Cool off in Uptown Saint John

To our friends in Fredericton, who we understand are experiencing some rather toasty weather, and to our friends a bit more inland in Saint John … Cool off in our Uptown! Pay us a visit – the weatherman tells us it won’t be quite so hot here. 😉

And if you make the trip, you could pay us a visit at the Deli. (This is where we insert a shameless plug.) And maybe try a glass of our scratch lemonade (made with real lemons):

Unless you would prefer our ice-tea (made with a blend of teas and cranberry juice):

Our the root beer on tap that we get from our friends at Pump House:

If you can’t make it down, be sure to get out, wherever you are, and enjoy our wonderful Maritime weather – be it hot and humid, or a little cooler – but still humid. Enjoy your day!

(By the way … we also have root beer floats!)

Share

The ladies behind the scene

Urban Deli will be celebrating its first year in business on July 13th.  We are also celebrating a year anniversary for two very special team members: Dale and Candy.

Food wise, everything at the Urban Deli begins with Dale and Candy who we label ‘the ladies from the second floor.’

The ladies work daily to consistently prepare our customer’s favourite menu items.  From our daily quiche, pulled pork BBQ sauce, gluten-free cheese sauce to our very popular maple vinaigrette and wasabi vinaigrette dressings, split pea and ham soup, homemade buttermilk biscuits, deli mustard right through to our muffuletta ‘muff-uh-LET-uh, Deli burgers and of course the piece de resistance….our homemade desserts.

A meal without one of the Urban Deli desserts by Dale is incomplete.  Dale’s repertoire of desserts include and are not limited to; Our very popular carrot cake with filling, lemon sour cream pie, apple crumble, chocolate molten cake and cookies.  From our second floor you can find Candy and Dale working hard at squeezing lemons for our scratch lemonade or brewing our famous ice tea made from five tea blends.

Many of our products have been tweaked and fine tuned by the ladies so they can capture the right consistency.  Recipes at the Deli are always evolving and we always welcome customer feedback. For everyone at the Deli there is more to our food; It is both an art and a science.

Recipes to success are simple…hire team members like Candy and Dale who:

  • Want to be at work
  • Have a sense of humour
  • Are very reliable/committed
  • Have strong communication, organizational and time management skills
  • Want to have fun and can laugh at themselves first J
  • Don’t take things personally…because receiving ongoing feedback for the purpose of fine-tuning recipes in order to deliver a consistently great product to our customer is critical to everyone’s success

Thank you Dale and Candy and we look forward to celebrating year two with each of you!

Share

Romaine Greek salad with wild-caught shrimp (Oh! And lemonade with vodka)

Romaine Greek salad, wild-caught salmon and lemonade with vodka (Photo - Dan Jones)I love making this type of salad, and on the weekend I took full advantage of my time and spent it doing other things rather than cooking.

The dressing:

Acids to oil ratio should be about 1:3 or 4. 1 part acid to 3 or 4 parts oil. I made enough dressing that could have done a serving for 4 or 5, so I only used a bit of it. I actually didn’t measure so my measurements are guesses, just so you know.

  • Juice of one whole lemon
  • A tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
  • Olive oil, to the ratio above
  • Teaspoon of dried oregano
  • A couple squeezes of honey
  • 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced or pressed
  • A pinch of Kosher salt, a few grinds of black pepper
  • Half teaspoon of your favourite mustard, I used whole grain

I mixed all of this into a mason jar, shook vigorously, and set aside.

Salad:

  • Romaine heart, one head
  • 6 sweet cocktail tomatoes (they’re a smaller tomato available at the Superstore, really delicious for an out of season tomato)
  • Half a small red onion
  • Half an English cucumber
  • 12 Kalamata olives
  • Several small cubes of feta cheese
  • One small carrot, grated
  • A couple handfuls of wild-caught Maritime shrimp (bought at Misty Harbour Seafood)

In a large bowl, I tossed everything but the shrimp with the dressing very well. A well-tossed salad needs little dressing. I shake my head at anyone who ever asks for dressing on the side, and then awkwardly tries to coat their salad on their plate, especially if they asked for it on the side to cut down on the amount of dressing on their plate. I then topped the salad with shrimp, and served some bread on the side.

Lemonade, two large servings:

  • Rind and juice of 7 lemons plus 2 shots of vodka
  • Let that infuse with about a half a cup of sugar (or more, to taste)
  • Because I had some on hand, I also put in a few Kaffir lime leaves

I let it sit for a few hours and then I strained it, poured over two tall glasses of ice, and added another shot of vodka to each glass.

I filled each glass ¾ full, topped with sparkling mineral water, stirred, and served.

***

Bio: Dan Jones is a food, drink, and travel writer from Saint John. Follow him on Twitter: @danjjj

Share