My Blog = My Life: 14th Avenue

I was really happy to hear that a new restaurant is coming to the downtown 'hood.
Tangerine by chef Aimee Schulhauser of Evolution Catering will be a welcome addition to the strip of shops on 14th Avenue next to Lorne Street (2234 14th Avenue, to be exact).
The restaurant will be open mainly during the daytime and into the early evening hours, with later hours a possibility once the restaurant has its feet under it (the same goes for a liquor licence). Schulhauser tells me that fresh garden vegetables from her grandma's garden will be front and centre this summer. She calls Tangerine's menu a "chef's playground" featuring a handful of semi-permanent sandwiches and salads, along with whatever else she creates on any given day.
Tangerine's website will be up and running in June. In the meantime, check out Schulhauser's other website: http://www.ecff.ca/

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Overall - 11 out of 15

Let's start with the good: Tangerine is a tastefully decorated bistro that has added a healthy dose of personality to the strip of shops on 14th Avenue between Lorne and Cornwall streets. The restaurant seems to be doing a very good business over the lunch hour. Ladies who lunch, business folks, and university kids are all common sights.
Service is very fast - as it should be at a bistro that depends on the lunch hour to survive. My meals have arrived within minutes of ordering during both of my lunchtime visits. Considering that ordering is done cafeteria-style, that is up at the counter, there is no reason for service to be slow.
The menu, written in chalk on a large wall next to the deli case, has a good mixture of proteins, grains and greens, and it changes often. Tangerine also brews coffee and serves up homemade biscuits and sweets. All of this lends an urbane feel to the place - Tangerine would fit right in to New York's Lower East Side or Vancouver's West End. But it's all ours and we should be proud to have it.
As for the not-so-good: Tangerine needs to work on portions and prices. The other day I ordered the $11 Greens and Proteins: a six- or seven-ounce piece of salmon atop a bed of greens with a light dressing. The dish's modest size left me feeling hungry, and that I'd paid too much. Consider that Siam Thai restaurant downtown offers an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet for $9; or that La Bodega serves a mean sandwich with fries for about $12.
As for the salad, I have a strong suspicion that the lettuce mixture I ate was store-bought. This is a bit of a shame in the middle of summer when fresh local produce is everywhere.
Finally, Tangerine could play more heavily on the "food bar" theme that it uses as part of its name. At the moment, the restaurant is open until 7 p.m. on weeknights. But give the place a liquor licence, dim the lights, put on some groovy music, and you could have a very cool evening hangout. Of course, this may come as Tangerine matures. Owner/chef Aimee Schulhauser is wise to take a "walk before you run" approach to the place.
The verdict: give Tangerine a try for your next business lunch, or if you happen to be hanging around downtown on a gorgeous summer day.

It's here!

Regina's newest downtown restaurant opened quietly this week on the corner of Lorne Street and 14th Avenue.

Chef Aimee Schulhauser will offer fresh eats and a menu that changes frequently to keep up with what's in season. The current menu on the Tangerine website looks very tempting: http://www.tangerineregina.ca/

Watch out for a grand opening some time in July.