Vin Room
2310-4th St SW
www.vinroom.com
I had the three course lunch feature at the Vin Room last weekend. The feature, updated every week, offers patrons an appetizer, entree and dessert for $25 dollars. Wine pairings are also available for an extra $10.
First up was the appetizer. Eggplant chips with a pine nut aioli and spicy tomato chutney dip. The slices of paper thin eggplant were coated with panko and deep fried to the max. The taste of eggplant was lost in the cooking process in addition to the nutrients. All you can really taste is the bread crumbs and spices. Really crispy though. Of the two dipping sauces, I liked the pine nut aioli more. The tomato chutney was not very spicy and tasted more like a mild Old Dutch salsa. The portions were relatively generous. 4 or 5 large slices were stacked onto the plate.
Up next was the entree. The grilled flank steak was served with green beans and potatoes and topped with a double smoked bacon jus. You may have noticed there is only 3 pieces of steak on the plate. I can assure you that this is all that was served. I didn't sneak a piece before snapping a picture. And I thought BR& was stingy with their 4 piece steak lunch. To be fair, the steak was very tender and quite good. The sauce had a brown sugar sweetness to it, I cleaned out the rest of the complimentary bread to eat the sauce because it was THAT good!
The last to arrive was the dessert. Two scoops of rocky road gelato with raspberry. Nothing too special about the ice cream. I thought 2 scoops was a little excessive. If given a choice, I would have given up a scoop for more steak. That's for sure.
Overall, I think the meal was decent. I don't think it was totally worth $25, especially considering the portion you get for the entree. Vero Bistro Moderne offers a similar deal for a mere $15. However, Vin Room does offer a fancier meal with steaks or halibut filet as the main versus pasta, and slightly larger appetizer and dessert portions. A solid 7.5 out of 10. 
Mykonos Greek Restaurant and Lounge
1121 Centre St. N
www.mykonoscalgary.ca
My experiences with Greek cuisine is limited to that of Opa! which isn't really saying much. So when we were going to go out for dinner at Mykonos, I was super pumped! Amanda and I had the saganaki which they flamed at our table. The flame was so high, it hit the ceiling! It was so cool but all I could think about was the importance of fireproofing. Opa! indeed. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.
Anyway, I got the lamb shank special. It was pretty good. The meat was really tender and it didn't have that sometimes overwhelming lamb taste so that was a bonus. The dish came with salad, rice and potatoes. My only beef was the potatoes were really sour. Maybe it's suppose to be really sour? I don't know.
This was also my first plate breaking experience, pretty excited! We spent a good 5 to 10 minutes talking about how embarrassing it would be if you threw the plate into the pit and it didn't break. As we stood before the pit, we noticed there were several unscathed plates, more mockery ensued. I decided to practice my Frisbee throw as I whaled it into the wall. The plate shattered into a billion (slight exaggeration) pieces, it gave me a sense of ease knowing that my plate will not stick out in a sea of ceramic shards and become the mockery of fellow patrons of this fair establishment, unlike the other guest of my party.
Amato Gelato
2104 Kensington Rd NW
www.amatogelato.com
Following our plate destruction, we headed to Amato Gelato for some ice cream. They had a million different flavours, it was amazing! I had the Swiss vanilla almond? (Or was it vanilla Swiss almond?) and the one with the rum. It was super creamy and delicious! Om nom nom nom!
Giuseppe's Italian Deli and Market
1207 1 St SW
www.giuseppesitalianmarket.com
Went to Giuseppe's for lunch today with Jordan. Fridays are usually busy at Giuseppe's, the wait for pizzas was "approximately 20 minutes". Normally I would have said "Eff that!", but I promised I would get it the next time I go, so I toughed it out. It ended up being an half hour wait. Brutal... ANND on top of that, the prices have been increased by a dollar. Booo!
Anyway, I got the Four Seasons, I'm not sure why it was called that because there was only 3 toppings; Pepperoni, mushrooms and anchovies. The toppings were placed within their respective third of the pizza so you could never get mushrooms with pepperoni. I guess it's a bonus if you hate mushrooms or something, though I'm not sure why you would get this if that were the case... The pizza dough was very crispy unlike that of Pulcinella. I find the dough is usually really soft and gooey there, perhaps because it's thicker? I don't know. Anyway, it was pretty good but I'm still bitter that they raised the price!
