Extreme Coffee Freak

On September 16th we found ourselves in Kensington trying to find a place to have some dinner.  We walked by Burger 320 and decided to try it out, there is also a location located in Bridgeland.  When we walked in there was no one in the restaurant, so we decided to sit and wait for our food.

The menu has a lot of different items that we would like to try, but we decided that we would be trying more next time we visit.

The lady at the counter told us there was a patio, so we decided to move outside, this is where everyone was.  The patio was full of people enjoying their food, as we were waiting we seen an order come out and we thought “holy cow, it looks so good”.  This is when we couldn’t wait for our food.

When we got our food it was so worth the wait.  My daughter ordered the cheese burger with garlic fries and a strawberry milkshake, my wife ordered the 320 burger with garlic fries and a water, and I ordered the Wickens with plain fries and a water.  We found out that the Wickens burger was named after their grandfather who founded the family farm in 1905.

After looking at all the food, I’m sure that we could have shared the fries since there was so many.  The burgers were so good and delicious.

My wife and I were talking about this place and we said that this is possibly the best burger we have ever had, besides mine of course.  I have a feeling that we will be revisiting Burger 320 in the near future.

On September 11th we were driving around trying to find a place to go for a beverage and we came across Bumpy’s.  My wife and I have been here before and we thought it was time to take our daughter here.  We got to Bumpy’s a little before noon and it was pretty empty with a couple tables with people eating breakfast or lunch.

 

We knew what we were going to eat, so all of us ordered the Breakfast Bagel which had Bacon, Cheese, and Egg, it came with a little cup which had a pea pod, a pickle, and a hot pepper.  To change it up we ordered it the bagel on a cheese bagel which was delicious.

As for our beverages, my wife ordered a London Fog, my daughter ordered a Hot Apple Cider, and I ordered a Vanilla Latte.  They were delicious.

As we were sitting there we thought that a warm muffin would be the best way to end this breakfast, unfortunately they were already all sold out.  If you would like to get a warm straight out of the oven muffin you would have to be there before 10am.  They let you know that they only make a certain number of their baked goods and once they are gone, they are gone.

On September 10 we decided to head down into Kensington and grab a beverage at Red Bush Tea and Coffee Company. The first time we went to Red Bush was this past year during the YYC Hot Chocolate Festival. They were featuring a Tumeric and Black Pepper Hot Chocolate.

We arrived at Red Bush at about 8pm, the two girls working that night were laughing and having a great time. Their laughs were extremely contagious. The customer service they provided was outstanding. The environment at Red Bush is so relaxing, so before you know it the girls were doing there clean up as Red Bush closes at 9pm. They told us not to rush, they would just lock the doors. I thought this was terrific as we have been to other places, and they made you feel uncomfortable so that you do leave. Great Job Red Bush!

We really like this place as it is a cool little shop that sells coffee, tea, mugs, teapots, and has a cool candy shop. The candy they have on sale reminds me of my childhood. Lots of the items on sale are what I bought years ago. They had barrels of salt water taffy for sale as well. On one of the walls they have several canisters of tea that you can open and smell and hopefully help you decide what to order. They also have some baked goods.

Since the YYC Hot Chocolate Festival, Red Bush has kept the Tumeric and Black Pepper Hot Chocolate on their menu. This is my wife’s favourite drink and on that night that is what she ordered. Don’t let the ingredients scare you from ordering this drink. The drink is quite tasty and very different. What my wife likes to do as she drinks it is hold a bit in her mouth and then swallow it and you then get the taste of the pepper. It is a very unique drink.  I ordered the vanilla latte, which I have had several times here now. The beverage is very smooth.

It was great to finally see some of the sidewalks open down in Kensington. The city has had most of them dug up, which I would believe would be causing business disruption for these places.  There is also a lot of road construction that is making it hard for customers to find parking, but we are hoping that letting people know about this little coffee and tea house people will want to go and try a caffeinated beverage from Red Bush.

Happy Long Weekend. Today we are down on fourth street at The Tea Factory, this place specializes in 100% natural premium lose leaf tea. They have multiple different kinds from Green Tea, White Tea, Oolong Tea, Herbal Tea, Rooibos Tea, and Black Tea. This location has been open for three years and if you are a Tea lover you have to check this place out.

Since my wife and daughter are tea fanatics this is the place for them. My wife ordered a London Fog, my daughter ordered a Raspberry Matcha, and I ordered Vanilla Latte.

The Raspberry Matcha was amazing, my wife and I tried it and we have never been fans of Matcha and my wife said she would drink it. The London Fog was amazing, it close to the top of my favourite London Fogs. The Vanilla Latte was delicious, for a place that specializes in tea, the latte was very good.

The decor of The Tea Factory is very spacious, very clean looking and modern. The ceiling are high and there is very cool lighting. There is a few tables and four bigger black leather chairs at the back of the shop.

The Tea Factory has baked good that looked really good. If you are into macaroons, this is the place to go. All the tea is also for sale if you are interested in buying your favourite. The Tea Factory also has Kombucha on tap. Prices on everything is reasonable. Service was excellent as well.

 

We are always looking for the best coffee shops in Calgary, but we have now found the best tea shop in Calgary. We will be back next weekend as my daughter and wife want to try another one of those great matcha’s. If you are a serious tea drinker, check this place out. You won’t be disappointed.

Breakfast places in Calgary continue to impress me and on Saturday morning we decided to get up and head out for breakfast. One place that my wife and I have been wanting to try, so we headed down to Bridgeland to the Blue Star Diner. When we arrived we had to put our name on a list and the lady said it would roughly be a half an hour wait. We were waiting no matter what. So we asked for a menu and we waited our turn outside. We seen a bunch of people put their names in, then walk down the street to Starbucks and get a coffee. They also serve coffee at the door which is a really great touch while you are waiting.

When we arrived we didn’t know how big the place was, there was about 10 tables and about seven seats up at the bar. The diner is very cozy and well decorated.

We were pleased to find out that Blue Star Diner locally sources all of their ingredients. This is something that other places should start doing. Blue Star Diner is partnered up with the Meal Share Program. This is great to see and is an awesome organization.
Everything on the menu sounded amazing. When we sat down at our table we ordered some drinks, we had milk and fresh pressed apple juice. As for our food I ordered the Triple Double, which was a lot of meat, three eggs, hash browns, and toast. I was literally in a meat coma.

My wife ordered the Broek Pulled Pork Benny, which was Eggs Benedict with pulled pork from a local farm named Broek Farms located in Coalhurst Alberta. My daughter ordered the Stuffed French Toast with a farm berry compote that came with hash browns. Food came out in a timely manner.

Blue Star doesn’t do expresso drinks, they do diner coffee. They use Fratello Coffee. I did over hear a guy say it was excellent.

Everything was amazing and and done right. All the staff were excellent and extremely friendly and never made you feel rushed even though there is a huge line up waiting. I know that we would go back there again to try their lunch items.

Vancouver has Lucky Doughnuts, Calgary has Jelly Modern Doughnuts.

This morning we headed out on the hunt for a new place that we have never been to, we have only heard about them… Jelly Modern Doughnuts down in the Beltline community on 14th Ave and 8th Street Southwest. They have a prime location but very limited street parking, we ended up parking a block or so away and walking. Thankfully it was nice weather.

This shop has very little seating on the one end and on the other end there is a packing prep area. The menu is very hard to read since you are looking through the glass that is protecting the doughnuts, so we stood off to the one side so we could read the menu easier. In the time we were there we seen quite a few people coming in for doughnuts to go.

They had multiple different kinds of doughnuts and all of them looked amazing. The ones that we seen they had today were; Callebaut Chocolate, Classic Jelly, Lemon Curd, Maple Bacon, Peanut Butter Cup, and S’more doughnuts.

After looking over the available doughnuts, I ordered a Three Bite Carrot Cake and a regular Caramel Apple doughnut. My Wife ordered a regular Coconut and a regular Maple Bacon, but the Maple Bacon doughnut is anything but regular, it is the most decadent doughnut we have ever tasted. It’s easy to see why they won the Food Network’s Donut Showdown. Lastly, my daughter ordered a Classic Snack Box which came with organic vanilla bean yogurt and an apple with her choice of a gourmet doughnut, so she got a S’more flavoured doughnut. We found all the doughnuts chewy and very moist, they are not greasy at all.

I wouldn’t go there if you are looking for a cheap donut, donut prices range from $2.25 to $2.75 each. They also have several packages that include coffee. A dozen doughnuts will run you about $30.00 but well worth it. I have had Krispy Kreme, Tim Hortons and Dunkin Donuts, but these are the very best I have ever had.

I ordered a Cappuccino which was sub par, it was luke warm and lacking flavour. My wife ordered a Earl Grey Tea Latte. Neither drink was that great. The beverages definitely did not live up to our expectations, but the only saving grace was the doughnuts were amazing.

Guess who… yeah it’s me, Extreme Coffee Freaks daughter back with another blog.  Last night after dinner we decided to go and get a caffeinated beverage.  My parents took me to Higher Ground down in Kensington.  This place looks so small from the outside, but once you are inside it is a whole other story, there is so much room.

I was very shocked at how big their menu was, they had so many different kinds of drinks and a bunch of different food options.  I feel like I looked forever to try and figure out what I wanted to have to drink. 

Reading about all the different drinks I finally decided to get a S’more Mocha. My Mom ordered her usual, a London Fog.  My Dad ordered a Vanilla Latte.  They have both been there lots of time prior to taking me. 

As a nice dessert I ordered a Nanaimo Bar and Dad ordered a slice of Carrot Cake.  Both were very good and very satisfying.

As we were sitting there enjoying our beverages and our sweet desserts, I realized how busy it got even at 9:30pm.  There was a giant line, I guess it makes sense why they were voted Calgary’s Best Cafe.

This post is coming a little late, I have been so busy at work, and for that I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to post this sooner. 

On Sunday August 28th we were trying to find a place to go for breakfast and a caffeinated beverage and we thought of only a couple places then we decided on Cadence Cafe. 

To our surprise when we got down to Bowness they were having their annual Show and Shine Car Show.  There was a bunch of vintage cars parked all along Bowness Road that we could look at.  First things first, we went down there for breakfast and a beverage.

Entering Cadence today was crazy, it was so busy, there was no empty tables at all.  It was so busy because everyone who came down to take a look at the vintage cars needed to eat sometime. 

My wife and daughter ended up grabbing a high table while I ordered the food.  My daughter wanted Eggs Benedict with a London Fog, which is exactly what my wife wanted too.  I ordered something different, I got the Bowness Scrambler and a Flat White.  The food was excellent as usual.  The drinks were great, my Flat White was the strongest I have ever had before, I had to actually add milk.

After we finished eating we walked around looking at the beautiful vintage cars.  We seen so many old cars that have been restored and they look amazing.  There were Coronet’s, Charger’s, Mustang’s, Truck’s, Corvette’s, and Camaro’s. 

This post is coming a little late, I have been so busy at work, and for that I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to post this sooner. 

On August 27, we were out in the South side of the city and I remembered that there was a place that I wanted to check out because their specialty is Pie.  You can never go wrong with a great slice of pie.  We visited Pies Plus located in the Avenida Shopping Centre just off of Lake Fraser Drive in the South East.  We had some difficulty finding it because there is multiple shops in this little Shopping Centre.

When we entered it was a little and I mean little there was only 10 tables, and there was a bunch of artwork on the walls from local artists.  Looking over the menu everything sounded amazing, and their Pies looked amazing.  We had read that they also had caffeinated beverages but when we went up to order it was hard to see where that menu was since it was off on the right side on a completely different wall.

Since it was lunch time we ordered some lunch, my daughter ordered a Ham and Cheese Sandwich with a side Ceaser, my wife and I ordered the Chicken Salad Sandwich with a side of Ceaser.  All the food was absolutely delicious.

For a caffeinated beverage, my daughter ordered a Caramel Latte, my wife ordered a London Fog, and I ordered a Vanilla Latte.  The drinks were awesome, they were so hot that we could hardly hold the mugs.  Once they cooled down they were delicious.

After we completed our lunch we had to try some of their pie.  We ordered a slice of Peach Pie and a slice of Apple Pie.  We asked for the Apple Pie to be warmed up with some ice cream.  When the waiter brought the pies over we asked if it was homemade ice cream since the pie’s are all homemade.  To our surprise we found out that they use Marble Slab ice cream it adds a nice creaminess to the pies.