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.

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