Wolfville's Tempest Restaurant Is One of the Healthiest Restaurants in Canada

Written by the Tidings Staff | 02 July 2009

The summer 2009 issue of Best Health Magazine, a nation-wide Canadian publication, named Wolfville’s Tempest Restaurant as one four of Canada’s Healthiest Restaurants. The award was based on Tempest’s commitment to local, organic food. Chef and co-owner Michael Howell was also awarded Tidings Maverick Chefs award in 2006, and is currently featured in Tidings July 2009 issue.

Chef and co-owner Michael Howell was about his restaurant’s commitment to regional food. “Tempest is committed to preparing the best local fresh ingredients that result in a great dining experience. We do not eschew the flavours and techniques that create great cuisine, but if we can reduce unhealthy additives, make a dish completely vegan or prepare a six course completely gluten free menu for a keen diner à la minute, we can be proud of the recognition that Best Health bestows upon us. As a chef who believes inherently in the Slow Food Movement and its relevance in the restaurant sphere, I am as committed as ever to extol the virtues and health benefits of locally produced food.”

Tempest was again recognized as one of the best restaurants in Canada in the 2009-10 edition of Where to Eat in Canada. Tempest Restaurant is a member of Taste of Nova Scotia.

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World's Best Sommelier Competitions

Written by the Tidings Staff | 22 June 2009

The Association de Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) supports a number of competitions throughout the year for sommeliers that belong to each of its 41-member countries. Most notably, Elyse Lambert, sommelier from restaurant Le Local in Montreal took first prize at the APAS & ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier of the Americas 2009 held on June 1st in the hotel Panamericano in Buenos Aires.

Mark your calendars because coming up in April 2010 will be the World’s Best Sommelier Competition taking place in Santiago, Chile. The winner of that contest will take home the impressive Moët & Chandon Silver Mathusalem trophy. Long a supporter of sommelier competitions and programs, Moët & Chandon will endorse the 13th edition of this event. The World’s Best Sommelier contest takes place only once every three years in one of the ASI’s 41-member countries. The upcoming 2010 competition will be even more significant because the ASI will be celebrating its 40th anniversary.

ASI, which was founded in France in June 1969 works to develop and promote the Sommelier profession worldwide through ongoing training programs and competitions.

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Canadian Foodie Film Takes the Cake

Written by the Tidings Staff | 21 June 2009

Ron Mann, the award-winning director of Comic Book Confidential, Grass, and Go Further, has just won the Best Feature award at the New York City Food Film Festival. His film, Know Your Mushrooms, investigates the sometimes strange and near-secret world of fungi.

Mushrooms – we put them on our pizza and steaks and in our soups and salads: we marvel at their variety and are sometimes repelled by their grotesque beauty when encountering them in the bush. And yes, some have even sampled their more exotic possibilities and asked the question: “Do mushrooms come from a far away planet?” Still others have asked, “Can mushrooms save the planet?” The world of fungi and their integral relationship with the health of the planet have only recently been appreciated. The oldest and largest living organisms recorded on Earth are both fungi. And their use by a new, maverick breed of scientists and thinkers has proven vital in the cleansing of sites despoiled by toxins and as a “clean” pesticide among many other environmentally-friendly applications.

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Chef Ned Bell Puts Hollywood Spotlight on Okanagan Culinary Scene

Written by the Tidings Staff | 15 June 2009

Cabana Grille and Executive Chef and Owner Ned Bell were thrilled to participate in last weekend's celebrity wine events and fund raisers in the South Okanagan. The fun began when the cast and crew from Entertainment Tonight Canada stopped into Kelowna hot spot, Cabana Grille, for a delicious lunch of local spot prawns, bison burgers and whole-wheat crust pizzas. Canada's entertainment news magazine TV program reaches 500,000 viewers, and potential Okanagan visitors. The crew took the opportunity to film the well-known chef in the restaurant's open kitchen before sitting down to lunch. Entertainment Tonight Canada will air the clip tonight at 7:30 on Global Television.

The show followed Bell from Kelowna to the Black Hills Winery Nota Bene release party in Oliver, BC catered by Cabana Grille, where they filmed a cooking segment with Bell and actor Jason Priestly working the grill. The duo grilled halibut skewers and BC spot prawns with saffron and vanilla bean aioli for the cameras and served up the dish to the appreciative crowd of over 300 people. Attendees also included Priestly's 90210 co-star Tiffani Amber Thiessen, Star Trek's Bruce Greenwood and Medium's David Cubitt.

Bell and Cabana Grille also helped raise $9,000 for children's charities at Friday evening's Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Auction when he auctioned off two dinners, with him as cook, and wines donated by Cedar Creek Estate Winery.

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Sour Deal for Ontario Grape Farmers

Written by the Tidings Staff | 14 June 2009

Urgent government action needed to protect Ontario Grape Growers

Ontarians who think they are supporting Ontario farmers by buying wine sold as "Cellared in Canada" are unknowingly supporting foreign grapes or grape products, the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance warned today. Under the current Ontario law, Cellared in Canada wines can contain up to 70% foreign grapes or grape product. "In a time when there is tremendous support for local food and farmers, our province's grape growers are getting the short end of the vine," said Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence, a member group of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance.

Under the Wine Content and Labeling Act, Ontario wineries are able to buy inexpensive finished wine from off-shore vendors and create a product labeled as "Cellared in Canada" by blending in a minimum amount of locally grown wine. The required amount of Ontario fruit, initially fixed at 85%, has been repeatedly lowered and now stands at a mere 30%. The program, originally established in 1972 and renewed in 2001 as a measure to give Ontario growers time to upgrade their vineyards, has become a permanent part of how non-VQA wine is made in Ontario.

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Le Clos Jordanne Wins in the "Judgement of Montreal"

Written by the Tidings Staff | 07 June 2009

Since its launch in 2006, Le Clos Jordanne winery in Niagara has had the unwavering goal to create Ontario wines that will rank amongst the world's finest. The wines - produced under the direction of viniculture manager Thomas Bachelder (responsible for both the grape growing and winemaking) - are crafted with exacting organic viticulture practices. In the cellar, innovative New World practices are combined with time-honoured Burgundian techniques, such as harvesting and sorting the grapes by hand. Every step of the process receives careful consideration.

Of most recent note, Le Clos Jordanne participated in a blind tasting held in Quebec for Cellier magazine. Thirty-three years after the "Judgment of Paris" - the famous tasting that revolutionized the reputation of New World wines, and inspired the movie Bottle Shock - Cellier magazine organized the "Judgement of Montreal." Ten judges at the Cellier tasting assessed sixteen red and fourteen white wines, primarily from France and California.

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Wolfville's Tempest Restaurant Is One of the Healthiest Restaurants in Canada

World's Best Sommelier Competitions

Canadian Foodie Film Takes the Cake

Chef Ned Bell Puts Hollywood Spotlight on Okanagan Culinary Scene

Sour Deal for Ontario Grape Farmers

Le Clos Jordanne Wins in the "Judgement of Montreal"

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