Trans-Canada food trail Archives - Global Toronto Eats

The British Empire foods of St John’s

Where to eat Newfoundland specialties in St John’s

Newfoundland is like a different country. The people there have a distinct accent and their own dictionary. Place names seem to be made up by pirates. The level of development is 10 years behind the urbanized provinces of Canada. And the food appears to have branched off from Britain and Ireland in the 1800s and developed into its own, much like Quebec did with French cuisine in the 1700s.

Here’s where to try the mildly intriguing foods of Newfoundland in St John’s.

Fries with dressing

Ches’s Famous Fish and Chips

No, not salad dressing. Newfoundland dressing is what the rest of Canada calls turkey stuffing. It’s a mealy mix of bread crumbs and summer savoury, the key ingredient. Summer savoury is a herb that was somewhat popular in British cooking but fell out of favour in the rest of Canada. Here, it lives on through dressing.

Dressing is usually found with fries and doused with gravy, leading some to call it “Newfoundland poutine”. Pubs and greasy diners serve them. For fish and chips with dressing, local institution Ches’s is a good introduction.

Exterior of Ches's Famous Fish and Chips — Ches’s Famous Fish and Chips

Ches’s isn’t the best fish and chips in St John’s (some say it’s The Duke of Duckworth) but it’s one of the oldest. My cod bites and chips were traditional British style. Rather bland flour batter and thick-cut chips. The magic is in the gravy and dressing (both sold separately). The dressing was crumbly and one could clearly see and taste the green savoury leaves. The gravy was one-note but combined with the dressing and fries, it was a novel and satisfying experience. It’s like turkey dinner without the turkey. 7/10.

Cod bites and chips with dressing and gravy from Ches's Famous Fish and Chips — Cod bites and chips with dressing and gravy from Ches’s Famous Fish and Chips

Cod bites and chips meal from Ches's Famous Fish and Chips — Takeout package

Cod bites and chips from Ches's Famous Fish and Chips — Takeout package

Continue reading “The British Empire foods of St John’s”

The donairs and lobster rolls of Halifax

Where to eat Canada’s own shawarma variant and splurge on lobster

The number one iconic food of Halifax is surely donair. Yes, people may associate Halifax with seafood but it’s neither unique (Prince Edward Island, Maine, and New England also have similar species) nor cheap (when on sale, Nova Scotian lobsters are cheaper in Toronto). Donairs, on the other hand, scream Nova Scotia.

Sweet and messy donair

Donairs are a Nova Scotian adaptation of shawarma and gyro wraps. Compared to the minor variants of shawarma around the Mediterranean and Middle East, this one is a significant departure. There are 3 defining characteristics of a donair:

Sweet garlic white sauce. With a foundation of condensed milk, this sauce has its lovers and haters. It’s slathered liberally, resulting in a messy, and some say soggy, sandwich. It’s popular enough to be bottled up and sold on its own. And it also pairs with other Nova Scotian foods like garlic fingers (more on that later).
Compacted meat. Although the meat is grilled around a rotating spit like shawarma, it’s minced so finely and packed so tightly that it resembles corned beef. One wouldn’t be able to tell what animal meat it is. It has a bouncy texture too.
Topping of raw white onions and tomatoes. For the purists, there are no other additions like lettuce, pickles, peppers, or hot sauce.

The donair was invented in 1973. To be more accurate, that was the first prototype. After some experimentation, the final form and name emerged in 1974. The creator went on to open King of Donairs, which is widely regarded as the modern birthplace of the dish.

Donair meat now appears in various incarnations that have proved just as popular: on donair pizza, donair subs, donair egg rolls, and donair poutine. Accompanied with the signature white sauce of course.

Continue reading “The donairs and lobster rolls of Halifax”

Aux Anciens Canadiens (Quebec City)

Historic Quebec cuisine

Aux Anciens Canadiens is one of the few restaurants in Quebec City where one can try traditional cuisine. The reason for this paucity is that it’s peasant food. Old Quebec food is heavy and doesn’t have broad appeal. Like fèves au lard (baked beans with maple syrup) or tourtière (minced meat pie). Enterprising restaurateurs who can re-invent the cuisine will surely be fêted.

But it’s not going to happen at Aux Anciens Canadiens. They value authenticity and it’s the reason ~~people~~ tourists visit. To add to their street cred, they claim to occupy the oldest house in Quebec City.

Exterior of Aux Anciens Canadiens — Aux Anciens Canadiens

Continue reading “Aux Anciens Canadiens (Quebec City)”

The poutines of Quebec City

Where to get the best poutines in Quebec City

Poutine is the undisputed number one iconic food of Canada. The second is…um maple syrup? And that wraps up the list of famous Canadian foods.

So, if you are foodie, you have to go to Quebec, the birthplace of poutine. Montreal and Quebec City are strong contenders but food snobs like to point out that the best poutines are outside Montreal. I don’t know if that is true but I do know that Quebec City has Chez Ashton, a fast food chain with great classic poutines. More on that later. Moreover, Quebec City is fairly compact, so it’s an easy place to try different poutines.

What makes a great poutine?

There are just three components in a classic poutine. It’s hard to mess them up but also difficult to excel at them all.

Fries
Medium cut. Crisp on the outside. Double- or even triple-frying is optional.
Gravy
Dark brown, semi-thin, and salty with a deep meaty flavour. The gravy can be based on chicken, beef, or both. Vegan options have also appeared but the classic is heavy on beef.
Cheese
This is the most difficult component to source but the easiest to prepare. The “cheese” is actually cheese curd, not actual cheese. They are a byproduct of cheese production and are like white, bite-sized cushions. It’s hard to find them outside of Quebec and Ontario.

The cheese curds must make a squeaking noise when you chew on them. Obviously, they must remain intact in order to squeak. That’s why they are added to the poutine at the last moment. The chef should ensure that the gravy and fries are not too hot to melt the curds. Any poutine that uses mozzarella, cheddar, or Cheez Whiz is sacrilegious. Heavily-melted cheese is also a sign of an inauthentic poutine.

Variations abound, from Galvaude (chicken and peas) to bacon. Restaurants with the best traditional poutine may not have the best all-loaded ones. For a fair comparison, only traditional poutine was ordered for this taste test.

Continue reading “The poutines of Quebec City”

The shawarmas of Ottawa

So many shawarma places, so few good ones

Ottawa is supposedly the shawarma capital of Canada, based on the high density of restaurants. From anywhere in downtown, it’s at most a few minutes walk to a shawarma restaurant. However, in terms of absolute number or quality, the claim is somewhat dubious as Montreal and Toronto have a larger and more diverse Middle Eastern population.

The only true food specialty in Ottawa is BeaverTails, a flat doughnut. If you’ve already tried that, you might as well check out the everyday food of this city. Don’t expect gourmet options. The celebrated shawarmas cost less than $10 and are considered fast food. From what I can taste, there isn’t anything unique about it. It’s close to Lebanese-style and similar to other places in Canada.

Here are some shawarma places that are consistently at the top of “best of” lists. For a fair comparison, I ordered the same thing at all restaurants: a small chicken shawarma wrap with all toppings and sauces.

Continue reading “The shawarmas of Ottawa”

What to eat in Winnipeg

Voyage through Winnipegger and Manitoban specialties

Winnipeg has the most storied history of all the cities in the Canadian Prairies. Indigenous groups converged at The Forks, the confluence of two rivers. Winnipeg still has the largest number of indigenous residents among Canadian cities. Then, came the voyageurs: French-Canadians that used canoes to transport fur goods. Those who stayed spawned the Métis: people of mixed indigenous and French-Canadian heritage. Their food legacy survives as a derivative of Quebec’s.

The British moved in, followed in the early 20th-century by Greek, Polish, Ukrainian, and even Icelandic settlers. Mennonites from Germany and Russia also formed a sizable minority. Unsurprisingly, foods from all these groups can be found in Winnipeg today.

With a rich history and opportunities for multicultural adaptation, it’s odd that Winnipeg has few unique dishes. The most unique dish, fatboy, was only created in the 1950s. And it’s not a particularly interesting dish either.

For the foodie tourist, the city’s culinary makeup is of modest interest. Skim the list below, skip the cuisines you’ve tried before and focus on Modern Canadian fare. I’ve listed the unique foods first.

Continue reading “What to eat in Winnipeg”

The fatboys of Winnipeg

Where to get the best chili-topped burgers in Winnipeg

Winnipeg has a couple of minor, obscure food specialties. But the number one has got to be fatboys. It’s the only specialty that is thriving in Winnipeg, so it can be rightfully considered to be Winnipeg’s representative dish.

What is a fatboy?

A fatboy (sometimes spelled as fat boy) is simply a hamburger with chili. Not Texas-style chili because that will just become a sloppy mess. Coney Island-style chili is used because it’s more viscous. And because the creator used to work in a Coney Island-style restaurant. Fun fact: both Coney chili and fatboys were invented by Greek immigrants.

It’s dubious to treat a regular hamburger with a particular topping as a local specialty, but it’s woven into the food fabric of Winnipeg and found nowhere else.

The name isn’t standard either. Perhaps to avoid litigation, some restaurants call it by other names. But it’s still a burger with thin, well-done beef patties, lettuce, tomatoes, white onions, pickles, mayo, and of course, chili. The “fat” part comes from the copious amount of mayo and large size. Well, at least larger than regular hamburgers from fast food chains.

The most important component for me in a fatboy is obviously the chili. Otherwise, I would just order a regular burger.

The fatboy restaurants in Winnipeg are old-school. They look like they haven’t changed since the 1960s and 1970s. Most are cash-only. Some close during the brutal winter season, so check ahead if you are visiting between December and March.

Continue reading “The fatboys of Winnipeg”

Casual lunches in Saskatoon

Where to get a piece of Saskatoon for lunch

For the past few years, travel and food guides have proclaimed Saskatoon as an up and coming culinary destination. Well, the truth is that the city still lacks a distinct culinary identity (I guess the same can be said about all Canadian cities outside Quebec). There are less than 20 noteworthy restaurants. There are no signature dishes that the city can lay claim on.

For sure, Saskatoon is a culinary oasis in the vast prairie. It’s not destination-worthy yet, but it’s certainly a pleasant surprise on a cross- Canadian trip.

Stopping for lunch? Then the pickings are even slimmer because most of the distinctive restaurants only have dinner service, like Ayden Kitchen, Hearth, Odla, Primal, and The Granary.

As a food tourist, I’ve tried to find lunch places for a uniquely Saskatoonian flavour. So, no Italian, Korean, and Jamaican restaurants. No generic pub food. There’s a strong Ukrainian presence in the prairies but I’m not including those restaurants either because the cuisine isn’t limited to Saskatoon. Here’s what I came up with.

Continue reading “Casual lunches in Saskatoon”

The stacked pizzas of Regina

A minor twist in pizza assembly

Pop quiz: how many Saskatchewan food specialties can you name? There are only two.

Saskatoon berry pie and Regina-style pizza. Other foods like perogies and cabbage rolls can be found outside Saskatchewan. Foods like spudnuts (potato doughnuts) and Doukhobor bread are only available during summer fairs. Sure, these invoke loving memories for Saskatchewan residents but the casual tourist might be interested in something more unique.

The answer is found in Regina.

Pizza as deli sandwich

Regina-style pizza has a small but dedicated following. It’s a minor variation of pizza that is unknown in other parts of Saskatchewan, let alone Canada. Heck, even some Regina residents don’t know that their pizza is a style on its own.

The defining characteristic of Regina-style pizza is its stack of toppings. It’s like a deli sandwich or lasagna. Different ingredients are spread on the dough in tiers and finished off with cheese as the top layer. When one cuts into the pizza, one should clearly see all the layers. Other than the distribution of toppings, it’s pretty much a normal North American pizza. Thick, doughy crust, smothered with mozzarella and non-gourmet ingredients.

Typical toppings are cheap and the same as national restaurant chains: ham, salami, pepperoni, bacon, green peppers, onions, mushroom, olives, pineapple, and more. The signature combination is “all dressed”, which includes all the deli meats and some token vegetables.

A good Regina-style pizza shouldn’t be overstuffed. A tendency is for the bread to become soggy and weighed down by all the ingredients. Connoisseurs talk about meat quality, but frankly there isn’t a big difference in cured meats at that price point. Don’t expect charcuterie. It’s mass-market processed meat.

Continue reading “The stacked pizzas of Regina”

The ginger beef of Calgary

Where Canadian ginger beef was born

In this series of iconic Canadian foods, we travel to Calgary, the birthplace of ginger beef, Caesar cocktail, and mostly meh Canadian chains like Hy’s, Joey, Moxies, and OPA! of Greece.

Elements of Canadian comfort food

Southern USA has fried chicken and hush puppies. Canada has ginger beef and poutine. They are unhealthy, easy to make but difficult to master. There is no set recipe for ginger beef but it’s generally deep-fried beef strips with a ginger sauce. The most apt description I can think of is “beef candy”.

When done well, the exterior is crispy and the meat has a jerky-like quality. The beef is on the lean side, on the verge of dry. But the meat should flake easily. It’s a tricky texture to accomplish. Ginger pieces are incorporated into the batter or during frying. Sweetness, lots of it, comes from the gooey sauce.

Ginger beef is a Western Canadian thing. It rarely appears in Toronto or anywhere east of Winnipeg for that matter. Not sure why because the cooking style is similar to General Tso’s chicken, sweet and sour pork, and other Westernized Chinese dishes.

Continue reading “The ginger beef of Calgary”