Palm Springs: Supersize Me

Super thick corned beef sandwiches at Sherman's

We're in Palm Springs and we still can't get over how huge the portions are at restaurants.

This evening we went to Sherman's Deli & Bakery and it's quite shocking how much food they serve people. Salads are a large platter plate with a giant heap of greens enough for four people to share.

Part of the meatloaf dinner meal at Sherman's

A dinner portion of meatloaf includes a large plate of salad and two thick slices of meatloaf, gravy, cooked vegetables, and a baked potato. It was enough for two hungry people to share.

I had a hot corned beef sandwich and there was so much meat layered in between two slices of rye bread that it was impossible to fully bite into it. Needless to say I only had half of it and took the rest home.

Even though she saw us unable to finish our food, the waitress asked if we wanted to order dessert!

The same goes for Billy Reed's, a large restaurant that feels like being in a family home, with old wooden furniture, painted plates on the walls, and large tables.

A dinner entree includes a soup or salad, a choice of mini loaf of corn bread, date nut, banana nut, or garlic toast, and choose between French fries, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, baked potato or rice pilaf.

And did you want dessert with that? 

Roast turkey with sweet potato at Billy Reed's

Is it any wonder why so many Americans are overweight and obese?

We wondered why the restaurants didn't make their portions smaller so there would be less food wastage? But it seemed like most customers did take home leftovers.

Perhaps the restaurants want to give the impression they are giving people value for money? Or they think shrinkflation would be bad for business so they need to keep serving the same amount of food?

Meanwhile a well known restaurant that we have visited called Babe's Bar-B-Que & Brewery, which was known for its barbecue ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork and corn bread, closed in August because of rising costs.

Even though the restaurant has been around for 22 years, it could not keep the 12,000 sq ft space packed with diners all the time, and the increased costs for ingredients and labour made it challenging to keep going. 

Dessert anyone? Strawberry pie at Billy Reed's

It plans to open in a new location in January, about one-quarter the size to keep costs down.

"When Babe's opened 20 years ago, everything was so much cheaper: utilities were cheaper, payroll was cheaper. Everything was just you know,... it was able to work," said Lucky Callender, the owner of Babe's was quoted as saying in August.

"Our revenues were strong at The River, you know, we did good business. It's just -- if you do high revenues, you should see the profit. And the problem was, we weren't seeing enough profit to make sense. And, how can we retain that profit? Obviously it's going to a smaller space."

Meanwhile we noticed at least two multiplex theatres have shut down in Palm Springs, one inside a shopping mall. It's a sad sign of the times here, that the economy is struggling, which is perhaps why people feel good having big portions?

Not-So-Greasy-Spoon Argo Cafe

Argo Cafe is a relaxed, friendly diner serving gourmet dishes

A good friend I hadn't seen in years took me to a hole-in-the-wall diner and the food was delicious!

It's called Argo Cafe, and it was started in 1954, and the current owners took over it in 2004. Chef Denis Larouche and his brother in law Kirby Wong are running it along with Larouche's wife Linda. Larouche and Linda Wong previously worked at the Four Seasons so they know a few things about cooking.

A hearty portion for the basic breakfast

Argo Cafe is only open for breakfast and lunch six days a week, and for a small place it offers a lot of dishes everyday. The menu changes daily, a dilemma that can keep Linda up late at night.

Nevertheless we came for breakfast and I had the Basic Breakfast, with two eggs, sausage or bacon, and white or brown toast. What really stood out for me was for a greasy spoon, it wasn't at all.

The eggs were over easy and hardly any excess oil. The same could be said for the hash browns, the diced potatoes were perfectly cooked with a slight crunch. Each piece was delicious and not over seasoned either.

I chose to have bacon and it was a bit on the dry side, but definitely crunchy and fatty. The dish also came with two slice of toast and a small cup of mixed fruit that included the sweetest wedges of peaches, blueberries, pomelo and watermelon.

Linda is a pastry chef and she prides herself on sourcing organic fruits for her pies so that the natural fruit flavours come through. After breakfast my friend and I lingered and eventually shared a slice of peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

The pie filling is choc full of peaches!

The crust was topped with coarse sugar, but the peach filling wasn't cloying at all -- just choc full of sliced layers of peaches. So good.

Lunch items include duck confit, grilled ling cod, flat iron steak with fries, and sockeye salmon almandine. Gourmet food at very reasonable prices. Will be back!

Argo Cafe

1836 Ontario Street

Vancouver, BC

604 876 3620

Picture of the Day: Savoury Pies

Tourtiere on the left, chicken pot pie on the right

A friend visiting from Hong Kong said he needed to get a pie from West Vancouver. Really? All the way there? Now I know why.

We went to Savary Island Pie Company on Marine Drive, which entails crossing the Lion's Gate Bridge to the north shore, turn left onto Marine Drive. The shop is quite small and has some tables for customers to dine in.

But we had already filled up eating our share of Persian food that I blogged about before, so my friend wanted to get some takeaway pies. I was intrigued and wanted to try some too.

Check out this slice of the tourtiere!

In the freezer there were savoury and sweet pies, but I got the small chicken pot pie and tourtiere pie. The latter is a well-known French-Canadian pie that is usually eaten around Christmas time.

I remember a friend, the late chef and food columnist Nathan Fong would spend weeks before Christmas making these tourtiere pies for friends, but I never had a chance to try his.

A few days after we heated up both small pies (good enough to share) and they were delicious! The chicken pot pie was stuffed with chunks of chicken, peas and carrots, celery and onions. 

The tourtiere pie features minced beef and pork, potatoes, pepper, all spice, cinnamon and cloves as well as garlic, onions and orange juice!

What we liked most about both pies was the crust -- it was so flaky and yet held up to the filling and we could tell it had a lot of butter in it!

I don't venture much to the north shore often, so I am pining for the next opportunity to try pies from Savary Island Pie Company again... better yet hope they can open in Vancouver one day!

Savary Island Pie Company

1533 Marine Drive

West Vancouver

604 926 4021