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9| W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,S eptem ber 27,2018 w aterloochronicle.ca This edition of "Don't Skip This Dish" has a rather unique historical-political an- gle that isn't unusual in the wide world of food. We could easily get bogged down in those politics, but I will spare you all but the most essential details. The first detail is that Bangkok Cuisine in Kitchener makes one of the best pad Thai dishes around; the second is that pad Thai, the full name of which is "kway teow pad Thai," may be as much a Chinese dish as it is a Thai one. Pad Thai came into being rather inorgan- ically when, in the late 1930s - here's the poli- tics - what was then Siam became Thailand. During that period of global political unrest, there was a desire to modernize Thailand and government and military authorities basically decreed pad Thai as the national dish. So it's a bureaucratic plate of noodles with Chinese influence but a rather deli- cious one, especially at Bangkok Cuisine. The defining features of pad Thai are tamarind (too many other restaurants use a ketchupy-tomato version) to which Bangkok Cuisine adds a few levels of spice heat. The medium heat is quite hot; their vaunted "top of the line" heat, for which they have a hall-of-fame of pad Thai cus- tomers, can be crushing. According to manager May Garcia (she has Thai background), the kitchen uses tamarind paste in making the foundation- al sauce for the dish. Tamarind is made from the fibrous pulp that envelopes the seeds of a bean tree that is native to Africa and Madagascar but is found in other trop- ical and subtropical regions. It's quite fussy to work with but yields a good acidity and a deep brown appearance. In fact, it's a flavour in that Caesar cocktail you enjoy when you add a dash of Worces- tershire. "The tamarind gives you the sweet and sour flavours," Garcia says. "The rice noo- dles are cooked with the pad Thai sauce, egg and some vinegar and spices. Then green onions and bean sprouts are added." Rice noodles aren't particularly easy to work with - the right treatment is neces- sary or you end up with a chewy mess. That hasn't been the case with the pad Thai I've had at Bangkok Cuisine. The spice heat comes courtesy of those lovely little red Thai chilies that are dried and ground and add heat without chang- ing the carefully balanced flavour, Garcia says. The kitchen garnishes the plate with a flower sculpted from a radish or carrot, some chopped peanuts and a lime wedge. You can complete the dish with a bottle of Singha, a Thai beer. What makes pad Thai so good is precise- ly why we love good Chinese and Vietnam- ese cooking: there's an ideal blend of sweet, salty, bitter and sour with a touch of heat. The tamarind paste, palm sugar and salt - and the spice heat - simply enliven one's spirit. That will be especially so as fall arri- ves. Bangkok Cuisine1500 Weber St. E., Kitchener. Phone: 519-748-7676 www.bkcuisine.ca/home Andrew Coppolino is a food writer and columnist for the Waterloo Chronicle and Kitchener Post. He can be reached on Twit- ter at @WatRegionEats. DON'T SKIP THIS DISH: PAD THAI AT BANGKOK CUISINE OPINION BANGKOK CUISINE PRODUCES THE BEST PAD THAI DISHES AROUND, WRITES ANDREW COPPOLINO ANDREW COPPOLINO Column As a longtime fan of Blue Rodeo, I've always imagined the relationship between founding band- mates Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and Bazil Donovan to be like a brotherhood. Theirs is a bond that makes for incredible musi- cal cohesion, as fans will see when Blue Rodeo re- turns to Centre in the Square for a performance on Dec. 29. And while I've met both Cuddy and Keelor over the years and have seen Blue Rodeo perform live count- less times, I've never had the opportunity to speak with bassist Donovan. So I reached out this past week to chat with Don- ovan about his 34-year rela- tionship with Keelor and Cuddy. "We're very much like brothers -- I know it sounds cliché, but that's how it is," Donovan told me over the phone from his home near Prince Edward County. "When you're touring, you're living in these close quarters and you know ev- erything about them, you know all of their personal secrets and every little de- tail about their relation- ships with their wives and girlfriends, and it's as close as it gets." Donovan shared how he had two young children at home when they started the band. "In some ways, touring is a lot of fun but its also very challenging to keep your head up for 300 days a year when you're on the road and you're missing your family," he said. "And your family, they thought it was kind of cool when you started out and were start- ing to do well and they heard you on the radio, but then the reality sets in that they're not going to see you for six months. "I remember my daugh- ter telling these girls what it takes to make it in a band, and she knew what she was talking about, and how one time I was gone for a year." But that 24/7 connec- tion to his Blue Rodeo bandmates, says Donovan, is what formed the brother- ly bond they still share. "And it's not so much a bond you're aware of all the time, because you fight like brothers do," he said. "Ev- ery aspect of our relation- ship is like brothers, some days you really love them and appreciate them and other days you're like, I want to be as far away from this person as possible. "In fact, sometimes you get to the point where you're out at a restaurant in a town and you see one of your bandmembers come walking in, and your heart sinks and you're thinking, 'Oh no, I was trying to get away from these guys.' And that's true with all of us, and we all know it." Anyone who has grown up with siblings can relate. When you spend so much time with someone, in such meaningful ways, a con- nection is forged that tran- scends any temporary squabbles. Those kinds of people are, to borrow a lyric from Blue Rodeo's song Moon & Tree, "so much of what we are." Marshall Ward is a free- lance writer and artist. Email is welcome at mar- shall_ward@hotmail.com. THE BROTHERHOOD OF BLUE RODEO MARSHALL WARD CHATS WITH BASSIST BAZIL DONOVAN AHEAD OF BLUE RODEO'S DEC. 29 PERFORMANCE AT CENTRE IN THE SQUARE MARSHALL WARD Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA RE: "Seven Years Later: Is the Rental Housing By- law Effective? (Sept. 20, 2018) This story by Adam Jackson raises the ques- tion for whom this bylaw is effective. For the city of Waterloo it certainly is! It raised more than $6 mil- lion for the city bylaw de- partment adding proba- bly 5-6 city staff. This money came from the small housing unit renters, those with four or less bedrooms. The original problem of run- down university student housing, which this by- law was to address has been removed by all the high rise student hous- ing. Because the bylaw al- so applies to housing in the "suburbs" of Water- loo, rentals are higher in price here than in the rest of the region. Yet the de- mand to live in Waterloo is great. Last summer when my wife and I ad- vertised a rental, a de- tached house in Clair Vil- lage, 10 applicants, after seeing the house, filled out an application within 48 hours. None of them were students. Except for one couple, all had chil- dren. In my view landlords have moved out of Water- loo in large part because of the rather expensive and "pain in the neck" rental bylaw. Thanks Adam for pointing out who of the potential municipal may- or candidates for Water- loo is for and who is against this damaging rental bylaw. AL HECHT WATERLOO RENTAL BYLAW IS AN EFFECTIVE MONEY-MAKER FOR THE CITY SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA Don't be a LitterBug! Please keep our community clean.