Crossroads Pop Up Restaurant

On Sunday evening, CJ and I had the pleasure of attending the first Crossroads Pop Up Restaurant, a farm-to-table event featuring a six course tasting menu inspired by the story of "The Three Little Pigs". Using locally sourced produce and humanely treated animals, Chefs Alex Villeneuve and Michel Nasrabadi put together a series of entrées cooked with straw, wood, and brick. There were two seating times (4:30 PM and 7:00 PM) with tickets priced at $55 per person available for purchase through YEGlive. 

The Mercury Room hosts the first Crossroads pop-up dinner.

The Crossroads pop-up dinner was held at The Mercury Room, a space which doubles as a music/performance venue and a vegan restaurant/bar. I had never been to The Mercury Room before, so I was a little sad to see there weren't any windows to allow for natural lighting for my food photos. Apart from that, I thought the ambiance of the room was great. There were about 26 guests at the 4:30 PM seating time with each seating time having a maximum of 30 guests. 

Table set-up.

The menu.

It's been awhile since CJ and I had a candlelit dinner together, so I really enjoyed how the table set-up made the mood more romantic and intimate. A menu was provided at every seat so guests could follow along throughout the six course meal. 

Icebreaker.

To start off the evening, we were given an Icebreaker. When I first read this on the menu, I thought it was just going to be a drink that was meant to start conversation amongst the guests. But it was more than that. It was, quite literally, an ice breaker. Sitting on top of regular ice cubes was a hand blown isomalt sphere, meant to be tapped open using a spoon. The sphere, now broken into pieces, melds with the rest of the drink comprised of fizz and simple syrup. At first this drink tasted like diluted candy, perhaps a bit watery because of all the ice. However, as I continued to drink, I could taste more fruity and sweeter notes. CJ and I really liked the concept behind this drink and the double meaning behind its name. 

Local Mushroom Tortellini.

Time for food! The first dish we received was a baby crimini and button mushroom tortellini in a traditional white wine and cream sauce. Aged parmesan, Italian summer truffles, and locally grown pea shoots were used to garnish the dish. Each piece was quite small, but was very flavourful with a little bit of spice. I loved how the mushroom tortellini paired so well with the cheese. I also gave pea shoots a try for the first time, which was a pretty neat experience. So far, off to a very good start!

First Little Pig.

I was immediately impressed by the presentation and colours on the plate when the first little pig arrived. Circling the straw cooked genesis pork tenderloin and sauce were beautiful orange ribbons of locally grown carrots. I liked how the carrots resembled straw in my eyes so that really added on to the story of this dish. A deep purple edible flower and nasturtium leaf were also used as garnish. I started with the carrots which were surprisingly enjoyable - dry at first but rehydrated in my mouth which gave a subtle sweetness. My pork tenderloin was a bit dry but CJ found his to be tender and juicy, so I found myself wishing for more of the BC nectarine and wild horseradish sauce. Lastly, the nasturtium leaf had a strong peppery taste (too strong for my liking) so the contrasting perfume-y and delicate taste of the flower was more up my alley.

Second Little Pig.

The second little pig featured apple wood smoked Boston shoulder which was thinly sliced and tender with a lovely smoky and slightly spicy taste. It was even more delicious paired with the walnut and pomegranate (or Fesenjan) sauce. The otherwise ordinary baby arugula was made excellent with the smoked cheddar and blueberries. I only wish there was more of the cheese! The two chips in the salad gave a satisfying crunch, adding some texture to the dish. The BC cherries were an interesting surprise - biting into the cherry, I quickly got a hit of booze! It's been a long time since I've had alcohol so the taste of the bourbon cherries wasn't really for me. Nevertheless, I thought this dish was well executed and full of comforting flavours.

Third Little Pig.

The third little pig and the last entrée dish of the night was also beautifully presented with an edible leaf and flower as garnish. The cured local pork belly was brick cooked (maybe even brick shaped hehe) and served with a veal peppercorn sauce. I thought the pork belly was flavourful with a good ratio of meat to fat, while the sauce was hearty and delicious. The purple yam mash was a pleasant and mildly sweet starch that CJ and I both loved. The buttered local carrot snap peas on the plate was pretty neat: the carrots were prepared using molecular gastronomy and made into spheres inside the peas. A really fascinating technique, but I felt that the peas definitely overpowered the taste of the carrots - in fact, I'm sad to say that I didn't taste carrots in my bite at all (I wish I had tried the carrots on its own!). Other than the buttered carrot peas, everything on this plate was very tasty.

Creme Anglaise.

For dessert, we were given two flavours of creme anglaise ice cream spheres: lactose free coconut mango (with an edible flower garnish) and rock salted caramel. The coconut mango was fruity and not too sweet with a smooth, creamy texture. CJ and I absolutely loved the salty sweet flavour of the salted caramel ice cream, even though it melted faster than the coconut mango. Unsurprisingly, CJ now wants to create his own ice cream using rock salt! 

Handmade Macarons.

The final dish of the night were these gorgeous handmade French macarons filled with local Evans cherry jam. The macaron shell was perfectly crispy on the outside but moist and slightly chewy inside. The cherry jam tasted amazing and I adored its bright red colour. Underneath the macarons was dehydrated peanut butter and nutella powder with a soft and fluffy texture which rehydrated in my mouth and tasted exactly like peanut butter and nutella! So cool and very innovative! CJ and I were quite curious to learn how it was made and were really excited when Chef Michel explained the process to us. What a wonderful way to conclude the evening! 

After the dinner, Chef Alex and Chef Michel went around speaking to all the guests. CJ and I had such an amazing experience and I'm really looking forward to seeing what these two up and coming chefs will bring to the Edmonton food scene in the future. I thought the menu was very innovative and successfully showed how (food) science and art can come together to create something delicious and unforgettable. You could tell that a lot of passion and hard work went into every dish. Well worth the $55. 

I think pop-ups are a great way for new businesses to test their ideas and see what works and what doesn't. I felt there were only a few very small downsides throughout the dinner, but other than those I thought everything tasted phenomenal overall. My favourite dishes? The second little pig and definitely the handmade macarons! CJ's favourites? The third little pig and the macarons as well! The service at The Mercury Room (Instagram: @mercuryroomyeg and Twitter: @mercuryroomyeg) was also excellent - the servers were friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable about each dish. The evening flowed really well and each dish was served in a timely and orderly fashion. Congratulations to the Crossroads culinary team and Chefs Alex and Michel for putting together a successful inaugural pop-up dinner! Be sure to check out the Crossroads pop-up Facebook page by clicking here to keep updated about future events. 

Prairie Noodle Shop Grand Finale Pop-Up #4

After successfully hosting three ramen pop-ups over the past year, Prairie Noodle Shop held their fourth and final event last Saturday evening. I had the pleasure of attending their third pop-up back in March, which you can read about by clicking here. The experience was so exciting and memorable that I knew I wouldn't be disappointed at their grand finale event. 

Final ramen pop-up held in Ernest's at NAIT.

Prairie Noodle Shop creates ramen inspired by prairie flavours using fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Flavourful broth, handmade noodles, and quality toppings showcasing authentic flavours of the prairies transform a popular Japanese dish into something that is creative and original. The final ramen pop-up was held at Ernest's Dining Room located inside NAIT with seating times at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, and 7:30 PM. This time around, 150 bowls (up from 100 bowls) were served for more ramen lovers to enjoy! Just like their past pop-ups, each bowl cost $15 plus GST. Reservation tickets went live on Eventbrite a week before the event and sold out in under 5 minutes. I asked CJ to secure seats for us this time because he moves a lot quicker and manages to stay calm while constantly hitting the refresh button waiting for the link to be released on Twitter and Instagram. If you read my post about the previous pop-up, you'll know how anxious and nervous I was! The link appeared on Prairie Noodle Shop's Instagram profile first, so the moment we saw it CJ was able to get us tickets for the earliest seating time. Yay! A small victory for us. 

Arden of Prairie Noodle Shop telling us about our ramen for the evening!

Before we started eating, Arden of Prairie Noodle Shop explained that the night's feature bowl of ramen would be a classic meat and potatoes served tsukemen dipping style! An intriguing bowl very appropriate for a grand finale pop-up. Prairie Noodle Shop also believes in building and supporting our community, so it is in this spirit that they'll be donating $2 from every bowl sold to the late Constable Woodall's family via the trust fund set up at RBC. Cash donations were also accepted at the event, with the partners matching up to a total of $500 in donations. 

"Meat and Potatoes" served with a potato broth.

I was unfamiliar with dipping ramen, but thankfully Prairie Noodle Shop posted this link on their blog. This serving style known as tsukemen has the noodles and broth separated from each other, while ramen has all the components in one bowl. To eat tsukemen, you take a few noodle strands and lightly dip it into the broth. Even though that is how you typically eat tsukemen, others may prefer to eat the noodles by itself, have the broth act like a classic soup, or pour the broth over the noodles.

Noodles and toppings.

Potato broth.

Now let's talk about the details! Prairie Noodle Shop uses noodles that are fresh and locally made. These noodles were springy with a nice bite and had a certain texture that allowed it to grab onto the broth. I also liked being able to see the amount of noodles I had left in the bowl while I was eating. The dipping broth was a tangy potato broth that had a slight smokiness to it. I really enjoyed how flavourful the broth was. It was made to be dense but just thick enough to adhere to the noodles. The toppings included Alberta beef sourced from D'Arcy's Meat Market ground up "Dan dan" style, diced potatoes, pickled chilis, and an umeboshi egg. The spiciness of the ground beef was enjoyable and not too overwhelming, and I liked how the pickled chilis were added in just a small amount for an extra kick of heat. The addition of the potatoes to the ground beef reminded me of my Mom's take on a staple Filipino dish called giniling (Tagalog for "ground meat"). My Mom's giniling recipe is ground beef with diced potatoes usually accompanied by hard boiled eggs. I think it's pretty awesome how Prairie Noodle Shop's ground beef topping had me thinking of one of my all time favourite dishes to eat at home!

Yummy!

Prairie Noodle Shop's final pop-up bowl was amazing. All the components worked together to create a delicious eating experience. I also decided to save the umeboshi egg towards the end so when I finally tried it I was blown away by how good it tasted! Now I know why Arden described the egg as their "secret weapon". The slightly oozing yolk and soft egg whites were excellent. I also really liked how the egg was pink in colour (my favourite colour)! I totally could've eaten more than just the one in my bowl. 

CJ's review? "Right amount of spice. Even though how to eat it was confusing, it was manageable. It really felt like I was eating good old fashioned meat and potatoes although presented as a noodle soup." I do agree with him that eating this dish was kind of tricky, especially if you haven't mastered using chopsticks to pick up noodles. We found that we just dunked the noodles into the broth instead of lightly dipping, and doing so caused the broth to overpower the noodles. Nevertheless, we both really enjoyed trying dipping ramen for the first time - officially the fourth bowl of ramen I've had in my life!

Concept for future permanent location (sorry for the glare covering the logo)!

So what's next for Prairie Noodle Shop? They are hoping to open Edmonton's first designated ramen shop later this year! Pictured above is the concept for their future permanent location on 124 Street. I'm looking forward to having their ramen available regularly. It's been quite a journey for Prairie Noodle Shop so a big congratulations to everyone on the team for hosting four successful pop-ups! Also great job to everyone at Ernest's for providing a nice venue and excellent service! Don't forget to check out Prairie Noodle Shop's website and follow them on Twitter (@YEGNoodles) and Instagram (@yegnoodles) to stay up to date with news about their future opening!

Prairie Noodle Shop Pop-Up #3

Let me tell you a secret: I am still new to the wonderful world of noodle soups. My first bowl of Vietnamese pho was on a snowy February day a year ago, and I've gotten a few more bowls since then. Ramen, however, is something completely new to me. In fact, the first bowl of ramen I had was just last December! So when I heard about an upcoming ramen pop-up event via Instagram, I knew I needed to get in on it.

Last Thursday evening, CJ and I were super fortunate enough to secure two seats for ourselves at the Prairie Noodle Shop ramen pop-up #3! Prairie Noodle Shop strives to transform a traditional Japanese dish into something fun, creative, and memorable. Handmade noodles, broth made from scratch, and locally sourced ingredients all combine together to make a delicious bowl of ramen. With that being said, how does one get to attend these pop-ups? The week before the event, Prairie Noodle Shop tweeted a link to their Eventbrite page, a site they used to reserve tickets (or seats) online. Seating times were at 6, 7, 8, and 9 PM. The night of ticket reservations, I was anxiously sitting in front of my computer waiting for the link to be released. With only 100 bowls being served and hundreds of ramen lovers waiting for tickets as well, it's no surprise that I felt both nervous and excited. To be honest, I have never done anything like this before! It felt like I was buying concert tickets, even though I've never purchased concert tickets online myself! I was determined to get two seats at 6 or 7 PM, but sadly, luck was not on my side. After slight waves of panic seeing "Sold Out" within seconds at all three earlier times, I managed to score two seats at 9 PM! Tickets sold out just under 2 minutes! Next time I'm getting CJ (who's more experienced at getting tickets online) to do this. 

The Pourhouse.

Pop-up #3 took place at The Pourhouse Bier Bistro on Whyte Ave. The previous two pop-ups were held at the Get Cooking Edmonton kitchen at the MacEwan University Student Residence Building in Downtown. Yea... I'm sad to say that I missed out two, too many times (lol). Walking in, CJ and I noticed just one open table right beside the window, so we headed towards it. Window seats + natural lighting = a happy Stephanie. If you're wondering how the sun was still up at 9 PM, that's because we actually had our seating time moved to 6 PM! I emailed the Prairie Noodle Shop team shortly after reserving my seats the week before with the hope that we could attend the event at an earlier time. I didn't think that my hopeful request would happen, given the number of people who were likely on the waiting list to attend. However, the night before the pop-up (and much to my surprise!) I received an email from Craig saying to come in at 6 PM! Thanks again for accommodating us! 

My bowl of ramen.

Now what is the story behind that beautiful bowl of ramen pictured above? Earlier that evening, Arden of Prairie Noodle Shop explained how their team drew inspiration from a trip to Canada's west coast: taking the richness and creaminess found in pork bone broth of Vancouver style ramen and applying that to create their own rich, creamy red miso and vegetable based broth with tons of cheese! Comfort food to keep us warm during winter was the key inspiration here. In addition to the fresh, handmade noodles in the broth, this bowl of ramen came with pickled Chinese radish, fermented bean sprouts, and a heaping pile of Sylvan Star smoked Gouda cheese. Let's not forget about that generous portion of pressed garlic on the side either. This particular bowl was made without any meat or meat products, making it Prairie Noodle Shop's first vegetarian ramen bowl. Each bowl costs $15 plus GST, so I was curious to see how this one would taste with cheese being the main protein. 

Close-up of the cheese.

I was impressed at how large the portion size was! Considering the amount of cheese and ramen noodles hidden beneath, I wasn't sure where to begin. After all, this bowl was only my second bowl of ramen in my life! I started by mixing in the cheese, which I then slurped up with the noodles. I really enjoyed how the shredded Gouda cheese created that perfect creaminess as it melted into the miso broth. So good! The pickled Chinese radish added much needed crunch and tartness to cut through the richness of the bowl. The garlic was added to the side so we could mix it in to our liking, so I mixed in a small amount. I found that it really amped up the flavours in the bowl, making the whole eating experience even better. I loved how this bowl was totally different and creative - something you wouldn't find at any other restaurant in Edmonton. Even though the bowl was already so dense and filling, I wanted to keep eating because it tasted so good! 

Sitting next to me, CJ had already scarfed down his entire bowl when I was just barely halfway through mine! His review was also quite positive: "It was just big enough for me to be full but not stuffed. The spice in the bowl was just right. The noodles were delicious. The broth was rich and tasted even better after mixing all the garlic. After eating all the noodles, I found myself eating spoonfuls of the remaining cheese that had moved to the bottom of the bowl. Overall, very delicious." 

Arden of Prairie Noodle Shop telling us the story behind the bowl.

Just before the start of the next seating time, Arden stopped by our table to talk with us. He asked us about our thoughts on the ramen, saying that feedback was valuable to help them eventually open up a restaurant. He told us that while most businesses tend to focus on the broth, Prairie Noodle Shop aims to have the toppings be the star of the show. And I couldn't agree more - the toppings in this bowl were spot on! It was nice to meet you! 

A shot from above. 

I'm so glad that CJ and I were able to attend such an exciting event. Everything about this rich, creamy vegetarian bowl was perfect. If only I had a bigger stomach so that I could've finished the entire thing! I'm already looking forward to the next pop-up, which is happening in June. The next one may be held at NAIT with a bigger and more diverse offering of ramen! Congratulations to Prairie Noodle Shop for another successful pop-up! Be sure to follow them @YEGnoodles on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with news about future pop-ups.