Supposedly Local and Seasonal in Saskatoon at Weczeria

Nice interior

I’d never been to Saskatchewan before, although the female human was born and raised there, so I jumped at the chance to accompany them on a quick visit to her hometown of Saskatoon.

Not sure where to go to eat since it’d been over a decade since the female human had lived there, we got a few suggestions from @andrealauder, a fellow Saskatchewanian. She told us of a restaurant called Weczeria Food & Wine, that is located on Broadway Ave, the closest equivalent to Edmonton’s Whyte Ave that Saskatoon has, this street is filled with quirky, independent stores, cafés and restaurants.

Chalkboard Menu rested on a chair

We entered Weczeria, a fair sized space, and were quickly ushered to a table. The server greeted us and brought us a menu on a chalkboard. She explained that the menu is written on a chalkboard instead of printed on paper as it changes often, and it’s more environmentally friendly then constantly printing new menus. As well that the chef preferred to use local, seasonal ingredients, so the dishes were based on whatever ingredients are fresh and available that day or week.

We perused the menu and tried to stifle giggles, as we reconciled the items on the menu with what ingredients could be considered fresh and local to Saskatoon. Considering the time of year – March when we visited, and the land locked location, some items are fairly obviously neither local nor seasonal including tuna, Parmesan cheese, lime, figs, and cherries…

Gnocchi with Parmesan and Cream Sauce

We began with the tuna with lime and green apple, which had a light lime taste to it. The tuna was unfortunately overcooked and chewy, not melt in your mouth as it should be, and although we sought out the green apple taste, we could detect none. The gnocchi with Parmesan and cream was delectable and pillow soft as it should be. The fragrant truffle oil and creamy cheese sauce amazingly did not overpower the gnocchi, and instead complimented it well. However, we found the appetizer portions too small and were left wanting for more.

Pork Belly

The human reported that the ribeye with parsnip puree, although cooked medium rare was still tough, and it appeared the cut of meat was not the greatest. The parsnip puree was well seasoned and a nice addition to the dish. Unfortunately the leeks and figs were substituted with kale and mushroom instead, and the human’s didn’t think that it went well with the ribeye. The sous vide pork belly was very tender, but could have used a tad more seasoning. The kale and mushroom side in this case was topped with a runny egg, with the yolk acting as the sauce. Again it did not seem to go very well with the dish. The accompanying lentils were salty and did not add anything to the dish as a whole.

Pear and Saskatoon Berry Crumble

For dessert, we had a pear and Saskatoon berry crumble. The fruit was nicely cooked and retained some crunch to it. The crumble was not too sugary, and added just the right amount of texture. The crème brulee had the perfect crust on top that gave way with the crack of a spoon, was rich and creamy inside, but could have used a hint more vanilla. 

We wondered further about the restaurant’s supposed environmentally friendly slant after a visit to the washroom revealed they used disposable paper towels. For a restaurant claiming to try to be environmentally friendly by not printing off page long menus as it changes, we weren’t sure why they would choose to use disposable paper towels in their washrooms instead of hand towels or something similar that could be washed.

Overall, we found the price of the dishes surprisingly high for Saskatoon, and the only dishes we really enjoyed were the gnocchi and the berry crumble. If Weczeria wants to talk the talk about local and seasonal, they need to walk the walk.

More photos at PhotoBucket!

Weczeria Food & Wine
820 Broadway Ave
Saskatoon, SK  S7N 1B6
306-933-9600

Twitter: @wiczeria