Dish - The Tomato

may the best cook win!
Love to cook? Love to compete? Enter the Canadian Food Championships. The competition July 21-25 is open to both pros and talented amateur cooks. Lindsay Porter, Doreen Prei, Cecilia Hoang, Anil Buddhi, Daniel Ducharme, Dean Gossen, Rodney Khoo, Roberto Laqui, Tu Le, Gabi Marin, Nathan McLaughlin, Erin Mueller, Lauren Scheit, and Pawanjit Singh are some of the pros in the arena. Winners move on to the World Food Championships in Florida in November. With over $50,000 in cash and prizes on the line it promises to be a lively competition.

the end of an era
The unheardof restaurant has closed after 35 years in business. Not only does it take skill, bravery and a bit of craziness to be in the restaurant business at all, but to be in it for 35 years—these folks deserve a medal. The building has been sold and it’s soon to be a law office. Wondering how you will survive without chef/owner Lynn Heard’s bisque? Join the bisque list at unheardof.com.

Alessandro Porcelli meets Carolyn Campbell, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism.

the culture of food
Food culture was front and centre during the opening of the National Congress on Culture, held in May at The Art Gallery of Alberta. Members of the Alberta Ate Chef Collaborative (chefs Shane Chartrand, Sage; Joao Dachery, Pampa; Josh Dissanayake, North 53; Edgar Gutierrez, Tres Carnales; Evert Maris, Get Cooking Edmonton; Lino Oliveira, Sabor and David Omar, Zinc) welcomed delegates with delicious food along with samplings of Alberta’s first craft spirits from Eau Claire Distillery. Alessandro Porcelli, founder of Cook it Raw, introduced the Alberta Cook it Raw experience, which will continue this September in Kananaskis.

patio lanterns
Pampa’s cheerful new patio has a new à la carte afternoon menu with individual skewers (shrimp, vegetables, rumpsteak) cheese platters and small plates. What a wonderful spot to spend some time with a freshly shaken caipirinhina or glass of sangria. The traditional rodizio (service on a skewer) is always available for lunch and dinner. A nice touch—heat lamps. Look for the lively yellow patio umbrellas, Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, 9929 109 Street, 780-756-7030 pampasteakhouse.com.

chopped!
“The Chopped experience is crazy,” says Dave Omar, executive chef, Zinc. “They did a full day of taping here at Zinc, at my house, and then the studio.” The latest version of chef Omar’s jellyroll chicken is on Zinc’s summer menu—jellyroll chicken wing with a parsnip and carrot coleslaw. “The hardest thing is to keep it all under wraps,” Dave says, referring to the time lag between taping and airing. Would he do it again? Yes! “I would love the opportunity to do another show.” Watch Dave Omar’s episode 23, Rib N’ Roll: foodnetwork.ca.

dig it at dig in
Mark your calendars for St Albert’s Dig In Horticulinary Festival October 1-3, the festival that merges horticulture and culinary into a celebration of eating, growing and staying local. The action begins Thursday, October 1 with a culinary walking tour of the Perron District and continues until Saturday with high-energy interactive cooking, composting and winter gardening sessions.

On Friday, October 2, enjoy the Dig in Chef ’s Collaborative Gala Dinner, with a fantastic lineup of chefs participating: Andrew Cowan (Packrat Louie), J.W. Foster (Fairmont Banff Springs), Danielle Job (Holt Renfrew Café), Tony Krause (The Salt Room), Rino Lam (Nineteen) and Brad Lazarenko (Culina). Discover the full program, purchase tickets or watch the video to get a taste of Dig In, at diginstalbert.ca.

doing it old school
Chef Ryan O’Flynn is on a roll. The Canadian Culinary Gold Medal champion not only has a fine new ride, he has completely revamped the menu at Share in the Westin Hotel. There was a time you wouldn’t be caught dead in a hotel dining room. Not any more. Chef O’Flynn’s menu is über-Canadian. “I’d say it’s 90 per cent Canadian, with about 60 per cent of the ingredients coming from Alberta,” Ryan says on the phone from N.W.T. where he is foraging for morels. Those morels will be pickled, dried and otherwise put away to be used all year long.

“We have a lot of game and foraged things on the menu. We are going back to how people used to do things—how did settlers cook it? How did the Aboriginals? For example we’re curing bison in birch sap collected by a guy in the Yukon who runs around by himself tapping wild trees. When he gets to the nearest town he Fed-Exes it out.” The space has undergone a refresh and reopens July 16, Share Restaurant, Westin Edmonton, 10135 100 Street, 780-426-3636, westin.com/Edmonton.