Archive for the 'eating out' Category
Right, we snuck off to Disneyland. I meant to check in and report from there, but it seems I haven’t yet learned that I don’t get any work done when I go away. Especially when there are just under 48 hours to take in Disneyland with 5 and 8 year old boys. We were too busy having a blast. By the time we maxed out our days and nights and collapsed into bed at 11 or so (midnight our time) there was no way I could keep myself awake to check in here. I tried. I did not succeed.
Besides, this time it was all about paying attention to the boys and not being distracted by my laptop. W has in recent weeks gently but firmly removed it from my lap and closed it in an attempt to get my full and undivided attention. He has begun eye rolling. And growing up. And I’m feeling guilty about not spending as much time having fun as I should before he transforms into a sweaty teenager with dwindling interest in hanging with me. I can see it coming.
I wanted to demonstrate I could be fun too. Mike’s fun. He plays Star Wars and knows all the characters. He plays Lego and doesn’t have to feign enthusiasm. I had fun envy. What better place to get away and play? To be honest, I expected to tolerate Disneyland for the sake of the boys.
I loved it. I really did. It was so much fun. My cheeks hurt from smiling.
My last time in Disneyland I was about 12. We figured at some point as parents it was mandatory to go back. Much of it was just as I remembered, not even crumbling and weathered (like me!). Some were revamped – the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (I loved as a kid) is now the Tarzan Treehouse. I remember climbing it with my mom and dad, and he excitedly pointing out details and referencing the book we had read together. Crazy to be the parent telling the boys not to run on the rope bridge.
I’m not sure how they do it. But Disneyland is not hot and crowded and midway-ish. There’s lots of green, and tons of shade, and not a bit of trash. It’s somehow spotless. We discovered fresh rosemary, sage and thyme growing in neat rows between the rides in Tomorrowland. Although there was no shortage of people, we never had trouble finding somewhere to sit down that was comfortable and shady. And somehow never felt boxed in or crowded. No one was rowdy or loud or obnoxious. How can you be at Disneyland? It’s like reverting back to childhood, and knowing Santa’s watching.
We stayed at the Grand Californian Resort, right at Disneyland park. Which I could not recommend more highly. When there’s so much to see and do, there is nothing like being able to take a break and jump in the pool or have a lie down in the afternoon, when it gets hotter and busier. The two mornings we were there we got up and dressed and were down at the park in about ten minutes. It was cool and empty, and we walked right on to Pirates of the Carribean and Indiana Jones, both of which the boys had been anticipating for weeks. By afternoon we could pop back into the hotel to change or take a load off. After watching the evening shows – World of Color and Fantasmic!
And the food! Not a deep fryer in sight. No deep-fried midway shock food, like deep fried Coke, or Oreos, or Mars Bars. There were fresh fruit carts everywhere. I did not see a chicken nugget, but I did see grilled chicken satay, and kabobs, and interesting grainy salads. For lunch the day I started writing this post we had rice bowls – the boys’ with Teriyaki chicken, ours with spicy Korean beef – both came with fresh pea pods, peppers, bok choy and other veg, with a side of steamed edamame, in their pods, with coarse salt. The times they are a-changin’.
The Stampede could learn a thing about midway food from Disneyland.
Our first dinner was at Napa Rose, in the Californian Resort. Stunning. Truly.
The kids’ menu had prime rib, with real mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. Nary a nugget.
It was a gorgeous restaurant, yet being at Disneyland, more than kid friendly. They celebrated kids by offering them their own selection of real food – the same food the grown-ups were enjoying – with white linens and china. I like exposing the boys to this kind of dining experience without feeling like everyone is giving me the eyeball for bringing kids into that sort of a restaurant.
They have an open kitchen, and impressive wine cellar. And an even more impressive breadbasket. I may have missed out on photographing it entirely in my rush to try each type of bread before it was devoured. This -right here? Is what we ate AT DISNEYLAND.
The Asian-style greens with tempura lobster? Never had a salad like it. So working on recreating this somehow. Otherwise I may have to make a pilgrimage back for another.
There were also some fantastic restaurants at Downtown Disney, which reminded me of some idyllic movie-set downtown, impeccably clean, well-lit, warm and breezy, and everyone’s happy. I half expected everyone to know my name. Wait, that’s Cheers.
Back out in Disneyland Proper it wasn’t all fruit stands – there was ice cream (a great parlor, with white moustached gentlemen in red and white striped vests behind the counter) and candy apples and cotton candy, so there great chocolate shops, so there was no missing out on treats. There was a great bakery that sold fantastic coffee, sandwiches and cinnamon buns. There just didn’t seem to be any junk – no deep fryer haze settled over the grounds like a greasy cloud. As W put it: “wow, all your dreams really do come true at Disneyland!”
July 02 2011 | eating out | 11 Comments »
This was just one of the edible highlights of a week that has ended on the couch with my laptop, some sangria (a good compromise between orange juice and wine-both!) and a box of Kleenex. And, ironically, Mike ordering pizza on account of the cold that has just snuck up and smacked me upside the head. From the inside.
John Gilchrist, Tony Spoletini and I were enlisted to spend the week with Kristen and the BT crew in search of Calgary’s best pizza. Which meant a view similar to the one above at around 7 each morning – we visited Il Centro on Monday, Una on Tuesday, Tom’s House of Pizza on Wednesday and Without Papers on Thursday (the contenders were selected by vote, not by us), to sample a variety pies. A tougher job than I gave my gut credit for, actually. I could have very much used a nap each morning by 9.
Without Papers in Inglewood won by a slice.
This is Angelo.
There was lots of dough flipping under the skylight in between hits. Tony got the hang of it too.
Tony and Angelo played football together at St Francis high school howevermany years ago. They brought old helmets and yearbooks and told stories.
This is Kristen. I made her pose like this because of the shot on the back wall – see it? – one of the best parts about Without Papers is the old movies they project on the walls. Because there’s no sound, Mike often fills in the lines himself. Which is far funnier than having the sound on.
We ate a lot of pretty fantastic pizza this week. All of the contenders are well worth a visit.
I’m sad it’s over. I was getting used to pizza and laughing for breakfast.
But. Did I mention they named a pizza after me?
It’s only fair. You can get a John Gilchrist at Il Centro, and Tony claims the Hog Wild at WOP is named after him. So Angelo whipped up a sweet (!) dessert pizza with fresh ricotta, pears poached in red wine, and a drizzle of Nutella. It will be on the menu all this weekend, or until they decide to yank it and/or name it after someone else. Or replace me with a boozy tart.
So we’ll be there tomorrow afternoon – on Saturdays (at 3? 4?) they project kids’ movies on the wall, and sometimes they let W go to the computer and choose – you can bet I’ll be taking advantage of ordering a me pizza while I can. And another Prosecutor, and maybe a Hog Wild. But we’ll start with a Julie. Having your own pizza is better than having your own action figure.
(Wanna go? I have a $25 poker chip to give away for Without Papers!)
June 25 2011 | eating out | 15 Comments »
I vote we all go on a field trip to Austin for some barbecue. Or rather, all y’all should come with me to Austin for some barbecue. (All y’all being the plural version of the singular y’all, which I find crazy charming now. Especially when someone uses it in a sentence like this: “y’all haven’t tried Free-toe Pah? p-EYE is a mathematical term. P-AHH is the stuff you eat.”)
There was a lot of really great stuff in and about Austin, but I can’t fill you in on everything, so since my tired brain is strapped for adjectives anyway, I’ll focus on yesterday’s lunch. Because really, there are no words.
We went to get in line at Franklin Barbecue at around 10:30, on the advice of some locals who told us it opens at 11 and is generally sold out by 1. Go early. You won’t regret it.
If you go with 8 brand-new friends, the wait in line isn’t so bad.
And when they open the door and you wind through the building, exposed to the smell of that barbecue as you pass the people from the front of the line just sitting down at their tables, newly heaving under the weight of pulled pork and brisket, it’s like food foreplay.
It’s just that much better once you get to the front of the line. But then you have to choose.
We bought a pound each of the meats – plus a little extra brisket – and some sides. Butcher paper instead of plates. Paper towels instead of napkins.
The brisket was unreal. The pulled pork and ribs and spicy smoked turkey were close to it. The sausages dripped down my chin like warm peaches. They had something called Big Red, which tasted like red sugar – cream soda-y and bubblegummy – and authentic Dr Pepper, which is apparently a Big Deal and hard to come by. I had to run out early and check out of my hotel, and forgot my bottle, ice cold and covered with condensation, on the table. I’ve been pining for it ever since. (And the brisket. Oh the brisket.)
Austin was never on my radar, and certainly not on my mental list of food destinations – but now I’m plotting a way to get back. Perhaps at a time of year when it’s not over a hundred degrees. At least next time I’ll remember to not bring only one pair of dark, heavy, fully-enclosed leather shoes – my feet are currently weeping with joy over their reunion with flip-flops. The rest of me is weeping with joy over the memory of what in my mind was perfect barbecue. So worth the pilgrimage.
I wonder what their pie (read: p-AH) is like.
June 05 2011 | eating out | 27 Comments »
Move over, cupcake.
So there I was, midmorning, minding my own business, hammering away on something or other in the spare bedroom that is my office. I got up at 6 and went to the gym. I had coffee and toast with peanut butter for breakfast. I was good until lunch.
Then came an email. Did I know about Jelly yet? Why no… do tell.
I went over immediately. (It’s on 8th St and 14th Ave, kitty corner to Kawa.)
Finally. Finally! A real doughnut shop. With none other than Grayson Sherman, who’s back from New York and the executive chef at Saint Germain, at the helm in the kitchen. Which means some local and organic ingredients. Chinook Honey, Vablella Meats, Vital Green and Lund’s Organic- carrots? Yes – in the carrot cake doughnuts with mascarpone frosting. Valbella bacon sprinkled over the maple dip with bacon. House-made marshmallows for the s’mores doughnuts. A chef’s special creation every Saturday. Doughnuts realizing their own potential.
Not only that – there are hot modern cinnamon buns all day long. (Raised dough filled with Saigon cinnamon sugar, rolled, sliced and finished with mascarpone icing.)
Did I mention the maple bacon doughnuts?
CHECK OUT THIS MENU!
This is not helping my cause. Maybe if I just run there and back?
They also do doughnut birthday platters.
They even have a nice new community room you can reserve, with a long white table and wee counter on one end. Perhaps a board meeting is in order, or some sort of meeting of the minds (and stomachs) over freshly made doughnuts. Or just coffee and doughnuts in a private room with a dozen of your favourite people.
I thought you should know.
Maybe we should all go for doughnuts sometime.
Jelly modern doughnuts: 100 1414 8 street SW, phone 403-453-2053
Monday to Friday 7:00am – 6:00pm
Saturday 8:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday closed
April 27 2011 | eating out | 24 Comments »
I was invited to a swanky dinner. There were lots of fancy dresses. Also some corn shoots.
It was a fundraiser for the Art Gallery of Calgary. Some of the best chefs in the city were there, many of them well known – from CharCut, Rouge, Rush, and the Chef’s Table. And there was a relatively new guy, chef Geoff Rogers, with his sous chef Vincent Maas and their team from Home Tasting Room.
I always feel funny telling you about fancy dinners like these, but I do want everyone to know what an amazing job Home Tasting Room (which opened up early in the winter on Stephen Avenue downtown, across from Divino) did with our meal. (The guests were divvied up among tables, each served a unique menu by one of six attending restaurants – I think we lucked out.)
We had local braised lamb neck ravioli, ahi tuna with tender pea and corn shoots, and duck breast over a perfectly cooked white bean cassoulet. I’ve never been so impressed with the wine pairings at a meal – I made sure I made note of them, then lost the paper menu I brought home – but the real brilliance was dessert. Pastry chef Shannon Ekkel came up with a sweet charcuterie board made up of chipotle-spiked chocolate salami, fig jam and cornmeal biscotti, garnished with candied orange peel and an enormous sugared grape. How completely brilliant is that? HTR welcomes dessert-goers – they have a great wine list, good coffees, and interesting desserts, like New Orleans-style beignets and butterscotch ripple ice cream in just-made mini waffle cones. They just may warrant more research.
April 15 2011 | eating out | 8 Comments »
« Prev - Next »
