Tag: Edmonton

Culinary Q & A with Kimmi

Occupation:  Student/Grease Monkey’s Assistant

What did you eat today? 

All Bran bar for breakfast, Homemade Leftover Fajitas for lunch, fish and chips for supper, and wings at Hudsons

What do you never eat?

Cabbage, Eggplant, Most Milk Products (I’m Lactose Intolerant) and Citrus as I am allergic

What is your personal specialty?

I would say my personal specialty would have to be Tacos or Fajitas. As well I make a mean tuna casserole! Dessert wise I would have to say Sex-In-A-Pan!

What is your favorite kitchen item?

This is a hard one, I would have to say my cutting board and a good sharp knife.  Many creations are made there, just randomly adding new and different ingredients to things.

World ends tomorrow. Describe your last meal. 

My last meal would have to be Shake’n’bake chicken, really good Jasmine or Basmati Rice, and Asparagus tips, with Blueberry pie for dessert

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Um, I don’t think that I have a most frequently, I don’t eat out very often, however my favourite by far would have to be Arbys.

What’s the best place to eat in Edmonton? 

The Dish & The Runaway Spoon.  It is a little restaurant off of 124st downtown, and their creations there are just so appetizing and interesting.  Flavour combination is very original there!

If you weren’t limited by geography, where and what would you eat? 

I think that I would go to my parents house for sure! I love my dad’s cooking, I could be more extravagant however, I absolutely everything that my dad makes, and my mom’s baking is TO DIE FOR! She always makes the best desserts! I think I would ask my Dad to make his Shepherds Pie, and have my mom’s icebox cookies or Banana Bread!

Food Notes

  • Vue Weekly released the results for their annual Golden Forks awards last week. I agree with some of the choices (Italian Centre as the best deli, Wildflower Grill as the best new restaurant, Hardware Grill as provider of the ultimate dining experience), but some of the choices, that seem to remain the same year after year, still puzzle me (Creperie as the best for lovers, Barb and Ernie’s for breakfast). I wish the paper did some more analysis, however, and compared this year’s winners with those chosen last year (Calgary’s Fast Forward does a cheeky job of that).
  • See Magazine reviewed a new Indian restaurant on the city’s southeast side, called Rasoi on 50th (4341 50 Street).
  • The Globe & Mail had a great piece about BC residents going the distance to affirm their 100-mile diet commitment by finding farmers to grow grain when they couldn’t source it otherwise.
  • The New York Times has a good primer of an article about the ways in which cities are trying to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.
  • Andrew had a “going-away” dinner at Kyoto (10128 109 Street) last week before his three week trek across Europe. I’ve only had positive experiences at the restaurant – until that day. Our server was either new, or didn’t care very much, and the bento boxes that Megan and I ordered arrived a clear twenty minutes after the other half of the table received their platters of sushi. Unacceptable. Here are some pictures:

The Boys

Andrew & Amber

Kristen & Joe

Bento Box with all things cooked

Rainy Day Comfort: Hoang Long Restaurant

Though I miss the accessibility of greenspace, my new office building provides many walkable lunch options in Chinatown. And on a day when a power outage pointed to the definite detriment of not having a window in my room, it seemed the perfect opportunity to patronize my restaurant neighbours.

The wait at Thanh Thahn Oriental Noodle House was five parties deep at 12:30pm, so I wandered over instead to my second choice – Hoang Long (10715 98 Street).

This was my first visit to the eight month old location (Hoang Long has three locations in Edmonton). The peripheral tables were occupied, but the dining area was surprisingly quiet and mellow, in stark contrast to the bustle and crash of Thanh Thanh. At that point, I knew I made the right choice – I was craving a quiet space to settle in with my daily paper.

The decor of this Hoang Long was surprisingly similar to Thanh Thanh, actually, minus the fish tank. Clean, with natural light, the furnishing were still fairly new. I liked the sleek black tables with hinged extensions, perfect as a work or, in my case, a reading surface.

I knew from experience not to have the Pad Thai again, so went straight for their Northern Vietnam Noodle Soup with rare beef ($7.95). It was a rainy trek from my office, and next to chicken noodle soup, I find that nothing warms from the inside as well as a hot bowl of beef broth.

Ten minutes later, my order was brought to me with a side of bean sprouts, mint, and various sauces. Though cilantro wasn’t present, I was so aghast at the sheer size of the bowl that I hardly noticed. Between the silky-slick rice noodles, savoury, chewy slices of beef, and rich, from-scratch broth, I left Hoang Long feeling full, warmed-through, and thoroughly satisfied.

With expedient, no-nonsense service and good food, Hoang Long may become a go-to restaurant for me in the future.

Menu

Northern Vietnam Noodle Soup with rare beef

Go Only for the Readings: Russian Tea Room

Driven by our desire for new experiences, I met up with Annie, Janice and May at the infamous Russian Tea Room (10312 Jasper Avenue). My coworkers had talked about getting their palms read at the Tea Room, and there have also been a few media spotlights of the stalwart restaurant recently.

Walking in, there was a clear lack of gauzy red curtains and wafting smell of incense – two elements I was expecting. Instead, the dim dining room was lined with large, deli-style coolers showcasing the dessert varieties, and featured chairs and furnishings that likely have never been updated. Two television monitors – one in the bar area and another in the main dining area – were tuned to Entertainment Tonight and Treehouse Television, respectively. The latter set was primed for our waitress’s granddaughter, who had free reign in the room that night.

Interior

Menu

The waitress asked if our party would be interested in readings that night, as we said yes. When we were ready, we would be called up to individual tables on the tiered back area of the restaurant. About a half dozen tables were manned by very casual looking psychics (only one bared any resemblance to Professor Trelawny, heh), all looking ready to offer their sage predictions. Two readings were priced at $30, with the choice of tea, numerology, tarot, and palm.

We decided to satisfy our hunger pangs first, and paged through the menu. I hoped to find more European dishes (similar to the offerings at Bistro Praha), but the menu was decidedly skewed to the West. I ended up ordering the Chicken Crepe ($15.95), which was served with a choice of starch and fresh vegetables while Annie chose the Vegetable Quiche, served with a side salad ($7.95) and Borscht ($3.95), May the stuffed chicken breast ($15.95), and Janice the Combination Plate ($10.95), which included perogies, Ukrainian sausage, a cabbage roll, and rice.

The food took a while to come, allowing us to note the stream of patrons who arrived for readings – while there were a few customers of the younger set, most were older, and seemed like regulars. Not necessarily a negative thing, it did make us feel slightly out of place.

By the time our dishes arrived, we were starving. My crepes looked like they had been made using boxed pancake mix, and unfortunately, they tasted like that too. Sadly, the rest of my plate was no better. The chicken was dry (though the "white wine" sauce helped alleviate that somewhat), the home fries tasted more baked than fried, and the vegetables had been steamed from a frozen package. May was similarly unimpressed with her less-than-moist chicken. Janice and Annie found their dishes all right, and in my opinion, Annie’s entree was the most economical of all.

Chicken crepe with vegetables and home fries

Stuffed chicken breast with vegetables and pasta

Vegetable quiche with Caesar salad

Combination plate with perogies, sausage, cabbage roll and rice

Even before we had all finished our meals, the waitress was already on top of us, asking which one of us wanted to get the reading done (I’m assuming she must have been working on some kind of commission deal with the psychics). May was first up, while the rest of us looked on. Janice and Annie headed to their individual tables soon after May returned. All three of them received mixed truths, with some inaccuracies, for example, on their actual career choices. None of them received any overly negative or foreboding predictions though. And what of my reading, you ask? I am ashamed to admit that I chickened out. I wasn’t psychologically prepared for what could have been a potential arsenal of bad news. In hindsight, it would be a better business practice to offer a positive future outlook, as if even a modicum of the prediction were to actually occur, the chance of repeat visits would be more likely.

Janice and Annie compare their palm lines

 

May getting her palm read

In sum, the Russian Tea Room provides an interesting, off-the-beaten path night out, great for conversation starters and discussions for future hopes. Just go elsewhere for food first.

Teatro la Quindicina: “Revenge of the South Sea Bubble” & “What Gives?”

I was so excited for the first Teatro la Quindicina show of the season (The Exquisite Hour, back in July of 2007, was the last Teatro play on stage) a double billing of the new Revenge of the South Sea Bubble and a revamp of What Gives? While not wholly disappointing, the evening was a mixed bag.

On the website, the Revenge of the South Sea Bubble is presented to be “a captivatingly convoluted noir-ish tale of deceptions compounded by lies, and speculations masquerading as conjecture.” Unfortunately, the one-act is as vague as the description. Involving two librarians, a Marilyn Monroe-esque dancer, a waiter, and a plot that was bereft of any real amusement, it really isn’t worth discussing further. Farren Timoteo as Vasco was endearing in his hyperbolic mannerisms however, and by the end of the evening, thoroughly reminded me of both Mark Meer (in his accent delivery) and Jeff Haslam (in his physical comedy).

What Gives?, a musical comedy, thankfully made up for the first show: “a pair of inspirationally bereft Broadway tunesmiths have their world turned upside down by the unexpected arrival of a pair of Canadian chorines.” Lighthearted and funny, the dialogue really allowed the actors to shine. I particularly liked Kendra Connor’s turn as Allure Potemkin, especially her showstopper of a “Baby Legs” number (Connor has the charm of Andrea House and the sass of Leona Brausen). The staging of “The Shanghai Stir-Fry” was also fairly clever, and as with most productions that don’t take themselves too seriously, it was easy to enjoy.

A Rocky Night for His Nibs is up next in July.

Edmonton Opera: “Falstaff”

When I purchased an Edmonton Opera Explorers’ Club membership last year, my intention was to use it to see Stewart Lemoine’s take on HMS Pinafore and nothing else. After thoroughly enjoying that operetta, to really maximize the membership fee, I thought it best to use my discount towards the last opera of the year, Verdi’s Falstaff.

From the website:

“Based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor, it tells the story of an aging-but-still-randy Sir John Falstaff, who is determined to mend his financial situation by seducing two noblewomen simultaneously. However, (as one would suspect), disastrous, convoluted and wildly funny results arise…. what a man won’t do for love and money!”

As I mentioned in my review of Pinafore, Falstaff was to function as a better litmus test for me determine whether or not I could enjoy opera. Turns out, not so much.

As Pinafore was in English, I didn’t have to rely on the supertitles. For the Italian Falstaff, they were indispensable, and though they helped disseminate the plot and outline the characters, it was exhausting having to dart back and forth from the projected words to the stage antics. As well, I found that I really wasn’t invested in any of the characters – a failing of this particular opera, I admit, and not necessarily true of all productions. But still, I couldn’t care less about the women’s revenge, or the B-plot involving the two young lovers.

To be honest, the most enjoyable part of the evening was the opening five minute video introduction of the 2008/2009 Edmonton Opera season, as presented by Artistic Director Brian Deedrick. He is one excitable man, and for an artform sometimes seen as archaic and irrelevant, I think someone so passionate is exactly the right person to lead the company. When he finally announced the names of each of the three (plus one) shows, Mack and I both could not believe the volume of the collective gasps and sighs emitted by the audience. As someone who would probably do the same upon hearing the new Teatro la Quindicina or Shadow Theatre seasons, I can put myself in an opera-lovers’ shoes, but on that night, I couldn’t help but laugh. If anything, it is good to know that the “opera community” is alive and well in Edmonton.

Would I go to the opera again? Perhaps, for a well-known knockout like La Boheme. Short of that, my opera days are done.

Delivered at your own Expense: Dawat

A combination of three things resulted in our decision to order from Dawat on Saturday: 1) I was feeling particularly lazy; 2) I had been craving Indian food for the last week; and 3) Mack was on a spicy-food streak that he didn’t want to break.

I had read positive things about Dawat (granted, from an eat-in experience), but as the advertisement in the 2007/2008 Yellow Pages restaurants section boasted a promise of free delivery for those in the south side, our decision was made.

We called the Dawat located in Little India (9250 34 Avenue), and ordered Butter Chicken (a must), Beef Vindaloo (always spicy), Mixed Vegetables (for token healthiness), and Garlic Naan (when I asked how big the serving size was, I received a response of “Good enough.”). We had some coconut milk in the house, and though more Thai than Indian, my Mum made us some coconut rice to accompany our dishes.

At the end of our order, I was told the total would be $45.99, including tax. Count me surprised – my estimated total from the prices listed in the Restaurant Pages was closer to $37. It turns out the beef and chicken dishes had increased in cost from $11.95 to $14.95, while the vegetables had gone up from $8.95 to $11.95. Though I don’t regret giving their delivery service a try, it would have been cheaper just to take advantage of their in-house buffet.

At any rate, our order was delivered promptly within the 45 to 60 minute range, with all of our food still fairly hot. The containers were smaller than we expected however, especially given the exorbitant price increase over the last year.

The butter chicken was the definite stand-out of the three – tender meat enveloped in a thick, slightly sweet sauce. It was also the least spicy of the dishes, and the only one I could actually taste; after a few bites of the beef vindaloo and mixed vegetables, I was crying for milk, or anything else that would return the sensation into my mouth.

We had enough food left over for another meal at the end of it, and it did satisfy my craving for Indian cuisine, but because of the expense, I still don’t think it was worth it.

Take-out!

Transcend Coffee

I’m a little torn on whether or not I should even write a review on our visit to Transcend Coffee (9869 62 Avenue), consistently lauded in the media and by local foodies for their approach to coffee. Granted, we had huge expectations, particularly after our sojourn to Calgary’s Phil & Sebastian’s, for an equally fantastic experience. But I’m sad to say that Transcend didn’t live up to the hype.

Surrounded by industrial buildings and warehouses, we weren’t sure what the inside of Transcend would look like. Turns out, they probably ended up choosing the off-the-beaten-path location more for cheap rent than anything else, as they had two whole floors to themselves, with the main floor divided into a retail front space with limited seating and a coffee “laboratory” and roasting area in a separate room in the back.

Count me as surprised when I spotted a Clover on the counter…I guess we didn’t have to head south after all to test out fresh French-pressed coffee. Anyway, I approached the barista with this open question, which in hindsight, probably wasn’t the right way to start off a conversation: “We’re new. Can you provide us with an introduction?” She probed us for our usual coffee preferences, and after telling her that we wanted a lighter brew, she recommended the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. We ordered two regular Clover-brewed cups, which came to $5.

Though I understand that not every independent cafe employee is as outgoing and passionate as the one we encountered at Phil & Sebastian’s, it is difficult not to directly compare the two. Transcend’s barista really wasn’t chatty, and as we surveyed the room, it seemed to us that the Transcend crowd was made up entirely of regulars. That morning anyway, we felt like the odd patrons out.

After an abbreviated wait, we were given two filled coffee-press vessels and two Bodum double-walled glasses. We headed to the second floor to access their additional seating area, and found that we had the room to ourselves. While quiet, the furnishings had us thinking we had infiltrated someone’s home office and living room – between the desk and open files on one side, a mishmash of furniture, and a television in the corner, we didn’t feel as “at home” as we were supposed to.

Our coffee had a light brown hue to it, almost the color it takes on after the addition of milk. It was thin, and to me, had acidic notes to it, though Mack disagreed with that assertion. He remarked about its lack of an aftertaste, but we both noted that it probably wasn’t the type meant to provide that morning jolt – we were ready for more after finishing our cups. After my second brush with Clover-brewed coffee, I’m starting to question whether or not it does make a difference, at least to me. I hope the coffee tasting Mack and I are planning to attend later this spring will shed some light on specialty beans and brewing processes.

Perhaps Phil & Sebastian’s spoiled me, or perhaps I shouldn’t be looking for an “experience” at a cafe, but there has to be something (like the people and the passion behind the coffee) that sets the independents apart from the Starbucks and Second Cups of the world.

Exterior

At the bar

Second floor seating area

Our coffees

MacEwan Theatre Arts: “Hot Mikado”

MacEwan Theatre Arts wrapped up their season with Hot Mikado. From the website:

“The story is based on the Gilbert and Sullivan original The Mikado. In an imaginary Japan, the town of Tittipu has tired of the Mikado’s (emperor’s) law which makes flirting the only crime punishable by death. They appoint a lowly tailor, one Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner, since he has been condemned for flirting, and won’t execute himself or anyone else. Ko-Ko is about to marry his beautiful ward, Yum-Yum, but she is being pursued by a young man of her own age, Nanki-Poo, who is pretending to be a second-trombone player. He is actually the son and heir-apparent of the Mikado, having fled from his father’s court when accused of flirting with the elderly and formidable Katisha, who wants to marry him or have him beheaded. Will Nanki-Poo be executed? Will true love prevail?”

It’s not hard to guess the answer to that question, nor is it a huge leap to assume that the production relies too heavily of the charm on the cast to carry across a fairly trite story. In this case, as with most MacEwan productions, the cast was a mixed bag.

Corey Rogers (Nanki-Poo) and Yemie Sonuga (as Katisha) were both unfortunately unable to carry a tune. Thankfully, there were a few surprises (Adrianne Salmon and Matt Van Boeyen) to help balance out the group, but it was still a bit painful to have to sit through some pretty awful numbers.

Dickson and I were both looking forward to the appearance of Alissa Keogh, who even as a chorus Gentleman #7 in the first half of the production managed to outshine most of her castmates. The second act saw her take a turn as the Mikado, complete with a solo tap performance, which she nailed. Her ease with movement and song will be a loss to the MacEwan stage, but I am certain she will be on to bigger and better things upon graduation.

Also looking forward, the program included a listing of the 2008-2009 theatre season, which includes a play by none other than Stewart Lemoine, which will run from March 13-21, 2009. It seems his departure from the position of Teatro Artistic Director has allowed him the time and space to write for alternative venues like the Edmonton Opera and now MacEwan. Where will he pop up next?

Theatre Network: “Famous Puppet Death Scenes”

Even a day later, I still don’t know what to make of Famous Puppet Death Scenes.

I felt a pang of regret last year when I missed the Calgary’s troop’s performance at the Roxy, having heard many good things about them, so I made sure to note the date of their return engagement in 2008. On Tuesday, we joined a full house to watch re-enactments of the most macabre moments in puppet theatre history.

A fairly standard puppet theatre frame, with a large curtained window flanked by two smaller ones, greeted us on stage. Everything started out well enough, with a rubber puppet resembling a face crafted out of an upside-down chin doing its best to elude a stalking wooden fist intent on destroying it. Scenes featuring this figure doing its best to dodge death (accompanied by some upbeat, trumpet-blaring music) were sprinkled throughout the play, and were always a welcome sight. I couldn’t help but laugh at the way its arms would flop as he did a happy dance.

A host figure (who looked like a green-tinged Albert Einstein) was used as a unifying force of sorts, trying to stitch together the individual scenes by posing thoughtful questions. But with some of the rather comic deaths following such requested introspection, pointed reflection quickly dissolved into laughter. Still, the sequences that were punctuated with humor ended up being my favourites, including the squeaky-voiced German figures that had to choose between two fateful doors, game-show style, or the futuristic, immortal Johnny Depp-lookalike aliens who had no concept of death. Unfortunately, funny was few and far between. The majority of the scenes involved more symbolic, solemn representations of death, such as the role of time in its erosion of life (in the morose but excruciatingly slow The Cruel Sea), the long, telling blink from a single large eye in The Last Whale, or the flight of King Jeff the Magnificent through space. By the end of the play, I was so exhausted from trying to stay awake that any profound message I was meant to gather would have been lost on me.

Content aside, I did appreciate the craftsmanship that must have gone into the puppets themselves. The Old Trout Puppet Workshop demonstrated their expertise with different types of material and a variety of styles, including marionettes and hand puppets. Mack liked the distinct backdrops used to set the individual scenes, which helped the viewer imagine the type of world that particular puppet inhabited (the alley created for The Beast of Muggditch Lane had great lighting too).

While I don’t deny the chance that I simply didn’t understand what the company was trying to get across, I think it is quite possible as well that the premise of the play – funnelling through unrelated, random sequences from multiple sources – may ultimately have reduced the connection that could be fostered between characters and an audience throughout the course of a full-length play. So although death was the common link throughout, Famous Puppet Death Scenes was too plodding and scattered for me to recommend.