L'epicerie French Delicatessen

I was in my seasonal photowalk when i accidentally discover this French deli at the first street near in Victoria Stampede area downtown. A few months back, i was freak looking for a Fantastic french cuisine here in Calgary but i always failed to find one. Thank god i found L'epicerie French deli. A small deli where you can dine or eat in a snap or get the food on the go.Tiny place with one to three sets of tables and chairs inside and you could see other tables also set  just outside the shop. This deli is quite simple with small kitchen where you can actually see at the dining. No paintings hanging on the wall, no colorful vases, no unique designs, no fancy at all. There were two shelves near the doorway lined everything french goodies like homemade bottled sauces, preserves oils, some spices, dried herbs, cookies and a sack of fleur de sel that sold per pounds. On the other side there were also placed two display chillers. The first chiller is used to be for holding cold cooked foods like marinated olives, scandinavian gravlax, cassoulet,  Ratatouille and bread fillings. The second chiller is for raw foods and processed meats like Pate,bulk hams, confit, Foie gras, duck meats and steaks. They are ready to cook once you order it. There's no menu book offered during my visit.But you will notice huge menu board  hanging just on top of preparation table. This brilliant deli is owned by Chef Dominique Mousuu- French chef from the town of Lyon west of France. He showed me of his great food from his town and he said all of them are freshly made an hour before i arrive. Here are his proud dishes

Salmon gravlax- a scandinavian cured salmon marinated in salt and sugar mixture with dill,mustard,crashed black pepper and a little brandy, Usually this succulent dish soaked with the mixture for 3 days up to a week. Paper thin sliced when serve. Best to serve with dill sauce but chef dominique gave me dill vinaigrette which turned out perfect.

 Ratatouille has been the french staple when it comes to vegetable. This was great and very tasty,no overpowering of the herb that chef may put into, well balanced and its perfect with chip croutons. The vegetables are very well cooked but not mushy to my taste. Tomatoes are very dominant with this dish. 
Taste very fresh and sweet,,

 
Duck rillete is a creamy base bread fillings made of minced duck meat, cornichons, shallots and some grainy mustard with fine herbs,All ingredients are minced equally and the portions of the ingredients are just enough. No overpowering. Buns are not over toasted, Crusty outside but very soft inside This was very superb sandwich with slices of fresh cucumber. A fantastic sandwich.

Pork and cranberry pate'is chef dominiques magnificent creation. It is homemade pork with fresh cranberry pate that really taste good and have a heavy dense because it was made very compact. It was tasted sweet and a little sticky but wasn't hard to chew. I've tasted some pistachio nuts inside and gives some salty taste with the pate as well as the fruits gave the pork very flavorful, They were combined well balanced, smooth texture and perfecto.

Don't be confused with the price. This duck confit only sold per piece,. So probably it would cost only at around four dollar for a piece of leg, not bad for the best confit in town. Confit processing is time consuming process which duckmeat or other part of the duck are soaked in its own fat together with some herb,salt and spices place in a claypot and kept for a week and then braise slowly on the fat where they had been marinated.obviously this duck was fatty but flavorful. I would have eat this with sauteed veggies or a bunch of salad  mesclun the next time i visit this deli. I barely ate this with nothing,, weirdo!!!!

For the dessert, i had this tarty quite simple Apple Tart. I'm so overwhelmed with this nice crunchy apple dessert. Apple slices were baked in a paper cut rustic dough that when cooked make the tart fluffy and crunchy. Chef Dominique doesn't use any tart molder on this. He just use rolling pin and the touch of his hand to make this wonderful tart. Amazing isn't it??It taste so good that i was surprise with the tart has less sweet and not over baked. The fruit unbelievably maintained its juiciness,very  tender and so delicious. Would you believe that chef dominique gave me this for free??


If you wanna taste good french food in a very fresh ingredients, Visit them at the 1st street between 14th and 13th avenue beside the chocolate shop. Chef dominique sell some of the very fine oils, vinegar and spices from his town Lyon. L'epiceri also sell domesticated meats like duck magret, Ham, and foie gras, terrines and pate. And for special occasions and events, l'epicerie will do it for you. They do caterings