Dining at The Garage

The Garage has been around Rossland for quite a while, and has had two incarnations. A few years back, it as a high-ish end steak house, and for ages all my dad could talk about was the amazing steak he had there with a blue cheese sauce. I never ate there during this era of the restaurant because A) I didn't live here for much of that era, and B) when I was here, it was way out of my price range. Some time ago (I don't remember when exactly) the restaurant closed and the building was put up for sale. It never sold, so the owner revamped the menu into something simpler and more affordable, and all I ever heard was how great it was. And it was all of a sudden in my price range! It still took me a while before I actually got to eat there, but better late than never!

Located on Columbia Avenue in the former Shell gas station, The Garage reopened in November 2009, touting itself as a family restaurant with a an emphasis on burgers, ribs, and owner Julie Eyres' desserts. There is a great article here about the "new" Garage with an interview with Julie herself.

Now a more casual eatery with a garage theme, I have had two opportunities to eat there recently, and I can say that both experiences were great.

The first time, I went with my dad and SIL, and we all had bacon mushroom cheeseburgers with Julie's thick cut fries. Dad started off with a bowl of French Onion soup, which he said was good. Shan and I opted to have half salad/half fries with our meals; she had the green salad and I had a Caesar (this cost $2.50 extra, if memory serves).

We were told at the beginning of our service that chocolate souffle was on the menu for dessert, and if we were interested, it needed about 25 minutes or so to bake and we'd have to order it when we ordered our meals, and that's what Dad opted for.

The only glitch with this meal was that the burgers came already dressed with ketchup, mustard, and relish. I wasn't aware of this when I ordered, and I hate mustard and relish! I sent my burger back & I got a new bun without the offending condiments, and all was well after that. The burgers were served in a hub cap lined with that checkered paper you often see in diners, and the meal was excellent. My dad had the souffle and loved it. I didn't have dessert because the burger & fries were so huge I was stuffed. Shan, always a huge fan of Julie's vanilla bean creme brulee, had that for dessert. I had a taste and it was awesome!

The second meal was a few weeks later. I needed a greasy meal very badly and ordered the halibut & chips. Shan had a chicken burger with bacon & mushrooms. Oh, man! The halibut & chips was AMAZING. The fish was perfectly cooked and was so tender and juicy...It was heavenly. Shan enjoyed her burger. Both needing sugar fixes on top of our fried food cravings, Shan had the homemade hazelnut ice cream with espresso & biscotti, and I had a chocolate sundae. This meal totally hit the spot!


On top of this, for both meals I indulged in a cocktail: the Rattlesnake Long Island Iced Tea. This is a regular Long Island Iced Tea laced with melon liqueur. Big, potent drink, let me tell you, and for someone who drinks as rarely as I do, it hit me quickly and I was feeling pretty good.

Definite yumminess to be found at The Garage! With my boozy drink, my first meal came to about $18, and with tax & tip, my second meal came to $32 (I had two pieces of halibut for $16.95), and although that is a lot for one person, it was worth it.

Restaurant Review: Funky Mexican Monkey

Last week, Dad and I took another trip to Nelson, and after deciding on one place to go for lunch, we ended up going somewhere completely different on a whim. This new eatery in Nelson, Funky Mexican Monkey, was on our walk to the other place we were going to, but it looked cool from the outside and we decided to give it a try.This location used to house a very excellent restaurant called Kas, but alas, Kas has closed shop and instead we have here a small burger joint that also sells Mexican food. Some of the links on the site aren't working, but if you go here and scroll down, you'll be able to find the entire menu.

The inside is small, a tad cramped, but on the cozy side, complete with a huge collage of monkey photos and even a tree covered with stuffed monkeys. The menu looked good and it was hard to decide on what to get, but I was in a burger mood. The menu states that all burgers are served with "a heaping amount of hand-cut fries" so I was pretty stoked about that. I chose the Funky Monkey Burger, which was essentially a cheese burger that had the addition of a homemade pineapple relish. My dad started out with the Azteca soup, which is a spicy, brothy soup topped with tortilla chips, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream - touted by the sign out front to be the local critics' choice for "best soup in Nelson." Dad thought it was really good. He followed up the Portobello Burger, which came topped with Swiss Cheese, roasted red pepper, sauteed red o onions, sliced avocado, and spring mix. He loved it.
The fries were totally excellent and probably the best fries I've had in a long time!

This lunch for two came to about $30. Totally a recommended eatery if you're ever in the Nelson area. Next time, I intend to try out the Mexican food!

Lunch at The Rush

Yesterday my brother and I got together for lunch, and this time he wanted to go somewhere else for a change, as we usually go to the Sunshine Cafe. He suggested The Rush.

The Rush is a coffee shop located in the Prestige Hotel, and it serves sandwiches and a small selection of very good baking in addition to its coffee menu. It's owned by the guy who runs Adrenaline Adventures, a local tour & transportation company. I'd been there for lunch once and it was very good, I just can't remember what I had; I just remember the chocolate peanut butter bar - outstanding. The last time was when my friend J was here and she treated me to a chocolate peanut butter bar for my birthday. These bars are TO DIE FOR. They are unbaked and gloriously awesome. They are also $3.25.

After considerable deliberation on my part, I opted for the Chunkanini Panini: chunks of chicken, bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, caramelized onions, and roasted garlic aoli. DIVINE! It was huge, delicious - almost sinfully so - and totally hit the spot. It goes for $7.95 and was totally worth it.

My brother had the Chicken Caesar Wrap, which was also huge and filling and he loved it.

I think The Rush officially has the best sandwiches in town.

Lunch In Creston

I've had a busy couple of days!

Today, my dad and I went on a drive to Creston, BC, which is about an hour and a half or so from here. Creston is in a deep valley and is well-known for it's produce, similar to the Okanagan. Dad wanted strawberries and a sandwich from Creston Valley Bakery & Deli (no site, unfortunately). I wanted some Creston asparagus and to visit a place that sells chocolate-covered fruit (more in a later post).

Creston Valley Bakery & Deli makes a large selection of gourmet sandwiches and serves other light lunch items, including homemade soup and borscht. The bakery is excellent, too.

My dad had a reuben sandwich with extra hot mustard.I had the shrimp croissant. We got carrot sticks & dip with our sandwiches. The croissant was fairly average, but as a whole, the sandwich was pretty good.

I bought dessert, in addition to a selection of other items from the bakery (again, fodder for a future post). Dad had the Saskatoon Slice, which was like Black Forest Cake only made with Saskatoon berries instead of cherries. He really liked it.
I opted for the Mocha Missile, which was like a rectangular doughnut sliced in half and filled with mocha buttercream, topped with fondant, chocolate drizzle, and more mocha buttercream - YUMMY!

And just to give you a taste of some of the views we enjoyed on our drive over the Kootenay Pass to Creston, here are some shots of the lovely mountains we saw. The first two were taken at Kootenay Summit, which is 1774m/5826ft above sea level, and the last one was near the summit, on the western side of the pass coming up from Salmo.


Full Flickr set here.