We Had a Great Time and This Is What We Ate: Bella Bistro and Akira

Annie Clifford returns with two snack recommendations. Google found this photo by Freddie Collins.

Greg and I like to go to Sandbanks as much as anyone, but we both only really like it there in the off season. It’s nicer for people who are somewhat solitary, because there’s nobody else around. However, there’s nobody else around because the wind whips off the lake, picks up some sand, and chucks it straight into your eyes. Beautiful Ontario. We ate some things at the sandbanks, but they’re not really worth noting, because there was sand in them

But here’s the great thing. On the way back into town, we went to Bella Bistro for dinner, and it was really, really good. If you’ve been around Kingston for a while, you probably worked at Pan Chancho, and you’d know Paul Muller, who was the head baker there for about a million years. Anyhow, he left a few years ago to open up his very own restaurant, which is Bella Bistro. He lives up the street from me…but the bistro is out in Collin’s Bay, which unless you’re returning from the sandbanks or from visiting incarcerated relatives, is a bit of a long way. This is why it’s worth it: the food is better than Chez Piggy, but half the price, mostly locally sourced, and you can go there in jeans and a sweatshirt, which is smart of Paul, since that’s all anyone wears around here anyways

First, we drank things. Greg had beer called Barley Days, which has a picture of a ship on it, is from the county, and tastes great. It’s going to replace Steam Whistle as our new home beer. And I had this incredible wine called Sandbanks. Unlike the actual sandbanks, which are sunny, cold and rather gritty, this wine is…well…wine language can end up in some dark corners, so I’ll just say I liked it more than any other Canadian wines, and I mostly like French wines, so if you like French wines too, you might like this one. See Gabrielle White for a more thorough discussion of which wines I like. She knows. The only problem with this wine is you can’t get it in the licker stores, only at Bella Bistro. Which if you’re loaded you could percieve as a “good reason to go there!”, but if you’re normal sort of sucks.

Then we ate some things. In the interest of health, we didn’t order exactly what we wanted…we ordered some vegetable sandwich thingy to complement the coming hamburger, instead of two hamburgers. Fortunately, the cook telepathically noticed we really just wanted two hamburgers, and that’s what we got. Telepathy is only one reason why Bella Bistro’s great…the other reason is these hamburgers, which are made from county cows, have swiss cheese and caramelized onions on them, and come with sweet potato fries and chipotle mayonnaise. Really, it’s a perfect meal, and if you’re on a date, you can sub in a Caesar salad instead of one order of fries, and that comes first, and there’s bacon and lemon and garlic and all the nice things on it, and you can share, which is a good way of finding out if you’d like to go on a second date. Also, the chipotle mayonnaise comes in a big bottle and you can have as much as you’d like, which is the most sensible thing when it comes to mayonnaise distribution.

So if you can go out to dinner, and you have a car, or your parents are visiting or something, you should go there.

A place you shouldn’t go is that new sushi place Akira out on Counter street. Irene Zouros recommended it, but I didn’t like it, even though the sushi platter comes with gold leaf (apparently it’s cleansing). The service is lousy, the flavours are all over the place, and the “served with rice” means the rice that the sushi’s wrapped in, which I think is a low blow. However, it is across from a gas station, which adds a nice East-Ontario-small-town feel. Here’s a better way to eat sushi. Go to the Asian Grocery and get some rice, some wasabi, some pickled ginger, some nori stuff, and some coconut milk. Take it home and cook the rice in the coconut milk and some water. Then add a big spoonful each of sugar, salt (not too big on the salt, but bigger than you’d think), and white vinegar. Stir it around and put the bowl on the table. Then get some toppings ready: scrambled egg, lightly sauteed vegetables, whatever fish or meat or tofu you’ve got hanging around, avocado slices, some sesame seeds. Cut the nori squares into four squares each with scissors, and put that on the table too. Gather your friends and relatives, and they can each make their own little sushis by putting rice and whatever toppings they like on the nori squares. Extremely delicious, entertaining, and you don’t need a car to get there.