Wass Ethiopian Restaurant (May 12, 2011)

289.389.5294  207 James St. S. Hamilton, On  www.wassethiopianrestaurant.com

This visit was my second try at the place. The first time was a year ago, and I ordered something so spicy I couldn't eat it. Not their fault. But I didn't have that problem this time, I was specific with my ordering!

Oh Wass, I am so conflicted about you!

There are so many pros! Nice interior, soft music and good lighting (which is something I look for in restaurant lighting. Flourescents always make me think of school cafeterias). And the owner is very friendly and makes a point of coming around to every table to make sure everything is perfect. And the menus are educational, which I love! There's bits of info on Ethiopia, Ethiopian food and how to tear your bread to eat your food and an explanation of their coffee ceremony.

And of course the food! So good! It's all so simple, most of it is just spiced meat and mixed with sauteed vegetables. But the mix of spices makes everything perfect. Tonight I didn't make the same mistake as last time and asked very specifically how much spice things had and settled on the Wass Special. It's lamb, onions, and peppers sauteed in a bit of oil and mixed with garlic and several other spices and served with injera, which is a yeast-risen flat bread made of teff flour, with a spongy texture and tart/sour taste. It looks like a crepe, and is meant to be torn and used to scoop your food. I enjoy eating with my hands, so that's a definitely plus.

But there were some points that...leave me nonplussed. As I mentioned, I've been to Wass once before and didn't really enjoy it. I had ordered the Lamb Wat the first time and found it incredibly spicy, which doesn't really work for my poor digestive tract. But since that's my mistake, I wasn't against trying the place again.

My main issue with the place is the price. My dish was $14, and it was just meat and vegetables. So when Harli told me she had a coupon, I was all over that. With the coupon, it made the meal in the range that I needed it to be to give the place another shot.
So I guess, what I'm saying is that, I liked it. I'll go again. I'll enjoy it again. I'll hope I have another coupon. And I'm sorry I'm not able to be as verbose about it as I want to be.

Locke St: Chuck's Burger Bar (May 11, 2011)

905.525.1000  194 Locke St. S. Hamilton, ON L8P 4B4  www.chucksburgerbar.com

I need to preface this post by saying, I've spent the better part of the last five years having a sort of...passive hate on for Locke St. I felt that it had a certain vibe, one that I wasn't a part of. Very hipster, very 20-something with their dogs/babies. But I'd never been there. I was basing it all off of what I'd heard, the people I knew who went there. So Chuck's Burger Bar was my first actual experience with Locke St. And I must confess, I kinda love it. I kinda love it a lot and I kinda can't wait to try more places.

So what is it about this place that makes it so great? The place is really small, super small...maybe four tables and seating for another 8-10 people at the bars. Most of the place is exposed brick and open wall space. There is a small section along the front of the bar that has a designer backsplash, which SHOULD clash horribly with the rough brick and diner atmosphere, but manages not to. Oh and the tables! I almost forgot the tables! The four tables in the restaurant look like reclaimed wood. They're completely beautiful pieces and lend so much charm to the interior.

Their menu is a paper brochure, so they're easily changed if need be. Very practical. And chock full of delicious options! Lamb, venison, chicken, turkey, and of course, angus beef. And the toppings! I can't even list them all, but it goes far beyond the standard tomato, lettuce, condiments.

I wound up with a lamb burger, topped with creamy brie, grilled wild mushrooms, tomato and basil mayo. With a poutine on the side. I literally did not speak a word to my dining partner other than "mmmm" for about 15 minutes. I am drooling right now thinking about it. Living next door to and working for Greeks for a large portion on my life has taught me about perfectly prepared lamb. And this was perfectly done lamb. It's so easy to over or undercook lamb, but this was cooked through but not dry. Just moist enough. And the grilled mushrooms, with the brie melted on top. Just so...mmmm. Perfect.

The price was high for a burger, but not out of the question for a gourmet-other-than-beef burger in a gourmet burger bar. With all the add-ons to my food, I think my burger/poutine combo wound up being about $20.

My only criticism of the place was my side of poutine. While it was made with delicious fries and fresh cheese curds, they made it with chicken gravy. They make all their poutine with chicken gravy, apparently. I'm guessing that it works out better for their specialty poutines (options for which include but are not limited to: seafood and lobster, pulled pork, and turkey dinner all for around $9), but with a plain poutine, they really need a stronger gravy. Don't get me wrong, it was still tasty! It just wasn't as good as I was expecting after the ambrosia that was the burger.

So final call on Chuck's? I'll be back many, many times!

Birthday FoodFest (April 17, 2011)

This past weekend was my birthday and it was FULL of delicious food, as all birthday weekends should be. Now, some of it was my mother's cooking/baking, so I won't talk about that (even though my mother's cooking deserves an entry all on it's own...) but I did hit up two restaurants.


Birthday FoodFest Part One:

Mex-I-Can

107 James St. N

I hit up Mex-I-Can with two lovely ladies on Friday night at about 6pm. I have been here before, but they had not, so I ordered some of the guacamole with our drinks. Because that has to happen whenever you go to Mex-I-Can. It is made in house fresh everyday and is served in a proper volcano stone mortar with an avacado seed to keep the dip green and fresh. I'm told that the one of the owners makes the liquid part of the dip herself, which is what gives it the mild spiced flavour. (Which, of course, makes me think of a little old, Mexican grandmother mixing the dip up in an open air kitchen, very rustic. I'm sure that isn't how it is, but I find the image delightful.) And all of this is served with tortilla chips that are made in house.

After we drooled over (and devoured) the guacamole, our very attentive server brought our dinners. I order the Sopes dish with pork carnitas. I'm not sure what that is exactly, but it appears to be a soft corn pancake think covered in refried beans, shredded pork, lettuce, tomatoes, pico, sour cream, and cheese. It is served with some spicy rice and more homemade tortilla chips covered in more refried beans. This was the first time I had tried the Sopes dish and I confess myself a huge fan, despite not quite knowing what the soft corn pancake thingy actually is. It's delicious and filling, and the leftovers make a delicious lunch the next day.

My dining partners ordered the Enchiladas and the Tostadas dishes. I have never had either of these dishes myself, but they both enjoyed them fully. Even after confessing themselves full, they tried to keep eating to keep the deliciousness going.

Mex-I-Can has been around for a very long time, about 20 years (if somebody knows exactly how long, please tell me, I can't find an answer on the internet. I just know it's been a long time.) They have not spent any of that time on the interior or decor. Don't let this frighten you away! The food is incredible and you'll want to go back over and over!

But all that aside, I think my favourite part of this trip to Mex-I-Can had to be the fact that, while the servers were extremely attentive and knew it was my birthday, nobody made me wear a giant sombrero.

(Another thing I should mention about Mex-I-Can is that none of it hurt my stomach. I have an extremely sensitive stomach and normally mexican is guaranteed to cause me discomfort. Their commitment to fresh ingredients and quality preparation make that concern totally moot.)


Birthday FoodFest Part Two:
Buckeye's Smokehouse
224 Ottawa St. N

Okay, so I realize that this is only my second post on this blog and I've already talked about Buckeye's, but I raved about it so much that my family wanted to go there to try it out. We wound up there Sunday evening for dinner. So I'll skip talking about how much I continue to love the decor and the ability to watch Nashville kill Anaheim and the food network at the same time and just stick to what we had.

For apps the fam decided to share an order of Antijitos and the Beef Tips. The Beef Tips are cubes of sirloin and mushroom caps braised in a sauce made with Coca Cola and served with a spicy-yet-smooth mustard dip. A bit pricey ($12), but I could see ordering this as a main course and just adding a side salad of some kind. The portion size was ample...which was good because we were all fighting over it.

For dinner I decided to try the Uncle Buck with a side of the Mac 'n' Cheese (d'uh). The Uncle Buck is essentially a pulled pork sandwich with little chunks of sirloin and chorizo sausage mixed in. It's all served on a buttered and broiled roll with coleslaw. While I fully enjoyed the flavour of the sandwich (mildly spicy but rich and smokey), and the texture (soft meat paired with crunchy coleslaw), I do have to make one small criticism. It was impossible to eat as a sandwich. The (delicious) sauce that the meat is served in completely soaks the bottom of the bun, making it impossible to pick up. I had to use a knife and fork to eat it. Equally enjoyable, just not as tactile as I prefer my sandwiches.

My mother had the Pulled Pork sandwich and loved it, but experienced the same soggy bun issue that I did. My father ordered the jambalaya. He loved it and offered me a bite, claiming that it "wasn't that spicy". As it turns out, my father is a jerk. Very spicy, but with flavour. It's not just intense burning, there's a nice spice flavour to the extreme pain I was experiencing. If you like spicy, you'll like the Jambalaya.

Still don't have a report on the dessert there for you. We went home for ice cream cone cupcakes (and prezzies). These are my favourite birthday dessert but are pretty finnicky to make and I love my mother for doing it every year.

Oh, and as my family had already made me don a sparkly crown for dinner, the staff were nice enough to just wish me a happy birthday and not force extra public embarassment on me. Thanks guys!

The Dinner Where I Decided to do This (April 7, 2011)

Buckeye's Smokehouse (224 Ottawa Street N.)

I have this problem when I'm faced with a menu. Everytime. I can never decide what I want. I can usually narrow it down to two, or maybe three, choices and then I get stuck. I'm that girl sitting at your table who says, "get their orders first, and I'll decide while they're talking". The people I go out with find this hilarious. But at Buckeye's I didn't have that problem. Not because nothing looked good, the exact opposite! I knew I was coming back over and over again just so I could try EVERYTHING on this menu! So I just picked the first thing that grabbed my fancy. It was my erstwhile dining partner that had trouble deciding.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, I should start with the decor and atmosphere. That's where we all make our first impressions of an eating establishment, right?

My first impression when I walked in was of an updated 50s style diner. Clean, with decent lighting and interesting visual clutter. Except, instead of formica and black and white tiles and kitchy stuff on the walls, everything was done in charcoal grays and red and there were about fifteen big screen tvs hanging on the walls tuned to various sporting events and the food network.

We were told to make ourselves at home and take whatever table felt good, so we went to one of the half booths along the left wall. I took the booth half so I could see the whole place (and because I like to have my back to the wall), which left me facing the sports bar half of the place (and most of the tvs, including the one where the Jays were beating the hell out of Oakland).

Okay, enough about the decor, back to the menu! This menu just blew me away when I opened it. It was simple, red/black lettering on white paper. But all the choices! They had a strong selection of appetizers. Standard fare, but with their own take on it. We ordered the Antijitos to share. They were everything an antijito should be, a smidge spicy and cheeeesy, but the kick was that the salsa they were served with had roasted tomatoes and green peppers instead of standard fresh ones. It wasn't exactly a dipping salsa, but the delightful taste and texture made me very okay with that.

As for their main dishes, there was salads, sandwiches, gourmet-pressed sandwiches, and burgers with half a dozen types of each. I ordered the Seafood Sensation burger, which was a burger topped with their Lobster and Seafood dip from the app menu. It was, hands down, the messiest burger I have ever eaten, but it also may have been the most delicious. The burger was a firmly packed sirloin patty, lightly spiced, on a toasted bun with a slice of roasted tomato and lettuce. The seafood dip was served hot, on top, and was rich and cheesy and would go extremely well with the pita points it's served with when it's an app.

This restaurant gives you the option of changing out the standard fries that come with your burger for fancier side options for a $3 charge. I, of course, did this and ordered their Mac 'n' Cheese. Which is made with stilton cheese and Rickard's White ale. With a bread crumb topping. And might be the tastiest mac 'n' cheese I have ever eaten. Ever will eat. This is available as a dish on it's own and also comes ON a burger (the aptly named Mac 'n' Cheese Burger). (It was also incredible the next day heated up at 350 for 15 min!)

I can tell you that I will definitely be back to Buckeye's, I need to try the Pulled Pork, the Uncle Buck, the Glasgow Kiss, the ribs, the wings, the Dynamite Shrimp...