eathishit 101: June 2010

Sunday, June 13, 2010

[Calgary] District- 2nd

June 1, 2010
District
607 11 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0E1
(403) 233-2433
http://enjoydistrict.com/

So this is our second time and this time we wanted to try some of their other foodies :)

Provence Rooibos Tea rooibos with a fruity and floral flavor of provence: rose hip, black current, etc.
I can really taste the fruit and floral in the tea and since its caffeine-free means I can take an extra sip without worrying about staying up all night (although I do anyways cause I'm asian :D).

Crab and Asparagus Mac n Cheese with side salad
The mac and cheese was absolutely delicious as it was creamy and cheesy. However it was very hard to find or taste any crab . The side salad was also delicious as it was fresh and the sherry vinaigrette made the salad very light and appetizing.

Escargot baked in pastry and veal sauce
The escargot was just normal and was not very flavorful but the pastry was delicious as it was very flaky and buttery.

[Calgary] Distrist

May 27, 2010
District
607 11 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0E1
(403) 233-2433
http://enjoydistrict.com/

We decided to visit this place after my sister came here and told me about their jalapeño bacon cheddar flavor for chicken wings. After adding them to my twitter, I found out they also had fiddleheads and we both wanted to try and see what they taste like. The first time we've seen fiddleheads was at the Calgary's Farmers Market.

Fiddleheads with truffle oil, sea salt and butter
They tasted alot like asparagus but instead in a rolled up curly shape and alot thinner. Definitely would love to try this vegetable again.

Jalapeño bacon cheddar wings
These were delicious as they were slightly spicy and salty at the same time. Here at district their wing special (15 cents) is from Monday to Thursday from 4pm to close.
UPDATE: They are no longer 15 cents anymore and the wing special days have changed as well

Blue Cheese Hot Wings
These wings did not have a very strong blue cheese taste and I thought it was basically just hot wings. Although it was very juicy on the side and very flavorful and crispy on the outside.

Guinness Barbecue Wings
These were delicious and what we absolutely love about the wings at district is that they do not just deep fry these wings and then mix it in the sauce (BBQ, honey garlic, etc) after but rather you can tell that they were marinated before-hand. These BBQ flavored wings did not taste like the other generic BBQ sauce and therefore made these wings extra special and delicious.

Truffled Duck Paté (top left in the jar) and chorizo (sliced on the bottom right)
The duck paté was good but did not have any truffle taste to it and the chorizo were just like chorizo.

Chocolate Stout Cake with Vanilla Gelato
The stout cake was not a big hit at our table (maybe we were looking for something richer) and we thought that it was a bit on the dry side but the vanilla gelato was good.

Service: 3/10- I am not big on service but on a weekday there were only 2 waiter/waitress working and it was difficult trying to get them to take our order
Food: 8/10- Most of the food were good except for some
Return: Yes! Check out our second visit :D

[Calgary] Yann Boutique

May 27, 2010
Yann Boutique
329, 23rd Avenue SW
Calgary T2S 0J3
403-244-8091
http://yannboutique.com/

Yann Boutique is one of those cute little bakeries by 4th street that sells french macarons and many other delicious treats. Even though it was a rainy afternoon, we both decided to stop by and try out some of their stuff. Yann Boutique was originally a house and they transformed it into a small little place (see pictures below).

Picture taken from their facebook website here

Rolled up moist bun (left) and a bite-size canelé (right)
They were both very delicious as they were nice and moist and we can taste some of the ingredients inside.

French Macarons
(top row from left to right) Orange blossom and Gran Marnier, blackcurrent violet, and cherry
(middle row from left to right) Irish Coffee, passion fruit and tarte tatin
(bottom row from left to right) Roselitchi, PBJ and coconut chocolate
We both preferred to get the fruit-flavored macarons from Yann as they tasted exactly how they were suppose to. I especially like the Irish coffee as it was very strong and it has a nice bitter taste to it. The roselitchi had an initial taste of the lychee fruit flavored and a slight rose aftertaste.

More macarons (top left is pistachio and bottom right is mint chocolate)
During the Lilac Festival on 4th street, we stopped by Yann and got two new macarons that we had never tried before. The pistachio was kind of a disappointment as we did not get any pistachio taste and for the mint chocolate macaron, we thought the Bakery @ the Market had a better mint chocolate macaron than Yann.

[Calgary] Embarcadero

May 27, 2010
Embarcadero
208 17th Ave SE
Calgary AB
(403) 263-0848
http://www.edsrestaurant.com/embarcad/emb.htm

We were both super excited to try Embarcadero as it was out first time trying out this place even though we pass by it all the time during high school when we walk to school from the train station.

Asiago and herb roasted mushroom risotto balls with slow roasted tomato mayo and basil oil
These were actually very dry and the tomato mayo was the only thing that helped make these eatable.

The inside of the fried risotto balls

First round of oysters: (from bottom left and going clockwise)
2 Royal Miyagi (Cortes Island, BC-Mild, smooth texture, kiwi-like finish)
2 Kumamoto (Washington-Small deep-cupped, sweet plump meat)
2 Kusshi (Baynes Sound, BC-Smooth round shell, sweet finish)
1 Village Bay (Richibucto, New Brunswick-Suspension grown, salty with clean finish)
1 Chef Creek (Baynes Bay, Vancouver Island-Salty-sweet flavour)
The oysters that we both love were the royal miyagi and the kumamoto. The kumamoto has a distinctive small deep-cupped shell to hold onto the clean and sweet plump meat. However the kusshi was our least favourite as it has a fishy taste or as Sam stated, a "farm-like" taste to it.

Second round of oysters: (from bottom left and going clockwise)
1 Chef Creek (Baynes Bay, Vancouver Island-Salty-sweet flavour)
1 Fanny Bay (Baynes Sound, British Columbia)
1 Kumamoto (Washington-Small deep-cupped, sweet plump meat)
2 Little Wing (Okeover Inlet, BC-Plump meat with cleany salty finish)
2 Effingham (Effingham Inlet, Barkley Sound, BC-Plump meat, briny with lettuce-like finish)
1 Malpeque (Malpeque Bay, PEI-The world famous Canadian oyster, salty with a slightly bitter lettuce-like flavour)
Our favourite in the second round of oysters include the fanny bay, kumamoto, little wing and also the effingham. The fanny bay were meaty but not a mouthful. Of course the kumamoto was our favourite from the first round of oysters. The little wing had a very clean taste that we both enjoyed. The malpeque were ok and they can sometimes be found at superstore.

[Calgary] Calgary's Farmers Market

May 2010
Calgary's Farmers Market
H6, 4421 Quesnay Wood Drive SW
Calgary, Alberta T3E 7K4
(403) 244-4548
http://www.calgaryfarmersmarket.ca/

Macarons from the Bakery @ the Market
We got 6 macarons and they are: (top row from left to right) mint chocolate, chocolate hazelnut and passion fruit (bottom row from left to right) pomegranate, pistachio and blueberry.

Chocolate Hazelnut macaron
The outer shell was very chewy and these were not overly sweet.

Mint Chocolate
These were minty with a hint of chocolate, they were very good.

Pistachio
The pistachio macaron did not taste like pistachio except for the little bits of pistachio.

Passion Fruit
Generally, we found that the non-fruit flavored macarons at The Bakery @ the Market were better than the fruit ones. I personally like the fruit macarons from Yann Boutique instead (You can check out our review on Yann here).

Pomegranate macaron
This was another one of the fruit macaron (along with the blueberry) that we did not like as much as the non-fruit flavors. It did not taste very much like pomegranate and it just tasted sweet.

Frulibeer Strawberry flavored beer
These are Belgian fruit beers and Sam got this one to try. It was definitely strong in terms of the strawberry flavor since it was almost like drinking strawberry juice with a hint of beer to it. For more information, you can visit their website here.

[Calgary] Bliss Cupcake

May 2010
Bliss Cupcake
Unit 111 (Lower Level)
108-3rd Ave SW
Calgary AB T2P 0E7
(403) 281-8821
http://www.blisscupcakes.com/

Although both of us were not cupcake fans we were curious about Bliss Cupcake. The store was in a weird location (chinatown) but we heard many good reviews on it. So when Tiffy got some one day we all took a bite :).

Tiffy got 2 cupcakes: left was the green tea cupcake and on the right was the strawberry bliss cupcake.

Strawberry Bliss Cupcake
There was a strong strawberry taste to it and it was not overly fake. I also liked how the icing was not over-the-top sweet.

Green Tea Cupcake

This cupcake had a hint of green tea although I wish it was stronger. It was also not very sweet so for those of you who are into Crave or Buttercream then these are definitely not sweet enough but I personally prefer these (in terms of sweetness).

[Calgary] Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus

May 2010
Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus
2439- 54th Ave. SW Calgary
AB T3E 1M4
(403) 243-7757
http://www.pfanntasticpannenkoek.com/

They had some snacks selling in the store on the bar. Alot of the items were written in Dutch therefore we had no clue what they were.

Lamp

The bacon and cheese pannenkoek
This savory pancake was definitely different than the normal "pancake" that we have here in North America. It was delicious but next time I would opt for one without bacon because it was too salty for me.

The ice cream that we added with the sweet apple cinnamon pannenkoek

The apple and cinnamon pannenkoek
This was a delicious dessert, very similar to an apple pie except without the crust and instead on a thin layer of pancake.

[Calgary] Columbian Flavor

May 2010
Columbian Flavor
7640 Blackfoot Trail SE
Calgary AB
http://www.heritagefleamarket.com/heritage_flea_market_032.htm

After reading u gonna eat that?'s blog on authentic Columbian food at the Heritage Flea Market, we decided to go and give it a try.

These were the different salsas available and they also had guacamole. Although they look really spicy they were only moderately spicy (I can handle moderate spicy).