Bru Restaurant

138 Lakeshore Road East
Oakville, ON

905-844-4400

In her opinion:
On a sunny Father's Day Sunday we headed to Oakville, Ontario with no real plan in mind about where to eat. We did try the Stoney Bread Company, but they were packed. So we decided to just head back to the main strip and Bru caught our attention. 

Bru is a large room with a bar right as you walk in. It is nicely decorated and feels welcoming. We had just missed the lunch crowd so there was just another family celebrating the day. Our server told us to take any table we wanted and we quickly found a banquet table and sat down. 

She filed our water glasses right away and informed us that Sunday was $5 pints. I chose a Sawdust City Golden Beach Pale Wheat. 

It had a lovely citrus scent and was very reminiscent of a really good wheat beer.

Edgar and I decided to share an appetizer. So we agreed on the Shrimp Po'Boys (3 miniature fried shrimp sandwiches with slaw and Sriracho mayo).

Really really good. The shrimp was lightly fried and flavourful. The slaw was excellent and the Sriracho mayo added the right amount of kick.

For my main, I decided to keep my South of France vacation memories alive by ordering the Mussel and Frites (steamed in a creole tomato sauce).

The frites came with a dill aioli for dipping which was delicate in flavour. The frites themselves were very nicely done. Definitely a good fry. The mussels were very fresh and the creole tomato sauce was quite delicious.

We were too full for dessert. Overall, this was a lovely Father's Day lunch. Bru is a nice spot for lunch if you are in the Oakville area. 

In his opinion:

What Edgar ate.

Shrimp Po'Boys.

Steak frites.

Edgar gives Bru 3.5 out of 5 Olives rating.

Vaca Brava

253 Recinto Sur

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

(787) 723-3700

In her opinion:

We had tried very hard to avoid this restaurant in Old San Juan since it seemed like a tourist trap...I say this because every time we walked by on our way to dinner it was packed and lined up with cruise ship passengers waiting to be seated.

However, on one of our last nights in Puerto Rico the daily rain was beginning to fall and we were extremely exhausted after a day of sightseeing. As we approached Vaca Brava we were shocked to see that there was absolutely no one standing outside this restaurant waiting for a table. Edgar asked me to go inside and check it out...I did and was told that there was no wait at all (it was around 6 pm, so I guess it was still early in the evening).

We bravely decided to try the "wild cow". It is a very large restaurant with a courtyard like seating area. We were shown to our table by one cowboy host and then introduced to our cowboy server. He informed us of the specials including the happy hour deal of 2 Coronas for $5.00. Guess what we had to drink?!

I decided on the daily special which was Pechuga a la Monterrey  A breast of chicken topped with bbq sauce, tonnes of bacon and Monterrey jack cheese melted on top with a side of mashed potatoes.

This was really good. The bbq sauce was not too pungent with a smoky tangy flavour. There was tonnes of crispy bacon on top of this perfectly cooked chicken breast and the cheese was the crowing glory. The mash potatoes were also perfectly done. I enjoyed about a quarter of this meal until I switched with Edgar who wasn't as crazy about what he had ordered...the "Churrasco a la Parrilla" or grilled skirt steak. It was served with grilled peppers and onions and a side of mashed potatoes. I thought it was a very good piece of meat, cooked to a perfect medium and I enjoyed it very much. It wasn't as good as the churrasco that I had had at Mojitos the night before but I still liked it. I thought the peppers and onions were a nice accompaniment as were the mashed potatoes.

We were way too full for dessert but what they had to offer looked amazing. I thought the food was good...not anything to jump up and down about but good...I don't understand the line ups for this place but hey, I didn't have to stand in one to eat here so it was all good!

In his opinion:

This is what Edgar ate and saw.

Churrasco a la Parrilla

Edgar gives it 3 out of 5 Olives as a rating.

Mojito's

Calle Rincto Sur 323
San Juan, Puerto Rico

In her opinion:
What does one do on a rainy night in San Juan when your dinner plans are botched by a lack of parking and an erroneous restaurant description? Why you park at one of the latest parking complexes in Old San Juan and run across the street to Mojito's!

We had walked past Mojito's a few times during our evening strolls looking for our next dinner venue. To be honest, it wasn't that appealing to me but I noticed that it was always full. Given the state of the weather...I didn't really care about appearances and after all, it had good reviews on both Yelp and TripAdvisor.

We were greeted by a very welcoming hostess who joked about how cheap this restaurant was...I didn't really care if it was cheap. We were hungry and wet and at this point just happy to get a descent meal. This is a no frills type of place with lots of tourists and most importantly locals. Our waitress was at our table right away to take our drink orders. Diet Coke for this girl.

We decided to start with the Crostini de Baccala or Stewed Salt Cod on Crostini.

This was very good. The salt cod stew was excellent. It was well seasoned and flavourful. It had tonnes of onions and a some red peppers that had been stewed in a tomato based sauce with the salted cod. It was reminiscent of some Portuguese cod dishes that I had had before. The only bad thing about this dish was that the crostini started to get soggy as it sat on the plate...but that was easily fixed with a knife and fork.

For my main dish, I ordered the Churrasco or grilled skirt steak cooked medium. I also opted for French fries as my side.

The French fries were the homemade type. They were not the pre-cut frozen type. They reminded me of my mom's fries (so so good) and along with the fries a simple salad accompanied the skirt steak. The skirt steak was delicious. It was perfectly cooked. It was simply spiced which said a lot about the cut of the meat. Really really delicious.  I enjoyed this dinner very much.

What had been an unplanned dinner to simply get out of the rain turned out to be an excellent meal. If you are in Old San Juan, give this place a try.

In his opinion:

This is what Edgar ate.

Pechuga de Pollo al Ajillo

Edgar gives it 3 out of 5 Olives rating.

Gourmand'ice

1 Place Croussilat
13300 Salon de Provence
France

In her opinion:
Salon de Provence is a lovely commune in Provence which we had the pleasure of visiting during our vacation in the South of France. Having had a large lunch in Les Baux-de-Provence earlier in the day, we were not exactly ready for dinner when we visited. We noticed that ice cream seemed like a popular choice for locals and tourist on this Sunday afternoon. Who can say no to ice cream anyway?

After being seated under an umbrella in Place Crousillat, our server filled our water glasses and allowed us to peruse the extensive ice cream menu.  Can you say wow! As we looked around, I couldn't help but notice what other patrons were eating...these were large elegant glasses of ice cream...not some piddly little cup. 

Edgar and I decided to order little man his own creation. A little ice cream clown.

This was basically vanilla ice cream with a cone hat, little m&m candies and chocolate and vanilla chantilly. Ethan seemed to enjoy this little creation.

Since these ice cream creations were huge, we opted to share one. We decided on the Montebelle. This was served in a gorgeous extra large pink martini glass. It had a scoop of both pistachio and strawberry ice cream and a scoop of raspberry sorbet, chantilly cream, cookie crumble, raspberry sauce, mikados and a love pistachio with a raspberry filling (Montebelle) French macaron.

This dessert was gorgeous and extremely large. The pistachio ice cream was excellent. The strawberry was fresh tasting without being to sweet. The raspberry sorbet lovely without being too tart. The cookie pieces add the right amount of crunch and the French macaron was just delectable.

Overall, I would say that Gourmand'ice rocks! What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Provence.

In his opinion:

Edgar drank Corsendonk Blanc

Edgar gives it a 3.5 out of 5 Olives rating.

Under the Trees

Doubletree by Hilton
105 Avenue De Diego
San Juan, Puerto Rico

787-721-1200

In her opinion:
When I was researching where to eat for our Puerto Rico trip, this place came up. I remember thinking...wow, this place was very sexy and they had an interesting use for avocados. I wrote it down on a list of restaurants to visit and then quickly forgot about it. That was until we were in the Condado area of San Juan driving towards Isla Verde and I saw the Doubletree by Hilton and remembered Under the Trees. I mentioned it in passing to Edgar but we went on about our business.

While having coffee and snacks in a Isla Verde bakery near the Ritz-Carlton, Edgar and I were trying to figure a place to have lunch in Condado since we hadn't spent too much time in this part of San Juan and it was a really interesting place. When all else didn't appeal, I brought up Under the Trees again...this time we weren't going to brush it off...we decided that this would be the sight of our last lunch in San Juan. 

Having a meal at Under the Trees is like eating under a canopy of trees on a luscious, sexy patio. The furniture is white and sleek with accents of light blue, gray and green from the trees and avocados which are on display throughout the restaurant. 

We were shown to our table by a very attentive hostess who visited us a couple of times to see how our meal was going. Our server was attentive, although he did mess up with Edgar's lunch (they quickly corrected the situation). We ordered our beverages, Diet Coke for me of course and then proceeded to check out the menu and the lunch specials menu. I had heard that they did very interesting things with avocados so I made sure to have something which incorporated this luscious fruit.

I ordered off the lunch specials menu and settled on escallops of pork tenderloin which was served with rice (inside an avocado) and beans. As part of the meal, we were also allowed to partake of the salad bar. Although, it looked absolutely delicious...I decided to forgo it, as we had recently had coffee and snacks and I wanted to enjoy my meal.

This was really very good. The pork was flavourful and absolutely delicious with its creole flavours shining through. The rice and beans were also excellent. I found the beans super flavourful.

Overall, this was an excellent final lunch in Puerto Rico. Under the Trees was a great lunch spot in a beautiful setting.

In his opinion:

This is what Edgar ate and saw.

Creole Shrimp Monfongo

Edgar gives Under the Trees a 3.5 out of 5 Olives rating.

L'Oustau de la Mar

20 Quai des Baux

13260 Cassis,

France

In her opinion:

Cassis is a gorgerous sideside commune on the Mediterranean, not far from Marseille. It is famous for its cliffs and calanques (sheltered inlets). I really enjoyed Cassis...it had the charm of St. Tropez or Cannes without the million tourists. After our boat tour of the calanques we decided to grab lunch.  

The problem then becomes where? If you actually want to call standing on a gorgeous port in Provence debating where to have lunch a problem! After walking around a little bit we opted for L'Oustau de la Mar. It was filled with locals and tourist so we decided that was a good choice.

I started with a glass of local rose wine. 

The south of France has a lot of good roses to pick from and this one did not disappoint. A nice refreshing wine that accompanied my food choices perfectly.

For my appetizer, I choice the "Terrine de Poisson". This consisted of a lovely salmon, shrimp, tomato and zucchini salad combined in an olive oil vinaigrette and formed in a small cup. It was served with a gorgeously dressed green salad.

This was lovely. The seafood salad was very fresh and a nice start to the meal. The salad was excellent with a very nice dressing which was not overpowering. Very nice appetizer.

For my main, I choose the Filet de Loup (seabass filet). This was served with sauteed vegetables and olive oil mashed potatoes.

Let me start by saying you can not go wrong with choosing a fish dish anywhere on the Mediterranean. This fish was pan fried and cooked perfectly. It was flaky and moist and really well seasoned. The saute vegetables were excellent as well. The highlight of the sides was the olive oil mashed potatoes. So flavourful and delicious. Just excellent. 

I had no room left for dessert (Hey, I'm in the South of France...patisseries and gelato places are everywhere. No need to commit to just one place). Overall, a really lovely lunch in a magical location.



In his opinion:


What Edgar ate and saw.

Terrine de Courgettes au Chevre frais et a la menthe.

Piece de boeuf, pommes de terres saute et melange de jeunes pousses.

Edgar gives L'Oustau de la Mar a 3.5 out of 5 Olives rating.

The Sparrow (Le Moineau)

5322 Boulevard St-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

514-507-1642

In her opinion:
On our last day in Montreal, we had room for only one meal and that was brunch. Montreal has a real brunch culture...something I truly love. After checking out different possibilities we settled on Sparrow or Le Moineau. We arrived around 10:30 am, so we were lucky to get a table for three without a reservation (the restaurant does take reservation which is a huge plus in Montreal...since a lot of places don't and simply make you line up to wait). The restaurant itself is decorated with church pews, old photographs from the early 1900s, exposed brick and our meals were served on vintage china. I would call it retro chic!

After studying the Summer Brunch menu, I settled on a cup of coffee. The coffee was fabulous. For my main I picked the "Blackstone Benedict" which consisted of two poached eggs, wilted greens, bacon and tomato on root vegetable latkes, herb Hollandaise and tater tots. 

This was very outside the norm for me as far as brunch is concerned. There was no bread or bread-like ingredients! The latkes served as the "English muffins" in this benedict. Latkes are potato pancakes...these were made up of root veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, etc. They had a sweet characteristic to them. The latkes were topped with wilted greens and bacon. This was topped with two Japanese-style poached eggs (onsen tamago) and everything was topped off with a herb Hollandaise sauce which was light and creamy. There was half a lovely roasted tomato on the plate. The tater tots were house-made and perfectly spiced. The dish also came with a small salad which was lightly dressed. This was not my typical eggs benedict...it was refined and delicious.

Overall, an excellent last meal in Montreal. The Sparrow is a great place for brunch in Montreal. So if you are in Montreal or just visiting check it out.

In his opinion:


This is what Edgar ate.

Chicken and waffles - with a fried egg, white gravy and coleslaw.

Edgar gives it 3.5 olives out of 5 rating.