Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Rocky's Burger Bus


I finally did it! I discovered the best hamburger in Calgary! Well, in my subjective opinion and based on my personal research... but I'm pretty confident that this is it. I would be perfectly happy never again eating a hamburger from Peter's or 5 Guys if only I could eat this hamburger for the rest of my life. 


Nothing special you say. Look at the bun. Pretty simple. No fancy toppings. Looks like a backyard BBQ hamburger, but maybe that's why I like it. I like the simplicity of good quality beef. I think novelty toppings usually just spoil a burger (unless they are masterfully selected), and I am sick and tired of burger places that use frozen machine pressed burgers. And I'm looking directly at Burger Inn who told me they have the best burger in the city and then took the patty out of the deep freeze and microwaved it RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE... OMG!!! I'm tired of settling for less.


Just look at that beef! It's thick and juicy.Yes it's quality, fresh and local. Yes, it's made by hand and cooked perfectly. Besides cheese there is only like, relish and onions on it, and I don't even like relish. But one bite and I was silent, and I handed the burger to my friend Jenna who wasn't hungry and she took a bite and was silent. We both agreed it was the best burger we had ever had. One thing I can't stand is pretension. Give me real ingredients for a reasonable price from a old bus in an industrial park and I am much happier than I would be sitting in Loungeburger. The only thing, of course, is that you have to eat outside. This was really quite pleasant on the nice sunny day that we went, despite being in an industrial park. Also, Rocky's is only open during the week and only til 4pm. So it can be hard to catch them when they're open.

The poutine was really good too!


But I beg you all... please experiment for yourself. Don't believe the hype. Make your own opinions. We all deserve to eat the best food, and not to settle for less.

1120 46 Ave SE (Blackfoot Industrial Park)
403 - 243- 0405

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Perogy Boyz ft. The Hose and Hound


Well, I jumped on the bandwagon and found myself a food truck. Perogy Boyz was sitting on 12th Ave by Memorial Park and I made sure to hit it up on my way to work. I love perogies and three varieties were offered that day. Traditional (cottage cheese and potato), duck with saskatoon berry relish (or some such thing) and Mexi (ground beef, cheese.. something like that). It was something like 5 or 6 perogies for 7 DOLLARS! Oh my... and they wouldn't let me mix and match. That doesn't make sense... same price for duck as for potato?

It was my first time, so I went for the traditional. They were cooked and flavoured adequately enough but they were THIN. When I am paying 7 DOLLARS for cheese and potato, I'd better get a cheese and potato explosion in my mouth upon biting. But this wasn't the case. These were just okay. And all the hype and social media marketing and trend following does not justify the price.

I had better perogies at the Hose & Hound last week:


The bean and cheese empanandas were good too, with a spicy remoulade sauce. 

THE END

Perogy Boyz
Website

The Hose and Hound
1030 9 Ave SE (Inglewood)
Website

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Stuffed Tofu


Before moving to Calgary, I spent two weeks on a friend's floor in Nelson, BC. This was the final destination of a cross-Canada trek that had consumed us for the last month. My travel companion, Aaron, had a place all ready for him in Nelson, as he intended on going to school there. I intended on moving to Calgary, but I was in no rush, so we spent our days exploring the beautiful town of Nelson together. Unfortunately, we had no television, no computer, no stereo, no fancy iphones and ... no friends! So we would make a daily trip to the library to get books, and a daily trip to the grocery store to plan our nightly collaborative meal. 

Nelson is full of fresh local food. Every household has its own garden and compost pile. The Nelson Brewery makes some excellent micro brews, and there is even a local tofu-making facility. I discovered Silverking tofu at a corner store in Nelson (yes, you can buy tofu in corner stores in Nelson), and it is by far the best tofu I've ever had. You can pick it up here in Calgary at Community Natural Foods.

 One night we came up with this strange idea to pack some goats cheese onto some of this lovely tofu, and then bread it and fry it. The experiment went well, structurally speaking, but there was something missing in terms of flavour. Out of our limited condiment selection I chose some grainy Dijon mustard to pair with this dish. I may not be a flavour genius, but I really enjoyed the pairing of goats cheese and grainy mustard and we ended up making this twice in the two weeks I was in Nelson.
This is the original attempt: Nelson, BC 2009

Second attempt is more structurally sound.
Some time later I was contemplating what I think is a common idea amongst vegetarians, namely, stuffed tofu. Can it be stuffed? Will it fall apart? What to stuff it with? Then it occurred to me that I could improve upon the Nelson recipe by slicing the tofu in half and stuffing it with spinach and Dijon mustard. Eureka! 

The process is a bit delicate because tofu does have the potential to break apart. But in the picture below you can see how I am able to hold back the top flap and spread the Dijon mustard onto the bottom. Notice how the tofu is still connected at the hinge.


I cooked some frozen spinach with some garlic powder, for good measure. Then I stuffed the spinach into the tofu. You can also see below how the goats cheese is pressed into the top of the tofu. It's good to get a nice thick layer without damaging the tofu. I suppose you could try putting the goats cheese into the tofu, as this would be consistent with the idea of "stuffing" ... but this is what I've always done, and I like how the cheese gets melty under the crunchy breadcrumb coating. 


It is strangely not that difficult to dip the compiled tofu into the beaten egg and roll it in bread crumbs. Then it's just a matter of frying it. You'll have to be a little delicate with the cheese-side of the tofu. If you're that worried about it, try putting the cheese inside the tofu instead of on top. But I stick by my methods of madness. I also recommend turning the tofu onto all sides so that it is golden brown all around. 


Viola! Here is my answer to the question of stuffed tofu. This may not be the healthiest tofu preparation ever, but you are already dropping calories by eating tofu instead of meat. So rejoice!



Stuffed Tofu
(recipe pertains to one serving, but you can expand upon it... obviously...)

1 relatively thick tofu steak*
3 cubes frozen spinach (or a big 'ol handful if not cubed)
1 clove garlic, or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp grainy Dijon
1/3 tube of soft goats cheese
1 egg, beaten
breadcrumbs, seasoned with salt, pepper

1) Carefully slice tofu steak down the middle, being careful not to dismantle it, and leaving it connected at the seam.
3) Spread the inside with Dijon mustard.
4) Cook the spinach and garlic in a skillet. Once cooked, carefully place it on top of the mustard inside the tofu steak.
5) Pat goats cheese on top of tofu steak.
6) Dip tofu steaks in egg and then roll in breadcrumbs.
7) Fry in oil.

* A "tofu steak" is my term for a portion of tofu cut the longest and widest way from the block. I use it in many of my dishes where I am adapting a meat 'n' potatoes dish to tofu. I also strongly advise you to freeze and thaw your tofu before using it, as this creates a more meaty texture. It is also quite important to carefully squeeze some water out of your tofu before preparing it.




Saturday, September 3, 2011

San Francisco Part 5: Gracias Madre & all the rest...


Seeing my enthusiasm for American-Mexican cuisine, my vegetarian host suggested we check out Gracias Madre, which is a vegan Mexican restaurant. I have to admit, I have a HUGE interest in vegetarian Mexican food and I think there should be more of it. Aside from the omission of cheese, this place fit the bill of my dreams. Instead of cheese, it offered a "cashew cheese" which was more of a sticky white sauce but it tasted fine. Cheese is on a bit of a pedestal in my world, not being a vegan or envying them, so the omission was annoying. But that would be my only complaint about this place. I will say it straight out: this was the best meal I had in San Francisco!


Yeah, it doesn't look like much. But we were in flavour heaven and bursting at the seems by the finale. Who knew vegan food could be so filling? Who knew Mexican food could be so unphotogenic? Well, we already knew that... but buried under lettuce and sauce, and hidden in tortilla wrapping and corn husks there is a very awesome meal here! We wanted to try a bunch of different things, so we ordered guacamole, which came with 4 lovely corn tortillas, refried black beans, "nacho cheese" (chipotle cashew cream) and we compiled these into custom tacos, using table side salsa and lettuce from the other dishes to even them out. We also ordered the gorditas, which were grilled potato-masa cakes topped with salsa verde, avocado and cashew cream. These were good, but certainly not our favourite part of the meal. That was probably the a la carte tamale. San Francisco has made me love tamales! We also really enjoyed the empanada, a type of pastry, which in this case was filled with plantains and sitting in a bed of mole sauce. The mole sauce was yummy and we snuck it onto our tacos. My friend thought the plantain was a little sweet, but I thought it was a really nice contrast of taste with the rest of our meal. We both agreed that the savoury mole sauce balanced out the sweetness. This feast we both shared and washed down with a couple mojitos. I will definitely come back to this place on my next visit to San Francisco. 

... And just a quick note on a few other interesting things I ate. The San Francisco Street Food Festival just happened to coincide with my visit, so even though I was already full of cioppino, I made sure I still had room for a taco. Below is my friend's tofu pad thai taco. Fusion is hip. Food trucks are hip. Accommodating vegetarians is totally hip.


I broke my vegetarian affair to try the bahn mi taco, which utilized braised pork belly. It wasn't the meat I was craving, but the novelty of combining two of my favourite sandwich-like entities: the taco and the bahn mi (Vietnamese sub). The braised pork belly was topped with pickled daikon, cilantro and sriracha mayo and it was a delight to eat. I wish I had set aside a whole day for the street food fest to gorge myself. Then again, the lines were long and the portions were small. It was very crowded, and pushing through the beer garden to finally get my hands on a beer kinda felt like scoring a touchdown. 


This last picture is Boston Clam Chowder in a bread bowl. I saw this available all over San Francisco, and was puzzled as to why it was so prevalent despite being a New England specialty. It occurred to me that it is the bread bowl which is novel, since San Francisco specializes in sour dough bread. As far as I can tell, Boston style chowder isn't any different from Maritime chowder except in the Maritimes you are more likely to see fish or seafood chowder, rather than specifically clams. Also, New England style chowder comes with  a packet of oyster crackers to put on top. I consumed this particular chowder at Stagnaro Brothers out on the pier at Santa Cruz (an hour or so outside San Francisco). This place was recommended to me by my friend, whose friend recommended it to her. It was just okay, and I don't even think the bread bowl was the local sour dough bread! So much for trusting the opinions of friends of friends. But I thought I'd share it with you anyway. 

Gracias Madre
2211 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Street Food Festival

Stagnaro Brothers