Tastings on Hastings

Tonights tasting at Au Petit Chavignol (APC) with house wine was a great success. Next week on July 14 (Bastille Day) we are hosting a Vive la France tasting, and on July 21 David Lancelot of Marquis Wine Cellars will join us for a Black Hills 'Nota Bene' tasting at APC. There are still a few tickets left for both of these events.

Charcuterie from "The Cure"

Robert Belcham of Fuel Restaurant and Campagnolo has been producing some excellent charcuterie items recently. We've started carrying a selection of them at all of the les amis stores.


Here is a picture of the Saucisson Sec

• Dry Cured Chorizo
  Dry cured pork sausage flavoured with garlic, pimenton (paprika) and espellete pepper


• Fennel Pollen Salami
  A variation on traditional tuscan salami flavoured with fennel pollen and organic garlic


• Saucisson Sec
  Our version of the french staple made with pork belly, tellicherry black pepper, and organic garlic


• Sopressata
  Rustic, southern italian specialty made with red chilis, garlic and nutmeg

Unite With Art

Come and visit les amis du FROMAGE & Au Petit Chavignol at Storeum on Monday June 3rd. We are going to be there with the big red slicer to show our support for UNICEF'S Unite With Art.

Unite with Art is a series of art auctions to benefit UNICEF's Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS campaign. The inaugural Unite with Art Auction and Gala was held on June 21, 2008 in Vancouver and raised over $276,000 for the campaign. It's a great event.

Guilde des Fromagers

It's been a month since I've last posted. Time has quickly flown by with the opening of Hastings les amis du FROMAGE and Au Petit Chavignol. The restaurant has been busy from the moment it opened. Thank you to everybody for all of your support. The dust is slowly settling, so hopefully we can all start to get back on track.

We had a private ceremony and wonderful dinner on Saturday to celebrate the Guilde des Fromagers Confrerie de Saint-Uguzon. Members of the guild came from Paris to induct Alice, Allison and myself, along with several food professionals into the guild. Jackie Connelly took some great photos of the event.

Alice received a special medal, different from the others. She was designated a Maitre Fromager of the Guild des Fromagers Confrerie de Saint-Uguzon. I understood it to be one of only a few appointed so outside of France.

Brad and Owen made a delicious meal including canapes of salmon tartar, choux pastry with duck rillettes, charcuterie, a melt in your mouth beef bourgignon, cheese, and apple galette. Also, a big thank you is in order for Annette, Ingela, Naomi, and Angela for their wonderful service. It was fun to be on the other side of the bar after a month of helping customers.

Hastings Update

...did I say two more weeks, two weeks ago? Well, it might still be a week or two...actually, I'm hoping it will be less than that. Hydro finally switched the power over yesterday. So many things have been waiting on standby for power. Now everybody is running to finish.We now have light and heat. Tomorrow, we should have the refrigeration up and running. The new store has 3 times as much display cooler space as the 2nd avenue store. We can't wait to fill it up!

You can see one of the new slicers in the picture. They are really heavy. It takes two of us to move one of them. The one for the store has a matching stand, and together they weigh more than 150 kilograms. It won't move around much! Today we picked up a 36 month old Jamon Iberico Bellotta ham. It won't go on the slicer, as it is carved by hand. But we did get some La Quercia Rossa heirloom prosciutto from Iowa. We've picked all of the cheeses for the restaurant menu. I think the selection is going to be great.

Colin the welder has been busy making new security bars for the front entrance along with a matching hand rail. He did such a great job. They have a nice feel that accents the age of the building.

Allison is back from judging the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix. She tasted almost 170 cheeses over two days. She was impressed by the quality of washed rind entries this year, along with several of the firm aged cheeses.

Dining out for life is on Thursday March 12th. Au Petit Chavignol will be participating in the event this year. We will donate 25 percent of food revenue from meals sold during this important event.

France's Guild de Fromagers is starting a chapter in Western Canada this March. We will be hosting several cheese dignitaries including Rolland Barthélémy of one of the best known fromageries in Paris, Fromagerie Barthélémy, along with Luc Senecal, the President of Isigny.

Those being inducted include:

• Alice Spurrell - les amis du FROMAGE
• Allison Spurrell - les amis du FROMAGE
• Joe Chaput - les amis du FROMAGE
• Janice Beaton - Janice Beaton Fine Cheeses
• Debra Amrein-Boyes - Farmhouse Cheese Co.
• Jurgen Gothe - Wine and Food writer
• Kurtis Kolt - Salt Tasting Room
• Jason Lloyd - Terminal City Club
• Tim Pawsey - Wine and Food writer
• Vincent Stufano - Chateau Fairmont Whistler
• David Wood - Salt Spring Cheese Co.

Everyone is putting in long hours now. It's the final dash to the finish line, which is about two weeks away. All of the big equipment is in place. The kitchen and bar are about 95% complete. We still have one more large window to install. The first one is simply fantastic. The new front windows have glass from floor to almost ceiling, and they let in so much natural light. The refrigerated showcases arrived from Vega late last week and they are even nicer than I expected. Today was cabinetry installation day, and it should be done by tomorrow.

All of the staff are in place and ready to go. Alice, the big cheese herself is going to run the retail store along with Stephanie and Larissa. We've assembled a crack team for the restaurant which includes Annette, Naomi, and Ingela in the front along with myself, Brad Miller (ex West/Pastis) and Owen Lightly (ex Voya/West) in the Kitchen.

In a few more weeks, all this opening business will be a distant memory.

There is lots going on to keep us all busy lately. Hastings should be completed in less than a month. We finally received our liquor license for APC this week. Now comes the part where we tweak the wine list.

Allison leaves for Montreal in February to be a judge at the 2009 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix. She expects to taste between 100-200 cheeses over a two day period.

In March, we will be host to a very special event: The inaugural meeting of the Western Canadian chapter of the Guilde des Fromagers. Special guests will include Rolland Barthelemy who is owner of the landmark Paris fromagerie "Barthelemy", and head of the Guilde des Fromagers. More on this later...