Went with Judy and Alice to Nick & Nat’s Uptown 21 in Uptown Waterloo on Thursday before I headed back home for the weekend. It’s one of the last few places that’s left on my list of places to try in Waterloo.

Open Kitchen

It was a fairly windy day, so the walk though Waterloo park wasn’t as nice as we were expecting. According to Judy and Alice this one year old restaurant sits in the space of where Salute used to be. The decor and atmosphere of the restaurant was modern and clean, and an open kitchen is always a nice thing to have.

Tables

I ordered two drinks, the Jalapeño Martini made with gold tequila, lime and jalapeno sweet syrup. It was garnished with some cheddary cheese and a slice of jalapeno. The drink was certainly interesting, exactly what you would expect it to taste like: spicy, sweet and boozy at the same time. The drink itself was too sweet for me, and not tasty anyways. It was worth a try, not something I’d ever order again though.

The bar also had a bunch of infused vodkas, including a cherry infused vodka. The bartender suggested making an Uptown 2.1 with the cherry infused vodka, so I gave it a shot and it turned really pretty good, just the right balance of fruitiness and alcohol.

Steamed Mussels

Alice ordered the Steamed Mussels and Judy ordered the Cod Cakes. Alice wasn’t too impressed by the mussels, and was kind of frustrated having to “fish” for the mussels in the broth. Judy on the other hand finished her cod cakes quickly pleased with her choice.

Brazillian Cod Cakes

The menu consists of local food, and they also have a daily prix fixe menu (that you can order a la carte from as well). Alice and I ordered from the prix fixe menu, “pillows” filled with chevre and some sort of chilli with ramps. Judy ordered the Potato and Old Cheddar Tortellini served with pecans, shallots in a truffle brown buttle finished with maple/malt gastrique (quite a mouthful there). Both the dishes tasted fairly Asian, partially because their fresh pasta tasted more like wonton than pasta dough and the fact that the flavours of the dishes also tasted Asian. Both dishes were good, although slightly oversalted. I really enjoyed eating the pecans and sauce that were in Judy’s dish.

We finished off with desserts, Judy ordering Cheese and Doughnuts, and Alice and I ordering the Clafouti a type of souffle apparently. Judy loved her doughnuts but found the cheese far too strong for her tastes. (Even I found the cheese too strong, and I’m ok with eating Stilton.) I believe the type of cheese that was served was Taleggio. The clafouti was alright, served with cream and baked with apples. The portion size surprised me, considering the menu said souffle, but the clafouti was actually the size of a small plate.

All of the things at this place were hit or miss, but I’m really tempted to try this place again. I really like the strong focus on local and fresh food, as well as the atmosphere and the attitude of the staff working there.

1 exam tomorrow and 5 more days until I’m done in Waterloo. Wow.

Woke up rather late today, and went out for a little bit, came back for lunch at around two and prepared the gnocchi that I made last night. I wanted to make the gnocchi with a butter sage sauce, since most recipes that I found used that but after visiting 3 different supermarkets (No Frills, Food Basics and Loblaws), none of them had sage. I wonder if it’s a seasonal thing? So instead, I made a butter garlic sauce and here’s how it turned out:

Garlic Butter Gnocchi

It didn’t turn out too great, due to the fact that the pieces were too big, and that there wasn’t enough squash/cauliflower flavour in the gnocchi :(. I’m going to cut the rest in half and try to prepare them asian style next time.

One row of Le Select's Wine Cellar

For dinner, I went to Charisse‘s Going Away Party at Le Select Bistro a nice French place at Wellington and Spadina. The restaurant had a huge wine list and you can see into their huge wine cellar as well as their kitchen. I ordered a Vesper martini, those of you who have seen Casino Royale may remember James Bond ordering this drink, a combination of Gin, Vodka and Kina Lillet (although Lillet Blanc is a common replacement since Kina Lillet is no longer available). I liked the drink, you taste the smooth gin with a little bite from the vodka and a dash of clean orange flavour.

The service at the restaurant was really quick and unintrusive (most of the time empty drinks cleared or glasses of water refilled without us even noticing) and they did not hover around like some waitstaff tend to do. My only complaint was that our waitress tended to stand at the head of our large table and take orders, only moving towards us when she couldn’t hear what we were saying.

Ragoût de Cèpes et de Seitan

To eat, I ordered the Ragoût de Cèpes et de Seitan, one of the two vegetarian entrees on the menu. The dish consisted of two halves, one side being the seitan and cepe mushrooms, and the other side being seared polenta and eggplant. The dish was one of the best non-pasta vegetarian dishes I’ve had at a western restaurant. The vegetables were perfectly prepared the seitan wasn’t rubbery (as it tends to be most of the time), and it was sauced just right so that all the flavours and components could be tasted.

To finish it off, I was still in the mood for another drink, so I decided to try a dessert wine. I’ve only had our local Ontario ice wines, so I asked my friend and the waitress to suggest a wine for me. I don’t remember the exact name of the wine, but according to the bill it was a Domaine des Coyeux Muscat ’02. Just like an ice wine, this wine was sweet and extremely delicious. It tasted like an ice wine mixed with regular wine, so that it isn’t too sweet. I wonder if they have this stuff at the LCBO?

There’s a lot of fancy terms that people use in the bar, here are a few that I’ve come across as well as their definitions.  There are plenty other categories that can be written about, such as types of alcohol, types of garnishes, styles of drinks, etc. but that’s for another time :)

Serving Methods
Mist – served on crushed ice
Neat – unmixed, without ice
On the rocks – served on ice
Straight up – mixed with ice, but served without
With a twist – garnished with twist of lemon peel
Zest – garnished with scrapings of a lemon or lime peel

Measurements
Pint – officially 473.176473 ml or 16 oz, but this amount varies in Canada ranging from 8 oz to 18 oz
Shot – 44.3602943 ml or 1.5 oz
Fifth – 750ml or 1/5th of a gallon (757.08 ml)
Mickey – Primarily a Canadian term, 375 ml in Western Canada and Ontario or a individually bottled shot in Eastern Canada

Bartender Tools
Bar spoon – long stemmed spoon used for layering and stirring, holds 5 ml or 1 tsp
Boston shaker – a glass cup and a metal cup
Cocktail shaker – a metal shaker, usually a combination of a measuring cap, shaker and strainer
Jigger – double sided measuring tool
Muddler – similar to a pestle, this is used to crush fruits/herbs/spices to release the flavour
Strainer – used to pour just the liquid from the mixing glass

Glassware
Champagne flute – tall stemmed glass used to serve champagne or sparkling drinks
Cocktail glass – cone shaped glass, with or without a long stem
Shot glass – used for shots
Highball glass – normal glasses you would be given when requesting water
Old fashioned glass – usually used to serve neat or drinks on the rocks
Wine glass – larger bowl, stemmed glass. There are many different variations to the shape, to highlight different characteristics of wines