179-A Bannatyne Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
Phone: 943-1700

Hours:
Mon–Wed: 11:30 am to midnight
Thurs–Fri: 11:30 am to 2 am
Sat: 4 pm to 2 am; Sun: 4 pm to 10 pm

three stars out of five

By THE FOUR QUARTER FOOD CRITICS

Mr. Picky couldn’t make it – darn it. Business called him right out of the country. Good thing another of our friends, we’ll call her the GlobeTrotter, was actually able to venture out of her office to catch a bite with Miss Perfect and the Meateater. Lil’ Miss ‘Trotter has lived in other countries and travelled many more. She is a wonderful cook who is well versed in the spices and herbs of the world. People love it when she helps out in the kitchen, knowing it will be a titillating experience that matches the sharp wit of her beautiful mind!

We wanted to try Gilroy’s because the Trotter had been there before and enjoyed the experience. Not too hungry this time, we decided to share a few items from the menu: Garlic Potato Soup, Gilroy’s Garlic for Two, Chicken Caesar Salad (available in either Spicy Thai Garlic or Black Bean Garlic). We opted for the Black Bean Garlic and another dish called Ginger Garlic Chicken.

Miss Perfect didn’t like the potato soup. Though it was very hardy, she felt it lacked flavour. Nice big pieces of garlic, of course, and other vegetables, but the potato skins turned her right off. The Trotter and Meateater, however, enjoyed this one, claiming the veggies themselves were the flavour, making it a classic Winnipeg winter soup. The Chicken Caesar Salad (Black Bean Garlic) was not such a great hit. It was funny to see the reaction of Miss Perfect. Our Caesar Salad expert, she could hardly stand the taste of the black bean garlic chicken combined with the Caesar dressing. She thought it was "off," or the chicken was cooked before and left in the fridge. Then she thought maybe she was off. Actually, we think it was the taste of the black bean that was mismatched in that dish. The Trotter and the Meateater didn’t mind the different sort of taste, but neither would have ordered it again.

The Ginger Garlic Chicken was served on a bed of Thai rice noodles. The chicken breasts were grilled, sliced, and served in a ginger garlic sauce. The dish came to the table lukewarm, which affected the taste and we were all a little disappointed. On the plus side, it also came with a few vegetables that were cooked to perfection and a good balance for the noodles, chicken and sauce. The Trotter also detected a type of Chinese Five Spice in this dish that’s a sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty combination. This is usually achieved with Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds and star anise. It gave the dish a wonderful aftertaste.

Gilroy’s Garlic for Two was the hit of the night. The plate was presented with fresh bread on the side and mass quantities of whole, roasted garlic cloves drizzled with olive oil. There was plenty of olive oil for dipping too. A small bowl of creamed ricotta cheese with warm anchovies completed this fabulous appetizer. We couldn’t get enough of this one!

After leaving, we could have stripped wallpaper with our breath. We laughed and pitied our co-workers the next morning. But we didn’t mind; we knew we were healthy and well fed.

Prostate Protection?

This November, a Chinese/U.S. collaborative study found that Shanghai men who ate more than ten grams a day of garlic or other pungent members of the allium family (scallions, onions, chives, leeks) had roughly half the risk of contracting prostate cancer as those who ate little (less than 2.2 grams). "The study," according to AP, "suggests that an effective level of prostate cancer protection can be achieved with about one clove of garlic a day."

The Aquarian

By RAND SMITH

Garlic’s roots in natural healing go as far back as recorded history. Along with ginger, no plant has been used therapeutically by more cultures on more continents for so long. If food is your medicine, garlic should definitely be a staple. 

Traditional sources such as the Chinese Pharmacopeia have recommended garlic for such ills as lack of appetite, indigestion, dysentery, tuberculosis, and the common cold. Applied externally, garlic has been used to treat carbuncles, deep-rooted ulcers and swellings, snake bites, and fungal skin diseases. In modern China, garlic is still commonly used to prevent colds. The root is crushed, and one part of the juice is placed in ten parts of water, then used as a nose drop. 

Garlic’s primary antibacterial agent, allicin, is produced when garlic is bruised or crushed. Allicin is also the main reason for garlic’s flavour – and fragrance. Garlic-loving cultures have learned to cope with the pungent aroma by chewing fresh parsley leaves or drinking a drop of peppermint oil in water. 

Louis Pasteur first recognized garlic’s antibacterial activity in 1858. In 1984, a test tube study from India found garlic to be a potent killer of eight out of nine strains of highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to Ronald Cutler, a microbiologist from the University of East London: "Allicin simply blows enormous holes through MRSA [methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus]." U.S. and Japanese scientists have found that garlic and other spices also blow holes through E coli O157:H7, the most fearsome fecal contaminant of hamburger and other meats.

Research on garlic has largely been driven by cultural needs. Thus, in developing countries like India and China, studies have focused on garlic’s potential value for infectious and intestinal disorders, detoxification, and contraception. Clinical studies there have shown that garlic even improves the symptoms of leprosy.

In the West, garlic has also been investigated for its beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Like aspirin, garlic helps prevents the internal blood clots that cause heart attacks, strokes, and even dementia. In one German study, the aortas of 70-year-olds who had taken garlic supplements for at least two years were as supple as those of 55-year-olds who hadn’t. A flexible aorta may reduce age-related heart damage.

Despite hundreds of studies and at least five thousand years of human exposure to garlic, we have only begun to "scratch the surface" of this remarkable culinary herb. Clinically, at least, the smell is sweet.