Month: October 2008

Back to a Local Lens

My last post for FoodTV went live on Friday, capturing a recent meal I had at Syphay.

I decided to discontinue writing for the site, not because it wasn’t fun, but because I found it really difficult to find topics that would be appealing or relevant to a national audience – if one was interested in the local food scene, why not simply read a local food blog? All towns and cities have interesting restaurants and shops to offer, but unless it is pushing a trend, or is truly unique in some way, I know I personally wouldn’t take the time to read an article about another city’s establishments unless I would be traveling to that particular place in the near future.

As such, with the exception of this week’s post, I did my best to expose a few of Edmonton’s gems with my posts – the flagship Sobeys Urban Fresh, the city’s oldest farmer’s market, tea service at the historic Rutherford House and local roaster Transcend.

Best of luck to my fellow FoodTV contributors who are continuing with the blog – it was great to be connected momentarily to a larger community of like-minded individuals.

Decent Stopover: Lemongrass Cafe

Needing a quick bite before the third and final Presidential debate, Mack and I headed to Lemongrass Cafe (10417 51 Avenue). I came to that decision for three reasons: it was on our way home; the restaurant had provided food of reasonable quality at our staff retreat last week; and I had an Entertainment Book coupon to burn.

My first impression of Lemongrass Café wasn’t a positive one. A makeshift paper sign had been taped up on the door, reading something to the likes of “We are not accepting 2008 Entertainment Book coupons or cards.” As we wouldn’t have been able to get to and out of another non-fast food dining establishment in time for the show, we elected to eat there anyway.

Walking in to this strip-mall restaurant with an aged awning, I was surprised to find an uncluttered, clean and fairly modern space inside. The furniture appeared to be fairly new, though the wicker chairs left some more comfortable seating to be desired. Black and white photos of posed Asian women adorned the walls, and while artful and unexpected, they were a bit unnerving.

The physical menu was simple but nice – easy-to-read typeface on a white background, accented with photos of different ingredients or implements used in the cooking process. For the most part, the available dishes reminded me of the offerings at Hoang Long – both in composition and price.

Without a discount incentive to order a more expensive dish, I opted for a warming bowl of pho, my usual variety topped with medium rare beef ($7.50). Mack gravitated towards a rice plate, and decided on the stir-fried vegetables with beef and chicken, choosing to exclude the squid ($12.75).

Our food arrived in timely fashion (though the same could not be said for the water refills that did not come). My pho was bereft of onions, with just a few measly slivers to speak of, but I was happy to taste the comforting broth, flavourful but not too salty. Mack enjoyed his dish, noting that the kitchen didn’t skimp on the meat, but claimed there were “too many vegetables.”

Medium Rare Beef Noodle Soup

Stir-fry with Beef and Chicken

 

Caught in photography mode

Lemongrass Café won’t replace Pagolac for me, but should I be in the area and in need of an emergency hit of pho, at least I know now that there’s a decent stopover nearby. 

Lemongrass Cafe
10417 51 Avenue NW
(780) 413-0088
Monday – Thursday 11am-9pm, Friday 11am-10pm, Saturday noon-10pm, Sunday 4-9pm

Food Notes

  • My latest post at FoodTV went live last week – I wrote about a coffee tasting experience I had at Transcend this summer. Mack’s more timely post can be found here.
  • I’m sure everyone who pays attention to the city’s culinary scene knows about the ill-timed closure of Il Portico by now – the building and lot having been purchased by the Alberta Blue Cross for additional staff parking. From how I read the article though, it seems like a deal would have happened sooner or later. It’s just even more unfortunate that the space won’t be filled by a similar establishment.
  • Hundred Bar & Kitchen released their menu online last week. The designers of it – both graphic and culinary – deserve some applause, as I can just see the downtown post-work crowd (myself included) salivating at their creative take on appetizers and share plates. There has been some discussion as to whether or not they are more of a bar or a lounge – to me they are a hybrid of both, in the true resto-pub sense, and the fact that patrons can make reservations on-line seems to speak to Hundred’s alignment with more traditional restaurants. This may be a bad time for any restaurant to be introducing a $100 entree into the market however – I’d be curious to see how many of “The Hundred” (100 gr. Kobe medallion, 100 gr. lobster tail, seared foie gras, caramelized shallot mash, porcini mushroom demi, truffle butter) they sell.
  • The Sorrentino’s Group has stealthily opened up a new “Italian Steakhouse Wine Bar” called Bistecca in the space that formerly occupied one branch of That’s Aroma (2345-111 Street). Wine bars seem to be joining the list of Edmonton’s current culinary trends which include gastropubs and places that serve only tapas/small plates.
  • The Journal reviewed the new-ish Quan’s Cafe this weekend.
  • I took a look at the Edmonton page on Open Table recently, and 20 more restaurants have jumped on the bandwagon since my first look last spring, where a measly 16 establishments were listed. I love the ease of being able to make reservations any time of day (and their snazzy e-mail invitations are pretty cute too).
  • I have been eying Second Cup granola bars ever since I saw them on store shelves.  I finally bit the bullet last week and purchased a box. The bar had an aroma of coffee about it, which was nice, but overall, it tasted very similar to the Quaker yogurt-coated granola bars that I have tried previously. While it didn’t quite quench my thirst for a latte, it made a nice afternoon snack.

 

Second Cup Cafe Delights

  • I had an opportunity to visit Handy Bakery (8660 118 Avenue, 780-477-8842) for lunch the other day. I was curious to see whether or not their fresh, deli-made sandwiches would be better than those found at the Italian Bakery. I was able to build my sandwich with either mayo, mustard, or vegetable spread (I chose the latter), one meat from the case, cheese, and my choice of vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, peppers). Though the bread was remarkably good (and dare I say better than the Italian Bakery’s buns), there was something about the sandwich that wasn’t as satisfying as the Italian Bakery.

 

Small sandwich with turkey breast ($3)

Thanksgiving 2008

Mack and I were extremely fortunate that we were able to have not one, but three Thanksgiving dinners this year! Best of all, there was very minimal cooking required of us, as our only food contribution this weekend was in the form of basic mashed potatoes.

First, Jane was hosting a small gathering at her apartment, for which we prepared the potatoes.

Mack is ready to mash and roll

Jane and Yi-Li deserve many accolades for their first-ever turkey. It turns out they had cooked the bird breast-down, which may have been one of the reasons why the meat – both dark and white – turned out so moist. While there was a lot of other food to choose from, including vegetable soup, sweet potatoes and salad, the turkey was the definite star.

Turkey

At the table

My plate

Mack using chopsticks to eat pumpkin pie

Night two was at the Haights’, Mack’s grandparents on his Mum’s side. The table setting was beautiful, and almost every piece of china matched, including the bowl that held the mashed potatoes. At this dinner, like at Jane’s, there was also more food than anyone could finish, from steamed carrots from the garden to ham and perogies.

Dinner table

Cute napkin holder

My plate

Homemade apple pie (using apples picked by Mack’s Uncle)

The best treat that night was getting to see the adorable Peanut and Skippy again.

Tonight, my Mum prepared an “Asian Thanksgiving” – no turkey, but a few dishes including my absolute favourite – sweet and sour pork.

Sweet and sour pork (yum!)

I hope you all had a great holiday as well. Mack’s photo set is here.

Filipino Buffet: Fat Jakks

My friend and I met for lunch on Friday at Fat Jakks (10126 107 Avenue), a restaurant of her choosing. I had never been before, but really, what better guide could I have at a Filipino eatery than the person who introduced me to the cuisine in the first place?

Though I was able to walk to Fat Jakks, I noticed parking was quite tight around the area. And as the restaurant doesn’t have its own designated parking lot, I would recommend arriving early in order to guarantee yourself street parking.

My friend was a few minutes late, but that allowed me time to preliminarily survey the buffet, menu, as well as the decor. My friend told me later on that the space had been fully renovated after the former owner of the Palabok House (another popular Edmonton Filipino restaurant) moved to this new property. Fat Jakks features a dance floor, a flat screen television, and all new furnishings – I would imagine they are hoping to host their share of holiday and special occasion functions in the coming months.

Interior

The menu was surprisingly short, though filled with dishes I couldn’t help but be curious about. In particular, there were three types of spring rolls (Vietnamese, Shanghai, and Manila) listed on the first page, and another catch-all page with dishes from Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Like most Asian restaurants that attempt to be more diverse than their kitchen should be, I decided to stick with Fat Jakks’ Filipino roots and paid the most attention to the section of the menu titled “Philippines’ Best”. My only knock on the restaurant was the inaccessibility of this page, as none of the dishes were explained. Though I’m certain the friendly waitress would have been more than happy to elaborate, for the patron’s ease, I would have appreciated brief dish descriptions underneath each name.

At any rate, once my friend arrived, she decided the buffet was the best way to go, as most of the dishes contained on the “Phillippines’ Best” page were represented in the buffet. Just $9.95 (offered only on Thursdays and Fridays), I couldn’t think of a better deal to sample 15 hot dishes plus a number of desserts.

Buffet line

Many of the dishes seemed very similar to ones I’m used to eating at home, so though the meal was filling and thoroughly satisfying, I didn’t find it a wholly unique experience. That said, I did have a few favourites, including the stir-fried vermicelli noodles, stir-fried beef, and the oh-so-tender beef brisket. The Manila spring rolls turned out to be very similar to the Chinese version I am used to, except that the filling looked and tasted like it had been compounded together with a mash of some kind, as opposed to visually distinct individual ingredients.

My first plate

My friend’s first plate (we had two each)

By the time we had our fill of the entrees, we barely had time (or room) for dessert. Of course, it was difficult for me to pass up an opportunity to try some Filipino sweets, so we headed to the hidden table to investigate our options. I ended up with a piece of custard-like coconut dessert and part of a tart made of cassava. The former was my favourite – not overly sweet, and light enough not to tip me over the scale.

Our dessert plates

Given that the restaurant was only graced by five other parties during our stay, I am hoping that the word spreads quickly about Fat Jakks. Clean, efficient and economical, their buffet is hard to beat.

Fat Jakks
10126 107 Avenue NW
(780) 485-2557
Monday, Wednesday-Saturday 11:30am-10pm, Sunday 12-9pm, closed Tuesdays

Retreat at Fort Edmonton Park

I had been researching different locations for an upcoming program staff retreat for some time, and eventually, we decided on a venue in Fort Edmonton Park.

The Jasper House Hotel featured two levels of usable space, which came in handy for the activities we had in mind. It was also fairly affordable at $219 for the day, especially considering some of the other prices I had come across, and also offered off-site catering possibilities. Of course, as I hadn’t personally visited the venue before booking it, I was expecting some glitches to pop up.

Jasper House Hotel

1885 Street (bright and early that morning)

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Besides having to play traffic cop in the morning to direct my colleagues to the poorly-marked parking lot, the Hotel worked great. Being at Fort Edmonton Park was a refreshing change from the office, and at lunch, everyone was able to wander the grounds on a cool but sunny autumn day. The Park is closed to the public on weekdays, and until the end of December, is only open on the weekends. As such, the buildings were all closed, but the picturesque streets still provided ample opportunities to snap a few photos.

Wagon wheel

Trees (by the river, I could hear the leaves rustling in the light breeze…it was lovely)

Gyro Park

Come, Pig

Kelly’s Saloon

Wagon

All in all, it was a great day out with my workmates. My photo set is here.

The Cooking Chronicles: Friendship Cookies

The cookbook I most remember from my childhood was a dog-eared, coil-bound Company’s Coming edition. I knew at some point I’d start my own collection of these seemingly indispensable books, and last year, I did. My first, Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen, supplied the recipe for Mack’s absolute favourite cookies, and on Wednesday, I turned to it again for an intriguing recipe for Friendship Cookies.

Calling for cake mix, water, oil, 1 egg, and white chocolate chips, it was the simplest chocolate cookie recipe I had ever come across. I was interested to see how the final product would turn out (and wondered how many experimental batches were made before the version made it to print).

I should have sifted the cake mix (it would have saved a lot of time trying to pound out the lumps), but other than that, it was a straightforward dump-and-combine recipe. I did only end up with about half of the four dozen that the recipe claims to make, but that was fine, as I couldn’t complain about having to put in much effort at all.

The cookies were soft out of the oven, and remained so the day after baking. The off-classic combination of dark cocoa with white chocolate was nice as well.

I just wonder about the name – one would assume that friends would be worth more trouble than a cleverly-developed secondary use of prepared cake mix.

Friendship Cookies

Contributing to Vue Weekly!

I’m pleased to include the link to my very first article for Vue Weekly, which was published today. Seeing my name in a print byline for the first time was pretty special, I have to admit, but more than that, I’m really proud of the article that I contributed.

I had the privilege to sit down and chat with Sebastian Lysz of Devlin’s a few weeks ago, and I have no qualms with saying that he made the interview easy. He was very open to answering my questions, and gave me more information than I needed to craft a coherent piece.

Because of our conversation, I probably won’t be able to objectively review Devlin’s while Lysz is at the kitchen’s helm, but then again, that’s why I have access to a fantastic Guest Blogger (heh).

I hope you enjoy the article!

Teatro La Quindicina: “Thrubwell’s Pies”

Mack and I went to check out the last Teatro la Quindicina production of the year, titled Thurbwell’s Pies. While not written by Stewart Lemoine, he is credited on the program with assisting actress/playwright Belinda Cornish with her latest work. She received much praise for her first play Diamond Dog, so there was some excitement going into her sophomore try.

From AIEEEEE!, the “Voice of Teatro La Quindicina”:

“Set in a gothic manor house in the misty depths of Somerset, England, Thrubwell’s Pies is itself a delicious concoction, with a flaky crust of laughs concealing a toothsome filling of harrowing and unexpected twists and turns. Sheri Somerville stars as Alicia Montague, the tempestuous wheelchair-bound heiress to a pie-baking fortune, with Mark Meer as her impeccably perplexed new husband Shepton. Author Belinda Cornish also appears as their surly and inscrutable maid Scrofula, and Rapid Fire Theatre/Theatresports whiz kid Amy Shostak makes her Teatro debut in the role of Nettie Thrubwell, a winsome bakeress whose arrival in the neighbourhood has completely calamitous consequences for all.”

This is probably the first play starring more than two people that I’ve seen in recent years where each member of the cast has an equal role in the play, both in terms of stage time and importance to the story. I wouldn’t consider any of the characters “supporting”, as even the maid Scrofula, seen creeping in the background in the early scenes, is later featured in the climactic and suspenseful ending.

I didn’t see Diamond Dog, so I didn’t know what to expect, but if Thrubwell’s Pies is any indication of Cornish’s abilities as a playwright, I’m sold. Unlike some of Lemoine’s plays, the audience was immediately teased with an undertone of mystery, and we were hooked, wanting to find out more about Alicia’s history, Nettie’s motives and the root of Scrofula’s odd behaviors. Also, the payoff was worth the wait – I almost wished we could have skipped the intermission altogether.

The cast was great as well, despite the uneven British accents. And though I’ve seen Meer in roles that cast him in more everyman positions, it still throws me off when he isn’t dressed in some kind of disguise or wild garment. Cornish also deserves mention as she took on the most unbecoming character, and “took one for the team” so to speak, setting up the dramatic climax.

While there will be no Teatro productions until May (as they’ve changed their season to begin in the spring), Lemoine has adapted The Addelpated Nixie for the Grant MacEwan Theatre Arts stage, which will run March 13 – 21, 2009.

Thrubwell’s Pies runs until October 11.

The Cooking Chronicles: Individual Chocolate Cakes

While my Mum was busy carving and plating a Greens, Eggs and Ham duck she had roasted, I started on a quick dessert I had caught on a segment of Martha Stewart Living for Individual Chocolate Cakes.

A run to the supermarket gave me all of the ingredients I would need, and though I probably should have included a Pyrex glass bowl on that list (I cracked yet another non heat-proof one), my second batch escaped similar oversights.

After I combined all of the ingredients, I poured the mixture into four ramekins and put them in the fridge for safe keeping until we finished with the main course. When the plates were cleared, I turned on the oven and baked the cakes for the recommended ten minutes.

While two of the cakes came out perfect, the other two were still a bit underdone in the centres, and oozed a thick (warm) chocolate batter as I inverted them onto plates. That was a good time to rework the word “lava” into the name of the cakes I presented to my family, and they didn’t know the difference. Done again, I would have left them in the oven a touch longer, though really, the cakes were fine moist, especially when served with vanilla ice cream.

This would be a great dessert for a girls night in or an evening in front of the fire – pulled out from the fridge and into the oven when indulgence is called for.

Individual Chocolate Cake