by Bill Hutchison

Wage slaves of Kingston unite. Get outside for lunch.

We all go a bit nuts as the year starts to warm, but Kingstonians are way behind the hot blooded Montrealers who declare spring as soon as it stops snowing. A friend reports that she strolled St. Denis on a sunny April 7. The temp was chilly, there were mounds of snow on the front yards and the natives were still bundled up in winter clothes, but every table in front of every cafŽ was filled.

Back in much warmer Kingston, we were still huddled behind plate glass windows. By the time you read this, we will have broken out and remembered the Persian poet/mathematician's recommendation about wine, bread, and an appropriately gendered companion. The best place to eat in the world is outside. Take your pick Ñ lying on the grass under a tree in the tiny park sandwiched between City Hall and the water. Anywhere along the city waterfront. The psych hospital's waterfront Ñ one of the city's best kept green secrets. Fort Henry looking out over the lake. The tiny park on Osborne Street in Gananoque with a great view of the islands. Anywhere, as long as it's outside.

Sitting on the last free bench with a brown bag from home or a designer pizza from Pan Chancho, or a pot of poutine from Bubba's, perhaps. Other downtown take out spots include Bistro Delight, Golden Rooster, and Windmills. And there are almost always hot dogs and fries to be had outside at Union and University Streets. And our patios are open Ñ Chez Piggy, the Toucan, hopefully Chien Noir. Lots of spots along Ontario and Princess. Under the Harlequin maple on Sydenham Street if the juice bar reopens.

Sitting where you can see and be seen or tucked away in a quiet corner with a paper back. Work is still almost an hour away.

edge of the city dining

But if you are not chained to a desk and a lunch hour, try Channel View Restaurant and Bar on Highway 2 at the Abbey Dawn Road. Located on two floors of the Buccaneer marina, the restaurant has been under new management since last fall. East Kingston's unusual population that includes soldiers, sailors, technocrats, plutocrats, and hard scrabble farmers is talking the place up.

Connie and I scouted the place recently when it was too cold to eat outside and a whole fleet of yachts surrounded the building like a barricade. Once the boats are back in the water, there will be great views from the downstairs bar and restaurant, the upstairs no-smoking restaurant and the patio. First the food.

As usual, Connie chose better than I. A beef and vegetable soup that was flavourful, light, and brothy, and a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with just the right amount of cheese and bacon. Not overdone. My Nachos Supreme was too neat for my taste. It lacked the mooshy beans of the much messier recipe offered at the Brew Pub. Channel View's big quivery slice of banana cream pie is down home decadent. Its raspberry pie, not so good, but I don't know where you can find a good fruit pie in Kingston Ñ not since Joli Manson closed her place on Princess.

Setting. Big eastern Ontario road house. You'll feel you know the place as soon as you walk in. Neat tables. TV sets in diagonal corners of the room. CFLY providing the background music. Big green plants, a scattering of antiques and a big artificial marlin on the wall. Service. Excellent. The single waitress, Laurie, was friendly and fast. If we didn't like the bar and smoking room she would have opened the second floor restaurant Ñ just for us.

Menu. A wide range of "home made" soups, the usual main courses. Pretty much any kind of pizza a reasonable person would want including seven traditional pizzas, three gourmets, and some 18 optional toppings. You can order take-out pizza or pizza that is half-cooked to go Ñ which is a new wrinkle to me. So is a topping called "hot sprinkles." Maybe I'll try that this summer with lots of beer.

Cost. Pizzas, $12 to $16 including tax. Those optional toppings extra. Lunch for two with one beer and one slice of pie, $27.54.

in other news . . .

Spring is the time for renewal and I'm delighted to learn that the former Pepper Grass restaurant on Princess Street is alive, well, and living under a new name on Sydenham Road a kilometer north of Princess. Now called Tea Leaves and Thyme, it shares an old house with a crafty shop called the Village Mercantile. A friend who has eaten there reports that the beef turnovers are still great; the soups, superb; and the salads, good. Warning: they come with raspberry vinegar and maple dressings. The menu is limited, with two quiches and two soups every day. Tea comes with great scones, jam or Devonshire cream. Open only for lunch. Call 536-0334 for reservations, especially on Friday.

I'm looking forward to Pan Chancho moving to the old Licks restaurant just across the street from S&R. I like PC's present location, but it is so crowded you can't swing a baguette without injuring someone. On the other hand, what is wrong with enforced physical intimacy? The Pan Chancho/Chez Piggy operation has done some fine things with historic buildings and that is good news for the Licks building where a cruddy first floor addition is stuck onto a fine piece of stone workÑ about as ugly as a two car garage fronting a suburban brick bungalow.

Coming soon, a remake of the Royal Oak, formerly Duke of Kingston, by an old friend and veteran businessman Bud Gormley, former principal, former mayor of Kingston's Olympic sailing village, former partner and barkeep at the Toucan. I'm sure Bud will make it fly or fry depending on the menu which may combine tapas and martinis. How about renaming it Bud's Bar?

Finally, I think this may be my last lunch column. I know I have said this before. But each time I have found that regular columnist Jamie Swift cannot make it back because of the pressure of writing a biography for which he is being paid gobs of money. Despite my problems with Mr. Swift, I want to deny the rumor that his daughter ghost wrote his earlier lunch columns. For one thing, her spelling is much better than his. I do wish to acknowledge the assistance of my co-diner. Particularly for the times she reads my column and cries, "You can't say that." Bye for now. We are off for Quebec City soon where the forecast calls for rain all day Saturday. Maybe we can check out a nice dry spot something with a name like the Cafe aux Barricades.