Just outside of Kensington Square (where parking is free) and smack dab in the middle of Sunnyside (2nd Ave and 9th St to be exact) is upscale Teatro’s little sister, Vendome Café. I am surrounded by amazing scents, the sounds of crackling eggs hitting the grill, charming English accents, multi-language conversations, country-chic décor (including church benches) and of course Luis Vuitton galore (in other words, housewives and students living on a “budget”). While the prices are not upscale ($18.95 is the highest I can see on the menu) and a muffin and coffee only cost me $5.35, clearly this is still a well-kept secret. The fact that they don’t have a Facebook page…well, I guess they are just too good for social media.
Thankfully – there is plenty of space upon my arrival to grab a table, which happened to be just before the lunch crowd. They have one table with an electrical plug, but I take the table that I can actually spread out at. A click on the web access and sure enough they have a wireless connection. The password is given out without cost (other than a coffee and a muffin) and works without issue. When technology works the way it is supposed to, I find myself giddy immediately. I can work and play at the same time!
A table of two women across from me order a ridiculous amount of food (an omelette, an egg, toast, a breakfast Panini, and apparently for dessert, French toast). Giggling, she says loud enough for everyone around to hear, “I couldn’t decide what to order!” 10 minutes later and they have devoured the entire meal from start to finish. Perhaps jealously, I scoff and think of what it will be like when they are in their 30’s and their metabolism shuts down. Ugh. I digress.
Later, my tummy is rumbling again and my guest has arrived so we order lunch. It’s around the 12:00 PM time frame, and it’s slowly filling up. I order the special (a pulled pork and bacon Panini with coleslaw…something I must try when I’m in a new Calgary restaurant as pulled pork is a delicatessen here) and Laila orders the Chicken Club (who coincidentally is still talking about it days later). My Pulled Pork Panini wasn’t as good as I was hoping for, nor was the side of cauliflower soup. I thought cauliflower would be as good as broccoli cheese soup (in general), but it was missing the key ingredient of cheese. Not that it was advertised as such, I just skipped over that detail when ordering. I don’t want to say I was disappointed, but I had higher expectations. This is probably because I was drooling over the French toast that kept being ordered and I should have gone with my instincts and ordered what I wanted (regardless of how many calories…I’d say I could run it off, but I haven’t run since Thanksgiving so that’s really just a joke and probably why I went for the “healthier” choice.)
The only thing that truly bugged me about the restaurant were two customers. Laila and I sat at a table for four but it was just two of us. I sat on one side of the table diagonally across from her. The restaurant was definitely filling u, when, two women asked if they could sit at our table because, “There is nowhere else to sit.” I probably wouldn’t have been so angry, but the bar at the window was not full – and really…who does that? What if we were meeting on something, and needed more space, what if we weren’t even together, just happened to be chatting? I just would never ask someone to move when they clearly have the space but alas this rant is over. It actually soured my day there BUT I know this is by no means the restaurant’s fault.
Therefore, I’m going back Monday. To try the French toast. And probably blog about my second experience.
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