My first CSA delivery of the season has arrived. Spinach, unidentified leafy greens, radishes, pea shoots, garlic scapes, flowers and a Thai basil plant.
Category: Local Food
Open Range
Open Range is the sibling of Big Fish. Next door and owned by the same restaurant group. I love Big Fish; I think I would expect the same from this restaurant. When we arrived, we were the only other party in the room. I’m guessing Monday nights are a bit slow.
I started with the wild mushroom soup. It was thick and full of flavour. The elk “Dianne” was lovely. Deep, meaty flavor balanced by the acidity and sweetness of the red currant demi glace. I choose the rice pilaf instead of the potato. The green beans were young and crisp; the parsnip and onion were tender.
Hubby really enjoyed his corn and jalapeno fritters, the beef tenderloin and the dessert.
The service was attentive and friendly. Open Range is to the land what Big Fish is to the sea. I love seafood; so I prefer Big Fish, but Open Range definitely is a home run.
The making of a nice roast beef dinner
My mother-in-law is visiting, so I thought I’d make a nice Saturday roast beef dinner. Since hubby is British, I better impress or I may get thrown out of the house. 😉 I bought a nicely marbled Spring Creek Ranch prime rib roast, I suspect it is at least Canada AAA. It’s very tender when roasted and hands down the best prime rib I have ever bought.
The Yorkshire puddings, I usually struggle with, but using a high altitude recipe makes for really good results. They doubled their size. I think I will use the leftovers for popovers. Fill with peanut butter and jam. Tasty.
Rudy's Country Store and BBQ
Had to hit up some more local food before we leave. We stopped by Rudy’s BBQ on the way to the airport. This place, serves in the style of many of the local joints. Pick your bottled beverage out of the ice coolers, order at the counter and help yourself to the condiments. The burger is served on a paper tray. My friends went for the hunk of prime rib and they cut and ate it on wax paper. Finger lickin’ good.
I usually don’t like to eat too much before a flight, but this time, oh well. The slices of pork loin were cut thick, done well, but still remarkably tender. The rub had a strong flavor of salt, pepper and spices. The “sissy sause” poured like ketchup and tasted more like vinegar than sweet. Texas BBQ, I will miss you, but my waistline won’t.
Goode Company Barbeque
Eager to try another classic, the Texas BBQ. We headed over to Goode Company Barbeque to see what we could find. I ordered up some pork ribs and chicken. It’s hard to see that under the “Texas Toast” sized slice of bread. The bread was very good; soft, homemade cheddar and jalapeno. The sides were good too. The BBQ sauce was zippy. In Texas style BBQ, the meat is done dry with sauce, if any, added afterwards.
You can order meat by the pound and have it just like that, if you wanted, no sides.
Ragin Cajun
My first meal in Texas; we decided on Cajun. I’ve never had real Cajun food before. Admittedly, this is a chain, but that’s ok. I’m not a discriminating foodie. I’ve always wondered what crawfish tasted like. They taste less of shrimp and slightly like lobster. There’s a lot of shell so great if you like fiddling with your food. The broth they were cooked in had kick. I also had a small bowl of shrimp and crab gumbo. I must be a wimp because the spice really kicked. I dumped a few packages of saltines just so I could eat it. No wonder, they have a large pot prominently on display where they must stew this stuff all day. The flavors were bold and concentrated.
I love Houston restaurants. This would be the first of a few restaurants where counter service and serve yourself condiments are the norm. All the tableware is disposable too.
Chef's Table
I had the occasion to finally visit Chef’s Table at the Kensington Riverside Inn. Eight of us were there for a surprise birthday dinner. Our table was directly in front of the open kitchen and offered a nice view of the hustle and bustle. We started off with an amuse bouche, which tasted like a deconstructed BLT. The flavors that I remember were lardons, and a gelee with a subtle mustard flavor.
My second course was agnolotti which is similar to ravioli. The flavors were very delicate and complimented each other nicely.
I suspect this was the birthday girl’s appetizer. The presentation was nicely done.
I had the ling cod for my entree. The fish was perfectly cooked. The granola added an interesting texture to the dish. The flavors of tomato bubbles, carrot and saffron seemed very much like my appetizer. If I had realized that, I would have ordered differently.
salsify, prosciutto, granola, cucumber, tomato leather, roasted garlic, tomato bubbles
The dessert was light and refreshing. The subtle flavor of the poached pear was a nice foil for the strong flavor of the blackcurrant ice cream.
ginger, blackcurrant, polenta, pistachio
The service was very good. The servers had a sense of humor and showed patience while waiting for our entire group to arrive. They must have spent a lot of time memorizing the ingredients for each dish. It’s the type of service that I would expect from a fine dining restaurant. This warrants another trip for a special occasion, next time with hubby in tow.
4th Spot Kitchen and Bar
I finally got around to trying this place. We waited at the entrance for a server, but they must have been busy. So we seated ourselves. It was around 2pm in the afternoon, it didn’t look that busy. Our server came around a few minutes later. I decided to order the gluten free renegade ranchero pizza. The crust was thin and crisp like a cracker and the toppings didn’t soak through. The toppings were interesting. It wasn’t very spicy which was fine with me. I liked the idea of cranberries as a topping. Hubby ordered the one love tacos with yam fries. The fries were nice and crisp and he enjoyed his tacos. The service was friendly, but a bit slow. I will be back to try more of their menu.
Jamaican jerk marinated chicken, shredded lettuce, house-made mango salad, drizzled with cilantro lime sour cream with yam fries
Spicy Spolumbo’s sausage, banana pepper, red onion, cranberries, mozza
4th Spot Kitchen and Bar
I finally got around to trying this place. We waited at the entrance for a server, but they must have been busy. So we seated ourselves. It was around 2pm in the afternoon, it didn’t look that busy. Our server came around a few minutes later. I decided to order the gluten free renegade ranchero pizza. The crust was thin and crisp like a cracker and the toppings didn’t soak through. The toppings were interesting. It wasn’t very spicy which was fine with me. I liked the idea of cranberries as a topping. Hubby ordered the one love tacos with yam fries. The fries were nice and crisp and he enjoyed his tacos. The service was friendly, but a bit slow. I will be back to try more of their menu.
Jamaican jerk marinated chicken, shredded lettuce, house-made mango salad, drizzled with cilantro lime sour cream with yam fries
Spicy Spolumbo’s sausage, banana pepper, red onion, cranberries, mozza
Eggs-cellent
Do your eggs look like this? If they don’t maybe you should give some thought to what you are buying. These buggers are hard to find. I usually find them at Safeway, but some weeks, there will be none at all. The yolks are orange, unlike the pale yellow of your average egg. The hens are fed a plant based diet full of omega 3 fatty acids. That’s also good for humans. They actually have flavor; they taste like, well eggs. Not cardboard. These eggs are local. They’re grown in Alberta. Free run chickens = tasty eggs. Get some at your local grocer today. And they make a darn good omelette.
