Lunch at Characters Taverna

Last weekend here on the Wet Coast was gorgeous weather-wise, and perfect for patio eating.  I went into the city to hang with my SIL for an afternoon, and she really fancied Greek food.  There is a string of Greek places on Davie St. in the Thurlow area.  I'd eaten at one and had a bad experience, but I couldn't remember which place it was (there are two within a couple of doors of each other), so we thought we'd try out a place I knew I hadn't eaten at yet, Characters Taverna, right on the corner of Davie & Thurlow - 1103 Davie St. to be specific.  It had lots of patio space and seemed to have a good menu, so Shan and I found a shady spot and were attended by an older gentleman who was very kind and who, whenever he came to serve us, called us his "beautiful ladies."  We were amused and thought this was rather charming.

Starting off by quenching our thirst with nice iced tea, Shan decided to order a calamari starter.  And it was great!  We really liked the extra thick, extra yogurty tzadziki sauce the dish was accompanied by.  It was a very good starter.

 

We both decided to order the chicken souvlaki lunch, which, for $10 came with Greek rice, lemony roast potato, Greek salad, and pita bread.  OMG, the souvlaki was one of the best I've ever had!  It made me miss chicken, which I haven't been buying much of lately because it's so expensive.  This souvlaki was grilled to juicy perfection, and seasoned with lemon, garlic, and oregano in just the right amounts.  It was amazing!

Although I was full, I did get pulled into desert.  The server recommended Ekmek, which was described as a Greek tiramisu.  The description said it was "vanilla custard over orange soaked wheat biscuits, topped with freshly whipped cream and roasted almonds."  So I caved.  And man was it ever good!  It was light and not too sweet, and yes, did remind me of a tiramisu in a way.  I am definitely going to have to find a way to make this at home!

So, the food at Characters was fantastic, and so was the service.  The prices were very reasonable for lunch and the setting was very lovely.  I would definitely go back again.  Besides, I didn't mind being called "my beautiful ladies" at all! :)

Lunch at Broadway Station Sushi

This week my friend Barb was in town, and she and I and another friend got together for lunch on Tuesday. The consensus was that sushi was in order (all of us being sushi fans) and our friend, who lives and works near Broadway and Commercial in Vancouver, suggested Broadway Station Sushi (1638 E. Broadway), where she'd had a good experience before.

We met at 1pm and the place was quite busy. But we had hit the tail end of the lunch rush so the place emptied out quite quickly. It took us a while to order because we were all chatty as we hadn't seen each other in about a month. Eventually we decided.

I had two rolls, the Jumbo Dynamite and the Salmon & Avocado. Barb ordered the Spider Roll and the Sunshine Roll. Our friend ordered the Spicy Combo. This restaurant makes sushi with brown rice if you request it, and both of my friends did, but I stuck with regular white rice.

My combo.

Spicy combo with brown rice.

Spider roll - excellent. I tried it and loved it.

Sunshine roll. I believe it had smoked salmon in it and I think the topping was a seaweed thingy. It was also very good.

Great meal! I now have another Vancouver sushi place to add to my list to return to!

Lunch at Big Ridge Brewing Co.

Yesterday I got together with my brother and SIL for an afternoon of shopping and a late lunch. My SIL was craving a burger and my brother and I were fine with that, but we couldn't agree on where to go. We were at Guildford Centre so there was lots to choose from. I was all for White Spot, but they both shot that down. My brother wanted to go to Red Robin but my SIL wasn't into that. I was at a loss, so I called my roommate and asked her what she recommended. Then my SIL remembered a pub she'd eaten at located near the head office of the company she works for.

Located in south Surrey, Big Ridge Brewing Co. was the choice. Though it sported many large screen TVs showing various sporting events, I didn't feel I was in a sports bar because the dining room was very nicely decorated and was actually quite a serene space.

The menu was huge, both physically and content-wise. There was a lot of typical pub fare on there, but there was also a lot of different stuff available, most notably a large Asian section of the menu that looked really tasty. It was a tough choice for sure. Both my brother & SIL went with the burger, accompanied by fries. I wanted something lighter so I went with the grilled prawn clubhouse with a side salad. My SIL ordered onion rings as a starter.

I have to say, I'm not an onion ring connoisseur at all - I like them but I'm not ga-ga for them - but these were quite fabulous and you could tell that they were made with a homemade batter (beer, I believe) that was very light.


My brother and SIL liked the burgers a lot and I liked how they were presented with the fries in a separate cup. It reminded me of the Lunchbox Laboratory.


As for my grilled prawn club, it was good. There was an avocado mixture in it I really liked. I just think it could have used a few more prawns for the price ($13.99). But the salad was interesting, actually. It looked fairly simple, red leaf lettuce, finely diced tomatoes, a tangy vinaigrette, but the salad was studded with little green bits that looked suspiciously like capers. I hate capers. But these had been deep fried, I think, and they were great! They were little tiny bits of crispy saltiness. I loved them and I had never seen anything like that before, so I was kind of impressed with that small detail.


Would I go back? Sure, the menu was intriguing and the service was excellent.

Lunch at Topanga Cafe

Finally, Canada has its own version of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives! It's called You Gotta Eat Here, and I am officially a fan. Last week, the Topanga Cafe on West Fourth in Kitsilano was featured and immediately it went to the top of my list of Vancouver eateries I had to try out. And on Monday, after a relaxing time with my friend at the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, we were peckish. My friend asked me if there was anywhere I really wanted to go or that I had seen recently featured on TV that looked good. Well, immediately, Topanga Cafe came to mind. It's been around for a few years, and my friend had heard of it because she lived in the neighbourhood years ago and she'd even eaten there and had good experiences. So off we went!

We had missed the lunch rush and were there at about 2:45pm, and we were the only people in the dining room. The menus were at the table and there was a lot of variety to choose from. I remember the Carne Nortegna being featured on the show, and I was tempted because it looked so good, but it was a bit out of my price range. I knew the entrees came with beans and rice, kind of like Rancho Chico in Colville, and I was starving. In the end, both my friend and I ordered the same thing: the chicken burrito. Our server brought us chips and salsa; the salsa was very fresh, obviously homemade, and full of garlic and cilantro - yum!

Our meals came quite quickly and as expected, they were completely filled. Our sever warned us that they were hot because, as I knew from the show, a lot of cheese gets melted atop a lot of the entrees. Here is my burrito:


The burrito is topped with a whack of avocado sauce, which was excellent; I could taste the lime in it and it had a bit of a kick, but was rich and a perfect accompaniment. I knew it would be; I'd noted the avocado sauce on the show and it had looked amazing. And it was. They even garnished the dish exactly as they had on the show, with a little dollop of sour cream and an olive to top everything off like a cherry on a sundae.


The burrito was very very good, chock full of tender white chicken meat and a nice tomato mixture with a bit of spice in it, but not too much, which was perfect since I'm not into spicy. The rice was good and the beans were, too. A very good, very filling meal!

Yep, this is definitely a restaurant to check out in Vancouver. My friend and I had a great experience there and I'd certainly return for another.

Dinner at The Cactus Club

I went out to the Cactus Club with my friends Shihtzustaff and her partner, Deb, who hosted me during my stay. It was their treat and I was happy to go there because I'd eaten at the CC a few times before and really enjoyed it. The CC, from where I stand, is fairly chi-chi, but when you get there you realize that it's probably one of the places the real wannabe chi-chi people go to pretend they're chi-chi, while the true chi-chi in Vancouver go to places like this.

In any case, the CC does great food, and one of their selling points is that they have a bunch of signature dishes on their menu created by big-name celebrity Chef Rob Feenie, who owned the now-closed Lumière. Deb kept raving and raving about the Hunter Chicken (for a description, go here) and vowed to order this, even though she is a vegetarian. After agonizing over an appy, I ordered the Tuna Tataki, which I'm not sure is a Rob Feenie dish, but it looked good and it was light, and indeed, when it came, it was very tasty. I had never had Tuna Tataki before, and this was a great first time experience.


As for my main course, it was a tough call. The Hunter Chicken, which not only did Deb order, but Shihtzustaff did as well, was very appealing. But I was in the mood for lighter fare, and went against the crowd and didn't order a Rob Feenie dish; I instead ordered the wonton soup. I added shrimp and Cajun chicken to it. My was shaping up to have a very Asian theme to it, as I had just come off my Momo sushi experience in Gastown a few hours earlier.

The wonton soup was amazing. Lots of veggies, the broth was excellent, and the wontons were tasty. The only downfall of the dish was the Cajun spiced chicken; it didn't really go with the Asian flavours so I wouldn't do that again. But it was a lovely bowl of soup, and quite filling, so I was pretty happy.


Dessert was a very tempting affair. Although I was pretty full, the CC dessert menu was gorgeous. I caved and ordered this chocolate thingy - the name escapes me and I'm not sure if it's a Rob Feenie dish, either - and boy was it good. And it was a nice light dessert, too. A great ending to a great meal.


The Cactus Club is a busy place, so if you plan on going and trying it out (which if you find yourself down at the West Coast, I encourage you to do) make a reservation or go at a non-peak time. But it'll be worth it!

Some Vancouver Sushi

During my trip to the coast in March, which was 5 days long, I didn't get any sushi. None. It was very disappointing indeed. During this most recent trip last week, I made sure I got some sushi in. Sushi is ridiculously cheap and easy to come by at the coast. It's everywhere and it's good and it's very economical. Here in this one horse town, I can get a sushi roll at LOGS for about $7 - $8. At the specialty grocery stores at the coast, like T&T Supermarket, which is Chinese, H Mart, which is Korean, and Fujiya, which is Japanese, there is excellent supermarket sushi (and bento boxes and other roll-ish foods) in copious amounts and for super cheap prices. It's like heaven. Seriously.

The first sushi I had was at a place in Gastown called Momo Sushi. I had just had a busy afternoon of shopping and visiting with blog pal Scout of Harper Valley, and after we parted I had some time to kill before my ride went to take me back to Shihtzustaff's place, where I was staying. So, I saw this Momo place along Water Street and looked at their menu. To my shock, I could get a duo of sushi rolls - Dynamite and California - for $7.25! I was in! I got a seat, ordered, and was soon in sushi bliss.

It was absolutely wonderful sushi, and beautifully presented. I couldn't believe how much sushi I got for $7.25! I was blown away when the waitress brought me my board full of sushi.

I highly recommend this place if you're in the Gastown area and in need of a sushi fix!

I used to shop at T&T Supermarket when I lived in Coquitlam when I was in culinary school and it was always such a cool experience. It's like no other grocery store I've been in. There are so many live fish available for purchase that you practically feel like you're at the Vancouver aquarium (no, you don't eat the fish at the Vancouver Aquarium, but you get what I'm saying). T&T has pretty good grocery store sushi, so I got myself a spicy shrimp roll as I was in the store looking for some cooking ingredients I can't find here. This was just OK; not terribly fresh, but tasty enough and it was good enough considering it cost like $4.


Fujiya is where I hit the jackpot with awesome grocery store sushi. In fact, I also got a bento box for good measure. This is a spider roll, made with deep fried soft shell crab. With an exotic ingredient like that, I was super stoked about the pricetag:


$4.95! That is unheard of in these parts! And it was really tasty and fresh, and the crab had a bit of a kick to it in the batter. Awesome!

I also got a bento box for frakking $5!


This was a bit odd, I have to say. The shrimp were great, the rice was great, the green sesame salady thing (top left) was great, but the potato salad (bottom right) was brutal and contained frozen peas & carrots (ew!) and the other seafood items were weird. They included two fake scallops. I have never heard of a fake scallop, but it was much like fake crab meat only scallop-shaped and not pink. There was one deep fried shrimp, which was fine, and then there was a small piece of other fish I couldn't identify. This was accompanied by tartar sauce. Next time, I'd go for something else because this was nothing to write home about and the combinations were really strange.

Believe it or not, that was all the sushi I had. I could have had more, but there are so many foodie options down there it's just too much!

My Miura Waffle Bar Experience

Sometimes there are things you just HAVE to do. You see them, you drool, you get a tingly sensation, and you just KNOW that THIS IS FOR YOU. Such was the case when my friend Jodi told me about an eatery in Vancouver she saw on a food blog, and knowing that I was making a trip to the coast in the imminent future, she strongly recommended I try it so when she and I get together for the first time in person in October, I could wholeheartedly throw my own recommendation behind it and we could go there together. This eatery is the Miura Waffle Bar on Davie St. right in downtown Vancouver.

The post Jodi initially saw this place on is here. When I looked at this myself, I just about died! It looked fan-freaking-tastic, and a visit to the Miura site further convinced me that this was a MUST for my trip to Van, which I just came back from on Tuesday. I immediately alerted my brother & SIL, who live right downtown Vancouver, to the place, only to have my SIL alert me that they'd been already and they thought it was totally awesome.

I got the chance to go to Miura last Saturday, a spectacular day in which I met a friend for a small lunch and a browse around Granville Island Market, and then after taking the Aquabus over False Creek, I met my brother Jem outside his film school campus on Hornby St. Miura was on our way back to his place, so we stopped in. He was very ill and not interested in a waffle, but he did order a flavoured milk, as that is Miura's other specialty.

As soon as I saw the Miura site well before my trip, I knew what I was going to order: the Tiramisu Waffle Sando. It was a tough call given the other stuff on their menu, but I just knew the tiramisu option was for me, because tiramisu is one of my all-time favourite desserts.

For $4.49 you can't go far wrong. And so this is what I ordered. It was prepared for me in a short period of time and came to me in a little basket.

It was a little basket of pure orgasmic heavenly blissful sinful amazingness.

It was a freaking religious experience. I mean, check it:


Look at that oozy goodness! I mean LOOK AT IT. It's beyond words...It defies description! It was unspeakably unspeakable!


I almost wanted to order another right away, but I had to resist knowing that we were going to have dinner out in the not too distant future.

Holy crap, if you live in Van or are thinking of going there, I highly recommend you check this joint out! Jodi and I are definitely going there during our get-together in October!

Lunch at The Alpine Grind

We have quite a few coffee shops in town, but since I don't drink coffee, I don't get out to them regularly. Most do light lunches however, and one day when our usual spot, the Sunshine Cafe was closed, my brother, SIL, and I went to The Alpine Grind, one of our local hot spots, for lunch. The Grind changed hands back in December, and I had been there for the odd mocha as it's the daytime watering hole of my employers at The Rossland Telegraph. Under the previous ownership, I'd only had lunch there once or twice, and it was good, but pricey. Under new ownership, things have changed somewhat. There is a micro-bakery there now and I had an awesome baguette from there a few months ago, bought spur of the moment during a staff meeting I was attending. There is a wider selection of goodies, and one of town's most famous bakers, Rebecca of Sweet Dreams Cakery, sells her creations there, including her wildly popular cupcakes. There are also bagels from Nelson and a new sandwich selection.

Here is what we had.

Shan had the smoked salmon panini, which she said was excellent. The side salad comes with a house dressing that was really good.

Jem had the salami panini; he enjoyed it very much.

I had the chicken, brie, and pear compote panini, and it was totally awesome.

Now, onto dessert. I wasn't going to have dessert because the sandwich ate up my small lunch budget, but...but...one of Rebecca's cakes was calling at me from the display case. I'd had one of her lime margarita cupcakes at the farmers' market during the summer, and I was instantly addicted to this woman's baking. The cake at The Grind looked like something from my version of heaven: chocolate cake, pumpkin cake, ganache, pumpkin cream...How do you possibly pass something like that up? You simply do not. I broke my budget. And it was so frakking worth it.
This was un-effing-believable. I mean...unspeakably un-effing-believable. I savoured every freaking bite! It was a positively spiritual experience. I simply do not know what else to say about it...

Yeah, it was a good lunch. But it was an even better dessert.

Rebecca of Sweet Dreams Cakery sells her famous cupcakes at The Alpine Grind on Thursdays, now that the farmers' market is closed for the season.

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.

Lunch at Jackson's Hole

Yet another shopping trip to Nelson last week meant yet another lunch out with Dad. This time, Dad wanted to go somewhere completely off my radar, though he had eaten there before...Years ago. He had had a great experience at Jackson's Hole with a friend way back in the mists of time (a few years ago, but other than that he couldn't specify how long it had been) and wanted to try it out again. Well, who am I to argue? Though I hadn't heard anything about it myself, I did silently acknowledge that things do change in the restaurant business from time to time, so hopefully the place was still good.

It was crap! Crap, I tell you!

The bar & grill type restaurant, located at 524 Vernon St., is located in a funky old building constructed in 1899 or thereabouts, and the interior is very cool indeed. The menu was decent, consisting of the usual lunch suspects you tend to find in a bar/grill. I had a hard time choosing, actually, but went with the BBQ Club House sandwich with fries, and my dad went with the Cajun Chicken Fajitas.

My sandwich was great - very tasty, nice bread, tangy BBQ sauce, but there was something wrong with the fries. They had a...flavour...It took me a few bites to recognize what I was tasting, only to realize it was staleness with a hint of freezer. I couldn't believe this. This place had to have a high turnover so there shouldn't be any stale fries on hand, but that was definitely what this odd flavour was. Ugh!
My dad's fajitas had several problems from my perspective, though he said the flavour was fine. For one thing, they arrived terribly presented in three different parts: the filling, a small ramekin with uninteresting and punily portioned toppings & little containers of salsa & sour cream, and then a third thingy containing the tortillas. It took up a lot of space and I have seen much more well-organized presentations of fajitas at other places. The ramekin with the toppings, as I mentioned was small and there were two problems with it. For one thing, it contained a whole bunch of olives. Now, this wouldn't ordinarily be a problem for me, but my dad detests olives, so he was trying to pawn them off on me. But when I dug in, the olives were obviously canned AND they were dried out and wrinkly - as if they'd been sitting out uncovered for a long time. They were disgusting. The second issue with the toppings was that there was no lettuce, but rather a spring mix situated underneath all the other toppings. Not practical at all. As for the filling, Dad said it tasted "all right" but it looked not very fresh and very unappealing.

So, if you're ever in Nelson, BC, give this place a miss. We won't be going back. Luckily, this is the first really bad meal Dad and I have had on our trips to Nelson, so we're doing pretty well, I think!

Lunch at Frisco's Seafood & Steak House

OK, here is my latest NaNoWriMo update! The end is near - and so is my 50,000 words!

My dad gets really excited when Save-on Foods in Nelson has a case-lot sale, so we recently took another trip over there, which of course, meant another lunch out! On a whim, my dad suggested we check out Nelson's Prestige Lakeside Resort, where there is a restaurant called Frisco's Steak & Seafood House. I was game, so off we went.

Frisco's is in a lovely spot, right overlooking the water and marina located at the resort. The restaurant is quite beautiful, too, with a darker but warm ambiance and a huge gas fireplace. It was pretty busy when we got there at 12:30, but the service was excellent and the place emptied out quickly as 1:00 approached. There was a hot buffet on offer, but nothing on it appealed to us, so we perused the lunch menu and found a lot to choose from.

My dad doesn't eat seafood at all, so he went with the Beef Tender Tips with Asparagus & Portabello Sizzler. He also wanted some soup (it was a chilly day) so he ordered the French Onion Prime Rib Soup. I had a tough time choosing between the Frisco's Seafood Salad and the Frisco Burger. In the end, I went with the burger with half Caesar salad and half fries.

Both of us made great choices, except Dad wasn't keen on the soup. He said it was kind of bland, not nice & rich as a French Onion should be. But he was very impressed with his Sizzler! It came out sizzling on a cast iron platter and Dad said it was really delicious.The Frisco Burger contained beer battered halibut on a sourdough bun, topped with pickle, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and tartar sauce. It was really good, but for a signature burger it was a little bit uninspired. It wasn't particularly interesting even though it was well-prepared and tasted great. The Caesar salad, on the other hand, was fabulous! This was not your typical Caesar dressing; it definitely seemed homemade and was far better than any Caesar dressing I've had in a restaurant in ages. The fries were also good. I loved the garnishes they used on our plates; you don't get that everywhere, let me tell you!Both of us were way too full to have dessert. The prices were very reasonable given the quality of the food and the portion sizes. I had a quick peek at the dinner menu and it's very fancy and has things on it like lobster dinners, Dungeness crab dinners, and very expensive steaks. I won't be having dinner there any time soon, I can tell you that, but I'd definitely go back for lunch!

Finally - A Toasty Torpedo!

Remember this post? Remember this ad and it's utter brilliance? Please, spend the 32 seconds it takes to watch this - it's worth it!



OK. Laughing are we? Good. Because the real Toasty Torpedo is no laughing matter!

Finally, I got to go to a Quizno's the other day. The nearest location is in Castlegar, which is about a half hour's drive from here. I'd spent the afternoon with my brother & SIL, helping them clean out the garage and making a couple of dump runs. We had to go to Castlegar to return the truck we were borrowing, so we decided on a cheap dinner at Quizno's. I of course wanted a Toasty Torpedo, so I ordered the Turkey Club one. This is it:Sigh...So unlike the picture. Well, nothing ever is, though, right? Anyway, this was puny! And not very satisfying! I came away hungry! Luckily, we went to DQ for a Blizzard afterward, so I wasn't totally starving, but still...The Toasty Torpedo was just flat out disappointing! Boo, hiss!

I still love Quizno's though; I just wouldn't order this again.

Lunch at Max & Irma's

Again last week, Dad and I journeyed to Nelson to take advantage of some sales at Save-on Foods, and once again we had lunch. We decided upon a restaurant we'd enjoyed in the past but hadn't been to very recently, Max & Irma's.

They have a great menu featuring sandwiches, wraps, salads, and wood-fired pizzas. The last time I was there I had a great sandwich called the Italian Club: pancetta, lemon & herb chicken, Asiago cheese, lettuce & tomato, and garlic mayo. It was amazing!

After taking a while to decide, on this most recent occasion I fancied something light because I was already thinking ahead to dessert! The list was on the board in front of me and it had so many yummy things on it that I knew I couldn't resist, so I wanted to watch it with my entree. I opted for the Chicken Club Wrap, and Dad went for the Italian Club. Both sandwiches came with house side salad and corn chips. We both enjoyed our choices very much!Now, onto dessert. There was tiramisu, there was blueberry peach cobbler, there were some other things, but the one that caught my eye was the chocolate cherry cheesecake! I looked forward to this all during lunch and it was worth the wait! It was so excellent - full of black cherries and big chunks of actual milk chocolate bar, with a thick chocolate cookie crust. It was to die for! My dad had the flourless chocolate espresso torte and he thought it was amazing.Another winning restaurant in Nelson, BC!

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!

Rossland's Seven Summits Café

I had a chance run-in with a former co-worker the other day, who happens to be the new operator of Seven Summits Café, which is attached to Rossland's only gas station, located across from the museum.

For some time now, the status of the café has been unknown. When I first moved here, it was an amazing burger joint selling gourmet burgers named after the local Seven Summits in addition to some excellent Mexican dishes. Then those people pulled out and a swankier Mexican restaurant called the Mazatlan went in, after the original Mazatlan in Nelson burned down. Then the Mazatlan moved from Rossland to Trail, and after that the restaurant space at the Seven Summits service station was a bit up in the air.

My former co-worker is now running the place and doing all the cooking & prep. When I told Shan & Jem about it, they were surprised to hear that something was actually going on in that space because they eat out a lot (the Mazatlan is a favourite with them) and hadn't heard boo about the new café. This is a small town, and news that there is a new eatery in town would normally become well-known quickly.

Well, last night, Jem, Shan, and I went to the Seven Summits Café for dinner to give it a try.

It's a small space, which is a huge drawback, though a lot of the previous businesses who called this place home thrived on take-out service. As for the menu, it was very small and very limited, and is quite typical fast food/truck stop fare: burgers (including a veggie burger, because this is Rossland, after all), hot dogs, smokies, fries, poutine, chili dogs, chili fries, and onion rings. Also on offer is the cook's homemade potato salad and maraconi salad at $4.50 per container. The prices are very reasonable and the entire menu is a la carte with combos available for larger groups & families.

I chose a burger with the works - bacon, cheese, grilled onions - and a side of onion rings, which I haven't had in ages. With a large fountain drink, my meal came to $10.50. Jem & Shan each had the same thing: burgers with the works and poutine. Their meals came to a similar amount.

The cook, W, makes her own burgers and cuts her own fries. The burgers were excellent, I must say - perfectly grilled and perfectly seasoned. We all enjoyed them! My onion rings (not homemade) hit the spot and were very good, and Jem & Shan both liked their poutine. My only real complaint was that my burger came fully dressed with mustard, relish, and ketchup, and I really hate mustard. Luckily, there wasn't much on there so it wasn't too obnoxious, but I'd have preferred to dress my burger myself.

It was a nice meal and spending quality time with my family is always a good and fun thing for me to be doing. I really hope the Seven Summits decides to advertise a bit, because there is a huge market for them out there just waiting to be tapped into. People just need to know it's open. (It's hours, by the way are daily from 12 - 8pm.).

I wish my former co-worker all the best with her new endeavour!

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.