My Blog = My Life: bakery

With the official start of summer, comes the official start of soaking up the sun on restaurant patios.

Here are a few of my recommendations in Regina:

Cafe Orange: At the moment, Orange is doing coffee and sweets, but they tell me that a full menu is coming soon. Hopefully by Canada Day. In just two years, this place has gone from a coffee house/kitchenware store; to an all-out coffee house; and now a restaurant. The latest transformation looks to be the best. And the deck out front on Robinson Street (by the 13th Ave. Safeway) is so new you can still smell the sweet scent of new wood. (306) 779-0779 (no website)

Sweet Bakery and Coffee House: An ever-expanding list of baked goods, combined with comfortable surrounds in a heritage building (and a very nice, if small, patio outside) are turning this new Broad Street place near College Avenue into a favourite of many. Recommend an Americano with a Lemon Tart, if you're at a loss. (306) 352-9338 (no website)

La Bodega: the treetop patio at this Cathedral Village favourite is... tops, no pun intended. Sip a few drinks or have lunch high above the Albert Street traffic. You won't even notice the cars going by. www.labodegaregina.com / (306) 546-3660

Fireside Bistro: while opinions on Fireside often vary, their patio on the corner of Smith Street and 15th Avenue is second to none. Definitely worth a drink or two and an appetizer on a hot day. (306) 761-2305 (no website)

Beer Bros.: Watch the people go by on downtown's pedestrianized portion of Scarth Street. Beer Bros newly refinished patio is small but full of sunshine. Stop by and sample an exotic beer whose name you can't even pronounce (and that's before you start drinking). www.beerbros.ca / (306) 586-2337

Atlantis: This downtown coffee spot isn't licensed for liquor, but that doesn't keep the crowds away. Open from the early morning until late, and offers free wireless. Oh, and the artwork on the walls is all by local artists. www.atlantiscoffee.com / (306) 565-2213

More to come! Please follow the blog for updates to this list, and new reviews.
Follow me on Twitter: @The_FoodDude

Le Macaron bakery and cafe is making progress in Regina's east end. The store will be on Quance Street, behind Applebee's. Owner Gilles Gobin expects a mid-summer open, which will make weekend trips to Costco oh-so-much-more enjoyable.

I noticed on a drive down 13th Avenue this afternoon that a Filipino-run pastry shop is about to open in the strip of stores across the road from Safeway.

There are a few of these bakeries out in Vancouver... and they are all very good. Stay tuned for details.

I had the brilliant idea of reporting the happenings on Regina's restaurant scene for Valentine's Day this year. After all, Valentine's Day is one of the busiest nights of the year for most restaurants. It's a time when people are actually looking to splurge a little.

As Valentine's falls on a Sunday this year, I thought that many restaurants would have planned something special. So far, the results have been a little disappointing.

Nonetheless, if you are planning a special night out it would be wise to make reservations soon.

Here's what I know so far. Please leave a comment if you know something that's not on this list:

The Abbey
2124 Albert Street
545-8811
Two-course dinner for two, $59; Two-course dinner for two with wine, $79. (This might be the best special I've found yet).

Beer Bros Bakery & Cuisine 1801 Scarth Street 586-2337 Feb. 8-14: celebrate Valentine's Day all week long with a special menu. The four-course "ex-beer-ience" is $40.00 plus tax and tip. Not too bad, methinks.
Bitten
1822 Broad Street
586-BITE
Open for Valentine's (normally closed on Sundays).
Otherwise, I was told it will be a "normal night" with a new fresh sheet coming out on V-day for the rest of the month of February.

Crave
1925 Victoria Avenue
525-8777
Closed on Sundays -- no Valentine's specials here.

Hotel Saskatchewan - Cortlandt Hall Dining Room 2125 Victoria Avenue 337-4311 A three-course menu with your choice of starter, entree, and dessert for $69.00 As Valentine's falls on a Sunday, morning brunch will be served for $32.00 with a few special items in honour of the day.
La Bodega
2228 Albert Street
546-3660
Two seatings are planned, one at 5:30 p.m., the other at 8 p.m.
Dinner special plus the usual menu are on offer here.

Memories
1717 Victoria Avenue
522-1999
Two seating times: The first for reservations between 5-6 p.m.; the second for reservations between 7-8:30
p.m.
Regular menu with a four-course special for two people (price not known at time of calling)

Willow on Wascana
3000 Wascana Drive 585-3663 Two seatings: one at 4:30 p.m.; the other at 7:30 p.m. The 4:30 seating offers a six-course meal; the 7:30 seating is an eight-course meal. Both meals are served with wine flights. $100/$125 respectively. Both seatings were full as of Feb. 4, but a cancellation list is available. (As a former waiter, I know that a number of people always cancel on Valentine's Day, especially on a Sunday. Give the list a try).
Zest
2903 Powerhouse Drive
522-5250
A couple's menu will be featured for $75.00 per couple (a four-course meal).

Monday, January 25 at 5 p.m.: Beer Bros Bakery and Cuisine will open a keg of Paddock Wood Bourbon-Aged Porter in honour of Robbie Burns Day.

Sources say that Saskatoon-based Paddock Wood made very small batches of this beer so it won't likely last for too long.

While I've never quite understood the whole Robbie Burns thing, this might be as good a way as any to battle a case of the Mundane Mundays....

www.beerbros.ca

The Round-up:

• Food - 4.5 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Total - 12 out of 15

2228 Albert St., Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-546-3660 _______________
There are plenty of reasons why La Bodega is one of Regina's best restaurants.

OK, I guess you want me to name them. So here goes:

1.) La Bodega took an old, forgotten, decrepit house in the Cathedral neighbourhood and turned it into a hip, vibrant, intimate restaurant. That's not just luck, it's good planning. Previous owners of the building launched a bakery in the same spot and it was a massive flop within a year.

2.) So why has La Bodega succeeded? I think there are three key ingredients: a smart menu, a great location, and a design that allows La Bodega to be a restaurant, lounge, and/or concert venue depending on the time of day and the day of the week. They say you can't be all things to all people, but somehow La Bodega has always managed to attract the cool kids and the business lunch crowd and middle-aged couples just looking for a nice meal. That's no easy feat.

3.) Food -- of course, La Bodega would be nothing without the food. When La Bodega opened almost 10 years ago, no one in Regina had ever heard of tapas. Executive chef and owner Adam Sperling brought a creative, exciting menu to the Queen City and presented it in a way that was fresh and interesting to diners. Most people fell in love with the place after just one visit. And even now, the chefs continue to change and improve upon their menu, revealing new versions of it several times per year, keeping old favourites and introducing new ventures. And if a menu item doesn't work, La Bodega gets rid of it.
4.) Unless you're at Smitty's or an unapologetic hole-in-the-wall, a restaurant's decor is almost as important as what's on the plate (I said almost). La Bodega has always got the decor part right by using a mix of sophisticated yet rustic furnishings. The plain and sometimes mismatched wooden tables and chairs are jazzed up by much-more daring artwork and colours on the walls. The music -- never radio and certainly not Top 40 -- captures the worldly nature of the place without coming off as fake or, worse, New-Agey. In short, La Bodega's gypsy chic style is the Cathedral neighbourhood in a nutshell. It fits into its surroundings naturally. What more could you ask for?
5.) OK, this last reason is half-serious and half a joke. But when La Bodega first opened, they sold alcohol at ridiculously cheap prices. The food was never undervalued, but the drinks sure were. And people loved it. So they stayed for another. And another. And hey, can we see that menu again? We're hungry now. Over the years, it seems the prices of booze have crept upward, but you can still get a decent glass of wine for $5-6 per glass.
So, what's the downside? La Bodega's biggest weakness is its weekend brunch. The menu is nowhere near as tasty as what's on offer for weekday lunch or suppertime. And the prices for an Eggs Benny border on the obscene. To me, the best breakfasts in the world are cheap and dirty. Get in, drink your weight in coffee, and get out $8 later.
Otherwise La Bodega, you rock.
http://www.labodegaregina.ca/

I got word yesterday that Le Macaron bakery in the east end of town is now targeting a mid-November opening date.

The store is tucked into a strip mall on Quance Street, just behind Applebee's and not far from Costco.

Watch for it!

AUGUST 14, 2010: The post below was written in March. Le Macaron is still under construction. Progress seems to be happening slowly. At this rate, expect a mid-fall (October or November) opening?
____________

Stay tuned, fans of bakeries and sweet pastry: Gilles Gobin, former executive pastry chef at the Hotel Sask, will open his very own bakery this spring/summer.

Once upon a time I worked with Gilles at the hotel. And let me tell you, this man knows how to make a good dessert.

Le Macaron will specialize in creating delicious French macaroons of many different colours (and flavours, I assume). At first, Gilles aimed for a downtown location on Albert Street, near La Bodega. Unfortunately, this didn't work out. Gilles and Co. are now busy preparing a store in the east end.

It seems like opening date is still a couple of months away, but rest assured I will post an update as soon as an opening date is announced.

www.lemacaron.ca