Last Dance

Our assignment here in Ottawa is coming to a close.  In fact, when this goes live, we'll be packing the last remnants of our lives into a Penske truck and living out of a hotel.  Seems like an evil deja vu, but this is what our lives are going to be like for the next 11 years and what they have been like for the last 9.  To say I'm used to it would be a lie; to say I am overwhelmed by and never will be used to it is much more accurate.  I've eaten my way through Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto and savored most of those moments.

Before I leave an assigned area I always wonder to myself if I am going to miss anything about the place I am.  The people, the amenities of the area, etc.  It takes me SO long to trust people enough to form actual relationships that it is hard for me to feel attached to any one person or place that we've been.  I can honestly say, however, that some real changes have happened to me while I was living here.  Most of them great and only marginally to do with food.

Last night my Mister and I hired our regular sitter and for the last time in Ottawa went out for a night on the town.  I hardly ever expect much out of a dining experience anymore.  I had a friend tell me 2 years ago not to flog restaurants in the downtown core of Ottawa because they are all hype.  He told me I needed to focus on the up and coming chefs in the outlying areas and put them on the map...cause who else was going to do it?  No one.  Everyone blogs downtown.  Over the following months, I discovered he was quite right.  But, I had a place on my "to eat" list that had just been sitting there...kind of festering really.  I put in on there shortly after the Sweet Pea was born.  It was a recommendation from a friend that LOVES all foods Latin.  I read up on customer reviews, Googled the place, and actually put quite a bit more research into going than I ever bothered to do anywhere else in town.  Mostly because the customer reviews were SO diverse and passionate.  People asserting that the food sucked, people saying it USED to be fabulous but wasn't anymore...people who are so in love with the food, they eat there twice a week.  Hmmm....  Quite a bag of confusion.  Then ha!  Color me surprised when the resident chef of this place ended up on the current season of Top Chef Canada.  It was a "What the what?!" moment if ever I had one.  How could a chef with such extreme differences in review end up on a show like that?  Well....geez...  Now I HAD to eat there, right?  Of course right.

We made a reservation for 5:30 and made the mistake of getting there early.  Most of the time, when I suspect the dinner hour will be packed and I want to get photos of the inside sans tons of people...I show up at least 15 minutes before my reservation.  But, to our surprise they don't open until 5:30...and I mean...they doors are locked until 5:30.  Lucky for me, I started my 3rd trimester the same day so the tweency little Meant to Be in utero was keeping me warm.   The Mister was a different story, he kept walking across Murray street so he could stand in the sun...wuss.  I made use of my time by staring at and reading the menu descriptions over and over...and over again.  Intermittently people would come in and out of the restaurant for a cigarette or...to leave.  I kept noticing that the chef himself was in and out and in and out 3 times or so before they opened the doors.  Seemed odd to me.  I would assume he'd be preparing his staff for the dinner hour.  Guess not...

The doors finally opened and before we even began talking with our waitress over the menu I took some photos.  It was just us and one other couple with reservations at the same time.  Perfect!  Navarra isn't very large so, all my worry was for nothing.  I was able to take my shots in less than 5 minutes.  Yay for no fuss!
 

I was informed that there is usually an equal amount of seating available on the patio once May hits but that for now, it is too cold to seat people outside.  Fair enough; my Mister could attest to that fact.

We talked over the menu between the two of us and with our waitress for a bit before making any decisions.  This is a tapas menu of Latin flavors.  A number of things caught my eye initially but...reading from left to right certain items slowly got crossed off my list of interest.  I SO wanted to try the roasted leg of lamb but....20 ingredient hibiscus mole??  *sigh*  Why 20?  Holy buckets...  Most of the time in my experience with food...less is more.  That being said...a mole with only 20 ingredients is actually middle of the road on the number of things I've seen get thrown into a pot.  But, these days when I am going to spend 30 bucks on a plate of food...even in Ottawa where that is a normal price to see...I want to LOVE it and KNOW I'm going to love it.  Not just hope.  I moved on from that item and settled on the "Farm to Table Chef Feature"...then they weren't serving it that night.  Grrrrr.....  >.<    I wanted lamb...I was going to get it one way or another.  SO!  Lamb Shoulder Chilaquiles it was!  Our waitress warned us that things could get a bit on the spicy side.  I told her I enjoyed Indian Vindaloo and her response was that the heat in this dish wasn't as spicy as an Indian curry.  Okee dokee...I moved on.  We sent in an app order for Chimichuri Mushrooms, my Mister's main of Confit Pork Cheek, and we had stared at the menu long enough to know we wanted to try the Granny Smith Apple Wild Blueberry Crumble for dessert.  Seemed simple...

Before our appetizer of mushrooms came our waitress brought us some smoked seasoned almonds and some flatbread with serrano ham baked onto it.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the almonds and the bread was...well, it was just good.  It wasn't great, but I wouldn't feed it to my dog either.  The smoke with the spice combination on the almonds really took them to a place I'd never been with an almond before.  I was really diggin them.  I was happy to munch away on them while we waited for the mushrooms to make their way to the table and it only took about 5 more minutes before the mushrooms appeared.  Yay!

Chimichuri Mushrooms

We both dug in with gusto.  It LOOKED amazing...but in ONE bite my palate was OBLITERATED.  Spice, spice, and more spice.  I immediately got annoyed.  Mushrooms, potatoes, peas, onion sofrito, grana padano cheese, and nitro spicy popcorn....delicate, hearty, delicate, bold, delicate...see the problem?  Mushrooms have their own distinct flavor.  Potatoes can stand up pretty well to almost ANYthing.  Peas are fairly delicate.  Onion sofrito can be pretty bold depending on what peppers and paprika you use.  Put this all together and BAM!...I couldn't taste anything but spice.  Period.  I honestly couldn't even have told you there were potatoes in there if my Mister hadn't said "Geez, it eliminates the flavor of the potato itself altogether."  He wasn't wrong.  We were starving, so we ate it anyhow.  I LOVE jalapenos, but this dish just didn't need so much spice.  It would have been more enjoyable if I hadn't been sweating like I was sitting in a Finnish sauna by the time it was all over.  I never had SO much heat in a mushroom dish in all my life.  I think my lips stopped tingling shortly before my main entree landed in front of me.

Quebec Lamb Shoulder Chilaquiles

Funny thing about this dish is...I was WARNED.  I was told it was a "bit" on the spicy side.  So...when I dug into it expecting to be blown away (because comparatively speaking...we weren't warned about the spice level in the mushrooms and they half killed me, I could only assume that actually being given a heads up on this food...I was going to be completely killed.  I wasn't wrong...) I was surprised for about 4.5 seconds when I was chewing away happily and pausing every couple of seconds waiting to burn alive.  It didn't happen.  Not right away.  The delay was about a half of a minute.  Then I felt like I was burning alive from the tip of my tongue to the back of my throat.  *facepalm*  Holy geez!  When you're serving something like lamb...WHY?!...why kill it with such an array of spices and heat that you have to alternately sip water with your food?  The worst part is, I'm not wuss when it comes to heat.  But I stopped eating for a couple minutes to take my food notes, whilst wiping the sweat off from under my poor eyeballs.  My Mister was sharing with me.  He didn't dig in too heartily.  After he saw my reaction, he waited patiently for his pork cheek instead.  Smart move.  I wanted to love this dish, but it just wasn't happening.  Add to the assault on my taste buds that the lamb was dry....I wanted to get up and go across the street to "Bite" and get a dang burger instead.  Dammit!  I hate it when I don't like my food!

Confit Pork Cheek

My Mister's plate looked just as awesome as mine did, but after two frontal assaults on my mouth...I wasn't about to mess with trying his food quite yet.  We meant to share but I was too busy trying to put out the fire in my mouth.  About 4 minutes into eating he said it wasn't spicy at all and that once he scraped all the red sauce off it actually was a very well composed dish.  He made a bite up for me with some of the pineapple and other tidbits and forked it over.  It actually was very good.  SUCH a contrast in dishes...  My Mister always warns me not to ask for recommendations from wait staff or even the chef and tells me to order what sounds yummy.  Why don't I listen?  If I had done that...I would have ordered the Carbonara and most likely LOVED my food and had a completely different experience.  Oh well...live and learn.  He made short time of his plate compared to me.

I'm sure any wait staff or kitchen staff reading this are wondering WHY in the world I didn't send my food back or why I finished my food.  I can tell you...I was paying for it, and I was HUNGRY.  I didn't want to wait for a new plate of food to be made.  Just thought I'd toss that out there for any inquiring minds...

Next...was dessert.  My LORD was a hoping for the moon...  But, all we got was Pluto...  And we WAITED for it too.  I noticed that FEELING had returned to my mouth after about 10 minutes of being finished with my main entree.  I noticed it more than once...then realized it had been about 25 minutes since she took our dishes away from the main course.  We saw on the note on the menu for the dark chocolate coulant, asking folks to be aware that it takes about 15 minutes for it to bake.  But there was no note for the crumble...and our waitress told us she put in the order for the crumble with our app and entrees.  So waiting almost an extra half hour was pretty annoying.  I always try to look on the bright side though...  At least I was going to be able to taste my dessert...the fire in my mouth was out.

Granny Smith Apple Wild Blueberry Crumble

Looks pretty great, doesn't it?  That's exactly what I thought every single time they set a plate in front of me throughout our time here.  "Wow!  That looks SO yummy..."  But...this was the fourth time someone put a plate in front of us, so I suspected I had better hold my mental applause until I took a bite.  My Mister got to it before me.  The first words out of his mouth were "NOT worth waiting for."  Damn...  I was afraid to even take a bite.  But of course I did.  It wasn't as bad as he made out.  He just wasn't used to the way it was made.  When I make a crumble I use brown sugar instead of white, I add oats to the crumble mixture, and sometimes nuts.   This was just straight up flour, white sugar, and butter...  Nothin' wrong with that.  But, the more I dug around in that ramekin the more I wondered...where the hell are the blueberries?  It was almost like they made a sauce out of the blueberries, strained the fruit out of it, then added the apples.  What the heck?

The vanilla bean ice cream sort of saved this dessert from the brink of disaster.  Every time I took a bite with the fruit, crumble topping, ice cream, and caramel in a composed bite, the dish made sense and it was good.  But when you go to a place expecting SO much more and you hear your Mister say "We should have skipped the appetizer and entree course and went straight to dessert." you know that we can't be the only people who have said that or felt that way.

Worst part about this whole experience is I sensed some REAL skill in the kitchen with concept and plating...but somehow this food got lost in translation.  I'm not sure what is going on back there in the kitchen but...someone has lost their passion or...the chef has turned over his recipes to novices that just don't "get it".  Trust me...I spent quite a bit of time looking around at the other tables of people.  By the time we were to our main entrees, the place was PACKED.  Saturday night packed.  Not an empty seat in the house.  The only people I saw smiling and looking remotely happy were the couple next to us that was drinking more wine than they were eating food.  What a bummer.  

So far I have decided I don't like Navarra.  I want to like it, but I don't.  I feel like I ALWAYS do when I give a place a bad review...I feel like I want to go back, try something else...you know, give them a chance to redeem themselves or show me what really makes them stand out.  Unfortunately I don't have that luxury here.  We're leaving in a week and with the pregnancy, packing, and two children at home....going out again just isn't in the cards.  Oh glorious let down!  Thwarted in food at my last...  Frick...lol...  100 loonies and two fires put out later, I won't be going back to Navarra and unless you have a remarkably resilient mouth...I wouldn't recommend eating the dishes that I ordered last night.  No way Jose!  If you chance to eat there, let me know how it went for you.  I HAVE to believe that there is something worth eating there...and even going back for.  How else could Navarra have been in the "best of" in Ottawa in 2013??  Right...they couldn't.

 

My New Favorite!!

After my last disappointing experience out on the town for Indian food, I had been waiting for the opportunity to take our double date friends out to a place that *I* chose.  I got the recommendation from a friend who really knows her stuff, cooks Indian food in her own home, and...she's Indian.  I told her about my experience at Taj Indian Cuisine in October and she wasn't surprised that I was dissatisfied with my meal as a whole.  She relayed an experience she had at Taj when she was pregnant and they served her 3 day old lentils.  Blech...  She assured me that Little India Cafe had the best Indian food in town and that their technique really puts the accent on "Namaste".  I had to try them....  It just was going to take me 5 months to find the time to do it!

I heard that this place fills up quickly, no matter the night of the week.  I took the advice seriously and called ahead for a reservation.  I spoke with the manager and took the opportunity to ask permission to take photos inside.  He was very accommodating, even letting me know I could feel free to photograph HIM.  Quite the juxtaposition from how I was treated about photos at "the other place".  I told him that too, and in true humble fashion he wouldn't hear a bad word spoken about Taj because they "are like our family".  What a guy!  For a Wednesday night, the place was packed, so I just didn't want to make any customers nervous while they were eating and decided to skip photos of the inside of the restaurant and just focus on my own food. 

Our DDD partners in crime were there before we were and knew what they wanted, so that made it even quicker.  I did some foot work for myself on Little India's menu while I was on the phone with the manager.  I asked him what his best dishes were, and just like every other owner/manager, he told me they ALL were.  I chuckled a bit and he got a little more specific.  People really enjoy their Bhunas, Butter Chicken, and their Do Piazas.  I knew I couldn't handle any green pepper or red onion these days (long story) so I was going to be steering clear on the Bhuna and Do Piazas.  Butter Chicken is something I make at home regularly...I was in the mood for lamb anyhow.  Lamb is my favorite meat to enjoy with Indian flavors.  I knew as I scanned down the lamb menu and my eyes connected with the Lamb Curry that my search was over for my main entree.  I love a good veggie samosa and a loverly crisp veggie pakora...and I just can't go to an Indian restaurant without eating some fabulous naan.  So...the order went in at record speed for our whole table of four.  My Mister and I ordered Vegetable Samosa, Vegetable Pakora, Garlic Naan, Lamb Curry for my entree, and Chicken Bhuna for my Mister.

We weren't talking for very long before the pakora and the samosa hit the table.  There was ONE table open when we came in, 3 minutes after we were seated it was taken.  A full house...and our appetizers were on our table in less than 10 minutes.  I was impressed.

Vegetable Pakora

     

Vegetable Samosa

 I was famished so I dove into the food with no delicacy about it.  I grabbed a pakora and ripped it in half.  Perfectly crisp, wonderfully warm, and on first bite it had JUST the right level of spice in the batter.  I could have kissed the chef.  I offered pakora to our friends almost forcefully...I was SUPER sure they had to try some.  They loved them of course.  My Mister and I split a samosa in half and I nervously took a tiny bite...hoping to get the right level of spice in the filling.  Yes!  It was ALL there....I am not lying to you when I tell you I am never going somewhere else for Indian food as long as we are living in this city.  There is no point once you've found perfection.  No point at all.  The potatoes were cooked perfectly and the peas were still firm like I prefer them.  I wished right then and there that my stomach was all of the sudden a bottomless pit like my Mister's is.  Of course that didn't happen and I couldn't dwell on that for too long because our main entrees were on the table!  Wow!  

I should mention...our water glasses were never empty for long, our food came quickly, and the quality of the food was top notch.  I'd read complaints of their service (but never the food!) but, I am guessing they took it as constructive criticism and improved themselves because there were NO gaps in service at our table and our waitress had NO idea I was a food blogger.  I didn't tell her, I just left my card on the bill plate before I walked out the door.  

I want to inject another "aside" into the convo about Little India...when directly compared to other Indian places we've eaten in town their lighting was MUCH better.  As you can probably tell in the pictures.  Better than Host India and better than Taj Indian Cuisine, hands down.  I could see my food, I could see our friends, and I could see across the room without straining my eyes.

 Back to the food...  

Lamb Curry

  

Garlic Naan

The lamb in my curry was SO succulent, it fell apart in my mouth.  The curry was spiced just right at medium heat and it was just the right thickness for making a spoon out of my naan!  I ate the WHOLE bowl of lamb curry and most of the garlic naan all on my own.  

We left filled, satisfied, and impressed with our experience.  We of course will be back to Little India as often as I can manage to get there while we are in the middle of packing up our house and I am taking care of two children all day.  I think between now and the end of April I can manage it at least 3 more times.  I'm going to try!!

If you want fabulous Indian food without risking disappointment, head to Little India Cafe and order yourself up a feast.  Tell them I sent you!  Heck...I may join you!  Any reason to eat here again is a good one for me.

 

Worth the Drive

I get tips from friends every once in a while (not NEARLY often enough in my opinion!) of great establishments I simply must try.  I have the most fun with desserts, so when someone mentions a bakery...HELLOOOOO!  I'm going.  Way back in December a friend clued me into a fabulous hidden gem called Slater's Baking.

Now located in Arnprior in the Kenwood Centre, Slater's Baking has actually been an Ottawa area treat for nearly 100 years.  Their selection of goodies isn't too large, but you don't need to be when you've mastered what you do offer.

I was pretty sure I was going to get some of every variety of yumminess but I had to take it all in and think.  I was hip deep in the middle of Christmas baking and my house was already wall to wall junk food.  So, I got realistic real quick.  Which was hard to do because the prices were SO fabulous!

  
Seriously...after seeing the prices I was having a hard time resisting buying one of everything.  I knew I wanted a caramel pecan bar for sure and a package of the first thing I smelled when I walked in...the sticky buns.  She had a plate of several bars out for people to try...so you know I ended up leaving with all of the things I tried.  Well, I did.  I took my haul home...

Somewhere on my counter was a HUGE bag of dried bread crumbs as well.  I'm not sure how they didn't make it into the photo, but Christmas was coming and that means stuffing/dressing in our house.  It is the one thing I can count on the four year old eating for sure if it lands on his plate.  But, from the top of the photo and clockwise around the plate you have a package of sticky buns, two peanut butter cookies, a hint of orange brownie, a meat tourtiere, a lemon bar, and a caramel pecan bar.  I ate that whole caramel pecan bar and didn't share a single bite with the Mister.  Everything else I took pity on him with and gave him a bite or two.  Yes, I was feeling generous that Saturday.

I took a slab of the sticky buns and set it in my oven for a couple minutes to make it soft and ooey gooey again.  Fabulous!  You don't have to do that, but I did.  I love a straight out of the oven, warmed through sticky bun.

After 88 years of baking, I can tell you it is safe to say Slater's knows what they are doing, they do it very well, and they have a very faithful customer base.  While I stood inside talking with the owner's wife, people were constantly coming in and out mostly to pick up their order of a loaf or two of bread.  Before they left, they made sure to put in an order for another loaf for the following week.  Loyalty like that doesn't just come out of thin air.  If you believe in driving for a cause, head out to Slater's and give their fare a try.  I would personally recommend you not go on an empty stomach, you may end up regretting that.  I showed an amazing amount of restraint keeping my mitts off of the goodies until I could get home to take a proper photo of the desserts.  I barely made it.  Give yourself a treat and try out Slater's.  I promise there is something there that you will fall in love with.
 

Our 1st Triple D....

If I told you that my Mister and I have NEVER been out with another couple on a double date here in Ottawa, would you believe me?  I bet you wouldn't.  But it is the God's honest truth.  I was beginning to think the practice might have died out.  Boy!...am I glad to find out it hasn't.  A few of months back a couple from church asked us to join them some night at a little Indian place in the Bayshore area.  But between having a newborn, a road trip home to Minnesota, and our recent anniversary tryst "around the lake"....we haven't really been about in the area to do anything with anyone, or if we were here we just weren't able to get away.  A situation I was determined to remedy!!

We finally made plans for a Friday evening.  Our parents (the Mister's) were in town to visit...another first!  We had someone to stay with the children, a plan, and most importantly....an awesome couple to nosh with!  With all the bases covered the Mister and I struck out for our night on the town; our destination, Taj Indian Cuisine.

We arrived shortly before the other couple so I would be able to get the photos of the inside without holding up our ordering and eating flow.  Unfortunately, the manager on staff that night wouldn't allow shots of the inside.  It wasn't too busy, so that wasn't the reason.  I still can't figure out why she was nervous or resistant to it, but it makes ME nervous to eat somewhere when people don't want their business to have exposure.  I've only been to ONE place in town that flat out refused photos inside...  But, make that two.

The best way I can describe the inside to you is that there are about 12 tables, varying in size from tables for 2 to tables for 4.  There were benches along each of the side walls of the main dining area and most of the seating could easily be maneuvered to seat larger groups than 4.  There was intricate woodworking detail on the walls and typical Indian mural art paintings on the wall.  I know for sure, at least one of the paintings I saw was identical to one I saw in an Indian place in Oklahoma City we used to dine in regularly and also in an Indian place in Montgomery, Alabama that we dined in once.  There was catchy music playing at just the right volume; you could hear it but still hold a conversation over it comfortably.  Even though I knew we were near to where the kitchen was, there was very little noise coming from there for most of our evening.  It is a nice, quaint little place to eat; more intimate than your average place.  Just be prepared for the low lighting.  I wasn't.  My eyes adjusted of course but it took quite a while.  In fact...my camera (even though it is a Canon) had quite a job shooting in such low light.  

Immediately upon being seated our waitress brought us a basket of papadum and a bowl of chutney, which is typical and the norm of every Indian place I have ever been to.  The chutneys have always been different from place to place that come in the beginning...but I have no complaints about that.

Papadum & Chutney

  
We spent quite a lot of time looking at their menu, it was quite large.  I knew I would order lamb and I could almost predict my Mister was going to go for chicken.  I was quite impressed with the array of dishes.  Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free...  They are all set to feed ANY sort of food allergy or specialty diet from the looks of their menu.  But I still canNOT get over seeing beef on Indian menus.  I'm not sure if it is the "forbidden fruit" aspect of the meat but...it never fails, every place we go for Indian, beef is a choice on the menu and I refuse to order it out of respect of the Indian culture.  There is only ONE state in India that allows beef to be slaughtered and they are still trying to stop it from happening there.  Most of the country eats vegetarian and those that don't eat primarily fish, chicken, or lamb.  I have heard of whole goats being at special events like weddings and so forth.  But, never...EVER beef.  *shrug*  Oh well...no one seems to care about that subject quite as much as I do.  So, we'll move it along...

I was having a rough time choosing between Rogan Josh and Lamb Korma.  Being that I make them BOTH at home it worries me sometimes that it has forever ruined take out of either one of them for me.  I knew I was making Butter Chicken for the in-laws the next day as well.  Decisions, decisions....  I finally went with Rogan Josh (medium heat) with vegetable pakora, vegetable samosa, garlic naan, and an order of basmati rice.  The Mister did in fact go with Chicken Tikka Masala.  No surprises there.  He also requested medium heat.  It is loverly that you can do that and they ASK you so you don't forget and end up with a spice level that just knocks your boots off.  Our double date couple put in their order and we got to chatting.  I had almost forgotten what it was like to talk in sentences that were more than 4 words long and talking without being interrupted every other word by a 3.5 year old.  Heaven I tell you!

Shortly after our friends got their food, our appetizers came to the table.

 Vegetable Samosa & Vegetable Pakora

Mint Chutney & Tamarind Sauce

My Mister and I cut a samosa in half and shared it.  We offered pakoras to our friends and they seemed to enjoy them.  The pakora was passable, but I was surprised at how mild the seasoning in the samosa was.  Which is to say, I couldn't detect any heat or seasoning of any kind.  Typically when I eat samosa by the time I swallow there is a familiar heat that comes on me, right at the back of my throat.  That didn't happen this time.  It didn't ruin the experience or anything, but it was noticeable.  It is something that I always ready myself for just in case some place's idea of "mild" half kills me.  Everything was crispy and warm; the mint chutney and tamarind sauce complimented the gems nicely.  We hadn't had our appetizers on the table for very long before our main courses and garlic naan showed up.

Rogan Josh

Basmati Rice

 

Garlic Naan

 

Chicken Tikka Masala

My Mister and I ate family style, sharing what we ordered with each other...so you're going to hear about the whole shebang!  I'll start off with my Rogan Josh.  The heat was what I asked for, it was definitely a notch above mild but didn't kill me.  The lamb...  *drool*  ...just thinking about how tender it was makes me want it again.  But that is where the love story ends for me with this dish.  Rogan Josh is a Kashmiri dish.  Truly authentic Rogan Josh doesn't have tomato in it.  The color is achieved with Kashmiri mirch and...sometimes ratanjot depending on who is making it.  My Rogan Josh was definitely made with tomato which is more of the British way of making the dish.  Technically there is nothing wrong with that, but is DOES change the flavor quite a bit.  When you have tomato in the sauce it adds a sweet that wasn't meant to be there.  There was a good cover of oil on the top as there should have been but, I can tell you that it was NOT mustard oil in this dish.  I will say simply that it tasted "okay".  But it wasn't what I have come to expect for Rogan Josh.

Our rice was pleasant and had a proper nutty note to it.  Rice is rice...  There isn't much to say about it.  It wasn't dry.  I just still have a hard time with the concept of paying for something that *should* come with the dish to begin with.

The garlic naan was actually fabulous.  Naan is usually my favorite part of the evening, but I think it is because it gives me the opportunity to eat with my hands shamelessly.  I dipped it into my husband's masala and scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow.  It was light and flavorful, everything naan should be.

My Mister's Masala sauce was proper...I couldn't complain about the flavor at all.  Perfect in every way!  The chicken wasn't as moist and tender as the lamb was for me.  In fact, I found to it to be quite tough.  Lucky for me, I didn't have to finish it, my Mister did.

I was too busy enjoying our conversation with our friends to be disenchanted by the food just then.  After we both seemed to have our fill of the food we chatted for what must have been almost another hour.  Ask me if I noticed the time...  Not a chance!  I didn't want the evening to end but...everyone at the table had children to get home to.  When the bill came to the table I was surprised that our food came to over 60 loonies before tip.  Wowza!  Not that I am opposed to spending money on food...I just had never spent that much on Indian food.  Nearly 20 loonies for a medium sized bowl of food??  Even if it was because mine was lamb...there was only 1 loonie difference between the price of my lamb and the price of my Mister's chicken.

Would we go back to Taj?  Never.  Taj certainly had prompt service and the atmosphere was relaxing...but that is where the enjoyment ended for me.  The food needs work and I am quite surprised they have been in business SO long.  I am quite aware that from region to region...even just a few miles down a road the same dish will be made differently than it is in a neighboring town.  But, there are some standard dishes that are not open to interpretation.  Rogan Josh is one of them.    Kashmiri mirch is the backbone of the dish and tomato in it..canned tomato in Rogan Josh is sacrilege in India.  Usually I leave the door open to the possibility that the chef was having an off day, but when you factor in the decades that this place has been open and you take a look around at the clientele it was quite easy to notice that evening there wasn't a single native Indian in there eating dinner.  That is a sure sign that you are unfortunately in the wrong place for Indian food my friend.  If you are given the choice between Taj and somewhere else, try the other place.  For the cost and the product you'll most likely be more satisfied elsewhere.

Hit!...And A Miss...

If I had a loonie for every time I heard the word "soul" in reference to food in this town, I'd be a rich woman.  On this occasion though, it wasn't in reference to the style of the food I was eating, it was more about the concept.  Good, unprocessed, in-house made food...now that is food that TRULY feeds the soul without robbing your body of anything in the process.  That's a lunch for me!  Great thing I stumbled across AlphaSoul Cafe and added it to my "to eat" list last year...

The weather is changing here in Ottawa...when the air becomes chill and the wind starts to snap, I am always on the lookout for comfort food.  TO me this is warms soups, hearty sandwiches, and pretty much everything my Momma might have on the table between September and March.  Lucky for my Mister and me, AlphaSoul Cafe has plenty warm soups, hearty sandwiches, and MORE on their menu for us to choose from.

When you walk in Alpha's vibe is in the air.  You can smell the food being made in the back, breathe in the flower pots wafting into the front door, and the mellow yellow walls inside inviting you to grab a chair and stay a while.

 

I loved everything about this place.  Even the menus...the above photo with the stack of books, yeah...THOSE are their menus!

Love it!

I love the wall art in this place as well.  It is hard to imagine that anything could make it MORE fun to eat here, but then you find out they have live Jazz music every Friday night, Psychic night the first 3 Thursdays, Joshua Earth Band the last Saturday of every month, and Indie Night every third Saturday of the month...  What a line up!

I didn't waste any time I knew I wanted a lot of food and I knew I wanted it to pack a punch in every bite.  I was leaning towards the very thing our server recommended....Spicy Ham & Gouda.  We were both pretty famished so the Mister ordered a nice appetizer off of their summer seasonal menu; Artichoke Dip.  The Mister ordered a nice crock of French Onion Soup for his main, and just to bring it all together we asked for a ordered a Caramel Pecan Brownie for dessert to share.  Shortly after we had a prayer for our food the appetizer made its way to the table.

Artichoke Dip w/ Fresh Pita Chips

   
I watched my Mister's face when he took his initial bite...  It worried me.  I asked him what was wrong as I was grabbing a pita chip and dipping it in myself...  He said, "It's cold...", and contorted his face a bit.  By this time I was shoving my chip into my mouth and sure enough...it was cold.  So cold that you know, this is how it was mean to be.  It wasn't like they made it and let it sit so long it GOT cold, it started OUT that way.  I've never had that before.  I have also never had a straight up,unadulterated artichoke dip that didn't have something else in it; spinach, cheese, red pepper....somethin', just something else to help the artichoke out.  I won't say I hated this dip, but I wouldn't order it again.  It just isn't my bag.  But...for a seasonal summer menu item it makes total sense.  Fresh artichokes in a nice, cool dip on a warm day...if you are in love with artichokes, this would be the way to go.  When we ran out of chips our server asked us if we wanted more chips to finish the dip, but we declined.  But, I think it is a testament to the abundance they offer there.  Run out of chips...we'll give you more for free.  Who wouldn't love that?  So, even though I personally wouldn't order this again, it doesn't have anything to do with food quality, it was just the vision.  But, I didn't have too much time to dwell on it...my sandwich and his soup were ready.

Spicy Ham & Gouda

I should tell you straight off...their ham is made in-house, their bread is made in-house, and it really shows off some great skill.  But, that is what confused me about the culmination of the sandwich itself.  It is the in-house made bread, in-house ham, smoked gouda, tomato, hot banana peppers, horseradish, honey mustard, and arugula.  Anyone notice anything about that sentence...?  Bread, ham, cheese, wet, wet, wet, wet...arugula.  Right.  As you can imagine, this sandwich was quite the drippy mess to eat.  I let my server know, and she apologized but...I don't understand how someone who could dream that perfect combo up couldn't look ahead to the plate and see how it would make the sandwich quite the mess to tackle.  I get super annoyed when my plate wears more flavor than the food does...  Had I been in the kitchen dreaming up this combo I would have pulverized the hot banana peppers and allowed them to drain off the excess juice a bit, then add those peppers and the horseradish to the honey mustard (I would have made sure my honey mustard was grain mustard as well...), making one sauce out of all of it.  It would have accomplished the same flavor profile and it would have saved the beautiful bread that they went to the trouble to make.  The sandwich flavor was absolute dynamite!  I LOVE spice and heat in my food and this sandwich hit every note...sweet, sour, heat, and salt.  I just wish my bread hadn't turned into a puddle.  I let my Mister finish the sandwich while I went after his soup for a while.

Four Cheese French Onion Soup

This was a pretty awesome crock of soup.  I didn't get any of the bread or any of the cheese by the time I got to try his soup.  I typically don't comment on food that I didn't order for myself but this soup deserves to have its praises sung.  All of the cheeses gave distinct salt and creaminess to the soup and paired against the chardonnay and fresh herbs...I was really wishing I had ordered this myself.  Live and learn...live and learn...  I knew there was dessert coming so I yielded the spoon back to my man and let the anticipation well up for the next course.

Caramel Pecan Brownie

I wish that I could tell you that I loved this brownie, but I didn't.  It wasn't really a "brownie".  It was halfway there though...  The texture was half way between a cake and a brownie, and there is no other way to explain it.  It wasn't fudgy and the "brownie" to nut ratio was crazy...  There were WAY too many pecans goin' on in this sucker.  If you know me....you'll be surprised to hear me say that.  I ALWAYS add nuts to things and usually, pecans.  Pecans are my favorite nut.  But I honestly couldn't handle it and I let the Mister finish it.  The caramel was house made and the only thing on this plate that I ate with any sort of zeal.  There wasn't much of the sauce in comparison to the brownie...and the level of chocolate richness just wasn't there with what I am used to.  This dessert fell flat for me and ALMOST made me wish I had ordered a cookie instead, and cookies are my least favorite dessert on the planet.  Ouchies Alpha...you cut me to the quick.  

Would I eat here again?  Absolutely!  I know I don't hit a home run with EVERY single thing I whip up in my kitchen.  Their concept of fresh and in-house made is something I believe is vital to a good business model in restaurant cooking.  I just wished their execution of these ideas had turned out better.  I know I have a brownie recipe they could borrow if they want to take their desserts up a notch but...the soup was perfect and the concept of the spicy ham & gouda was very intelligent.  Price points on the soup and sandwich were perfect but, 5 loonies for a "brownie" that just didn't quite make it to "brownie" texture was a big stretch for me.  Even with my all organic ingredients (Wholesome Sweeteners sugars, Green & Black's chocolate, Neilsson Massey extracts, King Arthur Flours, organic free range brown eggs, etc.), 5 loonies would be a stretch.  That would have to be a damn good brownie.  Alpha's wasn't.

While we were sitting there initially we saw quite a few folks come in and leave with little brown bags.  AlphaSoul has a great, faithful customer base that can't be denied.  They know what they are doing when it comes to sandwiches and soups, so give them a whirl the next time you are down in Wellington West for lunch.  Or better yet...hit them up on a Friday night and chill to some Jazz while you nosh on your sandwich!  Either way, you'll have a lovely, relaxing experience.  The Sweet Pea even had a good time!

 

Home Cookin' Away From Home

While we were in Palmyra, NY we were quite limited to food options outside of hotel breakfast being that I don't eat at chain restaurants.  Not that there were any of those in town either...

One good friend who has been to Palmyra a number of times clued me in to this little place down the road from the "main drag" of 21 called Yellow Mills Diner.

By the time we darkened the door step of this diner, it was about 8pm.  We still haven't mastered the fine art of "time management" when we travel with newborns.  We end up stopping for at least a half hour every time we stop to feed, change, and play with them.  The half hour more often than not turns into an hour...  This diner closes at 9pm so we didn't have much time to figure out what we wanted, order it, and get it into our tummies.  GO!  Right lol...

I went through their menu about 5 times front to back and always came back to the same thing.  Prime Rib.  I am a meat and potatoes gal from WAY back and I like my meat rare.  There is nothin' better than prime rib rare.  No, there isn't.  No.  You're wrong.  There isn't.

The meal came with dinner rolls, real mashed potatoes, real gravy, a side salad, and a cup of rib au jus.  I knew before I saw any of it that I wasn't going to be able to finish it, but I also knew I was going to try anyhow.  The order went in and in a flash...there were some lovely dinner rolls on the table with real butter.  Yay....I am not a fan of margarine.  In fact, if that's my only choice I eat whatever my food was dry...no spread whatsoever.  Margarine = plastic in my mind.  Yay for real butter!....moving on.

Dinner Rolls with Real Butter

I couldn't tell if these were homemade or store bought, and I didn't care.  They were soft, fresh, and just the right size.  What can I say??...they tasted like a good dinner roll and butter.  I think I ate two of them....one more than I honestly had room for.

In the latter end of roll #1 my side salad showed up to the table.

Side Salad with Caesar Dressing

This side salad looked pretty standard for what you get in any diner, but when you've been on the road all day and you're reduced to purse goodies (organic granola bars, organic fruit bars, or some other such equally preserved, not fresh something...) or gas station food (I'd rather starve...).  Not your finest fare...  I tore into this salad like it was my last meal.  Everything was fresh and crisp, sure...this wasn't the prettiest salad in the world but who cares?  It was all going to the same place.

I eventually pushed my salad off to the side when my main entree came to the table in all of its glory...

Prime Rib

The first thing that I tried was the mashed potatoes, I was hoping they were real mashed potatoes, and they were.  The gravy was somethin else!  It was so rich and had a great depth of flavor, I kind of wanted to ask if the sold it in jars...I'd have bought a vat of it to hoard in my basement for special occasions like...Wednesday or thunderstorms.  The prime rib was cooked just how I ordered, perfectly rare.  The au jus with this was just the icing on the cake.  I ate until I felt like I was going to explode...then I took a couple more bites.  It was about 5 minutes to nine...  It was time to pay our bill and press on to the hotel for the night.

I was glad I listened to my friend when she recommended this place.  I also wish that it hadn't been a Sunday morning the next day...we don't shop or eat out on Sundays.  If it had been any other morning I would have brought myself RIGHT back to the Yellow Mills Diner for breakfast.  The service was wonderful and weren't shy about having polite conversation.  I was glad to give them my business and I believe that you will be as well.  If you're ever in Palmyra, NY and lookin' for some great food at a fabulous price, stop in at the Yellow Mills Diner and have a plate of home away from home.