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The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Total - 11 out of 15

1946 Hamilton Street, Regina, SK
306-352-8424

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When I first heard there was a Thai restaurant on Hamilton Street downtown, I have to admit I was a little skeptical.

I pictured a little hole-in-the-wall place that would see a lot of foot traffic during the day (but few actual customers) and almost no one at night (when Regina's downtown transforms into a semi-deserted ghost town).

Boy, was I wrong.

First of all, Hamilton Street is undergoing a huge makeover. Over the last couple of years, new shops and eateries are popping up and filling in the holes left by vacant storefronts. There are still a few gaps, but given time they'll fill in too.

Second of all, Regina's downtown office crowd loves the place. Pay a visit almost any weekday at lunch and you'll be lucky to get a table if you're not there right at noon.

If you're new to Thai food, Siam's lunch buffet is an excellent place to start. There's always a good selection of meat, vegetable, and noodle dishes (Pad Thai is a sure bet), along with a couple of appetizer and dessert items.

Best of all, you can be in and out of the place with a full belly in 30 minutes or less. And get this, the grand total for the lunch buffet comes to less than $10 per person, tax included. I know, shocking.

Hold on now, before you drop the laptop and run down to Hamilton Street I need to talk more about the food.

On a recent Saturday morning, a group of us paid a visit to Siam for a not-so-traditional brunch (there's no buffet on Saturdays, FYI). We got off to a rocky start when we showed up at 11 a.m. (opening time) and the doors were still locked for another 15 minutes.

This didn't sit well with me -- unlike my usual Saturday morning of sleep and relaxation, I'd already done two loads of laundry, shopped for groceries, and ran a couple of other errands. I was hung-ree.

Once we were seated, things went more smoothly. Our gracious waiter was patient with us as we waited for others to arrive and took our time figuring out what to eat.

We ordered a ton of food, by the way. Siam makes this relatively easy by including pictures in the menu and on nifty digital photo frames hung on the walls next to tables.

These are my top three picks, for the first-timer:

- Appetizer: Mieng Kham (Leaf Wraps): This dish is a pleasure to behold and to eat. Crispy fresh coconut, fresh ginger, red onion, Thai chili, lime, cashews, and plum sugar sauce, served on top of bok choy leaves that you roll up yourself, then pop in your mouth.

- Entrees: Larb Moo: This item technically falls under the Salad category on the menu, but its size and filling portion makes it more like a meal. Spicy ground pork is mixed with roasted rice, red onions, green onions, cilantro, and lime juice. It's got some heat but not so much as to scare the beginner away.

Pad Thai: You haven't truly lived until you've had this Thai classic. A bed of warm rice noodles is covered in fried tofu, bean sprouts, and shrimp, then layered with sauce. Practically everyone likes Pad Thai. If you're completely unsure of what to order, start here.

On the whole, Siam is one of downtown's best restaurants with a huge menu, good service, reasonable prices and decent opening hours.

OK, you're dismissed. Eat much and prosper.

www.siamrestaurant.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/

The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 3 out of 5
• Total - 1o.5 out of 15

1779 Rose St., Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-522-1818

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Another week goes by, and this blog grows another inch or two. Bear with me, folks. It is truly a work in progress.

It was tough to decide which restaurant to talk about next -- actually, that's just a cliche. It wasn't so tough this time. The Four Seas Restaurant on Rose Street downtown is a new discovery for me. Me and Big Willie have been there three times in the last three weeks. And we're now frequently trying to recruit our friends. Surely that's worth writing about.

From the outside, the Four Seas is easily forgettable. Heck, from the inside too. Mind you, the owners have done a decent job of sprucing up this old building that has clearly been through a few restaurant incarnations during its lifetime.

Anyway, the surroundings are secondary. What I really go for is the food. And what the Four Seas really does best, as far as I'm concerned, is Dim Sum.

OK, perhaps it's time for a definition. Not everyone is familiar with Dim Sum (but everyone should be!).

Essentially, Dim Sum is this: a wide range of Chinese dishes served on small plates alongside tea. You could think of it as the Chinese version of tapas. What you must not think of is Chicken Balls, Sweet and Sour Pork, or giant, greasy Egg Rolls. Dim Sum is NOT that kind of Chinese food.

The most exciting part of Dim Sum is when the waitresses come around with carts of food inside small bamboo steamers. You never know what's on the cart until they take the lid off -- and try to tempt you.

Each time I've been there are new items, but you can count on there always being Shrimp Dumplings, Pork Dumplings, Steamed Buns, Spareribs, and a few vegetable dishes. There will also be things that you have never seen before, but don't worry. The waitresses are happy to answer any questions that you have.

In larger cities with larger Chinese communities, you'll find huge, loud Dim Sum restaurants where the waitresses fly past you with carts and you practically have to scream to get their attention.

The Four Seas is on a smaller, quieter scale. It's nonetheless a welcome addition to Regina's list of restaurants. And it's definitely popular with Regina's Chinese community who fill the place by 11:30 a.m. on weekend mornings.

Big Willie, who is half-Chinese, says that the Four Seas Dim Sum reminds him of the food his grandma made when he was a kid. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

The next time you find yourself bored with what Regina restaurants have to offer, head downtown for Dim Sum. A whole new culinary world awaits you....

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the fantastic makeover given to Cafe Orange on Robinson Street, near the 13th Avenue Safeway.

The place has been all dolled up and looks like it's ready to roll. The problem? They're only serving coffee and some rather lackluster desserts at the moment.

When I stopped in on June 25 to order a coffee (which was very good, I might add), the woman working the till told me that food service would be a reality by Canada Day, or perhaps a day or so later.

I went by Cafe Orange again earlier today (July 7, for the record) just to see what the situation was. Once more, I was told that food service is coming soon. Hopefully by Friday... maybe Monday.

This strikes me as more than a little strange. Customers have been looking forward to the new Cafe Orange for months. A little suspense can be a good thing. But keep people waiting for too long and they'll eventually lose interest.

Cafe Orange, it's time to fire up the ovens, take off the training wheels, and become a full-fledged restaurant. You reopened a month ago. You have the potential to be one of the city's best restaurants.

Now please serve us some food so that we can judge for ourselves.

Finally, after many long years, Regina will have some competition on the organic market scene.

Dad's Organic Market will open its doors on Monday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. The Victoria Avenue store, a couple of blocks west of the Leader-Post building, looks huge. For a neighbourhood market, that is.

Dad's is expanding into Regina following the success of their Saskatoon store. With this second store, a Saskatchewan-grown franchise is born. Right on.

Let's hope that prices are not as sky-high as in Regina's other organic market, Nature's Best on 14th Avenue. I mean, Nature's Best is a cool store. But sometimes I literally have to read the price of an item three times just to make sure it really does say $5 for a bunch of dill, or whatever the case may be.

Here's to more choices on Regina's food scene. This can only mean good things for restaurants and regular Joes alike!

The Round-up:

• Food - 3 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Total - 9.5 out of 15

4180 Albert Street, Regina, SK.
306-757-BREW (2739)

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You know you're always and forever a Prairie Boy when the thought of digging into a bowl of crispy coleslaw makes your mouth water.

The other night me and The Mom decided to go out for a weeknight supper -- we just didn't know where. As we drove south down Albert Street we stumbled upon Brewsters Brewpub and Restaurant. "Hey, I haven't been to Brewsters in ages," I said. Neither had The Mom.

So Brewsters it was.

Started in 1989 by Regina's Lanigan family, Brewsters has blossomed into a chain of thirteen restaurants in Regina, Edmonton, and Calgary -- with a fourteenth coming soon.

Now, the purpose of this blog is not normally to explore chain restaurants far and wide. That being said, I don't know of any other Regina-based restaurant that has done as good of a job at expanding its presence as Brewsters has. So, a little credit is due.

One of the interesting things about the chain is that each of the Regina locations is slightly different. The north-end location, next to the Galaxy movie theatre, is mainly a big pub with a compact dining room. Down in the south end, Brewsters truly feels like a dining room with dim lighting, plenty of seating, and several cozy sections. Then the east-end location feels like a slightly rundown blast from the past, although I haven't been in awhile and that might have changed.

Brewsters also has nightly food and drink specials. Some of them, like Thursday night's Riblicious special, are just too good to pass up.

Riblicious comes with a sizeable plate of ribs prepared three different ways and a side bowl of coleslaw. Ahh, coleslaw, you had me the moment I read your sweet name on the menu.

Now brace yourself, the best part is yet to come. The afore-mentioned Riblicious special comes to a grand tally of... just... $11. Sweet jeebus, why haven't I been dining at Brewsters more often?

I can't sign off without mentioning Brewsters extensive list of handcrafted ales and lagers. From the medium-bodied light golden Original Lager to the more adventurous Farmer's Tan White Ale, there's plenty to choose from. And it seems to me that the list has grown a lot in the last couple of years. Next time I visit I'm going to take a stab at a glass of Blue Monk Barley Wine. At 9.9 per cent alcohol, this heavy hitter might just serve as a meal.

My only suggestion to Brewsters on the beer front is to come up with one that truly honours its hometown. How about some Pile O' Bones Pilsner? Or maybe a cold frothy mug of Queen City Wheat Ale? Such a tribute would only be fitting, after all.

www.brewsters.ca