Mr. Moo's Adventures

So So Co Co Di

2013-05-21T08:27:00.000-06:00

Hommus with feeb

My Grammie bought a Groupon for dinner for four at Co Co Di so off we went one evening. The Groupon included a glass of wine for everyone, two appetizers and four entrees. The restaurant itself was enormous with booths along both walls, quite a lot of tables in the middle, the bar to the back left and the kitchen to the back right. The décor itself was fairly generic, with only the hookahs at some tables to indicate it was a Mediterranean restaurant.

Grape Vine Leaves stuffed

Although it wasn’t busy that evening, probably less than half a dozen tables, it still took a few minutes after we arrived to be greeted and shown to a table. Perusing the menu it ran the gauntlet from Mediterranean to North American to everything in between listing such items like pasta, fish and chips, fries and pizza. We wound up having quite a few long waits that evening, including the wait between ordering our wine to getting it, then again between receiving our wine and actually ordering the food. Unfortunately the wine didn’t help the time pass by any faster as the house white smelled and tasted like vinegar, least to say I didn’t wind up drinking much of it.

Lamb Kabob

Our appetizers consisted of hommus pita dip topped with sirloin feeb and pine nuts, and served with pita bread. Only half of our appetizer actually hit the table and we wound up spending the next few minutes trying to flag down a server in a mostly empty restaurant to get the pita that was supposed to go with the hommus. The hommus was very thick and needed just a tad more seasoning, but was tasty otherwise. Meanwhile, the grape vine leaves stuffed with rice, parsley, mint, tomato, and onions was a decided flop at our table. We all found the grape leaves too thick, often the filling would fall out by the time we managed to gnaw our way through the leaf, while the stuffing inside was a bit on the salty side.

Chicken Shawarma

Our entrees faired about as well as the appetizers. The lamb kabob was very tender and had a slight char taste to it. However the chicken on the chicken shawarma platter was very dry and tough, and the humans found the feeb from the feeb shawarma tough and difficult to chew. As well, the lemon in the sauce on the feeb was overpowering any other spices that it might have been marinated with.

Overall with only two decent dishes out of six, we weren’t impressed with either the food or the service. Considering the number of Mediterranean restaurants there are to choose from in Edmonton, it’s unlikely that Co Co Di will be one that we would return to. 

Co Co Di
11454 Jasper Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T5K 0M1
780-425-1717

Mr Moo's Adventures Second Anniversary

2013-05-14T07:32:00.000-06:00

Kara and Nevin Fenske Food Angels

To think May 13, 2013 is only my second year writing this blog. I have met so many people, eaten so many incredibly things, been to many interesting and highly praised restaurants, and even gotten to travel.

I thought that I would share a few of my highlights from the last year with you all.

Female Human’s Hernia Surgery – In May 2012, the female human had abdominal hernia surgery after two years of waiting and was unable to go anywhere or eat much of anything for two weeks. She was in so much pain the first week of surgery that it was a choice between taking pain killers that made her so nauseous that she wasn’t hungry or would throw up if she ate (not a good thing to do when you’ve just had surgery on your abdomen) or not taking them and being in so much pain that she wasn’t hungry. The only thing she managed to keep down was bits of bland unbuttered toast or saltines. Luckily for her, after talking with the male human, angels Kara and Nevin Fenske of Drift Food Truck started making her bread sandwiches – basically toasted buns with the same spread they use on their pork belly sandwiches - allowing her to eat something that wasn’t so disgustingly bland that she wanted to throw up. It helped her get and keep her strength up enough to start getting off the couch and moving around on her own, with her first visit to the outside world of course being to Drift to thank them.

Scone making with @DashofSnP

Meeting the “Mrs” Chefs – Meeting and becoming friends with @mrschefcowan and @DashofSnP, the Mrs of my two favorite Edmonton chefs, @chefcown and @interupt2.
Scones – Learning to make scones properly after trying for two years with little success. Under the tutelage of @DashofSnP I can practically make scones in my sleep!

Being published by others - Being picked to write an article in EatInEatOut Magazine's Fall 2012 issue, as well as having two recipes included in Foodie.com's Back to School Cookbook (No Bake Lemon Cheesecake on pages 128-129 and Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes on pages 132-133).

Photo from Tutti Frutti article in EatInEatOut Magazine

The Fat Duck – Finally getting to visit The Fat Duck, the incredibly well known but expensive molecular gastronomy restaurant by Heston Blumenthal located in Bray, United Kingdom. It was one heck of an enjoyable experience! Plus I got to meet Chef Jonny Lake!

The Fat Duck

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – Getting recognized for real when I dined at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London, United Kingdom! Although I’ve travelled quite a bit in my short life, I’ve never been recognized outside of Edmonton before! It made me very special and I feel privileged to be able to write about food!

CBC Radio Active! - Being picked as one of the families interviewed for CBC Radio Active's From Your Kitchen episodes! We wound up making Lo Bak Goh (Turnip Cake).

Chris Cosentino

Meeting Chris Cosentino – Attending the Chris Cosentino lunch at NAIT, then being invited back the next day to meet him personally and take photos after being unable to stay after the lunch since it ran long. It was very cool to be able to speak with him one on one!

Winning for Alberta Easter Seals – Being invited by @TFFroyoYEG to participate in their Fro-Down for the chance to win $500 for charity, and then actually winning! Thank you to everyone on FaceBook who voted for my creation and helped me to win the money so that I could donate it to Alberta Easter Seals, a charity near and dear to my heart.

Cheque Ceremony for Tutti Frutti Fro Down

Tres Carnales – Danny, Chris and Edgar are amazing people, and it never ceases to amaze me how they treat everyone so well, no matter how busy they are at the restaurant. I am also grateful to them for saving my taste buds on multiple occasions after I’ve stopped in after experiencing a horrible meal elsewhere, and them feeding me something that is always fantastic.

Overall, it has been a wonderful year and I look forward to more adventures with my current and future friends that I’ve made through Twitter, FaceBook and this blog.

So if you ever see me out and about, please come over and introduce yourself! I love meeting new people and am having a blast just writing this blog for everyone who reads it!

Here’s to mootastic year 3 of Mr. Moo’s Adventures!

Your devoted faux fur bovine blogger,
Marlow

SWICH Pop Up - Mighty tasty sandwiches coming soon!

2013-05-13T08:23:00.000-06:00

Mimosa

If you missed the SWICH pop up, I hope you had a great Mother’s Day! But you missed out on some moolicious food! No worries though, Alexi, the owner, operator and chef of SWICH, is due to hit the streets of Edmonton hopefully before the end of May or early June.

He’s partnered with siblings Tom and Monica Lim, whose family owns and runs Lan’s Asian Grill near NAIT and T.H.I.S Place, which is downtown, for his mobile sandwich venture. Their trailer will be open for business during lunch on weekdays, although their locations are yet to be announced, he indicated that they will have two spots, one located downtown and the other on the Southside. As well, they hope to cater to businesses and at event.

Thai ham sandwich

During the pop up at Lan’s Asian Grill, we got to sample four offerings. All of their sandwiches will be served on bread baked in house daily, along with homemade condiments. Alexi told us that serving fresh baked bread to customers was very important to him, particularly since it comprises so much of the sandwich. Any additional loaves that go unused by the end of the day will be donated to people in need.

Thai green curry chicken sandwich

We started with a Thai ham sandwich on a fresh baked hoagie made with whey from homemade cheese, ham cured with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, tomato and homemade tamarind mustard that had a nicely balanced sweet and sour taste to it. 

Next came a Thai green curry chicken sandwich on house made pretzel bread with green curry aioli and pickled bamboo. The pretzel bed was incredibly soft, topped with thinly sliced chicken and just mild heat from the green curry, which was my favorite sandwich of the day.

Montreal Smoked Meat

The last savory sandwich of the day was Montreal smoked meat made with wagyu feeb, sauerkraut aioli and roasted red cabbage on ciabatta bread. The wagyu feeb comes from a producer in Southern Alberta, and to cure and age it into Montreal smoked meat is a long process, but the result was a soft, juicy, rich and well marbled pile of feeb atop crispy ciabatta bread that even I couldn’t resist taking a bite of… Yes, intentional cowniablism occurred and it wasn’t the first time this week either, I’ll probably need to seek some sort of therapy or rehab so I don’t relapse, but it was just too good to skip… Although I’m not normally a fan of sauerkraut, the sauerkraut aioli on this sandwich was very mild and didn’t overwhelm the feeb or the bread.

Ice cream sandwich

To finish they had made an ice cream sandwich with homemade lemongrass ice cream and ginger cookies made with fresh ginger. Although I’m usually the first person to skip anything with ginger in it, since I really dislike the taste of ginger, I found that the cookie had a really mild ginger flavor. Paired with the lemongrass ice cream which had a strong lemongrass taste to it on it’s own, the two things paired together really balanced each other out and mellowed out the lemongrass flavor in the ice cream.  

 Overall I was very happy to have gotten the opportunity to enjoy SWICH’s offerings and am looking forward to trying more when they get their wheels and hit the streets of Edmonton!

SWICH
Location: To Be Announced (Downtown & South Side)
Edmonton, AB
Monday to Fridays – Exact Times To Be Announced (Lunchtime)
Twitter: @SWICHFOOD

Samosas - Another Lesson in Indian Cooking with @michpetersjones

2013-05-09T20:58:00.000-06:00

Samosa Filling

I always love eating Indian food, but not being even a mediocre home cook, it’s not the type of food I would ever try to make myself as I find the recipes are often fairly daunting. Fortunately for us @michpetersjones of The Tiffin Box and @BigAddie had been planning to make samosas this week, and we were lucky enough to be invited over to learn how to make them. Learning first hand, being able to actually see and participate in the cooking under someone’s direction, makes it less scary to attempt to make recipes that appear complicated. Now, making samosas can be labour intensive and @michpetersjones and @BigAddie admitted that in India, most people don’t bother making their own but instead go out to their local bakery and just purchase them.

@BigAddie making dough for samosas

However, these samosas were much tastier and not at all greasy like I generally find they are at restaurants. @michpetersjones said that most restaurant samosas are greasy due to the fact that they have to be prepared and fried in advance, then are fried once again in order to reheat them prior to being served to the diner, resulting in a samosa that has absorbed much more oil than those fried only once.

Below you’ll find @michpetersjones recipe for the filling and dough for samosas. As well as how to construct ragda samosa chaat, a street dish in India, which consists of a samosa, ragda and a few other ingredients resulting in a dish with contrasting textures that work wonderfully together and is mildly spicy, slightly sweet, a hint acidic, and a bit tangy all at once.

Finished dough for samosas

Least to say, I won’t be looking at samosas the same way ever again knowing the work that goes into it! But a great time was had by all of us learning how to make samosas! We (@MarlowMoo, @caldwellcreates, @KevinEdsonJones) were perhaps not the best students, with @caldwellcreates trying to artistically create samosas that looked like spaceships and stingrays, and @KevinEdsonJones making samosas that wound up becoming floaters under @caldwellcreates tutelage, but at least we enjoyed our creations!

For more tasty Indian recipes check out @michpetersjones blog, The Tiffin Box. Or sign up for an Indian Cooking class taught by Kathryn Joel and @michpetersjones at Get Cooking Edmonton.

@BigAddie instructing Cynthia on assembling samosas

Check out my photos on PhotoBucket for a pictorial step by step.

Update May 14, 2013 - Check out @michpetersjones post about samosas on The Tiffin Box.

Samosas
Makes 10-15 samosas

Samosa Filling

Filling samosa dough with filling

Ingredients
3 tablespoons unscented oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ medium onion, diced
½ inch ginger, chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped
½ teaspoon tumeric
¼ teaspoon dry mango powder
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon garam masala
2 large potatoes, chopped
1 cups of water
½ cup peas
½ lemon
salt
large handful of chopped cilantro

Spaceship samosa by @caldwellcreates

1. Heat 3 tablespoons unscented oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
2. Add ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds to the oil.
3. After 30 seconds when the cumin begins to sizzle, add ½ medium diced onion and fry for 5 minutes until they are softened.
4. Add ½ inch of chopped ginger, 1 green chili finely chopped, and sauté for 30 seconds.
5. Add ½ teaspoon of tumeric, ¼ teaspoon of dry mango powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin and ¼ teaspoon of garam masala and sauté for 1 minute.
6. Add 2 large chopped potatoes and fry until they just begin to soften, and then turn down the heat to low. Do not preboil the potatoes, they will be more flavorful when cooked with the spices.
7. Add 1 cup of water, ½ cup of peas, the juice of ½ a lemon and salt to taste.
8. Cook on low heat until the potatoes are tender. The potatoes need to be fully cooked because they will be roughly mashed once they are cool.
9. Once cooked, turn off the heat. Add large handful of chopped cilantro, mash potatoes roughly and allow the filling to cool to room temperature.

Cooking samosas in hot oil

Samosa Dough

Ingredients
1 teaspoon ajwain
 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2 cups ‘00’ flour
4 tablespoons unscented oil
warm water

1. Mix 4 tablespoons unscented oil with 2 cups ‘00’ flour, 1 teaspoon ajwain, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, and 1 ½ teaspoon salt until the mixture has a crumbly consistency – similar to making biscuits or pie dough.
2. Add warm water, a little at a time, until the dough comes together and is soft and pliable. You know the dough is a good dough if your hands are clean once you are done kneading it.
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes. The dough will soften upon resting.

Finished samosa

Samosa Assembly

1. Pinch of a chunk of the dough, you should have enough for 10-15 samosas, and each chunk you pinch off will make 2 samosas. Keep the remainder of the dough wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it moist.
2. Roll out the chunk of dough into a very very thin oval. It should be so thin that it is practically translucent and you can see your counter top through it.
3. Cut the oval into two pieces horizontally.
4. Curve the cut side into a pouch. You can use water on the edge of the dough to help seal it.
5. Fill with samosa filling, being careful to leave enough room to pinch it closed.
6. Fold the top flap over and seal while ensuring you are squeezing any air out of the samosa. Again, you can use water on the edge of the dough to help seal it.
7. The finished samosa should be a triangle shape and it should be able to sit up on it’s own on one side.
8. You can style the samosa by pinching the top triangle tip. You can also use a fork, and press down on the bottom seam
9. Make and cook the samosas in small batches, approximately 4 at a time. Otherwise the dough will dry out and become glutinous.

Cooking

1. Heat canola oil up in a pot to 350F.

Finished samosa

2. Gently lower the samosa into the oil and fry 2-3 minutes until golden brown. If the samosa floats, it has too much air in it and you will need to hold the samosa down in the oil with a long handled slotted spoon so that it can cook properly.
3. Once cooked, gently remove samosa from the oil with a long handled slotted spoon, draining off any excess oil.
4. Place cooked samosa on a plate with paper towel to help soak up any additional oil. Allow to cool.
5. The finished samosa should be bubbly and golden brown in color.

Ragda Samosa Chaat

Ragda Samosa Chaat

Ingredients
Ragda (Recipe can be found under Channa Masala on The Tiffin Box)
Tamarind Chutney
Onions
Yogurt
Chopped cilantro
Sev

1. Break up the cooled samosa into pieces into a small bowl.
2. Add enough ragda to lightly cover the samosa pieces.
3. Add tamarind chutney, onions, yogurt, sev and chopped cilantro to taste.
4. Enjoy!   

Enchanted at Niche

2013-05-07T07:19:00.000-06:00

PEI Mussels

We hadn’t been to Niche in over a year and decided to revisit it during Downtown Dining Week. We began with an amuse bouche of beets, strawberries, and goat feta, which was one refreshing bite. Next we moved onto appetizers, which included a large bowl of perfectly cooked and tender PEI mussels with roasted red peppers, basil, paired with corn bread and honey butter to soak up the fragrant and light broth. The male human opted for Bison Carpaccio with soy vinaigrette, parmesan, sesame oil powder and arugula, which he said had a very mild bison flavor to it and melted in his mouth. Least to say both dishes were devoured without delay.

Foie Gras Crusted Lamb Rack

The Brohm Lake Duck Confit with Fairwind Farms organic goats cheese, smashed potatoes and pear jus generously large. The duck required no knife as the meat fell off the bone in soft, moist chunks with the gentle prod of a fork. Meanwhile the Fois Gras Crusted Lamb Rack with rosemary creme risotto was tender, with just the right amount of fattiness, and delicious. The risotto was creamy and so immensely enjoyable that I resisted licking the plate clean.

Broken Coffee

Finally dessert was a show in of itself! We were incredibly impressed, as we hadn’t seen anything quite this entertaining in the Edmonton food scene up until now. The broken coffee was a dark chocolate coffee cup, filled with mousse, and then brushed with caramel liquor. Then Chef Eric Hanson dipped his finger into the flame from the candle on the table and touched the dessert plate briefly, lighting the liquor ablaze. As the flame burned out, the chocolate coffee cup melted and mixed with the mousse, resulting in a velvety smooth mousse, interspersed with rich dark chocolate, a feast for both the eyes and the taste buds!

Our server was attentive, friendly and genuine and made the interactions that evening as enjoyable as the food we ate. If you’re looking for a meal that will make your mouth and tummy happy, Niche is the place to go.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Niche
11011 Jasper Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5K 0K6
780-761-1011
Twitter: @NicheYEG

Marvelling at Borough Market and The Greedy Goat

2013-05-02T04:36:00.000-06:00

Enjoying prosecco with Winston von Bark

One of our first stops in London was Borough Market with my favorite canine comrade, Winston Von Bark and his lovely female human, Lindsey, and his male human, Stuart. The market was a ways from where we were staying in London, but was well worth the trip.

Raclette

The full market is open three days a week, Thursday – Saturday. The market has an extensive array of offerings from meat, cheese, baked goods, ready to eat food, food to take home, spirits, produce, the market goes on and on. Coming from Edmonton where we have a handful of markets that easily fit under the roof of a building less than a quarter of a city block, it was dizzying to see all the vendors and we had no idea where to begin! I felt envious that we didn’t have multiday markets so busy, diverse and large, but knew that London actually has the population to support a market of this breadth and caliber.

Truffles

We started the visit with a glass of prosecco, served in plastic champagne flutes so you can wander about the market with them. Least to say, wandering the streets with alcohol in hoof was a very different experience for Moo, since that doesn’t happen back in Edmonton, but it was a nice way to begin our visit, to a very busy and lively market!

Cheese at Neal's Dairy Yard

What struck me the most about the market was the array of food vendors, selling food for people to eat while they did their shopping. Everything from Indian food to raclette, which if you don’t know what raclette is, it is cheese that is heated up until it begins to melt. They then scrape off the parts that are melting onto your plate and it is eaten commonly with cured meats.

The Greedy Goat

We wandered the market, marveling at meringues the size of Moo! Truffles sold individually, as pates, or in butters, at prices much more reasonable than I’d ever seen in Canada – least to say I wound up buying some truffle butter to take home with me. We also got to sample a large array of artisan cheeses, cured meats, and even a delectably thick and creamy mushroom pate! No visit would be complete without going to visit the famous Neal’s Dairy Yard! Where cheese is stacked to the rafters with wheels of cheese larger they’d probably flatten me if one fell on Moo!

So many choices!

However, our favorite find of the day was The Greedy Goat, an ice cream vendor that makes all of their ice cream from goats milk, definitely not something we’d find at a local ice cream parlor back home in Edmonton. With a variety of flavors to choose from, it was hard to decide what we wanted. Luckily with four humans and two faux furs, we were able to each choose a different flavor and try a good variety. The honeycomb had a very subtle honey flavor but had nice large chunks of honeycomb within the ice cream, while the chocolate ice cream was a nice dark chocolate, perfectly rich without being overly sweet. The lemon, lime and basil ice cream was incredibly refreshing with the lemon and lime flavors shining through and the cheesecake and raspberry ripple had a deep and decadent cheesecake flavor to it with a refreshing hint of raspberry popping through each bite. Although I had initially been worried that there would be too prominent of a goat’s milk flavor, it turned out that wasn’t the case and the ice cream really hit the spot during our full morning wandering through the market.

Chocolate and Honeycomb Ice Cream

So if you are ever in London, make sure to set time aside to wander through Borough Market, and make sure to go when you’re hungry! There are plenty of incredible things to see and sample! And don’t forget to grab yourself some goats milk ice cream from The Greedy Goat while you’re wandering about, you won’t regret it!

Borough Market
8 Southwark Street
London SE1 1TL
United Kingdom
44 0 7407 1002
Twitter: @boroughmarket

The Greedy Goat
Jubilee Market in Borough Market
Twitter: @thegreedygoat

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Contented Carnivore at Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus

2013-04-29T08:40:00.000-06:00

Roed Hus Sliders

Having heard great things from @thepolishviking and having a Groupon in hand to Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus, we took the chance to visit after a long morning spent checking out the Star Wars Identities Exhibit at the Telus World of Science.

Located near the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in a small strip mall, one enters a small, but warm and inviting space decorated with stone, and consisting of a mix of cozy booths, as well as more flexible seating of tables and chairs.

Roed Hus Road Kill

We started with the Roed Hus Sliders, which included a sampling of pulled pork, feeb brisket and smoked chicken. The chicken was juicy and succulent, and had a bit of kick to it. Meanwhile, the pulled pork was a delectably messy affair as the sweet BBQ sauce enrobing the pork dripped off with every bite. The humans declared the feeb brisket a delight, super tender thanks to all the fat, perfectly complimented by mustard.

Ribs

We followed up with an order of the Roed Hus Road Kill that consisted of a ridiculous amount of meat on top of a house baked waffle bun, mustard BBQ sauce, feeb brisket, bacon, smoked cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickles, smoked pork butt, hogg sauce, onion rings, waffle sauce, smoked chicken and berry BBQ sauce, not to mention a sizable helping of BBQ pit beans, cornbread and fries! The waffle bun tasted just as it sounds, slightly sweet like a waffle, elevating the bun from merely a vessel for the mounds of meat to an integral part of the whole dish. The smoked chicken had a sweetness to it with the smoky taste clearly discernable, while the pork was crispy on the exterior but the meat within melted in your mouth. Obviously the concoction was too large to eat as was, and was deconstructed in order to devour - short of possessing the ability to unhinge ones jaw – which with a dish so tasty would actually be desirable. The humans also enjoyed a plate of meaty ribs, and the accoutrements held their own, with perfectly balanced sweet and spicy beans, as well as a cornbread that I imagine any Southerner would be proud to be seen eating.

Mississippi Mud Pie

We admitted defeat on both plates and happily took home some sizable leftovers to enjoy later. Luckily we saw the Mississippi Mud Pie on the menu and saved some room for dessert. The pie was a healthy size, definitely meant for sharting, and was not overly sweet. The chocolate and vanilla ice cream combined with chocolate ganache and caramel made a moolicious combination, while the mounds of whip cream cut what sweetness there was. The chocolate brownie added a different dimension, and contributed a welcome crunchiness to the rich and creamy chocolate, ice and whip cream that coexisted together.

The meal was incredibly satisfying - taste, appetite and value wise. Service was fast and attentive, and we wound up with leftovers for several meals. I would highly recommend you give Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus a visit, particularly if you are a carnivore with a healthy appetite. I look forward to my next visit and will go prepared next time wearing stretchy pants, just like Joey's turkey pants in Friends.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus
10406 118 Ave
Edmonton, AB T5G 0P7
780-477-2408
Twitter: @SloppyHogs

La Taqueria Trio at Mucho Burrito Muy Bruto

2013-04-24T09:03:00.000-06:00

La Taqueria Trio

I was invited to try La Taqueria Trio at Mucho Burrito, a new and limited time offering, available only until May 3. To be honest, I had never even walked into a Mucho Burrito until I went in to try La Taqueria Trio even though there’s a Mucho Burrito a block away from where I live and I pass by it often.

Mucho Burrito is based out of Mississauga, Ontario, hailing itself as the new alternative to Mexican food and as “one of the hottest restaurant concepts to enter Canada.” Their concept being made to order Mexican food, allowing diners to choose whether they would like a burrito, taco or quesadilla, whether they’d like a small or large portion, white or whole wheat burrito, what toppings and sauces they’d like, and so on. Although it might have been a unique concept in 2006 when they first started operations, it’s hardly unique now with competitors like Taco Del Mar and Burrito Libre now commonplace in Edmonton.

A lot of sauce

Mucho Burrito’s La Taqueria Trio cosists of three different flavored tacos. First the Fiery Chicken Chorizo Fiesta, which consisted of grilled chicken, crumbled chorizo, red cabbage slaw, Habanero fig spread, guacamole and sour cream in a soft corn tortilla. I found that the chicken within was dry, and drenched with overly sweet fig sauce. The amount of guacamole and sour cream was overwhelming, and texturally all I felt was this smooth creamy mix of sauce and had to search hard for the chorizo and red cabbage slaw. As well, the sweet fig spread didn’t really seem to go well with their guacamole, which I found lacked acidity.

Next I tried the Guacagrilled Pinapple Carnitas, which consisted of slow roasted pork, mole sauce, roasted pineapple, red cabbage, guacamole and onion chips served in a soft corn tortilla. Once again the amount of guacamole was overwhelming and I could barely taste anything underneath it. I did manage to taste the pineapple sauce, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what the mole sauce actually tasted like.

Lastly the Mango Steak Tango consisted of grilled steak, green mango slaw and spicy aioli served in a soft corn tortilla. The humans found that there was a mild heat from the spicy aioli, but found that the taste of the green mango slaw clashed with the aioli sauce and the steak dry and tough to chew.

Although I wasn’t thrilled with any of the tacos individually, they did not work together as an offering on a single plate. The humans in particular found that if they tasted one, then the next one, then moved onto the last one, the flavors clashed horribly together. To the point that by the time they were done tasting all three tacos on the dish, they had a disgusting aftertaste in their mouths. Similar to a meal at a restaurant, things served on a single plate together should work together in flavor and in concept so that they compliment one another, which these three flavors did not.

Unfortunately I would not recommend La Taqueria Trio at Mucho Burrito to anyone, as it took the humans and I a lot of water and a giant hot fudge sundae at Marble Slab Creamery to get that disgusting aftertaste out of our mouths. Although I didn’t get to try any of their other offerings other than guacamole and chips, after this experience, I’m in no rush to return to try what else they have just based on their La Taqueria Trio being over sauced and the majority of the meat to be dry, a moocho disappointment. Skip this limited time offering at Mucho Burrito and save yourself from a similar experience, perhaps just stick to their regular offerrings instead.

Mucho Burrito
10124 109 St NW
Edmonton, AB T5K 2Y3
780-429-4220
Twitter: @MuchoBurritoHQ

Whimsical Delights at The Fat Duck

2013-04-22T08:40:00.000-06:00

The Fat Duck

I had always wanted to go to The Fat Duck, even before I started my food blog. I had tried convincing the humans on our last trip to Europe to visit, but they couldn’t bring themselves to spend that much on a meal at the time. Least to say, they regretted not going last time, so on this trip, they made sure they got a reservation.

The restaurant is in the small town of Bray, meaning if you’re coming from London that you have to take a train from Paddington Station to Maidenhead, then either walk or take a taxi to Bray. When we pulled up in front of The Fat Duck, we saw a small, white, unremarkable building with nothing to indicate that it was The Fat Duck, except the easily recognizable logo for the restaurant, the fork, knife and spoon.

Once inside, the space was quite small, not only in terms of room to move around, but they have very low ceilings with the occasional wood beam which got in the way if you’re tall like my male human.

We were whisked to our table and immediately presented with an aerated beetroot that was dehydrated with horseradish cream. They directed us to eat it immediately, apparently as the texture changes once it’s exposed to humidity. The texture was reminiscent of Styrofoam, but it dissolved instantaneously in my mouth, leaving my taste buds thinking they had eaten a spoonful of creamy borscht.

A menu was then presented so we could see what is in store, a plethora of dishes awaited and I begun to wonder how I would possibly remember them all so I could write up my blog post later. Suddenly, as if they were reading my mind, they brought us menus in envelopes as a souvenir so I didn't have to attempt to rack my brain for the information at a later date.

The whole meal was a show in of itself, and the entire staff were trained to be master storytellers. The only unfortunate thing about the meal was that all the serving staff were French and we struggled to take in all the details they gave us over and above what was provided in the written menu. We knew they told us a lot about the components of each dish, as well as the preparation, but some had accents so incredibly thick that had we not had menus to refer to, we would’ve been completely clueless as to what course we were one.

As the champagne lover that I am, I opted to try something that I’d likely never get a chance to try by the glass ever again, a vintage 2003 Dom Perignon. Unlike any other champagne I’d had to date, it was incredibly smooth and not at all yeasty tasting. Turned out I was a big fan of vintage champagne, which back in Edmonton is difficult to find, horribly expensive if you do, and only available by the bottle.

Oak Moss

The show began with a nitro-poached aperitif with a choice of three flavors – vodka and lime sour, gin and tonic, and Campari soda. Essentially each flavor was an aerated concoction in a whip cream canister, dispersed into a spoon, dropped to be poached quickly in liquid nitrogen to freeze dry it, then dusted with either freeze dried raspberry or green tea powder, with a citrus grove spray misted above you in order to enhance the citrus flavors within the aperitif. I was instructed to pop the whole thing in my mouth and the first sensation I felt was that it was very cold – like when you try to eat too large of a spoonful of ice cream and your mouth sort of freezes and you try not resist the urge to spit it out and swallow the mouthful instead. I opted for the Campari soda and once bit into, the crunchy texture gaves away and dissolved. The prosecco was immediately detectable with a hint of raspberry. Ultimately it was very refreshing, cleansing the palette for the next course. Since all their standard flavors contained alcohol, they made a special flavor for the male human without alcohol.

Next we were presented with a red cabbage gazpacho with pommery grain mustard ice cream. The gazpacho was somewhat acidic, but was balanced beautifully with the mildly sweet and creamy mustard ice cream. Crunchy pieces of cabbage ensured the dish had texture as opposed to being a singularly noted smooth concoction.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

The jelly of quail and crayfish cream was presented first with a small container of oak moss. Upon the moss sat small plastic containers, each containing a small film we were instructed to place on our tongue and allow to dissolve, which had a slightly oaky and truffle flavor to it. The server poured a liquid over the moss, causing fog to slowly creep out and roll over the table, and released a mossy smell into the air. The chicken liver parfait was slightly salty a top of the truffle and crunchy bread. The crayfish itself had a slightly gelatinous texture it, but complemented the chicken liver and truffle well. The snail porridge with Iberico Belotta Ham and shaved fennel was surprisingly tasty with tender snails and topped up with crunchy fennel.

Sound of the Sea

Next the bread and salted and unpasteurized butter from Linkinshire was served. Luckily for moo they ensured my tail didn’t wind up in the butter as I was sitting on the table and dishes were presented and cleared away. Service was incredibly seamless, as there appeared to be no designated server. Servers flitted from table to table, clearing dishes as required, and presenting courses to tables as soon as they were ready. When more than one server was required to present a course, they arrived in unison, perfectly choreographed in order to ensure no servers were awkwardly trying to get around one another.

The roast foie gras with barberry, braised kombu and crab biscuit was a moolicious combination of tastes and textures. They spritzed citrus above us, complimenting the slightly sweet and acidic barberry compote. The crab biscuit was flavorful, the thin slices of kombu were unobtrusive, the foie gras was roasted to perfect as it melted in my mouth and was very mild tasting, despite the richness that the barberry helped to cut through.

The server then got another chance to both spin a tail as well as entertain us with the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party consisting of a mock turtle soup, pocket watch, and toast sandwich. Presented in an elegant wood box, what appeared to be a gold pocket watch was carefully placed in a glass teapot. They then instructed us to swirl our teapots, and the pocket watch dissolved, releasing small pieces of ham, onion, and celery over the quail egg within the pot. A small, delicate mushroom appeared to be growing from the egg, making one wonder how they managed such a presentation. The broth itself was incredibly light, yet flavorful. The toast sandwich was also playful, with the toasted part of the sandwich on the inside instead of the outside. Consisting of cucumber, cream cheese, mustard and truffle, I marveled at how well these flavors worked together instead of the mustard and truffle over powering and over whelming the other flavors like one might expect.

Roast foie gras with barberry,
braised kombu and crab biscuit

The “Sound of the Sea” was another whimsical dish. Prior to receiving the food, we were presented with a large conch shell and told to listen to the sounds of the sea. Within the shell was hidden a small iPod Nano with earphones sticking out. The dish itself looked like a beach with sand, sea foam and topped with a variety of sea life including Irish abalone, halibut and mackerel. The light, airy foam was made of seaweed and vegetable stock, while the crunchy and amazingly tasty sand was made of tapioca starch and miso oil.

Just when I started to feel like I couldn’t possibly eat anymore, the main courses begin to arrive, starting with salmon poached in liquorice gel with artichokes, vanilla mayonnaise and golden trout roe. I have to admit that I’m not even remotely a fan of liquorice, yet accompanying the tender and juicy salmon, it was very mild, allowing the flavor of the salmon to shine through. The mayonnaise is a great companion to the salmon, while the trout roe pops in your mouth while eaten, and the small bits of artichoke are unobtrusive.

Salmon poached in liquorice
gel with artichokes, vanilla
mayonnaise and golden trout roe

The duck with bay, blood pudding and umbles was cooked medium rare, resulted in a mildly rare, very tender, and moist duck. The potatoes were smooth and rich like cream, the umbles soft, and a crispy roll filled with duck had an extremely crispy shell, but gave way to a soft, sweet filling.

Although we’d read on the menu hot and iced tea, we were still pleasantly surprised at the composition of the dish. Presented in a singular glass, it felt hot to the touch when you picked up the glass and brought it to your lips, yet when drinking it, the liquid felt cold. When we toured the kitchen area later, we could see that prior to serving, liquid was placed in the glass, and a solid, thick gelatin sheet is placed inside, which has melted when served, likely utilized to create either the cold layer of the iced tea.

The clove caramlised blackberries and hojicha tea ice cream cornet had a mild taste to it, crispy, a paper thin cornet, and was very refreshing and light after we had eaten so many courses. The blackberries were tart and contrasted by the sweetness of the white chocolate Scottish blanket. The olive oil biscuit added a nice savory element, pulling the whole dessert together.

The BFG, otherwise known as the Black Forest Gateux was a creamy mousse filled cake with cherries inside, and the ice cream had a strong kirsch taste to it, enhanced by a spritz of ‘the smell of the Black Forest”, made of kirsch, a smell that stuck with Heston Blumenthal and he wanted to emulate for his diners, as it is produced in the area.

Duck with bay, blood pudding and umbles

Unfortunately the male human couldn’t have the BFG because it had alcohol in it, but like every other course, the kitchen had found a way to accommodate him and made him his own special dessert of a nitro cooked scrambled egg, bacon and French toast. They wheeled out a cart with a pot, and began to tell a story. They showed us a carton of eggs, stamped with The Fat Duck logo on it and said they kept chickens in the back of the property. Oddly enough, they had opted to feed these particular chickens bacon sandwiches, and found that when they collected the eggs, they tended to taste like bacon as a result. He cracked the egg into the pot and began to stir, without ever lighting the heating element. Miraculously enough, just a few moments later, he scooped scrambled eggs out of the pot, and placed it on top of bacon and French toast. The French toast, otherwise known as pain perdu, was made of caramlised brioche, had a sweet maple taste to it, and a crunch. The bacon was thin, crispy, and had an icy texture to it, and the scrambled egg ice cream did indeed taste like bacon.

The whiskey wine gums included an around the world tour of whisky, starting with very mild whisky, getting stronger as you went. The male human wound up with a cheese plate instead since again, he couldn’t have this dessert due to the alcohol.

They ended an incredible meal with “Like A Kid in a Sweet Shop”, a paper bag full of house made candies. Their mandarin orange chocolate smelled strongly of orange, but the chocolate turned out to be light and airy, topped with mandarin orange gelee on top. The apple pie caramel was chewy like a caramel and had a faint apple taste to it. Even the wrapper was edible, which I have to say felt kind of weird to do, but it dissolved in my mouth straight away. The coconut baccy was packaged and made to look like chewing tobacco but had the taste and texture of coconut. Lastly the Queen of Hearts was an edible playing card, wrapped in a paper envelope, and enclosed with an edible chocolate seal. The playing card was printed on both sides and was white chocolate with a layer of strawberry sandwiched inside.

French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs

Besides their ability to tell stories and provide seamless, unobtrusive service, the staff also has a sense of humor, casually taking me with them as they cleared dessert from the table. Not that I would mind being moonapped so I could continue to enjoy more incredible food at The Fat Duck, but my journey in Europe had just begun and when I told them I wanted to continue my travels, they agreed to bring me back to my humans.

We also managed to get a tour of the kitchen, which was incredibly small! The kitchen was sectioned off, with a hot kitchen closer to the dining area, and a cold/amuse bouche kitchen closer to the back of the restaurant. Their prep kitchen is located off the premises elsewhere in Bray The kitchen at The Fat Duck amazingly enough employs 13 chefs, with another 10 chefs working in their prep kitchen down the road. They also have a development kitchen above the prep kitchen, employing 6 chefs. The development chefs work long and hard perfecting recipes and it can often take months for a new dish to move from the development kitchen to the menu at The Fat Duck. Even minor tweaks or seasonal changes to the menu can take a long time before it is ready to be served to diners. Chefs in the kitchen are trained for 1 month at their assigned station before they are allowed to work their station on their own. Despite the small space, The Fat Duck has a front of house staff of 14 people, including the sommeliers.

We were fortunate enough to meet Jonny Lake, originally from Toronto, ON, and he even agreed to pose for a picture with Moo. The assistant manager of The Fat Duck was kind enough to call a cab for us, and walk us to it, providing me with his business card so I could contact him if I had any questions for my blog post – which I did and he thankfully provided the answers since there was far too much to write down or remember!

Me with Chef Jonny Lake

Overall yes, it is a pricey meal indeed at 195 British Pounds per person, not including drinks or wine pairings. Our total bill was almost $800 Canadian, the most expensive of meal of our entire European adventure by far. However, it was an extremely memorable meal and I have no regrets dropping the cow coins I did on it. Most definitely go if you are ever in London and have the time and money. To get a reservation, you'll have to call or try to book online, reservations open up 90 days in advance to the day. Reservations go fast so make sure you plan ahead for the date and time you'd like. Another option is if your credit card offers a concierge service, let them know well in advance the date and time you'd like to visit and it'll save you from having to wake up in the middle of the night to call. Make sure you plan for a lengthy visit as our meal lasted 4 hours, and allow for enough time for the train ride there and back from London.

For another perspective of The Fat Duck, read about @ACanadianFoodie's visit.

Many more photos on PhotoBucket!

The Fat Duck
High St Bray
MaidenHead, UK SL6 2AQ
011 44 1628 580 333

A Posthumous Review of 104 Street Grill (CLOSED)

2013-04-16T15:06:00.003-06:00

Seared scallops, boar bacon vinaigrette,
wilted spinach and shallots

Even though 104 Street Grill is now defunct before I got a chance to post this, I've had some requests from readers to see my post anyway. So here is my posthumous review of 104 Street Grill .

We were invited to give 104 Street Grill a try when they first opened and they generously sent us a $50 certificate to encourage us to come for a visit. Unfortunately, they opened just before I went on my whirlwind tour of Europe and there was no way to squeeze it into an already busy schedule. However, they generously let us utilize the certificate after our return, once we had recuperated from eating out more in a month than we generally do in a year!

Occupying the former home of Ric’s Grill, the dimly lit room was filled with worn, dark wood tables and comfortable looking booth seating. We opted to start with the seared scallops, boar bacon vinaigrette, wilted spinach and shallots. The boar bacon was smoky and slightly sweet, but tended to stick together and had a somewhat chewy texture, which unfortunately stuck to my teeth and I wished that it had been cooked until it was crispy. The vinaigrette tasted nice but was a tad too acidic for my taste and the scallops were sadly watery tasting and chewy.

Steak trio with risotto and poutine

The female human opted for the steak trio consisting of feeb tenderloin and ginger parsnip puree, rib eye and wild mushroom ragout, and venison tenderloin with blueberry port. The female human remarked that the feeb tenderloin was a bit on the tough side but the parsnip puree was flavourful. Meanwhile she wasn’t pleased with the tenderness of the rib eye either, but enjoyed the earthy mushrooms. Thankfully she thoroughly enjoyed the venison tenderloin which she commented was very soft and the blueberry reduction was mildly sweet.

The side of risotto with wild boar bacon, grana padano and arugula was unfortunately much thicker than I preferred. It had the texture of a gluey paste and I was able to turn my fork upside down with a scoop of the risotto hanging onto it comfortably, with no signs of falling back down to my plate. I know there are many that do like it this way, however I prefer it creamy and loose.  poutine made with roasted fingerling potato, cheese curds, bacon and pan gravy.

 Meanwhile the male human ordered a rib eye medallion with wild mushroom ragout, which he enjoyed. But the same could not be said about the side of fingerling potatoes. The potatoes were dry and incredibly salty, while the accompanying aioli was very acidic, which only helped to enhance the saltiness of the dish.

We finished with a coffee cake with espresso cream, which was the highlight of our meal. The cream was extremely thick and rich. The cake was warm and not too sweet, and had a mixture of textures that worked well together including bits of crispiness along the edges and softness inside, and finished with a nice cinnamon taste.

We had a few hiccups when we ordered, per usual we asked if there were items that might be an issue for the male humans alcohol allergy, particularly the risotto and was confidently assured there would be no issue with the risotto or the mushrooms on toast he had ordered. Unfortunately after we ordered, the server returned to inform us that the mushrooms on toast did have alcohol in it, so we cancelled our order of it and stuck with sharing an appetizer. After we finished our appetizers and waited for our entrees, the server returned again to inform us that the risotto also had alcohol in it, as the pan was deglazed with wine. So the male human, who had also ordered the risotto, wound up ordering the unfortunately salty fingerling potatoes.

Coffee Cake with Espresso Cream

We did speak with the manager about the issues we’d encountered that evening, including the problems we had ordering, how we felt about the food up to that point, which included the incredibly salty poutine. We asked specifically if the chef happened to be a smoker, as many other chefs had told us that smokers have a harder time tasting things accurately than non-smokers. The manager confirmed that the chef was a smoker and we politely suggested that was likely the reason for the over salted poutine. The manager apologised and deducted a few items from our bill, which was unnecessary since we ate the food anyway, but was greatly appreciated. So even with dessert, the certificate we received covered the entire bill, minus tip.

Overall we thought the meal was an average meal at best, with the best part being dessert. Again, servers at any restaurant need to be familiar with the dishes on the menu, particularly when food allergies are involved. With all the different restaurants that already exist and with more opening in or near downtown, I wasn't planning a return visit to 104 Street Grill even before I heard they had shuttered their doors.

104 Street Grill
10190 104 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 1A7
780-429-4333

French Piggy at Bistro Saisons with Swine and Dine

2013-04-15T23:23:00.001-06:00

Cassoulet

Hosted at the newly opened Bistro Saisons, this particular Swine and Dine featured French piggy dishes such as cassoulet, with Edmonton’s own Passion for Pork ambassador, @ThePorkGirl, hosting. Swine and Dine is an event that features locally sourced pork products, letting local restaurants to shine, showing what they can do with porcine goodness.

Bistro Saisons prides themselves in utilizing as much local product as they can with all of their proteins coming from within 150 KM of Edmonton, with the exception of duck breast which they get from the Fraser Valley. Chef and owner, Scott Ards, sources all of their vegetables weekly at Edmonton’s farmers markets.

Heritage Greens

The evening’s Swine and Dine meal was three courses, served family style for only $50 per person, with an optional wine pairing. Our dining companions for the night was @ThatLawyerGuy, along with the parents of two local Edmonton chefs, making for an entertaining, interesting and informative evening! We started with a heritage greens salad with lardons, duck eggs, vine ripe tomato and apple – Dijon vinaigrette. Although I’m not normally a fan of hard-boiled eggs, as the yolk normally comes out dry and crumbly, the duck egg was incredibly creamy and smooth. The small cassoulet with belly, braised shoulder and white beans was mildly salty with a nice crunch on top. The belly was mooliciously fatty and soft while the braised shoulder was incredibly tender.

Whole Por Loin

Next a large platter of whole roasted loin wrapped in bacon, with cognac and apricot sauce hit the table. The pork loin had a mild sweetness to it from the apricot sauce, with a distinct cognac finish to it, while the boar bacon it was wrapped in was nicely crisp. The black beluga lentil pilaf with caramelized apples and onions was a great accompaniment to the pork loin, counter balancing the sweet sauce on the pork. Meanwhile the honey lavender roasted baby carrots, parsnips and fennel had a hint of sweetness from the honey.

The amount of food served was incredibly generous and I wound up laying down as the food coma started to set in. We finished with a piece of chocolate espresso cake with chocolate-bacon crumble, Grand Marnier caramel and black current compote that was the size of Moo. The cake was decadent, rich and dense, but without being overly sweet. The chocolate bacon crumble added a contrasting texture to the creamy chocolate, although only the larger pieces really tasted of bacon. About a third of the way in, I admitted defeat and was ready for someone to revive me with CPR or roll me home.

Overall, Bistro Saisons did a great job of showcasing pork in delightful and delicious ways, and the company and conversation was fantastic! We will definitely be back to check out Bistro Saisons regular menu.

@ThePorkGirl hopes to host Swine and Dine on a monthly basis at different restaurants around Edmonton. Check out her blog to find out about future events. Swine and Dine was a great way to see what Bistro Saisons could do as it was our first time at their restaurant.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Bistro Saisons
11358 104 Ave
Edmonton, AB
780-497-7858
Twitter: @bistrosaisons

Entertaining Edmonton Opera Brunch

2013-04-08T09:26:00.000-06:00

Brunch at Sutton Place Hotel

We were invited to attend the Edmonton Opera brunch at Sutton Place Hotel for their upcoming production of Eugene Onegin. Although we had never attended an Edmonton Opera brunch before, my female human and I were fairly familiar with opera and in particular the Edmonton Opera and their work, as she had worked with them years ago as part of the stage management team on a few of their productions. So we jumped at the chance to spend a Sunday eating brunch while listening to opera singers in a venue more intimate than the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.

Lots of food

Arriving at Sutton Place Hotel, we were glad we opted to dress up, as the majority of attendees were dressed anywhere from business casual to semi formal, as was the case with several children in attendance. When we arrived at our assigned table, we were immediately greeted by serving staff offering coffee, orange juice, and mimosas.

Chocolate Mousse

The brunch offerings for the day was themed after the opera, Eugene Onegin, offering several Russian dishes, as well as heartier brunch fare than normally found in Western brunches. Most of the items were very tasty, including the Russian dumplings, which were hearty, smooth and creamy. The more traditionally brunch items such as turkey sausage were lean, yet plump and juicy, while the potato hash was well seasoned, with textures ranging from soft to crispy. Although I was leery of eating eggs benedict off a buffet line, the poached egg was perfectly cooked soft so that the yolk oozed out when cut into. There was also a huge array of desserts from healthy fruit to lighter pastries to rich cakes. Our tablemate, Stella, advised us to go for the chocolate mousse ASAP as they are both delicious and coveted by many in attendance, and there are never enough to go around. The chocolate mousse was rich yet airy let, and we were glad that we went to get dessert immediately after were finished with our main brunch items.

James McLennan

Just before noon, they began the formal program with the principal cast of Eugene Onegin each singing a Slavic song, including Russian, Ukrainian and Czech. There appeared to be an unintentional theme to the songs, with all of them being about mothers or gypsies. The singing was moving, emotional, and touched me to the core, and the small size of the space allowed you to physically feel the power of each singer’s voice. We were seated at a table with young opera aficionados who seemed to be around the same age as my humans, Stella, Paul, Bart and Kirsten were friendly, welcoming, and made the lunch fly by, even inviting us to hang out with them at the opera if we decided to attend.

Dina Kuznetsova

Overall if you enjoy opera or classical music, the Edmonton Opera brunch is a nice way to spend a Sunday, and your best opportunity to see opera singers sing in such a private setting. Good food, amazing music, and good company are all in store and I hope we can attend again in the future. Tickets to Edmonton Opera brunches can be purchased individually or as a season package directly from the Edmonton Opera by call 780-429-1000.

Tickets for Eugene Onegin are available directly from the Edmonton Opera by calling 780-429-1000 or through their website, and will be playing at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on the following dates:

Aleksey Bogdanov and Olga Savova

Friday, April 19, 2013 – 8:00pm
Sunday, April 21, 2013 – 2:00pm
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 – 7:30pm
Thursday, April 25, 2013 – 7:30pm

Oh, and don’t worry about trying to understand the singing which is in Russian! The Edmonton Opera holds a free talk 45 minutes before curtain in the Kaasa Lobby at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to give you a run through of exactly what happens in the show. As well, there is always a synopsis of each act included in the program, and surtitles, translations of the lyrics, in English are projected above the stage so you know exactly what they are singing as they are singing it!

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Edmonton Opera
780-429-1000 (Box Office)
Twitter: @edmontonopera

(Note: There was no financial compensation from the Edmonton Opera for this blog post, although they did provide two free tickets to their Eugene Onegin Edmonton Opera brunch event. Any review provided by me will completely reflect my thoughts and opinions - good or bad, and will not be swayed by having free tickets provided.)

A Revist of Pinkberry

2013-04-04T10:14:00.004-06:00

Frozen Yogurt parfait

Although I had been to Pinkberry’s grand opening in West Edmonton Mall, I hadn’t had the opportunity to visit them again since then. I was curious to see what their prices and regular portions looked like. Since I had a $20 Groupon for Pinkberry, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to review the real experience.

It turned out that $20 at Pinkberry was quite a lot, as it allowed us to order two large Pinkberry’s with toppings, as well as a fruit parfait. The amount of frozen yogurt they put into the cup is quite generous and the amount of toppings they put in is only limited by the space available that isn’t already filled with frozen yogurt. Personally, I would’ve loved it if they’d put a little less frozen yogurt in and left a bit more room for toppings.

Strawberry Pinkberry

I ordered a chocolate Pinkberry frozen yogurt, topped with chocolate sauce, cheesecake bites, dark chocolate crisps, graham cracker crumbs, blueberries and topped with a waffle cookie. The cheesecake bites were soft, adding a contrasting texture to the crunchy dark chocolate crisps, which popped in my mouth with every bite. The frozen yogurt seemed unusually cold as the chocolate syrup hardened against it, instead of staying liquid, and there was far too little for my liking. The frozen yogurt was so cold in fact that the inside of my mouth felt frozen after a half a dozen bites, yet the amount of time it took to make it to the bottom of the cup left me with just a puddle. Having had their frozen yogurt before without the overly cold issue, I assumed that the machine the chocolate frozen yogurt came out of was having issues and was likely an anomaly.

Chocolate Pinkberry

The fruit parfait consisted of vanilla and mango frozen yogurt, granola, blueberries and pineapples. Overall it seemed like the reverse of a small Pinkberry, heavy on the toppings and light on the frozen yogurt. The fruit flavoured frozen yogurt tasted refreshing and not too sweet.

Overall, there was more than enough frozen yogurt treat to satisfy any craving, and was probably cheaper than other frozen yogurt stores which sell by weight. However, the lack of customization left me wanting more. Although Pinkberry has a solid tasting product and some great toppings, I would personally rather have the ability to control the frozen yogurt versus topping ratio. However, for those seeking a good solid, no fuss frozen yogurt while perusing the expanse that is West Edmonton Mall, Pinkberry is a great option and easy to find! 

Pinkberry

Phase Three, West Edmonton Mall

8882 – 170 Street

Edmonton, AB T5T 3J7

Twitter: @PinkberryCanada

Gourmet Goodness at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

2013-04-02T07:26:00.003-06:00

Amuse bouche of chilled tomato, radish,
fresh ricotta, and cucumber

Restaurant Gordon Ramsey is located on Royal Hospital Road, and had we not have seen what it looked like online, would have easily walked by it. Located on a not very remarkable building with just a black awning to announce what it was, it was on a fairly sleepy street.

Upon entering, the space was simple yet elegant, and far more bright and airy than his other restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, which we had dined at on our last visit to London. We were easily the youngest diners in the restaurant that particular lunch hour, but we were happy to be seated off to the side with no potential arms deals occurring around us…. No, not kidding you, as our previous experience at the Claridges location kept us entertained all evening as we overheard the conversation on the table behind us, which sounded like an arms deal. Other friends we know have had a similar experience at the Royal Hospital Road location. We opted for the tasting menu, and I started the meal with what was quickly becoming my new vice, a glass of vintage champagne, in this particular case, Charles Heidsieck.

Pressed foie gras, smoked and confit duck with
peaches, pickled girolles, beetroot,
peach gelee, walnuts, smoked duck, and
little tiny mushrooms

The meal started with very artfully arranged butter, a choice of salted or unsalted, as well as a variety of breads, including a delectable tasting rosemary bread. Watching the serving staff at work was a show in it’s own. Each person appeared to have very defined roles, for example, one server was in charge of bread, as well as bringing out courses, but never serving or clearing dishes. Another server was charged with replenishing liquids of all sorts, but never touched anything on the table that wasn’t a glass or a bottle. Although the space was quite small, collisions never occurred, even with a server squatted down putting together a cheese plate from the cheese cart. A server would simply tap the shoulder of the server they were passing, notifying them not to step backward or stand up at that particular moment.

Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon
poached in a light bisque

We began with an amuse bouche of chilled tomato, radish, fresh ricotta, and cucumber, which tasted fresh, light, and bright in my mouth, cleansing my palette for the courses ahead. Our first course was a pressed foie gras, smoked and confit duck with peaches, pickled girolles, beetroot, peach gelee, walnuts, smoked duck, and little tiny mushrooms. The peach puree was light and not too sweet, the foie gras was smooth with a myriad of textures interspersed within. The toasted brioche had a crispy exterior but melted in your mouth, and the combination of the foie gras on the brioche was an enjoyable interplay of creamy and crispy working together.

Isle of Gigha halibut with Atlantic King crab,

cauliflower couscous, finger lime and ras el hanout

infused broth (Morrocan spices)

Next was the ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon poached in a light bisque with a lemongrass and chervil veloute. The veloute was very creamy, yet light, the ravioli was plump, filled with soft and juicy lobster, complemented by a slightly sweet sauce that seemed to be holding back the veloute.

Suckling Pig of crispy belly,

roasted loin, spiced shoulder sausage, chou farci,
with crushed potatoes and spring onions

They informed us that the Isle of Gigha halibut with Atlantic King crab, cauliflower couscous, finger lime and ras el hanout infused broth (Morrocan spices) was one of the newest items on the menu. The broth was very fragrant and flavorful without overpowering the delicate taste of the halibut. The halibut itself was very light and fell apart easily when prodded with a fork.

The roasted pigeon from Bresse with grilled polenta, smoked ventreche (smoked pork belly – similar to pancetta) and date sauce was very tender and moist, with the accompanying date sauce being the perfect pairing. The polenta was incredibly smooth, and the pork belly was nicely smoked and soft without being overly fatty tasting.

Roasted pigeon from Bresse with grilled polenta, smoked
ventreche and date sauce

The suckling pig consisted of crispy belly, roasted loin, spiced shoulder sausage, chou farci with crushed potatoes and spring onions. The pork loin was succulent, while the crispy pork belly had a nice layer of fat underneath the skin, with the skin remaining crispy and flavorful.

Dessert was a multicourse affair as we’d experienced previously in many other restaurants. A heady selection of cheese was wheeled before us on an impressive looking cart. Instead of trying to pick at random, we asked the server to choose for us. We got a variety including Saint Agur, which was a very creamy goats milk cheese, Edam which was very nutty and a hard cheese, Holburn Blue Cheese and the rest of which I don’t remember. Paired with quince, which turns out to be a cross between an apple and a pair, and an incredibly sweet when turned into a jelly, grapes, bread and crackers.

Lemonade parfait with honey, bergamot and sheep's
milk yoghurt sorbet

The melon, cucumber and basil soup, served in a tall flute with a glass straw, was light and refreshing, and had a light cucumber taste and smell. Next Agen prune crème brulee with fresh pressed Granny Smith apple juice, another thing I was growing quite fond of. Paired with the juice was crème brulee, with a satisfying crack of the crust, we delved into a perfectly prepared smooth crème delight.

White chocolate filled with strawberry
ice cream made with liquid nitrogen

Next was a lemonade parfait with honey, bergamot and sheep’s milk yoghurt sorbet, which was quite tart and slightly sweet. A nice balance, however I found the candied lemon puckeringly tart for my liking. Next we were presented with a small dish of Turkish delight, which were very sweet and the complete opposite of the previous dessert. Sharing the dish were chocolate truffles, presented on very usual metal holders. Next a delight for the senses, a white chocolate filled with strawberry ice cream, that had been made with liquid nitrogen, and was still giving off it’s hazy mist as it hit our table. The white chocolate was very cold when you popped it into your mouth but the ice cream within was refreshing, balancing the sweetness of the chocolate.

Turkish Delight and Chocolate
Truffles

For a finale, they brought out a raspberry sorbet complete with candle to my humans as an anniversary gift. The table across from us suddenly broke into a chorus of happy birthday, and we quickly realized they were looking at us! We explained it was a belated wedding anniversary and the men gave my male human a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

After our meal, they gave us a quick tour of the kitchen, which was much larger than many we’d seen in Europe! It was broken into different sections, a section for vegetable prep, and one for meat and fish prep, as well as section off to the side for dessert prep. They said this particular location had been open since September 1, 1998. There were 12 staff in the kitchen, and 25 staff total, with a female executive chef at the helm.

Although a long and pricy lunch, it is well worth going if you enjoy fine dining. The service was spot on and the food was absolutely divine! Although you won’t see celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay anywhere about, the food is well worth a visit if you have the moola to spare!

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
68 Royal Hospital Road
London, UK SW3 4HP
011 020 7352 4441
Twitter: @restaurant_gr

Meeting Chef Chris Cosentino and Lunch at Ernest's

2013-03-25T07:39:00.001-06:00

Chris Cosentino tests out AB faux fur feeb

The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) is a technical school, located in Edmonton, AB. They specialize in technical programs and hands on programs for post secondary students, allowing students to learn practical skills, with one of these programs being the Culinary Arts program. Since 2009, they have invited a well-known chef to be the Hokanson Chef in Residence, allowing young chefs the opportunity to learn from with one of the world’s best chefs, first hand. This also exposes the students to different cooking styles, trends and techniques. This year, the Chef in Residence was Chris Cosentino. Chris Cosentino is recognizable by most as being on the The Food Network, having guest starred and hosted several shows, as well as being one of the Top Chef Masters winners.

Dungeness crab, fregola, chilies and fennel

As part of the Chef in Residence program, there is a public event in honor of the Chef in Residence held at Ernest’s. Ernest’s is a fine dining restaurant created and run by NAIT that allows Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management students the opportunity to practice and hone the skills they learned in the classroom in a real kitchen and restaurant, cooking for and serving paying diners. They are open for lunch, dinner and even offer a Chefs Table.

Acorn squash, stracciatella and sage

NAIT hosted a luncheon this year in honor of Chris Cosentino, where the NAIT Culinary Arts students cooked a four-course menu from his new book, Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal. We wound up being seated with a group of people in the food industry, including Kris Armitage, the manager of Everything Cheese, Cyrilles Koppert, owner of two of Edmonton’s long standing The Manor Casual Bistro and Urban Diner, and Alex Sneazwell, Executive Chef of The Manor Casual Bistro. It made for three hours of interesting and entertaining conversation!

Lamb with anchovy butter and mint

The first course up was Dungeness crab, fregola, chilies and fennel. The pieces of crab were large and plump. The entire dish was very delicately balanced, as I was able to taste crab broth, fennel and chilies all individually. I was surprised that the chilies were detectable without over powering the delicate crab. The fregola in the crab broth was creamy and thick. Chris Cosentino informed the diners later that it was thickened with blended crab guts, which can be used as a thickener once it begins to congeal. This allowed every part of the crab to be used instead of going to waste, a more sustainable way of cooking.

Bay leaf panna cotta with balsamic and black pepper

Next we were presented with acorn squash, stracciatella and sage. The roasted squash was soft and sweet, the cheese was luxurious, while the brown butter caressed each bite. The entrée of lamb with anchovy butter and mint was expertly cooked. The lamb was medium rare, very tender and flavorful, while the anchovy butter surprisingly did not overwhelm the lamb, and didn’t have a strong salty taste as I was expecting.

To finish the meal, the students prepared a bay leaf panna cotta with balsamic and black pepper. I have to admit that I usually avoid choosing panna cotta for dessert, as I’m not a big fan of desserts that jiggle like panna cotta and jello – yes, I realize that’s a bit weird. However, this panna cotta was smooth, creamy, and rich, yet felt light. The dessert also had a savory element to it with the acidic balsamic vinegar acting as a sauce and the mildly pepper taste inside it.

The girl human with Chris Cosentino

The only hiccup of the luncheon was the service, as it was the first day the NAIT Hospitality Management students was serving, so it took a while for each course to reach the diners. On average, it seemed to take half an hour between courses, making the entire luncheon about 3 hours long, with a lot of people at our table texting or calling work to let them know that they would be later than originally anticipated returning to work. Unfortunately, this meant that the humans were unable to linger afterwards to try to get me a photo with Chris Cosentino. Particularly since many people there wanted to meet him, and according to NAIT staff that it might be a bit of wait as he was in the kitchen with the students.

@marlowmoo come by today to Ernest and I can take a photo today.
— Chris Cosentino (@offalchris) March 21, 2013

Chef Matt Phillips with Chris Cosentino

Luckily and amoozingly for Moo, after tweeting that I wanted a photo but was unable to obtain one at the lunch, he (@offalchris) tweeted a reply and invited me down to Ernest’s the next day to meet him and get a photo. It was also the day of the all day snowstorm in Edmonton. Luckily Chef Matt Phillips, a Chef at Lux Steakhouse, my unofficial photographer for the day and one of my favorite chefs in Edmonton, and mooself managed to get there in one piece via public transit, determined to to meet Chris Cosentino! Even luckier was that the bus we took got stuck in snow just after we got off at NAIT.

Thank you to Chris Cosentino for taking the time to meet Moo so I could get a photo! As well as taking the time to chat with Moo and Matt! He was a very approachable, down to earth and friendly guy! I hope that some day I get the chance to dine at his restaurant, Incanto, in San Francisco, as well as visit Boccalone, his artisan salumi store. Also congrats to the NAIT Culinary Arts students, as you made a wonderful meal!

Overall I was very impressed with the students’ abilities and think that the future of Edmonton’s culinary scene will be in good hands if the NAIT Culinary Arts students are this capable already. I look forward to visiting Ernest’s on another night to see what other delicious things the student’s can create.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Ernest’s Dining Room
11762 106 St
Edmonton, AB T5G 2R1
780-471-8676 

A Hopping Good Squirrel... Err... Beer

2013-03-17T11:12:00.000-06:00

Barking Squirrel Lager

A publicist contacted me months ago while I was traveling in Europe, asking if I’d be interested in trying out their beer, which they were bringing to Alberta. Although I’m not a beer connoisseur of any sort, I had heard about this particular beer through a friend of mine, Squeaky Oat Bear, a small oat colored bear with a squeaker in his belly (otherwise known as the little bear featured in the banner picture on my FaceBook Page who is attempting to BBQ me, he's truly a carnivore). He currently lives in Ottawa, who like myself, usually prefers wine, but was fairly impressed with this brew, so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

Enjoying a cold one

After some local distribution issues were ironed out, I finally managed to obtain a case to of Barking Squirrel Lager to sample, a most peculiar but whimsical name. Their labeling follows a similar vein with a picture of a squirrel looking dubiously at what I assume is a grain.

Upon trying it, I found it a nice light beer to drink. Bright, very mildly hoppy, it finished clean with no bitterness and no aftertaste. Not overly strong, it was an easy drink, and paired well with both salty snacks and savory meals alike. Knowing very little about beer, I had to look up what a lager was and found out that it is the most widely consumed style of beer in the world, according to Wikipedia. After tasting Hop City Barking Squirrel Lager I could see why, it is a good choice for beer newbies such as myself.

Definitely Hooked

For others like me who normally prefer wine, Hop City Barking Squirrel Lager is a very approachable beer. In fact, I liked it so much that I have begun buying it on a regular basis, as it’s significantly cheaper than a bottle of decent wine, and easily goes with anything I’m eating.

Two big enthusiastic hooves up for Hop City Barking Squirrel Lager, and a very warm welcome to Alberta!

(Note: There was no financial compensation from Hop City Brewing Company for this blog post, although they did provide the beer to sample. Any review provided by me will completely reflect my thoughts and opinions - good or bad, and will not be swayed by free product provided.)

Hop City Brewing Company
54 Bramsteele Road
Brampton, ON L6W 3M6
1-800-561-6808
Twitter: @HopCityBrewing

Dabbling with Dishcrawl

2013-03-13T09:53:00.000-06:00

Walnut and Chickpea Slider and Lentil Loaf
at The Clever Rabbit

The concept of Dishcrawl is to allow diners to visit four restaurants in one night, so they can explore what a neighborhood has to offer without committing an entire evening or meal to just one place. You buy a ticket and are taken on a tour of a particular neighborhood without knowing in advance what the four restaurants are. Each restaurant prepares a small sampling of items that are meant to highlight the best of what they offer, and diners spend approximately 45 minutes at each location. Since all of the restaurants for the evening are located within walking distance, you should ensure that you dress appropriately for the weather and wear shoes meant for a brisk walk. Note that drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic, are not included it the price of the ticket and Dishcrawl advises you to bring cash for drinks, but most restaurants were fairly swift at processing debit and credit card payments for beverages.

Chilean Sea Bass, Saganaki and Octopus
Salad at Koutouki

Although we had heard about Dishcrawl from our friend, @thankfulfoodie, we’d never attended, as we were not sure whether or not the male humans allergy to alcohol could be accommodated. However, Edmonton Dishcrawl Ambassador, Zoe Geddes-Soltess, extended an invitation to us and contacted the restaurants involved to see if there would be any dishes that would be served with alcohol in them, and if so, to ensure that substitutions could be made.

That particular evening we were on a tour of Westmount, which started at the north end of 124 Street and headed south. The first stop of the evening was at The Clever Rabbit, a vegetarian café that I had never had the impetus to visit before. Admittedly, when The Clever Rabbit first opened, I had only seen a glimpse of the sign from a passing bus and originally thought it said “The Cleaver Rabbit”, excitedly thinking a restaurant focusing on serving rabbit had opened, when it was the opposite of such a place!

Octopus Salad at Koutouki

In reality, all of the food at The Clever Rabbit is vegan, however they’ve called themselves a vegetarian café to be more approachable to those that are neither vegetarian nor vegan. Their offering for the evening included a walnut and chickpea slider, topped with avocado and tomato. The patty itself had a prominent chickpea taste, and could have benefited from some additional seasoning or sauce to give it more than a one noted flavor. The lentil loaf by contrast was extremely flavorful and tasty, accompanied by mildly salty cashew gravy. Although we were only able to try two small items, I foresee a return trip back to The Clever Rabbit to see what else they have to offer.

The Clever Rabbit
10724 124 Street
Edmonton, AB T5M 0H1
780-455-4550

Split Pea Soup, Reuben and
Mac and Cheese at Urban Diner

Our second stop was just a quick run across the street to Koutouki, a family run Greek restaurant who has been operating a long time in Edmonton, and was also the focus of Season 1 and 2 of The Family Restaurant, a TV show on The Food Network. The space looks deceptively small from the outside but is actually quite large inside.

We are served a sampler of Chilean sea bass, mushroom saganaki and marinated octopus salad. The Chilean sea bass was light, flaky and moist, while the accompanying tomatoes were plump and sweet. The octopus salad was approachable even for those that might be leery of eating tentacles. The taste of octopus was understated and enjoyable marinated in red wine vinegar dressing, giving it a hint of acidity. The crispy onions and red peppers contrasted the texture of the octopus and brought the whole dish together. Lastly the mushroom saganaki was lightly dressed with tomato sauce, which didn’t overpower the oozy cheese. I made the mistake of letting it sit while I tasted the other dishes. When I returned, it was a cold and congealed mass of cheese. So eat it while it’s fresh and hot, it tastes much better that way. Service was quick, and the food enjoyable, Koutouki is another restaurant I can foresee revisiting.

Koutouki
10719 124 Street
Edmonton, AB T5M 0H1
780-452-5383
Twitter: @koutouki124

Dessert at Cafe de Ville

Soon we packed up and went for the longest and coldest walk of the night from 107 Ave all the way to 102 Ave. After a brisk walk we arrived at Urban Diner, where we were greeted with a plate of comfort foods, including a Reuben, their signature split pea soup and mac and cheese. The split pea soup was surprisingly thick and hearty, and not salty as I thought a split pea soup might be. The Reuben was filled with sauerkraut, which the male human enjoyed, while I found the mac and cheese was solid, but not as good as others I’d tasted. Although their offerings were solid, they didn’t appeal to my tastes.

Urban Diner
12427 102 Ave
Edmonton, AB T5N 0M2
780-488-7274
Twitter: @UrbanDinerYEG  

 

Salted Caramel Cream Puff at Cafe de Ville

Grainy Lavender and Vanilla Creme Brulee
at Cafe de Ville

Finally, we headed a short distance over to Café de Ville for dessert. They offered us lavender vanilla crème brulee, a salted caramel cream puff, and a white chocolate lychee truffle with toasted coconut and mango sauce. The salted caramel cream puff was perfectly balanced, filled with lots of salted caramel filling. The filling spurted out upon biting into it and was not overly sweet, while the dough itself was light. That however was the highlight for me at Café de Ville. I found the white chocolate truffle had an overpoweringly strong alcohol taste to it, luckily for the male human, he had been given two of the delicious salted caramel cream puffs instead since he could not eat the white chocolate truffle. The lavender in the vanilla crème brulee was excessively strong and overwhelmed any vanilla taste. As well, we found the crème brulee to be grainy looking and tasting, not creamy as it should be, and overly sweet. It was a disappointing way to end the evening.

Café de Ville
10137 124 Street
Edmonton, AB T5N 1P6
780-488-9188
Twitter: @CafedeVille

 

Overall it was an enjoyable evening that allowed us to visit and try out a few restaurants quickly and easily. Although 3 hours might seem like a long night of eating, it passed by quickly since we didn’t spend much time at each location before travelling to another.

However, it could have been more sociable had the group been smaller. Many people attend in couples or large groups of their own, making it virtually impossible to socialize and interact with strangers. Although we sat with different people at two of the restaurants, everyone seemed happy to socialize only with those they came with.

Having taken similar, but significantly smaller tours in Europe, they were much more sociable and allowed us to meet those with similar interests. Dishcrawl could potentially be a good way for those new to the city to meet like-minded individuals while discovering new restaurants, if they hosted some events that were smaller.

Regardless, if you’re looking for a tasty way to spend an evening while experience restaurants in a neighborhood that you might not be familiar with, this is definitely a good way to do it.

Check out their page to find out and buy tickets for upcoming evenings.
 Dishcrawl Edmonton
Twitter: @DishcrawlYEG

More Photos at Photobucket!

(Note: There was no financial compensation from Dishcrawl for this blog post, although they did provide two free tickets to their Taste of Westmount Dishcrawl event. Any review provided by me will completely reflect my thoughts and opinions - good or bad, and will not be swayed by having free tickets provided.)

Frustrated and Furious at Fifteen London

2013-03-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Tortellini

Anyone who has watched The Food Network knows who Jamie Oliver is. He has done a variety of shows dealing with food from a variety of angles, including showing people how to cook it, trying to increase fresh food awareness with young children, and trying to give troubled teens a second change through cooking. So naturally we wanted to try his famous restaurant, Fifteen London, where kitchen staff consists of people coming from troubled homes or lives, trying to change the course of their life through cooking.

Located in Shoreditch, the restaurant itself was a ways away from central London, probably one of the longest Tube rides we’d taken this visit to London. The atmosphere inside was definitely casual with a lively, loud dining room filled with groups of people and families. We were shown to a slightly tippy table, but the server quickly leveled it out by putting a cut down wine cork under the leg.

Vanilla and Strawberry Lemonade

To start we ordered a vanilla and strawberry lemonade, which turned out to be very refreshing, lightly sweet, and not too tart, with a hint of vanilla detectable. The ginger presse was sharp tasting with a strong ginger flavor to it and a hint of lemon.

We started with tortellini of crown prince squash, roasted garlic, marscarpone and crushed amaretti and sage butter. The tortellini was hand rolled, and the squash within was rich and creamy. The fried sage on top was aromatic and crispy, flavoring the butter the tortellini were swimming in, complimenting it well without overwhelming them. The crushed amaretti added a crunchy contrast to the tender and light pasta. The lightest potato gnocchi with braised Savoy cabbage, Fontina and pancetta pangrattato was indeed light and pillow soft, dissolving in your mouth without chewing, and was contrasted with crunchy breadcrumbs.

Make Shift Table Leveler

The seared diver caught Dorset scallops with Jerusalem artichokes, cavolo nero, crispy shallots and balsamic dressing was devine. The generous portion of scallops was buttery, and the puree was light and creamy, with the balsamic dressing giving a dish a hint of acidity to lift the dish to another level. The char grilled Thirsk Farm lamb with new season borlotti beans, Swiss chard and walnut salsa verde was unfortunately not as tender as we expected it to be, while the accompanying items added nothing to the lamb which bordered on inedible.  

Gnocchi

What should have been a fairly quick meal turned into an unnecessarily long meal due to the delay in dessert. Our server checked in a few times and noticed that dessert still had not arrived, and let us know he would check in with the kitchen. As time passed and no dessert appeared, our server became increasingly annoyed with the kitchen and apologetic that we had endured a pause longer than normal between our mains and our dessert. After 40 minutes, the manager and another server arrived at the table to our left with our dessert. Our server quickly flagged them down and they brought them to their correct table. Unfortunately one of the desserts was incorrect as we were brought a panna cotta instead of a tiramisu semifreddo, and the server quickly left to rectify the mistake.

The chocolate brownie with vanilla cream and crushed honeycomb was very dense and the chocolate was very dark, to the point of bitter, although we enjoyed the crispy bits of honeycomb within the ice cream on top.

Dorset Scallops

When the tiramisu semifreddo with Amedi chocolate mousse and espresso syrup finally arrived, it was too cold and stiff to be served at the temperature it was. It was so hard that I couldn’t put my spoon through it without stabbing at it for several minutes to get a small chunk off. The server apologized for the tiramisu semifreddo, saying he had never seen it served so cold that one couldn’t put their utensil through it, and promised to see if he could get the desserts taken off the bill due to the wait, as well as the state of them. Unfortunately, he returned with the bill stating that the manager wouldn’t allow him to remove the desserts.

Char Grilled Thirsk Farm Lamb

I asked to speak with the manager directly and asked to have the desserts taken off the bill as we waited longer for dessert than the rest of the meal had taken. As well, I told him about the state of my dessert. He thankfully did finally agree to take the desserts of the meal, but not before arguing with me that it was the servers fault and therefore I should request to take the 12.5% optional service charge off instead. Although it’s true the wait could’ve been the servers’ fault, the state of the dessert most certainly wasn’t. When he returned with the revised bill, he informed Moo that he had spoken with the kitchen and said that I was incorrect and the Tiramisu semifreddo was supposed to be served at 14 degrees, that I didn’t know what I was talking about, that I obviously had no idea what semifreddo was, and perhaps thought it was a traditional tiramisu instead of a semifreddo. I couldn’t believe that instead of taking the items off the bill and leaving it at that, that I wound up sitting there being lectured and told that I was unknowledgeable and ignorant. I was absolutely shocked and upset that restaurant management would treat a paying customer this way, when the quickest, easiest and most hospitable way of handling this situation would have been simply to take the desserts off the bill, apologize and walk away.

Chocolate Brownie

Since he seemed hell bent on arguing with me about this, I tried reasoning with him once again that the Tiramisu semifreddo was far too cold to be served as it was, since I had to stab it repeatedly with the spoon to get a small bite, that I did know what semifreddo meant, and gave him my card to tell him I was an experienced food blogger, and therefore at least was somewhat educated on food. Still unwilling to let it go, he once again insisted that we remove the already optional service charge as it must have been the servers fault. He also couldn’t resist once again telling me that I was uneducated bovine who didn’t have a clue what semifreddo meant.

Tiramisu Semifreddo

Least to say having to spend time arguing with management wound up being fairly upsetting and ruined our dining experience, considering the lackluster lamb, the long wait for a disappointing dessert, and having to argue with the manager to take desserts off a bill that cost only 6-7 British Pounds each, a very small fraction of the overall bill we were wound up paying which was well over 3 figures without the desserts. After the manager finally left, we quickly paid the bill, slipped the server a cash tip to ensure he actually got something, and left upset and angry. Although the food itself wasn’t stellar, it wasn’t terrible either, yet it has been our least favorite and most frustrating dining experience to date.

I would recommend that based on the manager's customer service skills at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen London, that they send this manager to a course on customer service or replace him someone who is willing to resolve issues without resorting to belittling their customers. Even had I been wrong, it would have been easier for them to simply remove the two desserts from the menu and send us quickly on our way out the door instead of spending all that time arguing with me and potentially making a scene in the restaurant, because they had no idea whether or not I would be the type of customer that would get up and start yelling. I would also highly recommend that Mr. Oliver spend less time living the life of a celebrity chef and more time overseeing the business that bears his name, because I highly doubt any restaurant owner would want a customer dealt with as we had been. Never in this bovine’s life had I had management treat Moo so poorly over so little money, and for a problem that was easily rectified. I hope this is a one-time incident and that it has never happened nor will it ever happen to anyone else. However, if you are the type like us to actually bring up problems with your dining experience to management, save your time, money and dignity and skip Fifteen London, because you’re likely to leave more upset than it’s worth.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Fifteen London
15 Westland Place
London, UK N1 7LP
011 44 020 3375 1515
Twitter: @JamiesFifteen

Fondue Fun at The Melting Pot

2013-02-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Cheese Fondue

A sucker for cheese fondue, @thepolishviking and I decided to finally try The Melting Pot. Reservations are highly recommended as our lack of foresight initially meant that we couldn’t get a table. Thankfully, a last minute cancellation saved the day. Located on Calgary Trail, the space is deceptively small from the outside. Once you enter the restaurant, it is actually quite large, filled with booth after booth, including some more secluded booths for those seeking a more romantic atmosphere. Burners are built into every table, allowing the different types of fondues to be heated and held at specific and constant temperatures.

Cheese Fondue and Dippers

We decided on the traditional four-course menu, consisting of a cheese fondue, salad, entrée fondue and dessert fondue. Part of the fun of the evening was the showmanship involved. Although the servers’ presentations were obviously scripted, each server’s personality and humor made the presentation uniquely theirs.

Protein for Entree Fondue

Vegetables for Entree Fondue
& Search and Rescue Spoon

To start we opted to go with the Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue, consisting of Guryere and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses, white wine, garlic, nutmeg, lemon and Kirschwasser. We were pleasantly surprised when our server returned to assemble the fondue tableside, and explained the steps to us as he made it. He heated the white wine in the pot that had been warming up on our table, and then added garlic.

The Guryere and Emmenthaler Swiss cheese blend were added a bit at a time, then it was finished with nutmeg and pepper, and whisked constantly with his fork. The cheese fondue came with three kinds of bread, Granny Smith apples, and a variety of vegetables for dipping. The bread was the ideal vehicle to showcase this fondue. The white wine flavor was immediately detectable, followed by the luscious cheese and finished off with a hint of nutmeg. The Granny Smith apples with the cheese were ok, but the hot cheese quickly slipped off the surface of the apple slices. Meanwhile @thepolishviking and I agreed that the carrots were too hard to skewer easily with the fondue forks, and were watery tasting, detracting from the rich cheese flavor.

For our salad course, we chose the Wisconsin Wedge salad, made up of an iceberg wedge with Roma tomatoes, Gorgonzola, bacon and Peppercorn Ranch Dressing. Overall my least favorite course as although the Gorgonzola and tomatoes were tasty, the iceberg wedge was watery tasting the peppercorn ranch dressing was overshadowed by the pleasantly pungent Gorgonzola.

Chocolate S'Mores Fondue Flambeed

For our entrée we chose the Coq au Vin cooking style made up of Burgundy wine infused with fresh herbs, spices and mushrooms. To cook in the Coq au Vin, we had an abundance of protein, including dry rubbed BBQ pork tenderloin, white shrimp, herb crusted chicken breast, seasoned Angus sirloin (eek!), and teriyaki marinated sirloin (double eek!). There were also mushrooms, broccoli and potatoes, along with a “Search and Rescue” spoon to retrieve the vegetables from the Coq au Vin as well as any other proteins that managed to slip away from their fondue fork, which we quickly learned was a very helpful tool. In addition, there were 6 sauces to accompany our entree, including a yogurt based curry sauce, a teriyaki sauce with garlic and ginger, a gorgonzola sauce, ginger plum, a cocktail sauce, and the Green Goddess made up of cream cheese, sour cream, onions, chives and parsley. Getting the hang of cooking times for the various entrée items required some trial and error and we barely made a dent in the entrée, but finally admitted defeat in order to save room for dessert.

Dippers for Dessert Fondue

To finish we settled for the Chocolate S’mores fondue, which was also assembled tableside for us. Made with milk chocolate, marshmallow cream and flambéed before our eyes, it was finished with graham crackers. It came with an assortment of items to dip in it, the majority of which we could request more of for no charge, with the exception of the cheesecake. It’s a delectable dilemma as we worked our way through dipping strawberries, bananas, pineapple, marshmallows, pound cake, brownies, graham crackers, and cheesecake into the fondue. Bananas wound up being my favorite item to enrobe in the sweet chocolate and marshmallow cream, an odd choice since I normally don’t enjoy bananas. Other items that worked well with the S’Mores fondue for me included the tangy smooth cheesecake, and the refreshingly juicy and light pineapple.

By the end of our 2-½ hour meal, we were filled to the brim and had already decided that a return visit was a necessity. For a fun, interactive and filling night out for fondue fans, definitely visit The Melting Pot.

To read @thepolishviking’s take on our visit, read her post on dineandwrite.com.

More Photos at PhotoBucket.

 The Melting Pot
920 Calgary Trail NW
Edmonton, AB T6J 2G8
780-465-4347
Twitter: @MeltingPotEdm

What Easter Seals Means to my Female Human

2013-02-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Female Human and Male Human

With only 4 days left before voting ends, I thought I would get my human to guest write and tell you in her own words why raising money for Alberta Easter Seals is so important to her. Because without her rescuing me from the Cows store shelf in Banff almost 6 years ago, I wouldn’t be here today to share my thoughts with you. Please read on below and I hope that you will help Moo to get as many people as possible to vote (on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q) so that I can help my female human win $500 for Alberta Easter Seals.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and moved here to Edmonton, Alberta in 2002 to attend the University of Alberta’s Stage Management program. Although I’m not originally from here, the Easter Seals organizations all across Canada provide the same services and are extremely important to me.

I am disabled and I don’t really talk about my disability, mostly due to the fact that most of the time I don’t even view myself as disabled. However, that wasn’t always the case.

I was born with Spina Bifida, a birth defect where the spine doesn’t close before birth. Depending on the location of this opening, it can have little impact on the child’s life (a minor limp in the cases that I’ve seen) or a major impact (paralysis). This was a lot more common a few decades ago before they started asking women to take folic acid supplements during pregnancy.

As a result, I have to wear leg braces to help me walk, and I have a physical malformation near the bottom of my spine. Least to say, as a kid walking with a major limp, having a visible malformation, and having to wear leg braces led to a lot of teasing from kids. I had low self esteem, hardly had any friends, and spent a lot of time in my room crying (I’m actually trying not to cry right now as I write this).

My doctors weren’t much better, telling me that I couldn’t participate in sports, would never lead a normal life, and would most likely be in a wheelchair before my 18th birthday. So I spent a lot of my younger years relegated to the sidelines in gym class, and believing that there was no point dreaming about what I’d be when I grew up cause I’d be confined to a wheelchair.

However, my mom decided to send me to Camp Easter Seal, and even though I really didn’t want to go, it was the best thing my mom ever forced me to do. At first when I got there, it seemed like I had nothing in common with the other campers. Upon first glance, a lot of them were worse off than me. In wheelchairs, with mental and cognitive disabilities, and not in the same in between boat as me, where I was only somewhat disabled, which meant that I had to endure going to a regular school where no one else was like me.

But then I met my fellow cabin mates, and learned that even those confined to a wheelchair had big hopes and dreams. Even they could ride horses, canoe, swim, and do things that I had been told by my teachers I could not do. Camp Easter Seal showed me that I could do all the same activities, dream big, and live a normal life as long as I learned that life wasn’t about being hindered by my ability. Instead they empowered me to learn to work with the abilities I had, and proving to others that I was as able and capable as any other able bodied person. Maybe I had to do things differently, but I could still participate in sports and become whatever I wanted to be. By the time the end of camp rolled around, I didn’t want to leave and wound up going back again the next summer.

So please help me to win $500 for Alberta Easter Seals so they can continue to help children see that they can do whatever they want if they set their mind to it. That they don’t have to accept what their doctors, teachers, and classmates tell them they are, or what they can or cannot do.

If everyone could tweet, post, put on their FaceBook status or email others they know to follow this link (on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q) and ask them to “Like” the picture of Marlow’s creation, I’d be ever so grateful.

Voters don't need to live in Edmonton, Alberta or even Canada. They just have to have a FaceBook account. The creation with the most votes by February 18 wins.

Thanks 

Eva (aka. Marlow Moo's female human)”

So please please please help us get more people to vote for my Tutti Frutti Creation so we can win that $500 for Alberta Easter Seals!

Here are 3 ways you can help!

1. In order to help me raise money for Alberta Easter Seals, I need you to go to the following link (or on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q), and "Like" the picture of my creation, "How Now Brown Cow".

2. In addition, you can tweet "Help @MarlowMoo raise money for AB Easter Seals. Go to on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q and "Like" the picture to vote for his @TFFroyoYEG Creation!" Get as many of your Twitter Followers as you can to vote!

3. Want to really help? Post on your FaceBook page and your friends' FaceBook pages asking everyone you know on FaceBook to visit this link (on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q) and "Like" the picture to vote.

We have until Monday, February 18 to gain the most votes to win!

Tutti Frutti Celebrity Fro-Down and Northgate Grand Opening

2013-02-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure out what to make

Welcome readers! This is an interactive blog post this week! Keep on reading to find out how you can participate and help Moo raise $500 for my charity of choice, Alberta Easter Seals!

I was invited on Saturday, February 9, 2013 to attend the Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt Northgate Grand Opening! Located in Northgate Centre, this location of Tutti Frutti, unlike it's other mall locations in West Edmonton Mall and Southgate Mall, has access only from the street. Franchisee Gene Yong, who also owns the Southgate Mall location sees this as advantageous Unlike other mall locations, the opening hours for a store front with street access only means that he can open or as late as he would like, without being hindered by mall hours.

Me and Fill-Up, the Food Bank Mascot

The decor and size is similar to the Southgate Mall location, with baby blue walls and five machines. However, the seating here is ample in comparison to it's Southgate Mall counterpart, and much more comfortable with both banquettes and chairs.

To celebrate the Northgate Tutti Frutti's Grand Opening, they opted to have a Celebrity Fro-Down for charity. The participants, including yours truly, were invited to create and name a creation. All participants will receive $100 for a charity of their choice, while the winner of an online FaceBook competition will win $500 for their charity!

How Now Brown Cow

Designed to resemble Moo, I created "How Now Brown Cow" with Death By Chocolate, TF Tart and Salted Caramel frozen yogurt, to capture all the colors of my fur. Then it was topped with chocolate chips, swiss chocolate, chocolate almonds to continue the brown cow theme, as well as teddy grahams for whimsy.

My charity of choice is the Alberta Easter Seals, an organization dedicated to empowering people with disabilities. Although my female human is originally from Saskatchewan, she credits Easter Seals with helping her to realize that she can do and achieve just as much as any able bodied person. I wouldn't be here in Edmonton and blogging today if Easter Seals hadn't empowered her as a child.

So here's your chance to help! The creation with the most votes will win $500 for their charity! Voting is open now until Monday, February 18th!

There are 3 ways you can help!

1. In order to help me raise money for Alberta Easter Seals, I need you to go to the following link (or on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q ), and "Like" the picture of my creation, "How Now Brown Cow".

2. In addition, you can tweet "Help @MarlowMoo raise money for AB Easter Seals. Go to on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q and "Like" the picture to vote for his @TFFroyoYEG creation!" Get as many of your Twitter followers as you can to vote!

3. Want to really help? Post on your FaceBook page asking all of your friends to visit the link (on.fb.me/12EUZ2Q )

and "Like" the picture to vote!

Tutti Frutti Northgate Centre
9499 137 Ave
Edmonton, AB T5E 5R8
587-523-0022
Twitter: @TFFroyoYEG

Lit Wine Bar - Frozen Feeb Carpaccio

2013-02-05T13:49:00.001-07:00

Caprese Salad

Although I had tried Lit Wine Bar’s food very briefly at their first appearance in the 2011 Taste of Edmonton, and had thoroughly enjoyed their bocconcini wrapped with prosciutto, I had never managed to visit their actual restaurant. So when @thepolishviking and mooself found ourselves seeking sustenance in the area of 104 Street we opted to visit Lit Wine Bar when our first choice, Tzin Wine and Tapas was ruled out since we lacked the foresight to make a reservation.

A sleek, modern wine bar, the majority of the first level consisted of cozy booths and banquettes. We opted for a cozy booth and were immediately greeted with a small bowl of addictively salty popcorn.

Prosciutto wrapped Bocconcini

We decide to start with a caprese salad, and were presented with a beautiful plate. As good as it looked, it did not live up to expectations. The tomatoes were under ripe, resulting in an overly crisp texture, the bocconcini was watery tasting, and the whole dish could have used more balsamic vinegar drizzle to give it flavor.

The prosciutto wrapped bocconcini that I had looked forward to trying again could have benefited from more salt. The prosciutto itself was unlike any we had seen before, it looked and tasted very fatty, with the appearance resembling more of fatty bacon than that of prosciutto.

Feeb Carpacio

The biggest disappointment and shock of the night for my human companions was the feeb carpaccio, which was served to them frozen. Yes you read right, frozen. They poked and prodded it with a fork initially, trying to figure out what the crunching noise was. Upon closer inspection, they could actually see ice crystals. It was confirmed when they put it in their mouth and found it was extremely cold and still mostly frozen.

Update for clarification: It was not frozen a little bit so it could be sliced more easily, but frozen through and through and not even room temperature when served to us. Neither of the humans had ever been served feeb carpaccio this way before, and was later confirmed by Chef friends that it should never be cold enough to have ice crystals.

We wondered perhaps if there was no Chef in the kitchen that evening and if everything had been prepped earlier, allowing others to simply plate the dishes. Regardless, we thought the free popcorn was the highlight of the entire meal, and that their food definitely could have used more attention. From the use of the right components to their freshness, the dishes could have benefited if more care had been taken in this regard. However, the frozen feeb carpaccio was really unforgivable in their eyes, as carpaccio should only be served fresh since it is raw meat, and it obviously wasn’t in this case since it was frozen.

Lit Wine Bar although not the worst food we have tasted, lands fairly low on my list for daring to serve @thepolishviking and my female human raw feeb that is far from fresh, which could potentially make people sick. Although we hoped this was a REALLY REALLY off night for them, unfortunately the impression they made on us as diners was bad enough that I highly doubt that either @thepolishviking or I would return.

Lit Wine Bar
10132 104 St
Edmonton, AB T5X 1J7
780-757-6688

Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortunum & Mason, Fit for the Queen, but not for Moo

2013-01-29T13:56:00.001-07:00

Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon

Fortnum & Mason is very well known to tourists and locals alike, being the official grocer to the Royal Family. They recently revamped their tearoom and renamed it to the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, in honor of the Queen’s Jubilee this past year. We decided if they were good enough for the Royal Family, there must be something special about this place and had to go try their High Tea for ourselves.

Scones, sweets, jam, fruit curd and clotted cream

They offer a variety of different menus from your classic High Tea, a champagne Tea menu, to a tea with more savory items. I opted for the latter and ordered salmon blini with crème fraiche and caviar. The blini itself was quite thick, yet felt very light to eat. Piled high on top was melt in your mouth tender smoked salmon, a huge dollop of rich crème fraiche, and a small amount of caviar which was not salty as I had expected it to be. My accompanying rose champagne was fruity and crisp, while the dragon jasmine pearl tea was very smooth.

Smoked salmon blini

The tea room itself is big, airy and bright, very different than Claridges, which although big, feels very dark. The main attraction arrived next, scones with clotted cream and jam, as well as a variety of sweets. Although I had been looking forward to good English scones and clotted cream, Fortnum & Masons didn’t even provide what I would consider mediocre scones and clotted cream. Their raisin scone fell apart the moment I cut it in half and was dry and floury tasting. The original scone was no better, and the clotted cream was less rich than I was expecting and tasted no better than unsalted butter I could find in Canada. The strawberry jam provided with it was sickening sweet and the lemon curd was more sweet than tart.

Plain and raisin scones

The biscuits were filled with strawberry jam, far too sweet for my liking, and tasted like an overly sweet shortbread cookie dusted in icing sugar. The sherry cake was filled with cream and cherries drenched in sherry, overwhelming all other flavors. The lemon and praline covered cake was again a cavity waiting to happen. It coated my mouth and tongue, making it impossible to taste anything else afterwards. The only redeeming item was the rose éclair that was filled with airy and light cream inside.

 At the end of the tea, they gave each of us a small box of Fortnum & Mason's tea to take home with us. To be honest, we were fairly unimpressed that the tea was given to us in small, clear, flimsy plastic cubes since we knew other tearooms like Claridges gave tea out in tins.

Cheap plastic container for souvenir tea

We were utterly disappointed with Fortnum & Mason’s High Tea, not to mention unimpressed with their service. Considering there were only two tables on our side of the salon, the two servers who were dedicated to our side were very slow. As well, instead of explaining the items they brought out such as the sweets, scones and biscuits, they asked if we wanted an explanation.

I would recommend that Fortnum & Mason’s review their service standards, and return to focusing on providing service to all guests like they are valued as much as the Royal Family. Particularly when it's not very busy, there's hardly any excuse to not be able to keep an eye on diners to quickly refill water glasses, tea cups, and be available to guests upon a glance, instead of requiring them to flag serving staff down.

Also, similar to other high end establishments, I would suggest that Fortnum & Mason’s require servers explain the items they are presenting to diners. This would ensure that no unfortunate food allergy incidents occur with diners. Even though we had mentioned in our booking and when we ordered that the male human had an allergy to alcohol, they never once took the opportunity to specifically point out items on the sweets tray he could not eat. At most restaurants we dine at, if there is ever a time they serve us something with alcohol, they usually mention to him that he should avoid the sauce, or whatever component actually has alcohol in it. So we assumed they would do the same here, however, they didn't. So we had to specifically ask our server what each item was and what was in them. The other table on our side actually had an incident with a nut allergy, and from hearing the girl panic quite loudly, it sounded like they had assumed their server would point out the items she could not eat as well, but did not, therefore assuming everything was safe for her to eat. Granted she could have asked again what the items were and what she could or could not eat. However, if a diner has already made clear that they have a particular allergy - although I'm not certain if she had or not, we however most certainly did - the server should take it upon themselves to remember that and point out items that someone should avoid.

As for the food, the scones would have benefitted from more moisture. The sweets are a matter of taste. I'm not a big fan of overly sweet and boozy desserts, however, I'm sure that others are, and it's often difficult to cater and please both of these very different preferences.

With the abundance of hotels and restaurants offering high tea, I would advise that you look elsewhere than Fortnum & Mason. Just because someone famous dines there doesn’t mean it’s good. There are likely many less expensive tea rooms in London, that I suspect would provide better service and food than here.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortnum & Mason
181 Picadilly
London, UK W1A 1ER
011 44 845 602 5694
Twitter: @FortnumandMason

Massimo's - Worth Crossing the River For

2013-01-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Airy, bright, modern space

Owned by Italian Centre matriarch, Teresa Spinelli, Massimo’s Cucina Italiana is situated right beside the Southside Italian Centre. Inside, you’ll find an open, airy, modern space, accented with a brick wall.

We are greeted by friendly staff, who make us feel instantly welcome and at home in a restaurant that neither @thepolishviking nor I have ever been to. A basket of thin, crispy, and extraordinarily light focaccia, lightly seasoned with fragrant rosemary hits the table. We resist the urge to polish it off before we receive our appetizer.

Parma Ham with Mozzarella Bocconcini and Focaccia

The parma ham is refreshingly unsalty, accompanied by beautifully soft mozzarella bocconcini and more of their irresistible focaccia. Next the gnocchi with prawns and basil pesto is an instant hit. The sauce starts off mild, but finishes with a kick of heat, and there is a pleasantly surprising amount of prawns. The much anticipated risotto of the day unfortunately falls a bit short. The risotto is at times a bit too al dente for our liking, and is not as creamy as it could be, resulting in a slightly watery tasting broccoli risotto.  The tiramisu is the perfect climax to our meal. Every bite is a divine combination of crunchy biscuit topping, boozy and soft ladyfingers with a hint of espresso, and creamy mascarpone cheese.

Tiramisu

With a thoughtful server who split both our appetizer and dessert into two for us, in order to ensure a fair share for all, both food and service made it a memorable meal. Massimo’s Cucina Italiana is definitely a good reason to cross to the other side of the river, and I look forward to our next visit.

Read @thepolishviking's review of Massimo’s Cucina Italiana.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Massimo’s Cucina Italiana
 5012 104a St
Edmonton, AB T6H 6A2
780-439-4869

Rebranding Pains at Select

2013-01-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Pan fried gnocchi fondue

We bought a Groupon for the newly rebranded and reworked Select, formerly known as Café Select. Now owned by the same group that owns Packrat Louie, another long standing institution in Edmonton, we were eager to see the changes they had made to Select, which the humans had not been to in years. The former Café Select was well known for their fondue and Coquille St. Jacques.

Fondue was THAT good

The manager, Dave, informed us that their current chef was fairly new and had only been with them for about a week. They also let us know that their current menu was an interim menu, and although they had made quite a few changes to the former restaurants menu, their final menu was still under development.

Wild mushroom

We started with their wild mushroom appetizer, consisting of seasonal mushrooms, chickpea polenta, cream, and parmigiana. Although I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms, this dish was very tasty, slightly earthy, with a very smooth and creamy polenta. They had opted to keep fondue around at Select but try to transform it to something more modern and current than the traditional cheese fondue with bread for dipping. In this case, their fontina cheese and white wine fondue came paired with pan fried gnocchi, asparagus, and prosciutto wrapped apple. Unlike the Gruyere or emmental cheese fondues I’m used to, the fontina cheese had a distinctly strong taste, which came through, with just a hint of white wine flavor. When eaten with the asparagus, the fondue balances out the slight bitterness that asparagus can often have. The prosciutto wrapped apple when paired with the fondue started with a sharp cheese flavor, quickly replaced with the sweet apple taste, and had a salty finish. The highlight was the pan fried gnocchi, which was soft and light, and paired with the fondue was addictively good. I wound up finishing off all of the fondue even after I ran out of things to dip in it.

Having polished off two very moolicious appetizers, I was excited to try their entrees. We ordered their porchetta, which were slow roasted pork shoulder, red cabbage and mashed potato. As well as their lamb loin with butternut squash, roast shallot, caramelized shredded pork belly and bourbon demi. Unfortunately the entrees were no where near as good as the appetizers. The porchetta was fatty, yet the meat was dry. The seasoning on the porchetta did not seem to go well with it, we werent’ quite sure if it was cardamom or star anise, but it overwhelmed the meat.

The lamb loin was cooked medium rare, yet tasted muddled and more like liver than lamb. The butternut squash were huge chunks that sat below an oversized portion of mashed potato, which might have tasted better if the potato and butternut squash were incorporated together instead of two distinct elements on the dish. The crispy fatty pork belly added little to the dish.

We hoped that dessert would be better and opted to share their cheesecake in a jar with strawberry preserves. Unfortunately it was nothing like we were expecting or hoping. Unlike the feather light cheesecake from The Pig’s Ear, this one was overly sweet and dense. When we put a spoon into it, it was difficult to get the spoon into the body of the cream cheese, and the spoonful came out with a sound reminiscent of two wet bodies slapping against one another.

Overall, we were disappointed that the entrees and dessert were no where near as good as their appetizers. Knowing that their chef had only been with them for a week, and that this is just an interim menu, I’d likely go back, but not until I knew that both their menu was fine tuned and their chef had found their groove. I would say give Select some time to get through their growing pains before you give it a whirl. However, if you opt to go now, make sure you get the fondue, you won't regret it.

Select

10018 106 St NW

Edmonton, AB T5J 1G1

780-428-1629