BANFF: Sustainable AND delicious

I’ve never spent so much time in a restaurant bathroom before, and I mean that in a good way. The toilets in Banff’s Bison Courtyard sense, ahem, your presence on the seat, activating a foam that slowly flushes and pulls waste down into a composting tank.

I was fascinated by the system, which is thoughtfully explained on a sheet taped to the bathroom door.

So what does this have to do with food and eating? Well, the toilets are a small part of the sustainable ethos held by the owners, residents, and businesses of the Bison Courtyard, including the Bison Mountain Bistro. The complex uses 70 per cent less energy than standard buildings in Banff.

It’s a heartening story of how green can prevail. A local developer bought the Crag Cabin that was built in 1890 with plans to restore it, and grander plans to turn it into a sustainable living community.

They rejected chain restaurants with money to burn for the second-floor space, in favour of a husband-wife team with a vision for “Rocky Mountain comfort food.”

We got a perfect, sunny spring Sunday for the always stunning drive into the mountains to celebrate JJ’s birthday with a brunch at the Bison Mountain Bistro.

The menu screamed local and fresh, with an assortment of benedicts, bison burgers and pizzas from the wood-burning oven.

Three out of eight of us got the duck confit eggs benedict ($16) with fresh goat cheese, wild mushrooms, preserved lemon zest and hollandaise. This is the rough transcript of what was going through my head: “Mmm! Duck confit! Whoa! Goat cheese. Yum! Wild mushrooms!”

All the benedicts come on a cheese and herb biscuit with roasted potatoes and a hothouse green salad.

Jason opted for the French toast ($14) stuffed with Sylvan Star gouda and double-smoked bacon, topped with wild blueberry sauce and matchstick apple pieces.

The mountain breakfast ($12) was a hearty three eggs, double-smoked bacon, roasted tomatoes and potatoes and grilled toast. (Thanks to JJ for voluntarily burning his hands while holding the hot plate up for my photo.)

The bacon was a real hit, especially with three-year-old Sloane happily munching on a fistful of it.

Martin got a huge plate of wild mushroom tagliatelle with fresh goat cheese, leeks, herbs, peas and white truffle oil. It was so good that it prompted him to get a glass of red wine too. Now, that’s a real brunch.

There’s a general store on the ground floor, featuring gourmet baguettes, fine cheeses and specialty meats, if you don’t have time to sit down for a meal. (The co-owner used to be a partner in Calgary’s Janice Beaton Fine Cheese.)

We picked up a jar of the bistro’s amazing smoked tomato ketchup ($8.95), which I’ve pretty much eaten for the past five days straight (not by itself!).

By the way, the bistro’s patio on the second floor is no doubt the best place to take in the mountains and great food. And don’t forget to check out those bathrooms.

Bison Mountain Bistro & General Store, 211 Bear St., Banff, Alberta, (403) 762-5550. Click for website here.

 

TORONTO: You can get anything you want

Weekend brunches generally fall into two categories: the tiny, uber-popular spots that are lined up out the door, and the places that take reservations where you can linger.

Alice’s Restaurant is the latter. It’s a bistro in Little Italy, more family-style than flash, and more hearty than trendy. It aims to please with a children’s menu and a note that the kitchen is more than happy to work around any dietary limitations including vegan and macrobiotic needs (!) or allergies.

Cue Arlo Guthrie. You really can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant — and at reasonable prices.

Its signature brunch attraction are scones. A basket of three ($3) comes with butter and homemade strawberry jam.

Now, I hate scones. And so does Kevin (my soon-to-be brother-in-law) but we were gobbling them up. They were flaky and light and really tasty even though they’re served cold.

The short brunch menu is not your eggs and bacon variety. In fact, there’s no bacon on the menu at all. (Gasp!)

But my pan-seared trout ($12) was dead on. It’s what I like to call “I win!” — when what I’ve ordered is the best dish at the table.

The trout was perfect with crispy skin and the fish moist and cooked just so, on top of some greens. I loved the warm potato salad that came with it, lightly dressed with capers and tiny pieces of pickles.

Kevin’s huevos rancheros ($11) were solid, but nothing remarkable: two poached eggs on corn tortilla (made in-house) with salsa, guacamole, black beans and sour cream.

We had a bit of an issue with Gigi’s steak and egg (yes, just one egg). She ordered it rare and it came out well done, so we had to send it back. However, the staff were extremely apologetic and came out three times to give us the progress on the second go-around. They also sent out a complimentary basket of scones.

The retry was much better, a small but quality New York strip done rare, with an egg sunny side up, greens, and potato hash.

They ended up taking the steak and egg ($14) off the bill, which I thought was a very gracious gesture, and left us feeling very well taken care of. This is a family-friendly, neighbourhood spot that obviously cares about making sure customers leave feeling satisfied.

Alice’s Restaurant, 856 College St. Toronto, (416) 534-7500. Open for dinner Tues. to Sun. 5–9 p.m., brunch weekends 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Menu here.

 

EDMONTON: The baron’s burgers

Whenever we visit Edmonton, we try to satiate cravings for things we can only get there. Last time, I won with my urge for satay pho, so it was definitely Jason’s turn to pick.

He was dying for … Burger Baron. The closest one to Calgary is in Red Deer, but there are more than a dozen franchises in the Edmonton-area. It began in Lethbridge in 1957 as the first restaurant to adopt the drive-thru concept in Western Canada before the huge chains with clowns and kings moved in.

The Baron has persisted though, usually taking over abandoned locations of other fast-food chains and turning them into part of his small, but mighty, empire.

I’m very partial to the Mushroom Burger ($3.75) with mushrooms and mushroom sauce, while Jason’s usual is the Bacon Cheeseburger ($4.35) with onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato and their special red sauce.

You can get single, double or triple patty variations of any burger at the Baron, and they’re all made fresh to order, which is worth the wait.

The fries ($1.95 small) are thick-cut and the onion rings ($2.25 small) are hot and crisp. Everything is served in white paper bags.

Make sure you get a milkshake ($2.85 small); they’re really good and thick. Jason likes that he can get one in root beer flavour.

Burger Baron, 7007-82nd Ave., Edmonton. Other locations in Alberta, Kelowna and Fort. St. John, B.C. and Regina.

 

CALGARY: Lounging with the frolicking horses

The first thing you notice about JAROblue is how small it is. The second thing is the ginormous photographs of horses humping. No wait, they’re playing.

Despite the name (taken from the first two letters of co-owners’ names Jared and Robin), there’s nothing blue in here. The soft silver seating and dark brown wood give off an unruffled ’40s vibe, especially with the retro light fixtures.

Like many new restaurants, JAROblue serves tapas-style plates. Its menu is split into three by price points ($7, $12, $15) and then desserts. There’s a short, but good, wine list and a handful of beers.

There’s something here for everyone, but more for people who like to share and try things with a twist. A caveat: I’ve been here only for late-night nibbles, and not a full dinner.

The steak tartare — I can’t resist this on any menu — was crazy fresh with just enough spices. Our only complaint is the full-flavour of rye bread is a tad overwhelming for the tartare.

The grilled lamb chops was a surprisingly large portion with three chops, on a nest of sweet potato fries and currant demi glaze. It was excellent. However, I must warn that the kitchen prefers to serve it rare, which I’m fine with. But one piece was rare to the point of raw, that I couldn’t even cut it with my knife.

I sent it back for a few more minutes on the grill — and the server was super nice about it. The kitchen actually re-plated my little chop, and added au jus, so I really appreciated the attention to that kind of detail.

The duck confit and risotto croquettes did not look like what I expected: five little croquettes with bits of duck confit inside. They were quite yummy with the spicy pineapple chutney, and a lovely presentation too.

The tenderloin ravioli (three or four large pieces) was simple but homemade in a nice cream sauce.

Sadly, they were out of the assorted mini-burgers (beef, duck, pulled pork and foie gras) which we must return to try.

We’ve also tried the cheese plate which I’m sure is supplied by Janice Beaton Fine Cheese. I remember the distinctive orange Shropshire blue cheese, a gouda and maybe a hunk of cheddar (?). The crackers were meh but the accoutrements were fab. Marinated kale and fennel gave it a nice yowza punch, and the kale was just so pretty.

I didn’t taste the chocolate dessert plate but the chocolate-lovers in the group said it was good.

Service here is excellent. And I don’t mean in that way compared to the lower standards we all seem to be resigned to these days because service is just so terrible in Calgary. I mean, professional, smart, and courteous. It’s about time Calgary got a place like this that does so many things right.

JAROblue doesn’t take reservations but they give accurate estimates of how long the wait might be, and will call your cellphone when a table is ready.

JAROblue, 1314-17th Ave. SW, (403) 237-5276. Open Sun-Thurs. 5 p.m. to midnight, Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

 

OTTAWA: Beauty and the couscous

There’s a specific reason I wanted to visit Ottawa this time and here she is. Little Bella Gracia — beauty and grace in the making — is the product of Shawna and Aires Inc. She’s pretty darn sharp, hilarious and super well-dressed. All that at only 14 months old. Watch out, world!

Every time I see Shawna, we go out for a nice dinner and catch up. We usually end up at the Black Cat Cafe, but this time decided to try something new.

I pried myself away from her much-too-adorable offspring and we headed to Wellington Street West, a revitalized area of Ottawa that used to boast pawn shops and dusty storefronts, and is now home to condos, restaurants and the Irving Greenburg Theatre Centre, the new base for the stelllar Great Canadian Theatre Company.

Among this new life blooms the Wellington Gastropub, which opened in the fall of 2006 following the British gastropub trend of high-quality food in a relaxed pub atmosphere.

I instantly loved the exposed brick walls, warm lighting, and cozy welcome as we emerged from the stairs to the second-floor dining area. The beers are primarily from microbreweries and there’s a well-chosen wine list. The menu changes daily.

I was having such a good time chatting, and looking over the menu, and chewing fresh bread from Art-Is-In Bakery, and picking wine that it’s only now I noticed I can’t really decipher what I scribbled down, so my apologies.

Shawna had an amazing potato swiss chard bacon soup with truffled sour cream and chives ($7), while I had the seared fish cake with spicy caper remoulade and pickled fennel ($10).

To me, fish cakes are either good or bad. And this one was definitely the former. But Shawna’s soup really kicked, and I started to worry I would covet her side of the table all night.

Well, I was right. For her main, Shawna ordered the scallops and Israeli couscous ($24). In a lesser kitchen, these would be rubbery and scarce on top of gummy, flavourless mush. Here, the scallops (six, count ‘em!) were meaty and perfectly seared.

But the couscous, oh my god, the couscous. Yes, the carnivore is raving about couscous. It was fluffy and light and moist and completely changed my thinking about the wee grains. Of course, I could tell you about the flavour if I could figure out what “bacon shiitake spinach s d tom basil sauce” means.

My crispy duck confit ($23) was nicely done, served with crushed potatoes with “botand,” yellow beans and “whiskey chay jus.” Damn notes.

This is one of those warm-up-your-belly dishes, and I like that they didn’t screw around with it, leaving it to its true salty tenderness.

Wellington Gastropub has an in-house pastry chef (Pascale Berthiaume) so we had to try some of her concoctions. I got the chocolate-orange fondant with fruit, but really, the only thing we should focus on is Pascale’s daily homemade ice cream.

In a bowl came three scoops of that day’s special: raspberry-passionfruit, milk chocolate-hazelnut, and banana caramel brownie. Regardless of your favourite flavours, this was some kickass, creamy, delicious ice cream.

The restaurant has plans to turn their front patio into an ice cream stand this summer. A capital idea, I say!

And what of the service? Co-owner chef Chris Deraiche came out to chat to us for a few minutes. And our server Nick and Shawna were sharing pictures of their kids by the end of the night.

Wellington Gastropub, 1325 Wellington St., Ottawa, (613) 729-1315.
Open for lunch Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner Monday to Saturday 5:30-10 p.m. Closed Sundays. Website here.

 

OTTAWA: So many choices

Oh, to be going to university in Ottawa now where there is a gourmet burger chain called The Works (just three blocks from where I used to live!), as opposed to schlepping down to the McDonald’s for a sad little cheeseburger…

The location we went to was packed on a Friday night, but perusing the menu made the half-hour wait more than speed by.

When Shawna warned me it would take a long time to decide what I would want off the menu, she wasn’t kidding.

There are more than 60 burgers, and then you can choose a patty of ground beef, chicken breast, ground turkey, veggie burger or portobello mushroom cap, on either a whole wheat or white bun, with a side of fries, potato strings, spicy die-cut chips, mashed potatoes, salad or coleslaw.

We started with the Tower-O-Rings ($8.91) with our choice (of course) of their homemade dipping sauces. We got curry mayo, beechhouse and some red one I forget (Thai?). To put it simply: the onion rings rocked. Hot, crunchy, and so tasty.

The measuring cups for beverages I wasn’t so thrilled about, but then again, I also get weirded out drinking from Mason jars. At least the drinks come with straws.

I did enjoy the choice of milkshakes in three different sizes (8, 16, 32 oz.) and 16 flavours.

The burgers range from Ho Hum #1 (cheddar cheese) to Crappy Tire (pineapple ring, sweet and spicy sauce and brie) to Sum Yung Guy (cream cheese, caramelized onions, gouda and strip bacon).

There’s even the Triple Overtime ($36.50) : three of their “thunderbichin’” one-pound burgers with BBQ sauce and cheddar. If you can eat them in 20 minutes, you get them for free, plus a free dinner for two and a baseball cap on your next visit.

I think we could’ve had a legitimate shot if only for the fact I eat so damn slow and Shawna was in the mood for a portobello mushroom burger — which, in my and Aires’ books, isn’t a really burger. It’s a fungus.

Shawna and Aires get takeout every Saturday from The Works, so they already knew what they wanted.

Shawna salvaged her fungus choice by choosing the Blues Burger ($10.54) with blue cheese and double-smoked bacon.

Aires got his standby beef Stockyard ($10.75) with crushed peppercorn crust, swiss cheese and dijon-haze sauce — except “when you think there shouldn’t be this many peppercorns on it, add some more.”

I finally settled on a similar beef Peppercorn Broiler ($12.03) which comes a crunchy black peppercorn crust, gouda and crispy bacon, with a side of coleslaw.

The menu promises “no filler” and that cooks do not “push, prod, or pinch them” on the grill. That’s definitely what you get. The burgers are thick, juicy and quite delicious.

The Works’ coleslaw, made with jalapeno pepper juice and white pepper, is pretty good, but I should’ve got the fries.

The Works is decorated like a factory, and definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously (its chili is called the “Rear Ender”). The staff are great, which makes sense in light of this article that says they’re handpicked and encouraged to show their personality.

Needless to say, we left there stuffed and happy.

The Works, 580 Bank St., Ottawa, Ontario, (613) 235-0406. Four other locations in the Ottawa area.

 

TORONTO: Goodbye, Susur

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but alas Susur Lee, one of my favourite chefs, is leaving Toronto for New York. He’ll be closing his self-titled Susur on May 31 but the more casual Lee next door will remain open.

Toronto Life reports that Susur will be opening a restaurant in a boutique hotel in Manhattan’s Lower East Side this fall, but will cook at Lee during the times he’s back in Toronto.

“A chef has to do new things, have new adventures,” Susur told the magazine.

I have fond, fond memories of my meals at Susur. Best wishes to the chef.

Susur, 601 King St. West, Toronto, (416) 603-2205.
Lee, 603 King St. West, Toronto, (416) 504-7867.

 

CALGARY: Abandon Starbucks, all ye who enter here

Over the past eight years, Caffè Artigiano has built a reputation and loyal following in Vancouver for its outstanding coffee and beautiful cappuccinos and lattes. Now, it’s taking Calgary — the first expansion outside of Vancouver where there are six locations — by storm.

Because I don’t work downtown, I’ve only visited Caffè Artigiano on the weekends. You know it’s not just hype when the place is filling on up at 10 a.m. on a Sunday, after being open for just over a month now.

This place takes their coffee seriously, armed with a Clover system that brews one cup at a time and a shiny red La Marzocco FB80 espresso machine. (I don’t really know what that means, but it’s pretty.)

I’m not a coffee expert, but I know I don’t like it cold, burnt, bland, or overpriced. Those definitely don’t happen at Artigiano; even better, they design patterns with the foam and espresso on every cappuccino and latte. I just know my tall lattes ($3.79) are always warm and yummy.

I was actually blown away by Artigiano’s sandwiches, toasted just so. I’m salivating just thinking about the roasted leg of lamb panino ($8.49) on sundried tomato bread, cilantro aioli and roasted red peppers. I’ve never seen lamb sliced thin like that. So very good.

We’ve also tried the chicken and brie panino ($8.49) on ciabatta with fig jam and spinach. I always like a hearty sandwich with real chunks of meat and not that processed sliced sandwich loaf stuff.

The chain was started by two brothers, one of them a three-time Canadian barista champion who still trains and coaches staff. They sold their business to a former Earl’s Restaurant executive last year but continue to own a roasting plant that supplies Artigiano with coffee beans.

Their 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters is the only Canadian company to successfully bid on Hacienda La Esmeralda Especial from Panama, which has been called “the world’s best coffee,” and roasts it exclusively for Artigiano. A half-pound bag sells for about $135; you can try a cup yourself for $15.

Caffè Artigiano, Centrium Building, 332-6th Ave. SW, Calgary, (403) 699-9855.
Open Mon. to Wed. 6 a.m.-6 p.m., Thurs. and Fri. 6 a.m.-7 p.m., weekends 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Website here.

 

EDMONTON: A burger the size of my head

This is what you get when you tear the engine out of a Cadillac Eldorado and hand-weld pieces of metal and whatnot to create a beautiful purple double-decker bus, but then not quite fulfill the dream of living upstairs while hitting the road to California.

Plan B: turn the bus into the Motoraunt and serve up Edmonton’s best — and arguably biggest — burgers for the next 25 years.

Celebrating its silver anniversary this year, the Motoraunt has been in five locations around Edmonton including Jasper Avenue. The owner will bring out pictures if you ask. It’s been in this current spot the longest (13 years) but it’s not easy to find, tucked between Fort Road and Yellowhead Trail. And be warned, this isn’t exactly the swankiest neighbourhood.

Now, once you’ve arrived at the bus that’s surrounded by several ramshackle extensions, follow the path that leads to the sign that leads to the door. You can sit in the dining room (an addition) or upstairs in the bus’ second floor. Menus are large photocopies with your choice of all-day breakfast, hot dogs, sausage — and burgers that are big or ridiculously big.

Never one to turn away a challenge or the house specialty, Steph and Torsten (who insisted I try the Motoraunt) and I ceremoniously ordered the Monster Burger. The two-pound burger is the Motoraunt’s claim to fame. Behold!

This was one beautiful burger, people. It was loaded with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and homemade ketchup on a great French loaf. The bread really made it sing, super-fresh but crusty enough to hold everything together. Apparently the 10-inch buns are picked up every morning from Safeway, of all places.

The Monster Burger comes with instructions. The owner told us to push it down with one hand while attacking it with a steak knife in the other. You have to cut it into pieces like a big layered cake!

Motoraunt uses 100% lean Canadian beef — and no salt and pepper or binding agents, like eggs or bread crumbs. The owner insisted that the beef stayed together because it was never frozen so it wasn’t all wet and goopy. I still think there’s a secret she’s not telling us…

The Monster Burger is $19.95 ($23.25 with fries) but it can easily be split among four people. You can also get the “regular” sized Motor Burger ($5.95/$7.95 with fries) like Rick did but I still think he’s a wuss. (You heard me!) He spent the rest of the weekend telling everyone I ate a burger the size of my head. For the record, I only ate a quarter of it.

This is a great place for kids because there’s so much to look at and explore. I think the Christmas tree and decorations stay up year-round, there are little knickknacks everywhere and the TVs are turned way up for Oilers’ games.

The distractions come in handy because it can be a bit of a wait for food. It’s usually only the two owners at the most in the kitchen, but c’mon, you don’t come here for a fast, frozen burger, you come for the Monster.

The Motoraunt, 12406-66th St., Edmonton, Alberta, (780) 477-8797.
Open Tues.-Sat. to 10 p.m., Sunday to 8 p.m. Closed Mondays.

 

EDMONTON: A Sunday morning

There aren’t that many places in downtown Edmonton that serve a decent cup of coffee, much less on a weekend. So it was nice to see the open sign on the Three Bananas Café in Winston Churchill Square on a Sunday morning.

It was even nicer to be sipping a lovely latté with a warm, flaky croissant and a view of city hall on a sunny day. Much better than a $20 hotel breakfast.

Three Bananas Cafe, 9918-102 Ave., Edmonton, Alberta, (780) 428-2200. Open weekdays 7 a.m.-7 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Website here.

 

‘The world’s greatest Chinese restaurant outside China’

Like any self-respecting blogger, I like checking my stats once in a while (or three times a day) and I suddenly noticed a spike in people searching for “Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine” and finding this blog.

Turns out one of my favourite restaurants in the Vancouver area is cited as “the world’s greatest Chinese restaurant outside China” in a book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, by New York Times reporter, Jennifer 8. Lee.

An amazing compliment for sure, but according to this article, Zen is struggling just to stay open, resorting to slashing its set menu to half price ($36).

Click here for my original write-up in 2006 of the restaurant that my parents go to regularly. Zen should be booming — on par with lauded restaurants like Vancouver’s West or Vij’s but its location on the second floor of a strip mall in the suburb of Richmond probably hurts it more than anything.

I grew up resenting the Chinese food of my ancestors, thinking it was boring and not refined. Zen totally turns my childish misconception on its head, highlighting and respecting what Chinese food can be, with the advantage of B.C.’s fresh seafood.

Zen stuffs a whole whelk shell with delicious curried seafood. There’s silky smooth smoked Alaskan cod and stunning lobster buried under sweet, not pungent, garlic.

So let me tell you, Vancouverites or visitors, you’ll be kicking yourself if Zen closes before you get to visit.

UPDATE: Zen finally has a website here.

Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine, 2nd floor, 8580 Alexandra Rd., Richmond, B.C., Canada (604) 233-0077. Dinner 5:30-11 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays.

 

CALGARY: Sweet Nectar

Too old for clubs that highlight $1 shooters and too young to stay at home all night, it’s sometimes hard for Jason and me to find a decent place to hang out.

We were elated to discover Nectar Desserts, soon to celebrate its one year birthday, on the second-floor of a 100-year-old building on Inglewood’s main drag.

You can pick up some of the beautiful tarts or cakes from the display case at the top of the stairs or stay for a truly indulgent experience when the dessert menu and full (licensed) service kicks in after 5 p.m.

On our first visit, a woman who turned out to be owner/chef Rebekah Pearse greeted us with a big smile and asked, “Will you be joining us this evening?” How can you resist that? She obviously loves what she does and sharing that passion with her customers.

This is a perfect place to go on a first date (or even the 246th), to linger after dinner or a movie, or to catch up with old friends. It’s a very comfortable space with exposed brick walls and comfy oversized armchairs mixed among modern tables and chairs.

Now I’m not usually a dessert person but Nector has a lot of wow factors. Everything is visually stunning and sinfully delicious, but also quite unique.

Jason’s smoky chocolate and sea salt caramel tartlette ($7) is this inexplicably successful combination of sweet and salty in an crunchy chocolate crust. He actually first tried it in a smaller form on a dessert plate with butter valrhona chocolate sorbet and spiced hot chocolate in a mini-mug. Genius.

Nectar’s elaborate dessert plates are a tad pricier ($12) than your run-of-the-mill crème brûlée but you really feel like you’re getting something special.

On this night, I got the cream on cream:

• homemade fromage blanc cheesecake with wild blueberries and currants
• lemon lavender shortbread
• buttermilk ice cream.

For someone like me who normally prefers savoury over sweet, it was nice and light without being knocked out by an overdose of sugar.

Nectar makes a mean latte but it also suggests wine to pair with its desserts (which I have no idea how to do). I was sold on the Domaine de Durban Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2004 ($ once Rebekah described it as “creamy.” I think I have to re-evaluate dessert wines after a glass of that: soft and refreshing with a bit of pear to it.

Nectar makes its own ice cream and sorbets too — like Mexican vanilla and or single malt scotch — which are available in take-home containers. I’ve seen the labels: I can recognize and pronounce all of the natural ingredients.

Sweet.

Nectar Desserts, 1216-9th Ave. SE (upstairs), Calgary, Alberta, (403) 263-8486. Open Mon-Thurs 10 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri-Sat until 1 a.m. Closed Sunday. Website here.

 

CALGARY: Secret’s out

I’ve kept Momo-Yama Sushi up my sleeve for a while but it’s time I share one of the best values for your money in Calgary if you love Japanese food.

Momo-Yama is a tiny place — seats 24 at best — tucked in the Glamorgan Shopping Centre (by the Safeway and bowling alley) in the southwest. They do a ridiculously busy take-out business that sometimes stretches to waits of up to 90 minutes. Luckily, they take reservations.

The menu is not huge, but has all your basic sushi rolls, sashimi and teriyakis. The sushi chef is always going non-stop, but you can tell he really enjoys himself and service is great.

We first came here on Arthur’s recommendation of the deep-fried soft shell crab which is amazing — especially for $9.25.

I love the chirashi sushi here — chirashi means “scattered” — pieces of sashimi over a bed of sushi rice.

I always order this if I see it on a menu because I think it tests the chef: chirashi should feature the restaurant’s freshest fish and show off what he can do with simple presentation.

Momo-Yama never disappoints. There are usually 10 or 11 thick pieces of fresh, fresh sashimi: salmon, tuna, toro (fatty tuna belly), octopus, halibut, sometimes calamari or shrimp, then some tamago, bean curd, and shredded daikon for texture.

I’ve seen chirashi priced anywhere from $20 to $30 — but never for $14.50. And that’s after Momo-Yama recently raised the price from $12.50!

You cannot ever accuse Momo-Yama of skimping. The beef tataki ($9.95) is twice the size of any other place I’ve had it at, and just as good, if not better. The tender rare slices in ponzu sauce come with spicy pureed radish and shredded daikon.

And that is a photo of the regular order of piping hot chicken katsu ($9.50). Trust me, we didn’t supersize it or anything, and it comes with rice and miso soup.

So there it is. The secret’s out. Now run and get some chirashi.

(NOTE: I think I saw a sign in the window that Momo-Yama might be closed for a couple of weeks in March for a family emergency, so best to call ahead these days to check.)

Momo-Yama Sushi, 3919 Richmond Rd. SW, Calgary, Alberta, (403) 233-0995. Open weekdays 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9 p.m., weekends 12-3, 5-9 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

 

CALGARY: Wham, bam, thank you Hans

Hans Restaurant is not German nor a tribute to a certain Star Wars bounty hunter smuggler. Hidden in the City Plaza strip mall in Calgary’s Chinatown, it’s the labour of a hard-working Taiwanese family.

This is a bona fide hole-in-the-wall with maybe eight tables and dry-mounted food photos hanging on the wall, but Hans serves up some deliciously spicy Taiwanese and Szechuan food.

You must, must order the #5 sliced garlic pork on soya sauce ($9.50). It’s a plate of thin slices of pork side (I think, because a leaner cut would not work), in a swooningly garlickly sauce with hot oil and a bit of soya sauce for an amazing pop of flavours.

Warning: This is not a place for first dates, or shy eaters. Hans’ flavours are all about the wham and the bam.

The classic Szechuan long beans are misleadingly listed as braised long beans in soya sauce (#40 for $10.50) on the menu. The title is too bland for such a mouth-watering dish, and I think it’s more dry-fried than braised. (Barbara Fisher has a detailed illustration of Szechuan dry-frying on her great food blog.)

The beans are salty and garlicky (see warning above) with bits of dried shrimp and maybe minced pork, which Jason swears he tasted, but I wasn’t sure.

We rounded out our dinner with #13, the stir-fried diced chicken with sweet and sour sauce ($10.50). Again, don’t be misled by the description because this is not at all battered and smeared with a cloying neon pink sauce. Instead, the boneless chicken is nice and tender and the sauce a balanced layer of sweet and sour.

In such a small restaurant, you can clearly hear the constant scorching-hot sizzling of the wok in the kitchen. Han’s food has a lot of “wok hay,” a Cantonese term translated as “energy of a wok,” which breathes heat and fragrance into the food. (For more, see Grace Young’s excellent article on wok hay.)

There’s also Taiwanese spicy beef noodle soup that’s not on the menu but you can point to a picture on the wall near the front door, and amazing hot pots.

Hans does a steady work crowd at lunch so get there early. It’s also open for Taiwanese breakfast on weekends with a limited menu of things like hot soy milk, and beef rolls — a crispy, green onion pancake wrapped around beef and scallions (like a burrito) with a bit of hoisin sauce. That’s the best way I can think of describing it. I know it sounds awkward, but it’s really very yummy.

Hans Restaurant, 303 Centre St. SW, Calgary, (403) 263-5667.
Open 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Closed Mondays.

 

CALGARY: Mission bun accomplished

So it’s taken us more than a year to find good Vietnamese bun, or vermicelli bowl, in Calgary but we finally got some at Pho Anh Huyen, thanks to Alison and Luke. They go there every Wednesday night, so you know it’s consistent.

Like most great Vietnamese joints, Pho Anh Huyen doesn’t look like much on the outside or inside. But it does have a parking lot out front.

Jason’s standard quality test bun order of grilled pork, shredded pork, meatballs and spring rolls (#35B here for $8.50) passed with flying colours. The meat was tasty and plentiful, the spring roll crispy and the noodles were moist and not a dry tangled mess. He also said he enjoyed the extra shredded basil included in the bowl.

The bonus for me was not only finding great bun, but also discovering something called curry beef and chicken soup ($8). While I’ve lamented about the lack of thick satay pho in Calgary, this came extremely close to filling those cravings even though it’s different.

The broth is thick and yellow, full of coconut milk and curry. There’s a small heap of chili flakes in a corner, giving it some heat. The rice noodles are shaped more like spaghetti than the thin vermicelli normally used in pho, and for a while, I thought my bowl was bottomless because it was so chock full of beef and chicken slices.

There are lots of other good things on the menu like the curry chicken vermicelli Luke had (left) and Alison’s Thai spicy sour soup with chicken and seafood (shrimp, fake crab and squid).

I wouldn’t come here for pho — Pho Pasteur Saigon in Chinatown is my pick for that — but for bun and other dishes, this is definitely now my go-to. Two days after eating here for the first time, I got a major bun craving and had to come back for lunch. Yup, still good.

Pho Anh Huyen, 1403 Centre St. NW, Calgary (403) 276-3636.
Open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Sundays.