I'm totally craving sushi

Like many people in Windsor right now I'm laid off. The FCA Windsor Assembly plant is down for re-tooling and due to that many people are out of work right now. It's not just people that work at the plant, it's all the people working at the feeder plants as well (that's the boat I'm in).

Due to this lay off we've had to cut back on the eating out and 'premium' food. This means lots of lunch meat, peanut butter, wraps and KD. All of this has hit me hard today with a huge sushi craving.

I could totally go for some Hikari Japanese Restaurant. This is a higher end Sushi place downtown on Victoria that's in a restored manor. 

They recently just updated their menu and seem to have tried to go for even more high end food. There's a bunch of interesting looking tapas dishes, some flat breads and quite a few non-sushi items.

Hikari isn't cheap but the food is very good. The atmosphere is excellent and I find it's a great 'date place.' It's the sushi restaurant of choice for us to celebrate special occasions.

Or maybe I want some The Sushi California, just down the street, still downtown, on University.

I wrote up a review of this great place for Eyes On Windsor a couple years back. I loved it then and still really enjoy it now. 

I love the decor and atmosphere at The Sushi California. It just looks cool and authentic there. Much more casual than Hikari. 

The rolls there are huge, I don't think you can find larger rolls in the city. It's the one place we have to remember to order less food every time we go.

Heck I don't even need to eat in. I would be perfectly happy with take out from Niko Sushi. 

Not that there's anything wrong with eating in at Niko but we've found that they do the best take out Sushi in the city. I personally like to drive out to Tecumseh though the food is just as good from the Devonshire Mall. There are more options in Tecumseh.

I can't get enough of the Niko sauce and they have some of my favourite rolls ever. The Rainbow Roll being one both my wife and I love. The kids actually love Niko the best as well as they make great Avocado and Imitation Crab rolls that are not only good but cheap.

That's not to mention Sushi Guru in Walkerville or Tiki Sushi on Erie Street and a half dozen more that I haven't even tried yet. There's also all the All You Can Eat places around the city. Tenko, Tenka, Hoi, Koi. Oh man, there so many great places to get sushi in Windsor!

Okay, maybe writing a blog post about craving sushi when I'm craving sushi wasn't the best idea. Now I'm REALLY CRAVING SUSHI!

Where can you get the best poutine in Windsor?

The title there: "Where can you get the best poutine in Windsor?" is a legitimate question I want an answer to. I really want to know where to get the best poutine in Windsor.

The best I have found so far (and pictured here on this post) comes from Simon's Prime Hamburgers. I hear that Simon's started in Chatham and expanded to Windsor. The one that's downtown has been there for a few years and is a favourite of the 'after bar crowd.' I'll admit I've never tried that location. It's been many years since I've been part of any bar crowd, especially the one that's looking for greasy food after the bar.

A new Simon's opened fairly recently on Tecumseh Rd. East at Central. This is very close to work for me and has since become a favourite lunch stop. At first I stuck to their burgers (which are damn good) but eventually I tried their poutine. I stuck to the traditional poutine the first time and oh man it was good.

The cheese curds squeaked! That was one of the best parts. I think you have to be a certain kind of cheese fan to know that squeaky cheese is one of the best things on this earth. Simon's uses the right kind of curds, squeaky curds.

A few weeks later (yes it had to be weeks, Simon's poutine isn't an every day food, even for a Big Dude like me), upon the recommendation of some co-workers I tried the Cheddar and Bacon Poutine. There's a picture of this beauty at the top of the page. Just look at that.

The Cheddar Bacon Poutine was one of the best tasting things I've ever eaten. It was so good. Simon's regular poutine is good, but this was amazing. This was by far the best poutine I've had in Windsor.

Have you had Simon's Prime Hamburgers poutine? What did you think? Have you had anywhere better? Let me know in the comment section or contact me on social media. If there's something better out there I need to know!

Best breakfast I've had in Windsor in quite some time

Meat Lover's Bowl form Donna Mae's Diner

Yesterday was "Birthday Day." It was the day we celebrated my youngest daughter's birthday along with my wife's birthday. The day started with eating out for breakfast. I personally, wanted to go to Route 42, but my wife wanted to go to Paul's Kitchen and since the day was in her honour she won out.

Now I love Paul's, a lot, but it's small and often very busy. So busy that, most days, there's an extended wait to get a table. Yesterday was one of those days. Our kids, like most, aren't the most patient and I'm not a big fan of waiting in a waiting room with them for anything, so we decided to leave.

On the way to Paul's I noted that Donna Mae's was back at it's old location on Eugenie. We hadn't been to Donna Mae's since my oldest was in a high chair and all I remember is that they didn't have high chairs but had really good oatmeal.Instead of driving half way across the city we decided to give it another try.

I'm so glad we did. The breakfast we had yesterday was not only one of the best looking and tasting breakfasts we've had in some time, it was also very reasonably priced. For the four of us the entire meal, including tip came to under $28. The most expensive item was my meat lovers bowl (pictured above). It had fried cubed potatoes with bacon, sausage and ham on top. This was coated in fresh shredded cheddar and mozzarella and topped with an egg cooked how I wanted. I opted for "over medium" and they were cooked perfectly.

At the end of the meal both my wife and I noted that this was one of the best breakfast's we've  had in some time. I thought it was a pretty great way to start off "Birthday Day".