Downtown again!!

Most days Mike leaves for work far before my ass has even considered getting out of bed.  This day was no exception really, but once out of bed I was feeling motivated to get out of the house.  As opposed to laying on the couch.  Up and showered I get, and text away my routine "good morning love", eagerly anticipating his lunch-time hunger level.  Oh, yes, it's 11am by now.  Don't kid yourself - I wasn't up that early.  Oh goodie! I'm in luck, he's hungry.  We agree that I will drive downtown to meet him, but he's gotta find the place.  

Turn left, turn left, go straight, turn right.  It's like a secret code game to get us to lunch.  After I park Mike goes to the machine to pay for our street parking.  This is when I find out that I entered my license plate wrong a few weeks ago resulting in a parking ticket.  Well damn.  732 hey, not 723.  Mike is laughing, but I'm pretty sure its not in the "laughing with you" sense, more in the "laughing AT you".  Ah well,  City of Calgary parking was nice enough to correct my mistake and cancel my ticket.  Phew.

The Upper Deck Public House is on a quiet corner of residential downtown.  Pretty nice looking place inside, that same black hightop tables/grey paint that seems to be the trend.  Although a bit on the small side, they have a fairly big rooftop patio overlooking a clean end of downtown.  Could be pretty sweet in the summer time.  

Mike has read some reviews on the place and it scores extremely well on UrbanSpoon.  Steak sandwich is the deal of the day at six bucks and even though we all know how much I love them, I'm hesitant here.  The problem I've run into is that it's made with a striploin.  I hate striploin.  I've read the rest of the menu and there are a few things that stand out, like Mike's choice of the Lobster Salad Sandwich, but I'm here I might as well try the steak.  

Lunch came out fairly quickly, even though it was very busy (Friday lunchtime don't forget), and it looked pretty good.  Mike's sandwich was overflowing with Lobster Salad and looked so yummy.  But once he bit into it he gave me the look.  This look says "I like it, you won't".   Hopes are dashed as he tells me there are waaayyy too many onions in the mixture and I'd never be able to eat it.  Oh well.  Let's see how my steak turned out. 

After I scrape off the huge chunks of black pepper I make my first cut.  Yup.  Just what I thought.  Over done.  This ordered as medium rare steak has left the kitchen at medium well.  Now in front of me, its well done.  Damn it.  I knew I shouldn't have tried it.  I am kind of peeved.  My poutine looks pretty great so I dive into that.  Oh, but the gravy tastes funny.   

M: *reaching fork across for poutine bite* "That gravy tastes weird"

T: "Yeah I thought so too, but at this point I'm hungry and don't much care"

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought so.  I had so badly wanted to like this place that I was willing to eat things that tasted "weird".  My steak in the end was edible.   But mainly because I was starving and it was six dollars.  I figured I didn't have good odds at sending it back to be remade, it probably would show up just the same.  So I powered through it and left marginally disappointed. 

As we settle up and head out I know Mike is wanting to ask the question.  I beat him to it and let him know that I do want to come back.  For sure to sit on the rooftop patio and drink some beers, but mainly to give the menu another chance.  It was my fault for ordering something I don't like (and wouldn't order anywhere else), but I want to try again.

Downtown is certainly out of the way for us, but we've figured that we've gone to every other pub on MacLeod Trail, so we need to branch out.  I promise that I'll drive more often if it means going somewhere new (we all know how much he hates driving downtown).  And secretly, I think he really enjoys meeting the wife for a quick lunch, no matter where it is.