A food documentary featuring a restaurant nestled in Cypress Hills will be showcased provincially and nationally this week.
Flat Out Food's fifth season and fifth episode will spotlight Lakeview Grill on CityTV Saskatchewan, Wednesday at 10 p.m. and CityTV in Canada at 11:30 a.m.
The episode marks the first time the TV series has visited Cypress Hills. The three-day visit was inspiring for Adrian Halter, the producer and director of Flat Out Food.
"That was a really unique and fun experience to be able to go there," he said. "Cypress Hills is really beautiful, and it was really exciting to be able to share that part of the province with everyone across Saskatchewan and then across Canada because I think everyone has an idea of what Saskatchewan looks like, and we're trying to change that."
Flat Out Food host Jenn Sharp begins the episode with Avery Rusk, the owner of Wood River Farms (near Gravelbourg), as he combines the mustard harvest. Gravelbourg Mustard is the second act, displaying how they turn mustard seeds into a condiment. Finally, they arrive in Cypress Hills, where the owner and chef of Lakeview Grill, Joel Fitzpatrick, uses mustard in a variety of dishes.
Fitzpatrick presented rice balls stuffed with avocado and salmon marinated in mustard, spicy sweet potato soup that's made with mustard, sauteed asparagus and French-style potatoes, and topped with mustard seeds, and chicken thighs marinated with mustard and glazed in Cypress honey.
"Joel floored us with what he was able to create," he said. "We're a television documentary, so we're really trying to find things that are visually aesthetic, and he was able to put some dishes together that were really beautiful."
The TV crew was also treated to Fitzpatrick's creations inspired by his South African culture.
"He's from Guyana originally, so he was making us dishes, bringing a bit of his home country and some of their culinary traditions for the crew and it was a really unique experience," he said. "The food was amazing."
