Chef Kaven Paradis opened Fuego in Yellowknife two years ago to great reviews and it's been going strong ever since.
If you were to ask him how he would describe his restaurant, his answer would probably be, "love." You can't help but notice his passion for good food and for sharing it with the rest of us. In Yellowknife we’re a small community, and what Chef Kaven has done is create a menu that changes every few months so that we don’t get bored with it.
You may think that it would be upsetting to lose one of your favourite items (where did the steak tartare go?), but he always has something new and tasty to fill the spot (ooh, lets try the buffalo fire balls!) . And let me tell you – adding variety is a big deal when you have limited options available to you.
Being in a small community also doesn’t mean presentation goes out the window. To the contrary, presentation is something that the restaurant takes very seriously, even if it is difficult to get their famous bread cage thingies to stand up in the couscous! (see pic above)
Fuego’s excels in offering a selection of game meats including wild boar, elk, buffalo and ostrich. You’re also likely to come across pheasant, duck, whitefish and arctic char. Vegetarians need not worry though – the restaurant takes care of them with options on both the lunch and dinner menu. And we’re all in love with the sweet potato fries with the balsamic reduction.
However, variety would be nothing if they didn’t have the quality to go along with it. My last dinner there included a beef tenderloin with a stellar morel and chanterelle mushroom sauce. I ate the whole 10 oz, which is saying something for me, but it would have been a sin to leave any of it on the plate. And this was after the appetizer of duck confit wrapped in phyllo (with a beautiful spiced caramel sauce).
I’m itching to try out the new lamb dish: Gingerbread spiced rack of lamb with a maple coffee sauce so I’ll definitely go back soon. Great food, excellent service, live music on Friday and Saturday, and a great wine list will ensure Yellowknifers will continue to bask in Chef Kaven’s passion. Not to mention those heavenly sweet potato fries.
Katherine Silcock is an environmental scientist and long term Yellowknifer. When she heads out of the north she likes to seek out good food and chocolate shops...she also may own far too many cookbooks for her own good!
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