Garden Cafeteria Edmonton AB - Amazing cheese buns every friday!

Posted by I love cheese. I love freshly baked bread. And when you put the two together into a cheesey ooey gooey melty goodness of freshly baked cheese buns... I'm totally in love.

I've made do with grocery store stuff, and the occasional one from family owned bakeries, but I'm always on the look out for that perfect cheese bun.  You know what I'm talking about... sinking your teeth into a soft warm tender bun laced with swirls and globs of melty flavorful cheese.  I've had my share of cheese buns over the years - ones made with almost endless permutations of Feta, Mozzarella, Gouda, Havarti, Monterrey jack, Cheddar, traditional cheese I have no hope of pronouncing correctly and even cream cheeses... all stuffed/rolled/sprinkled with more cheese, spinach, pizza sauce, pepperoni sticks, caramelized onions, shallots, mushrooms and herbs from all corners of the world.  But I still search for the simplest of the cheese buns.  Paring it back to the simple white bread base and a honest sharp cheddar cheese melted and toasted to perfection.  So where did I find a close to perfect cheese bun?

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Greenberg's Delicatessen Las Vegas - best reuben sandwich and potato salad ever!

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Food 8/10
This little deli hidden inside New York New York's Greenwich Village inside their casino has a special place in my heart. They are no nonsense and down to earth. If you want a great sandwich, this is where you go. Though I enjoy Carnegie deli, the Las Vegas version is a gargantuan serving of meat. I prefer my sandwiches stuffed, but where I can still pick up said sandwich.. and then bury my face into it :D  Service is quick and cafeteria style.  Seating is limited in general - the deli is very very cozy and only has 2-3 tables, with a few tables outside where you can sit next to trees, old school street lights.. or a decorative fire hyrant on the cobblestone street.

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Mon Ami Gabi, Las Vegas - Awesome patio and simply yummy food

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Rating Service 8.5/10, Food 7.5/10
After a long night of partying, we slept in.. heehee, well, we're on vacation, that's okay!  We strolled out to Paris where the Mon Ami Gabi's patio caught our eye.  With a front and center view of Bellagio's fountains, little finches flitting about and plenty of shade from the mid-day sun and set against Paris' cool stone architecture, we made a beeline to the patio.  The interior was quite nice too with dark tables, white linen set amongst beautiful old archways - but the weather was wonderful and not too windy, so the patio it was!  The service was friendly and helpful, though they may have been short staffed the day we went as our excellent waiter was practically sprinting from table to table.

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Shanghai 456 - back again for yummy xiao long bao!

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Rating Service 8/10, Food 8/10
Been craving ShangHai 456's tasty xiao long bao and potstickers, so we round up the crew (and my family) on a few separate occasions and brought along our appetites for almost dimsum style dishes alongside traditional Shanghainese cuisine. The unpretentious decor hasn't changed and neither has the badly translated menu, but we delve in, have a couple of our Chinese friends decipher and translate the menu, and ordered a few of our favs and a few new dishes as well. I've been lazy, so I've just combined the pics from a bunch of return visits.

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Jean Philippe Patisserie, Las Vegas Nevada - Scrumpt-diddily-umptious pastries!

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Desserts 9.5/10
You can't go to the Strip at Vegas without stopping by Jean Philippe Maury's (he's the big cheese chocolatier) self named Jean Philippe Patisserie. With the world's biggest chocolate fountain - I always get images of Willy Wonka's factory when I hear chocolate water fountain, and super indulgent and beautifully executed pastries and fresh crepes, it would be a sin to pass up.

And if you think his desserts are too sinful, fear not! About 3/4 of his divine desserts can be made (and is!) sugar free! I made an elderly lady's day when she murmured she couldn't to her equally elderly friend because she thought the desserts would be too sweet as she was diabetic... I gently steered her away from the regular display case to the adjoining and pointed out the sugar free pastries... her beaming smile totally made my day.  Had to spot by at least once a day during our trip in Vegas to partake in a little sweet bite of dessert heaven... all in between shopping at the outlet malls, buying cheap tickets for shows early See the Sold Out Shows in Las Vegas! VegasTickets.com has tickets.... shopping some more and coming back to eat more pastries! Heehee!

Here's a touristy photo of the world's biggest chocolate fountain... (un)fortunately walled off with glass so you can't fall into it like Roald Dahl's Augustus Gloop.  Though it has the same idea - the chocolate falls from a series of platforms (to reduce chocolately splashes) and as it falls, the waterfall aerates the chocolate so it cools to the proper temperature and makes the chocolate smooth and oh so velvety.

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