Sunset Boulevard by Signature Theatre

On my recent trip to Washington, DC I had the opportunity to check out a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard by Signature Theatre; a DC regional theatre company.

Signature is renowned for its musical productions and Sunset Boulevard is a prime example of why the company receives so many accolades.

Sunset Boulevard is a musical adaptation of the classic noir film directed by Billy Wilder about faded silent screen star Norma Desmond, desperate to make her return to a film industry that abandoned her when "talkies" became the norm, and her relationship with Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck Hollywood writer who is equal parts cynic and opportunist.

Admittedly, I've never been a huge fan of Sunset Boulevard as a piece of musical theatre. It isn't the most tuneful of Lloyd Webber's shows with only two or three noteworthy songs. Neither lead character is relatable or particularly likeable; Norma is, for all intents and purposes, totally bat-shit crazy and Joe is jaded and humourless.

Sunset Boulevard first debuted in the era of the mega-musical; the original production design on Broadway and the West End featured gigantic, mechanized set pieces such as Norma Desmond's mansion which rose up from the floor of the stage. Also, the show has almost always had to rely on having a "name" in the lead role; Glenn Close on Broadway, Diahann Carroll in Toronto, Petula Clark in the national tour.

Given all the above I had pretty much dismissed Sunset Boulevard as a mediocre show that requires empty razzle-dazzle and celebrity star-power to attract an audience.

Signature Theatre's approach to the production really shed a new light on the piece for me and allowed me to appreciate the show in a way I couldn't before.

Florence Lacey played the lead role of Norma Desmond and acted the part brilliantly. Lacey's Desmond starts off subtly crazy; at first she just seems a little eccentric but throughout the course of the show her level of craziness ramps up to full-blown delusional insanity at the show's climax.

D.B. Bonds puts in an admirable effort as Joe. While not entirely likeable, you can get the sense that his character struggled with the notion of "selling-out" and was not always a cynical opportunist.

The venue; the Max theatre is a small, intimate performance space (fewer than 300-seats) yet the production is as grandiose as it would be in an opera house. Signature's Sunset feels grand and lavish. Daniel Conway's scenic design is elaborate and employs automated set elements. The attention to detail is immaculate, the set seamlessly transforms from an old Hollywood soundstage to Norma Desmond's mansion.

The full orchestration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's score is performed by a 20-piece orchestra perched on the balcony of the mansion.

Director Eric Schaeffer's staging is dynamic and the scenes flow into each other with seamless transitions.

The production is performed on a thrust stage and the seating is arranged in a half-round. The choice to stage the production nearly in-the-round brings the characters closer to the audience members. The intimacy of the space combined with the performances of the leads really humanize the characters in the story. As we watch Lacey's progression as Norma Desmond throughout the course of the show; her facial expressions and her energy, we get an understanding of the character and can at least see the pathos of Norma Desmond even if we still don't fully empathize or sympathize with her.

What I took away from the Signature Theatre production of Sunset Boulevard is that the show actually can work as a compelling piece of theatre if it's done on a smaller, more intimate scale with an emphasis on the characters.



Sunset Boulevard by Signature Theatre

Book and Lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on the Billy Wilder Film Sunset Boulevard
Directed by Eric Schaeffer

December 7, 2010 – February 13, 2011 at the Signature Theatre in Shirlington, Virginia

Cirque Éloize: iD at the Sony Centre

I saw iD, Cirque Éloize's newest creation tonight as it finished up a run as the first show to open up the renovated Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

Having fallen deeply in love with the previous three Cirque Éloize shows I've seen; Nomade, Rain and Nebbia, all directed by Éloize's previous director Daniele Finzi Pasca as part of his "Sky Trilogy", I was taken aback when I saw the first promo videos of their new show iD. The images of Bboys dancing in front of graffiti-laden cityscapes to electronic music couldn't be a further departure from the languid, old-world romanticism that defined Finzi-Pasca's Sky Trilogy. I had some reservations going into the show. Done poorly a "young and urban" approach to nouveau cirque could be a tacky disaster. Happily, this is not the case.

Sure, iD is a huge departure for Éloize but while the style of the show is completely different, the performance quality, the artistic direction and the sheer talent and energy of the company remain at the same consistently high level. iD is a stunning, energetic tour-de-force. It is an exhilarating meeting of urban dance and circus framed in a simple but effectively drawn-out through-line of a rivalry between two street gangs. The show sizzles with youthful, exuberant energy, it's gritty and sexy and thrilling.

As is always the case in Cirque Éloize shows the cast consists of several talented, multi-disciplinary full-fledged and learned circus artists.

iD features a hand-to-hand act, it is the first act after the opening of the show which features characters hurriedly walking about the stage to create a bustling urban street scene, a chance encounter between a man and a woman leads to a beautifully-choreographed hand-to-hand number.

The juggling act takes place on a construction site. It's the kind of contrived scenario that could easily come off as hokey if done poorly but somehow director Jeannot Painchaud is able to focus the staging of the act and the construction worker characters on the stage so that it works as a clever context for the jugglers.

The contortion in iD is performed as a pas de deux between the contortionist (Leilani Franco) and a Bboy, in the loose storyline they are from rival gangs so there is a "forbidden love" pre-text to the act. Throughout their dance they mirror each others' moves in their own unique styles, they come together and create a beautiful, tender moment in the show. The act is original and cleverly staged, it presents contortion in a new context audiences have never seen. The two performers have great chemistry and performance quality and the act works brilliantly.

Urban dance plays a huge part in iD. There are several featured Bboy soloists but group dance numbers are infused throughout the show during the different numbers and really serve as the pulse that connects the show together. Too often urban dance isn't incorporated well into choreography and it just looks like a bunch of competing solos. This isn't the case with iD. Though the choreography isn't anything avant-garde, the dance is presented organically, the ensemble radiates energy and the choreography flows and makes sense with the presentation.

Other stand-out acts of the evening included a breathtaking dance-trapeze act by Evelyne Lamontagne and an interesting mixed-discipline pas-de-deux which Cirque Éloize does often. This time it's a dance between an aerial silks artist and a roller blader and made for another gorgeous moment in the show.

The set features a blank outline of a cityscape which is filled in with different projections during the show. The use of projections was very well-done and enabled the setting to keep up with the dynamic pace of the show. The projections were especially effective during the trampoline-wall finale. The backdrop is constantly shifting, windows open, ledges slide in and out, walls are rotated into place. The act is well-paced and builds to an ovation-inducing climax.

I guess you can pretty much gather that I really enjoyed iD and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. It's not my favourite Cirque Éloize show (a battle between Rain and Nebbia) and it certainly doesn't have the deep layers of emotion and soulfulness that the previous Éloize shows have but what it lacks in depth and subtlety it makes up for in style and energy and is well worth going to see.

Summerlicious at Nyood

I had dinner at Nyood, a restaurant in Toronto's Queen West neighbourhood by Chef Roger Mooking of the Food Network's Everyday Exotic, since I heard the prix-fixe menu on offer for Summerlicious was good.

I really like the place. The decor was interesting, I love the "modern baroque" theme.

The food was good. To start, I had the tuna tartare served with a black olive tapenade, plaintain chips and a soft boiled quail egg. The balance of the flavours was really nice, I was afraid the olive would overpower the delicate flavour of the tuna but it worked out quite nicely . . . I'm not sure what the quail egg added to the dish it may have just been there for presentation or maybe it was a clever wink to the salad niçoise.

For my main I had the European sea bass with sides of purple potatoes, lime-pickled red onions, sweet plantains and a charred lemon. The pickled red onions were delicious, kind of kimchi-like but zestier because of the lime juice. The fish was served in a very Cantonese-influenced style; fresh ginger and scallion were dominant in the flavour profile of the dish. My friend ordered the striploin with a chimichurri sauce. It was interesting to see one main with a predominant Asian influence and another with a South American influence.

For dessert; a hazelnut, chocolate tart with chantilly cream and mint syrup along with a nice café americano.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal, the decor, the atmosphere (the place was hopping but I like that frenetic energy) and the service. I'd definitely go back sometime.

Presto . . . change-o?

I just used my new Presto card to get onto the subway; an RFID, unified Ontario transit systems payment card.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Er, well, unless you count similar services available for years in Tokyo (Suica and Pasmo cards), Hong Kong (Octopus card) and London (Oyster card) ... Welcome to the world of ten years ago!

So far GO Transit is phasing in Presto across its system over the next year. Oakville and Burlington transit both have it fully implemented, Mississauga Transit and Brampton Transit are implementing it this fall and Durham, York, Hamilton and OC Transpo in Ottawa will apparently all be adopting it sometime in late 2011.

The sole hold-out is TTC! It's only implementing Presto on a trial basis in 12 of its 69 subway stations right now (Bloor/Yonge being one of them so it benefits me).

C'mon, get on the ball TTC!!! Presto should be accepted at all subway stations, busses, street cars and Toronto Island Ferries!

I remember in Shanghai you could even use them to pay for cabs! That'd be awesome too.

Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis at the Aria Resort: Las Vegas

I was invited to the premiere of Viva Elvis the new Cirque du Soleil tribute show to Elvis Presley in residence at the newly opened Aria Resort in Las Vegas.

In brief, the show was mildly entertaining, the cast and band were very good, the sets were impressive and there were one or two great moments but, in general, the show lacks cohesion, creativity and vision. It certainly does not move the artistic bar higher for Cirque du Soleil and it essentially felt like a high-budget amusement park song and dance revue.

I thought LOVE, Cirque's Beatles tribute playing down the street at Mirage Resort, did a far better job of marrying Cirque's signature creativity with a classic rock songbook. LOVE was an abstract biography of the Beatles and their career, Viva Elvis was a literal biography of Elvis. Whereas LOVE creatively sketched these abstract tableaux replete with metaphor and symbolism to evoke the spirit of the Beatles and truly create something groundbreaking and original, Viva Elvis felt more like Cirque du Soleil's answer to Jersey Boys. Viva Elvis is just a very average tribute show, it doesn't really work as a piece of theatre and is really pedestrian as a dance show.

I didn't like the Colonel Parker character as a narrator; his numerous monologues literally narrating Elvis' life, "Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi . . ." were long-winded, humourless and hackneyed. The character is utterly charmless and his delivery was unconvincing and flawed (he flubbed his lines a couple times last night). I thought the Col. Parker monologues were too literal and too frequent. I guess I just like my Cirque shows more abstract and interpretive and don't like being "narrated" to.

The dancers were obviously talented and delivered with a lot of conviction but for a show with three dozen choreographers I found the choreography in the show very one-note and for the most-part utterly unremarkable.

The live band was amazing, they really rocked the music and infused it with an amazing energy. The singers for the most-part were okay although none of the four really wow-ed me.

The sound design, however, was absolutely atrocious, at least from where I sat, down in front in section 101. The mix was horribly uneven, often Elvis' vocals were buried in the mix, the volume levels fluctuated throughout the show and sometimes bordered on intolerably loud. I was shocked at how absolutely awful the sound in the Viva Elvis theatre was given the pristine sound design in the LOVE theatre. If you're doing a music tribute show . . . you better make sure the sound isn't completely off.

Viva Elvis lacks a coherent grand vision, it's really just a pastiche of scenes representing different periods of Elvis' life. What I really couldn't get over was how kitschy and cheesy the show was.

The one act I did really enjoy was the aerial cradle duo performed to "One Night", the act took place on a massive guitar-shaped aerial frame and featured two male performers representing Elvis and his stillborn twin brother Jesse. I thought the acrobatic choreography needed more refinement but the scenographic context was nicely drawn out and at the end of the act when the "Elvis" acrobat climbs the neck of the guitar and beckons to his brother only to see him dropping into the abyss was a poignant piece of symbolism.

The massive trampoline contraption used in "Got a Lot O' Livin' To Do" was visually interesting . . . although the Marvel superhero theme of the act was totally cheesy. I thought the set-up for the act was more promising than the delivery, the pacing and choreography of the act was not very refined and the act lacked musicality, i.e. the act is not performed to the song, the act is performed and the song is just playing in the background.

Similarly, the cowboy lasso act performed to Mystery Train was really more fit to be a county fair side show attraction.

This massive prison set was dragged on stage for the Jailhouse Rock scene, there were a lot of performers running around willy-nilly on the set but the scene was chaotic and lacked focus.

The other more "Cirque" type acts, a chair balancing act to Bossa Nova Baby and the mixed-acro duo performing to Suspicious Minds weren't very well integrated at all and felt tacked-on at the last minute. The wedding ring aerial cradle act to Love Me / Don't was totally cornball and the pseudo stripper pole act performed to It's Now or Never was awkwardly staged and ultimately uninteresting as an act.

In addition to the very average material, the transitions in the show are non-existent. The tableaux of LOVE flow and morph into one another, in Viva Elvis the scene ends, it fades to black and the next scene begins. Sometimes the show will come to a dead stop and Col. Parker will deliver a monologue or, a couple times in the show, a movie screen would come down and a song would be performed to a cheesy Elvis film montage (what is this the Academy Awards?)

So in the end, I didn't feel that Viva Elvis delivered the level of creativity one would expect of a Cirque du Soleil show. Sure it's big and flashy but honestly just about anybody could have delivered similar or better content for an Elvis tribute show and Cirque really didn't push the envelope creatively on this project and it feels like their name is just attached to the project to give it creative credibility.

I suppose if you're a hardcore Elvis fan you might enjoy this show but there is definitely not enough "Cirque" content to satisfy someone looking for a Cirque show and somebody just in the mood for a rock tribute show would be far better served by LOVE which is superior to Viva Elvis in almost every conceivable respect.

Atelier: Adventures in Molecular Gastronomy. (With plenty of food porn inside)

I only read food porn for the articles . . .

Last night I had the pleasure of a dining experience at Atelier, a restaurant, recently named by En Route magazine as one of Canada’s 10 Best New Restaurants 2009, that offers a 12-course blind tasting menu exclusively every night to a small, 22-guest dining room.

It was definitely one of the best dining experiences I've had in my life and I'd highly recommend it.

Atelier is so much more than a restaurant meal; it is food that surprises, food that tantalizes your senses in new ways, food that makes you giddy with delight, food that makes you think and food that spans the entire spectrum of delicious.

Chef Marc Lepine's avant-garde approach is a grand vision of what dining could and should be. It is an exciting peek at the future of cuisine.


Molecular Gastronomy - Expanding your culinary horizons:

The concept of "molecular gastronomy" is based on the examination of the science behind food and cooking and understanding it at a molecular level in terms of physics and chemistry.

In the culinary vernacular "molecular gastronomy" is applied to an avant-garde style of cuisine (also termed post-modern, experimental, deconstructionist, etc.) that involves using new technology and techniques to create new and unexpected textures and flavour combinations to confuse, tantalize and excite the taste buds and create an entirely new dining experience.

Practitioners of this style of cuisine often employ high concept, whimsy and irony to their dishes which are equal parts science experiment and work of art.

Techniques range from "sous-vide" (cooking food in vacuum-sealed bags at constantly-held low temperatures in immersion circulators) to using liquid nitrogen to flash freeze foods, using gas cartridges to create flavoured "foams" and making elaborate frozen creations on something called an anti-griddle (exactly what it sounds like, a griddle but for cold instead of heat).


Atelier: Equal parts kitchen, science lab and art studio

Atelier's Chef/Owner Marc Lepine and Chef de cuisine Sarah Allen have worked in the kitchens of some of the foremost exemplars of Molecular Gastronomy in North America (Grant Achatz of Chicago's Alinea and Wylie Dufresne of New York's WD-50 respectively).

Their decision to open a restaurant like Atelier in a town like Ottawa was definitely a ballsy one. Let's face it, though Ottawa may be geographically close to great foodie cities like Chicago, New York, Montreal and Toronto, attitudinally Ottawa is still very much a culinary backwater. This is a town where the likes of Kelsey's, Montana's and East-Side Mario's dominate the restaurant landscape and where most people's idea of fine dining is The Keg.

There are signs that attitudes are slowly changing; a handful of great new bistros and small-plate/wine pairing places have opened up in recent years and Atelier is at the very leading-edge of that group.

Approaching Atelier from the outside one gets no hint of the wonders within. The restaurant's bleak, post-industrial, charcoal grey exterior, steel grate window covers, its location in a quiet non-descript, dark, Little Italy backstreet and it's complete lack of signage definitely give it a strange sort of cachet, kind of like going to an exclusive night club that only "in" people know about.

The restaurant's white interior is comfortable, sleek and modern but not so modern as to be cold. In fact there are several homey touches like a child's finger painting displayed as framed artwork.

The service was warm and professional yet informal and without a hint of pretense. The team is young and the service quite personal; Executive Chef Marc Lepine phoned me personally the day before the visit to confirm the reservation.

The food is excellent. In order for avant-garde cuisine to work it must be impeccably executed. It would be so easy for these dishes to come off as precious, pretentious and off-putting messes of incongruent ideas but instead the food at Atelier was expertly prepared, delicious and presented with a sense of fun and whimsy.

Giggles and a chorus of "mmmmmm"s was the soundtrack of the meal as dish after dish was presented, explained (often to slight bemusement) and then devoured as bewilderment turned to surprise and delight that such a seemingly incongruous collection of flavours, textures and temperatures could work so well together and taste so delicious.


Onto the food porn

The 12-course tasting menu at Atelier (which we were given signed copies of at the end of the meal) reads like the list of musical numbers in the Playbill of a Broadway musical or the nameplates of artwork displayed in a gallery. Each course was a stop on an itinerary through a culinary Wonderland. The chefs change and add new items every week so in effect the menu completely changes every couple months.

The photos really don't do the food justice (I tried to be relatively discreet and didn't want to use a flash-camera so I just snapped these pics with my iPhone), the meal was really an experience to be taken in with all your senses and at best these photos are but postcards from my culinary journey:


0. Here's the dill pickle bread and powdered butter that we were presented upon being seated. The powdered butter looks neat but it spreads like regular butter and wasn't the "Molly McButter" consistency I expected.

1. "Smoke and a Pancake"

About 70% of what we perceive as taste is actually perceived through our sense of smell. This special "clip spoon" is a spoon/clothes pin hybrid that supports some sort of aromatic element (in this case a sprig of smoking rosemary) to tickle the olfactory sense while you eat.

The first course/amuse-bouche is a little blini on top of which sits a globe of liquefied corn in a thin alginate shell so when you pop it in your mouth the alginate shell ruptures and the liquified corn spills out and floods your palate (much like a poached egg). The crunchiness of the pancake combined with that concentrated flavour of fresh, ripe corn made for the perfect bite.

2. "Club Sandwich"

The next course was a play on the club sandwich with three layers of seared tuna in place of the bread and a delicious avocado/caper salsa in between the layers.

3. "Nitro Noodle Soup"

This curried carrot soup was absolutely delicous, the "noodles" are actually ribbons of crême fraiche flash frozen with liquid nitrogen. It arrived at the table smoking and as the "noodles" slowly melted they contrasted the spice in the soup with a cool creaminess that was just heavenly.

4. "Charred Olive"

The top component is a piece of arctic char (a northern cousin of the salmon) cooked sous-vide, the brown sheet is made of kalamata olive and there are globules of red pepper gel and fish roe. I cooked a filet of arctic char at home last week by pan frying it but the slower/low-temperature sous-vide method of cooking it here gave it a completely different taste and delicate texture. It was like a completely different fish.

5. "Scallop"

A perfectly seared scallop topped with green-apple and a pomegranate foam. The scallop was cooked perfectly with a nice caramelized layer from the searing, the green apple provided the hint of acid and the pomegranate gave it a nice sweet accent.

6. "Fruit Cocktail"

Firstly, this is Atelier's "test tube" spoon, for our meal it came filled with watermelon juice:

It was meant to be poured into the glass containing our "fruit salad" course served as an inter-mezzo or palate cleanser. The fruit salad contained a variety of dried/powdered/foamed fruits, topped with a slice of liquid nitro frozen watermelon and blueberry gel, once all the elements were mixed together with the watermelon juice from the test tube it tasted exactly like a refreshing summer fruit salad. It was an interactive and fun presentation of a course.

7. "Pigs and a Blanket"

This dish looked like it belonged in an art gallery, I can't even begin to recall what all the different components were aside from the little alginated globule of crab apple puree that split open like a poached egg. The gelatinous "blanket" covered two pieces of suckling pig cooked sous-vide.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of pork. It is so easy to overcook pork to the point where it's dry and flavourless. One piece of this pig included the rind and the layer of fat (similar to the roast pork my parents buy in Chinatown) but Atelier's version cooked sous-vide resulted in the most moist, tender and flavourful piece of pork I'd ever tasted.

8. "Shades of Beige"

Conceptually, this dish was a bit all-over the board but the individual compenents were all impeccable. It featured a variety of mushrooms (including black trumpet mushrooms), duck confit, and potato fried in duck fat (arguably the most delicious fat known to man). It's always a party when duck confit is invited!

9. "Beef"

This piece of filet mignon was cooked sous vide and then quickly seared, the cooking was so perfect I was nearly moved to tears. The sides were a celeriac puree and a parsnip custard.

10. "Hawaii 5-0"

The Hawaii 5-0 was our first dessert course (As an aside I'm a HUGE fan of multiple courses for dessert). It was basically a play on Hawaiian pizza with many forms of pineapple (cake, gel, mousse), powdered coconut as well as bacon bits. The donut was a delicious frozen cream shell. The savouriness of the bacon pairs surprisingly well with the pineapple.

11. "Cheeky Monkey"

Another art-gallery worthy presentation, this dessert features pieces of banana cake, peanut fudge, dehydrated chocolate powders, mousses and a small scoop of curry ice cream. Yup, that's right, curry. I've had chocolate truffles and ganache with chili powder before which cuts the sweetness of the chocolate with a nice spicy kick. The curry ice cream did that here but the addition of the cold, creamy texture made for such an unexpected experience on the palate.

12. "The Captains Crunch"

As a kind of mignardises course we were given these yummy house-made white chocolate truffles coated with Cap'n Crunch cereal (they were devoured before I could snap a pic).


The restaurant also offers an option of a flight of wine pairings from the sommelier to accentuate each course. This was the selection last night:

At the end of the meal, we were invited back to the kitchen to meet the chefs. After being so impressed with the meal I felt like I was off to see the Wizard of Oz. The chefs graciously greeted us into their surprisingly tiny kitchen. There was a distinct lack of several things a regular restaurant kitchen would have; gas ranges (they use induction cooking elements), a deep fat fryer, a griddle which just added to the overall mystique of the meal.

The trip to the kitchen was the perfect way to end off the evening. I'd implore anybody with a sense of adventure to give this restaurant a try. Yes, it's not exactly cheap but it is definitely a good value especially if you consider it as much entertainment as it is food (our dinner lasted almost 4-hours that seemed to just whiz by). It makes for a wonderful and worthwhile splurge.

I can't wait to go back to see what other wonders await.

(Not so) Subtle racism in local CBC article . . . A case-study for sensationalism and bias in journalism.

While perusing the local news during my morning coffee break today I came across a couple articles about the newly opened T&T supermarket in the south of Ottawa being fined for opening the morning of November 11th, Remembrance Day.

A bit of background:

Remembrance Day is not a holiday save for employees of banks and the federal government, however, the City of Ottawa has a bylaw that prohibits retail stores from opening until the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the National War Memorial are finished (around noon). (As an aside, I wholly support the commemoration of Remembrance Day and believe it should be designated a statutory holiday for everybody.)

A couple weeks ago T&T Supermarket (a chain of supermarkets, recently acquired by the Loblaw Companies Ltd., that specializes in Asian groceries) opened its first Ottawa location to much fanfare.

I read two articles about the incident, one by the local CBC affiliate and another by the local rag, the Ottawa Citizen.

While I usually find the Citizen to be nothing more than a right-wing Canwest corporate mouthpiece and the publicly-funded CBC to be well balanced and insightful (at least in their coverage of national news) the roles were reversed in their coverage of this story:

CBC News - Ottawa- Asian market fined for opening Nov. 11 morning

The Ottawa Citizen - Food store apologizes for Remembrance Day opening

Notice the derisive and inflammatory tone of the CBC Ottawa headline, it starts off with the word "Asian" which may as well be bolded to emphasize blame and the fact they chose "fined" as the verb definitely suggests a judgment of guilt be passed on the subject of the headline.

The article goes on to mention that the store received the lesser of two possible fines (seemingly only to fuel indignation) and includes a quote from the manager pleading ignorance of the bylaw which serves only to play to the "dumb immigrant" stereotype.

Not surprisingly the inflammatory and biased coverage of the story has lead to predictably racist responses in the peanut-gallery comment section of the article.

Conversely, the Ottawa Citizen article headline "Food store apologizes for Remembrance Day opening" is much more fair and well-balanced, notice the complete lack of blame and judgment in the headline.

The Citizen article opens by stating that T&T was one of approximately 40 Ottawa businesses fined under the bylaw for opening on Remembrance Day. It sets the store's transgression in the proper context. Instead of playing to the "dumb immigrant" stereotype of the CBC article it instead quotes T&T's corporate director for strategy and marketing who explains that it was an honest mistake (there are no such bylaws in any of the other jurisdictions where T&T operates) and in addition to publicly apologizing committed to donating all of the store's profits from the Remembrance Day morning to the Royal Canadian Legion's Poppy Fund.

Remarkably, the term "Asian" does not appear once in the Ottawa Citizen coverage.

I have to say I'm extremely disappointed in CBC Ottawa's lack of journalistic integrity when covering the story. The CBC Ottawa story was a textbook case of sensationalism and poor journalism and wouldn't have looked out of place on Fox News.

While I still rely on CBC for balanced coverage of national stories it seems the team working at their local Ottawa station lacks the tact, professionalism and balance to fairly and responsibly cover a story.

EDIT:

It seems the Citizen did publish an article in today's print edition that also interviewed the store manager and made mention of the charging of the lesser fine:

The Ottawa Citizen - Ottawa stores charged for opening early on Remembrance Day

However, they still include a much better context (the article is about all 40 of the stores in the city who received the fine of which T&T is specifically mentioned presumably because it is the most high-profile) and treats the fact that the store caters to Asians very matter-of-factly. The store manager's quote in this article gives much more detail and explanation and overall the Citizen article is free from the racist undertones of the CBC article.