barry learns some fun facts about tres carnales

only open for a week, tres carnales is already the talk of the town. all you mexican food lovers, rejoice!, because this place is the real deal.

chris - one of the tres carnales - gave me some fun facts to share about his new place:

1) 2 years ago in a small mexican town, 3 buds sat down with a bottle of flor de cana rum. by the end of the bottle, the idea and business plan of tres carnales was hashed out. really, wouldn't the world be a better place if all ideas came about this way?

2) these guys have some serious passion. all 3 (chris, dani and edgar) are right in the thick of things at the restaurant - chris and dani work the floor, while edgar tends grill. need a food recommendation, or a way to snag one of their elusive tables? just ask one of these guys and they'll hook you up.

3) all the meat is locally sourced within 200 km of edmonton, so feel good about supporting your friendly neighbourhood ranchers!

4) their menu is going to be changed up regularly. chris was already talking fish tacos (hell, yes), duck, and desserts. my response to this news? thank you, jebus.

***

some other things you should know:

1) come expecting to socialize with strangers. this place is small, and they emphasize communal eating (including a large communal table). after waiting in line for awhile, my bud and i ended up dining with the couple behind us in line. turned out to be a really awesome conversation about travels through mexico, the small-town feel of edmonton, and pink tacos. (don't ask.)

2) the chorizo is made in-house, and is pretty damn awesome.

3) the sangria is alcoholic. it might taste like juice, but by the second pitcher you'll suddenly realize it's not.

4) at first we were all a little disappointed that the hot sauce wasn't so hot. turns out the real stuff is made in-house and kept under lock and key in the back. ask for some up front with your food. you won't be disappointed, but your tongue might hate you just a little for trying to burn it off.

5) ordering is a cross between pampa and famoso. you initially order at the counter, but if you don't want to start a tab, you pay up and get your table sign clothespinned. (you'll get this when you go) otherwise you can keep ordering more from your table. like additional pitchers of sangria...so dangerous...

6) watch out for table cherry pickers. they kept coming in behind us, and cutting in front to wait for tables. give them the cut-eye, and be ready to grab a table as soon as you see people heading out.

go.

eat some tacos,

and be ready to make some new friends.

10119 100A Street
Rice Howard Way
Edmonton
780-429-0911

barry heads over to the cactus club cafe.

so, if you're feeling a little la-ti-da, and want to experience the creations of an iron chef, you should head down to the cactus club pronto. chef rob feenie has created some delightful concoctions that may or may not give him another win on iron chef, but if nothing else give your tastebuds a run for your money. and there is quite a bit of money trading hands. my buds and i started off with some beef carpaccio ($13), followed by our entrees of butternut squash and fried sage ravioli, vegetarian fajitas and beef dip (~$15 - $25). we then ended off the meal with a bang, and had his key lime pie (~$8), made from scratch with love. though the individual meal choices are not ridiculously expensive, they add up as you want to try more and more dishes. out of the entrees, my clear favourite was the ravioli, but the other dishes were lovely too.

beef carpaccio
you were the evening's highlight.
i want more, dammit!

sage ravioli,

simply done with truffle oil.
you were crazy rich.

refreshing with zing,
you were other's favourite.
get me some pie, bitch!

on a side note, our waitress gave us the skinny on the dress code for wait staff. all women must wear heels no shorter than one inch. umm....what? they're on their feet for how long, running around with our food and drink, and flats and low heels are out. can anyone say union?

barry's famoso haikus.

famoso pizza,
i’m sad you disappoint me.
flavourless and blah.


excited for taste,
prosciutto-arugula
combined disappoint.

STOP: fantastic greens!
a symphony of flavours.
you win me over.

barry's cup o' joe.

so when the german came down to visit me last week, i knew that i would need some activities to keep him occupied, while at the same time making sure he was well fed. enter my dear caffeine-addicted friend who suggests we take the german down to new york bagel café for edmonton’s supposed best coffee. intrigued yet skeptical, we headed over to gateway boulevard through the frigid weather and, lo-and-behold, we really did have edmonton’s best coffee. i’m normally not a coffee drinker, but their house coffee was so flavourful and smooth you couldn’t help but be impressed. the process felt like a japanese tea ceremony as you added the brown sugar and the steamed milk on the side, making drinking coffee an event.
this was in stark contrast to the cappuccinos and espressos we had later in the day at da capo. although i normally rave about their authentic cappuccino (see my da capo restaurant review from november), we were underwhelmed by the concoctions we received that were bitter and unflavourful and the caffe itself was freezing.

sorry da capo, maybe next time.

in the meantime, you might want to try new york bagel for their heavenly house coffee to warm you up during this deep freeze.

barry says goodbye to an old haunt.

this is difficult for me to write. pharo’s pizza, a staple of the garneau community for years, is closing its doors in mid-to-late january. the 80-year-old owner wishes to retire, and so has sold the building. i know. it gets worse though.

the building, which includes the garneau theatre, has apparently been sold with plans to modernize the look of the two businesses. with this being one of the few art deco buildings left in alberta, it seems shocking that anyone would want to change the décor! according to pharo’s pizza waitress jill, the plan is for the theatre entrance to be moved to the side of the building on 87 avenue, and the whole façade modernized. i was very surprised that i hadn’t heard of this earlier, as i imagined that there would be an uproar in the edmonton community, but it seems that not only will we be deprived of mouth-watering popeye pizza and delicious greek salad, but we will also loose an edmonton landmark to modernization. there is one month left for locals to pay their respect to this fantastic eatery, so go out, grab a popeye pizza and toast this garneau landmark.

Pharos Pizza & Spagetti House

8708 109 Street NW

Edmonton, AB T6G 1E9

(780) 433-5205

barry's word of the day: pranzo.

my vocabulary was expanded this past weekend as my family and i gathered at the santa maria groetti community centre in edmonton for a traditional italian dinner (pranzo) sunday afternoon. wave after wave of food was brought to us, and in true italian style, we ate until it was physically impossible to eat anymore. we had two antipasti courses (cheese, meat and marinated vegetables and rice with a beef stew), a prima (rotini with a marinara sauce), pork chops and breaded chicken with gravy, roast potatoes, salad and mixed vegetables, and finally chocolate cake for dessert. i think that’s everything, but with so much food, you can’t blame me for forgetting something. my family loved this home-style meal.

i’m going to be honest: i didn’t.

the food was okay, and yes, there was plenty of it, but the sauces and chicken looked and tasted as if they were store bought, and nothing stood out in my mind as being extremely tasty or even tasting authentically italian. as my sister pointed out, nothing was wrong with the meal, and i have to agree with her; nothing was wrong with the meal. but when you go out to eat, particularly for a nice family get-together, do you want to have a meal with nothing wrong with it, or would you rather have a meal that was special and excited you, made you wish for seconds, or in this case, made you think of an army of italian grandmothers preparing this meal in the kitchen simply because of their love for food? i didn’t feel that way unfortunately, and was particularly looking forward to this meal since i had heard such wonderful reviews of the pranzi served up by the community centre.

maybe the cooks were having an off weekend, but after this meal, i feel that if you’re looking for a “nothing’s-wrong-with-it” meal, head on down to albert’s. it’s cheaper.

Santa Maria Groetti Community Centre
Sun (11 am - 2 pm)
11050 90 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5H 1S5
(780) 426-5026

restaurant review: da capo.

coffee-lovers (and haters) rejoice!

there is a place on edmonton’s south side that will make your taste buds soar with a single sip of their cappuccino. da capo caffe can safely boast to have some of the best coffee outside of italy, and will compel anyone to come back for another cup. this funky spot, located on 109 street next to the garneau theatre, has a fantastic ambience – think modern european coffee house, great service – food and bevies will be in hand quickly for you to dive into, and fantastic menu items! besides the cappuccino, you might want to try out their panini or pizzas, homemade biscotti, and you must, beyond a doubt, try their gelato. heaven! nothing outside of italy is this good. go overload on a taste of italy today. right now. go. why are you still here?

YAY:
· great food and beverages
· fairly fast service
· handy central location
· great ambience

MEH:
· parking is sometimes hard to come across

NAY:
· it can be expensive
· odd hours, so call ahead to make sure they’re open

phone: (780) 433.5382
address: 8738 - 109 Street

something to mull over.

FREE FOOD! that was the draw to a sobey’s holiday open house last night, but that was not what kept me there. as someone who works in the event industry, it did not seem that this was a spectacular success; the food stations were not clearly marked, the program was non-existent, and half the time i didn’t know what products i was eating (neither did the staff for that matter), but let me tell you about the vino!

ah.

the vino.

upon arriving at the store, i immediately discovered their mulled wine. oh! the heavenly, heavenly aroma of cloves, oranges, cinnamon, and above all, alcohol. it’s heady smell, and complex flavour sent me back for more four times, and was perfectly paired with the only two decent appetizers: the festive canapés with blue cheese, walnuts and maple syrup on toasted baguette, and their cheese crisps: simple, elegant baked cheese and flour. these were what made the evening palatable, regardless of the rest of the food, most of which was dry, dreary, and made me sad.

so raise a glass to the start of the holidays: the season of mulled wine has begun.

YAY:
· mulled wine
· blue cheese and maple canapés
· cheese crisps
· funky produce to take pictures of while we waited for more wine to be brought out

MEH:
· frozen shrimp cocktail (the shrimp was still frozen)
· food preparation demonstrations (they smelled okay, but were not set up well)
· my lobster friend in the tank. you made me sad.

NAY:
· any of the meats served
· the length of the event
· the lack of signage
· the menu delivered to us at the beginning of the night (3/4 of the items listed were not even served)