I spot a ‘Return of the Mac’ frozen pizza from St Jacobs’ Those Pizza Guys, for instance, and ask Dana about it. And while many of the available items are from Dana’s signature line, made from scratch in her commercial kitchen, others are from outside producers. Other dishes – including Dana’s signature Almond Crème Scones, for instance – are sold as raw dough: the perfect ‘BYOB’ (‘Be Your Own Baker’) dish. All cooked and ready to be reheated in a home oven. I scan one of the freezer units and read some labels. ‘Vincenzo’s is actually an inspiration,’ Dana tells me, ‘as is Dean & DeLuca, Summerhill Market, Le Rose, Wild Hog, Zingerman’s, and Caviar & Bananas. Now we’ve got over two thousand.’ The congenial space reminds me of Vincenzo’s – Uptown’s definitive Italian (and international) grocer. ‘When I first opened at this location almost two decades ago,’ Dana remarks, ‘our retail space was a lot smaller. First stop: the retail space, where we travel past neatly-organized shelves and rows of freezer units filled with prepared foods. I’m undeniably smitten.Īs soon as I finish, Dana whisks me out of her office for a tour of the business. ‘Like nostalgia on a plate.’ Dana looks pleased. ‘Well…?’, nudges Dana, snapping me out of my reverie. In fact, the quiche’s delicious aroma and taste evoke childhood summertime lunches at home with my family – simpler times when days were free and possibilities endless, from after- lunch games of ‘cops and robbers’ with best friends to sessions of ‘one-on-one’ with big bro. The quiche is made with sliced croissants for a base, Stemmler’s local ham, a good helping of broccoli, fresh eggs, thirty-five percent cream, and a combination of swiss, parmesan, and asiago cheeses: a perfect amalgamation of ingenuity, collaboration, and quality. The signature dish I’m tasting – ‘Ham, Broccoli + 3 Cheese Croissant Quiche’ – is a conclusive example of what Uptown’s Dana Shortt Gourmet and Gifts is all about. ‘Sooo – how do you like it?’, Dana asks after I take my first bite. There I was offered an extraordinary serving of quiche – by a member of regional culinary royalty. Instead, my experience occurred in an air-conditioned, windowless office deep in the recesses of a plaza on the outskirts of Uptown Waterloo. And not even with ratatouille – although the dish that consumed me (while I consumed it) was, likethe French staple, rustic and timeless. One sweltering morning in late June, I experienced my own ‘Ego moment.’ Not in some Parisian restaurant, mind you. And it’s a reminder that food can be so much more than choreographed ingredients. ![]() Remember that scene from Ratatouille – the animated film about little Chef Remy who (despite all odds) pursues his passion for cooking in a fine dining restaurant in Paris – when villain food critic Anton Ego takes his first bite of Remy’s rendition of the classic French Provençal dish? How, after just one bite, the flavours of Remy’s rustic creation transport Ego back to the critic’s earliest childhood memories, of his mom making the young Anton a simple dish of ratatouille as an ultimate act of love? It’s a climactic moment in the movie, for sure – a tear-jerking scene.
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