FLOUR AND BARLEY

3545 Las Vegas Las Vegas Blvd. S. (702) 430-4430, 11 am to 12 midnight 7 days a week.

Located on the Linq behind the Flamingo Hotel and Casino is a large, reasonably priced restaurant.

It has a large interior and a very large patio.

We sat on the patio and ordered a litre of their house red. 

The menu has a nice variety of choices.

We decided to split the arugula and kale salad - it was amazing, the ingredients were unique and included artichokes, mushrooms and pine nuts.  It was large and easily split.  The flavours were fabulous!

My wife had the grilled salmon with broccolini and roast potato in a lemon caper sauce.  It was a large meal but very tasty.

I chose the shrimp scampi in a garlic lemon sauce with spaghettini.  The shrimp were large and very tender.

This was a good meal and good value in a nice location on the newly developed linq.

 

http://www.flourandbarley.com/

ROLLY ROCKET'S 

470 King St. West, Hamilton On. (905) 393-3555, Open for Lunch, Dinner, Late night 7 days a week.

Decided to try Rolly Rocket's for dinner. This restaurant has been around for a few years now and has a regular following in the downtown.  It is basically a bbq ribs and chicken kind of place that is very informal and kitschy.  It has picnic tables for furniture and rock music in the background. 

The menu has an extensive list of bbq items. The interior is furnished with picnic tables and is very informal.

There is a bar that extends around into the pool table area.

There are rolls of paper towel on the tables reminding you that your hands  will get messy.

For my meal I chose 2 pounds of wings one in mild sauce and one in dry rub.

My son Thomas chose the pulled pork dinner.  It came with 3 pulled pork sliders, sweet potato fries, coleslaw, a maple covered cornbread biscuit and a cup of baked beans.  It was gigantic and he had to take the leftovers home.

All in all it was a good hearty meal.  We were full and everything tasted quite good.  The coleslaw was especially tasty.  They have karaoke on Fridays!



http://www.rollyrocketsbbq.com/index.php?pg=home

CHARRED ROTISSERIE HOUSE 

244 James St. North, Hamilton, On. (289) 396 - 0662 , Lunch and Dinner Mon. - Sat.

On a blustery rainy Saturday afternoon my sons Mark (http://www.markallenrealty.ca/) and Thomas (http://rebuildhamilton.com/) and I decided to try a new restaurant on James Street North in Hamilton.  It features charcoal rotisserie chicken and piri piri sauce. It is located in a rapidly changing community of restaurants, bars and art galleries.

There is a chalkboard menu on the exposed brick wall that can be a bit confusing, but they hand you a simplified version on entry.

The interior space is clean and simple in design.

My son Mark decided on their Pulled Charred Chicken Sandwich with peppers and onions, topped with aged cheddar homemade piri piri mayo and cilantro ($7 plus $3 with fries and coke).  The sandwich was tender, tasty and filling.  

My son Thomas and I decided on the 1/2 chicken with fries and a coke.

The chicken was juicy, tender and very good.  The piri piri sauce was a little bland.  The bread was fresh and the fries were great ($13).  Charred has a nice atmosphere, great chicken and worth a visit. The people are friendly here and the prices are reasonable.  We will definitely come back for more delicious chicken.

http://charred.ca/

BANH MI BOYS 

392 Queen Street West (near Spadina) , M5V2A9, (416) 363-0588, Lunch and Dinner.

Went to Banh Mi Boys on an early Saturday evening in May.  Queen Street was bustling, as was Banh Mi Boys.  It was packed and a constant flow of people came in and out.  There is very little seating and consequently we had to stand while eating.  The atmosphere was uncomfortably busy!

I had the Banh Mi pulled pork sandwich and regular fries.  The pulled pork was fine but the pickled vegetables were overwhelming and an actual let down to what could have been a great sandwich, but then banh mi means pickled and I should have expected that.

The fries were were good but rather ordinary.  My son Thomas had the same sandwich (pulled pork) and he too was not a fan of the pickled vegetables.  My son Mark who suggested this restaurant really likes it and enjoys the uniqueness of the pickled vegetables.  He had the five spiced pork belly sandwich which he has had before and really enjoyed it.

All in all my son Thomas and myself did not like the experience here.  However my son Mark (http://www.markallenrealty.ca/) loves the food here. It seems it is a matter of taste and based on reviews I have read, most seem to enjoy Banh Mi Boys.

http://www.banhmiboys.com/index.htm

NAPOLI PIZZERIA 3.5 out of 5

5485 Ferry Street, Niagara Falls On., L2G 1R5, (905) 356-3345

Went to Napoli Pizza to have dinner recently.  The meal began with homemade focaccia bread and flavoured oil,  it was delicious.  We ordered a fine bottle of Chianti.  We followed this with an appetizer of large grilled shrimp ($15) for 10 very scrumptious and meaty.  I had a main of homemade spaghetti with rapini, homemade sausage and peperoncino.  It was good and a very large portion.  It was so large it could have fed two people easily.  The pasta went well with the rapini and the sausages had a hint of anise in them.   My wife had the Gnocchi Toscana which were made with handmade ricotta, parmigiana and escarole  gnocchi in a mascarpone cream sauce.  Unfortunately we had no room for desert but we did have cappuccinos and they were a great finish.  The service was outstanding and very professional, however through no fault of theirs they had to keep apologizing for missing ingredients and adjustments that had to be made to some of the menu items.   All in all Terroni in Toronto is a far better restaurant with better quality pastas and more variety of pastas.

homemade spaghetti with rapini and homemade sausage

5 large shrimp each, they were delicious

http://www.napoliristorante.ca/