A Bear-y Special Visit: Era Bistro

All good things must come to an end. On our friends' last day in Winnipeg we had visited the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Our main goal was to visit the polar bears, but we also had some ... personal ... encounters with the zoo animals, almost resulting in us losing a member of our group. Nevertheless, having survived our brush with the wild we were starving for some food. Our last stop was the Canadian Museum for Human rights and so it was easy to pick ERA Bistro as our lunch stop of choice.

Located inside the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, ERA is gorgeous. A modern restaurant with three large communal tables for sharing conversation and a multitude of smaller separate tables, it had sleek modern decor, a huge open kitchen concept and, most importantly, a crowd of happy diners. It was difficult holding back my excitement waiting for the waitress to show us to our table of choice.

The menu is cosmopolitan. ERA features a number of sandwiches and salads all featuring local Manitoba ingredients. For those opting to share, ERA also offers a number of small plate tapas style options for those inclined to try a number of items.

We started off by sharing the Bearcat Pickerel Cheeks: panko crusted pickerel cheeks are served with a spicy caper remoulade. Overall this was pedestrian; akin to nuggets, the fish, nicely coated and fried, was lacking in flavour by itself and overpowered by the remoulade. One does not get the sense this is a pickerel cheek and could have been fooled into believing this was any fish.

Our fish loving diner ordered the Arctic Char. Served similarly to smoked salmon, the char is paired with pistachio, caviar, caper and creme fraiche. Overall this had some nice flavour and I enjoyed the combination of fresh fish with the creme fraiche and crunch of pistachios. A decent serving, ERA does a good job here highlighting the fish.

For my main I had the Braised Lamb Sandwich. Served open face, a heaping load of tender lamb is paired with feta and arugula on a focaccia. The protein was delicious and, albeit obvious choice, went well with the feta. I loved the open face aspect which showcased the lamb and utilized the bread as simply a vehicle to carry the main star. I substituted with Carrot Fries as the side and was thoroughly disappointed by the soggy and greasy carrot sticks.

Finally our last diner had the California Club. Crisp chicken breast, pancetta, avocado, mayo on sourdough made up this pedestrian sounding and pedestrian tasting sandwich. It featured no unique or special aspects: the avocado lacking, the mayo overpowering, the vegetables plain and the chicken breast, while tender and nicely roasted, bland. The Mushroom Brodo that we substituted in the meal was excellent with deep rich mushroom broth and tender vegetables.

ERA Bistro is a beautiful restaurant in a wondrous structure that attempts to offer gourmet bistro style food but in reality was average and (slightly) overpriced. I like some of the ideas in the dishes but found overall the quality inconsistent for the price charged and while we left full, there was nothing special or unique to warrant a revisit. The basis for a great restaurant is here, but until the food becomes up to par, I have to recommend one take a pass on ERA.