Cafe Coral de Cuba

Abso-freaking-loutely the coldest weather I have experienced thus far. -17F, cloudy, windy. There are a few buses that service Whyte Ave all the way up to University: 94, 4, 7, 128, and a few others I’m sure I forgot…. Main story is that I missed all of them and then decided to walk a few blocks to my favorite Cuban place in Edmonton.

Cafe Coral de Cuba is a small, modernized Cuban cafe that serves up some great traditional style sandwiches, red beans and rice, huge empanadas, all for a decent price. Classic hot dishes like Ropas Viejas, Pollo asado, Costillitas de cuba (pork ribs, Cuban style) make this place a nice stop for dinner. And of course you can’t review a Cuban cafe without addressing the Cafe…. Served piping hot espresso, with all the classic characteristics of the old country: dark and syrupy like motor oil, bold, with enough caffeine to put a hop in your step, and your ass in the John, and of course, WAY too much sugar. Hey, it ain’t Cuban espresso if your teeth don’t fall out.

As for the food, I’ve never been disappointed. Today I went with my go-to sandwich, the Sandwich Cubano: Thick slices of pork tenderloin, ham, swiss cheese, an Emril Lagasse_gut busting amount of minced garlic, and mustard on a flaky, buttered and toasted roll. For $8, I can’t find a better sandwich in town… yet.

Bonus: Saturday nights: FiestaCuba: Some serious salsa dancing going on in the Cafe. Check it out!

Grade: A-

Nice place to go on a date, for a strong cup of Joe, or something a little more to ward off the cold!

Bigvinnysd

10816 82 Ave
Edmonton, AB

The Bothy

Inaugural post for Bigvinny’s Foodmonton Blog!

I was invited by some faculty to attend the third annual Edmonton Whisky Festival, which is being held at the Sutton Place Hotel in Downtown Edmonton. Tickets were being sold at a few bars around town, so I decided to go to one of the bars in person to check out the local scene as well as buy my ticket.

Enter: The Bothy. A small bar located in a sort-of strip mall across from the Mazda dealership on Calgary Trail. If you blink, you’ll miss it, as I did, and end up all the way past Whitemud. I didn’t plan on staying for a drink, as it was 2pm in the afternoon, and even though it’s winter in the far north, drinking when it’s light out feels skeezy.

I walk in, and I’m the only one in the bar. I ask the very cute bartendress, Georgia, if there are any tickets left to the event next week. Unfortunately they had sold out. After a quick phone call it turns out the boss was swinging by to drop off some more tickets. She charms me and offers to pour me a drink while I wait. Temptress. Very young, but very knowledgeable about Scotch and Wine, fun conversationalist, and quite cute! The conversation was interrupted by a phone call from my girlfriend, (a welcome interruption, of course).

A very decent selection, including some of the more rare stuff in the scotch world. Of course they offered Black Bowmore 31 at ~$260 a shot. I was in the mood for a Bowmore but not at that price, ended up choosing Bowmore 17, reasonably priced at $11.

As for the Scotch, very nice. She poured me a 1oz shot, (standard in Canada vs 1.5 in the USA), in a very cool Glencairn tulip glass etched with the Glenrothes standard insignia. It nosed with the very classic Bowmore dried fruit, subtle peat, with a tiny bit of sherry. Initial tasting, no burn, a little bit of oak that slowly develops into that great islay smoke into the after taste. Splash of water revealed a tiny hint of orange, and surprisingly brought out the sherry. A real winner.

The tickets were taking longer than usual, so I ordered something off the menu. I wasn’t expecting anything mind blowing, but I was very pleasantly surprised by a very nice Lorne sausage sandwich ($14) with 3 y.o. aged white cheddar, on a crusty French baguette, with house made hot mustard, paired with tomato soup with big chunks of Canadian back bacon and finished with heavy cream ($4).

Tickets finally came, and at $75 bucks a pop, certainly looking forward to the event and tasting all of the local offerings.

Overall, one of my new favorite bars in Edmonton. Very classy place, great ambiance, knowledgeable staff and great service, not to mention a wonderful selection of wine and scotch. Oh, and they have a great wine machine that pumps Argon into open bottles so they last over a month! Very cool.

A 5 star establishment! Check it out!

5482 CALGARY TRAIL – EDMONTON, ALBERTA T6H 4J8 – PH. 780.761.1761

http://thebothy.ca/

Updated: 23 March 2012:

Ok, went again. Confirmed- this place is delicious!

Blondie, and Bowmore Octomore

Italian style sub

French Onion Soup

Grade A+