Husky House Restaurant

Matt and I decided to go out for breakfast recently because we have been finding ourselves in a Tim Horton’s breakfast slump.  Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Tim’s breakfast, especially the bacon biscuit breakfast sandwich, but we really needed to get out and find something good.  It helped that we were already in the NE that day, so I had suggested we try the Husky House Restaurant at 2525 32 Ave NE, Calgary .

Where I grew up, we were surrounded by truck stops and they always have the most amazing food, it’s always greasy diner type food, but it is always so good and we were not disappointed at all!

Our server was over promptly to take our drink orders and we had to send her away a few times because we weren’t sure what to order, it’s tough to make a decision so quickly somewhere you have never been before but we finally figured out what we wanted to try.

The coffee was great, I find that it usually is at a truck stop, otherwise why would they stop there?

I ordered the Eggs Benny which came with seasoned potatoes and they were AMAZING.  We also ordered a side of the grilled Perogies because who doesn’t love perogies and sour cream with any meal?  Those were also awesome and were grilled with bacon and onions, drool.

Matt ordered the Canadian breakfast which was eggs, back bacon, potatoes and toast.

This hasn’t been a first pick for us previously, but now that we have actually eaten there, this will be one of my top picks for breakfast! Mmmm….maybe this Sunday? 😉

John’s Breakfast and Lunch

Sarah and I made plans to get together Saturday morning for breakfast and some yard sailing.  She let me pick the place so I started searching for “cheap breakfast in Calgary”. One of the first options I saw was John’s so I started looking at pictures and reviews. The reviews were great and the food looked amazing so I was sold instantly and we had our choice made!

John’s is a great little diner with a cute little patio out front as well located at: 2614 4 St NW, Calgary AB T2M 3A1.  The parking situation wasn’t too bad, we parked on a side street nearby. We showed up about 10 and we were lucky enough to be seated right away. It seems that it is a family running the business and they all take turns making sure everyone is cared for and doesn’t wait any amount of time for a refill or to take an order. The staff were all so friendly! It is easy to tell when people are that genuine, and they really were!

Within 5 minutes, we were served coffees and waters and had our order taken. I decided to get the classic Eggs Benedict and Sarah was a little more creative with the Eggs Benedict Omelette. When I saw that on the menu, I wanted to order it but omelettes aren’t generally my thing so I let Sarah take that on and we decided we would swap bites.

The diner itself is very intimate and it really lends to the character of the joint. We were seated inside in the front of the restaurant but it seems there were also tables in the back. The menu is fantastic, there are a good number of things available, but not so many that it is really hard to come to a decision. They are only open for breakfast and lunch, so it may be easier in that way to keep the menu fairly simple.

Our food took 10-15 minutes max to come out, and it looked amazing.

This was my Eggs Benny. It is very traditionally served and tastes fantastic. I didn’t feel the need to season anything which is so rare when it comes to a breakfast place in the city. The potatoes tasted a little under for my liking, but that isn’t even a valid complaint, this place is amazing. The English muffin was crisp which was so great to have that crunchy texture to the bite.

This was Sarah’s Eggs Benny Omelette. I said that I am not usually an omelette fan, but man…I might be now. The omelette had bacon and cheddar cheese placed in the middle, not mixed in like a traditional omelette and it was covered in the hollandaise sauce. It was so good. Sarah loved that it was also a Vietnamese place so she was able to get Sriracha for her eggs.

The coffee was a good blend and they were continuously around to see if you could use a top up. Our meals were each around $13 pre-tip which is amazing for breakfast in Calgary, especially one that tastes so great and you receive such fantastic service from. I will certainly be back and may be back again for lunch and maybe again to try a Vietnamese dish. There is so much here to discover and so many things that I look forward to trying.

I would highly recommend checking out John’s the next time you are looking for a great diner breakfast that has a little elegance to it and smiley faces to serve you.

Dell Cafe

  

I found Dell Cafe completely by fluke. I was on Instagram one day searching through pictures and different hashtags and I found a picture of a cheeseburger platter as simple and delicious looking as could be and I instantly knew that this could be the greasy breakfast dive we have been looking for!

Saturday night was Matt’s birthday party celebrations and we were out rather late, so naturally we missed breakfast on Sunday morning!  I woke up at 1 and asked Matt where he wanted to go to eat. We had discussed in the days before that breakfast out would be a must today! Matt wasn’t sure (birthday boy was given first choice), so I suggested we try Dell Cafe out. It is located in Bowness, which is only about a 15 minute drive from our house. 

The downside to being at a restaurant at 3 pm for your first meal of that day is that you may not be in the mood for breakfast anymore. I was really looking forward to trying breakfast here because it seems like the exact place that would serve me a little piece of heaven on a Sunday morning, but today it just wasn’t in the books. 

We pull up to the little strip mall that features Dell Cafe and see a small ‘open’ light up sign flickering. It looked as though it might be closed because the stores around it all seem to be. I had read on Yelp about it not being a great neighbourhood and they felt they may be missing items from their car by parking here, I do believe this is incorrect. It is certainly not a trendy, stylish downtown area and I think a lot of people are snobs! I felt perfectly safe parking in this lot and spending time in this establishment. 

  It seems that it is run by a sweet couple and they seemed to know almost everyone else inside the restaurant which says great things about its likeability factor. The restaurant was quite slow when we were there but they commented that it had been very busy all morning. We had menus and drinks very quickly. 

I’m not sure what it is about diners, but I always want to order a hot beef sandwich! Unfortunately, there was a slight misunderstanding about what I actually wanted and I ended up receiving a roast beef sandwich on toast basically. I decided to just go with the flow and see how it went with the gravy overtop that I ordered to go with it and I ordered a side of poutine. 

 
The beef was very good, it was sliced a little thick but I believe that may have been another miscommunication about my meal which is partially my fault as well. The gravy was fantastic! So much flavour and a little peppery finish. The poutine was really delicious although I do prefer cheese curd to the shredded cheese option. 
Matt ordered the fried egg and ham sandwich (he wasn’t quite over the idea of breakfast like I was) and a Dell poutine on the side. Neither of us had any idea what that would be but he is certainly more the adventerous type than I am when it comes to food. The egg typically comes over hard but Matt asked it be could get it medium instead and he says he will try. The Dell poutine had tomatoes, cheese, bacon, onion and gravy. His sandwich was amazing, the egg was a little over (the cook actually came out to check on the egg and make sure it was good) but wirh the chunk of ham it was wonderful. I didn’t try the poutine for myself but he said that the tomatoes were good in the poutine to add a sweet little touch.  

 We ordered cokes and were served right in a can with a little straw which is exactly how I remember being served when I would be at lunch with my grandma. Great nostalgic touch. 

The restaurant has great decorating or lack thereof really as it just looks like a typical diner. 

  We are looking forward to returning for breakfast one day and burgers on another. 

Lunch/dinner was approximated $30 including tip which we felt was great value and large portions. 

I would highly recommend trying this place when you are looking for good old fashioned classic comfort food, but please don’t go on a Sunday at 3 all at once 🙂

Diner Deluxe

My husband has been to Diner Deluxe before, but I have not seeing as I have only lived in the fine city of Calgary for 2 years now, so we thought we should go check it out because….breakfast.

Luckily, the location is decent enough that there is some parking within a good walking distance, but we were lucky enough to get VIP rock star parking right in front of the restaurant.  Since we decided to go during the week, we also had no wait whatsoever, which was wonderful since I was starving!  The restaurant itself is really neat, there are cool little signs all over the place and it is pretty retro looking.  The staff were wonderful as well.  I try to make it a point to ask what is good at a restaurant, or to ask what they prefer between 2 items on the menu because they are the best source for this, who knows better than people who probably eat the food there all the time!

 I ordered the breakfast poutine with pulled pork, it was delicious.  It was very rich which is the only downside to the dish as I wasn’t able to eat much at all before throwing in the towel.  They use real cheese curds which is a huge selling factor to a girl from Ontario. I miss cheese curd, sad face. The hollandaise was great and the yolk from the egg just added the extra oomph you are looking for in the dish.  If there had been something else to cut the richness, I would have been able to eat more than 1/4 of the dish.

 Matt ordered the pulled pork hash, and he said it was awesome!  He did say there was too much mustard which I agreed with as that is such a strong taste that it can really overpower the rest of the flavours in the dish. He also made the comment on his meal being too rich and needing to have something in there to cut that.   It is a perfect brunch meal due to all of the different types of foods being incorporated into it.  I personally didn’t care that much for the apple relish, but it did add some unique flavours to the meal.

Overall, the meal was quite good and I believe the bill was around the $35-$40 mark before tip, so it’s not a cheap breakfast but it was good none the less.  I think next time I would prefer to try and find a dive diner as I am not usually looking for anything fancy when it comes to breakfast.  Rosemary hashbrowns and basil hollandaise, meh.  Just give me some good old fashioned breakfast!