You may not have heard of chef Tony Krause and The Salt Room, so be prepared to pay attention. It’s a tiny, new concept, hopefully one that will soon firmly take root and become another regular, lively option on the the YEG food scene.
Krause runs the concession at Mother’s Market (located on the top floor, on the northwest side of the building) and keeps the same hours as the market. Weekends see him fixing all manner of interesting brunch and lunch foods, from French toast stuffed with bananas, to eggs Bennie to simple pastas. But lately, Krause has also been supplementing his workaday market fare with a meal series called Underground Dinner. You can assemble a group of 10 or so friends and order your own Underground Dinner. Or you buy a ticket to the series, which pops up from time to time. The next one is May 5 and May 6, 2015, when Krause teams up with local chef Ben Staley to create something unusual and imaginative. (Get in touch with Krause to reserve at antonykrause@gmail.com.)
For $70, including tax and tip (wine pairings were available for $35 more), our table of 11 enjoyed a multi-course meal featuring local and hand-crafted fare. We started with an amuse bouche of braised fennel with salmon cream, followed by small, individual cast iron pans of fresh buns made from organic Park Wheat flour by Gold Forest Grains. The buns were served with confit garlic butter, dusted with fleur de sel. Next up was a temptingly pink Icelandic langoustine nestled alongside roasted wild ramps and house-made bacon bits. Hand-made sausage was prepared with onions cooked in milk whey, and the bulbs were soft and mild as a result. A hand-made pasta was perfectly cooked and toothy, and there was a pleasing, gluten-free pasta for one of the dinner guests who has celiac disease.
The impressive part of the evening was the attention to detail paid by chef Tony and his assistant, chef Chelsea Tipping. Oh, and there were two desserts (I’m a sucker for two desserts) including a sweet potato served with maple syrup pavlova and sweet cream gelato, and a duo of sour cherry gummy and a tiny scoop of frozen bourbon chocolate mousse.
I really enjoyed my experience on Tuesday night, although some tweaks are necessary. (The chocolate mousse scoop was served on a bed of tiny pebbles. The pebbles looked great, but stuck to the ice cream and had to be spat out.) Still and all, The Salt Box is an example of Edmonton’s progression as a food culture. Chef Krause is among those responsible for developing layer upon layer of interesting choices for eating and drinking, and there is something deeply satisfying about that. It’s been a long time coming, but worth the wait.
The Salt Room is at 10251-109 Street. Follow chef Tony @thesaltroom_yeg, and if you have a look at his feed, you’ll see pictures of the food from Tuesday night shot by photographers more talented than me, including @shorelinegold. For details on the Underground Dinner series, e-mail antonykrause@gmail.com. Oh, and there is a patio with potential attached to the The Salt Room, which may well prove a draw for Mother’s Market on weekends.
