Category Archives: Sandwiches

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

Unique Pork Sandwich at Edmonton Portuguese Bakery

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Hearty, cheap pork bifana sandwich at Edmonton's Portuguese Canadian Bakery

Hearty, cheap pork bifana sandwich at Edmonton’s Portuguese Canadian Bakery

There’s nothing like an old-school European bakery. Nothing fancy. Loaves in white, whole wheat, hearty rye. No descriptive words like artisanal, stone hearth, wild yeast or multi-generation sourdough starter. Just bread and buns, stacked in bins and tossed into plastic bags for customers.

Portuguese Canadian Bakery, in the east end of Edmonton, is like that, though it does bake those wonderfully chewy corn breads, in yellow or white. There’s also a grocery and a little lunch room, where you can order sandwiches piled with deli meats.

But I’m here for something new for me: a pork bifana sandwich on a kaiser roll. Essentially, it’s breaded pork cutlets, grilled till they have a nice crispy skin. Mustard and mayo are the offered garnishes. Really, anything more would distract from that crunchy pork essence.

A perfect light lunch, for four bucks and change. Toss in a sizeable couple of round corn breads ($1.00 apiece) and a few cold cuts, and I’m stocked with sandwich fixings for a few more days. 

Portugese Canadian Bakery
5304 118 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta
Weekdays 7 am-6 pm, Saturday 7 am-5 pm. Closed Sunday

Palouse: The Perfect Little Road Trip Town

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Palouse is a perfect little road-trip town to visit

Palouse is a perfect little road-trip town to visit

I don’t often come across the perfect, middle-of-nowhere town. One that’s charming, historic and revitalized, with fabulous scenery and one main drag.

Too often, such places go in one of two directions: straight downhill—because there’s nothing left to sustain them—or overrun and loved to death. Hitting the sweet spot of overlooked yet vibrant is the rarest of feats.

I might have found the holy grail in Palouse, Washington, a “city” of 1,000 and a stone’s throw from the Idaho border. Perhaps its greatest attribute is the location, along the eastern edge of the other-worldly Palouse Hills and their rich farming soils.

A broad, tidy main street

A broad, tidy main street

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The Range a Terrific, Affordable Canmore Lunch Spot

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At Canmore's The Range, the house-roasted chicken sandwich and quinoa salad combo are outstanding

At Canmore’s The Range, the house-roasted chicken sandwich and quinoa salad combo are outstanding

I can’t remember ever applauding a restaurant for raising its prices. But I’m more than happy to fork out $11 (instead of the previous $9) when I order the sandwich and salad/soup combo at The Range, a terrific new lunch spot in downtown Canmore, Alberta.

For one thing, it’s a substantial amount of food, especially the quinoa salad, which for $6 would be a bargain light lunch on its own. But most of all, it’s first-rate fare.

The Range is a bright, cozy space with a short, excellent menu

The Range is a bright, cozy space with a short, excellent menu

My chicken sandwich on fresh ciabatta boasts a bounty of house-roasted pulled chicken, arugula, roasted mushrooms and double-cream brie, topped with truffle-parmesan aioli. The quinoa salad is equally delightful, featuring lovely slices of golden beets and apple.

Most everything on the short menu is house made, like artisan sandwiches showcasing slow-roasted beef, porchetta or baked eggplant. Owner Todd and crew also pay attention to the details, dolling up their sandwiches with cured tomatoes, beet and apple chutney and onion marmalade. Just makes me salivate.

In a busy, mountain resort town like Canmore, there’s precious few places that are affordable, let alone committed to chef-driven standards. So when something this good comes along, a tiny bump in prices is almost laughable.

The Range
103, 802 Main Street, Canmore, Alberta
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 11 am-5 pm, Friday to Sunday 11 am-7 pm. Closed Wednesday
403-678-0524

To finish things off, head over to RAVE Coffee, another newish Canmore place that roasts a range of beans and produces fine espressos and pour-overs in its little café.

RAVE Coffee is a great Canmore place to pick up fresh-roasted beans or savour a pour-over

RAVE Coffee is a great Canmore place to pick up fresh-roasted beans or savour a pour-over

RAVE Coffee
113, 702 Bow Valley Trail, Canmore
Weekdays 8 am-5 pm, weekends 9 am-5 pm
403-675-7777

7 Great Cheap Eats in Offbeat Las Vegas

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Viva Las Arepas owner Felix Arellano delivers some awesome Venezuelan areas near downtown Las Vegas

This is from my new ebook Marathon Mouth, available to purchase from online booksellers Amazon (Amazon Canada), iTunes, Kobo and Chapters/Indigo.

Las Vegas  has plentiful fine cuisine in the top-end hotels/casinos. But you have to venture off The Strip to find the best cheap eats. The bonus is these places are often in far more colourful, less sanitized parts of town.

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The most colourful area of Las Vegas is just a few minutes drive removed from The Strip

Only a five-minute drive removed from the tourist hordes is a decidedly more downbeat neighbourhood with colourful signs reminiscent of the 1950s. Here, you’ll find the fabulous Viva Las Arepas, where friendly owner Felix Arellano can often be found cooking chicken and beef over a mesquite-fired grill and then stuffing the meats inside cornmeal Venezuelan pockets splashed with house-made hot sauce.

Not far away, chef Josh Clark is making innovative, epic sandwiches (like seared bratloaf and smoked whitefish) at The Goodwich and charging less than you’d tip a bellhop at a strip hotel. Note: The Goodrich is currently moving to a new location, so check the website for the opening and hours of operation. In the meantime, their old food truck, next door to Viva Las Arepas, is now an incubator for a rotating series of talented young chefs and is definitely worth checking out.

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Best BLT I’ve ever eaten, thanks to the house-cured bacon at The Goodwich

More culinary adventures await in an even less polished part of downtown. Inside the marvelous, new LGBTQ Center, with its impressively landscaped front patio, is the Bronze Café. While much of its creative fare is vegan, there’s a maple-glazed bacon sandwich, slathered in bacon jam, worthy of a carnivore’s trek.

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The Bronze Cafe serves up some great vegan and carnivore meals

Away from the city center, Bachi Burger brings an Asian twist to American classics. Would you believe fabulous oxtail chile fries, wagyu burgers with caramelized bacon and Peking duck sliders, all washed down with a unique black milk tea or yuzu soda? To the near west, Chile Verde Express is a one-man show, pumping out inexpensive burritos, tacos and the like, inside a gas station.

There are more fantastic cross-cultural things happening at Komex Fusion. Throw some Korean, American and Mexican cuisine into the blender and what emerges is, say, bulgogi fries topped with melted mozza, meat, pico de gallo and Korean hot sauce—a big, tasty plate of food at a most affordable price.

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Hungry for a multinational dish? How about bulgogi fries at Komex Fusion?

If you’re looking for a good caffeine fix, visit Sambalatte Torrefazione at two cafes in the Vegas hinterlands and one in the Monte Carlo Casino on The Strip. It small-batch roasts beans and turns them into fine espressos, pour-overs and ice coffees.

 

Las Vegas

 

Viva Las Arepas
1616 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Suite 120
Daily 8 am-midnight
702-366-9696

The Goodwich
900 South Las Vegas Boulevard (upcoming location. Check for hours)
702-910-8681

Bronze Cafe
401 South Maryland Parkway
Weekdays 7 am-10 pm, weekends 10 am-8 pm
702-202-3100

Bachi Burger
470 East Windmill Lane, Suite 100 (two other Las Vegas locations)
Sunday-Monday 11 am-11 pm, Tuesday to Thursday 11 am-midnight, Friday-Saturday 11 am-1 am
702-242-2244

Chile Verde Express
8095 South Rainbow Boulevard (Choice Sinclair Gas Station)
Monday to Thursday 8 am-7 pm, Friday-Saturday 8 am-6 pm. Closed Sunday
702-260-7758

 KoMex Fusion
633 North Decatur Boulevard (one other Las Vegas location)
Monday to Saturday 11 am-8 pm. Closed Sunday
702-646-1612

 Sambalatte Torrefazione
3770 South Las Vegas Boulevard (two other Las Vegas locations)
Daily 7 am-10 pm
702-730-6789

Cutting the Calories (and Carbs) at Restaurants

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Doesn't this salad bowl, at Canmore's Communitea, just scream healthy and delicious?

Doesn’t this salad bowl, at Canmore’s Communitea, just scream healthy and delicious?

It’s early January, so most New Years’ resolutions have yet to be abandoned. Among the most enduring of these early-season pledges are to a) lose weight and b) eat more healthy foods.

But how do you manage this on a road trip, when cafes and diners are seducing you with groaning plates of pizza, burgers, fries, pancakes and pints? Comfort foods, they certainly are. Slimming, definitely not.

So here are seven road-food strategies for keeping the calories, carbs and love handles at bay.

  1. Think outside the bun

After a gnarly hike or eight-hour drive, there’s nothing more rewarding than a juicy burger and fries, jolting your system with upwards of 1,000 calories. Diminish that stomach punch by asking for the burger without a bun and replacing the fries with a salad or some steamed/sautéed veggies. You can still load up the patty with fixings like caramelized onions, mushrooms, avocado, bacon and, okay, a slice of cheese. Hey, fat ain’t the culprit here.

You could chop maybe 1,000 calories here by foregoing the bun and fries

You could chop hundreds calories here by ditching the bun and fries

  1. Beware the breakfast bomb

There’s nothing like starting the day with a meal designed to put you in a coma. How about a stack of hubcap-sized pancakes or three thick slices of French toast drowned in syrupy toppings? Or a plate of eggs with the requisite double-starch dose of hash browns and toast? Please, just give me a two-egg omelette—with sautéed veggies and maybe some bacon and cheese. Nothing else, except a lethally strong cup of coffee.

Horror story 1: There's another monster lurking under this platter-sized pancake

Horror story 1: There’s another monster lurking under this platter-sized pancake

Horror story 2: The typical double-carb dose of toast and hash browns

Horror story 2: The typical double-carb dose of toast and hash browns

How about a delightful a la carte omelette instead?

How about a delightful a la carte omelette instead?

  1. Minimize the Mexican

Whenever I go Mexican, I steer well clear of the ubiquitous all-inclusive platters, two-thirds of which are mounded with starchy rice and gluey, refried beans. These “fillers” are generally ghastly, gas inducing and guaranteed to provoke a midnight run to the bathroom. Much better to order a la carte items like tacos or a burrito smothered only in house-made salsa or green chile sauce.

  1. Sacrifice the sandwich

I must admit, the sandwich is my go-to lunch choice while on the road. All those layers of meats, cheeses and sauces make a delectable medley, especially when squeezed between two slabs of house-made focaccia bread. But if counting calories is paramount, I’ll ask to hold the bread and place those proteins atop a bed of greens.

  1. Go bowling

Salads are generally healthy, especially if you can avoid caloric-heavy dressings. But they are often a boring presentation of wilted greens adorned with sliced carrots and insipid tomato slices, finished off with an astringent vinaigrette. So I embrace the rising trend of bowls, filled with interesting, healthy, tasty things like warm brown rice, grated beets, toasted nuts and radish sprouts, all tossed with, say, a sesame-ginger dressing.

      1. Ditch the dessert

Cloyingly sweet. Excessive calories. Over priced. What’s to like? Declining dessert brings a bonus benefit: You won’t head into the night with a blood-sugar rush.

Why not finish things off with a six-inch-high slab of flapper pie?

Why not finish things off with a six-inch-high slab of flapper pie?

              1. Stick with spirits

Did you know a shot of whiskey contains zero carbs? A glass of wine maybe four grams? A pint of flavourful craft beer, on the other hand, might well top 20 grams of carbs and 200 or 300 calories… You know what? Screw it. No need to go overboard on these resolutions.