Dug & Betty's

Dug & Betty's

309 rue des Meurons

204-417-0026

dugandbettys.com

info@dugandbettys.com

Facebook:  @dugandbettys

Instagram:  dugandbettys

March, 2021

InFerno's Bistro has long been a local favourite, known for its inventive French with French Canadian fusion.  In 2019, owner Fern Kirouac expanded across the street on rue des Meurons to open Dug and Betty's, a Parisian-inspired ice creamery.  Featuring dozens of small batch, house made ice creams and sorbettos, this is a quaint place to pop in for a treat, relax on their rustic patio, or just stop by the window and grab a cone to go.  

  

All of the ice creams come in one scoop, two scoops, kids' size, a flight, and a take home pint.

The rich, creamy ice creams have no lack of flavour, whatever your choice may be.  Sprinkle types have lots of sprinkles and chunk types have tons of chunks.  The Twisters come thick and dense, easily invertable, as they do at DQ.  

I love the parfaits, works of art in themselves.  As usual here, the ingredients come in monstrous chunks, each a fulfilling bite size.  Here's the Nutella, Kit kat and Hazelnut Parfait:

...and the Pineapple, Coconut & Graham Crumb Parfait, which tastes like the richest pina colada you've ever tried.

My person favourites, the Artisan Cookie Sandwiches comes thick and dense, each easily being a meal if you're a lighter eater.  Have a look at the Fog & Oats (London Fog Ice Cream and Triple Oatmeal Cookie) and the Cookie Monster (Cooking Monster Ice Cream & Chocolate Cookie).

If you happen to be walking with your dogs when you feel the urge for an ice cream, fear not, your four-legged companions won't be left out of the game.  As you can see from the eyes, this mini, doggy cone isn't going to last long!

Since the restaurant's name comes from owner Fern's dogs (Basset Hounds Dug and Betty), you know they're pet friendly.  

The ice creamery serves more than just ice creams.  Named after dogs, you know they offer an assortment of hot dogs, called Artisanal Dogs, all backed by a 1/4 pound, all beef weiner from Winkler Meats.  Here we have the Plain Betty, which comes with just the bun and weiner, and whatever condiments you want:

The Artisanal Sandwiches already have quite a bit of heft, but you can add soup or salad on the side.  The California Chicken Clubhouse comes with large chunks of chicken breast, crispy bacon, fresh slices of tomato, crispy lettuce and assorted field greens, slices of avocado, melted muenster cheese, dressed with roasted tomato jam and mayo.  

The multi-grain toast tastes firm and crunchy, despite the abundance of goo emanating from the goodness in between.  With all these wonderful ingredients, you know you'll end up with a mess in your hands, so be sure you have plenty of napkins.  It's messy but it's so worth it!  

The mains are smaller portions, I imagine by design, so you have room to cram in the considerable dessert afterwards.  Each main comes with a house salad on the side.  

Primarily field greens, the salad comes with a sweetish honey-based dressing. 

The Chicken Pot Pie is more of a soup than a pie, with the only part that's pastry lying as wafers on top of the goo.  I spy at least three different kinds of wild mushrooms:  enoki, shimeji and shiitake.  The huge chicken pieces come from whole breasts cross-sliced.  As soon as you remove the lid, you smell the irresistible green peppers flavours jumping out of the container.

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of pastry or dough in general.  I prefer the meat and vegetable combination, which houses all the flavour.  Here, in the absence really of crust, I find I miss it.  This lovely goo deserves to be sopped up with pastry and eaten.  After finishing the wafers, meat and vegetables, I'm left with a good quarter-cup of chicken pie gravy, which I don't hesitate to drink greedily.

I know Dug & Betty wants to emulate In Ferno's across the street and their French food styles.  European portions are much smaller than North America (especially American) portions.  Also, I know they want you to save room for dessert, but I find myself wanting more after the beef meatloaf.  The dense meat pairs exquisitely with the tomato and onion glaze and from the first bite, I kept wishing for more.

The mild-tasting elk from the Elk Bourguignon also leaves me wishing for a larger portion.  The meat tastes wonderful in this rich red wine sauce and the sprinkle of wild rice adds lovely texture on the chew.  

From the outside, you would never think that you could get meals from the ice creamery.  Not only can you get delicious food, you can also pair it with a nice selection of wines or beers from local microbrews.

Great food, great desserts, great staff and great beverages--what more could you want?  Be sure to stop by for a quick sweet snack or a full meal.3

Dug and Betty has limited dine-in, pick-up and delivery from DoorDash.  DoorDash, like other food delivery companies, takes a disgraceful cut from the profit of the restaurant; that’s in addition to what they charge you as the end consumer for delivery.  In these troubled times, when we think we’re doing small businesses some good by ordering in, all the profit goes into the pockets of the greedy delivery folks while the restaurant is left with nothing.  I want to support the restaurant; I want them to get the profits.  I don’t want the greedy delivery companies to pour more $millions into their pockets. Even if you pick it up yourself, just because you used DoorDash's online payment system, they still take considerable percentage off the top.  Just avoid them all together.  Call directly for pick-up and the restaurant will get every cent of the money you pay.

This is an unbiased, free public service that I am happy to provide.  If you enjoy these reviews, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads.  This is the only compensation I receive. 

For continuous updates, please follow me on Facebook @RayYuenRestaurantReview.  As usual, thanks for reading and good food to you!

Ray Yuen, Pit Master / Grill Master
Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge – Badge #97736
Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge – Badge #7788
Canadian Barbecue Society Member