Showing posts with label Dadeo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dadeo. Show all posts

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Visits To Some E-Town Favourites

While my parents were up in Edmonton recently moving my sister back to residence, we partook in 3 meals at some of my go-to Edmonton restaurants.

First, we went to Dadeo on a Sunday night. My dad had the Combo Dadeo of meat jambalaya, barbecue beans, and blackened chicken that he enjoyed last time. He nearly finished it, which is quite impressive. My mom and sister went with po'boy sandwiches and sweet potato fries. I partook in some of the fries, which were as good as ever. They seemed to enjoy the sandwiches they chose: blackened catfish for mom and Andouille sausage for my sister. I have yet to try either but I think I'll have the catfish on my next visit, with fries of course. I had the shrimps creole. It will satisfy any shrimp craving with a generous blend of larger and smaller shrimp on rice in a sweet and slightly spicy tomato-based sauce. I enjoyed it, being in a shrimpy mood. It's definitely better than the seafood jambalaya.

The next day, I took my parents to Chinatown for lunch at Pagolac, my go-to Vietnamese restaurant in Edmonton. It was as good or better than I remembered and quite busy on the holiday Monday. We started with the Vietnamese spring rolls. They were meaty and tasty in that lovely fried way and served with the usual sweet and sour Vietnamese sauce and sambal oelek chili paste. I ordered the special beef pho with all those lovely bits of cow again. It was really good again. But other things look so good I might have to order something else next time. My parents had noodle soups with sate sauce and beef. They really liked them and our visit to Chinatown. We left absolutely stuffed with delicious food for quite little money.

For dinner that night, we went to the Sugarbowl near 109th Street. I hadn't eaten lunch or dinner there in a while. I wanted to try the bison chili that some of my classmates had when we were celebrating after a lab exam. It looked good. It still does look good. Unfortunately, it was bland with a level of spice well below what I expect from anything called chili. My mom's bowl of chicken curry suffered from the same problem. The pita bread on the side was pretty good, though. The chili also wasn't quite hot enough temperature-wise. The one entree that didn't disappoint was my dad's lamb burger with Gouda cheese. He really liked it, I think. I know I liked it when I had it.

There was redemption for the disappointing chili, though. It came in the form of a very, very stupendous dessert. It was the Sugarbowl souffle made with Callebaut chocolate. It takes 15-20 minutes to be made but is, unsurprisingly worth every moment of waiting. The souffle is very rich in deep, dark chocolate flavour while being fairly light in texture. It was very warm on arrival and I nearly burned my mouth. The texture ranges from a little crusty (in a good way) on the outside to oozing with molten chocolate goodness on the inside. Everyone tried a bit, while I finished it off and all were impressed. It is perhaps the best thing at the Sugarbowl and one of the best desserts ever.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A Weekend of Eating

I haven't got any pictures to go with this, but my parents were here last weekend. That meant lots of eating out.

It started with dinner at Dadeo on Friday. It's one of my favourite restaurants in Edmonton, conveniently on Whyte Ave. The decor is diner style and they serve Louisiana-style Cajun and creole food. To be honest I can't speak to its authenticity, only its tastiness. I'm no expert. My mother had been there once before along with Albert and I. She enjoyed it then. It was my father's first time at the restaurant despite numerous recommendations. I think he had something against its small size and interesting decor.

Instead of the usual bread, they serve small biscuits with pepper jelly. It's always a tasty start to the meal.

I knew exactly what I wanted to order: pulled-pork po'boy with sweet potato fries. It's probably my favourite, although I do enjoy other options. But it had been a while, and the sandwich called to me. A hearty portion of juicy, falling apart pork, in a lightly spiced pork juicy sauce is sandwiched in a soft white roll with mayo and lettuce. The roll is a delicious sponge for the meat juices. It's pretty much the perfect meat sandwich. The fries are a masterpiece on their own. I knew I had to get them despite how rich and huge they would make my meal, just so my parents could try them off my plate. Enjoy them they did. Lightly battered and seasoned, topped with chopped green onion and served with a mayo based dip, they're the ultimate in fries. Between the three of us, we ate all that was on my plate. It also had a bit of coleslaw but wasn't really a fiesta of vegetables.

My mother decided to order the shrimps creole served on white rice. It was perhaps a slightly lighter option. I didn't taste it, but she seemed to enjoy it and cleared her plate.

My father wanted jambalaya. I convinced him to get the Combo Dadeo so he would get the meaty bayou jambalaya along with blackened chicken and beans. The jambalaya was chock full of assorted meats like Andouille sausage, shrimp, and ham. But, what he couldn't stop talking about was how good the beans were. I knew he'd like them since he's a bean-aholic along with me. They're the reason I knew he should have the combo and not straight jambalaya. The beans are red kidney beans in a spicy sauce with onion. They're really good.

The next meal out was lunch on Saturday, which we had at Cafe Select. I've mentioned it before, so I just have a couple of comments. My father again had the bistro burger, which he says he likes because it tastes like real meat like the burgers he makes. It's served with their shoestring fries. My mother and I had grilled vegetable sandwiches also served with the fries. I found them a bit limp and oily, but I still ate quite a few. The sandwiches also came with spinach salad, which was nice but not really remarkable. The sandwiches though were really good. They had a heap of hot, grilled vegetables--zucchini, mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers--along with good white cheddar cheese and a red spread that was tasty. They had to be held together with a toothpick containing a huge green olive, which was a nice touch. It was a really good sandwich on a nice whole wheat kaiser. A tad messy though, with so many delicious veggies some fell out. All in all it was a good lunch.

Later that afternoon, we went to Leva for gelato/sorbet. I discovered that my Peach-Apricot treat was actually a dairy free sorbet. My mom enjoyed a single pina colada sorbet--she's extremely lactose intolerant. I think she really liked being able to eat something that looked like ice cream and didn't have a weird soy taste. My father and I had double gelatos. His was pistachio and hazelnut. Mine was pistachio and maple walnut. The gelato was excellent, the two flavours were a nice contrast and nothing was an unnatural colour. It has a lighter texture than the sorbet but is unsurprisingly creamier. Either gelato or sorbet is a good choice. But, only sorbet is a good choice for my mom.

We actually had two other meals out, but I think I'll post about them later to give them my full attention. You can look forward to hearing about Wild Tangerine and another meal at Murrieta's. Both were really good.