Food YEG

I am not a foodie, I just like to go out a lot. There is not a lot I won't try. I realized that from my yelp (Tavis P. St Albert), which you can follow me on for way more detailed look at places to eat. I figured it might not be "pop culture" in the most accurate way BUT it is something to blog about that doesn't need to be negative. In fact I wouldn't be crapping on any place. Not saying I love every place but just leaving the negative out. So below are my most positive places to eat review!

A Covid note.... I get cooks wearing face masks. The fact is as a cook for many, many years maybe they should have been doing that for years before this. I would not have wanted to BUT it might not be a bad idea. HOWEVER I think having the waitresses wear them is stupid. A percentage of their income is based on their personality. If they are happy, joking, smiling they are getting a better tip than scowling. Your covering the face, which tells a lot about the server and if they are coming off as negative well the tip is going down. Also spacing tables, dumb. First off it is another thing hurting the economy, having places run at half capacity. IF you are that scared still DON'T GO OUT! Also if your sick, don't go out! 

The Usual Haunts

In my mind the best happy hour around is Earls. First the wine gets a good discount. Second the good stuff on the menu goes down. It isn't like some happy hours where it is only appies or the slow moving items. It is the good shit! I love the salmon, just an FYI might be the best thing on the menu. But beside happy hour the overall menu is good. There isn't anything I wouldn't try. Plus the drink menu is a decent size. The service at any one I have ever gone to is great and they all have a young, hip ambience. If you can sit on a patio all the better. I love to do that here in St Albert. Covid really fucked that up this summer. Overall not the cheapest place but far from super expensive and like I said hit the happy hours and it is very decently priced.

I miss mushroom, steak, mushroom. Did you ever have it?? Bring it back! Of course that would be Moxies. Over the years Moxies has come and gone on my fav list. YEARS like years ago it was my fav place to eat. Way back when GP first got one. Then I quit going. Don't even know why. Slowly it crept back into my fav and hit it up often, when I moved to Edmonton. Then again I quit going..... When I started dating my wife we started going again. I think it comes and goes because they keep taking away the best things. Med bread most recently. I swear every time we went we started with that and looking around everyone else did as well. So why did it go away? Over the years I have seen this change grow and change. Get "hipper". It is a great place to go for a bite, it is less expensive than Earls but the same sort of feel BUT for some reason they keep losing the classics. If you have a winning combo, keep it!!  I don't have a ton to say but it is a decent place to stop. Love the WEM and St Albert trail locations. House wine is great and I haven't usually had a problem with the service. 

I would have to say my fav "new" place is Browns. There is a slew of them, new places I mean. Cactus Club, Joeys, Browns, Canadian Brewhouse. Browns I think is my fav. I again like the happy hour, almost as much as Earls. While they are all the same Joeys is a few $$$ more and Cactus doesn't have a location close to me. CBH is cool but more a bar in my mind. So Browns is my fav new place. The menu is good, with a few different types of food to try. Even the brunch is great. The Oreo cheesecake dessert is to die for. Literally it is that good. I have slowly tried to try everything from fish, to burgers to bowls and never been let down. I honestly think it was places like this that made Moxies and Earls modernize. The places like Tony Romas that didn't follow suit seem to be folding. I will however say that CBH Ellereslie I owe a big thank you to. They had our stag and doe party and it was great. The service, the food, everything.

I guess if I am doing a thing on food, should add my fav pizza place for delivery. Pizza 73 wins, simply based on their deals. Sure BPs has better pizza but way more $$$. The others like Dominos, panago, lil ceasers just are the same quality. At least in my mind. Plus you put in free wins and BOOM you got me. I love wings. I have always been impressed by delivery time, even when they say an hour usually better than that. All in all I don't have a ton to say pizza is pizza but after a long day it is nice to have the ability to call some hot and fresh food in.....

Do you like soup? Are you hip? Bet you have had and maybe like Pho then! True story I had my first experience with it about 15 years ago. We helped a girl move and she took us all out for Pho. Down at Phobulous on Whyte. It was delicious and became our good to. Maybe they were already there BUT I started to notice way more and we started to go to Pho Hoan Pasteur. The Kingsway location was where we went. My one friend has tried lots of things on the menu and liked it all but I have always stuck to one formula. #1 steak Pho, a green onion cake and salad rolls. It is always fast and friendly, though mostly we have gotten take out for the past few years. They opened 2 more location, one out in Namao town centre and one on the west end. I would give them a shot if you like Pho.

I was happy to see the rise of the Canadian Brew House. The concept was well thought out. We had no Canada rah rah! places to go. This place took such an easy concept and made it great. It is pub and that's cool. The food is decent but keep in mind it is pub fare. Your not going to have some high class shit here. I ordered a tuna poke once and regretted it, but that's the only thing I didn't like ever. We had part of our stag and doe at one and it was really good. The service was great, as was the food, great and the price was right. They saved us the upstairs for free, long as we could fill it. I really like this chain and I think it is a great place, with a great concept for people who want a decent place to hang out! Also they do skip and that is great hangover grease....

The favs....

I am going to try and put places that maybe aren't the most known on here. That is what the old haunts are

Seafood is my jam. The black pearl is great! I do have an issue, sorry. We went there Valentines days. The meal was amazing! I would go back in a heart beat. Had pasta and oyster appies. Both were amazing, tons of seafood in the pasta and the oysters were amazing. Maybe the best I have ever had. Great wine, great atmosphere but rushed out. I get there is reservations BUT maybe don't make them so close. I would totally tell people to go here for seafood but I will admit even 2 years later I am still a bit annoyed by this. But the fact is it is fresh and delicious. TOTALLY try it out! Bring cash though, it ain't cheat but it is worth it!

Do you like Cajun? I like Cajun. I will say Ralph Brennans Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney is easily the best BUT I do love me some Louisiana Purchase. Both locations are good. I mean the downtown seems more "authentic" and the Trail one more "hip" but they are both good. I start with a swamp stick each time. But I know both the mussels and the beer battered shrimp are great! I have had the mac and cheese. The jambalayas, the gumbos, the hot chicken sandwich. EVERYONE one of them is good! I like the wine BUT it does give me almost instant heartburn. It isn't as fancy as I thought, years ago I figured you had to get dressed up. Just throw on something nice, don't go insane. If you want Cajun though this is the place.

One of the funniest lines in Captain America comes from fondue. I had never actually tried fondue until we went to the Melting Pot. I now know why people would "fondue" this stuff is great. I am in St Albert so its a bit of a drive but it is well worth it! While the meat is more, I would say get some. In fact I guess go big or go home get one of the big night out meals. The opening round they give you of breads and cheese also very tasty. We went with the spicier mojo sauce I believe and the dessert was actually custom. The waitress simply said mix this and that, I honestly don't remember what it was but it wasn't on the menu but it was amazing. The only thing to keep in mind is if you really want a good night bring a lot of cash...... Oh and time, bring time and maybe friends this is a great place to sit and visit as overall the experience takes time.

Do you want a real "night out"? Head to the Starlight Casino, wait hear me out on this. Again this was an experiment, my wife booked it for another birthday of mine and it was great! Try Halleys Club. You start off dinner time with a laid back speak easy feel. We had a large table but it is laid back enough you can get up and move around to visit and the food is great. We had appies, mains and dessert. There was quite a few people and everyone liked the food. Well they did miss one guy BUT when he did get his food it was good. (Well you could when more than 6 people were allowed to visit) The real fun is after though. If your smart you book a couch and head down to party. These fill fast so reserving one is the way to go. Live music and drinks is a good time. Then DJ and dancing. If you want a night out with friends that maybe isn't family friendly, this is it. You want to make it extra fun put a theme to it. It is supposed to be a speak easy so throw on some 30s clothes and enjoy! Of course you can head over to casino and try your luck as well.

Koutouki was my first real Greek and it will always have a special place in my heart. I have tried the others through out Edmonton and they are all good but this is my place. The experience is great. The service has always been fast and friendly and the food has always been great. Bring cash and get Meze. Its honestly the best way to do it, you get to try some of all the good stuff! I am going to say something random but it is a winter time place. Something about walking in from a cold dark night seems fitting. Just a warm atmosphere and the food is like comfort food, so it is great in the winter. I honestly just ate and am making myself hungry again thinking about this place....

So we have seen the rise of "public houses" all over. Look from Browns to Brewhouse to OJ's. They are all good but kinda remind me of the new BP's, Moxies and Earls of the 90s and 2000s. Ampersand 27 ups the game. They are along the same idea but seem, fancier or something I don't know. Like how growing up we had BP but when we got to come to Edmonton Olive Garden seemed fancy. I am rambling but what I am saying is while this strikes me as another public house it is a nicer one! Anyways the whole lay out and design is cool. Very hip and I am not saying that in a bad way. It makes me think of what I would like my dining room to look like if I was mega rich. The food (Though we only been there twice?) has been really good each time and the service was great. Few notes, like anywhere on Whyte parking is a bitch. The drink menu is good and very large, hell maybe cab it! Bring $$$$ like lots of $. Or if you wanna make it a date night, stay at the Varscona. Have dinner here and hit O'Byrnes also in the hotel after!

A nice family night out would have to be Jubilations dinner theatre. We have hit it as a couple and with wife's little cousin. First off it is family friendly which is cool and interacting with the cast is cool as they are doing the serving. The food is actually always been really good as well. I had fear that it wouldn't be but it always has been. Of course you need to go for a show your going to like. Friends and Sherlock Holmes were both entertaining for us. They space the meal courses well between acts. The prices aren't even that bad BUT the spacing is terrible. My only complaint with this place is sitting right beside strangers. I mean Covid might have changed this but it always annoyed me pretty much sitting on a strangers lap. So if you are going TRY and go with either 6 so you fill up the whole table table or accept you might be crowded.

Another of what I would call these nicer "public houses" is the Rocky Mountain Ice house on Jasper. We had seen it driving by a few times last summer B.C. (Before Corona) and eventually caved and stopped in. First time was just on the patio for drinks and appies and that was pretty sweet on a nice afternoon. Comfy patio, warm sun, good food. As a tip wine, specially red wine isn't a warm summer day drink and for some reason I always forget that on patios. Of course it is like anywhere on Jasper and parking is a shit show. Also bring lots of cash cause it ain't cheap. Have the seafood dip! Just do it, it is so good. We also came at night later on in the year. The supper was very good, we had a group for my wife's birthday. Service was excellent. HOWEVER the calm night out ends there. It turns into a loud dance party, which I mean isn't bad at all if that's what your going for. I am simply talking about the calm part though. It is a great little place for a nice meal or to chill with friends downtown and I will leave it at that!

Years ago I told my then fiancé she wasn't daring enough to try any place new. So for a birthday she took me to Violino Ristorante. It is classy, put on some nice clothes and bring some $$$. It is in a reno'd old mansion, which is rather neat and if it is summer and you can get the patio do that! Seems like I patios... We had wood fired pizza, which you can actually see being done. Which is also rather cool. And a very good pasta dish. Cause it was a birthday we had wine in one of those fancy ice thingys on the table. Reading that I know I am coming off as a total twit but it was really classy, so like I said wear something nice and bring cash! The service was good, as far as I remember...... If it is super hot like say above 25 maybe don't sit on the patio in the afternoon / evening sun because it gets crazy hot! Honestly I will leave it with this is one of the classier places I have been. Do like birthdays, anniversaries and grads here at least IMO.

Anyways I could go on this topic for hours. But these were a few stand outs in my head. There are tons of places to try in Edmonton. I haven't even scratched the surface. As I said follow me on Yelp for a lot more OR if you have read this and think hey he should try.... Let me know!