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ICONS
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RICK RENAUD
Rick’s Fish ’n’ Chips
and Seafood
St. Peters Bay, Prince Edward
Island
Text: ARJUN BASU
You’re in PEI. You’ve
done the beach, biked the Confederation Trail, golfed a round
at Crowbush. You’ve done the Anne thing because your (kids,
spouse, Japanese friend) made you. And then, driving east from
Charlottetown, you spot a snack bar called Rick’s Fish ’n’
Chips and Seafood. You try to figure out if the "and Seafood"
is redundant or necessary. You park the car, enter, order,
wait (and, truth be told, you wait a long time). Finally, they
call your number and you bite into your fish and, well, now
you’ve done PEI. Rick Renaud’s fish and chips are like the
Island itself: simple but heavenly. He’s been doing it for 12
years, going through 68 kilograms of fish a week every summer.
So what makes his fish and chips so damned good? "Fresh fish,
good batter, good potatoes and good people to prepare it," he
says. Simply.
JET FUEL COFFEE
SHOP
Toronto
Text: SARAH B. HOOD
Before
Starbucks, there was Toronto’s Jet Fuel Coffee Shop. Founding
owner John Englar (known to regulars as Johnny Jet Fuel) holds
culinary, pastry and chocolatier papers but limits his wares
to coffees, lemonade, and home-baked muffins and danishes.
(The Cabbagetown landmark is patterned after the original
Parisian coffee stands that sold only strong lemonade and even
stronger coffee.) Order your drink hot or cold. Soy lattes are
available. But ask for decaf and the response will range from
quizzical to withering. Check out the elegant vintage Italian
coffee machine, the art exhibited on the walls and the jerseys
of Englar’s bicycle racing team, the first pro outfit in
Canada. No surprise, then, that the regulars include a robust
blend of bike messengers, along with writers (including
Michael Ondaatje), artists and dancers who derive equal kicks
from the company and the caffeine.
DAVID
WOOD
Salt Spring Island Cheese company
Salt Spring
Island, British Columbia
Text: ELEE KRALJII GARDINER
A run-in with bad chèvre in the 1980s made me swear
off goat cheese; it’s hard to shake the taste of a dirty barn
floor. This summer, Salt Spring Island Cheese Company made me
a convert. Seven years ago, proprietor David Wood sent his
first batch of pansy-crowned and herb-rolled cheeses to market
and they quickly became the darlings of a burgeoning West
Coast cuisine movement that centred on local, small-scale
producers. Now, virtually all of B.C.’s top-tier restaurants,
like Bishop’s and West in Vancouver, feature Wood’s
handcrafted Camemberts, fetas and chèvres. The ex-Torontonian
fled the harried life of a fine food market owner for a life
of cheese making. "It was a means to an end," he says. "Now
it’s a mission." Thanks to Wood, venturing into the depths of
the dairy fridge no longer scares me. Conceding the last
chèvre does.
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