Summer brings an abundance of fresh-from-the-farm/sea/producer ingredients bursting with flavour. It’s also a time when we naturally prefer to eat lighter fare. In recognition of this, Wild Rice’s new summer menu offers diners several different options to enjoy the season’s bounty.
“After the success of our Asian Heritage Month Platter that contained four ‘snack dishes,’ we thought that people might want to try mixing and matching a variety of flavours. In China there is a tradition of street food called dai pai dong where people wander from stall to stall trying different dishes – dumplings at one, soup at another, noodles in a different location and something sweet at a fourth. Our new summer menu reflects some of that sensibility,” says owner Andrew Wong.
Sharezies is the order of the day for summer dining. As in traditional Chinese restaurants, all dishes are designed to share and come with serving utensils and extra bowls. Food is served ‘family-style’ meaning that it comes out of the kitchen as soon as it is prepared. So if you like, you may roam the menu at will. There’s no set order to the food. It’s like eating at the Night Market but instead of physically moving from stall to stall you just meander through the menu.
For starters, there is Wild Rice’s iconoclastic take on Dim Sum. Each of the 10 dim sum dishes is priced at only $6. They include Chef Todd Bright’s innovative interpretations of classic snacks such as Congee, Prawn Toasts, BBQ Pork Buns (with Wild Rice’s house-made BBQ pork) and Potstickers to name a few.
The next delicious category awaiting exploration is Dish. The heading ‘ Dish’ is deliberately left in the singular to reflect that, in Chinese, words do not have plurals. You order ‘two dish’ not ‘two dishes.’ Under the Dish, you will find slightly larger ‘dishes’ such as: Wonton Noodle Soup with Ginger Pork Dumplings ($6), Buddha’s Curry ($10), Grilled King Oyster Mushroom with Sui Choy Salad ($9), Sticky Beef Short Ribs with Taro Frites ($14) or Haida Gwaii Salmon and Arctic Char with Bell Pepper Ragout and Scallion Salsa Verde ($14) to name five of the dozen items in this section.
The Plate section contains Wild Rice favourites such as: Kung Po Chicken ($18), Braised Pemberton Meadows Beef with Shanghai Noodles, Sautéed Bok Choy and Red Pepper ($17), Classic Chinatown Sweep ($13), Yarrow Meadows Duck Breast with Bitter Orange Peel Jus and Duck Gnocchi($17) or Wild Rice’s famed Chinese Seafood Ravioli with Green Curry Tomato ‘Cream’($18). This last dish was the one that so impressed John Henderson, Restaurant Critic for the Denver Post that he declared that ” this seafood ravioli is the best Chinese dish I’ve ever had” (Denver Post, February 10, 2010).
Should you possibly have any room left, Chef Bright has created four, light-as-a-summer-breeze Desserts to satisfy your sweet craving. There’s the refreshing Almond Tofu and Fresh Fruit Cocktail, or his version of summer shortcake – Gluten Free Mountainberry Teacake. For chocolate addicts, the Chocolate Tart with Strawberry Long Pepper Sorbet should do the trick while the Lychee Brulée adds an exotic finish to any meal. All desserts are priced at $6.
All Wild Rice’s dishes, including its desserts, are dairy-less and many offer a vegan option.
Wild Rice is open for dinner seven nights a week starting at 5 p.m. and open on Fridays for lunch starting at 11:30 a.m.
