My Anonymous Blog

Athens Greek Restaurant - Drumheller, Alberta, Canada

Following the advice of two friendly employees at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller who lead us around during Matthew's shoot there, we decided to try Athens, a Greek restaurant located just before the bridge into the main part of town.  We were a little apprehensive eating Greek in the middle of nowhere, and became even more nervous when we walked in the place and discovered a mishmash of knickknacks thrown seemingly willy-nilly all over walls and every inch of available surface space. Fake flowers, pots, pans, candles, tacky vases ... it looked as if an old lady's attic blew up and all of the contents somehow landed in the restaurant.  It was a bit much, as were the scary looking, scantily dressed female patrons with enormous bellies hanging out.

After sitting for several minutes with no sign of water or menus, we briefly debated leaving before a slighty nutty (but friendly) waitress appeared and informed us of the day's special - freshly made moussaka, which we happily ordered along with a hummus appetizer and lamb kabobs.  While waiting, we chatted with a local couple who had never been to a Greek restaurant and were quizzing us on what to order. They ended up copying our order exactly.  It was rather amusing chatting with them through a thick jumble of silk flowers.

After what seemed like an eternity, our food finally arrived.  First the hummus, and then moments later our two entrees, which were served with salad and generous amount of both pita and garlic bread (a Canadian midwestern addition, I gather).  We were both happily surprised by how delicious everything was. The moussaka was prepared beautifully, a time consuming dish that kind of looks like lasagna.  The lamb was equally as delicious, tender and flavorful.  The one thing that kind of suffered, but was still good, was the hummus.  I'm a huge fan of freshly made hummus, and order vast amounts of it in New York from the incomparable Hummus Place.  They set such a high bar that when I'm served cold hummus that has been sitting in the fridge for any length of time, I'm a little disappointed.  But, as I said, it was still decent.

Overall, I give Athens Greek Restaurant a B+ for their surprisingly good Greek food.  Even if you're not a fan of Greek fare, it's almost worth the stop here just to peek in at the jumble of crap all over the walls.

ATHENS GREEK RESTAURANT
71 Bridge St
Drumheller, Alberta, Canada
T0J 0Y0

Phone: 403-823-3225
Hours: Open 4PM - 10PM Daily

The Elbow Room - Vancouver, BC

There's something nice about being assaulted verbally when I'm outside of New York that makes me feel like I'm back home, and that's exactly what happened when I walked into The Elbow Room, where saucy comments from the staff are part of the schtick. The thing that makes this place really rise above the self-imposed kitsch is the food, which is pretty damn amazing.

Everything is homemade and is so fabulous that we ate here every morning for three days straight. You have to try the Big Ass Pancakes, which come in either 6" or 12" sizes. When the waitress asks how big you want your ass, I highly recommend going with the smaller ass - it's a ton of food and you are requested to donate spare change to an AIDS charity if you don't have a clean plate!

Other great things on the menu include the French toast with strawberries, eggs Benedict and the turkey club on cranberry sourdough bread with cream of spinach soup (this might not be one of the soups of the day on your visit, however). The fix-it-yourself tea, coffee and water table is brilliant - not only does it fit in with the faux grouchy atmosphere, but it is easier to fill up your own cup rather than waiting around for an already overwhelmed server to do so.

Other than the food, my favorite part of The Elbow Room is its exceedingly flamboyant owner, who struts around the room cooing, "Hello, Girls!" to each and every table while making funny comments. After paying the bill for my Big Ass Pancakes on my first visit, he snapped, "Girl, you like everything BIG!"

Yes, I do.

The Elbow Room gets an all around A for providing an exceptionally entertaining atmosphere while offering solidly delicious, made-from-scratch diner fare.

Fantastic stop - highly recommended!

THE ELBOW ROOM
560 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 2G4

Phone: 640-685-3628
Hours: Mon - Fri 8AM - 4PM; Sat - Sun 8AM - 5PM

Britney Spears - Womanizer

Poor Britney - she's been through the ringer, had several public breakdowns, lost custody of her kids ... and finally, she turned herself around and is once again looking healthy!  Let's hope she's here to stay, because she's consistently given the best pop songs in the business.  Check out her new single and video for Womanizer below! I LOOOOOOOOOOVE it!

• Britney Spears
• New Music

Lee's Donuts - Granville Market - Vancouver, BC

We've been traipsing around Vancouver for Matthew's shoots, and in between working we've been wandering different parts of town just for kicks - mainly to search out mean tasting edibles, and when we walked through the central food pavilion of the Granville Island Public Market, we hit the mother load: Piles of the freshest, sweetest tasting apples imaginable greeted me and I immediately bought five giant Honeycrisps.  I also picked up some maple syrup roasted almonds that didn't even survive the afternoon they were so good.  But the thing that is haunting me the most are the pumpkin spice donuts at Lee's Donuts.

Covered in a crispy shell of sweetness, they actually crunch when bitten into and quickly reveal their soft, perfectly spiced center that literally melts in your mouth.  I can't even begin to tell you how good they are.  I think I would kill for one.  No, really - they're that good. Unfortunately, they're also only made seasonally - as in NOW...through October 31st - so get your ass there before it's too late!  If you're not a fan of pumpkin (gasp!) or you can't make it before the season's up, I'm sure the other varieties of donuts are just as tasty...although, I can't tell you for sure because I couldn't stop eating the pumpkin spice donuts long enough to try any of their other offerings.

The Pumpkin Spice Donuts at Lee's get an A+ for being utterly addicting, sinfully scrumptious and just plain god damned DEE-LEEESH-SHUSH!

Lee's Donuts
1689 Johnston Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9
(located in the main food pavilion of the Granville Public Market)

Phone: 604-685-4021
Hours: Everyday 9AM - 7PM

Ivar's Acres of Clams - Seattle

The only thing I eat at Ivar's are the fried clams - I literally throw all of the fries at the crowds of eager seagulls gathered along railings (and sometimes right on my table).  The clams are terribly addicting.  They are crunchy, flavorful and so, so good.  I have many memories of eating at Ivar's when I worked at Argosy Cruises narrating tours around the harbor and through the Ballard Locks.  It's not the nicest spot and the food is pretty greasy and not exactly thoughtfully prepared ... but the fried clams keep bringin' me back (not the clam chowder, though, which is too salty)!

Ivar's Seafood gets a B for their crispity crunchity fried clams. Ignore everything else.

IVARS ACRES OF CLAMS
Pier 54
1001 Alaskan Way
Seattle, WA

Phone: 206-624-6852
Hours: Mon - Thu 11AM - 10PM; Fri - Sat 11AM - 11PM; Sun 3:30PM - 10PM

Market Grill - Pike Place Market - Seattle

I don't have much to say about Market Grill, a tiny seafood counter located in the Pike Place Market, other than to say they serve up the absolute BEST grilled halibut sandwich found just about anywhere.  It's the only thing I've tried on the menu (well, the slaw served on the side - and I usually don't like coleslaw at all - is pretty darn dee-lish as well), but it keeps me coming back every time I blow through Seattle.

Market Grill's fresh halibut sandwich gets an A for being totally fucking delicious.

MARKET GRILL
(in the Pike Place Market)
1509 Pike Place
Seattle, WA 98101

Phone: 206-682-2654‎
Hours: Everyday 9AM - 5PM

World Class Chili - Pike Place Market, Seattle

Matthew swears that World Class Chili makes the best chili he's ever tasted, and while we've come pretty close to replicating it at home, we're still missing a secret ingredient that we'll probably never discover because the owner guards his recipes extremely closely.  So much so, in fact, that he doesn't even keep them written down in his Pike Place Market shop and makes them all early each morning from memory. 

We were so glad that we had the chance to stop here before heading north and were happy that he was still open - he closes by 3pm.  Matthew loves the Texas chili, while I lean more toward the Cincinnati. We're hoping the owner seals some kind of deal before he dies to have his recipes published, or at least have someone keep his shop open, because it would be a shame to lose it entirely.  He's getting fairly old, and we always wonder between visits if it's still going to be there when we make it back into Seattle.  Thankfully, this time it was!

World Class Chili gets an A for serving up absolutely amazing bowls of chili.

WORLD CLASS CHILI
93 Pike Street (in the Pike Place Market)
Seattle, Washington

Phone: 206-623-3678
Hours: Mon - Sat 11AM - 3PM; Closed Sundays

Himali, Barcelona - Revisited

I've mentioned Himali, the Nepalese restaurant I'm fond of in Barcelona.  Well, we stopped in early on into our stay and arrived at noon, expecting them to be open, when in fact they opened at 1pm.  They seated us anyway, which was very kind of the owner, and he quickly whipped up soups, a chicken and a lamb dish.  They were, unfortunately, not up to snuff with what we've come to expect of the place. Everything seemed a bit under seasoned and bland.  Our muglinco kukhura chicken was not creamy enough, and actually it was on the runny side.  I'm not ready to dock them points or knock them off my list permanently, as I'm not sure the owner is the usual one that does the cooking - I remember his wife behind the counter, and either she hadn't arrived yet or had the day off.  She very well might be the better cook, and if this is what his food normally tastes like, he might consider closing altogether when she's unable to come in.

HIMALI
C/Mila i Fontanals 68
Closest train stop: Metro Joanic
Phone: 93-285-15-68
Hours: 1pm - 4pm & 8pm - 12midnight TUE - SUN; closed Mondays

Agua Restaurant, Barcelona - Best Gazpacho EVER!

We finally rode the rickety sky lifts from the hills near the Fundació Joan Miró to the waterfront, where we wandered around gawking at the assortment of almost equally eye-popping Spanish men sporting picture perfect physiques and topless grannies with boobs so droopy they were playing hacky sack with their knees.  Time to don the bikini! (Not you, Spanish boys.) 

The museum, by the way, was a nice stop.  My favorite pieces were this giant, multicolored shag rug and a fountain that used mercury instead of water, creating a mesmerizing flow of metallic droplets that bounced and reflected light from every direction as they made their way to a shimmering mercury pool at the base.

After a long walk, we ended up at the other end of the beach and had lunch at AGUA, our favorite spot on the water that serves the most delicious, flavorful and smooth gazpacho I've ever had.  I look forward to it every time I'm in Barcelona.  Everything else on the menu is less surprising.  Order simply, sticking with the seafood options, and you won't be disappointed.  The restaurant itself is quite nice, with equally sprawling indoor and outdoor space.  Having been out in the sun for a good chunk of the morning, we sat inside.  The staff gets good marks for being attentive and helpful with menu suggestions.  I had a sashimi tuna entree that was straightforward and delicious.  Dessert was a little less successful - I went with a warm chocolate cake that wasn't dense enough, and a little dry in the end.  Like I said, though, I come for the cool gazpacho. 

Agua gets an A for their chilly, smooth and refreshing gazpacho, and a B for everything else.

Agua
Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta, 30
08003 Barcelona
Spain

Phone: 93 225 12 72
Hours: Open Everyday for Lunch 1PM - 4PM; Dinner 8PM - Midnight; Open until 1AM Friday & Saturday.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Paris

(Posted from September 2, 2008 journal.)

What a whirlwind stay in Paris we've had.  Our brief weekend trip down to Bonnieux was warm, sunny and contrasted starkly with the gloom, rain and cold that Paris dealt us for nearly all of August, and now early September!  Normally things would've been a lot more relaxed, but Matthew was busy doing the first part of a commissioned shoot starring the City of Light herself as his main subject, and I was his trusty assistant who managed not to break another ankle on this city shoot, thankfully! 

We finished a nearly three-week adventure at the Bon Marché, an easy hop down the street from M's mom's flat, and watched as little old ladies buzzed up and down the escalators of the historic department store and Matthew timed his shots across the grand main room while positioned along second and third floor railings.

We ended our last day of the summer in Paris by paying a visit with M's mom to L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, the namesake's Parisian counterpart to a chain that has landed in Vegas, New York and elsewhere around the globe with decent success.  After arriving early to the restaurant, which is colored heavily in bright red tones that are framed neatly by black countertops and long-legged seats, we were seated along a row of stools at a corner window. 

Following some serious debating, we decided to go with the 8-course tasting menu, which read as follows:

*****

L'Amuse Bouche
Chilled Cauliflower coup

La Tomate
Gazpacho

Le Crabe Royal
Flakey pieces of crab delicately paired with thin radish slices that are tied together with a tomato and mayo sauce

L' Oeuf
Parsley foam, poached egg, mushroom soup

Le Foie Gras
Traditionally seared foie gras in a light vinegar reduction

La Morue
Tender piece of cod served very simply

L'Agneau de Lait
Lamb chops (the tiniest I had ever seen - how small was the lamb?!) served with mashed potatoes

Le Basilic
Basil sorbet over pineapple

La Framboise
Strawberry jello-like concoction topped with vanilla cream

*****

The menu was successful overall, but there were three standouts:

1. The egg course (L'Oeuf) was sensational and almost indescribable in its complexity.  Is it a soup?  A foam?  What is it?  I love the beautiful beige layers of egg, mushroom and parsley foam delicately balancing on top of each other, but even better is the taste of all three together.  I would love to be able to learn how to make this dish at home.

2. Le Foie Gras.  This isn't a surprise - I love foie gras and could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  But even in it's simply seared form, there was something magical about the way it was seared to perfection, leaving the outside caramelized and sealed off from the deliciously soft insides.  More, please!

3. The second from last dessert (Le Basilic) was so fantastically unique and has provided me with the challenge of recreating a basil sorbet over pineapple at home.  It didn't sound like something I was going to enjoy, but turned out to be the star of the evening.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon gets a B+ overall.  The service was excellent and the food was positively decadent.  This marked our first trip back to one of his restaurants since our indulgent experience at MGM Grand Las Vegas' The Mansion earlier this year, which you can read about HERE.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
16, Avenue Bugeaud
75016 Paris, France

Phone: +33 (0)1 56 28 16 16
Hours: Open every day from Noon - 2:30PM & 7PM - 11PM

Reservations strongly advised, although walking in with a small group of 4 or less almost guarantees a spot at the 6:30pm seating, but don't count on it entirely.