Caroline’s Food
Capital Dining
The meals I’ve had at Zen speak loudly of a gifted chef who draws tastily on a larder of local plants, and who roams the globe – Mexico, Morocco, Japan, Thailand – for bright ideas. Ishii’s dishes range from bold to delicate, multi-textured to softly herby, aromatic to spicy. This is thoroughly enjoyable dining that doesn’t suffer from any lack of beast. Zen is a great addition to Ottawa’s dining out scene, and a restaurant I’m more excited about than any other I’ve come across this year. One that just so happens to serve vegan food.
Anne DesBrisay, Capital Dining
http://www.capitaldining.ca/restaurant-review/zen-kitchen/
Washington Post
A traditional French restaurant formerly occupied this old house on the edge of Chinatown; in 2009, it became Canada’s first fine-dining vegan restaurant. A bookish, prosperous-looking crowd packs the place for such locally sourced specialties as panko-crusted seitan with Asian slaw and a killer raw chocolate-mint-coconut parfait. “People told us Ottawa wasn’t ready for a vegan restaurant,” New York-trained chef and co-owner Caroline Ishii told me as she surfed the cantaloupe-colored room, greeting diners. ZenKitchen is now one of the hottest tables in town.
Michael Kaminer, The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/08/AR2010070805403.html
Lonely Planet’s Guide to Canada
Chef Caroline Ishii serves grilled seitan cutlets with fondant potatoes and horseradish crème fraiche and dresses hand-cut tofu-filled ravioli in a smoky tomato purée, at her innovative Zen Kitchen (www.zenkitchen.ca), an all-vegan fine-dining spot that takes vegetarian fare far from its crunchy-granola roots. Save room for the delicious, dairy-free Mexican chocolate cake with warm chocolate-chili sauce.
Lonely Planet’s Guide to Canada
Maclean’s Magazine – The Restaurants That Matter to Politicians
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-restaurants-that-matter/
Ottawa Foodies Blog
Travel with a Challenge
TV and Radio Interviews with Recipes
CBC News – The Great Canada Challenge
Radio interview: http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/all-in-a-day/segment/13128672
Recipe: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/d-is-for-dinner-the-great-canadian-challenge-1.4181747
CTV News – Chef Caroline Ishii’s Vegan Chocolate Truffle Recipe
https://www.ctvnews.ca/chef-caroline-ishii-s-vegan-chocolate-truffles-recipe-1.470643
CBC Radio and Sunomono Salad recipe
CBC Radio and Chef Caroline Ishii’s stone soup project
A food art installation with a 100-ingredient curry created by the community, as part of the Chinatown Remixed arts festival, and a recipe for a 10-ingredient Japanese-inspired curry
CTV Morning Live and Chef Caroline Demonstrates Sunomono Salad
CBC News and Chef Caroline’s Moroccan Red Lentil Soup
Ottawa’s Soup Sisters has been making and delivering soups in support of Interval House, shelters for women fleeing domestic violence, since 2010. Chef Caroline participated in the launch of the Ottawa initiative and provided this recipe to Ottawa’s Soup Sister book
https://www.amazon.com/Soup-Sisters-Cookbook-Simple-Recipes/dp/0449015599
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/d-is-for-dinner-moroccan-red-lentil-soup-1.2186847
Special Events
Top Ottawa Chefs Sign on to Kickstart Emergency Fund
Chef Bites Event for the Ottawa Restaurant Fund
http://roneade.com/chef-bites-earns-10000-to-help-displaced-victims-in-restaurant-industry/
Canada Restaurant News – Feeding the Industry
http://canadianrestaurantnews.com/canada/latest-news/feeding-the-industry-
Ottawa Magazine – Chef Caroline Ishii Hosts Friend of Zen Pop-up Dinner
Canadian Vegan Recipes
Accidental Chef book
CBC News – A Japanese Salad Served With a Family Story
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/sunomono-salad-d-is-for-dinner-caroline-ishii-1.3677613
Ottawa Citizen – ZenKitchen’s Founding Chef Pens Her Memoirs
http://ottawacitizen.com/life/food/caroline-ishii-zenkitchens-founding-chef-pens-her-memoirs
Ottawa Magazine – ZenKitchen’s Caroline Ishii Launches Memoir and Campaign
Nikkei Voice – Caroline Ishii Shares Soul and Soul Food in New Memoir
http://nikkeivoice.ca/caroline-ishii-shares-soul-and-soul-food-in-new-memoir/
Ottawa Magazine – Former ZenKitchen’s Caroline Ishii Launches Part Cookbook, Part Memoir
General
Ottawa Citizen – Celebrated Chef Caroline Ishii Begins a New Chapter
Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa consultant doing her best to help owner-chefs in restaurant business
http://www.obj.ca/article/ottawa-consultant-doing-her-best-help-owner-chefs-restaurant-business
Letter to a New Manager blog
https://lettertoanewmanager.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/interview-with-chef-caroline-ishii-part-i/
Gold Medal Plates Culinary Competition
Vegan Food Has Made History
For the first time, a vegan dish was presented with a silver medal in the Gold Metal Plates Culinary Competition. The winning dish was created by Chef Caroline Ishii of ZenKitchen. James Chatto, Gold Metal Plates head judge, had this to say about Ishii’s dish:
It looked spectacular, topped with a crisp tube of fried, applewood-smoked yuba (dried soy milk skin) filled with fermented macadamia curd that tasted like richly nutty cream cheese.The principal element was a ragout of exotic mushrooms from local grower Le Coprin and a drum of polenta, creamy within, golden and crispy on the surface. A thin disc of beet-and-red-pepper aspic crowned the drum, which sat on two little sheets of seared green kale dressed with a kombu-plum wine vinaigrette. A conserve of fruity passilla peppers finished a most seductive dish. Chef Ishii’s wine was the crisp, refreshing 2008 Archangel Sparkling Pinot Noir from Angels Gate winery in Niagara, Ontario.
James Chatto, Head Judge, Gold Medal Plates
Gold Medal Plates’ James Chatto on Ottawa Competition
Edmonton Journal – Gold Medal Plates Ottawa Competition
http://edmontonjournal.com/life/food/gold-medal-plates-james-chatto-on-ottawa-competition
Capital Dining – Gold Medal Plates Ottawa-Gatineau 2011
http://www.capitaldining.ca/2011/gold-medal-plates/gold-medal-plates-ottawa-gatineau-2011-2/
Taking the silver for a second year – ever the bridesmaid – Chef Caroline Ishii of ZenKitchen, a marvellous vegan restaurant on Somerset. Ishii described her dish as “Japanese comfort food but with a modern twist” and she dedicated it to her mother, Suyeko. (“Not sure if my mother would have approved,” she told the judges. “You know how mothers are….!” ) I do know the judges approved. Many elements on the plate, but each spoke of autumn, made sense, and contributed to the whole, cohesive, flavourful meatless package. The highlights: a gyoza dumpling, stuffed with shiitake and oyster mushrooms and Zen’s house kimchee; a bit of roasted squash with a miso glaze, a roasted eggplant “lollipop” brushed with a slty-sweet yuzu-Asian pear dengaku sauce , a grilled rice ball blended with lovely, yeasty sake lees (what’s left behind from the sake making process) and filled with a pesto of Japanese pickled plum and shiso. A sweet smear of Japanese curry sauce balanced with a few dots of persimmon hot sauce, and the plate was finished with a lotus crisp and a bright pink sheet of pickled watermelon radish. Ishii’s wine was the Chenin Blanc 2009 from Cave Spring.
Anne DesBrisay, Ottawa Judge, Gold Medal Plates
Foodieprints.com – Meet a Gold Medal Plate Chef Caroline Ishii
http://foodieprints.com/2010/09/meet-a-gold-medal-plate-chef-chef-caroline-ishii-of-zenkitchen/
Nourish – Chef Caroline’s Vegan Flavours Fare Well at Gold Medal Plates
Rachelle Eats Food blog spot – Gold Medal Plates
http://rachelleeatsfood.blogspot.jp/2010/09/meet-gold-medal-plate-chef-chef.html
Marc Lepine takes home the Gold Medal Plate [… while Caroline Ishii from ZenKitchen.. came second]
Judges praise chef’s blend of traditional and ‘molecular gastronomy’ foods
Ron Eade, Ottawa Citizen
November 16, 2011
“I liked Caroline’s dish very much,” Chatto opined. “It’s fascinating to see a vegetarian dish in this competition and it certainly held its own. Everything on her dish was involved in the conversation and nothing was irrelevant. “
– James Chatto, national senior judge for the Gold Medal Plates events, and a senior writer at Food & Drink magazine.
Restaurant Adventures TV Show
Apartment613 blog
http://apt613.ca/the-restaurant-adventures-of-caroline-and-dave/
Natural Gourmet Institute blog
https://naturalgourmetinstitute.wordpress.com/tag/the-restaurant-adventures-of-caroline-and-dave/
Capital Xtra – The Zen of Cooking
Nikkei Voice, June 2018 – Serving Canadian eats
Chef and author Caroline Ishii introduces Japan to Canadian food with a vegan twist
http://carolineishii.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Nikkei-Voice-June-2018-Ishii-Article.pdf