LCBO Food & Drink Summer 2017

Must-Stops Do not pass go without checking out these unique restaurants whose chefs share the delicious tales of their towns, one plate at a time.

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1  REBAR , V I CTOR I A ▼ Serving tofu andwheat grass years before it was fashionable, the restaurant may bemost familiar for its circa-2001 iconic Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook . Today, the healthy vibrant cuisine is as charming as ever, from the classic almond- veggie burger to my go-to, Huevos Rancheros.

2  MAENAM, VANCOUVER ▼ With powerful, authentic flavours you remember long after the last bite of Chef Angus An’s signature Green Papaya Salad, you’ll keep returning for original Vancou- ver takes, like 8 Spice Ling Cod with caramelized palm sugar and tamarind sauce. Deep into its first decade, Maenam somehow keeps getting better.

3  KLOND I KE KATE ’ S , DAWSON C I TY Fitting right in with this gold rush town’s unpaved streets and his- toric buildings, the specialty is barbecue made with ingredients from the boreal forests that surround. There are plump blueberry- studded caribou sausages topped with spruce tip aïoli, and there’s gold in them thar Yukon steaks drizzled with birch syrup and herbs.

REBAR, TOURISM VICTORIA; MAENAM BY HAMID ATTIE; CORSO 32 , EDMONTON TOURISM; LITTLE GROUSE ON THE PRAIRIE BY BOB DEUTSCHER

4 CORSO 32 , EDMONTON ▼

Chef and owner Daniel Costa is dishing out seasonal plates of Italian good- ness with high-end finesse. There’s crispy seared Fried Short Ribs balanced by arugula and a cavatelli pasta with pork fennel sausage sugo. The food is pure and rich, especially a seared Northern Italian slab of Fried Taleggio, drizzled with local buckwheat honey and seasoned with a few turns of the pepper mill.