Cibo

Urban dictionary defines CIBO (pronounced- chee-bow) as: "Name for a non-pretentious person who enjoys all food. Either talking about food, or eating food, a cibo is happy with all things food and takes minimal amount of pictures. Cibo is the antithesis of a foodie." http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cibo

I'm not sure if the owners of Cibo had this in mind when they chose the name (there are certainly a lot of restaurants and bistros named Cibo all over North America as a search on urban spoon will reveal) but the urban definition is fitting. Cibo is a beautiful unpretentious space with the look and feel of a renovated warehouse apartment. The high ceilings and open area are not the best for noise, however; when the place is full on a Friday night, you'll have to shout if you want your dinner date to hear you across the table. On the plus side, you won't even notice if there happens to be a baby crying nearby and it makes the transition to nightclub later in the evening a snap.

Cibo's menu is set up for sharing, there is a large offering of small tapas style plates, salads, entree type meals and pastas and of course, pizza. The wait staff suggests choosing a selection for the table and the food is presented family style. Tapas plates are indeed small and come $4 a plate or 3 for $11, 5 for $18. We started with the house marinated olives - served warm with garlic, orange, oregano and chilies - very tasty, the tuscan chicken liver - with pancetta, capers, garlic, anchovies and parsley - surprisingly blank given the ingredients, and the peppers - feta cheese, white anchovy, oregano, orange and dried olives - which was my favorite of the opening three. It was well integrated with a nice play on different textures and flavor profiles.

We followed this with a second round of tapas - shrimp - shaved fennel, summer melon, mint, pickled chilies,  burrata - grilled broccolini, cured lemon, white anchovy and fresno chilies, and arancini - veal, sweet peas and mozzarella. The arancini was a strange dish, it looked like a deep fried risotto ball (not what we were expecting at all) and it was on the greasy, lukewarm side.

The shrimp was tasty - though more pickled peppers would have kicked it up.

The pizza had a nice traditional crust - crispy outside with an almost bagel-like chew inside - and an interesting choice of toppings. We had the goat cheese, chicken, artichoke, scallion, green olives, peppers and tomatoes. None of the pizzas have names, only the list of toppings. My vote for best pizza still goes to Una though.

One dish to avoid is the Sausage with caramelized onion  - even our waiter tried to warn us against this one by claiming it was "rich" - well, that's one way to put it. This was like eating lukewarm rendered lard - we had to send it back after one bite. They need to do something in the cooking process to get some of the fat out.

And on a more pleasant note, on to dessert:
We tried the Nutella Calzone - pizza dough around Nutella with a sour cherry compote and Biscotti. The calzone was nice, Cibo does a good pizza crust, though it's pretty much what you'd expect from the description. The Biscotti lists : Double Chocolate, Fig and Walnut, Twice Baked Apricot Ginger and White Chocolate flavours so I was expecting one of each, instead I had to choose one and then got three cookies anyway. The double chocolate cookies were good but they were NOT biscotti as you can see. They fell apart when I tried to dip one in my cappuccino. 

All in all, not bad, but not great either.

Fries and Dolls : My First Run In With A Calgary Food Truck

Last night was the elementary school's awards night and we were fortunate to have the popular Fries and Dolls outside the event serving dinner. Here's a look at our menu:

The pink truck and the whimsical names of the dishes stand out, attract attention and are fun. Not the fastest way to get a dog and fries but everything is put together to order which was worth waiting for.

The fries were hot, crisp and nicely dressed. The Farrah fries - Garlic, Parsley and Parm - were not shy on garlic, so be warned, but they were addictive and delicious.

The Fergie - Vinegar, Pink Sea Salt and Pepper - was a bit heavy on the vinegar but also delicious. The Audrey - Pink Sea Salt and Pepper - that we received was very short on pepper (actually, it was non existent - perhaps forgotten? or just kid friendly?) but you can see that the fries are cooked well. All the fries were served with Ketchup or a spicy mayo based Chipotle sauce or both, your choice.

And now, on to the hot dogs:

The Daisy Duke - Chipotle, BBQ and Cheese - was on the greasy side and the BBQ sauce was too sweet, a bit more tang would have complemented the richness of the Chipotle, but the bun was fresh and soft and the dogs are HUGE! It was fun watching the elementary kids tackle them.

All in all, the food truck experience was fun and a great way to satisfy your craving for fries. It was certainly a lot for your money. I would love to find out why they chose the names they did for the fries and dogs, though the Sophia seemed self-explanatory.

Kiss Kiss, The Dolls

Taste From the Patio

Just around the corner from Hotel Arts in Victoria Park (1210 1 Street SW) is the cute and trendy Taste. A tapas style restaurant with a creative menu that's perfect for sharing over a bottle of wine, Taste offers selections of hot and cold plates as well as a daily Tasting Board of either Cheese, Meat or Fish. It's a tiny place that doesn't take reservations, with a couple of community style tables in the center, but it has a patio extending seating for the summer.

We started with the Snap Pea Salad tossed with Mojito mint and pork belly. It was crisp, fresh and the mint balanced without overpowering the fresh summery pea-in-pod flavor. Next up was Kimchi Asparagus with ginger and onion. If you're a fan of authentic Kimchi, you'll enjoy this dish which was served cold like a salad.

 Two of my favorite items on the menu are the Pigs Ears, crispy in chili oil and topped with two fried quail eggs and the Horse Tartare. The Pigs Ears are like a kicked-up bacon and egg plate. The pork ears were fried at the correct temperature to make them crispy not chewy, and the eggs were perfect. The chili oil takes this dish over the top.

The Horse Tartare sounds scary, granted, but if you are a tartare fan, this is an absolute must try. The meat was surprisingly tender and cleaner tasting than beef. The texture was soft with no connective tissue gristle. I love tartare and try it at every place that serves it and this is one of the best in Calgary. Topped with dijon, capers and cornichons and of course, an egg yolk. If I had one criticism, it would be that they should have sous vided the egg yolk to 63.5 degrees.

There is a connection between Taste's owner and the Perogy Boys food truck (see http://calgaryfoodies.com/perogy-boyz/ for more info) so of course, we had to try the perogies as well. Served with cheese curds and sausage gravy, they were a rich twist on the traditional.

 And finally, for dessert, potted cheesecake of the day - vanilla cherry - and Kool-Aid creme brulee, in Purple, Orange and Green flavors. The cheesecake was fine but not spectacular. The Kool-Aid brulee was wonderful. Nice texture, and fun retro flavors that were creamy, sweet and tart.

Give Taste a try. The wine menu is reasonable, changes frequently and has some interesting and eclectic selections like the First Drop Half and Half Shiraz - Monastrell (Barossa, Australia) whose description reads, "Throw this in the freezer and you'll have the greatest adult slurpee of all time." They also offer a selection of cocktails, Bourbons and Scotch.