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?

Finally stopped in at The Butcher of Kingsville

Saturday afternoon we had plant to hit up Jack's Gastropub for dinner to try their Winter Bites menu. Since we were heading into Kingsville anyway, we decided to head out a little early in hopes of catching The Butcher of Kingsville before they closed. We made it five minutes before 5pm, just in time.

I've been hearing good things about The Butcher of Kingsville for quite a while now, at least a year maybe more. Actually when I was looking for somewhere new to try for my birthday dinner, two different people suggested I just go to The Butcher and buy a steak and make it at home and that will beat out almost everywhere I could possibly choose to eat. The BofK is a full service butcher shop that focuses on whole animal butcher, local, responsibly raised meats and handmade foods.

The place itself is right on the main drag in Kingsville Onatario and has a very inviting storefront. The front service area is small but doesn't really need to be any bigger than it is. Behind that is a small cafe counter where they serve coffee, deli sandwiches etc. We were already out in the county for dinner so didn't get a chance to try the cafe. Behind this was the butchery itself, surprisingly out in the open. I'm used to going to places like this where the 'work' is behind closed doors. It was a cool touch.

Staff was very attentive, answered every possible question we had, and even went above and beyond by ensuring we knew how to cook each item we bought. In addition to all the fresh cuts at the counter, they also had two coolers of prepared and pre-cut food. If we weren't due to be out for a couple more hours we would have grabbed a frozen meat pie for sure. Prices were extremely reasonable and comparable to other local meat sources. 

For my wife and I, the best discovery we made at The Butcher of Kingsville is to find out that they are the same people who did the beef share that we had taken part of a year or so back. It was called Country Connect and was awesome. You paid a set price and that gave you a portion of a cow, along with other subscribers. At a set point in time (I can't actually remember the frequency) the butcher would deliver you your cuts. What we thought was awesome about this, over and above the extremely fresh cut meat and high quality, was that it was a complete mix of cuts. This introduced us to a bunch of cuts of meats we never would have tried otherwise. The best part of all this? We found out that The BoK still does this, just through the shop! We will definitely be signing up for this for BBQ season this year.