Tooloulou’s for Breakfast – Banff Alberta

Continuing with our August trip to Alberta and the Canadian Rockies…

Our first morning in Banff…time to find something good for breakfast!  I’d done my research before going on this trip and I knew that I wanted to have breakfast at Coyotes.  They were the best rated breakfast spot in downtown Banff in “Trip Advisor” with 216 Excellent or Very Good reviews and ‘only’ 24 Poor or Terrible reviews.  Although the ‘bad’ to ‘good’ ratio was a little worse than 1 out of 10, (my normal standard), there was only 1 negative review year to date in 2013.

The only problem was that when we arrived, there was a line and a fairly long wait!  As we only had one full day in town and we weren’t big on waiting, we looked for an alternative.

Tooloulou’s is actually located right next door to Coyotes!  There was just a short wait…perfect for us…and we were seated.  I didn’t know it at the time but Trip Advisor’s feedback on Tooloulou’s was that they had a positive/negative rating ratio that was very similar to Coyotes…but with fewer reviews being reported.   

The interior of Tooloulou’s is cozy and warm…much like a diner atmosphere.  Our waitress was the young lady at the left of this photo.  No real complaints… She was efficient and hard-working…did her job well despite the restaurant being very busy…but she was a pretty reserved…nice but not much for smiling.

Laurie went with her standard breakfast fare…two eggs over easy, bacon, fried potatoes and toast with coffee. ($13.60) This was a very nice breakfast indeed, a great way to start out the day! 

Yes…we continued to be stunned at the prices in Canada…and not just in Banff either!  However, as prices were what they were throughout our trip, we stopped worrying about it.  The good news is that although we ate well, (badly from a health standpoint), we were so busy that we normally only ate 2 meals a day.

In addition to fried eggs and accompaniments, there were 13 omelets on the menu.  Some of them were quite interesting… The menu definitely has a Cajun twist to it.  Among the omelets were the Crab and Asparagus, ($12.95), a 3-egg omelet stuffed with crabmeat, grilled asparagus and cheddar jack cheeses, then topped with Hollandaise sauce, and; the ‘Crawdaddy’, ($14.95), a 3-egg omelet with crawfish tails, sautéed mushrooms and cheddar jack cheese.

For my breakfast I went with the Eggs Bayou…two poached eggs over spicy sausage on a toasted English sourdough muffin, topped with Hollandaise sauce. ($15.70 with coffee) My meal came with skillet potatoes or sliced tomatoes, and of course, I went with the potatoes.  Other than the chives…which I picked out of the Hollandaise sauce…it was a good breakfast! 

Tooloulou’s menu has an entire section devoted to eggs benedict.  It’s called the “Benny Bar”.  A couple of the more interesting ‘benny’ offerings were: Eggs Shannon, ($14.95), two poached eggs over Canadian back bacon on a buttermilk biscuit topped with Shrimp Crawfish étouffée, and; Smokey Salmon, ($13.95), two poached eggs over grilled onions and British Columbia smoked salmon on a toasted English sourdough muffin topped with Hollandaise, capers and green onions.

Skipping ahead to a late breakfast on the second morning prior to moving on to Lake Louise… We planned on going to Coyotes again, but this time when we arrived they’d already stopped serving breakfast.

So it was back to Tooloulou’s!  No eggs for us today… I ordered the Apple Cinnamon Waffle. ($10.95) This Belgian waffle was topped with hot apple preserves, cinnamon and whipped cream, then sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with syrup.  It satisfied all of my sweet teeth!

Other items on the menu included a variety of French toast offerings, a number of flapjacks/pancakes and a few crepes.  Plain French toast was $8.95.  You could also order 3 oz. of Canadian Maple Syrup for $2.25.  One of the most unusual French toast offerings was the Oreo Cookie Monster. ($10.95) This consisted of two slices French toast topped with crushed Oreo cookies, chocolate sauce and whipped cream sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with syrup.  

Laurie loves caramel!!  Consequently she ordered this attractive concoction…the Peach and Pecan Waffle. ($11.95) Her Belgian waffle was topped with peaches, crushed pecans, caramel and whipped cream, then sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with syrup.  Her taste buds were completely satisfied!

Our dining experiences could have been a little more exotic as there were some items on the menu that were a little ‘out there’ for our breakfast palate.  How about Breakfast Poutine, ($12.95), skillet potatoes topped with bacon, grilled onion, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese curds and hollandaise sauce served with a buttermilk biscuit?  As another option, we could have gone ‘southern’ with Red Neck Grits…creamy grits with fricassee'd ham and eggs topped with red eye gravy served with a buttermilk biscuit. ($9.95)

Non-Canadians may not be familiar with ‘Poutine’.  To learn about this Canadian staple, you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine.

The food at Tooloulou’s was quite good…with plenty of variety to challenge the taste buds!  Service was competent and just slow enough for us to enjoy our coffee.  We didn’t get the chance to try Tooloulou’s lunch menu…interesting because of the number of Cajun options offered.  Tooloulou’s is located at 204 Caribou Street in Banff Alberta Canada.  Phone: 403-762-2633.  You can check out their website at: http://www.tooloulous.ca/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave