Clever chef plays with smoke under glass
North 53 salmon perfect on all counts
There’s a new, must-nibble dish in Edmonton. It’s the sockeye salmon at the freshly minted restaurant, North 53 (10240 124th St.). The salmon is as much performance art as food. It comes under a glass bell that’s full of juniper smoke. When the lid comes off, the smoke dissipates, revealing a perfectly cooked slab of fish served on Northern beans with crème fraîche.
The waiter tried to clear my plate when I had four beans left, and practically lost her hand. Who knew beans could be so smoky and amazing?
The executive chef at North 53 is 21-year-old Ben Staley (whose depth of experience belies his tender years). The restaurant describes itself as Progressive Canadian, which means it’s pushing the envelope on local. Staley says some 90 per cent of the products in the restaurant will come from Alberta and B.C.
Find out more at north 53.ca or by calling 587-524-5353.
Daniel Costa, the chef/ owner of the wildly successful Corso 32, hopes to open his latest venture — Bar Bricco — at the beginning of February. Located right next door to Corso 32 (10345 Jasper Ave.), Bar Bricco is modelled after similar eateries in Italy known as spuntini bars.
“These are small places you go into and you get a snack and have a couple of glasses of wine,” says Costa. “It’s not tapas, it’s a little more than that. Small plates, with cured meats.”
The 30-seat establishment will be open from late afternoon to late night, but it’s not a dinner spot. More of a place to wind up, or wind down, for the evening. Costa is planning a third restaurant, beside the other two, as yet unnamed, and probably not opening for at least another six months.
Friends of the Royal Alberta Museum have been hosting a series of Chinese-themed meals to run in conjunction with the exhibit, Chop Suey on the Prairies. Called Dining with Friends, the series is lead by Linda Tzang, the museum’s curator of cultural communities, who attends every meal to talk about the food.
On Thursday, Jan. 23, at 6 p.m., Tzang gathers diners at the The Lingnan (10582 104th Street) for a Chinese New Year meal. The meal is $45, including meal, tax and tip.
Call 780-453-9103 to reserve, or email: friends. museum@telusplanet.net.
Another edition to the burgeoning food scene on 124th Street is due to open within the next week or so.
It’s called Daravara and it’s the inspiration of local chef, Shane Loiselle (Zinc, Harvest Room) and Sue Kiernan, who owns Empress Ale House on Whyte Avenue. Kiernan is running the bar at Daravara, and Loiselle is in the kitchen with his brother, chef Jeremy Chance (Hundred, MKT).
Daravara is named for a lake in Ireland, where Kiernan fished with her dad when she was but a wee tot. But the food isn’t exactly Irish. Loiselle describes it as French meets Canadian and American regional cooking, with some Latin spice to shake things up.
The menu features bacon-and-crab hush puppies, as well as blackened tuna with dirty rice, plus bone marrow and parsley salad. Brunch dishes include green apple french toast and huevos rancheros. Find out more at Daravara, 10713 124th St.; 587 520-4980.
Jacqueline Jacek of Jacek Chocolate Couture is giving away chocolates to make January a little less grim. The Sherwood Park chocolatier is calling her promotion Spread Joy. The chocolates — 150 boxes from her Black Tie Collection — are available Jan. 16 in two locations: the factory and storefront in Sherwood Park at 406 Kaska Road, and at Bonton Bakery, 8720 149th St.
Jacek hopes that those who enjoy the complimentary chocolate will be inspired to pay it forward, and spread a little joy throughout their own lives. Participants are invited to tweet using the hashtag #sharejoy. You can follow Jacek Chocolate Couture on Twitter @ jacekchocolate.
A new kosher meat eatery has opened in the Wolf Willow shopping plaza. It’s called Moshe’s Laffa (6803 170th St.; 780-489-7719).
The 24-seat, six-table eatery is a new venture for local jewelry store owner, Eva Nielsen, and her life and business partner, Moshe Hazan, a cook.
Hazan is a recent arrival from Israel where he has a restaurant. He noticed there wasn’t a kosher meat restaurant in Edmonton and decided to remedy that situation, setting up shop beside Beth Israel synagogue.
The restaurant serves Israeli foods including shawarma, ground beef kebabs and hummus. Hazan makes his own laffa, an Israeli flatbread, from scratch in a special Israeli-style, gas-fired oven known as a taboon.
The restaurant is open from Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., reopening after the Sabbath on Saturday, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Nielsen says there’s in-house dining at the restaurant, as well as takeout.