[Dine-Out] Calgary: Escoba Bistro & Wine Bar February 17, 2013

I think Escoba has one of the better value charcuterie boards in Calgary. I love coming here just for a light meal. The bf and I usually share a charcuterie plate and a cheese plate, have some drinks, and have a relaxing night out. I also love the window seating the restaurants offer. In the summer time (or whenever its nice out), the windows are open and it’s just a great feeling!

Cheese Plate $18

For the cheese plate, $18 gets you a selection of five cheeses or $14 for three cheeses. In hindsight, since the charcuterie board also comes with some cheeses, the selection of three would’ve been sufficient. If you’re getting both boards, make sure to ask the server not to double up on the cheeses (unless you want to, of course). So making sure whatever cheeses come on the charcuterie board aren’t the same ones on your cheese board.

I’m awesome with cheeses (I pretty much only eat brie), so I can’t tell you what they are. But I think they usually have the same selection of 5 anyways. One will be a blue, one will be a brie, one will be a cheddar…so on, so on. I love the fruit preserve it comes with. I slathered it all over my garlic baguette.

Charcuterie Plate  $24

This is probably one of the most reasonably priced charcuterie boards ever. I love all the variety that comes on it and for not that expensive either! In the back right is a grilled chorizo sausage, going clockwise, there are some olives, prosciutto, pickled green beans, some sort of veined cheese, garlic flatbread. Going on the inside, the yellow-y mound in the middle is hummus, to its left - smoked duck and to its right – salmon gravlax. I think I’m especially enamoured with the grilled chorizo sausage – it’s nice to have something warm on what’s usually a cold appetizer.

ESCOBA BISTRO AND WINE BAR
624 8 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 1G4
(403) 543-8911

[Quick Bite] Calgary: Alley Burger February 14, 2013

Ah – the one that started it all. Alley Burger. Of the CHARCUT Fame. Garlic-y, delicious goodness.

After waiting in a crazy long line. Finally:

The goods.

We got the original alley burgers:

Regular ($8)

Local natural pork and roasted garlic sausage patty, Quebec cheese curds, and Piri Piri Aioli. I love that you can get most toppings for free (onions, lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, ketchup, pickles, jalapeños). Some toppings are extra (egg, bacon, cheese curds are $1 each).

“Spiced Your Way” Fries – $3.95

I loaded the fries with all three of the delicious salts sitting outside the van. I love gourmet salts.

DISCLAIMER: These burgers are garlic-y. Have a full pack of gum at your disposal.

ALLEY BURGER
Roaming Food Truck

[Quick Bite] Calgary: Fries & Dolls February 10, 2013

Since Calgary is slowly warming up again, I thought I’d post my experiences with the food trucks in time for when they start rolling back out onto the streets.

First up: Fries & Dolls. Ah – the bright pink truck that was featured on Eat St., so how do they measure up? Delicious. I mean it’s kind of hard to mess up fries. What’s not to love about a cup of well-seasoned, steamy hot fries?

I love me so potatoes

I ordered the Farrah (garlic, parsley and freshly grated Grana Padano parmesan). I had really wanted to try the special of the day – it was some sort of sweet & salty combination with sweet potato fries and marshmallows or something…maybe, or maybe I could be making that up. I don’t remember because I didn’t get to eat it

FRIES & DOLLS
Roaming Food Truck

[Dine-Out] Seattle: Salumi Artisan Cured Meats September 25, 2012

When I knew that we were going to Seattle, I definitely wanted to take the bf to Salumi. He loves sandwiches and this was apparently the place to get some gooooood sandwiches. All the meats here are cured on site and we couldn’t wait to try them!

Cute little piggy~

Specials of the day:

Something to study while waiting in line…

The line was seriously 20 people long. Good thing it wasn’t raining that day. I got so FREAKING excited when I saw that t was gnocchi day! I thought it was meant to be, of all the days I chose to come, I picked gnocchi day. But alas, after making it about halfway through the line, a employee came out and crossed it off the chalkboard. I guess I will just have to come back to Seattle some other day!

Salumi is a relatively small place. After standing in the super long line, you will have to cross your fingers that there’s somewhere to sit inside the restaurant. The bf and I were lucky and grab two seats in a large dining table.

I got Salumi’s finocchiona sandwich. This. Was. Delicious.

Beauty

I thought that I didn’t like pesto, but man, Salumi’s creamy pesto is definitely a game changer. I don’t even know why I thought I didn’t like pesto. It has pretty much everything I love in it, garlic, basil, pine nuts, olive oil, parmigiano reggiano…delicious!

The salumi was expectedly delicious. The perfect balance of meat and fat. I think if I were to ever come back, I’d definitely order a charcuterie board to sample all its offerings.

Deeeelicious

The bf got the special of the day, lamb sausage:

My sandwich was better than his sandwich. Waaay better.

Definitely worth waiting in line for.

SALUMI ARTISAN CURED MEATS
309 3rd Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 621-8772

[Quick Bite] Seattle: Marination Station August 31, 2012

Man, was this hard to find. That’s what I get for just grabbing the address off of google and not going on its website. Its website clearly clarifies that in order to get your fill of Hawaiian/Korean/Mexican goodness, you’d have to make your way to the second floor. Didn’t see that and walked up and down the block literally 20 times.

Finally! Beat the rain too, look at that grey sky…

For my meal, I ordered the Kalbi taco and the spam musubi. Honestly, the spam musubi was the only reason I wanted to eat here. I love me some spam. Sure, sure, some of you might think it’s gross, but growing up in Hong Kong, it was a staple that we ate. You have to pan fry it so that the outer bits are all crispy and delicious. Don’t knock it until you try it the right way!

SPAM SPAM SPAM 

A spam musubi is pretty much spam sushi. Hawaiians love it, I love it, the bf loved it and tried to steal it from me. Rice, spam, seaweed. Simple salty goodness that is almost like a comfort food. Apparently, the Marination Station doesn’t have the spam musubi as a regular menu item, so if when you’re there and it’s on the menu, ORDER IT. If you’re going to try spam, might as well try it in sushi form.

I also got the Kalbi taco, a flour tortilla filled with tender short ribs marinated in a soy-based marinade.  This was good, but I would’ve rather eaten more spam musubi.

The bf also got a Kalbi taco and he changed things up with ordering a spicy pork taco as well. The spicy pork is likened to the classic Korean bulgogi.

This plate is missing something…hmmm….maybe a little SPAM?!

MARINATION STATION
1412 Harvard Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122

[Dine-Out] Seattle: Ivar’s Acres of Clams August 24, 2012

When we were in Seattle, I was constantly on the look out for awesome happy hour specials. And Ivar’s Acres of Clams had a wicked awesome one. It’s not listed on their website, but they had great drink specials and a lot of food on the menu was at a reduced price. I started off with a Bloody Mary - cousin of the Canadian Caesar (which is much better – in my opinion).

A whopping $5.50 – goodness I love American prices

Happy Hour wine was $3.50 a pop:

Wino

I also got a Martinelli’s sparkling juice for $3.00:

Very sweet

We got a bunch of dishes to share. The first dish was a smoked salmon plate with whipped lemon mascarpone cheese and pickled red pepper jam. It also came with a side of (much needed) fresh greens. I always end up not eating enough fruits and vegetables when I’m on vacation…

I’m not a fan of this type of smoked salmon

This dish is listed as $10.00 on Ivar’s menu, can’t remember how much we actually paid for it. Got a plate of fresh sautéed Manila clams for $8.00. This plate of clams in delicious garlic broth usually goes for $12.00.

Shallots, Carrots, Celery, Onions, Wine, and Butter Goodness

BTW – Clams > Mussels.

And of course, had to get a bowl of clam chowder:

Northwest Style White Clam Chowder with Bacon – $4.50

Tuna duo:

$7.00

We got a few orders of fresh oyster shooters. Six of these babies were only $4.00, instead of the normal price of $1.50 each. That means we only paid…drum roll….$0.67 for each oyster!! These were served with “Ivar’s Classic Cocktail Sauce” – whatever that means.

Om Nom Nom Nom in my Tummy

Expertly fried Crispy Calamari for $6.00 ($4.00 off their regular menu price):

Is it wierd that I like aioli but not mayo? This came with a delicious Chipotle-Lime Aioli

Our table of ridiculously good and cheap food:

Nom Noms

IVAR’S ACRES OF CLAMS
Pier 54
1001 Alaskan Way
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 624-6852

[Quick Bites] Calgary: Taste of Calgary 2010 August 10, 2011

Since Taste of Calgary 2011 is coming up this weekend, I thought I’d do a recap of the 2010 festival for those people that are thinking of going, but are not sure what to expect.

I would definitely recommend not going on an empty stomach. Even though the tickets are cheap ($0.75 last year, $1.00 this year), it does add up, and the portion sizes aren’t exactly filling. It’s a fun event to walk around and to see what everyone has to offer, but it’s definitely not a place to get dinner (unless you want to spend like $50.00 on sample-sized food).

Cute Little Mascot~

We got two items from Shibuya last year:

Japanese Beef Curry Rice

This was 6 tickets ($4.50), it was decently sized, but if you compare it to any food court curry rice, it’s of course, much smaller in portion. I remember this being good but was disappointed in the lack of beef.

We also got a Japdog for 6 tickets as well:

Japdog

This if of course nothing like the real deal, no choices for a start, and also you’re paying almost $5.00 for half a hot dog…. -___-”

We got some pizza from The White Spot:

Italian Sausage Flatbread

This was actually quite good. As you can see they were very generous with the toppings and this only cost 2 tickets ($1.50)!!

The bf wanted some sausage from The Heritage Deli:

Polish Garlic Sausage

This was 3 tickets ($2.25). We were both quite disappointed but the portion size. This was barely worth $2.25…

The last & most satisfying dish we got was from Nubian Express:

African Styled Grilled Beef with Rice

This is the only dish that I felt was worth 6 tickets ($4.50). The lady at the booth even gave me some plantain to try because I didn’t know what it was.

Anyways, that’s a quick re-cap of last year’s festival. I plan on going down this year as well, but more to walk around, and less to eat (especially with the price raise!!). But, I’ll probably eat a thing or two, so look for that post soon~

TASTE OF CALGARY
Festival Plaza @ Eau Claire Market
200 Barclay Parade Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 4R5

HERITAGE DELI
1912 – 37 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T3E 3A3
403-686-6835

NUBIAN EXPRESS
136 Kincora Hill NW
Calgary, AB T3R 1N6
403-992-8825

SHIBUYA IZAKAYA
453 16 Avenue Northeast
Calgary, AB T2E 1K2
(403) 277-8823

THE WHITE SPOT
10440 Macleod Trail South
Calgary, AB T2J 0P8
403-278-8212