Rundles Sophisto-Bistro

Rundles Restaurant You are going to want to go here. Maybe you have a first date coming up with a cool boy… maybe you are married to a cool boy (or girl) and your anniversary is coming up. Maybe your best girlfriend is getting married and she needs a heart to heart before the big day over a really nice meal (and a big glass of wine!). Maybe its your dad’s birthday and you want to stroll down the river Avon, look at some swans and then have a really nice meal. Whatever the reason, you are going to want to make that next date with your most favourite person at Rundles Sophisto-Bistro in Stratford. Table and Masks – Garden Room The first thing you are going to notice is the details. This place is so cool, it’s Danish meets Tribal, meets nineteen-sixty meets nineteen-eighty, meets now. I loved all the little trinkets, the modern masks on the wall, the ethereal mobiles hanging from the ceiling and the outdoor garden. It’s such an amazing place, even the wooden bread box squeals with character – make sure you take a look at it! Freshly Baked Baguette   Homemade Butter We sat down and our host for the evening – Andrew came over to spoil us. I let him know I was interested in where all of the food came from and he was happy to guide me through the menu and all of its hidden treasures. First off, he brought us over a freshly baked baguette that is made in-house along with the homemade butter which they turn on site, in the kitchen from locally produced cream. If you look closely in this photo you can see that there are little pieces of course salt set atop of this glorious little cylinder of butter. It tastes very French, but it is very Ontario. Local Organic Baby Arugula and Spinach Salad with Oyster Mushrooms Although I would have been quite happy to sit for the entire evening with just the butter and baguette, there was much more to come. The menu at Sophisto-Bistro is a fixed menu. You pay a set price and you can choose from about four different items in each category for an appetizer, a main and a dessert. The kitchen is run by Neil Baxter who is also head of the acclaimed Stratford Chef School. I caught a glimpse of him coming out of the kitchen at one moment, but I resisted my urged to run up to him and beg him for a cooking class. For my appetizer I chose the local organic baby arugula and spinach salad with oyster mushrooms. The salad is served with finely sliced red cabbage, and grilled oyster mushrooms and garnished with chopped egg and fried sourdough breadcrumbs. The greens, cabbage and the eggs are from Anthony John’s farm at Soiled Reputation out of Sebringville Ontario. The mushrooms were unlike any I have ever tasted, they were like slivers of tender, juicy and nutty flavoured steak! The sourdough bread crumbs are of course homemade. You can see in this photo the colour and the presentation are sublime. The taste combination here is so delicious, it was perfection in a salad. PAN-FRIED PORK TENDERLOIN PICCATA   HOT-SMOKED, KOLAPORE SPRINGS TROUT SALAD grilled chiles poblanos, carrot and red onion escabeche (Mexican pickle) For our mains, Sean chose the Pan Fried Pork Tenderloin Picatta that sat atop a mixture of local vegetables including brussel sprouts, celeriac and devilled sauce – christened with capers, it was delicious (yes, he did let me taste test!). The pork is the elusive Berkshire variety – Rundles is bringing in locally from Perth Pork Products. For my main I chose the smoked trout that they smoke in-house, back in the kitchen. The trout comes from Kolapore Springs Trout Farm which is located near Collingwood. I have heard of Kolapore Springs and I remember it was a very interesting place where they do things differently than most fish farms. Sustainability is key in their business and they feed the trout a special fresh water shrimp that actually enhances the flavour, the nutrional value as well as the pink colour of the trout. It was a sweet tasting trout with a delicate smokiness to it that is quite unlike any I have ever had. Farm raised trout is one of the most sustainable fish for us to choose in Canada and it is very safe to raise trout in a farmed environment (unlike salmon). To make the dish even more adventurous it is served with grilled chiles poblanos, carrot and red onion escabeche (mexican pickle). Sounds exotic, but Chef Neil Baxter is replicating and at the same time reinventing a traditional dish here with local ingredients. The colour in this dish is terrific – various hues of pink, green and orange shine back at you as you take in all the flavours and the wonderful smokey and sweet scent. Table Charm This is one of the many little charms that reside in Sophisto-Bistro. A charming little moveable statue to keep you amused while you await your next course and next surprise. CANADIAN, UNPASTEURIZED MILK CHEESES For my dessert, I chose the cheese plate. It is a wonderful selection of (mostly) local cheese. All but one of these lovelies is from Ontario and believe me, you will not mind the one traveller in the group. The Sophisto-Bistro cheese plate is a selection of four unpasteurized milk cheeses. The blue cheese was called Tiger Blue and is from British Columbia, so even though it travelled a little further , it is still a welcome fellow Canadian. It was so creamy and delicious that I could have been finished there – but no, there were three more to sample. The next cheese was called Solaire from MonForte (Stratford), the next was Orati (near Ottawa) and the last was another MonForte Cheese called Paradiso which was a sheep’s milk cheese. The cheese plate is accompanied with a side of homemade walnut raisin bread and an in-house flax seed cracker that is a treat in itself. It was almost like a cookie and was so good it had me ohhing and awing. All of this comes with one more sidekick, a homemade apple and raisin chutney with a killer cinnamon bang with every bite – delicious! Rundles Rosehall Run Wine Wine, wine and more wine. Rundles and Sophisto-Bistro has a huge selection of wine to accompany any meal that you choose. I let Andrew our host pick my wine for the evening. He chose the house wine which is made for Rundles at Rosehall Run Winery which is a boutique winery that resides in Prince Edward County, Ontario. They make the private label for Rundles and it was a delicious choice that carried me right through from appetizer to dessert. This meal was surely one for the memory books. Sean and I felt like a King and Queen as we dined in such a unique environment with such amazing service and food that is truly exceptional. We will not forget it, in fact I am already planning my next day trip to Stratford so that I can stop in and try some of the other items on this menu. Anyone want to join me? Rundles Spohisto-Bistro 9 Cobourg Street Stratford, ON N5A 3E4 (519) 271-6442 www.rundlesrestaurant.com Twitter @Rundles Blog: rundlesrestaurant.wordpress.com  Read More

Berkshire Pork, Ambrosia Apple & Le Bonparte on Naan

This was delicious. I was reminded recently that I still had a coil of Berkshire Honey & Garlic sausage waiting patiently for me in the freezer. I bought this at the Slow Taste of Ilderton Food Show back in the fall from Eatwell Foods at Duenk Farms. I have no idea how it has managed to escape being gobbled up by now, but that has now been taken care of! I pulled the coil out and thought that it would probably be quite delicious on its own – but then I remembered how good it is with apple. I settled on an interesting sort of pizza, but with naan bread taking the place of the pizza dough. With this, I paired some Le Bonaparte cheese from Quebec. I found this cheese at  the London Food Co-op on Princess off of Adelaide Street. Lastly, the delicious flavour of an Ontario Ambrosia apple rounds out all the savory with a little nod to the sweeter things in life. Delicious, easy and speedy. Here is how you do it. One Ontario Ambrosia Apple (large) – sliced One coil of Ontario raised Bershire Honey & Garlic Pork Sausage 1/2 small Ontario red or sweet onion, thinly sliced Some creamy Canadian cheese (Bonaparte from Quebec is delicious) Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (you could use a local safflower here instead) A sprinkle of your favourite dried spices Cut up your pork coil into bite sized pieces. Cook over medium heat, until sausage is browned, cooked through and no longer pink. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place 4 naan breads (or similar type of flat bread) on pans. Thinly slice up your onion and divide among breads. Cut apple into bite sized slices and also spread these on the breads. Take wedges of the Bonparte cheese and divide among naan bread. Finally, top with the fully cooked sausage, drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and add any spices you wish – I went with the herbs de provence blend. Pop into oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. You can eat this as is. Sean decided he wanted his with grainy mustard for a little kick. I had some left over tomato chutney  that went really well with it. Sean also picked out the wine this week. He chose this Ontario wine which is a Baco Noir from Prince Edward County”s Sandbanks Winery. This wine was really light and packed alot of plum punch, it went very well with this fun little dinner. Hope you are all well, this winter is almost over, the dark days of food will be over with soon. Do not despair, as asparagus and rhubarb are just around the corner, behind that lump of a groundhog”s butt!  Read More

Ontario Wine 30 Day Challenge – Happily Swish, Suck and Spit!

Let”s talk about grapes – Ontario grapes. More importantly, let”s talk about fermented Ontario grapes – you know, wine! I know you are out there (like me), you are trying your very best to be a locavore. You are eating within your 100 miles, you are shopping the Farmers Markets, you may be growing some of your own vegetables, you are reading my blog (thanks!), hey – if you are really living on the edge, you may even have a few backyard chickens. Well, that seems to have your food decisions covered and good on you, because that is where we can make our biggest difference in food miles (farm to plate), but what about beverage? What about fun beverages… like wine? Just what is a locavore to do when it comes to deciding where their wine comes from? Fortunately for Ontario locavores,we have something amazing going for us. Aside from living in Southwestern Ontario and being literally surrounded by fertile farmlands to eat from,we are also side swept by some of the best growing conditions for wine on the planet. Ontario wineries are generally located on the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario, placing them very close to us and well within a 100 miles or so. map from the thinkglobaldrinklocal web site There is the lovely Niagara Region that sits at the Southwestern side of Lake Ontario and then there is the equally lovely Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island regions. Both of these regions produce wines of superior quality that equal or even sometimes rival those of expensive imports. map from the thinkglobaldrinklocal web site You may not know this, but these two regions actually sit right inside the Northern Grape Growing Belt. What is the Northern Grape Growing Belt you ask? Well, it is an area where Northern Climate wines flourish in – and it happens to be the same belt that most famous French wineries reside it. It gets better! The two Great Lakes involved here, help to create this fantastic diddy called a micro climate (a local atmospheric zone where climate is different from its surrounding zones), which results in conditions for growing grapes even better – that means that some of our Ontario wines can actually kick some French butt! A little earlier today I put a tweet out and asked some of my follower/friends “What is Your Favourite Ontario Wine”, well some of them responded that the 2006 Pelee Island Gewurztraminer was a favourite, someone else chose Peller Estates French Cross Pinot Grigio was their favourite – and mine, well… it is very hard to narrow down and I have not tried enough to even say I have sampled the region (there are so many!), but this summer, for the time being I will say that I am a little addicted to East Dell Estate”s Pinot Noir. Yo” East Dell – send me a case for the free plug! lol. In case you have not heard, the Wine Council of Ontario has launched a challenge. They want you to try and drink only Ontario wines for 30 days. It”s really not much of a challenge for me, heh heh – you want me to drink wine for 30 days? Hey, no probs! Now I know some of you are sticky on what is authentically and wholly found within a 100-mile radius and although drinking Ontario Wines for 30 days may not seem like much of a challenge, it actually is. You see, this evening on the way home I heard a CBC story about wine labels that state “Cellared in Canada” and how they may be misleading to consumers. As it turns out, a lot of these wines are in fact not purely Canadian wines. They can have up to 70% of imported product in them. One way to make sure you are drinking a pure Ontario wine, is to look for the winery first, make sure you recognize it as an Ontario Winery, then look at the grape. If it is a blended grape variety – sometimes (not always!) the grape or juice comes from afar and is blended into the local supply. Read the label carefully, but most importantly have fun with this challenge! Sample a few Ontario wines for 30 days, don”t develop a problem and hey – you might just find a new favourite that you just can”t get enough of! Happy sipping Kelly xo ps Going on another camping trip – so you are stuck with this post for a few days – which means I would love to see tons of comments! Post what your favourite Ontario wine is, and if you change your mind over the next 30 days – post again!  Read More