calgary – Page 31

July 14, 2013July 14, 2013

Holy Smoke BBQ – Calgary

I love smoked food, and I have been to their South location before. They’re not opened on Sundays, so we decided to go to Holy Smoke BBQ on 16th Avenue, as they’re opened! The parking lot is quite a hassle to get in, there’s only 1 driveway in, and not enough spaces, so be prepared! Once you go inside, there’s a long counter where you get food and along the window, there’s some seating for you to enjoy your food! Along the exit side of the restaurant, there is a huge selection of sauces that you can pick from! They do recommend which sauce would go with what you’ve ordered, and that’s helpful!

The moment I walked in, I was expecting to be greeted by a strong smell of smoke – like their South location, and it wasn’t a strong smell of smoke at all from here. Regardless, I ordered myself a Smoke Chicken Sandwich as I’ve never tried their chicken. I honestly forgot what they recommended to me that goes well with this smoked chicken sandwich. I can’t remember if it’s their Honey Garlic sauce or Sweet Apple sauce, but I ended up trying it with their Honey Garlic sauce. The sauces are amazing here, and I’m sure I’ll be ordering the same thing to try it with all the sauces!

We also ordered their Pork Ribs which is ordered by the rib. It’s $1/bone, and it works out to be an excellent deal as they’re pretty large in size. They’re very flavourful as is, with a hint of spiciness. The sauce we used for this was their Mesquite sauce and their Jack Daniels sauce. I didn’t care for their Jack Daniels sauce much as it was too bitter for my liking.

The ribs was absolutely delicious. It’s not “fall off the bone”, but you can definitely clean the bones really well. The flaovurs was awesome, and you know it was made with lots of love. We ordered some potato salad with the ribs, and it was made with nice chunky slices of potatoes. It was tender and not over cooked, and quite a great side! We loved the ribs so much we went back and ordered another 6 ribs after we were done! Below is a picture of the selection of sauces Holy Smoke BBQ has to offer!

For a drink, we got a Strawberry Milkshake to split. They do it the good old fashion way with strawberry ice cream and milk – then “shake” or blend it together! It tasted great and it brought back great childhood memories for me.

Overall, we love this place! The only thing we really didn’t like is the parking lot as you can get stuck in the parking lot if you’re trying to leave and someone else just got in. Make sure you bring your driving skills and some patience when you go! There’s about 4 spots for their guests only!

Holy Smoke BBQ

420 16 Avenue NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 263-4659

July 14, 2013

IHOP Restaurant – Calgary

I’ve been wanting to go to IHOP – International House of Pancakes in Calgary since the day it opened. Usually, every time we drive by to want to try, it’s packed. This time, we got up extra early and finally got to enjoy this restaurant! The parking lot can become a bit messy and there’s not that many spots – however, it is located in an area with lots of other spaces, which I’m sure you can use.

We were greeted by really friendly staff immediately, and everyone was in a good mood! We were seated at a table, and the first thing they asked us was what we wanted to drink. I ordered a hot tea, even though every table had a canister for coffee – I wanted tea! It came in a pretty large pot, and I loved that the cup has its logo on it.

I ordered the Pancake Platter and I opted for the double blueberry pancake, with sausage links. The pancakes was quite a decent size, and they had 3 of them, topped with fresh blueberries and whipped cream! And, around the pancakes was 4 links of sausage. I drizzled their butter pecan syrup on my pancakes and was super satisfied! The sausage had a soft casing and tons of flavour, and the pancakes was light and fluffy, with the right amount of blueberries!!

We also ordered a plate of Big Steak Omelette and it was a big plate for sure! We were never expecting such a large omelette, but was happy to see it! This meal, we even ordered a hashbrown on the side, which was really nice and crispy on the outside. Instead of toast, they give you pancakes, which was also perfectly executed! There was tons of steak and hashbrowns in the omelette with cheese and other vegetables.

Overall, we loved this breakfast dining experience. With average pricnig, you sure get a lot of food! The dining room was really clean, servers were fast and friendly, and the food tasted great! We’re tempted to go back already, which is a great sign!

IHOP Restaurant

500-70 Shawville Blvd SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 873-9102

June 29, 2013July 3, 2013

Le Petit Mousse – Calgary Farmers Market

I found myself over at Calgary Farmers Market one morning and I was getting hungry, so I decided to make a little stop for a savoury crepe and I found Le Petit Mousse which was a little neat as it was all Asians working there.

I ordered their Merguez Lamb Sausage Crepe which was on what I believe buckwheat crepe which is gluten free. It didn’t leave the nice soft texture of crepes that I’m use to as this one wasn’t too smooth and it left holes in it.

This crepe came with some mustard as well as an odd coleslaw or almost sauerkraut, which I never used. I did like the mustard with the lamb sausages and there was quite a few pieces of the sausage. It was packed with flavour and a hint of spiciness! There was quite a bit of filling, but for $10, I haven’t convinced myself it’s a great deal yet.

Overall, I think I would’ve enjoyed their sweet crepes more due to the texture of the crepe. I’m sure I’ll try it one day! The crepe in general wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t good either. It was just the lamb sausage that I really liked.

Le Petit Mousse

510 77th Avenue SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 514-0555

June 26, 2013

Earls Kitchen and Bar – Shepards Flats

I’ve been trying out restaurant patios lately and I’ve been loving them! I never know whether or not to wear my hat, but that’s another problem! I’ve found myself at Earls in the south by McKenzie Towne just off 130th Avenue and 52nd Street. It’s very new, quite large and full of friendly staff serving delicious food! We had to wait a little bit for a late lunch on the patio and at the front, they actually took our drink orders while we waited!

For the drink, I decided I was going to have their White Peach Lemonade as I was already feeling dehydrated from the nice heat from summer! It was the perfect drink for a hot summers afternoon with the refreshing lemonade flavoured with white peach, fresh lemon and soda!

As this was a late lunch kind of thing, we just settled on a bunch of snacks. We started with a nice bowl of their Earls famous Clam Chowder which was really delicious! It’s no wonder it’s famous! It’s not like the typical full cream ones as this one has tomatoes in it – which makes it taste lighter. The soup was a little separated but it didn’t matter as it was one of the best clam chowders we’ve had!

Then, we ordered a Prawn & Pesto Pizza and this pizza was served on thin crusted that looked like a wood burning oven from the big burnt bubble on the top and the thinness of the crust to ensure it’s cooked to its entirety. The pizza was really tasty, the shrimp was really fresh and of course with the pesto, it was great!

Finally, we ordered some chicken wings! We ordered their Thai Chicken wings and these wings are done really nicely! It’s fried to a perfect crisp on the outside and tender & juicy chicken! Then, it’s tossed in really great sauce! We’ve been back during their wing nights on Wednesdays afterwards as well as we’ve enjoyed it so much. They only come in 3 flavours, hot, hotter and Thai!

Overall, as you can tell, we love this place! We’ve been back already and I’m sure we’ll be back many more times to come!

Earl’s Shepard Flats

200 – 5155 130 Ave Southeast
Calgary, AB
(403) 255-3275

June 23, 2013

Lazy Monkey

I was looking for a new place to try for things like Taiwanese bubble tea and other small snacks. I went online and found this place called Lazy Monkey which offered great reviews – but it was located at the other end of town at Norbrent Shopping Centre (across from Churchill High School).

We knew we wanted to have their Milk Tea of some sort. They didn’t have an extensive drink menu, but what they had was pretty good! I had their Jasmine Green Milk Tea which was really good.

We had 5 of us for this evening, so we ordered a bunch of miscellaneous snacks and meals to share. The first that came out was the Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings which was really good. It was really crispy and fried to perfection. A lot of seasoning on each wing, which is always nice.

We also had an order of their Fried Puffy Tofu which really wasn’t anything special. The seasoning tasted like the MSG packages from instant noodles, and the texture was a little chewier than what you’d expect for a puffy tofu. When I think of puffy tofu, I think of it being hollow in the centre. Who knows, maybe that’s how the Taiwanese do it! 🙂

Then, we our order with Fried Squid Tentacles which was fun! They had big pieces of tentacles and they were really soft and tender with lots of flavour. This was a great dish!

Then, we had 2 dishes of their main, one was their Egg wrapped Rice with Curry and I’m not sure what the actual name on their menu was, but it wasn’t bad. It was neat as they made a nice omelette and wrapped it around rice. Then, there was a large section of curry that didn’t carry much flavour or seasoning.

The last thing we ordered was what we think was called Taiwanese Chicken Meal which was a large portion of chicken, with some vegetables and a bowl of rice. It also had a hard boiled egg braised in Chinese soy sauce marinade.

Overall, we had fun and the food wasn’t bad at all. I personally liked their little snacks more than their meals, and I did enjoy their drinks! I’m sure we will be back as we did enjoy it!

Lazy Monkey

3616 52 Ave NW, Unit 11
Calgary, AB
(403) 338-2123