It’s World Sandwich Day!

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It’s November 3rd, which means it’s World Sandwich Day!

On November 3rd 2015, Subway Canada celebrated National Sandwich Day for the first time with a buy one sub, get one sub deal. The Waffle reported about it.

In 2016, Subway went a step further, with a buy one, get one, give one campaign, in partnership with Food Banks Canada. This was the first nation-wide meal donation campaign from Subway Canada. And on its second year of celebrating National Sandwich Day, the campaign was a success, generating a financial donation equivalent to 574,738 meals to Food Banks Canada. Will they beat that score in 2017?

So today, if you purchase a sandwich with a drink, you will receive a free sandwich, and the equivalent of one meal (33 cents) will be donated to Food Banks Canada.

World Sandwich Day 2017

Help raise money for food banks right in time for the Holidays. Visit your local Subway Restaurant, buy one sandwich and a 21oz drink, and get a second sandwich of equal or lesser price for FREE.

And Food Banks Canada will be able to provide a meal to someone in need.

There are no excuses.

This World Sandwich Day, you won’t just be feeding yourself, you’ll be helping someone else.

 

Yet another hurdle for The Waffle

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After last year’s demise of blog.com and the following ordeal, The Waffle has just learned that most of the blog’s photos would no longer be available, thanks to a change of policy by Photobucket.

First, they announced on June 26th that they had updated their Terms of Service, effective on June 20, 2017.

Then they implemented the new policy and ask users to review the latest changes.

They finally issued a press release to explain themselves.

Too late. Suddenly, a free service was no longer available and you were asked to pony up 400 bucks to get it back. The accusations of ransomware and blackmail were coming fast and furious. And yes, I know too well the danger of relying on free services.

Upset users are leaving Photobucket in droves. For the photo hosting service, it is a debacle turned into a complete disaster.

For The Waffle, it means more work. Not all the original posts have been restored yet, and now we have to fix the ones that had been restored. It’ll take the Waffler nation some more patience before being able to enjoy The Waffle in its full glory.

 

 

How the mighty have fallen

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I used to go to Local Heroes regularly after sporting events, wither hockey or softball. My usual location was on Bank St. It was a neat spot filled with paraphernalia and lots of TVs.

Founded in 1981 by former Ottawa Rough Rider Mark Kosmos, Local Heroes Sports Bar & Grill became popular for selling chicken wings by the pound, one of the first spot to do so in Ottawa. It dubbed itself the “King of Wings and Ribs”. It expanded across the National Capital region, opening locations on Clyde Avenue, Bank Street, and Carling Avenue in Kanata. Another wave of locations were opened a few years later, at Bells Corners, on St. Laurent Boulevard, in Stittsville and at Scotia Bank Place.

But competition is tough, and most of the Local Heroes have now fallen, the Bank street location going under in May 2013. Hometown has now settled in that location.

Still, two Local Heroes are still standing, independently owned, the original in Nepean and Local Heroes: Oklahoma Edition at Bells Corners.

This is where we ended up coming back from Camp Mammy and Papy as the kids were requesting Chicken Wings for lunch. The King might no longer be King, but surely their wings would still be good.

The restaurant is located in an old Pizza Hut. You could drive by and not notice it – there is only a little sign on the strip mall billboard. The restaurant itself has no banners or signs. The place was empty, which is not really surprising I suppose on a Holiday Monday. Inside, the decor is minimalist. A few items about the Oklahoma Sooners and “Boomer Sooner” stickers can be found, including a big sign reminding customers of the Sooners National Championships.  You know, in case you forgot. It is a very open concept, with booths along the walls and a few tables in the middle. You could imagine the place potentially coming to life for a big game. This, in all likelihood, wouldn’t involve the Sooners. Read more!

Viva Vitalia

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It was a rainy evening, it was a kidless evening. Ms. Waffle and I were out on a date and we were going to make the most of it.

Ms. Waffle was craving Italian, so we ended up making our way towards Bistro Vitalia, on rue Principale in Aylmer.  Opened less than a year ago, Bistro Vitalia replaced the much beloved Bistro Ambrosia, which was quite a popular Italian eatery. It surprised many when Ambrosia shut its doors for good, 10 years after opening.

When we got there around 8 PM, the place was packed. Not a single seat was available on the main floor. We were a bit worried, but wisely, they decided to open the upper deck as more people came in behind us.

We settled at a table by the railing to admire the spectacle below. Soon enough, half the tables in the upper section were occupied.

The place is neat. Lots of natural light coming in from the two garage doors, the place feels like it has been repainted and refreshed recently. Lots of art on the walls, but otherwise the decor is classic.

Upon perusing the menu, Ms. Waffle immediately spotted the Calamari Fritti ($12). She pretended to look at the Bruschetta al peperone y chèvre, but there was no sense in trying to pretend that we weren’t going to end up ordering the calamari.

Our waiter ran upstairs and I ordered the squid. We weren’t quite ready to order our main, but seeing how busy it was, I figured it would be wise to get some munchies in the machine. We turned our attention to the main dishes, skipping the Insalata and ignoring the Carni: we were here for Pasta!

Ms. Waffle looked at the Valentina (Gnocchi and sausages) first, but settled on the Cielo. I hesitated between the Piscatori and the Fettucine Alfredo, decided to mull it over a little more and started to look at the wine selection.

Our waiter came back with our calamari in record time. It was impressive, considering how busy it was. I quickly ordered a bottle of white hoping to get it before we polished off the hors d’oeuvres!

The calamari were of a dark golden hue. Nice large rings, no bodies. They were meaty yet tender, the breading was quite crispy. Very nicely done. The squid was served with a lemon aïoli, flavourful but a tad thin, and some fresh roquette. The portion was reasonable, but I’m pretty sure we would have both indulged a few more!

For her main, Ms. Waffle settled on the Cielo ($18), a spaghetti dish, with prosciutto, roasted red peppers, spinach, garlic olive oil and goat cheese. A big cloud of creamy goat cheese.

Still, it was a very balanced dish. The crispy prosciutto was offering a great texture contrast. Too often, cured meats in pasta dishes end up being too soft, ruining the effect.

I went with the Piscatori ($24) on the recommendation of our waiter.  It looked quite appetizing. A seafood linguini in a fairly light garlic and white wine sauce, with a touch of cream.  It had scallops, shrimp and clams and cherry tomatoes.

It was delicious. The cherry tomatoes brought some acidity to balance the dish.  The clams were cooked perfectly, and so were the scallops, nice and tender. The shrimp weren’t bad either. They were big, and just a tad on the overdone side, almost right on the money. Nothing to stop me from recommending the dish. I thought it was a little low on the seafood, though.  If 7 clams were plentiful, there was only 3 scallops and 3 shrimp. I would say 1 or 2 more of each would be perfect. To compensate, and to help finish the delicious sauce, I asked for some bread to dip and enjoy some more.

In both cases, the pasta were really the star of the dish. House made, fresh pasta, cooked al dente, providing a great chew while being a great vehicle for the different sauces. It makes all the difference in the world if you enjoy good pasta. On that front, Vitalia certainly delivered.

Bistro Vitalia Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

To bee or not to bee, that is the question.

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I was driving back from Toronto after a conference and some business meetings. I was swallowing kilometers on the 401 when I realised I was really hungry. Lunch time!

I stopped at the Trenton South OnRoute. My choices were Tim Hortons and A&W. As usual, the line-up at Tims was illogically long, so I elected to get some burgers.

I hadn’t had A&W onion rings in quite some time, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some to go along with my burgers.

Once my order was ready, I ask for some honey, as one is bound to do when getting ready to eat theses delicious golden circles.

Honeyless Combo

“We don’t have any honey, sorry.”

GASP!

– “You don’t have honey???”
– “We don’t carry it.”
– “You used to.”
– “Yes, we used to.”

What was I going to do?

I sat down and looked at my rings, in despair. Took one, inspected it. Would ketchup do? Not a chance. I resigned myself to eat them as is. Their slightly oily texture, the crispy, crumbling batter, the salty attack was as I remembered. But they were not quite the same without that sweet honey contrast to round out the flavor profile.

I was stunned.

So I took to Twitter to express my dismay:  “Why can’t we no longer get honey at @AWCanada?”

A few Twits made fun of this very important question while I finished my lunch and moved on to Ottawa.

Almost a week later, A&W replied! “We assure you that we always serve honey in all our branches!”

– “Oh ya ? That’s not what your friends in Trenton told me!”

– “It’s very strange. Can you specify the branch?”

The conversation then moved on to the private sphere, as A&W HQ started to investigate this beehive of a mystery.

“We will get back to you by email in the next few busieness days.”

Well then. Could it be that A&W Trenton South had gone rogue?

A full 13 days after the incident, we had gone full circle!

“Thank you for your inquiry regarding our honey product. While honey can be found at some A&W locations still, here at Trenton South we do not carry  honey. It is up to each individual franchise to decide whether or not to carry more than the required selections of condiments. As such, we have chosen not to carry honey, but offer raspberry and strawberry jam, peanut butter, and marmalade. Again, thank you for your inquiry and I hope this has helped to answer your question.”

– A&W Store Trenton South

Turns out, A&W HQ didn’t know that honey was an optional condiment in their restaurants.

Yet, I felt compelled to respond:

“Thanks for the reply. I already knew that you weren’t carrying honey and assumed it was a new policy-wide chain.  HQ responded that A&W was indeed carrying honey and expressed surprise at my question and asked me for more details. I guess they now, too, know the response about honey being optional. Thank you for listing your other condiments, but sadly that is not helpful to me as I use honey as a dip for your delicious onion rings.  I’m not sure that jam or marmelade would work, but I admit I am intrigued by the peanut butter option.”

There you have it, folks.

Beware the honeyless A&W. Or try peanut butter.

A&W Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato