Al McFarland
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Bรผndok – Edmonton – February 2020
Experience Rating ๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด 4.7/5 On a snowy February night a group of colleagues and I trekked through downtown Edmonton in search of Bรผndok – one of the cities top rated restaurants. Located only a stones throw from beautiful Rogers Arena in the newly created “Ice District“, Bรผndok has received a lot of great hype since…
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Top 10 Foodie Must Reads
I know that there are a ton of “must read” and Top 10 book lists out there related to food and foodie culture, but I figured what’s the harm with throwing one more into the mix!
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Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar – Vancouver – February 2020
Experience Rating ๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด 4.9/5 My recent trip to western Canada began with an on-board flight announcement congratulating Chef Roger Ma on his recent win at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Ottawa. Being a foodie, I was very excited just to be in the same general vicinity of such an accomplished chef, and was blown away…
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RGE RD – Edmonton – February 2020
Experience Rating: ๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด 4.8/5 My visit to RGE RD (pronounced Range Road) restaurant was somewhat of an afterthought. Although reservations had already been made for Biera and Bรผndok (two Edmonton properties appearing on Canada’s Top 100 list) during my stay, RGE RD never came up on my radar. It was only after a last minute…
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St. Lawrence – Vancouver – February 2020
Experience Rating: 5/5 On a recent seven day trip to Western Canada, I had the opportunity to visit St. Lawrence restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia. Located in the popular Gastown district, St. Lawrence currently holds the #5 ranking on the 2019 list of Canada’s Top 100 Restaurants and has received several other accolades since…
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Garde Manger – Montreal – November 2019
Experience Rating ๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด๎คด 4.8/5 While on a quick foray to Quebec’s beautiful Eastern Townships in November, we had a chance to stop over in Montreal and visited the popular Garde Manger restaurant. The first thing I will say is that this place is tricky to find, but once you do, you’re in for a real…
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10-Day Ireland Foodie Adventure
When my wife first approached me about taking a trip to Ireland to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary I thought, wow, that’s an expensive gift! However, after I got over the initial shock I said to myself, “hey, Ireland has Michelin-starred restaurants“, and I was all in. You see, although we have very high quality…
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Sophisticated Super Bowl Charcuterie
We’ve been thinking about putting this one together for a while now, and with the big game right around the corner we figured why not? Let’s do a “sophisticated” Super Bowl charcuterie specifically geared to sports fans and/or major sporting events. The idea was go beyond the normal pizza, chicken wings, and chips, and pull…
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Next Level Specialty Tools
In putting together my list of Essential Kitchen Tools my thoughts turned to some of the next level chef tools that I have in my kitchen. These tend to be “specialty” items that serve very specific purposes, but without which I would be deprived of the ability to take my cooking to the next level.
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Dinner for Six – February 2017
This one holds a special place in our hearts because it’s what could be called our first “formal” dinner party. Sure, we had hosted other get togethers with friends and family, but this was the first time that we put a lot of focus and energy on the experience.