I seem to be doing restaurant reviews only when I’m celebrating my birthday cause I never have any time or money the rest of the year, especially when I drop a low three figure for lunch at the Frontenac with a couple of drinks each.  Mind you that was la belle ville de Québec not, um, Edmonton.

So as we drove up I thought Earl’s, Milestones, heck even Outback, you know the load ‘em in, charge a lot and move ‘em out kind of place. In some respects I was not to be disappointed by my initial reactions.

This is one busy place; thirty odd people in the waiting area; could have been the location, could be the desperation of Edmonton’s west end for a better restaurant (cause the Southside owns Dadeos) so who knows. Thankfully we had reservations or I’d have left for sure.  The decor, yeah the usual, loud open ceiling building with black everywhere and TVs (cause we all like to drink and watch TV – is that an Olympic sport yet) and the tiled floors, the open kitchen, the booth seating yup, so far I wasn’t missing the Earls and Milestone’s experience here at all. They must all have the same architect or something.

After we were seated. we promised ourselves that this time around we would stay away from over inflated, unrealistic priced alcoholic mixed drinks and wines in favour of their slightly overpriced microbrewery beers at 5 1/2.  You CAN get away with that at the Frontenac but not in Edmonton.  They tasted okay but nothing to rant about and not worth more than that.

What I was looking forward to and expecting was some tasty signature dishes from the hand of Iron Chef Feenie and to have them well above par of the other two restaurants. I wanted to sink my chops into whatever our server highly recommended in that regard.

So for starters and since I’d never had these things (but they looked so cute) we ordered some of the Mini Cheese Burgers. There were only three of them (cause three looks cool on a plate) but our server said we could if we wanted to, add an additional burger. We declined and just split one of them. The ground meat was chunky enough to remind you that it wasn’t hamburger and the relish was truly delightful. So far so good, I thought, and they went well with the beer.

For the main meal, I had Rob’s Hunter Chicken. My dish was very nice to look at (is this where I can say well plated?) with a chicken breast smothered in an assortment of mushrooms and a very peppery demi-glace on top of grilled green beans and fingerling potatoes. I wondered if the sauce was the same one my husband had but we didn’t do a taste test. My veggy’s tasted like roasted beans and not some tasteless vegetable but the chicken was so tender it almost melted in my mouth. Definitely the very best part of the meal along with the smoky flavour of the mushrooms.

The downside for me was that not all the potatoes were cooked enough to my liking so I just ate the smaller ones that seemed to be more well done. I don’t like crunchy potatoes; beans yes, potatoes no. And what nearly spoiled the whole thing for me was the high sodium content of my meal. Now I know I’m salt sensitive but only when it’s in excess. Most people like my husband don’t always notice, so I’m always appreciative of having a salt shaker on the table so people can add more if they like, unfortunately you can’t take it away.  I suspect the veal sauce was probably very salty. Had other flavours not come through on their own especially the beans I would have asked for another meal  but instead I just asked for a large glass of water.  I finished the chicken but the sauce was on everything so not too easy to avoid.

Dear hubby always the less adventurous ordered a steak for his main meal, the 7 oz certified angus striploin with the pernod peppercorn demi-glace. He said the sauce was very peppery too but he found it tasty I also noticed there wasn’t as much on his meal as on mine. He also enjoyed his lightly grilled thin asparagus and the baked potato. He said he enjoyed his meal but I noticed his glass of water was nearly gone too.

We passed on dessert as I had a very special angel food cake waiting for me later but I did indulge in a coffee. It was the simplest pleasure of a nice dark roast with good flavour and served very hot.

The service was excellent, the server and her co-workers ensured we were never without water and checked politely when we didn’t have mouthful’s of food about our comfort and needs. Good judgment on their part to wait until the guests are finished eating to ask questions.

The final tab was under $90 and with only two beers that wasn’t too bad.

Pros:

• Excellent food choices
• Excellent service
• Value for the meal

Cons:

• Too much salt (note to self to watch for meat based sauces)
• Under done potatoes
• Noise level no different than a bar

I’d go back again and have something different without a sauce.

3/5

Menu: www.cactusclubcafe.com/menus

Location: 1946-8882 170th Street NW Tel. 780.489.1002

Okay, so birthday gift…mine…headed off to the above mentioned restaurant for birthday dinner. Being a Monday, the streets downtown were quiet and for the most part, pretty easy to navigate just before our 6:30 PM reservations. In fact we got there just a tad early.

I’d read a bit about the history of the building wondering why the name “hardware” and as chance would have it I do remember hearing that it used to be a W.W. Arcade Hardware store during some obscure conversation about old Edmonton buildings so I was curious to see what had become of this building. Truth to tell, the other reason for the choice was they were open Mondays.

We were seated in a corner by the front window facing Jasper Avenue. Far enough away from other diners for most of the evening to make it pretty secluded. We were asked for our first drink orders and provided with a small basket of bread slices with butter.

First up a few aperitifs; my partner had a beer of some sort while I enjoyed a very nice martini done the usual way: gin, vermouth and three large olives. I won’t go into the wine menu, because for one thing I’m about as good at being a wine connoisseur as I would be performing my own appendectomy so trust the waiter’s to make suggestions for our meal choices.

For appetizers, I ordered Bacon Wrapped Atlantic Scallops, atop an English Pea Ravioli, delicately surrounded by a Sweet Onion and Red Wine Reduction, and Tomato Marmalade while my partner had the “Bison Carpaccio, Chèvre Noir, Truffled-Potato Salad, I assume made with, Cold Pressed Canola Oil.

For the main meal, we both had Alberta Beef Tenderloin, with Smoked Mashed Potatoes, Baby Beets, Carrots, Short Rib “Yorkie” and Horseradish Crème Fraiche, done to the chef’s desire.

For the dinner wine, we splurged and ordered a bottle of Masi Campofiorin. According to the bottle, it was made with an odd grape called corvina it also goes through a second fermentation with adds grapes that have been partially dried, it was a very enjoyable red wine and well suited to our meals. A wine I would highly recommend with similar foods.

In today’s current recession dollars the wine and the aperitifs are a treat in a restaurant now. In future I will refrain from ordering alcohol from restaurants as the 200% markup is really beginning to bother me. Why order a $10 glass of wine or a $50 bottle of wine when you can get it in the liquor store for less than $20? Makes no sense and this year this will be the first thing I drop from my dining experiences. Really its ridiculous,  there’s no added value to a bottle of easily found wine compared to say the food preparation and service which is usually second to none and is also why we choose these places.

Anyway I digress…this seems to be an industry standard.

Our first meals were presented in deep bowled plates sort of a like a large flat bowl but with very wide edges…very appealing. My scallops were exquisite they melted in my mouth and the bacon was not too overwhelming for my tastes. The ravioli was laid on the bottom which served to present a means of eating both a scallop along with some of the reductions. I was in heaven. While I was savouring each bite and eating as slowly as I could my partner was enjoying the bison and he remarked later that it too was very tasty.

Our main dinners came shortly after and of course presentation for each plate was identical and very pleasing. The potatoes served as a base for the tenderloin topped by the “Yorkie” perched slightly to one side of the meat and the vegetables surrounding the bottom of plate with the horseradish crème fraiche off to one side. The vegetables were exquisite as I enjoyed the delicate beets and carrots and in among them were a few pearled onions as well. The little yorkie was a gem of flavour filled with what I assume was the  shredded beef short rib and some sort of tasty binding ingredient.

Although the tenderloin is usually the tenderest cut of beef, much to my dismay I found my cut to be slightly tough in spots and it got cold very quickly. Now perhaps this was a method of cooking where the outside is grilled with high heat very quickly while the inside remains tender but I found myself chewing just a tad longer every so often. The other slight disappointment was the potatoes. Now don’t get me wrong I love potatoes done six ways from Sunday and I also enjoy the smoky flavours of a lot of different foods, but I found the potatoes to be very overpowering on some of my bites to a point where I deliberately ensured I no longer had any of them on my fork.

The two meals and bread were too much for us and we were unable to complete our main courses even in spite of eating as slowly as we could but to avoid our food from getting cold. Perhaps we should have gone light on one and heavy on the other. In any case we had no room to indulge in dessert which is too bad as the dessert menu looked as delightful as the dinner one had.

We had two coffees to finish the meal instead.

Total cost including tip $230

Rating: 4/5

Menu: www.hardwaregrill.com/pdffiles/DinnerMenu1.pdf

Location: 9698 Jasper Avenue Tel. 780.423.0969