Breakfast, Fundy Food Festival and Symphony NB

We’ve got our breakfast menu going in the Deli this morning till noon-ish when our main menu kicks in. Later today you’ll find us at the Fundy Food Festival.

That starts at 5:30pm and we’ll be on hand featuring items from our catering menu. We hope to see you there — it promises to be a foodie’s dream!

By the way, hat’s off to Symphony New Brunswick for this great video, “A Night at Symphony New Brunswick.” Of course, we like the shots of Urban Deli but if you watch you’ll see in the latter half the fabulous Imperial Theatre. (Have a look at their picture gallery.)

It’s just an all around great video of a wonderful night. We love it!

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Now that is living life Uptown!

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Up for Best Restaurant 2nd year running – Live Life Awards

The Uptown is buzzing today with the Live Life Awards nominations. We were thrilled to find ourselves nominated in the Best Restaurant of the Year category — but the competition is stiff! We’re in there with two of the Uptown’s best: Thandi’s and Saint John Ale House. (Congrats to both!)

Having enjoyed time at both, we can attest to the fact that both are very deserving — we love the food at both! Uptown is the place to be for Saint John’s best dining. Of course, we’re a bit biased on that subject. πŸ™‚

Last year, we found ourselves in three categories, including Best Restaurant. Thandi’s was also nominated last year. As it turns out, in 2010 Opera Bistro took the top honours for Best Restaurant.

You can go over all the categories and all the nominees on the Uptown Saint John site. Or you can let Tracy tell you all about them:

Winners will be announced at the gala event on June 9th. Tickets are available at the Uptown Saint John offices at 40 King Street or by calling 633-9797.

Congratulations to all the nominees in all the categories. Let’s all celebrate by getting out and living life in Uptown Saint John!

 

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Gluten-free quinoa wraps – our recipe

We hope you made it to the Simply For Life (SFL) seminar last night at the Trade and Convention Centre. If you did, you may have seen us. We were one of the many Saint John vendors taking part. Events like this are always full of information and for us it was a nudge to get on something we have in the works: identifying the SFL approved items on our menu.

On the subject of foods, last year when we were at the Fundy Food Festival we served up quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) wraps and they really went over well with everyone. Quinoa is a gluten-free food and we’re posting our recipe (see below).

 

What’s quinoa?

Quinoa is a grain-like crop grown for its seeds, which are edible. It has a long history as a food source. More significantly, it’s known for a number of valuable properties. Wikipedia tells us quinoa is,

“… Highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.”

Now, here’s our quinoa wraps recipe, via our long time friend Lianne of Exhale Coaching in British Columbia. Thanks Lianne!

Quiona Wraps Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cups quinoa (keen-wa)
  • 2 cups water
  • Lettuce (iceberg, butterhead or romaine)

Method

Combine water and quinoa. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered and cook for 15 minutes.

Marinade

  • 3 tbs ginger, fresh and grated
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbs cilantro
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 3 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-2 scallions (optional)

Method

Combine ginger, scallions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and cilantro. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, honey and salt. Combine these together and then add the quinoa.

Note: can be served warm or cooled. Next day, it’s even better. Can be served on its own or with a dollop of peanut butter / peanut sauce on each with the lettuce.

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Preparing ourselves (and our deli)

Urban Deli awning seen as you head toward the harbour front.Yes, we’ve neglected urbandeli.ca as we’ve been busily getting the Urban Deli (the actual restaurant) ready for the opening, which we’re hoping will be the end of June. And it will be, barring the unforeseen … You know, like earthquake, alien invasions or similar unplanned for calamities.

It hasn’t all been hammers and nails over here on King, however. A week or two ago Liz and her compadres made a trip to New York City (where her sister, Michael-ann, lives). It wasn’t a pleasure trip (though it was loads of fun). Liz was doing some “research” of NYC delis and picking up some necessities for the restaurant, like a steamer, plates and bowls and other equipment. We’ll do a separate post on the New York trip soon. Today, we’re just letting you know that while we’re working on getting the restaurant ready, we’re also getting our bums in gear as far as the site goes.

By the way, you’ll find a nice piece about us in the June edition of Streetscope, the monthly newsletter from Uptown Saint John. It’s the “New Business Feature – The Urban Deli.” It’s great feeling we’re a part of the city’s uptown!

Lastly, we had an absolutely fabulous time at the Fundy Food Festival here in Saint John last Saturday. We were giving people a taste of our ribs but at the same time we were tasting some of the foods other restaurants and food related businesses were providing. The chefs in SJ are absolutely incredible.

Does everyone in Saint John realize how good the food is here? As the saying goes, “To die for …”

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