KITCHEN AT BURWOOD DISTILLERY PERFECT MATCH FOR ITS SPIRITS
Most of us have come across wineries and even breweries that are attached to fantastic restaurants. After all, wine and beer are both great accompaniments to food. But we don’t often say the same about hard spirits.
The crew at Calgary’s Burwood Distillery are trying to change that.
The distillery itself opened a year and a half ago, offering a different take on the kinds of craft spirits that have hit the Alberta market over the past few years. Two of the company’s co-owners, brothers Marko and Ivan Cilic, are originally from Croatia and wanted to make an Alberta version of a traditional Eastern European liqueur called medica, in addition to vodka, gin and a honey Eau de Vie.
Knowing that they ’d need a hook to draw Calgarians into the distillery to try their unique spirits, the Burwood team left room for a kitchen in their northeast distillery and this summer they turned their tasting room into a full restaurant. The distillery has now become part of what is essentially a food oasis within an industrial zone — it’s in the same complex as beloved butcher Master Meats and vegan hot spot Heart’s Choices and just on the other side of Edmonton Trail from the wildly popular Rea’s Italian Cucina.
Burwood brought on chef Matthew Filson-Lau to formulate the menu and run the kitchen. He comes from a hotel background — his last gig was as executive chef at the Delta Calgary South, a world away from the small and homey 35seat distillery restaurant (there’s an additional 15 seats upstairs in Burwood’s loft). Filson-Lau is happy with the change — smaller restaurant cooking means that he gets to be more hands-on and also has the challenge of making dishes that highlight the business’s key product.
Which is, of course, the spirits. Filson-Lau’s menu is full of dishes that go well with a cocktail: there are small plates like the sour cherry duck wings with pickled carrot salsa ($8), larger boards like the selection of cured meats with pickles, local mustard and housemade preserves ($30) and comfort food favourites like the Burwood ćevapi, a take on an Eastern European street food consisting of minced beef, veal and lamb served on toasted European bread with sliced onions, ajvar (a condiment made with red bell peppers) and feta crema ($17.50).
Filson-Lau also cooks with the spirits themselves, but wisely only uses them when they’re the right fit for the dish. Those looking to eat their Burwood spirits can try the medica mushroom toast served on charred bread ($7), the gin gravlax on dark rye bread with pickled red onion ($8) or the brown butter gnocchi with prosciutto, chilies, garlic, kale and a splash of that Eau de Vie ($10).
“We didn’t just want to offer burgers or hotdogs and pizzas,” Ivan Cilic says. “We really wanted to tie in the story of the distillation, the processes we’re using and the ingredients we’re using and stay true to the trend of using local ingredients.”
Burwood is also holding a monthly ticketed dinner where guests can come in to experience a showcase of spirits with complementary dishes Filson-Lau creates specifically for each event. Those dinners typically take place on the last Thursday of each month, with the next one scheduled for January. Burwood Distillery is located at 4127 6th St. N.E. and can be reached at 403-276-8410 or burwooddistillery.ca.
Many restaurants have been introducing new menus for the cold weather months, including the teams at the Char-restaurants (Charbar and Charcut), who just did some significant changeups. Favourites like Charcut’s famed pig’s head mortadella and Charbar’s empanadas are still on the menu, but there are plenty of new things to try. Charbar’s executive chef Jessica Pelland continues to be inspired by the food of Argentina, which shows in her new asado beef short ribs with roasted vegetables and chimichurri ($38) and the grilled Argentine shrimp with garlic chili butter (5 for $18 or 8 for $24). She’s also delving into fresh takes on classic comfort food in the form of a richly delicious wild mushroom morcilla toast ($17) and a bourbon pumpkin pie with Chantilly cream ($12).
Further downtown at Charcut, co-chefs John Jackson and Connie DeSousa and chef de cuisine Brody Ashton are going against type and focusing on some new veggie and pasta dishes like a cauliflower salad with tahini vinaigrette, mint, toasted seeds and dates ($15), orecchiette with fennel sausage sugo, white beans and kale ($21) and, for good measure, a comically enormous smoked baked potato piled high with pulled pork, crispy bacon, sour cream and cheddar cheese ($13). Also, for the first time ever, Charcut is offering a beef burger — historically the restaurant’s burgers have been porkbased, so this is good news for local burger fans.