24 | May | 2009 | Mid-Michigan Dining

Artist Cafe – Windsor, ON

24 05 2009

377 Riverside Drive East
Windsor, ON N9A 7H7
(519) 258-7878
Website

Artist Cafe at the Caesar's Windsor.

I can only take so much gambling. J and I did pretty well. She came out a little bit ahead and I only lost the $25 I started with, but we were able to play for two to three hours with that money. Yeah, we’re boring. Just penny and nickle slots. I wanted to make not a lot of money last for a while. My mom and aunt didn’t come out ahead either, but they got to play all day and experience Canada. My mom loved that she got an “extra five bucks.” To her, it’s not about coming out ahead, it’s about playing for a while and having fun. The extra five bucks gave her that many more spins.

After a few hours, J and I were tapped out, but my mom was determined to play a certain machine. She waited in line as the little old ladies put in a hundred bucks at a time. I started to walk around and noticed a cafe next to a Starbucks. As I walked closer, I noticed an ice cream case. When I got right up on it, I found out it wasn’t ice cream. It was gelato. I went and found J immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Caesars, Canada, Casino, Gelato, Ontario, Windsor
Categories : Canada, Ice Cream, Ontario, Windsor

Smoke & Spice Southern Barbeque – Windsor, ON

24 05 2009

1515 Ottawa Street
Windsor, ON N8X 2G3
(519) 252-4999
Website
Menu

Smoke & Spice Southern Barbeque on Ottawa Street in Windsor.

When I think of BBQ, I think of Memphis, North Carolina, Texas, and Kansas City, not Canada. Still, if I find a good BBQ place, no matter where it is, I’m gonna stop in.

My parents came to town for the Memorial Day weekend and wanted to go to Canada to gamble….just to say they gambled in Canada. We had to go before the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative goes into effect because they don’t have passports. I wasn’t going to argue. Windsor is smoke free.

Before hitting up the casino, we needed food. Sure, we could have stopped in Detroit, but what would be the fun in that. I thought I’d give my parents the full “Canada experience.” Hell, J still compares my first trip to Canada to an airport layover. I never actually set foot on Canadian soil. This time, I was determined to get my feet on an actual Canadian street.

After breezing through the tunnel and Canadian customs (I’m still amazed at the difference between entering Canada and the US), we headed through a couple neighborhoods to the corner of Ottawa Street and Gladstone Avenue to find Smoke & Spice Southern BBQ.

Smoke & Spice is on a fairly commercial street. That portion of Ottawa Street is a walkable business district although foot traffic was fairly light at 4:00 on a Saturday. We found meter parking just down the street from the restaurant and started to feed the meter until we were stopped by a passerby who said that wasn’t necessary on weekends. Read the rest of this entry »