Month: June 2008

A European Lair: Caffè Artigiano

While Mack was occupied at BarCampCalgary, I played tourist and had lunch at Caffè Artigiano (Unit 100, Centrum Place, 332 6 Avenue SW). A west coast import that had coffee aficionado John Manzo, among others, excited about its first location outside of metro Vancouver, I wanted to see for myself what all the hype was about.

Occupying a rather large storefront in an office tower, the high ceilinged space resembles a European lair more than a typical café at first glance. A pedway positioned above Caffè Artigiano and its neighbours prevented much natural light from coming through – but perhaps the designers preferred it that way – the dark furniture and earth toned walls absorbed what sunlight did trickle through.

Peering into the cooler that contained an assortment of premade sandwiches, wraps and treats, I decided upon the Chicken and Brie Panino ($8.59) for my main course. A Spanish Latte ($3.59), which the clerk explained to me was a latte with a bit of condensed milk added, completed my meal.

I sat down at a large table fit for a library to await my food and drink. Lucky for me, Caffè Artigiano subscribes to a number of papers (including my favorite, The Globe & Mail), and like a library, affixes each edition onto a large wooden rod.

A few minutes later, my drink was called. Beautifully presented with an artful rosetta design, I almost didn’t want to take the first sip. I did, of course, and found that the latte walked the fine line between the jolt of a strong espresso and the creamy smoothness of milk, accented as a whole with just a hint of sweetness.

My panino, served with a small cup of coleslaw, was equally satisfying. Generously filled with chicken, cheese, then grilled, it left me full but not stuffed. While the chicken was a touch dry, the thin spread of fig jam helped alleviate somewhat parched bites.

I still struggle with the idea of having to pay nearly $10 for a sandwich in a coffee shop (granted, Caffè Artigiano is not just any coffee shop). So although I may be back for another cup of coffee, I would probably head elsewhere for something to eat first.

Rosetta

Chicken and Brie Panino and a Spanish Latte

A Tourist in Calgary

Most people would scoff at the idea of an Edmontonian visiting Calgary as a tourist, but I am not one of them. I think it is possible to be a tourist even in one’s home city; to me, being a tourist is a state of mind, being open and ready for new experiences and trials, and exploring the familiar in a different way.

As such, I don’t find our southern neighbour to be as pedestrian as some do, because besides the plethora of culinary excitements (to be blogged about shortly), there are numerous everyday sites worth visiting.

Stephen Avenue is one example. My stroll on Saturday yielded many (window) shopping opportunities, as well as a sneaky Kodak moment involving hungry bridesmaids on break from a streetside photoshoot.

“Hot dogs for everybody!”

I also ended up at Art Central (100 7 Avenue SW), though just after many of the shops had closed for the day. Opened in November 2004, the building houses a number of boutiques offering everything from art pieces to jewelry and clothing. A cafe on the top floor looked like a cozy reprieve from the traffic outside.

Art house

My personal favourite stop in the downtown core was the Devonian Gardens, housed in TD Square (317 7 Avenue SW).

Devonian Gardens

Packed with tourists and more than a few locals, the Gardens are an urban sanctuary, very similar to a visit to the Muttart Conservatory (but for free!). There is a playground for children, paths to stroll, soothing water fixtures to relax to, and benches to snack on. It took me a moment to realize that the turtles in the fish pond were real, adorably craning their necks towards the heat lamps. My sister thinks it odd that the greenhouse is situated just above a shopping centre, adjacent to office towers, but I think the designers were spot on in their placement choice – it provides an easy escape from the hustle and bustle of the business and retail worlds, a quiet place to have lunch or meditate, and in the winter, a means to maintain daily physical activity in the face of ice and snow.

Inside the gardens

 

Cascading fountain

Turtles!

Waterfall

Flowers

Reflecting Pond (open in the summer only)

The Gardens will be closing for 18 months starting on October 1, 2008 to undergo renovations (not unlike Edmonton’s Muttart) – so plan to stop by soon if you’re in the city for one last indoor walk.

With the escalating price of gas, I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to get away to Calgary, but if and when I do, I know the sights I would like to return to!

One Month with WordPress

It’s been one month since I made the switch from Blogger to WordPress, and the transition has been a bit of a mixed bag.

I think I still need some time to get used to the layout of the WordPress Dashboard, even for doing simple things like viewing and editing posts, but for the most part, the differences haven’t been too jarring. I also like the ability to have access to statistics on traffic and post views (and see, with amusement, some of the search terms that people have used to navigate to my blog – some on purpose, some by accident, such as “steve miranda eat noodles on the floor”). Lastly, the plugins that Mack helped me install when he initially set up this new site are a WordPress bonus as well.

Some things I’m not so amused with are the means by which categories are added or modified (I find typing so much faster than having to scroll down a very large list), and the inconvenience of having to log in twice to view my stats page (once into my admin, and once into WordPress itself). There’s also the very big problem of not being able to include spaces between paragraphs, resulting in my immediate download and reliance on Windows Live Writer. Live Writer has been great, but with Blogger, I never had to use an external program just to compose posts.

Since it has only been a month, I’m sure there are other quirks – both good and bad – that I will discover in the next few weeks.

Food Notes

  • Bob Mac on Chowhound was right about the rumor that the Century Hospitality Group would be renovating the space formerly occupied by Terry Vaughn’s Sports Bar, then First City Sports Lounge (10136 100 St) – the signs are up in the window advertising “One Hundred Bar & Kitchen” to be open Fall 2008.
  • Original Fare is offering their annual version of “Dine Out Week” on July 13 – 17 and July 20 – 24 called ForkFest. Check out their website in a few weeks for details on the pre-fixe $20 and $35 menus.
  • Congrats to Canadian Trish Magwood for her James Beard Award win last week. She received recognition for her book Party Dish in the “Entertaining” category.
  • Bettina and I went to the renovated McDonald’s near Heritage Mall (11007 23 Avenue). With its earth toned walls, flat screen television, fireplace, and leather lounge chairs, I had to wonder – does an upscale McDonald’s make the food taste better?

 

It certainly doesn’t look like your average McDonald’s

 

Cinnamon Melt – good anywhere

Midday Elegance: Hotel MacDonald

Like most quintessential city landmarks, the Hotel MacDonald (10065 100 Street) is a familiar presence appreciated and admired mostly by afar. It’s been a few years since I had dinner in the Harvest Room (refined but stiff), but I relished the opportunity to have lunch in the beautiful Empire Ballroom for my organization’s Annual General Meeting this week.

Empire Ballroom

Unfortunately, my group’s tardiness relegated us to a table in a room normally used for cocktails and receptions only, but as the place setting was the same, there wasn’t too much to complain about, short of not being able to hear or see the speakers up on stage.

There was no menu card at each place setting, so the lunch was essentially a surprise. It has been a while since I’ve been to dinner where so many pieces of cutlery were available on the table, but in such a refined atmosphere and setting, it was only to be expected. What wasn’t expected, however, was the cute little pats of butter with the word “butter” stamped on them! I couldn’t resist taking a picture of that.

Too cute

We started with a salad of wild greens with beets. I am not normally a fan of beets, but there were so sweet and mild that I didn’t mind them at all. The main course (served to ladies first, then men clockwise around), was a “nest” of puff pastry with chicken and mixed vegetables (or, in layman’s terms, chicken pot pie), accompanied by a wild rice pilaf and steamed vegetables. The pie was hot, buttery, and deliciously creamy – it kept me full all day. Dessert was a cake with strawberry coulis, and as it had been placed on the table before we even arrived, this was a sweet ending that could have very possibly been an appetizer for some instead.

Wild greens with beets (up close, the leaves do look like weeds, don’t they?)

Chicken pot pie

Cake with strawberry coulis

All in all, it was a nice break from the office.

Red Deer Eats

I found my hit list of Calgary eateries quite useful to look back on for reference purposes, so on a weekend where a food stop in Red Deer may be on the agenda, I was hoping Chowhound would be able to help me generate options beyond the glut of Gasoline Alley and epidemic of chains. It delivered.

  • Redstone Grill: with a menu similar in price point to Madison’s Grill, it may be too expensive for our fuelling intention, but it’s a definite option worthy of consideration in the future.
  • Glenn’s: apparently has good comfort food and pie.
  • Rusty Pelican: the name is admittedly growing on me. The reviews on Chowhound are mixed, but with entrees priced under $20 (a filet mignon for $18.95), it would be worth a try.
  • It’s All Greek to Me: no relation to the Edmonton restaurant with the same name.
  • Las Palmeras: a restaurant which one poster claims serves the most authentic Mexican food in the province, the lack of a website prevents further comment, but this would be my pick for the weekend.

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

On Doug’s request (I’m always up for a “secret ingredient” challenge!), I looked for an interesting recipe that contained peanut butter. While a stew thickened with peanut butter qualified as the most intriguing, Miss Hilda’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie caught my immediate attention as something I actually wanted to eat (I’ve been wanting to give it a name worthy of Waitress, but nothing can beat her signature “Bad Baby Pie”, so I won’t even try).

I made the crust and toasted the peanuts on Sunday night to reduce the prep time on Monday, and to give it extra time to cool in the freezer. I resorted to using an aluminium cake pan instead of our only glass pie plate to lighten the load I would have to cart on public transportation, but with the help of the rounded side of a measuring cup, was able to form an edge fairly easily.

The filling was a cinch to whip up, and smelled irresistibly like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when I was done. I let it set overnight, and even after being beaten around a bus, it wasn’t too worse for wear.

As for the taste – the crust needed at least double the amount of melted butter to set correctly – as it stood, crumbly was its unfortunate state. The filling, after having more than enough (or too much?)time to harden, ended up a little too densely sweet for my liking; I would have preferred the mousse-like consistency it had just after being freshly beaten with the electric mixer.

The best thing about the pie, of course, wasn’t the pie itself, but being able to share it with friends. Thanks again for letting us crash at your place, Anna!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

The (what else) potluck spread

Violet and Judith help themselves

Violet and Doug

Anna and Judith

All smiles!

The Cooking Chronicles: Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

Needing a quick, one bowl supper idea, I remembered Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, so after work, Mack and I headed to the nearby Italian Centre to pick up a few ingredients, and met with absolutely no dinner rush line ups, were well on our way to a filling meal.

Mack complained about having to grate the parmesan, but then again, that was probably the most “labour intensive” task in the entire recipe. I thought we were going to set off the smoke alarm with our sizzling tray of olive oil and burst cherry tomatoes, but thankfully, the flat stayed quiet. A handful of fresh basil (or what Mack refers to as “weeds”) some roasted mushrooms, and the parmesan finished the dish.

For a pasta without a heavy dressing of cream or tomato sauce, it was surprisingly good. More vegetables (spinach, zucchini) or meat (shredded chicken) could be tossed in, but in all, this is a great top drawer emergency dinner recipe.

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

Clever Name but Rather Lame: Wild Flour Bakery

This guest post was written by Mack, an Edmonton-based geek who fancies himself a part-time foodie. You can find him online at his blog, and on Twitter.

On Sunday morning I decided to skip the conference-provided breakfast in favor of making a stop at Wild Flour Bakery, located at 211 Bear Street. I had asked Sharon for a couple of restaurant recommendations before making my way to Banff, and Wild Flour was one of the two she gave me. I think the name was probably 80% of the reason she suggested it, but I figured I’d give it a shot anyway.

Wild Flour Bakery

I arrived at Wild Flour just after 8 AM. They are open every day throughout the summer months from 7 AM until 6 PM. There was a couple ordering some of Wild Flour’s artisan breads ahead of me, so I had time to look around and take some photos. The space is very modern looking, and fairly open with seating for about 40 patrons.

The menu is broken into four sections: drinks, breakfast, sweets & treats, and lunch. I decided to order a medium Organic Fair Trade Coffee ($1.75 – they serve Kicking Horse) and the Toasted Breakfast Sandwich ($5.50, also available with two slices of Valbella ham for an addition $1.50).

At this point, things started to go downhill (that didn’t take long did it?). Maybe I’ve been spoiled at Starbucks where a barista always hands you a full cup of coffee, but I thought it was odd that I was given a cup to fill on my own. At the end of the counter were three coffee butlers, two bold roast and one medium roast. I set about filling my cup with the medium, only to find that it wouldn’t stop coming out! I started to say "It’s not stopping!" and when one of the employees finally noticed, she remarked "oh no not again!" Apparently they jam open quite frequently. Anyway, when I eventually got my cup full of bold roast I nearly burned my hand! The coffee was ridiculously hot, and there were no sleeves.

I took a seat in the corner and started reading some of the free newspapers they had available. Wild Flour prides itself on cooking with organic and local ingredients, and on making everything from scratch. With that in mind, I didn’t expect my breakfast sandwich to be ready immediately, but after about fifteen minutes of waiting I started to wonder. I took my order slip (my order number was the normally lucky 88…not so lucky this time) up to the counter to inquire. I was informed that they had "lost" my order, and that they’d make it right away. At this point I thought to myself – epic fail! It’s never acceptable for a restaurant to lose an order, especially when it isn’t that busy.

My breakfast sandwich arrived about five minutes later. The menu describes it as: "Our herbed egg frittata & three year old Quebec cheddar on sourdough." Unfortunately, the description is a lot tastier than the sandwich itself. I found the egg kind of spongy and far too thick. I think there should have been more cheese too!

On the whole, my experience at Wild Flour was a negative one. Even without the coffee incident and lost order, the breakfast sandwich wasn’t worth the money and the employees were probably the least friendly of any I encountered in Banff. I could probably be persuaded to give their lunch menu a shot, but I definitely won’t be rushing back to Wild Flour the next time I’m in Banff.

Wild Flour Bakery

Inside Wild Flour Bakery

Wild Flour Bakery

Seating

Toasted Breakfast Sandwich

Toasted Breakfast Sandwich

Food Notes

  • The St. Albert Farmer’s Market kicks off this Saturday, June 14! With 200 vendors, it’s double the size of the City Centre Market. I hope to head out there myself soon.
  • Liane Faulder contributed her first article about the City Centre Market last week, focused on a couple who run a Mexican food stand. I quite like it.
  • I love the idea of a Lunch Club, as featured in the Journal’s LifeStyle section on Saturday – a group of people bring an item to share at lunch every day. Terribly difficult to be consistent about it, but I guess if people are counting on you, it’s hard to cop out.
  • Gail Hall of Seasoned Solutions has started to teach her wonderful Market Fresh Cooking Classes, which I had the privilege of participating in last year. It’s a great opportunity to learn how to shop and incorporate produce and other goods picked up from the City Centre Market.
  • Urban Safari Tours bills itself as “Calgary’s Premier Restaurant Tour Guide Service”, offering a multitude of restaurant tours for those that need direction. I wonder if such a service will ever find a place in Edmonton?
  • Chow has a list of 10 must-read food blogs. One of my fellow FoodTV contributors, Definitely Not Martha, made the list!
  • Via Andree Lau’s blog, a link to the new CBC FoodBytes blog (which she also writes for).
  • Here’s an interesting idea (sent to me by Mack) – a jar meant for sticky substances like peanut butter with lids on both the top and bottom of the vessel.
  • After watching Sex and the City last week, the girls and I had a bite to eat on the patio out at Joey’s Mediterranean Grill (9911 19 Avenue). There are probably worse locations for a patio (e.g. next to the exhaust parade that is Whyte Avenue), and with the water fixtures, cool breeze, and open area, I found it quite nice. The wait for the food, on the other hand, was not. The restaurant didn’t seem very busy, but for whatever reason, our dessert courses still took half an hour to deliver. My Hi-Rise Burger ($11.99) was nothing special, but the so-called “skinny fries” were surprisingly addictive.

 

Hi-Rise Burger and Skinny Fries