Eating on the road: Alberta beef at Caesar's Steakhouse & Lounge in Calgary

 After a brisket sandwich the day before, the next night I continued my quest for a beefy Alberta visit and my Internet research brought me to an old school Calgary steakhouse: Caesar's Steakhouse & Lounge.

The restaurant certainly looks the part, and seems a big place in modern downtown Calgary as a largely windowless block on a city street. Inside it continues that old school steakhouse vibe with a red carpet, red upholstered chairs and booths, and white linen tablecloths.

There's also a flame grill inside the restaurant where a chef will come out and grill steaks, imbuing the dining room with a beefy, smokey smell. That may not be some people's vibe but if you're at a steakhouse I assume it's yours, and I enjoyed it.

Speaking of, they also had a tableside Caesar salad service where they make it in front of you. I would totally have gone for that but, sadly, it's a two-person minimum and I was a solo dinner. Still, I got to see it prepared at nearby tables and it's a cool show. And I did enjoy a kitchen-prepared Caesar salad for one as m starter. Garlicky and tasty.

On the disappointing side was the garlic cheese bread. While it was a nice portion kept warm in a foil-lined basket, the cheese was apparently parmesan which was not what I was expecting in this context and was not particularly cheesy. Not worth the $1 upcharge over the garlic toast. And not the best use of a carb cheat for me.

But that was the one minor note of disappointment with this meal. For my main I ordered the 10.5oz New York Strip, medium-rare. Avoiding carbs as mentioned, I opted for tomatoes and cucumbers as the accompaniment and added an order of button mushrooms sauteed with butter as, on my opinion, mushrooms are a mandatory side with steak.

A delicious main course, well-prepared. Rich and beefy, cooked as I ordered it. A nice rare treat and a fitting dinner for a visit to Alberta. The veg was a nice light side that gave me an illusion of eating healthy but did make it a less heavy meal (and allowed me to save room for desert).

Speaking of which, I had some ice cream for a simple and tasty desert. 

Overall, a nice treat meal that felt sufficiently Calgary. Hope to be back on a future visit.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Eating on the road: Alberta Cheesesteak at Palomino Smokehouse in Calgary

 I visited Calgary in the spring and, before heading up the tower I popped into Palomino Smokehouse for a late lunch. It was a large and casual spot which seemed vaguely Western themed and I was there because I had a hankering for some BBQ.

I decided to order the Alberta Cheesesteak because, hey, when in Alberta. It was smoked brisket, sauteed onions and papers smothered in cheese sauce. It's hard to order BBQ on the road since it's by weight and I don't want to bring a bunch of pulled pork back to my hotel.

I could choose two sides, and I went with the Kentucky Bourbon Apples and the simple greens because I am not here for all those carbs. And the apples are not a side you see just everywhere.

It was indeed a simple salad, almost deconstructed, but it was good -- the picked onion was especially tasty. The apples were underwhelming. I didn't really get the bourbon and, to me, desert apples need cinnamon. 

On to the sandwich. The bread held up well which is very important for a sandwich of this sort. Brisket was tasty and generous of portion. The cheese sauce though, sadly, was a miss. It just wasn't that cheedy. Definitely not a Philly cheesesteak. This is a hotly debated topic and it sounds cheap I know, but for a Philly you gotta go with the whiz. That tang makes all the difference.

Anyway, it was a good lunch. Here's me looking down on Calgary. The next night I had steak.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Eating on the road: Restaurant La Sirène de la Mer in Montreal

 My last meal on February's trip to Montreal Restaurant La Sirène de la Mer, a Lebanese seafood place outside of the downtown core. Recommended by a friend, I knew it was fancy because the menu on the web site didn't show prices.

You enter the restaurant through the fish monger which was interesting. Sadly, I didn't know it was an option to pick our your fish and have them cook it up for you in the restaurant. As that would have been a cool option to try.

It's a fancier place as I said, not overly busy on this night, with the atmosphere marred by kids loudly running through it seemingly unsupervised.

I persevered and, with a menu showing prices in hand, perused my choices.

For my starter I opted for the Kébbé Meatballs, or Lebanese meatballs of minced beef. They were fine but needed a sauce or something; something was missing and the lemon didn't do it.

My starter out of the way, for the main and as it was a seafood restaurant I went for the fried fillet of sole on a bed of sautéed vegetables served with meunière sauce. 

Again, I was underwhelmed. The vegetables were good. The fish was of a good portion and well cooked, but it felt like there was something missing. It later occured to me it was the sauce. If it was there, it was not enough to be detectable. 

Finally, for desert, chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Which was needed as the cake was dry.

So, all in all, a mixed experience with average dishes, which was quite unfortunate given the price point. Maybe they had a bad day and I'll go back if my friend who knows the owners comes with next time. But an unfortuante way to end this trip after earlier great meals at Joe Beef and Stash Cafe.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Eating on the road: Stash Café in Montreal

Like many Canadians, my family tree is complicated so I can't claim my heritage to just one country. I was born here. My Mom was too, but her parents would trace to the US and Switzerland. My Dad moved here as a kid but was born in London and grew up in Ireland, with an Irish Mother and a Polish Father.

So while I claim the Irish heritage every March, I do have a legit claim to some Polish roots too. Which is a long way of saying I went to Stash Café in Montreal earlier this year for some good Polish food.

It's a cute spot in Old Montreal and just across the street from Olive et Gourmando, where I went for breakfast on a previous trip to Montreal. This time, it was a pre-hockey game meal -- a step up from my usual pre-match St. Hubert.

I have never actually been to Poland (I am not counting a layover to change planes in Warsaw on my way to Bucharest) so I've never had legit Polish food (I am not counting what they fed me on my Lot Airlines flights) so I cannot comment on the authenticity of the menu. But it looked pretty authentic.

I decided on three courses, beginning, of course, with pierogi. The starter comes with four of them and I opted for two potato/cheese and two beef. It came with sour cream, and I was able to sub-out the sauerkraut (not a fan) for some beet salad.

I have had many pierogi and you can really taste the difference handmade makes. Delicate and flavourful. And the beet salad was a welcome taste of freshness. If I was living in Poland I would eat too many pierogi all the time. One of the top potato delivery vehicles in existence.

I was really torn on the main during my menu pre-scouting. I considered doing the larger pierogi serving as a main and doing something else for the appy. Or getting a sausage or potato pancakes -- both also Polish staples and a big part of my late father's cooking.

In end end though I opted for the Krokiety, described on the menu as two breaded crepe rolls filled with beef or mushrooms served with green salad, potato salad and a creamy mushroom sauce.

The krokiety were rich, hearty and filling, good fill your stomach Polish food for a cold winter's day whether it's in Krakow or Montreal. The salad was fine and I did not care for the dill-heavy potato salad -- I prefer my potato in pierogi form -- but these roles and the mushroom sauce were delish.

Finally I did save space for desert, opting for peach cobbler with homemade sweet cream.

I would say it was fine. In fairness, it was February so peaches were not exactly in season.

All in all it was an excellent meal, even if I couldn't later resist having a hot dog at the Habs game. Next time, I'll get the big plate of pierogi...

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Eating on the road: Finally making it to Montreal's Joe Beef

The famed Joe Beef has always been first on my list when visiting Montreal on a culinary adventure, but securing a reservation can be a challenge. It's a Montreal institution featured by Anthony Bourdain and many other food shows. Thankfully, I lucked out during my February visit and was even able to secure a Friday night seating.

(On a previous visit I dined at their sister restaurant, Liverpool House.)

To be honest, much of Joe Beef's menu is a little too fancy and bougie for me, as while I may be a foodie I'm more a working class foodie. So no tartars or pates for me, merci bien. But I do like quality food prepared well, and I enjoyed a delicious three courses at Joe Beef accompanied by a tasty glass of vin rouge.

The restaurant had the feel of an old house converted into a restaurant. I can't say how many other rooms there were as I was seated in the first room as you entered from the street, it was cozy but you were seated fairly close to other parties.

I couldn't do my usual menu pre-scout as the menu is highly variable and changeable based on the season and the availability of local ingredients. There are a few regular standbys, like the lobster spaghetti, but the market price was trop cher than I was willing to pay.

I opted to start with an epoisses tartlet and wine poached pear which was served with a small salad. It was delicately prepared and quite tasty and did well to warm up the pallet.

For my main course I selected the dry-aged pork steak, served with salsify and sauce foyot. This was delicious. Salsify was a root vegetable I had never had before; it was prepared perfectly -- tender and delicious. The portion of pork was generous and it was as deliciously tender as you would hope, and I tried to mop up every drop of the rich sauce foyot -- variation of the traditional sauce Béarnaise made by adding  a concentrated reduction of brown stock. Everything I'd hoped for.

Finally, having saved room for desert I opted for a traditional classic French desert -- a slice of marjolaine classique. This is their specialty desert, but I have to say it's the one course that didn't meet my elevated expectations. It was OK. Jsst, OK. It didn't blow me away with flavour.

The slight downnote of desert aside, this was a fantastic meal that started out by weekend in Montreal on a high note. I was glad to finally score a reservation, and I hope I can find space again my next trip to Montreal. Definitely worth a repeat visit.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers