‘HOME-COOKED FARE WITH FRENCH FLAIR’
‘Blue collar bistro’ offers menu of classics in refreshed space in the Burn Block
Rose, the greeter at the door of The Eden, smiles beatifically. Of course, she’s only seven months old so smiling is her main skill set right now. But it works and she’ll gain many more skills and experiences under the tutelage of parents Rob and Nadine Eden as she grows up in a restaurant that carries her name.
The Eden (1219 9th Ave. S.E., 403-266-1005) is a natural progression for the senior Edens: Nadine grew up in restaurants in France where her father was a chef; Rob has spent over 20 years in the local scene with the Ship and Anchor, the Concorde Group and, most recently, as operating partner of Blue Star Diner. The restaurant is what they call a “blue collar bistro” that serves “good, home-cooked fare with a French flair.”
Certainly, the menu oozes French charm. There’s a Lyonnaise salad ($12), beef bourguignon ($18), sole meunière ($20) and cassoulet ($18). And following the current style of French bistros, there’s a house-ground burger topped with caramelized onions and gruyere served with frites ($16) and a pasta, here a penne carbonara ($17), as well as an ever-changing plat du jour.
The Eden is in the 1912-built Burn Block, in a space that for many years was Jacqueline Suzanne’s and then The Carmichael. It’s a unique, rectangular space where there are 30 seats on the main floor and an additional 20 in a low-ceilinged loft. (If you’re over six feet tall, you’ll be bending over so as not to brush the tin ceiling panels.)
The Edens refreshed the kitchen with new tile and paint that extends into the dining area. New tables, chairs and banquettes were also installed, giving the historic space a clean, relaxed look. The most striking addition is a photo mural of a smiling, jump-shotting basketball player in University of Alberta silks. This is Bob Eden, Rob’s father and a star for the Golden Bears in the 1960s.
Running the kitchen is chef Mike French, formerly of La Brezza and Jacqueline’s Bistro in Willow Park. He’s worked with the Edens to create a menu that would be as at home in Bordeaux as it is in Calgary.
The Eden is open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner and does not take reservations. They do corkage for $15 per bottle.
The sharp, salty tang of pecorino Romano cheese hits you the moment you walk into Bread and Circus Trattoria at 616 17th Ave. S.W. (403-476-3615). In fact, it hits you when you enter Una Takeaway, the small street-front deli that precurses the entrance to both Bread and Circus and Frenchie Wine Bar. The three new businesses parallel Una Pizza + Wine in a long, 5.6-metre-wide storefront that previously housed Mission Snow and Skate. ( You enter at Takeaway, pass through Bread and Circus and end up at Frenchie.)
Bread and Circus, inspired by a visit to Rome by owners Jayme MacFayden and Kelly Black of BMex Restaurant Group, is a trattoria that keys on classic Roman dishes such as bucatini alla amatriciana with tomato sauce, guanciale and pecorino ($20), linguine carbonara with guanciale, egg, pepper and pecorino ($20) and gnocchi with braised lamb ragu, eggplant, mint and Parmigiano reggiano ($24).
Pecorino, one of Italy’s oldest cheeses, is big here. Dating back to the days of the Roman Empire, the hard, sheep-milk cheese was a ration staple for the Roman legions, with each soldier issued one ounce per day. At Bread and Circus, the cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) pasta is finished in a 20-kilo drum of pecorino that’s been cut in half; the drum is scraped in the process, adding to the dish. It sits in plain view in the open kitchen where customers watch the preparation and inhale the intoxicating aromas. It takes chef Kayle Burns about two weeks to work his way through a half-drum of the cheese.
In addition to the pastas, Bread and Circus has a menu of fennel-and-orange salad ($12), stracciatella soup ($10), confit baby pumpkin ($15) and more antipasti. The wine and cocktail list is fully Italian and the dessert list includes a goat milk panna cotta with sour cherries and a very unusual roast parsnip cannoli. Bread and Circus also creates fondues of gruyere, emmenthal and appenzeller for Frenchie.
Bread and Circus, named after the ancient Roman phrase about entertaining the masses with bread and circuses, is tiny at 40 seats, 10 of which are lined up along the marble bar fronting the kitchen.
The rest run along a banquette and back counter with a narrow alleyway allowing passage into the discreetly hidden, 12-seat Frenchie. Some prep is done in the basement space that was previously occupied by Empire Provisions before their recent move to larger digs at 8409 Elbow Drive S.W.
Unlike its neighbour Una, Bread and Circus takes reservations
— to a point. Half the seats are reservable between 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. and again after 7:45 p.m. The trattoria is open nightly from Wednesday through Sunday.