Mini Review: Food Blogger Meetup at The Common

A couple of weeks ago Steph, Jackie, and her fiancee Becky, embarked on an adventure: our first food blogger meetup! Organized by Marianne and Maki (of Loosen Your Belt and In My Element respectively) this would be our first chance to meet and eat with fellow Edmonton food bloggers. Naturally we were very excited (and maybe a teensy bit nervous) to meet everyone, especially since it was being held at The Common which we had never been to!



We arrived a little after the casual start time, and made our way past the upscale bar area and its clusters of tables and cozy booths to the back room, a large open area with a second bar and plenty of seating. After grabbing our name tags and finding a seat with a gaggle of lovely blogger girls, we took in our surroundings. The space is casual and dark, with wood accents and muted lighting. A highlight of the room we were in was a large bookshelf filled not with books but with vinyl records and unique knick-knacks. The menu is a cross between trendy comfort food and fancy faire, with names like "The Umami Burger" and "Chocolate Nemesis", and featuring ingredients as diverse as escargot, pop rocks, and anchovy fritters. While the vegetarian options are not labeled on the menu, our server was knowledgeable about each dish and there are several good choices available.

Our companions at the table were all friendly and quickly welcomed us (nothing bonds food bloggers faster than attempting to take food pictures in a dark restaurant! There were several phones on the go just lighting the plates for others to take pictures of! #teamwork) After putting names and faces to blogs, it was great to realize that the writers of some of our favorite Edmonton blogs were just as funny, smart, and food-savvy as they appear online!

We have decided to do a mini-review of The Common, as the meetup was a special event and the poor kitchen was definitely given a bad go of it with such a large group ordering at once (not to mention the fact they probably knew we were all local food bloggers!). So all the following opinions should be taken with a pinch of salt (ha!).

Jackie: I can't even imagine the tension in the kitchen as The Common set out to serve a gathering of Edmonton's food bloggers. Our server was pleasant, and clearly run off her feet as she tried to take care of all of us. I really loved the lighting in this space, as well as the bookshelf with homey decorations. For dinner we decided we would order the Truffle Popcorn, which I thought would be amazing, but was just okay. Honestly, for $6 I could've bought a couple of Jiffy Pops, which I argue would taste better. I understand that truffle is expensive, therefore they put a limited amount on but there was little to taste except plain popcorn. For the mains, my fiancee ordered the Short Rib and Risotto ($16) and I decided to try their version of Chicken and Waffles ($17.00). For someone who normally finishes her food, Becky was unable to finish her plate. The risotto was crunchy and contained untoasted Pine Nuts. Now, I realize that risotto is served al dente but this was definitely undercooked. The short rib was overly salted and hard to enjoy. 

As for my dinner, I assume that it would've been better had it been served hot. It was lukewarm which made spreading the goat cheese on the bacon waffles quite difficult. The chicken had great crunch, and I appreciate that it was boneless. However, it lacked any sort of heat or spice, and overall was quite bland. The blackberry gastrique that added beautiful colour to the dish was great but I was definitely left wondering why there was so little of it on the plate. 

Overall, our food took quite a long time to be served, and for a much talked about gastropub The Common fell short.
Rating 2.5/5 

Steph: Our server was wonderful: fast, friendly, efficient, and knew all about the menu. I enjoyed the truffle popcorn the most out of the three of us, but agree that just truffle oil alone is not enough to make very simple, almost tasteless, popcorn worth $6. For my main meal I ordered the Ratatouille Fazzoletti ($14): layers of perfectly cooked pasta, with creamy goat cheese and a tomato-rich ratatouille? Sounds good to me! I really enjoyed the flavors and variety of veggies in the ratatouille, and the goat cheese worked perfectly to cut the acidity. The presentation was lovely and the portion size was generous, but it was so rich that I couldn't finish it all. I would have liked a higher ratio of lasagna noodles to sauce but otherwise I quite enjoyed this dish!

Despite being quite full from the popcorn and the ratatouille, I decided that I was a food blogger, darn it, so I took one for the team and ordered dessert. Fun fact about me: when faced with a choice of desserts that includes a creme brulee option, I will always opt for the creme brulee. The Common has a Lavender Creme Brulee ($7), which the menu said was topped with pop rocks. Intriguing! The pop rocks were actually a nice touch, the texture of the lightly flavored creme and the crackly candy  worked surprisingly well! However I was pretty disappointed when I came to a small section of the hard sugar topping that had been burnt rather than just lightly caramelized. The burnt taste permeated my palate and decreased my enjoyment of the last few bites. I'd order this again, but check immediately for any burnt sugar!

The restaurant was so dark I didn't notice the burnt topping until I tasted it, but it can be seen clearly here!

Rating 3.5/5

Overall we really wanted to love The Common but were not overly impressed. We can see the delicious potential in each dish and will certainly be back to try again when the kitchen is not attempting to keep up with a bunch of food bloggers.

 We thoroughly enjoyed our time meeting the amazing people behind some fantastic blogs and look forward to seeing them at other events around our fair city! When you're done reading our blog posts here at Meat Vs Veg, be sure to check out the links in the side panel to read some of their awesome blogs!

Total Rating: 6/10