Corso 32

I was a huge fan of chef Daniel Costa, who in my book, makes the most amazing pizzas, calzones and tomato bisque ever. I felt like a lost soul when I heard he wasn't making them anymore and left Cafe de Copa. Not to sound like a creeper, but I stalked him around a couple times while he worked at Red Star, just to try his take on gastropub food and wishing that he would return to full Italian cuisine one day. Then my prayers were answered when I heard he extended his wings and opening his own restaurant, Corso 32 earlier this month.

Last week, I finally got a chance to visit the new restaurant in downtown. The ambience of the restaurant really reflected his personal style and visions. The vibe of the restaurant was very lively, warm, casual. There was an opened kitchen facing the entrance and patrons can see the chefs at work as they're coming in and out. The restaurant was buzzling with a constant turnovers throughout the entire time we were there. With indie, grunge playing as the soundtrack that night, the majority of his patrons in their late 20's - 30's enjoyed themselves drinking, dining, and socializing (many of whom I'm sure are well acquainted with chef Daniel). No doubt, this is Edmonton's new "It" spot.

Click to enlarge

The menu was simplistic, yet that reflected his cooking style and staying true to authentic Italian dishes. He definitely broke away from Italian cafe food from Cafe de Copa to turned towards rustic Italian comfort food.

After several minutes to decide, I started off with the crispy short rib terrine with Barlett pear salad ($15). The terrine was smoky, tender, and savoury. It was topped with thin Barlett pear ribbons and arugula. While the pear was crisp and refreshing, I felt it still tasted rather bland, even when paired with the terrine.

Spicy game hen "under a brick", rappini, herb, pine nuts, gremolata $26 arrived rather impressive looking. The hen was cooked under a brick, an Italian cooking method which allows the meat to be cooked on the grill quickly and evenly. The portion of the chicken was fairly big, and the meaty pieces were golden and crispy, but definitely not spicy. Some white meat pieces were a bit dry, but this is why I prefer dark meat because they stay moist and tender. I wasn't familiar with the name "rapini" and we were told that it was a type of vegetable similar to broccoli. It is high in nutrients, and a common vegetable used in Southern Italian cuisine. When it was served, we all thought it tasted and looked closely similar to its chinese cousin, Gai Lan. The rapini was accompanied by gremolata, which consisted of lemon, parsley, garlic, and mint. And despite its effort to tone down the rapini's bitterness, it was still much more pronounced than in the chinese broccoli. In the end, I couldn't bare the bitter taste to enjoy it. It must be more of an acquired taste and I wish we were warned because we would probably have changed the side to something else. The overall flavour of this dish reminded of two very simlar chinese dishes; crispy salted chicken and steamed gai lan. It was quite puzzling and how much they resembled each other! Despite it being a rustic Italian dish, we couldn't seem to bring ourselves to appreciate it :(

The special that night was a squash ravioli with sage, and at any other time, I would've jumped the gun and ordered it. But at that moment, I thought that I had tried that dish at a lot of places already and it was time to try something different. That squash ravioli ended up lingering in my mind for the rest of the night as I traded it for pappardelle short rib ragu ($18) and fonduta ravioli, black truffle, pickled chanterelles, brussel leaf ($18). Much like a deconstructed lasagna, the beef ragu was hearty and very tasty. I really enjoyed the tender texture of braised short ribs in rich tomato sauce and how well the pappardelle held the sauce together.

The fonduta (Italian cheese fondue) filled ravioli was subtle, velvety and creamy. If you're cheese lover like me, you might really appreciate this dish. The only downer was that the aroma and the taste of truffle were very faint and I could hardly detect it.

I wasn't quite satisfied yet and wanted to sample one more dish. Rather than getting the dessert, I went for the smoked arancini ($9), or fried risotto rice balls and they definitely made my night. Crispy on the outside, and creamy with risotto, shitake, and melted mozzarella on the inside, an Italian soul food I could eat every day.

Though I still miss his pizzas, Corso 32 is a great addition to the progression of Edmonton dining scene and I can't wait to go back to try out more dishes.

$$$

Le Cafe Siam - French Cuisine Restaurant in Bangkok

This is where Cute Pig is hitting up next month!!

The food at Le Cafe Siam in Bangkok looks AMAZING!! I can't wait! The plus side is it's right by my house!! woop woop

Aside from using local ingredients, they also import shellfish from Canada and Maine. Can you look at this video and not drool? Irresistible..

Watch chef Anthony Quarchioni interview on Idine.

Ho Mok, steamed curried fish recipe

Traditional ho mok is wrapped with banana leaf bowl and are often sold on the streets or at floating markets. It has soft custard-like texture but with creamy coconut flavour and red curry fiery. Since banana leaves are not as readily available in North America, artichokes or ramekins can be used as containers for these curry delights.

Ingredients:
3 artichokes
1 cup tilapia, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. red curry paste
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 cup cabbage finely sliced
1.5 cup coconut cream
1 egg
1 tbsp. kaffir lime leaves sliced
1-2 red chilies

Preparation:
Rinse artichokes in cold water. Slice off the top part and trim the edges of the artichokes. Open up the artichoke from the centre, scrape out all of the fuzzy choke at the inner core and discard. While leaving the artichoke heart in tact, line the bottom with cabbage and set aside.

Whisk egg in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine red curry paste, coconut cream, and tilapia in a bowl and mix well. Add fish sauce and egg to the curry mixture and continue stirring. Pour the mixture into the artichokes and garnish with coconut cream, red chilies, kaffir leaves and basil. Steam for about half an hour at high heat.

The artichoke petals can be eaten by placing a bit of the steamed curry on top of the inner part, and you can nib away by pulling the tender pulpy part of the petal. Discard the remaining petal.

Easy way making fiery Mapo tofu recipe

I woke up half way through hibernation, hungry and cold. I glanced outside to the blizzards and wish there was already food on the table so I could quickly eat it and go back to doing my thing. Since I have a block of tofu in the fridge, and there was a foot of snow outside and still blizzarding, I thought of the spicy mapo tofu to warm me up from inside out.

While I was reminiscing about the best Mapo tofu I've ever had, which was at South Ocean Seafood restaurant in Richmond, BC, I started looking through hundreds of recipes, and each had different ways of making it. As I was wondering what the easiest way would be to tackle this dish, I have to give thanks to chef Ben who helped me simplify this recipe, making it easier for me to follow through.

I couldn't find the 2 main ingredients, szechuan peppers and chili bean oil, anywhere in my kitchen. There was no way I was going to drive out and get stuck in the snow for them that day either. But it wasn't about to stop me from making Mapo tofu. I ended up using Lau Gan Ma brand of chili oil instead. The essential elements of a good Mapo tofu are the heat (spicy and in temperature), freshness, aromatic, and soft texture. Thanks to Lau Gan Ma, it substituted for both the bean paste and Szechuan pepper, a 2 in 1 rescue. The flavours actually turned out quite nicely, and packing a lot of heat. Here's the easy way of making Mapo tofu, my way.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

300 g ground pork

2 tbsp. chopped garlic

2 tbsp. Lau Gan Ma chili oil

2 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine

1 tbsp. sugar

85 g soft tofu, cubed

2 tsp. cornstarch

45 ml water

chopped green onion and cilantro for garnish

Preparation:

In a large saucepan at high heat, sauté garlic and ground pork together until well cooked. Time to add the seasoning! Throw in chili oil, soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar and swish the saucepan until the seasonings are well mixed. Pour in cubed tofu into the mixture and gently stir and swirl the sauce around. Be careful not to break the tofu. Dilute cornstarch with water and add it to the saucepan. Gently stir and cover with a lid. Lower the heat and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Once the mixture is boiling and thickened, turn off heat and transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with chopped green onion and cilantro, and serve with steamed rice.

Starting off the day with 7 courses at La Pagode...

One morning after picking up my sister from the airport, I got ambitious and decided that today would be the day we order the house special 7 dishes of beef, or Bò 7 Món ($38), at La Pagode on the west side. I've visited the vietnamese restaurant numerous times, mostly sticking to the usual pho, vermicelli bowl, or stir-fry combo if I really wanted to change things up. This time, I let my stomach do the thinking and felt it was the right thing to do. Don't let the description fool you. Even though it's listed that the special is for two people, there's actually enough to maybe feed up to four. From what I've seen, La Pagode is the only vietnamese restaurant besides Pagolac that offers Bò 7 Món on their menu. They're prepared almost the same way at both restaurants and I remember that it was very tasty at Pagolac.

Nuoc Cham dipping sauce consisted of fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, water and grated carrots. Eating spring rolls, salad rolls, and grilled meat vermicelli just wouldn't be the same without this MVP.

I couldn't go to a vietnamese restaurant and not order spring rolls ($6), especially at La Pagode. Their spring rolls, I found, are bigger, crispier and packed with meat filling than most places. I usually enjoy them but the one problem I have with them here is that I found a few times that they have arrived overcooked, and this was another occasion. After fashioning them with some veggies, and dunking them in Nuoc Cham sauce, they were still doable.

The first beef dish to arrive is fondue/hot pot style called Bò nhúng dấm. A plate of thinly sliced raw beef is meant to be cooked in a pot of aromatic lemongrass and vinegar broth. This fondue/hot pot method allows you to control the doneness of the beef while the lemongrass and vinegar add fragrance and flavour to the beef. My sister was wondering if she could drink the soup after but she was warned that it will be very sour since it is mostly vinegar.

Uncooked rice paper and a bowl of warm water to dip them into, with a plate of vermicelli noodles. I find it somewhat a hassle since mine usually ends up sticking together, and would prefer them arriving already cooked and separated like at Hoang Long's (or better yet, someone wrap it for me! HA!)...

My massive DIY beef salad roll. Basically, we would put anything that arrived and assemble them into giant delicious salad rolls. This was one out of at least ten that I made for myself.

The second dish was Bo Luc Lac, a stir-fry of cubed beef tenderloin with mushroom, onion, and green pepper. It's probably my favourite one since the beef is really tender and I've always liked the flavours of the stir-fry at La Pagode.

The third dish arrived with three variations of grilled beef. The first piece is called Bò lá lốt, a ground beef sausage wrapped with la lop leaf. The middle pice is called bò nuớng mỡ chàia, beef sausages wrapped by a fatty membrane casing, which was still visible on the outside. The last piece is Bò nướng hành, which was grilled beef slices wrapped around a piece of onion. They all tasted okay, maybe a little bit dry. After comparing them to a vietnamese place in Thailand, these just didn't come close.

The last 2 dishes were my least favourite. Bò chả đùm is made of seasoned steamed ground beef patty mixed with vermicelli, garlic and onions. It was meant to be served with rice crackers, but none was presented. After trying it a few times, I'm not really a big fan of the texture of this dish.

Finally the last dish, the beef congee made with beef broth made its way to the table. Nonetheless, it was rather tasteless and even salt wouldn't be able to save it. I prefer Thai or Chinese style congee over this and, despite the freezing weather, I still couldn't pretend to enjoy it.

After we stuffed our bellies, I felt like we were not as satisfied with the 7 dishes as we had imagined. The dining experience ended off with a sour note when I saw an extra "salad tray" being charged on the bill. We had run out of lettuce and asked for a few more pieces of lettuce, and were charged for a whole thing. Seriously? if you were going to charge me for the whole tray then the least you could do is bring me that other salad tray you charged me for!

The verdict: The meal took a while to assemble and complete, so unless you're really hungry and want to try something new, stick to the regular pho and vermicelli bowls. I'm still a fan of their stir-frys.

$$

First authentic ramen place opening in EDMONTON?!

I AM ECSTATIC! First Beard Papa's came to town, and now Sanpachi, a ramen chain straight from Sapporo, Japan, is soon to open its door in Edmonton! Unlike Vancouver where ramen joints flourish, this will be the first ever Japanese ramen joint to open in Edmonton and the location will be in the south side on Calgary Trail. Finally, we don't have to fly to Vancouver every time we crave a descent bowl of ramen. A fancy "fusion" version and udon noodles simply don't fill the void either. I'm talking about flavourful, rich broth, chewy house-made egg noodles, tender slices of pork from a place that is actually authentic and owned by Japanese people, not just random interpretations of how ramen should be. As far as I'm concerned, real ramen is currently non-existent in Edmonton. Hence, this is probably one of the most exciting and refreshing news ever! It's nice to see Edmonton culinary scene finally progressing. Now that I've expressed my optimism, here's my concern: If it's only a franchise, will it be authentic (especially in Edmonton)? I've eaten at fast food chains in Japan and I thought they had excellent control over quality of their food. With Sanpachi also being a fast food chain, I hope they have some ways of maintaining quality here. Although, I've heard that the Vancouver location is doing quite well. I guess the ramen lovers in Edmonton will have to wait and find out.

d'Lish Urban Kitchen and Wine Bar

Opened this past September, d'Lish Urban Kitchen and Wine Bar has been re-modeled, and re-concept from former d'Lish Urban Meal Assembly Studio. It was transformed into a trendy restaurant lounge with modern touches, while providing a warm and cozy atmosphere. When we arrived, only two other tables were filled, and the patrons all being in their late 40's and up. I noticed their tables were set up fairly close together. It was a fairly quiet night, and their choice of old school music playing nearly put me to sleep. I could see this place being a hip spot on weekends like Suede, especially if it provides nice mash ups of chill out, lounge, or jazz music.

For starter, I was debating between the polenta cups or the diver scallops and decided to go with the latter. Three seared scallops were served over green bean puree with truffle oil ($13). The scallops were cooked well and tasty with the green bean puree. The puree has a beautiful bright green colour and tasted very "green"also. The overall dish was tasty, and somewhat remind me of a fancier version chinese style stir-fry scallops served with snap peas. For $13, I thought the portion was extremely small, and the ingredients used were not worth the value. Thinking back, I did pay around the same price for tapas at Bazaar by Jose Andres in LA. I probably wouldn't mind if there were actually shaved truffle or fresh uni on there, and although it was tasty, I don't think I will order it again.

As I was browsing the menu, Tag'd ($16) definitely caught my eye. Tagliatelle pasta, a wider version of fettucini, is tossed with house-made pesto. It was served with a pretty large piece of toasted baguette. The pasta also held the sauce very well and I really enjoyed the pesto and thought it was fresh, had a full kick of garlic and very flavourful. My favourite dish out of the three.

The third dish, the Comfort ($16.50), was consisted of torchio pasta (a longer version of macaroni) tossed in a creamy cheese sauce and served with roasted vegetables over toast. It really was a comforting dish. I remembered the pasta sauce containing truffle oil, but I couldn't really detect it at all. The sauce was creamy, and it was very much like Alfredo sauce. After a few bites, I thought the pasta was bland and lacking dimension. The roasted vegetables on toasted baguette was tasty. It was slightly over seasoned and salty when eating by itself, but when I ate it along side the pasta, the two combined and balanced out quite nicely.

Overall, I found the dishes to be on the tasty level. I love finding restaurants that are innovative with their dishes and from what I've seen in the reviews and on the menu, d'Lish has the creativity that stands out from many other restaurants in Edmonton. The ambience does provide a more trendy vibe with modern decor. Nonetheless, despite taking all those elements into account, I still find some of the dishes I ordered to be over-priced compared to other restaurants of the same calibre. I would still be willing to go back and try other dishes, or even the tasting menu, but I would study the dishes more carefully and asking more questions about them next time. Last but not least, I really wish there were a whole lot more information on their website.

$$$

Red curry with roast duck and prawn recipe

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. red curry paste

1.5 tbsp. vegetable oil

2-3 kaffir lime leaves

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp. fish sauce (salt can be substituted)

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup winter melon, sliced

200 g barbecue duck, sliced

10 red or white grapes

6 prawn, deveined

*Optional fresh basil to garnish

Preparation:

At medium heat, stir-fry red curry paste with vegetable oil for about 2-3 minutes. Add kaffir lime leaves and continue stirring for another minute. Separate coconut cream, which is on the surface, from coconut milk in the can. Add the coconut cream to the pan and stir until it is well mixed with the curry paste. Add barbecue duck and saute for another 3 minutes. Slow add the remaining coconut milk, and water. Stir continuously and bring the curry to boil. Add winter melon and grapes. Season with fish sauce and sugar. Let simmer for about an hour until the oil starts separating. Add the shrimp just before turning off the heat and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Serve in a large bowl and garnish with basil.