Text 32542, 100 rader
Skriven 2013-01-11 11:15:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 2
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By some strange coincidence every adult in our extended family has
abandoned rye and scotch for Bourbon this past year. Both Ray and
Raine had Jack Daniel's on hand (OK, technically that's not actually
Bourbon). I picked up some Knob Creek (my first taste of that brand)
and Raymond treated us to the most excellent Eagle Rare single
barrel made by Buffalo Trace. Later on I also purchased some Maker's
Mark (my first bottle again) for my FIL Hank.

Christmas Day: Same crew. Becca handled almost everything all by
herself and everything came out great. A traditional Canadian
Christmas dinner is pretty much an American Thanksgiving menu plus
old fashioned British desserts: fruit cake, plum pudding and/or
mincemeat pies. The turkey was from a Hutterite (similar to Amish)
farm and therefore mature, quite large and very flavourful.

Among the many chains we ate at only two stood out although none of
the meals were downright horrible.

Original Joe's is a newish Alberta chain that started out a decade
ago in Calgary with 2 locations and now has close to 50 franchises.
It is quite good casual dining at very good prices. Nothing on the
menu is over $16 except the sirloin steak at $26. We went once in
Fort Mac with Raine and Lyle, liked it, so went back again with them
for New Year's Eve and then hit it a third time in Stony Plain with
Raymond's sister (Roslind is still very good friends with her
decades after the divorce) and her husband.

Over the course of the three meals I got to eat or at least sample
a taste of 26 things, all delicious...

12 Appetizers:
Nachos with spicy beef
Sweet chili lime chicken over chow mein
Chicken gyoza
Dragon boat lettuce wraps (twice)
Sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo (twice)
Queso fundido with chorizo
Poutine with chorizo
Poutine with pulled pork
Cobb salad
Nom Namaste

12 Mains:
Grilled cheese sandwich burger: made with two large slabs of French
bread, garlic butter, cheddar and Swiss, 8 oz ground Angus chuck
patty. peppered bacon, melted provolone, lettuce, tomato and fried
onions. 
Sgt. Pepper burger with black pepper, chipotle sauce and
banana peppers.
Cajun Chicken Cheddar Burger Steak Sandwich
Saigon Sub: chicken, hoisin sauce and Vietnamese veggies in a hoagy
French Dip
Carolina style pulled pork sandwich
Beer battered halibut
Sirloin steak
Steak sandwich (4 times but different sides)

Every sandwich and main course comes with a choice of two sides:
fries with gravy
small sweet potato fries
small poutine
mixed green salad
caesar salad
quinoa salad (everyone passed on that one)
deviled egg potato salad (very good with the optional jalapenos)
honey slaw
garlic mashed potatoes and gravy
pan seared broccolini
soup of the day 

All of these can be and were dressed up for a buck or so more with
bacon, shrimp skewers, mushrooms, chorizo or half a dozen other
things.

The steaks and burgers were all AAA grade, certified Angus sirloin
and chuck. And always done exactly as ordered.

Each table received a condiment kit, shaped liked a carpenter's tool
box, loaded up with numerous bottles: all the usual suspects plus
Mexican Valentina hot sauce which was actually rather mild but
very flavourful in a slightly sweet, citrusy kind of way. I used it
often.

"Nom Namaste" turned out to be naan covered with curried tomato
cream sauce, chicken, onion, goat cheese, cilantro, chilies and
spiced yogurt and was "interesting". Everything else got rated from
well constructed up to fabulously good. I had the broccolini twice
as it was most excellent.

Portions were generous and I only managed to try the desserts twice:
a quarter of their very generous serving of dirt pie and half of a
creme brulee.

YK Jim

... Kms are shorter than miles. Save gas: take your next trip in Canada.

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