Punch

Winnipeg’s Exchange District is wicked-cool.

There are really old buildings and really new buildings. There are really good restaurants and really bad restaurants.

There’s character and excitement. There’s history and creativity.

Lately, the Exchange has been home to a new kind of energy. An electricity that pulls at the hairs on the back of your neck.

Lately, the Exchange has been growing. It’s morphing.

Transforming.

I think the buzzword is revitalizing.

New restaurants and new parties and new festivals and cool-hip coffee spots. New offices and new campuses and new students and new on-the-low watering holes.

Revitalize.

Cibo Waterfront Cafe, in the East Exchange along the Red River, is one of the new ultra-hip, fancy-dancy pads to grab some grub that is contributing to that revitalization.

Cool, right?

Man, I hate buzzwords.

Here’s what I had at Cibo Waterfront Cafe:

 

The Panino: Chicken, soft cheese, arugula, cider onions. $15.00

Impressions: This sandwich is tall and wide and dense. The heavy cheese is brightened slightly by the arugula, but bites of a  light side salad saved my stomach from sinking through the floor. All of the flavours work nicely together, but the cheese takes centre stage. The sweet cider onions left my mouth buzzing after each bite.

What made it? Arugula. The thin layer of green was not only pretty. It also packed pretty peppery punch.