Great Java in Cochrane, Alberta

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Java Jamboree owner Jess Johnston meticulously making a pour-over coffee

Java Jamboree owner Jess Johnston meticulously making a pour-over coffee

Okay, I’ll say it. *Java Jamboree, in the bedroom backwater of Cochrane, is one of the best coffeehouses in Alberta. Take that, snooty Calgary and Edmonton.

The reason is threefold: first-rate coffee, a place you want to linger in—beyond staring at a computer screen—and fine food that’s largely made in house.

Let’s start with the most important thing, the coffee. Young owner Jess Johnston or any of her exacting baristas can make coffee any newfangled way you want: espresso-based, inverted Aeropress, Chemex or pour over. Ironically, the only knock I have on Java Jamboree is its reliance on lightly roasted beans from Calgary’s Phil and Sebastian and Victoria’s Bows & Arrows. I just like a darker roast.

Java Jamboree hits all the right touches, like this gorgeous china cup and saucer

Java Jamboree hits all the right touches, like this gorgeous china cup and saucer

Second, there’s the setting. Sure, Java Jamboree is in a nondescript mall with Safeway and Canadian Tire as neighbours and an acre of parking in between. But step inside the door, and you enter a calming world of beige walls decorated with good art, reclaimed wood tables and brushed aluminum chairs, a comfy couch, soft lighting from hanging fixtures and an unobtrusive jazz soundtrack that promotes actual conversation or book reading.

Isn't this the kind of coffee shop you'd like to hang out in?

Isn’t this the kind of coffee shop you’d like to hang out in?

Finally, there’s the food, a trucked-in or warmed-up afterthought at most cafes. Here, there’s a short but good menu of house-made fruit scones, breakfast wraps, a daily soup and a couple of paninis. The culinary features are four grilled cheese sandwiches, highlighted by an aged cheddar with caramelized onion jam and prosciutto and a side of their own ketchup.

Java Jamboree features four grilled cheese sandwiches, including this one with aged cheddar and prosciutto

Java Jamboree features four grilled cheese sandwiches, including this one with aged cheddar and prosciutto

So, you might prefer a café in Alberta that serves a bean or even food you like better. But I challenge you to find a place that can match these three pillars of a great coffeehouse.

Java Jamboree
#9, 312 5 Avenue West, Cochrane, Alberta
Monday to Saturday 8 am-6 pm, Sunday 9 am-6 pm
Java Jamboree Coffee Co. on Urbanspoon

Savour the French at This Edmonton Cafe

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The menu at Cafe Bicyclette is in French, but the taste is universal

The menu at Cafe Bicyclette is in French, but the taste is universal

It’s been decades since I studied French in high school. So at Edmonton’s Café Bicyclette, my poor brain is taxed deciphering today’s menu board, with the server kindly translating phrases like pain perdu (French toast) and saucisse dejeunet (breakfast sausage). Fortunately, I need no help figuring out croque monsieur avec oeuf, a very nice version of the ham, cheese and fried egg sandwich, on a fresh baguette, for only $6. I finish things off with a good Iconoclast coffee and a delicately crumbed pineapple scone, perhaps the highlight of my petit dejeuner.

A wonderfully delicate crumb to this pineapple scone

A wonderfully delicate crumb to this pineapple scone

Bicyclette is a lovely new French cafe, with just about everything— muffins and pain au chocolat to soups—made from scratch. And it comes by its French roots honestly. It’s located in the heart of Edmonton’s historic Francophone quarter, with the University of Alberta’s Campus Saint-Jean campus just up Rue Anne-Marie Gaboury. Bon appetit!

Cafe Bicyclette
8627 91 Street (Rue Anne-Marie Gaboury), Edmonton, Alberta
Weekdays 8 am-5 pm (opening at 10 am for weekend brunch), dinner Thursday to Saturday 5 pm-10 pm
Café Bicyclette on Urbanspoon

Lovely Lebanese Pita Pies in Leduc, Alberta

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Kassem Fedda (left) and sone Hassen own the delightful Pita Hut Bakery in Leduc, Alberta

Kassem Fedda (left) and son Hassen own the delightful Pita Hut Bakery in Leduc, Alberta

It’s a bone-numbing winter’s day (-35 Celsius with wind chill) as I step inside Leduc’s Pita Hut Bakery, south of Edmonton. So I’m enviously eying the woman stationed in front of a large, metal gas-fired oven. It’s like a pizza oven, complete with the long-handled paddle. But instead of pizzas, she’s tending made-to-order pita pies and stuffed pies, the latter a Lebanese version of a calzone.

For a bargain $4, I get a half-and-half pita pie—zatar (oregano, sumac, sesame seeds and olive oil) on one side and Lebanese cheeses on the other. These savoury mixes are enhanced by my choice of additional briny toppings, including crunchy, pickled turnip. I top things off with some delightfully crispy and slightly oily pita chips and garlic dip and a piece of complementary baklava.

Half zatar, half cheese pita pie for only $4 at Pita Hut Bakery

Half zatar, half cheese pita pie for only $4 at Pita Hut Bakery

Pita Hut is a friendly Lebanese family affair, with father Kassem Fedda assembling the food in the kitchen, his wife tending the oven and son Hassen kibitzing with takeout customers at the front counter when I visit. It’s a great, inexpensive new place for a delicious light meal just two minutes off Highway 2.

Pita Hut Bakery
Unit 40, 4916 50 Avenue, Leduc, Alberta
Monday to Saturday 9 am-7 pm
Pita Hut Bakery on Urbanspoon

Seattle Sandwich Standoff

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What do Seattle diners do while they're waiting in line? Why of course, talk to each other

What do Seattle diners do while they’re waiting in line? Why of course, talk to each other

It’s your classic heavyweight battle. In one corner, er Seattle streetfront, is the long-time, undisputed champ: Paseo, famed for its Cuban-style sandwiches. Almost right across Fremont Avenue is the contender, Dot’s Delicatessen, which also does sandwiches, along with charcuterie plates.

I head for the latter because a) I like an underdog and b) there’s no 11 am lineup here. I order a porchetta sandwich, the fatty pork tenderloin nicely offsetting the crunchy, pinkish coleslaw and the whole thing nicely held together by lightly toasted, chewy sourdough bread. It’s a simple, great $9 sandwich.

The porchetta sandwich on sourdough is sublime at Dot's Delicatessen

The porchetta sandwich on sourdough is sublime at Dot’s Delicatessen

By the time I’ve wolfed down the last morsel, I would probably just be ordering at Paseo. But as I pass the latter and its ever-lengthening line, I see some seated lads digging into steaming pork subs, smothered in caramelized onions. Damn, that looks good, too.

There's usually a healthy line for Paseo's Cuban-style sandwiches

There’s usually a healthy line for Paseo’s Cuban-style sandwiches

I can see a split decision here. Heck, even Urbanspoon reviewers are having a tough time deciding. I guess everyone’s a winner.

Dot’s Delicatessen
4262 Fremont Ave North
Daily 11 am-9 pm, except 3 pm closing Sunday
Dot’s Delicatessen on Urbanspoon

Paseo
4225 Fremont Avenue North or 6226 Seaview Avenue NW
Tuesday to Friday 11 am-9 pm, Saturday 11 am-8 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday
Paseo on Urbanspoon

Rockin it in Balzac, Alberta

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The Rockin Horse Cafe in whistlestop Balzac is a good place to stop before hitting Calgary

The Rockin Horse Cafe in whistlestop Balzac is a good place to stop before hitting Calgary

Entering the Rockin Horse Cafe, in tiny Balzac north of Calgary, I look at the specials’ menu board and spot Portuguese soup. “I’m a writer,” I say, erasing the second “u” with my finger. Out comes the cellphone, Google is consulted, and I look for a place to hide…. or order beet-red soup.

Rockin Horse owner Raymonde Boisvert not only knows spelling. She also knows soup. Every day, she and her son scratch make three soups from a roster of some 40 in her little cookbook. Today’s choices include macaroni and, of course, Portuguese, the latter a sturdy, tasty mix of chorizo sausage, potatoes, cabbage and beef broth. The regulars, including cowboys and truckers, usually combine the soup with a BLT or clubhouse, but I go for another standout: her mother’s recipe of cinnamon-raisin bread pudding with caramel sauce.

You've got to try the cinnamon-raisin bread pudding, from an old family recipe

You’ve got to try the cinnamon-raisin bread pudding, from an old family recipe

The Rockin Horse is a good last-minute place to stop for breakfast or lunch before hitting or passing through Calgary. It’s less than a minute west of Highway 2 and within spitting distance of the city’s encroaching northern suburbs.

It’s also a good place to work on my spelling. Think they’d let me add an ‘ to Rockin or an é to Cafe?

Raymonde Boisvert runs the show, with the help of son Sean

Raymonde Boisvert runs the show, with the help of son Sean

Rockin Horse Cafe
100 Main Street, Balzac, Alberta
Weekdays 7 am-3 pm, Saturday 8 am-3 pm
Rockin Horse Cafe on Urbanspoon

The Latest Beer Innovation: The Tasting Room

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Beer doesn't just come in bottles or pints anymore

Beer doesn’t just come in bottles or pints anymore

In the beer-drinking world, many of us sophisticated types long ago evolved from the 24-packs of thin, flavourless piss to craft beers of all persuasions. Though sometimes things get a little carried away with the addition of fruits, chocolate and hot peppers. And don’t get me started on IPAs.

The chocolaty "breakfast" beer and the geek

The chocolaty “breakfast” beer and the geek

The latest trend is the beer-tasting room, where you can stand, or sit at little tables, and savour small glasses (say, five or eight ounces) of beer, usually produced by an attached brewery. Perhaps the only food offered is from independent food trucks at the curb. Want some beer to take home? You’ll probably have to buy a refillable growler.

Vancouver, for instance, features two new tasting rooms. Brassneck Brewery (2148 Main Street) opened this fall with some eight beers to sample, while 33 Acres Brewing (15 West 8 Avenue) has two on tap. I recently visited the latter, which is a nice, bright place to sip a glass of 33 Acres of Life while chatting with friends. It felt more like a modern coffee shop (minus the laptops) than a prototypical pub. It’s all part of a craft beer renaissance in Vancouver, aided by the updating of antiquated liquor laws that allows the licencing of city tasting lounges.

Smaller glasses of onsite-produced beer at 33 Acres' tasting roomSmaller glasses of onsite-produced beer at 33 Acres’ tasting room

Whether tasting rooms are your cup of beer is a matter of preference. Methinks that in big cities, it’s a trend that’s just getting started.

Road Food For Thought: What ever happened to those beer bottle openers in motel bathrooms? Don’t they know all these craft beers don’t have screw tops?

Why do most bottles of Canadian craft beers contain only 331 or 341 millilitres (11 or a little more ounces) of golden liquid, compared with 12 ounces for their American counterparts? The funny thing is, put the same Canadian beer in a can and you suddenly get 12 ounces (355 ml), often for less money. Go figure.

Blow the foam off the Canadian craft beer (right), and it's an ounce short of its American cousin

Blow the foam off the Canadian craft beer (right), and it’s an ounce short of its American cousin

Obviously, American beer has always been cheaper than Canadian suds. But the production and marketing of specialty brews down south has raised the price of some 22-ounce bottles to between $4 and $9 apiece. Guess they’re taking their cue from the specialty coffeehouses.