Author Archives: bcorbett907

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About bcorbett907

I'm a Calgary-based writer who enjoys exploring the landscapes, and menus, of western U.S./Canada

Country Cooking in Millarville, Alberta

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Quiche and hearty soup feed the country soul at Corner House Cafe in Millarville, Alberta

Quiche and hearty soup feed the country soul at The Corner House Cafe in Millarville, Alberta

Sitting in The Corner House Café feels like being in a farmhouse kitchen. It’s partly the location—in the rolling foothills southwest of Calgary near Millarville, home of Alberta’s original farmers’ market and its century-old horse racetrack. But it’s also about being in this cozy, old house at a table right next to the open kitchen. There, four women are peeling potatoes, manually grating carrots for soup and fixing breakfasts, while chatting amongst themselves and with the regulars.

The short menu features omelettes and Highway Crossing oatmeal at breakfast—chased by Fratello coffee or lattes—and chile, sandwiches and quesadillas at lunch. I’m not usually a quiche person but am intrigued by one with sweet potato crust, which indeed is sweet and crumbly soft. The airy quiche is easily matched by the accompanying bowl of spicy soup, chockfull of sausage and greens in a flavourful broth.

Sitting in the Corner House Cafe is like being in a farm kitchen

Sitting in The Corner House Cafe is like being in a farm kitchen

The building, at the junction of Highway 22 and the turnoff to the Millarville Farmers’ Market, has been owned by the Lee family since 1927. Lorraine Vernon and Tracey Rigon took over the restaurant two years ago and are doing a bang-up job of feeding folks and preserving that laid-back country feel.

The Corner House Café
549 Highway 22, Millarville, Alberta
Tuesday to Friday 7 am- 3pm, Saturday, 8 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday (and all of January 2014)
Corner House Cafe on Urbanspoon

Just down the road in Black Diamond, Jacquie Gabriel and daughter Jan Morgensen have recently opened JnJ Tea Infusion. It’s definitely worth checking out for a wide selection of loose teas—to buy or to enjoy in their Tea Shoppe—along with great muffins and pies baked by Angela Boznianin.

Jacquie Gabriel is serving up great tea and baked goods at JnJ Tea Infusion in Black Diamond

Jacquie Gabriel is serving up great tea and baked goods at JnJ Tea Infusion in Black Diamond

JnJ Tea Infusion
126 Centre Avenue West, Black Diamond
Tuesday to Thursday 9 am-5 pm, Friday 9 am-4 pm, Saturday 10 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

Culinary Delights in Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass

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Coleman is an old coal-mining community in Alberta's historic Crowsnest Pass

Coleman is an old coal-mining community in Alberta’s historic Crowsnest Pass

It’s not just the wind that blows through Crowsnest Pass, in Alberta’s southwest corner. Most travellers, too, just breeze by, other than to briefly gawk at the immense boulder rubble from the Frank Slide, fill their gas tanks and maybe get a coffee and blueberry-lemon muffin at Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Café (8342 Highway 3). But there’s plenty of mountain scenery and rich coal-mining history to soak up here, plus a couple of first-rate, distinctive eateries to hit along a short stretch of Highway 3 in Coleman.

Good muffins and cinnamon buns at Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Cafe in Coleman

Good muffins and cinnamon buns at Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Cafe in Coleman

I’ve finally found an opportunity to use the old line: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup.” To do so, however, I’d have to buy and then drop a tied streamer into my chowder at *Crowsnest Cafe & Fly Shop, a unique combination of food and fly fishing. One half of the light-filled, wood-floored old house is devoted to flies, rods, reels and cleated boots, the other to dining tables.

Pick up some tied flies at lunch at Crowsnest Cafe & Fly Shop

Pick up some tied flies while dining at Crowsnest Cafe & Fly Shop

The meals are definitely no afterthought here, with owner Susan Douglas-Murray crafting scratch-made breakfasts and lunches in her small, open kitchen. My generous bowl of steaming, slightly spicy soup is chockfull of roasted root vegetables, while the accompanying wrap is pork tenderloin marinated in a black bean sauce, baked and then rolled inside a lightly toasted tortilla. It’s terrific stuff, especially if I need fuel for an afternoon’s fly fishing with her husband, guide Alan Brice (“trout psychologist”), on the storied Crowsnest River.

Excellent roasted root soup and pork tenderloin wrap at Crowsnest Cafe

Excellent roasted root soup and pork tenderloin wrap at Crowsnest Cafe & Fly Shop

Crowsnest Cafe & Fly Shop
8501 Highway 3, Coleman, Alberta
Winter hours Wednesday to Sunday 8 am-5 pm
Crowsnest Cafe and Fly Shop on Urbanspoon

I’m not sure what’s more unusual about *The Blackbird Restaurant—the authentic Mexican cuisine it’s serving in the tiny community or the high ceiling, 1905 church this new dining spot is located in. Is it further blasphemy when bearded co-owner Brock Jellison arrives at my lunch table and, without asking, starts pouring from a wine bottle into my glass? Actually, it’s just water (turning wine into water?).

Service is not just on Sundays at The Blackbird Restaurant

Service is not just on Sundays at The Blackbird Restaurant

This just sets me up for the next surprise: the excellent tacos that chef Alejandro Verdi is turning out from his small kitchen. There’s one with tender chunks of chicken and a piquant house-made green mole sauce and another with marinated flank steak that’s cooked a perfect medium rare. Sure, the $4 price tag for each is higher than at a streetside taqueria down south, but the size and quality of ingredients and preparation make this darn good value in the frozen north. Even if they have to deal with customers asking for forks.

How about some chicken and flank steak tacos?

How about some chicken and flank steak tacos?

The Blackbird Restaurant
7914 20 Avenue (Highway 3), Coleman, Alberta
Daily 11 am-9 pm, except closed Tuesday. Cash only
Blackbird Coffee House on Urbanspoon

Don’t Whine If I Buy My Pinot Noir at a Grocery Store

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I've discovered this cute little California wine boutique

I’ve discovered this cute little California wine boutique

I was asking San Francisco friends who have a Sonoma property what boutique wineries with somewhat affordable prices they frequent. “Oh, we don’t buy wine in the Sonoma or Napa Valleys,” they replied. “We just go to Safeway. They’ve got great selection, and you can get big Club Card discounts.”

Indeed, anytime I gave my Canadian Safeway Club Card number, or phone number in the U.S., I got said discounts, too. It also works at Von’s, a Safeway affiliate in some California cities.

Now, I do advocate frequenting independent places to eat and drink. And I enjoy visiting wineries (especially in beautiful wine-producing regions), tasting their products, maybe meeting the owner or winemaker and picking up some bottles in situ.

But you can't beat the ambience of a tasting room in a beautiful wine-producing area like Poplar Grove's spiffy new place in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley

But you can’t beat the ambience of a tasting room in a beautiful wine-producing area like Poplar Grove’s spiffy new place in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley

But I also like affordable, and if the product is the same and the winery’s still getting its cut, price does become a factor. Plus, sometimes you don’t have time for that trip to the winery and want a nice pinot noir to drink out of a paper cup at the motel.

This Cougar Definitely Well Aged

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They may not be so good at football, but Washington State University produces champion cheese

It may not be so good at football, but Washington State University produces champion cheese

When I was growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, a big part of any visit from our Pullman, Washington relatives was the tin of Cougar Gold cheese they’d bring as a gift. It was old and crumbly and came in a nearly two-pound tin. Yes, a tin. In my opinion, it’s the finest sharp white cheddar in North America, developed in the 1930s and still produced by students at Washington State University, with the individual maker’s name stamped on each tin.

So when I hear South Fork Public House in Pullman has a mac and cheese with Cougar Gold sauce ($11.50), I have to head right over. I don’t need a menu, steering right past the burgers, sandwiches, sliders and other pub food straight to the mac and cheese. The bacon bits and scallion topping are nice but don’t get in the way of the thick, rich Cougar Gold sauce sticking to the penne like a warm blanket. Now, that’s my kind of childhood comfort food.

After licking the bowl clean, I go in search of Dissmore’s IGA, so I can take a tin or two back to Canada. Note: The cheese is cheaper to buy at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe, if you can find nearby parking on campus, but it doesn’t have Dissmore’s outstanding selection of beers. It can also be ordered online in the U.S. through the link above.

South Fork Public House makes an excellent mac 'n cheese featuring, of course, Cougar Gold

South Fork Public House makes an excellent mac ‘n cheese featuring, of course, Cougar Gold

South Fork Public House
1680 South Grand Avenue, Pullman
Opens daily at 11:30 am
South Fork Public House on Urbanspoon

Long Live Longview, Alberta

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Mounir Berrah and his wife run the lovely Rustic Artisan coffeehouse in Longview, Alberta

Mounir Berrah and his wife, Yasmine, run the lovely Rustic Artisan coffeehouse in Longview, Alberta

Longview, a whistle-stop community along Highway 22 southwest of Calgary, used to be known as Little New York during an oil boom of the 1930s. These days, it might well be called Little Morocco, at least from a culinary perspective.

Longview is in the heart of southwest Alberta’s cattle country, so a steakhouse makes perfect sense. But one owned and lovingly operated by a Moroccan family? It doesn’t matter. Just go. As one online reviewer notes, if it’s a choice between a popular beef chain close to his Calgary house and a one-hour drive through the gorgeous foothills to the *Longview Steakhouse, it’s a no brainer. He’s getting in his car. Yes, it’s that good.

My $16 open-face steak sandwich might be the best lunch money I’ve spent this year. The locally sourced steak is a huge strip loin—with a red wine and pepper sauce—that flops over a hapless piece of bread, whose main function is to soak up all those juices. “My God, that’s huge,” I say. “You’re a hungry guy,” replies my friendly, lanky server, Samir Belmoufid.

Massive, tender steak sandwich and amazing apple-rutabaga soup at Longview Steakhouse

Massive, tender steak sandwich and amazing apple-rutabaga soup at Longview Steakhouse

Tender and flavourful as this slab of meat is, the real highlight might be the accompanying bowl of apple-rutabaga soup. There’s some magic going on in this unusual medley of flavours and underlying stock. Well-priced sirloin burgers, a Monte Christo sandwich and a Moroccan lamb sandwich round out the day’s lunch offerings, with tenderloin and New York steaks heading the pricier evening line-up (dinner reservations recommended, especially on weekends).

The Belmoufid family brought a long culinary history when they moved from Calgary to Longview in 1995. They’ve since run this high-end steakhouse in an unpretentious ranch house-style building, though they’ll soon be moving to a new, close-by building. A couple of brothers, their parents and a cousin are involved, and it shows in the close attention to quality, food preparation and personable service. You’re not likely to find a better steakhouse in the big  city.

Longview Steakhouse
102 Morrison Road (Highway 22) Longview, Alberta. 403-558-2000 for reservations
Lunch Tuesday to Friday 11:30 am-1:30 pm, dinner Tuesday to Thursday 5 pm-8 pm, Friday-Saturday 5 pm-9 pm, Sunday 5 pm-8 pm. Closed Monday
Longview Steakhouse on Urbanspoon

The family reach in Longview doesn’t stop at the steakhouse. A short walk down the road, sister Yasmine Belmoufid and husband Mounir Berrah have taken over the old Navajo Mug and turned it into *The Rustic Artisan, a great, cozy little coffeehouse. It features Phil and Sebastian beans that, strangely, seem to taste better here than at P & S outlets in Calgary—at least the double-shot Americano (hold most of the water) that Mounir expertly prepares for me. Maybe, it’s the mountain air. While there isn’t a proper kitchen, the owners scratch make the breakfast paninis, sandwiches, chile and chicken pot pies. “My wife is a trained pastry chef, so why wouldn’t we make our own pies?” Mounir says as he slides a big slab of apple-cranberry pie into a takeout container for me.

Could you resist a slice of this apple-cranberry pie at the Rustic Artisan?

Could you resist a slice of this apple-cranberry pie at the Rustic Artisan?

The Rustic Artisan
140 Morrison Road, Longview
Opens 8:30 am Tuesday to Sunday, closes 6 pm Tuesday, 7 pm Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 8 pm Friday and Saturday. Closed Monday. Note: Closed most of December 2013 and January 2014
The Rustic Artisan Longview Coffee Shop on Urbanspoon

How Do You Spell Portland’s Best Coffee Shop?

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Portland could well challenge Seattle for the title of Coffeetown, USA

Portland could well challenge Seattle for the title of Coffeetown, USA

It’s hard throwing a pound of fair-trade, organic beans in Portland without hitting a coffeehouse. In many parts of town, they’re on every street corner, often with a few more squeezed in between. For all I know, Portland might rival Seattle as Coffeetown, U.S.A.

Stumptown Coffee Roasters is the local heavyweight, with a vast bean empire and some half dozen cafes in town, closely followed by Ristretto Roasters. There are too many independent, often one-off, places to mention. Suffice to say, the expectation levels are such that many food carts offer pots of French-press coffee, sourced from local micro roasters.

Minimalism is in at Ristretto Roasters in Portland

Minimalism is in at Ristretto Roasters in Portland

But I might just have to side with the mighty New York Times in naming tiny downtown *Spella Caffè as the top espresso puller in Portland. I walk into this jewel—no bigger than an oversized closet—and am greeted by three uniformed people. Now, this is what I call service. While waiting for the barista to prepare my macchiato, another guy describes their affogato, a gelato drenched in two shots of espresso. I also talk to owner Andrea Spella, who moved to this shoehorn location after the usual burst pipes and overheating persuaded him to abandon his coffee cart. The batches at his southeast Portland roastery are equally tiny, weighing in at 11 pounds.

Don't let the small size fool you. Spella Caffe's espresso packs a heavyweight punch

Don’t let the small size fool you. Spella Caffe’s espresso packs a heavyweight punch

My macchiato to go or to stand (really, there’s no place to sit) is served in a tiny cardboard cup. But boy, does it pack a punch. None of that thinly roasted, sour-tasting stuff here. The thick, full-bodied taste lingers on my tongue long after I’ve taken a pound of roasted beans to go.

Spella Caffe
520 SW 5 Avenue, Portland
Weekdays 7:30 am-3:30 pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday
Spella Caffe on Urbanspoon