"Tour de Winnipeg"

Just a couple of weeks before The Big Day, I had a lovely visit from my dear friend Andrea and her hubs, Colin.  They were on their own blog-worthy journey: a cross-country move from B.C. back to Ontario, visiting friends along the way.  I was lucky enough to be one of them!  So, I acted as a "Winnipeg Ambassador" and took the lovely couple to the Forks after a delicious meal.

On the pedestrian bridge at the Forks.

Since Andrea and Colin were here for just one night only, I wanted to showcase as much of the culinary diversity of the city as I could.  So, I devised the following menu:

 

And here's how I pulled it off!

Getting ingredients ready for the pickerel almondine...

Look at those gorgeous filets, thanks to the Gimli Fish Market.  I could link to the recipe, but it was pretty simple: I put the filet on top of a "bed" of sliced red onions and lemon wheels.  Top with paprika, thyme, salt, pepper, green onion, basil, slivered almonds, and dot with butter.  Wrap and bake.

The appetizer: kubasa, pickels, bison burgers, and Bothwell cheese.  Mmm.  I put a hoisin sauce glaze on the burgers as a nod towards Chinatown down on King street.  Colin seemed to really like it!!

Finished fish!  Loosely based on this recipe.  For all you Americans, yes, pickerel = walleye.

Asparagus with goma (sesame) dressing.  I fell in love with this after Deb introduced me to maguro goma-ae, a tuna and avocado salad at her favourite sushi place, Naru.  I found a recipe for it here, and used it to symbolize all the Japanese restaurants in the city (even if they're mostly owned and operated by lovely Koreans...)

Red velvet cupcakes.  What more can I say.  You're all familiar with my recipe, but I made them mini this time.  Portion control!!

Cinnamon buns from Stellas.  Calm down... yes, I know they're not from Tall Grass Prairie.  But honestly, I was at Stella'a already buying some focaccia to represent Little Italy on Corydon, so I just picked them up there.  They were QUITE delish.

Overall, I must say, I was rather pleased with the whole event.  Andrea and Colin are so sweet that they sent me some Irish breakfast tea as a thank you for hosting them (Andrea is an incredibly thoughtful person and also likes to send gifts by mail frequently.  I most recently got this awesome Ravenclaw laptop case from her!!  Isn't she fantastic??)

I always love when people come to visit and see this life I've built for myself out here in the Prairies.  It reminds me that, even though my friends might USUALLY be far away, they're still willing to take the time and see what I'm up to.  It was so much fun having this fantastic couple over... and set the stage for me to develop a "five-point Winnipeg tour" for my parents when they visited!  There was lots of good food involved there, too, including a trip to Fude in the Village... but I digress.

Wondering what the best way might be to tackle the quintessential Manitoba beet,
-Honeybee

My Manitoba bucket list, and some Shmoo Torte

...let me guess.  You've never heard of shmoo torte.  Trust me, neither had I before moving here!

I've been reflecting back on my past year in Manitoba, and have sort of played around with making a "Winnipeg Bucket List".  It's not ALL food-related, but it's a list of things I haven't yet done here that I would want to experience before leaving.  It would go something like this:

1. Skate on the Red River
2. Try bannock and/or pemmican
3. Eat at Fusion Grill, a "prairie fusion" fine dining restaurant
4. Have a meal at the fanciest steakhouse, 525 Wellington
5. Enjoy a delicious prix fixé menu at Inferno, a French restaurant in St. Boniface
6. Ride the water taxi... if they ever open the dock behind my building!
7. Have brunch at The Black Sheep
8. Giggle at the retro theme while enjoying fries at Ray & Jerry's steakhouse on Portage
9. Take a drive out to Lockport and go to that little roadside restaurant that Shannon keeps telling me about
10. Trek out to Gimli and get some delicious fish

I've talked about some prairie-related deliciousness before.  These would be things that I've never heard of, but are super-popular here.  If I had a loonie for every time I heard, "It must be a Manitoba thing..."  I'd long ago checked red velvet cake, honey dill dipping sauce, and puffed wheat squares off of my bucket list.  I ticked off shmoo torte only recently, though.

In Osborne Village (just a few blocks east of my apartment), there is a FANTASTIC restaurant called Baked Expectations.  I've mentioned it before.  It's easily one of my favourite little places to go.  I'd heard some of my Manitoba born-and-bred coworkers talk about shmoo torte in the past, so I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about.

From what I've been able to gather, shmoo torte is made of pecan angel food cake, layered and frosted with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and more pecans.  I'd had it on very good authority that Baked's offering was one of the best in the city.  A little Googling (and an article from The Globe and Mail) tells me that "schmoo" can mean "gooey" in Yiddish... no surprise then that this is apparently a Bar Mitzvah staple among Winnipeg's large and wonderful Jewish community.

(As a side note, my search for the origins of this cake brought me to the blog "Winnipeg o' my Heart", written by a fellow foodie with a similar Manitoba transplant past.  There's one I'll be adding to my Blogger reading list!)

So after all that, you might ask, "What did the shmoo do for you??" (terrible pun, I know.  It's Father's day... I think I'm channeling my dad's sense of humour even more today).  To be perfectly honest: I don't think shmoo and I will become the best of friends.  I mean, if you put a slice in front of me, I'd eat it... but that goes for just about anything.  I'm not the hugest fan of the texture of angel food cake, and pecans certainly aren't my favourite nut.  Add to that the relatively plain whipped cream layers, and I was just kind of 'meh' about the whole thing.  Now, the caramel shmoo sauce WAS delicious... but anything dipped in that would be good.  Overall, I don't think I'll be crawling back for more.  Which, I must admit, is a good thing... I don't need any more difficulty selecting a dessert from Baked's extensive menu!

Looking forward to checking off more Manitoba to-dos,
-Honeybee

The Great Winnipeg Pizza Experiment

Since moving, I've had pretty much constant cravings for pizza like they used to make in the old country.  And by "country", I mean the city of Windsor.  It's one of those "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" situations.  My sibs and I didn't realize that Windsor truly has unique pizza until we saw a "Windsor-style Pizza" joint in London, Ontario.  Windsor-style?!  Wasn't pizza the same in any city?

My go-to for delivery, Capri Pizza.  Their motto is brutally honest, but still complimentary: "A penny more, a penny less... Capri Pizza is still the best!!"  It's definitely on my top 5 "best" list.  Image from Google Street View.

Once we thought about it, we realized, "OF COURSE not all pizzas are created equally!!"  We already knew that comparing "big chain" pizzas, local pizzeria products, and and homemade pizza was like comparing apples, oranges, and bananas.  Totally different, even if they are all fruit.  Erm, pizza.  You get it.  

Windsor is flush with fantastic local pizzeria chains.  Heck, our best man, Greg, will have his parents order him a batch of pizzas from his favourite joint when he comes to visit from Edmonton.  I think we can thank the huge influx of Italian immigrants to the region in the 1940s, my Nonna and Nonno among them.  How can you blame them fro trying to recreate the stone-baked, thinner crust pizza that they were used to?  By the same token, I don't think I can be blamed for wanting pizza like that to which I've become accustomed. 

My only problem?  Finding a pizzeria in Winnipeg that could deliver not only the right flavours and textures, but deliver right to my apartment door.  So like a good scientist, what did I do?  I designed The Great Winnipeg Pizza Experiment, which I've been working on most weekends since I arrived here at the beginning of June.

My favourite "sit-down" Windsor pizza restaurant and local chain, Armando's.  Almost a decade ago, the staff helped Hubs and I after we were in a car accident right out front.  Years later, Kiks and I went for a yummy late dinner.  Also good for a "date" with Hubs after we did a Christmas photo shoot... great atmosphere, with the same delicious pizza we get for delivery.  Perfect.  Image from Google Street View.

I've been relying on the Winnipeg Yellow Pages and recommendations from my friends/coworkers for leads on good pizzerias (or pizzerie, if you want to get super-Italian-grammar-picky).  I do have a set of rules, which are inspired by my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Dave.  They did a similar experiment in Windsor to find their favourite local chain; I thought I'd follow suit!

The Great Winnipeg Pizza Experiment (Honeybee et al, 2010)

Materials and Methods:

1. Go through the phone book (roughly in alphabetical order) to find pizzerias (though more recently I've been going on recommendations).  Specifications:
1. The restaurant must be a pizzeria first and foremost.  "Two-for-one" pizza places, and laundromat/fried chicken/variety store/pizza establishments are excluded.
2. National pizza chains (Pizza Hut, Domino's, Pizza Pizza, Little Caesar's, Panago, Boston Pizza, etc) are excluded.  Local chains are permissible.
3. The restaurant must have a location that delivers to my apartment (though I may relax this rule at one point).
2. Order a medium pepperoni pizza with no "extras", so that variables would be minimized as much as possible.  If pressed for preferences, I just ask for "whatever's standard".
3. Analyze crust, pepperoni, sauce, and cheese and score against standard Windsor style pizza.

I have to hand it to Winnipeg, they have NO shortage of good pizza.  I've tried six places at this point, some with very clever names: A Little Pizza Heaven, Academy Pizza Company, Café 22/Pizza Hotline, Gondola Pizza, Santa Lucia Pizza, and Sorrento's.   All have been quite tasty in their own right, but so far Sorrento's has hit the closest to home (with Santa Lucia a close second).  I have uncovered a few issues, however.  It seems like pizzerias in the River City prefer to put their pepperoni UNDER the cheese.  I know this isn't completely unheard of, but I like it up top where it can get nice and crispy.  Along those same lines, nobody seems to use shredded pepperoni.  Again, this lends itself to crispiness, and therefore deliciousness.  I know this is minor; I can always request both of these to customize my pizza.

BEHOLD!!  This is how it's done, Winnipeg.  Pizza courtesy of Capri; financing courtesy of Mom and Dad

My other problem is my inability to accurately describe Windsor pizza.  I'd never really had to think about it before.  When I first brought The Experiment to the attention of my coworkers, I managed to say that it's baked in a stone oven, with just a tiny sprinkling of cornmeal so it doesn't stick.  The crust is medium-thin, with a good chewy texture to it.  Sauce is barely more than crushed tomatoes and garlic, cheese is real, stretchy mozzarella, and pepperoni is, again, shredded and placed on top.  I was met with relatively blank looks.  Apparently nothing in the 'Peg quite fits the bill.  

Luckily, this past weekend, I flew home for the first time to celebrate my sister's wedding with a beach barbecue, and to attend one of my best girlfriend's wedding showers.  We managed to get the family together (including Kiks and Hubs, as well as Tori and Graham who drove down from London just to see me), and ordered Capri pizza.  Combination of delicious pizza and being surrounded by my loved ones: priceless.  THAT was a little pizza heaven.

Hubs, live and in person (YAY!), chowing down on the "deluxe" variety of slice.  More for him, since I'm not a huge fan of olives, green peppers, or mushrooms.  I know, I'm a terrible Italian-Canadian.

The upside to the lovely pizza dinner (besides the obvious good times around the family table) was that I was able to smuggle a few pieces past Air Canada in my carry-on.  Well, "smuggle" isn't really accurate... it's not like there are laws against bringing pizza across provincial borders.  Plus, I imagine that the Windsor Airport security guards would hardly blame me for my odd luggage.  So with the coveted slices safely back in the 'Peg, I was able to feed my wonderful colleagues small pieces of the (albeit cold) contraband.  This confirmed my suspicion: Sorrento's pizza is quite close to Windsor style.  Another recommendation, courtesy of fellow genetic counsellor Shannon, was to try Casa Grande Pizzeria.  This would break Rule #4 of the experiment, as Casa Grande doesn't deliver, but it's definitely worth a shot.  Shannon has spoken very highly of this particular establishment in the past, so at the very least I feel confident that I'll enjoy a tasty pizza.

...but will it be as tasty as THIS?!  Note the bitemarks.  I annhiliated this, and I believe this plate was my second helping.  No wonder that airplane seatbelt felt snugger than usual...

...but will it be as tasty as THIS?!  Note the bitemarks.  I annhiliated this, and I believe this plate was my second helping.  No wonder that airplane seatbelt felt snugger than usual...

 And so, the experiment continues.  I haven't ordered any this weekend (my weekly eating-out budget is earmarked for the next Eat Around The World-Winnipeg excursion), but I'll have to try Casa Grande in the near future.

Still envying Hubs his proximity to the fabulous Bullseye Pizza in our hometown,

-Honeybee