Like the portions, Three Boars Eatery packs a lot of personality in a small space. The 26-seat and, give or take, 13-stool restaurant resembles a wood-cabin with a hunter-gatherer-inspired menu.
Though here it’s gathering only, from central Alberta producers providing fresh greens and hard-to-sell cuts, like flank, transformed into original “sharsies” about every two days, when ingredients are depleted and chef and co-owner Brayden Kozak creates something bold in the basement/prep kitchen.
Kozak could make a party of four moan by simply putting a heap of sauteed wild local mushrooms on a toasted baguette and topping it with a perfect yolk. Don’t I know it – we popped the yolk, stirred it in mushrooms and enjoyed it like bruschetta. It was off menu no. 43 (no. 1 came in April), which had two other tributes to comfort food. The first, Piri-piri chicken bnh m, was a culinary treaty between Africa’s sauted poultry and Vietnam’s sub with extra flavour from the house pt and sriracha mayo. The second was a poutine with Sangudo beef cheek chunks atop roasted potatoes from the Little Potato Company.
What Kozak does in the back, his partner, Chuck Elves, does in the front of house with drinks. His beer cocktail list is small but balanced, with a light and refreshing ginger beer (made with Yellowhead and liqueur) and a heavy and sweet Banana weisse (Hacker-Pschorr Weisse and juice). With some 50 beers and six taps (three rotating), it’s as much about pints as it is about plates. (8424 109 St., 780-757-2600, threeboars.ca)
