Weekend brunches generally fall into two categories: the tiny, uber-popular spots that are lined up out the door, and the places that take reservations where you can linger.

Alice’s Restaurant is the latter. It’s a bistro in Little Italy, more family-style than flash, and more hearty than trendy. It aims to please with a children’s menu and a note that the kitchen is more than happy to work around any dietary limitations including vegan and macrobiotic needs (!) or allergies.

Cue Arlo Guthrie. You really can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant — and at reasonable prices.

Its signature brunch attraction are scones. A basket of three ($3) comes with butter and homemade strawberry jam.

Now, I hate scones. And so does Kevin (my soon-to-be brother-in-law) but we were gobbling them up. They were flaky and light and really tasty even though they’re served cold.

The short brunch menu is not your eggs and bacon variety. In fact, there’s no bacon on the menu at all. (Gasp!)

But my pan-seared trout ($12) was dead on. It’s what I like to call “I win!” — when what I’ve ordered is the best dish at the table.

The trout was perfect with crispy skin and the fish moist and cooked just so, on top of some greens. I loved the warm potato salad that came with it, lightly dressed with capers and tiny pieces of pickles.

Kevin’s huevos rancheros ($11) were solid, but nothing remarkable: two poached eggs on corn tortilla (made in-house) with salsa, guacamole, black beans and sour cream.

We had a bit of an issue with Gigi’s steak and egg (yes, just one egg). She ordered it rare and it came out well done, so we had to send it back. However, the staff were extremely apologetic and came out three times to give us the progress on the second go-around. They also sent out a complimentary basket of scones.

The retry was much better, a small but quality New York strip done rare, with an egg sunny side up, greens, and potato hash.

They ended up taking the steak and egg ($14) off the bill, which I thought was a very gracious gesture, and left us feeling very well taken care of. This is a family-friendly, neighbourhood spot that obviously cares about making sure customers leave feeling satisfied.

Alice’s Restaurant, 856 College St. Toronto, (416) 534-7500. Open for dinner Tues. to Sun. 5–9 p.m., brunch weekends 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Menu here.

Onigiri is basically a rice ball, wrapped in seaweed with a filling of some kind. It’s an extremely popular snack in Japan. They can be homemade and taken for picnics, school lunches etc. but they’re now available in all sorts of flavours in most convenience stores there.

Consider it the taquito of the 7-Eleven or the soggy sandwiches from your local gas station. Except onigiri isn’t gross.

Onigiri literally means “taking hold of something with your hands.”

There are handy instructions on how to put your onigiri together: open cellophane, move rice ball onto one edge of the seawood, roll it together and voilà!

It’s perfect traveling food. I grabbed two onigiri for $3 before getting on a flight. The spicy tuna was canned tuna with that mayo-type dressing served on spicy tuna sushi.

The other one, pickled vegetable, was nice and crunchy with turnip, bracken, and bamboo shoots.

I’ve only seen onigiri in Japanese food stores in Toronto — Sanko carries salmon, okra and pickled plum (umeboshi) flavours as well — but I’m sure they’re available elsewhere in Canada. Or you could try making them yourself.

Sanko Trading Co., 730 Queen St. West, Toronto, (416) 703-4550. Website here.

Whenever we visit Edmonton, we try to satiate cravings for things we can only get there. Last time, I won with my urge for satay pho, so it was definitely Jason’s turn to pick.

He was dying for … Burger Baron. The closest one to Calgary is in Red Deer, but there are more than a dozen franchises in the Edmonton-area. It began in Lethbridge in 1957 as the first restaurant to adopt the drive-thru concept in Western Canada before the huge chains with clowns and kings moved in.

The Baron has persisted though, usually taking over abandoned locations of other fast-food chains and turning them into part of his small, but mighty, empire.

I’m very partial to the Mushroom Burger ($3.75) with mushrooms and mushroom sauce, while Jason’s usual is the Bacon Cheeseburger ($4.35) with onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato and their special red sauce.

You can get single, double or triple patty variations of any burger at the Baron, and they’re all made fresh to order, which is worth the wait.

The fries ($1.95 small) are thick-cut and the onion rings ($2.25 small) are hot and crisp. Everything is served in white paper bags.

Make sure you get a milkshake ($2.85 small); they’re really good and thick. Jason likes that he can get one in root beer flavour.

Burger Baron, 7007-82nd Ave., Edmonton. Other locations in Alberta, Kelowna and Fort. St. John, B.C. and Regina.

The first thing you notice about JAROblue is how small it is. The second thing is the ginormous photographs of horses humping. No wait, they’re playing.

Despite the name (taken from the first two letters of co-owners’ names Jared and Robin), there’s nothing blue in here. The soft silver seating and dark brown wood give off an unruffled ’40s vibe, especially with the retro light fixtures.

Like many new restaurants, JAROblue serves tapas-style plates. Its menu is split into three by price points ($7, $12, $15) and then desserts. There’s a short, but good, wine list and a handful of beers.

There’s something here for everyone, but more for people who like to share and try things with a twist. A caveat: I’ve been here only for late-night nibbles, and not a full dinner.

The steak tartare — I can’t resist this on any menu — was crazy fresh with just enough spices. Our only complaint is the full-flavour of rye bread is a tad overwhelming for the tartare.

The grilled lamb chops was a surprisingly large portion with three chops, on a nest of sweet potato fries and currant demi glaze. It was excellent. However, I must warn that the kitchen prefers to serve it rare, which I’m fine with. But one piece was rare to the point of raw, that I couldn’t even cut it with my knife.

I sent it back for a few more minutes on the grill — and the server was super nice about it. The kitchen actually re-plated my little chop, and added au jus, so I really appreciated the attention to that kind of detail.

The duck confit and risotto croquettes did not look like what I expected: five little croquettes with bits of duck confit inside. They were quite yummy with the spicy pineapple chutney, and a lovely presentation too.

The tenderloin ravioli (three or four large pieces) was simple but homemade in a nice cream sauce.

Sadly, they were out of the assorted mini-burgers (beef, duck, pulled pork and foie gras) which we must return to try.

We’ve also tried the cheese plate which I’m sure is supplied by Janice Beaton Fine Cheese. I remember the distinctive orange Shropshire blue cheese, a gouda and maybe a hunk of cheddar (?). The crackers were meh but the accoutrements were fab. Marinated kale and fennel gave it a nice yowza punch, and the kale was just so pretty.

I didn’t taste the chocolate dessert plate but the chocolate-lovers in the group said it was good.

Service here is excellent. And I don’t mean in that way compared to the lower standards we all seem to be resigned to these days because service is just so terrible in Calgary. I mean, professional, smart, and courteous. It’s about time Calgary got a place like this that does so many things right.

JAROblue doesn’t take reservations but they give accurate estimates of how long the wait might be, and will call your cellphone when a table is ready.

JAROblue, 1314-17th Ave. SW, (403) 237-5276. Open Sun-Thurs. 5 p.m. to midnight, Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Quick note, there’s an article in the National Post this weekend about the resurgence of eating meat in all its yummy glory. Of course, in my life, it never went away.

I babbled a lot during our interview, so I’m grateful Allison didn’t make me sound like a dork. I got a precious three paragraphs at the end. Pretty cool eh?

“She is a consummate carnivore based in Calgary who prefers chicken wings over chocolate and, despite her diminutive size, proudly polishes off giant steaks with the big boys.

The entries on her popular food blog include eating delicacies like lamb testicles, goat’s head soup, snake and camel hoof tendon.

“Some people like to jump out of a plane to seek their thrills. I like to eat new foods,” she said. “I was thinking about why I love meat so much. My dad loved meat. His dad loved meat. Meat has always been around.

“It tastes good. It’s as simple as that.”

Click here for the full article.

There’s a specific reason I wanted to visit Ottawa this time and here she is. Little Bella Gracia — beauty and grace in the making — is the product of Shawna and Aires Inc. She’s pretty darn sharp, hilarious and super well-dressed. All that at only 14 months old. Watch out, world!

Every time I see Shawna, we go out for a nice dinner and catch up. We usually end up at the Black Cat Cafe, but this time decided to try something new.

I pried myself away from her much-too-adorable offspring and we headed to Wellington Street West, a revitalized area of Ottawa that used to boast pawn shops and dusty storefronts, and is now home to condos, restaurants and the Irving Greenburg Theatre Centre, the new base for the stelllar Great Canadian Theatre Company.

Among this new life blooms the Wellington Gastropub, which opened in the fall of 2006 following the British gastropub trend of high-quality food in a relaxed pub atmosphere.

I instantly loved the exposed brick walls, warm lighting, and cozy welcome as we emerged from the stairs to the second-floor dining area. The beers are primarily from microbreweries and there’s a well-chosen wine list. The menu changes daily.

I was having such a good time chatting, and looking over the menu, and chewing fresh bread from Art-Is-In Bakery, and picking wine that it’s only now I noticed I can’t really decipher what I scribbled down, so my apologies.

Shawna had an amazing potato swiss chard bacon soup with truffled sour cream and chives ($7), while I had the seared fish cake with spicy caper remoulade and pickled fennel ($10).

To me, fish cakes are either good or bad. And this one was definitely the former. But Shawna’s soup really kicked, and I started to worry I would covet her side of the table all night.

Well, I was right. For her main, Shawna ordered the scallops and Israeli couscous ($24). In a lesser kitchen, these would be rubbery and scarce on top of gummy, flavourless mush. Here, the scallops (six, count ‘em!) were meaty and perfectly seared.

But the couscous, oh my god, the couscous. Yes, the carnivore is raving about couscous. It was fluffy and light and moist and completely changed my thinking about the wee grains. Of course, I could tell you about the flavour if I could figure out what “bacon shiitake spinach s d tom basil sauce” means.

My crispy duck confit ($23) was nicely done, served with crushed potatoes with “botand,” yellow beans and “whiskey chay jus.” Damn notes.

This is one of those warm-up-your-belly dishes, and I like that they didn’t screw around with it, leaving it to its true salty tenderness.

Wellington Gastropub has an in-house pastry chef (Pascale Berthiaume) so we had to try some of her concoctions. I got the chocolate-orange fondant with fruit, but really, the only thing we should focus on is Pascale’s daily homemade ice cream.

In a bowl came three scoops of that day’s special: raspberry-passionfruit, milk chocolate-hazelnut, and banana caramel brownie. Regardless of your favourite flavours, this was some kickass, creamy, delicious ice cream.

The restaurant has plans to turn their front patio into an ice cream stand this summer. A capital idea, I say!

And what of the service? Co-owner chef Chris Deraiche came out to chat to us for a few minutes. And our server Nick and Shawna were sharing pictures of their kids by the end of the night.

Wellington Gastropub, 1325 Wellington St., Ottawa, (613) 729-1315.
Open for lunch Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner Monday to Saturday 5:30-10 p.m. Closed Sundays. Website here.

Oh, to be going to university in Ottawa now where there is a gourmet burger chain called The Works (just three blocks from where I used to live!), as opposed to schlepping down to the McDonald’s for a sad little cheeseburger…

The location we went to was packed on a Friday night, but perusing the menu made the half-hour wait more than speed by.

When Shawna warned me it would take a long time to decide what I would want off the menu, she wasn’t kidding.

There are more than 60 burgers, and then you can choose a patty of ground beef, chicken breast, ground turkey, veggie burger or portobello mushroom cap, on either a whole wheat or white bun, with a side of fries, potato strings, spicy die-cut chips, mashed potatoes, salad or coleslaw.

We started with the Tower-O-Rings ($8.91) with our choice (of course) of their homemade dipping sauces. We got curry mayo, beechhouse and some red one I forget (Thai?). To put it simply: the onion rings rocked. Hot, crunchy, and so tasty.

The measuring cups for beverages I wasn’t so thrilled about, but then again, I also get weirded out drinking from Mason jars. At least the drinks come with straws.

I did enjoy the choice of milkshakes in three different sizes (8, 16, 32 oz.) and 16 flavours.

The burgers range from Ho Hum #1 (cheddar cheese) to Crappy Tire (pineapple ring, sweet and spicy sauce and brie) to Sum Yung Guy (cream cheese, caramelized onions, gouda and strip bacon).

There’s even the Triple Overtime ($36.50) : three of their “thunderbichin’” one-pound burgers with BBQ sauce and cheddar. If you can eat them in 20 minutes, you get them for free, plus a free dinner for two and a baseball cap on your next visit.

I think we could’ve had a legitimate shot if only for the fact I eat so damn slow and Shawna was in the mood for a portobello mushroom burger — which, in my and Aires’ books, isn’t a really burger. It’s a fungus.

Shawna and Aires get takeout every Saturday from The Works, so they already knew what they wanted.

Shawna salvaged her fungus choice by choosing the Blues Burger ($10.54) with blue cheese and double-smoked bacon.

Aires got his standby beef Stockyard ($10.75) with crushed peppercorn crust, swiss cheese and dijon-haze sauce — except “when you think there shouldn’t be this many peppercorns on it, add some more.”

I finally settled on a similar beef Peppercorn Broiler ($12.03) which comes a crunchy black peppercorn crust, gouda and crispy bacon, with a side of coleslaw.

The menu promises “no filler” and that cooks do not “push, prod, or pinch them” on the grill. That’s definitely what you get. The burgers are thick, juicy and quite delicious.

The Works’ coleslaw, made with jalapeno pepper juice and white pepper, is pretty good, but I should’ve got the fries.

The Works is decorated like a factory, and definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously (its chili is called the “Rear Ender”). The staff are great, which makes sense in light of this article that says they’re handpicked and encouraged to show their personality.

Needless to say, we left there stuffed and happy.

The Works, 580 Bank St., Ottawa, Ontario, (613) 235-0406. Four other locations in the Ottawa area.

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but alas Susur Lee, one of my favourite chefs, is leaving Toronto for New York. He’ll be closing his self-titled Susur on May 31 but the more casual Lee next door will remain open.

Toronto Life reports that Susur will be opening a restaurant in a boutique hotel in Manhattan’s Lower East Side this fall, but will cook at Lee during the times he’s back in Toronto.

“A chef has to do new things, have new adventures,” Susur told the magazine.

I have fond, fond memories of my meals at Susur. Best wishes to the chef.

Susur, 601 King St. West, Toronto, (416) 603-2205.
Lee, 603 King St. West, Toronto, (416) 504-7867.

Dear Mr. Porter,

I know you’re not a real person, but the raccoon mascot for Porter Airlines. Nonetheless, I thought you would like to know about how much I love your company.

Thank you for having a simple yet stylish website that doesn’t freeze up and offers reasonable domestic fares around Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and now New York, Halifax and Quebec City.

Thanks for offering to hang up my coat when I boarded the plane, even as an economy-fare passenger. The smiling attendant was just lovely in a sharp suit, her hair in a neat bun, and makeup from this decade, unlike some of my other air travels.

Kudos for designing a little cup holder on the back of the tray at my seat so I didn’t have to juggle a blazingly hot cup of coffee while trying to stash my (admittedly large) purse and laptop bag.

THANK YOU for the complimentary lunchbox with half a pastrami sandwich on marble rye with mayo, mustard, green leaf lettuce, and swiss cheese; a mini Babybel and crackers, and wetnap. Even the skinny model girl down the row ate her cheese. I’m glad you could provide her some protein.

And hey, thanks for serving my club soda in a real glass so I felt all classy, and not like I was at some six-year-old’s birthday party.

You have my gratitude for making air travel something I can enjoy rather than dread. I can’t wait until you expand your top-notch service and thoughtful air details to western Canada.

Please hurry.

Click here for more info on Porter Airlines.

We finally took the opportunity of a sunny (last) weekend to wander down to Inglewood to check out the newly opened Bite Groceteria, a gourmet food store carrying exclusive products.

It displays dried pastas, spices and truffle oils and unique cutlery like a boutique, and carries some beautiful-looking, vacuum-packed Rougie duck from Quebec.

A real gem is the fire-red room in the back that’s the physical version of the online store run by a former chef who really knows his knives.

Kevin Kent has a passion, to say the least, for beautiful blades. He lays them out, like precious jewels, on orange lentils in glass display cases for a stunning effect. I’ve never really looked closely at knives before, but here — especially the hand-forged Japanese Murata — they glisten like diamonds. They’re gorgeous!

These knives aren’t cheap, but they’re durable; I can’t even begin to count the number of crappy $20 knives I wasted my money on in my university days.

Putting down his Sunday coffee mug, Kevin chatted to us for a while, explaining the difference between the knives and what they’re used for. He’s a great salesman — because he never pushed anything on us. We left wondering if we could register for wedding gifts there. Hmm…

You can also bring your knives to Kevin for sharpening, but you’ll be tempted to walk out with some new ones.

Check out Knifewear website here.
Bite Groceteria, 1212A-9th Ave. SE, Calgary, (403) 263-3966. Open Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. then 4 p.m.-10 p.m. and weekends 12-6 p.m. Closed Mondays.