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 

It has been awhile

It has been quite some time since I have blogged about anything.

To be honest life has kept me busy and also my lack of money has led to less times eating out.

The past few months has seen the start of some new friendships and the end of some as well as rekindling of old friendships lost.

I have come to the conclusion that there is no PERFECT friend and that having high expectations will only lead to disappointment and dismay. As we grow as a person we get involved in more and more things. Responsibilities and duties pile up. We no longer try hard to maintain every relationship we have in our lives. People fall on the wayside.

Sometimes, if you try too hard you will become that person. The person people avoid or the person people only call up when there is no one else.

Wax Museum in Tokyo Tower

I have always been a fan of wax museums and was thinking of visiting the one in Vegas this coming October '13.

It made me think back to the wax museum in the Tokyo Tower we went to this past summer.

Upon entering, you were faced with a FAT and SQUAT mirror and a TALL and THIN mirror.

Yeah I really wish I had one of the tall and thin mirrors at home.

After doing some dramatic Titanic poses we were bombarded with wax figures from all eras. Unlike other wax museums you could not get close enough to be posing with the wax statue.

There was actually a lot of wax figures that I didn't even know who they were or who they were representing. ((most being famous japanese people in sports or their history))

This is one of alice in wonderland though it was a bit off. (Japan is currently having a Alice in Wonderland PHASE and they love it so much they have it in their Hello Kitty World as well as dedicating theme restaurants to it.) ~blogs to come~

Got to love their version of the LAST SUPPER 

Overall not bad, we probably spent about a good 25 or so min. camera whoring it up in there but otherwise nothing too spectacular. We spent way more time in the Tokyo Tower aquarium that was on the first floor. 

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.

Fashion Friday: 3D Nails Part II A COSTLY OBSESSION

So its T.G.I.F and unfortunately ONCE AGAIN I have to work Saturday so I am not really feeling that thankful. Last saturday was A BLAST since I organized a Sushi Party at work to make the day go by faster. We ordered from Nominya (which incidentally, is now a place I am boycotting... more on it later) 

So I am going back to the crazy 3D nails I got done in Asia when I went back this summer. It is ritual to go to the same place my aunt goes to and since she gets her nails done every 3 weeks I have AMPLE amounts of faith in the girls that do it. 

 Off course I had to use something to hold and my newly bought caramel sauce from a Taipei starbucks  in Kenting worked like a charm.

Yup I am a hand whore. This nail artist is really talented and if you are ever in Taipei, Taiwan you should hit her up. 

I think these nails ended up being around $60 CAD which isn't bad considering the STEEP rates we charge here for a normal french manicure. In these photos, the nails is actually all mine for length wise. I told her to shorten them and keep them at the length I had instead of extending them with gell because I had to put contacts in. IN FACT look and the forth and thumb finger they are shorter then the rest. 

I let the nail artist experiment, the only things I stipulated was the color scheme and the need for a bow.

I had another set done by them too in the beginning of my trip ( I switched them out after 2 weeks for another set right before I went home)  

My theme for this one was macrons and I went for a more cute-sy look that went well with this outfit:

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.