#FoodPornFriday - Just what is Windsor Style Pizza?

A Large Meatlovers from Capri Pizza

Today I have a practical #FoodPornFriday post all about Windsor Style Pizza.

A Queen take out Pizza
from Windsor Pizza

Nine times out of ten when I post a picture of Windsor Style Pizza and mention that I'm having/enjoying Windsor Style Pizza I will get at least one comment asking what exactly Windsor Style Pizza means. I've answered that question now at least 20 times, maybe as many as 50 times. It doesn't matter how often I answer it, I'm certain that the next time I post a picture of Windsor Pizza on some social media site someone is going to ask me: What's Windsor Style Pizza.

So that's why today's #FoodPornFriday post exists. So that the next time someone asks me this question I can just provide them with a link to this blog post. Instead of typing out the same answer over and over I will just have to share this link. So let's get to it:

What is Windsor Style Pizza?

Small 2x Cheese Peperoni Sausage
from Armando's

Though it seems many people don't believe it, Pizza in Windsor Ontario is unique. Most people have heard of Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza or New York style pizza. Some people have even heard of Detroit Style Pizza (it's square). But it seems that Windsor Style pizza is something only people from Windsor or people who have been to Windsor know about. 

Now that's starting to change. If you Google Windsor Style pizza you will find quite a few articles. There's a great one titled How Did Pizza Become One of Windsor, Ontario's Hottest Exports? and another great one about Volcano Pizza titled: Volcano Pizzeria: A look into one of Windsor's most famous pizza palaces. Check them out if you have time. 

Volcano is where the whole thing started. It was the first pizza place in Windsor and it set the standard for everything that came afterward. Every single 2nd generation pizza place (many of which are still around to this day) owe their success to Volcano and most of them were opened by previous employees of Windsor's first Pizzeria. 

There are many places in Windsor where you can still get Windsor Style Pizza. Armandos, Franco's, Koolinis, Acrata, Capri, Antoninos, Riverside, Roma's, Rivera, Naples, Sam's, Winsor Pizza and probably 20 more I'm forgetting about. Personally, my favorites are Windsor Pizza, Capri, Antonino's, and Armando's. 

What makes Windsor Pizza Special?

Medium Bacon and Scallop pizza
from Sam's

Windsor Style Pizza has a thicker doughy crust that should be crusty on the bottom but soft in the middle. This is middle thickness, not deep dish at all but not the flat style you see at many wood oven places. The sauce is a spicy sweet arabiata style. Differing levels of sweet and spicy are one of the main things that set various Windsor pizzerias apart. Toppings go on top of the cheese never under (sometimes if you get extra cheese that goes on top, usually part way through cooking). 

There are a few idiosyncrasies in regards to ingredients. Pepperoni (often just called sausage, whereas what most people would call sausage can be found as Italian Sausage on many menus) is sliced, never full circles. Sausage (Italian Sauage) is a local brand that is usually small balls and rather fennely. Mushrooms are canned and are usually Success brand. Vegetables and other meats are usually roughly cubed. Additional fennel and sometimes oregano can be found either in the sauce or sprinkled on top (some places like Antonino's have shakers for you to add your own once you get your pie).

The pies themselves are oven baked. I personally have no idea if there's such a thing as a Windsor Style Pizza oven, or if all pizza places use the same style but I do know that pretty much every place I stop in for pick up has similar looking ovens. The important part though is that they use an oven, the whole wood-fired thing, while good, isn't Windsor Style. 

Random slices from Koolini's

The biggest Windsor Pizza secret for years was the cheese. The mozzarella comes from a local shop called Galati Cheese Company Ltd. This was an industry secret for a long time and was what caused many "Windsor Style Pizza" places that opened out of town in London or Toronto to fail. They had the recipes from the Windsor places but couldn't get exactly the same ingredients. Now the Galati secret is out and you can now see all Windsor Pizza places with signs stating "Proudly serving Galati cheese" prominently displayed.

So yes, Windsor Style Pizza is a thing. A big thing for the people who love it. If you don't belive me just check out this article: Sask. couple orders beloved Windsor pizza for long-distance Super Bowl delivery, where a Sask. couple paid $140 to have an Arcata pizza flown out there for their Super Bowl Party.

Note not every pizza place in Windsor does Windsor Style Pizza. May people consider the Caboto Club to have the best pizza in town and it's a thin crust wood fired style pizza. One of the best pizzas I've had comes from the newly opened Downtown Pizza Co and they also don't serve Windsor Style. I just wrote about their pies last week. 

Brew, a great addition to the Windsor craft beer scene

Last weekend my wife and I were blessed with a kid free Friday night. These are few and far between for us so we did our best to make the most of it.

We started off the night with a couple of beers at the Walkerville Brewery where I tried their new Amber beer (rather good, I used to love Ambers and this is a good example of the style). From there we walked over to The Twisted Apron for an amazing dinner. 

After our dinner, the waitress (going above and beyond) asked what our evening plans were and after we answered non-committally suggested we check out Brew, a new(ish) brew pub that opened up just east of downtown. I had heard about Brew before and had been meaning to check the place out for some time, so that became the plan.

Brew was pretty easy to find. It's a big grey building with the letters B R E W in the windows, just east of the Casino at 635 University East. There was parking at the church next door and across the street in an empty lot. While it's not in the best part of town I don't think it's anything anyone would need to worry about.

The actual tap room wasn't very big at all. I would estimate maybe 12 seats at the bar, four or so tall tables spread around the room, and four round tables, one in front of each window. The place can probably only really fit about eight 4-5 person parties, more if people are willing to stand. 

We were lucky in the fact that, just as we were coming in a group was leaving so we were able to get one of the tables. We were handed an appetizing menu that was mostly gourmet style flat bread pizzas and pretzels. As we were coming form The Twisted Apron we weren't looking for food. I will say that seeing what other people were eating, the food looked and smelled great. Putting the menu aside we got to what we came for: The Beer! 

At the time we were there Brew only had three taps. This looks like it's the standard as you could clearly see the three brewing vats from the tap room. I have to assume that they always have three taps. Based on their facebook page it looks like Brew rotates these taps constantly.

While there my wife and I tried two beers. 

The first was their Chocolate Stout. As I'm sure you can guess, that's the darker beer pictured above. 

It was okay. Not great but in no way bad. I think as far as Chocolate Stouts go I'm a bit spoiled by amazing brews like Flying Monkey's BNL. 

The second beer left a much better impression on me and is the reason I will be going back to Brew again. It was their Sour Wheat.

My wife loves sour beers, especially Lambics. The problem with sours is that they are very hard to find. I don't think they are very popular. So just finding one is an achievement in itself. I think it's awesome that there's a sour brewed right here in Windsor. It also helps that it was a really good, very easy to drink sour. It wasn't overpowering at all and was pleasant enough that I had to order a 2nd one before we moved on to enjoy the rest of our night.

So overall I do recommend you check out Brew. It's a great addition to the local Windsor beer scene. I think it's amazing to see how much the Windsor craft beer scene has grown. I'm loving it. My only caveat is that you may want to call ahead or be prepared to wait for a table as there isn't a lot of room in their tap room.

When I hear the word diner I pretty much picture Route 42

Okay I'm no where near old enough to remember the actual 1950s diner experience but that doesn't mean that I don't get a certain image in my mind when someone mentions the term. I grew up watching Happy Days and remember some long closed diners that my parents took me to. Ones with big red booths, milk shakes and little jukeboxes on each table.

The Route 42 Diner & Dairy Bar out on Route 42 by the Windsor Airport may not have jukeboxes on the table (though they do have one big one) but it is pretty much everything else I picture when I hear "old school diner". It's got the red booths. It's got a soda bar where you can get milkshakes and floats. It's got tons of stuff stuck up on the walls and 50s music is playing. There's a TV playing Gidget. Well wait, I guess the TVs are not something I usually picture in a classic diner, but it was a cool touch. The wait staff are all wearing matching uniforms and the food is the kind of stuff you expect from a true diner.

Now when I think diner I think burgers, hotdogs, fries, hot-hamburger, clubhouse sandwiches and milkshakes. That's exactly what you will find on the menu at Route 42. In addition to these traditional favourites there's also a great looking breakfast menu including a Farmer's Omelette I'm dying to try the next time we are out that way earlier in the day. You can also find a smattering of other stuff like pasta and a bit of Mexican. I'm not sure why every restaurant seems to think they need to have ALL THE THINGS on their menu but they are there if you want them. There's a very good and very reasonably priced kids menu as well.

My wife and I decided to go for traditional diner food (was there any doubt)? She ordered from their selection of 8 pre-made burgers, choosing the Yellow Burger. This home made patty (by the gawds I hate burger places that use frozen patties) was smothered in provolone cheese, a pineapple sauce made fresh there, crushed potato chips, lettuce, tomatoes, onions & pickles. Now I know the fries should be good here but neither of us are big fry fans so she subbed a side of fresh corn. I went with the Shepherds Pie. Shepherds Pie is soul food for me. Something comforting that I really enjoy when made right. The Pie at Route 42 was made right. Instead of the traditional ground beef casserole, this was a torn up grilled hamburger patty, covered in gravy, corn, mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese. Like my wife's burger it was also topped with crushed potato chips. The whole potato chip thing was a staple on the menu with almost every item having this rather cool garnish. My pie also came with desert which was a choice of rice pudding or spice cake. I went with the cake which was obviously made right there and rather good. Both of these entrees were under $10 before tax.

The icing on the cake for me on this trip was actually the sugar and cinnamon on the donuts. See, Route 42 is not just a diner. They have a small secondary entrance that leads to a tiny ice cream parlor that also serves hot mini donuts. I love hot fresh mini donuts. You know the kind right? Those ones you usually can only get at carnivals and places like the Gibraltar Trade Center? The ones where you watch the ring of dough plop out of the machine and travel like an inner tube down the hot oil river. I can't get enough of them and I was so happy to find out I could get them at Route 42. We couldn't leave without me picking up a Diner Dozen (13 precious hot donuts) for under $3.

This was our first trip out to Route 42 Diner & Dairy bar and I'm certain it won't be our last. I really want to take my parents out there sometime for dinner as I really think they will dig the place. I also have a feeling I may stop by every now and then just to pick up some delicious fresh and hot mini donuts.

The Sushi California - a guest post on Eyes on Windsor

I'm very pleased to announce that my first ever guest food blog post is now live on Eyes on Windsor. Eyes On Windsor is a local website hoping to become a complete guide to restaurants, entertainment, attractions, bars and night clubs, wineries, fun stuff to do, accommodations, and more in Windsor Ontario and Essex County. You should go check it out: http://eyesonwindsor.com/

Very shortly after I launched Big Dude Likes Food I was contacted by +Eric Bonnici, the mastermind behind Eyes on Windsor. I seriously only had one post up and it was a rant about a bad experience at the Crave Grill. Talk about being on the pulse of the city, I have no idea exactly how Eric found me that quickly but he must have liked what he saw. He contacted me right away and almost immediately asked me to write something for him on Eyes on Windsor.

How could I refuse? Here I am with my first ever food blog post getting the attention of one of Windsor's hippest online news sources. I know my wife has been telling me I should be doing this whole blog/writing thing for a while now, but well, she's my wife. She's supposed to be supportive, I'm pretty sure it's part of the deal. So it was awesome getting some outside justification for this journey I was about to take. I truly have to thank Eric for his early praise as it's one of the main things that made me keep up this blog.

So the guest post itself. It took me a bit to settle on something to send to Eric and Eyes on Windsor. My initial plan was to do a write up on Marathon Ethiopian Restaurant downtown. My wife and I even went there twice specifically with me planning on taking pictures and blogging about it. Both times though something went foul. The pictures didn't turn out. I totally forgot to grab a menu. I forgot to get a picture of the place from the outside. For whatever reason it just wasn't meant to be. Now Eric was in no hurry, but I felt bad that I kept putting off giving him a post.

Then yesterday I completed a write up of The Sushi California. When I started it I had no idea it was going to be the post for Eric. I was just writing up my final follow up post to the Birthday Vacation in Windsor post. When I was done writing it though I read it over. I had a very solid post on my hands (well at least I thought so). It told a story. It was human. It showed off a night of both joy and frustration. It mentioned a slew of great local resistant and it tied back to not one but two of my previous blog posts. So it seemed perfect for a guest post.

Okay this was meant to be a short intro to my guest post. I guess it turned into a bit more than that. Once you get me typing I find it hard to stop. I'm good though, it's out of my system. So here you have it: A happy mistake that led us to The Sushi California, my first every guest post over at an amazing local online resource: Eyes on Windsor.

The Twisted Apron, amazing even by Walkerville standards

One of the coolest areas of Windsor is a neighborhood called Walkerville. Walkerville was founded in 1890 by Hiram Walker, yes the booze guy, Hiram Walker. The distillery is still going strong producing Canadian Club and other popular Canadian brands. Walker built the town as a model town and a lot of that old school look and feel is still there. A lot of the original buildings still stand and the newer shops and houses were built with that old town look. Walkerville along with Sandwhich and Ford City all became part of the larger City of Windsor in 1935.

The Twisted Apron main entrance

Walkerville is now a one of many "historic neigbourhoods" of Windsor and features a unified neighborhood look and feel, higher end boutique shopping, good food and great drink. In this area you will find Windsor's only brewery; Walkerville Brewery, one of the cities only euro style pubs; O'magios Kildare House, one of the finest pizza places in the city; Vito's Pizzeria, a great Tapas restaurant; The Gourmet Emporium, the headquarters for the Arts Council of Windsor; The Artcite Gallery and a lot more. All of these places are amazing, but there's one we keep going back to again and again and that's The Twisted Apron. Heck, during my wife's birthday vacation in Windsor we ate there twice.

The Twisted Apron is a fairly small place located right in the heart of Walkerville at 1833 Wyandotte East. It looks a bit tiny on the outside until you realize that they actually take up two store fronts. It's also a lot deeper than it looks from the outside. Though it's larger than it looks, don't expect them to have room for you even though they have all this space. Reservations are recommended and without them you can expect a bit of a wait.

Breakfast Poutine

One of the things that keeps drawing us aback is the fact that everything is prepared fresh with a home cooked style. Their motto is It's like eating at Mom's...if Mom were a kickin' gourmet chef. The food is never frozen, always prepared with local ingredients and using home made recipes. What this ends up giving the diner is a great homey welcoming feel while being served some of the best food they've ever had. There's none of the pretentiousness you sometimes come to expect from places that serve food so good.

Breakfast Flatbread

Menus at The Twisted Apron are seasonal and there is always a Breakfast/Lunch menu and a Dinner Menu. There's also a Carry out Menu for those in a hurry or not willing to wait in line for a table. Personally we've only actually been for breakfast and lunch so that's the food I will be talking about here. Menu items range from $9-$15, though if you aren't that hungry you can grab just a house salad for $6 or a cup of soup for just $3. It's worth noting that the dinner menu also has a large selection of drinks including Wines, Spirits and an amazing Canadian Craft Beer Selection. Dinners range from $10-$21 and still feature home cooked favourites.

Fried Perch

If you are there for breakfast I can't recommend the Breakfast Poutine enough. It's $10 and comes with hashbrowns, bacon, cheddar, chicken gravy and scrambled eggs, all tossed together poutine style. It also comes with your choice of toast and a side of fresh preserves. I absolutely love this meal. It's the main thing that has me personally coming back time and time again. My wife usually mixes it up a bit more than me trying something new each time. Our last trip she tried the Breakfast Flastbread. This was also $10 and had naan bread, bacon, cheddar, scrambled egg, spinach, sweet onion relish and hasbrowns. She loved it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Now I noted that during that weekend in Windsor we ate at The Apron twice. Well one of those times was for lunch and it was our first time going there later in the day. We weren't disappointed by the food at all. For lunch I had a great Pulled Pork Sandwich for $10. This had local pork, cheddar, crispy onion and coleslaw all on a pretzel bun. My wife tried the Fried Perch for $12 which was planko-crusted Lake Erie perch, fries coleslaw and fresh made tartar. Neither of us walked away hungry or disappointed.

Actually that's worth noting, I have to admit every time we go the portions look too small to my eyes. I always sit there and think that I'm going to end up wanting desert or leave hungry. I think I'm just soured by so many big chain places overloading you with sub-par food. The food is just okay and you end up justifying it by the huge amount of food you get for the price. The portion size here at the Twisted Apron is pretty much perfect. I've never left hungry.

I love the Walkerville area. It's one of my favourite parts of town to visit, either for an afternoon of shopping, a pint of beer after work or a meal on the weekend. Breakfast at the Twisted Apron has become one of our families weekend delights and I don't expect that to change any time soon. Sometime though, I've got to make it there for dinner.

So when you are in the Windsor area or if you live here, do you head out to the Walkerville area? If so, what's your favourite part of one of the oldest areas of town?

A food filled vacation right here in Windsor

For about 10 years in a row we had a tradition of heading up to London Ontario for my Wife's birthday. It started with a random trip to the bus depot over breakfast that ended up with us having probably the best weekend we've ever had. Well this year we broke that tradition and had a vacation right here in Windsor.

One of the best parts about our kid free weekend was the food. We took the chance to hit a bunch of our local favorites as well as try a couple new places. So what we have here is a synopsis of some of the great food we had during our stay in Windsor vacation for my Wife's Birthday. Over the next week or so I hope to do a full review of each of these great places, well except for Jack's as I already did that one back in January. For now though I'll just leave you with these small bites.

Pulled Pork from The Twisted Apron

The Twisted Apron - this amazing place is somewhere we only discovered late last year but became an instant favorite. It's one of the best places in Windsor for breakfast. What we found out during the birthday weekend was that it's also amazing for lunch. Located in the heart of old Walkerville on Wyandotte it's also pretty close to home for us. Great food at great prices with focus on local produce and meats. Check out this Pulled Pork Sandwich  $10 for local pork, cheddar, crispy onion and coleslaw on a pretzel bun. Add some fresh made local tomato soup and I was very happy. 

Rosemary Lamb Meat Loaf from Jack's

Jack's Gastropub - when we first started talking about this stay in Windsor vacation one of the places we knew we had to try again was Jack's Gastropub. We first went there during Winter Bites and it was amazing. The return trip was just as good. I had the most fantastic meat loaf I've ever had. The Rosemary Lamb Meat Loaf was served with a Three Cheese Potato Strata and finished with Beef Gravy and Onion Tanglers. It runs $20 which may seem high but is worth it as soon as you try the first bite. I've been recommending it to pretty much everyone.

Pizza with Corn Beef Hash and
Eggs Benedict, hell yeah!

Casino Windsor Buffet - I've been hearing from friends and co-workers that I have to try the Casino breakfast buffet sometime. Well what better time than a weekend checking out local sites. What is more Touristy than the Casino. I was totally blown away by this buffet. I've never seen so much variety. It ranged from fresh made omelets to a Pizza bar. There was a chocolate fountain and a Mongolian grill. You could grab Chinese or make yourself tacos. There was fresh carved prime rib even at 10am. Okay it's not cheap but come on. Everything was fresh and hot and attended by a chef. Where else can you get this good a food in this amount of variety for $25 a head (cheaper if you have a Casino points card).

Three of the 5 rolls we ordered at
The Sushi California

The Sushi California - Okay we went downtown to hit a new favourite, Terra Cotta. Sadly they closed earlier than I expected for a Saturday night so we tried somewhere down the road and found some of the best Sushi we've had in the city. Awesome looking place that's Tardis like in it's size inside vs it's unassuming  front. Really great authentic Japanese feel with actual J-Pop playing. The biggest sushi rolls I've ever seen in my life. Not just width but 8-10 piece rolls. Just look at this plate! We ended up with literally twice as much food as my Wife and I could eat and ended up spending about $70, which is about the same price we would spend at our usual Sushi choices.

Corn Beef and Cheese Omelet from Paul's

Paul's Kitchen - this is another one of those hidden gems that is right up there for best breakfast in Windsor. This place is tiny and very popular which usually means it's hard to actually get in without a wait. So I'm not telling you where it is ;) Paul's is an old school home cooking breakfast diner. Amazingly good fast and cheap breakfast. My personal favorite is a Corn Beef and Cheese Omelet which comes with a horde of hashbrowns, toast and a slice of melon. I don't think I've ever completely cleared my plate.  My wife and I hit this place regularly, both with and without the kids.

Breakfast Poutine at The Twisted Apron

The Twisted Apron - didn't I already mention this place? Yep, but it's so good we went twice. This time around we went back so I could get one of the most amazing breakfast items I've ever eaten. That picture right there is the Breakfast Poutine. Hashbrowns, bacon, cheddar, chicken gravy, scrambled eggs and a side of toast. At only $10 this is the breakfast item I find I crave the most often. Seriously you owe it to yourself to try this sometime. Sure it looks odd and I know you are thinking: Chicken Gravy!?! Trust me here, I thought the same thing. It works and it works well.

So there you have a highlight of some of the amazing local food I got to enjoy during our stay in Windsor vacation. Check back here over the next few weeks as I find the time to do a full write up of each of these amazing restaurants. 

EDIT: check out my full post on The Twisted Apron and my first ever guest post over at Eyes on Windsor where I talk about The Sushi California

An Eastern hidden gem in the West end

Instead of heading out and trying somewhere new tonight we decided to hit an old favorite. Pho Red Mango is a hidden gem located in the West end of Windsor. You can find it in Ambassador Plaza right on Huron Church Road hidden in the middle of a strip mall between a rent-to-own place and a walk in law firm.

The Most Famous Beef Noodle Soup

Pho Red Mango (or maybe it's just Pho Mango, the sign skips the Red, the etched glass skips the Red but it's still on the menu, so I'm not sure) is an authentic Thai/Vietnamese noodle shop. Their logo shows a rather happy looking cook with a bowl full of noodles with the words "The Most Famous Beef Noodle Soup"

The place looks a bit small from the outside but is rather large inside. It reminds me a bit of a banquet hall. Lots of six seater tables down the middle with a few booths near the windows and a few four seaters up by the bar. Every table is numbered and on each you will find a set up with a selection of soup spoons, chop sticks, and sauces I haven't had the guts to try yet.

Fresh BBQ Beef Rolls App.

The menu is extensive. It starts with three types of soups each of which is available in several variations. There's Pho (Vietnamese beef rice noodle soup), Bo Kho (clear egg noodles, wanton & stewed beef) and spicy Thai (rice noodles, eggplant, tofu, beans, mushrooms and bamboo). The soups are followed on the menu with noodle bowls, a few rice dishes and then a selection of Thai dishes including both red and green curries. They also have a desert selection and serve bubble teas and fruit shakes. Prices on all the dishes are very reasonable, with most dishes hovering around $10 with nothing reaching past $13

Rice Combination Platter

My wife decided we should start off with some Fresh BBQ Beef rolls ordered as an appetizer and also got herself a small Rare Beef & Well Done Beef Pho bowl. I'm personally addicted to the Rice Combination Platter and that's what I ordered. It's $9.95 and you pick any three sides that can include Grilled Chicken, Grilled Beef, Pork Chop, Spring rolls or Fried Egg. It also includes a small cup of soup and dipping sauce. For an extra $2 you can upgrade your rice to Fried Rice, something I strongly suggest, and I totally forgot to do. Thankfully the service was awesome tonight and they had no problem making me a side plate of Fried Rice once I realized my mistake.

Small, yes Small Rare Beef Pho

I noted my wife got the Small beef noodle soup. Small. As in not big. Look at that bowl there to the left! That's a small, $5.95 Vietnamese Beef Rice Noodle Soup. I didn't even get a shot of the sprouts, lime, basil leaves and hot pepper she also received to put in there if she wanted to.

For the kids we got a second Rice Combination Platter. Usually we get them the Rice Vermicelli Combo with Vegetables. That's like the Rice Combo where you pick what you want on it and it comes with soup and sauce. It's a bit cheaper and they love dipping the noodles in the sauce. The problem is that they love dipping the noodles in the sauce. That never goes very well as far as keeping their clothes and the immediate area clean. So we went with a second Rice Combo this time around. I wish we had gotten the noodles though, just so I could get a picture to show you all how fantastic it looks.

My Fried Rice side

As is usual for Pho Red Mango we had great service. I was extremely pleased with them being more than willing to cook me up a Fried Rice Side after I realized I ordered the wrong thing. Oh right, I didn't mention that yet. This is something odd here. Maybe it's a standard Pho thing, it's not like I've tried lots of Pho places, but you fill out your bill yourself. You write down the quantity of what you want, the item number and any options. In this case I forgot to write down the "sub fried rice" and $2 in the cost column.

I'm a huge fan of Pho Red Mango. I first tried it with people from work and have been going back pretty regularly since. They have fantastic food at a fantastic price. I've yet to have a bad meal there. Not that I've tried it yet but they also have take out for those who prefer to eat at home. Now I know that this style of food isn't for everyone, but if you like this style of Asian food at all I strongly suggest you check out this Eastern hidden gem out in the West end.

Went back to Terra Cotta tonight and it changed

As a special treat for getting past a milestone at work, my wife arranged for another night out without the kids (I know we are getting spoiled). Being the smart girl she is, she remembered that it was two for one night at Terra Cotta. So we headed there after dropping off the kids.

I'm sure you are currently thinking: "What another review of Terra Cotta? You just did one." Yes, yes I did, it's right here in case you missed it: Why did it take me so long to try Terra Cotta? See the thing is, things changed in the few short weeks since we had been there.

My Wife's LaBlonda Pizza

First off you will note they got a new better looking logo, even if it is just a shot of the sign outside. That wasn't enough for me to be writing you now though. The menu changed. Not a lot but enough to make it worth mentioning. The biggest and most disappointing change was that they removed the Crostino. That's the cheese and topping covered fresh made crouton thing that the menu said had been a staple there for years and that I suggested you all try. I thought this was one of the big draws of Terra Cotta over other local Stone Oven Pizza places in the city.

Immediately upon seeing this I asked our waitress about it and she did in fact confirm that it is off the menu.  She went on to explain that the problem was that people were ordering it as an appetizer instead of a meal (it was in the appetizer section) and that it takes longer to cook than an actual pizza and that people who ordered it as an app were getting frustrated by how long their meals were taking. Now the one cool thing is that she offered to get us any Crostino we wanted right then and there, which is awesome but not good for anyone who doesn't know about the secret not on the menu items.

My Sausage, Pep, Cheddar and Prosciutto Pizza

Oh well, I guess things change and there isn't much we can do about it. Or maybe we can, maybe you can all go in and ask where the Crostino is and maybe they will put it back on the menu, and maybe they will put it in some place other than with the appetizers. I'm sure that would be a bit much though.

All that said, our meal was great, our food was awesome and we will be going back. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the past post but Tuesdays are two for one pizza. Wednesdays are also two for one if you are a student with a valid student card. You can't beat that. Our entire meal that included a pitcher of beer and two 7" gourmet pizzas was only $33 before tip.

Found somewhere new for breakfast

Great photo used with permission from Eyes on Windsor

We had big plans today. Today was the day I take the kids to HighJinks in reward for a good report card for my oldest. Before that though we needed groceries. Even before that, we needed breakfast. That's where Matter of Taste bar & grill comes in.

I first heard about Matter of Taste on the Eyes on Windsor blog, where I read a rather positive review. I've been meaning to try it for a couple weeks and it worked out that this morning it fit in with our plans fine. So we headed over to 1158 Lauzon Rd. Now I knew that this place replaced Thai Palace which has moved across the road, but it was still a bit of a shock seeing it. It just looked odd. Thai Palace has been in that spot as long as I can remember. Most noticeable about the place was the big Now Open sign and a sign out front looking for a Broasted Chicken cook.

Photo from windsoriteDOTca's Pinterest account.

We went in after finding the proper door (the place has like 4 doors leading into it only one of which is the actual door, all the others have signs and arrows pointing you to the real door). Inside the place was kind of odd looking but inviting. It was obvious that the space used to be a couple of different places, where an arch had been put in a wall between them making this place larger. The thing is that each of the spaces was done up in a totally different style. The first half had a Thai style arch and white walls and lots of large tables, the second half was all stonework with a huge bar and wine on the walls. There were a couple of big screen TVs on the stonework side one of which was just on one of those Cogeco music channels. It was kind of like the place wasn't sure if it was a Dinner, Family Restaurant, Fine Dining with a huge Wine Selection or Bar & Grill. As I said it was a bit odd.

I love places with kids menus with activities on them

We were seated quickly and given menus, which included kids menus with activities. The kids were each given their own individual box of crayons and immediately went to work coloring. The menu was one of those, home cooking we have everything you could want kind of deals. The kind you have seen in family restaurants for years. You know, the usual mix of burgers and chicken, hot and cold sandwhiches, a selection of Italian favourites and, the requisite seafood section. The seemed to be really pushing the Broasted Chicken which had a section all it's own. Prices were all extremely reasonable with most of the items being under $10 and the most expensive item topping out at $15 for a Fisherman's Platter. The kids menu is fantastic, for only $4.99 you get the choice of 8 items that aren't all junk food and that $5 includes a drink and desert as well as a pick from the Toy Chest (I haven't seen one of those since Big Boy).

Look at the size of these kids "silver dollar" pancakes!

Well we were here for breakfast so my wife and I ordered omelets and we got the kids silver dollar pancakes. You know silver dollar pancakes right. Those small little discs of cooked batter. Do you see that picture there on the left? That's what we got, for one of them. We had two plates this full. For $5 with a drink and desert and a toy!

It didn't take long at all for our food to come. Though we were served pancakes with no syrup and I had to steal silverware off another table or we wouldn't have been able to eat. I also hadn't received a re-fill on my empty coffee yet. Oh that reminds me. The coffee was good. Not great but good. For some reason it seems like, lately, no where has decent coffee anymore with breakfast. I know awesome places with awesome food where I never finish more than one cup of coffee. Matter of Taste did not have this problem.

My Farmer's Omelet

Where was I? Oh right the food itself. I was extremely happy with my Farmer's Omelet. It was one of the best omelets I've had in a long time. Ham, bacon and sausage along with hash browns folded into three eggs with marbled cheese on top. Toast on the side. That's it there on the left. Now my wife grabbed a Spinach & Swiss Omelet made with just egg whites. It looked fantastic, but she was sad to report it was just okay. Not bad, not good, but okay.

Overall our trip to the Matter of Taste Bar and Grill was a pretty good experience. The place has an odd look and doesn't seem to know what exactly it is or wants to be. The service wasn't the best and my wife found her food to only be okay. That was all completely offset by one of the best omelets I've ever had and the amazing deal and treat this was for the kids. I think we've found a new place for breakfast.

Why did it take me so long to try Terra Cotta?

This weekend my wife and I had a rare treat. Four hours without the kids to do anything we wanted. After a bit of discussion we decided we wanted a nice meal and then to head to a favorite downtown spot, The Coffee Exchange, for some desert and coffee and a few rounds of Race for the Galaxy. This post isn't about the coffee and card games though, it's about where we ended up for dinner: Terra Cotta Pizza.

Terra Cotta has been around for a long time. As long as I can remember at least. I'm sad to say up until last Saturday night we have never tried it. I know they are known for stone oven pizza but that was about it. I also knew they had a two for one Tuesday deal but we never managed to make it out for it. I've even been told by friends to try it. For whatever reason I always thought of Terra Cotta as high end. A classy, don't bring the kids, wear a collared shirt, cloth napkin, kind of place. I'm my head it was La Guardia with a guy cooking pizza up front. Man was I wrong. 

Check out the awesome glass pitcher.

The first thing you will notice walking up to Terra Cotta will most likely be someone cooking pizza, right there in the front window. Anyone can stand there and watch traditional, dough tossed in the air, pizza making, right there from the street. How cool is that? Going inside I was amazed to see not only how small but also how comfortable the place was. This place is really small. There's the pizza prep area up front, a long bar in the middle, some two seater tables across from that and maybe 8 more tables in the back for larger groups. Okay I guess it's probably a bit bigger than say Sam's Pizza but smaller than it looks from the outside. The place is also very casual. I have no idea where my idea that this was a fancy shmancy place came from, but I was wrong. Not to say the place is a dump or anything like that, it's very casual and homey with no pretensions. They also had high chairs and there was a family in there with kids, so I guess it's a good family place as well. It's nice to be proven wrong sometimes.

Our Crustino

I was pleased to see a good beer menu that included a ton of Sleeman Products including draft. Was was even happier when they noted they had Okanagan Spring on draft and ordered a pitcher for the two of us to split. Check the pictures on this page to see the awesome solid glass pitcher this came in.

Looking at the menu, we found a full page spread about some stuff they call Crostino. This is home made, double toasted croutons topped with Pizza ingredients, baked in the wood fire Pizza oven. At about $8 and with enough food to share we decided we had to try it. We grabbed the Crostino Alla Bolognese which had mozzarella, ham and Swiss. It was very good. A really unique taste with the crunchy croutons, zesty sauce and lots of herbs and spices. I think I would try a different set of toppings next time but I do suggest you try one of these unique offerings.

For main courses my wife and I both ordered Pizzas. The menu has a wide variety of pre-made options that range in price from $8 to $14. Toppings range from the traditional bacon, pepperoni and green peppers to eggplant, turkey and calamari. They also offer white or whole wheat crust, gluten free options and even non-dairy cheese. The menu didn't stop at pizza either; there was a selection of appetizers, salads, Italian wraps and sandwiches, salads and calzones. I went with a make your own pizza, with sausage, pepperoni and my favorite pizza topping: prosciutto. My wife grabbed one of the pre-set pizzas, the Prosciutto e Funghi and ordered it with non-dairy cheese. 

Looks awesome doesn't it?

Okay look at that picture right there. Just look at it. Doesn't that alone make you want to go to Terra Cotta? I know it makes me want to go back. Not only did the food look good, it tasted amazing. By far some of the best wood fire flat crust pizza I have ever had. Why the heck did I just try this place this weekend?  It's been here for years, I could have been eating this like once a month, maybe once a week, maybe twice a week!

The food was great. The atmosphere wasn't at all what I expected but that was a good thing and it meant that this should be a great place to bring the kids. It also seems like the kind of joint my parents would both dig. What this means over all, is that I will be going back to Terra Cotta, probably multiple times and bringing along the entire family. I'm still a bit frustrated that it took us so long to try somewhere so good, but I'm very happy that we finally did and have found a new regular stop for great pizza in Windsor.

I drove 45 minutes just to eat at Jack's Gastropub

Hoping to get in at least one more restaurant during Windsor Eat's Winter Bites we headed out to Kingsville, Ontario Saturday to try Jack's Gastropub. Now Kingsville is about a 45 minute drive out of town from where we are, so I doubt this will become a regular trip.

We got into town a little early (on purpose) and stopped in at the Butcher of Kingsville before driving around a bit to find Jack's. For some reason I thought it was located on Main St. when it was actually on Division. No big deal, Kingsville isn't very big at all and it took less than five minutes to find.

Jack's is located in a converted house. There's a small bit of parking outside and it looked like there was an overflow lot as well, but we didn't need it and I didn't think to confirm. A quick walk around the front of the place gave us a good look at a large obviously popular heated patio. It's mid January and the patio was packed, at just after 5pm. Once inside I couldn't help but point out the very cool little bar room off to the right. If I lived in Kingsville I could totally see sitting here drinking some craft beer and catching up on some reading.

We were asked if we had reservations, which surprised me given the time of day. Note to self and anyone reading this: make reservations, even if you think you are coming too early to need them. Thankfully they did have some room for us upstairs. As noted the place is a converted house. Well they didn't convert much at all. It was still very house like upstairs. We walked through an obvious living room, to the back hall, almost to the kitchen, up the stairs, past two bathrooms and into what I guess was at one time a main bedroom. Much of the original fixtures were still there. There were also lots of hats. No clue on this one, I guess someone digs hats. Cool enough.

Bad iPod pic of the Beer Menu

We got a booth seat, noted they have a high chair up here (hey cool this is a place we can bring the kids), and started looking over the menus. Note I said menus, as in plural. No I don't mean mine and my wife's I mean the food menu and the beer menu. That's right Jack's has a beer menu. I didn't think anywhere south of London had a beer menu. Awesome!

What we then realized is that we didn't have a copy of the special Winter Bites menu that brought us here. This was quickly corrected and we ordered. I went with the Pulled Pork Poutine followed by a Farm Burger, which is an all beef burger topped with bacon, goat cheese, onion tanglers and fried egg on a toasted Kaiser. Instead of a third course Jack's continued with the awesome offering up a Beer Tasting Flight.  That's right, instead of desert, you get four beers to try. For my flight of beer I decided to get Walkerville Blonde, Okanagan Springs, Maudit and Dead Elephant IPA. I will admit that I was slightly disappointed that between the bottle list and the craft beers on draft they didn't have anything I haven't tried before, but that is become more and more common as I reach the 700 beer's reviewed mark.

Flight of beers, a beautiful thing.

The beer came very quickly and it was nice to see a waitress point out which were which. I've been to a few places that serve flights that forget that important step. Our first course showed up before I had finished the first glass.

The Poutine was great, probably the best I've ever had. My pulled pork was fantastic and I tried a bite of my wife's Cheeseburger Poutine and it was good as well (though not as good as mine, score). Seriously this stuff is awesome.

Now here comes the one bad experience this whole trip. While about half way through my poutine our mains showed up. Holy cow, talk about fast. At this point we have probably only been at Jacks for 20 minutes. I can't help compare this to the disaster at Crave, this trip is like the complete opposite. Now I'm not happy the second course came out before finishing the first, but really, if it had to happen to any type of food, is it really that bad to get a burger while still eating your fries? I think most of all I just would have liked a breather and time for things to settle and to drink some more of those beers.

My Farm Burger

So that main course, how was it? Fantastic! Truly fantastic. This may be the best burger I've ever had. I'm still on the fence about it. It's most definitely up there with Motorburger. It might actually be better. I think I'm going to have to go back to Motorburger to check.

The picture over there doesn't do this burger justice. It was big, thick and amazing tasting. I couldn't even finish it, which is a rare thing for me (I'm a big dude for a reason). I also have to add, that bowl of coleslaw was great. Why I need to add that. I don't like coleslaw, well most of the time. I hate bitter, pickled tasting slaw. This was not that this was creamy fantastic slaw.

So yeah, this was good. Really good. Remember up top I said that the 45 minute drive meant this won't be a regular trip. I was wrong, totally wrong. Right now I'm sitting here typing this and trying to figure out how I can get back out to Jack's again this coming weekend, or maybe somehow tonight. Anyone know a good sitter?

Can't see ever Craving this Grill

This week is Winter Bites week here in Windsor. This is a great annual event where a bunch of local restaurants put out special menus and meal deals in an effort to get you to try new things. This awesome event is put on and organized by the great people at Windsor Eats. Tonight we gathered up the family and decided to try somewhere new that is participating in this great event: The Crave Grill (note you can click on this link but it looks like someone forgot to pay their web hosting). It was an interesting experience.

I was totally thrown off by the location of the Crave Grill, I've driven past the location many many times and totally missed it. It's part of the complex on Ottawa that has Topps of Windsor and the Komedy Korner. After finding the place we parked in back (free after 6pm) and went in. Great looking place with a really nice atmosphere. Fairly formal without being pretentious.

We were seated quickly. The place was far from busy but wasn't empty. We had called ahead to make sure the place was okay for kids and we verified that they had booster seats. Here's where we had our first sign of things to come, though we didn't know it was a sign at the time. After asking for a booster the waitress brought back a highchair. I guess people who don't have kids don't know there's a difference? I'm pretty sure I knew the difference before we had our kids, but whatever. So I correct her and ask again for a booster. They don't have boosters, this is what we have. We note we called and asked, and she said yes we have this (points to the high chair). Okay whatever, fine, I'll sit my 2.9 year old in a chair since she's far too big for the highchair.

We get menus and all that fun stuff. She points out that they have a special menu for Winter Bites. I comment that "this is the reason we are here." We look over the standard menu. Everything looks great. Nice selection of items. A mix of steak house, pasta house and unique Mediterranean items. One thing I always look for is good beer and I was impressed, there wasn't a lot of selection but it included a good mix of beers for eating. One each of lager, porter, stout, black ale, brown ale, oh and the usual crap domestic stuff. Though they need an editor (I ordered Miller Street Coffee Porter). The adults all decide go for the Winter Bites Menu which is a three course meal for $25, we order a kids pasta for the little ones to split. Specifically I ordered Tomato Soup for a first course. Chevaps for a Second Course and Apple Crumble Cheesecake for the Third. Actually looking at the menu now in another window I realize we ordered at least one of everything on the special menu.

Our waitress takes our drink order. More than 5 minutes later she comes back to point out that the juice we ordered for the kids is out of stock. More than 10 minutes later we get our drinks, for whatever reason she doesn't take our order now and wanders away. I have no clue why. We have to point out to the kids, who are getting antsy that it's going to be a while as we haven't even ordered yet. We eventually order. 20 minutes after ordering the waitress returns realizing she forgot to ask which sides we want. One thing that has to be noted here as it matters later. My wife and I ordered all three courses, the app, the main and the desert for our Winter Bites meal, my parents only ordered their app and main.

40 minutes in we still haven't received our first course, the appetizers. Soups, salads and bruschetta, not hard to make. Note there are only about five other tables of people here and four of them already have their meals. I don't get this. Also my wife ordered coffee and has not had a single offer of a refill. At this point we are getting rather frustrated. The kids are thankfully being rather good about all of this.

10 minutes later, 50 minutes in total we get our apps. Waitress can't remember who ordered what and we give up trying to explain and just each take a plate and pass it to whoever it belongs to. The apps were pretty good. I was particularly impressed by the bruschetta as it's not a dish I usually enjoy. I'm not big on tomato or onion and this particular version had goat cheese. Getting near the bottom of her salad, my wife notes that it has no candied nuts. This was one of the main selling points of this salad and they weren't even there. My soup didn't come with crackers which was disappointing to me. At this point I'm not sure if the serve soup without them or if they made yet another mistake.

When the first round of apps came I ordered another beer, when the second round came my dad also ordered a re-fill. I got my beer, my dad did not. Every time we saw the waitress we asked about my dad's beer. We did this 3 times. 20 minutes later she stopped back and cleared some of the app. plates and asked my dad if he wanted another beer. Wait, what?!? 

At this point we are all getting frustrated. The kids are getting antsy. we are getting sick of mistakes, lack of communication, ridiculous delays etc. 65 minutes in, she starts bringing the entres. We ask where my dad's beer is and she says: "Oh sorry we are out of that beer. We even checked the basement" - wow, okay then, you weren't going to tell us? What the heck? We order my dad a different beer. This beer finally shows up, she bangs the bottle (no draft here) on the table hard enough it foams up and pours out the top a bit. She fails to notice.

Crappy iPod pic of my main. I still don't see any pita.

Right in there somewhere the food showed up. It was all delivered to the wrong person again. I realize this is a minor thing but with everything else it's yet another straw.

Things start looking up: the main courses are really good. This is the best Chevaps I've ever had. Veggies are great and well seasoned  A really nice touch is that each veg is treated differently. The carrot is al-dente and mapled. The zucchini is soft and in a red sauce. The potatoes are roasted and lightly herbed and rather good. I tried my wife's rice (the other starch option) and it was nice, loose and flavorful. My main came with their own house cream cheese, this stuff is awesome and goes great with the spicy Chevaps.

I'm near done my meal when my wife points out: "didn't that say it came with Pita" - hey that's right! what's the buttered loaf I have? Pita would have fit much better. Yet another mistake, that I wouldn't mind so much if they were transparent about it. We've been here far too long, we've had a bunch of issues but that main was so good it's almost made up for it. At this point I'm thinking maybe go back, without the kids due to the length of time everything took, but maybe give them another shot. Then we get to the 3rd course: the dessert.

We've now been here an hour and fourty-four minutes. They confirm we want our dessert. We say yes and the waitress goes away. It's at this point that my parents point out they didn't order dessert yet (remember, I mentioned this up above). So we wave the waitress down and point this out. She says, "oh! okay! So you all want dessert?" We agree and my parents try to order. Now remember we are here for Winter Bites, we told her this when we got here. The Winter Bites menu only has two dessert options on it, Creme Brulee or Apple Crumble Cheesecake. My mom tells her they both want the Apple Cheesecake. "Oh I'm so sorry we are all out." Wait what?!? You tell us this now? Your set menu item for the special menu we are here to enjoy is out of stock and you failed to tell us over the last hour and forty five minutes? The waitress offers my mom Pyramid cake (some lady finger thing) she gives up and agrees to this. It comes out, four of them, one for each of us. My wife asks first: "but where is my Creme Brulee?"  "Oh we are out of that too. I don't know why but everyone was having those two items today" No shit! Those are the two items on your special menu!

We've given up at this point. We finish the sub par cake like dessert. They apologize for the lack of dessert. Note: just the dessert issue, what about all the other issues? We pay. We leave. I pretty much vow never to go back. I'm so frustrated by the experience I feel I need to share. So I made this blog.