I know, I know . . . it's been a while.
When I first started I Heard This Place Was Good, restaurants were mostly closed still, and the best way to describe my mental/emotional/life state as a food and restaurants writer was "underemployed." I sent out a post, and it felt like the beginning of a nice new thing. And then two weeks later, I got a cookbook deal. (See below.) A paid nice new thing.
In any case, hi again, I'm back! Maybe you'll let me make up for a bit of lost time?
I spent a whole lot of this past winter travelling across Canada, gorging in restaurants for an upcoming magazine feature. It started when Sarah Fulford, the new editor at Maclean's, sent me a note with a simple ask.
Hi Chris,
Would you like to do a cover story for Maclean's that is your personal guide to the best restaurants in Canada? Not necessarily a ranking (but maybe a ranking?) and not necessarily "best new" (because after covid, everything is basically new) but more like the places you would recommend for excellent meals out, across the country, for Canadians who likely haven't been going out to a lot of restaurants over the last few years. Your happy places.
She had me at "happy places."
Between January and March, I travelled, and ate, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Ucluelet, BC. I lost count, and several previously loose-fitting pairs of pants, at around 55 meals out.
That package Sarah first proposed publishes this month, not merely with my list of the 20 most exceptional, joyful, delicious restaurants in Canada, but also with a) truly spectacular images from John Cullen, who is one of the country's best photographers, and b) a temperature-check on the state of the industry. (Hint: eating, and working in restaurants is not the same now as it was before.)
The list is totally subjective of course (they all are, especially when they pretend not to be). And though it includes several places you may already know, I'm proud to say it's got a few standout restaurants, too, that haven't historically been seen as "list material."
I'm excited for you to dive in.
I will let you know the second it's live, and I'll also have exclusive outtakes, plus a few deep cuts from my own review archive right here.
And in the meantime, I've got a recipe for you, inspired by a place you may know: Edulis restaurant. The recipe is from the first project I've ever done that pairs my food-writing life with my outdoors one. It's from that book deal.
Cook It Wild: Sensational Prep-Ahead Meals for Camping, Cabins, and the Great Outdoors publishes this coming Tuesday, May 9. Even just writing those words pretty much gets me hyperventilating with joy.
As I recently put it on Instagram:
My hope when I first pitched the project was to make a cookbook full of genuinely delicious outdoors food—dishes and drinks that update what we think of as "camping food," and reflect how people like to eat today. By developing those recipes so they were almost entirely prep-ahead or make-ahead, I hoped to make them accessible to any level of cook or camper, with a minimum of at-camp hands-on time or fuss.
I wanted to include recipes and advice not just for one small part of the outdoors community, but for anyone who gets outside, from backpackers and paddlers to glampers, car campers, #vanlifers and cottagers.
And more than anything, I wanted every page of Cook It Wild to feel like a celebration, with gorgeous photographs taken out in the wild, and beautiful, intuitive design.
I am so, so overjoyed by how it's turned out, and I'm humbled by the incredible response to the book so far.
Even before its publication, Cook It Wild has been named one of Bon Appetit's best cookbooks of Spring. On Amazon US, it's one of ten Best Food & Wine books for May. And thanks to your preorders, here on Amazon Canada, Cook It Wild is already a best-seller.
If you haven't had a chance yet to pre-order your copy (or if you're only hearing about Cook It Wild right now!) there's still time. Your pre-orders don't merely guarantee you'll get a copy—a key early indicator to retailers of interest in a title, they also make an enormous difference in the life of the book.
If you're keen on getting a copy, either for yourself, or for the outdoors types in your life, you can order one from the major retailers here. Or if you'd rather support a local bookstore, they'll have copies at Type Books, Good Egg and Flying Books in Toronto, to name just three (brilliant) shops. In Uxbridge, Ontario, they'll have copies at the fabulous Blue Heron Books, where I'm doing a (now sold-out) Cook It Wild cook-along dinner for 60 later this month. Or if you happen to be out in San Francisco, they'll have signed copies at—why yes, I am gushing here—Omnivore Books.
And while you're at it, please don't hesitate to forward this email to the restaurants/food/outdoors lovers in your life!
I'll have much more from both Cook It Wild and the restaurants package in the coming weeks, but for now I'll leave you with that recipe.
It's called "Bikini Sandwiches—aka The Most Sublime Grilled Cheese Toasties You'll Ever Taste."
Those sandwiches are fairly spectacular on a beach, or mountaintop, or say, the porch of a cottage on the May long weekend. And to be fair, they’re just as spectacular when eaten in the Great Indoors. So even if you're not the woodsy type, I highly recommend you give them a try.
Bikini Sandwiches (aka The Most Sublime Grilled Cheese Toasties You'll Ever Taste)
Bikini Sandwiches, named for Barcelona's Sala Bikini music hall, are masterpieces of moderated gluttony. Made from cheese, ham, soft white bread, and salted butter, they're purposefully thin; decadent but inhalable. And they're always somehow tastier when prepped ahead—perfect. They travel from pack to plate in 10 minutes or less. These ones are inspired by my friends Tobey Nemeth and Michael Caballo, whose restaurant Edulis, in Toronto, is one of my favourite places on Earth.
At Home
6 ounces Emmenthal cheese, rind removed, very thinly sliced
4 ounces French ham (jambon de Paris), prosciutto cotto, or any unsmoked, thinly sliced ham
8 slices pain au lait, Pullman bread, or brioche
4 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
1. Fill the sandwiches
Divide the cheese and ham among four slices of bread; a single layer of cheese, a single layer of ham (or if the meat's very thin, a double layer), and then another single layer of cheese. Cover with the four remaining bread slices.
2. Butter and wrap
Set each sandwich on a 12 by 14-inch sheet of wax paper or parchment paper. Butter both sides of each sandwich, making sure the butter reaches all the way to the edges. (Butter gaps give bikini lovers the sads.) Wrap the prepped sandwiches in the paper and secure with tape if you're not a wax-paper-wrap-master. Refrigerate.
At Camp
Prepared sandwiches, unwrapped
3. Toast and serve
In a skillet set over low heat, toast each sandwich on both sides, pressing with the back of a spatula as they cook, until they turn perfectly golden and the interiors are melty, 6 to 10 minutes total. Transfer the sandwiches to a plate and cut on the diagonal. Serve immediately.
Note: For a decadently high-low (and Barcelona baller-style) addition, shave or use a Microplane to grate most of a 1-ounce black truffle between the cheese and ham layers. Chop or grate the remaining truffle into 3 tablespoons of butter and use to butter the inside of the bread before topping the sandwiches. A fresh summer truffle should cost about the same as a good bottle of wine (anywhere between $20 and $50); it's just as intoxicating, but without the pack weight or hangover.
Makes: 4 sandwiches
Ingredient weight: 21 ounces
Keeps: 3 days, kept cold
Trip Type: backpacking, paddling, car/RV
I've done some descriptive (show, don't tell) writing in my day. Cook It Wild is amazing. I know, he's my son so I must say only nice things. However, relationship apart, Chris happens to be one of the most amazingly descriptive writers I've yet to read. Every page is mouth-watering delicious. Ben Nuttall-Smith, member of The Writers' Union of Canada.