NAC announcement -- news here first [General]

2009 Feb 15
Michael Blackie, exec. chef of Brookstreet hotel, will be announced this week as new exec. chef of NAC, replacing ailing Kurt Waldele. You got it here first. For details, see tomorrow's Citizen Arts section, and more details 5 a.m. tomorrow at RonEade.com

2009 Feb 15
Hey, nice to see you "breaking" stories here - good stuff!

2009 Feb 15
Thats crazy. Crazy good that is for the NAC! Thanks for the info ron!

2009 Feb 15
That is majorly good news for the NAC! Though it does beg the question - what will happen to Perspective's?!

2009 Feb 16
Thanks for the tip, Ron!

I hope that the change of venue suits Chef Blackie well, and that the NAC lets him run wild and free ;)

2009 Feb 16
Did the NAC management steer Kurt towards a 'Canadian Menu' ? Or was that his own doing after leaving the US Embassy?

Here is the current menu for Le Café : ---> www.nac-cna.ca <---

It's full of New Brunswick this and Bristish Columbia that and lots of Alberta Beef etc. etc.

I somehow think the management at The NAC will want to make the menu accessible to the average (and somewhat well heeled) Joe Canadian and his missus(or SO).

They get lots of tourists and convention goers (and the blue rinse crowd) that may read the menu and see Ostrich Carpaccio or Pan Seared Crisp Wing of Skate or Proscuitto and Edamame Egg Tartelette (Blackies recent doings) and get scared off.

"Hey Honey ... There is no Coast to Coast Canadian Seafood Chowder or a Classic Caesar Salad or a Grilled Canadian Fillet Mignon or a Grilled ‘Northern Harvest’ N.B Salmon here... Let's go to that Byward Market place and see what 'normal' food we can find."

I'll eat my shorts (with delight) if the NAC give him free reign.


2009 Feb 16
I am certain you will see chef Blackie will make his mark on the NAC, and it will be superlative. He has big ideas for this place. Read: Changes. The NAC needs updating, and Blackie will do it. Watch and learn ...

2009 Feb 17
Oh c'mon Captain, we all know from Stephen Harper that average Canadians don't go to galas at the NAC anyway :-)

2009 Feb 17
I think part of the "fun" for Chef Blackie will be just that: reconciling the delicious, but conservative menu items currently at Le Café with the more progressive items currently at Perspectives.

Also, the added competition will do downtown well. (Read: I hated driving out to the Brookstreet for dinner, and now I won't have to!)

2009 Feb 17
What about K.W. catering? Is Blackie doing that too?

2009 Feb 17
Good for the NAC and Blackie both
and for me.....
will provide some close by inspiration and competition

2009 Feb 17
And where would you be, Obi? :) Elgin, or Market?

2009 Feb 17
Sparks

2009 Feb 17
Sparks is a big street. No other clues? :)

2009 Feb 17
rather not self promote
besides the anomynity allows me to see what others think, unbiasly.
this allows me to see things from another side and see if i can effect a positive change fore the establishment i work

2009 Feb 18


Chef on Sparks St. that is of Asian descent ... not going to be too hard to guess.

But should I post my guess and break Obi's anomynity ?


2009 Feb 18
Captain C - As tempting as it may be... you know that "outing" people professionally who use this site to share with us their many talents isn't cool... less we lose their wisdom & insight. Coming out from behind their aprons is a personal choice. I for one would like it if Chef Obi (and yes I did use his title this time) sticks around as he's been such a great resource since he got here.


2009 Feb 18

To be honest, on countless occasions, I've been less than impressed by the majority of the food that has come out of the Brookstreet (both Perspectives and event catering). But I think this will be good for both the NAC and Blackie and I sincerely hope that it works out.

2009 Feb 18
CC,
for one I don't look Asian
the clues are in my posts
if you so wish to take the time

F&T, as long as I am in ottawa, I will be here
too bad it took me so long to find this lil hidden gem

DD,
an Executive Chef is only as good as the weakest cook in his kitchen
his job is to teach the padewan to become better and find his inner chef
for some it's just a job
and doing enough to get by fulfills his obligation
an adage that drives my life is:

It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Sir Winston Churchill
work ethics sucks today for the most part
and a Chef can have a brilliant vision and passion only to be undone by a prep cook

sometimes it's just easier to do it all yourself, something I learned as a major Caterer in Seattle

2009 Feb 19
Bukowski on writing. (same thing applys to be a chef)

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

— Bukowski