While in the mall yesterday I noticed that a new restaurant will be joining our food court. But much to my dismay, upon closer investigation I discovered that this new addition will be yet another Tim Hortons. Why does Medicine Hat need another one? Isn’t having one in nearly every corner of the city enough? Will it ever be enough?

I think what bothered me most is as I saw the “coming soon” sign I realized that when the new Tim’s location is finished one can very easily see both the mall location and the Trans Canada Way location across the parking lot at the same time. I almost feel the need to remind everyone that we are not in New York City, this is not a place where Starbucks inhabits every corner of every street. With that being said, I believe this phenomena can be known as an epidemic.

Although I don’t drink coffee, I still enjoy the great value Tim’s has to offer. I will never understand the people waiting in a six car line at 8 in the morning but other than that I think Tim Hortons is great. However, I don’t think Medicine Hat needs one in the mall, or anywhere else. A new restaurant that is legitimately new to the city would be much more welcome in my eyes.

A recent fascination I have had is businesses for sale in Medicine Hat. I started looking into this when I saw a couple search keywords come to Medicine Hat Media for this resource; however, we don’t really have anything on it. Well… that is until this post anyways.

I took a look on the web to see if I could find a resource out there for this specific need. I found quite a few bland and “spammy” directories, but then I stumbled upon the search option on my favourite realty site, Realtor.ca, previously mentioned in this post – which actually, eventually found me my first house. It actually offers a search (which goes to a sister site, named ICX.ca) for commercial properties.

Below is a specific set of links I made for a couple different searches on the ICX.ca website:

All existing businesses for sale or lease in Medicine Hat

Office spaces for sale or lease in Medicine Hat (can double as a new business location)

Retail locations for sale or lease in Medicine Hat (can double as both business and office)

Land for sale in Medicine Hat

It’s quite interesting reviewing these links from time to time to see what places are selling or even at the prospect of starting up a business or even owning an outside office.

A couple of weeks ago (I’m a little behind on my posts) Sean and I and a couple of friends decided to go on a grand adventure to a new restaurant. Although I have been aware of Mauro’s for a while, it was only recently recommended to me so we decided to give it a whirl.

Mauro's Storefront - Photo via Medicine Hat Restaurants

This locally owned and operated pub is located on 3rd Street of the Gas City, which is a little out of the way for many, but it is well worth the trip. Upon arrival Sean and I noticed their small patio that offered a couple of nicely secluded tables and immediately knew where we would be sitting. Once we entered the restaurant there was a “please wait to be seated sign” that is apparently not meant to be acknowledged, so we continued on to the patio.

Although the table was a little small to fit the equally small patio it served our needs just fine. We were quickly greeted and given menus, but since we were the first of the group to arrive we informed the waitress that another couple would be joining us. Unfortunately, she didn’t produce the two additional menus we needed, so we had to share. As Sean and I had already made our selections by the time our friends arrived it wasn’t a big deal, but it was still an inconvenience. Our waitress was prompt to ID everyone in our company, something that is much more welcome than noticing underage folks in a “no minors” facility.

After we received our drinks the food was quick to arrive and it was really delicious. Sean had a decadent steak and pasta dish (which is on special on Thursdays) and I enjoyed an excellent pasta chuta. The menu itself is quite expansive, focusing on Italian cuisine, and the most expensive selection is around $20 for a 12 ounce steak. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, September 13, Taylor and I went to Red Dog Diner in Lethbridge.

The restaurant, styled after a Montreal-style deli, is locally owned and operated by a resident Quebecker known as “Le Boss”. The diner is located in the heart of downtown Lethbridge, offering a centralized location to many businesses, tourists and pedestrians.

Photo by paige_eliz via Flickr

Red Dog Diner has a wide array of food, including a variety of poutines, steamed hot dogs, beef and chicken burgers, and soups. The food is prepared quickly, but not at the expense of being low quality. Both Taylor and I ordered the chicken burgers and were thrilled by the outcome.

The chicken burger, unlike most food places, did not contain a chicken breast for the meat content, but rather, it was sliced deli-style and fried. The fries did not seem like typical out-of-the-box fast food fries, but appeared to be freshly cut.

If you are looking for a unique diner experience and are headed to Lethbridge, check out Red Dog Diner.

Red Dog Diner is located at 545 – 4th Avenue South in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Original Photo Link
Food Network Review
Red Dog Diner Fan Club (Facebook)

It’s almost that time again, when we do a big post about the best restaurants of the given year. Last year’s article was posted by myself without any input from the community, so this year will be a little different, considering we actually have a community now. What I want is for people to comment about their favourite restaurants for 2009 and don’t skip on the details! In a couple weeks or so we will be writing a new article with everybody’s input and will also have a poll for users to vote. Last year’s winner of the poll was Dublin’s Pub as you can see by the poll:

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Thuy Tien is a Vietnamese restaurant located in downtown Medicine Hat. Taylor and I are no strangers to the restaurant staff, as I am sure we are no strangers to them. We first went there in the spring of 2009, and have been back numerous times since.

The restaurant offers a large menu, including about 75 different dishes, most of which include the best rice ever, which is then complimented by the best soy sauce ever. The dishes usually include chicken, pork or beef, but also branch out to some more interesting items, such as quail.

The decor of Thuy Tien creates a relaxing environment with comfortable chairs, large tables, interesting tapestries and artwork and soft music. There is also a large aquarium by the cash register that children seem to love, which also gives me an air of nostalgia as it reminds me of a Dairy Queen in Regina that also had a large attention-grabbing aquarium.

The food is good and the location is accessible. Check out Thuy Tien if you want to try something new.

Thui Tien is located in downtown Medicine Hat at #647 – 2nd Street S.E.

Little Caesars is a small pizza shop located in Crescent Heights, along Northland Way, near the Co-op grocery store.

Little Caesars - Pizza Pizza!

The pizza outpost opened up at the beginning of the summer in 2009, and pretty quick afterward, Taylor said we had to go there, so we did. The pizza was much the same as you would expect from Pizza Hut or Pizza 73, with the exception that Little Caesars pizza is prepared beforehand and placed into ovens to keep them warm until being purchased, which is the same with their side dishes as well.

The downside to pre-preparing is that the pizza might be sitting there for a while before you stroll along, or they might not have pre-prepared the type of pizza you wanted before you got there. The upside is that you can walk in and within a couple minutes, walk out with hot pizza and side dishes in hand.

Downsides apart, the pizza and (semi-oily) bread sticks that Taylor and I purchased were good. A word of warning; however, is to not eat in your car and balance the bread stick sauce container on your knee and try to dance, because you will have a bad time cleaning the mess out of your console, or wherever it lands.

Little Caesars is located at #109, 20 Northland Way Ne in Crescent Heights.

I have been a consumer of Iced Coffee for a number of years and recently the fast food industry has been jumping on the band wagon to capture a share of the market.

I have tried Iced Coffee from the following sources:

• Canned mixtures from Vietnam, purchased from Sam’s Oriental Market in Brooks when I lived there
• Starbucks
• Cafe Mundo
• Pho Dao Noodle House
• Tim Hortons
• McDonald’s
• Burger King

The canned mixture was my first introduction and it was an instant “I like this!”. The second try was to discuss what I would like and with the helpful staff at Starbucks, I was hooked for life.

Cafe Mundo also produces a nice product that is prepared fresh, similar to the Pho Dao Vietnamese version that is brought to the table to finish brewing.

The fast food joint’s attempts are palatable but are premixed and contain unknown quantities of cream/sugar/syrup.

My favourite Iced Coffee, containing only ingredients that I request, is from Starbucks:

Venti Iced Americano, Light Ice, with Room

Translation: largest size, mega amounts of freshly-brewed espresso mixed with cold water, some ice cubes, and room for me to add the amount of cream I desire.

On Saturday, August 29, Vaughn, me, and our party of 6 in total dined at Dublin’s Pub. It was not the first time at least four out of six of us had been there, and much like our visits previously, the service and food was great.

Notable meal shout-outs include the Danny’s Devil Burger – a half pound hand-made burger with bacon, two kinds of cheese and BBQ sauce, which is Vaughn’s usual choice, and my choice this time around as well. If you manage pack this burger away in your stomach, you will be feeling full and satisfied for a long time afterward. The burger gleans it notability from being handcrafted, which is the opposite from most other restaurants out-of-the-box style burgers.

Another notable mention is the Steak Sandwich. Most restaurants I have eaten steak sandwiches at seem to provide you with a very small amount of meat on top of some bread. The last time I ordered this from Dublin’s, I remember thinking halfway through: “Ugh, I still have so much left to go!” – A definite plus for anyone who loves leftovers.

The straight up reason why Dublin’s is such an awesome local establishment is the amount of food you get. There is no “I wish I had more…” once you finish off your meal. What is more, the price versus food content and amount easily beats out any of the fast food places in town.

There is not a negative thing to really say about the place, with the exception maybe being that we luckily avoided the UFC party that would have probably packed the pub and slowed the service down. We also mentioned Dublin’s Pub before in a post called “Best Restaurants of 2008” in which Dublin’s Pub still remains the top voted for restaurant in the list as chosen by our readers.

My wife and I went to Asia Garden for the first time this afternoon and were not disappointed. The combination of quality of food plus the friendliness and the price has made Asia Garden our favourite restaurant.

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