For anyone who may have lived in different Canadian cities or travelled our nation, you will recognize the names of well-known restaurants from Tojo’s in Vancouver, famous for its creation of the California roll, to the inventive fine dining of Toque! in Montreal, to Mitzi’s Chicken Finger Restaurant in Winnipeg, a Chinese-Canadian style restaurant that in the 1980s went all in on… you guessed it…the chicken finger!  Peyton, who is a food writer and restaurant critic from St.John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, also relays the origin stories of National favourites such as Tim Horton’s and Swiss Chalet.   

One of the most intriguing parts of the book are the recipes that she includes ranging from the Signature Raisin Scones of the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, to Swiss Fondue from Auberge Saint-Gabriel in Montreal, the oldest restaurant in the book running from 1754 to the Present, to Indigenous Traditional Bison Tacos from Feast Cafe Bistro in Winnipeg, which was opened in 2015 by Peguis First Nation chef Christa Bruneau-Guenther.

In reading through the brief and light descriptions of the restaurants, you also get fascinating stories such as the origin of The Bloody Caesar, created by Walter Chell in 1969.  He had been asked to invent a cocktail in celebration of the Calgary Inn’s new Italian restaurant and decided to convert clams and tomatoes from the dish spaghetti alle vongole to a drink.  Peyton tells us that now Canadians drink 400 million Caesars a year!  And do you remember the salad bar that became so prominent during the 1980s?   Well, it made its first Canadian appearance at The Keg in North Vancouver in 1971.  With the 2010s came the rise of Instagram and food bloggers…so photos of extravagant food became popular, such as the Ziggy Stardust Disco Egg from La Banane in Toronto.  These were remarkable hand painted eggs that looked like edible Jackson Pollocks!

Peyton ends the book with a brief note about the unfortunate impact that COVID had on our national restaurant scene.  Several of the restaurants that she writes about here closed during the pandemic.  On a more positive note, however, she does remind us that one of the first things many people wanted to do coming out of lockdown was eat out at restaurants and so she believes our restaurant culture will remain strong.  Stories of Canadian classics such as White Spot in Vancouver and Schwartz’s in Montreal both of which opened in 1928 and are still going strong, are great examples of that.  Reading this book will no doubt make you very excited to think about your next meal out! 

I’ve made Rachel’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies several times in the past few weeks as my sons just keep devouring them…definitely the sign of a successful recipe. Bon appetite!