The Great Burger Hunt - Steve's Bistro

Time to get my Greek fusion on

Another St. James location I know. I promise to venture further from home for the next couple burger joints. Been so busy lately the convenience of the locations have been the deciding factor of where I go.

James and I decided on a burger before he was helping me edit some school project and Steve's Bistro is where we ended up. I've eaten there quite a few times but have never had a burger. Always left impressed though.

We arrived about 5:00 o'clock on a Wednesday night. There were two servers on and they promptly seated us and took our drink orders. It wasn't busy when we were there so they were very attentive. It was much appreciated.

The walls were covered in abstract paintings. It fit the place well with the candle lit tables, small flower settings and the broad iron gate wall, which looks great with the recessed alcove arch entry ways.

I ordered the mediterranean burger and fries.

It didn't take long to get the food. We had our plates, which were piping hot along with the food in about 15 min.

There was a very generous portion of fries, and they were very tasty. Not too salty. Just lightly salted. They were that perfect combination of crispy and chewy. The freshness of them was great. Even though I couldn't finish them all, I really wanted too.

The burger was very well balanced with spinach, tomato, feta, onion, mushrooms, and roasted red pepper. And take note other places (I say this a lot when...) but the bun was superb. Buns like this gets you bonus points when it comes to ratings for me. The patty has a flavour to it that was nice, it was meaty and had a very subtle spice to it but I feel like it was missing something. I hate giving out .5's when it comes to this. But I might have to here.

James pretty much had the same reaction as me with his meal. Overall I think this may be the best burger place we have gone to together. Luckily he paid the bill too. Just means I'm on the hook for next month.

What I go t: Mediterranean burger and fries - $15 (before taxes)

Fries Taste : 5/5
Burger Taste : 4.5/5
Price Value : 4/5
Menu Selection : 4/5
Overall : 4.37/5

Steve's Bistro
3123 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3K 0W4

Pub Chat: Episode 54 - Mudslinger Brown

We talk gateway beers!

This episode we’re getting back to our beery roots and talking about how we got into craft beer, and how to get others interested. Andrew Colman & Brett Enquist joined us too. We covered some serious ground: home brewing, shower beers, gateway beers and all sorts of other stuff. We drank Red Hook Mudslinger Brown and Unibroue Trois Pistoles.

Download here . Or subscribe in iTunes here .

Show Notes

00:00 – Welcome and introductions
00:15 – About the beer: Red Hook Mudslinger Brown
00:35 – About Red Hook
01:50 – AB InBev ownership in breweries
03:00 – Tasting the beer
04:35 – Gateway beers
13:50 – Breakfast and shower beers
16:25 – More gateway beers
20:20 – Unibroue and Andrew’s homebrewing
28:10 – Second beer: Trois Pistoles
31:10 – Back to gateway beers
34:30 – Dogfish Head
41:20 – Final gateway beers
45:00 – Beer is a social beverage
46:45 – Andrew’s travelling beer experiences
53:45 – Colin talks Half Pints
56:55 – Signing off

Pub Chat: Episode 53 - Delerium Tremens

And Adrian enjoying Belgium

We’re drinking Delirium Tremens and talking about Belgium and we’ve got the intern along for the ride. Adrian just went to Belgium so now he gets to boast about how amazing it was to Jacob and I. For a beer nerd, it really is the beer mecca you think it is, according to Adrian.

Download here . Or subscribe in iTunes here .

Show Notes

00:00 – Welcome and introductions
00:40 – About the beer: Delirium Tremens
04:20 – Adrian goes to Europe
05:00 – Best beers from the trip
06:25 – Christmas beers
07:30 – Beer culture in Belgium
10:05 – Belgian food
11:55 – Bruges
13:35 – Ghent
14:25 – Being afraid of heights
16:00 – Brussels & Delirium Village
20:20 – Beer in Britain
28:25 – Whether or not to go to France
31:15 – Music in Belgium
33:05 – Languages and accents in Europe
37:25 – Trains in Europe
39:20 – Winnipeg weather
43:50 – Adrian tours Belgium breweries
48:00 – Signing off

Ghostface Killah Chili

Yet another chili recipe

I make chili quite a bit. Not as much as I make grilled cheese. There is just something about beer and chili that is quite tasty.

So when I saw a bottle of Ghostface Killah from Twisted Pine I knew I had to buy it and make a chili out of it. Everyone told me the beer was garbage and too spicy. I like the mellower version of it, Billy's Chilies, and I do enjoy spicy beers so I tried a sip before I put it in the chili. It was definitely spicy but I think I could drink it and would enjoy it. That being said... into the chili it went!

Ghostface Killah is made with 6 chiles including Anaheim, Fresno, jalapeño, serrano, habenero, and ghost chile.

Ingredients :

Pound of ground beef

Beer stew chunks

Two turkey sausages (dice small I didn't and the big chunks took away from the other meats)

10 mushrooms

5 shiitake mushrooms

One can of diced tomatoes

One can of kidney beans

Handful of hemp hearts

Ounce or two of Franks

Ounce or two of sriracha

Bottle of Ghostface Killah (drink a couple ounces yourself but use most of the bottle)

Directions:

Brown ground beef in pan. Drain all the liquid from the cans the best you can. Toss all ingredients into slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Why Target Canada missed its Target (Market)

Hint – it has to do with the products

This blog post is a Market Research assignment for my Advertising class

On February 3 ^rd , around 10AM, my advertising class converged on the Target stores in Winnipeg. A few of us went to the Grant Park location, which is newly renovated in place of the old Zellers building attached to the mall. We observed shoppers, the employees, and products to determine what the target market is for Target Canada at that specific time of day.

A group of us walked in around 9:50 and there were not too many customers in the store. I saw three customers total in the first 15 minutes of being in the store. They were younger and didn’t seem to be buying anything particular, just killing time. They are probably Target's intended market.

Photo credit: Kenton Larsen

Just before 10:30 more and more customers began to arrive to shop. Most were retirees, with about 60% of them being women. The products they seemed to buy were a variation of food and clothes. Some had small appliances but there didn’t seem to be a consensus on what they were all purchasing. I personally didn’t see anyone purchase more than ten items at one time. If there was an express checkout they were all under the item limit.

The secondary market during that time was young mothers, with their small children. The children were mostly sitting in the shopping cart while the mothers bought an array of items as well.

The employees seemed to have a consensus of Target Canada is doing okay sales wise but right now they are very slow due to it still being so close to Christmas. They expect to pick up in the next few months.

Expectations were high for Target Canada, and even the employees seem to be annoyed by the questions of “how come you don’t have (insert item only available in the USA)?” This is the biggest draw for Canadians to come to Target, yet Target does not actually have those items. Without those items Target is just another Zellers, Walmart, or Superstore . If Target doesn’t get in those products the target market they currently have (and their intended market) won’t be changing their pattern of shopping at those stores over Target.

I do hope Target gets in some of the US products but until then I will continue buying BBQ sauce, beef jerky, and Trix in Grand Forks on my regular trip down there.