crazy white girl with a kitchen

M & M Soul Food, Las Vegas

Kelly — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:49:53 +0000

I realize that I probably expend more time and effort researching, eating at and blogging about Las Vegas restaurants than Edmonton ones. I hope this doesn’t irritate my readers. I just simply find Edmonton’s food scene uninspiring and tiresome lately, even with an influx of many new restaurants into the city. But that’s okay. It just keeps me eating at home more often and saving more money for my next trip to Vegas. (Which is in May, by the way.)

This most recent trip was four nights in early March, and with a group of friends and acquaintances. We flew in with our friend Evan, and hit the ground running. Within 40 minutes of landing we were en route to our first restaurant, and the next morning chowing down at M&M Soul Food cafe.

I fluked into finding the place online when I was jonesing for fried chicken one night, and thought I might research places to eat it in Las Vegas for the forth coming trip.

My tweet about the experience read:

Besides the obvious reasons of green cards and a job, the reason I don’t live in Las Vegas is because I would have out of control cholesterol levels and would never stop eating.

Anyhow, our breakfast was amazing. Seven of us crammed into a corner booth and I think we managed to order most everything on the breakfast menu by the end of the meal.

Chicken and waffles. (cinnamony, light and fluffy waffles, that is)
Fried okra.
Ham steak.
Corn cakes. (Don’t get pancakes. Get corn cakes.)
Eggs.
Cornbeef hash.
Sausages.
Muddy water. (sweet tea and lemonade)
Macaroni & cheese.

We were animals.

It’s simple diner food, but it’s done well, and it hit the spot. Their fried chicken is juicy, with a light crispy cornflake batter. Some people think that Tim Horton’s coffee is the bomb, and that it is so good because it is brewed again and again in the same percolators and pots.

I think this is why M&M’s fried foods are so good. The same oil and fryers, used again and again. My fried okra was fresh okra, not frozen. The mac and cheese wasn’t anything too special, but it was creamy and had that special “cheezy” tang you can only get with some kinds of “cheez” sauce. My corn cakes were the real stars of my sides, however. Unfortunately I dug into them last, and they had gotten a bit soggy and steamy by them. Eat them first, is my recommendation.

Of what I tried of the other plates, the waffles were to my liking. Perfect oblong grids, cinnamon flecked, at once crispy and fluffy. The sausage was fried, and a bit greasy, but flavourful and a bit peppery.

Service was splendid. A wrong order was righted right away, and coffee cups were kept full. Our waitress inquired: “Y’all aren’t from around here, are ya?” No ma’am. But we’d like to be.

The bill came to about $100 for all of us, and powered us up for a day of shopping. And now I don’t have to dream about getting my hands on non-Colonel fried chicken every night.

M&M Soul Food Cafe
3923 West Charleston Boulevard (at Valley View)
Las Vegas
Open 7-8pm
Breakfast served til 11am.

Yay-cation time

Kelly — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:09:21 +0000

Credit: Rob LaRosa

I’m gone to Las Vegas until Friday. With so much going on at work (Olympics! Bacon stories! Photo contests!) and in my personal life (gown fittings! menu planning! not to mention Heavy Rain coming out on the PS3!) this trip kind of snuck up on me.

I’ve left the laptop behind, but I’ll try Tweeting from my cell when possible. I would leave a list of planned restaurant visits, but to be honest: I have no idea what lies ahead. Normally I have a list of restaurants longer than my arm to bring with me, but this time it’s all in my head. We’ll see what I get to. (Hoping for Sage at Aria, high tea at the Mandarin Oriental and late night snacks at Raku, though.)

fig, ham and brie scones

Kelly — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:03:25 +0000

I have the pleasure of scanning the cover of most books that are reviewed or given away in the Journal. The historical biographies, fitness manuals, novels, self-help books all cross my desk at some point or another. My favourites are obviously the cookbooks.

I pulled a recipe for brie + caramelized onion stuffed scones from one called “Savoury Baking” a few months ago. Ever since, I have been experimenting with fillings. Recently when I found myself at Sunterra, I felt inspired by the luxury ingredients and loaded up on balsamic fig spread, Westphalian ham and brie.

I’m off for a few days of travel, but I’ll see if I can’t post the recipe when I get back. The filling possibilities are endless.

b-bim-baab korean, edmonton

Kelly — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:28:42 +0000

Evan, a friend, has been really hot for Korean food lately. He came back a while ago from a year abroad of working in the Philippines, and ate Korean food there a lot. He’d heard good things about B-Bim-Baab, so we trucked over to check it out.

The eatery has lived in Edmonton for more than 30 years but was rechristened as B-Bim-Baab a few years ago. The decor has not changed, though. Let me tell you, this place is OLD. SCHOOL.

The scent of WD-40 or very strong cleaning products hung in the air when we entered, and it was kind of off-putting. Dark wood encased enclaves servings as booths reminded me of an old school steakhouse. It’s kind of purpose serving though; I’m sure the nearby industrial businesses that supply the lunch crowd don’t care about decor on their quick visits.

We started with some seasonal appetizers; peanuts in soy and pickled radishes alongside traditional sesame dressed bean sprout salad and kimchi. The two spicy pickled dishes had a real kick to them, so I metered small bites of them with the light bean sprout salad and the curiously chewy peanuts I could not get enough of.

We all got a dish and shared. The servings were generous, but we all left just full enough with no leftovers. Mike got spicy beef bul-gol-gi and Evan a spicy tofu and beef soup that I think was called yuk gae jang. I found both of these dishes a bit spicy for my liking, but I cooled my mouth with my dish.

I got the dolsot b-bim-baab, a mixed rice dish also known as bibimbap. The dolsot means “hot pot” which refers to the stone cauldron the dish comes in.

The waitress brought it over and asked if I wanted it mixed for me. I nodded yes, and after a generous squirt of hot sauce, she started mixing. The raw egg sitting on top cooked as it hit the side of the bowl, mixing with rice, bean sprouts, green onion, carrot and beef. As the dish sits, it keeps the contents hot and crisps up the rice so it gets crunchy.

Mike said he was happy to have an alternative spicy food to Indian or Thai when he was craving the hot stuff, and I have to agree.

There aren’t very many options for Korean cuisine in Edmonton, but I’m glad to say that B-Bim-Baab seems to be a good choice…even if I did get a case of MSG dry mouth after. Sigh.

—

B-Bim-Baab
9543 42 Ave
Mon-Fri 11:30am-10pm
Sat noon-10pm
Buffet at lunch 11:30-2pm, Mondays through Friday.