Dine About Winnipeg 2015 - Amici

The recent spree of fine dining has been taking its toll on my wallet (and waistline). Stepping on the scale this morning revealed a modest weight gain, but a gain nonetheless. It was to be expected with the majority of high end restaurants disproportionately high on butter and low on vegetables. Nevertheless, when one of our co-residents wanted to celebrate their birthday, we had to go somewhere fancy. Their dining place of choice, Amici.

Amici is an interesting restaurant. Just off of Broadway street, Amici shares a location with its sister restaurant, Bombilini, with a shared kitchen and bathroom. Serving similar dishes, Amici is designed to be the fine dining fancy ballroom while Bombilini's has a modern lounge feel to it. It certainly does have an air of sophistication with handsomely dressed busboys, knowledgeable wait staff and elegant decor.

The menu of choice today was Dine About Winnipeg. Amici seems to the perfect type of restaurant for Dine About, as the main menu is rather prohibitively priced and although they tout fine ingredients and exquisite preparation, there needs to be some persuasion to attract diners. Amici serves modern Italian cuisine and offers a variety of classic and exciting Italian dishes.

I decided to order a Carpaccio off the main menu to start for the entire group. The service staff thoughtfully divided the dish into halves so the whole table would be able to have a bite. Razer thin slices of beef are topped with garlic, lime and lemon and served with pickled onions and toasted bread. I enjoyed the mix of flavours in the carpaccio and thought the citrus added much needed sweetness and tartness to the beef.

The starters included a Mussels, Tequila Lime Pepper Cream Sauce. A handsomely presented dish with a boatload of mussels in a pepper cream sauce. The shellfish were prepared well but was overpowered by the cream sauce. The peppers added a nice touch of colour to the dish but overall I felt the emphasis was too much on the sauce and less on the mussels.

The other starter was Mixed Gourmet Greens served with mandarin oranges and almond crusted goat cheese. The deep fried cheese balls were the best part of the dish which added a sharpness and smoothness and elevated this past just a regular salad.

The main of choice was the New York Striploin Della Nonna. A large striploin cooked to your liking and topped with potatoes, mushrooms and bacon all wrapped together by a beef (?veal) sauce. This was marvelous. The generous portion of beef matched well with the starch and the fatty bacon, but it was the deep, full bodied and rich sauce that brought the entire dish together.

For my main I had the Arctic Char wrapped in Smoked Salmon. Served on the side with a red onion salad, this dish was simply average. The moderate portion of char was well cooked, but I did not enjoy the pairing with smoked salmon. The salmon while texturally a bit firmer and more flavourful seemed to overpower the char. Finally, the onion salad was a nice citrus-y fresh addition to the dish.

Side Vegetables (Brocollinin, roasted yams and beets) were served with every main course. I appreciate Amici for adding some vegetables to the dishes but thought it was smart to serve them on the side. Doing this allows you to showcase the main as a self contained dish without confusing the diner with additional vegetables. They themselves were nicely roasted and went especially well with the sauce in the striploin.

Espresso and Chocolate Panna Cotta was the dessert for everyone. A hint of espresso was present in the soft and smooth panna cotta. Topped with cream, chocolate shavings and strawberries this was a great way to finish a meal.

Overall Amici provided good Italian food. I was impressed by the decor and excellent service staff and feel they have the food to back up their claim of being fine dining. Although the prices on the normal menu are higher, the Dine About menu offered great value for the quality of the food. Amici is certainly an option for anyone looking for a classy night out.

Dine About Winnipeg 2015 - Resto Gare

French cuisine is one of the oldest and most influential of modern food. During my youth I spent a lot of time watching the Food Network. During the weeknights there would be a syndicated Japanese cooking show called Iron Chef. It featured one (of three) iron chefs who would take on a challenger in a 60 minute cooking showdown with a featured/theme ingredient. One of my favourite Iron Chefs was Hiroyuki Sakai, known for his French cuisine. I was always impressed by the beauty and simplicity of his dishes while drooled over the depth of flavour he would be able to create. Thus one of my missions has been to find great French food in Winnipeg and when Dine About featured Resto Gare, I knew we had to go.

Located in historic St. Boniface, Resto Gare attained notoriety both through its menu, touting traditional French cuisine, and through the retrofitted train car that is used as one of the dining rooms. Exuding class and elegance, Gare attempts to take diners back when traveling by rail was commonplace.

Look at gorgeous it looks! Plush seating, bright lighting, solid oak tables and classy wait staff all make up the olden day rail cart experience. It was obvious that Resto Gare took great care into the details and making sure that all aspects of the service were taken care of. It is refreshing to find a restaurant focus so much on the overall dining experience for its customers!

For Dine About 2015, Resto Gare created a $28 or $38 menu featuring traditional French ingredients and dishes. Peeking at the main menu revealed an even larger range of offerings available. Ranging from the famous Onion Soup to Frog Legs as the starters, to Duck Confit as the main and the classic Creme Brulee to finish, the main menu really shows how pervasive French culture and food have become in everyday Western cuisine. Nevertheless, as we were there during Dine About, we opted for the following dishes!

Dining as a quartet that night we opted for a nice bottle of wine. A recommendation from the house, the Armas de Guerra Mencia was a bold flavoured red wine with a hint of fruitiness. A strong and stiff drink by itself but a welcomed accompaniment to the forthcoming meal.

Resto Gare provides complimentary soft crusty Bread with a balsamic and olive oil dressing. The sharp and sweet vinegar matches well with the smooth oil here and works to whet your appetite for the forthcoming meal.

Traditional French Onion Soup was the appetizer of choice for all of us. The classic was well prepared here! The beef broth, accentuated by onions and wine flavours, was strong and full bodied. The soup itself was topped with a load of tender bread and melted cheese. Overall small in size but enormous in flavour!

I had the Coq Au Vin. Chicken braised in wine, root vegetables and mushrooms. Thoughtfully prepared, the half chicken was expertly cooked with a crispy skin on the outside and tender meat on the inside. The accompanying root vegetables and mushrooms in their gravy added a luxurious component to the chicken. Finally the mashed potatoes provided starch to balance out the savoury components.

Two of my fellow co-residents had the Boeuf Pot Au Feu. Brisket, winter root vegetables in a veal broth, this was equally well done. The brisket, a moderate portion, was exquisitely tender and matched well with the light and refreshing veal broth. Here I thought the vegetables and potatoes added little to the dish and could have been cooked a tad more to infuse the richness of the protein and the sauce.

Finally a co-resident had the Melange Fruits De Mer Etouffe. Mixed seafood, rice and vegetables in a Creole stew, this dish was a disappointment. The seafood consisted of bland shrimp, tasteless muscles and rubbery (from frozen) fish. The chef does a good job with the creole sauce and infuses all the flavours into the rice, but I have to be discontented with the poor protein offering here.

Two of us had the Banana Fosters Cream Pie. Accompanied with an toasted almond meringe, this was a light and fun finish to the meal. The tart pie was well paired with the almond meringe and finished off with a bit of caramel.

Fried Chocolate Bread Pudding was the dessert of choice for the other two. The bread pudding had a nice contrast in the crispy outer layer with the ooey-gooey moist chocolate centre. It was accompanied with a creme anglaise which added needed creaminess and smoothness to the luxurious chocolate.

Overall Resto Gare is a strong showcase of traditional French cuisine in Winnipeg. I have to commend them on their focus on detail and making sure the customer is taken care of from beginning to end of the meal. The food, poor seafood aside, was overall good and resembles a best-of list of classic French dishes. Therefore Resto Gare has to be a recommendation for anyone wanting to try French cuisine; make sure to sit in the rail car to complete the experience!

Dine About Winnipeg 2015 - Hermano's

Dine About Winnipeg started at the beginning of February. It consists of a number of host restaurants offering $18, $28, and $38 menus in an attempt to promote diners to "dine about". I appreciate it when restaurants take the time and effort to craft a menu for these events. I love it even more when they are some of the more popular Winnipeg eateries. As was the case for Hermano's. Billed as a celebration of Latin American culture and food, Hermano's is consistently one of the most talked about restaurants in town with diners praising its mixture of unique Latin American dishes to the festive atmosphere that is conducive to both a romantic night out and for a drink with friends. With reviews like that I knew I had to check it out, so let's dine about!

Hermano's is located in the heart of the Exchange district on Bannatyne avenue. As with the majority of the buildings in this area of town, the restaurant is housed in a re-purposed brick foundation. I liked the olden feel of the eatery and thought it brought a sense of class and elegance.

Most restaurants tend to feature three courses on their Dine About menus. Hermano's is no different and offers a choice of appetizer, main and dessert. I was impressed by the dishes, especially when compared to the regular menu, as they offer choice for a good value. Excellent!

Dining with a co-resident this particular night, we decided to start with a Red Sangria. This was delicious! The Sangria came light and chalk full of fresh strawberries and blackberries. The wine added a hint of sourness to the freshness of the berries. In the end, Hermano's Sangria is a delicious drink akin to juice rather than alcohol. On days of poorer restraint I would have ordered lots more!

I started off with the Grilled Queijo de Coalho (Cheese Skewers). Two large skewers of mozzarella were lightly seared and paired with a tomato sauce and a housemade chutney. The  standout here was the chutney with a mixture of fresh fruits and preserves, it lent a sweet and savoury component to the soft and smooth cheese.

Camarones al Pil-pil consists of shrimp and garlic served ala confit with grilled bread. The shrimp and soft garlic were incredibly tender in the confit. The greasiness of the dish was cut through by the addition of lime and coalesced together on the grilled bread.

Sudado de Pollo is a chicken stew served with rice and potatoes. The stew consists of chicken breast, tomatoes, red peppers and onions in a tomato base. Overall this was average: the tartness of the tomatoes overtook the dish and made it monotonous. The rice and potatoes, while adding a well needed starch component, were bland and did not contrast the sauce well. Finally I applaud them for the tasty chicken but again the flavour was lost in the sauce.

Carne Asada with Chimichurri al Merquen was the other main we had. Grilled top sirloin medium rare with a grilled vegetable skewer and served with a housemade chimichurri. This was excellent. The steak, grilled perfectly, was tender, moist and succulent and was the perfect pairing with the smooth, spicy, and salty chimicchuri. Furthermore the vegetables were nicely done and had a hint of smokiness.

Bread Pudding was my dessert of choice. Served with a caramel dulce de leche sauce, the bread pudding had the right amount of moisture and flavour. The density of the bread pudding was contrasted well with the sweet and savoury caramel sauce. Although a bit heavy to end a three course meal with, I appreciated the large portion and well thought out flavours here.

My dining companion had the Affogato. At the base was a vanilla gelato mixed with a shot of expresso and finished with a handmade biscotti. The dish was light and refreshing and resembles a coffee one would finish a meal with. The biscotti soaked up the affogato well and became a deliciously moist.

Overall Hermano's proved why it is one of the more popular restaurants in Winnipeg. Delivering solid unique cuisine I was impressed by the classy decor, the well thought out dishes and delectable drinks (hic, Sangria). Although there were some misses in the meal I have to commend them on a Dine About menu that showcases their restaurant and cuisine well. I will definitely be returning.