Food Review: Peasant Cookery

Peasant Cookery

283 Bannatyne Ave

                I have been eyeing this place for a while. But I knew I had to go when I heard from my in-laws that it was a very nice place to eat. They were right. The bar at the peasant cookery is across the hall from the dining area and I would recommend it over the regular eating space. It is much cosier and the fireplace in the corner makes the place feel very comfortable. It is also a pleasure to watch the bartenders mixing drinks and chatting to people.

                I am always a sucker for specials and when I heard the special was Panzanella (a favourite salad of mine) we had to order it. We ordered:

-French onion soup

-gnocchi

-panzanella

-2 drinks (old fashioned, ginger pear)

The French onion soup was great and the gnocchi was fabulous. We found the panzanella was nothing special, but the drinks made up for that. We also have good service and the bartender was patient while we tried to figure out what cocktails we wanted.

                We expected that to portions would be small and more costly than the places we usually eat. This was true, but we both agreed that the food was worth the price we paid for it. However, I was unusually hungry that day and so I was peckish again before we got home. I call this type of portioning the just right portion. It is the size of helping that we should all be eating to prevent us from getting overweight. At the end of the meal you don’t feel full but you also aren’t stuffed. When I find that I have the self-restraint to limit myself to a just right portion it feels rewarding. But my love of eating is a hard thing to combat.

                Anyway, I would definitely go here again. I would also invite friends to come, especially if there was a concert in the area. It is the perfect place to eat out if you are in the exchange, and it would be a nice place to bring someone on a date. In other words: good food and good drinks.

Until Next Time,

Food Review: Taco Del Mar (Portage Ave)

Taco Del Mar (West end)

1132 Portage Ave

                I had almost no time to eat dinner and I was in the Wolseley area. Fairly clueless about where to eat in the central part of Wolseley I consulted my handy-dandy urbanspoon app. It told me (Bless its heart) that Taco Del Mar was close by.  I had no idea what that was so I came to the place with no preconceptions. When I discovered it was attached to the subway I was wary. When I saw that the place had institutional-feeling beach decor I was even more hesitant. I had stepped into places that looked like this when I was travelling in Hawaii and was rarely impressed.

                As it turns out Taco Del Mar is owned by subway (explaining why they can share a common bathroom at this location). I know subway pretty well and I am familiar with navigating their endless list of options. Here I had no such luck. I ended up having no idea what I could order or how much it would cost. So I asked the person (the burrito artist?) who was serving me and he politely listed the toppings and stuff and told me I would get extra beans and rice as well as complimentary sour cream and guacamole because I am vegetarian. While I was pleased with the gesture I am also sad that guacamole and sour cream wouldn’t automatically come with the meal. However, no automatic guacamole and sour cream is common practice so I have resigned myself to it.

                I ordered:

•   1 vegetarian mondo burrito with: Guacamole, Rice, Black Beans, Sour Cream, Cheese, something whose name I couldn’t make out but looked like antipasto, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, medium salsa.

It was a good burrito, but not special. You can get a similar one at pretty much any place that makes burritos. It was about the amount of money I would expect to pay for the amount of food I got. Overall it was fine but nothing special. The thing that did awe me was the device they used to moisten the tortilla shell when the first started the burrito crafting process. It was a sort of steam heated press which they could put the shell in and it heated it, moistened it, and grilled it all at the same time. It was a really cool thing! I also like the aluminium foil that they used to wrap the burrito in. It made it very easy to eat it while holding in the juices.

Would I go there with friends? Probably not. Would I go there for lunch in-between meetings with clients? Definitely. 

Until next time,

Food Review: La Fiesta Cafecito

La Fiesta Cafecito
Unit M 730 St.Anne’s Rd




Updated November 2013

The first time I tried to go here I was told that there would be a 45 minute wait. That time I decided to eat at Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria instead. The time I resolved wait and try the food. A relative of mine had recommended this place to me. She said that it was the best South American food in Winnipeg, if not in all of Manitoba. Even after eating here I am not qualified to decide, but I will say that it is the best South American food I've ever tried (having never been to South America).

The restaurant did a really good job of making a strip mall unit feel comfortable, which is no small achievement. The place is designed to feel like you are sitting on the street ordering drinks from an indoor bar. They also have a bathroom that feels like it belongs in someone’s home rather than a restaurant.
The same relative who told me to come here also warned me that if the host/server tells you that it will be a 45 minute wait you should expect it to take closer to an hour. The place is ALWAYS full. However, you can (and should) make a reservation. We were also warned that the service is incredibly slow. Therefore my Wife and I were not surprised when our food came a full two hours after we first arrived (an hour waiting, and an hour between ordering and getting the food).  In any other restaurant this would have ruined everything and I certainly wouldn't have left a generous tip.  But our server was amazingly friendly and kept us entertained whenever he walked by our table. I have never had a better server! The second time we went (a Tuesday evening) it was quiet and we had no problem getting a seat. The amazing server was not there but the staff were relaxed and the food was equally as good.

The food is unbeatable.
We ordered:
- Sangaria
- Chipotle Jalapeno Cheese Pupusa
- 2 Mojitos
- 2 Vegetarian Combination Platter #2 (salad, burrito, 2 pupusas, 1 enchilada)
- Vegetarian Combination Platter # 3 (salad, burrito, 1 pupusa, 2 tamal, 1 enchilada)

In my opinion the thing that makes the food exceptional is the care the people take in making it. They also make plain (unseasoned) beans taste wonderful. The pupusas and the tamal's are extraordinary and the enchilada’s made every other enchilada look pathetic. In contrast, the burrito and the salad seemed fairly standard. The mojitos were very good. The sangaria is not very sweet, which is a requirement for me.
All in all it was a wonderful time, the food was a good price, and I would recommend the place to anyone. However, I would also tell them that they need to make a reservation or they will spend the whole evening waiting for food.

Until next time,

Food Review: Garbonzo's Pizza Pub

Garbonzo’s Pizza Pub
 University of Winnipeg AnX Building,

471 Balmoral St, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E3

UPDATED: March 2014

Someone once told me “you go to Garbonzo’s for the company and you end up staying for the food.” This pretty much sums up my experience with the place. It's well set up for groups: there are large tables. There are board games on hand, as well as giant Jenga and a fussball table. It doesn't get very loud, even when it is full. On the other hand, the service is consistently poor and the food is mediocre. It doesn't seem to matter how many people are there; your order is taken quickly, you can get a beer in minutes, but food comes slowly and I have resorted to hunting down my server to ask for the bill more than once. Then you wait for a long time to get the debit/credit machine. This happens when there are five people there and when there are a hundred. I don’t really understand it.


I have ordered:

            

-       Pizza: Vegetarian, Perogy Pizza (minus bacon bits),  The True Italian (minus the sausage) Greek, and Spinach, Ricotta & tomato pizza

-       I’ve had the pizzas as calzones

-       Greek Salad

-       Fiesta Taco Salad (minus beef or chicken)

-       Bonzo Bones

-       Basket of Fries

-       Awesome Blossom

-       Extreme Nachos

-       Various drinks

The pizzas taste pretty much the same. The only one worth getting is the Spinach, Ricotta & Tomato (which they have renamed as the Five cheese & "Fresh" Tomato (the quotes are my addition)), which is quite good. The other reason to go is for the deals that they regularly have on food. Monday is half prize pizza and 4$ margaritas [This has changed since I last went here]. Tuesday is all you can eat pasta and 3.75 Pabst Blue Ribbon, Wednesday and Thursday are deals on wings and Saturday is a half price deal on burgers. On these days, the food becomes a good price for what you are getting. They also have a trivia league, which would probably be a lot of fun. There is live music later in the evening, but I have never stayed late enough to tell you if it's any good.

So, you can probably already guess what my verdict is on the place: is it worth going to with friends? If you want a place to play board games, have a few pints, and maybe order a pizza. Definitely! If you want to experience an amazing pizza pub and a large beer selection, go somewhere else.

UPDATE: My most recent experience was consistent with my previous visits.

Until next time,

Food Review: Casa Burrito

Casa Burrito

520 Portage Ave

UPDATED: OCTOBER 2014

At Casa Burrito you are among friends. Indeed, one would have trouble finding a friendlier owner anywhere. Vinay is always happy to talk to customers about anything from downtown events to the challenges of owning a restaurant that is so influenced by the U of W student’s seasonal comings and goings. Sometimes you’ll find him in a van at the folk fest or at the fringe and those events are all the better for it.

I have gone there a few times. One of the advantages of the place is that you can order a beer alongside your food, which is uncommon for a "fast food" restaurant. They have a respectable selection of local beer and a few Mexican imports. The restaurant itself is in a clean but fairly unexceptional place with a counter and a few chairs. They are always playing an eclectic mix of music and the posters of Mexico round out the décor. If it’s empty, you get to chat. If it’s not, you can pick up a copy of The Uniter and read the U of W’s paper.

The place is set up to give you a few choices: taco/burrito/quesadilla? Large or small? and your choice of salsa. They also have sour cream an occasionally sour cream with mango bits in it, which is great.

           
I have ordered:

• The Cocoa Yam (discontinued)
• The Bean & Cheese
• The Curried Lentil

I prefer the quesadillas because there seems to be more cheese and less filling. None of the salsa's are very hot, but the salsa verde will certainly warm your mouth. The mango salsa is a good choice for a sweeter burrito. I tend to order the bean and cheese, because I like lots of beans, sour cream. The curried lentil is also a good choice if you are feeling like a mexican-indian fusion.

This is a good place to grab dinner in a hurry. It is perfect if you are going to a show, a play, a hockey game, maybe even a club, but it doesn’t really feel like a social destination. 

Until next time,

Food Review: Elements

Elements

599 Portage Ave
UPDATED: March 2nd 2014

 

              

Elements is located right by the front entrance in Richardson College for the Environment at the University of Winnipeg. It occupies a smallish but airy feeling corner of the building with windows facing Portage and Langside. Due to its location, many of the seats offer a good vantage to people watch as students bustle in and out of the building between classes. However, it also means that they do a bit of watching you too as they walk by. The clientele appear to be mostly the corporate lunch crowd, professors, the well-to-do, and the semi-retired. I have been here several times and I have never seen more than a few students, usually during 4:00 happy hour (when the beer is probably the cheapest you can find on campus). The staff are reliable and more often than not friendly. You also might get a chance to rate them, because they sometimes give you a “how was your experience” sheet.  Elements sources their ingredients locally wherever they can, serve sustainable seafood, and even feature a few of their suppliers on the back of the menu.

Its great that there is an extensive list of vegetarian options. Most of the other food is tasty, good to eat, enjoyable even, but not any more so than other places of a similar price. I guess I would call it safe food, and that goes a long way to explain the clientele.       

My wife and I ordered:
Mushroom Almond Burger (With a fried egg)
Quinoa Salad
Beer and Cheese Soup (soup of the day)
Ginger Sodas with shots of Gin.

We both agreed that the veggie burger has been better in the past. This might be because some ingredient or other is out of season and so the flavor is not as flavorful as it has been at other times of the year. They might have changed their recipe. What stood out was the quinoa salad, which is fantastic. The beer and cheese soup was also very good.

In the past I have also ordered:
Grilled Bread with Baba Ganoush

Sharable Size Nachos

Warm Goat Cheese Dip with corn chips - tasty

House Made Ginger Ale

St. James Pale Ale

Blueberry Cheese Cake

Tea
Banana bread toasted with butter - wonderful
Chai Latte

Baked Mac and Cheese (hold the bacon) - exactly how you would imagine this to be (hot and cheesy)

Mushroom Almond Burger - the better of the two veggie patties

2014 Burger week burger (veggie patty local greens, slow roasted tomato relish, housemade feta)

Pad Peanut

Veggie Sandwich

The Pad Peanut is probably a 3/5 on the Pad Thai scale. What is really worth ordering is the Mushroom Almond Burger, which might be in the running for top 5 veggie burgers in Winnipeg. The House Made Ginger Ale is also fabulous, especially with a shot of gin. Why not round off a solid meal by ordering the blueberry cheesecake?

If I could suggest the ultimate time to go, I would recommend 4:30 on a muggy 25-30 degree summer afternoon. They have a very nice patio and you are well taken care of there. Order a veggie burger, a beer, and a piece of cheese cake. Sit for a while and watch the warm world pass you by. Stay about an hour so you can watch traffic swell and begin to calm. Order a ginger ale and drink it while the day is still hot, maybe bring a book or the newspaper. You won’t regret it. UPDATE: this suggestion would be even better if elements didn't close for the summer. Alas. 

Until next time,  

Food Review: Cafe 22

Café 22

823 Corydon Ave 

      
Update (August 2012): Cafe 22 has changed its menu sometime this spring. They decreased the size of the pizzas (to 10 inch), increased price, and didn't change the pizza quality. At this point I don't really think the price is worth what you get. You'd be better off ordering the pizza as delivery. There are some intriguing new dishes: the fig, caramelized onion and Gorgonzola was especially tasty sounding, but it isn't the same home-town pizza cafe it once was. 

     I have gone to Café 22 more times than I can remember in the last five years. That’s not to say I am a regular, but if I do not want to spend a lot of money and I want a quieter place to eat, this is my number one choice.  The reason for this is threefold: 1) they do not charge you extra money for toppings on custom pizzas, 2) there is a patio which is wonderful for people watching 3) the pizza is reliable.

                The atmosphere is wonderful. Two large artificial trees reach the roof and spread their branches around the middle of the room which effectively muffles the sound. The lights are dim. The music is never too loud. The only thing that retracts from the mood of the place are the paintings in the booths, which look at you with very vibrant eyes. I find them unnerving.

                The servers might be a mixed bag, but when I go there I am not expecting someone professionally paring tastes, or catering to my whim. I am there for pizza that is cheesy, and satisfying. Having ordered out pizza hotline’s garden veggie, I can tell you that it is pretty much the Greek pizza with pineapple. It is an honest attempt to be better than most pizza place’s veggie pizza, only, it doesn’t really succeed. The Greek is tasty, but you can make one that is better using your own pizza making genius in the comfort of their restaurant.

                Here are some favourite custom pizzas:

-          Flat crust with jalapenos, roasted red pepper, green pepper, garlic, and mozzarella cheese.

-          Simple Mediterranean: Regular crust with sundried tomatoes, spinach, garlic (never forget the garlic), and roasted eggplant

-          Mushrooms, eggplant and basil.
-     Mushrooms, eggplant, garlic, feta, mozzarella

-          Feta cheese, black olives and artichoke hearts          

And so many more!

I have also tried the calzones and they are fine. The pasta is also not too bad. The tomato salad is unexpectedly spicy. The Greek and Caesar salad is pretty much what you would expect from a pizza place, reliable but nothing special.

The truth is I come to pizza hotline because it is the best middle-of-the-road pizza in the city (based on a limited sample). The crust is nice too! If you need a place to go with friends for pizza that doesn’t cost tonnes, this would probably be a place I would suggest. There is also a fairly good drink menu and a reasonable selection of beer.  I like it.

Until next time!