crazy white girl with a kitchen

It is not often I dedicate a post to a single food item, but due to time constraints and overall fabulousity of this item, it must be done.

On Friday night I buzzed down to Elm Cafe to get a latte at a late hour. Nate mentioned he was whipping up 20 (and only 20) chicken and waffle sandwiches the next day – Saturday morning. The waffles were from Eva Sweet, the food truck darling here in Edmonton and the chicken from Four Whistle farm, lovingly braised and tenderized by Nate. I knew I had to get one. (or two!)

Saturday morning I waited until he tweeted that the sandwiches were ready and nearly ran down. It had really only been about 2 minutes since he tweeted, but already people were filling up Elm Cafe to get a bite of the action. It proved to be a very popular item – Elm sold out of the sandwich in just over an hour.

It was pretty fantastic, I have to say. The outside was crispy and carmelized with syrup, butter and chicken renderings. Inside, the savoury chicken offset the sweetness. I kind of wished the sandwich was a bit juicier – perhaps the addition of some more syrup at home would have remedied this. Nate also forgot to put the argula in our ‘wichs, but I don’t think it was a great loss.

It was a fantastic decadent treat, and I felt very privileged to be able to eat one. Limited edition food is the future!

Friend and former chef Connor graced Mike and I with his presence for a few days in Edmonton before continuing onto his new home, Berlin. We decided to indulge our love of great burgers and make some from scratch.

It was my first weekend off of work where I did not have anything else to do: no packing, no wedding crap, no appointments of any kind, so I spent some time at the City Center farmer’s market that Saturday. There, I picked up some peahen, goose and duck eggs from Greens, Eggs and Ham, asparagus from Edgar Farms, tomatoes from Gull Valley and morels from Mo-Na foods. To round out the menu, buns from Cobs, strip loin from Save On and beer from Sherbrooke Liquor store.

I may bitch about this city, but I am going to miss Edmonton and the local suppliers I’ve grown to take for granted.

Sauteeing the Mo-Na morels

Greens, Eggs and Ham goose and peahen eggs. Duck and turkey eggs are also quite good.

Edgar Farms asparagus ready for grilling

I am not really a Rubbermaid fan, but I do use two items from their catalogue frequently: bowls with snap down lids and the burger press. They’re great at shaping perfect burgers. We ground up the strip loin and it made the most exquisitely rich and meaty patties.

All meat, no fillers, save for some onion and seasonings.

Connor can simply touch a piece of meat and know when it’s done, so we put him in charge of the grilling, which was done at my parent’s place.

Loading up the burgers with fixings; home made mayo, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, Fallot mustard … perfect burgers, if you ask me.

Hopefully we’ll get to do this one more time before hitting Okinawa.

One of the most difficult things for me to get over about moving away is that our neighbourhood is full of great food that surrounds us in a one block radius. With 45 seconds of walking I can have anything I want for dinner, ranging from Middle Eastern delights at La Shish, gelato and med bread on the sunny patio at Famoso, wings and beer at On the Rocks and deep dish pizza at Rosebowl.

There’s a new kid on the block though, and they are ready to play. Elm Cafe had a soft open today, offering up coffees, some sandwiches and muffins (breakfast, cold and hot.)

How lucky for me I had to visit the post office today, and “had” to stop in at Elm Cafe on the way back. It’s a place you may not immediately notice on your first drive by unless you live in the neighbourhood and notice things like these, but I predict the clean store front with vinyl decals will become a lunch landmark soon.

It’s a small place, but that shouldn’t put you or anyone off, despite the obvious problem I can see with people eventually lining up out the door and down the street for a fresh healthy sandwich. It’s a well oiled machine, even on their first day of operation at high noon – a giveaway that chef and proprietor Nate Box knows what he’s doing, so you won’t wait long.

Nate pulls an espresso

Nate looked for a space suitable for his endeavour for some time, and decided that the size of the space would not put him off. He’s doing a great thing; adding to the community and making great product out of a tiny spot. I can relate as a five foot tall woman – great things come in small packages!

There are beautiful photos depicting lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) on the walls, and a small bar to drink your coffee at. Things did get a bit hectic with people coming in to share their well wishes and order food, but groups came and went quite quickly. I did spy Giselle Beggs from Duchess Bakeshop and Shelly Solarz of Parlour Magazine checking out the place.

Menu for Elm Cafe, featuring light fare meant to take away.

The space is this: a long serving bar on the west side of the room and …

… a seating bar on the east side of the room. It was pretty busy as you can see.

Elm Cafe’s sandwiches were on a slightly chewy roll, wrapped up in paper for easy transport back to the office, or park or home…wherever you want to eat them.

I got a hot sandwich, the chick pea veggie one with olives, a host of herbs and lots of olive oil. I also got a cold chicken salad with creamy mayo, grapes, crunchy radish and apples nestled up against chunks of tender chicken. The bread was really incredible; I want to know the source!

Mike insisted we split and I’m glad we did because even after eating both, I still can’t decide what my favourite was. You could taste the care in these ‘wiches. They’re called “craft sandwiches” on the website, and the name is suitable.

Mediterranean sandwich

At $8 a pop, the sandwiches are well priced considering the work that goes into them. If you want to spend less, Subway is just around the corner so you’re welcome to go eat some trash for lunch. I’m sticking to Elm Cafe. I can’t wait to try the soups.

Welcome to the neighbourhood, guys!

—

Elm Cafe
#100, 10140 – 117 Street
(kitty corner from Rosebowl, below Stratica Pharmacy)
Edmonton, Alberta
Mon, Tues, Wed 7-5
Thurs, Fri 7-7
Sat 8-4
Sunday closed

In recent years, the area around the University has exploded with dining options. I remember when it seemed there was just crappy chinese at Ho Ho’s in HUB, Earl’s (too rich for my student blood), Great Canadian Bagel, Gaya Korean, Sugarbowl (a bit too far) and Wendy’s to pick from. I used to do all night study sessions during spring exam season and would walk over to Wendy’s at midnight to grab some chili, lamenting there weren’t better selections in the area.

Well, there are now a multitude of choices including, but not limited to: Hudson’s, Sobey’s, Good Earth Cafe, Burrito Libre, and one of the newest members of the team – Rodeo Burgers. I stopped in on a weeknight to grab some burgers, and was pleasantly surprised with my burger.

It’s the mama burger joint, with the daddy burger being Hudson’s (prices at $11-20 a burger) and the baby being Wendy’s ($1.29-5 burgers), which are nearby. Prices at Rodeo Burgers run the $5-9 range, and they are also licensed, so they are a good midway between the two other joints.

It’s a nice place, renovated from the Chinese restaurant that used to be there and next to a Burrito Libre location. It was a bit reminiscent of a Chipotle restaurant, with wood floors and steel tables as the main features. The tables looked a lot like the ones from Grandma D’s BBQ (R.I.P) in the west end, actually.

They primarily offer lunch and dinner, but did have a large “coming soon” sticker over a breakfast section on their menu.

Rodeo Burgers makes a lot of claims. I’m happy to say they came through on many of these.

The restaurant offers a plethora of toppings including a few kinds of ketchup, raw and caramelized onions, bacon, fresh relish and even some odder things like jalapenos in cream cheese and guacamole. It’s hard to tell if their housemade claims are true on items like ketchup and sauces, but the fresh relish was definitely legit, so one would assume they have no reason to cover up.

I found the fries a bit pricey (in the New York Fries price territory at $4-5) but they looked substantial and fresh cut, as they say. I’ll have to try them next visit.

I got Mike the namesake Rodeo burger, and I got a modified Lonestar burger with spicy jalapenos in cream cheese. The ingredients were indeed fresh and delicious. The lettuce crunched instead of being limp in your mouth, and there were a lot of other toppings going on as well.

The bun was fresh, which makes a huge difference.

I suppose my only complaint would be that the patty itself wasn’t that substantial. It’s not necessary a problem, as you can upgrade to two patties easily, but it’s just something to be aware of. Hudson’s Burgers are meaty and big;  it is where I go when I need a BURGER. Wendy’s on the other hand is more of a light snack, for I often get the junior burgers. Again, Rodeo Burgers falls in the middle, with a thin style patty, but a lot of toppings. I feel that the toppings really shine, but almost overpower the meatiness.

I would return, especially for a quick casual bite for when I don’t want to spend an hour eating at Hudson’s.

Also, here’s a bonus. Mike does pottery at a studio just off Whyte Avenue. Next door, a space has been renovated to become this, what appears to be an Indian restaurant (possibly banquet hall?) called Narayanni’s. It is a block south of Whyte Avenue at 101 Street and 81 Avenue.

—-

Rodeo Burgers
8525B 112 Street (across from the University Hospital)
Edmonton
780-435-6733
website not working yet: www.rodeoburger.com

Narayanni’s
(coming soon)
101 Street and 81 Avenue
Edmonton

You can tell it’s been a while since I have had enough free time just to tool around the city, since I’ve been so oblivious to openings and closings!

Kabuki has opened at what is shaping up to be a very busy food corner near the Garneau Theatre at 109 Street and 87-88 Avenue. In an area already home to a Japanese restaurant (Kyoto), there is also an Italian restaurant (Fiore), Dominos Pizza, Phobulous Vietnamese Soup, Remedy Cafe, DaCapo Caffe, Sugarbowl, High Level Diner and now Kabuki. Soon to come: Transcend Coffee and Whimsical (Cup)Cake Studio. And that’s not even counting even more restaurants not even a block south. Remember the days when Keegan’s 24 hour cafe anchored that strip mall on 109 Street? Yikes!

While at West Edmonton Mall yesterday, I already had a hot cuppa from Starbucks when I saw a new tea studio opened, overlooking the Santa Maria boat. David’s Tea is a Canadian chain with 11 locations that started in Montreal, and is a tea bar. I was intrigued by their “tea martini” but they also offer plain cups of tea, and many retail items, including tea related gifts and loose leaf tea. It kind of reminded me of Teavana in the U.S.

Finally, the tarp seems to be down at Parkallen Restaurant, but renovations continue. Their sign (but not their website) says they are still open limited hours for takeout during their renovations. Good news for my coworker who loves their pizza.

I’ve sent my camera away with Mike who is on a backcountry ski trip, so I apologize for the dearth of photos.

I am hoping it has moved but it would seem that vegan restaurant Way of Life/Mode de Vie has closed here in Edmonton.

The house it occupied at the corner of 116 Street and 102 Avenue will soon be filled by an Indian restaurant creatively named Bistro India according to the sign outside. It joins Zaika Bistro & Bar and Karma – The Indian Bistro as Indian restaurants in the city using the “bistro” term.

I hope what it lacks in nomenclature originality it makes up for in quality food, since it is just a few blocks from where I live.

Evan, a friend, has been really hot for Korean food lately. He came back a while ago from a year abroad of working in the Philippines, and ate Korean food there a lot. He’d heard good things about B-Bim-Baab, so we trucked over to check it out.

The eatery has lived in Edmonton for more than 30 years but was rechristened as B-Bim-Baab a few years ago. The decor has not changed, though. Let me tell you, this place is OLD. SCHOOL.

The scent of WD-40 or very strong cleaning products hung in the air when we entered, and it was kind of off-putting. Dark wood encased enclaves servings as booths reminded me of an old school steakhouse. It’s kind of purpose serving though; I’m sure the nearby industrial businesses that supply the lunch crowd don’t care about decor on their quick visits.

We started with some seasonal appetizers; peanuts in soy and pickled radishes alongside traditional sesame dressed bean sprout salad and kimchi. The two spicy pickled dishes had a real kick to them, so I metered small bites of them with the light bean sprout salad and the curiously chewy peanuts I could not get enough of.

We all got a dish and shared. The servings were generous, but we all left just full enough with no leftovers. Mike got spicy beef bul-gol-gi and Evan a spicy tofu and beef soup that I think was called yuk gae jang. I found both of these dishes a bit spicy for my liking, but I cooled my mouth with my dish.

I got the dolsot b-bim-baab, a mixed rice dish also known as bibimbap. The dolsot means “hot pot” which refers to the stone cauldron the dish comes in.

The waitress brought it over and asked if I wanted it mixed for me. I nodded yes, and after a generous squirt of hot sauce, she started mixing. The raw egg sitting on top cooked as it hit the side of the bowl, mixing with rice, bean sprouts, green onion, carrot and beef. As the dish sits, it keeps the contents hot and crisps up the rice so it gets crunchy.

Mike said he was happy to have an alternative spicy food to Indian or Thai when he was craving the hot stuff, and I have to agree.

There aren’t very many options for Korean cuisine in Edmonton, but I’m glad to say that B-Bim-Baab seems to be a good choice…even if I did get a case of MSG dry mouth after. Sigh.

—

B-Bim-Baab
9543 42 Ave
Mon-Fri 11:30am-10pm
Sat noon-10pm
Buffet at lunch 11:30-2pm, Mondays through Friday.

My brother, ever a whirlwind, blew into town from Kelowna this weekend. I immediately insisted we go dress shopping in Sherwood Park. My TRUE motive was to get him to go to Cafe Haven with me, though.

I first read about Cafe Haven on foodiesuz’s website and have stored it away in my brain for my  next visit to the bedroom community of Sherwood Park. I often go to Costco there, and you know what they say about shopping on an empty stomach!

I must confess cafes in Edmonton (other than Sugarbowl, da capo or Tesoro) turn me off. I think of schizophrenic menus, glass cases half full of stale baked goods and sad cups of coffee when I think cafe here. Hence, I went into Cafe Haven with a cautious approach.

Cafe Haven’s glass cases were full of deliciousness!

My concerns were unwarranted.

This little cafe has it goin’ on. In the community where I imagine Starbucks and Second Cup are the norm for caffeine junkies, Cafe Haven was bumping. Located in a strip mall in the space of a former bank (there is even an old vault), it is full of eclectic decorations and furniture, and features a limited but focused menu (lunch fare, mostly) and helpful staff. I totally agree with foodiesuz/Susan’s sentiments about most coffee shop menus being disjointed and all over the place. That said: Haven nails all the good stuff.

We both got sandwiches and I got a London Fog to drink. There were many other things that piqued my interest: nachos (!), pumpkin pie, hummus, soup. Their menu changes for the autumn/winter seasons and then again for spring and summer. There is also brunch (the menu changes weekly), catering… it’s a wonder cafe!

The brunch menu is taped up, but also updated online. They will be having a Valentines Day brunch as well.

My London Fog came out quickly and was, hands down, one of the best I have ever had. Along with a nutmeg-y sugar blend, there were curls of orange peel on top of the rich foam, adding a citrus brightness to the creamy tea blend. I do regret not getting a latte though; their latte art is beautiful and their beans are from Transcend.

Grilled pumpkin feta pesto spinach panini. The pumpkin was odd, but amazing. It just worked. My brother got chicken brie. He found the brie a bit sloppy and gooey, but otherwise the sandwich was delicious.

While we visited midday, they are open for dinner as well and are licensed. They had a posting for a short story slam, and while normally I might scoff at such things, I thought it was a good idea for a great space.

I will definitely be back, maybe as soon as for Valentines Day brunch.

Lunch for two with two drinks was about $22, and on my brother. Thanks Tory!

–

Cafe Haven
9 Sioux Road
Sherwood Park
Mon – Fri 8am – 9pm
Sat 9am – 6pm
Sun 10am – 4pm

oh. And just for fun…

bubble hems are not for me.

Side entrance to Zinc. You may also enter through the main foyer of the AGA.

On Sunday January 31, the Art Gallery of Alberta reopened after being closed for nearly five years of renovations. The new building made a lot of promises: more gallery space, better exhibits, a stunning exterior and new spaces for restaurants and cafes. Tuesday February 2 marked the first day of operations of the flagship restaurant, Zinc. (Or is that ZIИC?)

Naturally, I have been excited about Zinc for sometime. Working where I do l afforded me the ability to see a lot of behind the scenes photos as things were put together going up to the big day, and doing a site tour of the Art Gallery of Alberta as a possible wedding venue amped up the excitement even more.

Visiting on the first day of a restaurant’s opening is a different experience, and not one necessarily recommended. Service may lack smoothness, menus could be in the process of being tweaked and may not be complete yet, and everything is in a state of change and upheaval.

I attempted to make reservations earlier in the week on their online reservation system, but it wasn’t operational yet. It wasn’t clear what number I should call to reach the restaurant, but the woman manning the phones at the AGA’s main number put me through.

We arrived a bit late for the 7pm reservation, but were seated in a mostly empty restaurant. Perhaps we missed the dinner rush, or perhaps there was just less hype about the restaurant than I expected.

The room, and building, are stunning. Some have criticized the design to be a non-Gehry designed Frank Gehry style building, and there are definite similarities, but the building is stunning nonetheless…especially when compared to the building before. Many people walking by stopped to peer in and more than once a car slowed to a crawl outside as the occupants stared as the impressive curvy zinc facade.

The restaurant itself has soaring zinc ceilings, with large ENORMOUS windows. Sitting near them, it was not chilly at all, however. Cool blue light accents the metallic accessories which is equalized by a warm yellow glow from candles and the bell tower at nearby City Hall. It’s a very industrial room, but also cozy due to carefully placed dividers and a gorgeous Douglas Fir wall. The view is quite captivating as it overlooks the square and City Hall, and I imagine in the summer it will be a great place to grab a drink before attending a festival or event in Churchill Square.

After we were seated our (very) green waitress asked us if it was our first visit to the restaurant which amused me a great deal. She was definitely still learning the ropes, but was careful to do things the right way in a restaurant of this calibre, like serve from the right and switch out cutlery after each course.

The menu was an abbreviated version of what is to come, and is expected to change seasonally, according to sommelier and maitre d’ Claude Fournier. He came around twice to see how we liked our meals, and took our thoughts and concerns very seriously. It’s nice to get someone who cares about the answer when they ask the question. Claude also said that Chef David Omar and him hope to have dishes which reflect the different exhibits in the gallery at that time. I’m excited a restaurant in Edmonton (other than the Blue Pear) will focus on a varied rotating menu. Although he is not a beer fan (“I cannot stand the yeast,” Claude said) he hopes to do beer pairing as well at some point.

At first glance, it seemed that there was a lot going on in the menu. I saw a lot of food trend buzzwords like foam, gelee and the like. I was also alarmed by the amount of flavours appearing on a single dish. For instance, the fois gras ballotine. However, they were all variations on anise, and it really worked in the end. There were only three appetizers plus a soup and five mains available to order. Later, two desserts (which we had to pass on.)

There is also a large cocktail list with some interesting libations available, and a selection of Alberta beers, but all in the bottle.

Our amuse bouche was served in a tiny coffee cup and was an extremely cold, extremely bland cream cheese avocado “pudding” with ginger. Thank god for the overly zingy ginger, because there was NOTHING going on in this otherwise. It did not amuse my mouth at all.

The housemade butter was angelic. Fennel with spring onion and fleur de sel. It was served with brioche baked in house.

Foie gras appetizer. A slice of foie gras with salted licorice caramel ice cream, black sambuca gelee, coriander apple with salad and brioche toast. As I mentioned previously, this dish sounded all over the map, like there was too much going on. Turns out: it was pretty good! The saltiness balanced well with the sweetness and the anise flavours just worked with the foie gras. The brioche provided just enough crunch for the creamy foie gras.

My dish was less successful. I had the beet salad. The Good: the presentation (like a salad painting!), the parsnip goat cheese puree, fresh carrot juice as a palate cleanser and rose honey reduction. The Bad: Rose honey reduction was hidden on the bottom of my salad, creating an unbalanced sticky glop of flavour as my greens disappeared and the beet “carpaccio” was kind of ridiculous. They’re just raw beets. And they were hard to cut. In addition the beets that were supposed to be roasted were not and were mostly crisp and hard as well.

“Taste of Alberta” main. At $44 this was the most expensive item on the menu. It featured (left to right) bison short ribs, caribou and a saskatoon berry sausage on a bed of braised red cabbage, artichokes and gnocchi. On top, a drizzle of spice chocolate sauce. To put it lightly, disappointing. While the short ribs were toothsome and savoury and moist, the sausage was dry, as was the caribou. How dry? This dry:

This caribou does NOT look succulent.

Wild Alberta pickerel with pickled mushrooms, edamame, beets and warm potato espuma.

I waffled on a main, but finally went with fish. I just HAD to know what “potato espuma” was. I was pleasantly surprised by this dish; it really knocked it out of the park. The pickled mushrooms perked up what is a relatively plain, light fish, and the glorified mashed potatoes just worked. Espuma is supposed to be more of a foam, but this is more of a light creamy mash. Menu error? I was left wanting more; the serving size was adequate but I just wanted to taste more.

I will have to return before I make any firm decisions, but this first visit left me wanted more of the good and less of the bad. I sense great things in the making, though, so I will remain hopeful and try to not judge before they are fully operational.

Dinner for two (two courses each), with one beer ran about $130.

Liane Faulder wrote a preview about Zinc in the Journal a few weeks ago: Zinc offers beautiful food, by design

–

Zinc at the Art Gallery of Alberta
Open for lunch and dinner service everyday but Monday
Sunday Brunch is also served
780.392.2501
online reservations also available

People have long argued over what kind of pizza is better: thin crust or deep dish. I’m of the opinion that the best is thin crust, which is why I love Edmonton-based Tony’s Pizza Palace. I try not to eat it too often, but probably average once a month. While they do fantastic pizzas, the pasta that comes out of the kitchen is rustic and satisfying. But best of all: the Italian pretzel.

For $7.95, this is no wimpy snack. I wouldn’t even characterize it as an appetizer, since if you ate even a quarter of it with a salad or soup, it would be a full blown meal. When I want something crispy, chewy, salty and spicy, this is what I crave.

Tony’s crust is what keeps me going back, and this takes that dough, twists and swirls it, tops it with garlic, spices, anchovies and olive oil and bakes it. God, it is good. I’m fantasizing now as I write about it.

I know, I know. I’m late to the party on this one. But I have spent most of December either locked down because of the cold or because the video game Fallout 3 is ruling my life, and I have been sitting on this post. But I’ll tell you right now, if you enjoy baking or just like having access to a huge selection of products, get your ass over to Bulk Barn now.

Many of you who are well-versed in Edmonton’s food are well aware of Bulk Barn and its opening in town. It is a Ontario-based chain that opened their first franchise in Edmonton in late November. My mom had just been singing the praises of the store on her trip through Lethbridge enroute to Montana in September and how good it was when she was in Thunder Bay. Well it is finally here.

So what makes it different than the already good bulk sections of Save On Foods and Superstore? For one, the selection. There are thousands of products here. They may not all be in rotation at the same point, as some products are seasonal, but there is a huge cross section of items. Second: everything is fresh, well stocked, and clean. Also, the items can be measured so that there is little waste when you use them, stopping products you use only a few times a year from going stale.  Lastly, the prices are amazing.

Don’t think the items are limited to just flour and spices, either. There are wet products, pet products, natural foods and supplements as well as specialty cake pans for rent, and baking tools.

As a baker, I went nuts buying specialty flour and ingredients. I also picked up a friend’s favourite hard to find snack: chocolate dipped jujubes, and mailed them to her in Calgary.  Ibought items for snacking on, for sharing at the office… and for eating in the car ride home.

Pet products, ranging from bird seed to dog food and hamster munchies. No crickets for MY pets though.

The wet bar features nut butters.

Nifty machine for corn syrup. This is where most of my ingredients for marshmallows came from. I was surprisingly accurate in measuring out the products, so there was little waste: something I was really happy about.

Pipette bag tips for icing and decorating.

Cake pans were a mere $1.99 a day (with deposit) and if you could think of it, they had it. (Well, mostly…)

Clean clean clean! It should also be mentioned there were a lot of bags, pencils and twist ties. No struggling with broken or missing pens. As a bonus, for those of you who do not like writing down numbers on tiny tags with tiny pencils, the staff will look up SKU codes at the checkout. You’ll save time if you do it yourself, though.

Of course, a huge selection of candy, including over 40 Christmas products for the season. These jawbreakers were the size of ping-pong balls.

Many MANY spices here.

Rainbow of sprinkles, and other baking decorations.

The best was that they had take-home directions for many products, such as buttermilk power and soya milk powder.

Nuts on sale. Ranging from regular dry roasted to specially flavoured and smoked.

More cooler wet bar products. Kind of industrial looking, but clean.

The offerings of just one aisle. I love that “health food” is down the same aisle as candy and chocolate.

Many gluten-free and restricted diet products here. A god send for those of you who find it hard to get these products, or if you find them pricey.

So, Bulk Barn is basically amazing. I can only describe it as turning up the volume on bulk foods. Take your average product, such as yogurt covered raisins and multiply it: suddenly there are yogurt covered cherries, blueberries and cranberries. You buy how much you need, they offer discounts to students and seniors, and you get coupons when you check out for use on future visits. I highly recommend the honey mustard pretzels by the way.

Other Edmonton food bloggers have long ago written about this place, including Chris over at Eating is the Hard Part.

Bulk Barn
2077 98 Street
(In South Edmonton Common, near Superstore and Bed Bath & Beyond)
(780) 461-4454

The Bothy is the new darling on the Edmonton food scene. I’ve been waiting a while for this place to open. The promise of charcuterie got me drooling! Seems it has filled a gap in the Edmonton market as the place has been packed on both visits I have paid.

We left for the restaurant late, knowing the kitchen was open until 10:30. It’s nice to have a late night dining option that isn’t fried Sysco food.

The location is odd, but not crazy. It is Edmonton, after all. It’s near a few clothing stores, a car dealership and wine store in a strip mall off Calgary Trail south. It seems to fit for the restaurant, as it is narrow and long, featuring a prominent glossy bar. It was shockingly humid in the restaurant that first visit; it must have something to do with the wine. It was nice to be very warm on a cold evening, though.

They feature a long living wine list and many kinds (90+) of whisky. While they did not have champagne by the glass when I first visited, they do now, including a decadent offering from Krug. They also pour two and five ounce glasses of wine from the Enomatic machine. Maybe this will be the place to finally learn about wine.

We started with a three item charcuterie platter. Many of the items are sourced in Alberta, but I was disappointed to see there were no Valbella products. Most products come via shops I already frequent, like the Italian Centre or Paddys Cheese, so this wasn’t as mind blowing as I had hoped. I’d love to see some housemade sausages or pâté find their way onto the menu.

Here: roquefort, smoked cheddar and pork rillettes. It came with some tiny dabs of condiments, some pesto on token greens and some very crusty, half cut bread. I found it hard to tear off pieces from the loaf, which sent crumbs skittering across the table.

Bread crumbs all over the table! They remained the entire meal, too. Oh well, it’s a casual joint.

In contrast to the long wine menu, the food menu is short. But, they know their strengths. They were sold out of haggis, so that left salad or housemade savoury pies. We followed up the charcuterie board with the pies. I got the outstanding tomato infused Provencal pie with creamy mashed potatoes.

The pastry was flaky and delicious, and definitely homemade.

Mike got steak and mushroom, with the soup of the day: tomato-bacon. It was the real standout at the meal. It was thick as tomato sauce, but rich and smoky in flavour. Very filling and satisfying.

I tried the salad on the next visit, which I can only describe as puzzling. It was spicy arugula with shavings of parm cheese and a very mild, lightly applied lemon vinaigrette. That’s it. Greens and cheese. For $11. So I can’t say I recommend their salads. There was definitely something lacking.

There was a lot of “mall art” in the space. Weird paintings featuring wine…and Marilyn Monroe. This one hadn’t made it up yet though. It was hiding in the wine room.

As we were preparing to leave, a familiar face from work stumbled in, my friend and fellow blogger Ben Gelinas. He and his friends got there after the kitchen closed, but ordered some whisky, including cracking this Glenfarclas 1979 which Andrew is holding. It runs $69 a serving. The bottle is a cool $1700.

Service was all over the map. Know that it can be incredibly busy, and it may take a while to get your order in. Chef Kevin Ostapek came out to greet us, and two of the three servers were on the ball..the third seemed to spend every spare minute fighting with the restaurant POS system.

Oh, and a word on the name. It is a reference to small shelter found in the wild areas of Scotland, meant to protect people against the elements or provide a restful refuge, if needed. I hope to find myself in need of refuge soon…

The Bothy
5482 Calgary Trail
780.761.1761
closed Mondays