Phil & Sebastian Coffee: Chinook

Hey I got to meet Phil! This new location has an entrance from where the Shell is. Also near Jugo Juice.

It's very cute and trendy. I can tell this is going to be a hot spot for coffee!  I had a mocha that is made with dark chocolate shavings and dulce de leche.  

http://philsebastian.com/

Olives

Across from Stampede Casino, this is a great place to have supper before a Flames game.  The restaurant is in a 'L' shape one side has a bar the other side has an open kitchen bar. 

 No bread, but OLIVES! Yes I tried a green one and a black one. I didn't like either but the green one wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be.

 Mussels with white wine, chunks of soppresatta, tomato and basil

 Potato Herb Gnocchi: Pea sprouts, spring pea nage, pecorino cheese

 I didn't care too much for the pea sprouts, reminded me a bit of cilantro.  The gnocchi was delicious, slightly crunchy and worked well with the sauce. 

Truffle Parsnip and Mascarpone Raviolis with asparagus and mushroom cream sauce.

Olive's Tiramisu with espresso gelato

Almond Panna Cotta with almond crumble and rhubarb compote.

H

Grainfield's

A surprisingly decent hotel/motel restaurant: Grainfield's.  It's actually across from Denny's and their menu has some really good combination's but only 1 page of selection. 

"Mixed grill" Hash browns, toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, fried tomato.  

Instead it was just a regular chunky slice of tomato that was probably thrown on the grill with the rest of the meat.  Oh well. Ask next time :)

When I read 'fried' tomato, I was picturing Fried green tomatoes. Something like this: 

Bacon Waffle's with eggs (Yes the waffle is embedded with bacon studs)

View Larger Map

Misato Sushi & Grill

It was my cousin's birthday so she chose this fabulous Japanese restaurant to celebrate. 
No. 1 tip: Make reservations.  The place gets very busy after 6pm.  The interior is very nice. The chairs are really comfortable (those heavy faux leather chairs).  The restaurant itself is fairly small but very well staffed. I have never seen so many chefs working at a small workspace.  There is no 'sushi-bar' seating.  They have a specials board as well.  Rice to fish ratio is fantastic, though I think the size of each piece could be cut in half again (to fit better in your mouth). 

 Blush roll(Shrimp, Salmon, Avocado) and Unagi roll (BBQ eel, cucumber)

 Alaska roll (Imitation & real crab meat, masago, avocado, smoked salmon); Spicy roll (Tuna, salmon, avocado, spicy sauce)

 THE FAMOUS CALGARY SPECIAL ROLL! Pricey for 8 pieces but really not because this role is loaded with fresh fish. YUM

Note the size.  About the size of a cell phone.  It's kind of like an assorted sashimi roll.

Rocky Roll (Smoked tuna, tuna, avocado, green onion), Calamari roll (deep fried squid, cucumber, lettuce and spicy sauce)

 This is going to be one of my favourite sushi places! Just make sure you bring your appetite!

Loungeburger

**SCROLL DOWN FOR THE 2011 UPDATE

I have yet to find a place that matches Burger Bar in Vegas, but this place is a decent attempt for Calgary. 

There is a bar and dining room at this restaurant across from the Victoria station C-train stop.  It looks small from the outside, but it's a really large restaurant.  Very modern and sleek but with large screen tv's showing sports of course.  

The actual menu is enormous. I mean physically it's a huge menu.  Selection wise it is also very good.  

I built my own: Kobe beef burger on focaccia bun, sauteed mushrooms and onions, applewood cheddar and ranch sauce on the side.  Sweet potato fries on the side.  The sweet potato fries were normal, the ranch sauce was exceptional.  My kobe beef burger was delicious. I might try a different type of cheese and that sauteed apple next time. So many options!

My friend had the Ahi tuna burger with curly fries and red pepper dipping sauce.

We also had an order of Calamari! THANK GOODNESS FINALLY A PLACE THAT DOES CALAMARI RIGHT!  The batter tastes more like tempura flour rather than regular flour.  The size of the calamari was cut into small rings.  The sauce on the bottom had a bit of a kick to it, but it was still pretty good.  

Not my Bellini's. 

**2011 UPDATE**
The restaurant is in the process of revamping the menu.  Note that the current menu (Sept 2011) online is not the same as in restaurant.  They took away the whole build your own burger. I was a bit disappointed, but hey, not everyone can be Burger Bar. I had the feature burger, a mushroom and swiss on a Brioche bun, however I substituted beef with the kobe beef patty.  Waffle fries are probably my favourite here. It wasn't bad the second time around, but it's hard to assess since we were there before the revamped menu.

My friend had the Pulled pork with onion rings.

Soda cake part 2

Coca-cola soda cake. I baked this for a fellow co worker for her going away cake.

Chocolate Marshmallow frosting

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 large marshmallows
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Plus 1 teaspoon almond extract)

Preparation

Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Place the marshmallows, butter, and milk in a medium-size heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir until the marshmallows are melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the confectioners' sugar and cocoa mixture over the marshmallow mixture. Add the vanilla and stir until the frosting is smooth and satiny.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Marshmallow-Frosting-102835#ixzz10JuJVKjb

No bake peanut butter pie. Yes I did not bake!

Thank you again to Joy the Baker for providing another fantastic adapted Martha Stewart recipe.  

My alteration was with 1/2 cup icing sugar and 2 tsp of almond extract in the whipped cream on top.