alberta – Page 32

March 23, 2014September 30, 2018

Wellingtons of Calgary Dining & Lounge – Calgary, AB

For all the people who actually know me, they know I’ve been going to the same place for Valentines day for the last LOTS of years until they changed hands. This year, we had to find something else as we weren’t satisfied last year. We went to Wellingtons of Calgary and it was pretty good! It’s not cheap, but it was worth it for special occasions like Valentines day!

Once we were seated and ordered our drink, a bread basket came out and it was decent! But, we did order some starters and I enjoyed their Fresh Oysters in a Half Shell. I really enjoyed these oysters, they were really fresh and it tasted great with just a little bit of lemon.

My husband ordered their soup of the day, which was Seafood Chowder and it wasn’t a thick chowder, but it was still rich. It had tons of seafood in the soup and great depth of flavour.

The main entree, I had to order the Beef Wellington and it was really delicious! The steak was cooked to perfection, wrapped in great puff pastry that was light and fluffy with a great crispy exterior! It was a large piece of steak!

My husband ordered the Steak Dianne which was broiled beef tenderloin topped with a brandy mustard sauce. The steak again was prepared to perfection! We thoroughly enjoyed this steak with it’s gravy sauce! There was so much meat it was really worth the price!

After we ate, we were both stuffed to the rim. Our waiter sold us on getting a piece of cake for dessert, so we ordered what he recommended – the Cheesecake! It was fantastic and I’m so glad we got it! It was a light and fluffy cake where we were both glad we didn’t turn it down!

Overall, I believe this is going to be our new Valentines day location! We really like steaks for this special day and I’m sure we’re going to keep it that way! This may be my new favourite steak place in the city right now!

Wellingtons of Calgary Dining & Lounge

10325 Bonaventure Dr SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 278-5250

January 1, 2014January 1, 2014

Chuckwagon Cafe – Turner Valley, Alberta

I really enjoy watching Food Network in my spare time, or if I’m not watching it, it will be on in the background. This one time, I was watching You Gotta Eat Here and they were talking about Chuckwagon Cafe out in Turner Valley – so we figured it will be nice to meet up with my sister-in-law and her significant other for breakfast. The cafe is in a renovated barn and it’s not very large – and it fills up fast! So, either go early, or just be prepared to wait in line.

I knew what I wanted as John Catucci raved about their Flat Iron Steak Benedict with buttery croissant with butter, toasted… instead of using an English Muffin. Then, topped with their Flat Iron Steak, which is cooked to perfection and super tender, as they raise their cattle themselves! Then, topped with an egg, which I love it poached to soft. Of course, this was topped with their hollandaise sauce! It was heavenly and I’d recommend this dish as well!

My other half was being kind of odd… he ordered their lunch special for breakfast and asked for their 9oz New York Strip Steak enjoyed as their Steak Sandwich format, with soup on the side (Beef and Barley soup was their soup of the day). The steak was tender and juicy, seasoned nicely and grilled to the perfect rare temperature. He loved it and I basically didn’t hear much from him until he was done!

This is definitely somewhere I’d recommend going to, if you don’t mind the drive. We took the long way there and went through Okotoks and saw Big Rock prior to going for breakfast. The prices are on the high side for this cafe, but the food is really good, and the service is really friendly. I’m actually going to put bets on the fact we will be back, as I’m still in search for a perfect burger. I’m hopeful it may come from here!

Chuckwagon Cafe

105 Sunset Blvd
Turner Valley, AB
(403) 933-0003

November 17, 2013

The Bison Restaurant – Banff, Alberta

Banff has always been my favourite go to place, and I am always out there for whatever reason! This time, I was out there for Bon Appetite Banff which is their 3rd annual event, and we ventured out even with a snowfall warning! I made reservations at The Bison since it has been a place I’ve been meaning to go to, and this is the perfect time to try new places as they put out special 3 course meals at a set price. This restaurant is located on Bear Street, just off of Banff Avenue and it’s upstairs of The Bear Street Tavern.

We sat down and I ordered my usual drink of choice right now, I seem to have phased into a Virgin Cesars lately, I know, it’s just Spicy Clamato juice in a pretty cup – but who cares! I like it. It was still a tasty drink.

Once we got comfortable, a bread basket came and it was neat as the basket was tree bark! The bread wasn’t anything special, but I guess the butter was… she called it Butter with Olive Oil and Organic Sea Salt. I don’t have an opinion on it as it was kind of like greasy butter? I do appreciate flavoured butter, but I guess I don’t understand this one.

For starters, we had 2. The Bon Appetite menu offers a starter, a main and a dessert for each person… so we just ordered different things to share to get more variety. We had a bowl of Sweet Potato Soup which was absolutely fantastic, with roasted marshmallows on top and a strip of bacon! Everything is better with bacon and this soup needed the salt from the bacon as it’s a sweeter soup! I loved it and I think I will try to make something along the lines of this one day!

The other starter we got was their Seared Sea Scallops which was seared to perfection. It was as though they had one giant scallop and cut it in half on the plate, or they only seared the visual side. It was bare on the underside. Regardless, it was quite delicious and not over cooked or anything like that! It also had a strip of bacon!

Now that we’ve devoured the appetizers our main courses came out! I love seafood so I ordered their Maple Sake Seared Monkfish and it was a nice portioned sized monkfish perfectly cooked and seasoned on a bed of risotto. I love fish, so needless to say, I ate it all up!

The other entree we ordered, more for the husband was the Braised Bison Gnocchi and it had a TON of delicious braised bison on the dish. We weren’t use to the size of the gnocchi, but it was still delicious light pillows of soft potatoes, even though they were “king sized pillows”! This was a fantastic entree!

Now that we’re full and stuffed, we made room for dessert! I ordered their Milkshake with Cookie and it was good! I love any sorts of cookies and this one was pretty good! It was a cookie milkshake but it was quite runny of a shake with cookie crumbs in the bottom. It wasn’t my favourite milkshake as I like them thick and creamy!

The other dessert ordered was their creme Brulee which was a chai tea spiced creme brulee with a shortbread cookie. It was kind of funny as it looked like someone ate half of it! I guess I just would’ve used a shallower dish if I was going to only give the amount given. It was tasty, but I actually thought it was a pumpkin pie flavour, not chai!

Overall, we loved this place! The meal was delicious, the service was fantastic and we had a great window seat table where we over looked the parking lot across the street! It was very entertaining! It was a night to remember and hopefully we’ll be back for more dinners to come! This Bon Appetite dinner was $45 per person, but it was 3 courses – so it was quite alright! This dinner was worth the venture out during the snow storm for sure!

The Bison

211 Bear St
Banff, AB
(403) 762-5550

November 5, 2013November 5, 2013

Tropical Delight Noodles House – Calgary, Alberta

Nothing warms one up more than hot and spicy food – so on this cold Saturday afternoon, that’s what we wanted! We heard wonderful things about Tropical Delight Noodle House in the Northeast end of Calgary, located in a strip mall with very little parking. This place is worth seeking out though, so be patient with them as they’re quite popular and they’ve got really limited hours (Monday through Saturday, 10am to 5:30PM).

Once inside, there it wasn’t too bad as it looks like other customers didn’t want to venture out during a snowfall warning day — so we got seated quite quickly this time! I started by ordering one of their Red Bean Drinks, well, it was called that in Chinese, don’t remember their English name given, but it was actually really good! It was the perfect subtle amount of sweetness and even though it was cold outside, it was still a nice treat!

I knew what I wanted, I wanted their Laksa Noodle Soup which was hot, flavourful and delicious! It hit the perfect spot in my belly! This spicy bowl of soup had shrimp, tofu, egg, and fish ball with rice vermicelli, of course in their awesome soup!

We also ordered their 2 Item Combo which was suppose to come with a drink — and they never gave it to us. It wasn’t something we needed, so we actually just left without a word about it at the end, since I paid $5 for my drink, I felt like I had to finish it instead. Anyway, for this combo, we had rice with beef randang and curry chicken. It looks like Chinese beef stew with 2 pieces of curry chicken. Both were really delicious and filling too!

Overall, an excellent choice for a place to put on your to-go list if you like ethnic and spicy food. Not everything is spicy, even though I do recommend the laksa! The Beef Randang was extremely delicious and I know my husband would recommend that before the laksa! Well, there you go, you gotta go now and figure out if you like the soup or the rice more!

Tropical Delight Noodles House

4604 12 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 261-1811

November 2, 2013

E & W Family Restaurant – Three Hills, Alberta

For those who don’t actually know me… my name starts with an “E” and my husbands name starts with a “W”… so, when we drove by Three Hills and saw E&W Family Restaurant, we knew it was a place for us to try! This restaurant is located near the edge of the highway, and it’s family owned and ran by Chinese but of course caters to a more “Caucasian” crowd with “Chinese” food.

This restaurant had a dine-in menu as well as a buffet. We just figured we won’t be a pain and order from the menu as there was really good looking food sitting at the buffet – so we opt’ed for that option. The owners felt that they should make us some fresh food to top off the buffet, and they insisted to do so, which was really nice!

I enjoyed many servings and rounds of food. Even though I didn’t have pictures of everything, I know I started with an assortment of food that they did have out! A bit of each and I soon realized I fell in love with their Peppered Chicken, so I had more every time I went back! The owners made more as well, to fill the buffet… so I almost felt the need to finish it all! I failed at that challenge, but it was delicious anyway!

I then went back and forth for a bit, and found that I also really liked their Chow Mein so I had plates of that too! I love buffets as I eat tons of what I find that I like! The only problem here was that there was too much I liked… and it was a long drive home!

Overall, we went here with an empty stomach and left really really full! The owner was telling us about Dry Island Buffalo Jump which wasn’t too far from there, so that’s where we went next! What a neat stop here at Three Hills! I’m sure we’ll be back someday! The owner sold some pet fishes from his tank, and I already mentioned next time I go there, I’ll bring a pet fish home!

E & W Family Restaurant – Chinese Buffet

1011 2 St N
Three Hills, AB
(403) 443-2388