One morning I saw a tweet from Food Bloggers of Canada offering up a chance to attend the launch of this summer’s Taste of Burlington on June 25th. I jumped at the opportunity to attend the event and sample the food from a number of the participating restaurants in this program. I actually worked in Burlington a few years ago but never visited many of their restaurants.
At this point I should let you know that this blog post differs from the usual ones that I’ve done in the past. My aim is to showcase the people behind our food, this post, on the other hand, talks about the food I tried. Due to the nature of the event itself, it was difficult to speak to any of the chefs for an extended period of time to get a proper interview. Hopefully at some point in the future I’ll get a chance to spend some time with them and present their stories to you.
Burlington Performing Arts Centre
The Taste of Burlington initially launched in the summer of 2008 with 12 restaurants participating and each year more and more restaurants have joined in. This summer they have 24 of Burlington’s finest restaurants presenting a three course prix fixe menu. Lunch will be $15 or $20 and dinners will be in the range of $30 to $40. The full list of participating restaurants can be found here.
Even though 24 restaurants are taking part in the dining program only 19 were represented, and, as an added bonus Mrs B’s Gift House and Tamp Coffee Co. were present.
The event itself was really well organized. I thought it would be crowded when I found out that tickets were offered to the general public but the organizers utilized the available space by spreading the vendors over two floors so that there was no line ups or crowded areas. Another nice move on the part of the organizers was the decision to go green on all the plates and utensils so everything was easily disposed of.
Even though the dishes were mostly bite sized the chefs made sure the flavours were huge. Here are some of the dishes I tried.
Coffee & ancho braised beef short rib
Being the carnivore that I am, it’s no surprise that this dish was one of my favorites of the night. West Plains Bistro served coffee and ancho braised beef short ribs with a bell pepper salad with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and a cilantro honey oil. This was very, very tender, no knife needed! You could easily taste the coffee and ancho but they werent overpowering, the only thing that could have made this better was a tad more salt. I liked these so much that I actually had three samples. This dish won the “Peoples Choice” award.
Hoisin glazed pulled pork taco
Another highlight of my night was the hoisin glazed pulled pork taco with a carrot and bean sprout slaw and topped with fresh coriander by Stone House Restaurant. This was another dish with some very tender and juicy meat. The final touch that really made this amazing was the dollop of sriracha that was added just before I inhaled it.
Peppered chicken liver & andouille sausage pate
Paradiso presented their peppered chicken liver and andouille sausage pate with mushroom ketchup on an olive oil crostini. I’m not a fan of liver, so I approached the table fully intending not to like it. Boy was I glad I decided to try this, it was delicious. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought so because this won the “Best Taste” award.
Grilled tomato & asiago stuffed ravioli
Man cannot live on meat alone so I thought I should try some of the other non-meat dishes. Eatalia’s offering on that night was a grilled tomato and asiago stuffed jumbo ravioli with sun dried tomato pesto and toasted sunflower seeds. The pasta was perfectly done and the slight crunch of the sunflower seeds was a very nice contrast to the ravioli itself.
Four mushroom crostini
Even though I’m a self confessed carnivore, I also love mushrooms. Pepperwood Bistro served their four mushroom crostini (cremini, shtttake, procini & portobello) on a roasted garlic crostini and topped with Ontario cambozola.
Bronzed fish tacos
Walkers Fish Market served a taco of bronzed white fish, guacamole, shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, fresh coriander and chipolte aioli. You eat with your eyes as well as your tongue and they looked as nice as they tasted.
These were just some of the dishes I tried. I took pictures of others but unfortunately in my rush to devour the food I didn’t review them to make sure they came out okay.
Thanks again to the organizing committee of the Taste of Burlington for allowing me to attend this event, it was a very fun night with lots of delicious food.
