Big Cheese Poutinerie

After sharing our crepe at Holy Crepe Food Truck, we decided that we needed something else to complement our meal so we walked to Big Cheese Poutinerie on 17th Avenue to continue our Quebecois-themed lunch. While the wife has already determined that her favourite poutines come from Maaam Bolduc and La Banquise in Montreal and La Belle Patate in Canmore, there was definitely interest in seeing what this Calgary poutinerie had to offer.

The nice thing was that there were hardly any people at Big Cheese Poutinerie so we had some time to think about what to get.  As the husband is usually more traditional in his poutine selections (give him squeaky cheese curds, good gravy, and the occasional smoked meat over his fries and he's happy), the wife suggested ordering the Hogzilla with Carolina pulled pork, double smoked bacon, and peppercorn gravy as a compromise.  Since we were sharing the poutine, we split a large order but learnt that in the future, sharing a small poutine would suffice.

The Hogzilla poutine: Definitely larger than we anticipated and just as tasty as we hoped.

This poutine choice was delicious; however, after a few bites, we realized that the husband ended up getting more of the pulled pork and the wife got more of the bacon and gravy so if you're sharing, you might need to switch sides after a while due to the uneven layering.  The bacon added the right crunch and the small bits of pulled pork tasted great with the peppercorn gravy but it didn't seem as though there was a lot of pulled pork in the first place.  We didn't try the Montreal smoked meat poutine here so we can't compare it to our local favourite at Alberta King of Subs but the husband is willing to make another trip to Big Cheese one day (although parking is not very conducive at this location).

Seafood-free friendliness: We love that this poutinerie is absolutely seafood-free, which means that we can come back and try anything on the menu.  There are no concerns about cross-contamination with either the poutine toppings or the fries, which is already a treat in itself.  The cheese may not be as squeaky as out east but it's a step above fast-food fare with interesting selections, so we probably wouldn't mind attempting more menu items.

Holy Crepe Food Truck

We did it!  It's amazing what happens when you post your goals online - they actually take place.  Alright, that may be a slight exaggeration but this past week, we decided that we had to find the Holy Crepe Food Truck.  Their completely seafood-free menu really enticed us but what made us go out of our way was the idea of indulging in the Holy Smokes crepewich.

We were worried that we'd miss them for lunch but caught them just in time.

We apologize for the blurriness of the picture (hungry tummies, unsteady hands) but this crepewich was large enough that we shared it.

The only thing we have to say is that searching out this food truck in the middle of downtown was worth it.  The smoked meat was delectable, the chipotle aioli sauce gave the crepe such a nice kick, and the melted cheese rounded everything out.  It is always a treat when we can fully enjoy anything off of a food truck/restaurant's menu without needing to worry about seafood contaminating any of our selections - now we just need to go back for more crepes!  (The husband's only regret was that he had to share his crepe; he would have much preferred one all to himself.)

Seafood-free friendliness: It doesn't get any better than this food truck and its seafood-free menu.  If Holy Crepe stays this way, this truck may easily become our newest favourite.

Future Eats: Holy Crepe Food Truck

We don't know when we'll end up crossing paths with the Holy Crepe Food Truck but it's on our radar now.  If you look at their menu, there is absolutely no seafood - only what looks like tempting crepe goodness.  Our main difficulty is that neither of us are downtown during the day so we usually have to catch food trucks at special events or weekends (if they happen to be out).  But, since we both have a love for French/Quebecois fare, we might have to figure out how to go out of our way for this one.  Future post to come? :)

Past Eats: Red Wagon Diner

While we only thought of creating this blog yesterday, we have definitely been trying to eat our way through our city long before then.  Unfortunately, we haven't always taken pictures but we did find one from Sunday, May 6, 2012 when we came across the Red Wagon Diner in the East Village.  This new Calgary food truck serves one thing, and one thing well - Montreal smoked meat.  That alone caught our attention, especially since the wife once lived four blocks away from a pretty neat little place in Montreal called Schwartz's (perhaps you've heard of it?).

Although we know that the Red Wagon Diner does not compare to Schwartz's, it's much, much better than our attempts to make the famous sandwiches, plus you get a generous portion of meat, soft rye bread that holds everything together, and a large pickle.  We saw them at the Calgary Lilac Festival but haven't caught up with them again as we don't work downtown so we're looking forward to our next encounter.

The traditional smoked meat sandwich - they ran out of the other specials but this one did not disappoint.

Seafood-free friendliness: We think this one speaks for itself :)  The menu does offer smoked salmon eggs benedict and salmon as an ingredient for their omelettes; however, we would assume that their breakfast menu is kept separately from their lunch menu.  For full assurance, it would probably be best to ask if the ingredients are handled separately within their truck (when we ate our meal, they only advertised their sandwiches).