A food and entertainment blog for people passionate about cooking, travel, and dining experiences
Our return to normal began on a cold and snowy February night with a trip to Whalesbone on Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa. This was our first in-restaurant dining experience since the Fall of 2020 and there was no way that a few inches of snow was going to stop us. We had been wanting to visit Whalesbone for months after hearing several great reviews from our foodie friends and this restaurant didn’t disappoint.
Way back in August (seems like forever ago) we had the privilege to attend a 7-course collaboration dinner at Les Fougères restaurant hosted by two of the hottest chefs in the Ottawa Region – Yannick LaSalle and Imrun Texeira. Chef LaSalle is the resident chef at Les Fougères and was the 2019 winner of the Canadian Culinary Championships and Chef Texeira was a top-four finisher in the 2020 edition of Top Chef Canada and former sous chef at one of our favourite Ottawa restaurants – Stofa.
Back in July we had the opportunity to visit sEb L’Artisan Culinaire in the small village of Mont Tremblant (not the ski resort) in Quebec. The namesake of talented Chef Sébastien Houle was opened in 2006 has been gained momentum and accolades ever since. The restaurant now boasts a CAA Four-Diamond rating and is considered to be one of the top establishments in the Tremblant area.
Voted as Ottawa’s top restaurant according to the Canada’s Best Restaurant list for 2020 (#26 on the list), Riviera is a restaurant that we’ve had at the top of our “must visit” list for some time now. As with most, previous plans to reserve were put on hold during the pandemic, but we were extremely happy to book a table now that things are returning to normal.
We had tried unsuccessfully for two years to get a reservation at Joe Beef, one of Montreal’s top-rated dining establishments and #2 on the Canada’s Top 100 list. Now, this said, it wasn’t like I was sitting by my tablet each month when the new reservation periods opened up. Rather, I would check fairly regularly just to see if something was available – even one or two months out. We had even decided that if something did come up, we would make a special trip just to have dinner. And this is exactly what we did – booking a hotel and making a two-hour trek to Montreal – just to experience this legendary restaurant.
I had had my visit to Edmonton restaurant Biera circled on my calendar for weeks. After all, it’s one of the top-rated dining establishments in the city and currently sits at #61 on the Canada’s Top 100 restaurant list.
On a snowy February night a group of colleagues and I trekked through downtown Edmonton in search of Bündok – one of the cities top rated restaurants. Located only a stones throw from beautiful Rogers Arena in the newly created “Ice District“, Bündok has received a lot of great hype since opening it’s doors in 2017 and is ranked at #93 on Canada’s Top 100 list for 2019. As a result, we were excited to see what all the fuss was about.
My recent trip to western Canada began with an on-board flight announcement congratulating Chef Roger Ma on his recent win at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Ottawa. Being a foodie, I was very excited just to be in the same general vicinity of such an accomplished chef, and was blown away when two days later I had the opportunity not only to dine at his amazing Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar, but also to meet the man in person.
On a recent seven day trip to Western Canada, I had the opportunity to visit St. Lawrence restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia. Located in the popular Gastown district, St. Lawrence currently holds the #5 ranking on the 2019 list of Canada’s Top 100 Restaurants and has received several other accolades since opening in 2017. The restaurant is a testament to the signature “haute country” cooking of Chef/Owner Jean-Christophe (J-C) Poirier and pays homage to his French-Canadian roots.
While on a quick foray to Quebec’s beautiful Eastern Townships in November, we had a chance to stop over in Montreal and visited the popular Garde Manger restaurant. The first thing I will say is that this place is tricky to find, but once you do, you’re in for a real treat!