Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/597384
W I N T E R 2 0 1 5 | W E S T W O R L D 17 culture with Fitzpatrick's Caribbean back- ground has resulted in innovative dishes such as Steak Shawarma, featuring Grade A Angus beef prepared on a traditional Arabic-style spit. Cresswell and Fitzpatrick sit down each season to come up with a menu that includes fresh local ingredients, some from Cresswell's own garden. e ever-changing plates reflect their joint desire to serve up fare unique to the Star Café & Grill. "While we're rooted in cattle in this town and we do have a good selection of steak and prime rib, we see people's palates expanding. Customers who used to be nervous about trying the curry because it might be too hot have now worked their way up to our hottest version," says Cressman, who co-owns the Maple Creek restaurant with her husband, Dave Turner. e Star also offers cooking classes, teach- ing locals and visitors how to make interna- tional delicacies such as stuffed plantains and jerk chicken. "At the Star, we value our heritage. Our menu represents not only the fine ranching heritage of the Maple Creek area, but also the cultural heritage of our team. Our interna- tional team includes people from England, Mauritius, Guyana and Canada. Our menu represents their flavours." F urther north, another story of rural excellence in the kitchen is told through farmer's sausage, soups and home- made bread. Southern Ontario brother-and- sister team, Joan Yoder and Dennis Helmuth, have been transforming their family's recipes into local favourites at the Station Arts Centre Tea Room in Rosthern for nearly two decades. e pair, who say they knew nothing but old- fashioned home cooking when they leased the Tea Room, were purveyors of the 100-mile diet years before it was in vogue. Mining the fruits and vegetables of the Yoder's Peasant's Pick market garden and the herbs grown right on site in the Station Arts Centre yard, Yoder and Helmuth have created a menu that takes home cooking to a whole new level. e bread is made of their own stone-ground, whole-wheat flour, the sausage is supplied by the hog farmer who lives 10 minutes away and the berries are picked from nearby wild bushes. "We've always been about what is available locally and what is in season – we just grew up with that and we took it for granted. But now we see a more urban clientele taking notice," says Helmuth. Menu items such as spring beet borscht, lentil sausage soup, farmer's sausage open-faced (clockwise from top) Dennis Helmuth shows off a dessert assortment to diner Rosemarie Douan and picks herbs at Rosthern's Station Arts Centre Tea Room; lentil burger and cheese burger soup at Val Marie's Harvest Moon Cafe; Harvest Moon's Caitlyn Mroz delivers plates full of homemade desserts.