Calgary Food, coffee, etc.

[devonb]

Went to El Charrito on Edmonton Trail on the weekend. I had one of each of their tacos and l liked them all except the beef tongue (a bit overdone and chewy). I pray this place is ultra successful as I loved it and it's only a couple blocks from my house. $2.25 for a super tasty taco?!

The family is incredibly nice and chatted with me while I waited.

[bakersdozen]

I also went and got some tacos the other day there. Very fresh and tasty - would go again and really hope they stay in business! Also chatted to them for a bit, very friendly. If you folks like Mexican food check it out!

[DizzyEdge]

I know there's been discussions in the past about 'Calgary's dish', with talk of ginger beef and caesars... maybe flapjacks should be that dish.

Someone should start a flapjack truck

[tsumetai]

Had dinner at Vero Bistro in Kensington awhile ago - it was excellent.
There is a set dinner Sundays that is both delicious and very reasonable also.

Someone here mentioned about House being vastly superior than Higher Ground in terms of coffee in the Kensington area. I have since been to House many times and I would say I generally agree. Big fan of their red tea lattes and lavender milk steamers also.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by tsumetai

Had dinner at Vero Bistro in Kensington awhile ago - it was excellent.
There is a set dinner Sundays that is both delicious and very reasonable also.

Someone here mentioned about House being vastly superior than Higher Ground in terms of coffee in the Kensington area. I have since been to House many times and I would say I generally agree. Big fan of their red tea lattes and lavender milk steamers also.

The only problem I have with Vero is that black and red colour scheme. But the meals I've had there have been really good.

Higher Ground has a lot going for it but its coffee program is an embarrassment. It's where Beano was in 2001- a place that could and did sell atmosphere because back then, in Calgary and pretty much every other city in North America, nobody really went to a coffeehouse for the coffee. HG will always be popular even if they stick with the superautomatic machines and the cheap beans from Canterbury. The House tries really hard and has some dedicated baristas and you can get as good an espresso there as at any of the best cafes in town, but what Kensington really needs is for P&S or Rosso (etc) to open a shop there. The House is seen by some people as just a front for its church owners; I know I avoided it for years because I thought I was supporting some evil evangelicals. I'm over that; they're great people who welcome everybody and the coffee is superb. But it's simply not P&S and I don't get why a really excellent coffee place doesn't open there.

Vendome is a nice cafe but it's really more about food than coffee- that's a problem with a place owned by an Italian restaurant. Italians have some very dated ideas about coffee.

[Wigs]

After spending a Sunday out in the sun in Bridgeland (stampede breakfast!) then hanging out on the lawn of former Calgary General, then heading to Sandy Beach Park to dip our feet in the Elbow (where I burned my pale Anglo Saxon skin-my bad), a couple of my friends and I decided to head to 17th Ave for a cool drink on a patio. We tried to get into 1410 for their rooftop patio but they had a 45 min wait.

So we headed to Los Chilitos. My one friend and I had a mediocre Caesar (hey it was on special! I know you're not supposed to order one at a Mexican place but discount judgement prevailed lol), my other friend had an interesting looking Michelada almost like a Caesar with beer that he liked. I had very good Tacos Al Pastor (pork tacos), and my friends enjoyed their respective shrimp tacos, and the most massive burrito I've seen. All the food was good!
Only downside was they don't serve free chips and salsa (they are conveniently on the menu priced at $5.99!), which I've been accustomed to at every Mexican restaurant I've ever been.

Overall for a sunny summer Sunday, our experience was good and I'd recommend.
although I see a bunch of unhappy eaters on urbanspoon (maybe it's hit or miss ).

[fusili]

Originally Posted by WIGS

After spending a Sunday out in the sun in Bridgeland (stampede breakfast!) then hanging out on the lawn of former Calgary General, then heading to Sandy Beach Park to dip our feet in the Elbow (where I burned my pale Anglo Saxon skin-my bad), a couple of my friends and I decided to head to 17th Ave for a cool drink on a patio. We tried to get into 1410 for their rooftop patio but they had a 45 min wait.

It sounds awesome. I am probably going tonight.

[Rusty van Reddick]

I'm disappointed that 1410 build the rooftop so small. Seats only 30, or so the hostess guessed.

I tried the basil chicken at Khao San on opening day- wasn't thrilled. Too sweet, not enough salt or heat. Pricey. Lunch seems a better deal- will try a curry today. Really want this place to be good. (FYI Khao San is the new Thai place that's taken over the former Jaro Blue)

UPDATE- got a red curry with pork for lunch today- $13 with a big pile of jasmine rice. Excellent! Rich, with nice chunks of squash and a decent amount of heat. Decent portion as well. I also shared my thoughts about the basil chicken and the owner was eager to hear the feedback.

[mrcccondor]

So we headed to Los Chilitos.

I was there with a party of 14 and it was excellent. Everyone enjoyed their meals.

[Jimby]

why a good steak is rare in Calgary

Dry versus wet aging?

[O-tacular]

I don't frequent this thread very often, but I was wondering if anyone else here has eaten at Blue Star diner in Bridgeland? It's an amazing local / organic / gluten and vegan friendly eatery. Dairy Lane in Kensington has the same owner and menu, but I love Blue Star's atmosphere and staff.

[sidepockets]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

I'm disappointed that 1410 build the rooftop so small. Seats only 30, or so the hostess guessed.

Our hostess told us today that the patio's capacity is 65 - so they set up seating for 60 (+5 staff). From our viewpoint, 60 looked like it would be a pretty tight squeeze but I didn't look to see how much space was around the NE corner, "behind" the bar.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Jimby

why a good steak is rare in Calgary

Dry versus wet aging?

I was slightly miffed at the Torontonian pretentious tone of that article. Had he done research in advance he would have found what he was looking for (i.e. dry aged beef) before returning home.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I don't frequent this thread very often, but I was wondering if anyone else here has eaten at Blue Star diner in Bridgeland? It's an amazing local / organic / gluten and vegan friendly eatery. Dairy Lane in Kensington has the same owner and menu, but I love Blue Star's atmosphere and staff.

thanks for the tip! I'll have to check it out sometime.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

I'm disappointed that 1410 build the rooftop so small. Seats only 30, or so the hostess guessed.

Originally Posted by sidepockets

Our hostess told us today that the patio's capacity is 65 - so they set up seating for 60 (+5 staff). From our viewpoint, 60 looked like it would be a pretty tight squeeze but I didn't look to see how much space was around the NE corner, "behind" the bar.

The rooftop is small because it is the the maximum size it can be considering the size of the bar below. Most areas of the city, 17th included allow up to 300m2 of public area for a "medium" drinking establishment. So combined with the bar below, and the small patio on 17th, 1410 has just under 300m2 of public area. It wouldn't be approved otherwise.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by fusili

The rooftop is small because it is the the maximum size it can be considering the size of the bar below. Most areas of the city, 17th included allow up to 300m2 of public area for a "medium" drinking establishment. So combined with the bar below, and the small patio on 17th, 1410 has just under 300m2 of public area. It wouldn't be approved otherwise.

I know there's a reason, the patio didn't magically make itself that size, but I still am disappointed.

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

I know there's been discussions in the past about 'Calgary's dish', with talk of ginger beef and caesars... maybe flapjacks should be that dish.

Someone should start a flapjack truck

My brother in law and I have toyed with the idea of doing waffles in a food truck. Bending them in half...sort of like a taco and putting filling in them. I think they would be easy to do for a food truck.....

[Surrealplaces]

I went to Blue Vinny diner on Stephen ave (Where Avenue Diner used to be) and was very disappointed. It was horrible.

The wife and I were the only people eating there (except for staff members), at a time when all the other place on Stephen Ave were jammed packed.

Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to Avenue Diner? It seemed to be always busy.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

My brother in law and I have toyed with the idea of doing waffles in a food truck. Bending them in half...sort of like a taco and putting filling in them. I think they would be easy to do for a food truck.....

I did see the other day there is a crepe truck. It's hard to keep track of them all, although now that I realize that maybe only 1/3 are part of yycfoodtrucks.com I'm seeking out the rest via google.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Blue Vinny is owned by the same folks behind Gypsy and if you look at reviews on urbanspoon, all (or many) of the positive ones also review Gypsy positively. That's skeevy.

No idea what happened to Avenue but I didn't care for it either. But then I'm not a breakfast person.

Last weekend was the Prairie Regional Barista Championship; the top 4 (who proceed to Nationals) were from P&S/P&S and Transcend/Transcend. Transcend is in Edmonton btw and I got two 12-oz bags of a Costa Rican they were giving away as prizes, can't wait to crack one open.

I'm really hoping that Ben Put of P&S wins nationals this year (he's come in second each of the last two years) but the guy who won Westerns in Vancouver is Kyle Straw of 49th Parallel, former national champ and it would seem to be a ringer sick of a barista from Van not winning either of the last two years after Vancouver took it from 2002-2009- 2010 was from Victoria and 2011 was Josh Hockin from Transcend (he ended up placing 22nd at worlds in Vienna; that's out of 54 competitors.