Cured Wine Bar
Panini – Focaccia, Slow Roasted Duck Confit, Pate, Cured ‘Signature’ Bacon and Cheddar with Tomato-Corn Bisque
Weekly Pancakes – Buttermilk, Dark Chocolate, Toasted Marshmallows, Graham Cracker Crumble, Maple Syrup
Located in an industrial marketplace south of Edmonton, the high-ceilings, laminate floors and porcine décor feeling a bit forced-hip, it was just past 11:00am that the rental Car’s GPS led me to Cured Wine Bar in a dense snow-fog, the weekend-only brunch service seeing the restaurant completely empty over the course of ninety-minutes, the servers very obviously bored yet still inattentive as the Bartender chatted with the Server while water sat unreplenished.
Open now for just a year-and-a-hallf, the morning meal a relatively new offering that sees the popular maker and purveyor of Charcuterie make the strange choice of all-but-eliminating its showpiece, it was after the server confirmed that only Jerky and a few slices of Pork were available that I half-heartedly decided on Soup and a Sandwich plus the weekly Pancake, the three dishes served simultaneously after what is still a mystery 45-minute wait.
Playing IHeartRadio overhead at a volume that might be ‘loud’ if more patrons were present, it was with Facebook and Instagram that the time was passed, the food that eventually did arrive set down with no description and a “can I get you anything else?” followed by a quick nod at the water glass.
Hoping the food was at least worth the wait, the prices admittedly a deal for food with great visual appeal and ingredients reported to be house-made, first bites of the pressed-Sandwich yielded the rich sapor of shredded Duck with crunchy bits blended to smooth Pate and slices of Bacon while the cup of Tomato-Corn Bisque was faintly sweet and left just short of velvety smooth thanks to golden kernels of Sweet Corn added at the end.
Admittedly lured in by the pictures of fluffy Flapjacks, the triple-stack of Buttermilk this week themed after a campfire favorite, Cured unfortunately makes the fatal mistake of serving the topping only on the very top, the added Maple Syrup helping a bit to make the soft bites beneath a bit more interesting since neither the thick Ganache or tiny toasted Marshmallows were easily moved from top to bottom while the Graham Cracker ‘crumble’ was more like a powder, and quite sparse.
http://www.curedwinebar.com/
