Last Friday night we went out for dinner but finding a spot was a much more arduous task than usual because it was Winterlicious. Winterlicious/Summerlicious theme was originally developed by the City of Toronto to encourage residents to go out for meals after the unfortunate SARS breakout in 2002; it’s a participation event where restaurants offer prix fixe meals for standardized rates (Lunch: $18 • $23 • $28; Dinner: $25 • $35 • $45). This year there are over 200 participating restaurants! What’s really cool is that some really high end restaurants participate where you get a three course meal for $45 Canadian (in some of these places $45 is usually just the main course!). It’s a great way to sample some expense account restaurants. But don’t think the restaurants aren’t making money because as one restaurateur once told me that because people perceive they are getting a deal on their meals, they will splurge on the bottle of wine, or two (in Ontario our restaurant liquor is usually marked up 3 times)! Getting a reservation this time of year is no easy task, even in non-participating places, but participating places it’s next to impossible. One year, I was on the phone for over an hour trying to get connected to a highly demanded Summerlicious restaurant, it was like calling a radio station for a prize, you just keep calling and calling and calling until you were connected. One year I gave up after 45 minutes of re-dial!
These days, I just couldn’t be bothered trying to get into the popular places plus we’re still trying to cut back consumption so three courses just isn’t what we want to eat, no matter how good the price. So Friday night we went to the newest addition of the Playa Cabana restaurants on Bloor, Playa Cabana Barrio. It’s part of a small Mexican group in Toronto and we have found (at their three other restaurants) the food to be exceptional and reasonably priced. This one was in Little Korea and the menu read more Korean than Mexican. I usually preview the menu but I was busy and didn’t this time. I was really in the mood for Mexican. The narrow restaurant was very crowded (imagine the width just wide enough for one table on either side, one parallel to the wall and one perpendicular). The tables are very close together so it’s difficult not to say ‘Hi’ and chat with the table next to yours (impossible for JT, that is). We were very fortunate as we had two young women from each end of the country (Victoria, BC and St. John, Newfoundland) reuniting for a girls weekend and we hit it off, weaving short conversations between courses about places they should go to in Toronto and their lives at the polar opposites of Canada.
One of the courses they ordered was BBQ’d Kalbi Ribs which came out “Fred Flintstone” style, piled up on a plate. When I say piled, it must have been 20 cm (8 inches) high! And I’m not exaggerating! It was difficult not to comment (for JT, that is)! But here’s the most unusual part: they insisted we take the last mammoth rib home as they were staying in a hotel (it was served family style, so it wasn’t handled). So we DID! Is that not the best story EVER? How many times have you wanted to give your uneaten food away while on holiday? It’s really a shame to throw away perfectly good left-overs (as long as they weren’t handled)
This inspiration is the result of that donated doggy bag of “Fred Flintstone” proportion Korean BBQ’d beef short rib!
BBQ’d Kalbi Benny
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1 left-over BBQ’d Kalbi Short Rib with kimchi
- 2 crêpes (recipe can be found here)
- Hollandaise sauce (make your fav, healthy or not)
- 2 poached eggs
Directions:
- Reheat rib and once hot, shred with two forks.
- Fold crêpe into fourths and spread the shredded rib meat in the centre.
- Top rib meat with a little of the left-over kimchi, then the egg and pour hot hollandaise over.
- Serve immediately.
Notes:
- This inspiration ‘recipe’ would work famously with any shredded left-over meat.
- If having ribs for dinner, set aside one or two so you can have this fabulous breakfast.
- Coleslaw may be substituted for the kimchi or omitted, but it was a tasty addition.
- English muffins or any type of bread, for that matter may be substituted for the crêpes, I just wanted a slightly less heavy carb.
[…] so good. It’s true that I’ve done crêpe paninis and delicious ordinary crêpes (like this and this beautiful savoury mushroom crêpe), but when this crept into my head, I just had to try […]
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There are few egg dishes I like more than a good Benny. This one takes it over the top. A rib inspired Benny?! I’d be in heaven. The winterlicious/summerlicious sounds like so much fun – if you can get a table. We’ll have to get up there for that one of these days. 🙂
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I love the restaurant idea but that BBQ’d Kalbi Benny is calling my name. It looks SO good!
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Talk about decadent! This looks just amazing.
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Thanks Greg, it was totally decadent for sure!
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You have made a fantastic meal out of the leftovers, Eva! And the meat must have been already super delicious in the restaurant… As you might have noticed, in Europe doggy bags aren’t practiced (apart from pizzerias). Many people consider it not elegant… but I think it would be a fantastic idea to practice in simple restaurants.
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Hi Sissi, you’re absolutely right about doggy-bagging not being elegant and to be honest, we wouldn’t practice it in a fancy restaurant either. This place was very casual, our whole meal with a bottle of wine, including tip was just under $70 which would be considered inexpensive. You probably wouldn’t get enough food for leftovers in a high end restaurant anyway😉. Thank you for your kind words.
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Haha! This is what I thought too… elegant restaurants tend to have tiny portions 😉 but I love being able to take home half of my pizza (to be frank I did it only once in my life… I turn into a monster when I see a pizza on my plate! I even eat the crust that some of my friends cut off because they don’t like it….).
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Ah, ‘pizza bones’ (discarded crust edges) were very new to me about 25 years ago; a friend ate pizza this way to allow herself an extra slice with the calorie reduction of the discarded ‘bones’!
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What an interesting dish! Loads of flavors and textures. The use of crepes is inspired! It’s snowing here, so this would make a perfect meal for us – warming and filling. Thanks!
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Thank you kindly John, it really hit the spot for us too.
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This is such an excellent dish, a perfect twist on a traditional brekkie 😀
My brother would love this!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU, I know that you are vegetarian so I appreciate your kind words.
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You are so innovative. There is a lot going on in this dish and the drippy egg and the hollidaise sauce is making my mouth water.
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Wow, thank you Bam, so nice of you to say that. It was very tasty.
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ribs for breakfast. It sounds like a winner to me. I love it and my husband would go nuts if he woke up to the smell of this. Its a winner
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Thank you Jessica, I appreciate your kind words.
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wow, a three course meal for $45 Canadian… what is that, $10 American these days? lol (I’m allowed to tease only because I’m Canadian 😉 ). You’re so right about the bevies… that’s where restos make their cash, big markup on the fluids! This is a very original recipe Eva – sounds delish too. I would have loved to have seen the original 8 inch high FF inspiration :D.
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That’s usually our line Kelly! What happened to the dollar again, it was doing so well. Thank you for your kind words, it was very delicious. If we ever go back with a few more people, I’ll make sure to take a pic of it. Sadly I wasn’t able to find one on line either.
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I’m just happy we sold our house before the Canadian dollar tanked Eva (makes a huge difference) hope you’re having a great day.
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Definitely, it’s making a huge difference on our potential travel plans too😢.
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Your Rib and Eggs Benedict looks pretty awesome, and like something we’d see down south…probably on a very high carb buttermilk biscuit! 😉
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Mmmm, the buttermilk biscuit sounds wonderful, I must keep that in mind for next time Betsy, thank you.
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three courses or not as long as the food tastes great! 🙂
woo I am impressed by your crepes ribs dish. I could eat a couple of those. I want!!
You are right, throwing out good food is a shame, I try to avoid it as good as possible and frequently end up over eating my food because I don’t like left overs.
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We don’t mind left overs at all but I usually make them into something totally different so it doesn’t feel like you’re eating the same thing two days in a row. Thank you for your compliment.
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I absolutely love beef short rib and what a great idea making it into a benny Eva! 😀
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Thank you Lorraine, it sure was tasty.
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What a great incentive to get people out dining and I’m so glad so many restaurants are participating. I love how you were able to take your Flintstone ribs home and you certainly cooked up a great looking twist on Eggs Benedict – it looks wonderful xx
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Thanks Charlie, many restaurants do very well during this time. The rib benny was quite tasty.
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What a fun twist on eggs Benedict! And such a neat story about how you came home with some leftover ribs 🙂
P.S. You sure got a lot of snow! Our storm ended up being a bust–not that I’m complaining!!!
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Thanks Liz, it was a rather curious story and I won’t soon forget it. Yes, we keep getting more and more snow.
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Wow, what a good thing to bring home after dining out, and what a fab recipe you’ve created! Love it Eva.
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Thank you so much Liz, it was very tasty.
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Looks a great combo, Eva. Never thought of putting leftover beef with eggs. Would certainly be a good start to the day.
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Thanks David, I’ve done this with pulled pork too and it’s really tasty.
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That IS awesome!!
Wow, talk about a big bite, this looks awesome and with that wonderful, donated rib meat…mmm mmmph!
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Thanks Dana, it sure was delicious!
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That’s a very interesting and delicious combination. I wish I could have a bite too!
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Thank you kindly Angie, it was very tasty indeed.
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How clever! Your creation sure looks delicious. What did you and JT order? We too have restaurant week twice a year.
Snowing again, up to 18″ is the forecast, hoping the weatherman is wrong.
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Hi Norma, I really had a taste for Mexican so we ordered BBQ’d calamari to share and then I had a cup of the Scallop Soup which was very delicious but more Asian flavours (reminded me of Thai, hot, sour, sweet) and JT ordered a single portion of Braised Short Rib Taco which he said was very good.
Yes, we are now being dumped on…we already have about 20 inches and it’s not stopping for an hour or so. We’ll be going out again to shovel. Hope you have help.
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Don’t think we got as much snow as you but this is on top of what we got few days ago, yes, I do have help but I am the last on his list to be plowed. He is a young fellow I know that’s starting a business. Since I will not be going anywhere when it snows told him to do his other clients first and OK to get to me last.
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That’s a very unique combination of cuisines going into this dish but it was an innovative use of your giant rib. 🙂
We have a similar event in the middle of January where participating restaurants had ‘deals’ to encourage people to come out and try their cuisines post the Xmas/New Year celebrations when things slow down. I went out for dim sum. No ‘deals’ there. Just the regular good value for the money.
We had the biggest snowstorm in ages here. It snowed for over 20 hrs straight. The wind whipping the snow around created huge drifts. A local (5 minute drive normally) bakery is closed today because there’s 18 inches of snow on the side street they’re located on and it hadn’t been plowed. I doubt they’re going to be plowing the alleys again. As a matter of fact, there’s a long-bed truck with a plow in front stuck in the alley right behind where my car is parked. It’s been abandoned for a couple of hours.
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We’re getting dumped on too Maria and for some reason the plough hasn’t yet come down the street (we have about 50 cm!) ironically, the plough came down the street THREE times last Thursday and there was hardly 5 cm!
It’s great that your city also has restaurant week, we know a few people who own restaurants and January and February are brutal for business. Good luck with your snow.
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I imagine the plows are busy in other places and will get to you guys. That’s a lot of snow to move and then the problem is where to dump it. Half of my neighbour’s driveway gets dumped on my property/lawn and half on his. What can you do?
Just finished some kale, sweet potato, corn and tomato soup. I threw everything in that I had in the crisper, pantry etc.
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