borgo trattoria

Eggplant "fritta" with fennel yogourt.  Looks good right?

Yes. We did it. Jeff and I finally made it out of the house for a date! Yes, I know it's nearly unbelievable, and we are both still pinching ourselves even though it was over a week ago.

Soon to be Calgary's newest hot-spot, if it's not already, Borgo Trattoria is the obvious choice for a casual day or night adventure with friends, family, and even romance. Borgo is the brainchild of Capo's Giuseppe di Gennaro, and is tucked away in Mount Royal Village Shops, just off 17th Ave SW. Borgo is modern and sleek, but also familial and jovial. It is designed for everyday enjoyment, but with a touch of refinement.

Things I love about Borgo. It's Italianness. The all day bar/caffe/eating/watering/gathering place. Italian cocktails that I didn't have to fly over the Atlantic to enjoy. Food value. People watching.

I feel the value for food needs some emphasis. The portions are decidedly small, as in a Venetian cicheti wine bar experience, as are the prices. Want a meatball? That's $2. The menu is designed for tasting, to accompany a drink and more importantly, a good time with friends. If one is to order many different dishes to whet the palate, then large portions are ill-suited to this pursuit. Of course, there is nothing stopping anyone from ordering multiple portions of the items they enjoy the most to make the volume of food larger and price-comparable to family chain restaurants. Have I had a better arancino? Sure, but one can't really compare the arancini at a night market on the main piazza of a nearly forgotten small Italian village either. Did I order more arancini after the first one? Guilty as charged.


I dare say Calgary has a spectacular offering of high-end fine dining restaurants. It is refreshing to find that I am not the only one who thinks we need more restaurants in the middle price range with exceptional food, offering a good value.

It's newness and seeming popularity, hopefully doesn't make it blissfully unaware, as there are kinks to be worked out. But gauging from Gennaro's track record at Capo with exceptional service and food, I am hopeful for Borgo's future. We definitely enjoyed the night and are plotting our next escape to Borgo.

Oh right. For the first time, EVER, someone asked me why I was taking pictures! And it was the manager. My response? "Oh for fun." It is technically true though!



Aperol negroni. This gives me chills up my spine just thinking about it!




Bucatini "Amatriciana".  I love to make this at home too.


Plump little gnocchi.  This was exceptionally filling, but worth every bite!


Flank steak (on left), veal (near top), green beans, and borlotti beans.


One of my favourite preparations for the humble green bean is paired with tomato sauce.


Flank steak, one of my favourite dishes of the night.


Veal with sage butter.


One can never have too much dessert.


Borgo Trattoria
818 16 Ave SW
Calgary, AB T2R 0S9
(403)245-2202
7 days a week, 7:30am - until late, no reservations

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potluck

Now I get it. Potlucks are so fantastic because you are lucky to only have to make a lot of one thing, and still get to eat a nice variety of food. And who throws the best potlucks? Julie Van Rosendaal. Yep, she bravely opened her doors to whomever responded to a post on her blog.  There were literally streams of people walking down the street with large containers of food.  How cool is that?!

I'll admit that we are always looking for something to do between the general hours of 3-7pm, which  can't involve anything too fancy, or be too far away.  There definitely needs to be some food and the possibility for Carter to do at least a little wiggling. I also had been baking up a cookie and brownie storm for Music for Autism, so I just kept on baking.  I had enough cookies for the potluck too.  Julie's potluck was just the thing.

So what did we eat? Well a lot. And Carter even enjoyed eating his first olive.  Yum.  Who knew?

Here's a small taste:




Warm bread and butter. I could never be sure which is better, but I'll giddily settle for both.


Desserts.... I could use that table right about now!


Thanks Julie! And to everyone else too; it's always great to make new friends.
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charcut, calgary's best bang for your buck

I'm just going to say it. I really like CHARCUT. And from what I can tell, given the cult-like status of their alley burgers, a lot of others like CHARCUT too. Yes, their burger is one of the best in the city, and yes, their meatball sandwich is awesome, but great food becomes even better when it is prepared and served with passion.

One thing that I quite like, is that CHARCUT can be a bit of a restaurant chameleon. It can be what you want it to be. Need a burger lunch in jeans and a t? Sure. Want to have a girlie night out for drinks? CHARCUT fits the bill there too. Yearn for a romantic dinner? CHARCUT is a great bet. There are a lot of restaurants in town, but there aren't many that I can say are versatile enough for multiple occasions. It takes the guesswork out of eating. No more, "Where should we go?", or perhaps more importantly, "Where should we send the out-of-towners to eat?" It's easily settled, because there is something for everyone, and nothing is too bland or boring or poorly done.  In fact, quite the opposite.

Oh, and did I mention the value? The "CHARCUT Lunch All at Once", can give you a soup, sandwich, and warm chocolate chip cookies for FIFTEEN BUCKS! We're not talking about a chain-quality sandwich here. We're talking about REAL food made by real people! I have to admit, I kinda drooled just rereading that from their menu. Like I said, I like this place.

Here's a bit of a recount of a visit from a recent lunch.

It is hard to go wrong with pork, if that is your kind of thing, and this pork terrine is no different. A little pork with a little preserves.  Sure, it is a bit indulgent, but there is a lot to like. Salty and sweet. Crispy and silky too. It seems quite simple, in fact, there is a lot going on.


Great burger. Great fries, fried in duck fat. Enough said. Perhaps the best burger in the city. Just saying. I was quite taken with the lemon preserved tuna (in the mason style jar). This is not your Mom's canned tuna. It hardly resembles anything we first think of tuna, it is in fact, so flaky and so tender, that it is of course impossible to stop eating. It is something you would never expect at a "Roast House", and somehow that just makes it that much better.


I wasn't too sure what to expect when I ordered the meatball sandwich. But I'm sure glad I did. Why didn't I ever think of adding a side dish of tomato sauce to dip the sandwich into. Brilliant! Especially, when the sauce is just exactly the tangy complement the hearty meatballs deserved. And thankfully, the meat was flattened, so I could easily gobble this down.


CHARCUT is located in the St. Germain building, downtown Calgary. I've eaten there a few times, and definitely recommend it. I need to try the rotisserie chicken....NEED.

Have you been to CHARCUT?

101, 899 Centre Street SW
(403)984-2180
Hours: Mon - Tues: 11am - 11pm, Wed - Fri: 11am - 1am, Sat: 5pm - 1am, Sun: 5pm - 10pm
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pastries galore

I am finally almost hungry again. It only took five days... I'm sure you can guess what happened. Yes, I ate multiple pastries on Saturday, and they were so very good, that I did the same thing on Sunday.

Now, this has happened before, but at least I was pregnant. All I can say now is that Yann's pastries are just that ridiculously delicious.

If you live in Calgary, or anywhere nearby, I highly recommend making an immediate visit to Yann's Haute Patisserie in Mission. Not only is it family owned and run, but the family also lives right above the bakery. How cool is that! Do note that this never happens in Calgary....


I've been Yann's probably a bit more than sparingly. I've adored every morsel. I've never had anything from Yann's that was less than exceptional. I particularly love their chocolate croissants, which are perfectly flaky, but they don't explode into a million crumbs and make a gigantic mess. They also contain enough chocolate to bring your taste buds to a satisfactory high.

I also adore their skinny baguettes, and yes I know, and they know that pastry shops don't typically carry baguettes, but there was such an overwhelming demand for them, I think they just couldn't refuse. I can't say I've ever done anything with one of them except rip off the pieces and devour it as quickly as possible. With or without butter. They are good enough to make your gums bleed, as a proper baguette should, but also still tender enough to melt away into nothingness. Divine.


My new favourite, and we're talking to-die-for, I would walk a hundred miles for in freezing rain for, are Yann's chocolate hazelnut donuts. Like an Italian bomboloni; a stuffed donut. I am not normally a donut seeker, but I cannot overstate enough, just how absurdly good these are. In one bite, the outer section immediately gives way to a succulent center, chock-full of chocolate-hazelnut pastry cream. I surely could eat a dozen of these in one sitting, if given the opportunity, and hopefully one day I will. It is good to have dreams, is it not?

If you haven't indulged enough yet for the holidays, Yann's will surely help you out.
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taste alberta and retro redone

So I have to tell you about something new.  Although, I did say there was something retro, I really want you to know more about Taste Alberta.

It was just over year ago when Dinner with Julie, Kitchenscraps, Patent and the Pantry, Backseat Gourmet, and I, met up for a "Julie and Julia"-styled dinner. So it is only fitting that I flipped through the pages of some Julia Child recipes, and recalled why there were so many pink sticky notes, to mark the multitude of pages on which the recipe I created were found. Yes, that's right, there were multiple pages... what was I thinking?

Oddly enough, we recalled all of this yesterday evening, at the Calgary launch party of Taste Alberta. We sampled some superb Alberta products, expertly prepared by Alberta chef's...oh darn. The idea is to create awareness about the "huge variety of food grown, raised, produced and processed in the province, where to buy it and how to prepare and serve it." It will evolve in the Calgary Herald on Sundays, and in the Edmonton Journal on Wednesdays, and here.  A great opportunity for everyone to learn more about the vast amount of food and produce grown in the province.  Stay tuned!

And in honour of the pink-sticky notes still attached in  my Julia Child cookbook a year later, I made a gratin.  I have recently become completely entrenched in the knowledge of a gratin.  There is so very much to love;  it sounds so elegant, but yet it is really quite simple to throw together.  Quite literally in fact.  You just might have to dust your face with a little flour, and dirty a few more dishes, just to make it seem like you have been slaving away for hours on end; without actually having to do so.

Yes, I actually make most of this dish while carrying my five month old baby in a wrap on my chest.  Okay, not the flaming, cooking over the stove parts, but the whisking parts.  The breaking the egg parts.  He likes it, and heck, so do I.

Oh, and, there's usually leftovers.  Usually.

Did I mention that it's like a quiche without the shell?  It is quite rich, so paired with a fabulously colourful, and perhaps semi-flamboyant, red cabbage coleslaw, there isn't much to complain about.

The gratin has shrimp, curry, eggs, and a whopping cup of whipping cream.  It's heavenly in a seriously retro casserole dish.  The coleslaw?  Right. It's inspired by Nigella Lawson herself, with red cabbage, fennel, red onion, beet, garam masala, buttermilk, mayonnaise, and orange marmalade.  I know it sounds totally and completely bizarre, but just trust me that it is something that you will relish having made a large batch of.  Then, there's more time the next day, say for making cookies or other holiday deliciousness.

The retro part? Well coleslaw is always fashionable, but a dish like this? This is old school. But corning ware dishes are never out of style.


Add some cheese for the last ten to fifteen minutes.


No, it does not look like "dino-cut out chicken fingers" (thank goodness!), but it sure is colourful.


Especially when paired with this colourful festive coleslaw -


A Gratin with Shrimp & Curry

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp
1 tsp curry powder
3 eggs
1 cup whipping/heavy cream
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp kosher salt
white pepper
1-2 tbsp grana padano

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Heat the butter in a skillet until foaming. Cook the onion, until soft and translucent, 5-10 minutes. Add the shrimp, and stir, stir, stir, until the shrimp is nearly cooked. Just cooked so there is not a hint of grey left, but no more. Stir in the curry powder, and turn off the heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Stir in the shrimp mixture.
4. Transfer the mix to a glass or ceramic baking dish suitable for the oven. Bake until the middle has risen as much as the edges, and jiggles just a bit. Sprinkle over a little grated grana padano, and place back in the oven with the oven off. When the cheese has melted, serve immediately.

Colourful Festive Coleslaw

If you own a food processor, this is a snap. It's a fabulously delicious way to enjoy raw vegetables in the middle of winter.

1/2 head red/purple cabbage
1 fennel bulb
1 medium beet
1/2 red onion
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup orange preserves, aka marmalade
1 tsp garam masala (delish Indian spice mix)

1. Using the food processor, chop the vegetables using the grating attachment. Just chop the pieces small enough to insert into the machine. Just trim the cores and ends of the vegetables. Include the top of the fennel bulb, beautiful fronds and all.
2. Combine the buttermilk, mayonnaise, preserves, and garam masal in a mason jar. Shake! Give it all you've got. You've really got to work to get the marmalade mixed in.
3. If you have enough eaters to devour all of the coleslaw, toss the veggies with all of the dressing. Otherwise, spoon over the dressing over each individual serving, saving the remainders for the next couple days. Enjoy!
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caffe rosso

Have a heart.


Or a swan.


Gorgeous and delicious latte's aren't all that is on offer at Caffe Rosso, in the community of Ramsay, Calgary. The baked goods are also extra fabulous, including this granola bar with poppy seeds and sliced almonds.


It was so very good, that in fact, I just had to try the chocolate beet cake too. It was quite perfect, and somehow, it seemed to disappear a little too quickly for my liking.


One of the few café's in Calgary with outdoor seating, and no significant traffic, besides parking for the shop.


Perhaps, we enjoyed more than one latte each, as they were so very good on a beautiful autumn day.... We also enjoyed a tasty Italian cured meats panini with olives and a pickle on the side.


Latte fabulousness at Caffe Rosso.  My newest addiction.


Check out Caffe Rosso in the Ramsay exchange development, just off of Spiller Rd in Southeast Calgary.

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Korean or Hawaiian or Confused Beef

Yeah, so it doesn't really know its true identity. But who truly does? Apparently, ancestry isn't as true as it one thinks if you go back 1000 years either. Pretty neat when you figure we are all much more connected than we even thought. Things to figure out one day.... This beef is pretty darn good however, and of course, I wouldn't want to disappoint you by making something tremendously difficult these days. There's always time for that later. The best part is that it is easy to make the beef in a large batch, and freeze most of it, or even half of it in the marinade, and cook up the goodness another day. Just be forewarned that the salty-sweet-heat combo is extremely addicting, so you might or might not end up with leftovers. Do be sure to freeze the flank steak for a while, or thaw it for awhile, before slicing it into thin pieces. It makes it a lot easier to work with, and effortless to slice it thinly. It should be virtually frozen, but not quite hard as a rock. It is absolutely stellar when paired with my Chinese Five-Spice Rice, and given a healthy bit of Sriracha on top, much more than pictured above for sure. As my cousin Leanne said, who was over for dinner, "you haven't put enough until your nose is running." So get squirting that stuff, because it is certainly enlivening, and awesome to have at home, not just at restaurants. GO GET SOME. Check out the cool broccoli. Flowering already, but still good. Anyone know its true name? It was grown by Thompson Small Farm, who are weekly at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Farmers Market. I owe my thanks to Cheryl Arkison, of Backseat Gourmet, for it, who offered up her Community Supported Agriculture Box last week. What fun! I also got a chance to meet Jenn Chic, and pick up a few cookies and a sticky pecan bun for Jeff. Yum on both accounts! Korean or Hawaiian Style Beef Serves 10 6.5 lbs flank steak, thinly sliced 1.5 cups soy sauce 1/4 cup sesame oil 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp fish sauce 2 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp white vinegar 2 tbsp minced ginger 5 cloves minced garlic 1. Divide the flank steak among large bowls, or zip bags if it is to be frozen immediately. 2. Combine the soy sauce through garlic and mix thoroughly. 3. Spoon or ladle the marinade over the beef, and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours before cooking. Freeze most of it, unless you have a lot of friends or a large family! 4. To cook, pre-heat a cast iron pan, griddle, or wok on the barbecue or stove, on medium-high heat. Add the beef in batches, so as not to steam it, but to give it a good brown colour on both sides. 5. Serve immediately with rice, a green vegetable, and some sriracha hot chili sauce on top.
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greek festival deliciousness

This past weekend, one of Calgary's most delicious festivals, the annual Greek Festival, took place in the community of Spruce Cliff. Now, I know what you're saying, perhaps you're groaning thinking of all the "same old" stuff. Some souvlaki, some tzatziki. Who cares right? Perhaps. But just hold on though, when prepared with a little love and care, what can possibly be wrong with some juicy meat on a stick? Totally tender and delicious too. Okay, so there's nothing too extreme or bizarre at this festival, no octopus or cooked greens, but there was some good home-style cooking made with a lot of love and care. It's just good stuff. There were plenty of options to choose from including souvlaki, gyros, roast chicken as well as baklava, kataifi, and loukoumades (like donut holes!) for dessert. We opted for the Greek salad, tzatziki with pita, arni souvla (roast lamb on a spit), and tyropita (feta cheese pie). All in all it was very, very good, but the roast lamb was absolutely brilliant. Well seasoned, ridiculously juicy, and virtually fork tender, this lamb hit the spot. I could probably eat it every day. The thing I really like about the Greek Festival, besides the food of course, are the incredibly devoted volunteers. Not only do the volunteers make all of the food, which is very, very good, but they also serve it up. I have to say the amount of organization, and practice, it must have taken to get this right is quite impressive. There are a lot of people moving through the line in a short amount of time. They were on top of it; extremely efficient. It has to be a labour of love to cook lamb on a spit. I wish I had a picture of the two "old guys" tending to it as if it was their life's work. Maybe it was. Gotta love that. A close-up of the juicy succulent lamb roasting on the spit. Here's what I mean about the volunteers. They were efficient. I think it also takes a certain amount of guts to be able to serve up that roast lamb all day and not eat all of it. Stay tuned for next year's festival. I'll see you there! Calgary Greek Festival
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new year's brunch at the post hotel, absolutely fabulous

I'm sure I'm not the first one to admit it, but I'm not one who remotely likes a buffet. Not because I don't eat my fair share, but there are just so few times where the quality can be really something spectacular. Let's face it, more often than not, the New Years' Day buffet diner can be faced with an onslaught of double-fried sausages, tasteless and droopy bacon, fake potatoes, and fruit that resembles the flavour of sawdust and texture of slime. Is there anything worse than wreaking havoc on otherwise innocent folks who need to break the fast? However, when it comes to food at the Post Hotel in Lake Louise, in Canada's Banff National Park, is nothing is less than absolutely jaw dropping. Perhaps it doesn't look like much from a distance, but once you get up close and discover the freshness of the food, the sheer quality of ingredients treated with the utmost care, and the pride with which it is served, there isn't one thing that could possibly be wrong with this equation. A few of the highlights were mushroom soup, pretzel buns, milk bread, lobster claws de-clawed, king crab legs opened, elk, caribou, deer, oysters, mussels, gravlax and more gravlax, shrimp and more shrimp, chicken liver mousse, pâtés en croûte, fish terrine(!!), sashimi, sushi, sushi rolls, eggs benedict, seafood stew, chocolate mousse, pastries, fruits tarts, and chocolate covered strawberries in a chocolate basket. Just to mention a few... Pâté en croûte is not an easy feat, and this is about as perfect as it gets. Hans Sauter and his team know their stuff. Now sushi or sashimi at a buffet can be a bit off-putting, somewhat like eggs benedict at most any restaurant, where you just hope that extra care has gone into maintaining proper food safety measures. However, this was some of the freshest and most delicious fish I've had anywhere for quite some time. I was a bit over zealous in my excitement to enjoy the meal, and not quite as thorough as I like to be in the photo department. I just couldn't leave this meal without sharing it, as I just can't tell you how this brunch has blown so many other brunches, especially for a buffet, completely out of the water. Plate number one. Starting on the right, I wanted to try the eggs benedict, not normally a favourite of mine because it is ruined so often. However, after seeing everything else, I had a hunch it was "probably" good, and it certainly was good. The quality of the egg itself was phenomenal, perfectly cooked, and will an equally flavourful hollandaise, all in good balance and proportion. Below that was a pretzel bun, which I enjoyed with some of the chicken liver mousse. The bun was soft a little dense, and not too salty. The mousse was light, but still earthy and utterly divine. It makes my mouth water just thinking of it. Then crab, asparagus, lobster, gravlax, a sushi roll, and tuna sashimi. The best part of these seemingly simple delights are that they were just that; left to be just as beautiful and delicious as the earth meant them to be. Left to their own devices in all the right ways, if you will. Desserts galore. Just in case the pear, apple, peach, or apricot tart were not enough, there were cakes, chocolate mousse, and bowls of mousse, custard, whipped cream, and the much loved chocolate covered strawberries cozied up in a chocolate basket. The chocolate mousse was the best mousse I've ever had in a restaurant. I've always found that they have been left sitting for too long, drying out. No matter the overall quality of the restaurant, they is often a disastrous crust formed on the top. This chocolate mousse was much loved, as it was light, not too sweet, and completely crust-free. Apple tart, strawberries, custard, and an èclair. The custard was of the extreme paradox of very light in texture, but still oh so rich. I don't think many would or even could argue with a fantastic crème caramel. I rushed to tell you about this brunch, because I cannot recommend it enough. Excellent service, and spectacular food. A buffet is hard to pull off, but Executive Chef Hans Sauter and his staff pulled out all the stops, making this brunch extra special. Plain old rubbery omelettes need not apply here. If someone invites you to the Post, run to your car as fast as you can, and go - no on second thought grab the first person you see, or just go solo, and enjoy it as quickly as you can.
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