Bargain Breakfasts and Generous Strangers in Armstrong, B.C.

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Neil and Caroline cooking up a good time at their delightful Brown Derby Cafe in Armstrong, B.C.

Neil and Caroline cooking up a good time at their delightful Brown Derby Cafe in Armstrong, B.C.

The Brown Derby Cafe opens at 8:30 on a foggy, fall Saturday morning in the north Okanagan town of Armstrong, B.C. I roll up at 8:40. No problem, right?

Dead wrong. The converted old house is already packed. But as I prepare to wait, co-owner Caroline asks an older local couple (John and Gail?) if I can sit with them. “Sure, pull up a chair.”

Everybody in the place seems to be having the daily breakfast special: local eggs, bacon or beef sausage, grilled potatoes and toast. For $2.99. What? You’re kidding? Nope.

In fact, when she takes my order, Caroline doesn’t even ask if I want something else off the menu, say, Texas French toast (also $2.99; is this a charitable enterprise?). Instead, she just asks how I want my eggs (scrambled) and toast (Russian rye, wow!). “How about some apple juice? We just pressed it this morning.”

The place is packed just after opening. And why not. It's tasty, incredibly cheap fare.

The place is packed just after opening. And why not. It’s tasty, incredibly cheap fare.

I chew the fat with my new friends and watch co-owner Neil dart around the open kitchen cooking eggs while juking and singing to a classic rock soundtrack. When I ask to take a picture, he says, “I can’t stop moving.”

Despite the crowd, the breakfast is quick, hot and splendid. And did I mention, it only costs $2.99? Actually, it doesn’t cost me anything. My seatmates get up to pay before I do and as they’re leaving, turn to casually say, “We got your breakfast.”

When I mention this to Caroline, she replies: “Welcome to Armstrong.” And as I walk down the street to my car, two passing locals look me in the eye, smile and say, “Good morning.”

What is wrong with these people?

The Brown Derby Cafe
3425 Pleasant Valley Road, Armstrong, B.C.
Tuesday to Friday 6:30 am-mid afternoon, Saturday 8:30 am-mid afternoon. Closed Sunday and Monday
250-546-8221

Just down the street, Wild Oak Cafe is bringing a sophisticated take to the Armstrong coffee scene, witness pour-overs and warm morning muffins and croissants served at vintage wood tables. Heidi Jordan’s lunch menu is equally contemporary: a grilled Cascadia cheese sandwich with garlic aioli or a curried kale salad. But don’t worry. They’re Armstrong friendly, too.

A nice blend of contemporary and vintage at the Wild Oak Cafe in Armstrong, B.C.

A nice blend of contemporary and vintage at the Wild Oak Cafe in Armstrong, B.C.

Wild Oak Cafe
2539 Pleasant Valley Boulevard, Armstrong
Tuesday to Saturday 9 am-4 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

3 Cheers for 2K’s in Great Falls, Montana

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2K's Kafe owner Karla greets diners with a pot of coffee and a big smile

2K’s Kafe owner Karla greets diners with a pot of coffee and a big smile

We round the corner of a quiet downtown street in Great Falls, Montana at 7:30 am. “There it is,” I tell my companion, pointing to the sign: 2K’s Kafe. “It looks closed,” she says doubtfully.

But the line of cars on a mostly empty street says otherwise. Sure enough, the little diner is jammed, at this early hour, with locals. They’re chowing down on substantial plates of bacon and eggs, hubcap-sized pancakes and biscuits and gravy, all while chewing the fat.

We squeeze into the lone vacant booth, order (I get a German sausage scramble) and chat with the waitress, who happens to be owner Karla. Her mother, Karen, used to run the place, hence the 2K name.

German sausage scramble with sourdough toast; a filling start to the day

German sausage scramble with sourdough toast; a filling start to the day

The breakfast is fairly typical diner fare. The real charm is the local, unhurried character in a world of cookie-cutter outlets.

2K’s Kafe

406 3 Avenue South, Great Falls, Montana
Weekdays 7 am-2 pm. Closed weekends
406-727-2053
2 K's KAFE Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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

Edmonton’s Coffee Scene Perking Up

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Coffee Bureau is just one of the new cafes that has popped up in Edmonton

Coffee Bureau is just one of the new cafes that has popped up in Edmonton

Until recently, Edmonton’s coffee scene was best described as slumbering. But suddenly, it’s jolted to double-shot life, to the point where it’s surprisingly surpassed Calgary.

Consider that four (that’s right, four) new, independent coffee shops have opened in the first half of this year. Indeed, two— Coffee Bureau and the basement Lock Stock Coffee, attached to Red Star Pub—are across the street from each other on formerly moribund Jasper Avenue.

Lock Stock Coffee is a little basement space attached to Red Star Pub

Lock Stock Coffee is a little basement space attached to Red Star Pub

A third, Barking Buffalo Cafe, has joined the action on fashionable 124 Street, where Credo added a second outlet a year earlier. The last of the new arrivals, Little Brick Cafe and General Store, is part of Nate Box’s growing empire, which includes two newish downtown locations, Burrow (in an underground light-rail transit station) and District Coffee.

Little Brick Cafe is in a charming historic building in the Riverdale neighbourhood

Little Brick Cafe is in a charming historic building in the Riverdale neighbourhood

If there’s a theme to this caffeinated surge, it’s this: Hole-in-the-wall spaces with limited seating and a firm focus on crafting fine espresso-based drinks and offering just a few baked treats. It’s also interesting that the roasts in these places lean to the dark side, a pushback, perhaps, against the lighter beans long fashionable in aficionado coffee circles.

Coffee Bureau is symbolic of the new-look Edmonton cafe. It’s elegantly spare, containing maybe a dozen seats at pine tables and benches along the front window and a side wall decorated with good, local art. Yet it doesn’t feel cramped. The nice, darker espresso beans are from Edmonton’s new Ace Coffee Roasters and the muffins and croissants from Garneau’s Leva Cafe.

Featuring beans from Toronto micro roaster Pilot, Barking Buffalo Cafe is a unique combination of coffee shop and clothing designer/retailer Salgado Fenwick. It’s another caffeinated 124 Street option to those who don’t want to line up for the uber popular, excellent bakery Duchess.

Barking Buffalo Cafe shares space with a local clothing designer/store

Barking Buffalo Cafe shares space with a local clothing designer/store

Not to be left out, Edmonton’s south side will soon be joining the fun. The Woodrack Cafe is set to open on 109 Street later this year, and long-time local roaster Transcend Coffee will move into the new Ritchie market in 2016.

Will all these new coffee shops survive? Who knows. This much choice doesn’t seem to have hurt Seattle or Portland.

One thing’s for sure. Edmonton is embracing micro coffee shops with a religious fervour. Perhaps that explains why, of the new entries, only Little Brick is open on Sunday.

Kicking Horse Coffee Kicks Ass With Hometown Cafe

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Fabulous, plant-surrounded patio at Kicking Horse Coffee Cafe in Invermere, B.C.

Fabulous, plant-surrounded patio at Kicking Horse Coffee Cafe in Invermere, B.C.

Kicking Horse Coffee is one of the biggest independent roasters in Canada, its signature black bags of organic, fair-trade beans found in major grocery outlets across the land. So you’d think if I was journeying to the café in their home base of Invermere, B.C., I’d be writing about the coffee.

Sorry. I mean my 12-ounce Americano  is certainly delicious, the dark, dense roast tickling my tastebuds. And certainly the beans from the nearby roasting facility are fresh as can be.

But what strikes me most is the café’s ambience. Inside, the long space is fashionably black, with nice lighting and long strips of wood fronting the counter. It’s a lovely refuge from the heat of a summer’s day in this lakeside resort town in the Columbia Valley.

The cafe's cool, stylish interior

The cafe’s cool, stylish interior

 

The bathroom walls illustrate the various brands of Kicking Horse roasts

The bathroom walls illustrate the various brands of Kicking Horse roasts

Even more impressive is the landscaping surrounding the outside patio; tall, waving grasses interspersed with trembling aspen and drought-resistant perennials. I just sit in this oasis and savour the coffee, not even bothering to peruse a menu of cookies, fresh soups, sushi and artisan breads. Next time.

Lovely tall-grass landscaping

Lovely tall-grass landscaping

Kicking Horse Coffee Cafe
491 Arrow Road, Invermere, B.C.
Weekdays 7 am-5 pm, Saturday 8 am-5 pm, Sunday 9 am-4 pm
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Slow-As-You-Can Food in B.C.’s Slocan Valley

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The salad fixings are grown right out front at Slocan B.C.'s charming Lemon Creek Lodge

The salad fixings are grown right out front at Slocan B.C.’s charming Lemon Creek Lodge

On most restaurant menus, “garden salad” is usually just a marketing slogan. But at Lemon Creek Lodge in B.C.’s laidback Slocan Valley (motto: Slow as you can), the lettuce, zucchini and other greenery come straight from the deer-proof raised bed boxes out front.

You can certainly taste the just-picked freshness of the beautifully arranged salad plates—with perhaps a roasted garlic dressing—that come as an opening act with most dinners. The theme continues with hand-made pasta forming the base of the evening’s seafood special and helping attract a local crowd to this decidedly out-of-the-way restaurant.

Co-owner Judy Derco getting breakfast ready for our group

Co-owner Judy Derco getting breakfast ready for our group

We’re staying overnight in this character lodge. Like the food, it’s hand built, with post-and-beam construction and a rustic theme. Breakfast is included, and co-owner Judy Derco is up early, fixing us bacon and eggs, waffles and a coffee cake featuring blueberries and, of course, garden zucchini. Sweet.

Waffles with strawberries and cream

Waffles with fresh fruit and whipped cream

Lemon Creek Lodge
Slocan, B.C.
Thursday to Sunday 5 pm-8 pm. Closed Monday to Wednesday