If you were listening to CBC Radio One (91.3 FM) yesterday – Information Morning Saint John – you might have caught Liz, owner of the Urban Deli. She was in to talk about the Uptown, restaurants and what the future might hold. The CBC site puts it this way: “Owner and operator of the Urban Deli, Elizabeth Rowe, tells us about the development opportunites in the uptown.”
If you missed it, you catch the podcast here: The Future Of Development In Uptown Saint John.
Saint John Alehouse (SJAH) recently held a staff Caesar making competition between co-owner Pete Stoddart and manager Shawn Horgan. The Caesar, when done well, is a divine cocktail that crosses the line between refreshing and savoury.
After seeing a twitter update about the contest made by @SJAH_NB I quickly asked if I could help judge the event. So, by 10 PM I had made my way Uptown to take part in this fun event.
Pete’s Caesar was up first and was quite true to the traditional Caesar with some modifications. First, Pete infused celery stalks in lime rind and juice. He seasoned the drink with lemon pepper rather than regular pepper and served the drink in a hollowed out orange pepper that lent some of its fresh sweetness to the drink.
Shawn’s Caesar was basically its own cocktail inspired by a Caesar and was flavoured with soy sauce, ginger, basil, and was made with a homemade tomato and clam juice. Pete squeaked by with a win at 4 votes to 3.
Find out about the next competition by following @SJAH_NB on twitter.
(The Caesar – photo by Chinena Smith.)
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Bio: Dan Jones is a food, drink, and travel writer from Saint John. Follow him on twitter: @danjjj
On our counter we have a bowl for business cards. If you’ve put your card in there, or if you do the next time you visit the Urban Deli, you’ll be in the running to win a little something from us. But first things first, we have a couple of winners already.
The first winner of a free lunch at the Deli is Reid Southwick. Reid is a reporter from the Telegraph-Journal. His was the first card we drew from the jar.
We also had another winner. We drew Mike Hachey’s card. Mike’s from Califorina Custom Auto. Congratulations to both Reid and Mike and thank you for taking the time to visit and have a bite at the Urban Deli.
We’ve decided to do this with a bit more regularity so our next draws will be in the first week of March and the first week of every month thereafter. Also, with that next draw (early March) we’ll actually do two draws. One for a book, another for a free lunch.
The first book up for grabs is Tatya: Moscow Nights, Book I of Miron Rezun’s Tatya Trilogy. The other draw will be for a free lunch at the Urban Deli. If we draw yours, you’ll be joining Rick and Mike in the winner’s circle!
On Saturday evening we had a reserved seating Valentine’s Day dinner and had a fine old time both in the kitchen …
… and in the restaurant.
Thanks to our all our guests and our staff! Together you made it a night to remember! Bonus shot:
We hope to do it again next year. 🙂 (btw … you can also find us on Flickr.)
Through customer and staff support, the Urban Deli donated all the sales for our $2 and $3 Frites from three Saturdays in January (16th, 23rd, and 30th). We also had a donation jar on our counter so if anyone chose to do so, they could contribute as well.
We’ve managed to raise a little over $400 and are planning to get it over to the Canadian Red Cross today. We’re also going to see if there is a way to get the federal government to match it (which would make it an over $800 contribution). If what we understand is correct, the “matching dollars” program ends tomorrow. Our fingers are crossed that we’ll be able to get it matched by Ottawa.
The picture below is of two of our staff, Lianne and Ashely. Lianne is holding the fish bowl that was on the front counter where customers could donate and Ashley is holding some of our fries!
We’ve been very quiet recently on the site and elsewhere (like Twitter). We’re hoping to change this very soon! One of the reasons for being less than active online is that we’re exploring a few changes. Basically, we’d like to put things up that aren’t necessarily Urban Deli related but related to food generally, Saint John and especially the Uptown.
We think if all we talk about is the Deli we would get very tiresome very soon — kind of like the guy at the party who only talks about himself. Of course, we still want to talk about the Deli, just not exclusively.
In the meantime, thank you to everyone for the donations to our Haiti relief effort and please keep in mind the country’s problems aren’t going away anytime soon. You can donate anytime through organizations like Red Cross, World Vision and many others.
In case you aren’t already aware of this …
“The Saint John Board of Trade has dedicated a page on its website to help members raise awareness of what their businesses are doing to raise funds for aid relief in Haiti. Activities being undertaken by members of all sizes from small businesses to large companies are listed on this webpage.”
There is a lot of good information to be found there, including a Government of Canada link for businesses wanting to help in the relief efforts. You’ll also find a list of some of the Saint John businesses, large and small, who are already involved in some way. If you’re business is engaging in activities to help raise funds for Haiti relief, you can be added to the list.
Just pay a visit to the Members Helping Haiti page on the Saint John Board of Trade site. (You can also follow the SJ Board of Trade on Twitter: @i_gilman)
We can’t begin to understand what the people in Haiti are experiencing or how Haitian Canadians are feeling given the scope of the disaster. How do you wrap your mind around it? But we do understand the need for help. So though it may be small in comparison to the need, we’d like to so something.
As of tomorrow, when you’re at the Urban Deli and paying for what you’ve ordered, we’ll be set up so that if you want to, you can give whatever change you get back to Haiti. We’ll have a jar by the cash register. Or if you just want to drop something in there, please do.
And for the next few Saturdays when you’re in the Deli, if you order fries (what we like to call Potato Frites), the money will be going to Haiti.
Any money raised will be going to the Canadian Red Cross for Haiti relief and rebuilding.
There are many other ways to help Haiti as well. The CBC has a pretty comprehensive list on their web site (just scroll down the page a bit).
One of the largest is, of course, the Canadian Red Cross. From the CBC site: “The Canadian Red Cross is accepting donations to support Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti. Donations can be earmarked to the Haiti earthquake fund. Canadians who wish to give may donate online by clicking here. Donations can also be made by calling 1-800-418-1111 or by visiting any Red Cross office.”
By the way, watch out for scams. Sad though it is, there are people out there who would take advantage of this tragedy, particularly online. Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs has a page How Canadians Can Help that has a lot of good information on what to donate, experienced humanitarian organizations, as well as other information on “major disasters and other emergencies abroad.”
People here in Saint John have very real connections with Haiti. Our thoughts are with them.
