[Quick Bite] Calgary: UBU Theatre + Lounge February 7, 2013

This was a while back when UBU had its daily specials, I’m not sure if it’s still offering any of these specials. This was its $5 wine and $1 oyster Wednesday special, I believe…

$5 for a baby glass of wine

Accompaniments for the oysters

From left to right: some sort of Asian spicy soy sauce, horseradish, and some sort of thick spicy salsa-type sauce. Really helpful, I know.

$1 OYSTERS

Yum, I love raw oysters. I especially love them when they’re one dolla. Ubu’s oysters were fresh and briny. I’m pretty sure they’re shucked to order!

UBU THEATRE + LOUNGE
608 1st Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 4E2
(403) 265-6440

[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

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Brasserie Kensington (Big Taste 2012) August 16, 2012

Oh dear. It just dawned on me how far behind on my posts I am. I’m such an awful blogger, apologies.

Soooo…I have a couple posts I still have to do from the 2012 Big Taste Calgary. I’m so ridiculously behind now that its official website no longer has its 2012 restaurants and menus on it. And because I’m such an awful blogger, I, of course, don’t have notes on the menu items. So…the next couple of posts will be very short and sweet…and will only contain stuff I can remember. Awful, awful, awful. I will try to be more diligent from now on. Promise.

So the Big Taste Menus are usually $25 for lunch and $35 for dinner. Most menus will come with three courses. From the 2011 event, the bf and I have come to the realization that two $35 menus usually end up being too much food. So this year, for a lot of the restaurants, we would order 1 Big Taste menu and 1 regular main course, unless, of course, the menus are super good and have lots of choices that we both want. Sometimes the restaurants only offer 1 menu with no choices (like the case with Kensington Brasserie this year) and there’s really no point in both of us eating the same thing.

So the first course of the Big Taste menu was a Brome Lake duck breast pastrami:

Big Taste Menu Item – Duck Breast Pastrami

Look at the perfect doneness on that duck. So beautifully pink. This small starter came with crostini and a little bit of greens on top of the duck.

Big Taste Menu Item – Braised Alberta Beef Short Ribs

This was my entree – braised short ribs on top a bed of mustard spatzle and topped with a slice of foie gras torchon. Oh. My. God. This was heavenly. This meal was 5 months ago for me and I still remember how fork-tender the short ribs were. Some people think that foie gras is too rich, but this small little portion was a perfect compliment to the meat.

The bf got this off of their specials board (I think):

Not part of the “Big Taste Menu”

I’m pretty sure it was a boeuf bourguignon, I remember trying some and thought that the red wine taste was too dominating…

Big Taste Menu Item – Foie Gras Profiteroles

And last but not least, profiteroles piped with a foie gras and sea salt ice-cream. This was a good dessert, but I don’t think the foie gras was very apparent. It almost tasted like a normal ice-cream.

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

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Catch Restaurant June 28, 2011

This was our Valentine’s Day meal this year, figured I should probably do this before it gets waaaaaay too late. 4 1/2 months after the fact…that’s okay right?

We decided to go to the Catch Restaurant, it’s on top of the oyster bar, and it serves more refined food. Like the oyster bar, the Catch Restaurant has an open kitchen so you can see the chefs cooking away. However, the atmosphere in the dining room is much classier; white tablecloths and waiters in vests & bow-ties sort of deal. There’s a big room that you can reserve if you have a large party tucked away in the corner. They managed to decorate the dining room very elegantly without making it feel cold.

We were going to go to Rouge to have their Bone Marrow and Foie Gras Fondue but they were only serving their set Valentine’s Day menu~ Oh well, maybe we’ll go there for our anniversary or something.

I always get this pressure to order alcohol when I eat at a fancy restaurant, does anyone else get that feeling? Like the waiters will think you’re being cheap or something?! I’m just not a big drinking girl, and I never really feel like booze…but I always always always end up ordering an alcoholic beverage when I eat at an expensive restaurant. I’ll have to will myself to stop that. I mean, for all the waiter knows, you could be a recovering alcoholic, right?

Guilt-Ridden White Wine

Of course, we got complimentary bread and butter:

Yum

The waiter didn’t say what type of bread this was, but it was very good. I usually avoid having wheat products, but I think I had quite a few of these. Or maybe I was really hungry or something. Either way, the bread really hit the spot.

To start, we shared a Trout Tartare. This is no longer on their menu, but I don’t know why because it was deeeelicious. Hmmm…maybe it’s not in season right now? Regardless, put it back on there (when it is in season) pleeeasseee, I would come back just for this! It was so good. I’ve never had trout tartare before, now I look for it every time I’m eating out. The trout has a much more robust flavour than your typical salmon or tuna.

Trout Tartare

The bf ordered the scallops and veal cheeks for his main. This is also no longer on their menu, it has been replaced it with a seared scallop and pork belly dish. He really enjoyed this dish, especially that accompanying sauce. He probably would’ve licked the plate clean if we were alone.

Sorry! Blurry!

I had been craving lobster for the two weeks leading up to V-Day, so I got their roasted Nova Scotia Lobster. I think this came around to $60.oo? This was really really good. I’ve actually never had lobster at a western restaurant before. I always have it at Chinese restaurants where they’re stir-fried with chili peppers or cooked with a cream sauce, served atop a pile of crispy noodles. I really enjoyed my meal, but I don’t think I’d ordered a whole lobster again. No wait, I’m going to Seattle in August, so I will probably have lobster there. But what I’m saying is that, they’re kind of a hassle to eat, and at a fancy restaurant…it’s not really ideal…ya know what I mean? And for $60.00, there’s a lot of other options that doesn’t involve shell cracking and messy meat extracting.

But...despite the messiness...soooooo good!

Innards

The roasted lobster also came with pommes frites & chili garlic butter:

Crispy Fries

Fact: fries at Catch never disappoints.

Bf’s cappuccino:

Coffee after 12:oo pm is too crazy for me to handle

We also got the Cheesecake Sampling to “share” (re: I ate the majority of it, hey I figured the cappuccino was his dessert, and this would be mine! ^__^):

Trio of Cheesecake

I’m such a sucker for cheesecake. Mmmm…creamy-cream-cheesy-ness, what’s not to like?

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake with Edible Cookie Pearls

Pistachio Cheesecake

New York Style Cheesecake

My favoriate was definitely the Dulce de Leche Cheesecake, hands down no contest!

CATCH SEAFOOD RESTAURANT (UPSTAIRS)
100 8 Avenue Southeast
Calgary, AB T2G 0K6