Las Palapas Resort Grill

After some very “difficult” work of taste-testing a few very excellent wines, we have narrowed down our choices for a wine list that we believe complement our Latin menu very nicely! We have kept a few of our previous wines that were popular, and included some new additions that will be amazing to enjoy in the summer outside on the patio or inside the restaurant while taking in our tropical decor!

One of the favourite new additions is the Sibling Rivalry Riesling-Gewurztraminer blend from the Niagara region. Made by the Speck Brothers, this wine is crisp and clean; it’s not too sweet, and has lime and lychee undertones – which are a great pairing with our seafood and chicken menu items such as the world-famous Coconut Shrimp or the Pollo Enchilada.

Another addition is the Finca Los Primos Malbec. Vanilla and spice undertones make this Argentinian red a great sip alongside some of our spicer menu items, such as the Enchiladas con Mole or the Carne Asada Frito.

A great summer sipper is the Gabbiano Rosato. Although from Italy (we’ll forgive it this time), it is a delightful summer wine that will carry into fall as well. If you are a wine aficionado, you will know that there has been a great deal of improvement in the world of blush or rose wines. No longer so sweet that the back of your throat hurts, this rosato has a slightly sweet palate with strawberry undertones and a crisp finish – no syrupy aftertaste here! We think it goes very well with our Mango Honey-Rummed Chicken  or our Guacamole Fresca for those days on the patio when you just want  a light snack!

We hope you take a look at our new wine list the next time you’re in – we’re very happy with it and hope you will be, too! Please ask your server if you have any questions or would like to try a sample!

The Palapas Shelter Fund continues to fund local groups that we believe would benefit from our support. This year, we have joined up with Queen Elizabeth School. Located just a few blocks away on Eastlake Avenue, this public elementary school has just over 200 students from kindergarten to grade eight, as well as a preschool. Also located in the building is the Open Door Society which is a community organization that facilitates newcomers to Canada with various aspects of daily life, such as language classes, cooking classes, parenting classes and many other helpful programs.  Initiatives that we have taken so far include our staff at Las Palapas volunteering their time at the school, sports teams having their windups at Las Palapas restaurant, and most recently, a fundraising Shrimp Boil dinner for the Queen Elizabeth preschool. Held on April 2^nd, 68 lucky guests were offered a traditional shrimp boil of tiger prawns, corn cobettes, carrots with honey and cinnamon, mango slaw and rice with beans. 100% of the $25 ticket price was donated to the school, resulting in over $1650 raised!! We really look forward to this growing partnership! If you wish for more information about this initiative of the Shelter Fund, please email courtney@laspalapas.ca.

Spring is nearly around the corner and we have been busy as ever here at your favourite tropical resort grill. Our restaurant is growing every day, with new fans sampling Nuevo Latin cuisine. As well, we are very lucky to have our new store on Broadway, El Mercado Palapas, which has been open for a few months now with raving reviews. It is located at 821 Broadway Avenue, between Main Street and 10^th Street, between the 7-11 and Buds. Unlike anything else in Saskatchewan (and western Canada, we’re told!), a trip to El Mercado Palapas is like taking a mini shopping vacation to the markets of Mexico. Tableware, glassware, indoor and outdoor décor, toys, wall art, candle holders, spices, hot sauces, tortillas, Latin groceries and fresh food made daily in the Las Palapas restaurant kitchen are just a few of the many, many items you will find in this little Latin heaven. We special-order Mexican cheeses (oaxaca, cotija, panela, and queso fresco) as well as fresh fruit sodas that you can’t get outside of Mexico! Our large selection of beverages are all made with real sugar (not high-fructose corn syrup).  Our proprietor, Johnny K, has just recently returned from a buying trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. Upon searching the abundant mercados, he found a few hundred different items that are currently being gathered, wrapped, and packed in preparation for being driven up to Saskatoon in late March. All these items will be available very soon for you to see! If you haven’t stopped in to visit El Mercado Palapas yet, you need to! You will find that interesting gift for someone special or a new authentic grocery item to add to your pantry for creating your favourite Latin recipes at home.

El Mercado Palapas

821 Broadway Avenue

Saskatoon, SK. S7N 1B5

306.244.5566

Hours:

Mon – Wed: 10:00 am-6:00 pm

Thu: 10:00 am-9:00pm

Fri – Sat: 10:00 am-6:00 pm

Email: elmercadolaspalapas@gmail.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elmercadolaspalapas?sk=wall

Twitter: @MercadoPalapas

Muy Sabroso! Tres Arbolitos

Over the past three years and previous to opening our restaurant, Johnny K – our general manager – made a number of culinary excursions to the tropics of the Americas; some self directed and some with culinary professionals such as Elizabeth Baird, Rick Bayless and Josefina Santacruz. This year he decided to take our kitchen team down to Mexico on such an excursion both to inspire and reward. We took five members of the kitchen and three of the front of house managers. For our first annual Culinary Expedition we chose Puerto Vallarta as our destination. It is a wonderful resort area with many districts and  surrounding  towns offering a varied experience and lots of exciting recreational activities for time off from our pursuit of excellence. It is also an easy and comfortable access to Mexico for those who have not done much travelling. It was the first time in Mexico for four of our group which added to the excitement.

We planned the trip for eight months having meetings discussing what we really wanted to learn and see and what we would be cooking while we were there. We planned to rent a villa on the ocean and visit the markets and cook up a number of dishes we weren’t as familiar with using fresh local ingredients. We managed to rent a villa for five nights – Casa de Las Palapas – our namesake- which also had a wonderful Mexican cook on staff.

We pre-ordered some supplies for the villa to have on hand for us and then the first morning there we went out to the local markets and shops and purchased supplies. We spent the first afternoon cooking and prepping to have the basics we needed for the week and then supplemented daily with the center of the plate items from fresh beef cuts, some marinated and some not, to different styles of chorizo and birria and carnitas, to fresh red snapper and shrimp. Everyone was very excited at the bounty of fresh and exciting foods – especially the wonderful Mexican cheeses – Oaxacan , Chihuauan and Manchego and Asadero. We had the Mexican cook on staff at the villa – Marisela -  assist us in making some traditional authentic local dishes con mucho flavour. We also purchased fresh ground masa  and made  tamales – both pork rib tamales and Tamales del Istmo de Tehuantepec with chicken mole stuffing. The actual fresh masa is so much better than the reconstituted masa harina de tamalaria which we use in Saskatoon. So Marisela convinced us to go to the market and purchase an “el Molino” grinder so we can grind our own field corn at home and hopefully make our own fresh masa for the restaurant. We are looking forward to working through the steps of preparing our own nixtamal.

We also visited local restaurants off the beaten track and recommended by our new Mexican friends, including Tres Arbolitos and the best taco stand in Puerto Vallarta – a well kept secret – where we ate outdoors on the street at night in front of a swollen and raging Rio Cuale in Colonia Buenos Aires. The staff voted that meal the best meal of the expedition. We had tacos and quesadillas and volcans all prepared fresh for us with four amazing salsas to choose from. A definite favourite was the Torta Ahogado – a Guadalajara specialty sandwich with refried beans and barbecued pork on a bolillo and smothered in a sauce of pure arbol chiles.

We have all returned inspired and excited to add to the experience at our restaurant – to make it even more authentic and flavourful. As I said we are now developing our own nixtamal recipe for fresh masa as well as our own fresh chorizo recipe. Some of the features we are working on at present include different sides such as arroz rojo and arroz verde as well as fresh nopale salad and fried chorizo nopale mix. Mole chicken tamales and chorizo tamales are also in the works along with a wonderful queso fundido recipe we ran into and some exciting local salsas from PV. We will also be serving Gorditas on the weekends and Conchas Chinas Ceviche will be on this summer – a wonderful dorado molido ceviche on tostadas.  The staff took lots of photos as well with ideas for interior and exterior design and decorative accessories. We managed to pick up a couple Huichole yarn paintings for the restaurant this trip and have already hung them in the dining room.

We had a couple beautiful sunny days and two days of rain including a crazy tropical storm which they tell us is very rare. We returned somewhat sunburnt and seasick;) but truly inspired. The staff who had not visited Mexico before have fallen in love with its charms and are excited to return and explore other areas in the future. Que milagro!

Thanks to the support of all of our guests, our Palapas Shelter Fund coffers have grown and we are able once again to distribute funds to our partner City Park Collegiate. This year they will be using the funds, first and foremost, to support their Attendance Program which rewards students who maintain exceptional levels of attendance. Also and as well some of the funds will be directed to the Nutrition Program and some to Cultural Programming including the Round Dance (a very important cultural celebration at the school). Some of the funds help with honorariums for young First Nation artists, singers, drummers and Knowledge Keepers so they can be a part of the young people’s cultural growth and overall health. The school and Tawayihk work together with these cultural teachers and share the programming and people in both places. This is another way that the school can provide some employment to young community people.

Because of many requests we have started to bring in larger inventory of our traditional glassware and hot sauces and along with other items such as Las Palapas t-shirts.  We have created some gift baskets for the Christmas season. We have them displayed at the front of the restaurant behind the hostess greeting station. Please ask the staff if you are interested in any of the items for sale. We will be expanding our lines if there is enough interest.

We have been having a lot of fun with the features and so have our guests. Recently the most popular features have been Chicken and Chorizo Quesadillas with Mushrooms, Huevos Revueltos con Carne Asada, Nopale Cactus and Carne Asada Torta, and Breakfast Burritos on the weekend.

Taco Tuesdays (Toonie Tacos) began with a bang on the 5th of January proving Tuesdays will be competing for the busiest day of the week. We are running the same Taco menu for the first few weeks but then will be changing it up every week. This week was:

Choice of following on corn or wheat flour tortillas:

Taco 1-Island Taco – curried chickpeas with nappa cabbage, salsa verde and crema fresca

Taco 2-Barbacoa Taco – our famous Barbacoa taco

Taco 3-Pollo Poblano Taco – shred chicken braised with Chipotle Salsa and topped with sliced lettuce, cheese blend and crema fresca.

Culinary Expedition to Mexico

We are excited to announce that we will be taking five of the kitchen team and three of the front of house staff to Mexico on a Culinary Expedition the first week in February to source new products and advance technique. We are planning on returning inspired to develop new items for the spring menu change and for features throughout the year. Please watch for the photos and information following our expedition. We will be closed the first week in February from Sunday January 31st to Saturday February 6th and reopening on Sunday February 7th.

Las Palapas Testimonials of the Week:

“Friendly informed staff, fresh ingredients, no processed foods, a sense of healthy eating, relaxed atmosphere. Very impressed with food and services. Good restaurant and good times!!!!!”

A Craig

“I always recommend your restaurant to all my friends and get them to sign up for the royalty program because of the fantastic service and the great food that we receive. My friends and family love it!”

M Sorokan

Tawayihk Cultural and Family Centre is an independent, not for profit organization that is partnered with City Park Collegiate and as we are a partner of City Park we have been invited to  become involved this year with Tawayihk.

“Tawayihk” is a Cree word that means “a place to gather”. The Centre is an idea that was conceived and created by the young  people, families, and community of City Park Collegiate. It is governed by a board of directors that is reflective of the cultural diversity and cultural heritage of the community. Cultural processes and cultural protocols are followed in all aspects of the centre. What began as a dream over a cup of coffee became a ” gathering place”in just three short years. The Centre has just acquired a full time staff person – ElaineWeisgerber -  who acts as facilitator, coordinator, and leader within. Elaine is currently working very hard at building relationships with the young people, the families and the wider community.  Here at Las Palapas we hope to help the centre with sustainability and we will provide more information about the program as we go. We will soon be working on another project with our other Shelter Fund partner San Francisco Saludable and will provide updates as that progresses. Thanks to all our guests as you are the ones who provide us with a means of helping out.

Tamalemaker

In keeping with our mandate to add ever fresher, more authentic, exciting items to our menu, we have been producing our own fresh made corn tortillas and tamales. The extra effort that is required is well worth it and pays out in spades with fresh flavour. We would like to send out a special thanks to all our guests who have noticed and commented on the wonderful traditional flavour these items have added. At present we are making tamales early in the morning and we are offering both chicken and beef tamales either as a sampler dish or a lunch meal. We’ve had guests in from Mexico recently and I quote, “Todo muy rico!” and “Those are the best tamales we’ve ever had!” We make the corn tortillas twice daily to maintain freshness: both before lunch and before dinner. The corn tortillas are featured in dishes like the Enchiladas Suiza and offered as an option for all the Taco and Enchilada dishes we serve. Please try them if you  haven’t already.

We’ve also begun Daily Features, which are either items from the menu that we wish guests to try at an introductory special price or new items that the kitchen staff have been perfecting over the last little while. We’ve been attempting to push the envelope a bit with a little more exciting ingredients like our Tlaxcalan-style Steak Sandwich (carne asada steak strips with fried nopale cactus strips on garlic toast), or Pork Tacos Puebla (shred pork braised with Chipotle Salsa with shred nappa cabbage, cheese, our new and improved Salsa Verde and crema fresca), or Achiote Roasted Lamb Enchiladas (slow roasted lamb marinated with achiote paste and citrus juices shred and rolled in corn tortillas with cheese and napped with enchilada sauce).

September being the month that most come back from summer holidays we decided to help extend vacations with special Free $10 Certificates for our over 1800 Club Palapas Royalty Rewards members that we mailed out at the end of August. If you have not signed up for our free Royalty Rewards program it is never to late, and just ask any of our present members how many cash certificates they have received over the last year. The program has been a real hit and many people have commented on how much they enjoy it. Just sign up with one of our staff on your next visit. And remember a portion of each bill goes into our Palapas Shelter Fund. Please check on the Shelter Fund page of the website for more info or click on the logos under Shelter Fund Partners on each of our web pages to link to more information.

‘sta la vista,

Johnny K