Thompson Traveler's Guide

All righty then. It's Monday morning. Five days until Mommy's joyous return to the paradise that is Thompson, Manitoba.

First off, it's snowing again. And this time it's sticking a little. We had some pretty good flurries last week, but nothing stuck around very long. This morning, there is a light cover on the grass and I'm not too thrilled about it. But apparently I'm alone.

"Daddy! It's snowing! I can make snowballs. Can we build a snow fort?"

Sonwun is very excited, but will be very frustrated when he finds it will take the entire yard to make one small snowball.

So, snow aside, let's talk about Thompson cuisine, once again. In mommy's absence, I have tried out a few of the take-out and delivery restaurants in town. I limit myself to doing it only once a week, to give myself a break. I deserve it.

My recommendations, thus far, include the Riverview Restaurant (Chinese). I know I've mentioned this place before, but it remains number one on my favourites list. I have not had a bad meal from the Riverview. They have an extensive menu and I'm working my way through. But so far, nothing but praise.

If you're in the mood for pizza, I highly recommend Santa Maria. A word of caution, however. Stick to the pizza. It's great pizza. They are not shy with the toppings, it's delivered hot and they use real bacon. The ribs, on the other hand leave a lot to be desired. They aren't the fall-off-the-bone kind of ribs I really enjoy. They were a little undercooked and, with pork, that's not a great thing. The sauce was not memorable either.

On the far, polar opposite, end of the rib spectrum, there is Boston Pizza. Their ribs fall off the bone when you look at them. A little overdone. The meat was approaching mushy, and I'm not a fan of that either. Sauce was okay, but nothing to write home about. (Best sauce on ribs I've had in Manitoba so far was at the Regent Casino. Nice hint of what I think was fresh lime in the sauce - delicious).

On top of that, Boston Pizza completely forgot about my order one night and really ticked me off. To be fair, they called an hour and a half after the meal was supposed to arrive, apologized, and asked if I still wanted it. I didn't. And they didn't offer it for free as, I believe, they should have.

Overall, I rate Boston Pizza as fair, at best. I like the idea of most of their menu selections, but, upon delivery, they fall short of expectations way too often. Last night I was in the mood for wings. Now, having spent 10 years living across the river from Buffalo, birthplace of the chicken wing, I admit my expectations are high. But when one orders breaded wings (anathema in Buffalo, but one of the only options here), one expects a little crunch. The breading on the wings was thick and soggy, very soggy, Noah's-ark-missed-the-boat soggy. Not good.

To make matters worse, the Boston Pizza food rarely arrives hot. And it's not even winter yet. Four out of five orders have been luke warm and, sadly, in a city where there are only four or five places that deliver, that one's coming off my list. At the first opportunity, however, I will give the eat-in option a chance to impress me, as I have enjoyed that restaurant in other towns.

Finally, for the best greasy-spoon style breakfast, I recommend the Northern. It's clean and offers decent prices for all the staples - bacon and eggs, pancakes, french toast. It's quick and the wait staff is competent and friendly. Can't say the same for every restaurant I've tried in town.

So there it is. For all of you planning your next vacation getaway to Thompson, Manitoba, you know where to eat. For the rest of you, that's 2 minutes you'll never get back. Sorry.