436 replies to this topic

[nakji]

Oh, a nice bowl of pho! That's painful to see. Every detail is right, down to the stolen "Laughing Cow" logo on the bowl's rim. Was that in Toronto? I'll be there in July, and I'd love to have a good bowl of pho before going back to Halifax.

[Kerry Beal]

Oh, a nice bowl of pho! That's painful to see. Every detail is right, down to the stolen "Laughing Cow" logo on the bowl's rim. Was that in Toronto? I'll be there in July, and I'd love to have a good bowl of pho before going back to Halifax.

Here is a link to the Toronto location. We were at the Mississauga location (Dundas and Cawthra) and often eat at the Hamilton location,

[Kerry Beal]

This week Anna and I headed out on a Tuesday to visit with a student of mine who is running a chocolate business in Waterloo. She wanted to learn a bit about panning, so I took my DeBuyer pan that fits on the Kitchen Aid. She had some dry ice and some almonds waiting for us for the experimentation.



Of course dry ice just begs to be played with.

Lunch was at Johnny Fresco's - a mediterranean fast food joint that we have enjoyed before.

I had pork souvlaki on a salad, Anna and Trish had the lamb burger. We also had a side of zucchini tots.







After lunch Anna and I headed off to a restaurant supply - which turned out to be very disappointing - as they didn't have a showroom.

Enroute to the disappointment - we eyeballed an interesting looking thrift store. I managed to pick up some great english pub half pint beer glasses, a nut grinder and a couple of good books. Anna will have to report on her finds - as I have forgotten already!

[Kerry Beal]

I'm going to be heading up the soon to be reopened 'in patient unit' at the Salvation Army - part of the Shelter Health Network. So today I met with the nurse who will be in charge and one of the nurses who was involved in it's previous incarnation (before the funding went south).

We met for lunch in Hamilton at a popular Westdale haunt called 'The Bean Bar'. We watched lots of fabulous looking sandwiches head past - and some pretty amazing looking desserts as well.

I'm sure they will get accustomed to the weird doc that needs to take pictures before they are allowed to eat!

I opted for the warm portabello salad with candied walnuts, roasted garlic and goat cheese.



Sweet potato fries.



A pear and gorgonzola salad.



And a chicken caesar.

[MelissaH]

I'm very excited, as a week from today, I'll have a new lunch partner! Dear friends will be visiting us, and while the two men are off judging beer for the NY State Fair competition, us two ladies will have a whole day to ourselves! No clue what we'll do or where we'll wind up, as it'll be at least somewhat weather dependent, but I'll try to remember to bring a camera!

MelissaH

[Anna N]

It’s been a busy week for me but I’m finally getting around to post about lunch on Wednesday. We debated between breakfast for lunch or BBQ in Hamilton and I opted for breakfast at Kerry’s favourite diner, The Mount Royal Restaurant and Tavern in Burlington.

Servers in a diner always strike me as being a unique subset of staff in the restaurant business. They are usually rushed but manage to somehow remain friendly and accommodating and the server here was no exception.

Kerry stuck like glue to low-carb options and had eggs and crispy bacon and asked that her plate NOT be garnished with an orange section which she admits annoys the hell out of her. She got tomatoes instead. She also declined the offered toast.

I couldn’t face another egg in any guise so I ordered a very high-carb Hot Beef Sandwich. Honest I barely touched the potatoes or the bread, ate the green beans as if they were some sort of coke as I was feeling very much vegetable deprived and tried hard not to notice the yellow beans which along with okra and lima beans are on my “unfit for human consumption” list.





None of this food rates anywhere on the list of gourmet delicacies but both meals met the “comfort food” criterion very well.

Before lunch we had wandered through Goeman’s Clearance Centre which is a high-end appliance store and drooled over some of the offerings. We were intrigued by the steam ovens and I almost fell in love with a stainless steel ‘fridge – all ‘fridge! But when we opened the door we found it to be a counter-depth model. Despite the outward appearance of roominess the shallow shelves were enough to banish any regret I might have that I could never afford it anyway.

After lunch we headed over to our favourite bargain centre, the Re-Use Centre. Kerry found a great stainless steel utensil holder which she allowed me to claim as my vessel for chilling custards for ice cream. She also found two absolutely square heavy-duty cake tins and then found Pat Chapman’s “Curry Bible” for me. I have a shelf full of Indian cook books and have worked as a recipe tester for more than one Indian cook book but this was a new discovery for me and I have read and re-read it and will start cooking from it today! The total bill for all our purchases came to less than $7 and there was more items that I have forgotten.

[Anna N]

We were on a serious mission yesterday to find a new garlic press for Kerry and new scissors for me as my kitchen scissors have been useless for ages. On the way to find a place for lunch we dropped into a HomeSense store and spent a happy hour scrabbling through the bargain bins. We both spent more money than we should have but left highly satisfied with our buys. I am pretty sure Kerry didn’t get a garlic press! I did find scissors, an adjustable cheese plane, a serrated peeler, 3 cookbooks and guess what? A garlic press for me that I didn’t know I needed.



After that much retail therapy we were more than ready for lunch and returned to a place we had enjoyed many months ago.

Chang & Huang click
is a Thai and Hakka Restaurant situated in a plaza with more restaurants than are usually found in a single location. We could have chosen Italian, Mediterranean, Japanese, Popeye’s Chicken, Asian and even more. We scoped out most of the restaurants and decided to return to this one as a sure bet. It was the right choice.

The calamari was not the best we have had but it was perfectly adequate. It was crispy on the outside and a bit too chewy on the inside but we managed to finish most of the platter.



We asked for the grilled chicken and at first the server indicated that it was not available at lunch time because it takes a bit longer to prepare and most diners are business people with limited time for lunch. But we arrived at the tail-end of lunch time and we obviously didn’t appear very business-like so our order was honoured. The chicken looked a bit burned and over-cooked as you can see in the photo but it was tasty and amazingly tender and juicy.



The crisp fried vegetables, however, were the star of this meal. The broccoli had a crispy exterior and an amazingly creamy interior. The onions, mushrooms, and carrots were tasty and, carnivores that we are, we debated for a fleeting moment the possibility of becoming vegetarians.

[Kerry Beal]

Today lunch followed a trip to the metal supermarket to pick up some caramel bars for my friend in Owen Sound. The restaurant is called Coriander Green in Oakville. It appeared to have good reviews on-line. We were the only folks in there!



The interior.



Pappadams - nice and crispy - love the cumin!



Onion Bhaji with Tamarind sauce (and a mango drizzle!). Sauce tasted more like cranberry than tamarind though.




The grill plate - kebab, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka on a bed of grilled onions and peppers. An interesting yogurt mint sauce served with it.

Great scores at the thrift stores today. I got 2 3/4 sheet pans, 5 cookbooks including "the Gift of Southern Cooking" and 4 Time Life Good Cooking Series books, two novels, a pristine little tart pan and a nice Sadler brown betty and got change back from $20.

Anna scored the Sandwich book from the Good Cook Series, a couple of novels and a couple of Australian Women's Weeky cookbooks. A couple of others items that I've forgotten.

[suzilightning]

well, it was "a moderate" 98F today after the first set of errands and the gym though the humidity was much more than yesterday. there were two gents at my house reconditioning my kitchen cabinets - oh, the horror is about to begin!!!!- who i amply tipped for their work and inconvenience so i opted for a bar lunch before the second round of errands and kitty sitting for a neighbor.

i have to tell you since the economy went south a few years ago i try to eat out once a week at one of a few local places for lunch. my husband, johnnybird, and i eat out maybe 4 times a year since a) he is sweet but a bit fussy and b) i'm a pretty good home cook. where i do indulge myself and sometimes my dangerous dining companion, 'chelle, is at lunch. we are the scouts and if i can find something that he will find acceptable to eat i will bring him.

thai? bring on the curry puffs, thai iced tea and tom yum gai. my
pad thai and thai fried rice is more to johnnybird's taste.
chinese? not so much... see thai
italian? found a great place with the owner in residence making fresh
pasta and good, fresh seafood for him and homemade cheese
ravioli and ethereal polpette for me. another place that
makes a great bolognese sauce that is used to make a fresh
pasta lasagna - without tons of ricotta and chewy mozzarella
mexican - real mexican not tex mex? got my eye on a few places to try
barbecue? take out for a co-worker and me next monday.

today it was an old standby: The Warehouse Grille. i can walk into this place any day and feel comfortable sitting at the bar with my book or magazine to read. usually it is a Stella but since i had more running around to do it was an Arnie Palmer(non-alocholic) also known as a half and half - half lemonade and half iced tea. the perfect thing for the weather here in nw nj today. i had major oral surgery several months back and it takes time to get your mouth back. today i was feeling strong so i ordered the beef sliders (2) with special(horseradish) sauce and fizzled onions minus the american cheese and was able to actually eat them!!!! all that i needed to make it perfect would be some coleslaw....

[Anna N]

....

today it was an old standby: The Warehouse Grille. i can walk into this place any day and feel comfortable sitting at the bar with my book or magazine to read.

.....

Ah yes! To have a place where you can feel comfortable alone and with reading material. Such places are getting much harder to find. Thanks for sharing.

[robirdstx]

A girlfriend and I went down to San Leon, Texas today for lunch and birdwatching at the TopWater Grill. The restaurant had been destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008 but had finally reopened earlier this year. The TopWater has its own fleet of shrimp boats, which are docked just outside the restaurant. The view from our table:



After our waitress took our order, she went out on the dock to take some of her own photos of the pelicans waiting for scraps from the fisherman that were pulling up just outside our window. "Everybody look at the camera and say FISH"



I had the Special – Blackened Cobia (fresh caught by the owner this morning) topped with a crab and butter sauce and two grilled shrimp, rice pilaf and a veggie medley of zucchini, yellow squash, onion, and red bell pepper. Very good! I forgot to take the photo until after my first bite!



After our meal, we went out by the docks to get a closer view of the pelicans. There was a tug of war for one of the fish skeletons tossed by the fisherman cleaning their catch. Note that most of the fish is already in the pouch of the bird on the right.



It was so gratifying to be able to enjoy super fresh seafood from our Galveston bay waters and to see healthy, happy birds after all the bad news about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

[heidih]

robirdstx- that was a feast for the eyes and the heart. Makes me hungry as well of course.

[suzilightning]

the last few days have been on the road running errands and trying to find hardware that won't look too bad on our refinished cherry kitchen cabinets circa 1960.

this necessitates some quick stops for what I feel is fast food - one from an old standby and one from a new place found by accident.

wednesday off to a 1230 appointment so i swung by Thai Nam Phet. tom yum gai and curry puffs. i can't eat more than that - and not even all of it as i brought one puff and half the soup home. the curry puffs (4) and the sauce - i know it is supposed to be for the "salad" that comes with it - are to DIE FOR!!! not too spicy a filling and with a wonderful flaky crust that gently enrobes the filling then crumbles to the tooth.

today was another venture to find hardware - YES!!!! - ordered and here in 10 days or so. on the way i noticed a place that said it was thai and vietnamese. no time to sit down so i got an order of pho - house special though i couldn't work the tendon too well. the beef was perfectly cooked and the broth is to die for. some noodles then a slurp of the broth, some crunch sprouts and a touch of sambal then a slurp of the broth. i will go back and try some other things here for sure.
http://www.lemongrassnj.com/

[Kerry Beal]

First chance Anna and I have had for lunch since we got back from the north and I got back from Ann Arbor.

We needed some serious comfort food - so it had to be pho! We hit Pho dau Bo in Hamilton. We had a whole day to play before I had to go back and pick up the rug rat from day camp - and since I'd received a call which forced me in to Hamilton to fill out a few prescriptions at the Sally Ann - this was the perfect choice for pho.


Anna and I are certainly creatures of habit when we need comfort food - so we started with some calamari. Not the best we've ever had - always a shame when you get the frozen pre-battered stuff.

The soup came in very short order - and being a little out of practice I forgot to take pictures before we started to eat. So here we have the herbs and spouts after we'd raided them. A bowl of rare beef and well done brisket for Anna, chicken and rare beef for me.








We hit a couple of other places in our travels today - the first a pottery supply place. I wanted to go there in order to buy a 16 inch round cordite kiln shelf to be used as a pizza stone. Other things we found there - a couple of silicone/rubber sheets with patterns on them that are used with clay. I can see the utility of them with chocolate - one is fish scales, another like roofing tiles. I also grabbed a couple of clay working tools that should be helpful with chocolate. The most interesting thing is this - atomizers. I'm interested in whether this might just be a perfect quiet little airbrush for a quick decorating job. Anna picked up a nice little stainless tamis.

We also hit Lee Valley - the home of many great items - we were both after rare earth magnets - that can be used to hold all number of things in the kitchen.

There was also a quick trip in to Liquidation World - Anna got a couple more of the kitchen timers that can be hung around your neck and we both got one of these little tool carrier bags. Anna's will go in her portable kitchen gear - mine likely in the chocolate room to hold tools.

[Anna N]

Kerry and I were on a very short leash yesterday as she had only a couple of hours between work assignments. We had seen The Big Smoke a few times when we drove along the Lakeshore in Oakville and we finally decided to check it out.

There is little on the lunch menu that is low-carb but Kerry figured that she would order the pulled pork sandwich and ditch the bun and I would do the same with the beef brisket.
We asked for the sandwiches to be cut in half so that we could swap and both sample the pork and the brisket.


We ordered the onion rings with the horseradish aioli and both went with a salad.




Kerry had the Caesar salad and I had a garden salad with a maple-balsamic dressing.







The patio was open and it was a pleasant enough day so we decided to eat outdoors. This was the best choice of all. We had built-in and free entertainment! A couple of business men at a nearby table received their lunch shortly after we sat down and were instantly swarmed by wasps. We stared in amazement as one of the diners began catching wasps between bare hands, slamming them onto the ground and then stepping on them. His skill in catching them was quite amazing. But then the inevitable happened. A wasp landed on his thigh without his knowledge and when he dropped his arm down – womp! The wasp stung him on the inside of his forearm. That was the end of his and his companion’s al fresco dining and discretion being the better part of valour, Kerry and I grabbed our plates and cutlery and retreated indoors.

I was taken with the lovely white platters and Kerry found this sputnik-like pepper shaker quite fascinating.



After lunch we headed to one of our favourite charity stores where I loaded up on reading material including a copy of the Time-Life Series The Good Cook’s Preserving. Kerry found one of the gadgets for cooking a chicken vertically on a BBQ (think beer can chicken) and you will be hearing much more about that later this year.

[Darienne]

Your second hand stores are much better than our second hand stores in Peterborough. I think I have found decent cookbooks two or three times only in many visits. Mostly microwave and low fat stuff. Lucky ladies.

Soon we head to the land of incredible second hand stores...Moab, UT. But no lunches out. Dreadful restaurants.

[Kerry Beal]

Due to a huge slobbering summer cold - I forgot to post yesterday! Got a quick reminder from Maggiethecat's wonderful Cheap and Cheerful column she links to on facebook and it reminded me to get cracking.

Anna and I set off for the J-town mall in Brampton - a japanese mall in the GTA. I wanted to get a variety of green sencha's for the hubby and Anna needed a few odds and ends as well. She picked up a small bottle of Kewpie mayo, some Japanese pickles and a few other items I can't recall. I picked up some mirin and the teas.

This place had a very high end butcher - wyagu beef, berkshire pork, mennonite chicken - all really nice looking stuff. Our cooler space was limited and our pocket books a bit lean - so we just admired it.

There was a nice little cafe in the mall - calling itself "Cafe Green Tea" and advertising japanese homestyle cooking.

We started with these little croquettes - 'beef' was a bit of a misnomer - more like seasoned with a few flakes of beef - but still quite tasty. We weren't impressed with the brand of tonkatsu sauce on the table however. A bit too clovey.



Anna opted for the katsu donburi (if I'm not mistaken) which was a rice bowl with katsu and egg.



We shared a chicken katsu cutlet.



And I opted for the fried udon.

[Anna N]

I am back on a Japanese "kick" so this visit to the Japanese Mall was right up my alley. Kerry didn't mention my most important find: a tamago pan. AND it's magnetic so it will work on my induction hob. It's not easy to figure out where we are on Wednesdays as we often go where the wind takes us but I do want to correct the location where we ended up! The Japanese Mall is in Markham!

[JTravel]

We are 4 college roommates who have reconnected in the last few years. We graduated from SUNY Geneseo (NY) in the mid 60s. YES, we're getting old. But once a month or so, sometimes with non-local friends joining in we go for lunch. This is not an adventurous eating group, but we enjoy conversation and food.

Last week was one of our better choices: Palmer's (I have a hard time not adding "meat market"). As the sign says they have been around a long time with a reputation for great quality. So now they have branched out into serving food. This store/market/restaurant is close by the old location in the Regional (mostly wholesale) Market.

It is unusual in that it is still a fish/meat market, but now they have added a large seating area for eating in. Take out seemed popular too. You choose from the brochure/menu, and/or from the various blackboards with specials. It's all counter service but food is delivered to your table. Some items like sides are on display and there is an open kitchen though you can't see the food prep. Most things are +/- $10. plus bottled drinks.

We had 4 items and everyone was very happy. I took home half of my grilled shrimp and bacon sandwich with potato salad. The huge Rueben sandwich looked great, wonderfully grilled and oozing cheese. It was pronounced very tasty. The pulled pork sandwich was large and came with a big pile of french fries. I could see that the grilled chicken on the Ceasar Salad was very tender and moist. Next time I will have the fish fry....lots of those being sold and looking good.

After lunch we checked out the fish and meat and in house made sausages. Everything looked top rate, with prices to match. Having forgotten my cooler I passed on meat though the sausage and ground beef did tempt me.

There are no thrift stores nearby, but separately I think we all managed to hit The Christmas Tree Shop.

End of September it's Polish....another opportunity to get home made sausage.

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[Anna N]

Yesterday, Kerry and I had our sights set on a particular restaurant in Burlington for our weekly lunch. But as lunch time approached we found ourselves in Hamilton and near a restaurant that Kerry wanted to check out called Spice Avenue.

The décor is strikingly different with a collection of bird cages providing the central lighting.



The banquettes are low-backed yet surprisingly comfortable but offered no privacy and I found myself trying to avoid eye-contact with a lone female diner throughout most of the meal.

Kerry ordered Chinese tea and was quite taken with this tea pot and cup.



Since calamari appeared on the menu we had to order it! This was served on a bed of some sort of crispy noodle that looked like tiny strands of beads. These noodles were crispy in the extreme but utterly tasteless. If anyone can shed some light on what they are and what purpose they serve, please let us know.



The dipping sauce that accompanied the calamari, called “cusabi”, was mayonnaise-based with cucumber and wasabi. It was not well blended and so Kerry’s face would intermittently express pained surprise as she found the wasabi. We joked that this was food as theatre and that we needed to get with the program. At first we thought the green garnish was chopped pistachios but eventually determined that it was more likely dried and crushed edamame.

We shared the “Asian Fajita” platter. This was basically make-your-own summer rolls. A plate of rice paper wrappers, separated by plastic grids to prevent them sticking together, was presented along with a platter of fillings. The fillings, beef, chicken and pork along with noodles, lettuce, daikon and cucumber pickle, some crushed peanuts and a spicy dipping sauce looked very appetizing.





After lunch we headed to a restaurant supply store where we both bought some half-sheet pans. From there we made a bee-line for the Re-Use Centre where Kerry found a Cuisinart Food Processor and I found this mini-chopper. We had a topic on this chopper some years back but I can no longer find it. It is perfect when you need to chop just a couple of cloves of garlic or a couple of tablespoons of herbs. I threw my old one out earlier this year as it had finally stopped working and was thrilled to find this replacement marked at $2.

[Kerry Beal]

Today started with a couple of hours in my kitchen - with Anna helping me get organized to a big cooking event coming up on the weekend.

Then we headed out to Sakai the restaurant we had planned to hit last week.



We started with the traditional salad - we'd already eaten part before we remembered the camera.




Mandu yaki - deep fried dumplings of pork, beef and veggies.



Tempura shrimp and veggies.



They brought a nice little palate cleanser - a piece of cantaloupe, watermelon and a grape. Remembered the picture too late.



As we were wandering in the parking lot after lunch - we noticed a little garden along the front of the restaurant. It had peppers, some turnip like plant, shiso and some other green that was sort of citrusy.



We hit homesense for some kitchen things and a couple of thrift stores.

[Dejah]

The extremely crispy bead-like noodles under the calmari at Spice Avenue are likely deep-fried mung bean threads. They are probably more for plating in this dish. Other times, hot food with a sauce may be poured onto the crispy noodles at the table - for the crackle presentation. Then the noddles soften and soak up the sauce.
I remember my mother deep frying these then sprinkling fine sugar over the pile for a sweet treat at Chinese New Year. A mess to eat as they basically crumble when picked up.

[Anna N]

The extremely crispy bead-like noodles under the calmari at Spice Avenue are likely deep-fried mung bean threads. They are probably more for plating in this dish. Other times, hot food with a sauce may be poured onto the crispy noodles at the table - for the crackle presentation. Then the noddles soften and soak up the sauce.
I remember my mother deep frying these then sprinkling fine sugar over the pile for a sweet treat at Chinese New Year. A mess to eat as they basically crumble when picked up.

Thank you so much for shedding light on these strange noodles. Anna

[Kerry Beal]

Rug rat needed supplies which necessitated a trip to Buffalo today. Fortunately Patris was free for lunch which gave us a chance to check out the Bistro Europa - an excellent little bistro at which we had a fabulous meal last fall. We were anxious to see what they were cooking this season.




Patty started with the pea soup (I've forgotten pea and what) - but it contained along with what looked like marrowfat peas, some elephant kale and some sort of minty herb.






I went for the moule frites - the mussels in a nice creme fraiche sauce.




Patty had the potato pancakes.

It was a nice opportunity to catch up - too bad it was lunch and a nice bottle of their lambic was out!

[patris]

Rug rat needed supplies which necessitated a trip to Buffalo today. Fortunately Patris was free for lunch which gave us a chance to check out the Bistro Europa - an excellent little bistro at which we had a fabulous meal last fall. We were anxious to see what they were cooking this season.




Patty started with the pea soup (I've forgotten pea and what) - but it contained along with what looked like marrowfat peas, some elephant kale and some sort of minty herb.






I went for the moule frites - the mussels in a nice creme fraiche sauce.




Patty had the potato pancakes.

It was a nice opportunity to catch up - too bad it was lunch and a nice bottle of their lambic was out!

Thank you for posting those pics - my iPhone camera really didn't do justice to any of that. The soup was pea and bread, with something called dinosaur kale which I am on a mission to find me some of (grammar be damned - it was good!). Turns out they fry the frites in duck fat. I'm kicking myself for turning down your offer to taste one!

[Anna N]

On Tuesday Kerry and I returned to Back Alley click. About 3 years ago we dropped in to this restaurant to meet Frank Hsu and pick up our beta versions of his Sous-Vide Magic to do some testing. At that time the restaurant was not open for lunch.

Yesterday we were much luckier and spent a very long lunch hour eating and discussing with Frank his latest forays into sous-vide equipment.

First, though, lunch:

Kerry ordered the whole beef rib with a side salad. This had been cooked sous-vide for 36 hours, partially re-heated in a sous-vide bath and then seared in an 800F wood-fired oven.


Here’s how the beef appeared inside – still a little pink.


I opted to try the pork ribs with a side of potatoes


Part way through our meal, Frank’s wife brought a sample of pizza for us to try.


After lunch Frank enthusiastically showed us the packages of his product ready to ship to countries such as the UK, Germany and the USA. He also showed us his new offering called the FMM and told us the story of Pierre de Serres foray into sous-vide cooking back in the 80s.

Scroll down for the FMM
click

He let us in on a couple of other developments which he asked us to hold off sharing until he could release them officially.

[Anna N]

Kerry and I are on Manitoulin Island at present click. Kerry worked in the Nursing Home in Wiki this morning and at lunch time we checked the offerings on the lunch menu and decided that nothing appealed. We headed out of Wiki and found a place offering buffalo burgers on native fry bread with french fries.



Beneath the onion there really is a buffalo burger!

We had to eat in the car as the burgers are made in a "truck" but we got a wonderful lesson from the owner on the burial customs of First Nations people.

Edited to add link.
Edited again to fix spelling of Wiki! Aren't you glad I did not try to spell out the full name?

Edited by Anna N, 28 September 2010 - 01:14 PM.

[JTravel]

The other 3 college roommates were oonvinced by me to try Polska Chata "Homemade Perogies" this week. We had a fun time and even the skeptic said "it was better than I expected" ...and licked her plate.
It is a little house on a side street in an eastern suburb. Downstairs is a Polish deli and a couple of tables. Up the steep stairs is a room with the look of an ethnic hall, lots of signs of love of Poland.
The waitress was very helpful which was good since there was no lunch menu as such.....just smaller portions of dinner dishes. All got sorted out in a bit.
Two of us had the "plate" with a taste of several things. There was a cabbage roll, a big chunk of Kielbasa sausage, 2 potato perogies,a good portion of bigos, and a folded potato pancake. There was some sauce (gravy?) on the cabbage roll and it was tasty too. The pancake was an upgrade, raising the price, over mashed potatoes, by $2., to $12. Well worth it. The sausage, made in house was wonderful, it's a raw kind which is baked till crispy outside and tender inside. I bought a couple to bring home and they were delicious. The BIGOS was the hit of the plate. It is called a stew, but is really a long cooked saurkraut with more cabbage and bits and pieces of ham and sausage and other meats. I guess when you have a deli you have lots of bits and pieces and it was fabulous.

Our sandwich lover had the kielbasa sandwich, served with a white roll, AND 2 slices of rye bread....plus the bigos which she also enjoyed.

Our other companion had just the pancake plate (7.95) with 2 big pancakes plus sour cream and applesauce. To my taste they needed a bit of that sausage but it made a good meat free lunch and she was content.

A good time was had, in a very different place, where the cook cooked for us and the food was truly homemade with care.

[Kerry Beal]

That looks delicious!

[Marmish]

Oh man! I definitely could lunch on those potato pancakes.