Burgers ...on the Brain

I was still in London and Emma and I had been checking out on-line the places that the Food Network show "You Gotta Eat Here" had covered.  There were two places:  Relish and Prince Albert Diner.  We had a plan that once we were not dieting we would indulge in some 'You Gotta Eat Here' places.  Both the London restaurants are burger places so we had burgers on our mind.

However, afer shopping for hours we were famished and no where near downtown where the two 'You Gotta Eat Here' places are.  Compromise was required because it was almost 2pm, and I most especially, was starving (perhaps I should not have declined the "delicious" spinach shake Emma had offered me for breakfast (pardon me while I throw up in my mouth a little bit).  Here is the face of evil as I corrupt Emma from her raw and only healthy food diet.

Serendipitously ... as we pulled out of the plaza, there was a brand new burger joint:  Union Burger "UB".  And for almost 2pm, the place was pretty busy -- a definite good sign.  So we agreed we'd check it out.  After all, we were already thinking of burgers all weekend.

At UB, you get your choice of beef (ahhh sigh ... cow meat ... sad face) or grilled chicken, you can order it on a bun or as a wrap and you can load it up with tons of toppings of your choice.  They also have about 6 specialty burgers ... I chose the 'Great Canadian' beef burger which comes with thick cut peameal bacon and cheddar cheese.  Emma picked the 'Peppercorn' beef burger which comes with cracked black pepper, caramelized onions, lettuce, whiskey bar-b-que sauce and goat cheese.  Emma also got the pickles and kalamata olives on the side.

They make all the burgers to order so you have to wait for them to cook.  This joint is licenced so, if you want, you can enjoy a beer while you're waiting for your food.  I was driving back to my folks within a hour or so so it was fountain pop for us on this day.

My burger was delicious; they were not joking that the peameal bacon was definitely thick cut so there was good smoky salty bacon flavour in every bite.  The peameal bacon was not dry and the beef burger was moist and flavourful.  It was not greasy and the bun was soft with a nice crispy outside.  Emma said the peppercorn burger was not overly peppery but there were occasional peppery bites.

We also shared one order of fries which are hand-cut and delicious.  Emma claimed the fries were 'cold' but she's prone to over-exaggeration (I mean seriously the 2 bedroom suite at the Delta Chelsea was NOT disgusting!  Seriously ... over-exaggeration!).  The fries were warm but not hot.  But they were still delicious and between the two of us, we could not finish all this food.

Definitely a decent burger and way better than fast food.  For the moment UB joints are located primarily in southwestern Ontario ... so I'll have to keep watching to see if they open a franchise closer to Ottawa to check it out.  In the end, I think it was a great compromise from Prince Albert or Relish ... which we think are basically college hang out places ... you can't trust the opinions of drunken college kids trying to scarf some massive amounts of fried foods at 3am.  Been there ... done that.

On the Patio

So after sufficient recovery time from my over-over-indulgence at the mess a couple of weeks ago (free beer all night ... I ask you what's a girl to do???), I was finally ready to get back up on the drinking horse when I was visiting Emma in London over the long weekend.  It was such a gorgeous night and we definitely knew we wanted to hit a patio and she had two suggestions ... both pubs.  She was at one the night before, so we settled on the other one:  The Coates of Arms downtown.  And of course, for me, this was perfect not only for beer, but also for my two favourite things to eat: nachos and wings.

Things didn't start off that well.  We first both ordered 'Mad Tom' beer by Muskoka Brewery.  We were both excited to try something new and different from this micro-brewery.  The waitress delivered beer to several other tables while we waited, but no beer for us.  She did apologize, telling us that the Mad Tom was in 'the other fridge' and the bartender just had to go get it.  Finally, when it arrived, dripping wet, we took our first sips and found the beer warm.  On a hot night on the patio there was no way we could be drinking warm beer.  So we sent it back ... which was really unfortunate because after just one warm sip, we both thought it would be good ... if only cold.  Clearly the bartender had jammed the beers in bucket of ice for 5 or 10 minutes because the bottom of the bottle felt cool.  Anyway, we had to just grab a pitcher of Keiths (probably with waitress spit included!).

With cold beer finally in our hands, on to the food.  The Coates of Arms has nachos topped with pulled pork, chicken and beef chili on the side as well as all the usual toppings and including avacado (yum!!).  And as I always say to Emma:  what's better than one kind of meat?  Three kinds of meat obviously!!!  Speaking of meat, I'm big time diggin' the "cow meat" right now ... it's totally awesome (especially the Korean kind).

But back to our nachos.  This was the first time I've ever had pulled pork on nachos ... and it was really good.  It added a smoky deep barbeque flavour.  The chili was not spicy but lots of jalepenos added to the nose running factor.  Unfortunately, the avacado was a bit underripe and somewhat rubbery so we didn't get the creamy texture that it should have added but it was easy to put aside.  And I love those red corn chips.  What's in those red corn chips anyway?  Emma suggested that it's red dye number 03.  LOL.  Anyway, things had definitely improved from the warm beer start.  And according to Emma, these nachos were WAY better than the ones she'd had the night before on the other patio.  Since she eats healthy all the time, when she breaks her routine she wants something totally satisfying and indulgent which the nachos from The Coates of Arms were.

Next, on the the wings.  These are just standard pub fare wings.  Frank's Red Hot sauce.  But they were well cooked, spicy and yummy.  Nothing special but totally delicious and exactly what you expect from a pub when you order them.

We finished cowing down all this food, at which point the waitress redeemed herself by telling us she couldn't believe that we had eaten it all because we're so little.  Now, Emma is TINY  ... and I'm a lot of things, but little is not one of them!!!  It was the second time this weekend that I was called little.  Strange things going on in the universe!

We were actually contemplating ordering the deep fried pickles.  Another one of my absolute favourite pub yums.  Many people around us were having them, and ... how cute ... they were served in a big martini glass.  In the end I had to be firm ... and say no.  I was riding my 'little' moniker high!

Our evening had definitely improved and we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves and taking tons of pictures of us together ... which takes a lot more skill than you might imagine ... trying to press the tiny button while not looking like you are concentrating on pushing the tiny button and turning the camera so that we don't look like we're sitting on a teeter-totter.  We finally managed to get a couple of good shots including what I think is the best picture of the two of us that we've ever taken ... in our 16 years of friendship.



Cupcake Update

So a few days after I made my now world famous (hey, if its famous in my world ... its world famous!) vanilla cupcakes with blueberry butter cream icing we had a bake sale at work to raise money for the cutest little boy that has cystic fibrosis.  Well wouldn't you know it, someone had brought in two dozen professionally made cupcakes.  What flavour you might ask?  Chocolate cupcakes with blueberry icing!  Everyone is snapping up my ideas!!!  As a matter of fact, Caitlin had suggested to me that I make chocolate cakes with the blueberry butter cream but I thought the vanilla cakes would be much better.  But now, here was my chance to check out chocolate/blueberry combo.

The chocolate cupcake was definitely good.  It was moist with a rich chocolatey flavour.  The icing was not nearly as purple in colour as mine and the flavour of blueberry, if it was there at all, was very subtle.  Obviously it was a much nicer decorating job than I had made of mine ... I guess I still need more practice.  They really did look very nice and generally were very good. I just would have liked a more intense berry flavour.  But the blueberry chocolate combination would be totally do-able.

Blueberry icing colour and design comparison:

I do really love the baker's business cards!  Super cute idea to have her caricature on the card.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Skor Bits Icing

Well its been a few days ... it must be time for another cupcake fix, right?  It was Bonnie's birthday this past week, so I asked her what kind of cupcakes she wanted me to make for her.  Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing.  How boring I thought. So I started making suggestions of how we could 'enhance' the frosting with some flavour!  After tossing around a few ideas we decided on adding some Skor bits.  My thought was that the Skor should be incorporated into the cake but Bonnie thought it would be good just added to the icing. So that's what we settled on.

On the day of her birthday we ordered a whack-load of Thai food from Siam Bistro on Wellington Street in Hintonburg.  We invited our dear friends Andrew and John over to help us eat the Thai food.  The food was delicious, and then for dessert, champagne and cupcakes.

For the chocolate cupcakes, I used a version of the recipe that consistently gets rated by bloggers and bakers as their favourite 'moist' chocolatey cake.   And I agree, the cupcakes are definitely moist and chocolately.  And the recipe is really simple - literally dump all the ingredients together and mix!  When I tasted them after they were baked, they totally brought back memories of my childhood.  I am sure that this is my most favourite chocolate cake that I loved as a kid, that my mom always made for me for my birthday.  Here is the recipe that I used.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Fill muffin pans with liners.
Sift dry ingredients together into mixing bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat with a mixer for about two minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Add the boiling water and beat, just until blended.  Beware!  This mixture is RUNNY!
Pour or ladle into paper lined muffin tins.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until the centre of the cupcakes spring back when touched.

Kitchen porn shot:
My boisenberry KitchenAid mixer.  Loves it!!!!

To be honest, I was really hoping that I wouldn't love this recipe.  Frankly, the batter was so runny it is messy to work with.  It was dripping all over the counter and cupcake pans, by the time I got the cupcakes filled, there was as much batter all over the place as in the cupcake papers.  But, damn it, it was really really good.

Yes, the cake really is that dark chocolatey colour.  I had the idea to incorporate the Skor bits by sprinkling them on the hot from the oven cakes, which ... in theory should have been delicious.  But it just didn't work out the way I envisioned it.  There were Skor bits all over the counter, the board, the floor (the dogs helped clean that up).  It was a mess and they didn't seem to be melting enough to stick to the cake.  So I gave up after trying it on a few.

Now that they are cool, time for the icing.  I just used the regular butter cream icing recipe.

Vanilla Butter Cream

3/4 cup butter

3 - 4 cups icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

Then I added about 1/3 of a bag of Skor bits and mixed everything well.  Adjust with more or less icing sugar to attain the desired consistency.

So, in the theory that you should learn something new everyday ... here's what I learned.  When you put Skor bits in icing and then try to pipe it onto cupcakes, chunks are bound to get stuck in the nozzle.  I wanted to do a flower pattern but even with the largest nozzle, the Skor still got stuck.  I was able to use the round tip, but the piping job was petty uneven and erratic as a trapped Skor bit periodically came bursting through and leaving a blob of icing in its wake!

As a finishing touch, I sprinkled some more Skor bits on top of the icing.  All in all, they were pretty good.  The Skor bits lost their crunchiness once they were added to the icing and as they got softer, they became more buttery so the icing was much more buttery in flavour than carmel or sweet.

They did look nice on this beautiful cake stand that my friend Stephanie gave me for my birthday 3 years ago.  It is from the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. and is the rose garden pattern.  I don't use it often but I absolutely love it and am excited when I have an occasion to pull it out and use it.

The Urban Element - Cooking School

Over a year ago I had the opportunity to go to The Urban Element, a local cooking school with my good friend Stacey.  Although it was not part of our recent 'Hintonburg Foodies Walking Tour', The Urban Element is another Hintonburg gem.  It is located on Parkdale Avenue, in the old fire hall.  The Urban Element offers hands-on cooking classes, demonstration classes, basics and fundamentals classes, prepare communal dinners with wine pairings, and host guest chefs from local restaurants preparing and teaching.  Its a great experience whichever class/event you decide to attend, from the moment you arrive, the space is absolutely amazing.  This is the community dining table.  I wish I had room in my home for this beautiful table.

When you walk in the door you are greeted with a wonderful warm and friendly hostess, who will get you seated and serve you some wine.  And if your class requires cooking prior to the class, as ours did, you will not doubt be surrounded by some amazing smells.  The kitchen is a dream.  If you like to cook, you will fall in love with this kitchen.  As we arrived, resident chef Candice Butler and her sous-chef Mark are doing some last minute preparations as clients arrived. 

Guests are seated on stools around the kitchen.  Stacey and I were attending a hands-on class called "The Art of the Crust".  But if you are thinking we are going to learn how to make pie ... think again.  This class is way more than desserts.  We were learning mains and staples of many diverse ethnic foods which are cozied up in a yummy 'crust' of some sort.

For the hands-on cooking classes you get these swank aprons to wear, which include pockets on the front ... perfect for me to be able to keep my camera close to photo-document our experience.  I checked with all the guests if they minded me taking pictures and every one was OK with it.  There were 12-15 students.  Registration for each class is limited and they sell out fast so if you are browsing the calendar and see a class you might be interested in, don't wait too long to register for it.  We were also provided with recipes for all the dishes that we made that evening.  Very convenient, so you don't have to be trying to write things down while trying to cook, but you may want to add some notes, tips and tricks that the chefs mention.

There were seven dishes on the menu for us.  Dough was only being made for three of the seven dishes and Candice gave instructions to make the dough by hand and in the food processor.  She demonstrated the dishes first, and then all clients hand the chance to jump in and pick one station to start at, but everyone would have an opportunity to make everything.  One small complaint that I had, as soon as it was time for the class to choose their station, several people rushed to the three 'dough-making' stations (often both people in a couple chose a different dough-making station) and neither Stacey nor I actually got an opportunity to make dough from scratch.  I have limited experience in making dough and I was really looking forward to have the chance to do this with an expert, so that was unfortunate.

Anyway, Stacey and I started at the Crispy Chicken Thai Spring Roll Station.  For this dish, we were using store bought spring roll wrappers so we actually were prepping the filling.  Here, we are getting directions as to how to chop the ingredients.

We had to shred the precooked chicken and chop cabbage, shred carrots and mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Then, you place a dollup of filling in the wrapper.  The key to spring rolls, is to tightly roll the wrapper - especially if you are planning to deep fry them, which we were, to make sure the filling doesn't ooze out all through your fryer.

Next on the agenda for Stacey and I was Samosas.  Candice had pre-made the filling for the samosas before the class arrived, because you don't want to be putting hot filling into the dough.  It had time to cool, but walking into the kitchen, the aroma of the Indian spices ... the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, fenugreek, turmeric and cayenne were already making us hungry.  Stacey and I love Indian food and we were thrilled to be learning this dish.  Here is the pre-made filling.

We learned the technique to roll and shape the dough in that unique samosa shape.  You start with a small ball and roll it into a circle.  Candice actually made Stacey scrap her first attempt at rolling out the dough because it wasn't a circle. lol!!  But she got it right on the next try!  Then you cut the cut the circle in half and form the half-circle into a cone shape.  Fill the cone with the filling and then use the top 'flap' to close up the cone.  Finally pinch the three sides shut to make sure the filling doesn't leak out.  We had the option to have our samosa deep fried (that's what I picked) or baked (Stacey's choice).

Next station:  Rustic Cranberry Apple Crostata.  This is essentially an individual tart.  This was one of the dough making stations but, as I said, when Stacey and I got there the dough had already been made by other students.  The filling was also made in advance by Candice but we were each able to fill a crostata and form the shape of the pastry.  Here is Candice demonstrating the process.

Jamaican patties were the next dish we worked on.  Do you know what the secret ingredient to make the dough of Jamaican patties yellow?  Its turmeric.  This dough was made by students in the food processor.  We rolled it out (see the french rolling pin ... I have the same one!) and filled it with the pre-made filling.  Again, the spices that Candice incorporated into this filling was already making our mouths water.  We still had a while to wait before we could eat the fruits of our labour!

We moved on to spanokopita.  This dish uses phyllo pastry.  We learned the special folding technique to make these cute little triangles.  Starting with the spinach filling in one corner of the strip of phyllo, fold the point on an angle to the opposite side; brush with melted butter, and fold the point straight up; brush with butter and fold one side to the opposite; continue the alternating fold process, brushing with butter at every fold till you reach the end of your strip of phyllo.  You can adjust the width of the strip of phyllo to make large, meal sized spanokopitas or smaller, bite-sized appetizer ones.

Stacey and I moved on to the Mixed Mushroom Calzone.  Again the filling had been made in advance so it was not hot, and the calzone dough which needed to rise, was also prepared for us.  Candice demonstrated how to roll out and fill the dough with the mixed mushroom saute, basil pesto, bocconcini cheese and tomatoes.  We had some laughs when I was rolling out this dough.

The final station was Cornish Pasties.  This was a dough that the students got to make, both by hand and in the food processor.  I don't have the photos of us rolling out or filling this dough and frankly it was both of our least favourite dishes to eat.  We found the flavour a bit flat and not really tasty.

After all the prep was finished and all students had a chance to attempt every dish we returned to our seats, were served another glass of wine and watched and waited in anticipation as all the dishes cooked.  Most things were baked in the oven but the spring rolls and samosas were deep fried.

We were served our dishes with appropriate garnishes/dips.  We loved them all ... with the exception of the Cornish Pasty which, as I've said was a bit disappointing.  But after seven dishes, we were getting very full.  But then, as a special treat, Candice pulled out some of her home made maple ice cream.  It was absolutely delicious and Stacey and I shared one serving because we were so full!

During the cooking, plate set up and eating portion of the evening we had the opportunity to ask the chefs questions, make notes on some tricks or techniques and just generally chat food with the other students and teachers.

If you are looking for a great food-based night out which is more than just going out for dinner, you should consider checking out The Urban Element.  It is lots of fun, you might learn something new and you will meet some nice people.  They have a wide variety of food themed classes and events so there is something for everybody!  Stacey and I certainly enjoyed our night and have plans to go again sometime.

Hintonburg Foodies Walking Tour

If you don't know I live in Mechanicsville ... but we don't like to call it Mechanicsville because of the bad rap historically this neighbourhood had.  When I bought my house, there was a crack house on my block, a drug dealer right across the street and it was a frequent stroll for working women!  I've heard my neighbourhood called the 'white ghetto' (WTF??  as if there is a ghetto in Ottawa, let alone a white one ... but whatever dude!).  Anyway, thanks to a very solid neighbourhood watch, some neighbourhood gentrification, some really great neighbours who watch out for one another and our properties we really have cleaned up the LeBreton/Arlington/Booth/Louisa quarter.  But we still don't call ourselves Mechanicsville.  I usually say LeBreton Flats but since I'm literally right on the borderline of Hintonburg, when the desire suits, I easily slide between one or the other.

This weekend in Ottawa, "Jane's Walks" were taking place through the city.  My sister, Bonnie and I went on the "Hintonburg Foodies" walking tour which was organized and hosted by volunteers from "Apt613" (a whats happening/events guide/what's good in the City blog).  What could be a better way to spend a couple of hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon walking around this great neighbourhood that has so much to offer, finding out about some new restaurants that I've not yet been to, one that I had not even heard of, and reinforcing some really good superstar favourites?  Sounds good to me.  Just a note for what to expect:  this tour was designed as a 'get out and find out where to eat' in your neighbourhood as opposed to 'lets go out and eat at these places right now' tour.

We began at one of, if not the best, bakeries in this City ... or possibly any City:  Art-Is-In. 

Art-Is-In is located in the City Centre industrial strip mall (near Preston/Somerset/Albert).  I really don't even want to talk about Art-Is-In because if you don't already know about it ... I think you're a lost cause!  There is so much news coverage, blogs, internet traffic on this place and its owner.  If you don't know, you must be hiding under a rock or (gasp) living in suburbia, never venturing into the "CITY" gasp!  Seriously ... if that describes you just stop reading right now.  Get outta my blog!

Anyway ... back to Art-Is-In.  Even before they had their own space, they supplied bread to restaurants and shops across the city.  Now that they have the store and cafe space, to call Art-Is-In a "bakery" is really a misnomer.  They are doing lunches, brunches, pastries, bread, bread oh so much delicious bread.  It is a great experience but if you are going on the weekend, be prepared to stand in line and if you are not there early, be prepared for some things to be sold out!

This is Kevin Mathleson, the brainchild behind Art-Is-In.  I love you Kevin!  He was watching the crowd assemble outside his shop before the tour even began.  As if Art-Is-In wasn't busy enough before, the assembling crowd of 75-100 people will undoubtedly produce some new customers who had never been there before.  You just have to eat ANYTHING Art-Is-In once, and you will be a convert/die hard regular!

Even though the crowd was growing, Bonnie and I arrived early enough to have time to get some sustenance for our (anticipated 1.5 hour) walk. I chose the chocolate, toasted almond cookie and a chocolate croissant.  Bonnie chose the same cookie and a raspberry berliner.  NOOOO, I don't have photos.  WE ATE THEM, we didn't pose them!!!!  LOL.  Actually, halfway through the walking tour, I was noshing on my cookie (gotta keep the strength up!) and two people on the tour actually asked me where I got the cookie from.  Uhhh, duh!  Art-Is-In!!!!  If you start your tour at the best bakery in the city ... you have to take advantage!!  There is no way I could be standing outside Art-Is-In and not think to get myself a little something yummy yum yum!

Anyway, finally ready to begin the tour, our host from Apt613 introduced us to the head of bread production (I think her name was Ashley but sadly I didn't also have a note pad with me).  Flour on her pants, clearly she gets right into her job!  I didn't actually notice, but Bonnie pointed out that she had noticeable burns on her forearms ... a definite hazard of the job.  Having worked in a kitchen for a few years in my younger days, I can totally sympathize.

She was enthusiastic and informative.  She described their Dynamite bread (trust me its dynamite).  I love the potato, caramelized onion and fresh dill.  Its my favourite, but I wouldn't throw any Art-Is-In loaf of bread outta bed for making crumbs!  Ahahahahahaha!

Time to go.  We trudged up the hill and onto Wellington Street.  As I mentioned, this was a big group but everyone was considerate and we waited till everyone arrived till the next presentation started.
We were told that we were on our way to a 'taco truck'.  And I have no idea where we could possibly be going; I could not think of a taco truck along the nearby stretch of Wellington.

Sure enough, Taco Lot was right there on Wellington ... right next to the former "Hintonburger' location and, last time I was there ... it was still a used car lot!

And guess what they serve at Taco Lot?  Tacos!!!  And if you ask the owner what else they make, he'll tell you tacos!  You can place your order here for beef, pork, chicken, fish and/or seafood and vegetarian tacos.

Jon, the owner is telling us that the Taco Lot has been open for a month now.  And he believes that their 'grand opening' was taking place right at that moment with 100 people standing in their lot!  Certainly a whole lot more people who didn't know about this place, now do ... and if the Taco Lot was not busy enough before (I heard rumours of them running out of certain flavours) they sure will be now.

As I said before, Taco Lot is right next door to the former location of Hintonburger (which moved down the street in January to the old, closed down KFC location.  More on that later).  But the old Hintonburger is not abandoned.  Not at all.  The old Hintonburger location is now called SuzyQ Doughnuts.  Bonnie and I added a couple of stops of our own and this was the first unscheduled location that we added to our walking tour.

You'll notice there is a line up out the door and it seems it stayed this way the entire day.  We popped in, just to check it out when we were on our way home, and even though they were almost completely sold out and only minutes from closing for the day ... you would not believe the mammoth size of these donuts and the flavours ... out of this world.  Just as an example:  Pomegranate/White Chocolate, Raspberry Sugar, Maple Bacon, Spicy Chocolate.  This ain't Tim Hortons!  We will be back to pick up one, or two or half a dozen ... soon.

Ok.  Onward.  But because our group is so big, we decide to split into two groups so that there is space for everyone to be able to hear the chef/owner/speaker at all locations.  For our group, the next stop is the Hintoburg Public House.  Since I saw this place, about 2 months ago I've been wanting to check it out.  But I have a serious mental deficiency when it comes to choosing a place to eat.  I am CONSTANTLY seeing and/or hearing about new, hip, cool, different places ... but then when I actually want to go out to eat, I can NEVER think of any of these places and I always end up going to the same old places.  Not that there is anything wrong with tried and true; where you know what you like and what you are going to get ... but you'll miss out on so much by not getting out there to something new ... something which could turn out to be my new favourite thing to eat or my new favourite place to go!

The Hintonburg Public House has been open since last December.  We met with the owner, Summer who informed us that the menu changes monthly and she now is able to update it on the website so you can check it out before going.  She described her menu as comfort food not just regular pub fare.

Directly to the left of the Hintonburg Public House you will see Isobel's Cupcakes & Cookies.  They have recently relocated from their former location in Beechwood.  If you choose well at Isobel's you will LOVE their cupcakes but if you choose badly you will be sadly disappointed, feeling like there is a film of grease coating your mouth.  Even though they claim to use all butter and no lard in their butter cream frosting it just doesn't seem like it.  And then, to the left of Isobel's you will see another new restaurant 10fourteen.  They don't seem to have a website yet but the foodie blogs indicate that it  is a Tapas restaurant.

An interesting point of note, Summer told us that prior to opening the Hintonburg Public House, she owned the Urban Pear in the Glebe.  Last summer, David, the chef from Urban Pear moved into one of the apartment's upstairs from Bonnie.  He has, from time to time, dropped off a little treat for Bonnie ... a little something that he has made.  Although this was not a 'tasting' tour, we were provided with grilled cheese sandwiches courtesy of Hintonburg Public House.  This was the only place that actually brought out little treats.  And they were grabbed up and gobbled up FAST!

I didn't get a chance to get one, but they looked very good and some of the other tour-goers, said they were indeed quite tasty. Besides, I still had my cookie to munch on, so I was OK.  The Hintonburg Public House features many craft brewed beers, and it has received great feedback a nice neighbourhood place to relax and enjoy these craft beers.

Ok.  Ready to move on.  Our group assembles for the next location

We are headed to Tennessy Willems a wood fired oven pizza joint that gets rave reviews.

We met with the chef who has been with the restaurant since it opened.  He stressed their use of local seasonal ingredients.  For example, they are currently featuring a fiddlehead pie.  They only make thin crust 'neopolitan' style pizzas.  The wood burning oven heats to about 600*F.  If you are planning on coming for dinner, he suggests making a reservation.

A fun fact that we learned:  The restaurant is named after the owner's two children:  Tennessy and Willem.  Many of the tour-goers in our group have been to Tennessy Willems before and everyone loves the relaxed casual atmosphere, the family atmosphere, oh and the really great food.

Our next location was Back Lane Cafe, just across the street a bit west of Tennessy Willems.  I had never heard of this place before.  We met with the owner at, where else the back lane beside the restaurant! 

The owner spoke more about the neighbourhood and the importance of the location and the people.  They cook by wood oven which is so hot that the next morning they are able to bake their bread in the still hot oven, the following morning. Apparently this place is known for its bread, and if you come here to eat, you will have baskets of it on the table.

We were off.  On our way to the next location, Bonnie and I made our second unscheduled stop and took a peak into Burnt Butter Italian Kitchen, which is almost directly across the street from Back Lane Cafe.  Interestingly, Bonnie just won a gift certificate to Burnt Butter so she'll be heading over there to check it out soon. Her friend absolutely loves it.  The menu changes frequently and they have weekly specials which are posted on their website.

Next, we head across the street to Hintonburger at the new location, the old KFC.  Oneof the owners that met with us, told us about the community debate going on about what to do with the bucket.  The choices are to leave it up, as is ... supporters of this point of view say its a neighbourhood icon and everyone knows and recognizes it.  Others would like to see it taken down, its an eyesore and doesn't fit in with the new, hip, vibrant neighbourhood rejuvenation.  Or, thirdly, to change it into a bucket of poutine.  I vote for this option.

When asked how many burgers they are making, the owner told us it was probably about 1500 a month but this seemed remarkably low to us.  They are closed Mondays so based on 26 days a month serving burgers that is less than 60 burgers a day.  It just doesn't seem high enough for how busy they are, ALL the time!  I think he maybe wasn't prepared for this question and just guessed but wasn't really in the ballpark!

The new location allows for more seating indoors and outside and also allows some appropriate space for ordering ... not like the old trailer where you could only fit about 8 people in the whole place.  It also provides some later opening hours.  There will be a new sign but the remainder of the outside of the building will pretty much stay the same.

Oh the food?  You wanna know about the burgers?  GO THERE!  SERIOUSLY!  These burgers are great!  And burgers really are all they really do.  With or without cheese/bacon.  Vegetarian burgers.  Hot dogs, onion rings.  And oh yeah:  FRIES.  Hand cut and absolutely delicious.  Here is a picture I took a year ago but never got around to blogging.  ENJOY this view:

We let the owner know how much we love their food.  They certainly appreciate their repeat customers and regulars and the owner that we talked to could not have been a nicer guy.

One last stop on our walking tour ... all the way over to the Foolish Chicken on Holland Avenue.  Its a decent walk over to Holland from where we were on Wellington but a beautiful day.  We walked past some other Hintonburg landmark restaurants, and some new ones, on our way ... there is Absinthe, The Cake Shop (relocated from the suburbs) the Table (vegetarian) and Allium (soooo good).  Bonnie and I peeked into both The Cake Shop (very large and beautiful but frankly a little too picture perfect for me, if you know what I mean, but not based on tasting anything ... yet!) and The Table (smelled delicious but I actually wanted to check out the price of a beautiful stained glass Celtic knot art piece that was for sale).  Actually it was when I was having dinner about a year ago at Allium when I first noticed the Foolish Chicken, it is just a couple of doors down.

The Foolish Chicken is all about chicken and ribs.  They prepare the ribs using a dry rub then slowly braise them.  Prior to serving they are heated and sauced on the grill.  The owner talked more about their desserts than their mains.  His wife is the pastry chef and she has won competitions for her cheesecake.  It was late afternoon by the time we arrived at Foolish Chicken and there were several customers entering for both a sit down dinner and take-out.

It was a busy but interesting and informative day.  I am definitely going to use this page to remind myself of places to eat next time I want to go.   Thanks to the volunteers from Jane's Walk and Apt613 for organizing and leading this great tour!