A mulligan at Western Skies

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After my first round of golf of the year (which brought down my handicap, surprisingly) at the Western Skies Golf Club in Gilbert, Arizona, our foursome settled down on the patio at Mulligan’s to share a pitcher of Bud Light. I know.

Mulligan’s is branded as the neighborhood bar & grill, it is a typical 19th hole. Nothing fancy, but it still has 14 HDTV’s, which were broadcasting either the PyeongChang Olympics or the Honda Classic golf tournament, where Tiger Woods seemed to be the only player the camera could find on the course.

The patio is overlooking the practice facility, which is too bad because #1 features a nice water fountain.

I was hungry after the round, so I picked up a menu. It featured the typical after-golf fare, with a Southwestern twist: chicken wings, nachos, short rib tacos, burgers, hot dog, etc…

The Cubano sandwich looked interesting, but I felt a little far from Cuba. I opted for the Green Chile Mac ($9).

 

It came quickly and looked appetizing.

Cavatappi is type of macaroni – and also Italian for corkscrew. It is hollow, of course, and longer than your usual macaroni noodle. It was a great choice, was cooked perfectly to aldente and therefore had an enjoyable chew to it.

The cheese sauce was, flavourwise, delicious. It is clearly home made, with green chile, as per the name. It had a nice smokiness to it and a hint of spice too. Still, I added a good helping of Cholula Original Hot Sauce – as one does. The sauce was, however, a little too runny – I like my cheese sauce thicker.

The Mac was topped with Cotija, which is a salty Mexican cheese, dry and firm and is often used crumbled or grated as a topping. Here, it was a little lost.

The dish was garnished with a scoop of fresh and zesty Pico de Gallo and two slices of bacon.  If it made the dish look good, bacon as a garnish is not as good as when embedded with the Mac N’ Cheese. It wasn’t, also, super warm. But it was good quality bacon, and was nicely crispy. Perhaps I should have crumbled it on top of the Mac.

Finally: the portion was a little on the small side. I was left wanting more.

But don’t get me wrong. Flavourwise, this dish was pretty good overall. It was interesting and far from being bland. I engulfed it all, quickly. I didn’t regret my choice – even though Bruce’s Par 3 Burger looked pretty good – and his french fries were crispy and quite good.

I ‘m just nitpicking. But hoping for a mulligan.

Mulligan's Grill Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Don’t mess with Texas… so why did you?

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I hadn’t been to the Clocktower in quite some time. But since Philippe and I were meeting for lunch, it made sense to meet there, basicially at the halfway point between or geographical locations.

The Clocktower is a brew pub chain that now has 6 locations across Ottawa. The original brew pub, on Bank street at Isabella, has a clock tower. It opened in 1996.

So yes, they serve their own home brews. The Kölsch, the Raspberry Wheat, the Wishart’s ESB, the Bytown Brown, the Whalesbone Oyster Stout and the Clocktower Red. To that, you can add a selection of seasonal beers, such as the Beerista, the Knifewear Tongue Cutter West Coast IPA, the Clocktower Pumpkin Ale, the United A.P.A., the Pucker Up Sour Cherry!, the Ottawa Pale Ale, the Pint of the Living Dead, the 38th Battalion Ale, the CT Vienna Spring Ale, the Empty Netter Ale, the East Coast IPA, the December Dark Ale, the Clocktower Kriek and even The Final Frontier, a licensed Star Trek-themed beer.

The menu is a little more eclectic than the usual pub fare, offering interesting variations and ingredients. Their salad section includes a Jamaican Kale salad. You’ll find a Wild Board Poutine and Kimchi Fries in their apps. Their mains feature a Five Spice Honey Salmon. A Turkey Basil Dip in the sandwich section; six burgers made with your choice of Beef, Turkey or  Veggie.  The Clocktower also usually offers a Feature Menu, bringing some more variety to the menu.

Currently, it is Cooking with Craft Beers, featuring Cheeseburgers Tacos, Pulled Pork Triple Grilled Cheese, Beer Braised Short Rib, Cali Flatbread and my pick for today, the “Don’t Mess with Texas” Burger.

The description was interesting, I thought: Rootbeer BBQ sauce, crispy onions, smoked cheddar, bacon, deep-fried jalapeños.

Although I wasn’t sure about the BBQ sauce. I mean, it could be delicious. But what does Rootbeer have to do with Texas?

Hires was created by pharmacist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Barq’s was created by the Barqs brothers in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Roy Allen opened his root beer stand in Lodi, California, which led to A&W. IBC Root Beer was founded by the Griesedieck family in St. Louis, Missouri. Mug was originally produced by the Belfast Beverage Company in San Fransico, California.  Frostie was originally produced in Catonsville, Maryland. Dad’s Root Beer was created in Chicago, Illinois.

With a little research, you’ll find some traces of Root Beer in Texas, but let’s just agree it’s not a State Staple.

Now, Texas Barbecue Sauce however, is a famous style. It is often known as a mop sauce, for the tool usually used to apply it. Usually, it is a thinner sauce than most other barbecue sauces, because it is a basting sauce. Most often, it is applied as a glaze to smoked meats, notably briskets, in order to keep the meat moist and add deep flavors as it smokes. Common ingredients may include things like pepper, chili powder, cumin, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, vinegar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. But, more importantly, classic Texas barbecue sauce has a base of beef stock, or, preferably, meat drippings. Some will go as far as to include chopped-up chunks of the crispy, seasoned brisket fat bits. Not root beer, though.

The burger arrived, and it looked very good. On the side, their salad was more substantive than the “greens” moniker they attribute to it. Veggies were fresh and crisp.

I took a bite. Oh, man. Overdone, overcompacted meat. Unfortunate. It wasn’t super dry or burned, but still. Read more!

Get $25 from Loblaw

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So Loblaw admitted to participatig in a commercial collusion scheme to set prices for bakery products, along with George Weston Ltd. Or as they put it, “Loblaw discovered that Canadians were overcharged for the cost of some packaged bread products in our stores and other grocery stores across Canada.”

The management of both companies claim to have warned the Competition Bureau as soon as they learned of this scheme in March 2015. Loblaw was co-ordinating the retail and wholesale prices of certain packaged bakery products over the period from late 2001 to March 2015. But they didn’t know they were doing it. So the companies will apparently not be charged or punished.

Well then.

Yet, to redeem itself, Loblaw will offer eligible customers who register online a $ 25 gift card as compensation.

Registration for the Loblaw Card Program will open on January 8, 2018. In the meantime, you can also provide your email address to receive a notice once registration has opened. You might as well sign up now!

Read more!

Ragoût de pattes de cochon!

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Ms. Waffle is currently spending some time improving her French skills.  Good on her.

Turns out, one of her teacher is Italian. Sì, signore. Massi has a PHD in French Literature. And he apparently has an obsession with French Canadian culture. Good on him.

Recently, Massi asked her about the traditional Quebec holiday dish: Le ragoût de pattes de cochon.
Basically, a pork stew.

He’d never had it, and was wondering if it tasted as good as it sound.  She asked me about it, and ever since, I’d been craving it.

So today after work, I got to work. I had gotten the supplies over the weekend and was ready to roll.

Ingredients:

For the base:

2 pork legs
coarse salt to taste
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of  ground clove
1 tsp. of pepper
1/4 tsp. of nutmeg
1/3 tsp. garlic salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 big onion
1 celery stalk

For the meatballs:

1 1/2 pound of ground meat (half pork, half ground beef)
2 tbsp. parsley
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp  of ground ginger
1/2 tsp of dry mustard
Salt
Pepper
2/3 cup of all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. of olive oil

Clean the legs. Cut them into chunks.
Mix the first batch of spices in a bowl. (I gave you measurements, but I basically eyeball it.)
Roll the legs into the spice mixture.

Add oil to a hot Dutch oven (or another deep-bottomed pot) and brown the meat.
Cut the celery and onions in big pieces, and add to the pot.
Let everything sweat for a few minutes, then cover with water.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and let simmer for 2 hours.

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Melting at Capone’s

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For whatever reason, I’ve been wanting to try Tony Capone’s Italian Grill for a while now. I’ve driven past it a million times over the years, always intrigued, but not to the point of being tempted. Until a few weeks ago, I stopped for lunch – only to find out that it was closed.

Thankfully, it was open today.

Capone’s is located in a mini-mall on Carling, off Edgeworth, along with a dry cleaners, a Hasty Market and a dental office. So from the outside, it certainly doesn’t have much curb appeal.

You walk into the place, and you don’t feel like you’re in Ottawa. The reception area is small and decorated with newspaper articles, old pictures, cigarette ads and other paraphernalia from the Capone era.

Inside, it was dark and the tables were dimly lit, though there was a nice glow from all the Christmas lights. A nice, quiet atmosphere, with what I thought looked like regular customers. It felt classic, yet friendly.

It took me quite a while for my eyes to adjust so I could clearly read the menu.

I looked at the lunch menu, which I would qualify as American-Italian: Pastas, Pizza and Italian Sandwiches, of course. But also Soups & Salads, Burgers and… Taco City. Finally, a section of Classic Dishes like Chicken Pot Pie, Ribs & Fries, Asian Chicken Bites; and Signature Dishes like Chicken Parmigiana, Salmon Limone and New York Strip Loin.

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