Saturday, August 20, 2005

Mmmm...A Sweet Italian

Nope, not talking about my love life. I'm talking about probably the best "hot dog" I've ever had. Go to Falconetti's Sausage Company (1812 Commercial Drive, near 1st Ave.) and have one (or more?) of their substantial sausages, served in a perfectly form-fitting curved roll, topped with sauteed onions and peppers, and a great sauce (different sauces for different sausages, according to CityFood). Bac'n Girl and I set out for a summer evening stroll down Commercial (from the skytrain station down to Venables and back up the other side of the street) to graze for our dinner. Falconetti's sweet Italian sausage, and Polish sausage were the highlights of our evening. We both preferred the sweet Italian, with it's yummy fennel-flavoured, meaty goodness, but the Polish was definitely tasty too. There are several other sausages to choose from, and it doesn't hurt that they were served to us by an adorably friendly fellow - a happy co-owner, proudly serving his product on the day they received their liquor license. I have a good excuse to go back soon - I didn't get a close-up photo of the sausage, so I'll have to go back and get another dog. See what I endure for you, dear blog readers? Maybe I'll try the hot Italian next. Speaking of dogs, what kind of dog-owner ties up their poor pooch in front of a sausage restaurant, where the intoxicating smell of sizzling sausage emanates constantly from the big open window over their huge grill? I was tempted to order a sausage just for the doggy.

Another highlight of our walk was the poutine at Frenchies. Really good fries there, served up in a very cute 50's diner, with a staggering collection of vintage art glass displayed on the rafters. Their specialty is the "pink and juicy" - Montreal smoked meat sandwich - which we didn't try that evening. The poutine was great though. They had sugar pie on the menu too! I developed a fondness for the pie when I lived in Ottawa, and haven't had it since. Unfortunately, we didn't have room for it. I had a classic chocolate shake instead. Heh, we wound up overdoing things a bit that night, waddling out of Frenchies all bloated, so I recommend learning from our mistake and making separate trips to try Falconetti's and Frenchies. Not to mention Memphis Blues, and at least a dozen other places we could have stopped in for a bite. So many grease (and sweet, and coffee, and gelato, and ethnic food, and...) options, mmmm. We had been planning to top our evening off with a dessert of the ever elusive deep-fried Mars bar, which can be found on the menu of Belgian Fries, but we just couldn't do it. Bac'n Girl and I have been wanting to try a deep-fried chocolate bar for years, but whenever we get close to an opportunity, we never seem to have the capacity for it. It's the holy grail of fried foods for us now. One day... Anyhow, I love Commercial Drive on a summer night (even if one of my fav's is gone - Santos Tapas). So, anyone up for a hot dog?


Frenchie's Posted by Picasa

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have been talking about going to Falconetti's for a long time now. Every time we hit Commercial Drive we end up at either Fet's or Havana for brunch. One of these days we'll plan better.

Have you tried the poutine at the Belgian Fries place? I've heard from a Quebecer that that's the best poutine around town.

Another place for the deep fried chocolate bars is downtown at The Templeton on Granville - they have deep fried Mars and Wunderbar bars. They also have awesome milkshakes there!

Dumpling-girl said...

Ooo, great tips, Elaine. I will make a point of trying poutine at Belgian Fries at some point. I lived in Ottawa for six months, and all I have to say, is thank goodness poutine isn't as common here as there. Oh the grease! Mmm. I like The Templeton's food. And I love Wunderbars. Hmm. Well, just let me know if you want to get together over a Falconetti's!

Dumpling-girl said...

Btw, what is Fet's?