Quick Burger Meal at the Next Act

Ugh. I am a sucker for fast food...The fries, the burgers...the fattiness..something about it all just lures me each and every single time. My brother is on this giant health kick, comes home from work, spends 4 hours at the gym, downs protein shakes and is cutting back on the carbs. Then you have me! Someone who finds great enjoyment eating burgers and fries. Haha. But! I have a taste for good quality burgers, not any burger can satisfy this palate! Plus, it's not like I spend every weekend dining on burgers. So this message is directed to Winston (my brother), stop scolding me on being unhealthy and chubby!

Anyways, after a hard day of work, my friend picked me up and we went to the next act on whyte ave. A couple of co-workers were there the week before and I missed out on that, so I wanted to make up for it! I love love love this place. Everything about this place is so original starting with the interior. I absolutely adore the wall of facial expressions pictures of the employees hanging up on the side. It really does bring out the chill/laid back environment.

I started off with the usual choice of beer: Crabbies ginger beer. Such a refreshing light drink that really hits the spot after a long tiring day of work.

For the burger, I went with the classic pulled pork. The pork was soft, tender and flaky. Not sure if enjoyed the coleslaw on top though. It was watery and had no taste! I felt like it should be on the side and not part of the actual burger. In my opinion the watered down mayo does not mix well with the barbecue sauce of the pulled pork. But nonetheless, this is a killer sandwich.

I will definitely be back with a couple of friends! This is the ideal place to hang out, grab a drink and catch up. The delicious burgers (food) is a nice bonus. :) I cannot wait to be back to try the other things on the menu.

Quick Sugarbowl Catch Up with a Girlfriend

I am a University of Alberta student and this is so sad...but I have never been to the Sugarbowl before. Ugh! I know, I should be kicking myself for putting it off for so long. EVERYONE at the university is talking about the sugarbowl as the place for drinks and food etc. It is an amazing joint and the food is so delicious. Anyways, I absolutely love hummus...so I had to order the flatbread and hummus to start.

The hummus was so creamy and smooth. It is SOOOO GOOD. I love hummus so much haha. With a hint of paprika and a splash of olive oil this hummus is a done deal.

The thing I love about the sugarbowl is the amazing contrast of green with the main. Look at the amount of salad! All that folic acid makes me feel less guilty about the jerk chicken and avocado burger. The burger itself was fantastic. The chicken was tender and the addition of avocado completed the burger.

This place is definitely one of my favorites near campus, and I am for certain to hit up this place again when the school semester starts again! A great place to grab a quick bite, enjoy light conversations and rewind before or after classes.

Dining Week at The Common!

Whew. It has been a long time since my last post due to my final exams at the University. I wish I manged my time properly so I could have this post up since it is long due! As I mentioned in the last post, from the week of March 15 to 24th, Edmonton held it's annual dining week. For those that had no idea, I encourage you to check this event out next year! It is a great opportunity to enjoy new creative dishes offered by many restaurants in Edmonton. When I mentioned this event to my parents, they were quite intrigued because they rarely venture out away from home when it comes to eating out. I wanted to go to the Common because their $25 dinner menu was very enticing and offered two different dining choices! But....I forgot to mention to them it was more of a lounge setting than it was an actual restaurant.. Did I mention, it would not be a place you would normally take your parents to? Oh boy... it was honestly quite embarrassing for me at the beginning and it involved a lot of explanation on what lounges are, what they serve and why everyone is not around their age etc.

For drinks, I went with the classic Crabbie's Ginger Beer! I am not a huge fan of beer but I absolutely love Crabbie's. It is light and tastes great in comparison to the other beers that I have tried.

On to the food: I decided to go with what the $25 dining week special of three courses. To start, I had the shrimp with gnocchi. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of it, but this is what it consisted of. This was amazing! From the tender flavorful shrimp to the soft, chewy gnocchi to the creamy tantalizing sauce. Everything just came together so well. If you can see from the picture, the shrimp was in a different sauce, it was sweet and complimented the well seasoned shrimp.

My mom went with the poached egg, bbq pork salad with lentils, She didn't care too much for the lentils since they were undercooked, but the small amount of bbq pork tasted exactly like the chinese bbq pork we love!

For the mains, I went with the veal and potatoes, coated in a creamy dill sauce. Where to start.. I wish I could say that I love this dish but...everything came out so wrong. The veal was cooked well done and it was extremely dry and tough. It was awful! I never had a steak cooked until the juices inside evaporated.. It was so dry the meat was flaky and on top of that there was no steak knife. They expected us to cut this tough piece of meat with a butter knife? I don't think that is going to happen. The dill sauce was alright... but that was about all you can taste with this meal. Without the sauce, this dish would be extremely bland! Good thing they do not offer this on their actual dinner menu!

After our meals, my dessert came: chocolate sformato with whip cream. This was so amazing! The sformato was so rich, thick and extremely chocolaty. Well done! Within minutes, I had this plate entirely cleaned!

Overall, it was a nice dining experience for my family and I. I was super disappointed with the main dish, but I am super glad the appetizer and dessert made up for it. This is a great place to hang out and socialize after a long day of work or school. I will definitely be hitting up this popular spot very soon with a couple of girlfriends and is looking forward to try dishes from their dining menu!