Baci Ristorante

Baci Ristorante
1530 Stone Church Rd. E.
Hamilton (905) 381-9811

Tonight Trevor and I had dinner at Baci, which is part of the Best Western on Stone Church Rd, owned by Carmen's.

The decor was very nice and welcoming, the only thing I could say about it that might be negative were there were several tv's. Other than that it is lovely.

The first real impression, that sets the mood for the evening, is the waiter. Our waiter Patrick was very friendly and helpful but not overbearing. We were very pleased with the service and thought he did an outstanding job at looking after our needs and making the evening pleasant for us.

Trevor was delighted to see Carpaccio on the menu that was actually a real carpaccio, thin slices of beef. He said it was excellent. We also ordered the Bruschetta, it was done on thin slices of bread which are made in-house and so unique for this appetizer. There were 6 fair size pieces, two of each kind. One pair was with tomato, the next pair had arugula with caramelized onions and the third pair was goat cheese with roasted peppers. We actually talked to the young man who prepared them and told him how much we enjoyed it.

Our next course was soup. We ordered the Stracciatella and the Pasta e fagioli. I have to say that this was the best Stracciatella soup that I can recall having. The Pasta e fagioli was fairly good but did not hold a candle to the other soup.

We asked the waiter to give us a surprise entree. The chef prepared for us tortellini with an arriabbata sauce and a breaded chicken breast with a cheese sauce on it. The tortellini was just the way I like it, al dente, not at all watery and the sauce for me had just the perfect amount of heat to it without being over powering.  The cheese sauce was very tasty. The only complaint might be the crust on the chicken was a bit overcooked but still delicious.

Unfortunately we did not have room for dessert although the dessert menu looked yummy. I was really hoping I would have room for the zabaglione or the creme brulee.

We were celebrating a special occasion there and Trevor mentioned it to the person he talked to on the phone. The additional nice touch was that as we were leaving the manager came over to us to extend his best wishes on our special occasion.

Ranko's Meats and Delicatessen

I put this under Restaurant Reviews and Shopping as you can order take-out prepared meats from this store.

As a Chef, I enjoy trying foods from around the world. In Hamilton one of these gems is Ranko's Meats and Delicatessen at 1111 Cannon St. E. , 905-544-6173 They are a family run business which has been around over 35 years and the owners Roy and Biljana Sobota prepare the meats on the premise.

They have delicious smoked meats. They also do a roast pork and lamb every Friday and Saturday which is sold by weight. They do such a wonderful job with this meat that it sells very quickly so if you want a large amount I would suggest calling in for a special order. You can order a whole lamb or pig in advance and Roy will roast it for you and cut it in serving size pieces. Some of my other favourite products there are Bacon Bits (they call them Cvarke), kranskje sausages and cevapi (which is a skinless mini sausage).

I have become addicted to the bacon bits, they are so good.

They also sell many other European Products, such as pickled vegetables, cookies, jams, phyllo pastry, cheeses and Belgium chocolates.

Worth the special trip out to this store.

The Twisted Lemon

3 Norton St. W.

Cayuga, ON                                        905-772-6636

Trevor was able to make it home from Labrador on time for our anniversary and arranged a lovely evening for us. We had the 5 course date night dinner at the Twisted Lemon.

The restaurant looks like a house from the outside, it seats 56 people, I believe at full capacity so it is a good idea to have a reservation if you are going on the weekend. The décor was very nice and it had a romantic kind of flair to it. They even provide you with a purse stool for your purse and in the bathrooms there are small hand towels to dry your hands which you toss in a bin when you are done using them. All the nice little touches make for a special evening.

The staff were all very pleasant and our server took the time to explain what each dish was in detail. The 5 course date night menu is a surprise menu. You have no idea what each dish will be. There are lots of other items on the menu if you are not interested in surprises; I thought this was a wonderful idea.

As soon as we were seated we were given a small bowl of fried wonton chips with a citrus and pepper flavouring on them made in-house. They were very good. Very soon after came in-house made bread that came with an herb and citrus butter. The butter was very nice although not quite enough of the citrus butter for the amount of bread.

We then received our amuse bouche which was an in-house made cracker topped with a jus and thinly sliced beef tongue topped with smoked provolone cheese. I never had beef tongue before and the thought of it was not too appealing but it was a very pleasant surprise.

Our next course was a lovely salad with fennel, goat cheese, a small lamb chop with a delicious honey glaze which was frenched. The salad was accompanied by an in-house made dressing that had just a hint of wasabi. Very fresh and lovely.

Then came a palate cleanser before the main course.  It was an in-house made raspberry sherbet with a blackberry and blueberry on the side of it. A very light flavour and not overly sweet.

Our main course was a puff pastry with chicken, onions and mushrooms in it over a bed of spinach and wild rice. The pastry was just a tad undercooked inside and perhaps I would not have put the pastry over the rice as it tended to make the bottom a bit soggy. The pastry was filled generously with chicken and was otherwise very appetizing. The wild rice and spinach were very good.

Dessert was a crème brule, it was very refreshing, not overly sweet and the crunchy top was delicious and it was very creamy. A very good job on this.

Since they knew it was an anniversary dinner they gave us a bag of their wonton chips as a little present, what a nice touch. Our bill came to 117.00 and that included a beer for Trevor and two cocktails for me. You must try the purple mo, a super drink.  This was a wonderful little find and we certainly are looking forward to returning there in the near future.                                    

Chef & Wife

Chef & Wife
144 King St W
Dundas, ON

Since Trevor is away I have had to fend for myself in the kitchen. I miss having my own personal chef so tonight I decided to head out to Chef& Wife for some of Ken LeFebour’s take out gourmet cooking. When Trevor and I got married there was no question who would be catering our wedding and Ken did not disappoint us.

But for tonight’s meal I decided on the Chicken with white beans which was done in what seemed like a light tomato sauce with a bit of spicy seasoning and a side of rice which was done with turmeric. Ken uses only the freshest ingredients and local artisan ingredients. The serving size was more than plentiful and I still have quite a bit left for lunch tomorrow. The chicken was a nice plump juicy boneless breast.

I was also tempted by a mango, Sambuca cheese cake. I usually do not like sweets but it sounded so interesting I had to try it. It was just my style not overly sweet at all and very creamy and rich.

If you don’t feel like cooking and want something to take home that you can just heat and serve this is so much better than a fast food place. You can try something different like venison burgers or boar, lamb. There certainly is variety and taste in everything and the menu changes every day.

Price wise for a full meal including dessert, with large servings I would estimate it to be about 15 – 20 dollars a person. Certainly worth every penny.

Gorilla Cheese Truck and Cake and Loaf

Today for lunch I went to the Gorilla Cheese Truck, which was located on Upper Gage today. You can check out their website or facebook page to see where they will be located daily.

There were quite a few people in line and you give your name with your order and the cashier calls out your name when the order is ready. Considering the amount of people in line it is run very well and the wait is really not that long.

I ordered a sandwich called the Bubba which was $8.50. It really was worth the money, at first I thought that was a bit expensive for a sandwich but this sandwich had a generous supply of pulled pork, great Jensen Cheddar Cheese on it and coleslaw. It sounds like an odd combination but it works.

My favourite part of the sandwich was the bread, it was toasted perfectly and you could tell it was definitely fresh. Unfortunately I have a weakness for carbs. The coleslaw on this sandwich was not overly seasoned so it was a perfect addition.

The only negative thing I could say about this sandwich was that I was not crazy about the sauce on the pork. It was a bit sweet for me, but after a couple of bites it seemed much better. I would have preferred a bit spicier of a sauce rather than the sweet. They had another sandwich that caught my eye and I am anxious to try, if I recall correctly it was called gordorita, something like that anyway. It has feta, mozzarella and a couple of other items. It sounded so good.

They also serve it with an awesome piece of pickle.

Also what a wonderful bonus, Cake and Loaf had a table along side of them where they were selling some of their products, Sweets and Breads. They had my favourite bread available there. You really need to try this bread. It is a beer, green onion and cheddar bread. This bread is addictive. As far as I know Cake and Loaf is the only place you can get this bread. They have a store on Dundurn in Hamilton. I believe a loaf is $5.00 but don’t quote me on that. Well worth the money.

I am not a sweet eater but I know my son and daughter in law rave about the cakes, muffins and cookies they sell there. They also sell sweets for vegans. I had Nikki do my wedding cake though and it was so so delicious. I still have one small piece left in the freezer and can’t wait for my anniversary so I can pull it out.

Spice Avenue

Tonight Trevor and I had dinner at Spice Avenue, 1066 Upper James St. in Hamilton, On. 905-383-2888 (open 7 days a week)

The restaurant had a very nice decor, very clean and not overly bright. I loved the bird cages which held lights in the centre of the restaurant. Our waitress was very friendly and helpful.

We decided to have the meal which was 18.99 per person and included soup, an appetizer, entree, side dish and dessert. For the soup I had wonton which truly was the best wonton soup I have ever had. Usually I find that the broth has no flavour when I order this soup but theirs was full of flavour, which included one of my favourites, cilantro. Trevor had the Tom Yum Shrimp soup which had shrimp in it and was a spicier selection. He felt the soup was actually kind of bland and his comment to it was ``it was alright``.

For my appetizer I had the fried spring roll, which was one large spring roll with a side of pickled dikon and carrot on a bed of lettuce. Trevor had the fresh shrimp roll which came with a peanut sauce on the side.

For my entree I ordered Black Pepper Beef with sticky rice. It was spicy but not overly. The vegetables in it were so fresh. It had green pepper, onion, red pepper and carrot. The rice was served in a side dish and was a large serving. Trevor had the Vietnamese yellow curry which included chicken, potatoes and onion. He also had the sticky rice for his side. We both really enjoyed our entrees and were impressed with the freshness of everything.

The dessert we had was an ice cream cake. It was the perfect size and there were so many flavours going on in this cake and textures. The top portion was vanilla ice cream, the centre almost like a crunchy chocolate cake and the bottem had chocolate ice cream.

The presentation of all the dishes was very nice. If I were to complain about anything it would be the coffee. I would suggest you bypass that.

We definitely would go back to this restaurant.

Restaurant Review - Brasa

Last night Trevor and I had dinner at Brasa in Niagara Falls at the Hilton Hotel. Brasa has a salad bar which is buffet style and for the meat servings they have Gaucho's walking around with skewers of fire roasted meats carved at your table.

You really have to be careful not to fill up at the salad bar, pace yourself. The buffet is so appetizing it's easy to do this. The meats were very good, a couple of the selections were a bit dry but I had end pieces since they were a bit more well done. If you want your meat well done though they have no problem taking a portion to the grill again and doing that for you. The meats we chose were beef short rib, parmesan pork loin, lamb leg and beef rib eye.

They have many more to choose from. It sounds like a lot of meat but they give you small portions so that you can taste all the different offerings. This was our second time to Brasa, the food is delicious and the service is excellent. The price during the week for this buffet is 39.95 per person.

Los Olivos

Jan. 15, 2012

Dinner at Los Olivos

Occidental Grand

Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico

Well tonight was our a la carte Italian dinner. First let me say that I really feel this is a bit of an unfair review as they just opened and are using a pre-existing menu. Chef Andre told us that they are in the process of creating a new menu and with his talent I am sure it will be amazing.

What a disappointment. Considering this was a very elegant looking restaurant and there is a dress code we expected that this would be our best meal here. Boy did we miss the buffet tonight.

For my appetizer I ordered a mixed salad, it was basically 2 kinds of lettuce in huge pieces with oil and a dash of vinegar. I believe it was balsamic but there was so little it was hard to be sure. Trevor ordered a torta which was basically a pizza type dough with cold bacon and spinach in it. Not off to a very good start.

For our soup I ordered a Minestrone. Can’t go too wrong with that. It was ok, not outstanding. Trevor ordered an onion cream soup. Nevermind where is the beef, how about where is the onion. It just tasted like a thick watered down carnation milk. It was terrible.

My main course was lasagna. The sauce itself was not too bad but the lasagna filling had some kind of off taste. A lasagna is supposed to be layers of pasta. There was one layer of pasta on the bottem then a lot of filling and topped with cheese and sauce. I could barely eat it.

Trevor ordered a surf and turf that was to be served with pasta. We did not even recognize this as a surf and turf when it came. We said to the guy “this is supposed to be surf and turf” he said “yes that is it”. It was more like a pasta dish with pieces of beef mixed in and one shrimp. The beef was very tough, again the sauce was not too bad.

Le Buffet - Mexico

Jan. 13/12 to Jan 20/12

Le Buffet

Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico

Occidental Grand

This week we are soaking up the sun in Mexico and loving every minute of it. Our package is all inclusive and the majority of our meals are at Le Buffet. Not the usual Buffet you see when on vacation. We are both quite impressed with this one. The menu changes everyday and the food is very good for a buffet. We talked to the Assistant food and Beverage Manager and he told us that they turn their menu around every two weeks. Trevor also had an opportunity to talk to the Executive Chef and he told him that he is from Montreal and has been in Mexico for 20 years.

The service at this Hotel is wonderful. The servers in the dining room cannot do enough for you. The only thing that we found that we actually disliked on the menu was the Miso soup. It was just like water with a very small bit of miso flavour to it. The food is not hot in terms of spicy and that to me is satisfactory although unexpected being in Mexico but I guess since the guests are not natives they know that the majority probably would not appreciate that. Trevor asked if they had any hot sauce and they did not.

My favourite thing on the buffet was the Guacomole. I have never tasted such a good guacamole. The way they do the omelets is also something I found unique. They have all the choices for the omelet out and you take a little bowl and place all the ingredients you would like in your omelet and hand it to the girl and she prepares it with those ingredients.

The choices are more than you need and the presentation is very nice. We had very little to complain about the Buffet.

Every evening they have snacks, I have to say they are probably not the best part of the menu. They tend to dry out quickly. The first one we had was smoked salmon on a little bun and breaded chicken slices. Last night the offering was hamburger, fries or pizza. We chose a slice of pizza. Unfortunately it was not cooked properly and the crust was burned while the rest of the dough was not cooked enough.

La Hacienda

Jan. 14, 2012

Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico

Occidental Grand Neuvo Hotel

La Hacienda

This week we are on vacation in Mexico. Wonderful place to be at this time of year.

We had dinner last night at the La Hacienda at our hotel. Our package includes two a la carte meals, one Italian and one Mexican. Tonight was the Mexican. For my appetizer I had a grilled vegetable and cheese plate. The presentation was lovely. I can`t say the vegetables were grilled very well but the cheese was nice and fresh and topped with something that made it quite flavourful. I did find the wait very long though before we got the appetizers. Trevor had burritos for his appetizer. It was a little much for an appetizer and not presented as nicely as mine. He said the burritos were nice but nothing special.

Trevor also had a seafood soup with tomato broth including tomatoe , carrot and pepper. It was mostly shrimp but it was very nice and he did enjoy it.

My main course was rack of lamb with pureed sweet potatoes. They called it a rack of lamb although it was only two small slices but for me the serving size was perfect and the meat was tender and juicy and the potatoes were nice. It`s more just a matter of improper wording on the menu. Some chefs are a bit sticky about wording when they are out eating.

The main course Trevor had was Beef tenderloin. It was slivers of beef but a good size portion. It was accompanied by fried peppers and onions with a Serrano pepper sauce. We found that his beef was a little bit tough. We believe that the reason for that is because they do not actually prepare the beef right there and when they carry it from the main kitchen in a container sealed the steam that produces causes the beef to be tough. The sauce on the beef was very tasty and the vegetables were satisfactory, however not overly memorable.

For desert we chose a mille feuilles. It didn`t look like what we expected it to look like. But this was the Mexican version. It however was very tasty.

Overall the experience was positive other than the long waits between courses. I definitely cannot complain about the servers though. They are very attentive and aim to please.

Review - Peurto Vallarta, Mexico

Jan. 18/12

Trevor and I are in Mexico this week, at Neuvo Vallarta. We are staying at the lovely Occidental Grand Neuvo Vallarta. This hotel has been re-modeled and it really does look, feel and act like a 5 star hotel, which it is rated. We found the staff to be fantastic, they were always eager to please their guests in any way they could, right from the Bell boys to the Chef.

Speaking of the Chef we were honoured to meet Occidental’s Executive Chef Andre several times during the week. Chef Andre has a brigade of about 32 and his days easily run 12 hours. He told us that he is originally from Montreal, Canada and has been in Mexico for over 10 years. Just from talking to him you can hear the dedication to his craft in his voice.

His staff work very hard, coming in at 5am to get the breakfast started and the restaurant does not close until approximately 9:30 at night. Today Trevor had the opportunity to check out the kitchen with Chef Andre, considering it was during the lunch service and they were fairly busy Trevor said the kitchen looked like it is kept very clean and they have all the updated conveniences.

Just slipping away from the kitchen for a minute we would also like to say how pleased we were with Luis, the Sunquest representative. He booked some great day trips for us. Monday we had the tour of the City, which included a trip to see how Tequila is made the old fashioned way. Mmm smooth. Tues we went whale watching and wed aft a canal riverboat ride to see crocs, reptiles and birds in their natural habitat. Tomorrow we will be going on a pirate ship, which includes dinner and a show.

On the next several inserts I have talked about some of the meals we have had and included some pics.

Please read on and if you are looking for a wonderful winter getaway this is definitely the place to go. This is nowhere near where there is any danger and we felt comfortable to leave our bags anywhere and know they were totally safe. The natives of Mexico living down here are spectacular people, they treat everyone like a special guest, even away from the hotel.

Restaurant Review - Marciano's

MARCIANO’S  - 5 Mill St. S. - Waterdown, Ontario

Dec. 13/11

Tonight we had dinner in a lovely little restaurant in Waterdown.  It’s a small quaint restaurant with a nice homey feeling.  The owner’s are two young men, one who works in the front of the house and the other is the chef.  It was a Tuesday night when we were there, for a Tuesday night they had a good crowd.  In the background we could hear a nice selection of Christmas music which was not too loud.

Our Waitress was a young woman, sorry I cannot remember her name but she was very pleasant and the service was excellent.  She visited our table enough times to cater to our needs without interrupting our conversation.

The menu has quite a variety of  pasta dishes, 21 available and 5 each of chicken and veal offerings with 6 pizza choices.  There is a soup of the day and a stracciatella soup along with 11 other appetizer choices.

As soon as we sat down we were give a glass of water with a lemon slice and a basket of bread, it would have been nice if the bread was warm, although the bread was very fresh. For an appetizer we ordered  Calamari for Trevor and Stracciatella soup for me. The Calamari was perfectly breaded and nice and tender, while the sauce was very nice the Calamari was tasty enough to stand alone without it. The soup was very flavourful and had just the perfect amount of pepper in it to leave a wonderful warm aftertaste to it and it was a fresh made stock which was very good.

Before our entrée we were given a plate of salad each. The serving was just the perfect amount. The salad was one of the best I have had in a restaurant. It was assorted greens and crisp. What really made this salad was the dressing, with a perfect balance of oil, vinegar and herbs. Our waitress then offered us a  shaving of parmesan on it which just brought this salad over the top.

Trevor ordered a Veal  Frangelico, veal served on a bed of fettucini topped with button mushrooms in a Frangelico cream sauce with grilled asparagus. It was very tasty although he thought the mushrooms took away from the taste of the Frangelico, it would have been nicer to perhaps have crushed hazelnut pieces on it since Frangelico is a hazelnut liquer. The asparagus ends were a bit tough and the veal should have been pan fried quickly as opposed to grilled to make it a bit more tender. But overall Trevor enjoyed his dinner very much.

For my entrée I had Chicken Cacciatore.  This was not an item on the menu but being one of my favourites Trevor asked the chef to prepare this for me and we were impressed that he quite willingly did that. It was delicious. The chicken was not overcooked and there were two generous pieces of boneless breast.  The vegetables and sauce were very nice. As far as the pasta in both dishes we agree that this young man can cook pasta perfectly. The only negative thing I could say about my meal was that I wish there would have been some mushrooms in my meal.  It can be made with or without, that’s just a personal preference.

The presentation of each dish was done very nicely and the portions were enough to satisfy us without being too overwhelming.

Unfortunately we were too full to try the desserts although our mouths were watering at the dessert menu with limited but wonderful choices. The next time we are there we will definitely be trying the tartufo and there definitely will be a next time. We were quite impressed with this wonderful little find.

The prices are not overly high for this type of food and for the whole meal including two coffees we paid $67.68