Category Archives: Restaurants

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

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

Bend and Breakfast

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The best omelette I had on a month-long road trip was at Chow in Bend, Oregon

The best omelette I had on a month-long road trip was at Chow in Bend, Oregon. Note the bottles of house-made sauce in the background

The breakfast specials alone at *Chow—a fittingly elegant eatery in beautiful Bend, Oregon—are almost bewildering in their number and complexity. My server has to read, off a pad, all the ingredients in the French toast, eggs Benedict and omelette specials. I opt for the daily locovore omelette ($12), which today features chicken-apple sausage, caramelized onions, local chanterelle mushrooms and cheese and a slightly spicy sauce I don’t catch the name of. It’s arguably the best breakfast I’ve had on a month-long road trip—light, fresh and perfectly balanced flavours—and comes with a choice of herbed potatoes, cornmeal-crusted tomatoes or creamy polenta. Indeed, every plate that passes, from pancakes to poached eggs, looks like something I’d like to devour.

The kicker, for my meal, is three tall bottles of house-made sauce of varying intensity, so good that I order a mason jar full to take home. I’m not sure why they need to put a squeeze bottle of ketchup on the table; it isn’t worthy of this company.

Owned by David Touvell, the “mad genius chef”, and Shawn Harvey, Chow is located in a restored old Bend house and surrounded by a lovely patio garden. The inside rooms are separated by parted curtains, decorated with local art and furnished with deep, comfy ottomans. It’s the kind of place you want to linger over your meal.

Restaurant designers of the world take note of the lovely, stuffed ottomans

Restaurant designers of the world take note of the lovely, stuffed ottomans

You pay a bit of a premium for breakfast here, but with food this creative and good, it’s still a bargain. I don’t even miss the toast.

Chow
1100 NW Newport Avenue, Bend, Oregon
Daily, 7 am-close
Chow on Urbanspoon

There’s More to Thai Food Than Pad Thai

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I’m braced for a substantial lineup at *Pok Pok, Andy Ricker’s legendary, James Beard Foundation-award-winning Portland restaurant. But when I arrive on a sultry mid-afternoon, there are lots of empty tables, and I’m whisked straight into the air-conditioned bar. There’s not a lot of character here. The emphasis is squarely on the amazing food.

Pok Pok Thai restaurant in Portland, Oregon. T...

Pok Pok Thai restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian restaurant of the year 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pok Pok features innovative, northern and northeastern Thailand dishes such as smoky charcoal grilled eggplant salad, sweet pork belly curry and lemongrass-stuffed game hen, with an average price of around $14. But I take a more conventional route with the signature Vietnamese-style hot wings, marinated in fish sauce and sugar, deep fried and tossed with garlic, more fish sauce and my choice of spicy chile flakes. To say they’re the best chicken wings I’ve ever had would do them an injustice. They’re enormous (who knew chickens had such big wings?)—sweet and spicy, meaty and messy. I go through nearly a napkin for each of the six wings, then mop up with a couple of wet naps. A spoon and a fork are recommended for this style of Thai food, but in this case I’m all hands.

Fantastic, monster chicken wings with an Asian twist at Pok Pok

Fantastic, monster chicken wings with an Asian twist at Pok Pok

On a side note, a look at Pok Pok’s menu opens up an unfamiliar, fantastic world of Thai cuisine. You won’t find pad thai, green curry or tom kha soup here. That’s because those dishes are all part of the southern Thai offerings that dominate Thai menus pandering to the North American masses. Pok Pok and its offshoots are Andy Ricker’s attempts to bring authentic northern and northeastern Thai cuisine to U.S. palates.

Here’s hoping it becomes a more widespread trend. Because there is more to Thai than pad thai.

Pok Pok
3226 SE Division Street, Portland, Oregon
Daily 11:30 am-10 pm
Pok Pok on Urbanspoon

Tweets Doesn’t Have Twitter, But It’s Got Killer Food

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Edison, Washington is definitely an artsy little community

Edison, Washington is definitely an artsy little community

If you’re zipping between Vancouver and Seattle, I’d strongly recommend a little detour off the 1-5 (south of Bellingham, Washington) and into the artsy seaside village of Edison. Along a very short stretch of Cains Court is the excellent Breadfarm bakery (try the black olive baguette or the miche, Samish River potato or Chuckanut multigrain breads) and, next door, the Slough Food grocery, where you can pick up picnic supplies or enjoy a grilled cheese on the back patio. A minute’s walk away at The Edison Inn, order pan-fried oysters as good as any you might find on the Washington coast, and wash them down with a pint. Not far away, Farm to Market Bakery serves good soups and, get this, lime-soaked polenta cakes. It’s apparently moving soon into the Rhododendron Café site at 5521 Chuckanut Drive in nearby and also tiny Bow.

You can find Breadfarm loaves in Seattle, but why not head straight to the mothership?

You can find Breadfarm loaves in Seattle, but why not head straight to the mothership in Edison?

But the real Edison jewel, for me, is *Tweet’s Artisan Cafe & Eatery, with its rustic, beautifully curated design touches, perhaps not surprising considering there’s a contemporary gallery attached. Chef David Blakesley’s art is on display there, but it’s not the only place where he reigns creative.

Tweets is a lovely space to enjoy breakfast or lunch

Tweets is a lovely space to enjoy breakfast or lunch

The $10 salads are arranged masterpieces, adorned with a huge radish. My lowly breakfast sandwich is magically transformed here, with a mini salad on top and an accompanying slab of orange melon bursting with as much flavour as the eggs, ham and home-baked biscuit.

Tweets, Edison Washington

Have you ever seen a more gorgeous breakfast sandwich?

But the real star of the short breakfast and lunch menu is a towering torta rustica, with layer upon layer of Italian meats, cheeses and puff pastry. The prices might initially seem a little high, but you’re getting culinary creativity and first-rate ingredients for much less than you’d pay in the big city. And there’s no replicating the charm. Note: Owner Charles Atkinson tells me they’re opening a taqueria next door soon.

Some mouth-watering lunch specials at Tweets

Some mouth-watering lunch specials at Tweets

Tweets Cafe
5800 Cains Court, Edison, Washington
Friday to Sunday 9 am-6 pm. Cash only
Tweets Cafe on Urbanspoon

Viva Las Arepas in, You Guessed it, Las Vegas

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Viva Las Arepas owner Felix Arellano delivers arepas to my table

Viva Las Arepas owner Felix Arellano delivers arepas to my table

About a five-minute drive from the glitzy Las Vegas strip is *Viva Las Arepas (love that name), a bright corner joint in a decidedly more downbeat part of the city. Perfect. It’s a chance to delve into some fine Venezuelan food at bargain prices. Owner Felix Arellano is leaning over the mesquite-fired grill, cooking chicken and beef, much of it destined for the popular $5 arepas, a South American staple. But I go for a cachapa, filled with only melted mozza so I can focus on the excellent texture of this corn bread.

At this point, Felix sees me taking notes, comes over and says my cachapa isn’t the same as a cornmeal arepa. “Here, I’ll make you one, half stuffed with beef and half with shredded chicken, so you can see what a real arepa tastes like.” Both halves are delicious, especially splashed with some house-made hot sauce. Indeed, everything here is made from scratch. It’s a lot of work, but that’s what makes hands-on restaurants like these standouts.

Half-beef, half-chicken arepas. Outstanding!

Half-beef, half-chicken arepas. Outstanding!

Next time, I’ll get more adventurous and order the fried pork rinds and yucca root. Don’t think you’ll find that in any casino eatery.

Note: Felix is a partner in an excellent new gelato shop next door (Art of Flavors Gelato) and has a hot dog/taco shop truck down the street. It could be the start of a new Las Vegas strip.

Viva Las Arepas
1616 South Las Vegas Blvd Ste 120
Daily 10 am-10 pm, except midnight Friday and Saturday
Viva Las Arepas on Urbanspoon