Cafe Carlo
Cafe Carlo was one of the very first restaurants of its kind in Winnipeg (established in 1989) and I am happy to say that I was a fan of the “rummage sale chic” cafe way back then and I am still a fan today. For the restaurant creators (and for me) it is not about the decor, it is all about the food and this neighbourhood cafe delivers!
On this day we made a late reservation for lunch and arrived as most of the other lunch patrons had departed. This gave us an opportunity to choose a window seat and get caught up before ordering. My lunch date on this day was the Mom to one of Winnipeg’s top Chefs, so we took a while to decide on the most taste-optimum dishes. While deciding, we sampled the bread and butter which set the stage for the rest of our lunch. The butter had been pureed with caramelized onion, bacon and sour cream!
In the end we shared a couple of contrasting plates. She encouraged me to sample the Fish Tacos where house made taco shells (the crunchy variety) were overflowing with greens, crispy tilapia and chipotle tartar sauce. Tastes were light and fresh and reminded me of Caribbean vacations.
On the other hand, the Butternut Squash & Ricotta Ravioli was anything but light and we loved it! Little square pockets of premise-made pasta luxuriated in a sage and hazelnut brown butter. Tendrils of freshly grated parmesan adorned the top. The tastes were deep, rich and earthy and “oh my goodness”, I will crave that taste until my next visit.
I was so satiated by lunch that all I could manage for dinner was a cup of soup.
Kath’s quotes: “One of the delights of life is eating with friends, second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.”-Laurie Colwin
Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.