Quinlan's Deli/Cafe - PERMANENTLY CLOSED

Quinlan's Deli/Cafe 

101 Regent Ave West
204-421-2122
quinlanswpg.com
Facebook:  @quinlan's cafe
Instagram:  quinlans_transcona

July, 2021

From the street, the quaint building looks like it belongs on the shores of a beach, airy, open and inviting.  This facade upgrade, completed in 2016, tremendously improves the overall look of the area.  Instead of being on a beach, the restaurant sits on Regent, in the heart of downtown Transcona.  

photo courtesy of GoogleMaps

Inside, the two open banks of windows allow plenty of light to penetrate the room and give a feeling of freedom.  If you choose, they have an outdoor patio set on the east side, railed in on the sidewalk.

photo courtesy of Quinlan's

The menu looks simple, with a touch of Mexican, pub grub, pasta, salads, samiches, meats and an array of burgers.  After placing our orders, the server walks by with someone else's meal, and instantly, I regret not ordering a burger.  The actual item looks every bit as impressive photo, piled high with fresh, delicious ingredients, sitting atop a mounding patty. 

The wings appetisers comes by the pound, dressed with a variety of sauces.  Heavy sauce can easily mask the poorest wings.  We choose the Salt & Pepper, so we can taste exactly what they are like on their own.  

The wings are smallish, which is fine, since you get plenty of them (at least a pound's worth).  

The only other issue with being small is the speed in which they cook.  Being small, they cook very fast, and the window to pull them out of the fryer is about as small as the wing itself.  Unfortunately, they were just a few seconds late, making the wings a tad drier than optimum.  In terms of skin and batter, they're bang on--gold, super-crispy, and dusted with just enough salt and pepper to flavour thoroughly.

The remainder of the menu offers a bit of something for everyone.  Under Noodles, The Stallion comes with rigatoni in zesty tomato sauce, bolstered by Italian sausages, roasted red pepper, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and artichokes, all topped with black truffle moliterno (black truffle cheese).  

If you've ever tasted truffles, it's one of the most umami-rich foods on the face of this earth.  It tastes wonderfully decadent and it can literally make any dish taste instantly richer.  There's a reason why truffles command one of the highest prices in the food world. When I cook, I am very liberal with the truffle oil because just a drop can elevate your dish into a sublime masterpiece.  That's what I hoped the cheese would do for this dish.  Sadly, I couldn't take the truffle cheese at all.

The absence of truffle flavour doesn't make the dish bad--on the contrary, it's a delicious dish (truffle flavour would have made it a divine dish).  As is, the noodles come perfectly al dente.  The roasted red peppers add a dimension of caramelisation, freshly seared off flames.  They don't hold back on the sauce, which is excellent.  I love having the large rigatoni noodles, soaked and sopping with delicious tomato sauce, making every bite a party in the mouth.  The slices of sausage add a touch of spiciness to the order (not enough where it should scare away the most timid of chilli-eaters).  I love the option of adding an egg onto dishes.  Egg yolk is another instant injection of umami and it sure does the job here.  This is a wonderful dish that I'll be happy to order again and again.

It's hard to miss Quinlan's, sitting boldly on one of the most prominent corners in Transcona--and you shouldn't.  This is a quality restaurant offering excellent food with super friendly service.  

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Ray Yuen, Pit Master / Grill Master
Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge – Badge #97736
Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge – Badge #7788
Canadian Barbecue Society Member