Years ago when I worked in Winnipeg’s Exchange District we could lunch at the King’s Head Pub, or grab dim sum or a noodle bowl and that was about it. Recently, the area has been re-populated with exceptional restaurants and now all you have to do is head in that direction and you are certain to come across one. You will not have any problem remembering where King + Bannatyne is located because it is exactly where the name indicates.

My lunch date and I intentionally decided to meet at 11:45 am before the rest of the lunch crowd arrived and it was a good thing that we did because we were fortunate to occupy one of the last open tables. There was counter service which means that all their staff can be busy with ensuring that you get your sandwich efficiently but it is still made to order. You can taste the freshness with your first and last bite.

My gal pal raved about her River City Brisket sandwich. She said it was the perfect ratio of meat and fat and appreciated the tenderness as well as the bold taste from the spicy rub and house-made mustard. She was less enamoured with the potato leek soup but admitted it was because she makes her own decadent vichyssoise.

Equally loving pork and cilantro, the Bann-Mi was an obvious choice for me. King + Bannatyne’s ode to a Vietnamese sub sandwich was chock full of just cut pork roast and spritely tastes of cilantro and cucumber. Even the bun was a testament to freshness. The potato salad that I choose as a side was an appropriate foil to the sandwich. Potatoes had been (I am guessing here) marinated in vinegar and then tossed in sour cream or perhaps a mix of sour cream and mayonnaise. The result was a salad where the lovely earthy taste of the potatoes held its own.

Fear not if you are vegetarian as Chef Tyrone is always experimenting with versions of veggie sandwiches. On a second visit, I got to meet owner Mike Del Buono. The name was familiar and sure enough, I went to junior high school with his father!

King + Bannatyne is open Monday-Saturday from 11 am -8 pm. The have all day, take out and catering menus available. They are accessible to person with mobility issues but the restroom was not visited to check accessibility.

Watch for Food Musings every second Wednesday in your copy of The Headliner, The Herald, The Lance, The Metro, The Sou’wester and The Times.

Kath’s quote: “The potato, like man, was not meant to dwell alone.” -Shila Hibben

Love never fails.

We were delighted to be invited to taste the fabulous seafood offerings at Muelle 7 (Pier 7) in March 2016.

We had visited previously for drinks and to watch the sunset but had never had the pleasure of dining.

Our evening started with delicious just blended margaritas, mine was mango and D’s was lime

and wonderfully silky guacamole.

When this seafood platter arrived for us to share, we thought we had died and gone to seafood heaven! There was lobster, shrimp, squid, octopus and grouper. The seafood was so fresh and perfectly prepared with a light touch. The dinner was served with rice and tasty potato wedges. We had a little bit of lime drawn butter left over from seafood dipping and D poured it over the rice to ensure that we got to appreciate every morsel of the platter.

The setting of Muelle 7 just before Playa Sol on the bayside of the island is stunning. Service was warm, hospitable and efficient. We look forward to visiting again and again.

Kath’s quote: “You can put the greatest seafood restaurant next to an average steak house in an urban area, and that steak house will do more business than the seafood place. If you go to the water, you can put an average seafood place next to the greatest steak house, and people are going to eat seafood”. -Tilman J. Fertitta

Love never fails.

We sat with our coffees and watched the glorious sunrise and

then headed down Hidalgo for a fabulous breakfast at Lola Valentina’s (see the link for full description and lots of photos) of stuffed poblano chilies and tres leche French toast.

We spent the afternoon at the beach because we thought that it was likely Sister #3 and Dona’s last beach day.

That evening was Fredy’s 20^th anniversary and we had so much fun.

When we arrived at 5 as instructed, he told us to go away and come back at 6, so we went close by to Brother #3 and L’s room for a drink.

Brother #3 is on the left (we also call him the Mayor of Isla) and husband D is on the right.

Fredy’s was festively decorated and Two on a Hammock (Marla & Javi) were playing. Jan and Bruce joined us. Fredy was serving free appetizers:

bread stuffed with cheese,

tuna stuffed jalepeno’s,

grilled shrimp, grilled veggies,

guacamole and pico de gallo.

Everyone else at the table ordered entrees but we had reservations at Mayan beach Club (formerly the Sunset Grill).

We had a couple of glasses of wine

and shared a tuna tartar

and tequila flan. We had a beautiful table in the sand on the beach but it looked like we missed a lot of fun at Fredy’s.

Kath’s quote: “I hate missing everything. That’s why I want to marry well and be a grand lady. Then I can host all the parties, all the time, and see everything that is going on always. How can you stand not knowing?”  ― Gail Carriger

Love never fails.

Another beautiful rooftop sunrise. There was a big bank of cloud on the horizon which made it an unusual ½ sunrise. I have decided that sunrise is my favourite time on the island.

Another batch of seaglass.

I was content to just hang out but was able to contact Ruben (see full restaurant feature here) so went to his place for breakfast. He had not been well and it was his first day back at work. You would never tell he had been sick as he zoomed around the restaurant, stopping to chat at every table. We saw Sister #3 & Dona there who were splitting the shrimp omelette and eggs bennie. Ruben suggested the classic bennie and the special lobster bennie with poblano sauce. Both were sensational! Ruben’s also has good coffee and excellent oj.

After breakfast we cut across the street to our favourite market stall to buy fresh fixings for our dinner with Hortenzia’s family.

The Madonna and bird was spotted as we made our way across the square.

We finished our shopping at the Supermercado and then got ice and ice cream. D hit the kitchen right after and Sister #3 & Dona arrived in short order.

We spent the afternoon prepping for dinner and then Dona and I went out to order chickens and check out the Artist Fair. We much preferred when the fair was held in the square.

We returned to Villas San Miquel for nachos and cervesa. Hortenzia (the local dress-maker) invites us to their place on a regular basis for dinner with her family. We try to reciprocate on an annual basis. She and her family got lost trying to find us at Villas San Miguel, but Sister #3 & Dona found them out by the basketball court.

We had a fabulous dinner of chicken, pasta salad, cole slaw & D’s hot fudge sundaes for dessert.

D entertained the kids with tricks on his I-Pad.

When they left, we sat outside around the pool for a night cap.

Kath’s quote: “Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly”.- M F K Fisher

Love never fails.

D and I often chat about taking a road trip to the Black Hills, or another location within a day’s drive. I have often heard people talk about Duluth as being a quaint location because of its arts and crafts scene and comfy places to stay. D felt that we needed a little getaway. He remembered my mentioning Duluth and did the research about a long weekend away.

We stopped for a brief lunch and numerous pee breaks (we’re getting old) and were in Duluth 7 hours after leaving home. The route that D chose had us driving through areas of both Manitoba and Minnesota that we had never driven before. Except for a short piece at the beginning of the trip, we drove through “Canadian” Shield the entire time. The groves of poplar and pine were lovely and familiar. We knew that Duluth was on Lake Superior but we did predict the elevation of the city. We have yet to visit San Francisco but we predict that Duluth’s steep climbing streets would mimic it.

D chose a hotel across from the city’s mall but we headed right downtown for some browsing. While I was shopping D found Zeitgeist Arts Cafe-a bar and restaurant located in a historic building also housing a performing arts studio and movie theatre. As we perched at the bar, we looked around and saw solo men eating three course meals at the bar top. It was Eat Downtown, Duluth’s Restaurant Week and the special at Zietgiest was a surf and turf option. I spied cheese stuffed and bacon Medjool dates on the menu so we had an appetizer with our refreshing beer.

It was a quick trip to another fun area where our dinner destination was located. Bellisio is fashioned after the small village of Bellisio, Italy, home to the owner’s ancestry. Located close to the east coast of Italy, we must have been near the region on last year’s trip to Tuscany. Bellisio’s has received Wine Spectator’s prestigious “Award of Excellence” every year since they opened in 1999.

The restaurant was located in Canal Park, as well as numerous other restaurants, shops and bars. We were also going to take advantage of downtown restaurant offer ourselves. We chose a delicious pulled chicken minestrone (tasty but not piping hot) and a Caesar salad chock full of anchovies and garlic.

Our entrees were Walleye Milanese (topped with a lemon butter caper sauce) on a bed of parmesan mashed potatoes

and Chicken Pancetta (linguine, chicken, pancetta, shallots and peas in a light broth-style sauce).

As Bellisio is also a wine bar, we chose an Italy vs California Merlot flight. In the end we may have enjoyed the wine as much as our dinner. At $25 for each multi course dinner and $7 for the Merlot flight, we couldn’t believe the value! Too full for the tiramisu that came with our dinner, we packaged it up for D to enjoy later in the evening as we watched The Crown on Netflix and listened to the Jets game.

On Saturday morning, I had some fun shopping at Target for Christmas stocking stuffers. D had a beer tour planned at Bent Paddle but we had an opportunity to try the lunch version at Midi Restaurant which was the hotel dining room for Fitgers Brewery and Hotel.

BTW-did you know that Bob Dylan hails from Duluth?

Right on the Lake Superior, we enjoyed an early lunch in the warm sun by the windows. We started with

Chicken and wild rice soup and another Caesar salad.

Lunch entrées were a ½ Ruben and amazing French fries

and a small piece of pork schnitzel, spaetzle and sweet red cabbage. At first when we saw the small piece of schnitzel and half sandwich, we were concerned that we may not been satisfied but it turned out to be absolutely the perfect portion (Downtown restaurant Week price of $10 per). I focused on the fries while D loved the spaetzle. We took our strudel “to go”.

While D was on his tour I checked out the mall across from our hotel. I made my way to Younkers, a department store I had never heard of. An hour or so later, I was shopped out, having purchased a special community coupon book and receiving very pleasing items of black jeans (that fit), black flat boots that I have needed for a year and a beautiful pair of Anne Klein sling backs that I also sorely needed. I walked back to the hotel just as D pulled into the parking lot.

I changed into my new boots and we headed out on another exploring adventure. We drove one of the long bridges between Duluth MN and Superior Wisconsin, shopped for some beer and cheese and headed back to Duluth. Fortunately (or unfortunately) they also had low fat cheese and sour cream Cape Cod potato chips (being our favourite brand since we discovered them on our honeymoon 32 years prior). These became our happy hour snack.

We found a spot in the sun in Canal Park but the wind off the water was pretty brisk so we hopped in the car and drove the narrow peninsula almost connecting Duluth and Superior. But before we did, we were in for a special occurrence. The park is so named because of the unique aerial lift bridge. We got to see the bridge in action as it made way for a sail boat returning to the harbour. We loved Minnesota Ave., the little ribbon of land which reminded us staying on the Airport Strip on Isla Mujeres, where we got to enjoy both sunrises and sunsets from our hotel. This strip of land was even narrower and was populated by inns and houses. We were not sure if they were summer or year round homes.

We stopped and climbed a sand hill to the beach, just as the sun was starting to set. Once the sun disappeared, it proved to be rather chilly indeed and D had a perfect way to warm up.

Enjoying another wine flight at Bellisio, Shiraz this time, we also loved the rolled eggplant and olive tray.

We were heading back to the hotel to regroup and then have our final dinner Downtown when D suggested that we order in and see what might entertain us on Netflix. “Chef” starring Jon Favreau, and co-starring Sofía Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert Downey, Jr. was a lovely light, feel good movie with some delicious food scenes.

Our Chinese food proved to be very plentiful and affordable and we have a bag of it for left over’s this week.

We stopped in Thief River Falls on the way home, to watch some Vikings football and have one last feed of walleye. A perfect weekend.

Kath’s quote: “If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there would be a shortage of fishing poles.” –Doug Larson

Love never fails.