Ra-Ra-Ramen

Muku Japanese Ramen

326 14 St NW

Muku Japanese Ramen is the only place (that I know of) in the city that is dedicated to serving ramen and nothing else. Fortunately for them, it's pretty good. Better than Shikiji anyway. Muku offers the three main variations of the soup: Tonkotsu, pork bone soup; Shoyu, soya sauce based; and Miso, miso based soup. 

I had the tonkotsu chashu ramen. It is the Tonkotsu ramen with extra pork (5 extra slices to be exact). The first time I had ramen was in Japan a few years ago. It was the tonkotsu variety. I loved it because it was so flavourful and I just stuck with it. Unfortunately, I have yet to try out the other variations. One day... 

The ramen at Muku was decent. The extra chashu was a little on the lean and stringy side but there was two fattier pieces that was super delicious. In addition to the chashu, the ramen is also topped with a slice of kamaboko, chopped scallions and baby corn. The texture of the ramen was firm but not too chewy. Soup was pretty flavourful. Not super salty. Decent overall. 6 stars out of 10. Definitely room for improvement. I wish there was a really good ramen place in Calgary. I would be there everyday. 

Recipe: FUBAR - Edible Carvings

Halloween is here and we had the annual pumpkin carving contest at work this week. Unfortunately for me, I was the first person to send out an email and thus designated captain of the team. We floated a couple of ideas around; Grabbing a tall and skinny pumpkin, carving the Starbucks logo on it, spray foam the top and making a pumpkin spice latte; Grab any pumpkin and market it as a DIY pumpkin carving kit. Bam. Done. What we ended up doing was completely out of left field: A pumpkin pie.  

Since the inception of the blog, F-Log For Thought has always been about the restaurants and their delicious (sometimes not so delicious) foods. But by popular demand (my friend Jon from work), I have decided to share my secret recipe, that I found on the internet. As a first time baker, I was able to easily follow the steps and produced 6 edible pies. If I can do it, you can too!

Alright - the steps. Here is the pumpkin that our work provided us with sitting on my kitchen table. I would say that this is a pretty small jack-o-lantern pumpkin. Normally, pumpkin pies are made with pie pumpkins. They are less grainy and sweeter but according to the site, this will also do.

Step 1 - I took a cleaver I found at home and chopped it in half like a pro. I saw on youtube that it is better if you cut the pumpkin laying sideways. I don't know. I don't think it really matters. I then gutted the pumpkin. To remove the seeds and the stringy pieces, I used a spoon. Ice cream scoops works. You can freestyle this part. Use your imagination. If you like roasted pumpkin seeds, wash and save them. I'm sure there are recipes online. If not, then whatever.

Step 2 - Moving on, I chopped the pieces into smaller manageable piece in preparation to cook them. There are several ways to do this. I tried two methods. They are both pretty easy. You can either put them into a pot with some water and boil them. Or put them in a pot and stick it in the oven at 350F. I can't really tell you for how long because it varies depending on your oven. Just cook it till it's soft. I know it's kind of a subjective term but think of it this way - you have to scoop out the flesh so... if you can scoop it out easily then it's soft enough. Funny story with the oven method. So I filled the pan with my pumpkin pieces, slapped it in the oven and started watching videos on youtube. As I waited for the videos to load, I reread the instructions and realized I was suppose to put the pumpkin in a pot FILLED with WATER and then put it in the oven. Rookie mistake! I looked through the little window on the oven to find some dried up pumpkin, some of the edges were starting to burn. Crap! I quickly unloaded the pan and stuck all the pumpkin pieces into a pot, filled it with 3 cups of water and slapped it back in the oven. I think it still turned out okay so... No biggie.

Clearly not how you were suppose to cook the pumpkin

Getting ready to steam them

Step 3 - Once the pumpkin is soft enough, remove from heat and scoop the flesh out. I used a spoon and a knife to remove the crusty burnt parts. The pumpkin was a little watery but apparently this wasn't a huge issue. Just make sure you are not adding the extra water you used to steam them. I put the pieces into my trusty blender and pureed it until it became super smooth. My little pumpkin yield two giant bowls of pumpkin goop.

Step 4 - Alright. The recipe.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 0.5 teaspoon ground ginger
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups pumpkin goop from step 3
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 2 six inch pie crusts

I hit up the grocery store and got all 4 spices from the baking aisle. You can also just get pumpkin spice instead of the 4 separate ground spices. But that's just lame. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients, san pie crust, together. You can use less eggs or evaporated milk to make the filling denser as it is pretty fluffy. Who doesn't love fluffy pumpkin pie? Use less eggs if you don't. 

Step 5 - Once you mix everything together, pour the mixture into your pie crusts. I actually got the wrong pie crusts (Makes you feel super confident in my cooking skills don't it?). I picked up the first pie crust I saw at the store - which turned out to be graham cracker pie crusts... you know... the kind you use for cheesecakes? Yeah. I filled it anyway. It tasted okay so it another option I guess. I wanted to make my own crust but I ran out of time. Set the oven to 425F. Slapped these bad boys in there and set the timer. 15 minutes at 425F and then 350F for 45 minutes to an hour. The actual recipe says to put a knife in it and when you can take it out cleanly then it's ready. My knife didn't fit so I said Eff it and just cooked it for an hour. 

An hour and fifteen minutes later.

Chow time!

I thought it turned out okay. Everyone said it was pretty good or pleasantly surprised. Definitely not known for my stellar cooking skills at the office (I'm actually known as the guy that took a soccer ball to the face, but that's another story). Our pies were auctioned off for a whooping $25! That's 5 times more than what you pay at the store! The winning pumpkin went for $511 but look at it! We may have a pie but we can't compete with this. Happy Halloween!

New Challenger...!

Bonterra Trattoria

1016 8 St SW

www.bonterra.ca 

Mondays are usually slow for restaurants as people are all partied out from the weekend. As we strolled up to the doors of Bonterra Trattoria, my friend Jordan asked me if I made reservations. I laughed at him and told him it couldn't possibly be that packed. Wrong. Upon arriving shortly after noon, the restaurant was almost full with only a couple of small tables left. Now that I think about it, I should have made reservations. I could have gotten 100 points on OpenTable. Eff! 

Behind the set of wooden double doors, Bonterra features soaring ceilings and an open kitchen. The use of wood and comfy couches exudes a relaxing atmosphere for the patrons. A giant wine wall offers an impressive selection to choose from. It's a shame that I had to go back to work after. 

Our server was very knowledgable of the dishes and very helpful in assisting us with our order. The pretzel sticks that decorated each table were very crunchy and delicious. I nibbled on them as we browsed the menu. I can't make these types of important decisions on an empty stomach. When we finally placed our order, we were served a piece of focaccia bread. It was so amazingly soft. Maybe even softer than the CHARCUT focaccia bread. It's crazy! I feel like I've discovered a new element or mineral. The blend of herbs and spices was perfect. The olive oil with olives dip enhanced the flavours. I wanted to tackle the bread guy and steal all his focaccia bread. Some of you are probably thinking I'm crazy because it's just 'bread'. But that's how amazing it was. Bonterra takes bread to a whole new level.

So anyway, I had the linguine carbonara. There was two sizes to choose from; Starter and Entree. Under the recommendation of our server, I ordered the larger option. Definitely a good call. Despite being the entree size, it was still pretty small. What it lacks in quantity, it made up for it in quality. The aroma of bacon filled the air as our server placed the dish in front of me. Linguine pasta was fused with wild boar bacon, grana padano cheese and a medley of herbs and spices. So delicious. The bacon was, perhaps, a little fatty but it was very flavourful. I felt my arteries closed up for a second as I devoured every last chunk on my plate. You only live once right? I like to live my life with no regrets. No 'what ifs'. I don't want to be lying on my deathbed years from now, thinking to myself, what that chunk of bacon fat tasted like. You know? Now I know. Delicious is what it tasted like. Absorbing all the tasty flavours of the other ingredients. The black hole of the linguine carbonara if you will.

No regrets.

9 stars out of 10. Larger portions would have been nice. But for a lunch, I think it was decent. Any more would have been nap-inducing.

Brought to You by the Letter 'S'

West Restaurant and Bar

225 7th Avenue SW

westrestaurantandbar.com

It was my friend Ali's birthday two weeks ago. He finally decided to have his birthday dinner this weekend. The location of the gathering? West Restaurant and Bar on the second floor of the Scotia Centre downtown (Between the Bay and TD). I was pretty excited when he finally announced (literally) the location of the venue. I had never been to West before and from looking at the menu online, it seemed like a decent choice. 

I arrived at the prescribed time (at 7:00) and well before the "birthday" boy. I should have known better. I believe Ali showed up to his own party last year half an hour late. We had a private section on the secon... errr... third floor for the dinner portion. People slowly trickled in as the night progressed. To keep us entertained, Ali ordered some delicious appetizers for everyone to share; Baby calamari and tempura prawns. It's a good thing I wasn't allergic to seafood. That would have sucked some major balls. Both of these were really good. Super crispy. And they were devoured within seconds. Service was also exceptional... It was looking like a solid 8 or 9 star review but then it went downhill from there. 

Better haul ass because this train wreck is coming down hard.

I finally ordered some actual dinner food when my good friends Steve and Alana arrived. Fashionably late (They were apparently installing a new toilet. Excuses). I had the crab cake mac 'n' cheese. My dish arrived some time later (I wasn't really paying attention but it didn't seem too long). Like most fancy restaurants, the portions were pretty small. The pasta was smothered with a boursin white cheddar sauce and bacon bits and finished off with a small bunch of watercress and a single crab cake on top. I made crab cake once, it was at a course with the Cookbook Co. They didn't turn out very good (Due to lack of skill). This was far superior to my attempt. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I will assume the crab meat was relatively fresh (fresh enough) as it didn't have that not fresh taste. You know the one. The mac 'n' cheese? Not so much. It had a slight sour cheesy taste. Didn't think it was very good. Small portion. I could have eaten another crab cake or 10. I licked the plate clean in less than 5 minutes. Big plate though. This was apparently the signature dish. O_o

Steve had the mushroom provolone burger which he said was disappointing. Plastic looking bun sandwiched basic ingredients for $15. Alana went with the west coast halibut which was also disappointing. A dinky filet with some stuff plastered on top. For a place that markets themselves with "exceptional food", it was a pretty pathetic attempt. So pretentious. 

Before we continue further, lets note some upside at West. Appetizers - Good. Decor? Beautiful decor. Maybe they should have used the same budget on their menu. I was also really impressed with our server. She actually remembered my name at the end of the night considering I had forgot hers 5 minutes after she introduced herself. I'm pretty certain it was not my charming personality. 

Later in the night, the restaurant turns into a bar. Despite having to stand in two lines to get in, there was a million people there, I felt like a sardine in a can. TWO lines. One to get into the mall. And then another to get into the bar. Like how disappointing is that? They let you in from outside, you ride up the creaky escalator to the second floor thinking "Lets get this party started!" only to find another line. Such a buzz kill. Not that I had to wait in line, since I was there at 7. 

There's a really ambiguous dress code. No hats, no sneakers, business casual attire. Except you can wear jeans. And really, whatever you want because I got in with jeans and a t-shirt. Cause that's how I roll (It probably had to do with the fact that I rolled in at 7). This no hat rule is pretty lame though because they selectively enforce it. My friend Harley who arrived later in the evening got two warnings for wearing his hat and yet, two tables down, some guy is wearing a cowboy hat. All night. Did you not see that when you walked by? It's massive. As the douche who dished out the warning talked to my friend, another guy walked by with a baseball cap. Like really? Don't be lame.

I think it's a case of an identity crisis at West. It doesn't really know what it wants to be. It's trying to be up scale, high end, yet casual and laid back. Very contradictory. Is it a bar or is a restaurant? It's both and it doesn't do either of them well. 

And seriously what is up with the creeper cam at the dance floor? See below (minor edit). That is so effed up. When you watch the people partying it up on stage on the TV, it looks super lame.

Look Ma! I'm on TV!

And yes, this edition of F-log For Thought was brought to you by the Letter 'S'. 'S' for 'Sucks Shit'. Needless to say it would be very unlikely that I will be back. So much wasted potential. 4 stars out of 10.


Oh and special belated birthday shout out to my friend Ali! Interesting venue. Definitely a step down from Niko's Bistro from last year though.

Calgary is Landlocked?

Big Fish Dockside Food

1112 Edmonton Trail NE

big-fish.ca

The weekend is here and it's time for another restaurant! Yay! This week: Big Fish Dockside. Located at the top of the hill along Edmonton Trail, Big Fish shares the same building with Open Range (I think it's owned by the same people along with Diner Deluxe). I first heard about Big Fish from my friend Joel who said it was a wicked cool experience so I decided to check it out. 

We were told to seat ourselves when we arrived. I picked a table by the window so that I had maximum light for the photos. Our server arrived shortly after with the brunch menus. I knew what I wanted since I had already creeped the menu online. To start things off, I ordered the Lighthouse Coffee which is a dark(?) roast coffee with vanilla vodka, whipped cream and syrupy goodness. It is then finished off with this sweet plastic swordfish on top for stirring purposes. Unfortunately for me, I didn't stir it very good... So it was super sweet and creamy at the top and then when all the whipped cream was gone it was all bitter and stuff. Not bad though.

For my main, I ordered the soft shell crab club sandwich. It came with a side of coleslaw, watercress and a decent helping of crispy yam chips. The sandwich was pretty original, can't say that I've had soft shell crab in sandwich form before (Mostly in sushi rolls). Bursting out between two thick slices of bread was deep fried soft shell crab with lettuce, organic tomatoes and crispy bacon. This thing was pretty massive. I had to swish it down quite a bit just to eat it. Despite the fact that the crab was not very crispy and lukewarm (In fact, the bacon was crispier), it was still pretty decent. End of October is probably not the in season for fresh soft shell crabs. Nor is Calgary the soft shell crab hot spot in the world. The bread was kind of sloggy. Not sure where the water came from. I'm thinking probably the lettuce or tomatoes... But yeah. decent overall. There is definitely room for improvement. I would for sure give this another shot. A ho-hum 6 stars out of 10. 

Memory Foam Focaccia Bread

CHARCUT Roast House

899 Centre St S

www.charcut.com

So Monday after our professional ethics exam, Jordan and I decided to check out CHARCUT again before heading back to work. I needed some yummy food to make myself feel better after the exam. I spend all weekend studying (Read: Cramming, as I've had over 2 months to prepare for it). It was no big deal. More like an excuse to eat out. Woot! 

I don't know what my deal is with going to CHARCUT but I never seem to remember to bring my camera. My apologies in advance for the crappy (crappier than usual) photo quality. I'm thinking of getting a new camera (Probably another point and shoot), don't know which kind so I'm taking my time. 

We strolled in shortly after they opened for lunch. Probably the first (Unfortunately, no prizes were presented for being the first patrons of the day). No matter. There are many things to like about CHARCUT, delicious food, inviting decor... but one of my favourite things (besides the food) is the raggedy towel. The style and texture of it is very rustic. You can use it to wipe your mouth after your meal and then wipe your hands after changing the oil for your car. It's multi purpose. It's great. 

We ordered the CHARCUT lunch all at once. The feature of the day was the roasted pepper and tomato soup, BLT with cheese, a side of fries and cookies for an incredible price of $15! The soup, topped with ricotta cheese was very flavourful. Sandwiched between toasted memory foam soft focaccia bread is crispy bacon, garden fresh arugula and tomatoes and topped with a mild smoked cheddar. Delish. These guys make the most amazingest focaccia bread. If you are a follower of the blog you will no doubt find that I compare the relative softness of everything to CHARCUT's bread (Mohs scale of hardness for bread). And if you are not a follower. Shame on you. Click on the follow button on the right right now! The fries were super crispy and seasoned with salt and parmesan cheese shavings. The cookies (There was 2 of them) were of the cranberry and oatmeal(?) variety. Despite eating them 4 hours later, they were still very good. 

10 Stars out of 10. I love CHARCUT, as do this fat pig who is dancing merrily to the slaughter house. So you know it's good. 

I can't wait till I get cut up to crispy strips of bacon! 

Club Sandwich

Boxwood

340 13th Avenue SW

www.boxwoodcafe.ca

Opened only a month ago in Central Memorial Park along 12th ave and 4th street SW, Boxwood serves up meals made from local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients. From the outside, one would not even imagine it was a restaurant; It looks like a shed. Or washroom building, a nice washroom building that is (I should have gotten a picture). Had there not been the patio, I would not have even noticed.

It was an amazing patio. Beautiful view of the park and the downtown skyline. Except it was cold out. So there was like 3 idiots sitting outside. Including me. Because all the seats were taken. Boxwood isn't a typical restaurant. They are a fast casual style restaurant, similar to Famoso, where you order at the counter and they bring the food to you. Interesting setup. I don't know if I'm a big fan of it.

To start, I had the tomato and chickpea stew. Loaded with lots of carrots, celery, onion and chickpeas and topped with house made ricotta cheese. It was really hearty and a little spicy to keep me warm as I sat frozen on the patio.

The sandwich, by comparison, was cold with thick chunks of ribeye steak sandwiched between a ciabatta bun. The meat is cut from cows raised at Diamond Willow ranch and are certified organic, which means it's fed with pure organic feed and the use of hormones is restricted. But... I honestly couldn't taste the difference. It wasn't more tender than that steak you've been eyeing at the grocery store. Very flavourful but I think it's more the chipotle butter than the beefy flavour of the meat.

It was decent overall. 6 stars out of 10. I definitely enjoyed the soup more than the sandwich. Had the sandwich been served hot (or warm even), that would have been better. Maybe I should ask next time since I'm a member of their sandwich club now. 7 more till a freebie. Nice! Atmosphere was amazing. If it was 20 degrees warmer out. Very lively inside though. But I'm anti-social. So... yeah. 

Welcome to My Stomach

Vero Bistro Moderne
209 10 St NW
www.verobistro.ca

Coming back from my site review in the middle of nowhere (Literally, I had to drive like 2 hours to get there), I stopped by Vero for some lunch. I was quickly seated upon arriving (probably because there was 1 other table being occupied. But to be fair, I was there shortly after 1 PM). I ordered the daily feature; A two course lunch for an sweet price of $15. I would like to point out that it used to be a 3 course meal for an incredibly low price of $15 dollars. In spite of this, I still think it is a pretty good deal. Just not an incredible deal. Unfortunately.

First up, fresh greens with a orange fennel dressing. It is topped with purple potato and shreds of carrots. Interesting presentation. Looks like a vegetable explosion. The dressing was very light and very refreshing. The wedge of purple potato threw me off, I was all like "umm... what is it?" and shoved it in my mouth anyway. The waitress later explained (To another table) that it was purple potato. Could you imagine if she was like Oh no! That was a mouldy potato, my apologies and took it back? I'd be at the hospital with food poisoning or something and not writing this awesome review (so modest, I know). But it's not. Just a purple potato. No biggie. Crispy and delicious though. Thumbs up for being a non conformist and not use something lame like a red potato or something.



Moving on. Just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend (Maybe), the entree consists of an "open face" turkey sandwich. What is an open face sandwich you may ask? Well... I'm no expert (literally. As you may know), but from what I was presented with, it's slices of bread with stuff, in this case turkey, placed on top and that's it. The top layer of bread that is normally found on sandwiches was nowhere to be found. No matter. The turkey, slow cooked to perfection, was extremely tender, the jus was very flavourful. Due to lack of picture taking skills you can't even see the turkey. Unfortunately. I guess you will have to make do with my vague descriptions. The "sandwich" comes with a side of fingerling potatoes and yam fries. They were seasoned lightly with salt and maybe cheese with a hint of citrus flavour. I quickly gobbled them up (Get it? Thanksgiving > Turkey > Gobble? I'm so clever).



9 Stars out of 10. Executive chef and owner Jenny always bring her A game to the table but to say that I wasn't slightly disappointed because the feature didn't come with a dessert would be lying. And I would never lie to you. You anonymous reader you. Stay awesome. Leave a comment. But seriously, it was delicious. I don't think I've ever gotten anything from their actual menu (for lunch anyway)... feature dish is where it's at. As a wise sage (not the plant, and by sage I mean server) once told me: "... Or you can order the [feature] and have the chef do what they do best - cook ..." Not quite exact words but words I live by. Sort of.

Hash

Red's Diner
1415 4 St SW

Went to Red's Diner for lunch this week. Located near the trendy 17th Ave, it was a decent walk from the office. The clock struck twelve and I power walked there. 10 minutes later, I found a seat at the bar counter. I ordered a glass of freshly poured Tropicana orange juice and quickly browsed the two sided menu. It was a toss up between the short rib hash & eggs and waffle wedges. I went with the short ribs (Probably check out the waffles the next time around). It was a Tuesday and apparently it was one of the busiest Tuesday they ever had. Despite of it this, the food was prepared in a timely manner and the service was still decent. I guess it wasn't really that bad because I showed up 10 after and still had a choice of seats. I just chose the bar. Do note, if you are not a fan of waiting in lines for food (who isn't? That's the best part!), Monday to Wednesdays are the best days to go. Apparently. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this because then everyone will go... and I'd have to wait. So yeah. Thursdays and Fridays... Or the weekend. Yes. Check it out then.

The short ribs, mixed with seasoned potatoes, peppers and onions, were very tender and full of flavour. It was kind of a smoky barbecue-y flavour. It is then topped with over easy eggs and few slices of toast. Very delicious. I've been craving some pb & j sandwiches lately so that certainly eased the cravings. Similar to other diners, the portions were decent...-ly large. I was stuffed when I was finished. Had to slowly walk back so that I wouldn't get cramps or something. 7 Stars out of 10.

Brunch-a-Munch

The Deane House at Fort Calgary
806 9 Ave SE
www.fortcalgary.com/visiting/deane

Brunch this weekend with my mom and we decided to check out the Deane House at Fort Calgary. Built originally in 1906, the house was home to Captain Richard Deane. The final cost for the house was over budget (surprise surprise!) due to wage settlements and whatnot. It is interesting to note that where the house sits today is not where it was first erected. The house, originally built near the corner of 9th avenue and 6th street SE (West end of the Fort Calgary Historic Park), it was moved to the location of the current Interpretive Centre back in 1914 and again in 1929 across the Elbow River to it's current location. How do you move a house across the river you may ask, well let me tell you... Temporary pilings (probably a bridge type system) and a steam tractor were used to pull the house (on skids) across. Pretty crazy stuff. I'm a little surprise they didn't just build a new one. I would have thought it would be cheaper (back in 1929) to build a new one rather than build a billion other things and drag it across the river. The building has been designated as a Registered Historic Resource in 1978 so it's probably not going anywhere for a long time.

The house features a semi wrap around porch which has been enclosed to give it a outdoorsy-but-not-really feel. We were seated in the sunny south west corner so I can work on my sweet tan (around the neck area). I ordered the brioche french toast. It came with a bowl of fruit, buttermilk scones and a choice of sausages or bacon. The first to arrive was the bowl of fruit. Diced melon, pineapple and grapes were layered by a variety of berries and topped with a gooseberry. The sweetness of the fruit increased exponentially as you dug deeper into the bowl. The grapes were so sweet it was almost like eating sugar by itself.



The buttermilk scones arrived in a basket shortly after with some homemade jam and butter. The aroma of butter filled the air when I lifted the cloth. The scones were soooo fresh and soft. Rivals the memory foam focaccia bread at CHARCUT (Hard to believe I know). I ate two or three before finally pushing them away because my main dish have yet to arrive.

When my french toast finally arrived, I was probably 75% full. But I ate everything anyway. Omega 3 eggs coated the freshly baked brioche and topped with a saskatoon berry sauce and whipped cream. The saskatoon berries look very similar to blueberries. I'm not sure if these were treated but they felt a lot firmer than blueberries. The brioche was very soft and a little crispy on the outside from the toasted egg batter. The whipped cream provided a nice balance to the slightly sour berry sauce. 7 stars out of 10 for this gut bursting experience.

Cannelloni vs. Manicotti

La Brezza Ristorante
990 1 Ave NE
www.labrezza.ca

Went to La Brezza for lunch last week. I was a little skeptical at first after creeping the menu on the 'spoon. There was a little note at the bottom that said "As dishes are made fresh to order, please allow a minimum of 35 minutes for preparation." Thirty five minutes is a very long time... And considering my lunch break was only one hour, this could be pushing it. I crept further and decided to check it out anyway.

Located in Bridgeland and still in its original location, this little house first opened its doors to hungry patrons in 1987. Four tables were occupied when I arrived, I was quickly seated at a small table near the centre of the restaurant. After thoroughly reviewing the menu, I decided to go with the "cannelloni" alla brezza. I use the word cannelloni pretty loosely here. According to my sources (wikipedia), cannelloni is made with pasta and manicotti is made with crepe. Despite labelling it as a cannelloni on the menu, the description claims the filling is wrapped with a house-made crepe and is, thus a manicotti. But I digress. In addition to the cannelloni, I also had an order of bruschetta. Fresh focaccia bread served with a bowl of diced tomatoes with a blend of herbs, seasoning and olive oil. The bread was really good. Not as soft as that of Charcut or Teatro but delicious nonetheless. I wanted to eat the whole basket of focaccia bread but decided against it because then I wouldn't have been able to eat my cannelloni...

As I waited for my pasta, I noticed the owner was making his way around the restaurant and socializing with everyone. Except me. : ( Do I have something on my face? I like to think I'm a pretty friendly guy... I don't think I smelled bad, I showered, I swear! No matter. My dish arrived "shortly" after. Chow time! Wrapped inside the house-made crepe were ground veal, ricotta cheese, mushrooms and herbs. The crepe was very soft and had a thin layer of cheese melted on top. The filling was very flavourful. The cannelloni is then topped with a light rose (tomato) sauce and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. So amazing.



8 Stars of out 10. I was in and out in less than an hour so it wasn't too bad. Although it's probably an exception more than anything. I would definitely allot more than an hour to comfortably enjoy the meal and not devour it like I did.