Café Linnea: Pop-Up Recap

Salmon Galette

A few weeks ago, Giselle from Duchess Bake Shop mentioned to me that plans were underway for a pop-up featuring their upcoming brunch bistro restaurant - Café Linnea. As I love brunch, this pop-up certainly piqued my interest! When the tickets for the pop-up were released time slots were quickly filling up and yet I somehow managed to score a ticket for the 6:45pm seating. 

Yup, you read that right I got ONE ticket. For any kind of dining out, I have always had at least a dining partner (usually Dan) to accompany me. I have never done something like this by myself before and that is when it dawned on me that I could potentially be eating alone. Visions of sitting by myself at table for one quickly filled my mind. Even though, Dan tells me that he has eaten many times by himself, it is not something that I find in my comfort zone. Of course, there is nothing wrong with eating by yourself, but I felt that I needed to confirm with the planners that this would be ok. To my pleasant surprise, I found out that I would seated at a table with Giselle of all people! Although I've briefly chatted with Giselle at some events, I've never had a chance to have a conversation over dinner with her, and I never imagined that it would happen this way.

Café Linnea is a partnership between the Duchess Bake Shop and Chef Kelsey Johnson. The dishes on their pop-up menu hinted that their future menu may be a blend of both Scandinavian and French cooking. This pop-up was a chance for them to try out their dishes and for the waiting staff to do a trial run.

House Sausage with Gruyere Polenta, confit tomatoes, rapini, dressed mustard greens

I ordered the Salmon Galette which was composed of 3 buckwheat crepes layered with ricotta, cured salmon and topped with a poached egg, tarragon and asparagus. There were also some crunchy fried capers accompanying the dish. The buckwheat crepes were thin and tasty and somehow, it almost felt like there was a touch of cinnamon that came through.

I had only ordered the crepes but when the dishes for two other main items arrived I began to feel a bit of regret that I had limited myself to one main!The Oeufs-en-Cocotte looked delicious with its hidden treasures of morel mushrooms underneath the white poached eggs. The Oeufs-Cocotte also came steaming hot in a personal sized Cocotte (a French oven).

Oeufs-en-Cocotte - poached eggs on top, creamed morels underneath

For dessert, I ordered the Sweet Crepe which was a buckwheat crepe with sprinkles of sugar and lemon zest. I sort of wished there was more to this dessert to dress it up a bit more or even another crepe to make it a bit more substantial.  

Sweet Buckwheat crepe

I had an enjoyable night meeting new people and getting to know some of the "behind-the-scenes" people from Duchess and also at Café Linnea. The Café will likely seat about 60 and is part of the new plans coming to the Holland Plaza area (10939 120 Street) where there will be a larger Provisions, office space for Duchess and eventually a teaching kitchen. Café Linnea is approximately 5 blocks east of where Duchess is located. Garner Beggs, one of the owners of Duchess, also mentioned that since they are doing everything by hand, they are working hard on hoping to open the new restaurant by mid-July.  

From the dishes that I saw and tasted at the pop-up, I'm certain that Edmonton will definitely receive Café Linnea as they already have with Duchess Bake Shop with open appetites and long lines! The restaurant plans to open on the weekends and during the week with the exception of Tuesday and Wednesday. Hours are likely to be from 9-3pm.

One of the interesting things is the note at the bottom of their pop-up menu indicating that they will be a no-tipping restaurant. This is very interesting as this is more European style and to my knowledge, there are no other restaurants in Edmonton that follow this philosophy.

I look forward to their opening in the next few weeks. One thing is for sure, I will be ordering the Oeuefs-en-Cocotte this time round and bring the hubby or a few friends to share the dishes!