One of the reasons we have this bizarre hobby is that we discover restaurants that no one, save maybe the locals, are ever going to visit. Sometimes, because their locations preclude cult popularity and other times because poor business acumen makes them doomed to fail.  None the less, we are here to publicize the underdog. Keeping this in mind, enjoy our review of Apple Jack’s – part of our on-going series on Indian/Desi restaurants who disguise their true nature behind distinctly un-Desi names like Skylark or House of Meat.  Or in this case, by naming the restaurant after a children’s breakfast cereal.  (matt)

Not only a children’s breakfast cereal, but also pizza….which if you’ve been watching this site is a different food altogether than curry.  However, a fair number of curry joints seem to have pizza as their main business with the curry as a bit of a side-line.  See…DJ’s Pizza and Curry Hot Pot, and Prime Tandoori and Pizza.  Ok…actually just these 3 so-far….but we may have to start looking more closely at the “Pizza” section of our yellow pages.  (ren)

Having set a world record for speed in RRSP bank meetings (2 mins, 38 sec), I was left with adequate time to get to Ren’s place.  We wasted even less time exiting his house and heading to the Northeast. In all the haste, we really hadn’t decided on a place to go. This forced us to explore the communities of Coral Springs, Taradale, Saddleridge and Martindale before Ren instinctively remembered a small strip mall at the corner of Falconridge BLVD and Castleridge Drive. At first glance there didn’t appear to be any curry houses in the mall. However, I spotted a small sign with the word “Halal” on it and with no plan in tow, it merited further investigation.  (matt)

After coming up empty for most of our round-about drive, somehow I remembered this little strip mall that I passed on my way home from work in the ‘hood.  I’d never actually seen a curry joint in the strip….but somehow I just had a hunch.  We were about to give up when matty spotted the halal clue and we decided to investigate.  (ren)

Our find would pay off.  The place reminded me a little of Baba Ka Dhaba, but without the obvious plumbing features in the dining area. Instead, they had the added luxury of bristleboard menus ala grade 6 science fair written in both Arabic and English. And when I say English, I actually mean Phonetics. For example, if you want to order the Chicken Korma, simply ask for the Chicken Qorma. There are only 2 words (Qatar and QANTAS) that I know of, which have no U after the Q. And while one of those is technically an acronym, neither is a food. (matt)

Another difference from Baba Ka Dhaba is the complete lack of negative “reviews” found on the  food inspection section of the Calgary Health Region website.  There's some pretty good write-ups of various places in town on there and if you're concerned about food safety it's probably a good idea to check it out.  (ren)

Ren ordered a butter chicken and we added some naan and rice. We were told that it would be 20 minutes so we decided to check out the strip mall’s pub. I think the place actually calls itself an Italian restaurant rather than a pub, but there is really no mistaking it for anything you’d find in Bridgeland. When you walk in, you know that it’s all about drinking. Not too many Italian eateries have pool tables, Merle Haggert on the jukebox or smoking pregno-waitresses.  This place was blue collar to the max. It reminded us of any small town bar in rural Saskatchewan.  As such, we both had Pilsners. (matt)

I think it was called the “La-Zee-Za”.... which I suppose would be pronounced like laaa-dee-daa....but with more “Z”'s.  Unfortunately in addition to the total lack of Italian-ness there is also a total lack of La-Z-Boy recliners.  That would have been sweet.  Oh well...just had to kick back on the regular wooden stools and rock out to some Okie from Muskogee.  It only took one beer for our wait time for supper to be up so back to Apple Jack. (ren)

We returned to Apple Jack intending on eating in the restaurant.  The owner apparently had other plans for us, immediately packaging up our meals into a takeout bag, including my Qorma which I spotted under a heat lamp. The meal came to about $23 total. As I paid the owner, I noted the oversized water meter in the kitchen.  It seemed out of place.  I was puzzled; though my bewilderment was no match for that displayed by the owner when I presented him with our business card.  We sat in the parking lot and watched him stare at the card for about 5 minutes.  Then he gave it to his friend who was equally puzzled. The notion of two white guys being associated with Indian food reviewing was clearly more than their minds could comprehend.(matt)

No worries!!  After confusing the crap out of the two men, it was probably best that we were making a speedy getaway.  Back to my place to watch some dvd's and fend off Daisy the Wrestledog as we savour the flavour.  (ren)

We got the food home and discovered for the 2nd time ever, a restaurant had decided to package the rice in a ziplock bag. It seemed unsanitary. But at the same time, very comical. My Chicken Qorma consisted of two drumsticks and two pieces of chicken carcass. It was tasty but also extremely oily. The naan was nearly perfect though burnt in some places. Ren’s butter chicken seemed decent from the tastes that I had.  We settled into Ren’s basement with cold beers and watched a WWII DVD. Ren insisted on a Nazi war crimes feature. I really don’t know what that’s about.  (matt)

Nothing says curry like....mass graves.  Well...sometimes thats what you get when you randomly pick a dvd from the rack containing the massive World at War set.  Might have to hit the rack with some lighter fare next time we're doin' a curry. The food itself was really good.  Really really good.  The butter chicken was smooth and creamy with lots of spice, and the chicken itself was just right.  Except for the crispy edges the naan was perfect.  (ren)

Overall, this is a place that the average person will never see. It’s so ridiculously difficult to find that you could live 30 lives and never find it by chance. Our friend Ryan Jones will probably eat here next week but that’s because he eats anywhere.  We liked it enough to give it an Eight.

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