[Quick Bite] Calgary: Sidewalk Citizen Bakery February 16, 2013

Oh. My. God. Just had the best sandwich of my life. I usually ignore all things that says “Veggie” or “Vegetarian”, because, damn it, I like meat. BUT the veggie sandwich today at SCB had egg, and that’s protein, so not veggie (according to me).

So I bought it.

And it was delicious.

Glorious glorious sandwich

It was such a fantastic day when I found out that SCB was opening a location in Kensington. Fresh baked goodies? Walking distance from my house? OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD YESSSSS!

I’ve been in about 4 times now and each time they’ve had different sandwiches for sale. Definitely lots of delicious delicious variety.

Today’s veggie sandwich was an egg salad sandwich of sorts. It had perfect medium poached eggs, goat cheese, roasted organic mushrooms, purple kale, and, I believe, a pesto mayo. All sandwiched between a baguette. The baguette was probably the size of my forearm.

I ate these baby on the way home and I dropped a hunk of goat cheese…or maybe…poached egg. Sad. I don’t know what I’d be more sad about. Losing goat cheese or losing egg…ah well…it’s gone, and next to a curb in Kensington. Maybe some bird got a tasty lunch.

Anyways, the only thing I wish SCB would have would be like half a sandwich for $5.00. I would totally buy that instead of a full sandwich for $8.50.

I ate too much.

SIDEWALK CITIZEN BAKERY
#10, 338 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 1V8
(403) 457-2245

[Quick Bite] Calgary: Crepe Avenue February 15, 2013

Speaking of me being an awful blogger. Crepe avenue is also now closed. But I’m pretty sure this place just recently closed down. So, not that bad (so I tell myself). The windows are now plastered with images of sandwiches. So new restaurant coming soon.

I like crepes just okay. They’re kind of good, sometimes. Depends on my mood. On this occasion, I got the sweet custard with blueberries. I’m a sucker for custard.

Custard with Blueberries

At the end, it was too sweet.

CREPE AVENUE
Suite 103, 330 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 1V8
(403) 452-6160

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Winebar Kensington February 21, 2012

Goodness, I love long weekends. Long weekend = lots of eating out.

We finally got around to trying Winebar Kensington. We’ve stopped by a couple of times with the intentions of eating there, but they were always full. Surprisingly, we got in on Saturday night, no wait, and we even got a table (no bar!).

I’m so glad we actually got to eat there that day…because…they had SQUID INK!! I love squid ink anything. Restaurants in Calgary need to have it on their menu more. It. Is. So. Good. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d make it myself.

We ordered 2 specials. I got the salt seared sole with squid ink risotto. The dish was served with a basil butter sauce (you can see its buttery goodness pooling at the bottom of the plate). This dish was amazing~

SQUID INK SQUID INK SQUID INK

The table next to us was complaining that the fish was too salty. But it was cooked on a salt block. So of course its going to be salty.

Oh. My. God. I still can’t get over how good the risotto was. I could eat a bowl of that stuff. Delicious. If you ever come across it, you have to try it. Don’t be put off by its carbon-black colour. You won’t regret it.  I actually regret sharing my dish with my bf, and I’ll tell you why after.

The bf got another chalkboard special: the braised rabbit leg. It came with sauteed tomato & zucchini and a rabbit ravioli.

Très Disappointing

This dish was such a let down. The sauce was mediocre, the ravioli was mediocre, but the rabbit leg…was…blech. The leg was really dry and had absolutely zero rabbit taste. As  average as the ravioli was, it at least tasted like rabbit. The leg…tasted like…turkey. It tasted like a dry, left-in-the-oven-too-long, turkey leg.

So, we originally had ordered the dish separately (sole for me, rabbit for bf) BUT for some reason, the sole came out WAAAYYY before the rabbit. Like a good 15 minutes. And well, I didn’t want to start eating without the bf but I also didn’t want my food to get cold. So being the good person that I am, I offered to split my plate with him, and he could split his with me (although I don’t particularly love rabbit, and I love squid ink). What a mistake. Haha, it could well become the worst decision of my life.

I don’t understand how one dish could be so far and above better than the other. I also don’t understand why our food came out 15 minutes apart. It’s not like we ordered a charcuterie board and other starter plates to share or anything. We specifically said when we ordered, sole for me, rabbit for him. Baffling.

Anyways, to sum it all up: squid ink = good, rabbit = bad. The rabbit was $23.00 too while the sole was only $17.00. We could have ordered TWO soles, filled our bellies with goodness, and would have had $6.00 extra!

WINEBAR KENSINGTON
1131 Kensington Road Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 3P4
(403) 457-1144

[Quick Bite] Calgary: Shawarma Station August 4, 2011

I think the Shawarma Station is a sort of institution down in Kensington, and it’s hard-pressed to say anything bad about their food. Their shawarmas are probably the best I’ve ever had. The only down side is that they can get a tad expensive. They offer additional add-ons for the shawarmas: +$1.50 for cheese, +$1.00 for tabouli, +$1.00 for hummus, +3.00 for extra meat…etc…

A dollar here and a dollar there on an already $8.00 – $9.00 shawarma can add up quite fast. And I think it’s quite expensive for what most people consider to be “fast” food.

Chicken

Beef

But dang, are these babies ever good. The thing I love most about these is that they put it under a panini grill, and the pita wrap gets all nice and crisp. It’s a fantastic contrast between the crisp, hot exterior wrap and the soft and cold (of the condiments) interior filling.

SHAWARMA STATION
227 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1V5

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Brasserie Kensington July 18, 2011

Brasserie Kensington opened a while ago down in (obviously) Kensington. This is great news for me because it’s another reasonably priced restaurant with food I actually want to try near where I live! I don’t even remember what was in that space before hand…hmmm….nope, can’t remember. Brasserie Kensington is a cute little place on top of Winebar Kensington - a place which I have still not been to, definitely need to fix that soon!

I love the atmosphere of the place:

Very Modern with a Semi-Open Kitchen

The bf ordered the Wild Boar Burger for $16.75:

"Hog Wild"

The burger came topped with gruyère, arugula aioli, and a grainy mustard. He loved this burger. The patty was cooked to perfection, and the boar taste was very prominent. For an additional $3.00 he got his fries upgraded to the parmesan pomme frites with white truffle oil. I wonder how much extra it would be to upgrade to their foie gras poutine (a definite must-try)?

Fries = Perfection; I <3 Skinny Fries

I got the Tempura Soft Shell Crab with Summer Apple Slaw for $14.50:

Soft Shell Crab

This was good, the apple slaw complemented the fried crab perfectly. And the aioli that comes with the dish was absolutely delicious, they’re a little skimpy on it though. I’m sure I could’ve gotten more if I asked though.

The food is fantastic here, and there are many things on their menu that I want to try so I will definitely come back.

However, there was something that irked me this particular time and it kind of diminished the dining experience for me. If you look on their menu – the soft shell crab is listed under the “SHELLS” section:

Screen-Cap

And the menu in the restaurant is exactly the same as this. It says that – all shells are served with pomme frites. The soft shell crab is listed under shells – so you would think that it would also come with fries. There’s nothing that indicates otherwise. I realize that some people might say that it says it comes with a slaw – but it never clearly says that it’s served with a slaw instead of fries. There’s no space before the crab that would indicate that the above “all served with pomme frites” statement does not apply to the crab. So, the menu in itself is confusing. When I inquired about the fries, the server replied in a very snobby manner that only the shells come with fries. Ummm…last time I checked, a crab is a shellfish. It has a shell, a pretty damn big one in fact.

The point is, I didn’t mind that my meal didn’t come with fries (I really didn’t need the carbs for my dinner), but the way the server chose to deal with my question was very off-putting. There’s  no need to make your customer feel uncomfortable about asking questions regarding your menu. Not only that, she answered in a way that made it seem it was stupid for asking the question. Her attitude was completely unnecessary since it’s their menu that was obviously misleading.

It’s a good thing that the food is good here, because shitty server attitude is the kind of thing that I would not return to a lesser restaurant for.

BRASSERIE KENSINGTON
1131 Kensington Rd NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4P4
(403) 457-4148

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Delicious Thai June 23, 2011

I’ve been meaning to go the Delicious Thai for quite a while now. The place is easy to walk past & forget because it’s tucked inside a little nook along 10th Street in Kensington, or, more often than not, it’s covered by a bunch of “scene” kids or hipsters loitering around.

We started off our meal with a couple of coconut juices. Did you know that coconut water is considered nature’s Gatorade? That’s because it’s full of electrolytes! If it wasn’t so expensive, I’d definitely drink it everyday~

Coconut Juice

The bf got the “Lab Moo”. It’s a Thai Grounded Pork Spicy Salad. He got the highest spiciness level they offer, and it was much too spicy for me. I’m such a wimp.

“Lab Moo”

The salad is basically ground pork that has been mixed with hot and spicy dressing, roasted rice, mint, green onion, dry chili, and cilantro.

“Gaeng Kua Sup-Bpa-Rot” Pineapple Curry

I got the Beef Pineapple Curry. This was really good, the sweetness & tartness of the pineapple really helped cut through the spice. I prefer thicker curry though – like a Japanese style? That’s the way my mom would make curry at home, and I have a fondness of that rendition of curry. Actually, I think I just like thicker dishes generally. I think I only got the 2nd level of spiciness and it was still really spicy. I had to order some coconut rice on the side to help me temper the heat.

Cloooose Up!

This dish consists of your choice of protein (pork, beef, chicken, or shrimp) cooked in a spicy red curry paste with coconut milk, pineapple, red pepper, green paper, snow peas, and lime leaves.

Both dishes were very flavourful and authentic tasting. I wish they offered stir-fried phak bung (morning glory) though, I think that’s probably my favoriate Thai dish.

DELICIOUS THAI
314 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 1V8
(403) 450-1996

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Tandoori Hut June 20, 2011

I always order a Mango Lassi when I have Indian food. Mostly because I’m a wimp and need something cool to counter the spicy foods, but also because I <3 Mangos.

Mango Mango Mango!

The heating tray that keeps the proteins warm. Those are tealights underneath the cover:

Hot~

We ordered an order each of the Garlic Naan and the Allu Naan. The Allu Naan is stuffed with spicy potatoes. I thought I would really like the Allu since I love potatoes, but it was too mushy. I prefer the Garlic Naan to it.

Naan Breads

I got the Beef Curry. Tandoori cooks their curry with ginger, garlic, and spices. I enjoyed this dish, but I always regret not getting Butter Chicken after I’ve ordered, lol.

Boeuf

The beef curry was very good, it had a nice spiciness to it, but it wasn’t too hot that I couldn’t handle (with the aid of the lassi). They’re very generous with the protein, I got a lot of beef in every bite. When the dishes first came out, it seemed like very little food, but in the end, we had to get stuff packed up to go. The portion size seemed small, say, compared to Mango Shiva, but it really is a lot of food, and  you’re only paying about 2/3 of what you would pay in Mango Shiva. So it all works out at the end.

And the bf got the Goat Vindaloo:

Goat

He got this dish because it seemed like the spiciest item on the menu. It’s a spicy curry made with coconut milk and crushed chilies. It was very hot, I could only have a little taste of it before it got to be too much for me. That’s all the wisdom I can impart on his item since I don’t like goat so we didn’t share our dishes ^___^”.

TANDOORI HUT
201 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 1V5
(403) 270-4012

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Wake Bistro May 27, 2011

I love that brunch places are all over my area, breakfast = the most important meal of the day! Even when it’s eaten at 11:00 am~

Wake Bistro took over the old gelato space in Kensington. The decor is great, very homey feeling, I especially love the old school clock that hangs out right by the door. I love the small diner atmosphere, the places where the wait staff treat you like you’re family~

I, of course, got the Kensington’s Breakfast, I should really start branching out on my breakfast choices. But, eggs, bacon, and hash is just such a wonderful combo!! I love dipping my potatoes into the runny egg yolk. Wake does substitutions (yay!), I got more potatoes instead of toast. I don’t understand when places won’t let you do that…I would think potatoes are cheaper than bread. Hmmm…I feel like I’ve said this before, lol, am I repeating myself on here already?

The classic breakfast, of course

The bf got the Monte WAKE-O~! It comes with 2 free-range eggs, country-style ham, double-smoked bacon, and cheddar cheese all stuffed between 2 pieces of thick-cut french toast, and it also comes with hash browns. This was right up the bf’s alley, lots of meat and lots of food.

I'm getting hungry just looking at this

As you can tell from the pictures, the potatoes were a bit on the dark side. I don’t know, maybe they were using old oil or something, but you really couldn’t taste it, maybe they just left it in the fryer for too long? Or…actually…I don’t know…I think they cook it on their grill…then the oil thing wouldn’t make sense. Maybe that’s just how their potatoes are, nevertheless, they were dee-lic-ious.

WAKE BISTRO
207 10th Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 1V5
(403) 264-4425

[Quick Bite] Calgary: KOL3 March 21, 2011

KOL3 is a new(ish) restaurant in Kensington that’s dedicated to serving Bánh Xèo (“sizzling cake”). They also have regular Vietnamese fare on their menu, like Phở, spring rolls & salad rolls. The interiors were simple & clean, if not a little bland, but that’s okay because I think this is supposed to be more of a fast-food type restaurant then a sit-down type restaurant anyways.

We tried the Traditional Bánh Xèo with beef and the Athena Bánh Xèo.

Traditional with Beef

I appreciated the nice green salad that came on the side. Other than that, I thought the “sizzling cake” itself was too doughy, the whole thing kind of just tasted like batter. Also, I thought the feta on the Athena Bánh Xèo was too overpowering. Oh – and they were a wee bit skimpy on the meat as well.

All in all, I don’t think I’d pay $9.00 for this again. For that much, I’d rather have a nice steaming bowl of Phở or a crunchy Bánh Mì instead.

KOL3 Restaurant
24 12 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB
(403) 263-3666

[Take-Out] Calgary: Tenshi Sushi March 18, 2011

The bf and I got take-out from Tenshi Sushi in Kensington today. Didn’t take any pictures because we come here/get food from here quite often.

Tenshi has sort of become the go-to sushi place for us. Usually the quality is pretty good and it is relatively inexpensive compared to other sushi places…but…today’s takeout was awful. Get this: I found a bone in my salmon roll! That was one of the first things I ate…so the rest was…just okay, since I was pretty unimpressed with the fact that there was a bone in my sushi.

Also, I get the egg drop soup instead of miso (I don’t like the taste) and it tasted like dirty socks today. I don’t know…maybe the imitation crab meat in the soup has gone bad or something…but -yeah- dirty GYM socks.

I think we’re going to have to boycott this place for a bit…we’ll probably still go back since it’s so close to our place, but…I’m going to avoid it for, at least, two months I think.

TENSHI SUSHI
304 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB
(403) 457-0378