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.

I Found My Vietnamese Fix

I was basically having a crisis here in Edmonton trying to find a decent Vietnamese Restaurant, specifically on that I liked. Yesterday, I found one in Chinatown. Pagolac was mentioned a few times on Chowhound as a good choice for Vietnamese. There is also a location on the Southside.

How do I know it was good? Excellent question: I know it was good because today, the next day, I think fondly of my bowl of Pho and want to eat it all over again. I think that's good enough, even if the food isn't absolutely perfect.

My dining companion, Albert, and I started by splitting "Vegetarian Egg Rolls". The order consisted of six fresh, hot mainly noodle filled spring rolls. They were good in the way fried things have of being good. I think we all know that way. Anyways, no complaints and they'd satisfy any spring roll craving.

Albert ordered a bowl of rice noodles with some meats and fried rolls on top. He downed it really freaking quick so it must have been tasty. But, there was some pink, not as in rare, meat that he didn't want to talk about after. Apparently that bit wasn't very good and perhaps should be avoided.

I had a beef Pho, the "special, deluxe" one or something. It had plenty of sliced beef, some of it rare, a meatball, tendon, and tripe, green onions, and rice noodles in a tasty broth. I added plenty of Thai Basil, bean sprouts, chili peppers, and hot sauce to spice things up. The regular portion was impressive for about $8. The noodles were not stuck together in a giant clump!!! It was incredible filling but I could not stop eating because I kept finding more tasty beef. I finished my meal incredibly stuffed, but hey rice noodles and broth should digest fast and easy, no?

Later that night, I sipped a glass of Cabernet sauvegeon at the Sugarbowl. It's a fabulous place for an evening drink. Plus, a brick of Pho in the stomach helps with alcohol tolerance, hehe.