Two great places to brunch in Edmonton are Culina on 99th and Cafe de Ville just north of Jasper Ave. I’ve had brunch at both places in the last two weeks and I took photos of the great food for posterity.

Today Kim and I had brunch with our friend Sharon at Culina. Kim had bacon and eggs while Sharon and I both had the special. Bacon and eggs at Culina is special. They have bacon that is pork meat taken from the shoulder and is not served in strips. You can see it clearly in the attached photo. It is quite tender and not as greasy as regular strips of bacon. It tastes more like turkey to me.

The special today at Culina was a frittata with corn and melted edam served with sausage with herbs and maple covered in a tomato chutney. The frittata was moist and light but I really don’t like quiche and this is really just quiche. It tasted fine though. The chutney was refreshing. The sausages were remarkable. The maple was not overpowering and the herbs were prominent but balanced. These were the best sausages I have had in a long time and the played well with the chutney!

The Usual Suspects will be b-luncing at Culina again in just a few weeks. I look forward to whatever the special is that week. After today’s experience I am hoping that the menu includes those lovely sausages again!

Last week the Usual Suspects brunched at Cafe de Ville downtown. I had the Catania which is reminiscent of eggs benedict; however I do it a great disservice by making such a simple comparison. The Catania is thick bread topped with sliced grilled vegetables with a poached eggs on each covered with a spinach dressing and feta cheese. It is served with potatoes fried with dried tomato and seasoning. This is truly a gestalt dish; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Attention to given to every little detail in this dish. The vegetables are sliced in a way that allows them to mix and form a meshed bed under the poached eggs. The eggs are not poached in little cups and are thus unique and not quite soft-poached and not quite hard poached (which is how I make them at home. how did they know?!). The sauce was not trying to be a hollandaise variant as would be the obvious ploy in this type of dish. Instead it was a new experience taking this dish from being a “fancy eggs benny” to being its own thing.

While at de Ville I also shared a dish of baked brie in puff pastry with a friend. The brie seemed somewhat strong to me but it was rich and delicious. I regret not taking a photo of that plate as it was the most artful presentation at the table that morning! I highly recommend trying it. I was warned that the baked brie would take 20 minutes and might not come before my main order. That was odd as it is listed as a “starter.” Why offer a starter that will threaten to relegate your main dish to the heat lamp?! However, I was delighted that the brie came in ample time.

Over at the Blue Plate on 103 Ave just north of Jasper, they offer a Eggs Benedict Florentine. Its really good but nothing compared to the Catania. Both have spinach and feta cheese. Both are like eggs benedict but the Catania is unique in some many subtle ways. Of course it costs twice as much so I’ll give my dollar to the Blue Plate much more often to de Ville and the Florentine is really worth it but the comparison is still worth making.