MALT & MORTAR BATS .500 ON PUB FARE
Gaffes aside, great service and fair wine prices are a big draw, writes Alan Kellogg
Of all the dining trends around town of late, surely the gastropub, sports bar, etc. — hardly a trend, when you think of it — is most ubiquitous.
This category has no local history — the food at Alberta “beverage rooms” of yore were found in pickle jars and racks of chips and Cheezies. Nor does it really now mean much more than a bar that has a kitchen in the back. Or front. These can be of the cynical heat-’em-up variety all the way up to something approaching the real thing, whether local or regional or corporate by provenance.
Malt & Mortar, which sits somewhere in the middle of that rough calculus, is an Edmontonbased operation occupying a nice aerie on Whyte Avenue. We’re hoping there will be more new recruits like this in Old Strathcona as landlords figure out that having a decent local tenant beats waiting for a big-chain payday in the midst of a soft economy.
The vibes are classic pub-in-abox, with high ceilings, vintage photos of the district, a large central bar, faux-distressed brick, and a variety of seating options, from high chairs to booths. Needless to say, sports-spewing TV screens are everywhere, if silenced. I can’t remember the music, which is likely a good thing.
Let it be said that our server was a gem, one of those classic young folks able to do this unsung job perfectly. That is, a welcoming, efficient soul who seems genuinely proud of her establishment and has views on the menu when asked. If she doesn’t know, she finds out. And mercy, she seems to like her job!
As you might imagine, the element of gastronomic surprise is not something one expects in this sort of emporium. That said, the management has made a modest attempt to mix things up a bit from the usual pub suspects.
We began with kale melts ($5) and malt tatchos ($16) to prove that point. The deep-fried kale bunches are a good idea, but the fat just wasn’t hot enough that night, and they were greasy. Not so the tatchos (tater nachos, geddit?) which turned out to be rather tasty house-made latticecut potato chips, if a bit lacking in the advertised toppings of green goddess dressing, cheese, jalapenos and pickled red onions.
We passed around a bowl of dill pickle and pepperoncini soup, again a good idea, but wildly over-salted — and this from a walking stroke magnet, just ask my friends and loved ones. The Louisiana corn bread ($7) with a drizzle of maple syrup was just fine and went down quickly.
For mains we selected the shepherd’s pie ($15), green goddess burger ($14), Peking duck club ($14) and five alive banh mi ($14). Here M&M batted .500, which is fine if you’re on the good side of the equation, which I was with a serviceable, agreeably juicy shepherd’s pie and my partner in crime’s selection of the surprisingly very good veggie (green goddess?) burger of brown rice, chickpeas and white beans on a good brioche bun. Alas, both the banh mi and duck club were brutally dry and just this side of terrible, which is a shame given the promise and their very inclusion on the menu, which is laudable.
We shared a delicious coconut bread pudding ($7) which I wish I had by me at this very moment.
There is a righteous selection of Alberta craft beers and interesting sounding cocktails to survey, and once again I do you, the reader, a disservice by remaining a boring tippler of red wine. That said, Malt & Mortar, in spite of some notable kitchen glitches, will continue to enjoy my patronage by sporting some of the fairest wine prices in town. A bottle of the Argentine Mysterio malbec goes for $22, arguably the single best wine deal in Edmonton.
And, again, there was the wonderful service.
True, some of the gaffes here can’t be overlooked — execution lags pretty far behind conception in certain plates — but I hope they get it together eventually as a local business able to make it in a crowded field, on a crowded street.