Comments on: A filling brunch http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/ Because SOMEBODY has to live here. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:09:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: admin http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-595 admin Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:48:25 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-595 Indeed, but few house ketchups rival the icon, IMHO. And as far as salt goes I'm afraid I must beg to differ, I enjoy seasoning my food to my palate, never mind what the lowest common denominator is. But it sounds like a match made in heaven for ya, so go forth and enjoy! Indeed, but few house ketchups rival the icon, IMHO. And as far as salt goes I’m afraid I must beg to differ, I enjoy seasoning my food to my palate, never mind what the lowest common denominator is. But it sounds like a match made in heaven for ya, so go forth and enjoy!

]]> By: Chewy http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-594 Chewy Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:42:49 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-594 Hey Finally a resturant without salt shakers. In general, we eat too much salt. I'd go to this resturant just for that reason alone. It's time to taste the true flavors of food. As for ketchup, I love ketchup as much as the next guy but I applaude any resturant that makes their own. Hey

Finally a resturant without salt shakers. In general, we eat too much salt. I’d go to this resturant just for that reason alone. It’s time to taste the true flavors of food.

As for ketchup, I love ketchup as much as the next guy but I applaude any resturant that makes their own.

]]> By: Jonathan Yumol http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-593 Jonathan Yumol Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:39:47 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-593 Well... I am glad we made a good enough impression for you to come back. I totally appreciate all your comments. Maybe I'll keep a little bottle of Heinz just for you. I can't do anything about the calories though. See you soon. Jon Well… I am glad we made a good enough impression for you to come back. I totally appreciate all your comments. Maybe I’ll keep a little bottle of Heinz just for you. I can’t do anything about the calories though.

See you soon.

Jon

]]> By: admin http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-591 admin Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:31:46 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-591 Hey Jon - great to hear from you! I totally understand your newness at brunch, and for a new venture it seems to be doing great. The food is head and shoulders above most of Calgary, and since you're as busy as the dickens for most of it, I'd say you're succeeding. The salt thing - you're totally right - it's a very personal preference, and didn't really detract from the meal. But depending on how attractive they are, salt and pepper shakers may not detract from the ambiance after all, and it's a pretty minor issue. I also totally support your fresh and local philosophy wholeheartedly, and applaud your efforts to make things fresh and from scratch. But ketchup is an iconic condiment for a reason, if you google Malcolm Gladwell's article on it (if you're very bored one day), you'll see that Heinz achieves a sort of gold standard of ketchup - a perfect blend of savory, salty, sweet and umami. Very few ketchups have come close and none have unseated it. In my experience it doesn't ever go stale either, I've been known to have a bottle going for months, and it seems the same to me. Your house ketchup could use more vinegar and salt, it really is on the sweet side which doesn't jive with bacon or taters. Again - a minor quibble that could indeed be my palate alone, so no big deal. Overall you're off to a great start, and I'm sure you'll tweak things as you go based on feedback from the eaters. I had a great brunch, and fully intend to go back as time and calories allow. Hey Jon – great to hear from you!

I totally understand your newness at brunch, and for a new venture it seems to be doing great. The food is head and shoulders above most of Calgary, and since you’re as busy as the dickens for most of it, I’d say you’re succeeding. The salt thing – you’re totally right – it’s a very personal preference, and didn’t really detract from the meal. But depending on how attractive they are, salt and pepper shakers may not detract from the ambiance after all, and it’s a pretty minor issue.

I also totally support your fresh and local philosophy wholeheartedly, and applaud your efforts to make things fresh and from scratch. But ketchup is an iconic condiment for a reason, if you google Malcolm Gladwell’s article on it (if you’re very bored one day), you’ll see that Heinz achieves a sort of gold standard of ketchup – a perfect blend of savory, salty, sweet and umami. Very few ketchups have come close and none have unseated it. In my experience it doesn’t ever go stale either, I’ve been known to have a bottle going for months, and it seems the same to me. Your house ketchup could use more vinegar and salt, it really is on the sweet side which doesn’t jive with bacon or taters. Again – a minor quibble that could indeed be my palate alone, so no big deal.

Overall you’re off to a great start, and I’m sure you’ll tweak things as you go based on feedback from the eaters. I had a great brunch, and fully intend to go back as time and calories allow.

]]> By: Jonathan Yumol http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-590 Jonathan Yumol Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:53:00 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-590 Hi, this is Jon Yumol, General Manager at AKA Winebar. Thank you for you excellent review and pictures of our Brunch. I'm always searching the internet for reviews and comments regarding our restaurant and I usually like to respond to them as best as I can. I would like to start of with our restaurant philosophy and maybe that will help clarify why we do some of the things we do in relation to our food and service. First of all, we like things fresh. We make all our Stocks, Jus', Dressing's, from scratch. We try and limit the amount of product we get in cans and bottles as much as possible. That is why we make our own ketchup's. I love Heinz just as much as the next person. Brunch is something that our group is very new to. As you know we are the same people that own the Muse and the Winebar Kensington so doing brunch is a whole new undertaking and something we are unfamiliar with, except at our own tables at home. Hopefully we've done a decent job so far. We are learning something new every weekend concerning brunch service and culture. What we found is that few of our clientel use ketchup and since we serve Brunch only on weekends a bottle of Ketchup won't probably be completely consumed for 2-3 weeks. Places which serve Breakfast everyday, their bottles of ketchup are probably finished within a few days. I would rather serve our house made ketchup that we make fresh every Saturday and Sunday than serve Heinz Ketchup that's been open for 3 weeks or longer. Thus, we decided to make our own ketchup's so that it will be fresh for the customers every weekend. I will tell our chef that we've had a few comment regarding of the sweetness though and perhaps make the our ketchup a bit more savory. Salt... well... everyone has a different palette when it comes to this garnish. We try and garnish salt and pepper at a level we think that will cater to everyone's taste. Unfortunately... not everyone has the same taste when it comes to this matter. We try our best but we will provide salt and pepper upon request. We do not have shakers at the table because once again we found that our customers tend to like the levels of salt and pepper that we put on our dishes. Also, having salt and pepper shakers on the tables, we feel, will take away from the overall decor and ambiance of the restaurant. I think overall, as our first attempt at doing brunch we are doing above expectations. We are having great feedback and great reviews much like yours. I hope we've impressed you enough to comeback again. You came in a good time. Between 11am - 1pm the place is extremely busy and it is difficult to find an open table. Oh... and there are plans on making the exterior of the building much nicer. It is pretty non-descript from the outside isn't it? Jon Hi, this is Jon Yumol, General Manager at AKA Winebar. Thank you for you excellent review and pictures of our Brunch. I’m always searching the internet for reviews and comments regarding our restaurant and I usually like to respond to them as best as I can. I would like to start of with our restaurant philosophy and maybe that will help clarify why we do some of the things we do in relation to our food and service. First of all, we like things fresh. We make all our Stocks, Jus’, Dressing’s, from scratch. We try and limit the amount of product we get in cans and bottles as much as possible. That is why we make our own ketchup’s. I love Heinz just as much as the next person. Brunch is something that our group is very new to. As you know we are the same people that own the Muse and the Winebar Kensington so doing brunch is a whole new undertaking and something we are unfamiliar with, except at our own tables at home. Hopefully we’ve done a decent job so far. We are learning something new every weekend concerning brunch service and culture. What we found is that few of our clientel use ketchup and since we serve Brunch only on weekends a bottle of Ketchup won’t probably be completely consumed for 2-3 weeks. Places which serve Breakfast everyday, their bottles of ketchup are probably finished within a few days. I would rather serve our house made ketchup that we make fresh every Saturday and Sunday than serve Heinz Ketchup that’s been open for 3 weeks or longer. Thus, we decided to make our own ketchup’s so that it will be fresh for the customers every weekend. I will tell our chef that we’ve had a few comment regarding of the sweetness though and perhaps make the our ketchup a bit more savory.
Salt… well… everyone has a different palette when it comes to this garnish. We try and garnish salt and pepper at a level we think that will cater to everyone’s taste. Unfortunately… not everyone has the same taste when it comes to this matter. We try our best but we will provide salt and pepper upon request. We do not have shakers at the table because once again we found that our customers tend to like the levels of salt and pepper that we put on our dishes. Also, having salt and pepper shakers on the tables, we feel, will take away from the overall decor and ambiance of the restaurant.
I think overall, as our first attempt at doing brunch we are doing above expectations. We are having great feedback and great reviews much like yours. I hope we’ve impressed you enough to comeback again. You came in a good time. Between 11am – 1pm the place is extremely busy and it is difficult to find an open table.
Oh… and there are plans on making the exterior of the building much nicer. It is pretty non-descript from the outside isn’t it?

Jon

]]> By: admin http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-588 admin Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:04:43 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-588 The prices weren't bad considering the quality - about 10-15 for a plate. It was totally worth in in my opinion since we've had many generic brunches that were pretty good but same old same old. But yeah, salt shakers should be mandatory. The prices weren’t bad considering the quality – about 10-15 for a plate. It was totally worth in in my opinion since we’ve had many generic brunches that were pretty good but same old same old. But yeah, salt shakers should be mandatory.

]]> By: Brown-Eyed Girl http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-582 Brown-Eyed Girl Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:54:55 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-582 Thanks for this review. The food looks wonderful. I am a person who doesn't cook much with salt knowing that everyone has different preferences. I like to let people self-salt to their personal tastes. There SHOULD be shakers on the table. How were the prices? Thanks for this review. The food looks wonderful. I am a person who doesn’t cook much with salt knowing that everyone has different preferences. I like to let people self-salt to their personal tastes. There SHOULD be shakers on the table.

How were the prices?

]]> By: admin http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-581 admin Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:25:48 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-581 Merci beaucoup! Yeah, stealing a blog is pretty low. That's crazy in fact, I hope the host takes it down if the owner doesn't. Otherwise, great info on how to protect yourself. Have a great weekend too! Merci beaucoup! Yeah, stealing a blog is pretty low. That’s crazy in fact, I hope the host takes it down if the owner doesn’t. Otherwise, great info on how to protect yourself. Have a great weekend too!

]]> By: Tatyana http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-580 Tatyana Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:32:39 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-580 Good for you! Bon Appetit! Thank you for your comment! You are not going against the flow, Tatiana. Nobody minds if some text and pictures from a blog are used by other people and the blog author's name is there. What happened - the whole blog was stolen, put on the Internet with a different name. Not a post, not a picture, but the whole Linda's blog (Gardening by Trial and Error)was used by someone as her/his own blog. Have a great weekend! Good for you! Bon Appetit!
Thank you for your comment! You are not going against the flow, Tatiana. Nobody minds if some text and pictures from a blog are used by other people and the blog author’s name is there. What happened – the whole blog was stolen, put on the Internet with a different name. Not a post, not a picture, but the whole Linda’s blog (Gardening by Trial and Error)was used by someone as her/his own blog.
Have a great weekend!

]]> By: admin http://www.mycoldprairie.com/2009/11/05/a-filling-brunch/comment-page-1/#comment-579 admin Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:31:55 +0000 http://www.mycoldprairie.com/?p=927#comment-579 Yep sure was - way to reward myself for all the exercise, hey? Yep sure was – way to reward myself for all the exercise, hey?

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