Game 3 in LA

So, since the game is away today, I have to find a nice big TV to watch my Canucks. We headed towards Main St., with the intention of going either to Copper Tank Grill or The Cascade Room. Since CTG was where the Canucks went down whimpering to the Kings by a score of 8-3, we eliminated that as an option as we drove. Headed instead to The Cascade Room where we were one of the last ones to get seated before the lineup started. We ordered a bottle of the Kettle Valley’s Brakeman’s Select. Delish…so the next thing we needed to decide on was the food.

We chose the Mushroom Pizza because of our mutual love for the fungus. The pie came and we were both surprised at the presentation. Spinach was an ingredient of the dish, and after having been to so many other restaurants (Italian Kitchen, Cascades, Coast, etc) that serve flat bread and/or pizza with a sprinkling of whole spinach, arugula, watercress leaves, that was what we were expecting.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see that the spinach was washed, dried and then thinly sliced into match stick sized strips. This definitely stood out in terms of originality. The downside was the oiliness of the pizza, now, we both know pizza isn’t exactly a healthy dish, but it seems like the drizzle of olive oil went a bit too far, or perhaps, it was done twice. It made the pie feel a lot richer than its simple ingredients would have on its own. As the evening wore on, and as the pizza cooled, we both found that the texture improved. Almost as if the oil had solidified, to make the crust crisper…goodness knows what the solidifying oil was doing to our arteries.
So, halfway through the second period and further nourishment was need to soothe the pain of the Canucks dim outlook.

We moved on to the Charcuterie plate. It’s three locally sourced selections served with cornichons, grainy mustard, pickled baby onions & crostini. The night we were there, we got to sample the Speck Ham. It was delicious with a great smokey flavour. According to Ingredients Gourmet, Speck Ham is a lightly smoked raw ham from Northern Italy. Seasoned for 22 weeks, Speck ham has an intense dry-cured flavor, slices like prosciutto but cooks like bacon and is cut from the hind quarters of a special breed of Italian hogs. Next on the plate was the Venison Salami. We’d had bison and boar sausage from Granville Island before, so we knew that despite the name, it wouldn’t be too gamey. And sure enough, it wasn’t gamey at all, it was the spiciest of the three though, so perhaps that covered it up!? The last item on the platter was the Calabrese. As soon as I popped a sliver into my mouth, it reminded me of the ocean. My first thought was that there was some anchovy used to cure it. My friend’s first thought? It tastes like how fish food smells. Whoa, there’s an imagination…I know this probably turns most people off, but the combination, along with some of the cornichons really work.
Although the game ended with a Canucks loss, the meal did help to alleviate some of the sadness.