On the Road for Eats

Bob hit the road and was in search of culinary inspiration internationally.
Between February 21-27, 2010 I covered what I deem the 4 pillars of Euro-continental cuisine in the heart of where the tastiest action is...

1) Mediterranean / Middle Eastern ---> Beirut
2) Eastern Block ---> Berlin / Prague
3) Italian ---> Rome
4) French ---> Luxembourg / Paris

Here below is the account...
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Tasty Take Off.....

Sunday Feb 20, 2010:

The international food journey begins aboard a Paris bound Air France A340, with a great window view a rung or two down from the stratosphere - I was lucky enough to get a seat up front where the menu is a little choicer. This was my first time dining on Air France and I must say, it is one of the better offerings in the often mocked genre of "air food". You gotta give it to the French when it comes to taking food seriously. It was an evening reservation and I enjoyed a glass of 2003 Chateau Tour Seran Madoc whilst nibbling on Fauchon mini crepes filled with cheddar to prime the appetite - delightful. An appetizer of smoked & cooked salmon was served with a fresh mini baguette and asperagus - this could have been a meal on its own if you're some kind of a light weight, but we press on... I found the choice of mains was a difficult one to make between pan-seared tournedos of beef with balsamic reduction and pan-seared halibut with olives and basil. Since I'd just reloaded my vin rouge glass with 2004 Chateau de Rully, I went for the beef. It was a flavourful piece accompanied by mash potatoe, carrots, stone ground moutarde and was cooked to a perfect medium colour.

Dessert was a roasted pear custard tart and a fresh brewed.... Espresso! Yes, real espresso in a little espresso cup and saucer - a mile high first for myself.

Keeping in mind the "genre" at hand, this meal was one of the best available. Gotta love it when you get to turn left at the end of the boarding skywalk.

Vive le mange' de Air France!

Price : approx $4600
Rating: A

Find similar Eats in Etobicoke: at Vibo (Bloor & Royal York)
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Habibis (Friends) Like to Dine in Beirut

Mon Feb 22 - Beirut: After finding my way into the Verdun section of Beirut, a good appetite had been worked up and needed to be quelled by some quality Lebanese chow. I stepped out to a popular shopping district and into an oddly named spot called "Mandarine". It was quite stylish and modern with backlit orange stone and wood that cast a pleasing atmosphere across the dining area. I had a street window seat - People watchers would be in their glory here; very attractive, animated yet subdued Beiruters were all about. Inside Manadarine, groups of friends picked and sipped, a birthday celebration and a fairly steady take out business kept the place humming along.

I met up with a mid sized group of 8, so we had some ordering power behind us. One of our party was a colourful, outspoken, returning Lebanese National who likes to talk, loves to eat and is very proud of his former homeland - he took the lead in ordering. A seemingly endless stream of small dishes started to come across our table; dips (hummus, Babaganoush) and salads (taboleh, fatoush) were enjoyed wrapped in ultra thin fresh pita bread that always seems to come enclosed in a plastic wrap and served in a basket - ? Anyway, more wrappable things rolled on through; grilled meats (lamb and beef kabaps), mini arabic sausages (mecanic) and little fried treats like bits of cheese and chicken - not to overlook the kubbeh (meatball +).

My favouite was lahm be ajeen, a spiced up ground lamb paste smeared on a flatbread disk - hit it with a shot of lemon and you'll taste a little hint of Phoenician heaven in your mouth. Dinner "wrapped up" with chockAblock full bellys all around. My Lebanese friend and I took an after dinner stroll around the downtown, near the parliament (seems everyone in Beirut does a lot of casual strolling along - - I like)

we stopped at a central cafe with arabic music to digest our massive meal with some hubbly bubbly (apple and rose sheesha - waterpipe) and a sweet tamarind /pine nut drink called jellab - very pleasing.
He pointed toward the Mediterranean, "tomorrow, we will dine on the gifts of the sea...".
"Hey, I'm a fish lover - That's great!" I thought, hoping I'd find some room in my gut by then...


Price: reasonable
Rating: B

Find similar Eats in Etobicoke: I have no idea, maybe in Rexdale? - Etobicoke is seriously lacking in good Lebanese, let me know please....
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The "Medi" Gives the Love.....

Tues Feb 23 - Beirut: Sayad (the hunter) / Le Pesheur (the fisherman) - This was the hybrid name of our upscale seaside dining establishment in the Ayn El Mreisseh section of Beirut. It was a great experience! A glimpse of the available fresh catch on display as you enter the restaurant, it seems to pride itself as a feasting destination of local Liban celebrities.

Perched over the Medi-sea the locale is a reminder of the former home of our pending dinner that greeted us at the door. An array of dips and nibbles similar to the previous day was presented to the table along with tantalizing pickle platters and a few fried sea food baskets. Le Pesheur made an effort to pizzaz up the presentation with some fire garnish - ooo, ahh, ooh!

The main attractions were the communal plates piled high with whole fish & fillets that were grilled and fried - their head's and tails attached to make sure you had access to the "best parts" should you choose - lemon squirted on everything. In true mediterrean style, I accompanied my meal with some Arabic Arak - an anise based liquor similar to pernod or ouzo, mixed with ice and water - perfect. The sea was good to us my friends... learn to love the sea
 
Price: Not sure (Someone else picked up the bill)
Rating: A-
 
Find similar in Etobicoke: Just Greek (Bloor / Royal York)
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Falafel and Shawarma Paydirt....

Wed Feb 24 - Beirut: Finally in the waning hours before "wheels up" out of Beyrouth, a pilgrammage to the mecca of falafel - Barbar. The Barbar complex is one of the most popular and famous fast food gathering spots.

Open 24hrs, Barbar expands around a city block and is more of a market place of cooking stalls with everything the middle east and beyond has to offer. An armada of delivery scooters lines one whole side to distribute tasty piping hot take out to the masses. Busy, bustling, cheap and delicious - this is a must try for street meat enthusists and vegetarians on the run alike.

Save some belly space for a stop at Le Gout Parfait Baklawa shop (just across the street) for a morsel or two of the classic sweet delicacy.

Yalla Habibis!!

Price: Very Cheap
Rating: A-
 
Find Similar in Etobicoke: Nowhere, but maybe if we levelled Honeydale Mall... or Arcadia Furniture...
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Olympic Breakfast in Praha......

Thurs Feb 25 - Prague: Tried to sleep through the lousy seating arrangement on the Czech Airlines flight into Prague - gave a pass on whatever was reeking up the galley of the A320. I did however work up a roaring hunger as I passed through the assorted check points, lengthy line ups and drama at Passport Control - - yay tho I walked through the shadow of the fallen Iron Curtain...Through bleary eyed vision, while riding the moving terminal sidewalk, I spotted a chalk board scribble outside of a friendly looking pub that read: "Goulash - Bread - Baked Sausage - Pilsner Urquell". That was enough for me - I leapt right over the side of the moving handrail as if I were Jaromir Jager in mid shift trying to catch his own mullet - skated on up to the bartender and pointed toward the chalk board that lured me in; I was seated with a view of the Winter Olympics playing on the TV and a very nice Czech waitress brought me

...Goulash - Bread - Baked Sausage (I switched up the "Pilly" for fresh squeezed OJ when I spied the juice machine and oranges behind the bar - it was 6AM afterall...)

The bread was a dense rye and I used it for sopping up the goulash soup which was awefully tasty although not as piping hot as I would have preferred (about as hot as Thomas Kaberle's pre olympic runup performance on ice - tepid) but pretty good otherwise.
The baked sausage worked best when I broke the skin and spread the soft meaty innerds on the rye bread with a little horseradish and mustard to zing it up - not bad actually.
Washed it all down with the satisfying FSOJ - Hit the spot.
I let it all digest while watching the poor Czech hockey team struggle with the Fins. As Canada had just completely trounced the Russians a while earlier to advance toward Gold I wondered why my deserved smugness had been replaced with a strange sense of "Agita" ... Then I figured it out... please see above...
How does one say antacid in Czech? 

Price: $20 USD
Rating: C+
Find similar in Etobicoke: Dimpflemier's Bakery (Advance rd and Kipling Ave)
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Baltic Style Brunching....

Thurs Feb 25 - Berlin: My quest to test authentic Eastern Block Euro-Fare necessitated a luncheon at a Croatian restaurant in Berlin. The Adria Grill, in a tucked away locale on Riedemannweg Street in the Tegel area of Berlin seemed to suit that need.

An unassuming spot, the Adria Grill prides itself on offering an array of traditional Baltic and German dishes but those in the know swear by proprietors, the Babic Family's daily specials. Highlighted on this day were Schnitzel Florentine (rolls of breaded veal dressed with spinach saute'), Paprika Schnitzel (thin panfried veal with spiced tomatoe puree) and a Big Salad (WTF is this? a Seinfeld rerun??) - I opted for selection #2.

The paprika schnitzel was served with pommes frites (fries) and a side salad that you got to dress yourself - I like that, it's fun to get involved as an eater...


The schnitzel was a good lunch sized portion and very well textured, blending effortlessly with the sauce. There was just enough fries available to fill the necessary gaps in the stomach. It was a working lunch so the meal was accompanied by a glass of good ol' Coca Cola to keep it all processing. I saved myself for a tall pull of Berliner Weizen von fass (draught Beer) for the late afternoon wind down before heading out toward the "French" part of this journey...

Honest, simple, satisfying - I love it when a lunch comes together

Price: Reasonable

Rating: B

Find similar in Etobicoke: at The Izba (the Queensway, West of Royal York rd.)
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Better Lux Next Time...

Friday Feb 26 - Luxembourg: semi-sophisticated banking enclave of the Franco-Prussian nobility nestled amongst lush farming landscape. I used my best efforts to communicate in the tiny city state's official languages of German, French and Luxembourgish to determine the preferred breakfast choice of the locals - the answers came back in perfect English, "have a coffee and a croissant". So I grabbed a latte' and croissant at an unnamed cafe. That is all.

Special Mention to lovely presentation of the snack served aboard the Luxair flight to Rome ----------------------------------->





Coffee and Croissant
Price: 6.5 euros
Rating: C-

Find similar in Etobicoke: at Hot Oven Bakery (Bloor and Royal York)

PS - just so you don't think I'm totally boring... on my last visit to Luxembourg, I pigged out on the local version of Belgian style waffles for brekkie and had Horse Steak for lunch. Those were damn good meals indeed but best of all was that for dinner on that evening a friend and I shared a pitcher of Margarita and a platter of fajitas at Chi Chi's!! (Downtown LUX) -- that was a great day for eating (A+) ... Ole'
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Finding "Firsts" in Fumicino- Pizza Roma

Fri Feb 26 - Rome (Fumicino): Well, this is a first...
The first time I ever went to Italy was to celebrate when the missus officially became "The Missus" (our Honeymoon). We had spent a week in the Cote d'Azur area of France just before we arrived. I avoided eating any Frenchie pizza there because I wanted to save myself for Italy.  Great move because while we explored the northern part of Italy I had various pizzas every single day and it was the best I've ever had (except my own homemade version of course...). 
On Feb 26, 2010 I arrived in Rome looking so forward to tasting real Italian pizza again and had lunch at the one of the largest places for typical Italian workers - The Alitalia Employee Cafeteria.  It was the tail end of the lunch hour and I had picked one of the large corner pieces of the simple traditional margherita pie at the pizza counter.  What I received was a cold, listliss coagulated slab on a flimsy plastic plate - the crust had turned stale (but was still cooked perfectly thin).
In any review that I personally* have written on food using the EtobicokeEats.com classroom marking scale, I have never before assigned the lowest letter possible.  Yes - today is a day of firsts...
Hey Alitalia! - Get up in the air and Stay out of the kitchen!

Price: subsidized to near nothing
Rating: D

Find similar in Etobicoke: No Name Yellow Brand frozen pizza on sale at No Frills (Islington and Norseman)

<------------ BTW: The first beer I tried in Italy was OK - Frosty and Refreshing

PS - My Italian lunch mates apologetically commented on the poor quality of the pizza.  Yet, as we all examined our empty plastic plates I quipped the old adage ...  " Pizza is like sex, even when it's bad, it's still good to have".  They all erupted with genuine laughter as they'd actually never heard that one before - ha, still funny.

*does not include guest submissions from "Jeff the Dream Crusher"
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The Empire Strikes Back...


Friday Feb 26: Rome - It took about 8 hrs to erase the Alitalia lunch experience from my stomach and my taste buds' memory system. A concious effort was made to cultivate an impossibly ravishing hunger to allow the entire country of Italy to redeem itself. A bus ride into the heart of the ancient city and an ambitious walking tour was the most approriate roadmap to this goal. So, armed with a hotel tourista roadmap I set out at 8PM knowing that the trattorias of the great Empire would still be in full swing for hours. The 1 hour shuttle ride to the drop zone only turned the dial to "peckish". A strided march to the famed Colliseum started the appetite juices flowing. Onward past the Imperial Fort, duck and weave through narrow streets - dodging scooters and Alfa Romeos, leaping through piazza's in a single bound and a half. The flashing pizzaria signs reminded me that actual hunger had now set in - sidewalk displays of gorgeous looking gelato were not helping at all. Normally, I appreciate the gaggles of leather clad fashionistas smoking long cigarettes and speaking fiery sing song Italian, hands waving so you you what's being said - but not while completely starving. The sight of the Trevi fountain just made me thirsty. By the time I reached the Spanish Steps I was far too famished to climb them.

So instead, I tucked just around the corner of Piazza Mignanelli and saw a green glow that read "Ristorante Alla Rampa". This was to be the shot at redemption for the Azzurri. I grabbed a table solo mio and studied the menu of glorious options. It didn't take long to settle on; Carciofi alla Romana (roasted artichokes), Bresaola della Valtellina (beef carpacio), Spaghetti con Vongole veraci e Fiori di Zucchine (spaghetti with clams and zucchini flowers), Insalata Mista (an unnecessary salad), 2008 Valpolicella Classico Bolla (a necessary 1/2 litre of red wine).

I will spare you the pages of details and cut right to the chase - DeLiciOuS!! And proper!! Frickin Italians! It's like with the soccer... Just when you think they "dinked it" completly they deliver a victory in style. Unfortunately, my ethnic allegiances prevent me from cheering the Azzuri during the World Cup - but I can say with confidence and pride "Viva Bocce - Viva Bocce big time!"

Arivaderce' Roma, next stop is Paris and some big ass designer shoes to fill.

Price: who cares
Rating: A
Find similar eats in Etobicoke: at Pinocchio (Dundas W. And Islington)









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Paris Premiere....

Saturday Feb 27: Paris - This was my first visit to the "City of Lights" and I took the occasion to act as real everyday Parisians do and take pictures of myself around town with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The purchase of a 1 day metro pass (9 €) allowed me to use the efficient transit system to seek out eating establishments. There was nothing to be readily found at the Arc de Triumphe. A brief stroll along Champs des E'lysee required too much rubber necking, taking in perspectives of the wide street, elegant buildings, zooming traffic and fancy designer fashion shops - Louis V was putting on a show in front of his pad.

After detouring for a wander, I returned to "the Champs" a little further along by Grande Palais. There I spied a little crepe & sandwich stand (Crepes Sarrasin)

Decided to stop for a "food pill" in order to gain enough strength to combat the cold windy drizzle that had snuck up.
Opted for the Oeuf et Jambon (egg and ham) crepe and a can of Heineken.

I plopped my deriere on one of the benchs near by and munched it down - very nice.



Hunger quelled - yes, but my body temperature was dropping as the daylight was sucked from the sky straight into the trimmings of the city.
The beautifully illuminated buildings majically transformed the mise en scene of the moment and the city began glowing to show off the origin of this impressive metropolis' nickname -


But these charming lights give no warmth, so back into the Metro I went.
I emerged from the subterrania at Musee' du Louvre and couldn't resist shutterbugging on the abundance of photo ops.




More wandering yielded a proper appetite and a little Brasserie near Pont Neuf, just across the river from Mona's house seemed to beckon - Cafe' des Beaux Arts. It put out all the vibes of classic French charm without trying to - - entree moi. Well it was warm, cozy and not raining or blowing cold air inside so I was happy to settle in and practice my French with the uni-lingual staff ;
                                                                                                             Garcon, Menu!  - - c,Vu,pL'eh?

Not a lick of English on the page or the speciale du jour black boards - except 2 words "Milk Shakes".

On recommendation from Yves the server I went with the Confit du canard avec pommes persilles (duck confit and potatoes with parsley) accompanied by a glass of Bordelais Medoc aoc chateau du perier (red wine).


It was all good stuff - I lingered over this meal, a small coffee and a local beer that I have no idea the name cause the tap didn't identify and Yves spoke too fast.


                                        This was not a high end place.

Infact,  it had tell tale signs of old world penny pinching - the newspapers on lend were attached to long wooden spines and the staff handed anyone heading down to des toilettes a 0,20€ piece if you wanted stall access - the urinal didn't even have a door. Still, the whole establishment was tidy, clean and sickeningly charming.

It was a nice intro to Paris - I will however return with The Missus to really get the most out of the experience here because this city is probably romantic and she has a way of chasing away the fridgid windy drizzle and bringing the sunny spring-shine in, the way that Paris was meant to be.
At least I know my way around now.

Crepes Sarrasin
Price: 4,5€
Rating:B








Cafe' des Beaux Arts
Price: 26€
Rating: B



Find similar in Etobicoke: La Petite France (Bloor and Islington)

C'est tu - C'est ca (that's it -that's all) for this culinary voyage of inspiration. See you all round the 'choke.