SAIT Culinary Campus

On Monday, February 2, 2015, our EIT Link Committee at TransCanada hosted a team building event at the SAIT Culinary Campus. Our second year in a row going there! We opted for Southern cuisine and you can look at our foodie journey in the pictures below.

Anuraag and Will doing some taste tests with the chef.

Scott getting ready for some skillet action.

Caitlin and Sarah all smiles!

Shannon and Kristen dicing up the veggies.

Esther, Caitlin and Tim clearly hard at work.

The girls!

The whole team :) Job well done!

Our final spread!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Daravara

Weekends in Edmonton always go by so fast when I come back for birthdays, anniversaries, special events. I always leave Edmonton feeling so unfulfilled because it was yet another weekend that went by without me trying out a new restaurant that Edmonton had to offer. So when one of our old friends told us he was coming from Houston to Edmonton for a quick visit, we decided we all had to do what you could do best in Edmonton ... eat. If you live in Edmonton, you'll know that a lot (and I mean a lot!) of new restaurants and pubs and eateries have opened up in the past few years. We decided to go check out Daravara (10713 124 St NW, Edmonton, AB) for brunch.

The menu was small but what was important was that it had a variety of food on there that was unique. I decided to go with the $14 Cornmeal Pancakes combo (shown below). I was immediately drawn to this item because I've never tried cornmeal pancakes before! The cornmeal taste was quite evident and served with syrup and better, tasted better than normal pancakes! The turkey sausage was cut into round slices and well-seasoned. I would've prefered the syrup to be served on the side because at this point my sausages were drenched in syrup which made for an awkward taste. The fruit was plentiful and fresh, all in all a good combination!

Shortly after our trip here, Daravara was named #5 on Avenue's Best New Restaurants of 2015. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the bar area as I already got made fun of enough by the boys for taking a picture of my food ... but I've used Avenue as a source because I wanted to make sure the world sees this! I'd like to point out that it's been an ongoing idea in mine and my boyfriend's minds to implement piping/bottling decor into our houses. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this at Daravara (shown below). This was the first time I had seen it in a public setting so I was ecstatic to see that Daravara had taken it to the next level and utilized Jameson bottles as light fixtures!

I'll definitely have to come back for lunch and dinner. I can just hear the house made beer cheese and confit duck tacos screaming my name! 

RESTAURANT REVIEW: CHARCUT Roast House

I can't believe it took me so long to finally eat at this gem of a restaurant - CHARCUT Roast House (899 Centre St SW, Calgary, AB - connected to Hotel Le Germain). CHARCUT is run by co-owners/co-chefs Connie DeSousa and John Jackson. Connie DeSousa brings a spotlight of fame as she was a runner-up finalist on the first season of Top Chef Canada and a judge on the third season as well! John Jackson brings in a variety of experience from New York to San Francisco to Europe and even Bora Bora! I had heard of so many wonderful things of CHARCUT and was so excited to indulge in this unique culinary experience!

My visit to CHARCUT was during the lunch hour. The restaurant was packed when we arrived for our 1230pm reservation - a good sign! CHARCUT prides itself for its creative "CHARCUT Lunch All At Once" menu option which promises that you will be in and out within 45 minutes. So we opted for this, picking from the following 2 choices:

1. The daily sandwich on focaccia served with kitchen pickles, parmesan fries, the daily soup with crostini and a bag of delicious warm cookies to end the meal. ($15)

2. The daily rotisserie served with garlic, parmesan fries, mixed greens with its house vinaigrette and a bag of warm cookies AND coffee to go. ($25)

I figured whatever option I chose, I would come back again next time for the other option. It was a slightly colder day so I was really craving some soup. So option #1(shown below) it was! The food came out fairly quickly - around 15 to 20 minutes if I recall. The tomato soup was the perfect amount of creamy - mm mm heaven. I went for the parmesan fries right away because who could resist digging into crispy PARMESAN covered fries?! Now let me tell you about the star of the show - the roasted pork loin sandwich. The servings of meat were plentiful - smothered in cheese and fantastic sauces. The first bite I took was unbelievable, and same with the last bite. The meat was tender and scrumptious. It actually took me awhile to finish this beast of a sandwich - I did not expect it to be so big! Needless to say, I was stuffed to the gills and couldn't even get started on the warm chocolate chip cookies that were still left on my board. But of course, CHARCUT has thought this through. Because the cookies were served in a to-go bag with the cute CHARCUT pig logo on it, fastened with a pig paperclip! 

I ate the cookies later at home that night, warmed them right up in the microwave and they tasted so good. Made me definitely want to come back for dessert and try the rotisserie as well! Overall, I was seriously impressed with CHARCUT and am actually ashamed of myself for not eating at this restaurant earlier. Props to Connie and John for this well accomplished establishment. It's only 2 blocks away from work so I'll definitely be back very soon! 

I Want You To Know

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Township Bar & Grill

The Township Bar & Grill just recently opened in Bow Valley Square (250 6th Ave SW, Calgary, AB) in downtown Calgary. It took over the previous Redwater Rustic Grille. Even though it is a restaurant located in a corporate building, once you've stepped into the restaurant itself, you feel like you're somewhere else. This was a fantastic feeling to have given that all of us were ready for a break from work. Unfortunately I was with a group of coworkers who make fun of my endless need to take pictures of restaurants so I could not get a snapshot of the beautiful interior decor. But I've taken a picture off their website that shows part of what the restaurant looks like.

I have a weakness for fried chicken, if you didn't already get that from my Instagram. Fried chicken FOREVER. So naturally, I settled for the $17 Southern Fried Chicken (shown below). The real reason why this entree caught my attention was what the chicken would be served with ... mac and cheese. SPICY mac and cheese. Who wouldn't want that in their mouth?! The fried chicken was greasy enough to satisfy my taste buds. Don't even get me started on the spicy mac and cheese. It was baked! There was a good amount of spice so that it didn't take away from the cheesiness but still maintained a good kick in my mouth. I loved that the Township Bar & Grill served this to me on iron dish with adorable little handles on the side.

The service was a tad slow that day so I'd have to recommend that you budget at least an hour to get in and out of there. But looking forward to coming back for after work drinks and appetizers!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Sugarbowl

Having been born and raised in Edmonton for practically my whole life, I'm going to admit that it's pretty embarrassing that it took me so long to try out Sugarbowl's breakfast menu. 

Any fancy occasion? I was actually celebrating my 24th birthday with my parents and younger sister! I've passed by the Sugarbowl more times than you can imagine since it is located right off the University of Alberta (10922 88th Ave, Edmonton, AB). It did not come as a shock that the wait for a table of 4 on a Sunday for brunch was quite long - they also don't take reservations on Saturday and Sunday. But I appreciated that the hostess took the time to update us on our wait time several times. I had already checked out the menu the night before but all the options sounded so good - I didn't know what to choose! We decided that in order to get the best of all worlds, we would order family style. Let's start with the Chicken and Waffles (shown below). For $14, the platter served the 4 of us perfectly so that we could each have a good portion of it - so worth it! The waffles were crispy with warm creamy maple butter on the side. I was actually quite surprised with the chicken, as I had expected it to taste like previous fried chicken I've had in chicken and waffle combinations. The Sugarbowl of course, is unique in this way because their chicken is actually marinated with spice! So imagine that, chicken with some kick to start off your morning. Delicious indeed.

The Bacon 3 Cheese Mushroom Omelette (shown below) stole my heart ... err stomach. for $12, this was a hearty meal that included a fairly big omelette, one full piece of toast (cut into half) and lots of carbs! Mm potato heaven. The potatoes were grilled and moist, slightly seasoned to perfection. Don't even get me started on the omelette. It was the perfect balance of egg vs toppings, just the way you want an omelette to be.

Unfortunately I did not capture the breakfast sandwich ($8) we also ordered but let me tell you, that was the biggest breakfast sandwich I've ever seen! It was also served with toast and potatoes. 

The last thing we ordered from the Sugarbowl was the infamous cinnamon bun. BIG BUN. That is pretty much the best way to describe this $4.25 massive baked good (shown below). The cinnamon bun was fluffy and served with a knife stuck in the middle of it. The knife gives it away that you can not simply just eat this cinnamon bun in a few bites. The knife beckons to be used so that you can share this cinnamon bun goodness with others. All I can say is, that was a sweet way to end the meal.

I look forward to visiting the Sugarbowl for some more good times, can't wait to try out their lunch and dinner menu. Because the last time I had dinner there was back in 2008 - shame on me for missing out on the sweetest place in Edmonton since 1981!