Wild Tangerine
10383 112 St., 780-429-3131
If you've been to Mobile Cuisine recently - the Manulife Centre takeout arm of the Wu siblings' Wild Tangerine franchise - you've had a cruel shock: it's closed. Relax. You can still take home a container of Judy Wu's famous green curry sauce ($8 for 450 grams) - the perfect blend of green chili, peppers, lemongrass, dried shrimp, coconut and spices that will dazzle guests with "your" culinary skills. "Everybody wants to entertain," says Wilson Wu. "Not everybody has time." He encourages people to take Judy's sauces and put their own stamp on them.
The Wus continue to sell their frozen, wholesale offerings out of Wild Tangerine, their signature restaurant. And in April, they relaunched the delivery store at wildtangerine.com, opening the entire province to their delicious takeout offerings, such as Peking-style, slow-cooked beef ($8.50 for 350 grams) - huge chunks of tender Alberta beef with sliced carrots and onions in a sweet and sour sauce. Or you can try their red curry chicken ($9.50/350 grams), a spicy marriage of chicken, veggies, chili, basil, coconut and spices. Just simmer the foil packs in a pot of boiling water, steam some rice and you're set.
Wilson describes Wild Tangerine's food as "modern Asian," inspired in part by the Wus' childhood in cosmopolitan Hong Kong. But there's a twist, evident in some fusions such as pizza topped with Szechwan beef ($9.95), sweet potato lavender soup ($6) and bison spring rolls (three for $5.75). Wilson, with his boundless energy, is often the idea generator. Judy, the 2007 Gold Medal Plate champion and a celebrity chef at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, is left to execute his eclectic ideas. "She always says, ‘Easy for you to say,'" Wilson says, "but we're a good team.
Mr. Samosa Hut
1511 Lakewood Rd., 780-485-8945
Parmajit Kaur Kundan cooks from the heart, and judging by the glass display cases of Indian pastries at Mr. Samosa Hut, the restaurant she owns with her husband, Parmajit Singh, she has a pretty big heart.
The Kundans' business card features a cartoon of a dancing samosa wearing a jaunty bowler hat. One can only assume he's dancing because he just tasted himself - delicious. Just $1.50 each, the samosas are perfect triangles of delicate, crunchy pastry filled with spiced meat and veggies. Bite into one and the meat and onions tumble out. Ginger, cumin and cinnamon hit your nose and tongue at the same time. Chicken ($1.50) and veggie ($1.25) samosas are also available, but don't limit yourself - not with the dozen or so pakoras to choose from. Mixed pakoras - spinach, hot chilli, potato and peas, cauliflower and more - are sold by weight, deli-style, at $7 for 454 grams.
Hot or cold, mixed pakoras and samosas make for a welcome addition to a picnic or potluck. A box of sweets will complete your party. The Kundans make more than 30 kinds, mostly varieties of burfi ($9/454 grams) - delicately flavoured milk-based sweets, cut into squares or rolled into balls and garnished with a silvery foil. They also offer a soft, honey-filled, pretzel-like dessert called jalebi ($3/454g), which are so delicious you might devour them before arriving at your destination.
Arriba Mexico
8203 108 St., 780-758-8226
Forget your preconceptions of Mexican food - unless you're Mexican, that is. If you are, Arriba Mexico is like coming home. Brothers Sergio and Jorge Torres opened this pint-sized Whyte Avenue restaurant in October, with fair prices and a small menu. It takes almost no time to prepare each item, so it's faster, healthier and tastier than most fast food.
Arriba Mexico does conventional beef tacos very well, but the tacos dorados (three for $9) are the most addictive. They are finger-thick corn tortillas wrapped around shredded, spiced chicken and fried to a satisfying crunch. Like most menu items, these are served with rice and shredded lettuce and tomato.
For the perfect picnic partner, order the tamales (three for $8), patties made of corn flour, folded neatly around beans and chicken, pork or beef. The whole package is wrapped in a cornhusk, steamed and served with salsa and sour cream. And on Sundays only, there's a savoury, slow-cooked Mexican stew called pozole ($9), ready to be scooped into a container and whisked away.
This is the comfort food that Sergio Torres missed when he arrived in Edmonton eight years ago. He and Jorge are earning their chops in hopes of opening a restaurant that serves higher-end Mexican cuisine. If Arriba Mexico is anything to go by, it'll be worth the wait.
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