Bistro Dansk--Saturday, November 22, 2008

A friend and I decided to have lunch Saturday before seeing a movie, so I did a search for Winnipeg restaurants open for Saturday lunch and caught Marion Warhaft's recent re-review of Bistro Dansk. It's a restaurant I'd wanted to try since moving to Winnipeg--what is Danish food like, anyway?--and I love how that stretch of Sherbrook is becoming a little bit hip. My friend agreed to try, and we met up at 11:30 a.m.

The dining area is cozy and charming with a certain alpine vibe. There were lots of sugar packets on the table, and a small pitcher of cream was brought with my coffee.

The menu is by and large composed of "heavier" dishes, both in portion size and cooking methods. There was a crab salad listed that piqued my interest, but in the end, it was cold outside, and I decided on chicken schnitzel. I always think of schnitzel as German, and many of the other dishes on the menu struck me as being Germany-y as well, with the exception maybe of borscht.

First we were given a loaf of house-made white bread. Its taste and appearance was close to french bread, but it was richer and butterier and had a denser texture than standard french bread. This was served with some nice pats of butter, and I'm embarassed to tell you that between us we pretty much ate the whole delicious loaf.

My friend ordered the open-face roast beef with a curry mayo type sauce. She didn't seem to make much of a dent in it, but said it was good. My schnitzel was perfectly fried and amazingly crunchy, two massive cutlets, and I had it with the sweet and sour cabbage instead of potato salad. The cabbage was very good, with lots of bacon chunks. I'm happy to say I did not eat it all, although I probably could have; it was so good it was hard to stop. We both took leftovers home, and I also secured another loaf of that bread. Sadly, there was no room for hazelnut pie or lemon souffle.

The restaurant got suprisingly full while we were there, and as a result, it took some time to get our bill paid. It was about $30 before tip, with beverages. Our server was pleasant and friendly. Sherbrook was busy that morning and parking was suprisingly difficult.

Crumbs.. Winnipeg, Manitoba

To start off the Crumbs.. blog, it seems right to talk about my favorite crackers available at Superstore, the 200g Entertaining Buttercrisp Premier Ritz Collection by Christie. It's a lot of name, but they're very simple, good, buttery crackers. I have found that regular Ritz crackers either don't taste as good as they used to, or maybe it's just Canadian Ritz crackers that don't do it for me. Regardless, Premier Ritz Buttercrisps are the way to go if you're looking for something light and elegant at Superstore to serve with cheese or keep at work for emergency nosh.