For me though, the Medicine Hat Stampede has always been about the food, petting zoo and of course, the coin pushers (the softest form of gambling ever).

Way back, Taylor also did a post about the Night Show Line-up here.

Medicine Hat News: “Hatters ready to Stampede in style” by Angus Henderson
CJCY 102.1 The Lounge: “Hatters Line Up To Invade Stampede Grounds”

Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede Website

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiW5VnLGxRw

http://www.cakebreak.ca/

Asia Garden, primarily termed as a buffet, includes a “Mongolian Grill”, a lot like Menggu Grill previously. I asked our friendly server Vivian to assist me with the grill as this was our first visit to their establishment. She took a stainless steel bowl and added fresh, cooled, uncooked ingredients to my specifications. The ingredients ranged from rice noodles, peanuts, shrimp, bok choy, squid, pork, THEN with a warning, very sparingly, Mongolian hot sauce mixed with oyster sauce and lastly, a curry sauce to top it off. Vivian then took the heaping bowl to the chef who grilled the mixture and in no time she returned to our table with the steaming hot food.

The Mongolian hot sauce is hot! I am accustomed to warnings of hot sauce turning out to be mild for my taste – not in this case! The dish was excellent with every ingredient having a distinct flavour and yet the combination of sauces lingering in the background.

The price includes the usual Chinese buffet but after my Mongolian dish I was quite satisfied. My wife ate from the buffet and said everything was very fresh and good also.

For the two of us, including a $3 tip, the bill was under $20.

Asia Garden, next to Visions
2 – 3363 Dunmore Road SE

The event is on Saturday, July 18th, and kicks off at noon and runs till 4PM. Entry is $3. Team sign-up forms can be found on their website as well as pledge forms.

Everyone loves chili, check it out!

http://downtownmedicinehat.ca/

East Side Mario’s was busy every time I’ve went there, and even when I visited on obscure times of the day, like between lunch and dinner there was still quite a few people. I wouldn’t recommend anybody to go on a Saturday night because it seemed like a madhouse with all the people there. So with all these people, why did it close? Was it the food? Was there health problems? I found the food good every time I visited and I tried a lot of the menu over the years of going there, although it could be a bit pricey the soup and non-stop french bread (YUM!) more than made up for it. The Alberta Health Services site no longer lists East Side Mario’s so I can’t confirm any health problems.

Like I stated above, the only reason I could think of is with all these chains (like Starbucks) closing and shutting down their locations across the globe due to the recession, it could just very well be that this one was targetted for whatever reason. Anybody know?

The pasta, sauces, and desserts are all prepared in-house by a nice elderly man who is also the resident Chef and owner and ensures that you will have a freshly prepared meal. The ambiance in the restaurant is wonderful. The front facade of the building is all windows, allowing much sunlight in. The colour scheme of the decor is primarily green, white and red, reminiscent of the Italian flag, and soft Italian music floats through the air to top off your dining experience.

Apart from a delightful dining experience, the restaurant also offers pasta products and sauces, as well as a few other things such as pasta makers.

I have never had a poor meal at Pasta-Bilities, and plan on going back many more times.

Pasta-Bilities is located at 1290 Trans Canada Way SE, across the parking lot from Starbucks.

It may deserve the naming though. It literally is the biggest buffet joint in the hat – in terms of eating space but also in terms of the amount of food and deserts they serve. The dinner (which starts at 4:00PM each day) buffet is a little bigger than their lunch selection – at dinner they bring out the big things like roast beef and a full turkey/chicken with stuffing. They also have a special brunch on Sundays when they serve every breakfast thing you could ever imagine.

In terms of the quality of the food (since that is the biggest factor of any buffet place), it is decent – which may be interpreted as “meh”. I say that because although I do have a “once every month” craving for buffet food I usually end up at the Jungle Cafe instead of other buffet restaurants in town such as: Buffet Medicine Hat, New Imperial Palace Restaurant, Ming Court Family Restaurant, Hat’s Restaurant (another silly generic named one), or Sizzling Wok. This is because Jungle Cafe literally is the best Buffet place in Medicine Hat (my opinion), but it is a little pricey. Although that would count as getting off the subject of this review. In the list of other buffet places in the city though, Buffet Medicine Hat would definitely be the top in terms of quality, taste and atmosphere. You also have to weight in the amount of diversity of food available at Buffet Medicine Hat as well which definitely raises it above its competitors.

I know most healthy people will say “UGHHH, GROSS!” at places like this. But I clearly am not the healthiest person alive, especially when it comes to “eating good”. The fact is I just love food, lots of it – the more grease the better! Again, here I’m being a little sarcastic, but overall Buffet Medicine Hat is my 2nd favourite buffet restaurant in the city because of the above points.

Buffet Medicine Hat
111 3215 Dunmore Road SE Medicine Hat
403-528-3399

Full Menu @ Medicine Hat Menus

Let’s talk about the soup and salad bar. There’s normally two soups available, piping hot and both delicious. Usually they serve a beef soup (such as beef barley) and an other alternative soup (such as french onion). Both are delicious, and the beef variety of soups they serve seem very “home-made” in the sense that it seems like they cooked the beef themselves and thrown it into the mix – this isn’t condensed soup grade beef (like Campbell’s), it is prepared in the kitchen. There’s a huge selection of salads: lettuce, macaroni, 6 different dressings with all the fixings. This is all for $1, unlimited servings, granted you buy an actual meal. Continue reading…

I’m writing this review based on my very first experience there, which may not be a good thing to do – I might follow it up when I go next, but my first impression of the place is really good. I loved everything about it, and my Filet Mignon (we went all out) was amazing, as was the soup/salad bar. The ambiance and environment was a bit too “traditional” for my tastes, as the tables seemed to be set in a traditional manner, where chairs and tables seem out of place in certain areas instead of the booths  and sectioned tables we see in modern restaurants. I did; however, love the giant grill encased in a window for all to see the succulent steaks being prepared by a chef.

It was actually my first time ever eating a fillet cut steak and I wasn’t ever even aware that steak could be that tender. It was literally like a hamburger (in terms of tenderness – not taste). I mistakenly got mine “medium rare” but later, in a mix-up got my father’s “medium” instead – but I was glad I did. He explained to me (this is going into a bit of meat talk now), you should always order a “cook” above what you want, that way if it’s over it is still okay, and if it’s under, it’s the way you want it, but if you get a “medium rare” you might be just getting a very red (bloody) peice of meat if it’s any less.

I would definately recommend this place for the beef-enthusiast or a newcomer (like myself) to fine cuts of steaks.

Medicine Hat Menus Logo

Quite a few restaurants (30+) are listed but there is also some that aren’t – most of these places that aren’t listed are chains or corporations. Medicine Hat Menus is more about local food and restaurants and big chains probably don’t see any value in a site like this – but I still think they should at least take advantage of it. I think it’s a great service and probably more useful than any traditional advertising restaurant owners in the city use; however, Medicine Hat Menus also promotes itself and its clients in the Medicine Hat News newspaper (physical print advertising) and on the Medicine Hat News website through skyscraper ads which really justifies the cost. I’ve also spotted some promotions in hotel and motel room directory books, catering to out of town people. I’ll also say while I am involved in the design and development of the project, I do personally believe in it 100% and I also just struck a partnership (link exchange) between our sites.

Medicine Hat Menus

In brief: the Medicine Hat College’s Visual Communications grad show will be held tonight starting at 7PM. There will be a variety items in the exhibition including art, design, furniture, video, photography and more. There will be entertainment, food, and most likely some alcohol beverages. It will be held in the main Medicine Hat College entrance – it will be hard to miss.

Lost & Found Mailouts - Photo via Flickr