SON OF A PEACH 

#62 - 2049 Pine Street, Burlington, On. (905) 632-4040 

A new pizzeria located in downtown Burlington at the Village Square complex, Son of a Peach has taken a dreary storefront and brightened it up to give it a new life.  My son suggested we try it for dinner.

The interior is bright and new and very welcoming.

We selected the garlic knots made with fresh garlic, parmigiano regiano, herb butter.  They were delicious!!

Tom and his friend shared the JJ's Hawaiian pizza, which consisted of homemade tomato sauce, pineapple chunks, double smoked apple wood bacon, cherry pink pea meal bacon, house pickled jalapenos, with whole milk and virgin mozzarella.  Expensive at $33.

My wife and I tried their wild mushroom pizza.  It consisted of house made tomato sauce, garlic, thyme and white wine roasted mushrooms, whole milk and virgin mozzarella.  It was loaded, but at $31 not cheap.

The libations list.

We decided to try a couple of glasses of the 13 th street winery red blend.  All in all we liked the environment and music here.  The clientele were upscale hipster and seemed at home in here.  The food was alright but pricey, maybe in time they will expand their menu.  The service was great.  Their website needs work.  Get rid of the silly name!!!


http://www.heypeachy.com/ 

BLUE ELEPHANT PUB AND RESTAURANT 

90 Norfolk St. Street South,  Norfolk On. (519) 428-2886 

A group of us went to the Blue Elephant Restaurant and Pub on a Friday afternoon for an early dinner. It is located in Simcoe Ontario.  It is quite a large space and has a good variety of spaces.  

It has it's own brew store where you can buy beer that is brewed in their own brewery on the premises.

Daily specials are posted at the entry which makes it easy to see them in one place.

A rather large collection of craft brew bottles and cans is displayed in the bar area.

They have their own brewery that can be seen through a viewing window.

A couple of rooms are used for evening dinners.

The bar area is a good size and with a good view of the patio in the back.

The menu begins with a brief description of the brew house and its philosophy.  The menu is easy to follow and includes most typical pub dishes with a few twists. The prices are reasonable, with most mains costing less than 20 dollars.

The menu explains how the establishment has evolved over the years and become the first brew house in Norfolk County.

The menu is easy to follow and has a good variety of offerings with nothing over twenty dollars.

One of us began with a cosmo martini.

One of us began with a white wine.

the rest of us had a red wine.

One of us ordered the quiche special with onion soup. She liked the onion soup, but found the quiche rather ordinary.

One of us had the quiche special with spinach salad and feta and she enjoyed both.

Two of us had the fish and chip dinner one had one piece the other had two.  It was a typical fish and chip pub meal.

I had the lake erie whitefish pan fried in butter with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables.  This was a pretty good meal except the fish could have been hotter.

There is an outdoor patio with a variety of seating.

All in all it was a typical pub experience with a few twists and an interesting craft brewery.  We will come again when in the area.

http://blueelephant.ca/

NANDOS FLAME GRILLED CHICKEN

832 Bay Street, Toronto, On. (416) 925-8888, 11:00 am to 11:00 pm every day, except Fri. and Sat. 11:00 am to 12:00 am

Originating in South Africa in the late 80's Nando's quickly became a success story due to it's Portuguese style rotisserie chicken with a peri peri sauce that sure has a kick.  It has since spread around the world and recently opened a spot on Bay Street in downtown Toronto (it also has 5 other locations in the GTA).

The interior is rather cramped when it gets busy and very noisy and the Brazilian music is quite loud.  The furniture is sourced directly from South Africa and is very colourful and unique.

Upon entering you may find yourself in a line (we have been here a number of times and it can get very busy) that may include take out patrons.  You are seated as the line moves and are given a menu.  Here is where it gets tricky - you select from the menu for your table (you have to remember your table number) and place the order at a counter where you will also pay for the entire order including any drinks and alcohol!  You better remember what each person in you group wants because once you pay for it if someones order is wrong, or someone wants to add something - you will have to get back in line!!  This may work in South Africa, but I find it a silly process.  Next, you have to go to a counter to collect all the utensils for your table.  The food is prepared and then delivered along with any alcohol ordered.  Soft drinks are self serve.  On a very busy evening it can be a nightmare.  We saw an employee being a waitress, busboy, cook and maitre d.  Our only conclusion here - cost savings!!

Pop machine is self serve and includes coca-cola and various flavours like vanilla, cherry, strawberry etc. that can be added to it.

We chose their Catedral red wine (we have had this wine here many times) and it was very good and not expensive.

My son Mark ordered their hummus dip with pita as an appetizer. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it - but it contained a good portion of hummus and an unequal portion of pitas.  When we asked for more (not to waste the large amount of hummus left in the bowl) we had to pay 85 cents!!
For his main he ordered the quarter chicken with leg (with medium peri peri) and peri peri fries.  The fries where very tasty and the chicken was very meaty and tender.

My wife ordered the quarter chicken with breast and coleslaw.  She really liked the coleslaw and found that even the breast meat was very tender.  I ordered the half chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and coleslaw.  The potatoes were filling, the coleslaw was delicious and the chicken was tender and meaty.

All in all we have found the food here quite good and filling and reasonably priced for the portion received -unlike Swiss Chalet where they look more like pigeons than chickens. The wine is very reasonably priced and tipping is not necessary, since you are paying at the cash and are not really assigned any waitress.  The only problems here are the ordering process is very annoying and the noise can get quite loud. We have been here several times and found things much the same each time.

http://www.nandos.ca/