Vacation Post: Alberta 2017

Every year, we take an annual vacation (farther and longer) usually end of April or beginning of May.  Reason for this timing is we try to get some nice weather, but also have it early enough so that we are still paying low season pricing.  The last few years, we've been venturing around Europe.  And then during the summer, we'll do a shorter getaway either within Canada, or to the nearby United States.  This year, we decided to do it differently.  This May, we decided to take a short vacation in Alberta.

We flew into Calgary, and drove towards Banff.  To avoid the high costs of accommodation, we stayed in the hamlet of Harvie Heights.  Compared to Toronto, food seems to cost a bit more in Alberta.  But because taxes are less there, it seems to even out a bit in the end that way.  We did a bit of 'home cooking' just because it was more convenient for some breakfasts, and dinners.  Here's a list of where we ate.

Canmore:
Rave Coffee
Le Fournil Bakery

Banff:

Wild Flour Bakery

Lake Louise:

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Calgary:

Naina's Kitchen

Calgary Farmers Market - Analog Coffee, Simple Simons Pies

Market on McCleod - Fresh-a-dilla Fresh Tortilla

Mercato

Sidewalk Citizen Bakery

Crossroads Market - Alaturka

Philosafy Coffee

Pigeonhole

Still need to do the write up for Piegonhole.  Need to find the photos as well....but definitely a must go to when in Calgary.

Naina's Kitchen

I was looking for something close to the apartment we rented for a somewhat quick meal, but have it hearty enough because it was going to be a late lunch after driving from Canmore.  I found Naina's Kitchen after doing some Googling, and Yelping.  And no I didn't decide to come here because it was on an episode of You Gotta Eat Here.  To be honest, I have gone to some of the restaurants that have been on the show, but I found that it wasn't really worth it.  Makes me wonder if some of the restaurants just pay the show so they can be featured.

We arrived at Naina's kitchen on a Friday, while it wasn't filled, it was quite busy.  We ordered a mac and cheese grilled cheese and a ramen stuffed burger.  If you know my hubby, if there's fried chicken or any sort of ramen, he will order that.  I realized after we placed our order this was not going to be a quick meal.  Here, they specialize in stuffed burgers.  Stuffed anything takes longer to cook through.  Which made me wonder, do people in Calgary have really lax lunch breaks?  I saw many people dressed in business attire who stayed a very long time for lunch.

As expected, it took a while for the burger to cook. We were getting so hungry!  Finally the food arrive and we dug in.  My mac and cheese grilled cheese was exactly how you would imagine it.  A thick slab of mac and cheese put in between 2 slices of bread and put on the flat top.  Carb overload!  It was cheesy enough, but a bit bland (even for me!), so I dipped it in ketchup.  I chose a caesar salad as my side instead of fries because didn't want carbs, carbs, and more carbs!  Although I have to admit I ate some of the hubby's fries.  The salad was fresh romaine lettuce, with homemade croutons and real bacon pieces.  Dressing I think was bought and not made in house.

Mac and Cheese & Caesar Salad

Hubby's ramen burger was exactly what you would expect.  A burger patty stuff with ramen in it.  It had ramen flavour, I'm sure ramen powder packet was added into either the burger meat or the ramen noodles was tossed with it.  What was disappointing was that the burger meat was dry.  Most likely had to do with how long the burger had to be cooked for in order to make sure everything was cooked through.  Maybe they could freeze some ramen stock and stuff it inside with the noodles to keep some sort of moisture?  I have to say though, the fries were pretty good, good portion and were fresh cut.

Ramen Burger & Fries

Ramen Burger Insides

I'm not sure I would come back here again, tried it once, understand the novelty of these kinds of burgers, but it's just novelty.  I think I would prefer a regular good old fashioned burger any day.

Naina's Kitchen
121 17 Ave. SE,
Calgary, AB
T2G 1H3

Phone:  (403) 263-6355

Hours:  Monday - Saturday 1100a - 1100p
             Sunday 1100a - 800p

http://nainaskitchen.com

Sakawa Coffee

The name of this place is a bit misleading, well at least I thought so.  Because theres the name "Coffee", I originally assumed that it was just a cafe (that serves coffees and cakes).  They do serve coffee and cakes, but they also do meals, including traditional Japanese breakfasts, lunches and dinner.  We popped in for dinner.

When we arrived, the restaurant was empty except for one table (the place is pretty small, as with most places downtown).  As soon as we got in the door, we were greeted by an older Japanese man, very friendly, and told us to sit down, while he brought us the menus.  One was laminated (their regular dishes I assume), another was on a regular piece of paper, their specials, and their drink menu.  The hubby ordered off of their special menu, the curry tsukemen.  And I ordered off their regular menu.  I wish I remembered to take a picture of the menu, because now I can't remember then name of the dish I ordered!  All I remember is that its the last dish on their regular menu.

The curry sauce for the tsukemen was very good and flavourful.  And the noodles, were different than the ramen noodles that I was used to eating.  These looked flat, almost like a linguine.  The chasiu was a bit dry, but once it was warmed with the curry, it got better.  And the best part, there were veggies in the dish!  Again, never seen choy sum in Japanese dishes, but I love my veggies, so I won't complain.

Curry Tsukemen

My dish, reminded me of Fukien style fried rice, without the fried rice part.  There was shrimp, chicken, ham, chasiu, onions, eggplant, peppers and choy sum in sauce of some sort served over plain Japanese rice.  Wasn't what I was expecting, but was quite good.

Last Dish on Regular Menu

Overall, I liked this place quite a bit.  For the price that you pay and the food that you get, I think it's worth checking out for sure.  And by the time we left, the restaurant was full.

Sakawa Coffee
867 Danforth Ave.,
Toronto, ON
M4J 1L8

Phone: (647) 347-4932

Hours:  Monday CLOSED
             Tuesday - Sunday 900a-400p, 500p-900p

Market 707: NomNomNom, Gushi, Petit Nuage

The idea of Market 707 is pretty cool.  Its like a normal small restaurant crossed with a food truck, resulting in food being served out of a shipping container.  I would assume since it's a place with actual running water and fixed gas/electricity, food prep and storage wise would be safer than a food truck as well.  The only downside is that you end up eating the food at a picnic table with busy road traffic running down Bathurst St.

NomNomNom
Known for their poutine and crepes.  I wasn't feeling for crepes that day, so was looking at their poutines.  They have lots of options on their menu, but because of the purist that I am, I ordered the plain or regular poutine.  Portion was quite big!  The fries, cut in house, and fried fresh, topped with real squeaky cheese curds and gravy that wasn't overly salty.  Love their poutine.  Probably one of my faves in the city now.

Poutine

http://nnncrepes.com

Gushi
This is a place I knew the hubby would be interested in checking out.  One of their best sellers is the chicken kaarage.  We got a large order of Original Gushi Chicken on Rice.  We probably shouldn't have ordered the large, but the hubby always has an issue with thinking we can eat more than our stomachs can handle.  So in the end, he stuffed his stomach.  I loved how the rice was a purple rice rather than a white rice.  Just something different, and I think purple rice is supposed to be healthier right?  The kaarage was good, a piece or two was a little fatty for me, but the hubby didn't notice, i'm probably just pickier about food having hunks of fat on it.  I have to say that there quite a few pieces of kaarage in the order.  Worth the price paid for sure.

Original Gushi Chicken on Rice

https://www.facebook.com/gushitoronto

Petit Nuage
Last but not least, saved some room for dessert.  I got 2 macarons, and a cream puff.  To be honest, I don't remember which macarons I bought, and I don't remember if they were good or not.  But, I LOVED the cream puff.  I've never had a cream puff like this before.  The outside, pastry, was like the normal pastry crossed with the top of a pineapple bun.  Amazing!  The inside cream filling was a matcha filling, that filled the pastry to the brim!

Daily Selection

Matcha Cream Puff

http://www.petitnuage.ca

Market 707
707 Dundas St. W.,
Toronto, ON
M5T 2W6

Hours:  Spring & Summer (April to September) Tuesday - Saturday 11:30a - 7:00p*
             Fall (October to December) Tuesday - Saurday 11:30a - 5:00p*
             Winter (January - March) Hours vary depending on the vendor
* Hours of individual vendors may vary

Burlington: Son of A Peach Pizzeria, Tamp Coffee Co.

Afternoon trip to Burlington, for no reason other than just to eat.  I have never been to Burlington before, and wasn’t sure about what there was to see either.  All I know is that it’s near the Lake.  We left the house later than I was hoping, and traffic took longer than I thought.  Why is the traffic going there so bad?  Traffic was clogged up around the Ford plant area all the way past the mall!  But there wasn’t an accident or anything.  I asked my coworkers about that the next day and they said that’s normal.  Anyways, the two places my coworkers recommended for me to check out were Son of a Peach Pizzeria and Tamp Coffee Co.  We ended up arriving for a super late lunch, which turned out to be good timing, since my coworker said Son of a Peach is usually packed during lunch and dinner.

Son of a Peach Pizzeria

Son of a Peach Pizzeria, the name (without pizzeria) wouldn’t make you think of a pizza place would it?  They do their pizzas in a giant pizza oven that you can see from their dining space.  Great visually, and probably great in the winter too, but in the summer, made the dining area a bit hot.  They also offer things like burgers and wings on their menu.  I ordered the tomato & mozzarella pizza, and the hubby got the burger.  The burger came first and it looked great.  The burger patty was made in house using locally raised top sirloin and brisket blend (which gives it the fatty juiciness), topped with house candied maple bacon.  The bun I thought was a bit too soft for all the meaty goodness, was a house made sourdough brioche bun.  I think in general brioche buns are too soft for burgers.  I loved the salt & vinegar taro chips that were served on the side.  The hubby found them too vinegary for him. 

Burger

The pizza, was a good size, had minimal toppings on it since I ordered tomato & mozzarella.  The crust was good, thin, and had a good amount of chew and char.  I loved the amount of fresh basil sprinkled on top.  I just wish that they used fresh mozzarella instead of their house-smoked mozzarella.  That’s just a personal preference though.

Tomato & Mozzarella Pizza

Son of A Peach Pizzeria

2049 Pine St., Unit 62-63

Burlington, ON

L7R 1E9

Phone:  (905) 632-4040

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 11:30a - 9:00p

             Friday - Saturday 11:30a - 10:00p

             Sunday 11:30a - 8:00p

http://www.heypeachy.com

Tamp Coffee Co.

Tamp Coffee Co., located literally 2 stores down from Son of a Peach, small coffee shop.  Felt a little intimidating in there, their counters and stuff were so high, for a short person like me, it just felt a bit awkward.  Ordered a latte and a macchiato.  My latte was good and smooth.  Originally I thought the coffee was too weak, but after a few sips, it was great, left my mouth with a pleasant coffee aftertaste as well.  The hubby’s macchiato was too strong for me, even though he said he found it a bit weak.

Latte & Macchiato

 

Tamp Coffee Co.

2049 Pine St. Unit 65

Burlington, ON

L7R 1E9

Phone:  (416) 917-5745

Hours:  Monday - Friday 7:00a - 7:00p

             Saturday 7:30a - 7:00p

             Sunday 8:00a - 5:00p

http://tampcoffee.com

Nana

I'm finding it more and more difficult to find time to write posts.  Which explains why I'm so far behind.  I've even tried to tell myself that I just need to do one post a night after dinner to get caught up.  I could do the easy way out, like I've seen on many other blog posts and essentially do a "I was here" post, but I just can't bring myself to doing that.  Whats the point of posting if I'm not actually putting any sort of opinion or thought into it right?

This post for Nana I felt like I needed to post sooner rather than later because I was super annoyed at their rules/service.  Nana is the sister restaurant of Khao San Road.  On the bottom of their menu, it says that if you have any food allergies to let your server know.  So when I was telling my waiter what I wanted to eat that night, I politely requested that my dish not include bean sprouts.  He said that cannot be done, and for me to choose something else.  So then I asked, if it cannot be omitted, can they just make sure that it's throughly cooked.  He again said no, the chef does not change their dishes so that I need to order something else.  So whats the point in me telling you I cannot eat something when you are not willing to do anything about it?  In the end, I had to change my order to something else (there weren't many options to choose from since the menu was quite small).  I hate being told what I can or cannot eat, especially if I'm paying!  I ended up ordering the pad see ew with pork, and the hubby ordered the mi ga ti with pork.  What annoyed me even more was that as I was waiting for my meal to arrive, I saw other people's khao soi, and pad thai (the dishes I wanted to eat originally), coming out of the kitchen, with just a raw handful of raw bean sprouts sitting on top of the dish.  How  hard is it to just not add that handful of raw bean sprouts to the dish before handing it off to the waiter?!  Yes I know it would change the texture of the dish because I would be missing that fresh crunch.  But if i'm asking for it to omit it, I am expecting that fresh crunch to not be there.  I felt like steam was coming out of my ears.....

Food wise, my pad see ew, was ok.  Its essentially tastes like a Thai version of the Chinese fried rice noodle with beef dish.  The noodle itself is slightly different.  Looks like a pappardelle, but tastes like a chewier rice noodle (hor fun).  The sauce, is soy sauce and oyster sauce based and cooked with chicken, egg and gai lan.  I have to admit there was some good 'wok hay'.  Hubby's mi ga ti with pork started off with a good tasting red curry base with the addition of ground pork and tofu.  Reminded me of ma po tofu, but in a soupy curry sauce.  The noodles were the thin rice noodles, and super overcooked.  Overcooked to the point where if you tried to pick up the noodles with your fork the noodles would break.  You essentially needed to eat this dish with a spoon.  The dish also came out at borderline room temperature, too cold for my liking.  My dish came out piping hot, so not sure if my hubby's dish was cooked first and left sitting until my dish was done to bring both out at the same time.   Hubby's dish included bean sprouts, and again it was just an addition of raw bean sprouts to the top of his dish, like a garnish......

Pad See Ew

Mi Ga Ti with Pork

Due to the inflexibility of the kitchen, I would not come back.  Not to mention, Pai, my favourite Thai restaurant is in a more accessible area for me for when my Thai cravings come back.  Also, unless you are of a group of 4, you will have to share tables with others.  I think all their tables are for 4, with one table for 2.

Nana
785 Queen St. West,
Toronto, ON
M6J 1G1

Phone:  (647) 352-5773

Hours:  Monday - Tuesday CLOSED
             Wednesday - Thursday 5:00p - 10:00p
             Friday - Sun 5:00p - Late

http://www.stnnana.com/main

Local Public Eatery

When I used to work in Liberty Village, many many years ago, there was nothing there.  No condos, no town homes, few restaurants, and a Metro.  Now it’s totally different neighborhood.  Along with the Metro, there’s furniture stores, a LCBO, gym, coffee shops, and restaurants.  We chose to try Local Public Eatery because of the name.  We assume it would focus and feature on local foods. 

There were a few people waiting for a seat ahead of us.  The restaurant itself was packed.  What I didn’t expect was this to be a bar essentially, and for a bar to be so full so early on a weekend, it was around 12ish on a Saturday, food must be great right?  This meal however started out not so great though.  There was no one to seat us, or to even ask for our name and the number of people in our party.  I’m pretty sure we had to wait like 10 minutes for the hostess to finally come by, but it felt like forever.  We got a seat soon after, at the bar.  When they asked what we wanted to drink and we said water, we got a look that was like, why are you sitting at the bar?  While I was deciding what to order, I scanned the room to see what other people were eating, mostly burgers.  I wasn’t feeling like a burger, so ended up ordering a west coast chopped salad with chicken while the hubby ordered a burger.  My salad arrived and I wondered, wheres the rest of it?  The portion was pretty small.  The description said that there’s supposed to be beets, I couldn’t find any, and was about to ask our server when I finally found ONE tiny cube of a beet.  At least the greens were fresh.

West Coast Salad

The hubby’s burger was much better.  Quite juicy.  The downside of juicy means soggy bun.  They make their own burger buns it seemed, but the bun was too light to hold up to the juices and the toppings.  It was a mess to eat.  I have friends that prefer this super soft burger bun, but I hate it.

Burger

Take a pass on Local Public Eatery, unless you’re there to drink.  They do have a huge selection of beers and daily drink specials that they list on their train station flip board.  The board itself is pretty cool.

Local Public Eatery

171 East Liberty St., Unit 100

Toronto, ON

M6K 3P6

Phone:  (416) 901-8351

Hours:  Monday - Wednesday 11:00am - 1:00am

             Thursday - Friday 11:00am - 2:00am

             Saturday 10:00am - 2:00am

             Sunday 10:00am - 1:00am

http://locallibertyvillage.com

Fabarnak Community Cafe

This one has been on my list for I don't know how long.....years?  Their hours used to really suck.  Only open on weekdays for lunch with dinners on Friday nights.  Doesn't make it very inviting for people who don't work downtown.  Not sure when the hours changed, but it finally gave me the opportunity to try it for brunch.  A big reason for me wanting to try this place is because of what they want to do for the community.  Fabarnak is a community cafe that provides job opportunities and training to individuals with employment barriers.  I love the idea.

We ordered the beef brisket eggs benedict (their benny of the day), brunch burger and BLET.  Their beef brisket eggs benedict was done ok.  Flavours were good.  Their hollandaise sauce was different than the norm.  As you can see in the picture, there were fresh herbs that were added in the hollandaise sauce.  The eggs were just a tad overcooked for my liking, yolks were not quite runny, but it wasn't like it was over cooked (solid yolk).  Beef brisket was very tender and falling apart, with a flavourful smokey flavour.  What I liked best was that there was the option of potatoes or salad.  I chose the salad so I would feel a bit better about ordering the benny.

The brunch burger was good too.  A good size for sure.  Beef patty was cooked well done, but it was' dry or anything.  What may have helped was the sunny side egg that it was topped with.  Hubby was very happy with his burger.  A bit messy to eat, but he definitely enjoyed it.

My aunt was very happy with her BLET.  She saw bacon and decided she had to order it.  I'm not sure why it's called a BLET because there wasn't any lettuce.  In fact, the menu said its supposed to have arugula.  But when it arrived, it was just spring mix salad.  In any case, my aunt loved her sandwich.  She loved her potatoes just as much.  She couldn't stop eating them!  They were crunchy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside.

Brunch @ Fabarnak

Good food for a good cause, at very reasonable prices.  Whats not to like?  Definitely worth checking out.

Fabarnak Community Cafe
519 Church St.,
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2C9

Phone:  (416) 355-6781

Hours:  Monday - Friday 8:30a - 4:00p
             Saturday 9:00a - 4:00p
             Sunday CLOSED

http://www.the519.org/about/fabarnak-restaurant

Pie Wood Fired Pizza Joint

Late night stop on the way up to our annual cottage outing.  It turned out to be later than originally planned, so we were starving!  Pie was on an episode of You Gotta Eat Here, so our friend suggested we stop by for dinner to try it.  By the time we made it up to Barrie, I think it was almost 9:30pm.  We had some friends that already arrived a bit earlier so they had ordered this pizza poutine appetizer.  I can’t find it on the menu online.  It’s essentially sausage, pepperoni, cheese and tomato sauce on fries.  I ate a small amount of it because I was super hungry.  But it was so salty that I couldn’t really eat much more.

Pizza Poutine

We ordered a pizza each, not realizing that they’re larger than personal sized pizzas.  So obviously we had a bunch of left overs in the end.  I can’t remember what my friends ordered, but I ordered a margherita (for some reason they call it KOBI 40), and the hubby ordered a cow pie.  The margherita wasn’t the bad but it wasn’t great.  Simple toppings of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil, can’t get easier than that right?  But it just wasn’t memorable. 

Margherita Pizza

The hubby’s cow pie had braised beef shank, roasted potato, spinach, mushrooms, onion, cheese sauce, and parmesan.  I wouldn’t have thought about putting these toppings together, let alone on a pizza.  But it seemed to work.  What I didn’t like was the raw onion.  I hate raw onion, and there was so much of it too.

Cow Pie

Overall, I’m not sure Pie would be a pizza joint that I would necessarily frequent again.  I think it has to do with their pizza crust.  It’s a bit denser than I would prefer.  I’m not sure which region of Italy’s pizza crusts I like, but it’s usually lighter, fluffier, with bigger air pockets.

Pie Wood Fired Pizza Joint

31 Commerce Park Dr.,

Barrie, ON

L4N 1X8

Phone:  (705) 725-WOOD (9663)

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 11:30a - 10:00p

             Friday - Saturday 11:30a - 11:00p

             Sunday 11:30a - 10:00p

http://www.eatmypie.ca/#about