9 Course Meal at Kaylee's House

I went to my friend's house for a surprise birthday party and we were surprised with 9 delicious courses of food! My friend is only 23 and WOW so domesticated cooking as if she were middle aged woman. All the food was made fresh that day so she slaved away since like noon (and she even made cute little labels). I took pictures after the guests already went at the food because I wasn't sure if I was gonna write about this so it might look a little scarce but originally they were big platters full! I'm going to start randomly!

The quiche was tasty! The pastry was nice and flakey and there was big chunks of diced ham! The boccacini (baby motzarella?) and tomato reminded me of my trip to Italy and of  Caprese salad! I don't even usually like cheese but this was mild and delicious!

The potato gratin was clearly a popular choice too! The top was slightly burnt but the inside was nicely cooked. They tend to come out undercooked and hard. There was a nice garlicy creamy sauce too!

The crab and cream cheese pastry was just ok. I'm not a big fan of cream cheese so thats probably what is biasing me but the pastry was flakey and there was big crab pieces (only one left good thing I rushed over to snap this photo).

As a viet person I am always hard to impress when it comes to salad rolls (my mom makes a mean salad roll) but this was no exception. However, the sauce was unique and had a different flavor too it that I'm used to. I snatched up two before they were all gobbled up!

Italian sausage and baked pasta sounds pretty ordinary and it was haha (everything can't be positive!) There was a nice spice to it and the pasta was cooked al dente as I prefer it.




The chocolate dipped strawberries and bananas were pretty good too! It was nice that they had peanuts or coconut on them as well!

 

The tiramisu looked appetizing and had a nice consistency to it (not too thick and not too runny). Unfortunately my first bite was a mouthful of rum flavor but I did have an edge piece. The rest of the dessert was decent but again nothing too special here!

Last but not least was the cake: banana nut with cream cheese frosting! Again not a big fan personally of cream cheese but the cake was moist and bananay and nutty and it kind of reminded me of banana bread actually.

The food was good and I'm still so surprised that she cooked it all! She was an excellent host and there was also a vegetable platter I didn't mention and like 10 types of juice and pop to drink! She also has an adorable little Bijon named Sky (but don't stick out your leg...) to keep you company. Verdict: I'd come back.

Normands

I came here on a recommendation from my dentist actually (strange I know). She said the venue was a little bit sketchy (right beside a liquor store and on the fringe of downtown) but the food was simply delicious! When we arrived the waiter promptly took us to our table and brought us two glasses of ice water. After telling us the specials he brought over two loaves of bread with a nice tomato and garlic butter. The bread was warm and quite tasty.


We decided to share the PEI mussels to start. I am usually not a big mussels person but these mussels were simply delectable. Big and juicy and served in a white wine, garlic, peppercorn sauce finished with a wedge of lemon. We quickly devoured the entire plate and I even used the bread to dip in sauce it was so tasty.The waiter let us know that on Mondays they have a mussel special with 4 different sauces and 4 pots of mussels.


The entrees came out in a timely fashion - I ordered the petite New York Strip with a wild mushroom sauce. While my friend got the Seafood Pasta. Unfortunately the steak was pretty ordinary; served with scallop potatoes and steamed veggies. The temperature of the meat was fine but it just lacked any strong punch or flavor.

 On the bright side the seafood pasta was absolutely phenomenal. The plate came out overflowing with food. The pasta was mixed with generous amounts of seafood and spinach. There was an abundance of baby shrimp, jumbo shrimp, beautifully cooked golden brown scallops, and a steamed crab leg. Most importantly the sauce was delightful -- a light tomato seafood flavor.


Overall I really enjoyed my experience at Normands. This place isn't cheap with most entrees costing $25-45 (in our case mussels $21, steak $23, and pasta $33). The menu also featured a wide variety of game meats as well (for instance a bison carpaccio). While the steak was ordinary the rest of the food was fantastic. Verdict: 87%

 

Lux Steakhouse and Bar

I came to Lux after a long day of work and my friend had warned me that they are an overrated place but that the double pork chop (since they will cook it at a temperature other than well-done) and burger were pretty good. We got there at around 5:30PM and it was a relatively empty restaurant but it still took us about 10 minutes to get seated (not impressed). The restaurant inside was quite nice with a nice fountain and ambiance. Anyways they claim to use only Heritage beef from some organic free range farm from Northern Alberta or something. I ended up going with the burger and fries.

The burger came out relatively quick and looked quite impressive and the fries were served in a cute little shopping cart with chipotle mayo:

 It was indeed an impressive looking burger that boasted a heritage beef patty, breaded portabello mushrooms, stella artois battered onion ring, and the regular fixings (tomato, lettuce, mayo, and pickles). The burger was stuffed so high it was hard to take the first bite and eat. The patty was nice and juicy. Disappointment -  is the only way I can describe my first bite. It tasted overly peppery and pretty bland. There were a few highlights the onion ring was delicious (though I'm pretty biased as I love onion rings) and the breaded portabello was unique and seasoned well (I ended up taking them out of the burger and eating them separately). The fries were average though the mayo was tasty.

At a hefty price tag of $25 this burger is NOT worth it. Though there are a few promising things about but without the meat itself tasting delicious disappointing. Verdict: 62/100

Towa Sushi

 

After a rather large brunch I was not very hungry but as I awoke from the car ride home from Banff I found myself waking up to the front of this contemporary sushi venue on Broadway in Calgary (wow wordy but oh well). They had specials listed on a whiteboard at the front and the hostess was quite pleasant. There is fresh ginger on the table to cleanse the palate. Seeing as I do not have much penchant for ginger I did not much appreciate it but my company said it was quite good. We only ordered 3 rolls for the four of us and these included (from left to right) the Ocean Roll, Towa Special Roll, and Spicy Salmon Roll.

The Ocean special roll was delicious; scallop shrimp avocado and cucumber topped with mayo and a spicy sauce (not quite Sriracha but similar?). The spicy salmon roll had an extra kick to it which is what I want when I order spicy. The salmon portion was generous to say the least wtih salmon overflowing from the end pieces (in my experience the end pieces of sushi wind up being mal-portioned and altogether sloppy). So far so good. Next up the Towa special: Salmon, white tuna, red tuna, white tuna, salmon with cucumber and salmon and tuna filling and topped with a single piece of alfalfa which I thought was a nice touch. Unfortunately the Towa special roll did not taste as good as it looked and was pretty average.

Each roll costs around $14-20 so this place isn't exactly cheap. Overall it was pretty good and I left satisfied. Verdict: 81/100