Thursday, March 21, 2013

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

2 comments:

  1. Breakfast poutine and pretzel roll? I'm definitely intrigued. Nice meeting you tonight!

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    1. Nice meeting you as well. What a great conference eh? I absolutely loved it. Met so many great people and learned so many things. I'm finally inspired to take this place to a new level. I wasn't sure if I should go on or not and the FBC conference pushed me over the edge on the go on side.

      If you are ever down in Windsor I think the Twisted Apron is a must try for any foodie. It's an amazing place in one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the city. I recommend to anyone to spend at least part of a day in Walkerville.

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