17.--Gulberg Fine Cuisine

  My sister reminded me the other day that I had not yet done a blog featuring East Indian food. This is odd, because I love the cuisine. We chose Gulberg Fine Cuisine; primarily because it was located in the area in which we were running errands. (First rule of a successful business--location, location, location.)

The restaurant itself is comfortable, clean and spacious, with booths everywhere, something I have always appreciated. There is nothing worse than being packed  in like sardines along both sides of
of a single long table. How people assume that's fine dining I'll never know. I like a little privacy between my elbow and a stranger's, thank you very much.

The host was very friendly, a real people-person, warm and welcoming to everyone that entered the store. It didn't matter if they were in business attire, punjabi suits or jeans and flip-flops, everyone was greeted with equal respect and warmth.

We chose the butter chicken, the chicken curry, and of course the requisite roti to go. The food arrived in good time, freshly prepared. The butter chicken was pretty much what I expected; rich and tomato-based with chunks of chicken generously filling the container. It was the chicken curry that was the delightful surprise--not overly hot, with a really lovely blend of spices. Truth to tell, it was better than the butter chicken, and that's saying a lot because I'm such a fan.
Although the meal was filling I think it could have done with a free side of rice to make it a real deal. That being said, I've paid more for worse.

The next time we go I'll be eating in the restaurant itself. At about nine to fifteen dollars an entree it's worth the money, for the atmosphere and the food.

16.--Ten Really Cool Food Websites

photo credit: ecstaticist via photopin cc

There are ups and downs to spending time on the 'Net. You use up huge chunks of time that might be better spent, well...living. Housework has a tendency to suffer; your family begins to take on the uncomfortable patina of unwelcome interruption, rather than being your reason for doing things. Stuff doesn't get done. Things happen late, or don't happen at all.

The upside is the discovery of strange new worlds, and this is no less true for food than it is for anything else. Below I've listed ten sites related directly or indirectly to food that you should know about. Some of them are wicked cool.

http://www.just-eat.com/   JUST EAT is the world's leading online takeaway ordering service. Ordering online is simple, quick and efficient for both the customer and the restaurant owner. The JUST EAT end-to-end system for online ordering makes the takeaway ordering experience better for both parties.

 http://foodbeast.com/content/  FOODBEAST is the premier food news resource. A one-stop location for food news, culture and entertainment. Birthed from a small apartment in Orange County, with the goal of providing a clean display of current food trends, products and industry information. Written by and for the average eater.

http://foodsense.is/  Food Sense is a unique resource for thoughtful, food-loving eaters and home cooks who have a palate for plant-based eating - for themselves or their loved ones; three days a week, or every day of the year.

http://verygoodrecipes.com/food-blogs  Almost all the active food blogs. The best cooking blogs and greatest food blogs ranked in an almost complete list! Forget "Exclusive" Top 10, Top 50 or Top 100 lists: this is an INCLUSIVE list of food and recipes blogs! There are also more than 60660 recipes to peruse.

http://www.john-west.co.uk/discover-the-story-behind-your-can/  This UK company allows consumers to track the fish in every can they process by typing a tracking number (found on the can) into their website, no matter what country you're in. Very cool.

https://www.foodpairing.com/  Foodpairing is a source of inspiration that allows chefs, bartenders, and others in the food industry to create new combinations of ingredients for dishes or drinks. Foodpairing is not based on intuition or existing recipes, but on science, providing an objective overview of possible pairings. You can sign up for free (“lite”), or you can pay about twenty bucks a month for the extensive version, which has far greater applications for you. The Lite version in itself is worth perusing, though.

 http://punchfork.com/  Punchfork makes it easier to find the best new recipes from popular sites. They use conversations on social networks to show you high quality recipes that passionate cooks are talking about right now. This is a must-see website.

http://www.fraserhealth.ca/your_environment/food_safety/  Our environmental health officers conduct more than 16,000 inspections of restaurants, food facilities and stores annually. We also educate food handlers and consumers about safe food handling practices.

 http://www.slowfood.ca/  The philosophy of the movement, founded to defend gastronomic pleasure and seek a slower and more aware pace of life, extended its focus from the virtues of food to considering the quality of life and identity. It aims to recognize the history and culture of every social group as it interacts in a network of reciprocal exchange. Whether you consider a variety of fruit or a traditional local dish, you cannot ignore its relationship with history, material culture and the environment where it originated. Slow Food stresses the importance for agricultural and livestock production to maintain a balance of respect and exchange with the surrounding ecosystem. That is why Slow Food has been defined a movement of eco-gastronomes.

http://www.foodbloggersofcanada.com/?doing_wp_cron=1353253625.7391159534454345703125  Food Bloggers Canada has a dedicated team working in the background to keep things ticking along and bring you new content and opportunities.
They’re a diverse bunch but they share one common denominator: food.

Just oooooone more...
http://www.thenibble.com/  This delightful little site has dozens of diverse articles relating to food, cooking and baking items, and stuff you want to know, like the difference between buffalo and bison. It's also chock-a-block full of recipes. I dare you to look at this magazine and not be foodie-frenzified.

I hope you check some of these sites out. They're well worth your time.

 

15.--Barcelo's

Parking to the right a bit tight

We went to Barcelo's because we like chicken, the same reason we stopped going to Nando's near Guildford Shopping Center on 152nd street. We used to love Nando's, but they changed either the method of cooking, or the spices used, or the type of marinade they used (if indeed they use one; I don't know) or something; whatever changes they made to the chicken, they weren't good changes for my taste, nor my family's.

Barcelo's was a place we hadn't tried yet, and the only other choices we knew of being Church's or Kentucky Fried Chicken, we decided to give it a shot.

It was a nice surprise. The restaurant itself is appealing, spacious and clean and comfortable, although the parking lot outside left a little to be desired; there isn't much and the spaces are a tight fit, even with my compact car.

little lounge area for waiting

The food, however, is good for fast food. The chicken is reminscent of Nando's before it changed its flavor (note: we don't know if the changes are chain-wide; we only ever went to the one near Guildford). We ordered the spicy fries, which are not spicy. You have to add a sauce eerily similar to the Nando's peri-peri to make them spicy, which for some nameless reason annoyed me. If you have to add the sauce yourself don't call them "spicy", is my opinion.

The chicken was hot and juicy and flavorful. My sister said her chicken wasn't all that juicy, but my brother-in-law's, and mine, were. The young man behind the counter was considerate enough to tell us approximately how long our to-go order would take to be filled (eight minutes). Nine minutes later, which in my opinion was a pretty good guestimate on his part, we were walking out the door with our order. Three half chickens and a side of fries came to 36.25, including tax. A wee bit pricey but everything is these days.

self-serve pop

Ultimately I would have to say that whenever we decide we want fast-food chicken, we will be going to Barcelo's. At some point in the future we will be checking out other Nando's in the area. If we find that the original recipe has only changed for the one in Guildford, there will be a food fight comin'.

14.--FOOD FIGHT!--DONAIR

Stomachs, get ready to ruuuuuuuuummmmbbbbbble!

(FOOD FIGHT! Is featured in this blog the first Saturday of every month)



I decided on donairs this month because I have never had a donair, apparently being the black sheep of the family since when I confessed same to said members they looked at me as if I had just said, "I don't know what rain looks like." So it occurred to me that if I used donairs as a food fight I could try one at two different places, thereby putting to rest the family's sudden suspicion that I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to food, due to my lack of donair experience.

The reason I chose Meditalia and Donair Affair is because they both got such high scores on Urbanspoon; if you're going to try something for the first time you may as well go with the one people like the best. Meditalia is located just off 72nd Avenue and 137th Street in Newton and Donair Affair pretty much on the corner of 108th Avenue and 148th Street in a little strip mall. Both places are small but clean, with personable people working behind the counter. In both cases we ordered the lamb and falafel donair. In Meditalia this is on the board but you have to ask for falafel with your lamb donair in Donair Affair. We also ordered a side of hummus at both places. Both orders came to approximately the same price--around 30, 32 dollars for three lamb/falafel donairs with one order of hummus.

Medalia's crib

Meditalia danced out a 330 g. (11 1/2 oz.) donair, with crisp lettuce and tomato (not too much), falafel and lamb. The lamb tasted like lamb, and fresh at that. I was amazed at the complexity of this simple fast food. This is a good example of layers of flavor. Spices, chickpea, crisp vegetable all harmonized in a really lovely way. The hummus was nice as well. Thick and full of flavor, with cumin top notes that didn't overpower the dip.

Weighing in at a whopping 535 g. (18 3/4 oz.) came Donair Affair's contender, a lamb donair with falafel added. The hummus came with two pita breads. If you are starving and need to fill up in a major way I recommend this place. Unfortunately, it didn't come up to par on taste. The meat was supposed to be lamb, but we really couldn't distinguish any lamb flavor; it could have been a really good meat spread for all we could tell. The lettuce and tomato, while crisp, was oddly flavored. If something can be stale and crisp at the same time the lettuce was a good example. The hummus was rather thin, more like store-bought tzatziki than a chickpea spread, although it did have a lovely lemon top note that won my brother-in-law and me over. My brother-in-law assured me that the donair was as good as most others but that is damning with faint praise; what it really means is that it is rather generic.

Donair Affair's crib

Meditalia, on the other hand, stands out in its quality. Ultimately if I am craving a donair I will go to Meditalia; in fact, I would be hard-pressed to try anyone else. I don't think many would come even close to creating a donair I was as happy with.

 Winner: Meditalia