Tag: Food

Dining in Montreal

On By reneemarie31In Food, TravelLeave a comment

My final post about Montreal concerns my favorite topic, food! I love to eat. When I travel, I love to try different restaurants and different types of food. Montreal is an international city with lots of different types of food. We didn’t get to try it all, but here are the restaurants that we did get to visit.

Our first meal of the trip was at Brit and Chips. We ordered some fish and chips, specifically the maple battered haddock. I figured since we’re in Montreal, I should order anything with maple syrup! We also ordered our first poutine of the trip. Poutine is the most famous Quebecois dish, consisting of french fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. The restaurant was casual, quick, affordable, and tasty!

At Maison Christian Faure Patisserie, we stopped in and got three different fancy desserts. They were delicious!

Occasionally, when traveling with a 5 year old, one is required to stop at McDonald’s for some poulet mccroquettes.

One of our dinners was at La Maison du Magret, a restaurant completely devoted to duck! As a complimentary appetizer, we were given some duck rillettes and bread. We ordered duck confit and duck poutine. It was all tasty.

It’s always important to get ice cream while on vacation.

One of the mornings, we got breakfast at Allo! Mon Coco, a chain in Quebec. The food was good although service was slow. I had a strawberry flambee on crepes bretonne!

After the first big crepe of the trip, we went to two more creperies! My daughter had spaghetti and meat sauce and garlic bread at both. First, we went to Chez Suzette in Old Montreal. All of the crepes were delicious! We had dinner crepes and a dessert crepe.

  • Crepe Florentine
  • Crepe Parisienne – brie and apples
  • S’mores crepe

We ended up at our second creperie the next day after our intended destination ended up being too crowded. It was a family restaurant in the Mont Royal area of town, called Creperie Bretonne Ty-Breiz. I ordered a smoked salmon crepe.

I also ordered escargot and took a picture of my daughter’s face when I told her that I was eating snails. Yum!

Our hotel was connected to the World Trade Center, so a few mornings I grabbed a quick breakfast at La Fabrique de Bagel. Montreal is famous for their bagels, which are thinner and crunchier than the New York bagels you may be used to. There is nothing better than smoked salmon on a bagel!

One night, we went to C’Chocolat for dinner. A chocolate restaurant for a well-rounded dinner. They actually have sandwiches and salads and such, but we just ordered dessert. We had hot chocolate with marshmallows, a liege waffle, and their signature dessert – the c’wow. It was a chocolate dome which was melted tableside by hot caramel revealing the yummy stuff inside, which included waffle, brownie, gelato, crumble, berries, and pecans.

  • before the hot caramel
  • after the hot caramel

One of our lunches was at Reuben’s Deli and Steakhouse, downtown. They are famous for their smoked meat sandwiches. The coleslaw was particularly tasty.

For our last meal of the trip, we decided to walk to Chinatown. We ate at Chez Chili, and it was very tasty. We had some pork ribs, dumplings, fried rice, and fried bananas!

I hope you have enjoyed my series of posts about our trip to Montreal. We had a great time there, and like always, I enjoyed trying all the food!

District Donuts

On By reneemarie31In Food, LouisianaLeave a comment

District Donuts/Sliders/Brews is a New Orleans restaurant, but we have a location here in Baton Rouge. It is a fun little place to visit. They make all of their delicious food from scratch.

They offer different donut options each week, along with a couple staples. The donuts are large and cake-style donuts. The cinnamon sugar donut pictured below is always available. It reminds me of a churro. On my most recent visit, I got this smores donut. It was topped with a giant homemade marshmallow and was also stuffed with marshmallow filling. Yum!

On my most recent trip, I sampled a few of the tasty sliders. I had one each of the cheeseburger slider, pork belly slider, and roast beef slider. Each one is topped with some unique and tasty toppings. I could barely finish them, though, after finishing off that donut as an appetizer! As for the brews, I am not a coffee drinker, so I cannot comment on them. I’m sure they are delicious for coffee lovers. I did notice that they make their own sodas though, which is pretty interesting. I’ll have to try root beer or creme soda next time I visit. If you’re in New Orleans, I recommend stopping by one of their locations. The flagship is on Magazine Street. These pictures are from the Baton Rouge location. There is now a location in Las Vegas also!

Soufflé

On By reneemarie31In Family Life, FoodLeave a comment

I have a collection of cookbooks, and I used to love trying out new recipes. Every time I make a recipe, I give it a rating, so that I remember what I thought about it. Recently though, I have stopped cooking as much. The time spent in the kitchen, piles of dishes, and cost of ingredients just doesn’t seem worth it most of the time, especially on busy work days. I love good food, but often fall back on easy and quick dinner options or eating out. I haven’t bought a new cookbook in a long time, because I’ve made a conscious decision to stop cooking to save time and money.

I have been home for the past couple weeks, however, recovering from surgery. I am finally starting to feel a little better, but I am still on a soft food diet. So I decided to pull out one of my cookbooks and try to make something. Today I made a Gruyère and Parmesan soufflé from a Bon Appetit cookbook. It was tasty, although the Gruyère tasted even better just shaved right off the block.

It’s not terribly interesting or creative, but here is my cheesy soufflé. The consistency and rise came out perfectly, which are unusual for me.

Adventures with Snowballs

On By reneemarie31In Food, LouisianaLeave a comment

Snowballs. The quintessential New Orleans summertime treat. If you are from somewhere else in the country and think that a snow cone or shave ice is the same thing as a snowball, you are sadly mistaken. Snowball ice is fine, fluffy, delicious and uniquely New Orleans. My absolute favorite snowball flavor is nectar or nectar cream. I don’t know what is in it, but it is delicious. My second go-to is an ice cream or ice cream cream flavored snowball. The cream flavors are the best because they are extra creamy!

I’ve always wanted to work my way through every snowball flavor on the list at my local snowball stand, but I don’t go often enough and can’t resist falling back on my favorite flavors. Maybe one day I will get around to it. Last month, I did decide, however, to try a few different specialty snowballs to see what the fuss was about. You can get snowballs with toppings or stuffed with ice cream or cheesecake. The closest stand to my house in Baton Rouge is Snoman Snowballs. It is the blue building pictured above with my favorite flavors. I recently tried one of their unique flavors, Snoman’s cream, and added sprinkles on top! The flavor was sweet, similar to wedding cake. The sprinkles were a fun touch. Next time, I may try gummy bears.

Another snowball stand that I frequent is Cool Tiger Ice Snowballs in Baton Rouge. They are open year-round as long as the weather is above 70 degrees. They have a drive thru line, although it can get long at popular times. If you follow them on Facebook, you will see some of the specials and unique things they offer. I’ve had a snowball in a pineapple, which is a decadent treat. I also recently had a pineapple upside down cake snowball, which was drizzled with a homemade sauce and fresh pineapple. I also tried my first cheesecake stuffed snowball from Cool Tiger Ice. They use a special homemade cheesecake, and it was very good. When looking for a cheap and tasty treat to cool off during the hot Louisiana days, however, nothing beats a plain old nectar snowball. If you are visiting south Louisiana, you have got to try one!

Dining in Biloxi

On By reneemarie31In Food, Travel2 Comments

This past weekend, my friends and I went to Biloxi, Mississippi for a girl’s weekend. We called it our “halfway to 70” trip, as most of us turn 35 this year. The trip was about two things: 1) friendship (hanging out and appreciating each other) and 2) food! We had three different meals out (if you don’t count our trip to Waffle House with the bad service).

Biloxi is full of casinos. We stayed at Treasure Bay (which I don’t really recommend). Our first meal of the trip was the Infinity Buffet at Treasure Bay Casino. We went there for one reason and one reason only: all you can eat crab legs! The rest of the food was typical buffet fare. Nothing special, but serves it’s purpose. Each table had big pails for crab claws and bibs to wear. Crab claws and drawn butter. Yum!

Our next meal was at the Sugar Factory! Sugar Factory is a chain restaurant. The menu and walls are full of pictures of all the celebrities who have dined here. The Biloxi location is in the Hard Rock Casino. The menu here is all about over the top drinks, meals, and desserts. There are a lot of different cocktails, including chocolate martinis and a large selection of huge, over the top goblets. We decided against ordering a goblet, but I took a picture of one received by the table behind us. Each one is topped with different candies. My friends who ordered cocktails all enjoyed them, especially the caramel macchiato martini.

For an appetizer, I had a fried macaroni and cheese pop, which was pretty tasty. My main course was the Sugar Factory Club Sandwich, and it was delicious! A club sandwich is not my typical order, but this one was exceptionally tasty. The turkey, two types of cheese, avocado, tomatoes, and pickles with herb mayo on toasted bread made for a perfect combination! I did not order a cocktail in order to save room for an over the top milkshake. All of the milkshake options come in a tall decorated glass with insane toppings, including cotton candy, waffles, cheesecake, donuts, cupcakes, or even a burger! I ordered a nutella banana milkshake. It came in a mug covered with chocolate and sprinkles. On top were a lollipop, a candy necklace, and a chocolate covered banana! The milkshake itself was tasty, although nothing different than I have had in less expensive milkshakes. You are paying for the over the top look and the crazy extras. There are also some other crazy options, such as a $1000 chocolate gold fondue. The Sugar Factory also has a small shop where you can buy candy and other candy themed items to bring home.

Our last meal of the trip was a tasty and fancy brunch at the White Pillars. It is a beautiful house right on the Beach Boulevard. Our waiter, Jordan, had an awesome personality and took great care of us. Most of the food served at White Pillars is local and/or house made. Even the soap in the bathrooms was from Pass Christian in Mississippi. There were many different cocktail options, including bottomless mimosas and poinsettas. We started with a charcuterie board, full of house-cured meats, cheeses, and pickled vegetables. Yum!

There were many different tasty options for brunch, such as biscuits and gravy and eggplant Josephine. The duck fat fries with house made garlic aioli may have been the best fries I have ever had. I highly recommend them! I ordered the brioche French toast which was topped with local peaches and hand whipped cream. It was a good size, good taste, and good price. For dessert, our table had a few different options, including bread pudding, a chocolate torte, and a blackberry cobbler. They were all extremely tasty. If you are ever in Biloxi, I highly recommend a visit to the White Pillars. I would love to try out dinner, next time, or of course, more brunch!

Camellia Grill

On By reneemarie31In Food, Louisiana2 Comments

The Camellia Grill is an iconic diner located in uptown New Orleans.  It has been opened since 1946. It was closed for a few years after Katrina, but is now back in action.  Classic and tasty diner food is served, while patrons are seated around the counter. The food is prepared right there behind the counter.  Seating is limited, so sometimes a line can form, although we walked right up on our recent visit.

It is a great place for an affordable meal.  I attended college just down the street. It is unpretentious and full of friendly employees.  From morning until night, one can order pancakes, omelettes, burgers, sandwiches, dessert, and more.  My daughter gave the delicious pancakes and the red beans and rice a big thumbs up! If you find yourself in uptown New Orleans looking for a tasty and affordable meal, I recommend a visit to the Camellia Grill!