Nothing happening here!
Bc 264
posts in this newsgroup.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe nothing happens in this group because of
people like you?
Prabhakar Ragde
Nothing like holding a grudge.
Maybe nothing happens in this group because there are very few good
places to eat in K-W, and not a lot of evolution happening. --PR
--
Prabhakar Ragde, Professor/Assoc Chair (Curric) plr...@uwaterloo.ca
Department of Computer Science DC 2119, (519)888-4567,x4660
Faculty of Mathematics Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1
University of Waterloo http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~plragde
Bc 264
again. Just trying to make a point.
i&e
Prabhakar Ragde wrote:
>
> Maybe nothing happens in this group because there are very few good
> places to eat in K-W, and not a lot of evolution happening. --PR
>
> --
> Prabhakar Ragde, Professor/Assoc Chair (Curric) plr...@uwaterloo.ca
> Department of Computer Science DC 2119, (519)888-4567,x4660
> Faculty of Mathematics Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1
> University of Waterloo http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~plragde
oh yes you are right, KW the land of philistine eateries
Jack Cooper
Bc 264 <bc...@aol.com> wrote:
>I do carry a good grudge but I assure you that I shall not yap on this subject
>again. Just trying to make a point.
Assuming that it's me you are trying to bait, I'm not sure
what your point is. If you want to be the Zagat's of Kitchener
and offer a one-line discussion of every restaurant that
has ever existed in the area, then ye gods, go to it.
Here. I'll give you my blessing, since you seem to want
something from me. BC204 is a very smart and nice man, and we
should all listen to him.
There. Happy?
Obligatory food ref: The Fudgemaker place in the University Plaza
closed down. Is three months a record for a fudge-and-mocassin
store to be in business?
--
== Jack Cooper - IST, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
== Statistical and Decision Support Applications
Prabhakar Ragde
Jack Cooper wrote:
>
> Obligatory food ref: The Fudgemaker place in the University Plaza
> closed down. Is three months a record for a fudge-and-mocassin
> store to be in business?
I'm amazed it lasted that long. What an idiotic idea.
Has anyone gone to any of the other new places in this Plaza, like Mr
Panino or the Pita Factory? I'm not expecting much but Seoul Soul shows
the place still has the capacity to surprise me. --PR
Scott Davis
>
>
>Jack Cooper wrote:
>
>>
>> Obligatory food ref: The Fudgemaker place in the University Plaza
>> closed down. Is three months a record for a fudge-and-mocassin
>> store to be in business?
>
>I'm amazed it lasted that long. What an idiotic idea.
>
>Has anyone gone to any of the other new places in this Plaza, like Mr
>Panino or the Pita Factory? I'm not expecting much but Seoul Soul shows
>the place still has the capacity to surprise me. --PR
Mr. Panino is mediocre. I went last week and paid >$6 for a lukewarm veal
panino. It came with a choice of "free" toppings (hot peppers, "medium
peppers (really just green peppers) and canned mushrooms) cheese and other
toppings were available at an extra cost. IMHO, better deals can be had at
Subway.
I haven't been to the Pita Factory though.
--------------------------------------------------
Stop Spam!! Join the Cauce: www.cauce.org.
Jack Cooper
Scott Davis <dthe_ph...@operamail.com> wrote:
>
>
>Mr. Panino is mediocre. I went last week and paid >$6 for a lukewarm veal
>panino. It came with a choice of "free" toppings (hot peppers, "medium
>peppers (really just green peppers) and canned mushrooms) cheese and other
>toppings were available at an extra cost. IMHO, better deals can be had at
>Subway.
>
>I haven't been to the Pita Factory though.
>
>
I agree about Mr. Panino, although I thought they had a variety
of specials offering a sandwich, a side salad and a drink for
all one price?
Pita Factory, despite the claims trumpeted by its competitor,
The Pita Pit, tastes pretty much the same. I mean, how much
can you reallly do with a pita, some lunch meat and vegetables?
It offers a relatively cheap and healthy alternative to greasy
fast food. I feel sorry for the Pita Pit. I think the Pita
Factory will really benefit by a slighty better location and
may put a severe strain on the Pita Pit business. I think
there are two many restaurant locations around the University
now.
Jack
Viktor Haag
> Has anyone gone to any of the other new places in this Plaza,
> like Mr Panino or the Pita Factory? I'm not expecting much but
> Seoul Soul shows the place still has the capacity to surprise
> me. --PR
I have gone to the Pita Factory. I am not a Pita expert, so I'm
not really qualified for a comparative analysis wrt other Pita
shops. However, I've found that for about the same money I could
spend in fast food joint, I can get a much better tasting, and
probably healthier, form of fast food. And I can get feta for
free on my Pita (try getting Feta at any other fast food
place--natch).
However, at cost for volume, subshops of various kinds are
probably still a better deal.
When I need a quick snack, the Chicken Souvlaki from Pita Factory
is a bit tasty (on my palate). I have NO idea whether it even
remotely approaches a "real" Souvlaki in quality or taste,
however.
--
Viktor Haag Senior Technical Writer, RIM Ltd.
"Unix and C are the ultimate computer viruses." -- Richard Gabriel
My opinions are my own, only.
Scott Davis
Change that to "there are too many restaurants that are indistinguishable from
one-another around the University now" and I'll agree with you. We need a
good, cheap Thai spot.
Prabhakar Ragde
Scott Davis wrote:
> Change that to "there are too many restaurants that are indistinguishable from
> one-another around the University now" and I'll agree with you. We need a
> good, cheap Thai spot.
Yes! Also cheap Japanese. Seoul Soul is a start but not diverse enough
in that respect. Decent Cal-Mex, with fresh grilled vegetables and
proper sauces. South Indian food! A Greek mezes place where you can
drink chilled retsina on a patio in summer!! It's springtime, hope can
survive even late sleet storms...
Ray Butterworth
Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@plg.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
...
>Decent Cal-Mex,
...
Time for a quick lesson.
What's the difference between Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex,
and how do they both differ from real Mexican (Mex-Mex?) ?
Viktor Haag
> Yes! Also cheap Japanese. Seoul Soul is a start but not diverse
> enough in that respect. Decent Cal-Mex, with fresh grilled
> vegetables and proper sauces. South Indian food! A Greek mezes
> place where you can drink chilled retsina on a patio in
> summer!! It's springtime, hope can survive even late sleet
> storms...
Good gawd ... the temperature goes up by a couple of degrees, and
Prabhaker starts flipping out 8-).
I agree with Jack's intent (though not his usage): there are
almost too many restaurant locations nearby now. Variety's one
thing, but they'll all start eating up each other's business
regardless of variety soon. I mean, not too many people want to
have a quick lunch at three different places all on the same
day...
Viktor Haag
> Time for a quick lesson.
> What's the difference between Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex,
> and how do they both differ from real Mexican (Mex-Mex?) ?
And which particular kind of Mexican are you labelling with
Mex-Mex?
Anyone an expert on this?
Scott Davis
>rbutte...@math.uwaterloo.ca (Ray Butterworth) writes:
>
>> Time for a quick lesson.
>> What's the difference between Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex,
>> and how do they both differ from real Mexican (Mex-Mex?) ?
>
>And which particular kind of Mexican are you labelling with
>Mex-Mex?
>
..and what would you label the "Mex" served at Ethel's?
Prabhakar Ragde
Ray Butterworth wrote:
>
> On Mon, 12 Apr 1999 15:24:45 +0100,
> Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@plg.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> ...
> >Decent Cal-Mex,
> ...
>
> Time for a quick lesson.
> What's the difference between Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex,
> and how do they both differ from real Mexican (Mex-Mex?) ?
As I use the terms, which may not correspond to any sort of reality,
Tex-Mex is chile con carne with ground meat, often beef, and beans,
stirred in or on the side (as opposed to the Mexican chile con carne,
which is chunks of pork in a red chile sauce with nothing else, hence
the name), and more generally, older American variations on northern
Mexican cuisine -- your standard burrito, crisp-fried taco, and so on.
When good, quite rib-sticking and comforting; when bad, greasy and heavy.
Cal-Mex takes the "California cuisine" tendencies (fresh produce,
low-fat, Mediterranean influence, grilling, multiple influences, unusual
herbs and spices) and applies it to Mexican cuisines (not just northern,
but Oaxacan, and from elsewhere). When good, lively and complex; when
bad, bland (your average fajita, most "wraps") and too far removed from
the real thing to merit the term "Mex".
Mex-Mex is impossible to find in Canada, except for the occasional place
serving one or two dishes to those in the know. Even doing it yourself,
with the aid of excellent cookbooks like those by Rick Bayless or Diana
Kennedy, requires amassing a considerable stash of expensive and
hard-to-find ingredients, and taking more time than most of us have,
except possibly in the recreational parts of our weekends. --PR
Prabhakar Ragde
Viktor Haag wrote:
>
> When I need a quick snack, the Chicken Souvlaki from Pita Factory
> is a bit tasty (on my palate). I have NO idea whether it even
> remotely approaches a "real" Souvlaki in quality or taste,
> however.
Souvlaki is such a minimal concept (marinate in lemon juice, olive oil,
and herbs; grill) that authenticity is not so much the issue as quality
of ingredients and technique (chicken, for example, can get dry and
stringy if done wrong).
Ray Butterworth
Another question: anyone know how Chinese restaurants prepare
the chicken that often goes into such dishes as corn soup ?
It's white meat that is extremely tender, almost more like
very firm jelly (in a nice, not yucky way) than muscle fibres.
Scott Davis
>On Tue, 13 Apr 1999 12:28:02 +0100,
>Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@plg.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>(chicken, for example, can get dry and stringy if done wrong).
>
>Another question: anyone know how Chinese restaurants prepare
>the chicken that often goes into such dishes as corn soup ?
>It's white meat that is extremely tender, almost more like
>very firm jelly (in a nice, not yucky way) than muscle fibres.
I think they steam it.
brad
(Ray Butterworth) wrote:
>On Tue, 13 Apr 1999 12:28:02 +0100,
>Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@plg.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>...
>>(chicken, for example, can get dry and stringy if done wrong).
>
>Another question: anyone know how Chinese restaurants prepare
>the chicken that often goes into such dishes as corn soup ?
>It's white meat that is extremely tender, almost more like
>very firm jelly (in a nice, not yucky way) than muscle fibres.
Probably a stupid question, but you wouldn't be getting tofu
mixed up with chicken would you?
As much as I pride myself in being a carnivore, i've been
fooled by the ubiquitous tofu on a few occasions. If it's fried it's
texture is quite similar to what you describe.
Has anyone ever found a good Thai green curry in town? Scott's
request for a good cheap Thai spot brought me back to the
days when there was a good cheap Thai spot in King St. Plaza with
the King Kong Subs. Sorry, but it's name escapes me.
I'm getting tired of going to Salad King in Toronto for my green curry
fix.
--
Brad McCloy br...@SPAM-THIS.mgl.ca
-suspicion breeds confidence-
Prabhakar Ragde
brad wrote:
>
> Has anyone ever found a good Thai green curry in town? Scott's
> request for a good cheap Thai spot brought me back to the
> days when there was a good cheap Thai spot in King St. Plaza with
> the King Kong Subs. Sorry, but it's name escapes me.
Really? I must have blinked and missed it.
There's a Vietnamese place on King at Cedar in Kitchener that says
"Thai" on the outside, but I haven't eaten there. A more expensive Thai
place is Barrels, which used to be Portuguese, and I haven't eaten
there, either.
The hardest part about making green curry is the green curry paste. But
you can buy paste of acceptable quality in cans and plastic pouches
(preferable); look at International Foods in the University Plaza, or at
the Asian grocery stores near King and Cedar.
Take two cans of coconut milk (a good brand, like Chaokoh or TCC) that
have been sitting for a few days and very carefully open them. There's
thick stuff on the top; skim that off and into a pot, and heat it until
it liquefies and becomes oily. Put in a couple of heaping tablespoons of
the curry paste. Stir continuously until it darkens a bit. Then dump in
your choice of meat (chicken is best), stir around a bit, add the thin
stuff from the cans of coconut milk, bring to a simmer (don't boil and
don't cover) and cook until done.
You should add basil (dried in a pinch, but fresh is best), and for
authenticity you should put in some fish sauce (roughly, the SE Asian
equivalent of soy sauce, available at the places above), some dried
galangal, some dried kaffir lime leaves (I believe I've seen these at
the Asian grocery on King just south of Market Square, though I could be
wrong) and some stalks of lemongrass (which even Beechwood Zehrs
carries, at irregular intervals). Add all those early, except reserve
some fresh basil to add at the very end. I throw in chopped eggplant or
sliced bamboo shoots to bulk it out, again near the end, as they cook
fast. Serve over lots and lots of Thai jasmine rice, available
everywhere.
This is so simple that I rarely order green or red curry in restaurants
any more. Besides, they usually use so little paste that what you get is
really beige curry.
Prabhakar Ragde
Ray Butterworth wrote:
>
> On Tue, 13 Apr 1999 12:28:02 +0100,
> Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@plg.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> ...
> >(chicken, for example, can get dry and stringy if done wrong).
>
> Another question: anyone know how Chinese restaurants prepare
> the chicken that often goes into such dishes as corn soup ?
> It's white meat that is extremely tender, almost more like
> very firm jelly (in a nice, not yucky way) than muscle fibres.
The recipe for velvet corn soup in Barbara Kafka's "Fine Art of Chinese
Cuisine" calls for either diced Smithfield ham or freshly cooked
crabmeat. Yeah, like I can get those things around here. Anyway, one way
that chicken is often cooked for Chinese chicken salad is by immersing a
whole chicken in water and bringing it to boil. If left boiling, this
would result in stringy chicken. Instead, the water is shut off, the pot
covered, taken off the heat, and left alone for two hours. The result is
tender chicken, though often (with the young factory-farmed chickens
they sell around here) alarmingly pink near the bone (still cooked, though).
A quicker approach is to poach the chicken at a bare simmer, which is a
tough thing to regulate on most home stoves. --PR
Bruce Payette
brad wrote:
>
>
> Has anyone ever found a good Thai green curry in town? Scott's
> request for a good cheap Thai spot brought me back to the
> days when there was a good cheap Thai spot in King St. Plaza with
> the King Kong Subs. Sorry, but it's name escapes me.
>
> I'm getting tired of going to Salad King in Toronto for my green curry
> fix.
You could try the Viet-Thai restaurant at the corner of King and
Cedar (formally the Koh-i-noor and a donut shop before that.)
They feature more Vietnamese than Thai but do have a fair number of
Thai dishes on the menu including green curry.
Other places - Barrels (now Thai instead of Portuguese). One of the
owners said that they were introducing a new menu so I've no idea
what they got now. Finally there's Bhima's Warung. The is menu is
small but eclectic South-east Asian. Bhima's is good but very
expensive and very slow. Not a place to go for a quick bite...
-bruce
Viktor Haag
> brad wrote:
>
> >
> > Has anyone ever found a good Thai green curry in town? Scott's
> > request for a good cheap Thai spot brought me back to the
> > days when there was a good cheap Thai spot in King St. Plaza with
> > the King Kong Subs. Sorry, but it's name escapes me.
>
> Really? I must have blinked and missed it.
We used to call it "Thai Food and Donuts" because it was in the
place where the old Donut shop was, and when the Thai place took
over, they left most (if not all) of the Donut racks on the wall
for some reason (empty, I think). I never ate there, because I
was warned off the place by some friends.
> There's a Vietnamese place on King at Cedar in Kitchener that says
> "Thai" on the outside, but I haven't eaten there. A more expensive Thai
> place is Barrels, which used to be Portuguese, and I haven't eaten
> there, either.
The Cedar street Vietnamese place does serve a green curry, which
some of my friends like (I've never had it myself). I don't know
how well they think it compares to "good Thai food"...
Ray Butterworth
Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@plg.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>brad wrote:
>> Has anyone ever found a good Thai green curry in town? Scott's
>> request for a good cheap Thai spot brought me back to the
>> days when there was a good cheap Thai spot in King St. Plaza with
>> the King Kong Subs. Sorry, but it's name escapes me.
>
>Really? I must have blinked and missed it.
It didn't last long. I think the food was ok, but the atmosphere
definitely wasn't. There were almost no renovations done, so it
still looked and felt like a donut shop, including the sloping
shelves behind the counter.
>There's a Vietnamese place on King at Cedar in Kitchener that says
>"Thai" on the outside, but I haven't eaten there.
You should.
+ From rbutterworth Thu Nov 7 16:07:42 EST 1996
+ Newsgroups: kw.eats
+ Subject: Re: Places to dine...
+
+ On Thu, 7 Nov 1996 16:46:08 GMT, plr...@uwaterloo.ca (Prabhakar Ragde) wrote:
+ >In article <5593a1$o...@tor-nn1-hb0.netcom.ca>
+ >goa...@netcom.ca(Sandy/Sava) writes:
+ > My rejoiner: We lived in Kitchener about two years ago and we went out
+ > for Vietnamese near the downtown core (it's before the market coming
+ > into the city from the 401) and it was good.
+ >This is the former location of Kohinoor, at Cedar and King, in what
+ >used to be a Tim Horton's. It's now Vietnamese with "Thai" also
+ >advertised. I have not been there.
+
+ If you haven't tried Vietnamese soup, that's a great place to try it.
+ (At least it was the last time I ate there, maybe 9 months ago.)
+ But it's a meal in itself, so don't order it as a prelude to the
+ other dishes on the menu. Especially good are the spicy soups to
+ which you add fresh basil and hot peppers (tear them into small
+ pieces for extra flavour). And don't be put off by "beef frank";
+ I believe it's a mispelling of "flank steak", not wiener soup.
I've eaten there several times since then, the last time a couple
of months ago, and still think it's great (the food that is, not
necessarily the service or atmosphere), and I still haven't had
anything other than the soup though.
>A more expensive Thai
>place is Barrels, which used to be Portuguese, and I haven't eaten
>there, either.
Unless they've changed their policy, avoid it if you are bothered
by smoke. It's a fairly small place, so the fact that they have
separate smoking and non-smoking sections is irrelevant. The one
time we went, there was one table with half a dozen smokers at it
and the whole room was full of it.
Prabhakar Ragde
Viktor Haag wrote:
>
> We used to call it "Thai Food and Donuts" because it was in the
> place where the old Donut shop was, and when the Thai place took
> over, they left most (if not all) of the Donut racks on the wall
> for some reason (empty, I think). I never ate there, because I
> was warned off the place by some friends.
Oh, yeah, that place. It was awful. Seemed to be basically a Thai family
attempting to make a go of it without understanding the first thing
about restaurant management. And just because they were Thai didn't mean
they could cook Thai food, though perhaps it was just that they didn't
trust their patrons to enjoy the stuff they had at their own dinner
table. I posted a lengthy slag of it in this newsgroup, though it was
like shooting fish in a barrel. --PR
Prabhakar Ragde
Ray Butterworth wrote:
>
> >There's a Vietnamese place on King at Cedar in Kitchener that says
> >"Thai" on the outside, but I haven't eaten there.
>
> You should.
I came close last weekend, hoping to go after a concert at C in the S,
but one of our kids broke and we felt it best to get home afterwards.
Soon, I promise.
> >A more expensive Thai
> >place is Barrels, which used to be Portuguese, and I haven't eaten
> >there, either.
>
> Unless they've changed their policy, avoid it if you are bothered
> by smoke.
This was always the problem with Barrels, as well. It helped to go
really early.
Berkeley has banned all smoking in restaurants, and it is really nice to
go out for dinner there now. --PR