My Weeknight Out at the Lobby on York

Every now and then it is nice to be spoiled rotten, isn't it? Ahhh.....yes.....spoiled rotten. You see, a few weeks ago I received an offer that was just too darned good to pass up. So of course, I said yes! I don't know too many people who would pass up a night out with a group of fun loving people for dinner at the Lobby on York. I simply cannot think of a better way to spend a Tuesday evening! So here I sit, watching some baseball and reminiscing about the fun, food, and wine at the Lobby on York.

I must admit to not going to the downtown area all too often these days but once upon a time when I first started dating Hubby, he lived in the building across York street from where The Lobby on York is located and to be quite honest, the location was a little on the seedy side. Opened in May of 2009, The Lobby has such a nice warm glow that it gives off the perfect vibe for a nice slow meal with friends and loved ones.  It has definitely been fixed up, looks completely different, and serves up some modern grub in a gentle, warmly lit environment.

It was a quiet evening in this cozy restaurant and lounge, well it was quiet until us ladies showed up! We were greeted warmly at the front desk by general manager, Shan, and escorted to the back where they had a room set up for us. Almost as though they knew we might cause some sort of trouble. Shan gave us the low down on the Lobby, including the two different rooms they have for various sizes of gatherings.
Everything was already set up for us, including a table with the different wines we would be enjoying that night. Dinning room manager, Karl, got the wine flowing right away for us, with a nice light Riesling from Loosen Brothers. I am going to leave the wine comments up to Sarah as she actually knows what she is talking about in that department, all I know is that it went down smoothly. Once all the ladies (Trina, Shel, Rebecca, Susie, Sarah, and myself) showed up and we got settled, Karl hopped to it! Before we knew it we had 7 appetizers and 3 different wines in front of us.

We were treated to the following scintillating appetizers:

Albacore tuna tartare served with avocado, sesame, chili aioli, cilantro, and these delectable little homemade ripple chips. I have never tried a tuna tartare before and this was fabulous! I would order this again.

Sliced beef & crostini: smoked tenderloin served on a Guinness mustard with horseradish cream, Parmesan, and fresh arugula. An overly strong smoky flavour on the beef but it goes so well with the horseradish cream that is cut the smokiness.

Village Bay oysters served with lemon and a red wine mignonette. (These gems are from Canadian waters.) These oysters were salty and fresh. The mignonette paired so well they went down smoothly. I could have have a few more of these guys.

Tomato salad served with blue cheese, baby greens, spiced nuts, pickled onion, and a smoked buttermilk dressing. Fresh, crisp, tasty....need I say more?

Korean beef short ribs done in a ponzu marinade with sesame, cilantro, and a house made red chili sauce similar to Sriarcha, but better. Another one of my favourites.

Chopped salad consisting of crisp romaine, corn, onion, cucumber, olive, radish, and feta finished with an oregano cream dressing. Another great combination of crisp, fresh veggies.

Duck quesadilla made with pulled duck, a Brie and cheddar mix with sesame, bell peppers served with spicy mayo. Served as a roll cut into sections, a complete taste sensation.

Three wines where chosen to be served with our appetizers. To be honest, I just smiled and nodded when Karl explained the wine related details. My only question was 'Karl, is there alcohol in that wine? Then pour please.' It all tasted fabulous and that is really what matters to me.

While the 6 ladies chatted, laughed, and made a lot of noise, our selection of entrees was being carefully prepared by head chef Jesse.

For our entrees we were treated to a fabulous selection of food:

Peppercorn New York strip loin served with a pink peppercorn sauce, scallion mashed potato and seasonal vegetable. (Beef at the Lobby comes from High River Alberta, not local, but still Canadian.) The steak was well cooked but I am not a huge fan of too many peppercorns. If you love pepper, then this is for you.

Portobello rib steak served with a marinated portobello mushroom and truffle butter on scallion mashed potato and seasonal vegetable. My favourite entree of the night.

Australian rack of lamb with a tamarind mint sauce. I know lamb is best served rare but this was a bit too rare for my liking. Taste wise however, it was quite good.

Ricotta Gnocchi with a red pepper pesto, walnuts, mushrooms, asparagus, brocollini, and fresh arugula. A nice vegetarian option.

Seafood trio which turns out to be prawns, scallops, and a 1/2 lobster tail served on lemon risotto. I don't eat a lot of seafood but this not only was pretty to look at, it was pretty to eat as well.

Local pickerel served on saffron couscous, marinated tomato, and herb pesto topped with crispy Serrano ham. I am a fan of pickerel and this fish swam well with all the rest of this dish.

Alaskan lingcod served on wild mushroom risotto, truffle butter, and shaved asparagus. This was a new fish to me. It was a meaty filet but the most memorable part of this dish was the risotto. A nice combination.

Three different wines were carefully selected to go with our entrees and yet again, the wines went well with the food.

Karl was a good man and even brought out a few desserts to try:

I am fairly new to the restaurant review game but if you are looking for a night out with great food but don't want the same old boring food, this is the place to go. Be prepared to spend a little extra money but it will be worth your while and your taste buds will thank you.


The quick and easy:

Lobby not only has their dinner menu, they also offer up a fabulous lounge menu and a lunch menu!

Lounge offerings run from about 8$ for sides to 16$ for appetizers or a burger, and the steaks start at 24$

The lounge at the Lobby has some fabulous deals during the week which include:
   - Thursday's buck a shuck oysters and 8$ drinks.  Now don't go ordering a ton of oysters for 1$ each and drink water. Have a drink or two. The bartenders will fix you something nice.
    -Friday in the lounge you can get a 5 oz glass of wine for 5$ or a 9 oz glass for 9$ (or how about the bottle for 25$)
     -Jets nights will find the lounge offering shots for 3.50 and appetizer 2 for 20$ (not signature appies though)

 The lunch menu runs from about 6$ for the soup up to  about 16$ and cover a wide range of salad, sandwiches, and seafood offerings.

Dinner offerings are more expensive but have plenty to offer. Starters are in the 10 to 15$ range. Entree offerings will run from 24$ to 39$ with side dishes starting at 8$.

A funny thing happens when you dine out with food bloggers; Everyone HAS to take photos of all the food before we eat. Not only that, everyone feels the need to live tweet the event as well thus sending my phone into a tizzy of notifications. At least when dining with fellow bloggers, no one complains about everyone having their phones out. We all understand each other.

Thank you so much Lobby for putting up with us!!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Please note that while the Lobby generously provided us with all the food and drinks during our night out, it had no bearing on my opinions regarding quality and taste.

On The Road, Again: Road Trippin' Day 2

So we woke up after a decent night's sleep in Omaha to this:

The exact stuff we drove some 10 hours to get away from....sigh....while it still is warmer than home and some things are looking green, there is still snow.  Apparently St. Louis is expecting more snow this weekend!  I wonder if the baseball tourney is still on? The lovely people here in St. Louis have arranged for the team to have an indoor spot to work out tomorrow morning!

In other happenings in the wonderful world of road tripping includes this:

That's right....the check engine light!  Really??  At first we assumed we hadn't tightened the gas cap enough so we tightened and shortly after the light went out....then it went back on and has stayed on.  There is a dealership close by so we will have it checked out.  We have a long drive home and we don't want anything to go wrong. Perhaps they just need to re set something and that's all....I am keeping my fingers crossed.

It rained off and on for the bulk of the drive into St. Louis.  It kind of felt like a longer drive today, but it wasn't really.  Rita (our GPS) took us on an interesting route that wasn't an Interstate....We're not too sure why she chose this route, but she did.  The traffic once we got back onto the I70 was enough to drive me absolutely insane.  Cars kept braking and even came close to a stop....for no reason! Enough about the weather and the long boring drive!  What did we eat today????

Breakfast was a nice (and free) breakfast bar at the hotel.  It was quite the all inclusive type of thing with everything from waffles, oatmeal, toast, yogurt, fruit, cereal, and even eggs, sausages, and potatoes.  All the various fixings for each of these items was available as well!  We also were able to nick a couple of granola bars for the road! Sweet deal I tell you!

At lunch we pulled into a Sonic drive in.  Once I was able to read through the menu, I went with the basic burger and fries.  Hubby had a burger on Texas toast...it looked good but was so large, he couldn't eat it all.  After this quick in-car meal, we got back on the road!

This Texas toast burger was huge! Hubby didn't even finish it!

Dinner tonight was the California Pizza Kitchen....sorry folks, no pictures of that meal but it was soooo good.  We split a Cobb salad and a Sicilian thin crust pizza.  Very tasty indeed!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Rendez-Vous des Chefs - A Pea Soup Challenge

This afternoon Hubby and I went back to the Festival du Voyageur for the Reunion des Chefs.  This is a pea soup contest which is currently in its third year.  Restaurants set up shop and offer a small taste of their own recipe of pea soup.  There was only 4 restaurants hawking their soup today, which made me kind of sad as I was looking forward to testing out more (and leaving with a full stomach!).

As you walk in the door, you pick up your spoon and a ballot.

Then you work your way around the room (in which ever order you can work out through the crowds!) and taste each soup.

The first soup we tried was made by Le Garage Cafe.  It was so very tasty.  Had a great consistency with bits of ham throughout.  These guys were also very helpful when my paper cup blew a hole in it and soup got all over my camera.  One of these fine fellows even got me a damp cloth from the back room so I could clean up!!

The second soup we tried was mad by Provence Bistro.  This soup was light in colour and thick.  Too thick to enjoy.  It wasn't really a soup consistency.  They proclaimed to have spent three days cooking this soup.  I did however enjoy the bacon brittle they served on the top of the soup.

The third soup was made by La Petite France.  This one was another thick soup with a smoky flavour to it. It was nice, but too thick for my liking.

The last soup we tried was made by Resto Gare.  This particular soup also had a nice consistency with some veggies still visible in it.  It was served with some pork on the top. 

Now for my verdict....drum roll please.......My favourite soup of the day was the soup made by the fine fellows from Le Garage Cafe!!

The boys at Le Garage Cafe knew what they were doing!

One of the other neat things we got to see today was a battle re enactment between the French and the English.  The French won today's battle but apparently the English won a battle last week.

First the French gathered for inspection and fired off a round.

Then the British got themselves ready....they look a bit out numbered...

Down to the river bank to fight! We watched from the top of the Fort so I had to shoot through the trees.
  Here we see the British laying the smack down.

The French retaliate and advance...

My picture of the British running away down the river bank looks just like a photo of a bunch of tree branches so I left it out.

For the very brave, there is an ice tower...Brave people can wander over and give ice climbing a try...I didn't do it.

  Well, that is all for the Festival du Voyageur this year.  Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Maple Syrup Taffy and Other Yumminess

Tonight the temperature dropped to -35C (with the windchill) so we decided to go back to the Festival du Voyageur....what were we thinking???  To be quite honest, we were thinking about food.  The line to the food tents were so darn long on Monday, we decided to give it a try tonight.  Luck was on our side.  We go to Voyageur park about 10 minutes before they opened, got a nice close parking spot, in the actual parking lot, and were some of the first people in the park!! 

Hubby and I opted for some Tourtiere, which came with beans and a bun.  We decided on no gravy on the tourtiere but in the end we probably should had gravy.  The tourtiere was a bit dry, but still tasty.  The beans were nice and hot with a bit of a sweet maple note to them.

The Boy had the Voyageur breakfast.  This was a big piece of ham with fried egg on a bun, served with maple syrup and some crepes.  He made his sandwich with the egg and the ham and proceeded to dip it in the maple syrup...he adored the sandwich and proclaimed the crepes to be some of the best he has ever eaten.

After dinner, we HAD to have some maple syrup taffy!!  This is one of my favourites!  Boil up some of the tastiest tree sap on Earth, pour it onto some clean snow, put a stick on one end and press it in.  Wait a few seconds and start rolling up your taffy....soooooooo goooood....this is why the line ups are so long!

 

 Hot maple syrup!!

The waiting is the hardest part!!

Roll it up!

Ready to eat!!

Maple syrup taffy is a sticky sweet and a little bit chewy.  So incredibly good!!

Dinner was in a tent so it was warmer than the outdoors and there was a live band on the stage to keep us entertained.  Honestly, the band wasn't all that good....the boys enjoyed when they switched to the speed metal type of music....French speed metal...it was interesting to say the least.

We also had a chance to visit some of the other things we missed on Monday due to long lines. 

 

Such as the black smith's cabin

And the tee pee to learn some things about the aboriginal ways of life!

We did have fun tonight, despite the cold....I still haven't had any poutine yet during the Festival but I will be back on Sunday.....Yes....Sunday, the poutine will be mine!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

My Evening with David Adjey (And a Bunch of Other People)

This  morning I was browsing the local newspaper online and discovered that Food Network's David Adjey was in town! Anytime I can get out to meet a celebrity chef that I enjoy watching I like to go.  This was a fundraiser for the Children's Make A Wish Foundation, which is a fabulous cause so the 35$ ticket was not a problem.  David spoke to the group about all things food.  From restaurant industry secrets, to local food, to the use of technology, he covered it all.  Such an energetic speaker and still so animated about food, David was so refreshing to see and listen to.

Some of the things I learned tonight (some I already thought but David just re affirmed for me):

1. Local food is a gift and we should embrace it
2. Despite #1, the 100 mile diet is a load of crap....how can 100 square miles nourish that many people?
3. Cook for yourself...do it because you love it.
4. Share your cooking with your loved ones.
5. Technology is our friend and we should all use it.
6. Generation 'Y'....apparently they are smart and they know how to shamelessly promote themselves.
7. Speak up for what you want....if you stand there being polite, you won't get a photo with him.
8. Yelling sometimes helps
9. It is possible that David has some sort of attention deficit....but it works.
10. Never order the 'special' at a restaurant....ever.
11. Fish in a cream sauces means don't order the fish....ever.

Of course the evening did include some food...local food of course and boy oh boy was it fabulous!!  It was a bit of a finger food extravaganza...Wings, chicken strips, pork tenderloin, pulled pork....mmmmm boy!

There were also some lovely locally made crackers and snacks, and chocolates available to munch on as well. Locally bottled water from Canadian Gold was offered, and even given away for free!
All in all it was a great evening... I will have to keep an eye out for events such as this!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!