Category Archives: Road trip food

Pigging Out on an All-Meat Meal at Red Deer’s Red Boar Smokery

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Red Boar Smokery is brining good barbecue to central Alberta beef country

Red Boar Smokery is brining good barbecue to central Alberta beef country

With all the starchy food I commonly devour on a road trip, I’ve been leaning towards a more slimming, low-carb diet when I can. So it’s a most pleasant surprise in the culinary wasteland of Red Deer, Alberta to discover a place that’s a) doing authentic barbecue and b) offering the option of going strictly carnivore.

To be sure, Red Boar Smokery features sandwiches and pig-out platters, both coming with at least two sides of such things as corn bread, baked beans, apple-ginger slaw and sriracha salad. But they also have a portion of their menu board devoted strictly to meat. These are quarter-pound orders of Piedmontese beef brisket, pulled pork, red boar sausage and candied pork belly, all for about $5 or less.

I go with the unadorned brisket, which is just a couple of naked slices of meat. But it allows me to concentrate, without embellished distraction, on a truly fine brisket with a lovely, charred smoke ring and a nice, fatty border. Good stuff.

Just give me the beef brisket, with no side-dish distractions

Just give me the beef brisket, with no side-dish distractions

The accompanying tomato sauce is flavourful and not cloyingly sweet like most barbecue offerings. Better yet, it’s served in a little side dish, so I can add it as I choose rather than have it slathered on before it leaves the kitchen.

Red Boar has only been open since last April, and there’s no doubt some barbecue educating to do here, even though it’s in the heart of Alberta’s beef country.

It’s just a few doors down from one of my only go-to places in Red Deer, City Roast Coffee, which pulls a fine Americano and offers bountiful salads and other hearty, healthy fare. In between, the Coconut Room features more upscale cappos, soups, salads and stews amidst a couple of art galleries in a renovated, historic building on downtown’s Ross Street.

Hopefully, this is all the start of some interesting, affordable dining in this Alberta cow town of 100,000 folks.

Red Boar Smokery
104, 4916 50 Street, Red Deer, Alberta
Monday to Thursday 8 am-midnight, Friday-Saturday 11 am-midnight, Sunday 11 am-3 pm

Good to the Last Crumb: Oliver’s Bakery & Deli

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A friend emailed the other day, looking for a last-minute lunch spot in Oliver, in B.C.’s southern Okanagan Valley. I suggested Oliver’s Bakery & Deli (“Our baker rises before the rooster”), run for a decade by Wayne and Dianna Jones.

I’d had their dense, marvellously moist birdseed bread in a sandwich at JoJo’s Café in nearby Osoyoos. But I’d never visited the bakery itself, which includes a deli and a breakfast and lunch grill.

Perfect, I thought. My friends can do some field research for me and send a report, hopefully along with an enticing photo or two.

I was wondering what they’d order. Perhaps a BLT or a scratch-made burger on a fresh jalapeno cheese bun, followed by a dinner-plate-sized apple fritter.

It didn’t take long for the review to arrive. Excellent minestrone soup, Denver on birdseed and tuna on multi-grain, along with friendly service during a busy lunch hour.

So, I was practically salivating by the time I clicked on the attached photo. Which was this:

The soup and sandwich was fabulous. Trust me!

The soup and sandwich was fabulous. Trust me!

I don’t know if they were playing a cruel joke or were so eager to tuck in that they forgot to take any pictures till they had inhaled everything. But I guess there’s no better testimonial than a plate and bowl licked almost clean.

My friends liked it so much, they’re planning on making Oliver’s a regular stop on their drives between Osoyoos and Penticton. Maybe next time I can convince them to click before they devour.

Oliver’s Bakery & Deli
6030 Main Street, Oliver, B.C.
Tuesday to Saturday 7:30 am-4 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday
250-498-0380

Lovely New Lunch Spot in Lethbridge, Alberta

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Bread Milk & Honey is a lovely, renovated lunch spot in Lethbridge, Alberta

Bread Milk & Honey is a lovely, renovated lunch spot in Lethbridge, Alberta

Here’s another brave soul taking over a beloved restaurant personified by its longstanding owner. In this case, the location is Lethbridge, Alberta and the new restaurateur is Michael Knipe, who bought the Round Street Café a few years after moving from South Africa to Canada.

He takes over from Bonnie Greenshields, revered as much for helping feed the city’s homeless as producing superb sandwiches and pies. But after a decade, she wanted to sell.

The resulting Bread Milk & Honey, which opened in August, is a mix of new and old. The downtown restaurant has been thoroughly renovated, and a lovely space it is, with high ceilings, lots of light and gorgeous wood paneling along the counter.

Manager Susan Roberts and owner Michael Knipe

Manager Susan Roberts and owner Michael Knipe

Knipe was smart enough to retain popular menu items like the signature chicken, brie and avocado sandwich. Just about everything is made from scratch, including daily soups (like Hungarian mushroom, cream and barley) and a spinach salad where the chicken isn’t grilled until the order is taken.

The chicken breast for this spinach salad isn't grilled until the order is taken

The chicken breast for this spinach salad isn’t grilled until the order is taken

One change is a decided emphasis on good coffee, whether it’s a carefully pulled shot or a pour over.The java goes down splendidly with a new item, a South African milk tartlet sprinkled with cinnamon.

The only thing I’m not wild about is the rather generic name, though apparently it’s the same as that of a café he started back home in Cape Town. But overall, I love the attention to detail and excellence, from the food to the décor.

Bread Milk & Honey
427 5 Street South, Lethbridge, Alberta
Weekdays 7 am-4:30 pm, Saturday 9 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday

Marathon Mouth the ebook: Great western road-trip routes and cheap eats

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Morenita's, Idaho Falls

Bertha Moreno and daughter Jessica serve up fabulous fare at Morenita’s Mexican Restaurant in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Worthy of a road trip in itself down the I-15

With summer well underway, it’s time to launch a road trip. But not sure what routes to take or great places to stop for a meal or drink along the way?

Well, if your trip ventures into any part of the western U.S. or western Canada, I’ve got you covered. My new ebook, like the blog called Marathon Mouth, offers scores of driving routes, many of them meandering off the crowded interstates and through some fantastic landscapes: mountains, winding coastlines, rain forests and deserts. If you’re into self-propelled outdoor activities, like hiking or biking, I’ve got lots of suggested places for jaunts both short and long.

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How about a drive through California’s Death Valley

All that exercise and driving, of course, works up an appetite. No problem. The meat of Marathon Mouth , so to speak, is a lively description of nearly 900 cafes, diners, coffee shops, bakeries, food trucks and brewpubs. These places are all independently owned, offering great, affordable food and libations. How do I know? I’ve eaten and sipped at the vast majority of them, often chatting with the folks who own and are so passionate about these colourful joints. The back of the book has full interactive listings for all these places, so you can easily check out their websites and coordinate your schedule with their hours.

Marathon Mouth , all 400-plus pages of it, costs about $9.99, less than you’d usually spend on a burger and fries. So steering you to the best places is well worth it, wouldn’t you say?

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Marathon Mouth is available for immediate download at all the major online retailers like   Amazon, (Amazon Canada), iTunes, Kobo and Chapters/Indigo. Even if you don’t have an e-reading device, you can download free apps (at places like Amazon and Adobe) for reading e-books on your computer.

Time to start pulling out the maps and packing the car, I’d say. Bon appetit!

Pizza and Beer Joint a Fine End to Yellowstone Adventure

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Backpacking through the sulphurous mists of Yellowstone National Park

Backpacking through the sulphurous mists of Yellowstone National Park

When you’re located on the doorstep of the world’s oldest national park, it kind of makes sense that you’ve been making pizza here since the primordial days of 1953.

Such is the case with K-Bar Pizza, an unvarnished bar and restaurant on a dusty street in equally unpretentious Gardiner, Montana, at the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

After a full day of hiking or geyser touring, it’s nice to appease your appetite and slake your thirst with a pie and pint. K-Bar offers some nice salads and an impressive selection of beers on tap from Montana microbrewers such as Bozeman Brewing, Bitter Root Brewery and Neptune’s Brewery (I go for the latter’s charged-up latte stout).

Pretty much everyone orders the thin-crust pizza; sorry, no burgers. This keeps the cook at the back busy tossing dough high in the air, loading it with typical toppings and then firing it into the oven. Our medium Crazy Woman—featuring alfredo sauce, sausage, garlic black pepper and red pepper flakes—is a generous amount for two.

The Crazy Woman—The PIZZA, not the eater!

The Crazy Woman—The PIZZA, not the eater!

Nothing fancy, but at the end of a week-long Yellowstone backpack fuelled by dehydrated fare, it hits the spot. It’s certainly better than any of the cafeteria offerings in the “villages” scattered through the park.

K-Bar Pizza
202 Main Street, Gardiner, Montana
Monday to Thursday 4 pm-9:30 pm, Friday 4 pm-10 pm, Saturday-Sunday 11 am-10 pm

Tacos Punta Cabras a Tiny Spot Pumping out Big Flavour in Santa Monica

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Grilling hand-made tacos at Tacos Punta Cabras in Santa Monica

Grilling hand-made tacos at Tacos Punta Cabras in Santa Monica

Talk about hole in the wall. *Tacos Punta Cabras is so small that when I ask if they have a bathroom, the order taker sends me through the kitchen, with a shout of “Coming through!”

It’s a good way to see how the food’s being prepared. At Punta Cabras, it’s authentic and oh-so fresh, with a cook pressing little balls of fresh corn nixtamal into disks and then grilling them in rice bran oil on a small stove.

The dining area is the definition of hole in the wall

The dining area is the definition of hole in the wall

My lightly breaded shrimp taco is similarly fresh and chewy, the crowning touch the two house-made salsas: an arbol with some bite and a pineapple. At $3.75 per taco ($6 for a heaping tostada), it may cost more than at many taquerias. But it’s a small price to pay for such quality.

Tacos Punta Cabras
2311 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica
Monday to Saturday 11 am-8 pm, except 9 pm Saturday. Closed Sunday
Tacos Punta Cabras on Urbanspoon