Cork & Flame

Cork & Flame

3106 Portage Avenue

204-221-2777

info@corkandflame.ca    

Growing up in Assiniboia, this building has a lot of fond memories for me.  As Schmecker's, this was THE Must-go Hangout for after-the-bar 2:00 am munchie feedings and another glass (or three) of wine before calling it a night.  (Storefront photo credit to Cork & Flame)

Today, as the Cork & Flame, this restaurant classes itself up a bit, calling themselves "casual elegance."  That's a perfect description as the dark dining room oozes of sophistication yet un-stuffiness.  The white, fabric tablecloths and folded black napkins make you feel like a suit is suitable, yet unnecessary.  The servers and other staff seem to dart around in fast-forward mode, dashing from place-to-place.  The patio is among the nicest in the city, especially if you're fortunate enough to get a live band before you.  The trio here consists of an acoustic guitar, a double-bass and a vocalist, so there's no worry about it getting too loud.

For starters, the Mixed Greens features a lettuce base, with tomatoes, cranberries, and almonds, drizzled with a delicious raspberry vinaigrette.

The lettuce tastes crispy fresh and the green bell peppers add a little zing to the leaves.  The grape tomatoes aren't quite from the garden, but they have lots of flavour.  The raspberry dressing also taste zippy with a sweetish edge.  This dressing is very similar to something I concoct regularly and it's always one of my favourites.

As you can see from the photo, the Caesar comes loaded with creamy cheese, pumping this starter full of umami.  Plenty of lemon juice cuts through the fattiness of the dressing and the crunchy croutons add a wonderful texture.  This is a top-rate Caesar.

C&F presents Jambalaya as the special tonight.  Normally, I stay away from Cajun or Creole food when I'm north of the Mason-Dixon Line.  Northerners think Cajun/Creole simply means spicy--take a tomato-based dish, add some Tabasco and voila, you have Cajun!

Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Food from Louisiana is epitome of "food of love," where everything comes from the best ingredients, and it's cooked through labourious processes.  C&F's menu describes their Jambalaya as starting with the Holy Trinity and moving forward with smoked sausage, chicken and shrimps.  If they add oysters and crawfish, this would be very close to the same ingredients they use in the Bayou.  I'm convinced--let's give it a try.

I am very excited when the dish comes.  The Cajuns do not normally use mussels in their dishes so it looks more European than Cajun, but it certainly looks delicious.

I very rarely order mussels from a restaurant unless I have a huge degree of trust with the establishment.  Mussels is one of the easiest dishes to overcook--and there's nothing sadder than overcooked mussels.  When you lift the mussels as soon as the shells open, it rewards you with a plump, juicy piece of meat.  Another minute on heat and the meat instantly dries and becomes liver-like in texture.  Of the six mussels here, three of them come perfectly plump, while the other three taste a tad dry.  That's enough for a passing grade for this ingredient.

Now onto the shrimps--oh wow!  Even cooked, these shrimps are colossal!  I would guess them to be 15-20/pound, making them extra jumbo-colossal rated.  As well, they come perfectly cooked, just tender and moist with no sign of being overcooked.  With six shrimps, they certainly do not scrimp on ingredients.

The chicken too comes in massive chunks of white meat, also tender and moist to the taste.  The sliced sausages add a tad of spiciness and smokey flavour (don't worry--it's not spicy for those of you who fear heat!).    

Earlier, I mentioned the Holy Trinity.  In Louisiana, the Holy Trinity is the trio of onions, celery and green peppers (garlic is the pope).  The dish comes with big chunks of green peppers but much of onions nor celery around.  I'll assume they've been cooked into the tomato-based sauce since the sauce tastes deep, rich and complex.  There's very little rice but what's there is slathered in sauce and super-tasty.  Big on ingredients and small on starch filler:  I'm all for that.  All said, this is a spectacular dish and I hope it finds a permanent place on this menu.

The menus says that the prime rib comes "medium rare to medium with starter soup...seasonal vegetables, one accompaniment, Yorkshire Pudding and our homemade Au Jus with a side of horseradish."  As you can see in the photo, this cut is medium, even leaning towards medium-well.  My main question is "why?"  Why limit the doneness?  I like mine considerably rarer than this, so why not offer it the way I want it?  I know some chefs refuse to cook prime beef well-done, but for a roast, there are always going to be two end pieces.  

Those are already well-done.  I'm rather disappointed with the prime rib:

1. Because of the doneness limitation;
2. Because of the thickness of the cut.  

The price isn't bottom-shelf.  I'm happy to pay good money for a cut but please, make sure the cut has more than 1 cm of beef.

The vegetables today is zucchini-heavy, which happens to be one of my least favourite vegetables.  It tastes a tad soggy, meaning it's lost it's crispiness because of too much heat, similar to the beef.  The crispy fries taste excellent, and I would like to see more jus to soak the fries.  They're called steak-cut fries--not quite sure what that means.

Even though I'm not a fan of starch, the Yorkshire Pudding tastes nicely blown and fluffy.  With the fries (all the accompaniments are starches), that's a double serving of starch, for those who are trying to cut down on their sugar intake.

If you're watching sugar intake, dessert probably isn't for you, which is too bad.  This cheesecake with raspberry syrup is among the best I've tasted.  The syrup isn't too sweet, just enough to augment the rich and decadent cake.  The base retains its crispiness, adding the texture to make each morsel the perfect bite.

They present a wonderful atmophere here at the Cork & Flame, and the food is mostly wonderful.  I'm very sad to see the Prime Rib, one of their signature dishes, as the lone disappointment in the array of good foods.  Please consider this a plea to take the roast out of the oven 10 degrees earlier, and cut the slice a tad thicker.  That would have made for the perfect meal.

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As usual, thanks for reading and good food to you!

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