New steakhouse shows off its chops: Weekly Dish review originally published in Edmonton Sun Jan. 2, 2013

Chop Steakhouse (Downtown)10235 101 St. (780) 441-3075 www.chop.ca Food: 3.5 of 5 starsAmbience: 4 of 5 starsService: 3.5 of 5 starsDinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $70; fully loaded, $140 It’s long been a mystery why, in the heart of cattle country, there have been just two steakhouses in downtown Edmonton since Hy’s closed … and one of them specializes in American corn-fed beef!Steaks are popular – there’s always going to be a steady steak ‘n’ potato crowd, and just about everybody gets a hankering at one time or another for a juicy T-bone that can be cut with a fork.Steak is easy enough to cook, it’s the cut and the aging that matters. There ought to be good money in a well-managed steakhouse, given steak entrees run from $25 to $60. And you don’t need an artist in the kitchen to prepare your basic steak, baked potato and tomato gratin.So it wasn’t surprising when the new owner of the Sutton Place Hotel announced the hotel restaurant would become a Chop Steakhouse. Northlands ... Read the rest of entry »

Check out our top-rated eateries in Edmonton - Weekly Dish column, originally published in Edmonton Sun, Dec. 26, 2012

Do you think the nay-sayers will finally back off, in light of the overwhelming evidence of Edmonton’s culinary coming of age?I cannot remember a year of so much choice and quality in Edmonton restaurants, from the cilantro, cold-cuts and slivered carrots in a $3.50 Van Loc Vietnamese sub to the best the Hardware Grill has to offer.After two years of reviewing, The Weekly Dish still has a list of some 40 must-get-to restaurants … and at least four more top-quality eateries are opening up.My standard response to anybody dissing Edmonton’s food selection is to rhyme off 20 excellent restaurants — ethnic, gourmet, vegetarian, classic, fusion, Italian and so on — and ask just how many have these pretentious types been to? Usually the response is a blank stare. They know not what is before their noses.Trends: Food trucks are coming into their own, and by this summer, every prime food truck spot will be taken. Thanks to Drift, Nomad and Little Village for setting the standard.Critical mass is happening in the heart ... Read the rest of entry »

From sublime to perplexing - Weekly Dish, originally published Edmonton Sun Dec. 19, 2012

Café de Ville10137-124 St.780 488 9188 www.cafedeville.comFood: 3.5 of 5 starsAmbience: 4 of 5 starsService: 3 of 5 starsDinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $65; fully loaded, $110Something magical is in the air.Café de Ville, on a snowy evening as Christmas approaches, is cozy and snug.The room emanates warmth and charm. It hearkens back to the origins of the historic Glenora Bed & Breakfast Inn in which it’s housed, built as the Buena Vista Apartments in 1912.The chairs are soft and upholstered, the cute little bar most inviting. An old radiator is on hand for decoration and there’s a Christmas tree in a nook.Café de Ville has a reputation for good, if pricey, food.There was, however, something impersonal. Despite a friendly waitress, Café de Ville was not particularly welcoming, even a tad indifferent, to its customers.Not that it mattered. The restaurant was full by 6:30 p.m. on a Friday.The food was perplexing. Of our four dishes, two were sublime, one was marred by too much salt, and one was ... Read the rest of entry »

Col. Mustard's: An old friend that never lets you down: Weekly Dish originally published Edmonton Sun, Dec. 12, 2012

Col. Mustard’s Canteen 10802-124 St. 780 448 1590 www.colmustards.caFood: 4 of 5 starsAmbience: 3.5 of 5 starsService: 3 of 5 starsDinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $35; fully loaded, $65Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.Over on 124 Street, marvellous things are happening.The Duchess Bakery has attained celebrity status, The Makk has just opened, with the new Canteen restaurant hot on its heels.With dozens upon dozens of interesting shops, galleries, restaurants, espresso bars and yoga studios, 124 Street is evolving along with the downtown 104th Street into the city’s second and third destination neighbourhoods after Old Strathcona.Which is all terribly exciting.But amidst all the excitement, don’t forget your old friends — the ones who never let you down, who are always there when you need them, who wait patiently as you are bedazzled by dashing, new acquaintances.Col. Mustard’s Canteen is now 16 years old. Brad Pipella has supervised the kitchen a ... Read the rest of entry »

Wild Tangerine is one-of-a-kind: Weekly Dish restaurant review from Edmonton Sun, Dec. 5, 2012

Wild Tangerine  10383 112 St.             780 429-3131       Wildtangerine.com Food: 4 of 5 stars Ambience: 3.5 of 5 stars Service: 3.5 of 5 stars Dinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $40; fully loaded, $100 Where does it come from? In what crazy brain space does Wild Tangerine chef and partner Judy Wu mix ‘n’ match like no other chef in Edmonton? She has dreamed up, and perfected, one-of-a-kind dishes that are signature staples on the Wild Tangerine menu: Octopus salad with spicy tangerine vinaigrette, marsala-masala spiced lamb chops, bison short ribs slow-cooked in salted rice wine. Judy shows no outward signs of culinary sophistication. Style is her brother and restaurant co-owner Wilson Wu’s department. He’s the talker. Quiet Judy stays in the Wild Tangerine kitchen, a plain black scarf always round her head, apron round her waist, cooking and cooking and cooking. Her E ... Read the rest of entry »

Vicky's Bistro | Wine Bar better than ever: Weekly Dish review originally published in Edmonton Sun, Nov. 28, 2012

Vicky’s Bistro | Wine Bar  Strathcona County Hall 100, 501 Festival Avenue Sherwood Park             780 417 1750       Vickys.ca Food: 4 of 5 stars Ambience: 3.5 of 5 stars Service: 2.5 of 5 stars Dinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $50; fully loaded, $100 The Weekly Dish has witnessed the fading of too many restaurants due to complacency. A restaurateur works his or her proverbial buns off for 10 years to build a good reputation. Then he or she decides the establishment can run itself, and starts spending more time on the golf course than in the dining room. In no time at all, quality slips, the reputation takes a hit and the eatery is a has-been. So three cheers for Vicky’s. After some 30 years it has gone the opposite way. Vicky’s changed location in Sherwood Park, and in the process has been invigorated and re-invented. The “old” Vicky’s w ... Read the rest of entry »

Mikado no longer tops in Edmonton Japanese cuisine: Weekly Dish Column, Edmonton Sun, Wed. Nov. 21, 2012

Mikado Downtown 10350 – 109 St.             780-425-8096       Mikadorestaurant.com Dinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $25; fully loaded, $50 I fear the Mikado Japanese Restaurant has gone corporate on us. It was one of Edmonton’s first ethnic restaurants, opening in 1972 on 116 Street in what’s now a tattoo parlour, moving to fancy new digs at 109th Street and 104th Avenue when Railtown signalled the start of the downtown renaissance. The Mikado has since grown, and now encompasses the Mikado Downtown, Mikado South and Mikado West End. No one family or particular personality has been associated with the Mikado. No Quons (Lingnan), Kapurs (New Asian Village) or Nobres (Spago) greet you at the door. It has been without a defining personality from the start. But always the Mikado has been dependable — for its tasty sushi and sashimi, rice rolls, tempura and bento boxes. Nothing’s ... Read the rest of entry »

Pampa introduces Brazilian wine to Edmonton

Why, one asks after yet another fine bottle of Brazilian red has been sampled at a media gathering in the Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, has there been so little Brazilian wine available in Canada before? After all, it wasn't that difficult, after Pampa proprietor Oscar Lopez and his wine guy Nelson Gomes of FineVine Imports decided to focus on Brazilian wines in a restaurant specializing in Brazilian-style spit-cooked meat shop, to get the stuff.   They made a trip or two to Brazil's wine country to its south, met the growers and vintners, and simply fired up a not-too-difficult process of importing wine by the case from vintner to restaurant ... with a few bottles left over for FineVine to distribute through its retail network. It appears that Brazil has not gone after the export market for its wines, which, in price and quality, can easily compete with the much better known Chilean and Argentinian brands from South America. So the perceptive Mr. Lopez not only has a unique style of cooking and presen ... Read the rest of entry »

Hole in one: XIX fine addition to upscale-casual dining scene: Weekly Dish originally published in Edmonton Sun, Wed. Nov. 14, 2012

XIX (Nineteen) 5940 Mullen Way (Rabbit Hill Road, north of Henday Drive) 780-395-1119       Dinenineteen.com Food: 4.5 of 5 stars Ambiance: 3.5 of 5 stars Service: 3.5 of 5 stars Dinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $60; fully loaded, $100 —— It’s an inside joke, folks, and a bit of clever marketing. What kind of restaurant calls itself XIX, or, in the vernacular, Nineteen? Lucky 19? Oriental numerology? A winning blackjack hand? Is there a casino in the ‘hood? The 19th hole. Of course! It’s a casual golf reference to the gathering of friends for food and beverage after 18 holes of golf. XIX is inextricably linked to the Blackhawk Golf Course. Chef Andrew Fung ran Blackhawk’s dining room since it opened. His partner in XIX, Al Prokop, built Blackhawk, and remains majority owner of the members-only course located between Devon and the city’s southwest boundary. Some se ... Read the rest of entry »

Sweet, but too Sweet! Viphalay Thai Restaurant, Weekly Dish originally published in Edmonton Sun, Wed. Nov. 7, 2012

Viphalay Laos and Thai Restaurant 10523-99 Ave. 780-756-8188       www.viphalay.com Food: 3 of 5 stars Ambience: 3.5 of 5 stars Service: 3 of 5 stars Dinner for two (without beverages): Basic, $30; fully loaded, $50 —— Sweet. Everything about Viphalay Laos and Thai Restaurant was sweet. The Tom Yum soup – the classic Thai spicy sweet ‘n’ sour soup – was not particularly sour, but very sweet and ultra-spicy. The Laph diced chicken salad was defined by its chopped sweet onion. The “Puht Kieh Mow MaMa,” or drunken noodles, was too darned sweet. The “Chu Chi Bah”- red seafood curry, far and away the best dish of the evening – still, was very sweet. Sweet, here and there, is just fine. But in every dish as the dominating taste? It’s just too much, and severely detracted from the other attributes of Viphalay’s cuisine. It’s tough to e ... Read the rest of entry »