Indian Chalet: Khazana

In order to satisfy Mack’s midweek craving for butter chicken, we headed to Khazana (10177 107 Street NW) for their dinner buffet, offered only on Wednesday and Saturday nights. At $18.95 per person, it was a steep fee for Indian food in Edmonton, but with a willingness to see if it was worth it (and a 10% off coupon), we brought our empty stomachs and hoped for the best.

Interior

I was floored with the interior – it looked like no Indian restaurant I had ever visited. Instead of simple decor (in small family-run joints such as Maurya Palace) or lavish, bold tapestries and decorative artifacts (like New Asian Village), the wood paneling, overhead beams, and numerous open hearths suggested the inner sanctuary of a chalet retreat in the mountains. The faintly (and somewhat annoyingly repetitive) background music also made me imagine that an in-house piano soloist wasn’t too far out of this realm. The far right of the restaurant also included a chef viewing platform, with an elevated chef on display as he prepared various meats and dishes. While I am always happy to have my expectations for eateries defied, the decor didn’t seem congruent or complimentary to the cuisine.

At any rate, we were shown to a table, and provided with just about the only attention we received from the servers that night – initial drink service and a quick exchange that we were planning to utilize the buffet. Given that the majority of the diners in the restaurant that night were patronizing the self-serve buffet, I didn’t think it unreasonable to think that our water glasses would be refilled without request.

There were over a dozen hot entree items to choose from, but their dessert selection would be easily dwarfed by Punjab Sweets. We heaped our first plates full to get a good idea of their range of dishes, but of course, concentrated our efforts on their butter chicken. Unfortunately, the chicken wasn’t as tasty as the sample we had tried at Taste of Edmonton just a few weeks back – the sauce was all right, but the chicken itself was tough and dry in parts. Thankfully, the mutter paneer (a curry made with peas and cheese cubes) was delicious and made up somewhat for the first disappointment, just mildly spiced and interesting with a variety of textures.

Mack loads up

Mack’s plate

My plate

Not related to the food, but telling somewhat of the general neglect towards the experience of the customer was the comedy of errors patrons had with the metal lid of the naan bread container. Broken and thus without a handle, I couldn’t count the number of times a loud clang ran out through the restaurant because someone had accidentally flipped the lid completely off, or stood there for a confused half a minute trying to figure out how the opening was controlled. One would think the operators would bear the relatively small expense of replacing, or at least fixing, the lid.

While I won’t rule out future a la carte visits to Khazana, or perhaps a trial run of their lunch buffet, I won’t again be swallowing the dinner buffet expense again.

Khazana
10177 107 Street NW
(780) 702-0330
Lunch Monday to Friday 11:30am-2pm; Dinner Sunday to Thursday 5-9:30pm, Friday and Saturday 5-10:30pm

An Underappreciated Amusement: Fort Edmonton Park

I had the opportunity to join locals and tourists alike at Fort Edmonton Park this week, and wandered the recreated streets of eras past under the scorching hot sun.

Here comes the train

I usually end up at the facility once a year in a volunteer or work capacity, and I love it. It’s easy to feel like a kid again when surrounded by costumed interpreters in the “living” museum, and imagining what life would have been like at the time.

Settler

The park showcases Edmonton in four eras: 1846 (fur trade); 1885 (early settlement); 1905 (beginnings of a modern city); and 1920 (modern times). Though I’m usually most engrossed by the fort (and hearing for an umpteenth time what little could be traded for a beaver pelt), I’m most taken by the more modern streets.

At the trading post

Rowand House

Random turkeys on the boardwalk

Horse at the end of the tunnel?

 

Daly’s Drug Store (formerly my must-stop, until I discovered that they moved my beloved raspberry drops to the Midway)

Photo in Ernest Brown’s studio

Picturesque Hotel Selkirk on 1920 Street

Much to my delight (and flashbacks to the Everwood series finale), I found a new addition to the Park since my last visit. The 1920s Midway includes a restored ferris wheel built in the 1940s, a carousel, and so-billed “old fashioned” midway games.

Midway (the ferris wheel is just $2 to ride!)

Sideshow banners (they concealed a tented picnic area)

Games

The only downside to visiting the Park is the expense – it is by far the most costly City of Edmonton-run attraction, at $13.25/adult, $10/youth or senior, and $6.75/child. On the bright side, admission during the slow winter months (though limited to 1905 Street traffic only) when the park is open on the weekends in November and December is free.

My pictures are here.

Early Thoughts on “The Big Kahuna”

After picking up a copy of the 2008 Fringe program over the weekend, I’ll be darned if it isn’t already marked up with post-its and incoherent scribbles. The 27th edition of the festival, “Fringe”-less in its name The Big Kahuna, begins on August 14 – just over a week away. As such, my personal countdown to my favourite time of year in Edmonton has begun.

The electronic ticketing system introduced last year to a boon of complaints remains, with the $2 additional fee that supports the still undefined “Box Office operating costs” left intact. While no tickets will again be sold at the venues themselves, Bring Your Own Venues (more commonly known as BYOVs), have been issued a grace this year, as tickets will only be available at the venue door when the clock hits two hours prior to showtime. Given the location of some of the peripheral venues in Old Strathcona, and the addition of New City, a lounge/bar located in Downtown Edmonton as a BYOV this year, it makes geographic sense for venue distribution of tickets. The obvious question, of course, is why a non-Old Strathcona venue was permitted to be a BYOV at all? As for the other suggestions collected in the January Town Hall meeting I attended – none appear to have been implemented, or at least can be gathered from the program itself (I wonder if Kenneth Brown’s veiled threat of producing his “gems” elsewhere if changes aren’t made will stick with his proposed plan to present his war trilogy over the next three years?).

New to the festival this year is the Fringe Midway – an extension of the $2 optical illusion sideshows of Fringes past. Quick and dirty serials, shorts, and this year’s Weed Woman sideshow are an addition great on paper at least – quick treats for those looking for a brief show or those short on cash but still looking for something other than outdoor buskers or antics.

My peripheral glance at the program so far has yielded a number of “repeat offenders”, so to speak. TJ Dawe, for example, is producing/directing/starring in/wrote five shows on tap this year. Daniel McIvor, whose A Beautiful View (at Theatre Network) was loved by the media last year, has three plays up at the festival.

Ones to bank on, based on name-recognition and critical favourites:

  • Teatro la Quindicina’s return to the summer festival – Happy Toes;
  • anything TJ Dawe is involved in (his own Maxim & Cosmo, Keir Cutler’s annual Shakespearean tirade, one-man-everything Charles Ross’ show);
  • musical marvel Rainer Hersch; and
  • Fringe darling Jon Stewart’s edgy new work.

I succumbed to the great deal of the Frequent Fringer pass (which allows me to bypass the aforementioned $2 Box Office fee), but it also means I’ve saddled myself for 10 shows in 6 days because of a late-August sojourn to Vancouver.

It will be an intense ride, but I’m ready for it. 9 days and counting…

Ginger Beef Gluttony: Beijing Beijing

I’m not sure how we got onto the topic of ginger beef at Heritage Days on Saturday, but something propelled us to meet at Beijing Beijing ( 700, 3803 Calgary Trail) to satisfy a craving for the salty-sweet, deep-fried "meat".

Mack, Dickson and I went there last year after Heritage Days, so it could very much become an annual post-festival tradition. In any case, the dinner buffet was the draw, priced at $15.95 on Friday to Sundays (and $12.95 Monday to Thursdays). With around thirty items to choose from (including the salad and dessert bars), quality wasn’t the order of the day. But for picky eaters, or those who love variety, Beijing Beijing does a decent job at mass-producing Western Chinese food.

How can anyone pass up heat lamp-warmed goodness?

Loading up

Jane & Yi-Li (notice the different compositions of their plates)

My colourful (first) plate

I will admit to being partial to the crispy deep fried won tons and the saccharine sweet and sour chicken, so there was some enjoyment gleaned from my mass consumption of cheaply-prepared grub. Of course, as some meals go, it is the company and not the food that makes the meal.

Funny instances also help make meals memorable, and Beijing Beijing provided one of the best photo opportunities of late – Mack’s epic fail:

Is that ginger beef on your plate?

Greg, on the other hand, was able to chow down on a full plate of dessert, cream pie and all.

 

"I’d like a Blender Blaster with this."

As Megan would say, "Good times."

Beijing Beijing
700, 3803 Calgary Trail
(780) 430-7720

Food Notes

  • My third FoodTV post went live on Friday, about a recent excursion to the Arbour Restaurant in the historic Rutherford House for their High Tea.
  • What appears to be a City of Edmonton-funded initiative, The Edmonton Food Security Network (EFSN), is hiring a Community Coordinator. I couldn’t locate any information on the web, but from the posting the EFSN "is a network of individuals representing various organizations and interests with the following mandate: to help organizations in the Capital Region increase food security by acting as a central resource network; facilitating connections & collaboration; encouraging partnerships/initiatives; and increasing public awareness of hunger and malnutrition." Interesting; I hope to hear more about this in the fall.
  • Sherwood Park is hosting their own Beer & Wine Festival on August 22-23; tickets $15 in advance.
  • A second Edible Arrangements is in the works in the Duggan neighbourhood (4026 106 Street, 780-462-6767).
  • The Edmonton Journal had a profile on the family behind EnSante Wines, the organic fruit winery, as well as the most negative review I’ve seen in the Style section to date – Mike McCall’s pan of La Ronde.
  • I never noticed it before, but quite a few restaurants go on hiatus for weeks at a time in the summer (Thanh Thanh, It’s All Greek to Me, among others). Or, in the case of Kerstin’s Chocolates and downtown’s L’Azia, take advantage of the warmer months to renovate. I hope the latter takes into account the menu and the service, and not just the decor.
  • The Globe wrote a story last week about the self-serve City Cafe Bakery in Kitchener, Ontario where money is collected via the honor system. The best quote in the piece comes from co-owner Rudolph Dorner: "Payment is not optional…We price the bagel for you, but we trust you to pay it. Just like you trust us not to poison you."

Movies on the Square: “High School Musical”

When the City of Edmonton started offering free screenings of movies in Churchill Square, I knew this would be the closest I would get to a drive-in for a while. I was waiting for a for a film I either actually wanted to see, or one I deemed was worth watching again. When High School Musical was announced for the August 2 show, I knew this was it.

I’ve seen the film several times since being dazzled by it last year, but the idea of watching it on the big screen, under the stars and in the shadow of buildings in the downtown core, was irresistible.

The set-up

Armed with camping chairs, a blanket, a bag of goodies and mugs of tea, we joined a modest crowd of fifty people already huddled around the front of the screen. It had drizzled a bit as we were heading to the Square, but thankfully we had no use for the umbrellas we had brought along just in case. While most of the audience was comprised of families, there were a few pairs of adults and couples our age.

Mack

Me

A Fat Franks food cart was on site, which may not have been a bad thing on that chilly evening. I was glad I had brought along a mug of tea and a blanket; without them, I would have froze in the windy conditions. The people in front of us who wore winter jackets definitely had foresight.

In all, it was a pretty cool experience, even if the audience didn’t get up to dance in tune with the movie (like that scene in The Wedding Planner). If you missed it, you have three more opportunities this summer, with screenings being held on August 29-31, movie titles TBA.

Heritage Days 2008

Despite the draw of a world of food, our visit to the Heritage Festival this year was much like those in years past – a nice mix of visual and aural performances, scanning for cheap trinkets, and seeing where our next sample plate would come from.

In Hawrelak Park

Mack is a nesting doll!

The skies did threaten rain, but with the exception of a few rain drops, the clouds held up. This may have been one of the reasons the crowds were unusually small on Saturday; there was virtually no line at the ticket booths or at the food vendors themselves.

Getting my Hungarian Langos (fried bread) iced – the best deal of the day for only 3 tickets!

Mack with his plate of (very oily) perogies

Injera with mild chicken sauce from the Ethiopia booth – I’ve tried injera a few times now, and I can’t get used to the sour taste of the bread

Empanada (we should have brought our own plates/cutlery like we did for Taste of Edmonton, but it totally slipped our minds)

We made sure to get to the grounds on time to watch Dickson’s Mum’s dance troop perform in front of the Chinese pavilion. The group of 3-4 year olds were especially cute! Of course, the most notable outcome of watching the performance was a priceless photo op.

"Playing in the Rain" dance

Andrew, Mabel and Mack

We met up with Jane, Yi-Li, Megan and Greg to wander around further.

All smiles with Jane

Clogs!

Yi-Li doing his best to win Jane her plastic bubbles in the Taiwan tent

 

"English" garden

Enjoying mango-on-a-stick

Me & Mack

Thanks for a fun afternoon, guys! Pictures here.

August in Edmonton is for Variety

Better late than never?

  • Why not spend an afternoon exploring Edmonton’s outdoors? The City of Edmonton has a few interesting walks that can be printed out to be used as guides (including art downtown and notable Edmontonians in local cemeteries), and the Government of Alberta has a “Rock Walk” map available – noticing the unique rocks and minerals that make up some of the stalwart buildings in the city centre.
  • August 8-10, the annual Animethon takes place at the MacEwan City Centre Campus.
  • Doors Open Alberta is an event that celebrates the history of public buildings and spaces. Edmonton’s events take place August 9 & 10, and include walking tours, self-guided tours of notable buildings, and a resurrection of last year’s popular Capital Modern Bus Tour.
  • My absolute favourite festival of the entire year – the Edmonton International Fringe Festival – kicks off on August 14 and runs until August 24. Head to Old Strathcona for the outdoor buskers, food and craft vendors, and of course, amazing theatre!
  • City Farm‘s last Open Gate event of the summer takes place on August 16. Family fun farm activities for free!
  • Another family-friendly venue, the Rutherford House is hosting its annual Penny Carnival on August 17.
  • Edmonton’s Labatt Blues Festival is billed as Western Canada’s Premiere Blues Event and runs August 22-24.
  • Concurrent to the Blues Festival is the Dragon Boat Festival, also August 22-24. Watch the excitement from the banks of Louise McKinney Park!
  • The city’s newest (or more accurately, most high profile new festival) is Sherwood Park’s Under the Big Top, with magic shows, puppetry, and physical theatre. Check it out August 25-30.
  • Drive-ins may be hard to find, but Churchill Square has been frequently hosting Movies on the Square – family-friendly films projected onto a large inflatable screen. Mack and I went to a screening this weekend, but there are three more opportunities to do so this month: August 29-31, movie titles TBA.
  • Hawrelak Park, home of the annual Symphony Under the Sky, will again be filled with the songs of the masters August 29-September 1.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

EDIT:

  • Fragapoolza, the largest gaming event/Massive LAN party in Canada is being held at the Northlands Sportex August 7-10.
  • Cariwest, another stalwart Edmonton festival, is on this weekend, August 8-10.
  • Looking to volunteer? Check out the non-profits and organizations seeking help at Everyone for Everyone, an event free of charge to attend at the Shaw Conference Centre on August 23.

The Cooking Chronicles: Breakfast Banana Split

Inspired by a photo of one of Annie’s meals taken on her recent mountain getaway, I made a so-called Breakfast Banana Split for Mack.

Annie’s café version was plated in a size-appropriate bowl, topped with plain yogurt, granola, and a multitude of fresh blackberries, blueberries and raspberries for bold splashes of colour. The fruit in our version was limited to the latter, picked up the day before at the City Centre Market, and the strawberry yogurt we had in the fridge. Mack had made granola the night prior, using a modified version of Alton Brown’s recipe (we omitted all of the nuts), which made my job easy – assembly only.

Mack claims the banana made the dish, though I think it was the sweet and crunchy granola that elevated a very basic fruit and yogurt starter. Layered in glasses, a fruit, yogurt and granola parfait would make a great brunch selection that can be made the evening before and refrigerated until the start of the meal.

Mack’s Breakfast Banana Split

My Banana-less Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

Greek Redemption: It’s All Greek to Me

I would be remiss if I didn’t disclose that Greek cuisine is not high on my list of ethnic favourites. I think I’ve had too many experiences like lunch at Koutouki where the meat is dry, bland, and in that particular instance, overpowered by parsley. Still, I’m always up to try new places, and with a coupon in hand, Mack and I wandered over to It’s All Greek to Me (10127 100A Street) after the Taste of Edmonton last weekend.

Exterior

He had been to the restaurant before with colleagues, citing a positive experience, while this was my first time there. It looked charming enough from the outside, with a string of twinkle lights dangling from the blue awning. Inside, the usual blue and white colour scheme (is there really any other décor palette for Greek eateries?) dominated, with an entire wall of photo displays accented by the requisite smattering of artifacts, memorabilia and ceiling vinery. The casual nature of the dining area, in combination with the dim lighting and quiet corners made me think that It’s All Greek to Me would make a great date spot.

Interior

“You know you’re Greek if…”

The restaurant was moderately busy, with several dining pairs and one group already seated. We were provided with menus, glasses of water, and plenty of time to peruse our options. I wasn’t that hungry to begin with (it was our second dinner, after all), so we opted to share two entrees, and planned on taking the leftovers home for the next day’s meal. Mack and I were both immediately drawn to the Gyros with Pita, donair meat served on pita ($13.50), and for our second plate, settled on the Dolmades ($13.50), grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice.

Our food came in reasonable time. Both plates were dominated by the house salad – iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and a tiny amount of feta tossed with a light vinaigrette. The gyros was fantastic – tender slices of meat, well-seasoned and flavourful – we probably should have just ordered two of this dish. The dolmades were new to me, and I resorted to asking our waitress how to eat it. Being used to banana-leaf wrapped rice, I just wanted to make sure I could consume the outer layer. She assured me that the tender leaves were safe to eat. Tucked inside was a mixture of spiced ground beef and rice, and though it wasn’t bad, there was nothing exceptional about the combination either.

Gyros with Pita

Dolmades

Our waitress was wonderful. While she had a backup who would assist her now and then, the dining area was mostly her domain, and she was able to juggle a number of tables with care. Thus, because of the service, laid back atmosphere, and tasty gyros, I finally have a positive memory to override all of the negative experiences I have had in Greek restaurants. Hurrah for It’s All Greek to Me!

It’s All Greek to Me
10127 100A Street
(780) 425-2073
Lunch: Monday to Friday 11am-2pm; Dinner: Monday to Thursday 5-9pm and Saturday 5-10pm