REVIEW | CHIX SHACK | EDMONTON

 

** This restaurant is now closed. **

 

I would never be able to work downtown. I just know my mind would be preoccupied all morning just thinking about where to eat during my lunch break. The downtown lunch crowd has it good.

Unfortunately, options are sometimes limited if you need something relatively quick to make it back to work under an hour. You need a place where you can line up to order, not fussy tablecloths and service niceties. Basically fast food that isn't "fast food." Over the years, I've noticed a trend in ethnic eateries capitalizing on this lunch hour market. There's Buok Fresh with build-your-own bibimbap bowls, Tiffin Fresh Kitchen with their take-away curries, and Filistix, a university campus staple that recently made its way across the river.

Another good example is Chix Shack, sister restaurant and more casual counterpart to Sawaddee Thai in Sherwood Park.  

Located on the main level of Capital Centre, Chix Shack is a counter-service restaurant serving up a small but mighty menu of Thai noodles, curries, roasted chicken, and salads. Although they've been open for a little over two years, GY and I decided to finally try it out for dinner one night.

Decor is minimal and seating isn't the most comfortable, but everything serves its purpose. After we ordered at the front counter, the food was brought out to our table in a timely manner. Utensils, napkins, and sauces are self-serve.   
  

With "chix" in its name, we thought we should at least order a half chicken ($13.00) for protein. The chicken is a common Thai street food known as "gai yang." It's traditionally grilled after marinating in a mixture of fish sauce, garlic, and lemongrass. The chicken had a nice even browning of the skin, but I did find the meat to be a touch dry. It could have just been the batch we got as it was later in the day. It's also served with a tamarind-based dipping sauce.

We also ordered the som tum ($12.50), a common pairing with gai yang. It's a green papaya salad, shredded with carrots, tomatoes, green beans, and crushed peanuts. The resulting salad is acidic and fresh, but deceptively spicy. It was quite addicting actually, and a nice palate cleanser in between bites of everything else.

We also couldn't pass on ordering a classic Pad Thai ($13.50), stir-fried rice noodles with tofu, egg, chicken, peanut, and tamarind sauce. I really enjoyed the pad Thai I had at Sawaddee, and this version was certainly no different. Good texture and a balanced proportion of ingredients. The flavour leans toward the sweeter side, but you can always rectify that by requesting specific heat levels.



Chix Shack is a no-frills casual place, but they let the food do the talking.

Chix Shack

10149 109 St NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 540-4949

- CT

REVIEW | THE BEDOUINS | EDMONTON

Bedouin in Arabic is "desert dweller." It refers to a group of nomadic people who have historically inhabited desert regions across the Middle East and North Africa.

At The Bedouins restaurant in north Edmonton, the food also seems to cross different borders, with a particular emphasis on Libyan and Morrocan cuisine.

Situated in a strip mall at the intersection of 137th Ave and Castledowns Road, The Bedouins checks all the boxes on what makes a hidden gem. It's almost like a desert oasis, smack dab in the middle of Popeye's Supplements, a butcher shop, and a medical clinic. If memory serves me right, the location used to be a Vietnamese restaurant back in the day. They've kept much of the original booth seating, but added their own personal touches, including arch motifs, ornate pendant lights, and patterned fabric draped across the ceiling.

SC was back in town for the long weekend and we both agreed to brave the treacherous roads, hoping that the promise of roasted meats, smoky spices, and large portions would warm us right up.

The customer flow was pretty steady on a Sunday night -- but reservations are still recommended as the restaurant likes to ensure they have enough food (as well as the freshest ingredients) to feed everyone.

Since it was our first time at the restaurant, our server treated us both to complimentary bowls of lentil soup. An introduction, he explained, to some of the flavours that we should expect throughout the night. It was a flavourful soup. A light broth with the slightest heat and plenty of lentils and diced veggies throughout. It was most certainly a warm welcome after coming in from the freezing cold.

We needed a little more time to decipher through the main entrees, but we placed an order for The Bedouin's mashweeya dip ($6.00) to start. Made in house, it's a pureed blend of flame-roasted vegetables. Served with pita, the dip is wonderfully smoky with a light kick. For some reason, both SC and I found the flavour really familiar (ie. it tasted "Asian"). We couldn't quite put our finger on it but I guess I'll just have to keep eating it until I find out what it reminded us of. A definite recommend.

We were also given a sample of their hummus alongside it, which is your more mainstream chickpea puree with tahini and lemon juice. It was good, but it paled in comparison to the mashweeya dip.

There were three lamb entrees on the menu, but we settled on the mendi ($20). Steamed lamb with fragrant spices, served over top a bed of aromatic basmati rice. For some reason, I associated steaming with bland, grey meat, but this was anything but. The lamb was soft, flavourful, and succulent. Slow-cooked until it was fall-apart tender.

For $20, it's a ridiculous value, considering the portion size can easily feed two or more people.  

The mendi also came with a side of sharmoula salad. We got two small ramekins, filled with diced cucumbers and tomatoes, lightly dressed with a lemon herb vinaigrette. It was nice and fresh. A good palette cleanser of sorts in between heavier bites of meat and rice.

The sides just kept on coming -- this time, a bowl of vegetable stew. A hearty blend of potatoes, tomatoes, and other vegetables.

We were also given another sauce -- I couldn't find out what it was, but it was citrusy and slightly spicy.

We probably could have been satisfied by the lamb alone but we also ordered the grilled chicken ($19.00). Two leg portions, seasoned and simply grilled. There was a good char which gave the chicken a nice smoky flavour. If you needed to be eased into North African cuisine, this is probably the safest choice that would please even the pickiest eater.

The grilled entrees are also served with your choice of side. Since we were already getting rice with the mendi, we decided to get the fries, which are fresh and hand-cut.    

For dessert, there's a small selection of traditional Libyan sweets ($3.00 each). A young server led us to the display case to help describe what each of them were. A date square, an almond tart, a Nutella/chocolate tart, and baklawa. We got two pieces of the baklawa, which was a bit different to the baklawa I'm used to. The layers were more densely packed together, with honey being the most dominant flavour. Like a petit four, the small bite is all you would need to end the meal on a sweet note.  



All the praise surrounding The Bedouins is certainly well-deserved. A humble but welcoming environment, large portions with affordable prices, and most importantly, delicious food. I'll be back!

 The Bedouins

thebedouins.ca

13716 Castle Downs Road

Edmonton, AB

(780) 478-6979

 

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | PORTLAND 2019 | DAY 4

And just like that, our Portland trip had come to an end.

Our flight was at noon, so we had just enough time to squeeze in a morning coffee and some breakfast. Quite conveniently, Heart Coffee was located just below our apartment.

Heart Coffee is a local coffee roasting company based in Portland. They've been established since 2009 and now operate three cafes across the city.

A honey cardamom latte ($5.00) for SC and a spicy chai ($4.50) for me. Also a canelé ($3.00) for good measure.

 
I've only recently discovered canalés but it's now become my personal mission to eat every canalé I come across. Canalés are a French pastry flavoured with rum and vanilla. The outside is crunchy and caramelized, which gives way to a custardy interior. I found this particular rendition a little dry and not as crunchy.  

Then we were off in an Uber to Proud Mary Cafe for some brunch!

Proud Mary Coffee is actually a Melbourne-based coffee roasting company. Like AFURI, they chose Portland for their first expansion outside of their native country. And if you didn't already know, Australia does brunch and coffee like no other.

Since we had coffee earlier in the day, SC went for one of their seasonal juices. The suzi q ($7.00) is a blend of pineapple, orange, lemon, fennel, and mint. I think I remember tasting mostly pineapple juice but with a fennel aftertaste. It was ... unique. I do appreciate the metal straw!

We decided to order two dishes to share, one savoury and one sweet. The potato hash ($16.50) has all your basic breakfast components but presented in a really cool, elevated way. It starts with a thick base of shredded potato, griddled until soft in the middle with crispy edges. They top it off with a slab of house-made smoked bacon, a poached egg, kale salad, and bagna cauda, a traditional Italian sauce with anchovy, garlic, and cream. The bacon piece ended up being too fatty, but all the other components were great! Who needs hollandaise when bagna cauda exists?

Our second dish was the Dutch honey hotcake ($15.00). A vanilla and ricotta hotcake, artfully decorated with mandarin segments, caramel, baked cheesecake, dutch cookie crumb, and honeycomb. It was so beautifully presented that the table next to us had to stop their conversation and ask us what we ordered.

I'm usually a waffles > pancakes person, but this hotcake is basically what all flat pancakes aspire to be. Super thick and fluffy, but also quite dense from being saturated in syrup. I don't see one person finishing the entire hotcake on their own, but with a group, it's a great item to share as a dessert! 

At the restaurant, we were a bit nervous about how long the food was taking to come out, especially because we had a flight to catch. As soon as our dishes touched the table, I think we gave ourselves less than 10 minutes to eat everything that we could. We must have looked so weird to our neighbouring diners. 

In the end, it all worked out. We got into another Uber and managed to get to the airport with some time to spare! (#pdxcarpet)

I had about three hours to kill in Calgary so SC brought me to one of her favourite Vietnamese restaurants! Pho Thanh Vietnamese Noodle House was not too far from the airport so it was a convenient choice. 

As I'm getting older, I'm realizing that I'm slowly turning into a carbon copy of my parents. I wouldn't say there were withdrawal symptoms, but a steaming bowl of pho really hit the spot.

A great ending to a wonderful trip. PDX, you were an absolute delight!

- CT

REVIEW | THE ALLEY | EDMONTON

When someone tells you to meet them in the alley, run away kids.

But when someone tells you to meet them at The Alley, well, the least you could do is lead the way.

Founded in Taiwan in 2013, The Alley is the latest bubble tea franchise to open in Edmonton. They're located far south in the Currents of Windermere, right behind the Cineplex. For someone who lives on the complete opposite end of the city, it's quite the trek. Thankfully my cousin lives close by, so I'm actually in the area quite often.

The Alley opened its doors back in September. I remember driving by during opening weekend just to scout things out. One look at the line and NOPE, we got out of there real quick. A couple months later, things seem to have settled down a bit. We visited on Sunday afternoon and it was decently busy. There were a few groups ahead of us in line but it didn't take very long to order and receive our drinks. They seem quite well-staffed for the weekend rush.
 
What sets The Alley apart from their competitors is their commitment to quality. Their signature tapioca pearls, or "Deerioca" as they call them, are handmade from scratch, along with the sugar cane syrup they use to sweeten their drinks.

Prices hover between $5.00-$6.00, and only some drinks can be upsized to a large for $0.50 more. Most drinks are available hot or cold, and sweetness and ice levels are customizable. The only drinks that can't be customized are their signature Brown Sugar Deerioca.

I can't tell you the difference between all seven types of milk tea they carry but what I can tell you is that the garden milk tea ($5.50) has the cutest presentation. Topped with Oreo crumbs and a sprig of mint, it looked like a potted plant! I had the drink made with half sugar, which was a good amount, especially since the Oreos add to the sweetness. The milk tea itself was creamy but the flavour was on the lighter side.

AL requested a classic milk tea ($5.00), served hot with no sugar. She liked her drink and thought it tasted quite creamy. 

All hot drinks also come with an adorable cup sleeve. I would be wary about carrying the drink by the string attachment as it didn't seem strong enough to balance the cup when full.

The last drink we sampled was the deerioca puff ($6.00). For your first visit to The Alley, don't worry about anything else and just order this. I had one sip of LT's drink and got mad at myself for ordering something different. (I sacrifice my happiness for you, the reader. You're welcome.)

Brown sugar bubble tea has been popping up all over the place and the Brown Sugar Deerioca series is basically the Alley's hat in the ring. Tapioca is slow cooked in brown sugar so it absorbs a smoky, caramel flavour. It's still warm at the bottom of the cup before fresh cold milk (or you can sub in soy milk) is poured over top. With the deerioca puff, they also mix in custard pudding and a crème brûlée topping. With no opportunity to adjust sugar levels, the drink is understandably quite sweet -- but it's deliciously thick, creamy, and just super tasty. I also really enjoyed the tapioca pearls. I found them to be smaller than the norm, which made it more pleasant and tender to chew.



I don't know if I should be relieved or disappointed that The Alley is such a far drive from home. All I know is what I'll be ordering to myself next time!

The Alley

www.the-alley.ca

6183 Currents Drive NW
Edmonton, AB

(587) 469-6880

- CT 

REVIEW | CAFÉ BLACKBIRD | EDMONTON

** This restaurant is now closed. **

Every neighbourhood has at least a Starbucks or a Timmies, but not every neighbourhood is blessed with a Café Blackbird. Located in the west end community of Crestwood, Café Blackbird is locally owned and family-run. It's a disservice to just call them a coffee shop. They put on live music events, showcase local art, and have surprisingly gourmet food options (and wine!).

It was a lazy Sunday, a day to catch up with friends and Café Blackbird seemed like the perfect backdrop. Casual, friendly, and unpretentious. We came an hour or two before closing, so it was much quieter than it would've been during prime brunch hour.

How it works is you order and pay at the counter. You'll have to pick up your own drinks but our dishes were bussed out to our table. On the weekends, the café serves their regular breakfast menu (available daily) along with special brunch dishes. 

Coffee beans and tea blends are both locally sourced, via Ace Coffee Roasters and The Tea Girl. I don't drink coffee too often so I settled on a chai latte ($5.00). I love when shops add a lil somethin' somethin' on the side. In this case, a small shortbread cookie. It's the little things that show they care.

The morn'n breakwich ($10.00) is a simple but tasty take on a classic breakfast sandwich. Toasted multigrain bread with two fried eggs, tomato, bacon, white cheddar, onion jam, and garlic aioli. Also, a radish garnish on the side because they #fancy.

Blackbird's chia pudding ($8.00) is a nice vegan and gluten-free option. Made from chia seeds, coconut and almond milk, maple syrup, berry compote, and nuts and seeds. They were running low on the chia pudding, so the cashier offered what was left and comped the next item on the house! 

The avocado toast ($9.00) was the most elaborate millennial thing I've ever seen. Multigrain toast with garlic aioli, chunks of avocado, tomato, radish, sprouts, hemp seeds, and sesame seeds. Also a vegan option.

Brunch is the best portmanteau there is, so I went for the food equivalent, a breakfast food mash-up of sorts. The waffle benny ($16.00) starts with two quarter sections of a golden waffle. Topped with two poached eggs, crispy bacon, and generous spoonfuls of hollandaise. Between the yolks and the hollandaise, it's pretty creamy and rich. But I'm a sucker for anything salty and sweet. To help balance things out, there's also a lightly dressed mixed greens salad on the side.

A cozy gem in Crestwood. Before you cruise through the drive-thru for your morning cup, consider slowing things down at Café Blackbird.

Café Blackbird

www.cafeblackbird.ca

9640 142 Street NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 451-8890

 

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | PORTLAND 2019 | DAY 3

For our second morning in Portland, we booked a day trip with a local tour company to explore various points along the Oregon coast. I was initially hesitant with the idea of a tour, only because it was going to take such a huge chunk of our already limited amount of time in the city. It actually ended up being my favourite part of the trip! So if you ever do find yourself in Portland, make it a point to get outside the actual city.  

Before we met up with our tour guide/group, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Fried Egg I'm In Love (FEIIL). FEIIL is one of the many food carts parked in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Like the sunny yolks in their breakfast sandwiches, the cart is bright yellow -- you can't miss it! 

FEIIL also operates a brick and mortar restaurant on Hawthorne, but their roots lie with the food cart. They're well-known for their made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, complete with a fried egg and a punny name. While most downtown commuters would take their sandwiches to-go, there are plenty of steps in Pioneer Square to stoop on, as well as a few covered patio tables. 

We ordered their signature dish, the Yolko Ono ($7.50). Each breakfast sandwich starts with toasted sourdough bread from Portland French Bakery. Homemade pesto is smeared on each slice before enveloping a hand-pressed sausage patty, a fried egg, and a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

We decided to split the sandwich and they were nice enough to cut it in half for us. The sandwich was pretty tasty, although a touch greasy. I was glad we split it since a whole sandwich would have been too heavy on the stomach that early in the morning. I will say that the pesto was a nice touch -- it actually inspired me to put pesto in all of my grilled cheese sandwiches from now on. 

We had a few more minutes to kill so we stopped by the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to take pictures of the PORTLAND sign above the theatre's marquee.

Then we were off to Director Park, where we met up with our tour guide and fellow tourists. We were the youngest people there (by far) but it was actually fun to meet such a diverse group of people. There were mostly older couples from all over the states -- Minnesota, Colorado, and Texas to name a few. We also had a fellow Canadian on the tour -- from Montreal, which was a nice bonding point for us.  

Our tour guide, Devon, was also a great guy. Laidback, super nice, and full of information. He never rushed us at tour stops and allowed us to soak it all in.

After driving for about an hour and a half, we arrived at our first destination, Ecola State Park. It was a cloudy day but it was an amazing sight to see regardless. It was our first glimpse of the Oregon coastline and it did not disappoint.

Hey, it's me!

Leaving the park, we made our way down south to the coastal town of Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach is famously known for Haystack Rock, which is a huge 235 foot rock that was formed by lava flows millions of years ago. It's gargantuan and you don't really appreciate its size until you see it in person.

Beside Haystack are smaller rock formations that are appropriately called the 'Needles.'

Since the tide was low, we were able to walk around the tide pools and spot quite a few starfish!

Cannon Beach was also where we stopped for lunch. We were given about an hour to explore the town, so most of our group went over to Ecola Seafood under our guide's recommendation. Established in 1993, Ecola Seafood is both a seafood market and a restaurant. It's a casual quick-service type of place, where you order and pay at the counter, and then pick up your food when your number is called.

SC decided on the oyster seafood basket ($15.00) which comes with six fried oysters and fries. The batter they use is quite good, so I'm assuming their fish and chips is pretty decent as well. Out of their seafood case, she also bought a small smoked mussel cocktail ($4.99) and a small crab cocktail ($7.99). The mussels almost had a meaty sausage-like flavour while the crab was minimally salty.

I decided on the halibut fish tacos ($17.00) with two corn tortillas, cabbage, tomato, and lime yogurt sauce. You have a choice between grilled or fried fish, but I went for grilled since the tacos already come with a side of fries. (Healthy eating at its finest.) The fish was actually quite fresh and it was a sizeable, meaty portion. 

We reconvened as a group and then drove further south to Neahkahnie Mountain.

This was honestly the most stunning view I've ever seen. The ocean just seemed to go on forever.

Our last stop of the day included a short leisurely hike through Oswald West State Park. The trail was pretty flat so it was actually quite relaxing and scenic.

At the end of the hike, we reached Short Sands Beach. It's a hidden gem for sure, but a popular spot for surfers.

All day long, we were running behind schedule but we hit a major snag on the way back to Portland. The tour was supposed to finish around 4:30 but we ran into long stretches of traffic and didn't make it back into the city until 6:30.

When we were finally dropped off at our starting point, we said our goodbyes and then quickly walked back to our apartment to freshen up.   



For dinner, we ended up taking an Uber since we were pretty tired after our long day. Pok Pok NW is the second offshoot of Pok Pok, one of Portland's most buzzed about restaurants.

The original Pok Pok is extremely popular, but we had no problem getting a table without a reservation at NW on a Monday night. Pok Pok serves Thai food, specifically from the north and northeastern regions of Thailand. They also have dishes inspired by other countries in Southeast Asia, which is where chef/owner Andy Ricker spent several months each year, living, eating, and studying the culture. 

For drinks, SC ordered a beer while I went for the Cha Manao ($4.75), Thai iced tea with fresh lime juice. It was really sweet and tart. I had to wait for the ice to melt so that the flavour could be diluted somewhat.

Each table is given a small side dish of roasted peanuts with chilies and lime leaf. A good bar snack.

Pok Pok's most famous dish is their Ike’s Vietnamese fish sauce wings ($15.75). The chicken wing is left whole and marinated in a combination of garlic, sugar, and fish sauce. A thin coating of rice flour later, the wings are deep fried and then tossed in a glaze of caramelized fish sauce and garlic. We ordered the spicy version where a healthy amount of chili paste is added.

I'm not great with spicy foods so I just about died after eating them. If you can survive the heat, the wings are cooked well -- just overwhelming with the salt and spice.

Our second dish was hoi thawt ($14.50), crispy broken crepe with mussels, eggs, garlic chives, and bean sprouts. It's a popular Thai street food, and I found it very reminiscent of Vietnamese bánh xèo. The crispy edges are the best parts!

Our last item was muu kham waan ($15.75), pork collar rubbed with garlic, coriander root, and black pepper. It's glazed with soy and sugar and then grilled over charcoal. The meat is sliced and sauced with a spicy chili/lime/garlic concoction. To eat this dish, you're meant to wrap the meat with the side of chilled mustard greens.

Our server warned us that this dish was quite spicy and recommended ordering a side of rice with it. I'm not sure if my tongue was already numb from the chicken wings but I didn't think it was overly spicy. It wasn't my favourite though as the meat seemed pretty lean and was veering on dry.

Dessert never disappoints so we walked over to Salt & Straw afterwards for some ice cream.

Salt & Straw is another Portland institution, offering unique chef-driven ice cream handmade with local ingredients. They have four locations in Portland alone, not including Wiz Bang Bar, their soft serve spot, which we hit up on our first night. They also have a bunch of locations in L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, Anaheim, and Seattle.

The post-dinner line-up is long, but it moves at a decent pace. They have a lot of staff who actually come up to you in the line, asking if you want to try any samples before giving them your order. And they seriously encourage samples -- as many as you'd like!

As far as flavours go, they have a menu of 13 "classic" flavours and about 5 limited edition flavours which change every month according to a theme. We went back in August when they had their Farmers Market series. Vegetables in ice cream. Yeah, you read that right.

The vegetable flavours I ended up trying were surprisingly delicious! I also sampled their strawberry honey balsamic off of the classic menu but I wasn't a fan. The balsamic was too pungent and overpowering. In the end, I settled for carrot cake batter w/ pralined hazelnuts and caramel corn on the cob. The kid's scoop was $3.25 and I paid an extra $0.50 to split the scoop into two flavours.

The carrot cake was a cinnamon spiced ice cream with caramelized carrots, vanilla cheesecake swirl and candied hazelnuts. The winner of the night (and my heart) was definitely the caramel corn. They sauté corn kernels in brown butter and steep it into their ice cream base along with ribbons of vanilla-spiked caramel. Creamy, corny goodness.

The kid's scoop was a pretty small portion but the perfect amount of sweetness to cap off the night.

Portland, you're quite alright.

- CT