Last night, I had a hot date (don't call the tabloids, it was with my husband). We wanted to go to one of our preferred restaurants in Edmonton , Bacon. This restaurant was on 112 street, a little far, but worth it for the ambiance, wine selection and creative vegan food (as well as omnivorous, "local, sustainable" food).
You could understand my disappointment when I called to make a reservation only to find that Bacon is gone and replaced with a new branch of Culina (highlands). Regardless, I figured that we would give it a shot.
We showed up at 8:00, to find that our table wasn't ready. We decided to wait for "our" table, as it was "nicer" than the other offerings. We finally sat down about 15 minutes later (hey, remember the Seinfeld episode where they go to the restaurant and have to wait even thought they made reservations?)
The good news:both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were creative and enticing. The wine-by-the glass selection was good (I had a great pinot from the Okanagan). Ky had a ginger beer (he is still on antibiotics). both were enjoyable.
We then ordered appetizers. I had the olive and prune tapenade with grilled bread, Kyle had the Quinoa salad (sans Feta).
I would recommend the quinoa salad to anyone. The dressing was fab, and there was a good balance of texture and flavors, and passed the "seasonal" test.
Though the actual tapenade was good the state of the grilled bread was disappointing.In my opinion, if you are going to do a grilled bread, it has to be served warm, or else it just tastes like cold toast. Alternately, serve with crackers. either would have been preferable here.
Now, here is where I get rant-y. There was one vegan main dish on the entire menu. One vegan dish. And though there are multiple problems with this in itself, which I will discuss at another time, I also had problems with the dish itself.
Firstly, it was a, you guessed it, portobello mushroom based dish (yawn). Though I commend the creative effort of serving it over a cashew "cheese" there was too much garlic in the cheese, and it overpowered the palate, distracting from other qualities.
The baked wild rice filling was rather bland. It merely matched the umame taste of the mushroom, making it into a muddle of flavor, with nothing that really "wowed". The roasted carrots and potatoes served with it were cooked perfectly, but were also bland. Also, the green salad had these salt flakes on it (I'm assuming fleur de sel) which killed the flavor of the greens.
Also, there was no vegan dessert or palate cleanser. Is a compote really that difficult?
Also, I felt that the decor and the attempted atmosphere didn't match the space. Th space is small, and the white and black decor with large print art made it feel like a dinning room gone through a compactor.
This is an old pizzeria, (there is still a pizza oven visible in the open kitchen) and I agree with a fellow patron who mentioned to his date as they left that it is a shame to use it as storage.
Another thing that was a let-down was that almost everything including the borsht included sour cream and butter. Also, I have more than a purely vegan problem with this...which I will discuss at another time.
So if you are vegan, and want to give this resto a try, have a glass of wine and the Quinoa salad.
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