My lunch date on this day, lives is the west Winnipeg neighbourhood of Assiniboia and even though there would have been lots of great restaurants to choose from in her community, I suggested that we turn west on Portage Ave and head to Headingley (no pun intended). Within moments, we were settled in at the Roardhouse Eatery. A roadhouse is typically built on a major highway or trunk road to serve travelers to or through the area. With the Roadhouse Eatery being right smack on the Trans-Canada Highway, it is appropriately named.

Our pick of table included beautiful antique looking farm chairs. Right off the bat I had a hunch that we would be enjoying stick- to- your- ribs fare.  The extensive menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches, chicken, burgers and fish & chips, but also pasta, pickerel and the biggest surprise of all-Indian dishes.

When faced with the decision of what to sample, we opted to share the Wild Berry Salad, Butter Chicken and homemade fries. My friend who hails from England indicated that Brits often order some fries along with the rice that would accompany a curried dish. If she were back home, it would be dubbed “half and half”.

Always my first taste, the fries were great and piping hot, but had perhaps not been double-fried the way I enjoy them best.   The Wild Berry Salad was not able to live up to its name since it is not wild berry season in the middle of winter. The salad lacked the declared strawberries, raspberry and pecans but the grapes, oranges, apples and frozen blueberries were still tasty enough.

The star of the show was the Butter Chicken served with buttery Naan bread and Pilau rice made from basmati, peas, carrots and orange zest.  Hearty pieces of both light and dark meat had been prepared in a spicy tomato sauce. This version was shy on the yoghurt that I include in my own recipe but was deeply satisfying when ladled over the delicate rice. Was it the best Butter Chicken I had ever tasted? Perhaps not, but it was the best Butter Chicken I had ever eaten at a Roadhouse!

Kath’s quote: “There is nothing yet which has been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.” –Samuel Johnson

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

If you have been wondering how you are going to get through the next long stretch of winter in Winnipeg, the folks at the RBC Convention Centre can help you out. The ever expanding convention centre is once again presenting Mardi Gras on February 13^th & 14^th, 2015.

At the Mardi Gras preview held recently, we sampled Peel and Eat Shrimp, fabulously Freshly Shucked Oysters, Pulled Pork Poh Boys, Deep-Fried Pickles and French Quarter Gumbo-all terrific.

There are two new and fantastic menu items this year. The Louisiana Style Shrimp with Pasta is an assembly of gulf shrimp prepared “Etouffee” (meaning smothered) style in a spicy Creole blend with lots of garlic, a rich stock and a gumbo style roux. Also new was the Chicken and Andouille Creole on Blacked Eye Pea Rice Pilaf. Both were satisfyingly hearty with complex tastes.

Bourbon Street Jambalaya has made a return visit. The chefs at the Convention Centre make their version chocked full of shrimp, chorizo sausage, blackened chicken, tomatoes, bell peppers, rice and okra.

My favourite of the evening was yet to come. The Basin St. Bread Pudding with raisins and bananas was appropriately laced with a Bourbon Caramel Sauce.

Tickets for Mardi Gras 2015 are available at Ticketmaster.ca .  Besides the authentic cuisine, entertainment is provided all night long by Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. New for 2015 is the Living Statue- “The Plasterman” from Vancouver and The Lindsays, direct from Alberta, who are predicted to thrill audiences with their circus-like abilities which include sword swallowing. Winnipeg’s Undeadnewlyweds will risk life and limb when they perform machete juggling…blindfolded!

Mardi Gras 2015 promises many authentic dishes and terrific entertainment to get you off of that couch and out of the house.

Kath’s quote: “When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting.”-Saint Jerome (347-420)

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

Winnipeg is getting quite a name for itself and I am NOT referring to a recent McLean’s article. The Toronto Star and the New York Times cite our fair city as the coolest place to dine.  They are referring to Raw Almond, the pop-up restaurant which appears each year on the frozen river at the Forks.

We arrived at The Forks just as the sun was setting on the city.

Our first peak inside.

The diners for the evening accumulated outside and provided us all with an opportunity to view the “pop up”.  If you intend to go next year, as this year’s dinner sittings are completely sold out- check the forecast. The evening we dined, was a balmy one and we were absolutely toasty inside the fascinating architectural “tent”. In fact, one person at our table who was seated right in front of a warm air vent was sleeveless!

Three communal tables are hosted by three local chefs each evening.  Chef Mitchell of Deseo’s Bistro was the artiste for Table #3 where we sat.

We began with a Foie Gras torchon which melted in our mouths like the creamiest butter.

Next up was a mini steamed bun that contained an escalope of fried chicken enhanced by an oyster mayonnaise and caviar.

Beef tartare was served with cardamom yoghurt and warm Ethiopian injera. Each course provided a whole spectrum of flavours concocted by our brilliant young chef. Fellow diners must have been thinking, how is he going to top this course? And then he would.

Crispy veal sweetbreads and Albacore tuna in a butter chicken sauce arrived next. We thought it impossible that we were eating fish because no piece required chewing; it simply melted on our tongues.

The beef short rib was absolutely sensational. Chef Mitchell professed to have Ukrainian roots and the entrée was his homage to both Beef & Barley Soup and Borscht. The exquisite beef came away perfectly with the tongs of a fork so that it could be speared with the barley risotto that it was perched upon and the toasted barley that it had been crowned with. The best part was swirling a forkful around in the divine borscht influenced elements of carrot puree, crème fraiche, fresh dill and jewels of pickled beet.

We were not done yet. Mitchell also confessed to a sweet tooth and treated us to his slow-cooked chocolate espresso pudding made crunchy with a sprinkling of crispy rice and toasted hazelnuts, made salty by a swirl of salted caramel sauce and made silky by a drizzling of olive oil.

The food was astonishing in itself and made more so, when you got a glimpse of the three chefs and their teams, together in the make-shift kitchen.

The other two tables were still finishing off their dessert course as we made our way back through the Forks and home.

A small group had accumulated for the middle sitting at 7:30.

Inside one of the warming huts.

Even if the food had not been top notch, the entire experience is such an adventure, prompting suburbanites like us to enjoy the heart of our city at the Forks. The pop up structure is an architectural delight as were the other warming huts that we had a chance to poke our heads into. Skaters were enjoying the balmy weather and more than once, we wondered what city we were in.

Kath’s quote: The word “enough” does not exist for water, fire and women. –Ukrainian proverb.

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.