Author Archives:
Joe Beef
I was in Chapters a few weeks ago, right before Christmas and I came across a new cookbook I hadn’t seen before. It’s called “The Art of Living According to Joe Beef”. I recognized the name but couldn’t put my finger on it until I read the foreword.
Written by David Chang of the Momofuku Empire, it immediately triggered. In an old GQ interview I read, I vaguely remember he mentions that his favorite restaurant in the world is Joe Beef in Montreal. As I read on, he described his first visit to the restaurant. Apparently, on this particular trip to Montreal, he was dining at Martin Picard’s Au Pied de Cochon and everyone around him asked him if he had tried Joe Beef. He’d never heard of it and the next day he took a cab there and sat unassumingly at the bar. The bartender started the chit chat and somehow they got on the topic that Chang was in the food business too.
The bartender started asking questions, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” He even accused Chang of being a narc from another restaurant. Naturally this put Chang on the defensive, but the bartender, who was actually co-owner Dave MacMillan, turned out that he knew who Chang was all along. “I’m in New York every year, I go to your restaurant, I love it. You come in, try to sneak in and order food without even fucking telling us?” I guess that was the start of blossoming friendship.
What intrigued me about the cookbook was that it wasn’t only recipes but it included stories of the two owners’, Dave and Frederic Morin, and their experiences in Montreal, stories about where the name “Joe Beef” came from and about the food culture in the city. It was tough to put down because the photography was so eye catching as well. It reminded me a lot of Chang’s Momofuku cookbook. Same feel.
I’ve only been to Montreal once but I did have the chance to eat at Schwarze’s who the authors call out as one of the great places to eat. It seems that Montreal is THE place to eat in Canada. Au Pied de Cochon and Chuck Hughes’ Garde Manger have gotten lots of airtime on TV, but think of the numerous other joints that you will never hear of unless you go there. I guess I’ll just have to add this one to the list.
This week’s feature – Sweet and Sour Pork w/ Green Peppers
This is the last week to get your Filistix fix for 2011!
This week’s feature – Beef and Bokchoy in Coconut and Chili Black Bean Sauce w/ fresh Bean Sprouts
You get two types of crunch here - Bokchoy and fresh bean sprouts!
Man that looks good!
This week’s feature – Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Pineapple Salsa
First you take a Boom. Add another Boom. Once you got the Boom, start to shake the room!
This week’s feature – Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup w/ Double Smoked Bacon
Roasting the garlic and tomatoes gives this soup some serious flavor!
This week’s special – Pacquiao’s Pulled Pork w/ Apple Chipotle BBQ Sauce
On Saturday, World Welterweight Champion, Manny Pacquiao defended his title against a resilient Juan Manuel Marquez from Mexico. This was their second rematch, third fight overall in which Manny won two, drew one. Although it was a closely contested match, Manny came out the clear winner! The victory was not as decisive as most wanted and this has brought up questions about the potential Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Manny’s last few wins have been so lopsided that he has won over a lot of fans but his performance against a defensive counter puncher like Marquez makes one wonder how well he would do against Mayweather, who has a similar style, but much more skilled.
My question is, can he be a congressman and a boxer and do both well, or will he have to choose one over the other at some point? Nevertheless, he’s still, right, now, the best pound for pound fighter and the most exciting boxer to watch, hands down.
This week, in homage, our feature is: Pacquiao’s Pulled Pork with an Apple Chipotle BBQ Sauce
New Diggz in CAB Café
Since August, we’ve had the pleasure of serving our fare to staff and students at the University of Alberta. Ever since we started Filistix, we’ve always wanted to set up shop on campus and thankfully, Aramark, the group who manages the food services on campus, gave us the chance to do so.
Aramark has done a great job in bringing in new food options to the university. They’ve revamped their cafeteria in Lister Hall to make it into sort of a market style eatery and they brought in big brands such as Starbucks – good move. They also brought in small, local food carts, like our friends, Fat Franks and Eva Sweet Waffles, to give staff and students a different dining experience. During the summer months, the three of us were set up outside in various locations like Quad and University Station. They must have liked what we’ve done because now we all have indoor booths in CAB Café where we can vend during the school year.
At What the Truck 2, we brought out our new fall menu. We wanted to get back to our roots and represent more traditional Filipino cuisine. Dishes like Chicken Adobo, Beef Caldereta, and Coconut Curry Chicken were some of our faves growing up so we thought we’d introduce our customers to them. We had such great feedback that we’ve adopted these dishes for our new CAB menu. We’ve also added a couple vegetarian dishes like our Signature Slaw and our 3 Bean Fili-Chili.
Having our own little booth space, we decided that it was time to freshen up our brand. We redid our menu board, took new photos of our food and changed up our logo. Although the current set up isn’t ideal, I think we did a great job in working with what was available to us.
The Filistix Crew – Lauren, Roel and Kevin
