Peterborough Blogs
The EL(P) and Capra Toro Declared Co-Winners of Second Annual Peterborough Mac + Cheese Festival
/After a month of-long culinary competition, restaurants The EL (P) and Capra Toro have been crowned co-winners of the second annual Peterborough Mac + Cheese Festival announced by the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) on Thursday.
Nathan Manwell, Capra Toro chef (left) and Danea Humber, The EL (P) head chef (right) sharing in both restaurants’ first Peterborough Mac + Cheese Festival title win. Photo courtesy of the DBIA.
The EL(P) earned their win with a three-cheese chorizo ‘beermac’ while Capra Toro created a baked Birra Formaggio for their winning dish.
“It’s beer and cheese man. What’s better than those two ingredients?” said Eric Beyer, EL(P) sous chef. “Mix in some chorizo and a fantastic cornbread (made in-house) by resident baker Kelsey and the dish just sings.”
“We are just so incredibly blown away at being crowned top mac this year,” said Nathan Manwell, Capra Toro chef. “Last season we almost won, coming in second place. We are over-the-moon excited to bring home a win this time around.”
As the winners, both restaurants received a cheesy hand-crafted trophy, a sizable donation to Kawartha Food Share in their respective names and bragging rights.
Runner-ups included a spinach and artichoke mac and cheese dip from Champs Sports Bar, followed by The Black Horse Pub’s sweet potato mac.
During all of last month, there were 20 signature mac and cheese dishes featured in downtown restaurants as part of the competition.
Over 1,000 votes were cast to determine the top mac and cheese dish on offer.
The winning recipe(s) from both years’ competitions are available online.
Sam’s Place won the inaugural Peterborough Mac + Cheese Festival with a jalapeño bacon mac & cheesewich last year.
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Lakefield Caterer Bringing Wales and Farm-To-Table Food Background to Peterborough County
/Wales’ Josh Keepfer had culinary training in Venice, London and Charleston, N.C. but since making Lakefield his home roughly four years ago, he’s brought his background into Kitchen Farmacy, a farm-to-table catering business for Peterborough County.
Chasley Keepfer (left), Hadley Keepfer, 4 (middle) and Josh Keepfer (right) examining the five acres of vineyards full of developing grapes. The family owns roughly 40 ducks to act as natural insecticides. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The business was launched in 2018, Keepfer said Kitchen Farmacy is reflective of his farm life upbringing as a child and with on-site farms at restaurants he worked in Wales. He wanted to bring that same experience of food into Peterborough County.
“I've been very lucky and very fortunate growing up as a child to be living on a farm and experiencing farm life,” said Keepfer.
He says the farm life helped him appreciate where his food came from and the effort needed to create it. The products at Kitchen Farmacy are locally sourced through several businesses, farmers and butchers.
“We used to go out and feed apples from the orchards to the pigs and knowing that we needed to get them fat and juicy for slaughter. I know it sounds gruesome but it's part of kitchen life and part of being farm to table.”
Keepfer moved to Peterborough Country after meeting his wife Chasley in Whistler. She was from the Lakefield area and moved to Lakefield with her to start a family and eventually open the business.
Kitchen Farmacy offers take-home meals, a catering service and meal plans with all the food made on site. The business also has its own winery called Cheeky Duck Vineyard consisting of five acres behind the catering service building. The winery has five different varieties of wine such as Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay where grapes were planted last year.
The business wants to expand with a new on-site restaurant next spring however few details were released. The restaurant will offer wine tasting from their vineyards.
Vietnamese Restaurant Hanoi House Is Closing Its Downtown Location; Consolidates to One Storefront
/Vietnamese restaurant Hanoi House is closing its Hunter Street location was announced on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
Tung and her newborn daughter Hunter outside the Hunter Street location that soft opened on Valentine’s Day in 2020. Tung’s family formerly owned the Golden Wheel Chinese restaurant located near Springville. Photo courtesy of Susan Tung.
The closure is due to decreasing overhead expenses incurred from running two restaurants (of the same brand) compared to one. Susan Tung, Hanoi House owner said she can operate and deliver the same level of service with one restaurant.
“I started thinking about it a few weeks ago and considered making the change in the slower months (in Jan. and Feb.) but then really considered the pros and cons of continuing operating the way we are,” she said.
All exclusive amenities and services at the Hunter Street location such as the oyster bar is being incorporated into their Lansdowne Street restaurant according to Tung. Staff are allowed to work at the other restaurant or are welcome to pursue other endeavours due to the Hunter Street closure.
According to their Facebook post, the restaurant plans to put a new concept into the Hunter Street location but would not disclose the information when asked.
Hanoi House soft opened on Hunter Street as its first location on Valentine’s Day of 2020. They opened in early December of the same year.
“Nothing lasts forever so it’s important to know when is the right time to keep moving on,” said Tung. “The business is still going, the location it mainly operates out of now is bigger which is a testament to what we’ve been able to achieve after starting off in this little space.”
Hanoi House specializes in Vietnamese cuisine including the country’s national dish, phở (pronounced fuh), vermicelli (rice noodles) and bánh mì (Vietnamese submarine).
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Downtown Comes Alive As Patio Season Brings Diners Outside For The Summer
/Patio season is ramping up with the installation of expanded patio areas and new pedestrian space for people visiting the downtown.
Photo courtesy of The City of Peterborough.
