The Ladies Who Lunch (Part 3)

TicTac · January 3, 2019

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

It is very hard to find decent Japanese food where we tend to travel. I have no doubt it is available somewhere in the GTA but so far we have not stumbled across it.

Zen.

Case closed. Best in the city! No 'Ramen' to be found - only superior Udon!

Woodbine - South of Hwy 7.

Sit at the bar & enjoy the show.

Anna N · January 3, 2019

2 hours ago, TicTac said:

Zen.

Case closed. Best in the city! No 'Ramen' to be found - only superior Udon!

Woodbine - South of Hwy 7.

Sit at the bar & enjoy the show.

Thank you. Had a look at the website. Seems well worth a visit if we end up in that area. Lunch is only rarely a destination in its own right.

TicTac · January 4, 2019

10 hours ago, Anna N said:

Thank you. Had a look at the website. Seems well worth a visit if we end up in that area. Lunch is only rarely a destination in its own right.

Take a visit to J-Town and then head to Zen for lunch. Given your interest in Japanese cuisine, I believe you would enjoy the shops there.

If/when you do make it to Zen, whatever you do, treat yourself to their Toro hand roll at the end of the meal

Anna N · January 4, 2019

7 hours ago, TicTac said:

Take a visit to J-Town and then head to Zen for lunch. Given your interest in Japanese cuisine, I believe you would enjoy the shops there.

If/when you do make it to Zen, whatever you do, treat yourself to their Toro hand roll at the end of the meal

You must have been reading my mind. Before I posted anything about our last lunch I had mentioned to @Kerry Beal that a trip to J-Town was surely in our future. We used to go there occasionally. It’s always an expensive outIng but they do carry things that are not available elsewhere in terms of Japanese ingredients and Japanese gizmos. My sense of geography never was good and since I’ve stopped driving has become even worse. I did not make the connection between J-Town and Zen. Your input is always appreciated.

TicTac · January 4, 2019

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

You must have been reading my mind. Before I posted anything about our last lunch I had mentioned to @Kerry Beal that a trip to J-Town was surely in our future. We used to go there occasionally. It’s always an expensive outIng but they do carry things that are not available elsewhere in terms of Japanese ingredients and Japanese gizmos. My sense of geography never was good and since I’ve stopped driving has become even worse. I did not make the connection between J-Town and Zen. Your input is always appreciated.

Well....I have been working on my telepathy skills, so I appreciate that

As you mentioned, J-Town can get expensive (especially if you stop in at the butcher for Wagu!) but they have a fantastic selection of food and cook ware.

Zen is just North West of J-Town (about 5-10 minutes, depends who's driving 😛 ).

**ElsieD** · January 4, 2019

13 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Well....I have been working on my telepathy skills, so I appreciate that

As you mentioned, J-Town can get expensive (especially if you stop in at the butcher for Wagu!) but they have a fantastic selection of food and cook ware.

Zen is just North West of J-Town (about 5-10 minutes, depends who's driving 😛 ).

Pardon my ignorance, but what is J-town?

TicTac · January 4, 2019

No pardoning required!

The J is short for Japanese - it is a small selection of Japanese owned/operated food related stores closely knit together. There is a cafe, an izakaya, a sushi place, a butcher, a baker, and a place that has all sorts of food related items and cook/eat-ware.

**ElsieD** · January 4, 2019

7 minutes ago, TicTac said:

No pardoning required!

The J is short for Japanese - it is a small selection of Japanese owned/operated food related stores closely knit together. There is a cafe, an izakaya, a sushi place, a butcher, a baker, and a place that has all sorts of food related items and cook/eat-ware.

Thanks! Is that in Markham? I wouldn't mind going there in one of our infrequent trips down that way.

TicTac · January 4, 2019

2 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Thanks! Is that in Markham? I wouldn't mind going there in one of our infrequent trips down that way.

It is. Steeles, East of Woodbine Ave.

Anna N · January 4, 2019

58 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Well....I have been working on my telepathy skills, so I appreciate that

As you mentioned, J-Town can get expensive (especially if you stop in at the butcher for Wagu!) but they have a fantastic selection of food and cook ware.

Zen is just North West of J-Town (about 5-10 minutes, depends who's driving 😛 ).

Thanks! Depending on the weather and on @Kerry Beal‘s peregrinations this may have to wait until spring. But it is certainly something to look forward to.

demiglace · January 5, 2019

15 hours ago, TicTac said:

No pardoning required!

The J is short for Japanese - it is a small selection of Japanese owned/operated food related stores closely knit together. There is a cafe, an izakaya, a sushi place, a butcher, a baker, and a place that has all sorts of food related items and cook/eat-ware.

Come on, no candlestick maker?

Anna N · January 5, 2019

1 hour ago, demiglace said:

Come on, no candlestick maker?

I will check next time I’m there. 😂

Anna N · January 9, 2019

So today once again I was tasked with finding a place where we might have lunch. It really needed to be in our neck of the words meaning the Hamilton Oakville Burlington area. I looked through my notes and found something from my cleaning angel about a bistro in Waterdown. What on earth could be better than an Italian bistro owned and operated by a Persian?

So off we went to Kamoosh.

Tea with milk (or milk with tea) for @Kerry Beal

A large glass (but a small pour) of Cabernet Merlot for me.

Bread and dipping sauce. We had already dug into this before I mentioned we needed photographs.

Beef Crudo

“Thin slices of beef tenderloin, red onion, capers, Italian parsley, Parmigiano-Reggiano, extra virgin olive oil, on a Cognac Dijon tomato cream sauce. Accompanied with grilled baguette.”

Marrow & Heart

“Roasted canoed veal marrow & grilled lamb heart with our house made pickles. Accompanied with grilled baguette.”

Lamb Pizza

“Herbed extra virgin olive oil, Beverly Creek Farm Lamb loin, Riesling poached pears, brie, caramelized onion, Parmigiano-Reggiano & candied pecans.”

We shared all the dishes. I couldn’t find fault with anything. Perhaps I should stop declaring that I don’t like Italian food. But then was this really Italian? It was darn good I’ll tell you that.

blue_dolphin · January 9, 2019

Wow, that is one amazing lunch! I would have needed more wine. Then a long nap!

Anna N · January 9, 2019

23 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Wow, that is one amazing lunch! I would have needed more wine. Then a long nap!

I did need more wine but unfortunately I was heading from lunch to a medical appointment and didn’t think showing up tipsy was really a good idea. In hindsight it might’ve helped! Not quite napping yet but did change into PJs as soon as I got home! It really was an amazing lunch. And the icing on the cake is that I got to bring home the leftover pizza because there was leftover pizza. We were at the point where “one wafer-thin mint...”.

JoNorvelleWalker · January 10, 2019

Brought a smile to my face.

liuzhou · January 10, 2019

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

I did need more wine but unfortunately I was heading from lunch to a medical appointment and didn’t think showing up tipsy was really a good idea. In hindsight it might’ve helped!

Nothing wrong with supplying your own anesthesia for a medical.

Great looking lunch, though. Never had a lamb pizza that I remember, although there is a Xinjiang dish whose name escapes me which features lamb atop their "nang" flat breads. Very pizza-like and wonderful. Sadly the restaurant (Alibaba) closed down years ago when the owner/chef retired. Before he went, he did donate me his special extra long slicing knife, which I still use daily.

Edited January 10, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

heidih · January 10, 2019

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Nothing wrong with supplying your own anesthesia for a medical.

Great looking lunch, though. Never had a lamb pizza that I remember, although there is a Xinjiang dish whose name escapes me which features lamb atop their "nang" flat breads. Very pizza-like and wonderful. Sadly the restaurant (Alibaba) closed down years ago when the owner/chef retired. Before he went, he did donate me his special extra long slicing knife, which I still use daily.

Many despise the framing of the flatbread as "pizza" but it makes the concept accessible to Westerners. https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/03/middle-eastern-lamb-pizza-recipe.html

Edited January 10, 2019 by heidih (log)

chefmd · January 12, 2019

On 1/9/2019 at 5:29 PM, Anna N said:

I did need more wine but unfortunately I was heading from lunch to a medical appointment and didn’t think showing up tipsy was really a good idea. In hindsight it might’ve helped! Not quite napping yet but did change into PJs as soon as I got home! It really was an amazing lunch. And the icing on the cake is that I got to bring home the leftover pizza because there was leftover pizza. We were at the point where “one wafer-thin mint...”.

As a healthcare professional, I would not have judged you if you had more wine. Especially if you would have shown me the photos of your lunch.

Anna N · January 16, 2019

On a recent trip to the Burnhanthorpe (Asian) area of Mississauga, Kerry spotted this place. We were back in the same area today and as we were heading to our Ramen spot Kerry suggested we check out this Korean place instead. I’m so glad we did.

Kerry had tea which was served in an insulated stainless steel cup (missed getting a photo but they were quite attractive). I had warm sake.

Kimchi pancake with its accompanying harem of banchan.

Seafood pancake.

Close-ups of the banchan.

A bowl of soup for each of us.

Some wonderfully crispy shrimp and vegetable tempura.

Throughout our lunch steaming bowls of this, that and the other passed our table. I am sure we will be in for a return visit.

I was facing a very large TV which was playing some Korean program which I am sure brought a little too much colour to my cheeks! Sheesh. I say it all in good fun but it definitely was nothing I’ve seen on North American TV.

But the nice thing about it was the lack of any loud background music or even anything from the TV. Just the sound of other peoples conversations surrounded us so that we were able to have an excellent conversation of our own.

Just as an aside, as I flipped through the well-illustrated menu I was struck by how many Korean dishes might have been mistaken for Japanese dishes. The food cultures seem to have so many things in common. Will need to hit the history books over the next few weeks.

Edited to fix Kerry “had to see” to Kerry “had tea”, even though everyone knows Kerry always has tea.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Anna N (log)

blue_dolphin · January 16, 2019

I had lunch out with a friend today. It was excellent, though not nearly as interesting as @Anna N's meal just above. The location was curious as it's a small café in the lobby of a fitness center. They sell breakfast and lunch and also packaged meals to go or for delivery. The packaged meals seem to be their main business and they operate the cafés at a number of fitness centers in the LA area. I guess you can go work out and then take home your paleo, vegan, gluten-free, whatever meal.

We didn't work out, just pigged out 🙃

My friend ordered the Chicken Tetrazzini Pappardelle

I had Pistachio-Crusted Salmon with a garbanzo bean and beet salad and polenta cake.

Anna N · January 23, 2019

Going out for lunch was not an option today so after a lovely visit at my house

@Kerry Beal ventured out to find something to eat for us. After asking Siri for lunch recommendations we found this. l don’t think we could’ve been more excited. Neither one of us had any idea that it existed.

Grilled pork banh mi for moi. We shared the lone spring roll. Kerry had ordered four but for some reason only one showed up.

Meat lovers chicken and pork chop over rice for Kerry.

I am sure we will be visiting this place in the very near future to sample more of their food.

rotuts · January 23, 2019

banh mi seem so simple

but its not that easy to make

yours looks just right

Anna N · January 23, 2019

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

banh mi seem so simple

but its not that easy to make

yours looks just right

Thank you. It certainly hit the spot. And finding a Vietnamese restaurant that is only just around the corner is just a double bonus.

rotuts · January 23, 2019

ask them the next time you go

what happens to the three missing spring rolls ?

I have to go to Chinatown for perfect Banh

I lire the traditional Pate and some sort of luncheon meat that has a crunch to it

some poached pig ears Ears , in the gel? , and other ' head meat ? then thinly sliced ?

extra aioli and more green thai birds.

even better than Tj's Pancake bread I think.

two is the minimum

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