2 Meh Meals in Saskatoon, and 1 Great One

Last weekend we were in Saskatoon to see my mom.  For dinner on Friday evening we tried a new-to-us restaurant, Primal Pasta.  We were pretty excited to go to this place, as they make all the pasta in-house, and had good reviews.  Unfortunately, we were disappointed in our meal.

To start we had the caponata with buffalo mozzarella and bread:

It was decent, although for the price, we expected more (both in amount of mozzarella, and quality of the dish).  The bread was soft, and pretty good.

I ordered the rigatoni with goat cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, greens and truffle oil:

And Christopher had the squid ink puttanesca conchiglie bottarga, with olives and capers:

Mine was alright, but not worth the price, as we could easily make this dish at home for a couple of dollars; it was was very basic.  Christopher's pasta was really under cooked; the shells were crunchy!  He is a puttanesca lover, but this one just didn't cut it.  We would have mentioned something to the server if it wasn't 20 minutes before closing time.  Since it was late and we were tired, we just ate quickly so we could get to our hotel to sleep.

Next time we want fresh pasta in Saskatoon, we'll go back to Little Grouse on the Prairie.

Unfortunately we had another mediocre meal the next morning, this time at Park Cafe.  It's hard to screw up an omelette and hashbrowns, but this place just doesn't have it down yet ...

The eggs were super dry, and the potatoes were bland.

The next day we had an excellent meal though!  We picked up a pizza from a newer place called Thirteen Pies.  My brother-in-law Riley recommended this restaurant to us.  The pizza is made with a sourdough crust - mmm!

We went inside to order the pizza to-go, and then sat and enjoyed a beverage while waiting for it.  The service was wonderful, and when the pizza came out it smelled amazing!  We couldn't wait to get it back to our hotel room to dig in.

If the pizzas have the same base (tomato sauce, or white sauce), you can get 1/2 and 1/2 to try two kinds.  We had The Killer Cheese (fior de latte, mozza, provolone, truffle honey, leeks, white sauce), and The White Walker (roasted mushrooms, provolone, mozzerela, ricotta, white sauce, truffle oil), and we couldn't pick a favourite of the two.  Both were fantastic!  It's Brooklyn-style pizza, but I think it is better than any pizza I've ever had in Brooklyn.

The sourdough crust was excellent.  We're looking forward to going back to Thirteen Pies many, many more times in the future.

The photo isn't great as it was dark, but the pizza is well worth a visit.

Our server at Thirteen Pies was surprised that we had a bad meal at Primal Pasta, and he encouraged us to give it another try sometime, so we might head back to Primal Pasta to see if they can impress us on a second visit.

Have you tried any new restaurants lately?  

Where is the best pizza in your city?

Saskatoon and Purdys

Last Saturday we drove up to Saskatoon to see my mom.  We had an awesome visit with her, and also caught up with my sister and her family, as they were in town visiting too.  We were craving pasta for dinner, so we ate at Chianti.  We also stopped by the Midtown mall to check out the new Purdys Chocolatier.  They had a special treat waiting for me, exclusive to the Saskatoon store:

They made a nice dessert once we were back in our hotel.

The next morning we went for breakfast to Grainfields before heading back to see my mom for the day. 

I received a box of chocolates in the mail from Purdys, so that was a sweet surprise.  They have some different, interesting flavours, such as Peanut Butter Crunch Mayan, Butterscotch Fudgie, Chocolate Cashew, and Maple Meltie, to name a few.  The chocolates are made fresh daily in Vancouver, using 100% sustainable cocoa. 

We're really diving into them today to discover our favourite #everyonehasafavourite.

I usually reach for caramel flavours first, as they are my favourite.  I am really interested in trying the Butterscotch Fudgie, as I like butterscotch even more than caramel.  It's not in this box, so I'll have to pick one up from the store next time we're in Saskatoon.  Oooooooh, chocolate!

When digging into a box of chocolates, what kind do you reach for first?  Caramels?  Fruit filled?  Nuts?  Milk?  Dark?  Other?

Full disclosure: The Purdys products were provided to me free of charge.  Thank you Purdys.

Weekend Away

We spent the weekend in Saskatoon visiting my mom.  When we arrived on Friday evening we got dressed up and went out to a newer restaurant, Little Grouse on the Prairie.  This is a finer dining Italian restaurant, opened by Dale MacKay (first winner of Top Chef Canada), and his crew from Ayden (a top 100 restaurant in Canada).

We were planning on doing the tasting menu, but were pretty tired, and not as hungry as we expected to be, so we decided to save that for another time.  Instead, we shared two appetizers, and two pastas.  All the portions are very small, so it's a place where you should definitely order multiple dishes.  Also, don't be surprised, it is quite pricey for the portion sizes, so if you're all about quantity, this might not be the place for you.  It's definitely a place for quality, however.

We started with the mushrooms and scallops (about $17 each for reference):

Both were really good, fresh, and used high quality ingredients.

We then shared the pasta special (puttanesca sauce), and a beet root filled pasta.

Both were superb, and it was very evident that the noodles were made fresh, from scratch.  Most pastas run about $24 dollars at this restaurant, but as I mentioned, you are paying for quality, not quantity.  We would definitely order each of these dishes again.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel room and crashed for the night.  On Saturday morning we ended up eating a Ukrainian plate of food for a late breakfast.  We were picking up perogies for my mom from Baba's Perogies, and shared a big messy plate ourselves before going to see her for the day.

We had a late lunch, sharing a sushi roll and bowl of ramen at Fuzion.  The ramen was really good, and probably the best we've had in Saskatoon.  This was our first time eating at this little, casual, Asian bubble-tea/ sushi bar, but we'll be back.

We spent the evening in our hotel, and grabbed a late dinner at Aroma. 

We took our leftover pizza and a slice of peanut butter, pretzel cheesecake to-go, and went back up to our room for the evening. 

On Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast before spending the day with my mom, and then hitting the road home.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Christmas Spirit

For two people who won't be home for Christmas, we've been feeling extra festive this year.  Perhaps it's because it will be our first Christmas as husband and wife (best thing ever).  Perhaps it's because the weather has been nice enough that we can more pleasantly run our errands ...

Whatever it is, it's been really nice.  We've been watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music, eating chocolates, and enjoying the warmth of the season.

I made some butter tarts recently, and have a couple other treats planned for the next few weeks.

We spent this weekend seeing my mom for our Christmas visit.  We brought some presents to her home, and a bunch of goodies for her to enjoy, and had a nice visit on Saturday and Sunday.  We were pretty wiped when we got to Saskatoon on Friday night - especially Christopher, who works a lot of overtime this time of year.  We checked into the Bessborough hotel, and crashed really early. 

On Saturday morning we were up early, we grabbed a couple of bagels, and then spent the day with my mom in her care home, and attended a care meeting for her.

My mom is very young to be in a care home, and most of the people in the home are quite old, and so cute.  I just love old people!  They are so precious!  So many little old ladies compliment Christopher on his tattoos - it's pretty adorable.  He's so good with them too, and always takes the time to help them out - I love it.

We went for a late lunch to The Mardi Gras Grill.

This place is a great place in Saskatoon to get soul food.  We went back to visit more with my mom after our late lunch.

For dinner we dressed up and went out to Ayden.  We wanted a romantic, Christmasy evening out.  This restaurant is owned and operated by the first winner of Top Chef Canada.  We had gone once before, and it was really good, but unfortunately last night we were dissapointed.

Our appetizers were quite good - we had scallops, and tuna (unpictured).

We shared an entree, and this is where we were really dissapointed.

We ordered the fried chicken and grits, but I wouldn't have called the side dish "grits".  There were barely any grits to be found.  It was a bowl of way too salty, melty cheese, with a grit or two floating around in it.  It was inedible.  The fried chicken left a lot to be desired too.  Oh well - we're glad we only ordered one entree.

We went straight back to the hotel after dinner, and then today got my mom a bunch of groceries, and went for another visit before heading home.  It was a whirlwind road trip, but nice to spend some quality time with my mom.

Tonight, we're cooking a turkey dinner!  We figure the leftovers will last us until we leave for Vegas on Christmas eve.  Hollllllaaaa!!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  

Are you ready for Christmas?

Start of our Holidays

We were pretty pumped as we drove away from work last Thursday, as we were officially on holidays for 10 days!!  We started them off with catching up with Christopher's old high school pal who was in town for Easter.  After the boys indoor golfed, we visited at home, and then ate some junk at Western Pizza:

The lasagna from generic pizza places makes me really, really happy.

On Good Friday we enjoyed breakfast at Wild Sage.  It was nice that they brought us out some fruit and a mini smoothie before our order came:

I had my usual "manly" breakfast, and Christopher had his typical fruit and yogurt:

After breakfast we were on the road to see Black Sabbath in Saskatoon! 

When we got to Saskatoon we dropped our carpooling pals off downtown, and visited with my mom for a bit.  We then met up again for dinner at Amigos.  This was our first time eating at Amigos and we thought it was FANTASTIC!  We will be going back again.

The concert was incredible.  Ozzy is an entertainer for sure, and even though he looked a little frail, his voice was as strong as ever. 

We had to drive home immediately after the show on pretty bad roads.  Fortunately we were in Christopher's Dad's fancy new vehicle that had all these special features to help keep us on the road.  We got home at 3:00 a.m., and then set our alarms for 6:00 a.m., as we had a flight to catch!!

How was your Easter?  What did you do?  Did you see family?