Tag: urban deli

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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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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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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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Menus, resolutions and playing catch up

Can this be? Are we actually posting something? The answer is yes. The answer is also yes to, “Do you have that new menu yet?”

As you probably have figured out, putting the new menu together involved a lot more time and work than we expected. And we’ve learned something …Never say something will be ready around a certain date unless you’re 100% sure it will be. (Mind you, we did say we were “aiming at …”) So, we resolve that in the future we’ll say we’re working on something but not specify a date for readiness.

A couple of things contributed to the delay. The biggest one was getting it right. We kept tweaking until the taste was what we thought it should be and it seemed quite often the feeling was, “… it could be better.” So we kept tweaking.

We also mentioned we wanted to include gluten free items in the menu, which we have (bread, ribs, chowder, pasta and sauces etc.) though we want to do much more. We’ll be working with the Saint John chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association going through the entire menu to see what is necessary to broaden what we can offer. Of course, it can’t just be gluten free. It also has to taste good and we want to ensure that what we offer does.

You’ll be happy to know we have a second menu now, one that outlines our beverages and desserts. Yes, we have a dessert menu now. (A number of people have asked about that.) We’ve been working on that one for quite a while now.

While we’ve been on a kind of working hiatus, we’ve had a great number of compliments and other kind words and want to thank all of you for them.

Live music

Mike BiggarWe’ll also be introducing live music at the Deli starting Saturday, October 24th from 8-10 pm. Mike Biggar will be joining us. You may know Mike from the open mike night at the VintagE Bistro and Lounge in Hampton, which he hosts.

Our goal is to bring in some local talent (guitar/acoustic) between now and Christmas and then set a schedule for the new year for it to be a regular thing.

And finally

Just a reminder (since we just referred to Christmas) … if you’re planning a group Christmas thing, like a company Christmas get-together and want to have it at the Urban Deli, or if you’re interested in having us do some catering for your Christmas thing, just give us a call at 506.652.3354 (that’s 506.652.DELI). We can probably arrange something!

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Menu update: gluten-free and getting educated

We’ve had all sorts of kind words and great conversations with customers and others since we’ve opened. And since we’ve opened, one phrase keeps popping up: “gluten-free.”

Canadian Celiac Association logoThey say you can’t be all things to all people and, while that may be true, you can certainly try. So we’ve started the Urban Deli on a journey to educate ourselves and implement gluten-free menu items for persons with celiac disease and for those who simply want gluten-free menu options.

We will offer gluten-free menu items very soon. We’re aiming at September 21 for an updated menu. The gluten-free items will include (but won’t be limited to):

  • Seafood Chowder
  • Ribs
  • Salads & Dressings
  • Mac’n Cheese (both the noodles and cheese sauce)
  • Noodles with a light tomato sauce and meatballs
  • Gluten-free bread – making many of our sandwich choices gluten-free

We’ve spoken to a number of persons with celiac disease and other people who simply want gluten-free options. With the subject coming up so frequently, we quickly saw that it was an important aspect of a menu and that we needed to incorporate gluten-free choices.

We’re not exactly the best informed people on this subject but our research (and education) has begun. We’ll be contacting the local chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association here in Saint John so we can meet with them and they can take us into their world – allow us to learn what life is like for people with celiac disease.  And we’re look forward to it!

Thanks to everyone who has spoken to us and helped point us in the right direction. Changes like these only come about through your input, so please remember any menu suggestions or favourite recipes are welcome through our web site or by dropping into the Deli and saying, “Hi!”

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