Pleasantly Surprised by Buster's Bar & Grill

While I was running some errands earlier this month, I found myself in the Lincoln Fields shopping mall with an empty stomach. It happened to be lunch time. There were a few options inside the mall: McDonalds, Metro, Subway, shawarma, and, Majestic Pizza. I could've also headed out to the Wendy's in front, or grabbed pizza at Pizza Pizza or Gabriel's Pizza.

I peeked inside the doors of Buster's Bar & Grill. The customers seemed to be enjoying their food. Sure, why not? Let's try something new. I thought to myself.


The menu was simple. I opted The Cubano sandwich: pulled pork, smoked ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard on a pretzel bun. I have to admit that the hot turkey sandwich looked good too.

As I waited for the platter to come out, I worried about the pretzel bun. I couldn't shake the thought of them giving me a dry and dense pretzel bun out of my head. Once the plate arrived, all of my worries disappeared. Look at that fluffy carbolicious bun!

The sandwich was quite salty from the ham and pickles. I guess that's what the awesome french fries were there for. Let me tell you, these were crispy on the outside and fluffy in the inside. The fries actually tasted like potatoes too. I enjoyed the fries a bit more than the salty sandwich.


Fast forward to last Thursday...

I bought tickets to the Washington Capitals vs Ottawa Senators hockey game for one of her birthday presents. She didn't have the car that evening, so we either had to take public transit to the game or find a sports bar that had a shuttle to the game. I called a couple of sports bars but all of them said that they didn't have a shuttle available that evening. Then I gave Buster's a call, after I recalled seeing something about a Sens game shuttle bus during my last visit. Success! They did run a shuttle -- and it was free if we bought a meal there.

The place was packed when we arrived for our pre-game meal. There were many Sens fans sporting their jerseys. I even spotted one Caps jersey. We were seated in a booth towards the back (closer to the doors to the mall). The booths at Buster's were all hard booths. And by that, I mean that there weren't any cushions. Lucy made the mistake of plopping into the booth. Ouch.

"You can choose the main. I'll choose the appetizer." Lucy said.

"Let's try the fish & chips. The last time I was here, I saw a lot of people enjoying that." I responded. "I'm not sure if it was a fish & chip day or something -- there were that many people who ordered it."


We went with one pound of mild chicken wings. I think I've ordered chicken wings probably twice while eating out. Lucy and Jimmy used to go out for wing nights, so she's more of an expert.

I grabbed a saucy drumstick. I immediately noticed a slight crispiness to the skin. The chicken was moist and not overcooked at all, unlike the sad things we usually get when ordering pizza. There was just enough sauce for me. Lucy ate the ones that didn't have as much.


The haddock fish & chips arrived shortly after we began to enjoy the chicken wings. It was a large piece of haddock indeed. We were both glad that we shared the app and main. I found the meaty haddock a bit dry because there was so much meat. The meat itself wasn't dry or anything though. Odd, I know. Lucy really took a liking to the french fries. I found it funny cause we were talking about french fries earlier while walking from the bus stop to Buster's. These french fries definitely hit all the notes like I mentioned earlier. Crisp. Fluffy. Potatoey.

After having some fish & chips, I went back to the chicken wings. They were still slightly crisp! The more I ate the chicken wings, the more I liked them. We were both pleasantly surprised at how good everything was. We agreed that the next time we go to Buster's, we'd order 2 lbs of wings, a basket of fries, and a pitcher of soda.


At the game, which the Sens ended up winning 3-1 against the high-flying Caps, one of my tweets were shown on the large HD scoreboard during both of the intermissions!


Here's a close-up. The full tweet read: @teafortwo_c Cheering on the #PeskySens with @itsybitsypai. #GoSensGo

I think I can speak for myself and Lucy when I say: we can't wait to go back and have those wings and fries!



Address:

Buster's Bar & Grill
2525 Carling Ave
Ottawa, ON
613-828-9004

Finger Food: Dips & Banh Pâté Chaud

I am still so pumped that the NHL has ended the lockout. It's been over two weeks since the first few NHL games were played (Jan. 19th, 2013), but I'm still giddy while being bombarded with hockey related news, rumors, highlights and updates.

Our beloved Ottawa Senators were among a few other teams who played on the first day that the NHL returned. VN, KN, and I celebrated the return of the NHL and the Sens with a finger food-themed menu. We also wanted to make a Vietnamese dessert (che suong sa hot luu) too. Stay tuned for that article. We wanted to pace ourselves since we wanted to watch the Leafs vs Habs game too. VN's comments will be in green.

Spinach Dip (Low-Fat Version)
Spinach, low-fat sour cream, light mayo, onion soup mix, one garlic clove, black pepper, salt



One bunch of spinach was washed, sorted through, boiled, drained, squeezed, and then chopped with a small clove of garlic. I added 250ml of low fat sour cream, a few squirts of mayo, and a couple shakes of the onion soup mix before stirring vigorously. I gave it a try and then tweaked the dip with more onion soup mix and black pepper. The spinach dip was put aside to be reheated in a ramekin while we baked Vietnamese meat pies.


Marbled cheese was mixed into half of the dip before the ramekin was placed in the oven with the meat pies. Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

The spinach dip was quite light. I was expecting to taste the creamy and rich spinach dip Richard made, until I remembered that this dip used light sour cream and a bit of light mayo instead. The one garlic clove was enough to give the dip a light garlic taste. Next time, I'd probably add real onions and not rely solely on the onion soup mix. It's just not the same.

I really liked the spinach dip with the light sour cream. It made it more light and not heavy like other spinach dips that I've tried. If you prefer the more heavier (more richer) dips, then use the cream cheese instead of the sour cream.

For the original recipe (yes, it's an actual recipe) with cream cheese, head over to the Homemade Spinach Dip article.

5-Ingredient Fake Crab Dip

Fake crab, mayo, cilantro, lemon juice, salt

The first dip I wanted to make was a fake crab dip. Aunt IS made it a few years ago and it has been on my mind ever since. She told me the ingredients that she used and I just played around with the proportions until the dip tasted good.

While I worked on the fake crab dip, VN made the Vietnamese meat pies (more details below). A handful of cilantro was washed and sorted through, then finely chopped. The fake crab was sliced and roughly separated so that there weren't many chunks left. A few squirts of light mayo, a few squeezes of lemon juice, and a little sprinkling of salt were all added then stirred together. I gave it a taste and made some adjustments of more lemon juice and mayo, the fake crab dip was ready to be served.


I put out a bowl of the fake crab dip with Wheat Thins for us to munch on as we continued to cook. The rest was left in the fridge to be consumed once the Sens and Jets game began.

To be honest, I couldn't (and still can't) remember what the original fake crab dip, that Aunt IS made, tasted like. The fake crab dip that I made was addictive. That's all I know. The amount of cilantro and lemon juice kept our palates excited.

This was yummy too. The added the cilantro and lemon made it so that the dip wasn't just some boring dip. My only suggestion would be to use real mayo and not Miracle Whip. It might be my own personal preference but I'm not a fan of Miracle Whip. It tastes sweeter to me than real mayo (Hellmann's Mayo).

Banh Pâté Chaud (aka banh pateso, flaky Vietnamese meat pies)

Ground pork, celery, onions, cilantro, fish sauce, corn starch, sugar, pepper, salt, puff pastry package, egg wash 

Banh pâté chaud is a French-inspired Vietnamese pastry. My dad used to eat them in Vietnam, usually for breakfast. The pastry is usually made into a round shape, but I wanted to make them smaller for our finger-food theme. And since we didn't want any scrap pieces of puff pastry, I just made them into small rectangular savoury puff pastry pockets. You can do the same, too, if you're lazy or in a hurry.

This was the first time I've heard of the dish. Mainly because we didn't have to make the puff pastry, it sounded very easy. With prior instructions from her mumsy, VN whipped up the ground pork filling with diced celery, onions, and cilantro. It was seasoned with fish sauce, sugar, black pepper, and salt. When we tried the filling (we nuked a bit in the microwave), it was quite salty so we added more cilantro to help brighten things up. The fish sauce was a bit on the strong side, but I knew that most of the flavours and smell would be mellowed out once baked.

When I looked over towards VN, it looked like she was making giant raviolis again. Oh gawd! The tops of the pastries were poked with a fork and then a knife to let the steam escape while they baked in the oven. We didn't want soggy meat pies. After a quick brushing of egg wash, the tray of pastries were baked in a pre-heated 325 F oven on the middle rack for 25-30 mins. Towards the end of that time, we popped the spinach dip in the oven.

Banh pâté chaud were so simple to make and so delicious! My dad said that eating these reminded him of having breakfast in Vietnam. My younger sister loved them and wanted me to make her an endless supply.

If you make the pastries bite sized, they are perfect appetizers for any party/occasion. My aunt always makes them for our large family gatherings. The Super Bowl is coming up and these would be great for any Super Bowl party too.

These little pockets of flaky Vietnamese meat pies were great! The celery and onions were softened in the oven and provided sweet bites of veggies. I'll definitely make these for my homies fam in the near future.

The Sens ended up beating the Jets 4-1 in the season opener. Shaweet!


We also made some chicken fingers (with crushed pita puffs for the breading) before the start of the Leafs vs Habs game for some more snacking. With a bit of sweet Thai chili sauce for dipping, we had another snack on the table.

Although we originally wanted to spend less time in the kitchen and more time for playing NHL 12 on the PS3 and watching the hockey games live on TV, we probably spent the same time cooking, baking and doing the prep work for all the different snacks. But you know what? I like grazing over a few hours while watching hockey. Don't you?

Speaking of watching sports, the Super Bowl is only a week away. These are great snacks for your Super Bowl party, mainly because they taste great. But more importantly, these snacks can all be made ahead of time and then served on game day.

Pho and Egg Rolls on a Game Night - Updated

A few days ago, EU and I went to see the visiting Florida Panthers play against the Ottawa Senators. My uncle offered to take us out for pho before the game since the Scotiabank Place isn’t the best place for food. I couldn’t say no. They hadn’t been to Koi Asia or the former Pho Mi 108, so I suggested that we go there instead of Kanata Centrum.

Once we sat down at the empty restaurant, I reassured my uncle that this is one of my favourite joints when I crave pho. That seemed to do the trick, but I thought I’d add one more thing; Koi Asia has chefs that make a decent rice noodle with black bean sauce. My uncle was hooked.

We quietly looked over the menu. My uncle broke the silence with a laugh. He directed my attention to the description of the rice noodles with black bean sauce… or should I say “balck becan sauce.” We all had a few tries at pronouncing the typo and laughed at the ridiculously sounding sounds we made. We’re such trolls.

Even though we were the only people in the restaurant, the lady and the man working didn’t pay any attention to us. Sure, it’s uncomfortable when the service staff hovers over you, but it’s also very annoying when they don't even pay attention at all.

Nevertheless, we flagged them down, gave them our order and waited for the food to come. EU wanted to make a ying-yang out of the hoisin and Sriracha sauce. I showed him what it sort of looked like. I realize now that I shouldn’t have encouraged him.

I got a small bowl of pho with slightly fatty beef and beef balls. EU asked for a large bowl of pho with tendons, beef balls, tripe, and medium-rare beef. The waiter looked confused at EU and then looked at my uncle. The waiter had to ask my uncle if EU had meant a small or medium bowl instead. Nope. My uncle wanted to have some pho as well, which was why he told EU to get a large bowl. Imagine if you overhead a 10-year-old kid tried to order a large bowl of pho. Hahaa!

My uncle got the rice noodles with black bean sauce. It was glistening when the plate arrived at the table. “I can eat this all week, everyday,” he quipped.

The bowl of soup to the bottom right corner of the photo is my uncle’s. He took some soup, noodles, and most of the protein from EU’s large bowl of pho. Other then that, EU finished all the noodles and the rest of the protein. He was close to finishing the soup in his bowl – two spoons away. I couldn’t believe he ate that much! What a kid... Like father, like son.

While at the game, I wanted to try Golden Palace’s egg rolls. According to a lot of people, the egg rolls were one of the best in Ottawa. At $6.50 a serving, I was hoping they would be decent.

I was presented this tray. The first impressions weren’t good. Two large open-ended egg rolls, cut in half.

The egg roll was on the thicker side. There was a thin crisp layer, but the rest of the wrapper was soggy. The egg roll was packed with lightly seasoned pork and cabbage filling. It was pretty disappointing. But at least they were moist.

Although the egg rolls were disappointing, the Sens’ effort was the opposite. Sens won 4-3. Ottawa couldn’t defend their one goal lead. They allowed the Panthers come back with under a minute to go. It looked like the game was going into overtime, but then the Sens scored with about four seconds left in the game. VN summed up the game with two words, “epic win.”


*Update on Feb. 2012:
My most recent trip to Koi Asia for pho was in February. I had ordered the same bowl of pho (slightly fatty beef with beef balls) and found a few things different. The first thing I noticed right away was that they had skimped on the protein. If I had put together the three slivers of beef balls that I was given, it would've probably added to half a beef ball. Beef balls aren't even that large to begin with.

The second thing I noticed was that the pho soup tasted watered down and sweetened. I could've just had a bad batch. Now in saying all of this, I totally understand that Koi Asia is no longer a Vietnamese/pho restaurant. Rather, it's a Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese restaurant that makes better stir-fried dishes than bowls of pho. I'd recommend sticking to the Chinese sections of their menu.*

D'Arcy McGees: Take 2

Back in April, VN and I went to watch the visiting Habs play the Sens in the last home game of the season.

Prior to the game, VN and I had dinner at D’Arcy McGees. To my surprise, the pub was quite dead for a home game. Anyway, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat. I knew that I was going to stay away from the Yorkshire pudding appetizers.

I settled on the chicken pie. It came out piping hot and looked really good! Despite our waiter’s warning to me, I dug right in and burned my tongue. The filling was pretty good, though the sauce was a bit pasty. I was quite impressed with the flaky crust. It wasn't overly salty or soggy. The best part of the crust was that it didn't have a metallic taste to it like my mom's version (when she makes it with lard).

For my side dish, I enjoyed a summer salad to counter my heavy main. I wish it had more dressing.

I went through about a quarter of my pie before I realized that I had not found a piece of chicken in my chicken pie. Frig… they must’ve been cheap and skimped on the chicken! I thought to myself.

That’s when I hit the gold mine. Giant chunks of chicken breast pieces came out of hiding. Unlike most places, D’Arcy McGees were definitely not stingy with the chicken.

VN ordered the Guinness® poutine. I had a bite and was disappointed with the Guiness® gravy. It was expecting a rich homemade gravy. I don’t know why.

Dinner was great! I’ll definitely be back for the food. The pub also ran shuttle buses to the arena! Oh, for those who care… the Sens beat the Habs 3-2 in overtime. It was an amazing game. Go Sens!

No Luck at D'Arcy McGees

A few weeks ago, Lucy and Jimmy had dinner at D’Arcy McGees with some friends. Lucy came back gushing about the food and the prices. I went onto the pub's website and checked out their menu. It looked quite good, but Lucy said they were currently in the process of changing the menu. Lucy had some kind of leek and fish pie (something that wasn’t going to be on the new menu). While looking through the website, I noticed that they had shuttles to the Scotiabank Place for hockey games.

Since I had tickets to an upcoming Sens game, I made a mental note to go to D’Arcys for some food before the game. Flash forward a few days later.

Sam and I had dinner at their Kanata location before hopping on a shuttle to watch the Sens to take the Penguins. I was really hoping that the menu hadn't changed yet and that I could try the pie Lucy had, but it was nowhere to be found. There were only three pies on the new menu; Shephard’s pie, chicken pie and a seafood pie. Damn... I was too late. The menus had changed already. 

I've heard about the blarney chips before. Can't remember where. Sam and I started with a plate of those. These were criss-cross cut fries that were topped with diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, and drizzles of nacho cheese. Salsa and sour cream were served on the side. I wish there was more nacho cheese, but other than that, these were great as an appetizer. You can't tell from this picture, but the plate is huge!

I settled with the mini Yorkshire puddings. I knew they were going to be small, but I was disappointed at how small they were. The braised beef-filled Yorkshire puddings were topped with a flavourless white cheddar cheese. The three wee little things served with a bit of coleslaw.

The braised beef filling was bit dry and lacked flavour. I wouldn’t order these again, only cause I’d rather have something more substantial and flavourful. I guess I was hoping that there would be some kind of Irish stew of some sort, but alas, it was just not meant to be.

Sam ordered the club sandwich with the salad as a side. She enjoyed it and said that they make one of the best club sandwiches in Ottawa.

Overall, dinner was okay. It's better than the over-priced stuff at the Scotiabank Place. Because we split the blarney chips, both of our bills came to around $20. Not bad. I’m definitely going to go back to D’Arcy to try their other stuff. I hope they’ll bring back some of their old dishes as specials during the week. I really want to try the leek and fish pie!

The Sens lost 5-1 if you were wondering. It was such a disappointing game.

On another note, D'Arcy has a location at the Ottawa airport so you can get blarney chips before you hop on your plane (or when you get off your plane).

~*~

Address:

D’Arcy McGees

655 Terry Fox Dr.

Kanata, ON

613-836-8311

Christine's First Media Pass!

Christine is still totally pumped after this past weekend, but is too busy eating pho to write a post. She was on the official photography team for the 2009 U17-U18 National Volleyball Championship! Woot!

Check out Andre Ringuette's website for some of her pictures. The ones that have "CT "before the JPEG addition are the ones she took.



This is her first media pass!

Next stop: the NHL or the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games!

Hockey and Gabriel - December 27th

I thought I had posted this up, but I saved it as a draft. It took me almost a month to realize that. I changed the date of the post so it's the first post you see. If I didn't, it would be hidden under the dim sum post.

Pizza and hockey. You don't really need anything else - other then a couple of friends. The original plan was to grab some burgers before hand, at The Works, and then go to the hockey game. Things didn't work out. We were told to wait about 45mins for a table. The problem was that we wanted to be at the Scotiabank Place in about an hour. That left us no time to eat, so we chose to find another place to go to. We looked around and decided to have pizza at Gabriel Pizza. Here's a picture of their napkin. It sure does gets the appetite going, eh?
The first time I tried Gabriel's pizza was probably a year ago and it was very dissapointing. (It was also the last time I had it). I did get it delivered though. All I remember was that I wasn't impressed. It just didn't stand up to my Lorenzo's standards. I wondered what could've happend. Maybe I was one of the last houses on the delivery route? Maybe that's why the pizza wasn't that good that time...
This experience was totally different. I was expecting a really bad pizza to arrive but, to my amazement, the pizza was really good. We ordered two pizzas that night. The Orleans Favourite was split between BM, CM and I.


The other pizza was the Fajita pizza, which was shared among VN, KM and KM's mom. Wow, you can really tell how good the pizza is by just looking at these two pictures. The crust, the cheese, the toppings, the sauce... lol

I didn't have any of the Fajita Pizza, but I can tell that it was good. As for the Orleans Favourite, it was very good. The dough was fluffy and chewy - just like a warm baguette out of the oven. The sauce was  spiced less than Lorenzo's sauce.

After we had our fill of yummy pizza, we headed over to the Scotiabank Place. We missed the warm up, as the zambonies were already out. Not long after we sat down, the Canadian and American anthems were sung and then the puck dropped. Here's a random picture of the game. Go Sens!

Man I have real good timing. That's pro. Heh, I'm just kidding. The play was actually stopped and it happend to be a commercial break, so I had time to look up and realize what a good picture it would make. I tried to zoom up and take another picture, but the puck was dropped and I was slow by a second. This picture is fine. Don't you agree?

Yay! The Sens scored. Way to go guys! Alfie (#11) is leading the way. MVP! Then there's Meszaros, Spezza, Heatly and Richardson.

Here's another view of the ice. This is in the third period. The Sens are leading 5-1, as you can see on the jumbotron.


The Sens ended up winning 5-3 against the Islanders that night. One more goal and we could've gotten a free slice of pizza. It's too bad they changed the Pizza Pizza promotion last year. If the Sens score 6 goals and win, everyone with a ticket to that game could redeem their game day ticket for one free slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza.

~*~*~

Addresses:

Gabriel Pizza
62 Stonehaven
Bridlewood, Ottawa
(613) 599-6446

Scotiabank Place
1000 Palladium Drive
Kanata, Ontario
(613) 599-0100

Lone Star - November 3rd

I apologise ahead of time for this post. I just came back from visiting Lucy and some friends in Kingston, and my whole sleeping system is messed up. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open right now, but I'm going to finish at least 2 entries before I go to sleep.

VN, her sister, KN, KN's bf, and myself all went to Lone Star for dinner. That night, the Sens were playing the Bruins. The place was packed. We waited around an hour for our table of four. We consumed 2 trays of chips and salsa while waiting. Once we got to our table, they gave us another tray. It looked like chips and salsa would be our dinner until our server finally brought the menus.

I ordered the chicken fajitas, VN ordered the chicken fajita club wrap, while KM and her boyfriend had burgers.

Here's my chicken fajita plate. The warm tortillas are in the red container thing in the background. Oh, and the condiments aren't shown.

Here is VN's chicken wrap. KN's burger and salad is in the background.

Here's one of the burgers they ordered.

After eating all the chips and salsa, I managed to make and eat two fajitas. (I should've slowed down on the chips and salsa). Well, the leftovers turned out to be my dinner the next night, so it all worked out in the end.

Once we finished with dinner, we sat at the bar and watched the rest of the game. The Sens won that night 3-2 against the Bruins.

~*~*~

Address:

Lone Star

780 Baseline Road

Ottawa, ON

(613) 224-4044

Hockey Night - October 6th

Since a lot of friends were back in town for the Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to get together and watch the Sens kick some Rangers' ass. We all gathered at Local Heroes in time for the opening face off and ordered some food. I had pizza the last time I went there. The bottom of the pizza was slightly burnt and overall stingy. The pizza sauce was below average, there wasn't enough sauce, and there wasn't enough dough. This was more like a Pizza Pizza pizza. Hoping that that was a one time thing, VN and I decided to split a medium combo pizza. Once the pizza came I checked the bottom. Sadly, the pizza was slightly burnt again - but not as bad the last time. Come on people, it's not that hard to bake a pizza. In saying that though, we were at a sports bar so the food wouldn't be great.


As we mindlessly ate the pizza, Brendan's order 'The Original Sampler' came. I think he changed something, but I can't remember what it was. It was a typical sports bar platter, loaded with some chicken wings, chicken fingers, fries, etc.


Pat ordered the 'Spinach and Artichoke Dip'. "It was good in comparison to the other food at Local's, but nowhere near as good as the artichoke dip at Milestones!" he told me, when I asked how he liked it. (Pat doesn't work for Milestones... or does he?)


Jeff ordered the 'Garlic Cheese Bread', or as Brian called it, the"garlic cheese dead", while trying to decide if he wanted more food. Brian has obviously not seen the kind of pizza that we usually order at home. This was nothing compared to the artery-clogging, beautifully tasty slices of Lorenzo pizza.


In the end, I think we all had a good time. The Sens ended up winning 2-0 over the NY Rangers too. Oh, and for those who care, Pat doesn't work at Milestones. He just knows how to eat.

~*~*~

Address:

Local Heroes
15 Robertson Rd.
Ottawa, ON
(613) 721-7700