restaurant – Page 11

June 23, 2011May 25, 2019

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill – Las Vegas, Nevada

We were in Las Vegas celebrating our wedding anniversary, and wanted something nice, but still quite reasonable in price. We heard lots about Mesa Grill from Bobby Flay’s show on Food Network (Throwdown with Bobby Flay) as they use this kitchen as a test kitchen sometimes (their test kitchen is the one in New York though). Regardless, we made reservations to be a guest a Mesa Grill.

We were a tad early, and was seated by the bar as we waited for our table. It wasn’t a long wait at all, before we got seated at our table. The atmosphere in Mesa grill was really quite cozy, yet it was high end, and a tad dark!

As we first got seated, the waiter immediately asked us for our drink orders and brought us a basket of bread, with wonderfully tasting bread – which I believe were: corn bread muffin, jalapeno bread, and a nut bread! I had a piece of each of the breads and my favorite would be the jalapeno bread!

For main, I tried the Ancho Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon which was a perfectly pan seared piece of salmon, topped with spicy black bean sauce & roasted Jalapeno Crema. The crust on the salmon was so good, even until the last bit, it was still a nice crisp! The ancho chile was full of flavor but was not over powering, it was a great balance of textures and flavors.

We also ordered Pan Roasted Venison which is served with Sweet Potato Tamale. The venison was really quite special and it is something most people don’t order by looking around! We really enjoyed both main entrees and have nothing but good to rave about.

For dessert, we enjoyed ourselves so much we thought we would stuff ourselves extra for this special occasion. We ordered both Churros which was deep fried long dough, dusted with Cinnamon Sugar & Star Anise with a Dark Chocolate Dipping Sauce. We also had Pineapple Upside-down Cake with a rum caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream on the top. Both desserts were really good, but I must admit, the Churros was much more memorable as it’s not as common of a dessert.

The price of the dinner is higher than your typical dinner, but was reasonable for where you are, and what you’re eating! Bobby Flay is after all a celebrity chef, which a Michelin Star earned in 2008!

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill

Caesars Palace
3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV
(877) 346-4642

June 22, 2011May 25, 2019

Sea.Fish n’Chips – Calgary, Alberta

I went to Sea’s on a quiet afternoon. It was a beautiful day, and just after the lunch rush, so I got the place pretty much to myself.

Sea’s is a little location that offers a few tables, that offers freshly fried fish, chips, and all sorts of other goodies. Their take out menu isn’t as complete as their sit down menu, and both menus are available on their website.

One thing I was kind of craving was something like a crab cake, but it didn’t have to be a crab… they didn’t have any starters that had just that, but it’s alright, I’ve had their calamari before, and it was good. But since I came alone this time, I know I wouldn’t have been able to finish everything if I ordered calamari on top of my meal.

I had a nice refreshing glass of home made lemonade which was really tasty! Just as I would expect home made lemonade to taste like! It was perfect for a nice bright summery day!

As much as I wanted to try their burgers, I went to a fish and chip joint – so I should enjoy fish and chip! They had an array of options, from halibut, cod, and haddock. So, I chose a haddock meal with chips, just like how England would do it! It was freshly fried, great piece of fish – not fishy at all, lightly and flaky – perfect! and the fries were really crispy on the outside, and tender & juicy on the inside.

The decoration inside really suite the theme. There was a giant net on the ceiling, and there were a lot of posters that stayed with the “sea” theme. It is a cute place for sure! I can see myself being back in the near future.

Sea.Fish n’Chips

45 High Street SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 452-3474

June 20, 2011June 20, 2011

Milestones – Stephen Avenue

We found ourselves at another Milestones, even though it’s not our favourite chain of restaurants. We arrived to Milestone to try the featured menu inspired from Top Chef Canada! As we watch this show on Food Network Canada, we want to try everything we can!!

Connie Desousa is a contestant on this show, as she works at Charcut – we went there and loved it! She won her appetizers of Pork Croquettes, and really wanted to try it! So, we did! The pork croquettes were really good, it was a pulled pork meatball, deep fried in crumbs — which made it really crispy on the outside, and tender & juicy inside! The plate of appetizers comes with 4 croquettes, and I must say, one of them were much smaller than the other 3 – but the taste was there! These croquettes also sat on top of an onion ring which was a smart way to hoist it up! The onion rings weren’t perfect, they weren’t crispy, but they are onion rings, and I like them!

Milestone’s is also known for their steaks, and with that said, we had to try that also! We ordered Certified Angus Beef – Top Sirloin with black peppercorn sauce. The steak was really good, however, the side of garlic mashed potatoes was terrible. It was a giant mountain of dry and hard potatoes, as though it has been sitting there all day… The steak was perfectly cooked, but the piece of meat wasn’t the best as it was rather tough. It was edible, and quite flavourful regardless!

I stuck to the Top chef inspired menu, so I ordered Roasted Sablefish with Seaweed Gnocchi which is white fish marinated in a sake, soy and honey glaze, and then grilled. It was paired with seaweed and Yukon gold potato gnocchi. In the pool of gnocchi, there were green beans, tamarind, lemon grass and ginger broth. The sablefish was perfectly cooked, and I enjoyed it greatly! The gnocci wasn’t soft and fluffy, but it was better than the garlic mashed potatoes! It was a nicely balanced dish.

Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla Whipped Cream is a shortcake in a muffin form, topped with a sweet lemon curd and piled with fresh strawberries. Finished off with a vanilla infused whipped cream! I love home made whipped cream, so that was immediately in the top running of my favourite course just reading! This was a really creative dessert as the shortcake muffin was split between top and bottom, and they placed the top on the bottom creating a base. The lemon curd was quite tart, but was wonderful with the vanilla whipped cream! It was a dessert that tasted quite light, even though the shortcake was over baked and dry.

Milestones

107 8 Ave SE
Calgary, AB

June 6, 2011March 17, 2019

Sage Bistro and Wine Lounge – Canmore, Alberta

Sage Bistro and Wine Lounge is a great place to go — whether you’re looking for a quiet place for dinner, and a nice place to gather and celebrate! It seems to have the ambiance to cover it all!!

We were lucky to be able to make reservations the same day, even though we had to compromise the time a little. I’m sure glad we did though! Our dinner here was really good, it’s always nice to have a great meal from start to finish.

I didn’t want an alcoholic drink, so I opted for Homemade Honey Thyme Lemonade which was really refreshing lemonade with a hint of honey and thyme. It was a perfect drink for the day as we spent the entire afternoon outdoors!

We started this great meal with duck rillettes, which was riesling braised duck confit, a small amount of lingonberry compote, topped with petite cornchon on grilled baguette. It was just amazing!! We piled a huge spoonful of duck confit on the tiny grilled baguette, then topped it off with the lingonberry compote (jam like) — and like a cherry on top, the little pickle! It was quite a memorable appetizer and one I’m still drooling over while thinking about it!

For the main, I had the special, which was a Maple Sockeye Salmon and that was excellent. The Salmon sat on top of a great chilled noodle salad filled with julienne vegetables. It was quite refreshing of a meal, and it tasted light! It’s something I wish I knew how to make!

The other dish we enjoyed thoroughly would be the Lamb Shank, where the lamb is braised in port & rosemary topped with gremolata with saffron risotto on the side.

Since everything has been so wonderful, we ordered a dessert to share as we were stuffed. We ordered the Neapolitan Tower which had layers of cinnamon phyllo squares, mixed berry compote and lemon custard cream. You really taste the great crisp texture of the phyllo squares which contracts really nicely with the lemon custard cream, which is probably mixed with the mixed berries as it tasted a lot like a raspberry mousse. Regardless, it was a wonderful dessert, and I wouldn’t mind to enjoy this meal again.

Sage Bistro

1712 Bow Valley Trail
Canmore, AB
(403) 678-4878

June 5, 2011June 2, 2019

Giorgio’s Trattoria – Banff, Alberta

Giorgio’s is a really good location for Italian cuisine in Banff, AB. It is located right on Main Street, which makes it really convenient if you’re just walking up and down the street trying to find something really good at a reasonable price. Sure, I haven’t been there for awhile now, but I remember my dinner well — so it was really a positive experience that is memorable.

I love shrimp and I ordered the Seafood Linguine, and as you can tell, it’s quite large in portion as I’ve eaten some before the picture was taken. The shrimp wasn’t bad at all, but it’s not the best either! You can see it as they do camouflage with the tomato sauce!

Very memorable, we had the braised rabbit, which doesn’t seem like they have that item anymore. It was really soft, tender, fall of the bone and juicy!! It was something I would have had again, but now we’ll try to find braised rabbit at other locations.

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