Great Canadian Dining Thread

[middeljohn]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Sunday brunch; nice!

I had chocolate Hagelslag on toast.

I used to take that to school. You won't believe how much trade value hagelslag sandwiches got me!

[SignalHillHiker]

Rocket again.

Jamaican Ginger Ale, a pulled pork wrap with red cabbage inside, and a ginger cookie.

I'm a pulled pork fiend. I had withdrawals when I first moved back to St. John's and couldn't find it anywhere except Boston Pizza, and that was rubbish. I was used to Winnipeg where everywhere had it...

But this, honestly, was the best pulled pork anything I've ever had in my life - and all because of the crust and the sauce. Both tasted amazing.

[eemy]

Honestly, I love pulled pork as well. But I'm kind of growing sick of every single restaurant having their take on pulled pork (invariably on top of poutine it seems). Pulled pork and red cabbage is certainly original though, I wouldn't mind trying it.

Speaking of red cabbage, I wish more restaurants would consider serving vegetable sides that are a bit more creative than corn or peas or broccoli or carrots. Asparagus is a pretty common step up, but how about brussels sprouts or parsnips or swiss chard or anything other than the usual plain option.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Honestly, I love pulled pork as well. But I'm kind of growing sick of every single restaurant having their take on pulled pork (invariably on top of poutine it seems). Pulled pork and red cabbage is certainly original though, I wouldn't mind trying it.

Speaking of red cabbage, I wish more restaurants would consider serving vegetable sides that are a bit more creative than corn or peas or broccoli or carrots. Asparagus is a pretty common step up, but how about brussels sprouts or parsnips or swiss chard or anything other than the usual plain option.

Since you're in Waterloo, you'll have to drop in to Uptown 21:

¼ or ½ chicken roasted with mushrooms, preserved cranberries, shallots
and brussels sprouts over sage spätzle in a white wine jus $23/ $28

Or maybe Trio, down the street. Their veggies include sautéed spinach, root vegetable succotash, and butternut squash risotto (OK, that's not really a "veg" but it is yummy!)


Edit: Yet another in Uptown with some interesting veg offerings would be Red House. http://www.redhouseuptown.ca/dinner

There's also Solé - their offerings include spaghetti squash and broccolini. http://www.sole.ca/dinner.cfm?m=2

It's out there, you just have to track it down!

[matthew6]

[QUOTE=SignalHillHiker;6483084]Some wonderful news about the new Legros & Motti restaurant on the St. John's Harbourfront:




Sort of looks like it is built on the Moxie/the Keg/Baton Rouge model.

[eemy]

I find generally when you move to a higher price bracket, the vegetable offerings do get a lot more interesting. I will have to check those places out.

I was directing my comment more to the lower-priced sit-down chain restaurants of Canada, the Kelsey's/Swiss Chalets/Montanas and imitators.

[middeljohn]

I don't understand how people can say they like the taste of vegetables. There's a very limited number of vegetables that I don't mind eating, mainly some squashes, potatoes and peas. And only if they're cooked right. At best I find vegetables to be something I have to tolerate because apparently it's "healthy" according to the "professionals." Anyone who says they love vegetables is lying to others and possibly to themselves as well. There's no convincing me otherwise.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

I don't understand how people can say they like the taste of vegetables. There's a very limited number of vegetables that I don't mind eating, mainly some squashes, potatoes and peas. And only if they're cooked right. At best I find vegetables to be something I have to tolerate because apparently it's "healthy" according to the "professionals." Anyone who says they love vegetables is lying to others and possibly to themselves as well. There's no convincing me otherwise.

You are hereby sentenced to broccoli. Without cheese sauce!

[matthew6]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

There's a very limited number of vegetables that I don't mind eating, mainly some squashes, potatoes and peas.

I suppose you don't mind eating them because they are not actually vegetables.

[middeljohn]

Lol same shit. It's a plant you cook that doesn't taste nearly as good as eating things that have already eaten the plants for me.

I like food, not the stuff food eats.

[Boris2k7]

When it comes to my greens, I'll take just about anything that doesn't include lettuce (I just got sick to death of the stuff). Gimme thick cut carrots in a beef stew, cooked spinach, a serving of squash, baked yams, a tomato-based salad, a fruit cup, an infusion of zucchini, sliced cucumbers with vinegar, roasted peppers, broccoli or brussel sprouts with a nice hollandaise sauce, green beans with butter. ANYTHING but the goddamned lettuce.

[SignalHillHiker]

A few interesting tidbits about our provincial food habits.







And more (with the same shitty SSP-style headline, ):

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/c...nfographic.php

[Marty_Mcfly]

SHH is hitting the nail on the head here, any trip downtown shouldn't be complete without a trip to Rocket Bakery. Do they still have live bands play there? I was there once when I guy in my research group was playing stand-up base, super chill environment to sip on a coffee.

[SignalHillHiker]

A proper review of Legros & Motti by Karl Wells, a member of the local LGBT community, a former meteorologist with CBC, and by far the most respected restaurant reviewer in the province.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Living/20...-local-scene/1

He had a few concerns, but, bottom line:

Legros and Motti is stunning. It is without doubt one of the biggest and best looking restaurants in Eastern Canada. Legros and Motti is the kind of money-was-no-object Xanadu dining hall that would fit in comfortably in London (maybe Knightsbridge?) Toronto or New York.

...

Rating: Excellent

[SignalHillHiker]

The review mentions a Toronto chain, Hey Meatball, owned and operated by a Newfoundlander.

http://www.heymeatball.com/

Looks interesting, if you like meatballs.

[ozonemania]

I'm rather fortunate (or unfortunate depending on how you look at it) that from where I work in Vancouver (not downtown core). I really have too many choices of places to eat during my lunch break.

I wasn't sure exactly how many, but I knew there were lots. So I went to walkscore.com and see if I could count how many restaurants were within a 5 minute walk from my work place. I counted about 95! Kind of surprised me, but I knew all the restaurants and yes I have been to many of them, but it didn't seem like 95 til I saw it.

I'm not saying that it's the highest number or anything, but it is indicative of the amount of choice there is in Vancouver for places to eat, whether it be for a lunch break or dinner. The list of restaurants are predictably diverse in cuisine and price range.

A good chunk of them are simply outstanding restaurants, where I can pay between $7 for an authentic umame cloudy chicken broth ramen to $50 for perfect pacific northwest seafood. Yes, I can have sushi, schwarma, and Starbucks all for lunch on the same day! Of course there's Burger King, McDonalds, and other mainstream chains within a short stroll, but there's also japanese izakaya, french bistro, ukranian cabbage rolls, chinese hand-pulled noodles, italian pizza, bulgarian banitsa, vietnamese pho, spanish tapas, persian kabobs, korean bibimbap, north american comfort diner, british fish and chips, malaysian satay, brazilian barbeque, and etc. All within 5 min walk! (There are no food courts/fairs or food trucks within 5 mins walk, however)

I love that they are for the most part small, independently-run restaurants. The food is quite good too. The restaurant scene in Vancouver is just too competitive for a mediocre restaurant to last very long.

So, my big first-world problem is a lamentable one -- where am I gonna eat lunch today?

[SignalHillHiker]

I was listening to some Geordie poetry and he mentioned pease pudding. I never assumed it was specific to Newfoundland, but it did make me wonder how far it is spread.

Wikipedia says:

It is commonly eaten in the whole of the North East of England, some parts of the Midlands and a few places in the South and Newfoundland, Canada and to a lesser extent throughout the United Kingdom.

So I'm curious, does it exist elsewhere in Canada? I'd be surprised if it didn't. It's a staple!

[kwoldtimer]

Pease pudding hot, Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot - nine days old.
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot - nine days old.

That's as close as I ever got here in Ontario.

[SignalHillHiker]

You're like Marty_Mcfly then. Newfoundlander from French-founded anglophone town on the south coast with a mainlander accent whose family only made it a couple of times.

I told him he's basically Quebecois.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

You're like Marty_Mcfly then. Newfoundlander from French-founded anglophone town on the south coast with a mainlander accent whose family only made it a couple of times.

I told him he's basically Quebecois.

In today's Ontario, you'd be far more likely to eat hummus or dal than pease pudding, thank God!