I told you so!

Last month, my friend Dr. Yoni Freedhoff sparked a bit of controversy (and panic amongst the Dietitians of Canada exec) when he posted an entry voicing his concern over the lack of support from DC for calories on menus and a survey that was sent out to DC members on the topic with a loaded note that said, "Dietitians of Canada is concerned that there is limited evidence to support a move to posting energy content of foods on restaurant menu boards as a means of influencing consumers to make positive changes in their food selection at this point of purchase."

Dr. Freedhoff's post caught the attention of the Ottawa Citizen, who caught Lynda Corby, Director of Public Relations at DC, giving this unfortunate example of an "unintended consequence" of calorie labelling.

For example, some people might think high-energy foods are tastier.

"If a person looks at food that way," [Corby] said, "would they be more likely to make a higher-calorie choice because they think it's going to taste better?"

In my response, I agreed with Dr. Freedhoff in saying that the survey could have been worded better, but I agreed with DC in saying that there is limited evidence out there on the actual effect that calorie labelling on menus has on people's choices, and their decision to conduct a literature review - they want to have a good idea of what evidence is out there and have solid knowledge of what they're talking about before deciding whether or not they would support it. I added that DC's literature search will probably find that calorie labelling will at least be not harmful, and that they were going to support it, while stressing that it's only a small part in solving the obesity crisis and that more research is needed.

So today, I was pretty pumped (and I guess DC was too, because the email subject was "DC says 'yes' to menu labelling based on our evidence review") to find this press release in my inbox -

Toronto, ON – Does posting calories on restaurant menu boards help Canadians make healthier food choices and possibly prevent obesity? Dietitians of Canada says yes - providing nutrition information in restaurants, including calorie and nutrient content of food served, is one step that may help promote healthier choices. However, a review of the evidence on this issue by Dietitians of Canada (DC) underscores the fact that there are no simple solutions to the complex issue of obesity prevention; a variety of approaches are needed. One such solution is to ensure that settings in which food choices are made, including restaurants and fast-food establishments, support healthy eating. Longer term evaluation of these types of labelling initiatives are needed before we can say whether providing calorie and nutrient information in these settings will affect obesity rates.
“One piece of information alone, such as calories on menus, cannot change the behaviour of a whole population but it is a step towards creating an environment that makes healthier choices easier for consumers,” says Judy Sheeshka, registered dietitian and author of the evidence review titled Does Menu Labelling Make a Difference to Consumers' Choices? “At present, research studies have been conducted in simulated restaurant environments often using ‘mock’ menus designed to include foods that are typically served in fast-food restaurants. We need more research in real-life settings and in other types of restaurants such as family-style, full service chain restaurants.”
The literature shows that it may take a combination of events to motivate some people to consider changing their nutrition behaviours. In addition to nutrition labelling, other factors affecting food choices in restaurants, such as taste and price, need to be considered. The review of existing evidence points to the need to include an evaluation component as an integral element of validating this public policy measure.
Unanswered questions identified in the DC evidence review that point to the need for more research include:
* What are the impacts of menu labelling in family-style, full-service chain restaurants?
* What are the gender differences in the use of menu labelling?
* How do consumers interpret and use information on menu labels?
* How does posting calories on restaurant menus in the style mandated in jurisdictions around North America influence obesity rates?
* What is the best labelling format to grab consumers’ attention?
* What impact does mandating nutrition information on restaurant menus have on menu options?
* What, if any, are unintended negative effects of posting caloric information?

Support? Check.
Small part of solution to obesity crisis? Check.
More research needed? Check.

A copy of their evidence review is available here, and it basically boils everything down to the following practice points:

• Having nutrition information readily accessible as consumers are making their menu choices is consistent with the goal of creating healthier environments, and helping to make “healthy food choices easier”.
  
• Research has consistently shown that consumers underestimate the calories in restaurant items.
  
• Menu labelling has been shown to have a modest but positive effect on the food choices of some consumers.
  
• There is insufficient evidence to recommend which specific nutrients (in addition to calories) might be most appropriate to include on menu labels.
  
• Very little research has examined how consumers would interpret and use information on menu labels.
  
• Little attention has been given to how consumers feel about menu labelling and if there are better alternatives to printing calorie information on the menus.
  
• There is insufficient evidence to determine whether posting menu calories will cause restaurants to provide healthier options. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that when restaurants are required to post calories on menus, they offer lower-calorie or healthier options.
  
• There is insufficient evidence to determine whether there are any negative effects of posting calorie information on menus.

What I dislike about the document is it again highlights the idea that calorie labelling "may lead some people to choose the higher-calorie options" as an unintended consequence, though it does also mention the more legitimate concern that it may have some negative consequences for people who have/are recovering from eating disorders. First of all, extremely active people (though I admit there aren't many) do need to consume more calories so it's not necessarily a bad thing if someone makes a higher-calorie choice. I'm sure people who actually care about this information will know how to use it, and those who don't care are not going to base their choice on the calories. But again, the research on this is limited, so we may be laughing now, but...

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Photoless Review - Choklat Snobbery 101

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome

Yes, I know I've already posted this photo on this blog over three months ago. So sue me.
If Ray is my go-to guy for interesting meals around town, then Tiffany is my go-to girl for sweets (you may remember her from such fun times as the Sunday Tea Party at Nectar.) Ever since Choklat opened up in Inglewood, I've been trying to get us signed up for its Choklat Snobbery 101 workshop, but our schedules never meshed. Finally, when the July schedule came out in the beginning of June, I picked a Monday between Stampede and Folk Fest, bought tickets, and told her to come with me.

Before I begin, I'd just like to apologize for the lack of photos this outing. No one else was taking photos, and I'm not shameless (or Asian?) enough to be the only one snapping photos around strangers.

Anyway, in case you haven't heard the spiel already, Choklat is one of two chocolatiers in all of Canada that makes their chocolate from scratch from cocoa beans that they import themselves, while other chocolatiers buy their chocolate in bulk and melt it down to create their confections. Choklat prides itself on this extra bit of control it has over the product and the fact that their product is fresh - when you walk into the store, you'll find yourself enveloped in the tantalizing aroma of chocolate, whether it's from cocoa beans being roasted, cupcakes and brownies being baked, or chocolate being tempered. There aren't display cases upon display cases of truffles and other candies—though there's a small case of baked goods and some chocolate bars and chocolate bark off to the side—as they make their truffles are made to order - you pick the type of chocolate, the filling, and the topping and they'll make it for you on-site.

A fellow Calgary food blogger has once described Choklat's owner, Brad Churchill, as a "jack of all trades", and he is right. While warming up the crowd before the workshop started, Brad told us that he's worked as a systems analyst, providing software solutions for companies around the city, and he also owns an outdoor adventure company, where he takes people on off-road, dirt bike tours. Brad has no professional training or background in the culinary arts, and all his knowledge on chocolate comes from four years of his own research.

Brad kicked off the evening with a sample of Choklat's Orient Express drinking chocolate, which is a blend of chocolate, homogenized milk, Chinese five spice powder and sugar, topped with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. Although I'm usually a fan of spicy chocolate, It felt like the spice in this drink was grabbing me by the throat. I also found it a little too sweet for my taste, but I liked how the cool, whipped cream provided a bit of respite from the bold flavours in the drink.

The workshop is advertised as two hours, but we were there for three - for the first two hours, Brad walked us through the process of how to turn a cocoa pod into chocolate, from splitting a fresh cocoa pod so that we can see the slimy innards, to stuffing our noses into a bowlful of dried, fermented cocoa beans, to showing us his homemade "cracker and fanner" in the back along with his boxes and boxes of cocoa butter (the shop is cold - bring a sweater!), then to the precise timing needed when roasting the beans and tempering the chocolate. I was amazed at how much information was thrown at me in such a short period of time, and Brad made sure none of us got bored by peppering his talk with rants about some of his competitors and anecdotes about little tricks he used to scale down his chocolate production so that it was manageable for his small shop.

Then came the fun part - chocolate tasting! Brad makes all his dark (70%) chocolates using the same recipe - 40% cocoa beans, 30% cocoa butter, then sugar and vanilla. I was surprised to learn that the percentage labels on chocolate bars accounts for all components that come from cocoa (cocoa beans and cocoa butter, basically), so if a manufacturer is willing to use more of the expensive cocoa butter in their chocolate recipe, a 70% chocolate bar might not be as "healthy" as you think!

We started with the Ocumare, which is a pretty "safe" introduction to Choklat's chocolate as it is probably the one that tastes the closest to chocolate as we know it, but with some fruity notes. The Brazilian was much fruitier, to the point where it made me wonder whether some apricot jam had been slipped into the chocolate somehow. The Cuyagua did not have the fruitiness of the first two chocolates, but tasted to me like honey, with a bit of a raisin-y undertone. Some of the other participants noted that it tasted a little bit like tobacco, but I've never had tobacco, so I can't vouch for that. The last chocolate we tasted was the Porcelana, which is one of the rarest cocoa beans in the world. Brad described it as the "schizophrenic" chocolate, as the taste of the chocolate changes as it melts in your mouth. I couldn't taste the "red wine" and "Glosette raisins" flavours that we were instructed to watch out for, but I definitely felt the chocolate's flavour change in intensity as I rolled it around my tongue.

We were then given some Lindt 70% chocolate to compare, and the difference was apparent. The Lindt chocolate probably had a higher cocoa solid to cocoa butter ratio, so it didn't melt as easily in the mouth. The flavour could only be described as flat - while all the Choklat chocolate seemed to increase in flavour as they were being eaten, the Lindt chocolate just seemed to stay the same. It also had a bit of an acidic undertone, which may have been due to low quality beans. We were also given some of Choklat's milk chocolates to taste, which were very creamy, but the creaminess did not mute the distinct flavours of the cocoa beans.

The night ended with some wine pairings that I unfortunately did not particularly enjoy, not because they were mismatched, but because I did not particularly care for the wines that were chosen. However, I did find it interesting how the wines and chocolates changed each other flavours when they were paired together.

Many of the other participants stayed behind to buy some chocolate bars and/or baked goods for themselves at the end of the workshop, but I was all sugared out for the night. I will definitely be back to pick up some chocolate bars, or perhaps some of Choklat's more whimsical products like their brownies ($2.99), their s'mores which are completely made in-house (right down to the graham crackers and the marshmallows... $4.99), or their "potpourri" - cocoa bean shells so that you too can make your house smell like chocolate without baking brownies everyday.

Choklat
1327A 9 Ave SE
Calgary AB T2G 0T2
(403) 457-1419
The Choklat Snobbery 101 workshop is held every Monday night at 7 pm. Despite the fact that the Choklat Snobbery 101 workshop has been sold out for two months in advance for the longest time, August is NOT sold out. Sign up on their website. Remember to bring a sweater as the shop is temperature-controlled so that they can store their cocoa butter, otherwise you will be draping yourself over warm, chocolate-making machines.

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Kensington Sun & Salsa Festival

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome

Back when I used to write for one of my university's papers, the arts & entertainment editors decided to stop doing concert reviews. Their argument was, since their job often involved convincing readers to see/do/listen to (or not) some form of art or entertainment, what was the point of writing about something that their readers wouldn't get to experience?

That's the reason why I rarely review one-time events myself, so I hope you'll bear with me for blogging about the Kensington Sun & Salsa Festival that happened earlier today. In my defense, it is a reflection (to a certain extent) of the cooking prowess of the chefs at the restaurants and bars in Kensington, and you may even be surprised by some of the business owners in the area too! Plus, it's an annual event, so unlike a concert, at least we know for sure it's coming back. Judging by the amount of people who were out there, (and how hard it was to find parking!) perhaps most of you had the chance to take advantage of the nice weather and try a lot of salsas today anyway!



If you've never been to the Sun & Salsa Festival before, here's how it works - for $3 you get a bag of chips (or two for $5), which in this year's case was Old Dutch Multigrain. There aren't even enough chips in a bag to match the number of samples that you're going to get (this year there were 39 stations!), so it might be a good idea to get two right off the bat. Another strategy is to share your salsa samples with one other person so you don't end up throwing it away after just a dip or two. I did see people wandering around with their own giant bags of chips (there is a Safeway right in the middle of the festival, after all,) but the proceeds for the chip sales go to the LEAD Foundation, so though these people may have had a "good" idea, it wasn't the "right" one.

Chips in hand, you then weave through the crowds while grooving to the music from the different musicians posted along the street and try to spot the salsa stations amongst all the various vendors at the fair (it's not that hard because that's where all the lines are.) Before long, you'll fancy yourself a salsa tasting expert, or at least able to discern the differences between the different salsas, and I'm not just talking about "from a bottle" (which some vendors actually served!) versus "homemade".

Because of the different blends of vegetables and spices (most had the usual tomato, onion, cilantro base, but then some added garlic, some were a little heavy-handed on cilantro, some had corn, cucumber, beans), each salsa was a unique mix of sweet, savoury, sour and spicy. I was a little bummed that only a few competitors went the spicy route - I didn't realize that Calgarians were so averse to spice! (Or perceived to be, anyway) Of course, I wasn't asking for something that made my mouth burn, just a little kick. An early favourite for me was the Foo King hot relish, which was spicy without me having the urge to call the fire department, with a thick texture that stuck well to the chip to boot!

Oolong Tea House's Black Dragon Salsa had a smoky depth to it thanks to the addition of smoked black tea (in a mild salsa that also had sour cream, giving it a pretty salmon colour), but unfortunately it lacked the kick that I was looking for.

Some real competition came just before the 10th Street Bridge from Pita Pit, Julio's Barrio, and Sable Developments. The Pita Pit's salsa was very chunky and looked like a pile of onion in my little sampling cup, but the flavours of the different vegetables had managed to meld together and it tasted like tomato and cilantro. Julio's Barrio's salsa was pleasing to the eye with its finely chopped tomatoes and cilantro, and they did a good job balancing the veg with some lime juice and spice. Sable Developments' salsa was a pleasant surprise, as most of the non-food businesses just served salsa from a bottle and used the festival as an opportunity to sell some condos or trips to Europe. For some reason they had a bottle of hot sauce on the table, so I was a little weary at first, but then discovered that their salsa was loaded with extras like corn and beans.

At this point, I was unsure of who I would vote for as my favourite, but we still hadn't gone down Kensington Road. The Yardhouse had two muscular bartenders in baby tees serving up their green salsa, which I originally hoped was guacamole, but the green turned out to be garlic, giving their salsa that depth and distinctive garlic taste with a bit of heat (which proved to be too much for some of my friends!) Muse's cucumber and corn salsa (with jalapeno and habanero extract?) definitely stuck out because the cucumber actually added a cool freshness that offset the spiciness of the peppers in the salsa.

At the end of the day, my favourite salsa was Maurya's mango salsa, which was a little surprising because it wasn't that "ultimate" salsa that I had envisioned in my head—not too sweet, but not too salty, tons of cilantro, a spicy kick, some smoky undertones and a thick, chunky texture—but I fell for the mango salsa so hard I was picking at it even when I ran out of chips! When it came time for voting though, it turned out that Maurya wasn't even registered for the salsa tasting contest! They were just offering up some freebies while their "real" task was to sell veggie pakoras and mango lassis, among other Indian fare. So I ended up voting for Muse. ("The flavours are plenty at #20!")

An honourable mention must go out to Delicious Thai for trying to push Thai Green Curry as a salsa. While it was a delicious coconut milk-based curry that tasted of lemongrass and Thai basil, it was served warm, had no chunks and was far too watery to be a salsa. It did make me want to go try their food one day, so perhaps that's the only point they needed to get across.


Kensington Sun & Salsa Festival
Held annually in mid-July along 10 St NW and Kensington Rd (This year it was on July 19, 2009 from 11 am - 5 pm; the salsa tasting contest ended at 3 pm)
Show up early to taste more salsas and if possible, take transit, walk or bike as finding parking will be a near-impossible and stressful endeavour!

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A Different Kind of Pancake Breakfast @ Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome

The last Stampede pancake griddle has been cleaned and put away for the year, and it'll be another 365 days before we can enjoy a week and a half of free breakfasts again. How did you score? I did better than average this year—which is not saying much, considering my average is 0—and I can proudly say that I even went on a "Pancake Crawl" on Wednesday, wherein my friend and I hit three Stampede breakfasts downtown. (FYI - Fluor dropped too much money on location, and Gulf Canada Square does one of the heartiest breakfasts out there... and people know it!)

For those who are worried about going through flapjack withdrawal, there's a charming little restaurant in the SW just off of Crowchild where people can get their pancake fix. The Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus specializes in Dutch pancakes, however, so if you're craving fluffy buttermilk pancakes covered in Aunt Jemima's, then you should probably look elsewhere. But if after 10 days of Stampeding you're ready for something a little different, then you should definitely give this place a visit.

Dutch pancakes, or pannenkoeks, are basically large crepes (in this case they are 12" in diameter) that are topped with your choice of a variety of savoury and sweet toppings. If you're dining with others, the staff are more than happy to split the crepes for you (or at least provide the tools to do so), as long as you let them know beforehand. Ray, my dining companion (whom you may remember from such fun times as Han's), suggested that we order one savoury and one sweet pannenkoek and have them divided in half. The staff were also great about serving us the savoury pannenkoek first, before giving us the sweet one "for dessert".

Knowing what an indecisive person I am, Ray gave me the "challenge" of choosing what we were going to eat. The task was a little daunting, given that just amongst the savoury pannenkoeks the choices ranged from a simple onion ($6.95) to an almost-intimidating potato, onion, bacon and cheese ($11.95). The sweet pannenkoeks were priced similarly, but was a bit of an easier decision to make as I eliminated all the choices that had whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or ice cream (Helloooo, we're talking about breakfast here!), which was a bit of a pity because the "feature of the month" was fresh strawberries, but you couldn't get them alone.


For our savoury pannenkoek, I settled on the potato, onion and cheese ($9.95) as I do have a soft spot for potato pancakes and was wondering what a Dutch take on them would be like. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the potatoes and onion had been integrated right into the crepe and that instead of being covered in gooey, melted cheese, there was only a thin, crisp layer of it at the top. So although the crepe itself was very filling, it tasted very light, especially with little dabs of cold sour cream.


For presentation purposes, our sweet pannenkoek, warm saskatoon berries ($7.95), was served whole, but with a spatula so we could dole out our own portions. I chose saskatoon berries because I'd never had them (though I've had them in pies and as juice), and was hoping this would bring me a little closer to the real thing. The topping was like a pie filling, with the warmed saskatoon berries swimming in a syrup created from their own juices and was surprisingly sweet. I've heard that their taste is usually described as a cross between a blueberry and a blackberry, so I was hoping that there would've been just a bit more tartness.


Still, I enjoyed the pannenkoek very much and liked how unmessy it was to eat, despite the fact that unlike the savory pannekoek, the berries were not integrated into the batter itself. Of course, because it was already so sweet, there was no need for any stroop, the Dutch syrup that is available at each table.

The restaurant looks like a hole-in-the-wall inside and out, and the friendly staff help maintain the family-run atmosphere. Despite its appearance, it is quite well-known around the city and if you go on the weekend around brunch time, you should expect a long wait that often goes out the door. Ray and I went about an hour after it opened on a Friday and the place was still packed (though there was no wait), but it might've been because it was the weekend before Canada Day and many people had the Friday off. Wait or no wait, Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus is well worth the visit, what with its great service and wide selection (including vegetarian options!) of awesome food.

Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus
2439 54 Ave SW
Calgary AB T3E 1M4
(403) 243-7757
Open Wed-Fri 10 AM-8 PM; Sat 8 AM-8PM, Sun 8AM-3PM. Closed Mon & Tues. Expect a long wait on weekends.

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Margarita Cupcheesecakes

It was my friend Adam's birthday on Sunday, and every year for the past five years, he's celebrated with a "MargaritaQ". Burgers are grilled, bowls of different flavoured chips are scattered about the apartment for nibbling, and Adam whips up batches of margaritas in his blender. Although I could only stay for a couple hours at this year's MargaritaQ, I had a lot of fun chatting with some old friends and meeting some new ones. (Thanks again, Adam!)

Adam was instrumental in the naming of the "cupcheesecake". The first time I brought them to the Trib office, I decided that calling them "cheesecake cupcakes" would be too much of a mouthful. So I alternated between calling them "cupcheesecakes" and "cheesecupcakes". "Cheesecupcakes sound like cupcakes with a slab of cheese on top," Adam wisely advised me. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now I know cupcheesecakes have made an appearance on this blog before, and they've also made an appearance at a past MargaritaQ (I'm not very creative with my gift-giving sometimes), so I wanted to make cupcheesecakes with a twist. Seeing as how my cupcheesecake recipe already uses lemon zest and juice, I thought, "What if I replaced the lemon with lime? And what if I added TEQUILA?" And thus, the Margarita Cupcheesecake was born.



To be honest, I haven't made cupcheesecakes in a while and I was a little nervous. Opening the original recipe, I found that it just asked to grease the muffin tin instead of using cupcake liners. "Oh no, I thought. Did the cupcheesecakes fall apart last time after I took them out of the liners? I don't remember..." Fortunately, these ones were pretty good about holding their shape and even if they didn't, I'd much rather deal with cheesecakes falling apart in my hand than falling apart trying to remove them from the pan.

The cupcheesecakes came together pretty quickly, thanks to the fact that I was good about making sure the cream cheese was softened - I left it on the counter for just over an hour, then opened the packages up, broke them in half over the bowl, and zapped it in the microwave for 15 seconds for good measure. Then all the other ingredients except the eggs go in - sugar, lime juice and zest, tequila. With the help of a hand mixer, it wasn't long before the batter was all ready, and with the green flecks of zest, it looked a little bit like ranch dip.




They went in the oven for about 25 minutes, where they rose into little, cracked domes, then deflated as they cooled. After I threw them in the fridge for more cooling, my mom and I fiddled with the limes that we used as garnish. To be honest, the garnish was a bit of an afterthought for me - if I'd thought ahead, I might've made candied limes, bought a zester to make lime peel curls, or even bought some cute lime-shaped candies.

I'd actually originally just slapped on some half-moon shaped slices, but then my mom took one look and exclaimed, "That's so ugly!" then proceeded to cut slits in the middle and twist them into an "S" shape. I still wish my garnish was more edible though.


Oh well.

Margarita Cupcheesecakes
Makes 12
CRUST:

• 170 mL (⅔ cup) graham cracker crumbs
  
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) white sugar
  
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) butter/non-hydrogenated margarine, melted

FILLING:

• 2 packages (225 g/8 oz) cream cheese, softened
  
• 125 mL (½ cup) white sugar
  
• Juice and zest of 1 lime (works out to about 7 mL/1½ tsp zest, 30 mL/2 tbsp juice)
  
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) tequila*
  
• 2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 165˚C (325˚F). Grease muffin pan or line with cupcake liners.
   
2. In a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter/margarine with a fork until combined. Measure a rounded tablespoon of the mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup, pressing firmly. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes, then remove to cool. Keep oven on.
   
3. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, lime juice, lime zest and tequila until fluffy. Mix in eggs.
   
4. Spoon cream cheese mixture into muffin cups, filling each until ¾ full (about two rounded tablespoons.) Bake for 25 minutes and cool completely in pan before removing. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*My cupcheesecakes didn't turn out as boozy as I would've liked, so you may want to add a full shot of tequila, or only juice half of the lime. Also, if you have triple sec on hand, you can add that in place of some or all of the tequila.

Nutrition Info (per cupcheesecake): 221 calories, 14 g fat (9 g saturated), 81 mg cholesterol, 16 g carbohydrates (0 g fibre, 13 g sugar), 4 g protein, 174 mg sodium.

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Not really cooking

Making a fruit salad is not exactly cooking, but it's a great way to while away some time and practice your knife skills and melon-balling skills. In my case, I also got to celebrate the arrival of the bounty of summer (well... in California, Mexico and Chile) by snapping a few photos. Enjoy!








I made the salad for a barbecue this weekend, and came back with just a tiny bowlful of leftovers. I could've chopped up more salad to refill the big bowl, but I decided instead to throw the leftovers in a blender with some milk and yogurt and made myself a smoothie - Yum!

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Japanese Village

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

As a dietitian, I often counsel my clients on making healthy choices while eating out. Making sure you don't get screwed over by huge portion sizes and "hidden" calories is important, but at the same time, you still want to leave room to celebrate and indulge. I always say, whenever you go out, ask yourself - are you eating out because it's convenient (i.e. you'd rather sleep in than pack a lunch or it's custom for your family to go out for supper every week) or because it's a celebration? If you find yourself at Japanese Village, chances are you're celebrating something, and you should just worry about having fun instead of worrying about what you're putting in your mouth. Last week we went there to celebrate my brother's birthday.

Instead of serving sushi, Japanese Village focuses on another aspect of Japanese cuisine called "teppan yaki", which literally means, "cooking on a metal grill". Customers are seated around a flat metal grill, where the chef prepares the food while telling corny jokes ("Japanese mushrooms... from my basement!"), showing off his knife skills, and starting mini-fires. The optimal party size is eight people; any larger or smaller number will most likely result in having others sitting at your table (which could be fun too ;) )


The set meals range from $19.25 for teriyaki steak or chicken up to $43 for the lobster and steak meal, with most of the meals sliding in under $30. All meals come with soup, salad, shrimp, vegetables, rice, green tea and ice cream, which makes it a pretty good deal, considering you're getting dinner and a "show". The menu also features a few appetizers like tempura and edamame, but there is so much food in the meals themselves that these appetizers are not necessary.


Our meal started off with an egg drop soup and a small garden salad. The soup was a little bland, especially compared to the miso soup that is usually offered at most Japanese restaurants. The garden salad had crisp, fresh vegetables tossed in a light ginger dressing.


The chef put about half a dozen pieces of shrimp on our plates before tossing one in the ginger sauce, which was for seafood and vegetables. The shrimp was delicious, partly because of the globs of butter that the chef dropped on it before serving it up. The ginger sauce didn't really taste like ginger, but added a salty, almost tangy note to the shrimp and vegetables.


The vegetables, which were a mix of onions, mushroom, zucchini and bean sprouts flavoured with soya sauce and sesame seeds, created a pleasing blend of textures and flavours.


For the main event, I ordered the salmon teriyaki, and I was drooling as my salmon was cooking on the grill until the chef drowned it in dark, sticky teriyaki sauce. The "drowning in sauce" was a common theme of the chef that we had - some people from the party sitting next to us had ordered the shrimp meal, and their shrimp were covered in Hollandaise sauce (which the chef simply referred to as "yummy sauce"). Then he offered to ladle the Japanese steak sauce over our rice! As an "Asian food snob", I of course refused. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the salmon, which was surprisingly not overcooked and tough, despite the fact that it did sit on the grill for some time.

I also got to try some NY steak from my mom; the cut was so tender that it felt like it melted in my mouth, and the green garlic butter that the chef melted over it imparted a hint of flavour and definitely played a part in the rich texture.

For an extra $3.50, you can embarrass your loved one by having them dress up as a Samurai couple and forced to dance as the staff sing a rowdy Japanese tune, complete with drums. I swear, practically every table was celebrating a birthday when we were there! On Sunday nights, there's also a magician who wanders around the restaurant, performing little sleights of hand.

The only thing that's not so awesome about Japanese Village is that none of the meals are vegetarian, so if you are a herbivore, you should probably take your celebration elsewhere. Hang tight for next week though; I will be writing about a place that offers lots of vegetarian options.

Japanese Village Steak House
317 10 Ave SW
Calgary AB T2R 0A5
(403) 262-2738
Reservations recommended.

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