Sage Restaurant - Signature Series of a Taste of Europe

Last Thursday, I attended the Media Dinner at the Sage Restaurant (located in the Casino River Cree) for Chef Chartrand's Sage Signature Series. The media dinner was a peek at the upcoming Taste of Europe menu which is a 6 course tasting menu available at Sage from August 26 until August 31 for $49 (drink pairings are an additional cost). 

When each beautiful dish arrived at the table, Chef Chartrand explained the inspiration behind each dish and that each dish paid homage to one of his favourite European chefs. Each dish was essentially Chef Chartrand's interpretation of the dish.

Each drink pairing was explained in detail and how it would pair with the particular dish that we were going to enjoy. 

We started with Spain for the first course with a dish inspired by Chef Jose Andres of a clams and chorizo sausage al ajillo and crispy ensalada. The egg yolk in this dish was perfectly creamy, the clams fresh and the flavours balanced well with the chorizo sausage. 

This dish was paired very nicely with a Cava Baron De Valls Brut from Catlyuna. Cava means double fermented and as such resembles a sparkling wine like champagne and this was a great drink to start the meal. 

The second course took us to Germany with a dish inspired by Sven Elderfeld of a beef goulash, braised cabbage, potato-gherkin cream and spelt bread. 

The wine paired with this dish was a Andreas Bender Pinot Noir 2011 from Pfalz. I must say the beef goulash paired very smoothly with the Pinot Noir. The wine was not too spicy on the palate, as the cream and goulash provided a smoothness that you don't often taste with a Pinot Noir. 

The third course brought us to Italy with a dish inspired by Massimo Bottura consisting of beautiful springy tagliatelle with veal osso bucco, roasted romaine and balsamic foie. A Nero Di Troia from Pugia was paired with this dish. This wine is a single varietal with no sulphites and is made in a stainless steel barrel. Needless to say, it paired very well with the veal osso bucco.

A 1448 Premium Whisky Ale from Perthshire arrived next to be paired with the fourth course of the night. This whisky ale is very unique as it is made in previously used oak barrels. It is naturally light and has a slight flavour of orange peel. 

Our fourth course of the Sage Signature Series was inspired by Marc Pierre White of England with Chef Chartrand's creation of a deconstructed cottage pie. Crispy kale and pecorino sat on top of mashed potatoes, finely diced carrots and lamb.  

Our fifth course of the night took us to France with a dish inspired by Alain Ducasse. Chef Chartrand also explained that this dish's portion size was a little smaller given our previous plates. The coq au vin was amazingly soft with the burgundy emulsion and a gruyère gougères. I loved the gruyère gougères (think golden cheesy puff!) as it was super soft with a nice hint of gruyère.

For our last course of the night, we had a Kirsch Based Cocktail rimmed with spicy cinnamon and brown sugar.

The last course of the night was also a feat in itself as the culinary team managed to bake 50 soufflés and serve them at the same time. This swiss chocolate soufflé was inspired by Chef Peter Goossens of Switzerland and was paired with a Crème anglaise. The decadence of this dessert went very well with the dessert cocktail. 

Chef Chartrand and his team did an amazing job on the Sage Signature Series. It was a great opportunity to visit Sage and to partake in such a great dinner. You can certainly see Chef Chartrand's creativity in the plating and interpretation of classic dishes but his creativity is also evident in the flavours that he puts together. If you have the chance to try this time's Sage Signature Series, go book a table as the Taste of Europe Signature Series is only available this week.

Sage Restaurant

300 E Lapotac Blvd.

Enoch, AB

twitter: @SageRiverCree

Feasting on Seafood at Sabor

Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to be invited to Sabor Restaurant's (previously known as Sabor Divino) second annual seafood fest. I had been looking forward to trying out the seafood at Sabor since since Sabor's Pork Fest when I realized we had just missed the seafood festival. 

Co-owner Christian Mena started off this year's seafood festival by thanking everyone for attending and inviting everyone to enjoy dinner "family style" as we were all part of the family! We were all seated in long family style communal tables which added to the atmosphere and feeling of us all being part of one family!

We started off with some warm and cold tapas of Bacalhau (salt cod cakes), Sardine Pate Crostinis, Piri Piri Prawns and a bite of Wild Artic Char Tartar with avocado and pimento aioli. These first four tapas were all quite tasty, however, I really enjoyed the flavour in the piri piri prawns while Dan enjoyed the artic char. The presentation of the artic char tartar was unique as it was designed to be eaten in one bite so all the flavours would come together inside your mouth.

The olives! The olives at Sabor are very unique. Certainly olives are not for everyone but I must admit that over the years my palate has changed towards enjoying certain types of olives. Pictured above are a selection of olives that Sabor serves at the start of their meals (in previous dining experiences you can request them at the beginning of your meal). The bright green olive was surprisingly my favourite out of all of them as it had a light mellow flavour and mouth feel and was not as heavy on the palate compared to the darker Calamata olive.

The next family style dish that we had was the Bay Scallops with a Cauliflower Puree. Oh my! These scallops were amazing. Each scallop had a gorgeous soft texture and was perfectly grilled. The cauliflower puree was also very well done and flavourful.

The Grilled Calamari with lemon and spicy tomato arrived shortly after with a small heap of micro greens on top. If you love calamari, then this dish would be for you! The tomato sauce wasn't as spicy as you would initially think as it was balanced nicely with the lemon. Each calamari ring was soft and not too chewy.

Dan really loved the Octopus Salad as it had generous chunks of tender (non-rubbery) grilled octopus amidst the greens, red onions and peppers.

Midway through the meal, Chef Lino Oliveira (also known as the Rebel Chef) came out to talk to all the guests and go into a bit more detail about the reasons behind the seafood fest and menu. Both Chef Oliveira & Christian Mena then announced that Sabor is now officially 100% Oceanwise certified!

With that news in mind, we all thoroughly enjoyed the next three seafood dishes of the Lobster Risotto, the Pan-Roasted Sablefish with cucumber green onion salsa and a very well packed Seafood Paella filled with mussels, scallops, clams and shrimp!

In between courses there were number of photo outtakes of our food, each other and of course photos of photos (Thank Brit for being our model for this one!)

In all honestly, everyone had an amazing time at Sabor's second annual seafood fest enjoying each other's company, the food and the tasty Vina Chocalan Chardonnay and Vina Chocalan Carmenere that continually flowed from the bottles to our wine glasses.

Sabor even made their dessert easy to take home as it was a Cherry Port Cheesecake in a cute mason jar!

If you want to taste any of the above delicious plates please go dine during Sabor's Seafood Fest that is running until September 14, 2014 in Edmonton! They are now 100% Oceanwise certified so that is even better. 

Sabor Restaurant

10220-103 St. 

Edmonton, AB

Hours: 

Lunch Mon-Fri (11:30am-2pm)

Dinner Mon-Sat (5pm-10pm)

Sunday (5-9pm)

(780)757-1114

http://www.sabordivino.com/

Twitter: @Sabor_yeg

Instagram: @sabor_yeg

Dining out in Calgary - Black Pig Bistro

Last week, Dan and I celebrated our 3rd year anniversary. Unfortunately, on the actual day of the anniversary, I ended up being super sick. So in an effort to recover the anniversary we ended up making plans to celebrate in Calgary and have a mini-vacation. One restaurant in particular caught our attention - Black Pig Bistro especially after our friend Carmen talked about about each of the great dishes and having recently met Chef John Michael MacNeil in June. 

Upon entering their restaurant you are greeted by the friendly front of house and given a moment to enjoy the beautiful open space. Of course, one of their key features the Iberico leg is on display for your viewing pleasure.

Shortly after we ordered, we were treated to some molecular gastronomy of encapsulated (or spherified) olives! According to chef John this was heavily inspired by the tapas Barcelona restaurant, Tickets. When you pop these into your mouth, the jelly casing gives away to a burst of olives! Granted, you must love olives to enjoy this particular presentation, but I think olives are starting to grow on me (more about olives in the next post).

For our salad, we ordered the special salad of the night which was comprised of slices of their namesake Iberico ham, B.C peaches, fior de latte, topped with a handful of arugala and a light fig spread. This dish was the perfect start to our meal as it was light and refreshing. The Iberico ham was true to its description of being creamy, rich and almost melted in our mouths.

The next dish that we shared was the Salted Cod Tortellini resting on a piquillo pepper puree and topped with crispy kale chips. The saltiness of the cod balanced well with the piquillo pepper puree and the added crunch from the kale was perfect.

As a side note, this dish is also one of the most photographed dishes at the Black Pig Bistro!

The third plate that we shared was a different sort of plate. When C & D as well as others recommended that we had to get the Pork Dogs we were intrigued since that is not a usual dish to have. These Pork Dogs were delicious and I am so glad we ordered them as they are made from house made pork sausages and nestled in their own housemade bun! The roasted garlic aioli and salsa verde added some bright flavours and the shaving of manchego (which looked sort of like sauerkraut at first glance) on top made for a perfect third course.

By the time we finished the pork dogs, we wondered if we needed to order more food. However, once this beautiful beef cheek risotto made it to our table we knew dessert would have to be up next. This risotto was amazing! Rich, but not in that heavy way. If you are wondering about the beef cheeks, there are some good size portions nestled inside the risotto. Topped with saffron, grape tomatoes and mixed with mascarpone, this risotto was the perfect main course.

To end the night we ordered the passion fruit panna cotta topped with pistachio crumb, toasted coconut, coconut brioche and some little bits of candied fennel. I couldn't get a nice photo for this dish as the sun had gone done by that time and we didn't want to use the camera's flash. So, just trust me when I say that it was a great light ending to a meal such as the one we had! Imagine pops of passion fruit between creamy panna cotta, nutty pistachios and a nice crunch from the candied fennel on each bite.

All in all, we loved every minute of our anniversary dinner. All the dishes were well prepared, balanced well and looked absolutely amazing. If you have a chance to visit Black Pig Bistro in Calgary you should definitely do it! Chef Alison Bieber and Chef John Michael MacNeil were fantastic and they certainly have a good thing going at Black Pig Bistro. They also mentioned that their menu will be changing in September, so it will be exciting to see what else they have in mind.

Black Pig Bistro
825-1st Ave NE
Calgary, AB
www.blackpigbistro.com
Twitter: @blackpigbistro
Instagram: @blackpigbistro 
Wednesday-Sunday 11am-Close

Fondita Day by Mariel Montero at Expressionz Cafe

After trying out taco day at Expressionz Cafe back in March, I was keen on coming back for their much talked about Fondita Day. Fondita Day, is where mexican comfort food is presented Thursday evenings from 5-9pm at Expressionz Cafe. Mariel Montero, is the organizer and cooks up all the delicious dishes for both Fondita Day & Taco Day. As Fondita Day is not every Thursday, it is best to check their online calendar or follow them on Facebook. The good news is that the next Fondita Day is this coming Thursday July 31, 2014!

While we were enjoying our meal I also had the opportunity to meet the team behind the good eats for Fondita as well as Taco Day! Mariel Montero is the lady wearing the black apron in the first row. Look for her on your next visit!

To start our meal, we ordered a Horchata which is a rice based Mexican drink flavoured with cinnamon. Super refreshing and tasty, as can be seen!

The Costillas Enchilades arrived first with some warm tortillas. The slow cooked ribs were soft and the meat easily fell off the bone. This made it very easy to assemble our tortillas with the refried beans and rice.

Pork Flautas were next up. These were tasty, crispy pork filled tortillas that had been rolled and topped with lettuce, queso fresco, crema and slices of thick avocados. I liked how these flautas came with avocados and crema as they helped balance the heaviness of the tortillas.

The last item we ordered was the Gordita. The 'pancake' was made with homemade masa dough so it was more on the light side and topped with similar ingredients to the Flautas with the exception of the homemade cheese! Again, this is an item that we would order again. I am also curious about what the vegetarian options for both the Gorditas and Flautas would taste like, so we will certainly have to come back to try more dishes and variations. Plus, each Fondita Day serve different dishes so there will be lots of variety.

Sadly, by the time we arrived around 6:30pm that Thursday night, they had sold out of the Pastel Aztecas (mexican style lasagna with layers of goodness!). However, we bumped into a friend of ours and he assured us that they were delicious. We did have a small taste of his, but I am thinking having a full sized order would be needed! Hopefully, the next time we visit Fondita night we will have the chance to try the Pastel Aztecas.

So, what are you waiting for? Go on and check out the next Fondita Day at Expresszionz Cafe on Thursday July 31. I am certain that not only are all the dishes at Fondita Day delicious (they change each time), but incredibly affordable. All the dishes Dan and I ordered came to $27.

If you do head out to Fondita Day or Taco Day, let me know how it went and which dishes you ordered!

Expressionz Cafe Market & Meeting Place
9938 70 Ave, Edmonton, AB
(780) 437-3667
Cafe is open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Taco & Fondita Days are listed on the calendar or on Facebook.

Rae Mi Hyang - Korean Chinese Restaurant Review

After picking up some kimchi from Mama Lee's Kitchen one day end of June, I spotted the opening of a new Korean restaurant 2 spaces down called Rae Mi Hyang. Now Mi Hyang can often mean noodles, so I was excited over the possibilities of a Korean restaurant specializing in noodles and other good eats. 

Together with a few fellow food bloggers we made plans to visit in early July. The restaurant does not take any reservations, so ensure that you go early in order to get a table large enough for your group. 

First glance of the menu showed that there were noodle dishes to be ordered as well as a scattering of other Korean dishes. We soon learned though, that Rae Mi Hyang is actually a Chinese Korean restaurant. As a result, many traditional Korean dishes were not on the menu such as korean short ribs, bugulgi or tteokbokki (korean rice cakes). 

On this particular day, the weather in Edmonton was also incredibly hot. Sadly, all of the cold noodle dishes and cold dishes were also not available. This was rather unfortunate, as the restaurant does not have any air conditioning so it made for a slightly interesting meal. Needless to say, we all drank a lot of water in our attempts to cool down. 

The first dish that we ordered was the Jap Chae ($20). This dish is made with sweet potato noodles (the clear noodles) stir fried with beef, carrots, onion, peppers, cabbage and flavoured with soy sauce and sweetened with a bit of sugar. There is also a sprinkling of sesame seeds and some slivers of chili. This dish can be served hot or cold. At Rae Mi Hyang it came as a hot dish and has a slight kick of spice.

Fried rice with crab meat in an XO sauce was next ($15). There was real crab meat stir fried into the dish but it was hard to tell if the XO sauce had been mixed into the dish. I also found the portion size for this dish a bit small considering that it was $15.

The Kan Fung Gi ($23) seemed to be the dish that everyone enjoyed the most. This dish was comprised of boneless chicken strips deep fried and coated in a sweet and spicy sauce. Plus, what is there not to like about Korean Fried Chicken? The only difference about Rae Mi Hyang's fried chicken is that it is more on the sweet and gingery with a hit of heat compared to the fried chickens at other Korean restaurants. This dish was a bit disappointing for some of us as we had envisioned a Gochujang (spicy sweet chili) sauce given the menu description. 

Another popular noodle dish that we ordered was the Jajian Myun ($18 family size). This noodle dish is comprised of wheat noodles covered with a thick salty black bean sauce along with onions, cucumbers and radish. You often need to give the noodles a good mix in order to ensure that the sauce covers all portions of the noodles.

The last dish that was ordered was a spicy Jiam bong ($14). Whew was this noodle bowl spicy! Seems like there was a great seafood component in the bowl with mussels, shrimp, squid and even some crab legs. I managed to try some of the noodles, but the spicy seafood noodle soup was a little too spicy for my liking.

Overall we all had an enjoyable meal at Rae Mi Hyang. Service was friendly and attentive. However, I did find that most of the dishes were more Chinese cooking versus Korean dishes. So, if you want more traditional Korean food than Lee House or Wong Jung Gak may be what you are looking for. The hot weather with the lack of air conditioning in the restaurant did make it a bit uncomfortable but I am sure once the weather cools down this will be a great restaurant for a hot bowl of noodle soup. I do hope to try their cold noodle dishes on my next visit to the restaurant!

Check out Little Miss Andrea's review here as well!

Rae Mi Hyang

10625 51 Ave. 

Edmonton, AB

Crispy Skin Chicken in 30 minutes!

As promised in one of my previous posts, on instagram and also on Facebook, I'm finally getting to blogging our crispy skin chicken dish (not deep fried).  First off, you must used chicken with the skin on (I'll post an easy to print recipe at the bottom of this post as well). You can choose chicken leg, chicken thigh, drumsticks, wings etc.. but whatever you buy must have the skin in order to achieve the crispy chicken skin. The next item you will need is a large ovenproof pot that can be used on the stove top as well as the oven. A le creuset or a dutch oven will do the trick nicely.

First, take the chicken thighs, chicken legs, or chicken wings and pat them dry with paper towels. If you want more meat, then chicken thighs or quarter chickens (i.e. drum stick and the thigh) would be best. Add a sprinkle of salt, pepper and olive oil to the meat. You can also add more seasoning if you wish such as basil, oregano, or thyme. In this recipe, we kept it simple with just salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to bake at 475F.

Next, place the dutch oven (the one that I have is a 5.3L le creuset) onto the stove top. Add a little cooking oil to the bottom the pot. Do not turn on the burner yet.

Arrange the chicken with the skin side down into the cold dutch oven. There can only be one layer of chicken otherwise you will risk having non-crispy and/or undercooked chicken.

Turn the stove burner to medium -low (halfway between med and low). Allow the chicken to cook uncovered for 15 minutes (skin side down). You will hear sizzling and popping and that is okay! This occurs because the fat in the chicken is rendering and will result in a nice crispy skin.

After 15 minutes, flip the chicken pieces so that the skin side is up. Feel free to place some sliced lemons underneath the chicken (the non crispy side) for a lemon flavoured chicken. Then place the entire dutch oven into the oven and bake for another 15 minutes. At this point, turn the oven temperature down to 375F.

After baking for 15 minutes at 375F serve immediately. This chicken should be juicy on the inside and have a crispy skin.

Quick Crispy Skin Chicken

Ingredients & Materials

• chicken thigh, chicken leg or chicken wings with the skin on
• 1tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of pepper
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• optional: lemon slices or lemon zest
• large dutch oven

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475F.
2. Pat dry chicken.
3. Lightly coat chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Lightly drizzle some olive oil on top of chicken.
5. In a cold Dutch Oven (or oven safe stovetop pot) add some cooking oil.
6. Arrange chicken pieces in a single layer with skin side down.
7. Place the Dutch Oven on the stovetop burner set at medium-low and cook for 15 minutes (do not touch chicken during this time).
8. Flip individual chicken pieces so that the cooked skin side is now facing up.
9. Place the entire Dutch Oven into the oven and reduce oven temperature to 375F.
10. Bake for another 15 minutes.
11. Serve immediately from oven.