The restaurants
When we aren't busy cooking for Dinner Club, or thinking about cooking for Dinner Club, we're on the lookout for restaurants to try. Every other month Dinner Club opts for a meal out. Lucky for us the selection of bold, delicious and innovative dining in Edmonton is second to none. Restaurant choices over the years have ranged from fine dining to neighbourhood hole in the walls and everything in between. The only rule is no chain resturants allowed, other than that the sky's the limit! Check here for our impartial reviews of restaurants we frequent.
Bar Bricco - September 17, 2014
Who cut the cheese? Well, we all did and boy was there lots to cut. Gooey delicious, mouthwatering cheese. Yolanda did well in choosing this recently opened cozy eatery on Jasper Avenue right next door to the popular Corso 32.
When we arrived at the restaurant we saddled up at the bar and enjoyed some bevies before our table was ready. The place was packed and even the resting bar along the front window provided barely a place to rest your drink...or elbow for that matter. Not too shabby for a Wednesday night in downtown Edmonton. The place had a definite hipster vibe though the clientele was more a mix of after work drinkers, downtown yupsters, old and young and yes, the preverbial hipsters in their checkered shirts and skinny jeans.
The food. What can we say about the food. Bricco is tapas style with lots of small bites to share. For the meat eaters in the house there is a good offering of meats to try...a la charcuterie style. The salumi tasting platter looked like an Oscar Myers explosion. Seeing two skinny girls beside us chow through the salumi platter was akin to that scene from Hannible where...oh, never mind. Back to the night. Salima, who had dined here a couple of times was our guide for the evening and she did not dissapoint. We started with the delicate egg yolk raviolo. Scrumptious. Fresh ravioli that melted in your mouth with a combination of soft cheese and egg yolk. This plate arrived at the same time as a heavenly bowl of panzanella salad with fresh tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, bread and just the right amount of garlic and oil. Next, we shared the Fonduta Agnolotti dal Plin with sage butter and parmigiano...which is a fancy way of saying pasta dunked in butter and rolled in cheese. As Salima demonstrated, the idea was not so much to dunk the pasta in the melted butter but rather soak the pasta - drown the pasta - until it reached its maximum absorbancy. Step two, roll the little sucker in as much cheese as possible before popping in your mouth. We almost went to fisticuffs over who got to eat the last of these little gems. Salima and Corey being the meat eaters in the group chose a plate of Smoked Pancetta to share. Who knew smoked pancetta resembled raw bacon? Not us. Even seasoned meat eater Salima could not stomach the site of curled raw pig. It was up to Corey to clear the meat plate, which he did in fine form. The pancetta, though resembling raw bacon was delicate on the tounge and almost melted in your mouth. The meat paired well with the cheese tasting plate and selection of breads that arrived at the same time. The cheese tasting platter, while small, featured a good combination of soft and hard cheeses. The platter was paired with a truffle and black pepper honey and housemade pair marmelatta. The platter lacked some of the more daring and bold cheeses of the world but all in all pretty decent. Partnered with the condiments and fresh rosemary foccacia it was a solid hit. With all that cheese behind us, and meat for one of us, it was on to dessert. House made chocolate truffles. Yum. Rich and buttery. A delectible end to a delicious meal.
All in all, Bar Bricco was a hit. Thoroughly enjoyed by all of us. The service was excellent, ambience was cozy - hipster without pretension trendy and style'n with a great downtown vibe. The tapas style let everyone enjoy something a little different. Thanks Bar Bricco for a fantastic night out!
Rostizado - November 28, 2014
Tonight was one of those nights that required - strike that - demanded a night out somewhere warm and cozy. Afterall, the temperature had dropped to -30C and the 30 plus centimeters of snow was not helping to thaw things out. What a joy it was to open the front door to Rostizado and be greeted with warmth, amazing smells and lively atmosphere, not to mention fantastic friends!
Rostizado's is a relatively new restaurtant opened by the owners of Tres Carnales. Gotta say expectations were surging for this place given how much we all love the orginal Tres Carnales. Rostizado's did not dissapoint. When we arrived there was a bit of wait and the hostess directed us to a comfy seating area which nicely enough was away from the front door and centered as a sort of living room in the front half of the restaurant. Comfortable oversized couches, latin cookbooks on nearby shelves, the biggest vinyl collection north of Whyte Ave. and record players to boot. The atmosphere had a chilled, comfortable and welcoming vibe...it felt pretty easy just to relax and feel right at home.
While we waited for our table we perused the drink and dinner menu and at our first opportuity selected an array of cocktails. Wow. Totally blown away by the cocktails. Perhaps not the most extensive drink list in the City but these were good...not just good but fresh, inventive and increbibly flavourful.
We didn't have to wait long before we were seated at our table. Service the entire night was outstanding from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. We ordered a couple of appetizers to match our next round of cocktails. To start, we shared the ceviche de robalo and the queso fundido. Let's start with the ceviche. Deleciate sea bass with just the right amount of citrus. The orange segments and avocado slices provided an extra burst of flavour and texture. Served with house made tortilla's it was the perfect start to dinner. The queso fundido was a mixture of cheese, mushrooms, onions and poblano chile strips served sizzling in a small cast iron fry pan. The fundido packed just the right amounf of heat but not so much that you couldn't taste the smokiness of the gouda and freshness of the mushrooms.
For our mains we chose different options and shared a number of smaller side dishes. The restaurant concept is focused on family style eating, which we did. That said, sometimes you just don't feel like sharing. Yolanda had the smoked salmon sopes, tequila cured salmon smoked with mesquite served in a hand-made corn flour sope with an avocado cream salso, radishes and white onion. Kristy sampled the vegetarian options including the jicama salad, fresh jicama, pickled red onion, orange segments, cumcumber, mint and lime juice and a side of roasted carrot salad. Salima had the gorditas with pancita. Pancita, translation pork belly is delicious in any language. The gorditas consisted of slow braised pancita, tucked into a corn flour gordita with frijoles refritos, salsa verde, picked red onion and cilantrol. Corey had the rosti-puerco sandwich, a sliced roasted pork, chimichurri, pulled cheese served on a fresh baked sesame seed bun with roasted potatoes. This sandwich was incredible. The meat was loaded with flavour and spices and piled mile high on an oversized bun. The group of us shared the fire roasted cauliflower and salteados verdes. The roasted cauliflower was one of the crowd favourites. Big florets of tender crisp cauliflower charred and smokey, loaded with spices and flavour...wowsers. These were delicious. Our other side, the salteados verdes was seasoned greens with poblano strips and pumpkin seeds. The salteados, like all the other dishes was bursting with flavour.
While the dj spun records beside our table we settled on sharing a single dessert - churros con dulce de leche and the house coffee. The churros were crispy on the outside gooy in the centre and combined with the dulce de leche cream were totally over the top. Our only regret with the churros was not ordering more.
At the end of the night, sufficiently warmed by flavour and spice and everything nice we ventured back out into the cold, which after a night at Rostizado didn't feel quite so bad.