, but in fact the book promises to be much deeper, human and interesting than that.

Okay, so how can you win this book? Comment on this post and tell us about your favourite book on the topic of food, in a food setting or with a plot or setting related to food. We’ll pick the winner whose desciption is the most compelling. Here’s a great related post by Nancy to get you started.

Where to shop in Vancouver - http://tr.im/foodistsmap

A long time ago, I posted a European Food Shopping Tour to Urban Vancouver. More recently, I’ve been comparing notes and figuring that it’s time to start sharing local sources of great ingredients.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that Anthony had never been to the Freybe Outlet Store, even though it’s a block and a half from his house. Or that I took James to Famous Foods for the first time.

Add in Ben’s post about his meat and patisserie run where he rattles off a slew of great places, and it’s all pushed me over the edge.

May I present to you the Great Ingredients Map of Vancouver:

View Great Ingredients of Vancouver by Foodists.ca in a larger map

For now, I’ve left the map fully editable by everyone. I’ve added in a couple of farmers markets, but we really need them all. Any other source of great ingredients is fair game – try and add a sentence or two to the description when you add an item to the map to let us know why we should go to a particular store.

For instance, you can go to Columbus Meats for the homemade smoked capicolla that Ben recommends, or you can go there to pick up some Belmont steaks.

Don’t limit yourself to “city limits”. If you’ve got a great farm gate grower to recommend, add them to the map. I’ve added Hopcott Meats out in Pitt Meadows, where you can see the cows and then go inside and buy the beef.

What are you waiting for? Go edit the map, or leave a rating/comment on it directly.

You ever have one of those Saturdays when a slot of time opens up and you can combine three or four things all at once? So it was this Saturday when I needed to go out and grab some sausages for Father’s Day, my daughter was napping with her mom and I had a need to fulfill some longstanding meat and pastry cravings. The perfect storm!

Somewhat hungry, I figured a good first stop would be to check out what has been known by many as the best Latin bakery in town, Panaderia Latina Bakery on Joyce just north of the Skytrain station (4906 Joyce Street). I’d first heard about it several years ago as the place to go for empanadas as well as some very fine patisserie. I’d made one or two half-hearted attempts to find the place in the past, but a recent write up in the Georgia Straight had it on my mind and now I knew where I was going.

Located in a crappy strip mall in an area I’ve never had to travel trough in all the years I’ve lived in this city, it’s incredibly easy to drive right by. Upon walking into the place it doesn’t look like much either, but take a moment to get acclimatized. Then the wonders behind the glass start to beckon. It’s filled with dulce de leche and vanilla patisserie cream laden delights. Yes, this stuff will kill you eventually, but each bite is like going to a sweet, flaky heaven. I took a mil hoja and another pastry I can’t recall the name of (it was a roll-like shape filled with creme with one end dipped in their homemade dulce de leche). I was going to eat tthe pastry first, but instead took the meat, potato and olive-filled empanada out to eat whiel making my way to the next destination. It was a thick, dense pastry that reminded me a little of a calzone and did double duty holding in the savory filling. I have no photos of this or the dessert for reasons you can easily imagine.

Conveniently, I’d just finished my empanada when I pulled up to Moccia Meat Market. I’d only recently heard about this place via this post on the Rouxbe blog. Thanks Dawn! Moccia is a small, family-owned Italian meat shop located in the 22oo block of East Hastings just slightly west of Nanaimo, a possibly more Italian strip than even Commercial Drive.

Unfortunately out of their fennel sausage I was hoping to try, I picked up a box of risotto balls, some of their Casatorie, natural smoked bacon and chicken sausages. While standing at the counter a small, handwritten sign said that their products are made with local, pasture raised, humanely treated and antibiotic free animals. Impressive. Equally so is the staff who were patient and extremely friendly. I could feel their pride and excitement about their products. They must have sensed my excitement too since they offered me a freshly made risotto ball while I was paying. A nice touch, and one that brought back childhood memories of getting a free cookie at the bakery! It was terrific, and completely validated my purchase of a box, conveniently frozen and a no-brainer to pop in the oven and serve as an appetizer one night. I may not even let on I didn’t make them!

Somewhat reluctantly, I left Moccia heading west to hit Gourmet Warehouse to pick up a Father’s Day gift. Normally, I go in there to buy myself presents, but this time it really wasn’t for me. I was there specifically for a few bottles of Ronnie & Denzel’s Natural Champions BBQ Sauce. I have to say, aside from the fact this is award-winning sauce from two award-winning guys, it’s also packing we designed so is very close to my heart and extra special to give. Couldn’t resist and grabbed some Nando’s garlic peri peri and a can of Nomu smoky peri peri rub for myself because I couldn’t resist, and was out of both (think alder smoked peri peri beer can chicken).

My final stop was Columbus Meats at 1655 Renfrew Street for their homemade smoked capicolla. It comes in mild and spicy versions though I prefer the mild as it’s more versatile in the kitchen. With a gentle smoky flavour, and a deep complexity that’s difficult to articulate (hmmm, an odd thing to say on a blog about food!), there’s just something magical about it. In some ways I prefer this level of smoked flavour, and the subtlety of it to the big, distinctive trademark smoke of Commercial Drive favourite, JNZ Deli’s, cured meats. I’ve chopped up and fried this capicolla to use with sautéed local asparagus, in roasted potatoes with shallots, on eggs and just plain on a charcuterie plate with or without the sweet and spicy Honeycup Mustard I still rank as my absolute favourite. Grabbed a few fresh fennel sausages on my way out the door.

And that was my Saturday afternoon. I arrived home to find my daughter still asleep and my appreciative wife hungry enough for the empanada and mil hoja I brought her.

I’ve read good things about Cioffi’s though don’t recall ever having been there. Other good sausage places worth checking out are Bosa and Oyama as well as Polonia Sausage for homemade Polish sausages. I’m curious to hear other opinions on Vancouver’s best places for charcuterie, fresh and cured meats. Tell me not just where you go, but what you buy. Do share!

It seemed like not very much time passed between hearing about Social Bites, meeting Annika and Jules asking me to be her sous-chef in the next dinner. That momentum carried over to choosing a theme based on our travels (how about Mediterranean?), menu creation (ok, we need phyllo, meatballs, olives and what else?) into the main event where all our prep and practice time seemed to evaporate. But we were confident regardless.

That is, I was confident until Jules told me I was in charge of the pastry. For anyone who knows my baking ability, putting me in charge of pastry is a sure way to ruin something, but she had already been working for hours on making the meatballs, phyllo filling and Romesco sauce so I couldn’t really argue. Besides, she was the chef, so I rolled out the pastry with trepidation.

In the end it all came together even better than we could have hoped. We set the patio table outside with a red-checked tablecloth and tumblers for wine glasses and if there had been a matronly Italian woman hanging out her laundry across the way it would have looked just like a trattoria I ate at in Rome.

There were almonds and olives to snack on and when the first guests were settled in, we brought out the food; Spanish albondigas (meatballs) with green olives, grilled courgettes and aubergines with Romesco sauce, and modified spanikopitas with a lemony spinach and walnut filling. This was followed by an arugula salad topped with proscuitto, roasted hazelnuts, and shaved manchego cheese.

Of course there was also a lot of wine and after the second guests were sated, we all headed to Xoxolat for dessert. There we tasted Criollo and cacao, had a chocolate lesson and finished with decadent hot chocolate while Annika announced the winners, Cliff and Brenda. It was so much fun and I’m already trying to figure out how to do it again. Her next neighbourhoods of choice are the West End/Coal Harbour or Main Street, so if you know any chefs who live in the area, make sure you get them to sign up.

The fledgling stages (Click to Enlarge)

Sure there are those packets of ready made risotto but nothing beats making it from scratch yourself. Fellow Foodists Colin has written about his Best Risotto Ever (and the amended New Best Risotto Ever), and I revisited those for inspiration but wanted to do partake in something a little more my level (not that I’m not going to try his recipes soon). I had made a lemon asparagus risotto a few weeks ago and after having asparagus overload for a few weeks wanted to try another seasonal variation.

Once you’ve mastered a risotto base it’s fairly easy take it in a variety of different directions. My introduction to a basic risotto was by way Jamie Oliver and since then have freed myself from the recipe (always an important step!).

Last night’s variation was to prepare an avocado and vine tomato salsa that was folded as the last step.

Avocados salsa (click to enlarge)

Avocado Salsa (measured for 1 1/2 cups of Arborio rice)
3 avocados (diced)
A handful of vine tomatos (diced)
1/2 Shallot (diced)
1 Lime juiced

Prep the salsa ahead of time and just fold it in and you’ve got a great summer risotto. I actually made this with just two avocados and it was a little light so increased the recipe above to three. This particular recipe needed something else to top it off. Perhaps some bacon or pancetta? Maybe next time, but for now I just popped a nice bottle of La Frenz.

The finished product (click to enlarge)

But all this was last night and after cooking a pretty healthy batch of risotto I was left with lots to use the next day. I remember hearing once that pan frying risotto was a great use of any leftovers so set out to give it a whirl. My original plan was to make risotto cakes but that plan fell apart as quickly as my cakes so ended up by just stir frying some. Served it up with shaved parmesan and fresh parsley and it hit the spot almost as well as the original serving!

Refried the next day (click to enlarge)

I’ve been playing around with different ways to finish and flavour the risotto, but always work from the same base. Any suggestions for some variations to the basic risotto recipes?

Our friend Natalie MacLean—a dedicated “Foodist”, wine expert, and author of the wildly popular Nat Decants website
www.nataliemaclean.com—has just released Canada’s first wine & food mobile application.

Aptly named Nat Decants Drinks Matcher, the application boasts 380,000+ pairings in your pocket, allowing wine and food lovers to discover new pairings using their smartphone, whether they’re in the liquor store or a restaurant!

The Nat Decants Drinks Matcher is only $2.99 and can quickly be downloaded from the online stores for iPhone/iPod Touch or BlackBerry. For a quick demo about how the app works, visit www.nataliemaclean.com/mobilematch

Maybe it’s time for Foodists.ca to release a mobile app, hey?

My sister invited me out this afternoon for this so-called giant takoyaki ball. Not only was the idea of eating interesting, but the mention of these Japanese-style fritters being served out of a van in Richmond certainly got my attention. After a few U-turns, we managed to find this inconspicuous van, (it was actually a little trailer) parked on a empty lot across RONA.

Immediately, we were both were delighted by the simplicity of the operation. Tenku Bakudanyaki has no seating, just a little tent to eat under.

Each bakudanyaki costs 500 cents (yes, it says 500 cents on the menu) and is baked with seven main ingredients: cabbage, shrimp, octopus, squid, quail egg, rice cake, and sausage. The difference between these tasty morsels is the sauce and toppings. After ordering an original for myself and a pizza for my sister, we waited roughly three minutes and were presented with a fist-sized bakudanyaki in a little cute Chinese take-out box. It was beautifully sprinkled with bonito flakes, seaweed, and drizzled with our chosen sauces. Napkin and chopsticks tucked in on the side.

Though everything tasted great, I found that mine had too much mayo and it was overpowering the other ingredients. Still, we ended up leaving with smiles on our faces and our jeans stretched.

Open 7 days a week from 12:00pm – 9:30pm, this relatively unknown set up is located on a parking lot between Gilbert Road and Elmbridge Way. It’s perfect for anyone wanting something a little different.

When we moved into our current home there was a little corner store / coffee shop run by Mario and Maria, an older Portugese couple. About six months later they closed so the building could be renovated. No one ever expected it to be a 26 month hiatus. Not too long ago they returned, converting the corner store to more of a coffee shop.

Personally, I still find the coffee a bit harsh, but Maria makes these unbelievable Portugese egg custard tarts. Available every day, these little three-bite wonders are perfect, flakey pastry with just a little give and filled with a sweet, smooth, almost brulé-like yellow egg custard. The edges are carmelized just a little, almost burnt, but not quite which adds yet another dimension of flavour and texture.

I’ve always been a sucker for custard, and the most accessible egg tarts in this city are the Asian ones. Usually these are not as sweet and the consistency is varied. I’ve not found one I can definitively say I’m fully enamoured with. Not so here. I can’t help myself, and though I can usually avoid getting one on alternate weekends, it’s not uncommon for one of these morsels to be the secret impetus for a short stroll with my daughter. Oh, and they’re only $1.25 each. A pittance for such amazing home baking though you’ll need at least two if you’re hoping to savour them throughout your cup of coffee.

At the risk of demand outstripping supply, and against my better judgement, I’ll share the location: Dias Coffee Shop, corner of Commercial Street and East 20th in Vancouver. Best get there early, and before me.

Recently my wife purchased a spiral vegetable slicer made by Paderno World Cuisine. Last night I thought I would try it out. It is so easy to use and the results were fun. The slicer gives raw veggies a whole new interest.

I took a beet that was going a little soft and one zucchini and made veggie spaghetti out of them using the slicer. Next I made a dressing from extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and honey and finished the dish with roasted sesame seeds.

A great raw starter or snack on a sunny day. Simple, tasty and very quick (less than five minutes).

There’s something about being able to grill anywhere that’s imminently appealing to me. Add in some sweet design and you may have a winner. To me, portable grills are also more than just about being mobile and great alternatives for people with limited space, or have issues storing a grill. Why deny yourself the delicious and savoury delights that come from charring up meat on a warm summer evening? Why I ask? And better yet, charcoal imparts a completely different flavour dimension than a gas grill. Trust me.

Granted, there’s a bit more clean up with coals, but you can’t have everything. Well, you can sort of since Weber and Napoleon for example both make excellent portable gas grills that I would not be embarrassed to own had I not strong-armed my wife into allowing me to plant a Weber Genesis 320 on her/our minimalist small patio!

Well designed products are for me always more pleasurable to use. This notebook grill available at local design retailer Vancouver Special is very cool. It sure would not take up much space and be easy to carry that’s for sure. I like it. No idea if it’s any good, or will last. Plus, you still have to haul all your food and coals to wherever you are going. My personal preference is actually for the Cobb.

In addition to being extremely portable, you can also store the coals in it (it only takes 5-10 briquettes for up to three hours of cooking time), and if you’re inventive you can even pre-load your food into it, pop it into the carry case and take it all with you. Only the dome gets hot when you are cooking so it can sit atop even a plastic table and is easy to move around should you need to make a little extra room on the picnic table to butcher your meat.

I know fellow Foodists Jer and Kevin both have Cobbs now. Anyone else?

I like watermelon. No two ways about it. And when the warm weather arrives and summer is around the corner, I find myself drawn to the cool, juicy, sweet fruit and start experimenting with ways to serve it. Last year I was all over scallop ceviche with minted watermelon and coconut foam (delicious!), but this year I’ve been whipping up a simpler version as a savoury side salad. It’s so easy to make and people love it.

Cut red seedless watermelon into 1″ cubes, chiffonade equal parts basil and mint (how much is up to you), sprinkle on some sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, add some crumbled goat feta cheese and drizzle the whole mess with the best olive oil you can find (I used Renato Fenochio available from Farmstead Wines).  That’s it! Melon, herb, S&P, feta and oil. Done! Serve chilled.

What’s your favourite quick summer salad secret?