Freaky food: Engineered Eats at Beakerhead in Calgary
Calgary’s Beakerhead festival transforms the city into an open laboratory of engineering and interactive artistry from September 16 to 20. As part of its Engineered Eats initiative, the city’s chefs and bartenders play mad scientist, serving gastronomically engineered dishes that elevate the humble egg to space-age heights. Here are a few. Photo of Catch chef Terrance Copland by Curtis Anderson, courtesy Beakerhead.
Avec Bistro
105-550 11 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2R 1M7A Beltline French bistro, Avec’s scientifique eats include a beef and sous vide egg yolk appetizer. Cooked vacuum-sealed in a warm-water bath, the delicately creamy yolk is paired with thin, crisp potato waffle. Its gas of a main course delivers a laughably delicious N2O-whipped béarnaise knockout with flatiron steak and frites.
Ox Bar De Tapas
528 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2S 0B1Spanish tapas restaurant and bar Ox & Angela employs some Spanish food science with its Arzak Egg, a dish employing a poaching process perfected by Spanish chef Juan Mari Arzak. Encased in plastic wrap, the eggs are immersed in warm water producing a beautiful soft-boiled result that’s served with chorizo sauce (also employing egg), garlic chives and migas (bread crumbs).
Beltliner The
243 12 Ave Sw, Calgary, AB T2R 1H7A handsome contemporary diner named for a long-vanished Calgary streetcar, The Beltliner serves upscale diner fare employing local ingredients. Opposite the northeast corner of Central Memorial Park, its Engineered Eats entries include Devilish Eggs constructed with sous vide (vacuum-sealed, water bathed) yolks with cornichons, shallots and Dijon foam. On the drink menu is a whisky sour cocktail (egg white is an ingredient) that changes colour from blue to pink.
Buttermilk Fine Waffles
A cute little waffle hut on 17th Avenue Southwest, Buttermilk’s Beakerhead dish, the Floating Alaska, is a play on the tricky baked ice cream dessert. A waffle is topped with vanilla bean ice cream made by Calgary’s Village Ice Cream. Dressed in meringue, the whole affair is then broiled. Crème Anglaise and raspberry coulis are applied to this hot-and-cold dessert highball.
Pie Cloud Inc
314D 10 Street NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1V8Kensington’s latest “it” restaurant, Pie Cloud serves both meat and dessert pies that are rich and glorious. Boldly introducing a third variable to the age-old which-came-first riddle, its Engineered Eats dish features fluffy waffles paired with fried chicken breast and eggs two ways. Formulated for maximum taste, the latter components are French omelette and delicate, deep-fried egg filaments. Add maple syrup and/or hot sauce to taste.
Flipp'n Burgers
103-330 10 St NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1V8A Kensington-Sunnyside burger closet with a mansion-sized rep for its succulent diner fare, Flipp’n Burgers has invented the Eureka Burger and Shake. A freshly grilled nod to Beakerhead’s In/Flux, an artistic, architectural wonder comprised of 10,000 mushroom bricks, this burger patty on a Kaiser bun is topped with a poached egg, avocado, goat cheese and ample sautéed mushrooms.
Midtown Kitchen & Bar
302 10th St NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1V8This contemporary Kensington pub and restaurant boldly reinvents eggs Benedict. A cone-shaped English muffin “coronet” holds delicate, spherical egg drops and “encapsulated” Hollandaise sauce. House-made bacon and pickled red onion complete this playfully edible cornucopia.
Cucina Bistro
515 8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 1G1A contemporary Euro cuisine spot on Stephen Avenue Walk, tiny Cucina is big on creativity. At the centre of its Engineered Eats entry is a free-range sous vide duck egg. Complementing its creamy richness is crispy pork belly. Adding further flavour accents and visual appeal are watercress pesto, pimento, Grana Padano cheese and smoked paprika foam.
