New site!


Right, so back by popular demand, the restaurant review site, but in a new format. Many of these reviews are old, just haven't gotten around to posting them until now. I'll try to date them where I can. You can still check out the old site here

Unlike other foodie bloggers, I however don't own any fancy camera gear - just an old Sony digital camera that works. Maybe if it breaks I'll look at getting something else, but likely just another simple point and shoot type thing that I won't break easily!

So here we go!

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn.

To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living.

Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold.

Oh, I'll accomodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a 'vegetarian plate', if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine."
― Anthony Bourdain

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Tubby Dog

Tubby Dog

After watching You Gotta Eat Here's episode in and around town, my sister and I couldn't help but want to go to Tubby Dog for our latest eat-venture (I should trademark that!).   In general, every now and again I crave hot dogs, more so than burgers.  Course, I've never been a huge burger person either, so there we be.   Anyways, the Food Network can't help but make you hungry for whatever it is they're showing, so off we went.


So the place at first looks small, but as you walk in, you notice that there's actually a fair amount of space in the back for tables, not that they really use it.  There are a few REALLY old video games, and cartoons being shown on the wall - we're not talking the new crappy stuff, but this is the old school hanna barbera REALLY crappy stuff!   Cult classics!

On with the food!   Tubby Dog is known for their crazy combos of fillings/toppings on top of their hot dogs, including peanut butter, jam, and cereals, or just mounds of bacon, cheese, and chips.   For me, I went with the Juno Beach.   This is advertised as their June special, with a bacon wrapped 1/3 lb. dog, topped with French mustard, American Ketchup, Dutch mayo, Canadian sauce, saute onions, American Cheddar, Canadian back bacon. Drizzled with the finest Canadian maple syrup.

 My sister went west coast, 'healthy' as she called it, and ordered the Sumo Dog, with Japanese mayo, wasabi, pickled ginger, lightly toasted sesame, seasoned seaweed.   See, definitely not as tasty as mine, right?    Anyways, we also ordered a couple of half orders of fries/sweet potato fries to round out the meal.   

First impression - holy crap, how am I going to eat this thing, it's huge!   Second thought - What kind of sissy foodie would I be if I couldn't eat this without a fork and knife?   So pickup and eat is how I rolled, and while it took a bit to get going, I had the hang of it within instants, though with very messy hands afterwards.   Surprisingly, I found the maple syrup taste permeated through the hot dog, and it really bound the flavours all together very nicely.   The Canadian back bacon on top was the kicker though, and everything worked well together.   I'd thought it might have been too saucy at first, but there was a good balance of everything as you bit into the dog.   

Sis thought that the Sumo dog was everything she enjoyed about sushi, and commented that it tasted better to her than the Japadogs of Vancouver.  Of course, she'd thought as well the seaweed was a bit of an acquired taste, and as I am not a fan of pickled ginger or wasabi, I doubt it'd be on my list of things to try.


Anyways - the sides I have to say, while big, were a bit disappointing.  The fries were ok, thick cut, but quite soggy.   The sweet potato fries weren't really fries - they were thick cut rounds, then 'deep fried', but either not enough or too much, because for one, they were soggy, two, they were kinda burnt (yeah, I don't know how you get soggy AND burnt), and overall, just not very 'fry'-like at all.  Unfortunately for us, they'd just run out of T-Rings (those are onion rings that look like the size of doughnuts) so I'll have to go back just to try those some day.

If I went back, I think I'd skip the sides, and just get a hot dog, but for $11, it's pretty pricey.  I'd also try the Ukey, where they replace the regular dog with a Ukrainian sausage.  I also definitely walked out of there feeling quite Tubby!

Taste:   7.0 - in the end, it's a hot dog, with stupid amounts of stuff.   Oddly enough, the stupid amounts of stuff means I'm stuffed, and the flavours were decent.  Unfortunately, soggy fries pulled down this score a bit.

Presentation:  9.0 - Great looking hot dogs, piled high with random things.   I think I said 'Wow' to every variant of dog I saw coming off the line

Ambiance:   7.5 - For a down and dirty place, it's pretty cool.   Tables are a bit tight, but it's going to have a cult following for quite some time I think.


Service:   N/A - You order at the front, pick up when they yell your name.  

Prices:   $10-12 for a hot dog, just depends on the toppings.  


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