Testing the waters – Summer hours and other changes

We’re excited as we put our toes in to test the waters with a few changes we’re introducing starting Sunday, May 8th. (That would be Mother’s Day.)

Beginning Mom’s Day, May 8th (Sunday coming up) we will be open for breakfast/brunch every Sunday from 10 am to 3pm – serving breakfast only.

This means we’ll now be open on both days of the weekend for breakfast:

  • Saturdays for breakfast 9 am to noon, followed by our regular menu till 8:00pm
  • Sunday breakfast/brunch from 10 am to 3pm

And as of Monday, May 9th, we will be closing the Deli at 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays (but only on Mondays and Tuesdays). This is to allow us to respond to the continued requests to be open on Sundays, especially with the arrival of the warmer months when people are out and about in the Uptown.

We’ll also be using our space on Monday and Tuesday evenings for private functions and possibly cooking classes. So keep us in mind for your private company dinner meetings and send us your cooking class requests.

Once again, beginning this weekend Urban Deli will be welcoming your weekend with our Deli breakfast menu on Saturdays and Sundays. We hope to see you!

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Eggs benny and the details of craft

Pulled pork eggs benny on an English muffin served with deli potatoes. Home-made hollandaise sauce is gluten-free.

I was at the Urban Deli a few Saturdays ago for breakfast and went with an old standby – Eggs Benedict. Even though the Deli has a wonderful breakfast menu including Eggs Benny available four ways, I went with the traditional Eggs Benny – back bacon, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce (gluten-free) and Deli potatoes.

No, I’m not a foodie and I’ve not known for being adventurous when it comes to food.

Simply put, it was the best Eggs Benny I’ve had in years.

How does that happen?

So how does a restaurant make a breakfast staple like Eggs Benny a standout? I asked and the answer is this: the Urban Deli does just about everything themselves with the possible exception of laying the eggs.

The first thing I noticed was the English muffin. It was the freshest muffin I recall having Eggs Benedict on. The muffin may be the least noticed element in Eggs Benny. It’s usually just an English muffin. But when it’s as fresh and soft as mine was at the Urban Deli believe me, you notice. There’s a reason for that.

The Deli gets their bread delivered fresh every morning from City Road Bakery. (They are one of the four bakeries the Deli uses.)

Of course, there’s more to it than an English muffin. There are the eggs. Mine were poached perfectly. When I broke into them, the yoke spilled out to embrace and merge with the hollandaise like a teenager in love.

Speaking of hollandaise, at the Deli they make it from scratch. It’s not a sauce they have delivered from elsewhere. They put it together in the kitchen so it is homemade.

And it’s all served with our Deli potatoes — served for breakfast and a blend of grade-A Chef potatoes, sweet potatoes and leek.

Mimosa

When I lived in Edmonton there was a restaurant down the street from me where I would go on weekend mornings and have (you guessed it) Eggs Benedict. I got into the habit then of always getting a mimosa. I’m always surprised when I go into some restaurants for brunch and they don’t have it available. In some cases, they don’t even know what it is.

Mimosa is pretty simple. Orange juice and champagne. But again, the Urban Deli steps it up by doing it the right way. The orange juice at the Deli is freshly squeezed. They take the time to get the freshest juice possible by doing it themselves. (Fresh squeezed orange juice is only available Saturday mornings for the breakfast menu.)

Believe me, when you get a mimosa at the Deli, you can tell the difference.

Yes, I also had coffee. What’s breakfast without coffee? The Urban Deli’s comes from Red Whale and mine was freshly brewed and tasted the way coffee should taste and was beautifully aromatic.

If you get the sense that I enjoyed my breakfast at the Urban Deli you would be correct. I did. Actually, I loved it.

For me, the real test of skill and passion is in doing the most common and simple of things well. You do them well by paying attention to the details. Apart from bacon and eggs, what could be more common than Eggs Benedict for breakfast? What could be simpler than mimosa?

When you do the common and the simple in ways that make them rise above the usual; when you capture the essence of good food by working on getting the tastes and textures perfect, you aren’t just doing something right. You’re doing it with passion and focus.

At the Urban Deli, you can taste it.

(Note: Bill can’t claim to be completely impartial. He is a friend of the Urban Deli and helps them with their web site and social media. He is a writer, social media practitioner and maintains Writelife.)

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Three nominations for the Urban Deli

Yippie kay ay! The Uptown Saint John’s 2010 Live Life Awards shortlist has been announced and the Urban Deli finds itself nominated in three categories. Thank you Saint John! (Apologies to Bruce Willis for the “Yippie kay ay!” but it’s from the old cowboys and basically means, whoo hoo!)

We find the Deli in these categories:

  • New Business of the Year
  • Best Restaurant of the Year
  • Commercial Space of the Year

This is thrilling for us. Now the countdown is on to June 24th (Thursday) to see if we can bring home the big prizes.

A big thank you to everyone who recommended us and a “hats off” salute to the other nominees (who are probably as thrilled as we are).

Once again, thank you Saint John! We’re looking forward to a fabulous evening. We love it here and it’s wonderful to be back home!

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