I hope baby Charlotte loves this little cub and gives it a good home!
The impeccable classroom.
My favorite, the printer, complete with working letterpress!
The barbershop:
To top it off, they were playing Buster Keaton's 'Balloonatic' and 'Seven Chances' in the old fashioned theatre. I would've stayed for the whole show, but there was lots to see.
A few months ago, Wings Tap and Grill opened on the corner of North Road and Lougheed, taking over from the Greek restaurant that used to be there. One afternoon, we decided to pay this new location a visit.
The interior was shiny and new, with lots of black wood and comfy booths. There were flat screen TVs everywhere, and we noticed that every seat had a clear view of a screen.
Shane ordered the Fiji Blond by Lighthouse, and I ordered the Wings Flamin' Caesar. The beer was light and refreshing, and the Caesar was actually quite good, with a great kick and the right amount of seasoning. The only thing is that it was really sludgy at the bottom of the glass.
We ordered Nach'r Average Nachos ($8.99 + $1.49 for guacamole), which looked really impressive when it arrived at the table. However, there were many things wrong with this dish: the nachos were really thin, with a weird texture, and tasted very similar to cardboard. The cheese was tasteless, and ended up being more on the plate than on the chips. The salsa was obviously from a bottle, and the guacamole had no resemblance to avocado, being really runny and devoid of any taste. A huge disappointment.
The good thing about this place is that the namesake wings are really good. We were lucky enough to visit on Sunday, when the wings are on special for $0.39 each. We ordered ten wings of Maui Lime and ten of the buffalo hot sauce flavour. These were great - the outside was crispy and the wings were nicely cooked. The hot wings had just the right amount of hot sauce, and the Maui Lime and slightly sticky and sweet flavour. The wings were done right.
One evening, we met a few friends for a Korean dinner. Since a couple of our friends (who recommended this place) were Korean, we left most of the ordering to them. The restaurant is on Broadway, near Main St., where there used to be another Korean restaurant. Anyway, the space itself is a little hard to find, since the restaurant is actually located up a dark set of stairs. The interior is similar to many other Korean places: lots of wood, with many booths and semi-private 'rooms'.
We ordered the BBQ combo ($49.00), which came with rice cake and dumpling soup, chapchae, sashimi, assorted marinated meats, and dumplings. There was a vegetarian amongst our group, so we also ordered vegetarian bibimbap as well (alas, no picture of this). The soup arrived in a large bowl, and was very flavourful, with a delicate beef broth. There was plenty enough to share.
Ana and Kay always say that you can judge a good restaurant by the quality of their side dishes. The complimentary banchan at the restaurant was excellent. The kimchi was bracingly sour and the sprouts, potatoes and everything else was particularly tasty.
One of the best dishes that we had that night was the fried dumplings. Simply, these were the best dumplings we have had at any Korean restaurant. The outside was crispy and chewy, and the vegetarian filling was delicious. 
The sashimi was good as well, though I was more excited by the other menu items. 
As it often happens when I'm dining with friends, I tend to forget to take pictures. Here I only remembered after all the meat had been cooked! The meat was very well marinated and had great flavour. Nothing really beats cooking our own meat at the table. 
Finally, there came a sweet rice water at the end of the meal. It was a little to sweet for me, but it was still pleasant.
My friend Rachel introduced me to Hawker's Delight years and years ago. I remember stepping inside and being reminded of what it was like to be at a roadside restaurant in South East Asia: a little sketchy and basic, but knowing you'd be getting really cheap, great food.
The menu is smallish, and what's great is that there are pictures of every item on the menu, so you know what to expect even if you may not know the name of the dishes. The cuisine is Malaysian / Indonesian / Singaporean, and the prices are really, really great. Almost all of the dishes are six dollars and under, and that is a bargain these days.
I ordered the Laksa (around $6), a coconut curry broth with noodles, egg, fried tofu and chicken. This was pretty tasty. There was a good amount of spice and seasoning, and the broth had a nice richness. The noodles slightly overcooked, but it was a decent bowl of food. 
Shane got the Mee Goreng (around $5), Malaysian style fried noodles. This was good and pretty tasty, although it was not the best Mee Goreng around. However, for the price, it was an amazing deal.
We also ordered 6 pieces of satay at $0.75 each. The pork was nicely cooked, with lots of charcoal flavour, and it was surprisingly tender. The satay came with a peanut sauce with was a little too sweet for my liking, but it went pretty well with the pork.
Sorry about my absence from the blogging world. Things have been a little crowded in my work and life! So bear in mind, the next few dining reviews are not going to be super current.
The interior is surprisingly pleasant and clean-looking. There were leather-esque booths and chairs, and mirrored walls that make the place look twice as large as it actually is. The menu is written on chalkboard right above the counter.
Not being too hungry, Shane decided to try the smoked meat poutine ($7.50), while I opted for the traditional version ($5.50). The food arrived very quickly. The portions were quite small, but given the richness of the dish, neither of us was complaining. To state it simply, La Belle Patate does a good poutine. The fries were decent, but the star was the cheese curds, which were squeaky and chewy and melty at some points. The gravy had the right amount of saltiness, and elevated this poutine from its competitors. I felt that the smoked meat could have been saltier, but Shane thought it had a nice balance. Perhaps I'm just a poutine traditionalist, after all. There is nothing more perfect than potato, cheese curds and gravy.
This place does do a 'beautiful potato' indeed.
