Life in Cowtown

This weekend I managed to get out for two meals with friends, and since I suck I didn’t bring a camera. So I’m going to lump them together and rather than an in-depth review just talk about each place.

Bangkoknoi Thai Restaurant was the first venue I went to, and since this is my fifth visit, I clearly love it. In fact, I love it so much I can hardly ever wean myself off eating the same three things off their menu: Tom Yum soup, Papaya Salad and a curry of some sort. I’m such a creature of habit, that I deviated from that menu by exactly two dishes, and even that was due to my wonderful lunch companion. So we ordered Tom Kah Gai and a noodle dish just to be different.

The Tom Yum is the epitome of Thai cooking for me – fragrant, bold, and spicy. I adore the combination of hot, sour and salty and this reddish broth with chunks of mushrooms, tomatoes, meat and lemongrass is awesome. I do wish they added more basil though – I had one tiny leaf in the soup, and basil gives an incomparable fragrance. Tom Kah Gai was also delicious, but spicier, with the richness of coconut milk to tame the acidity of Tom Yum. Which I still prefer.

The Papaya salad is not their most consistent dish. On some days it’s transcendental, with finely shredded papaya leaves, lime juice dressing, peanuts and shrimp mixed with just the right amount of dressing. Others it’s a bit too watery probably left too long premixed, with the papaya releasing it’s juices. But even when it’s not great, it’s still quite enjoyable, so I get it every time.

Having had their great, fragrant red curry on most of my visits, this time I dared to be different yet again and got a Mussamun Curry. Thick with tender chucks of beef and cubes of potatoes it was hearty and good, but if I were making it at home I’d mix some red curry sauce into it and make it sublime. But that’s just me. I’ve never had Mussamun Curry before, and I can only assume that this is not the pinnacle of it’s performance.

The noodle dish – Lard Nah – was very very good. Surprisingly so, since I expected it to be mediocre for some reason. It was all owing to the sauce – dark, sweet-salty and delicious it gently coated the noodles and the veggies with thick strips of meat. While warm it was just great, and as it cooled it lost some flavor, so if you order it, eat it while it’s hot.

I have never, ever had room for dessert after a Bangkoknoi feast, which is not saying much since I’m not the world biggest dessert fan. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good occasionally, and my sweet tooth is getting bigger the older I get, but it’s not the most important thing in the world for me. For one, it’s often too expensive. I don’t care what ingredients you use, if it’s adding ten dollars to the bill – I’ll probably skip it. For another, I can be gluttonous during dinner if the food is good, and don’t have room. And if by some miracle I do have room, well either the food was bad so why take a chance on dessert, or I’ll enjoy the virtuous feeling, thank you.

4/5

Bangkoknoi Thai Restaurant

1324 Centre Street NE
Calgary, AB T2E 2R7, Canada
(403) 277-8424

My second lunch of the weekend was a takeout feast out of the deli section of Mercato. I’ve always wanted to eat at Mercato, I’ve heard good things about it, but it is quite expensive, so I haven’t taken the plunge yet. Anyone have a corporate account lying around unused? I’m your woman.

Anyhoo, first we browsed the chic but highly expensive boutique just to whet the appetite and I was again blown away by the prices. A 500 ml jar of pasta sauce was $11.00, a package of pasta was $6.95 and a large fried pastry was $4.99. A tiny jar of tapenade type spread and a jar of canned tomatoes was $14.95, and I don’t care if they’re harvested by virgins in Italy by the moonlight and canned during sunrise by silent monks – I’m not paying that much for one jar of canned tomatoes. The few things we found that are worth buying are some of the reasonably priced cheeses, a large pre-marinated chicken for $22.00 and definitely some of the deli items.

Deli items were plentiful and great looking, with a touch of exotic. From a good variety of glistening olives, sausages of all shapes and sizes, marinated grilled veggies, breaded bass fillets, deep fried risotto balls, meat balls, vegetable salads, roasted potato salads and bean salads. We chose a bocconcini salad, potato and sausage salad, roasted marinated veggies, veggie pizza, a traditional baguette, one risotto ball and the lady at the counter highly recommeded pasta salad and bean salad. We got just a few spoonful of each seeing as there were only two of us, we’re not total gluttons you know.

Hugging our loot home we spread it all out, made a pot of strong coffee and had a feast in the sunshine on the deck. The pizza was quite good – flavorful, zesty, full of veggies and a lovely sauce, with only a thin sprinkle of cheese. The baguette however, was only so – so.  Stuffed with what looked like mortadella with a tiny bit of a spicy sausage it was rather bland.

The bocconcini salad was a big disappointment – the balls of cheese are bland as to be expected, so need a strong flavor to balance them out – a good shot of vinegar and salt. It had neither. Imagine a salad with bland cheese balls and whole cherry tomatoes coated in oil and you have the makings of a bland oily dish with nothing to bring out the taste of either ingredient. A judicious splash of vinegar, salt and fresh basil would have helped immensely.

I’m not sure what the lady at the counter was on, but I can tell you the next two disappointing dishes were the pasta and bean salads that she specifically highly recommended. The pasta salad had the same problem –huge pasta shells, tossed with some diced veggies, all coated in oil. Bland, no salt – the dish could have been made anywhere. I believe Sunterra serves a similar version as well as many supermarket delis. The bean salad was…. a bean salad. When I eat out,  I expect each dish to be a great version of itself, good at least. But these two were the most prosaic, basic, generic variants I have ever had. If *I* can make something better at home, then you have no business selling it, in my opinion.

The two good sides were the potato and sausage salad and marinated roasted veggies. Now, I’m not saying they were anything special. Whatever you picture when you hear those names is probably exactly what we ate. Thanks to the sausage the potato salad had flavor, and thanks to the grill and salt so did the veggies. They were not transcendental by any stretch but they were wholly satisfying.

And now to the deep fried risotto ball. My friend thought it was barely so-so. If I recall, it tasted like someone took risotto, stuffed if with some pizza sauce and mozza, breaded and deep fried it. Was it bad? Not really. A fresh herb or two would have helped the pizza pop taste. Was it worth $6.95? Not in either of our books. It is not a dish either one of us was inspired to either make ourselves or order again, so although not too bad it was nothing to write home about either.

I already stated that my reviews are limited by budget and subjective as can be, so if I had to rate Mercato strictly on the deli offerings I’d give it a 3/5. However, it’s not really fair to the restaurant proper which surely deserves its chance to shine, so I will withhold judgment for now, and steer you away from the mediocre salads stated above.

Mercato Foods

2224 4 Street SW
Calgary, AB T2S 1W9, Canada
(403) 263-5535

Jonas’ Restaurant eluded me for months. Years really. I’ve always meant to go there, and yet each and every time I tried the mission was a failure. When I went there on a spur of the moment it was closed. Then several lunch reservations failed due to work or weather. Then two dinner plans fell through. Jonas’ and I continued in this vein for quite some time, and just recently I e-mailed a friend and lamented that the stars just won’t line up for us. Until last week. Then I found myself with my food partner in crime Jen tucked into a corner table for two hungrily studying the menu.

The small and cozy restaurant has plain white walls with Hungarian themed decorations, and red and white checkered tablecloths. The lighting is quite dim as the place has almost no windows, but there are charming pots of silk flowers and tealights on each table. We started with wine – a lovely red Hungarian cab for myself and a white sauvignon for Jen, and since I know next to nothing about wine, my description will end here. Being rather hungry and wanting to sample a variety of dishes we asked the waitress for her favorites, and she suggested the Wiener Schnitzel, Chicken Paprikash with Home-Made Dumplings and Beef Stew with Pasta, Feta Cheese and Dill. While we waited a bread basket arrived with slices of light rye, a few fresh sliced jalapenos, and a couple of containers of butter. The food arrived steaming attractively just as we were emptying the basket. We’re not know for our restraint.

Chicken Paprikash was the mildest tasting dish on the menu. The meat was fall apart tender, with perfectly cooked tiny chewy dumplings. The sauce was a gentle pink blend of tomato and cream with smoky undertones. It was a lovely and comforting dish, perfect on a cold day or if you feel like the world has been too abrasive lately.

Beef Stew with Pasta and Feta was our mutual favorite. The feta was not gritty in texture or overwhelming in flavor as in some dishes but almost as if it was whipped with cream cheese. The salt and tang were muted and lovely over the bland foil of pasta. I adore dill and the herb added a bright familiar note to the sauce. The stew was dark and thick, tomato based with thick cubes of beef that were barely holding together.

The Wiener Schnitzel is where Jen and I disagreed. I thought it was a superb dish – very crisp breading, proper amount of salt, a large portion and chewy but not at all tough meat made it a winner in my book. Not at all oily, with fresh lemon juice squeezed over it, it was a tasty delight. The potatoes served with it were great too – very soft chunks tossed with dill, butter and salt they were a perfect contrast to the crispy schnitzel. What looked like frozen veggies served with it didn’t add any value, nor take any away. Jen was underwhelmed and said that had she found out it was from Safeway she would not have been surprised.

At this point we were stuffed, but had a great deal of catching up to do. Over wine and the lovely stupor that descends after a homey, filling repast we filled each other in on our busy lives and new interests. Comparing notes, books, sites and music we whiled away a pleasant hour and improbably arrived at room for dessert. Ninety percent of desserts consist of crepes with various fillings, and we chose one stuffed with ground nuts and chocolate sauce. It was an excellent concept with decent execution. The crepe is a bit too chewy suggesting that it’s frozen before serving, and the filling inside while warm and nutty has a funny aftertaste. Neither of us could identify the nuts. The chocolate sauce could be a bit creamier, it had a slight grit to it but it did provide the necessary sweetness to the dish.

Full and happy we waddled out of the restaurant contemplating escalators, taxis or any mode of transportation not requiring the use of legs. But use them we did, bravely walking off some of the food while we made our way to the core to say goodbye. Like a mother’s hug Jonas’ warm atmosphere and home cooked meal made everything better in the world.

4/5

Jonas Restaurant & Bar

937 6 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2P 0V7
(403) 262-3302