Category Archives: road food

A Blockhead Goes to Banff

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Joining the masses, overlooking Banff Avenue in Banff National Park

What am I thinking? Walking into the gaping maw of Banff townsite on a sunny summer Friday. During the height of a historic tourist season.

I do have an excuse, of sorts: doing research for a new edition of my Day Trips From Calgary book (out next year!). And if I’m already there, rubbing shoulders with the hordes, might as well eat.

So I head in late morning to what I call restaurant row: three narrow joints within a span of about 50 feet on Caribou Street. At longstanding Coyotes Southwestern Grill, folks are cutting into slabs of sourdough French toast, dipped in free-range, organic eggs. It looks tempting, but I’m more interested in lunch.

Lining up on restaurant row on Caribou Street

Lining up on restaurant row on Caribou Street

Next door at Tooloulou’s, they have both meals covered, serving big plates of eggs, po’ boys and other Cajun cuisine. But the line is out the door, and I don’t do well with waiting.

Fortunately, a few doors down, tapas-focused Block Kitchen + Bar has just fired up the lunch grill, and other than one occupied outside table, it’s just me, co-owner Andy Burke and the cook. Perfect.

It takes no more than five seconds of menu scanning for my eyes to fix on a winner: a house-roasted pork belly naanwich, with pea shoots, house pickles and tangy mango sauce, plus a mess of fries on the side. This honking big sandwich is delicious and, for a resort town, great value for $15.

The pork belly Naanwich was a delectable, filling meal

The pork belly Naanwich is a delectable, filling meal

Indeed, I nibble on it all afternoon as I drive around the town’s tourist hot spots, before heading up to Lake Louise, where the traffic is so heavy I have to park a kilometre down the road from the fabled lake. What am I thinking?

Block Kitchen + Bar
Corner of Caribou Street and Banff Avenue, Banff, Alberta
Daily 11:30 am-2 am
403-985-2887

All-Natural Meats Make This Small-Town Alberta Stop a Winner

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Despite the looming presence of a Tim's, Meadow Creek Sausage & Meat is doing just fine in Claresholm, Alberta

Despite the looming presence of a Tim’s, Meadow Creek Sausage & Meat is doing just fine in Claresholm, Alberta

In small-town Alberta, it might be considered the kiss of death for an independent food joint to be located right next door to a Tim Hortons outlet. Yet in Claresholm—a town of less than 4,000 folks astride Highway 2 an hour south of Calgary—Meadow Creek Sausage & Meat is not just surviving, it’s intent on expanding.

“We’re a completely different market” from iconic Canadian juggernaut Tim’s, explains Meadow Creek owner Chantal Blokpoel. While the former is a national chain built on hyper efficiency, the latter is firmly focused on local and made to order, witness the little grill where all the meals are prepared.

At Meadow Creek, everything is built around the sausage and beef produced in the attached, federally inspected meat-producing/packaging facility, run by Chantal’s father, Peter. Indeed, the Texas Longhorn beef is from the family’s nearby ranch.

Meadow Creek produces its sausage in its attached, federally inspected facility

Meadow Creek produces its all-natural sausage in an attached, federally inspected facility

These ain’t your generic sausages. They’re produced with no antibiotics, no growth hormones, no nitrates, no fillers… nada. Just all-natural pork, spring water, sea salt and in-house spices.

You can buy these meats in Meadow Creek’s deli or at the Saturday Millarville Farmers Market, where they’re a big hit. Or you can sit yourself down at the 10-table restaurant and order, like I did, a fabulous whiskey garlic pork burger on a pretzel bun. Or Longhorn BBQ beef on a bun, with fried onions and melted Monterrey Jack.

A whiskey-garlic pork burger on a pretzel bun. Yum!

A whiskey-garlic pork burger on a pretzel bun. Yum!

With a couple of years under their belts, the Blokpoels are looking to expand into a full-scale restaurant, among other plans. In the meantime, it’s heartening to see folks with a vision and high standards pursue their dreams in small-town Alberta, where these days more independent places are closing than opening.

Of course, I had to take some all-natural chorizo sausage home

Of course, I had to take some all-natural chorizo sausage home

Meadow Creek Sausage & Meat
33 Alberta Road, Claresholm, Alberta
Monday to Saturday 8 am-5 pm. Closed Sunday
403-388-0155

Breakfast For Two at Tommy’s Dutch Lunch

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Tommy's Dutch is a great breakfast diner in Walla Walla, Washington

Tommy’s Dutch is a great breakfast diner in Walla Walla, Washington

The heads don’t quite swivel when we walk into Tommy’s Dutch Lunch, in an industrial section of Walla Walla, Washington. I’m a bit surprised, as we’re obviously the only tourists in the place and my sister is the only woman, other than the two waitresses. Continue reading →

L.A. Korean Noodle House is Stellar

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At LA's Hangari Bajirak Kalgooksoo, this boatload of clams and hand-cut noodles knocks it out of the park

At LA’s Hangari Bajirak Kalgooksoo, this boatload of clams and hand-cut noodles knocks it out of the park

It takes me a few minutes of wandering to find Hangari Bajirak Kalgooksoo in Los Angeles. It’s buried at the back of a Koreatown strip mall containing some 10 businesses, not all with English subtitles. The name on the sign is also somewhat different than advertised: Hhang Ari Noodle House.

What should be the real giveaway is the line outside the door. Normally, waiting and I don’t mix. But I’ve got time to kill, a shady seat out of the oppressive L.A. heat and a willingness to try Korean dishes that aren’t barbecue or bulgogi.

I might be the only tourist in the joint

I might be the only tourist in the joint

The nice thing about most Korean restaurants is you don’t have to order appetizers; they automatically come with the mains, which in my case is a massive lunch for less than $10. At Hangari, er Hhang Ari, four or five little bowls appear just after I sit down. I can’t tell you what they are other than marinated, astringent and crunchy. Good, mind you.

All these appetizers come with the meal. Though the main course is a plentiful meal by itself

All these appetizers come with the meal. Though the main course is a plentiful meal by itself

I’m halfway through this small meal when my order of Manilla clam kalguksu arrives. It’s a steaming bathtub of goodies: a delicate broth, loads of little clams, surprising crescents of squash and a few slices of cooked potatoes emerging from the tangled depths.

But the real star here is a boatload of long, engorged, chewy noodles, fashioned and hand cut by the woman who owns the place but never leaves the kitchen while I’m there. Even when I finally ignore all else, I can’t finish this bounty of fabulous noodles.

Hangari Bajirak Kalgooksoo (I think that’s the name)
3470 West 6 Street, Suite 9, Los Angeles
Daily 10:30 am-10:30 pm
213-388-2326

Guerilla Tacos Elevates Food Truck Fare to Spectacular

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Los Angeles's Guerilla Tacos elevates the Mexican pocket food to spectacular

Los Angeles’s Guerilla Tacos elevates the Mexican pocket food to spectacular

Guerilla tactics include keeping on the move so folks don’t always know where you are. As a food truck, Guerilla Tacos certainly accomplishes that, setting up outside various Los Angeles-area coffee shop locations (such as Blue Bottle and Blacktop) each week.

But it throws me a curve when the truck is at a special event some six miles from where I’m expecting it to be. Still, I can be persistent in pursuit of search of good road food and soon track this roaming restaurant down.

Another guerrilla strategy is throwing people for a loop. And owner/”professional cocinero” Wes Avila definitely achieves this with taco takes on his daily menu you won’t find anywhere else—a blend of influences from his travels to places like France, Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Guerilla Tacos sets up outside various Los Angeles coffee shops

Guerilla Tacos sets up outside various Los Angeles coffee shops

Take my steaming hot delicacy of thinly sliced summer squash with runny guajillo chile, cashews, queso (Mexican cheese) and herbs. It’s a strange combination that works spectacularly well. Other wide-eyed customers are tackling a cauliflower taco with Medjool dates ($5) or, get this, blue crab and potato with sun gold tomato. For larger appetites, there’s a cheese and tomatillo torta ($11) and a sirloin burrito ($10).

What guerrilla manoeuvre will mad chef Wes spring on his unsuspecting followers next?

Guerilla Tacos
Check the website for daily locations in and around Los Angeles
Daily 10 am-2 pm

Eggslut Kickstarts My Los Angeles Morning

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At Los Angeles's Eggslut, the "Slut" is a coddled egg served in a glass jar

At Los Angeles’s Eggslut, the “Slut” is a coddled egg served in a glass jar

The big bell clangs at 8 am, just as it has for the past century, and a small gang of regulars trots to the far end of Grand Central Market, in downtown Los Angeles. They’re racing to be first in line for their Sunday-morning fix at Eggslut, a name that might not go over well in San Francisco but that has done nothing to deter a devoted following in its short time in L.A.

The morning line at Eggslut moves quickly, thanks to an efficient staff

The morning line at Eggslut moves quickly, thanks to an efficient staff

Eggslut specializes in deluxe breakfast sandwiches such as my Fairfax ($7), a lovely blend of scrambled eggs, caramelized onion, melted cheese and sriracha mayo, inside a warm brioche bun. The leader of the trotting troupe insists I should add some crispy bacon for a couple of bucks more. A simple brekkie sandwich but nicely pulled off by an efficient crew that keeps the growing line moving.

The Fairfax is a lovely medley inside a brioche bun

The Fairfax is a lovely medley inside a brioche bun

A couple of seatmates order a Slut, racily described as “a coddled egg on top of a smooth potato purée, poached in a glass jar, topped with gray salt and chives and served with slices of baguette.” Take that, SF.

Eggslut
317 South Broadway (Grand Central Market), Los Angeles
Daily 8 am-4 pm