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A music update

Terry WhalenWe’re excited about Saturday night (Nov. 7). Terry Whalen will join us for a solo performance here at the Urban Deli. He’s a roots, rock, blues kind of a guy and we love that sort of thing. If you’d like a bit of info, have a look at our Live Music page or have a look at the Terry Whalen Band site.

Coming up for the Saturday following, November 14, we’ll be welcoming Andrew Clark to the Urban Deli. Wes, our music guy, tell us Andrew hales from Leeds, England and is, “… a gifted song smith and fine guitar player.”

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Smoking good time in New York

Yesterday we mentioned that Mike and Gord had been south of the border, in New York, taking a course (Charcuterie, Smokehouse, and Condiment Workshop).

We asked Gord to tell us a bit about it, and here’s what he had to say:

It was a great experience even for a neophyte cook like me, albeit a little intimidating at times …

The school itself is amazing (The Culinary Institute of America). Located on the banks of the Hudson River, the main campus building reminded everyone of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Hall with its high ceilings and dark rich wood paneling. The region boasts some notable estates: the Roosevelt estate and Presidential Library and the Vanderbilt estate both are within a few miles for the campus.

From a workshop perspective … the first hour or so was spent in a class room environment to understand the science of smoking, curing and sausage making, then the balance of the day (about 6 hours) was spent in the kitchen.

There were five  teams of three. We were given a progressive menu to work on through the week. Some of the items were:

  • barbequed beef brisket
  • pork loin kassler
  • carolina bbq pork
  • gravlax
  • pastrami
  • confit of duck
  • duck breast bacon
  • kansas city spareribs
  • tete pressee (prepared pig’s head)
  • beef jerky
  • tasso
  • pate campagne
  • smoke chorizo
  • kielbasa rings and links
  • garlic sausage creole beef and veal daube
  • smoked pheasant sausage
  • leberkase
  • kassler liverwurst
  • pate grand-mere

The Urban Deli's Gord.Believe it or not, that’s just a partial list. There were others on it, plus a number of condiments, marinades and rubs.

As a result of the course, we’ll likely be refining a few of the menu items plus looking at adding a few others once the recipes have been perfected in house. Yes, we had a fabulous time!

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Charcuterie and going to school

We went to school last week. Actually, “we” didn’t. Our cook Mike Buchanan and the Urban Deli soon-to-be in-house smoker expert Gord Hewitt went to school. They took a week long Charcuterie, Smokehouse, and Condiment Workshop at the Hyde Park Campus (New York) of The Culinary Institute of America.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term you’ll find a good deal of information on Wikipedia. Basically it means (from Wikipedia):

(Charcuterie) … is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork. Charcuterie is part of the garde manger chef’s repertoire. Originally intended as a way to preserve meats before the advent of refrigeration, they are prepared today for their flavors derived from the preservation processes.

What Mike and Gord experienced in the workshop was a set up similar to Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Hells Kitchen‘ where they broke off into six teams of three each day to prepare dishes and compare finished products and to also work towards the big buffet of all the samplings on their final day, which was Friday.

And with that behind them, Gord and Mike spent the weekend in Manhattan visiting delis and restaurants that specialize in smoked foods. Those foods are very popular in New York because of the simple, economical and tasty ways of preparing foods.

Now we expect Gord and Mike will give us the best of the best for new menu ideas. And we’ll be having fun tasting what they’ve learned and testing out those new ideas. 🙂

On the subject of smokers, but of another kind, we’re expecting Terry Whalen will bring his version of smokin’ to the Deli on Saturday with his roots, rock and blues.

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It should be a tasty week – Chop Chop!

The Chop Chop “Feast”-ival is underway in Saint John’s uptown and it promises to be a tasty week. Last week we mentioned what the Urban Deli would be featuring. If an eyebrow or two was raised when we mentioned our Montreal Smoked Meat Pizza (vegetarian also available), let’s provide a bit of information …

This is may not be be “pizza” in quite the way you may imagine. It’s a bit like an open-face sandwich and it is served on toasted pita. We did a number of tastings to get it just the way we wanted, so you may want to give it a try. Keep in mind, as well, we do offer a vegetarian version for those inclined that way.

Music

We had a great Halloween with Wes Jagoe providing the music. Now we’re looking forward to this Saturday, the 7th, when Terry Whelan will be here, 8 to 10 pm, doing his musicial thing. It looks like it will be another great night!

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This and that and music, clocks, festivals

Wes JagoeIt’s a Halloween and we’ll be taking it in at the Deli with a bit of music tonight courtesy of Wes Jagoe (who is also our music guru, arranging our music nights). Wes will be playing from 8:00 pm till 10:00, (10 is a ballpark estimate). So if you get a chance, pop by. We’d love to see you.

And as a head’s up … Next Saturday (November 7), Terry Whalen will perform beginning at 8:00 pm.

With all these mentions of time, we should also toss out a reminder that tonight is the night we turn clocks back an hour as we go back to Standard Time. So as of tomorrow, mornings shouldn’t be quite as dark. Late afternoon, however, will. 🙂

Finally, there’s a nice article in the Telegraph-Journal about next week’s Chop Chop “Feast”-ival here in Saint John. It’s the one titled Saint John restos want foodies to Chop chop. It’s worth a read.

Hope to see you tonight — and have a great Halloween!

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So much food, so little time

We’re geared up for next week’s Chop Chop “Feast”-ival. What’s that? Have a look at Dig in at the Chop Chop Feastival! As the article says, “The concept was to celebrate local businesses, local food, and show how far the city (Saint John) has come.”

It starts Sunday (November 1) and runs through Saturday (November 7) and it’s a fine opportunity to get a taste of Uptown Saint John. Of course, we’re not open on Sundays so the Urban Deli will be getting underway on Monday (November 2). And what does all this mean?

It means all of the participating restaurants (including the Urban Deli) will feature something as we show the world what Uptown Saint John has to offer by way of food. Here’s what we at the Deli have planned:

Urban Deli 2 course lunch or dinner for $12:
– Soup or Salad and a Montreal Smoked Meat Pizza (Vegetarian Pizza also available)

Our Chop Chop Plate for $10:
– The Trio:  Hummus, Roasted Garlic & Artichoke Dip & Chicken Liver Pate served with Seasoned Pita Chips

If you’re a foodie, you may want to keep your calendar open next week so you can try all the features at our Uptown restaurants. And even if you aren’t a foodie, it’s a good bet you’ll discover something or someplace new.

How many places can you visit in a week?

Urban Deli - Chop Chop Feastival

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We’re off to the musical races

Mike Biggar

On Saturday we began what we hope will be a regular happening on Saturdays – live music. We want to thank Mike Biggar for kicking things off for us as our first performer. Wes Jagoe (nominated for DVD of the year at the East Coast Music awards 2009 and who will be here this upcoming Halloween Saturday) is handling the music for Saturdays (bookings etc.), so we asked him for a  few words about how Saturday went. He writes:

Hello everyone:

Mike Biggar played to a receptive and crowded room here last night (Saturday) at the Urban Deli.  He was promoting his latest CD debut EP “The Big Breakfast Special,” a five song disc that’s all original music.

It was a two hour show that was well received. His songs were raw emotion, he can be quite dynamic on the turn of a dime and has well thought out arrangements and touching lyrics.

His song “Wonderfully Made,” off the EP, had a lovely intro about his wife. It makes the song that much more intimate when you know the story behind it. I was quite taken by Mike’s banter, quite witty to say the least, always armed with a comeback if the crowd wants to participate.  Mike also did a Bob Dylan and Arrowsmith cover with his own stylistic approach that was well received.

Of course what we would really to know is what you thought of it. Were you able to mke to the Urban Deli on Saturday? If so, what did you think of our musical night?

By the way, we’ll be posting later today or tomorrow some more information about this Saturday’s artist, Wes Jagoe, as well as information about contacting Wes for arranging to perform at the Deli (if you’re a musical artist).

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