Coffee was procured at Midpoint Coffeehouse, a great local place with excellent coffee. Although I will admit that the Harbour Fog and Bombay Fog did catch my attention, we stuck with our tried and true. After coffees, which as usual for us on holiday is a latte for Sarah and a cappuccino for Mark, we did a little more exploring of downtown, this time in the daylight. Specifically we made our way back to the Old Triangle to get some pictures of the exterior, it was snowing quite a bit when we left there yesterday and we couldn't take shots then. We then headed up, literally, Prince St, to a restaurant we had spotted while we were 'lost' yesterday, The Wooden Monkey. We settled in to a cozy table at this 'restaurant with a conscience', all the food is sustainable/local, no microwave or deep-fryer and the entirety of the menu is extremely Vegan and Gluten friendly. We decided to try a local vineyard, Jost, with our lunch. The Leon Millot has a nice blend of berries and a bit of dryness, as opposed to the taste of their Cabernet Foch which was a basketful of berries. The appetizer of bacon-wrapped scallops was too much to turn down, and it turns out Propeller brews more than alcoholic beer, they do a fine job of root beer. Turning that into a reduction for scallops, as a random example, is an excellent idea. One must try fish and chips in the Maritimes ... oh, wait, no deep-fryer, no gluten ... fish and 'roasties' it is! This spin on traditional pub fare has the fish coated in gluten-free breadcrumbs, we presume they baked the fish, and the 'fries' are oven-roasted and spiced with salt/pepper, paprika and basil, yummy. Their home-made tarter sauce has dulse in it and took the fish from, "yeah, that's good," to "OMg!!!"
We spent a few hours poking around the downtown core and checking out a few of the shops. Since the air was decidedly hurting our faces (Alberta has nothing on the humid cold here) we took in a film. Into the Woods is a fascinating film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Great casting and some very profound thoughts, "wishes come true, not free". More importantly, it killed time until we were ready to eat again. We'd initially planned on Your Father's Moustache, do you have to ask why? But, their wait-list meant we would look for other fare. Just a half-a-block down was La Frasca Cibi & Vini, a very cozy Italian spot, with dark wood tables and fabulous fixtures with tree branches in them. We tried a red blend from South Africa, Inception 2011, involving a mix of Petit Verdot, Syrah, and Mouvedre grapes. Mark poked at me for picking wines with black licorice flavours (I do not enjoy black licorice/anise/fennel, usually) when, in fact, it's a "seductive sprinkling of spice," .... duh ...
We began the food portion with flash-fried artichokes, asparagus, and Vidalia onions with charred lemon aioli. It was a slight surprise in that the veggies were lightly battered, but all delicious. The artichoke especially worked with the spicing and aioli, it made the pepper and lemon say, "here I am, look at me, looooova me!" (Luigi, Pixar's Cars) Our main course, partially on our server's recommendation, was the Tuna Tagliata: seared rare with roast veggies (beets, carrots, and green beans) and black risotto. How does one make black risotto, you ask? Great question, we asked it, too. They told us, we're not going to tell you, you have to go and ask them yourself (maybe we'll tell you in person, if the bribe is appropriate). I don't know what else to say about this dish except, amazing ... just amazing. The wine was a wonderful pairing with this dish, it brought out the spicing on the tuna very well. We actually had the stomach space to indulge in dessert tonight, and when Crème Brulee is on the menu then the choice makes itself. Laced with amaretto and accompanied with a piece of almond 'brittle' it was the perfect end to a delightful meal.
Coming back to the title of this post (Kuzco, Disney's The Emperor's New Groove), we shared all the courses of our meals today. No leftovers!