I can’t help but start with a little disclaimer: B. has an odd relationship with seafood – he doesn’t like fish, but he eats canned tuna and fish & chips; he doesn’t like shrimp, but will eat crab and lobster. Needless to say, I don’t enjoy going for sushi with him (it’s usually his idea; he likes California rolls and most of the hot dishes) – I know that what he eats shouldn’t affect what I eat, but I can’t help but feel a little guilty at the thought of ordering an entire plate of sashimi and nigiri to myself. So when we do go out for Japanese, often we’d share a few rolls and hot appies – not the most traditional way of enjoying sushi (sorry, purists!), but more and more places are doing “fusion” anyway.

B. had purchased a DealFind for Koto Sushi, a relatively new restaurant right downtown on the corner of 4th Ave and 3rd St. From the outside it looks like a small space, but inside it is quite spacious, stretching out in an L-shape toward the back of the building. We arrived at around 7 on Friday night and the restaurant was busy but not crowded.

Traditional sushi and sashimi is available here, but the focus of the menu seems to be more on their unique fusion rolls and appetizers, which often make use of Korean chili sauces. On the left side of the menu is a “Koto Must Have” list of the restaurant’s recommended specialty items, and we made a few of our decisions based on that.

We started with the Asian Sweet Chili Tofu ($8), Koto’s answer to the more traditional Agedashi Tofu.

Usually, I love agedashi tofu – a crisp, piping hot outer layer giving way to a soft, smooth centre. Unfortunately, this dish was a flop – literally! The batter on the tofu was a little too thin and not fried enough, so the slices of tofu were floppy instead of firm as we picked them up. The sauce was cloyingly sweet – it tasted more like honey or plum sauce and there was barely any spicy or savoury flavour.

B. “forced” me to order something that only I would eat, so I picked the Koto Spicy Miso Sashimi ($12). I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation – the sashimi was served on a colourful salad of lettuce, tomato and avocado on a crisp fried wonton wrapper nestled in a martini glass, topped with a few slices of lemon.

So it turned out B. could eat some of this after all The combination of tomato, avocado and spicy miso made this dish seem very Mexican-inspired and it was very fresh tasting and fun. I loved how the lemon really brought out the flavours of the fish. While I liked the dish, I didn’t expect the bold flavours, so next time I will probably just order regular sashimi.

For the “main course”, B. and I shared two rolls; it was initially hard to choose as almost everything appeared to be fried or had a “forbidden ingredient”. We finally settled on the Lobster Dynamite Roll ($18) and Koto San’s Seared Salmon Roll ($12.50).

The Lobster Dynamite Roll was impressively presented with a fried lobster tail. Each piece was stuffed with a section of lobster tempura with imitation crab meat, cucumber, mayo, avocado and tobiko topped with a sliver of avocado, thin strips of seaweed and a drizzle of Korean sweet-and-spicy sauce.

The large rolls were a little messy to eat, but I loved the contrast of the crunchy tempura with the tender crab meat and smooth avocado. The sweet-and-spicy sauce was ok in this, but the sushi would still have been good without it.

The Seared Salmon Roll was essentially a California roll topped with pieces of seared salmon on “volcano sauce”, a slightly spicier sauce that still leaned more on the sweet side. B. picked off the salmon from his rolls and gave them to me, which was fine, because I loved the buttery taste of the barely-cooked salmon. Otherwise, the rolls were pretty good, but why does everything have to have sweet sauce on it?

Our server was very smiley and friendly, and service was quick and efficient. With the DealFind, our tip cost us more than the meal itself! I don’t think I’d go out of my way to revisit Koto Sushi, but if I were to go back I’d probably just stick to the basics – if only to avoid the sauce!

Koto Sushi
435 4 Ave SW
Calgary AB T2P 0J4
(403) 457-2898
Open Mon-Fri 11:30 AM-9 PM; Sat 5-9 PM. Closed Sundays.

Yum yum! Talk about a delicious festival. As Vincci mentioned earlier, February is YYC Hot Chocolate Fest month, a great fundraising partnership between Meals on Wheels and local coffee houses around the city. Each participating cafe has created a signature hot cocoa drink in the hopes of being crowned “Calgary’s Best Hot Chocolate”. Chocolate lovers will get the chance to vote for their favorite drink at www.yychotchocolate.com and win weekly prizes. As a bonus, proceeds from the sale of each hot chocolate beverage will go towards Meal on Wheels. Win-win for everyone!

So grab your mitts and boots and make your own hot chocolate crawl around Calgary to taste each of these special bevvies. A full list of participating shops and drinks can be found at www.yychotchocolate.com. Let us know which ones are your favorites!

Thanks to Chiasso Coffee for snapping this picture.

First up is the Urban Exposure Project. I participated in last year’s UEP initiative and it was an amazing experience. The project gets a group of young Calgarians together to explore a social issue from all sorts of angles – as a hands-on participant and through the photographer’s lens.  Participants will capture their experiences through photos to explore this year’s theme of “Family” while visiting and working firsthand with agencies and organizations around the city. You don’t have to be a great photographer or have a fancy camera to get involved – everyone is given access to photo lessons and tutorials from professional photographers. The project requires at least a bi-weekly commitment, but trust me, its worth the time and effort. You will never get to experience Calgary like you will through the Urban Exposure Project. If you want an idea of what’s involved, check out the blog I wrote about my experiences from last year’s UEP.

Applications are being accepted until February 24th on the BeCause website. (See! Even Stormtroopers want to be part of the Urban Exposure Project! Thanks to my friend Ross T. for the photo. He’s this year’s project facilitator and is super awesome.)

If you’re looking to learn more about what BeCause is all about and other ways you can get involved, you could also stop by the Red and Black Bash on March 1st, 2012 at Double Zero Pizza. The fundraiser event is a chance to bring together future philanthropists and current community leaders to celebrate BeCause’s successes.  You’ll be able to rub elbows with the likes of Jill Belland from CityTV, Mike Morrison from Mike’s Bloggity Blog, Chris Bedford from Karo Group, and many other principals and executives from leading Calgary organizations.

Tickets are available online and are going fast. It’ll be a great night to ask your BeCause questions, eat some yummy pizza and hear from some great community leaders. Hope to see you guys there!

Sorry for the lack of Chow Down in Cowtowns lately! I’ve been busy… planning the Calgary Food Blogger Bake Sale happening next weekend – February 11 and 12!

You may remember the first bake sale back in June 2010 where we raised over $1,200 for Calgary Meals on Wheels.

This time, we are raising money for another fantastic “foodie” charity, Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids Society – we hope to break our previous record!

Please come join us next weekend, February 11 and 12 from 10 AM – 5:30 PM at Casel Marché for some yummy baked goodies, as well as the usual Saturday food trucks and free wine tastings at J. Webb Wine Merchants! I will be there all day Saturday, while Dan from Dan’s Good Side will be there all day Sunday. We will be joined by some great food bloggers throughout the weekend so please come down and meet us!

For more details, including a list of all the blogs involved, check out our Facebook event or follow the Twitter hashtag #yycFBBS See you there!

P.S.: Big thanks to Chelsea Klukas for designing our gorgeous poster this year!

P.P.S.: Please check out Calgary Meals on Wheels’ charity event, YYC Hot Chocolate Fest, all through the month of February! I’m thinking of organizing some sort of “hot chocolate crawl” before the month is up – anyone in?

Media distortion is a true, but useless concept. We all know that the mass media is a powerful force that can shape our views, beliefs and knowledge. Yet, we find ourselves feeling overpowered by these external voices as we are bombarded by unrealistic portrayals  of who we are and what we should be. Jennifer Siebel Newsom decided to tackle this seemingly impossible mission to look at the harmful portrayal of women and girls in the media. Through the thought-provoking documentary, Miss Representation, she takes a specific look at how mainstream media has contributed to the under-representation of women in influential positions in America. The film’s tagline, “You can’t be what you can’t see” refers to the lack of positive female role models for young girls to look up to while perpetuating the cycle of hyper-sexualized, youth- and beauty- conscious stereotypes. The doc is a great mix of interviews with well-known activists like Lisa Ling and Jane Fonda and eye-opening statistics and figures about the state of female leadership.

A special screening of Miss Representation is coming to the Plaza Theatre this Sunday, February 5th. Following the film, a panel discussion with local media leaders will take place to discuss the film’s ideas. Panelists will include Yvonne Jeffery, HERS editor; Cara Fullerton, Global News anchor; Ania B., model and fashion blogger; Dana Kerford, Girl Power; Cat Oshenak, photographer & founder of I’ve Been Bullied campaign.

Tickets and more information can be found at Church, My Style.

Miss Representation screening
Plaza Theatre, 1133 Kensington Road NW
February 5th, 2012
Film starts at 10AM
Tickets: $25

Theatre Junction Grand

The party starts this weekend as Theatre Junction opens up its doors at The Grand for their centennial celebration. The theatre has hosted performers from around the world, survived a (near) wrecking ball or two and has thrived through decades of cultural change. As the downtown landscape continued to evolve around the theatre, The Grand has grown into Calgary’s home for contemporary live arts.

To celebrate, the Grand will showcase different artists every hour including local favorites Samantha Savage Smith, Dan Vacon from The Dudes and Ivan Rankic. The open house will also host a Calgary Fashion photo booth, hip-hop moves from the Grim Reminder Dance Crew, live painting by Mandy Stobo (aka Bad Portraits) and many more awesome artists. The event is free before 10:30PM and open to all ages before 8PM.

Theatre Junction Grand – 608 1st Street SW
February 4, 2011
2PM – 2AM

City of Calgary Recreation

It’s hard to believe that the City’s Recreation department has been serving Calgarians with recreational activities and facilities for 100 years. Today, Recreation provides over 2 million citizens with products, programs and services throughout the city. Every month this year, Recreation will feature a new theme to celebrate it’s anniversary. February is Family Month: discounted and free activities will be made available at Recreation facilities such as swimming, skating, golf and other events.Check out the full list of events at calgary.ca/rec100 (look for the timeline slider on the website header – neat trivia and facts are listed about the city on there).

Photo credit: City of Calgary Recreation

Calgary Public Library

Did you know that Calgary’s library system is the 6th busiest in North America? Pretty impressive for a city of barely 1 million people.  One of my favorite CPL locations is the Central Memorial Library. I love the sandstone building and the homey feeling inside – not to mention the beautiful grounds and park  outside to sit and read all those lovely library books. But the library is more than just books. They’ve kept up with the times with diverse offerings such as magazines, CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and e-books as well as classes for adults and kids alike. Their theme for 2012 is “Our Healthy Future” with features and events to get Calgarians to live to be 100. See what the library is doing for their birthday this year at calgarypubliclibrary.com/cpl100.

Tip: if you’re looking for awesome indie Canadian artists (like the ones on our CBC Radio 3 playlist) you will find them at the Calgary Public Library. Find out for yourself sometime.

Calgary Stampede

Last, but not least, Calgary’s biggest party of all is turning 100 years old in 2012. Everyone has their own memories about the Stampede: my earliest recollection is from when I was three years old and my dad took me on a ride that spun me round and round and left me impossibly dizzy. I loved every moment of it. The Stampede is looking to collect moments like these and more with “100 years of legendary stories”. To take part , visit My Stampede to submit your memories and a chance to be featured on their website.

If you missed this post earlier, check out the “We’re Greatest Together” campaign that we showed you last year. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to dust off my cowboy boots, grab a bucket of mini donuts and see what The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth has to offer this year.

I am truly excited to kick into gear what I hope will be a long and, well, awesome collaboration with site-around-town extraordinaire Calgary Is Awesome.  For those regular CIA visitors who don’t know me, I’ve been writing local wine blog popandpour.ca for almost a year now, a site that contains reviews of a number of bottles available in town and other thoughts and musings aimed at demystifying (and glorifying) the incredible world of wine.  One of the things that I’ve wanted to do with Pop & Pour, but that I couldn’t really figure out how to approach, was to highlight the remarkable people and places that illuminate Calgary’s local wine scene, which remains almost criminally underrated.  Well, CIA has given me that chance.  My monthly posts for Calgary Is Awesome will focus on YYC wine shops, events, personalities and other home-based vinous topics of interest that will hopefully showcase the amazing depth of talent and energy that our fair city has directed towards my favourite beverage.  If you want to know how lucky you are to be a Calgarian who likes wine, read on.

I used to live in Altadore three places and five years ago, and even back then I thought that the area needed a specialty wine store…Liquor Depot wasn’t quite cutting it.  Now that land in my old neighbourhood costs more than my soul and Marda has become THE inner-city-but-not living destination for many Calgarians, this need has only amplified, and in December 2010 it was finally addressed when Highlander Wine & Spirits opened a massive new store in the heart of the Loop (2112 – 33rd Avenue SW).  As soon as you walk in, you can immediately tell that the shop was designed to be a temple of wine.  The large, open-profile modern space is lined with dark-wood-rack after dark-wood-rack of bottles, organized by country and region; there’s a huge tasting table in the back of the store, right beside cupboards full of wine glasses and an Enomatic machine that keeps a dozen or so open sample bottles free of invading air; it’s an oenophile’s dream.  Of course, there’s still plenty of beer and spirits available for sale, but if you were to walk in the front door and take a look around, you would definitely say:  ”This is a wine store.”  This focus on fine wine is completely intentional.

When Highlander’s Managing Partner Elliot Porozni bought into the business a little over a year ago, it was known by many as an established jack-of-all-trades liquor store in North Hill and Killarney, a full-service shop that carried a wide selection of wine, but may not have been specifically known for it.  One of key missions with which Porozni was entrusted was to increase Highlander’s profile and exposure as a specialty wine boutique, something that he did almost immediately in two ways:  he ensured that the new Marda Loop location was a space that showcased the company’s dedication to wine, and he brought on board some of the most knowledgeable and respected wine folks in the city to run it.  Topping that list was Highlander Marda Loop’s General Manager Matt Browman, who can’t possibly be much older than me (and I’m not old) but whose background and experience in the world of wine is nothing short of extensive.

Like many industry people I’ve talked to, Browman got ensnared in the world of wine while on the path towards doing something completely different:  ”I moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake to work as a bartender while taking a year off before a Master’s degree in Asian Religious Philosophy,” he explains. ” I became so compelled by the wine scene that the Master’s degree never happened and the wine world became my career.”  After getting an absurd number of formal wine certifications and gaining local industry experience, Browman was contacted by Porozni, an ex-colleague and one of his former wine students, about getting involved at the ground floor with Highlander Marda Loop.  ”He was looking for people for a new direction in the Highlander company,” Browman says.  ”The timing was perfect.”

Browman is, to put it mildly, eminently qualified to run a wine shop:  he has his Diploma from the International Sommeliers Guild (ISG) and the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET, the body whose lower-level Advanced Exam I just wrote), and has completed the Theory & Service portions of the Diploma exam for the Court of Master Sommeliers.  In addition, he has considerable experience in the restaurant/retail business and is a Certified Instructor for the WSET; in 2006, he opened the leading WSET teaching school in Calgary, where he taught for three years.  Let’s just say he knows his wine and his customer service.  His skills in both these areas are now being used to full advantage to grow Highlander’s brand in a local market whose demand for fine wine has been ever-increasing.

“It’s no secret that the North American thirst for wine and wine culture has increased by leaps and bounds in the last decade or so,” Browman says.  ”Perhaps we were a little forgotten as a wine destination.  Our direction is to reinstate that awareness in the consuming public.”  They’re doing that in a few ways:  through a highly-interactive Twitter account (@Highlanderwine), a new blog (www.highlanderwineblog.com), increased staff training, more sales on good bottles than I’ve seen anywhere else, and customer rewards programs.  For me, as your typical wine-obsessed maniac, Highlander’s biggest strides in the past year have come via the number of exclusive bottlings it has brought into the province, top producers which you never used to be able to buy in Calgary and which you still can’t get anywhere else.  I’m a giant fan of the wines of the US Pacific Northwest and have benefitted greatly from Highlander’s offerings of Oregon’s Boedecker Cellars and Washington’s Mercer Estates and especially Gramercy Cellars, one of the most critically-acclaimed producers in the US over the past few years and completely unavailable in Canada…until now.  Browman goes farther afield with Highlander’s future exclusive plans:  ”We are always on the lookout for great wines that over-deliver on quality and price, but I’ll highlight Valle dell’Acate from Sicily, a producer over which Elliot and I connected when he and I were managing different businesses, but which we both realized as a great opportunity.  Four years later we are realizing that opportunity.”

Having just celebrated its first anniversary, Marda Loop’s lone fine wine shop is settling in nicely.  ”Time and again new or returning customers exclaim how nice it is to have a ‘place like this’ in the neighbourhood,” Browman confirms.  ”And one of the great things about the Highlander brand is that it has never had that intimidating perception.  We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and really want to get the person who comes in the store exactly what they came in for.”  Having spent my first couple years of wine interest quietly slinking around stores hoping not to get noticed, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Matt treat my prior wine ignorance almost as a blessing:  ”I like to think that if everyone knew a lot about wine, I wouldn’t have a job, so there is no need to feel intimidated.  The first mandate of having knowledge is how it is being used to help the customer.”  I have now spent enough time with the Highlander folks to know that they practice what they preach in this regard, which makes HL Marda Loop a must-visit if you’re in the area.

Once you’re there, what should you make sure to grab?  Here’s your very own personal Highlander Buying Guide, as recommended by Matt himself (and by me, but you should probably pay more attention to Matt):

Q.  What’s the last bottle of wine from Highlander that you took home to drink?  How was it?

Matt Browman:  Domaine Pegau 2006 Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  It was corked.  [Author's note:  Awesome.  Great start, Peter.  Who thought up this Q&A format anyway?]

Q.  What’s your favourite/most highly recommended bottle in the Marda Loop store for under $20?  Why?

Matt Browman:  Rive Droite Rive Gauche 2009 Cotes du Rhone, $16.95.  This is my best value wine of 2011.  It combines intensity, complexity, structure, length, intrigue.  A Grenache-Syrah blend.  You won’t find a better value.  [Author's note:  I would give an honourable mention to the Mercer Estates Dead Canyon Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon from Horse Heaven Hills, Washington State, an INSANELY good Cabernet for around $20.  I reviewed the 2008 vintage of DCR here; Matt himself just wrote up the new 2009 vintage here.]

Q.  What’s your top “black sheep” bottle:  the one that just sits on the shelves, unsold, even though it’s an amazing wine that you think should be way more popular than it is?

Matt Browman:  The most underrated bottle on the shelf is the 2001 Rizza Barbaresco Fondetta, $49.95 (sale priced).  It is a wine for those who are more interested in drinking a great Piemontese red wine without worrying about the designation.  Barbaresco has fallen out of popularity compared to Barolo and other reds from Piedmont, but this is a stunner.  [Author's note:  (1)  I heart Barbaresco.  It's just awesome.  One of my favourite Italian reds.  (2) Another unheralded Highlander winner is the 1989 Schloss Reinhartshausen Beerenauslese Riesling -- crazily German label, lots of consonants, but an unbelievable pre-aged dessert wine that will absolutely blow you away for $50.]

Q.  What’s the all-time best-selling bottle for Highlander Marda Loop?

Matt Browman:  Most units sold goes to 2008 Schild from Barossa, Australia.  That was nuts.  [Author's note:  I bought many bottles of this.  Any Schild Shiraz delivers WAY more quality than you have a right to expect from a mass-produced wine.  I'm actually drinking a Schild Shiraz right now as I type this.  Really.  '07 though.  But it still rocks.]

Happy shopping!  Talk to you next month, CIAers!

Highlander Marda Loop is located at 2112 – 33rd Avenue SW.  In addition to his GM responsibilities, Matt is currently helping me figure out the best way to drink more Burgundy so that I can keep my New Year’s Wine Resolution for 2012.  

Love is in the air and at the old Ant Hill building in Kensington too! Market Collective is hosting an early Valentine’s edition on February 4th and 5th. As usual, admission is $3 or free with a food bank donation (the last MC raised 880 pounds of food for the Food Bank!).  Free coffee and tea will be made available  all day from The Roasterie and Tian Tea. The upstairs galleries will feature works from Light & Soul, Bad Portraits, Light up the World as well as the science centre. Great musicians will be on hand on both days, including an all-female lineup on Sunday featuring artists like Megan Feniak (accompanied by Boreal Sons), Yolanda Sargeant (accompanied by DJ Comrade) and Carolyn ‘Lady C’ Fraser. Even if you don’t find something to take home from MC, be sure to stop by the popular MC Photobooth to get your picture take in a love-themed wonderland.

Market Collective: All You Need is Love
February 4 & 5
Saturday 10-6
Sunday 11-5
The Old Ant Hill Building, 148 10th street NW (Kensington)

Photo courtesy of Redfern Photography and Market Collective.

Growing, producing, and eating local is part of a growing trend for many Calgarians and local businesses. Enter the Calgary Food Committee which is looking to create a sustainable and resilient food system for the Calgary region. The committee is a collaboration of farmers, local businesses, chefs, educators, industry experts, & government officials. Part of their work is to organize a food assessment and action plan that will examine food issues, assets and gaps in Calgary’s food system.

Involving Calgarians is also part of the action plan. The Calgary Food Committee is hosting a public event this Saturday, January 28 at the old Ant Hill building  from 10AM – 4PM (usually the home of the beloved Market Collective). The event will feature food from local farmers and producers, panel discussions with local chefs and garden experts, as well as interactive gardening demonstrations. Who doesn’t love free food?

Learn more about the Calgary Food Committee at www.yycfood.com.

Calgary Eats!
Saturday, January 28
Ant Hill Building, 148 10th Street NW
10AM – 4PM

Closing out the place!

B. and I were super-lucky to get spots at the last seating of the first incarnation of CHARPOP on Tuesday! Long story short, it involved not getting our reservation request in until 4:08 two weeks earlier (registrations were open at 4 PM), being on the waiting list, my perennial brunchmate Tiffany offering us to share her 6 PM seating but me having other plans (!!!), then the news a few days later that we got the 9:30 PM seating (and would probably be eating till midnight…)

When I’d heard that Aviv from Sidewalk Citizen was involved in this dinner, I had an inkling that the “secret location” would be the bakery. I had never been, but I knew it was small, and would probably make an intimate venue for this pop-up restaurant.

Despite only allowing parties of up to four, tables of six and eight were set up, encouraging diners to interact with their tablemates. I was pleasantly surprised to have been seated at the “media table” with my friends Julie and Gwendolyn, who were there with Shelley Youngblut and a man who only introduced himself as “Jacob”, who I later found out was Jacob Richler!!! Now I am slightly embarrassed that I didn’t know.

Anyway.

I was surprised to find that the menu was à la carte (Decision Making?!?), having expected a prix-fixe menu, given the four-seatings-per-night arrangement. The menu was very “experimental”, featuring items that you usually wouldn’t see on a restaurant menu, like beef heart, sweetbreads, pig ear, tongue and octopus. “Small plates” (appetizers) were $17, large plates were $38 and sides and desserts were $12. Aviv’s influence was obvious throughout the menu, with many of the dishes paired with croissants, brioche, bannock and scones, and of course, there were the two desserts!

We decided to forego any drinking that night, which in retrospect may have been a mistake as it seemed like everyone else had a drink by their side and there was a lovely looking local blonde beer for only $5! We kicked things off with the Open Faced Croissant with Lamb, Sumac, Nigella Seeds & Mint ($12).

B. was a big fan of this dish, though he thinks he would’ve liked it better if the lamb was warm. I thought it was only ok – the croissant was soft and pillowy, but lacking a flaky crust, while the lamb was crumbly and a little too subtly flavoured. I had to take a few bites before I tasted the licoricey nigella seeds. Overall, the croissant reminded me of one of those meat-filled buns you get at a Chinese bakery… with just a hint of a more exotic flavour.

Next we shared the Crispy Pig Ear Salad ($17), tossed in a lemon chili dressing and topped with crispy toast and an egg cooked in a 64-degree sous-vide bath.

I was hoping to get a photo of the yolk dribbling out of the egg and onto the salad, but my plan was foiled by the magic of sous-vide! The egg had the texture of a soft-cooked egg, but the stability of a hard-boiled one. It was pretty neat. I also loved the pig ears – crispy little salty nubbins that reminded me of pork rinds. The salad itself wasn’t great – it was made mostly of bitter radicchio and wasn’t dressed very evenly. I think Jacob commented that he would have the crispy pig ear just by itself, in a paper cone like popcorn. I totally agree.

Julie and Gwendolyn were kind enough to share the last couple bites of the more popular salad that night – Baked Kale with Persimmon, King Mushroom, Farro and Pinenut ($17). I loved the earthy flavour of the roasted kale, and the large slices of king mushroom had soaked up the lemony dressing. Yum.

Our last small plate was the Smoked Veal Sweetbreads with Pig Skin, White Beans and Escarole ($17).

B. and I had recently eaten sweetbreads (the “pretty” food name for an animal’s glands, usually the thymus) in New York – at wd~50 we had some small bites of breaded and fried sweetbreads in a bowl of king mushroom “noodles” and ginger-banana chips as part of their tasting menu – so I felt comfortable ordering them. I was a little surprised that the sweetbreads were not deep-fried here.

The first bite was a little weird – the sweetbreads were soft, almost fatty, but not greasy. The tops were lightly seared and salted, so together with the smoky flavour, it was like eating bacon or smoked pork belly, but again, without the grease.

The sweetbreads sat on a stew of white beans and escarole, which was creamy with just a bit of chew, topped with a generous sprinkling of parsley. Usually we hate parsley but we ate it here, and enjoyed the stew’s smoky flavour, which mirrored that of the sweetbreads.

For our main dish, we shared the Beef Cheek with Squash and Savoury Scone ($38).

The beef cheek was literally braised for a day and was fall apart tender, while the peppery gravy had a hint of sweetness from the multicoloured squash, reminding me a little bit of Japanese curry. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The scone was nice – a firm, outer shell gave way to a soft, slightly cheesy inside, and worked well for sopping up the gravy at the end.

We had a side of beets ($12) with our beef cheek. I love beets, so I gobbled these down eagerly, but you could hardly tell that they were Hot Vinegar Beets with Orange & Thyme except for the sliver of orange peel that was nestled in the small bowl.

So before we started eating, I posted my excitement on Twitter/Facebook and Tiffany commented back “It was delicious!! Cinnamon buns!!” So I could hardly wait for dessert to arrive.

The Cast Iron Baked Cinnamon Bun with Spiced Rum & Raisin Gelato ($12) was the highlight of our meal. The warm, moist bun was slathered with a sticky, cinnamon sauce and topped with a generous scoop of a very rummy ice cream. Rum & Raisin is one of B.’s favourite ice cream flavours, so he totally fell for this dish, while I thought the rum-soaked raisins were just a little too boozy for me. I commented back to Tiffany, “OMGGGG!!! You were right about the cinnamon buns!!!”

On the other hand, Julie found the cinnamon bun a little too heavy of a finish for an already-heavy meal, but she did have way more food than us We also agreed that it was pretty pricey! We did come prepared to spend, and I get that we were paying mostly for the experience and all the work in turning a bakery into a pop-up restaurant, but still, $12 for a bowl of beets?

Still, I was very happy and excited to have been part of the first CHARPOP, especially since it sounds like the next one will be a while off. I heard Connie telling some diners that they were hoping to do another pop-up in the spring, but in San Francisco! So it may be a few more months yet before CHARPOP will be back in Calgary. I can’t wait to see what they will come up with next!

CHARPOP
Locations, hours and reservation details vary. Latest news available on their website or via Twitter @YYC_CHARPOP