the maple leaf, classy with a lot of substance

We're in Banff, people! Ah... Finally.... We can straighten our hunched backs and uncurl our toes, stretch those arms upwards, breath in the fresh mountain air and absorb the breathtaking vista.

We love it so much, rather than spending an express couple of days, we're staying for a whopping 5 days to explore the Banff - Lake Louise area.

When we got to Banff it was already quite late, but we didn't want to waste the night, so we decided to squeeze in the time for a soak in the Banff Upper Hot Springs instead. What better way to unwind than to let our muscles relax, and have our worries melt away in the 40°C natural mineral water. Listening to the wind rustle between the pine trees. Bliss......

I slept really well that night.

Before said well-deserved rest, we had a pricey dinner first at the Maple Leaf. I ordered for myself a whopping 18oz beast of a steak. The rib-eye was juicy and pink in the middle, I can tell it was well rested as the blood didn't spill out when I cut into the meat. I finished the half kilo of beef on my own, along with the delicious fingerling potatoes, mushrooms and brocollini. The different textures from the vegies and crispy fried shallots made it an interesting meal. It was not a bore at all and the service was courteous. Worth every penny.

Hubby had a starter of 1 oyster (that he said was fresh) and a main of AAA beef tenderloin with roast roma tomatoes, asparagus, dijon mash and lobster compound butter which he also enjoyed. But, I was too busy enjoying my own meal to pay too much attention to his.

18oz bone-in rib eye - $42

It was a great start to what is about to become an amazing time in Banff.

 
The Maple Leaf
137 Banff Ave
Banff ALBERTA
Open 7 days for lunch 11am-3pm & for dinner from 5pm

holy moley! holy smoke!

Three words: Oh My Gawd!

Calgary was a stopover for us, a means to an end, and that end is the picturesque Banff. We almost didn't stop at all, thinking we can drive all the way through to Banff and just have a large supper there. But our stomachs have their own minds, stopping for lunch we must.

Urbanspoon being our food bible, the top ranking cheap food was Holy Smoke with its the impossibly high rating. We arrived right in time for the busy lunch hour. The queue was ridiculously long, spilling out of the door, I said to my husband, "This better be worth it".  

Fortunately the Holy Smoke staff were consummate professionals, they worked quickly and efficiently taking orders, filling them and cleaning the table. The nice and sunny weather also helped a little.

Never having been here before, I only ordered a small pulled pork sandwich, a small beef brisket sandwich and two ribs (two!!! only two measly pieces!! Yes, I am kicking myself). Our order came on trays that have been lined with waxed kraft paper, the kind you can find everywhere in indonesia for wrapping the ubiquitous nasi bungkus.

Chopped beef brisket sandwich (regular) - $5.99

Pork ribs - $1 / bone

I've had pulled pork sandwiches elsewhere before and since my visit. But I can tell you none of them can hold a candle to these holy smoke sandwiches. Never in my life have I eaten pulled pork so tender and melt-in-my-mouth that I was more or less inhaling it. This was  surprising to me, because from first glance it looked mighty dry. Although the tangy, slightly spicy sauce helped lubricate things a bit, it's not why the pork is so tender and moist.

And how about the smokeyness? What is up with that? How do they get it to be so addictively smokey.

I also appreciate the bit of slaw there in between the pulled pork and the top bun, it gave the sandwich texture it would otherwise lack, considering the only other component (the bun) was soft and pillowy.

Pulled pork sandwich (regular) - $5.89

The ribs... So tender they fell apart from the bone, with dry rub you can see, and smell and taste. Should. Have. Ordered. More.

In contrast, the chopped beef brisket sandwich although it looked more moist than the pulled pork sandwich, in taste it paled in comparison. It was delicious, but nothing special to write home about. Considering Holy Smoke's pulled pork sandwich is one of my TOP FIVE BEST meal in Canada, its chopped beef brisket really did not stand a chance.

Holy Smoke
#4, 4640 Manhattan Rd SE
Calgary ALBERTA
Open Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 11am-4pm

dadeo, po'boy oh-boy oh-boy

There were a few instances during the road trip in Canada when I didn't bring my good camera with me, thinking that it wasn't worth carrying to lunch or dinner or any other meal I was having at the time. This was such an instance.

DaDeO is very hip, very cool. I must admit, I thought it's going to be one of those over-rated restaurants in urbanspoon. Just because it looks cool, doesn't mean it's got substance. But I'm glad I was proven wrong.

Seafood jambalaya - $20

I'm not a Cajun cuisine expert, in fact I haven't had any before DaDeO. So I can't attest to its authenticity. But, the thing is, good food is good food, isn't it, whatever cuisine or however authentic it might be?

Blackened catfish po'boy - $12

I like the cutesy little itty bitty biscuits with the peppery jalapeno green jelly; or the seafood jambalaya, though the seafood was fresh, it was lacking seasoning. But the star dish of the day is the blackened catfish po'boy, with the distinctively charcoalled fish that goes well with the sweet and barely spicy sauce, all wrapped up with soft pillowy bread. The mayo dipped sweet potato fries, with its crispy and textured outside, but soft sweet potato inside, also helped made the case.

If I ever have the chance to come back to Edmonton, I wouldn't hesitate to re-visit DaDeO, but I wouldn't order anything else but the po'boy and the sweet potato fries. Now, if only the restaurant is not so hard to find...

90% of the problem is because we're not locals. 10% were the many road blocks and road constructions in that area, which didn't help our old GPS to (slowly......) re-calculate the path. We didn't want to hold up traffic either, so we had to go forward and pick a path. We ended up going past the North Saskatchewan River so many times, we almost gave up. Lucky that we persisted and that it was early enough for us to get a table without reservations.

DaDeO New Orleans Diner & Bar

10548a Whyte Avenue

Edmonton ALBERTA

Open Mon, Tue & Thu 11.30am-10pm; Fri & Sat 11.30am-11pm; Sun 12pm-10pm

old spaghetti factory, to fill our bellies

Lunch-size spaghetti (with meatballs) - $8.95

My first encounter with the old spaghetti factory (OSF) was in Winnipeg at The Forks. I was charmed. The decor at the Winnipeg branch had a paris-meets-wild-wild-west feel to it, with its stained glass windows and art deco lampshades and furniture. Though they had a combination of seating arrangements, we picked one of their comfy and intimate booths.

the forks, where the rivers meet

Fresh snow, fluffy, like a bowl of freshly shaved slushie. Makeshift hockey nets are at the ready on the solid Red River surface. Not far away, so is the Assiniboine River.