Stollery Children's Hospital Cafeteria

I eat at the Stollery Hospital's cafeteria quite often and I have to say it is by far the best hospital food I've ever had.  Not that I have a lot of experience eating hospital cafeteria food, but it seems like most places only have a Tim Horton's and maybe some other rinky dink counter serving soup and sandwiches.

Not so at the Stollery Hospital on 112 st, just a block south of the university.  There is a cluster of 4 different counters right next to each other.  The first offers different lunch specials everyday, the best being the Ukrainian special that comes with sausage, perogies and sauerkraut. My second choice would be the various versions of curry dishes they do.  For a while they were serving this red coconut curry dish that was to die for but I haven't seen it on the menu lately.

Next door to them is the rotisserie chicken, you can watch pieces of chicken rotate on the spit behind the glass..  You can get a Swiss Chalet style chicken dinner with potatoes and roasted vegetables.

Then next to them is the Quesedillas counter.  They taste authentic and come with chicken, beef or clubhouse which means there is bacon in it.  They give you a generous helping of sour cream and salsa to go with.

The last counter is a bit strange.  The lady that runs it has this habit of saying "next please" in this loud voice. And then when you place your order she repeats it in the same annoying drone voice.  I guess she is just trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved, so everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and things can be more efficient, but it does grate badly on the old nerves. They serve things like BLT's, wraps and chicken fingers.  The Mediterranean pita wrap is my favorite, they aren't shy with the tzaziki sauce.  This is also the counter where you can get breakfast every morning, so it has a special place in my heart.

Tacos La Mexicana

Authentic Mexican food is among my favourites.  That's why I couldn't wait to try this place out when I heard about it.  It's a little hidden place just off of Whyte avenue on Calgary Trail.  The first time I went was around 6pm on a Thursday.  The neon sign said open but the door was locked.  We looked inside the windows and could see a guy sitting in the kitchen prep area behind the main counter.  We knocked on the door and looked in the window again, he appeared to be vomiting into a bucket of some kind.  Disappointed and disturbed, we left.

I didn't let that stop me.  The promise of fresh Mexican food is too powerful for me to resist.  When I crave a taco, I want a taco, a real one.  So a few weeks later we went back to Tacos La Mexicana.  This time it was open.  The guy serving us looked to be the same guy who was vomiting before.  He was the rudest food worker I've ever encountered.  He didn't speak to us but rather grunted at us like we were a nuisance.  (I later found out that this place is owned and operated by two brothers.  Going by this rude mess of a man's general demeanor, I would assume he is the younger brother assigned the dirty work while the older brother collects the cash, perhaps that's why  he was vomiting). 

The tacos were mediocre, only a notch or two above Taco Bell.  The meat was far too greasy. The best part about them was the fresh lime juice he put on them. The salsa was decent but not amazing. There are better tacos to be had in Edmonton.