Held at the Assiniboine Park Conservatory, it was led by D. Kurt, a self professed mushroom mad man and kind of a fun guy (get it…fun gi) at that.

The evening provided a crash course in terminology and taxonomy (did you know that mushrooms actually are closer in definition to animals than plants…sorry vegetarians) and included some gorgeous photography of Kurt’s finds, both edible and not, across Manitoba and Ontario.

It was a great source of inspiration to head into the woods in search of Morels, which are currently in season.

(Word of caution…false Morels can be deadly).

Kurt has years of careful study and reams of reference books.

You’ll want to pick up a good guide book and sign up for as many of these courses as you can find.

In the meantime, Kurt has promised to publish the powerpoint from the evening on his website. Visit www.Wilds.mb.ca

Pizzeria Gusto’s state of the art wood-fired oven remained cold for more than a week, following the firing of head chef Scott Bagshaw last weekend.

Pizza doh!

In a shocking show of solidarity, much of the kitchen crew packed their knives and followed Bagshaw out the door forcing the restaurant to close.

Fanning the flames

The spark that ignited the fire was a series of Kitchen Confidential type confessions Bagshaw made during an interview with Red River College student Rhéanne Marcoux. Part of a school project, it’s one of several articles documenting the experiences of Winnipeg chefs that will appear in a self-published, 100 copy run book titled The Last Crumb.

Where’s the beef?

In the article, Bagshaw confesses to a number of high flying antics in his past. Yes, there were drugs. Booze…check. Wild parties…hell yeah. But the owners were quick to acknowledge we’ve all got our pasts and they wouldn’t hold that against anyone.

What fueled the firing was Bagshaw’s revelation that while on display for his culinary merits in Gusto’s front-of-house kitchen, he and his sous were admiring the physical merits of female clientele–something he refers to as the “Would you sleep with her?” game.

Food fight

News surrounding circumstances of the dismissal quickly spread. Several articles appeared in newspapers and on websites. It even went national with an article in British newspaper, the Guardian. Comments sections overflowed with  opinions falling sharply on both sides. That the chef was dismissed unfairly. That the owners were within bounds.

What it all boils down to

Nobody’s naive here. We’ve all played the game at one time or another. It’s safe to assume it’s happening elsewhere, just as its safe to assume some restaurants recycle the bread, or hold product in the walk-in longer than ideal. But you don’t advertise the fact.

Bagshaw advertised. His irreverent comment sent a message to every woman walking into Pizzeria Gusto that all orders would be served with a side of sexual objectification. That they’ll be looked up and down…ogled…judged as a matter of course. Nobody wants a piece of that. That’s why we have laws against workplace sexual harassment. But those laws don’t protect customers. That’s what the management is for.

Any way you slice it

Pizzeria Gusto is a business. The purpose of a business is to make money. It makes money by building a brand and loyalty to that brand. PG’s brand is upscale Italian. It’s a classy, family inspired place that’s great for a date, dinner with clients or a girls’ night out. It’s a unique opportunity to sit at the chef’s station, get a behind-the-scenes look at the process, experience the drama of sizzling dishes emerging from a 900 degree wood oven. Bagshaw, by admission of his practice, alienated half the market. He became a liability to the brand.

Just desserts

Pissed he was dismissed doesn’t even cover it. There have been promises of vengeance, hopes that the restaurant will fail as a result. Seriously!? If Bagshaw is even half the talent he’s hailed to be, he’ll find a new venture. But it’s foodies, the consuming public, and the chef himself, not the Mottolas, who will make him or break him.

Haute cuisine

In the midst of the mud slinging, the shadows of doubt and mis-information, a high class act shines bright over Winnipeg’s culinary landscape. The Fort Garry lent the Mottolas a chef. Working with a new hire, he’s helped recreate the Pizzeria Gusto menu. Ten days later, the restaurant is open again.

Further reading

CBC – http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/03/29/man-pizzeria-gusto-bagshaw-fired.html

Winnipeg Free Press – http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/breakingnews/not-making-any-dough-here-89379507.html?viewAllComments=y

Winnipeg Free Press – http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/pizza-chefs-firing-no-surprise-89826212.html

The Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/mar/31/chefs-macho-memoirs

So many events, so little screen time. Here’s a taste of Winnipeg food fun in April:

• If not sold out, Winnipeg Leisure Guide activities continue. One of the standouts, Maple Syrup for Fun and Profit, teaches Manitobans to tap into the health and flavour benefits of this arboreal elixir.
• Centrex – Manitoba’s largest tradeshow for hotels, restaurants, bars and foodservices. Starting April 11, this two day event features hundreds of exhibitors, presentations and the second Winnipeg’s own Iron Chef competition. Savour Winnipeg will bring you daily coverage.
• Mise Bistro and Kenaston Wine Market team up to pairs regional cuisine with eco-friendly wines.
• Winnipeg Wine Festival – Following the success of last year’s special spotlight on Chile, this year takes us through the wines of Australia. Ancillary events lead up to the main event, the Public Tastings held Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1
  

For a full list of foodie focused activities, and all the details on the above, see the Savour Winnipeg Events Calendar at www.SavourWinnipeg.com/calendar

Folded into Adult Leisure sections you’ll find the usual headings–Hands-On Cuisine and Cuisine Demo. But I found a couple of foodie items in the Around the Yard section–Making Maple Sugar for Fun or Profit and Growing Mushrooms at Home (not the psychotropic ones).

Also, don’t forget to check the Assiniboine Park Conservatory (APC) section. There’s a handful of classes offered in conjunction with Manitoba Liquor Marts and Red River College. (Why this has anything to do with APC I don’t know. I’m also baffled by their insistence on describing this stuff as Foody. It’s foodie. As in granola munching Hippie, not Hippy. Hah!)

Aaaaanyway…I’ve pulled the FOODIE events out and listed them in a handy-dandy chronological order on the Savour Winnipeg Calendar of Food Events.

To register for classes or for more information, call 311 or click here.

It strikes a chord, particularly now as the sun begins to shine strong enough to melt snow, teasing us with glimpses of the earth, turning thoughts to gardens and growth.

The 2010 Nutrition Month challenges Canadians to celebrate food – from where it’s grown and harvested to the delicious and healthy meals that end up on our tables.

While it’s a little early in the growing season to go to the source (at least around here), why not make March the month to make a tardy new new year’s resolution.

When thinking seeds, plan(t) to try something new. Until fresh produce is available, look on the label for products that have been grown locally, or closer to home. And vow to shop a farmers market for your produce this year.

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives publishes a fantastic listing of local producers and farmers’ markets. I’ve pulled out a few local favourites here:

St. Norbert Farmers’ Market (Le Marche)

3514 Pembina Highway
Winnipeg, MB R3V 1A1
(204) 275-8349
www.stnorbertfarmersmarket.ca
Get directions

FortWhyte Alive

1961 McCreary Road
Winnipeg, MB R3P 2K9
(204) 989-8364
www.fortwhyte.org
Get directions

Osborne Village Market

445 River Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3L 0C3
(204) 480-8358
Facebook page
Get directions

The Forks

201-1 Forks Market Road
Winnipeg, MB R3C 4L9
(204) 942-6302
www.forks.com
Get directions

Transcona BIZ Market Garden & Crafters/Flea Market

131 Victoria Avenue West
Winnipeg, MB R2C 1S6
(204) 222-8566
www.transconabiz.ca
Get directions

Red River Exhibition Park

3977 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3K 2E8
(204) 888-6990
www.redriverex.com
Get directions

• The Demonstration Series continues at d.a. Neils Kitchenware every Saturday
• Learn how to make your own maple syrup with an afternoon at Fort Whyte including tree selection, tapping technique, boiling and bottling
• Agriculture in the City is a three-day event at the Forks that offers a chance to explore the vibrant and innovative world of agriculture
• A host of Winnipeg Leisure Guide events continue throughout the month
• Clean Cuisine at The Food Studio teaches participants to prepare delicious meals with non processed ingredients that promote good health and weight maintenance
• Wine education events at the Winehouse and MLCC
  

For a full list of foodie focused activities, see the Savour Winnipeg Events Calendar at www.SavourWinnipeg.com/calendar

When I learned kitchen supply outfitter d.a. Niels was hosting a series of live demonstrations at their 485 Berry Street store February through March I couldn’t wait to get down there.

My eagerness was only bolstered by Destination Winnipeg’s extensive, almost exhausting, 3-part account of Bistro 7 1/4 Chef Alex Svenne’s recent performance.

d.a. Niels’ non-existent website (c’mon guys…at least have an info page…I can help you with that if you like) told me nothing. Thankfully the DW bloggers had posted a pic of the event flyer.

“Join us and these exciting Culinary Guests for our Saturday Demos. Drop by between 11:00 and 3:00 to learn new techniques, get fabulous ideas and sample great food.”

The next session, I learned, was a Knife Sharpening Demo with J.A. Henckels. Screech! I LOVE my Henckels knives. For the price point they can’t be beat. I couldn’t wait to learn about caring for them and keeping them at their sharpest.

I’d boned up on knife sharpening techniques in the Culinary Institute of America textbook, not to mention a detailed how-to in Jaques Pepin’s “Complete Techniques.” But to watch an expert might inspire enough confidence to buy that whetstone and actually try it out (on one of my older knives).

When my wife agreed to sidebar our Saturday errands, I frothed into a frenzy of anticipation. d.a. Niels boasts a bounty of kitchen tools and gadgets,  perennially featured in local food mags Ciao!, Flavours or Dish.

The store lived up to expectations. It’s a food geek’s paradise. The space is incredible. The selection…unmatched. Like a sugar addicted kid in a candy store, I swooped through the aisles, plunged into the warehouse, within minutes accumulating at least five new must-haves for my list of kitchen must-haves.

When I saw the stack of tiny paper cups beside an espresso machine I was propelled into a state of near peripatetic ecstasy. Complementary stimulants. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Yes, I’ve always been this easily amused but what I’ve learned about soaring to these superficially stimulated highs is the soul sucking lows that can result. Pouty, frowny lows that result from waiting behind someone at the espresso machine (I’m sure it was one of the staff) only to learn that he’d drained it to the “please replenish water…no spresso for you” point as indicated by the beautifully illuminated LCD screen. Harumph! Or the stompy, sweary impossible-to-live-with-for-the-rest-of-the-day lows that result from lame-ass demonstrations.

Sorry…”exciting” was the word used on the flyer. Hmmm…. If you consider loitering around a table while an apathetic product demonstrator runs your knives through an automatic honing machine exciting, you clearly wouldn’t need the espresso to get revved up.

What should have been an incredibly important culinary lesson proved deadly dull and would have stood as greatest waste of my weekend were it not for the fact that I discovered a treasure trove of culinary hardware just minutes from my house. Little consolation for my wife who suffered marriage to Mr. McPouterson for the rest of the day.

Check here for the next d.a. Niels demo.

d.a. Niels Kitchenware

485 Berry Street
St James, MB R3J 1N6
(204) 953-2345

Get directions

Barret and I have many rewarding conversations about beer, recipes and the great outdoors. A fount of enthusiastically related information (sometimes unbidden bless him) he’s the guy who hooked me up on the mushroom picking education afternoon with the Manitoba Naturalists Society.

Winnipeg Free Press reporter Alison Mayes wrote a fantastic feature for the Detour section. You can read the article here, but the FREEP also shot an awesome series of videos with Barret foraging for wild edibles and turning them into some bush tea. Check it out:

I turn, then, to experiences and although there’s room for growth, I’ve discovered a veritable smorgasbord of education opportunities for the info famished foodie in Winnipeg:

Winnipeg’s Winter Leisure Guide is packed with activities for the frosty months but foodies are going to be left out in the cold. Registration open less than a month and the ever popular cooking with Kathy Man series is almost entirely sold out, even with new additions Chinese Vegetarian Dishes, Szechuan (western Chinese), Cantonese (southern Chinese), and Fusion Cuisine.

The Foodie (although they insist on spelling it Foody) series at the Assiniboine Park Conservatory also features an expanded lineup.

If you’re thirsty for knowledge, call the city’s 311 service, find out what courses are left and signed up before it’s too late. You can also visit www.Winnipeg.ca/leisureonline

If you can’t get satisfaction from the Leisure guide, check out some of the alternatives around the city.

MLCC also offers supremely informative tasting and pairing courses at their Grant Park and recently added Madison Square education centres, any of which can always be found on my Christmas and birthday gift lists.

The Food Studio has a veritable rotisserie of hands-on cooking featuring top chefs from around the city like Diana Coutu of Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria. I joined them for their Sushi evening with Sadao Ono of Edohei. It was fantastic, but let my experience guide you.  I’m constantly getting invitations to friend’s houses so I can play Itamae (sushi chef).

De Luca’s Cooking Studio instructor demonstrates a variety of authentic Italian dishes while you sit back and enjoy the feast with selected wine samples.  Each class includes an antipasto, pasta, entrée, dessert, and featured wines.  Our new Cooking Studio is fully equipped with mirrors and a flat screen television for you to view all of the cooking demonstrations.

The Kinsmen Reh-Fit Centre offers a suprising number of health focussed classes including Labelling Lingo, Real Women Come in All Shapes and Sizes, Understanding the Glycemic Index, Healthy Pastas, Heart Healthy Indian Cooking, Power Foods that Fight, Create a Stir, The Sodium Solution, Mindful Eating, Cooking: Just the Basics, and Healthyh Desserts.

Mary Jane’s Cooking School offers nutrition awareness, diet and weight control, life skills and feeding the family oriented classes and focuses on sourcing locally produced goods and services. Most classes incorporate basic cooking techniques and home-style recipes as well as cooking with herbs and canning.  Topics may include Vegetarian Cooking, The Kithcen as the Medicine Cabinet, The Healthy Home: Cleaning and Caring; and special topics like Therapeutic Nutrition.

To do some of the leg work, I’ve compiled a fairly comprehensive Calendar of Food Events around Winnipeg. Head on over and see if anything tickles your fancy.

Brewmaster Dave Rudge of Half Pints Brewing Company leads a tour of the new facility

There are a few standout dates in the Winnipeg food calendar for me.  The opening of the farmers markets, the Winnipeg Wine Festival, Flatlanders Beer Festival, and Folklorama to name a few.

How about August 1, 1997? As a beer enthusiast this is like year one for me.

That’s when Dave Rudge, looming over the bathtub he’d used to brew his latest batch, marveled at his most successful creation to date. Little did he know he’d created a monster.

It didn’t stop with that batch, or that recipe. There was a world of beer to explore, styles both ancient and new, ingredients and adjuncts yet unimagined.

“I brewed way too much,” says Dave. “We’re talking once a week, 23 liters at a time, and I’d only drink three or four beers a week.”

Two years later an ultimatum from his wife Nicole gave him the necessary shove to make his obsession a profession.

A cook by trade, Dave parlayed his passions into a Craft Beer Brewing and Science certificate from the American Brewers Guild. After a few stints with other outfits including Back Woods Brewing in BC and Bushwakker Brewing Company in Saskatchewan, he set up stakes in Winnipeg.

It was August 2006. Half Pints Brewing Company, Winnipeg’s only locally owned and operated microbrewery, officially opened on Keewatin Street in Winnipeg’s north end. Like the logo says, small brewery, BIG FLAVOUR = huge hit.

By November 2008 demand for Dave’s craft beers had grown so much they were compelled to relocate near the airport at 550 Roseberry Street.

December 5, 2009. Another milestone moment. It marks the first year of operations in the new location, but more importantly, it’s Burly Wine Day.

Burly Wine Day? Never heard of it you say? Neither had I until this time last year when Half Pints threw open their doors to the public, their annual open house, and released for sale the 2008 vintgage.

Vintage? Beer? The plot thickens. Burly Wine…is a Half Pints signature spin on Barley Wine, a style of strong beer the Brits cooked up at the turn of the century (1900 that is).

Burly indeed, at 10.5% it approaches the fortitude of its grape born cousins. But with its fluffy straw head, deep amber colour, caramel and dark fruit flavours and zesty bitter finish it’s unmistakably a beer. But this ain’t no session beer…it’s a great, big, delicious, satisfying winter beer meant for sipping and savouring, preferably in the presence of fire and leather wingbacks. It’s recommended serving vessel a brandy snifter. Do I hear cigar?

Like a wine, this beer will continue to develop character after bottling, up to ten years, claims Brewmaster Dave, but none have existed so long. Last year I was lucky, or charming enough to acquire an ‘07 and compared it to the ‘o8. Its flavours had become more integrated, the effervescence tamed. I still have an ‘08  maturing in a cool, dark corner of my basement as I write this. We’ll see if it outlasts me, or I it. Oh the temptation.

Half Pints’ Burly Wine has received recognition by the folks at Ratebeer.com, Beeradvocate.com, and was featured in the newly released “World’s Best Beers” by Ben McFarland.

But it’s not only about the Burlywine. Dave, bless him, brews beer seasonally. You’ll find a wobbly pop perfect for every month of the year. Right now it’s Sweet Nikki Brown, an American style brown beer named for Nicole because, like her, it’s a little bit sweet, a little bit bitter. Hey, I’m not judging, that’s right on the label folks.

Half Pints even brews a few special occasion suds like the Humulus Ludicrous Double IPA, although quadruple+  is more like it. It’s a hugely hoppy, bitter beer with intense citrus flavours.

“It was more of an experiment to see how far we could take it,” said Dave when I chatted with him at the Flatlander’s Beer Festival this summer. (Humulus is also featured in Ben McFarland’s new book, “World’s Best Beers“).

If you haven’t had a chance to try any of Half Pints brews, the annual open house is the perfect opportunity. Dave runs tours throughout the day and they’ll have a few samples including the seasonal Sweet Nikki Brown and Burly Wine.

Then, stop by the showroom to get your 2009 Burlys. They’re also promising a limited supply of the 2008 vintage and, get this, a few specially aged on Bourbon soaked French oak chips. O…M…G!  Dave…will you marry me.

Half Pints Brewing Company
550 Roseberry Streeet
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(204) 832-7468