the greenhouse - edmonton, ab

the greenhouse
8623 112 Street
780.757.1731

Meeting up with Sarah recently for lunch, had us visiting the Greenhouse. Billed as a gourmet salad experience, this newish restaurant is located right in the University area and shares its space with a Good Earth location.

The space is very welcoming, with the entire process available for your viewing pleasure.

Due to the time, and a different eating schedule, I'd already eaten my lunch and took advantage of the coffee offerings from Good Earth. Sarah on the other hand had a look through the handy menu and decided on a soup/salad combo. Choosing bocconcini classico for her salad, she then selected the jerk beef stew to complete the meal.

The presentation was nice, and a small sampling of the salad left me happy. There was a good balance of ingredients, with the balsamic complimenting the package nicely. Really, the best part was probably the chicken. Not dried out at all, the breast was juicy and tasted exactly like it should off a grill.

What threw me was the soup option though. Billed as a stew, it didn't fit the bill. I think it would be stretching it to even label it as 'stoup'. Either way, the soup base was flavourful, and the peppers were a nice touch. The main issue was the fattiness. Maybe this is where the 80/20 mentality they talk about comes into play, but the lingering fat, both in the soup and on the beef, could have been reduced.

At the end of the day, this sampling did it's job, in that it's enticing me to go back. With a selection of proteins, and a few delicious sounding combination's, it almost goes without saying that the Greenhouse was doing steady university business during our visit. Now if only the parking lot attached didn't cost a small fortune for the hour, and I could find a white belt...