September 18, 2007
JASPER: Fiesta in the mountains
Posted by are you gonna eat that? under Calgary, Eating / Food, Edmonton, Restaurants | Tags: dinner, Mexican, paella, Spanish |
Nothing gets a group of girls going better than a great meal. So to celebrate Katherine’s upcoming wedding to Tim, our favourite guy who is not my boyfriend, we started our night out on the town at a place called La Fiesta.
It’s in a great location off the main street and offers both Mexican and Spanish dishes. The smallish space is probably better suited to quiet romantic dinners, but for one night, we were “that” table. Ten boisterous girls with healthy appetites.
We shared three starters, including a standard warm artichoke dip ($10). The oven-baked calamari ($11) was charming, stuffed with a mushroom, caper and olive duxelle and served with a roasted bell pepper chutney.
I really liked the tortilla-crusted chorizo and goat cheese cakes ($9), its crunchiness mixing well with the jicama artichoke salsa that came alongside.
Dawn the lone vegetarian was delighted with her main plate - yam, potato and boursin cheese lasagna with curried lentil and tofu stew ($17). I’d give it points for creativity alone, with the yam and potato slices replacing the wide noodles, but as a bonafide meat-eater, this veggie dish was delicious.
Several others ordered the grilled salmon enchilada ($11). It came with salsa, sour cream, rice and refried beans. It didn’t come across so well in the photo, but I’m pretty sure everyone cleaned their plates.
I think I got the best dish of the night though in the paella velenciana ($23). I’ve never been to Spain but I’m pretty sure this is the closest I’ve come to the real thing. All the other paellas I’ve tried have been dry, bland or stingy in toppings.
This one was rich in mussels, prawns, chorizo, pork and chicken on top of saffron rice just bursting with flavour. Kate said the vegetarian version ($18) with grilled vegetables, black olives and artichokes was also good but liked mine better. Me too!
La Fiesta is a great mid-priced restaurant to relax in after a long day in the mountains - or to kick off your own fiesta which we did. ;-)
La Fiesta, 504 Patricia St., Jasper, Alberta, (780) 852-0404. More info here.
September 19, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Cool - I had no idea this place existed in Jasper. We wander into town when we are tired of the $80 breakfasts at Jasper Park Lodge…and there’s a great bakery on a side street, but for the life of me I cannot recall the name. Bear something?
Otherwise, it is the standard Earl’s. Good to know we have options in town.
October 25, 2007 at 3:05 pm
The paella looks quite close to the original. However, if you have the chance, do not lose the opportunity of trying one of the real ones from Valencia.
November 9, 2007 at 6:49 pm
This restaurant also has a small but reliable wine list. Definitely the place to in Jasper.
November 9, 2007 at 6:59 pm
typo alert…Definitely the place to GO in Jasper.