Author Archives: bcorbett907

Unknown's avatar

About bcorbett907

I'm a Calgary-based writer who enjoys exploring the landscapes, and menus, of western U.S./Canada

Primed for a big burger in Fort Nelson, B.C.

Leave a reply
Woodlands Inn, Fort Nelson

A perfect post-backpack prime-rib burger at Woodlands Inn in Fort Nelson, B.C.

Fort Nelson is in the middle-of-nowhere northeast British Columbia. Yeah, it’s on the Alaska Highway, and there’s lots of oil and gas activity. But it’s more than 1,000 kilometres from the nearest big city, Edmonton.

So when we pull into the town of 4,000 people after a week-long backpack in nearby Stone Mountain Provincial Park, I’m expecting it to be easy to find a place to eat, even on a Saturday night.

But the pub we go into is crawling with people attending a fundraiser. Strike one! Across the street, the local Boston Pizza is full to the rafters with folks watching the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather “fight”. Strike two!

It’s now pouring with rain, and we’re starving for a pint, or two, and something with lots of carbo calories to wolf down. Almost in desperation, we head across the highway to a hotel, Woodlands Inn & Suites, with odd concrete hallways.

The lounge is quiet—not a promising sign—and the two beers on tap are definitely generic. Finally, the food prices are rather northern expensive.

All that is except for a prime-rib burger and fries for $15, which all five of us order. Sure, the extras, like bacon and cheese, are another $2 or $3 each. Still, there are enough fixings on the basic burger to keep the cost down.

Now, it’s always hard to objectively rate a restaurant when you’re ravenous and just off a big mountain trip. But we all agree these charbroiled burgers are excellent: juicy, flavourful and big. And lots of hot, greasy fries. Yum! Several of us even order a second pint of Kokanee Gold.

IMG_1773

A Fort Nelson highlight, an excellent new rec centre

Woodlands Inn & Suites
3995 50 Avenue, Fort Nelson, B.C.
250-774-6669

Cinnamon bun capital of the universe in northern B.C.

2 Replies
Tetsa River Lodge (2)

The cinnamon buns at Tetsa River Lodge, in northern B.C., attract hundreds of hungry mouths a day

I’ve long believed  every restaurant should have at least one signature dish, something that stands out in a, hopefully, short menu. So much the better if that item is enticing enough to lure people off the road.

Tetsa River Lodge, in the far northeastern reaches of British Columbia, has certainly figured this out. It does have a breakfast and lunch menu that includes scratch-made soups and breads.

But what makes travellers slam on the brakes at Mile 375 on the Alaska Highway, west of Fort Nelson, is its cinnamon buns. During the short summer tourist season, it sells 200 to 300 of these sticky delights a day, enough to qualify for legendary status in this part of the world.

Tetsa River Lodge (1)

Tetsa River Lodge is certainly an oasis along the Alaska Highway

Now, for that kind of success, the product has to be good. At Tetsa Lodge, it’s a sufficiently large, dense, sweet bun to appease the hunger pangs on a long stretch of the Alaska Highway with no other food options. And at $5 a pop, it’s an acceptable price point in these northern wilds.

But what really helps is that age-old marketing strategy: hand-made signs every kilometre or so before you reach the lodge. Forget “the world’s best.” These are trumpeted as the “cinnamon bun centre of the galactic cluster.”

That must be why aliens these days are looking a little pudgy.

Tetsa River Lodge

If you don’t like the northern gas prices, you can always stay home

Tetsa River Lodge
Mile 375, Alaska Highway, 118 km west of Fort Nelson

Best of Vancouver, August 2017

2 Replies
Vancouver summer 2017 86

Sharing plates at Vij’s Rangoli

 

The biggest emphasis, of course, is on the food and drinks, but still a great place to hang out for a week

Best of Vancouver: A pictorial guide

Vancouver summer 2017 104

Street Legal IPA, from Twin Sails Brewing, Port Moody, B.C. Fabulous, not-too-hoppy IPA.

Vancouver summer 2017 101

 

Siegel’s Bagels: Montreal-style chewy, boiled then baked in a wood-fired oven, open 24 hours, $13 for a baker’s dozen

Vancouver summer 2017 40

Jericho Beach

Vancouver summer 2017 26

Best outdoor pool in the world

Vancouver summer 2017 53

Hawker’s Delight: deep-fried vegetable fritters, two for $1.20

Vancouver summer 2017 71

Mr. Red: deep-fried rice cakes with ground prawns and pork, Northern Vietnamese cuisine

Vancouver summer 2017 30

Go Fish: fish and chips, tacones, hanging out in the harbour

Vancouver summer 2017 82

Vij’s Rangoli: Puffy short-rib samosas

Image-1

Fireworks over English Bay: Photo Helen Corbett

Vancouver summer 2017 60

Peaceful Restaurant: Dan-Dan hand-cut noodles

Vancouver summer 2017 103

Chip’s simple garden: sunflowers and coleus

Worst of Vancouver

Garibaldi Provincial Park 57

Red sun at night… and in morning, obliterating all those million-dollar views

Vancouver summer 2017 100

Vancouver gas prices; they were under $1 in Calgary at the same time

Vancouver summer 2017 79

Platform 7: Cool atmosphere but thinnest pour-over coffee I’ve ever had. You could see further through this brew than the forest-fire haze.

When it rains, time for a pour

1 Reply
Fishing north of Courtenay

Salmon fishing in the Pacific, north of Courtenay, B.C.

“Periods of rain.”

Perhaps the three most devastating words ahead of an impending backpack. Other than the single, four-letter epithet: “Rain.”

What to do? You can forge blithely ahead, hoping the forecast is wrong or exaggerated. But extensive experience has shown me that simply “rubbing one’s nose in it” leads more often to misery than delighted surprise. A misery exacerbated when the trip involves a long drive or an expensive flight to get there.

Thus the importance of having a Plan B, especially if you’ve already arrived on the trip’s doorstep. Rather than simply return home, take the opportunity to explore a new area. It might even buy you enough time, if you’ve got some flexibility, to wait out the bad weather, perhaps camped out on a forgiving friend’s or relative’s floor.

This strategy paid off beautifully recently on a backpack along Vancouver Island’s west coast. Where waiting three days resulted in a lovely, largely dry hike, with the bonus of some fine day trips around the north-central part of the island near Courtenay. Of course, there was also the chance to investigate some great places to eat and drink.

More about that in subsequent posts. In the meantime, here are some photos of lovely diversions.

Fishing north of Courtenay (1)

I’d rather be fishing

Nootka Trail 85

Beachcombing on Hornby Island

Nootka Trail 79

Ocean front hiking in Helliwell Provincial Park, Hornby Island

Nootka Trail 83

Tucking into pizza at Hornby Island’s funky Ringside Market

Nootka Trail 72

Great Hornby Island Roasting coffee at Lix in Ringside Market

Nootka Trail 14

From the suspension bridge at Elk Falls Provincial Park, Campbell River

 

Nootka Trail 112

A great rainy day diversion: Campbell River Museum

Nootka Trail 115

Fabulous, fresh fare at Dick’s Fish & Chips in Campbell River

Nootka Trail 61

Spring hiking at Mount Washington ski hill near Courtenay. Okay, the boardwalk is a little buried in snow here

Edmonton’s Little Village offers great Greek-to-go

Leave a reply
Edmonton June 2017 42

Theo Psalios runs a great little Greek takeout joint in Edmonton

I could easily eat more Greek food. But there’s something about sitting down at tables covered in blue-and-white tablecloths and ordering platters of sleep-inducing fare that keeps me away.

So when a place like Edmonton’s Little Village offers quick, flavourful Greek food to go, I’m all over it.

As the name suggests, it’s a tiny, strip-mall-style deli. There are a few stools for in-house dining. But most folks, I suspect, are picking things up to eat at home or on the road.

They can choose from display cases brimming with chicken legs, lamb shanks and other Greek standards like spanakopita, moussaka, lemon potatoes and dolmades.

Edmonton June 2017 40

Display cases brimming with great Greek food

We decide to eat in, allowing us to watch the action and chat with owner Theo Psalios, who has 20 years in the restaurant business and most recently migrated here from a food truck of the same name. The trucks still operates for some events like the Thursday night 124th street market, where we pick up an excellent lamb burger.

At the bricks-and-mortar location, I order keftedes—meatballs made of beef, pork, bacon and mint, smeared with tzatziki sauce and wrapped with some veggies in a pita ($8.50). My sister gets a slab of moussaka ($7.50).

Edmonton June 2017 44

A marvellous medley of meatballs

What immediately stands out is the quality and freshness of the food and the skill that goes into its preparation. What I also like is ordering a la carte at the counter and being done in under 15 minutes. Which at a full-bore Greek restaurant might be the time it takes for just the retsina to arrive.

Little Village
14816 Stony Plain Road, Edmonton, Alberta
Tuesday to Saturday 11 am-6 pm, except 5:30 pm closing Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday
780-244-0885

Edmonton’s Northern Chicken delivers even when it’s hot inside

3 Replies
Edmonton June 2017 53

Northern Chicken co-owner/chef Matt Phillips stays cool even when things are hot inside

Here’s what an entrepreneurial restaurant owner does when disaster strikes: Turns it into an opportunity.

We’re walking past Edmonton’s heralded new Northern Chicken. There’s a sign on the door saying the fried-chicken joint is forced to close for the night because of a vent failure. No problem (for us), as we’ve just finished eating at the nearby 124th Street Thursday night market.

We press our noses against the glass just to see what the inside looks like. A few seconds later, a bearded guy pops out to apologize and explain the closure. That’s fine, we say, other than to note that we’re from Calgary and I’m a food blogger. As we’re waiting for the lights to change, out he pops again.

“I’ve got eight pieces of chicken I can serve you,” says co-owner and chef Matt Phillips. “There’s also a long list of beers and whiskies, if you want a drink. It’s a little hot because of the vent malfunction, but you’re welcome to sit inside.”

Edmonton June 2017 51

Moist, tender chicken with a delectably crisp skin

So, more out of curiosity than hunger, in we go and order three pieces of medium-heat chicken and an outstanding can of Bench Creek Brewing’s (Edson) Apex Predator, a seasonal double IPA. The chicken, fried at a lower than normal temperature to give the skin a lovely crunch, is outstanding.

Edmonton June 2017 49

Matts pours us a superb Bench Creek double IPA

You’d expect Matt to have disappeared by now, to fret over the mechanical breakdown. But no, he leans against the counter and chats with us for 15 minutes, explaining the restaurant’s philosophy.

Before opening Northern Chicken last November, Matt and co-owner Andrew Cowan had been chefs in numerous Edmonton restaurants, perfecting their fried-chicken recipe along the way. Where I really notice the chef’s touch is in the sides: roasted asparagus salad, whipped sweet potato, charred-onion potato salad, honey thyme cornbread and one of the best, freshest cole slaws I’ve tasted.

Edmonton June 2017 54

You won’t find imaginative sides like this in most fried-chicken joints

It’s upscale comfort food, in a relaxed setting. Even when the shit hits the fan.

Northern Chicken
10704 124 Street, Edmonton
Monday-Tuesday 11 am-10 pm, Thursday to Saturday 11 am-11 pm, Sunday 11 am-late. Closed Wednesday
780-756-2239