Frog’s Pad

DELI-ICIOUS

Fork  It Over

by Dan and Brufrog

Urban Deli

urbandeli.ca

506.652.DELI (3354)

68 King St.

Hours:

Monday – Saturday 11:00am – 8:00pm

Sunday – Closed

[Dan]

Urban Deli is a hip place. What I mean by that is that it has a cool location, a classy yet muted décor showing off the building’s natural beauty, comfortable booths, and a unique communal table. Brufrog and I dropped in one evening for dinner and we sat at the communal table.

[Brufrog]

It was fun sitting there, wondering who would join us; hopefully not someone scary, but that’s part of the fun, I guess. The table is way cooler than I thought. After dinner I checked out urbanddeli.ca and learned it is made from 400+ year-old pitch pine and was originally a single support beam at the old Lantic Sugar Cane Refinery.  How cool is that? I also noted the logo and slogan on their site.  “old fashioned. slightly sophisticated” (no caps, of course) is the Urban Deli motto, and it definitely sets a tone.  Bottom line: Urban Deli is a funky looking and acting spot. So, how’s the grub?

[Dan]

Urban Deli has a decent selection of  New Brunswick beers by the bottle. Pumphouse Red and Picaroons Blonde, Dark & Stormy, and Dooryard were available when we visited but I think more are available at other times. I ordered a Dooryard ($6 – NOTE: all prices before tax), which I love on a summer day.

For an appetizer I ordered a not so modestly priced Atlantic Seafood Chowder ($11). It came out piping hot with a not too thick broth and contained lobster, shrimp, scallops, white fish, potatoes, and maybe more. A homemade biscuit was served on the side and it was very fresh. The chowder had a similar consistency to the one I make at home. Its flavour was near perfect although I loaded it with fresh ground pepper (just something I personally like) that was available on all of the tables (big plus!) The chowder is wonderful but it is a tough sell at $11.

I also had one of Brufrog’s ribs that are smoked on-site, smothered in a tangy barbecue sauce and then plated upon a bed of their homemade fries. The ribs were excellent as they were very tender, smoky, and the sauce was tasty. The fries are some of the best that you can get in the city and maybe some of my favourite fries that I’ve ever had. They are a medium cut with perfect balance between crispy and tender. The rib sauce on them makes a nice condiment as well.

[Brufrog]

That ½ rack of ribs ($12) made a great shared app, especially if you like ‘em smoky. They were very good, and the fact that Urban Deli has their own smoker is reason enough to celebrate. I also ordered the Saganaki cheese appetizer ($10), which is set on fire (on purpose) in the Greek tradition, in a cast iron pan in the kitchen, and brought to the table with some crunchy dipping breacrackers (not sure if these are bread or crackers).  The cheese dish was just OK. It’s fun to order and the cheese was pleasantly pungent, but about ¼ of it was inedible, being stuck/burned to the pan. I ordered a Picaroons Blonde ($6) to help wash down my appetizers. It was good but seemed less hoppy than when it was first released. This is not the fault of Urban Deli, of course, but I wish they had the Bitter instead, or Pumphouse SOB.  Perhaps they do sometimes.

[Dan]

For my main, I ordered Pass-Da-Balls ($10). This pasta dish has swirly noodles with a fresh marinara sauce and topped with a skewer of three meatballs. I don’t see the point of the skewer, however the meatballs on it were juicy and well seasoned. If I could change this dish I would add more sauce or less noodles and serve it on a round dish instead of a rectangular one. I found that the noodles on the outer edges that were not covered in sauce or the meatballs cooled quite a bit even before I was half done the dish. The plate makes the dish look nice but it is not very practical.

[Brufrog]

Dan said Balls, hehe heh heh. I tried some of his pasta the next day, as he let me steal his leftovers. It was pretty tasty fresh from the microwave.  Great meatballs + homemade tomato sauce = great!

My main was the Montreal smoked meat sandwich ($10) with a side of fries ($2). It’s a great sandwich, with quite mild tasting smoked meat (read their website to learn about smoked meat versus pastrami), fresh rye bread, and good mustard.  The fries are indeed wonderful, but I’d prefer a house mayo instead of catsup (the bottle was unbranded). The sandwich size is average, but some folks might find the price a bit much. I think the $10 should include fries, especially considering all the $10 and under lunch specials these days.  Overall, though, I really enjoyed my meal here and will certainly be back.

[Dan]

I like Urban Deli a lot and I’ll be going there many times in the future but I’ll most likely stick to the dishes that they are most known for, such as their sandwiches and things out of their smoker like the ribs, oh, and definitely more of the fries!

Dan J can be read at foodontheoffense.com, while Brufrog hops around at frogspad.ca

New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, Good Drink, August 14,  2009
by Craig Pinhey
New Releases From New Brunswick’s Flying Winemaker

With a friend in town from Ontario who is a big supporter of Canadian wine, we took the opportunity midweek to make an appointment and take a drive to Motts Landing Vineyard, the New Brunswick winery that opened last year, and recently released their latest vintage.  Located at 3506 Lower Cambridge Road in Cambridge-Narrows, Motts Landing is a tiny winery by international standards,  but worth a visit for the beauty of the area alone. Tasty wine is a bonus.

If you are coming from Fredericton and north, I suggest going via Gagetown, taking the ferry to Lower Jemseg, after which it is a short drive to the winery. You can also go that way coming from Moncton, but a more direct route would be to exit and get on HWY 10, then turn on HWY 715 (which becomes the Lower Cambridge Rd. at Bridge Drive) working your way to the winery from the East, along the North bank of the Washademoak Lake. Coming from the south, from the Saint John area, you can either go to Norton and drive the Highway 695 until you get to the 715, or you can take the scenic ferry route, on the Gondola Point ferry, then the Belleisle Bay ferry,  connecting to the 705 which then leads to HWY 710 and eventually 715. Whichever way you go, you will see some of the Saint John River Valley’s most heralded scenery.

From the winery building at Motts Landing you can look down across the road to their vineyards, and then further to the lake. It is simply gorgeous.

The couple behind the winery are Sonia Carpenter, who is the winemaker, and David Craw, who mainly handles the grape growing. They have been experimenting with over 20 grape varieties since 2002, and are gradually narrowing this down to the ones that work best for them. This work is well documented on their stylish and witty website (mottslandingvineyard.com).

Carpenter must be New Brunswick’s first “flying winemaker.”  This term was coined mainly for Aussie winemakers who travel the world to make wine in other regions, applying the strong technical approach that gave Australian wine an edge for so many years. Carpenter flies to New Zealand each winter to holiday and also work, making wine there, in the country where she studied winemaking.  Carpenter has done very well down in Kiwi country. Last year she won a Silver medal for her Sauvignon Blanc, and also made a delicious Malbec. She is attempting to bring her New Zealand wines into New Brunswick with help from the ANBL. Motts already enlisted local designer Ian Varty to create a label for the Malbec, with the brand name “Te Ata Po,” meaning “First Light” in New Zealand’s native Maori.

Carpenter’s New Zealand wines are of real interest, and I hope to see them on local shelves soon,  but what sort of wine is she wrestling from her native soils?

My favourites from their portfolio are the Chantilly Rosé Rhubarb Strawberry blend ($13) and the Reserve Sabrevois red ($22). The rosé has a pretty, yellowish pink hue and a distinct strawberry nose. The wine had great “rhubarby” acid and decent body; it is a really good dry rosé, especially at that price.  Sabrevois is a “Minnesota Variety” developed by the legendary Elmer Swenson, famous for producing many hardy grapes now popular in North American cool climate regions. Carpenter’s Sabrevois has an oak element but is noted for its red fruit, elegance and dry palate. It is definitely a good food wine, perfect for meat dishes.

The 2008 Sabrevois and Reserve Frontenac, aged in American oak, were released last weekend at the “Life at the Lakes” celebration in Cambridge-Narrows, and are moving fast. These wines are produced in limited quantities; there are only around 20 cases left of each.

Other wines include their “Cranpagne” ($20), a dry sparkling wine that blends New Brunswick cranberries with New Brunswick grapes, and a Frontenac Gris ($16), which Gagetown area Sommelier Doug Watling describes as “Big and luscious, with some herbaceous elements and mint/lime on the finish. A very individualistic wine.”

I’m impressed with what I’ve tasted thus far from this fledgling winery, and I expect more good things in the future.  If you want to take a trip to taste local terroir, this is a great place to start.  Their store is open in the summer and fall on Saturdays and Sundays, noon until 6 p.m., or by appointment.