Karl Wells has had a love of restaurants as far back as he can remember, and a fascination with professional kitchens and creative chefs.
His love of all things restaurant-related has earned him success as a restaurant critic for The Telegram, a food writer for publications like En Route magazine and an accredited chef — and Tuesday night, he was presented with an award for his efforts from the Restaurant Association of Newfoundland and Labrador at the From This Rock event at the Sheraton hotel in St. John’s.
Wells was given an appreciation award by RANL, which named him a “champion of all things culinary in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
“Writing about the industry has been about expressing my passion for restaurants. My goal has always been to make a constructive contribution,” Wells told The Telegram. “The fact that RANL has given me an award is an endorsement of my efforts. That means a lot.”
RANL also presented an appreciation award to chef Roary MacPherson for his work in promoting local food and organizing numerous food events around the city and province.
Raymond’s Restaurant was given an award from the Department of Natural Resources, Forestry and Agrifoods Agency, for Best Integration and Promotion of Newfoundland and Labrador Agriculture. The downtown St. John’s restaurant is known for presenting local food — some of it grown by house chef Jeremy Charles — in traditional and non-traditional ways.
RANL inducted three local food icons, Ches’s Fish and Chips, E.W. Harvey, and the late Gordon “Marty” Martin of Marty’s Restaurants, into its hall of fame.
Hosted by actor/comedian Shaun Majumder, the From This Rock event included a nine-course dinner of local food prepared by eight of the province’s top chefs, with dishes like blueberry wine-cured trout, roasted pumpkin soup, milk-poached cod and wilted kale and spinach salad with beet.
tbradbury@thetelegram.com
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
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