My brother, ever a whirlwind, blew into town from Kelowna this weekend. I immediately insisted we go dress shopping in Sherwood Park. My TRUE motive was to get him to go to Cafe Haven with me, though.

I first read about Cafe Haven on foodiesuz’s website and have stored it away in my brain for my next visit to the bedroom community of Sherwood Park. I often go to Costco there, and you know what they say about shopping on an empty stomach!

I must confess cafes in Edmonton (other than Sugarbowl, da capo or Tesoro) turn me off. I think of schizophrenic menus, glass cases half full of stale baked goods and sad cups of coffee when I think cafe here. Hence, I went into Cafe Haven with a cautious approach.

Cafe Haven’s glass cases were full of deliciousness!

My concerns were unwarranted.

This little cafe has it goin’ on. In the community where I imagine Starbucks and Second Cup are the norm for caffeine junkies, Cafe Haven was bumping. Located in a strip mall in the space of a former bank (there is even an old vault), it is full of eclectic decorations and furniture, and features a limited but focused menu (lunch fare, mostly) and helpful staff. I totally agree with foodiesuz/Susan’s sentiments about most coffee shop menus being disjointed and all over the place. That said: Haven nails all the good stuff.

We both got sandwiches and I got a London Fog to drink. There were many other things that piqued my interest: nachos (!), pumpkin pie, hummus, soup. Their menu changes for the autumn/winter seasons and then again for spring and summer. There is also brunch (the menu changes weekly), catering… it’s a wonder cafe!

The brunch menu is taped up, but also updated online. They will be having a Valentines Day brunch as well.

My London Fog came out quickly and was, hands down, one of the best I have ever had. Along with a nutmeg-y sugar blend, there were curls of orange peel on top of the rich foam, adding a citrus brightness to the creamy tea blend. I do regret not getting a latte though; their latte art is beautiful and their beans are from Transcend.

Grilled pumpkin feta pesto spinach panini. The pumpkin was odd, but amazing. It just worked. My brother got chicken brie. He found the brie a bit sloppy and gooey, but otherwise the sandwich was delicious.

While we visited midday, they are open for dinner as well and are licensed. They had a posting for a short story slam, and while normally I might scoff at such things, I thought it was a good idea for a great space.

I will definitely be back, maybe as soon as for Valentines Day brunch.

Lunch for two with two drinks was about $22, and on my brother. Thanks Tory!

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Cafe Haven
9 Sioux Road
Sherwood Park
Mon – Fri 8am – 9pm
Sat 9am – 6pm
Sun 10am – 4pm

Side entrance to Zinc. You may also enter through the main foyer of the AGA.

On Sunday January 31, the Art Gallery of Alberta reopened after being closed for nearly five years of renovations. The new building made a lot of promises: more gallery space, better exhibits, a stunning exterior and new spaces for restaurants and cafes. Tuesday February 2 marked the first day of operations of the flagship restaurant, Zinc. (Or is that ZIИC?)

Naturally, I have been excited about Zinc for sometime. Working where I do l afforded me the ability to see a lot of behind the scenes photos as things were put together going up to the big day, and doing a site tour of the Art Gallery of Alberta as a possible wedding venue amped up the excitement even more.

Visiting on the first day of a restaurant’s opening is a different experience, and not one necessarily recommended. Service may lack smoothness, menus could be in the process of being tweaked and may not be complete yet, and everything is in a state of change and upheaval.

I attempted to make reservations earlier in the week on their online reservation system, but it wasn’t operational yet. It wasn’t clear what number I should call to reach the restaurant, but the woman manning the phones at the AGA’s main number put me through.

We arrived a bit late for the 7pm reservation, but were seated in a mostly empty restaurant. Perhaps we missed the dinner rush, or perhaps there was just less hype about the restaurant than I expected.

The room, and building, are stunning. Some have criticized the design to be a non-Gehry designed Frank Gehry style building, and there are definite similarities, but the building is stunning nonetheless…especially when compared to the building before. Many people walking by stopped to peer in and more than once a car slowed to a crawl outside as the occupants stared as the impressive curvy zinc facade.

The restaurant itself has soaring zinc ceilings, with large ENORMOUS windows. Sitting near them, it was not chilly at all, however. Cool blue light accents the metallic accessories which is equalized by a warm yellow glow from candles and the bell tower at nearby City Hall. It’s a very industrial room, but also cozy due to carefully placed dividers and a gorgeous Douglas Fir wall. The view is quite captivating as it overlooks the square and City Hall, and I imagine in the summer it will be a great place to grab a drink before attending a festival or event in Churchill Square.

After we were seated our (very) green waitress asked us if it was our first visit to the restaurant which amused me a great deal. She was definitely still learning the ropes, but was careful to do things the right way in a restaurant of this calibre, like serve from the right and switch out cutlery after each course.

The menu was an abbreviated version of what is to come, and is expected to change seasonally, according to sommelier and maitre d’ Claude Fournier. He came around twice to see how we liked our meals, and took our thoughts and concerns very seriously. It’s nice to get someone who cares about the answer when they ask the question. Claude also said that Chef David Omar and him hope to have dishes which reflect the different exhibits in the gallery at that time. I’m excited a restaurant in Edmonton (other than the Blue Pear) will focus on a varied rotating menu. Although he is not a beer fan (”I cannot stand the yeast,” Claude said) he hopes to do beer pairing as well at some point.

At first glance, it seemed that there was a lot going on in the menu. I saw a lot of food trend buzzwords like foam, gelee and the like. I was also alarmed by the amount of flavours appearing on a single dish. For instance, the fois gras ballotine. However, they were all variations on anise, and it really worked in the end. There were only three appetizers plus a soup and five mains available to order. Later, two desserts (which we had to pass on.)

There is also a large cocktail list with some interesting libations available, and a selection of Alberta beers, but all in the bottle.

Our amuse bouche was served in a tiny coffee cup and was an extremely cold, extremely bland cream cheese avocado “pudding” with ginger. Thank god for the overly zingy ginger, because there was NOTHING going on in this otherwise. It did not amuse my mouth at all.

The housemade butter was angelic. Fennel with spring onion and fleur de sel. It was served with brioche baked in house.

Foie gras appetizer. A slice of foie gras with salted licorice caramel ice cream, black sambuca gelee, coriander apple with salad and brioche toast. As I mentioned previously, this dish sounded all over the map, like there was too much going on. Turns out: it was pretty good! The saltiness balanced well with the sweetness and the anise flavours just worked with the foie gras. The brioche provided just enough crunch for the creamy foie gras.

My dish was less successful. I had the beet salad. The Good: the presentation (like a salad painting!), the parsnip goat cheese puree, fresh carrot juice as a palate cleanser and rose honey reduction. The Bad: Rose honey reduction was hidden on the bottom of my salad, creating an unbalanced sticky glop of flavour as my greens disappeared and the beet “carpaccio” was kind of ridiculous. They’re just raw beets. And they were hard to cut. In addition the beets that were supposed to be roasted were not and were mostly crisp and hard as well.

“Taste of Alberta” main. At $44 this was the most expensive item on the menu. It featured (left to right) bison short ribs, caribou and a saskatoon berry sausage on a bed of braised red cabbage, artichokes and gnocchi. On top, a drizzle of spice chocolate sauce. To put it lightly, disappointing. While the short ribs were toothsome and savoury and moist, the sausage was dry, as was the caribou. How dry? This dry:

This caribou does NOT look succulent.

Wild Alberta pickerel with pickled mushrooms, edamame, beets and warm potato espuma.

I waffled on a main, but finally went with fish. I just HAD to know what “potato espuma” was. I was pleasantly surprised by this dish; it really knocked it out of the park. The pickled mushrooms perked up what is a relatively plain, light fish, and the glorified mashed potatoes just worked. Espuma is supposed to be more of a foam, but this is more of a light creamy mash. Menu error? I was left wanting more; the serving size was adequate but I just wanted to taste more.

I will have to return before I make any firm decisions, but this first visit left me wanted more of the good and less of the bad. I sense great things in the making, though, so I will remain hopeful and try to not judge before they are fully operational.

Dinner for two (two courses each), with one beer ran about $130.

Liane Faulder wrote a preview about Zinc in the Journal a few weeks ago: Zinc offers beautiful food, by design

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Zinc at the Art Gallery of Alberta
Open for lunch and dinner service everyday but Monday
Sunday Brunch is also served
780.392.2501
online reservations also available

Most of my cooking starts with a single ingredient. I see something unusual or new, buy it, and then find a way to learn a new recipe.

Although I have been stockpiling ingredients (masa harina, corn husks, dried peppers) from trips to the U.S. to make tamales for some time, it was actually the purchase of pasilla peppers from Sobeys Urban Fresh that prompted the tamales finally get made. I’ll admit it, I was intimidated. I have learned how to roll cabbage rolls and make perogies from my Gran before she died, but she’s Ukranian, not Mexican. So I did not know how to roll tamales, and it seemed complicated.

Oh, I had books. Rick Bayless has a multi-page section dedicated to the filling and making of tamales. There are diagrams, tips and descriptive paragraphs, but it just wasn’t the same. Luckily, Youtube came to the rescue with a visual guide on what to do.

Zarela runs a restaurant, and has a series of videos up on Youtube on Mexican cooking. She also had an easy going attitude, and was knowledgeable. In four minutes with her help, I was rolling tamales.

I made the masa dough for a filling and stuffed the tamales full of roasted pasilla peppers, adobe tomato salsa and Monterey Jack cheese. I made a few vegan tamales by making the masa dough with vegetable shortening instead of pork and omitting the cheese.

And you know what? Just like perogies and cabbage rolls, tamales aren’t that hard to do.

First you must acquire corn husks, and soak them so they are pliable. I used the hole filled ones to tear into strips to tie the tamales with. This isn’t a necessary step, but it’s a pretty one.

Bob’s Red Mill masa harina from a Whole Foods in Minneapolis. I would have bought a bigger package, but my luggage was already grossly obese.

I cannot find masa harina in Edmonton. I’m hoping the latin markets will have it, I just haven’t had time to look yet. It’s easier to do my grocery shopping while on holiday, apparently. Safeway, Save-On and Planet Organic all carry a wide assortment of Bob’s Red Mill products, just not this.

What gives?

Masa harina is a corn flour, mixed with lime. It’s used to make a variety of things, including tamales and tortillas.

The masa dough being stirred. You need strong arms and a wooden spoon if you don’t have a mixer. Luckily I’ve been making cookie dough for years, so I can handle my spoons.

Peeling the roasted pasilla peppers. I broiled them in the oven on all four sides, tossed them in a bag for a bit and then peeled, cored and seeded them.

After making an adobo tomato salsa, and cubing the cheese, I rolled. It’s really easy.

Tied with strips of corn husk. Not as easy. I had to redo a few, and some popped on me.

The tamales were steamed for about an hour. The dough gets fluffy, and the smell of corn is wonderful.

A bit moist, still, but I think I had a good dough to filling ratio.

If it seems like I’m proud, it is because I am. The key thing is to have the ingredients. The rest is easy.

Vegan Masa filling for tamales

• 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening
• 2 cups masa harina
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable stock, plus 1/4 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Beat the shortening in a bowl with a whisk until fluffy. In another bowl, mix the masa harina and salt. Combine stock and water. Mix the masa and liquid into the shortening, alternating, until the dough stiffens. Mix in the baking powder. This makes enough for about 15 mid sized tamales.

I made mine sort of chile rellenos tamales, with peppers and cheese. You can use any variety of ingredients however, and make them any size.

Upon arriving in Las Vegas, we did three things: check into the hotel (this time we stayed at the Mirage, and got a free upgrade!), place some sportsbets and go for dinner at Bar Charlie again. Our first visit was so wonderful, a return visit was almost mandatory.

The last time we visited, we were the only diners for most of the evening. This time, there were two other couples eating. It helped the restaurant feel not as stiff, although it was much, much busier for the kitchen staff. Visiting on a Friday evening probably had something to do with it. Bar Charlie is also garnering more mentions on culinary forums as a “must visit” place, so I hope this helps it succeed. It truly is a fine restaurant.

I don’t have much to say other than that, except that this time the service was above par. We were recognized and our return visit was mentioned by several of the staff. Everyone was very chatty, and it was a great evening. When the chef promised a printed menu for us when we left, I was not confident I would see it. Others had complained that they did not receive theirs, but I got mine, all tied up with colour co-ordinated ribbon and everything.

Again, we got the 14-course chef’s kaiseki. Here are a few of the highlights. As you can see, the descriptions of the dishes are very simple, but the dishes themselves were anything but. Another couple down the bar complained that there were many elements not mentioned on the menu, making it hard to record notes on the meal. Most dishes started with atleast six ingredients. That doesn’t begin to take into account the components of the various sauces and garnishes and powders.

I will maintain my viewpoint that Bar Charlie is one of the most complex meals and best values for high end dining in Las Vegas. But, enough. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

After a record four visits to Las Vegas since mid December, I don’t know when we’ll get back there again, but if we do…you know where I’ll be going again.

It’s no secret that I enjoy the bread Cobs makes. For a chain, they make damned fine bread products. Their pane di casa italian rolls are crispy, light and airy with a hint of chew, and I’m a fan of the new Turkish rolls, with the same consistency of the pane di casa, but a generous smothering of olive oil and seasonings on top.

When I visited the other morning, one of the bakers came barreling out of the back. “Behind!” he shouted to the front clerk, before loading a wire rack laden with French baguettes into the display. He then rang a cowbell hanging above, and yelled “FRENCH BAGGGGUUUETTES!” while the other bakers cheered in the back. Turns out the French baguette is a brand new item at Cobs. It was amazing and it immediately brought me back to the first time my Mom brought my brother and I to continental Europe in the early 1990s.

We were living in England at the time, and caught the ferry over to Bruges, in Belgium for a day trip. The food had a huge influence on me, and I still remember every meal we ate that day. There was a serving of spaghetti bolognese that could have sunk a ship (and indeed sunk me, I was ill after overeating it) and the crispiest most delicious pizza ever eaten at an outdoor cafe on the main square of the town. But the best was a last minute picnic of fresh baguettes and some cheese and meats we found at a small market. God, was it ever delicious.

After I finished day dreaming, I naturally had to get a baguette and desired to fill it with ham and cheese. I swung by the Italian Center and loaded up on meats and cheeses. I wasn’t home two minutes when I was tearing into the meats, cutting cheddar and assembling a delicious rosemary ham and cheese baguette. So simple, so delicious.

I was alone in Las Vegas for two nights, and decided to visit another restaurant by myself. I made the reservation, knowing that if I did not, I would chicken out.

So for 7:30 pm on a Wednesday evening, I reserved dinner for one at Joël Robuchon at the Mansion at the MGM Hotel. I have walked by the doors and peeked at the menu so many times on other visits, I have lost count.

The restaurant is one of a select few in North America to receive three Michelin stars for 2009.

The doors opened, and I entered. I assume I was the only solo diner that night making me easy to recognize, and the hostess addressed me by name as I entered. She was so quick to do so, in fact, that I lamented not being able to take in the room and bar a bit more first.

JR @ the Mansion is located in the corner of the sprawling MGM casino. Look beyond the smoking slot machine players and the crowds gathering for the next showing of Cirque du Soleil’s “KA”, and you will see the peaceful entrance.

The room is intimate and cozy. A banquette divides the room, and a small side room holds a (live?) rose garden and living ivy wall. I believe the restaurant can hold 60 people, and on this night there were probably 20. So not very full, but still shockingly so considering the price of the average meal there.

I was seated on a the bench seat dividing the room, in between two couples. The room is done in rich, heavy fabrics in a deep royal purple colour, with silver accented Lalique vases and black furniture. It was designed to mimic a feeling of being in 1930s Paris and feels very luxurious and opulent.

From the photos I have seen of the room, the colour accents change with the season. For spring, coral red seemed to be favoured, and was featured in the fresh flowers, coral shaped accents and decor, bringing a pop of colour.

On the banquette, silver plate framed photographs line the top, highlighting celebrities that have dined at Joel Robuchon.

A large chandelier hangs above, and the entire dining room is bathed in warm, subdued lighting.

I asked for a glass of champagne when I sat down. Unlike Guy Savoy, they do not use a trolley to cart around the champagnes available by the glass, and I was limited to two varieties. I chose the Billecart rose. I will admit to being a bit nervous at dining alone, but knew the staff would take care of me. The champagne helped relax me even more.

However, within minutes of sitting down, the man in the couple dining to my left struck up a conversation.

“You must really love French food,” he said.

I replied to the positive, stating that I had also dined at Guy Savoy earlier in the week.

And so it began.

“Ohhhh, we were served by Guy Savoy himself!” he blurted out, as he poured more Cristal champagne for his wife. “We must have spent $10,000 that night there,” he went on.

They were Las Vegans, dining out in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary. The husband spent more time talking to me than to his wife, and even sent over a course from the 16-course tasting menu they were having that night, claiming he was too stuffed.

I won’t say that it ruined my evening, but it did diminish some of the adult enjoyment I was hoping to gain from eating out on my own, with my own thoughts. He complained about being too full to enjoy the meal, then being too drunk.

I also found their name dropping and money discussion (and politics! imagine!) during dinner a bit distasteful. I was too timid to ask to be moved, however. In a dining room so small I did not want to risk offending anyone, or embarrassing the staff. I did find it odd the hostess chose to seat me next to a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary though. I would have been much happier next to the other fellow recent Bachelor of Science graduate out celebrating (awesome coincidence!) However, this was my own doing.

Robuchon is experimenting with lowered set prices on various meal configurations, from three courses up to six. I got the six-course option, which came with an amuse bouche, an appetizer, soup, seafood and meat course, cheese course and then dessert. I selected my own dishes for each course. My only regret was not being able to order the frog’s legs that Robuchon is so famous for.

A bread cart made a few rounds, but stopped after I refused bread with two courses. I suppose if I had asked, they might have brought some more. However, filling up on bread is a terrible idea, except when the bread is as good as it is here.

The amuse bouche took some time to arrive, but finally came to the table on a holographic platter. It reminded me of a figure skating outfit I once had, infact.

The amuse was Os(s/c)etra caviar, over a hidden layer of three species of crab. I had a small saffron roll and a piece of carmelized onion bread from the bread cart. These were warmed before being brought to the table. The cart’s item stock was very similar to Guy Savoy’s. There were more rolls, however, and more softer items like milk breads. Again, a brick of butter imported from Brittany.

Soup: Lettuce velouté with nutmeg and sweet onion foam. If you have ever read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl, you surely remember all the times Charlie had to eat watered down, bland cabbage soup. Not far from it’s green cousin, lettuce soup has to sound like the stuff of nightmares, right?

It’s not.

There were lardons of ham sunk on the bottom, and the foam imparted an extraordinary texture to this surprisingly flavourful soup. The bowl arrived as a bowl of foam, which the veloute was then expertly poured into by the server. It was like a lettuce latte.

Unfortunately I did not take photos of the next course, which was the starter, which was sea scallop a la plancha with a sauce of kumquat and caviar. I remember the scallops being the star of the show, with little citrus added from the kumquat, and an abundance of caviar.

Seafood course: this dish arrived in a beautiful presentation. It had a sort of glass halo around it, which held the bits of the lobster carapace within. It was lifted off to reveal this inside: Spiny lobster in a sake broth, with turnip and shiso sprouts.

The sake broth was salty and slightly alcoholic, and a light addition to the lobster. The most adorable baby turnips with greens attached were hidden beneath and offered the bite and crunch needed.

Meat course: Braised veal cheeks with Thai herbs and green curry. Looking back, I had to make sure this was the course I got. I do not recall anything green curry-ish about it, but the lemongrass and strong memory of rich veal melting in my mouth tell another story. Small chunks of fine tofu accompanied the dish, which was the height of savoury. It was garnished with long stems of lemongrass which appeared to be taped to the serving dish beneath. Odd.

A side dish of pureed potatoes were lovingly spooned out by the server. They were not studded with black truffle as at Guy Savoy, however.

The diner next to me sent over his course of vegetables and couscous in Argan oil. Again, baby turnips and other vegetables were nestled in a delicious, if plain, couscous. Argan oil is supposedly an extremely rare oil…I remember it being smooth and faintly nutty, but not overwhelming.

Oh, jeez, cheese.

The cheese server was an expert recommender and my interactions with him were the highlight of my meal. When I said I couldn’t make my mind up on which brie I wanted to try, he gave me samples of both. (The triple cream was the best.) I also got a very alcoholic tasting (and smelly!) Époisses. It’s the runny one on the bottom, there.

Again, I had to summon the bread cart and was not offered anything unusual for the cheese course, unlike at Savoy. Cheese is delicious on its own, of course, but I wanted to see how a fruit bread or baguette changed it.

A perle of chou, Tahitian vanilla cream with fresh raspberry. The chou was quite awkward to eat in the bowl, and kept sliding all over the place.

The two couples celebrating were brought a special raspberry ice cream cake. I don’t know where they are finding ripe raspberries this time of year, but I would love a hook up.

A sorbet course. I chose the lemon, out of raspberry (again!) and chocolate.

The mignardises trolley. There were over 30 treats on this thing. They didn’t even tell me what everything was and didn’t seem interested in listing them, so I just requested the raspberry macaron, meringue, cocoa dusted truffle and a chocolate bombe.

I asked for an earl grey tea to end my evening, which came with no sugar or cream, forcing me to ask for it.

This was the small dark garden room to the side. It smelled like a forest after a short rain on a warm day, green and moist with the faint scent of roses. I popped in after my meal to check it out.

As a parting gift, I received this beautifully wrapped present. Inside…an entire banana loaf, topped with gold dusted chocolate pieces and drizzled honey and glaze. I have to admit, I found this odd for a mainly tourist frequented restaurant. Maybe others had better appointed rooms or were staying in Las Vegas a few more nights and could enjoy it.

I ate a bit the next morning before checking out of the hotel. With no utensils in the room, I ate some of it with my bare hands. How crude. It was mostly just an average banana loaf, though.

So; was it worth it?

I remain undecided. Maybe I was tapped out on French food or high end restaurants. Maybe I set the bar too high. Perhaps if I had not been a solo diner my experience would have been different.

I won’t knock the cuisine, however. The food was great; imaginative, beautifully presented, well-executed and thoughtful. What I think fell short was the service.

It was all small things that sound absolutely ridiculous in hindsight so I won’t go into details. However, after experiencing service at Le Cirque and Savoy (click for my experiences at each), then having it at Joel Robuchon, I noticed the differences. Perhaps it is a difference of opinion. I know others enjoy that the service is non-intrusive, where you request things and the request is never denied, but I find I enjoy it when the staff anticipate my wants, sometimes before I even knew I had them. I’m a shy diner, what can I say?

I found the service mostly mechanical, lacking passion and excitement. Le Cirque and Guy Savoy made me want to go back to experience both the food and service again. They were both delightful, surprising and joyful to eat at, and I got the feeling that they wanted you to experience everything and try everything. Joel Robuchon left me wanting…it kind of felt soulless, actually.

In any case, I’m glad I went, for now I can share my experience, and know that I may never go again. There are too many restaurants in the world to return to one that charges that much and doesn’t leave me in a dreamlike trance thinking about every detail afterwards.

After our amazing meal at Bar Charlie in February we were reluctant to branch out into other high end eats in Vegas. I guess we just love Japanese cuisine that much! However, Chef Hiroo Nagahara mentioned his favourite restaurant happened to be Guy Savoy, so we thought we might give it a try, and did not feel so bad doing so.

Guy Savoy was rated two Michelin stars in the last Las Vegas guide. Although I would not describe myself as a Michelin tourist, I have been fortunate to have dined at a wide selection of one star restaurants. However, this was a first to be eaten at a ‘higher level.’ The Paris location has consistently received three stars, and some say Mr. Savoy was robbed of a third star at the Vegas outpost.

We set sail for the ten-course “menu prestige” deep in the Augustus Tower of Caesar’s Palace. Four hours later, we emerged. Here is what happened in between.

The dining room was half full, mostly older diners in couples, but some larger tables as well. It was minimal, almost austere, but still comfortable.

There is a small patio and private dining rooms. There are even large windows which fill the room with natural light which is odd for a Las Vegas restaurant. From our end you could see the Bellagio.

These tiny dishes held pepper, the flakiest, finest of sea salts and butter from France.

Our amusing amuse. In the left cup…zucchini soup…

…and hiding on the right, a surprise we were told to reveal after our soup was gone. A tiny pastry cup filled with salmon, topped with marinated zucchini with a basil reduction.

From the bread cart: A “delicate spices” and a bacon roll. The butter served was flown in from France, and available salted or not. They kept coming and coming with the bread cart.

The bread sommelier was an amazing young man with real energy and excitement. We even discussed UFC with him. Each course had a bread he suggested. Some were surprising, others perfect (if predictable) pairing. There were numerous kinds of bread: caramelized onion, lemon bread, black olive, Parmigiano Reggiano, house-cured bacon with sea salt and a few smaller “plainer” items like epi baguette and such.

Marinated lobster with salad and spring herb gelee.

“Colours of Caviar”, layered caviar in many different preparations. Eaten together, you are meant to scoop down with the mother of pearl spoon from each layer. It is no exaggeration that each bite was subtely or significantly different. The sabayon layer was a personal favourite.

There was no bread pairing, as the caviar was a stand alone deal, you could say.

Crispy sea bass with delicate spices in vanilla foam with mushrooms. The vanilla foam was “scented.” But, not in the cheap way a lower end place does it. This smelled, tasted and exuded vanilla. It was odd with the fish, but delicious. The bread was a nori seaweed bread.

We were encouraged to add the additional delicate spices laid out on top of the serving platter. They added so much! The arrangement of the spices is also seems to be a nod to the logo for Guy Savoy, three columns.

The delicate spices were the same as in the bread: Szechuan pepper, black pepper, fennel, coriander and two kinds of mustard.

This…this was amazing.

As our sea bass course wrapped up, two gentlemen came walking briskly out of the kitchen. They approach our table, holding a platter. In my head, I’m thinking “What? I just finished this course! How rude! What timing!”

But: they were just there to show us our next course as it cooked.

The course was foie gras “en Papillotte” with radish bouillon. The foie gras was in a parchment bag, resting on rocks which were cooking it. The server burst the bag with a flourish. The smell of the foie that emerged was intense and earthy. I was dying to smell more…and just as I thought that he said “Here! SMELL!” and brought it to my face to waft.

Now THAT is service.

It was served with the greens which perfectly balanced the richness of the foie gras. Radish soup is amazingly flavourful, by the way.

Here, a Savoy signature soup. Artichoke and black truffle. I recalled to Mike that I read a review that claimed this soup was tasteless. We laughed as we inhaled the earthy, rich broth.

That little out of focus morsel on the bottom? It’s a mushroom brioche, topped with truffle butter. We were encouraged to dunk it in our soup as we ate.

At this point, my bread plate was becoming a wasteland of crusts as I could no longer finish the breads being brought. I felt shame when the bread sommelier came by, but he continued to pile on the bread.
And so we pushed on. I think we were just over two hours in at this point.

This GORGEOUS hot pink knife was brought out. What was next..?

Poussin (young poultry) a la Broche, with impossibly smooth black truffle-flecked potato puree. There were truffles shoved under the skin of the chicken.

This was another dish that was presented to us as it cooked. They brought it out on a carving board, then brought it back to the kitchen to be carved. I’m told this is all part of Mr. Savoy’s love of the dramatic.

The puree looks like ice cream, and it damn near had the same texture.

Then…the cheese cart.

This cart sailed in like a ship made of blue cheese. I don’t recall how many cheeses there were, but over 10. We could have any of them, again with two kinds of bread. Époisses, brie, blue, guyere, goat.

I wish I had more room, but had to limit myself to three cheeses (herbed goat, brie and aged guyere), with apricot walnut bread.

A pre-dessert pannacotta with apricots and almonds and an edible pansy.

Strawberry rhubarb granité served in the most adorable of miniature Bodum-style cups.

This was the chocolate sphere, with raspberry. It came out as a perfect white chocolate ball, which the maître d’ then poured hot raspberry sauce over. “To smile at you,” he said, as the “mouth” opened and indeed, smiled at me.

It reminded me of the little Canadians from South Park.

Low brow, I know. That’s the kind of lady I am.

I couldn’t help noticing the steak knife from earlier matched the rather modern art work in the room. I sat admiring the room, art and other diners.

Then…dear lord. The rumblings of another cart.

Not the bread cart, surely. The cheese cart? Put away, I hope.

This was the sweet cart.

HOW? How could we have room?

Well, the world’s most adorable and persuasive man was working it. And he SOLD his items. Just want one truffle? “Non, then zee others will be jealous,” he claimed, as he piled the set of three on your plate.

There were fruit gelees, mousses, eclairs, hand twirled lollies, TWO KINDS of rice pudding, sorbets, flans, ice creams, macadamia nut balls, and, lord help me, … MINIATURE macarons.

All I really has room for and wanted was the truffles and macarons. How I got sucked in to getting this much was beyond me. Passionfruit sorbet, and a rich chocolate mousse sit in the middle and right.

At least I wasn’t as badly off as Mike. He ended up with TWO plates. The guy at the cart was relentless and a real petit fours pusher.

One of the items: brown butter ice cream. Wow.

The macarons were fennel and lemon.

This one reminded me of a tiny hot dog.

And then, it was finally over.

Four hours later, we were in a food daze. The dishes themselves were amazing, but what made the meal memorable were the small touches, service and thoughtfulness. The purse stool that was brought. How the maître d’ noticed I was trying to write down notes, so he brought a printed menu for me.

I was also fortunate to receive a peek in at the not-yet-opened private Krug room. On my way to the rest room, I spied the word “KRUG” on the wall of a back room and inquired with the server who accompanied me to the rest room. Turns out that is the first Krug room in North America. The server pointed out the beautiful picnic trunk made for carting champagne around and said it made every picnic better.

Savoy is known for champagne so it did not surprise me they had a dedicated room. According to VegasChatter, the room will feature champagne pairings with meals and offers the entire Krug catalogue. It’s one of my favourite champagnes so I got a buzz of glee about seeing the room.

As we left, we were forced to take some candies. I did not sample mine until days later when I boarded my plane to Minneapolis, but was surprised at the flavour. It was chartreuse, a kind of liquor.

Very, how you say, french!

So stuffed, I asked to have my remaining truffles wrapped up to go and they came in this charming bag.

A purse stool hiding in waiting.

I couldn’t resist. Even the lighting in the bathroom was fantastic.

The cover and insides of the menu I received.

This meal was pure indulgence, and a perfect way to celebrate a birthday and graduation. (Atleast that’s what I tell myself.)

The service is passionate, warm, thoughtful and seamless. Perhaps a little over the top at times, as with one server’s very french accent, but this is Vegas, after all. There’s a bit of showman in everyone.

While we got the 10-course tasting menu, they do offer a la carte menus, of course. You can check them out at FoodNut. The people beside us received wonderful attention with their a la carte meals, and were in and out in around two hours. There is also a $98 pre-theatre meal.

In addition, there is also the Bubble Bar where you can have small bites of each of Savoy’s signature dishes and a glass of bubbly. It’s a more affordable and quick way to visit the property. The menus for all of these options are available on the right of the Caesar’s Palace website.

After dining at a two star, I wondered what the differences were between two and three Michelin stars. I’ve been told the differences are negligible between the levels, the top two tiers offering similar cuisine quality but the difference being in service.

Of course, the only way to really judge was to go and dine at the only three Michelin star restaurant in Las Vegas…that’s to come.

When I realized my trip to Las Vegas would bloom into a five night stay from two, I busily set out to find new things to do. Things I had long wanted to do, but hadn’t had the time to get to. One of these was to visit a Las Vegas farmers market.

There are several in the Vegas area, mostly in the suburbs. (Although I did see that the Palazzo hotel on the Strip had a “Farmers Market” recently. The event featured seven local farmers selling items like local quail, chicken and duck eggs, apricots, figs, desert honey inside the hotel, and had a few cooking demonstrations and special menus at Palazzo restaurants. There is also a new market downtown in the old Strip area at Fremont.)

The market I originally had my eye on was at Bruce Trent Park, but my visit there fell through, so I went to another market I had heard about on the local morning news that day: Roadhouse Farmers Market (Thursdays, 4-8pm, corner of Sunset and the Boulder Highway in east Vegas). There was a local chef demonstrating vegan cooking and it sounded interesting.

When I got there, I was a bit disheartened to see how small the market was. However, it was their grand opening night. As hot as it was in Vegas already, I had to remember it is still only spring there as well.

There were probably 12 stalls, selling mostly produce from nearby California. It was cooking hot, even at 6pm, and I wasn’t in the mood to eat much, but enjoyed the music, sights and smells.

(The “Made in Boulder City” sign referred to an oil of some kind I believe)

(Haas avocados, $2 for a larger, $1.50 for a small)

The last photos are of Chef Mayra, who specializes in organic and vegan cuisine in Caribbean styles. She had quite a crowd of onlookers and her food was delicious. I definitely enjoyed my brief foray into Nevada farmers markets.

note: this originally appeared on my personal blog on may 10 2009.

Mike’s sister Kim has been away for nearly a year, WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms; you work on a farm, in return for room and board) in Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. Shortly before she left, she made the plunge and took on the vegan lifestyle. To welcome her home, Mike made a huge vegan spread, and I made a vegan cake.

Predictably, there were a lot of lentils. Lots. The dishes were mostly Indian, except for two lentil dishes which were Ethiopian. Dishes included brown mustard seed cauliflower, okra curry, kik alicha and a variation on misir wot. To accompany, fresh roti.

Okra is SO delicious! We used fresh, but if you find it hard to get, frozen is okay.

Mmmm, fresh roti.

I bought some rhubarb stalks last week, maybe thinking I would make rhubarb strawberry muffins. Instead, I used the stalks in a vegan rhubarb coffee cake. It was my first time baking anything vegan, and I can say a few things put me off, as they weren’t my normal mode of baking. Vegan baking obviously doesn’t allow use of animal fats, so butter, milk and eggs are out. Instead, recipes tend to use things like applesauce and oil in place of animal fats. Pouring a whole cup of oil into the cake batter kind of turned my stomach, even though it’s really no different than butter.

The cake took a LONG time to bake. The recipe said an hour, but I think my choice of pan made leaving the cake in for nearly two hours necessary. When I popped it out of the pan, it looked…gelatinous and underdone. The middle started to collapse (again, possibly from pan choice or from all my cake testing during the baking) and it turned out to be more of a rhubarb crumble instead of cake.

I used safflower oil, so the oil choice was a bit healthier than a regular canola oil. The addition of flax seeds helped add texture and nutrition. The cake was pretty delicious, and far exceeded my expectations.

Very rhubarb-y filling!

Upside down view shows kind of a weird bottom, which was very moist and almost gelatinous. Baking it in a different pan would have helped avoid that, I think.

Vegan Rhubarb Crumble / Coffeecake

Adapted from KimmyKokonut.

Crumb topping

• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon safflower (or canola) oil

Cake ingredients

• 1 tablespoon flax seeds, ground
• 3 tablespoon water

• 3 tablespoons applesauce (I bought a jar of organic baby food applesauce since I needed so little)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 cup safflower (or canola) oil
• 4 cups rhubarb stems, medium dice
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and get out your 9×13″ pan or 2 loaf pans.
2. Grind flax seeds, and whisk with water and set aside.
3. Make crumb topping: Mix flour, sugar and spices in a small bowl and mix together (whisk, fork, fingers) while drizzling oil in. Once it becomes crumb-y, set it aside. You may need to add more/less oil.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together applesauce, sugar, molasses, oil and flax & water mix.
5. In a separate, larger, bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until JUST combined.
7. Fold in rhubarb and pour into pan(s). Top with crumbs.
8. Bake for one hour or until a knife inserted comes out clean. (I had to bake mine for nearly 2 hours)
9. Cool on a wire rack. This would be great with soy ice cream.

We ate other things on day two of our trip, but only one meal bears mentioning.

After buying some tickets to Penn & Teller’s show at 9pm (I highly recommend using Tix4Tonight for discounted tickets), we were on a bit of a time budget for the night. I called Restaurant Charlie at the Palazzo cautiously. As I booked dinner for 5:30 pm, I asked if that was enough time to experience their 14-course kaiseki menu. “Well, it is a bit closer to 3 hours,” said the hostess, “but I will tell Chef you have time constraints.”

Three hours may be cutting it close for a meal? What.

Bar Charlie is a restaurant within a restaurant, in this case, Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant Charlie which is inside the Palazzo. Bar Charlie is a kaiseki restaurant, a sort of cuisine normally confined to Japan. One of my true regrets about our trip to Tokyo was missing the opportunity to stay in a ryokan, or traditional Japanese inn. Sort of like a bed and breakfast. Kaiseki meals are very common in them.

With five, eight and fourteen course menus, Trotter has allowed his executive chef Hiroo Nagahara to really have fun and exercise his knife. Sometimes dishes are served in the Restaurant Charlie side, but mostly the chefs are working for you.

It’s extremely intimate to be the only two patrons at a restaurant. Even if it was filled there would only be room for fifteen to eighteen people. Later, as we were leaving, a couple came in and were seated, but for the most part it was one-on-one service. When I got my camera out to take some photos, Mike referred to it as the fifth person in the room. The normally super quiet lens opening became nails on a chalkboard. As such, I did not interrupt our dining pleasure with taking too many photos. But let it be known we were eating art that night.

Chef Nagahara was amazing. As the meal ended, we talked with him for some time. He told us he spontaneously comes up with many of his dishes, and the menu is never the same, which is a shock when you find out what they are and the complexities involved. His hope is that no one will ever experience the same meal twice at his restaurant. His meticulous care and preparation show in every step of the meal. He recognizes Japanese traditions in food (especially in kaiseki, where care is taken to present food as nature) and takes time to source seasonal ingredients straight from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. The glee in his voice as he described a still-in-rigour tuna he got in for Valentines Day was palpable. He implored us to come back and make special requests for next time. We also found out one of Chef Nagahara’s favourite cuisines was Ethiopian!

I’m not sure how long Bar/Restaurant Charlie will be around as it is definitely among the more dear restaurants in Vegas (and that is saying something) and it is pretty quiet. But it is definitely an amazing place. I am no critic, so just some photos and what I recall from our meal, below:

“Buttery Potato” cocktail. I have to say that savoury cocktails blow my mind. At $19, they should. The cocktail list at Restaurant Charlie is worth a visit on its own. They serve modern and vintage “pre-Prohibition” cocktails.

One of the two chefs working for us that evening. He never introduced himself!

“Cherry Blossoms in Snow”

Blue fin tuna tartare, with greek yogurt disc, seaweed tuile and pickled cucumbers

A new dish: cuttlefish, deconstructed.

The body, in the center there, made into a dumpling that was meant to have the texture of an egg. The wings, the lightest tempura you’ve ever had. The tentacles, grilled.

From pastry chef Vanessa Garcia, a series of desserts including:

Basil-infused blueberries with semolina pudding, tarragon semi freddo and lime-basil sorbet

Dark chocolate cocoa sponge cake with citrus salad, candied oro blanco (a variety of pomelo) peel tuile and oro blanco sorbet

Petits fours: Cookies and cream, fresh marshmallow, candied ginger and a gorgeous iridescent green truffle

Each dish was prepared fresh, right in front of us. When presented on the bar, the chef would explain every single component of the dish. The ones I recall, some better than others:

• Japanese tai (red snapper) with black grape reduction, black grapes and kalamata olive gelee
• An aji, or Spanish mackerel dish
• Trout three ways: ice cream, roulade and ravioli filled with trout head (the ‘pasta’ was made of trout stock) with crispy trout roe and skin (this was my personal favourite dish, if only because it was so bizarre to eat fish flavoured ice cream)
• Two different tuna courses, including bluefin tuna tartare, the other as “Cherry Blossoms in the Snow”, above
• Carbonated carrots and scallops. The carrots were in a liquid and carbonated, so that it danced on your tongue.
• “Oysters on the Beach”: Razor clams and oysters with horseradish granules (representing sand) and a sea water foam to represent the ocean.
• Sushi rice risotto with wild mushrooms
• A piece of two-day braised Kurobuta pork belly on a confit of quinoa and Fuji apples.
• Finally, a sorbet, two desserts and a sampling of petits fours.

Every dish was unbelievable and had several mouth feels, tastes and flavours going on. Everything ranging from bubbly, soft, firm, crunchy, chewy, sour, bitter, sweet, cold, gelatinous, umami… a true experience.

I regret not taking notes, but it really was nice to just sit back, relax and take the entire experience in. For such a complex – at times esoteric – meal that may never be replicated this may have been a mistake, but I am certain I will remember it for a long time.

PS: We made it to the show on time after our two and a half hour dinner: Penn & Teller were great.