Date Night: Sabri

Matt went on a pub-crawl tonight (and came home in the state you would expect after such event), so I went on a date with my friend Amanda.

Because we were pressed for time, and Charlie was with us and starving, we went to the Sabri. I love the Sabri. I think it is consistent and delicious. I like that it is family run and that I always see the same faces there. I don't mind the creepy location or the kitschy decor either. Yes, the serves aren't wonderful; but they love my adorable baby so are constantly visiting our table!

Anyway, I always eat the same things and I really am not sure what most of them are called. I eat a couple pakoras, a couple of the potato dumpling (those are my fav), butter chicken, tandori chicken, and the chick-pea curry (although that one was really spicy this time). Charlie ate the same in small portions, but mostly he just ate naan bread and then had his own rice pudding.

I took one plate of food. Amanda took 2 VERY small plates of food. Our table had 1 rice pudding.

Usually when we dine here, there are a few men in tow. Although we enjoyed ourselves, the food and the company, we came to the conclusion that without a few big eaters in our party, it probably isn't worth the almost $15 with tax (they have yet to charge for Chuck, which is a good practice as he eats so little).

Charlie had a great time, as the pictures demonstrate. He especially loved dipping naan in rice pudding and rubbing it in his hair.

Spinnakers

This weekend we had family visiting from out of town, so we ate out more than usual.

Matt's uncle, for his birthday, asked to go to a place with "atmosphere", "ambiance", and a "view". Hmmm.

Combine that with a place that would also allow Charlie (who was currently sleeping naked in the car) to dine, and we had very few ideas.

Our first thought was the Flying Otter, but they wouldn't take a reservation on a Saturday night, and there were 7 of us so we didn't want to go somewhere without.

We narrowed down our list to Canoe Club and Spinnakers, and because some Negative Nellie made a comment on all the homeless around CC, we went to Spinnakers.

We called and made a reservation for 5:00, and they were very clear with us that they already had a resevation at 7PM and would need the table back by then. Fine, no problem; well, actually, problem: the restaurant was mostly empty so it didn't seem to matter (especially to the point were they told us three times). If I were the hostess, I would have been able to gage that we were not the types to sit and eat for 2 hours, especially with a toddler who was being a BUTT.

Now, the food. In my opinion, the menu was a little limited, but everything sounded very good.

I ordered a chicken sandwich on faccacia. It was tasty, but the chicken was horribly dry and the bread crumbled all over the place.

Matt had the pulled pork sandwich with the roasted beet salad. He loved the salad, but said he wouldn't order the sandwich again.

The best meal, and value, was Charlie. He got chicken wings and fries, mainly to keep him entertained. Spinnakers has a great kids' menu, with most options at only $5. For 6 chicken wings, dip (man, does this baby love to dip!) and a full order of fries, there was lots of entertainment to be had.

Anyway, he was a filthy mess at the end and had another naked car ride home.

Dish Cookhouse

My Hams

This is our new favorite breakfast place hands down.

We were very disappointed with our trip to the Blue Fox a few weeks ago, and after all the praise that place gets, how can this place not have a line-up out the door?

Well, I guess I know why: it is out of the way in an obscure and industrial part of Sidney, but we were going out the the Shaw Ocean Centre again, so it was part of the trip. And, from now on, we will make it part of the trip.

Dish has a totally diner feel, and I love that. I hate when places try too hard to be something they are not. This place is totally clear what they are: a diner that serves home style food of a high quality.

The service is fantastic too. And they made their own hot sauces. We tried them all, and our favorite was a sweet chipotle one that replaced ketchup for Matt (who usually puts ketchup and his ketchup).

The child friendly factor was high as well. When Charlie started to crab, they brought out a basket of toys and books for him! How awesome is that?

Matt and I both ordered skillets, but there were a million other things we could have tried. Something that looked like berries on French toast came out just before our food did looked fantasticly drool worthy.

We were very happy with what we had though (and it sounded the same for all our dining companions).

I had the Turkey Sausage and Bacon skillet with sourdough toast (and house made preserves), poached eggs, and hollandaise. The meats, as far as we could tell, were all made there and freaking fabulous! My skillet also had tomatoes and green onions (and hashbrowns of course).

Matt had one of the daily specials (they had many written on boards around the room). This was a Jalapeno Sausage Skillet. It had red peppers, crispy onion, mushrooms, the sausage with sweet potato hash browns.

Oh god. Now I am hungry again (although I wasn't AT ALL for a long time after this meal).

We will be back, sooner rather than later. I quickly added this place to my "favourites".

5th Street Bar & Grill

Cost: $10 for disaster, $30 for dinner

Prep: 35 minutes + clean-up + drive+wait

We had a dinner disaster last night. Matt chopped up a tonne of veggies for a stirfry. Peppers, broccoli, onion, green onion, carrots, and more. Then, just as he was finished, a can of fruit JUMPED from the cupboard above the veggies, landed on one of the Correll plates, and shattered it. No, not shattered, sharded it.

He was frustrated, the food was all COVERED with shards of glass, the clean up took quite a while (and involved moving the stove), Charlie was pissed that he could help vacuum, and hunger was roaring.

So, we went out for dinner.

We decided to try the Fernwood Inn again, since it was about 5PM on a Monday. However, on our drive over, traffic was heavy, and it was 5:15 by the time we reached Hillside.

We decided, in a split moment, to turn right instead. We haven't been to 5th Street in a while, so we decided to pop in.

The last time we were at 5th Street was almost a year ago, and honestly, it was a bad experience. I had the $20 Prime Rib, as did 5 of the 6 adults at our table. It was terrible. So much fat, about 75% fat, and WAY too much added fake smoke flavour (WHY?). THEN, to top it off, Glee star Corey Monteith had been dining there as well, and Glee is one of our favourite shows (mine especially), and he ran into Matt, who was carrying Charlie, then 6 months, and didn't apologize! It just left a bad taste in my mouth, both food and experience wise.

But, it was not a bad enough experience to cross 5th Street off. (Charlie, Grandma Sharon, and I have been here once since.)

There are things I do and don't like about 5th Street. The first thing I don't like is the parking lot. It is way too small, but at 5:15 on a Monday, it was great. Even when we were leaving at 6:30 there were still a few spots.

The thing I like is the menu, $5/$10/$20 (plus a bit more now). BUT WAIT. Those prices and that style of menu are DONEZO! I couldn't believe it. Overall, the prices really weren't that different, but I still think it is a mistake. One bonus is the kid's menu: $5.55 for any item (and great choices for when we need a meal for Chuck).

I also, generally, like the service. It is usually fairly quick, and the waitstaff is friendly and professional. Last night we had Maia (I think that is her name) who we have had a few times, and she is accommodating even to a baby stealing her pens and devices while she is trying to take orders.

We ordered three appies and a meal to share. It was a bit much, but I think Charlie would have liked a bit more food even though his patience was stretched.

For appies, we had the oysters, fries (the dip is C's fav), and flat bread (our fav). Charlie likes to use 1 fry to eat as much dip as possible, lick that from the fry, and then dip again...and repeat. His most favorite food in the world is anything pickled, so olives, and thereby the flat bread, was also a hit.

As out shared entree, we had the burger with salad. The burger was great, huge patty and perfect for sharing.

Besides the change in menu, my only real complaint last night was the high-chair. It had no working buckle, which is a problem for parents with an acrobatic toddler and a possible liability for the restaurant. Actually, I do have another complaint, not 100% 5th's fault: there was a smoker smoking just outside the open doors, and the ENTIRE restaurant really stunk before they shut the doors/asked the person to move. THERE ARE LAWS AGAINST SMOKING THAT CLOSE TO DOORS AND WINDOWS YOU GROSS SMOKERS, just saying.

Anyway, I am not against 5th Street. We had a good experience last night and the baby genius like it.

Blue Fox

We have been wanting to try Blue Fox for a while. Many of our friends speak very highly of it. We have also been cautioned against going there and expecting a table right away.

However, it is Monday morning. We are heading out at 8AM; Matt doesn't need to be in today; I will be fine if I am in for 9. We head downtown with C to check out the hub-bub.

We get a table right away, but it is close. There are not many left even on this odd day at this early hour. The host bring us an acceptable high chair and offers crayons.

Our waitress, however, is not so baby adept. She bring water, but only 2. She does not ask if she can bring a side plate or anything for the little one; however, the host, again, checks on us later and bring said side plate. The service was also speedy, and if we were coffee drinkers, our coffees would have received many refills.

Matt orders an omelette: the Mexi-Omelette. It is HUGE. MASIVE. It looks great, and the main ingredient is pulled pork. He selects the raisin toast. This is the first time he isn't able to finish a breakfast, but the waitress packs it up for lunch. Although, generally satisfied, Matt thinks that pulled pork in an omelette is weird. The toast is the highlight, as is the tiny cup of preserve.

I order a benny: the Badger Benny. I have very little positives to share. I don't like the bagel. It is too tough and difficult to cut through. Also, Benny is heavy enough; I'm not worried about the calories (duh, butter butter butter sauce), but why add something to make you feel like you ate a brick? The sausage casing is stringy, and really should have been removed since it is dangling in the sauce like a (I edited out here what it was dangling like, as it was just too gross and expletive, but I will fill in the blank upon personal request). The tomato was over grilled and possibly over ripe, to the point of being mush. The hollandaise was good, but it was nothing to write home about, or pay $13 for for that matter. On the plus side, the eggs were perfectly done.

Anyway, the bill was $30 with no drinks. Although the food was mediocre, I will not write this place off. I wish I had had the Breakfast Salad or the Apples French Toast. If I have an opportunity to go back, that is what I will try, although I will not go out of my way to make an opportunity. I really think the draw here is portion size, and really, I would have have excellent flavour over anything else.

Red Robin

The problem with trying to go out to dinner on a Friday night is the after-work crowd. We went to go to the Fernwood Inn, and although it was early, we weren't able to get a table, especially one that can accommodate a highchair. I guess that is the menace of trying to go somewhere "hip". Don't get me wrong: we like the FI and they are family friendly, but it was a bad choice on our part to go there on a Friday night.

So, instead, we went to Red Robin. Time was moving on, we all were hungry, and one of us has a seven o'clock bedtime.

Entertaining himself: he loves to eat lemons and limes

Now that we have a real life-sized toddler, I totally understand the appeal of Red Robin. It has always been decent on our list of chain restaurants, but this experience took it up a notch.

1. It is loud, but not crazy music loud, just goings-on loud. So, when a young boy screeches because you aren't giving me a fry past enough, it is lost in the din.

"How do I fit this lemon in this hole?"

2. It is FAST. Like, really fast. We had our food probably within 10 minutes of ordering it. Now, this doesn't speak highly to the quality of the food, clearly they aren't making anything fresh, but sometimes having to entertain a little monkey is more difficult.

3. It is accommodating to requests, both with food and otherwise. I wanted to add extra extra pickles to my burger. Done. No charge. We wanted two extra orders of fries. Done. No charge. We had 3 refills on Matt's lemonade (mostly so C could eat the strawberries). Done. No charge. Extra napkins. Done. A side-plate. Done. Another straw. Done. I hate being a pain to the waitstaff, but sometimes there are things you need or want. I really like that Red Robin does it all, and acts like it is no problem.

"B, Charlie, B."

4. The kid's menu is pretty darn good. $6.29 for drink, entree, and side. Matt got Charlie a kid's meal when they went with a friend a few weeks ago, but we are still not quite there. Still, like many of the family's around us, when you have a brood, it is still reasonable to take the kids out to eat (and not that much more than McDonalds).

5. The food is tasty. It may not be the best quality, but it is consistent. People around us were ordering the calamari (same woman who ordered a Perrier) and fajitas, and I cannot speak to those entrees, but I feel like sticking with a burger, I know I will like what I get.

Whiskey River Chicken Burger

I had a Whiskey River Chicken Burger on a onion bun with pickles. I did get fries, although I usually get salad since Matt's fries are bottomless anyways. The chicken was a little puny, but, overall, it was a great burger.

Matt had some sort of Chop House Burger. It has provolone, mushrooms, and horseradish. He really liked it, but it is definitely not my thing.

Charlie had some tomato, lettuce, beef, chicken, cheese, mushrooms, lemon, lime, strawberries, and fries. (This is an off-menu item :P)

Chop House Burger

De Dutch

Coupons, coupons, coupons. I love couuons! Especially the ones that come free in the mail.

Awesome highchair

So, we received coupons for De Dutch in the mail, and decided to revisit this place we have not ate at since university. They used to have coupons in the Entertainment Guide, then those were only good at another location, then that one closed, etc, etc. We haven't been to a DD in six or so years.

They were very child friendly. GREAT highchairs. GREAT kid's menu with prices starting at $4.75--much more reasonable than other places. Charlie isn't big enough to need his own meal yet, but I will keep this in mind.

As for the regular menu, it is a bit pricey. I realize that it has been 6 years, but I do not remember it being this expensive (without the coupon our bill probably would have been $40).  A side of syrup for $4? Really? I'll pass on that.

I also find the menu very confusing. I wasn't sure exactly what I was ordering, so I ordered one that had an illustration. There was this giant section on the bottom where the pannekoken seemed very inexpensive, but I wasn't sure if you were just ordering the toppings or what. I guess I could have asked, but, meh.

Another check in the positive: it was ridiculously quick. Like, 5 minutes, no more than 10, quick. That was great. It left us very little time to repeat "Don't eat the crayons."

The food was also hot and tasty. Matt had the "Canadian" or something like that: eggs, back bacon, tomato, and maple syrup. By the time I remembered to take pictures, the toppings were all gone so I didn't bother. I, personally, don't like back bacon, and it is too difficult to chew for Charlie, but Matt likes it. I did not go in the savory directions. I ordered the "Peach Melba": whipped cream, raspberries, and peaches. I find that when anything comes with whip, it is WAY too much, and that was true here. Charlie ate a huge portion of it, so it worked out. I didn't realize there would be table syrup though. If I had, that may have swayed my choice towards a savory.

My pannekoken (sp?) was yummy. It is like a crepe. I ate most of my fruit before I took a picture though, so I must apologize.

I love breakfast. I would rather go for breakfast than any other meal of the day. I am finding it very over-priced though. For years we would get breakfast at this place called Tino's. It was 2 for 1. And I understand why: breakfast food is cheap. I'm not sure why there is such a big mark up on breakfast, but if any one knows a good place that is inexpensive (bonus if they make a great Benny), you must tell me.

I'm going to give De Dutch a tentative "I like it" on Urbanspoon. I do like the staff, atmosphere, and food, but it doesn't mean I will be back.

Brannigans

This is my second time going to Brannigans for breakfast. Both times were enjoyable.

Today, we were a difficult party to deal with: three moms, three toddlers. They had enough high chairs, more than enough actually, but if we needed any more seats, there isn't much they could have done, as we seemed to be at the biggest table, which was for six. I need to find somewhere that has long tables rather than booths for big group mom and babe outings, as moms need to be beside babes to feed them, wipe them, take the crayons out of their mouths.

Anyway, back to the food. Charlie and his buddy started with a blueberry muffin. It was decent sized, but a bit over priced at $2.99.

Mom 1 had the Blackstone Benny.

Mom 2 had sausages, eggs, toast, hashbrowns, and 1 pancake (to share with Baby 2).

I had the Crab Cakes Benny. It was amazing. The eggs were perfect. It had Bernaise rather than Hollandaise, and it was very creamy. The crab cake was surprisingly good for this type of place; I'm not sure whether they make them on site or bring them in frozen.

I really enjoyed their hasbrowns, although some people might say they are over done. I like mine quite crispie, and these were.

I really like this place for breakfast, but I wouldn't venture there for any other meal. I am not saying anything bad about this establishment or their cooking, but it really feels more like a breakfast diner than anything else.

My only real compliant: I think they are overpriced. We ordered the boys the muffin because it was the cheapest thing on the menu. Even a side of toast is $3! The kid's meals are crazy expensive: almost $7 for an egg, 2 bacon, and a pancake. Also, it seemed to come with a sundae? Who wants their kid to have that at breakfast?

The last time I was here I had the Lumberjack Skillet: hashbrowns with veggies with two poached eggs and hollandaise on top. It was great, but it was also $13.99 (my meal today was $11.79). I just don't understand the pricing. Why would the Lumberjack Skillet be a full $4.50 more than Traditional Eggs Benny? I think if they brought their prices down a dollar or two on most items, especially kid's meals, I would be more inclined to frequent here more, well, frequently.