See Ya Later Ranch Restaurant

Stopped by the restaurant at See Ya Later because we weren't sure what to eat in the Okanagan Falls area.

The menu was sparse so I expected amazing food. We had the Brie.L.T. with a side of butternut and apple squash.

The soup was really good, perfect balance of salt, sweet and tartness. The sandwich was ok - could've been toasted to release more flavour.

Probably won't recommend or return - unless you're tasting during lunch time.

Gasthaus

This German restaurant was recommended to us by my supervisor as well as our B&B host. It's a cute little place with two dining areas: fine dining or pub and garden. We chose the pub and garden.

We made reservations so were seated promptly. We ordered the bruschetta and the pork hock.

The bruschetta came quite quickly. The flavours were well balanced and it was still warm.

The pork hock took longer than I'd like. But when it arrived, I understood. It was REALLY big. For a $20 dish, I was expecting something half the size. I think four people could comfortably share this.

The pork hock came with a side of cabbage, which went really well with the rich, fatty meat. It was tasty, but really rich and needed a bit of acidity from the cabbage to balance it out.

Overall, will recommend and will return - but will probably not order the pork hock unless I'm with a bunch of people.

Local

Lunch at Local by the lake.

This is the view:

The concept is that all ingredients are local.

We tried the chicken ciabatta club sandwich and the Chef's lunch (fish and chips).

The chicken ciabatta club sandwich was good. My partner appreciated the freshness of the ingredients and the quality. The salad was fresh and crispy. The chicken was a little charred, but you could taste all the individual elements on the sandwich - the bacon, tomato, mustard. They mixed well together, but we felt it was lacking something. Maybe some melted cheese or more seasoning, we're not sure.

The fish and chips were made with ling cod, which isn't usually very flavourful. It's fresh and light, so we kind of expected the batter to be more flavourful or have more seasoning. We liked that the batter was light and crispy, so it wasn't too rich, but it just didn't quite hit the spot. The tartar sauce made it a lot better. Fries were great too.

Overall, it was a great experience - great professional service from our server (can't say the same about the busser).

Would recommend and will return if we're in Summerland again.

Santorini's Restaurant

Santorini's was on the bead trail, so we thought we'd try it out. I didn't end up getting a bead because I want to forget this dinner happened.

We ordered the full rack of ribs with mashed potatoes and an extra side of tossed green salad with raspberry vinaigrette.

The salad was really, really dry. It tastes like those store bought bags of lettuce and several days old. The salad dressing came in a little plastic container. It was really thick and artificial.

The ribs were really, really dry too. I thought you couldn't go wrong ordering ribs. But you can. Even Cloud 9 makes better ribs. I don't think they slow cooked it or marinated it long enough.

The mashed potatoes didn't have any potatoes in it, so I suspect it was powdered - which is good, I suppose of you can't make anything properly.

It also came with some broccoli, carrots, and corn and peas. The way the broccoli and carrots look and the mouth feel makes us think that they were microwaved or came frozen and just lightly steamed. It was very bland. The peas and corn definitely were from frozen bags.

Will not recommend or return. This is unfortunate as I thought their service was very good - our server was friendly, professional, and attentive. I couldn't tell her that the food sucked.

Hope Drive-In Restaurant

On our way to the Okanagan, so we decided to stop at Hope for lunch. This drive in was rated well, so we thought it'd be a better choice than McD's. It was.

It's a cute little diner - probably family run. The service was quick and professional.

We had two coffees and their "super burger" - why visit a place if you don't try what their specials?

We told them we'd just split the burger and they split them on two plates for us. That was a plus, I thought, since most places would just bring you an extra plate. I liked their thoughtfulness.

The burger was indeed super. Double patties, double cheese, it was enormous.

I really feel like we got bang for our buck.

Would recommend for a stop by and will probably return if I ever pass the area during lunch again.

One-Pot Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles Recipe

This One-Pot Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles is a pretty quick recipe for a week night.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 8 ounces (225g) brown mushrooms, stems trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 pound (450g) ground beef
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 bouillons beef stock and 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 4 servings egg noodles (recipe called for 8 ounces, but we used the serving size on the package)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring rarely, until browned - about 5 minutes. (Chop and dice onions and garlic during this time)

2. Transfer mushrooms to a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Reduce heat to medium and add butter. When butter has melted add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook , stirring occasionally, until softened - about 4-8 minutes. (Start boiling water for the beef bouillons).

4. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper, and break the meat into smeller pieces with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it's just cooked through and no longer pink - about 6-8 minutes. (Measure out flour and paprika)

5. Sprinkle in the flour and paprika, stir to coat the meat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the raw flavour has cooked off the flour - about 1 to 2 minutes. (Measure out wine)

6. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pot, until almost evaporated - about 1 to 2 minutes.

7. Add the broth, measured salt, and measured pepper and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. (This shouldn't take long as your stock is already hot)

8. Add noodles and reserved mushrooms along with their accumulated juices and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are just cooked through - about 6 to 8 minutes. (Check cooking instructions on egg noodle package)

9. Remove from the heat and stir in sour cream (our package was about 1 cup, so we just scooped out 3/4 of it - you can measure it out before if you prefer).

10 Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Bistro Quiche Provençal Style

We took some cooking lessons and our chef told us about his website: 911 Chef Eric. So now whenever we're trying to look for meals to make, we just search his website. This quiche looked very appetizing. We modified it a bit to fit our quiche dishes, so just be aware how big your dishes are comparatively. With this recipe, we were able to make two shallow 7 inch quiches

Ingredients:

Short Crust Pastry:

• 125 g (1 1/4 cup) all purpose flour
• 60 g (1/4 cup) cold butter
• 5 g (1 tsp) salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 30 ml cold water
• (we used one egg and less water)

Batter:

• 1 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• a couple dashes of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt

Garnish:

• 300 g white mushrooms, sliced
• 300 g bacon, chopped
• 1 branch fresh basil, rolled and cut into long strips
• 3 branches green onion, chopped
• handful of parsley, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 100 g parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F

2. Prepare the crust:

1. combine flour, salt, and butter in a bowl
2. if you have a food processor, use the pulse setting followed by a few second at high speed; if not, use your hands in a claw like fashion to mix the ingredients
3. work the butter into the flour until it is entirely mixed together
4. add egg and water
5. continue mixing until the pastry forms a ball (tacky to touch, but not sticking to your hands)
6. (depending on how many pans you have, separate accordingly) refrigerate

3. Make the batter:

1. beat eggs in a bowl
2. add cream
3. season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg
4. refrigerate

4. Prepare the garnish:

1. wash mushrooms, and slice into thin slices
2. cut green onions; stack and roll basil leaves, then slice into long strips; chop parsley, reserve together
3. cut bacon into small bits
4. cook the bacon until slightly brown
5. add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes
6. add the greens and cook for about 1 minute
7. strain to remove excess fat (optional)

5. Line the tart pan with butter - I usually just grab a bit of butter and rub it around with my fingers.

6. Flour your working surface and roll out your dough.

7. Gently place the dough on your quiche pan and use the back of your index finger to press the dough into the corner of the dish.

8. Fill the quiche with the garnish

9. Cover garnish with batter.

10. Top with tomato slices.

11. Sprinkle parmesan cheese and fold edges over.

12. Bake for 35 minutes at 400°F, lower temperature to 350°F and bake another 25 minutes.

Chef Eric suggests serving it with salad, but we find that we get really full from just a slice.

Lupo

We went to Lupo to celebrate a friend's birthday because she had heard great things from some Italian natives.

We had the Foie Gras + Chicken Liver Parfait first - I just can't turn down good liver. It was very delicious, and because there were so little bread to go with it, I had generous spoonfuls of liver on each slice. The grape mostarda on the side was kind of pointless and seemed irrelevant.

Next we had the rabbit Pappardelle. It was decent, but not delicious. Our friends had the 12oz rib eye. Apparently, it was really good and cooked to the perfect temperature.

Even though our server forgot to charge us for two glasses of wine and then waived it AND gave us free dessert (cake) for the birthday girl, it didn't make up for the lack of service during the meal. The place isn't big, so it doesn't really make sense for him to be missing all the time.

Ambivalent about recommending - there are other better Italian restaurants. Will not return.

Rajio

We thought we'd branch out to a different Japanese restaurant, so we stopped by Rajio on our way home.

What I like about some of these authentically Japanese run restaurants are their specials and fabulous service.

First, we had some salad, on the house.

Then we tried their "special" sashimi, which included two each seven types of sashimi. I thought the little mixes (those sashimi in the cups) were something different from other places, and very tasty in the seaweed they provide on the side.

Then we had their "special" beef udon. The sauce was the right amount of sweet and savoury. The beef was so tender and so perfectly cooked, you barely had to chew it.

Last, we had their "special" Kushikatsu (deep fried vegetables and seafood). They ran out of negitoro, so they replaced it with shrimp. What I liked about their service was that they came out and told us they ran out and would like to replace it and if it were okay with us before they served it. My favourite was the zucchini wrapped with bacon before it was battered and deep fried.

Recommend. Will return.

Tasty n Alder

Our last night in town, we went to Tasty n' Alder because of the rave reviews. Understandably so.

Normally, I hate places that don't take reservations, but if you're this busy, why turn away customers for people who make reservations and "may or may not" show up? When you're this good, you don't need reservations. We arrived shortly before 5:30pm, and there was a line already. But because it was still before 5:30pm, we managed to get seated.

As our first plate, we had the Goat Cheese Dumplings Arrabiata. It was a lot bigger than we had expected, but it was really, really good. The goat cheese really stood out.

As our meat, we had the House made Kielbasa because we thought, why go somewhere when you don't try something only they make? The kielbasa was pretty normal, nicely paired with the sauerkraut and mustard.

What stole the show was the Duck Duck potatoes. Fried in duck oil and topped with an egg. It was so rich and delicious we had it for breakfast again the next day.

As for dessert, we had their chocolate potato doughnut with creme anglaise. It was a little softer than a normal doughnut (i.e. Tuc), but still tasty.

Definitely recommend a visit. Will return if we're ever in the area with people who've never been.

a Cena

We had lunch at a Cena because we were in the area. It was empty, and we know why.

We only ordered the Carciofi pizza because we weren't that hungry and nothing else appealed to us. It came with some bread. The bread was cold. The pizza was a little burnt and the artichoke chunks were not evenly distributed.

Would not recommend and would not return.

John Barleycorns

While we were passing through Seattle, an acquaintance suggested we visit at least one of the McMenamins establishments. Those who are not familiar with them, they like to purchase historical / interesting buildings and turn them into hotels, pubs, theatres, and other venues. It's an interesting concept. We went to John Barleycorns Pub & Brewery because it was a close walk from our hotel.

To start, we had the house flight of whiskey, which included the hogshead, white dog, and monkey puzzle. The hogshead was the best by default - because it was actually aged a bit. The white dog was never aged at all, hence the clear colour. It was really disgusting - if you've ever had moonshine, this is worse than that. Monkey puzzle was sweetened with honey so it was a bit better than the white dog, but still not very palatable.

We weren't that hungry, so we just had the Holy Mole Burrito with some potato tots. It's bar food, so it was what you'd expect. We did think the tots should've been crispier - i.e. deep fried a bit longer. We did like that they split it into two plates for us.

We had the Salted-Caramel Hazelnut Tart. It was satisfactory.

Great service. Acceptable food. Good atmosphere. Shouldn't be on the top of the list of must visits, by stop by if you're in the area.