Home Archive by category "Restaurant" (Page 17)

Category: Restaurant

Don’t let them tell you it can be stuffed

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Mrs. Waffle had a craving. She wanted horrid, greasy, salty pizza. Why? It all started by a complaint from @JuiceGnipoksy, who really wishes that Pizza Hut and Swiss Chalet would open up shop in downtown Ottawa. He has a point. Pizza Hut, founded in Wichita in 1958 and now a subsidiary of Yum!, (the world’s largest restaurant company who also owns KFC and Taco Bell), has about 12,000 Pizza Hut restaurants in the world. But in Ottawa, the closest Pizza Hut from downtown is in the Glebe, on Bank @ Fifth, about 3 kms from Parliament Hill. The closest Swiss Chalet is on Carling @ Kirkwood, about 7 kms from the Hill. Still, there are 9 Swiss Chalet in Ottawa and 9 Pizza Hut as well. Swiss Chalet gave up on its Chalet Suisse Quebec locations years ago, but Pizza Hut is quite present and has one franchise in Gatineau,…

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Caplansky’s Deli is smokin’!

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I’ve been wanting to meet up with Toronto Star reporter and beer expert Josh Rubin for some time. The opportunity finally arose today before my flight back to Ottawa, which was around 4PM – meaning that I had some time to kill in the afternoon. @starbeer suggested that we meet up for lunch and a pint at Caplansky’s. Caplansky’s Delicatessen first opened shop in 2008 when owner Zane Caplansky (check out his blog) simply got fed up relying on visits with Montreal friends to get his fix of Smoked Meat Sandwiches – so he opened his own kitchen in the Monarch Tavern. After a very successful year, he had to relocate to a bigger location – on College just west of Spadina – and opened his very own full establishment. Despite that, Caplansky’s feel like it’s been there forever. A bare brick wall covered with old pictures, neons and newspapers’…

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Metrobrunch

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Mrs. Waffle loves to go to Metropolitain for brunch. She regularly organizes outings there with her girlfriends. She loves it. They offer Brunch cocktails, the classic breakfast is her favorite and she often orders a Chocolatine to end her meal. (Apparently, most of her friends do too.) From time to time, she organizes brunch at the Met for other friends – out-of-towner types. And that’s when I get sucked in. The 3 of us arrived on schedule, at 10:30. The Met wasn’t very busy, on this Post-Canada Day Day. The patio was fairly full, but we could have elected to sit there if we had wished to do so – or even in the new patio annex, which includes comfortable couches under the trees – more suited for casual drinks than a meal with a toddler. So we settled in one of the left corner booths inside, and waited for…

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Closing Time

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The email came from Jack at 6:26 PM exactly. At first, I just thought Jack was going to watch the Sens’ game at the Pot. Like we did so often over the years, after I joined the NDP Windsor/Glue Pot Hockey Pool in 1997. The plaque hangs proudly on the wall. “Heading down to the GPP for the game tonight. Rumour has it that it is the last night the GPP will be open.” Say what? Hard to believe. Jack must be joking. I didn’t really believe him, thinking that perhaps he was trying to get people to tag along with him. “Grab the plaque, then!” I joked. Nicole decided to show up, and she confirmed by sending an email at 8:59 PM: “The rumour is true. The Glue Pot Pub is closing tonight forever. The plaque is secure.” Oh man. I wish I had known ahead of time. I…

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“Just Bon Cuisine”

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We were leaving Cutler Bay for an extra day of family vacation in Hollywood, where we had rented a room at the Westin Diplomat, right on the beach. I set the GPS for my driver, and as we were heading north on the US1, I suggested to her that perhaps we should ignore the GPS direction and keep driving north on the Federal Highway, actually avoiding the I-95 to drive the scenic route, through downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale, all the way up to Hollywood. During this vacation, we drove the entire US 1 from Mile 0 to Mile 178. Only 2199 more miles and we were in Canada. We figured it would take longer, giving just enough time for the Waffle Jr. to have a good nap, while not driving in heavy traffic, it being Sunday. It was a good plan and an enjoyable drive. But soon enough, we…

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