COZY at the Blue Plate Diner

A while a go I had the pleasure of going to BLUE PLATE DINER with a friend for lunch.  I was not in the mood for a heavy meal and opted for lighter choices. I had heard great things about the place from my co-workers and I thought WHY NOT lets try it out.

They had a very simple menu, there were choices but not crazy amounts. This was great for me since making decisions ARE HARD and even harder when there are lots of choices.

The decor reminded me of something COUNTRY. The place was clean enough with cute decorations. Overall, it look rather homey and had a nice comforting atmosphere.

We were seated quite quickly and there wasn't a line up despite it being lunch time.

We ordered two appi to share:

The Dip Duo and their infamous grilled cornbread with real maple syrup.

I really enjoyed their hummus and fresh flat bread. DELICIOUS

But my fav part was definitely these two pieces of heaven. Best corn bread ever. IT was almost like a dessert. 

I would definitely go back to Blue Plate Diner to try their dinner selection. I have heard that their breakfast portions are quite small. So far this is a pretty delicious place but I need to go back and sample more of their offerings before making a final decision. 

On a side note, the decor though cute is a bit dated and their lamps are very old and their tables are a bit rickety. I guess you could say it adds to the charm? Service was ok though it could have been better since there wasn't many people in the restaurant. This place would be perfect if our waitress had been more personable and friendly.

CLICK HERE for their WEBSITE 

Not so delicious at The Hat on Jasper Ave

Jono and I headed to the Hat for a quick lunch. I had been to the Hat @ late night hours but never had their food.

We ordered an appi to share and we each had our hot dogs. Let me just say I was not impressed. The appi was ok but nothing too special to rave about.

WE each had a Nathan's hot dog. Mine was the Mad Hatter. To be honest I hate the bun it was gross so I didn't eat it at all. I picked off the chicks and ate it on the side. They were a bit moist and not at all crunchy anymore. The hot dog itself was ok but nothing spectacular.

The soup that came with it was suppose to be some sort of milestone. It tasted like a soup from a can that was watered down and tossed with lots and lots of pepper.

Despite it all the atmosphere was good and the service was good. So it wasn't a total fail on all counts.
Probably wouldn't eat here again for lunch but I heard their late night poutine was alright.

This is more of a "late night" drink place.

State and Main: Disappointing

Recently a restaurant/bar style establishment opened up in southgate. WHICH i personally thing is GENIUS!

The only bad thing is that they haven't gotten their act together.

We went around 6pm and there was no line but lots of their tables were filled. They had section there restaurant into three parts.

I got a water and Dustin got a pop and they arrived in mason jars. So far ok nothing too special. The decor was good since it was brand new.

 We went straight for the entrees since we were starving. At this point a group of girls came and sat at the table next to us. I am assuming one of them is a server because throughout the night lots of the staff came and talked to them and I heard YOU ARE NOT WORKING.....

This brings me to one point why I am pissed off. They had arrived after us and we had ordered before they came YET they got their food and drinks FAST. (their appi came before us and their food came right after ours)

Ok second point of DISGUST is the actual food:
I ordered a bison burger and I was super excited by being able to choose 2 SIDES. I went for the jalepeno corn bread and the qinnuoa salad.

 The salad was good the corn bread was almost doughy and too dense. To top it off there was no flavor of jalepeno. DISSAPOINTED to the MAX. This was only the start. I don't really like buns and most breads so I opted out of eating the bum. THANK GOD I did because it showed me how nasty their burger really was. I know bison is lean but there is LEAN and there is ROCK HARD.

 Dustin ordered a Ruben which I actually enjoyed. IT was doused with tons of butter which I guess makes most things delicious. His fries were nasty. They were soft and did not have much flavor. I would have rather gotten my from MICDICKS and I hate medicks, His other side was the jalepeno mash potatoes. I liked it to a certain degree. You could taste the jalepeno in the mash HOWEVER the mash was extremely salt, even Dustin who loves salty food thought so.

 I took a pic of my corn bread. THIS IS PRIOR TO ME EATING IT. it already had a junk missing. I may be paranoid but it does look like someone took a bite off with their mouth or their hands. I WAS ALREADY TURNED OFF.

 This here is a super blurry stealth photo of the group of girls (3) sitting next to us. The white thing you see in the pitch darkness is her sandal in which she put up on the seat as she ate. She also picked at her feet while she ate. THIS IS THE GIRL that is supposedly an off duty staff member. I WAS GROSSED OUT. The proximity of her feet and table to me was about the size of a normal BMI person.

 HEre is some photo evidence of how nasty my burger was after I dissected it. There were fork marks to scrape off the burnt and the onions on it were so RAW and powerful I teared up.

SO I would not go back for the bison....

The manager found out about my disgust with the meal and he comped the price of my burger... I just hope they don't do it again. What kind of establishment is ok with burning a burger or over cooking it and using a fork or some sort of scrapper to scratch off the burnt parts.

Here is a sample of the menu which actually really reminds me of Joeys and Earls.


Would I come back again?

Not for a while. Maybe they will shape up in a bit.

I really cannot go for another rock hard flavourless burger. HOWEVER, I do give a place usually 3 strikes so I will visit again to see if they got better.

PS unlike Joeys and Earls the waitresses were not really attractive at all.

Heading to Lux Steakhouse and Bar: a sassy lunch experience

When you are on Jasper be it working, shopping or going to school at Grant Mac and you have a LONG moment to spare fore lunch, I would recommend going to Luxe.

My dad and I met for lunch to discuss my post secondary potions and he told me that he has eaten here many times and the food is awesome.

Here are sample pictures of the menu:

I went for a beef and dip with fries on the side loaded with carbs and all bad things that DIETS recommend you never to go near.

I must say I really enjoyed the dip. The pretzel bread was delicious ( I have a fascination with pretzels) and soft. The fries were not too bad though not comparable to my fav fry places: COSTCO and THE PINT. Overall, my meal was pretty good though I do tend to find most restaurant food a tad bit salty.

My dad went for the BLT and a side salad. I had a few bites of his burger and they were pretty good. Nothing to really complain about.

The only horrible thing was the service. I don't know if it was an off day but it took forever for us to be even helped and  then we thought it would speed things up if we didn't do an appi. ALAS it did not, we waited a whiles for our entree to come. The waiter didn't fill our waters often and I really hate it when the SERVICE of a restaurant ends up effecting how you view their food.

Would I come back?

I would, I did enjoy my dip a lot. I just hope next time the service is better.

Zen Sushi not So Zelicious After All (too fishy)

So it was my convocation date downtown so we chose a nearby restaurant to fuel our energy after the ceremony. My parents had gone to Zen all you can eat in the south side and thought the one downtown should be pretty decent too. 

BOY WERE WE IN FOR A SURPRISE and not the good kind.

Here is my dad and I and my mom and I in your NICE WEAR for the event.


Below are some pictures I ended up taking thought the presentation sucked and the food was below mediocre.

First of all the service was horrible we had to keep harassing the staff to bring our order and often the order was wrong. Also there are many limitations as to what you can order and how many you can have. WHAT NONSENSE!!! for an all you can eat.

Rolls were ok but the rice was not the best.

Their teriyaki chicken and beef was decent but a tad SALTY for my tastes .

Other sushi and maki were just ALL RIGHT

Their sashmi didn't taste fresh and the whole place stank like nasty fish .

In all I really did not enjoy my food there, the place was dirty, the service horrible and the food MEH. Thank god I didn't have to pay for it or else I would have left.

I think for price to quantity to quality THIS PLACE IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.

Nice Mediterranean Meal Downtown Edmonton @ Chateau Beirut

Liana and I had a day off so we decided to go and spend it BY EATING THE TIME AWAY.

I was craving some ethnic food so we decided to head down town towards Jasper ave for some Mediterranean grub. The menu at the place was pretty simple, had a variety of choices and a few pictures. I had eaten here with my dad before a while back and I remember their rice and pita plates being good. 

We ordered two things two share. This was part of their appis menu and I really thought it would look different. The little sausages weren't too bad in terms of flavouring but the sauce they were in was definitely sour. At that point we were both starving so we use the pita bread to dip in the sauce to stave off our hunger.

Here is a close up of the sausages. I would not personally order this dish again if I had the choice. The meat in the sausage was just mediocre.

This was the other plate we went for with whipped butter and a variety of meats such as lamb, beef and chicken. I love their pilaf rice and really enjoyed their grilled meat.

They also refilled your pita bread free of charge the whole time you were there.

This place offers shisha but we didn't go for it THIS TIME.

Overall, great atmosphere for a relaxed gathering, the service was pretty good as well.

Getting a Taste of Edmonton

So this weekend officially wraps up the end of Taste of Edmonton. I had never been prior to this year and all I have heard are mostly negative reviews of how the food is so teeny and how it will cost me an arm and a leg. As you know from my last entry I recently bought a car and money is now TIGHTER to say the least. I didn't know if I could afford to binge eat at some food festival and feel hungry after and go out again.

After much deliberation I thought "What the eff, you only live once." So I pre bought tickets with my dad. Atco gets a pretty decent deal. 60 tickets later (plus buying 10 more) I must say it was fun.... well s fun as Edmonton can get in the summer. ( I say this grudgingly because, after coming back from a asian country you really feel like you are in withdrawal)

A few weeks prior to the actual start of the festival ( I think its classified as a festival) I looked it up on the internet and pulled its website for its menu. After printing it off I circled the top 15 things I wanted to try. There actually was some good items ranging from 2 tickets to 6. (Each ticket if you buy the day of is 1$) I also enjoyed how the menu had little pics indicating if it was vegan, vegetarian etc.

Taste of Edmonton Menu 2013

HERE ARE some pictures of the food:

 This was actually our last stop with our remaining 5 tickets . It got us a whole freshly cooked up sausage on some sauerkraut and buttered bun. At this point Dustin was ready to hurl he was so full.

 Deep fried pickles were not bad too bad there was only three which makes for awkward sharing. We always ended up getting the larger size. I am told in previous years there was no choice between small and large sizes.

 forgot the name but it was from a food truck. It wasn't too bad except the tomatoes were cold and the onions could have been cooked longer.

 Bisque from Hotel Mcdonald was delicious and well worth the 2 tickets.

 This was the spinach thing from the Greek vendor and it was super dry and not really tasty. I got it since it was large in size and I was trying to go for a ticket to size ratio. BIG mistake.

 Me and Dustin prior to getting stuffed =)

 The long line for lemonade.

 Both days we went we got the large lemonade which only makes sense. For one ticket more you get the 24 oz not the 12 oz. ( later there were some red bull girls and we scored a few red bull drinks which we then put into the lemonade cup ... YEAH FOR Being asian and not spending money )

 I didn't like the boar make and cheese. I found it lacked flavour and it could have been cheesier.

 One of my all time favs butter chicken with quite a kick and lots of creamy goodness.

 Koreans made us some bulgolgi meat balls.  Not enough sauce on the rice though

 Sadly, no nuts on my pad thai either! DAMN NUT ALLERGIES

 The mac scone was divine too!! Thanks to Amisha for telling me its a MUST eat

 Scalloped wrapped in bacon and deep fried mars bars. The scallops in bacon was soooo salty I had to chug some red bull.

 We would have cooled off there but there were tons of naked and semi naked kids probably taking a pee in the pool . EWW why do people think its ok to wear diapers and swim.

 Another deep fried confection. It was kinda dry so not to my liking.

So on our first day back this old man talked to us on the LRT. Liana and I thought it was hilarious and harmless fun till he said some inappropriate words and crossed a line... TO THE TUNE OF : I would love to play with you......
The pic is blurry since sneak attack pics rarely work out for my slow processing phone. IT IS TIME TO UPGRADE (phone number 11 will be mine or as soon as the Note 3 comes out)