The Grizzly Paw - Canmore, AB

I was in Canmore, Alberta last week for work and found myself at The Grizzly Paw Pub with a couple of co-workers before the big event.  My day had started at 0600 with very little sleep the night before, and very little food for breakfast.  By the time we rolled into Canmore at about 1400 or so in the afternoon, I was starving and probably would have eaten my travel companions.....haha, just kidding W-T and MC.  My co worker had been to Canmore before so she recommended this place.  It was so good we came back again that night after the ceremony.

It was a pretty sunny day, and everybody wanted to sit outside in the patio. 

One of the most beautiful Caesar's I had ever seen.  It had olives, and a stalk of pickled asparagus.  The salt and pepper ring was made up of chili powder and some kind of fancy sea reddish sea salt, the drink itself was pretty potent, quite spicy.  I didn't order this, but I sampled one later that night and let me tell you, it was firey.

Tuna Salad Wrap - $11.95

The Grilled Vegetable Panini - $12.95

And of course, I ordered something with meat.  The Canadian Classic Burger which comes with Candian back bacon and cheddar cheese.  I got my burger with a patty of Bison.  I tell you, this burger was glorious.  The meat patty was tender, moist, not very gamey surprisingly....just incredibly tasty.  The back bacon was like eating the a really thick and tender slab of ham.  Perfection in a burger.  The bun was a bit dry, but then again, not all burgers are made with a brioche buns.  The meal came with the option of fries, salad, or both.  Greedy as I am, I got both, and it was perfect because I had something greasy and deep fried, and something relatively healthy. Actually, the fries weren't all that greasy, nice and crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside.  The salad was pretty good too.

At night, the Grizzly Paw turns into a pretty cool place to hang out and get legless.  The staff are very friendly, and in particular our server was fantastic.  The drinks kept coming, and that's all that mattered.  My pal here having some sort of sampler.  Apparently the rasberry beer was good.  That's our server in the picture.

I'd defintely go back to the Grizzly Paw.  I couldn't stop thinking about that bison burger I had.  I just hope I get to visit Canmore again!

Home Restaurant - Merritt, BC

On the way to Kelowna or Kamloops and need a quick bite to eat?  Stop in Merritt and you'll find a place where the service is friendly, the portions are huge, and the prices are reasonable.  Home Restaurant is a favourite stop for our car club's annual road trip to Kelowna.

The milkshakes are pretty good, a decent size and pretty tasty.

Pretty good Caesar salad, loads of parmesan cheese.

Looking for something to stop your heart, try the Monte Christo - $10.49.  Ham, Turky, & Swiss in what is essentially two slabs of French Toast.  My pal Justin has this just about everytime we go there....I think it has a million calories.

Baked Mac & Cheese - $9.49.  Now, you may have read my review on Boston Pizza and are wondering why I'm not tearing Home Restaurant a new one.  Well, unlike Boston Pizza, Home Restaurant isn't promoting their Mac & Cheese as anything gourmet.  It is what it is - mac & cheese, dressed with cheese sauce, baked with cheese on top.  And it tastes like cheddar because they use cheddar, not just the powdered variety from Kraft (actually, for $0.99 a box, Kraft isn't really that bad as long as you don't think of it as actual cheese).  Home Restaurant serves baked macaroni (actually, when I went, they didn't have the conventional elbow noodles we call macaroni) and cheese for about 10 bucks, Boston Pizza serves a $0.99 can of Chef Boyardee baked in a handfull of Kraft's Tex-Mex for 15 bucks.

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Mountain of Mushroom - $12.29.  I think there's a burger in there somewhere.

Fish and Chips for breakfast, why not?  'Home' Cod and Chips - $10.79.  The pieces aren't huge or anything, but then again, it's only 10 bucks.  The fish is pretty good and comes with a mountain of fries...you'll be full.

We go there every year so it goes without saying whether I'll go back or not.  If there were a location here in Vancouver, I'd probably go.

Romer's Burger Bar

I have now had the best burger in my life...so far.  Romer's Burger Bar opened about three weeks ago and I basically heard about it through my buddy Eric, who heard from his buddy Carlo.  Carlo and Eric are both fellow foodies and when Eric told me he heard this place was good, I knew I had to try it.  Our host told us that the owner had travelled the word sampling different burgers from different places, and bringing the best ideas back to Vancouver.

While waiting for my buddy Eric, I was hanging around outside, checking the place out and browsing the menu posted outside.  It looked really good, but one item in particular caught my eye.

Yes, foie gras my friends, foie gras.  I've only discovered the heavenly taste of foie gras in the last few years, so I have a lot of catching up to do.  My eyes instantly locked to the section under R Favourite Add-Ons and Savoury Stuff.  This place already had me sold and I wasn't even inside yet.

Not exactly your standard burger joint, Romer's has a bit of an upscale feel to it.....milkshakes are not on the menu folks.  But don't let the fancy atmosphere scare you off, it's not horrendously overpriced or anything.  The average burger (a la carte - no sides) goes for about $9 - $12.  There is one burger that goes for $24, but we'll get to that later. 

We ordered a couple of starters including these wings.  Sea Salt and Toasted Pepper wings, and damn.....some of the best wings I`ve ever had. 

The drumette was huge, moist and juicy on the inside, the coating closer to crunchy than crispy, seasoned to perfection.  I couln`t quite place it, but there was something defintely scented or aromatic about these wings.  These wings smelled good.

I`ve been eating wings for years from one of my favourite places - The Flying Beaver.  I have yet to do a review of this place, but I assure you, it will be a good one.  Anyway, getting a little off-topic, but I have a strange talent for being able to debone a chicken wing, bones practically bleach-white clean.  After de-boning the chicken wing, the eating process is much more enjoyable, just pop the whole thing in your mouth and you`ll think you`ve just eaten the best chicken nugget of your life.

Yam fries were also ordered, and as I`ve been saying in other posts, every restaurant under the sun is now serving these.  The yam fries here were nice and large, crispy on the outside and seasoned wonderfully.

So, as I said, there was one burger on the menu that was more pricy than the rest - $24.  I think the owner of Romer`s must have visitied a place in Las Vegas for the inspiration of this burger.  Fleur De Lys offers a burger called the Fleurburger 5000, which runs for oh, about $5,000 USD before tax and tip.  Anyway, this post is about the Romer`s so if you want to want to read up on Fleur`s burger, check out this link.

Suffice it to say, I ordered the Ultimate Kobe Classic, because for a person like me who`s on a limited budget, I will never be able to afford a $5,000 burger.  This $24 burger will have to do and it`s probably the closest I`m going to get to experiencing the Fleurburger 5000.  The ingredients are similar - both burgers use Kobe beef, both use the brioche bun, and both have foie gras and truffles as ingredients.

On the left there is the redwine demiglaze that was great for dipping and wetting the buger, which needed very little additional moisture. 

The burger was cooked to perfection, and that is no exaggeration.  The patty was charred just right on the outside, very juicy on the inside, and somehow did not spill out when eating it.  Some gourmet burgers out there fall apart after the first bite, but this incredible burger managed to stay in one piece thorughout the meal.

As you can tell, I couldn`t stop taking pictures of my burger.  I was probably at it for a good 10 minutes before I actually started eating.  Note the slice of Foie Gras pate hiding in the onion strings......glorious.

I flipped the top of the bun open just to see what was inside.  Here you can clearly see the truffly mayo and garlic mustard.  The bun inself somehow managed to stay crispy the whole time, most buns will go soggy only after a few minutes.  I think the trick is to griddle the bun in the grease from the burgers.  The griddling seals the bun so it doesn`t sog up from the burger after it`s all put together.

I finally re-assembled my burger and commenced eating.  It was a burger eating experience like no other.  It has completely ruined me for burgers anywhere else.  Milestone`s Four Cheese Burger, Vera`s Burger, Modern Burger...sorry, you guys can`t hold a candle to Romer`s burgers.  Romer`s has been only open for three weeks and it`s already in a class of it`s own. 

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The next time I visit Romer`s, I`m going to give the Romer`s Righteous Rib Burger a try.  Beef Rib is one of my favourite cuts of meat, and to have it on top of a burger may seem like overkill, but when it comes to eating, you have to go a little overboard once in a while. 

Will you look at this thing?  It is just massive! 

That's the braised rib on top of the burger patty.  Looks tough to eat you say?  Not true.  Yes, Romer's does have forks and knives, but you really don't need them, not even for this burger.  However, for the sake of not making a huge mess, this burger was cut, quite easily with an unserated blade.

The rib was braised perfectly, and came apart with very little effort.

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Somehow, our server talked us into getting desert and so we ordered the Drunken Donuts

There's no mini-donut stand out there that fries donuts better than these.  The three dipping sauces are Kalua Nutella, Lemoncello, and Maple Whiskey.  They were hot out of the oil, crispy little things that melted in your mouth, simply amazing.

Romer's Burger bar is a place I defintely want to experience again.  The service was incredible.  For example, I was just hanging around outside waiting for my buddy, and the the host came out of the restaurant and handed me a card, inviting me to try the place out sometime.  Our server was excellent as well.  Definetly a place to check out.

Milestone's (Yaletown)

Since Milestone's in Richmond closed down, I haven't been able to get my fix for their Four Cheese Burger.  I had to make the trek out to Vancouver and decided to have a go with the Yaletown one.

Baked Goat Cheese and Slow-Roasted Garlic Flatbread Plate.  This is an excellent starter and a nice alternative to my other favourite - Spinach and Artichoke Dip (below).  The goat cheese had a lot of it's gaminess (is that even a word???) take out through the baking process, but retained a lot of good flavour and was still rich and creamy.  The half bulb of garlic was also great.  Again, the slow roasting took the bite out of it, but left all the good flavours intact.  The first time I had garlic prepared this way was in an izakaya in Shinjuku.  I've tried to make it myself but always botch it.

The Spinach and Artichoke Dip, one of my favourite starters from Milestone's and when in a group, always ordered.

Thai Chicken Drummettes.  Someone in our group wanted to try this, but the next time I want Thai or any Asian inspired food, I'll stick with Thai House.

Yam Fries....everyone's got them.

I still don't have a decent picture of my favourite burger, but here it is.  The Four Cheese Burger with a side Caesar salad.  The've got that slow-roasted garlic in there for good measure, and let me tell you folks, it makes the burger, it makes the salad.  One of the best Caesar Salads in my opinion. 

The Kobe Beef Meat Loaf, just as good as the Richmond location, but again, in all honesty regular beef could probably be subbed in and no one would be able to tell.  Frankly, I think it's criminal  to take Kobe Beef and make ground beef out of it.

The California Spring Salad.  It's not exactly my cup of tea to order a salad as an entree, but Milestone's has a whole section dedicated to folks that prefer it.  For me, it's a distraction....salad is what food eats.

Milestone's Yaletown has pretty good food as with other Milestone locations, but it is in a fancier part of town where even the air feels upscale and expensive.  The service however, was a bit of a miss.  I don't know if it was because it was date night (which basically meant it was two-for-one for the 4 of us who weren't on a date), or if it was because we were there near closing.  Our server was a bit argumentative with us and other servers were a bit curt, more interested in socializing with their friends who were visiting them or waiting for them to get off work. 

I don't find myself in Yaletown very often, but the next time I'm there, I think I'll give The Keg a try.  For Milestone's, I know the Robson one has really good service so I'll stick to that one.