It is funny how as a foodie, and a local foodie at that, I am always looking for the new place in town, excited to stumble upon my next favourite gem. I hardly ever take the time to step back and look around my own neighourhood to check out the places that I have walked by for years but never stopped in. Charbries [5] located in Uptown Waterloo, ON, is one of those places. Until now! Charbries was on my ‘hit list’ of places featuring fresh local food and so in honour of my quest for all things local I couldn’t stay away any longer. Last week I finally got the chance check out the menu, chat with the owner, and sink my teeth into some awesome local fare.
I popped by for a late lunch, which was perfect timing because the owner, Charmaine, had some time to chat with a colleague and I about the history behind her restaurant and her philosophy on local food. Charmaine is obviously very passionate about her business as well as supporting local food and goes by the philosophy that eating local makes not only business sense but also it makes “food sense”. After all when the best tasting food comes from within our region, why wouldn’t we want to celebrate it?
For lunch we enjoyed their amazing Pickerel BLT, which featured Lake Huron pickerel with local bacon and Floralane [6] beefsteak tomatoes. Since we wanted to taste as much as we could, we decided to split the meals in half and when it came time to give up the other half of that delish BLT, it made me sad to see it go. But then I got to have the other half of the Gerber Burger, which was AMAZING! It featured Oakridge Acres Black Angus beef with Monforte Feta & bacon. It was one of the best burgers that I had had in a long time and it made it even more fabulous that it showcased beef from Oakridge Acres [7], a local farm out of Ayr, ON.
Charbries does a great job of highlighting local product when they can; their menu is literally filled with it! Next time you want to try an amazing burger in a sophisticated atmosphere, stop by Charbries. Oh ya and don’t forget to try the soup of the day; the one that we had was leek and asparagus and even on a hot day, it was out of this world.
