Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle
, August 02, 2008 18:58
Margaret Webb, author of Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms, rides the Canadian luxury train known as the Silver and Blue from coast to coast, Vancouver to Halifax, hopping off and back on the train at various stops along the way to sample the best of Canada’s local cuisine. She also dines on the Silver and Blue’s own Canadian cuisine. You can read her story for the Toronto Star here.
The photo above shows Pacific Northwest salmon over an heirloom tomato salad from River Cafe in Calgary, from Michael Stern’s Roadfood.com review. The River Cafe was one of the restaurant stops on Margaret Webb’s trip. Ms. Webb raves about the beef served here: “Rather than industrial, feedlot-raised beef (as 80 per cent of Alberta beef is), [chef Scott Pohorelic] serves up a truer taste of the province: grass-finished Angus or organic beef raised on the ancient fescue grasses in the foothills of Southern Alberta. The beef is a revelation and worth the trip.”
The other restaurants on Ms. Webb’s trans-continental journey included Bishop’s in Vancouver (“has been supporting area farmers and fishers long before the locavore label became fashionable”), The Willow on Wascana in Regina (“Chef Moe Matthieu uses words like aboriginal, explorer, and homesteader to describe the Saskatchewan cuisine he's nurturing”), Fusion Grill in Winnipeg (“Owner Scot McTaggart even leads tours to visit his favourite producers of farm-raised elk, wild boar and Manitoba Golden Caviar”), La Fromagerie du Marché Atwater in Montreal (“largest selection of Canadian cheeses, 150 from Quebec alone”), and Tempest in Wolfville (“the best in Nova Scotia”).
