[Dine-Out] Calgary: Beer Revolution July 27, 2012

We were heading to pick up some groceries the other day right around dinner time. Realizing it was probably a bad idea to go food shopping on an empty stomach, we snuck into Beer Revolution to grab a quick meal. The concept of Beer Revolution is pretty neat, especially if you’re a beer drinker. It has twenty-four beers on tap that are changed regularly. Its website says that it changes several time a day (!). Its beer menus are displayed on “airplane terminal boards” (quote, our waitress) around the restaurant and are all real time. The atmosphere of the place is more of a bar than a restaurant. The night we went, the place was relatively sparse, but there were a couple of quite rowdy tables.

I ordered a salad even though Beer Revolution had $5 off pizzas that night, I know, blasphemy. The salad was actually surprisingly filling. It came with three round little grilled crab cakes topped with basil aioli:

Crab Cake Louis

The salad mix consisted of mixed greens, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, sun dried cranberries, and mango salsa. The dressing was a red wine vinaigrette, but I got that on the side, and never actually used it. I absolutely love fruit on salads, it really makes the meal light and refreshing. The salad also had a ton of chives in it, the chives made the salad really interesting because it added notes of spiciness without it being too heavy.

The bf got the Chicken Caesar Pizza:

Chicken Caesar

The pizza is topped with grilled chicken, bacon, mozzarella, parmesan, caesar dressing, and its topped with fresh caesar salad. Beer Revolution’s pizzas are supposedly brick baked at 700 degrees and uses Italy’s best 00 flour. I have no comment because I didn’t try any of it, but the bf really liked it and finished off the whole pizza to himself!

BEER REVOLUTION
1080 – 8th Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0J3
(403) 264-2739

[Dine-Out] Calgary: The Gypsy Bistro Wine Bar March 13, 2012

Stopped by the Gypsy the other day for a quick lunch. I’ve always wanted to try their food, but their dinner is just a tad expensive for a casual night out.

We ordered a chicken and pear pizza. I love dishes that incorporate salty and sweet ingredients together. The bf actually ordered this but I think I ate the majority of it. He didn’t really like it but I did!

Yum

I got a chicken & apple sandwich that came with a side of salad. The salad was actually really good, I really liked the dressing that came on it. The sandwich was okay. Nothing great. Too much bread, the fillings was kind of bland. It was expensive too…

So-so

I…think…I like this place and will probably go back and try it again. The day that we went though, the table behind us was really loud and obnoxious so we couldn’t really enjoy our meal. Maybe we’ll try it for dinner one of these nights.

The Gypsy Bistro Wine Bar
817 1 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 7N2
(403) 263-5869

[Quick Bites] Calgary: Taste of Calgary 2011 January 26, 2012

This year’s ticket price was a $1.00 , which is $0.25 more than last year’s. I really don’t like how it is getting more and more expensive. I know prices are going up and everything, but when you think about it, you’re paying at least $2 for a very small sampler that’s not even filling. It’s a nice little event, but at the end of the day, you’re paying $20 – $50 for food that’s not even as filling as a meal.

They do have nice little free sample trucks from vendors littered around the place. Pretty much it’s like free advertising for these big brands. There was a Dr.Oetker truck passing out free little slices of pizzas.

Back of the Truck

Free!

Another free treat was this ‘make-your-own-sandwich’ station. I don’t remember what company sponsored this, I think it was Kraft or something for their mayo?

Super Protein Sandwich!

Haha, I just made a dried sandwich, I don’t even like mayo.

I got the Sticky Rice with Mango from Delicious Thai for 5 tickets. I can’t believe that was $5.00, the actual dessert at their restaurant is only $4.20 (according to their website), and I’m sure it’s probably bigger than the sample they gave up. I actually can’t believe they charged more than their actual item now that I think about it.

I <3 Mangos

We also got Beef Samosas for 5 tickets. 5 dollars for 2 samosas. I thought the beef samosas would be awesome but the vegetarian ones are actually soooo much better, they just don’t have the same texture. One of my co-workers bring in awesome vegetarian samosas from the NE that’s only $0.50 each. These came to $2.50 each. Crazy expensive.

Delice Pastry Shop & Cafe

The Fresh Blueberry Pie from The White Spot were by far the best deal of the event. Yeah, they’re not very creative or innovative but they tasted good, only cost 3 tickets, and was a decent size. You can’t go wrong with blueberries, whipped cream, and pastry tart shells.

But in hindsight, for a couple more dollars I could probably get a really awesome and fancy dessert...

Since I really liked Nubian Express the previous year, I thought I would get something from them again this year. I got the Suya, a spicy African Stick Meat, for $4.00. This was not a good idea. I don’t even know what type of meat it was, I think it was beef…? It was all dry and not good at all.

Yucky.

One of the better dishes we got was the Roasted Duck Omelette from Bubblemania Cafe for 4 tickets. They actually cooked these up individually when you order them. All in a little tiny skillet, how cute!

Om Nom Nom Nom

At the end of the day, we both just got little drinks to use up the rest of our tickets. The bf got the Vietnamese Ice Coffee from The Satay House for 2 tickets.

Look at the little dinky cup of coffee...

I got a 4 oz Homemade Ginger Beer from Caribbean Choice for 1 ticket. Mmm…that was actually the best thing I had at the festival. It was soooo good. Maybe I’ll go get some this weekend…

Super Ginger-y

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

BUBBLEMANIA CAFE
459 16 Avenue Northeast
Calgary, AB T2E 8K9
403-277-9398

CARIBBEAN CHOICE FOODS
2235 Centre Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2E 2T4
403-230-1880

DELICE PASTRY SHOP & CAFE
200 Barclay Parade Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 4R5
403-210-3006

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

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

SATAY HOUSE
3231 17 Avenue Southeast
Calgary, AB T2A 0R1
403-248-2888

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

[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