FLIP + CHING

Dining by the Alphabet – Part C

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.

It’s taking us quite some time to do this whole “Dining by the Alphabet” thing. Part of it is, we don’t want to count any places when we are doing takeout — we have to dine in and we have to purposely go specifically for the dining project. Like if we happen to eat somewhere that starts with the correct letter but we didn’t plan to use it for the project, then it doesn’t count. For instance, if we happened to eat at Carrabba’s because we eat there all the time and it works for the letter C, we’re not going to count it just to cross off a letter. We are going to purposely select a place that either we’ve never visited or we don’t visit all the time. Thus, we started with Albero Bistro for the letter A and then Blue Hook for the letter B.

We had a couple of options for the letter C — Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, where we haven’t been in years, or College Hill Deli, where Brian has never been.

As you can see from this awesome mural, we ended up choosing College Hill Deli. Here’s a picture of Brian carefully studying the menu because it’s his first time there. Although, I don’t know what he does since he usually gets the same thing at every Mediterranean restaurant we visit.

The interior space of the restaurant is not huge but they do have outdoor patio seating which is great on nice days.

We began our dining adventure with a plate of hummus with chicken. Their hummus is great and one of the best in town. The chicken had excellent flavor.

Brian got the chicken shawarma wrap with fries. Surprise, surprise.

I got the chicken biryani, which was excellent.

College Hill Deli has a dessert case stocked with all sorts of delicious pies. We didn’t have room for dessert on this visit but Brian and I decided we will have to have pie next time. The chicken and hummus was quite filling so we could just have that and dessert and be completely satisfied.

We have many more letters of the alphabet to go to complete this project but, suffice it to say, Brian’s first time at College Hill Deli was a huge success. He loved the food and it’s definitely going to be one of our go to places for the future. Until next time, GNG.

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BBQ for Lunch

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.

On one of our first days back in the office Chris and I decided we wanted to go to Norton’s for lunch. Much to our disappointment, Norton’s reduced their hours during the pandemic and they’re still operating on limited hours — which meant they weren’t open for lunch. We ended up walking across the street to Bite Me BBQ and had that instead.

I really had my heart set on just having bacon crack and calling it good because I wasn’t that hungry. Anyway, I ended up having ribs and sliced brisket with mac and cheese and coleslaw (pictured above). It was way too much food. I ended up taking much of it to go.

It was quite good — I mean, you can’t really go wrong with BBQ — so I was looking forward to having leftovers for lunch the next day but it was not to be. We were walking back to the office when this random guys stops us and asks for cash for food. I told him, I didn’t have any cash but could give him my delicious leftover BBQ. Wanting to help, but having no cash on me, it was the best I could do.

I know sometimes people ask for money for drugs or booze but they just say food because they know people will give them money for food but not for drugs or booze. I really hope that guy ate my leftovers and didn’t just throw it away because that would have made me really sad. It was good food and I would hate for it to have gone to waste.

Anyway, I made a mental note to not go back there unless I’m hungry so I’m not wasting my food in the future. Until next time, GNG.

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Espresso To Go Go

Posted on April 4, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.

One of the best parts of working downtown is the multitude of coffee shops within walking distance. It’s not so great when it’s cold outside but, now that the weather is getting nicer, it’s fabulous!

Espresso to Go Go is one of our favorites. My friend Chris loves their Icy Queen Ann. He’s one of those people who drinks iced coffee all year round whereas I usually drink hot drinks in the winter and don’t switch to iced drinks until the weather gets warmer.

I love their drinks but I’m not as much a fan of having to wait for your drink outside the building. Their lobby has been closed since the pandemic. I’m hoping that it’ll reopen so you can order inside again. In the mean time, your best bet is probably to order online so that your drink is ready for you by the time you get to the window.

Despite all this, it’s still a favorite among the plethora of great coffee shops downtown. Having lots of coffee shop options is one of the things that I will miss most about working downtown so I’m enjoying it now while it lasts.

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Paradise Donuts

Posted on April 3, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.

Where do you go to satisfy a donut craving downtown? Paradise Donuts.

If there are no donuts in paradise, I will be severely disappointed.

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More Coffee Adventures with Chris

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.

Since I started going back in to the office the beginning of March, I’ve had the pleasure of going on coffee runs with my friend Chris Townley. We went to Mokas a few weeks ago and have also visited a few other coffee shops.

Sunflower Cafe is one of our favorites. It started as a coffee truck at the ICT Pop-up Urban Park, which is no more. To clarify, the Sunflower Espresso coffee bus still exists. It’s the pop-up park that’s gone — which makes me very sad because it used to be my go to place for lunch.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our Sunflower Cafe adventure…

The interior of the place is not huge but I’m grateful that you can at least go inside, unlike at Espresso to Go Go, where you have to stand outside in the cold to order and wait for your drink.

Above is a picture of their menu and below are the cafe hours and daily specials.

The coffee is good but my favorite thing at the cafe is their selection of Lovie & Co ICT handmade artisan chocolate bars. Brian doesn’t like all the stuff in it but I sure did. I bought a bar for us to share, so I picked one that I thought Brian would most like, but he prefers his chocolate bars unadulterated so I ended up eating all of it myself — which I was totally fine with, LOL.