There is Always Room

Giovane

2012-02-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

The only thing that makes me happier at lunch than a good sandwich, is a good sandwich that comes with a surprise side of assorted pickled goodness. Giovane made me very happy.

Giovane Cafe and Wine Bar is the restaurant associated with the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. There are two sections to the cafe, pastries and coffee at one end and the deli and wine bar at the other end. Seating is abundant between the two sections with booth, table and bar seating. I haven't tried any of the pastries, but from all accounts that I hear, the sugar buns are fantastic.

Alas, no sweets for me, I was there for a sandwich. The deli side of the cafe offers an assortment of lunch goodness with pre-made pizzas, paninis, salads and breakfast items (served until 11am). They also feature an Italian hot lunch special. After you order your meal they give you this cute little name plate so they can find you. I like that they don't just yell your name.

All of the paninis sound delicious and the menu says they are served with "house greens"
I went with: Charcuterie $11 soppressata, prosciutto, Genoa salami, peperonata, fontina, aioli

Food bonus! What they menu doesn't talk about is the awesome bowl of pickled items. I am always disappointed when you order a sandwich at lunch time and it doesn't come with any sort of side so I was really pleased that this sandwich came with a bonus side. I was so excited by the food bonus that I even ate the peppers knowing they would give me a hard time later.

I really enjoyed the thin slicing of the bread for the panini, and how large it was. This could easily have been split into two meals, but I did not. I ate it all because it was delicious.

It wasn't overly generous with the meat and cheese portions, but they use a really high quality of ingredients and I liked the combination of meats. The side of greens were just that, lettuce with a balsamic vinaigrette but I appreciate that they did not call it salad. It is a bowl of greens.

I was so happy with my lunch at Giovane. The staff were very friendly and helpful with the description of the food. The service was fast, which is good for a lunch crowd and the restaurant has a nice, warm vibe to it. I can't wait to try a pizza! In the evening they feature a wine bar with a cool wine on tap system as well.

India Abroad

2012-02-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

India Abroad is a food fair stall in the weirdest food fair that I have been to. Most of the food fairs that I have been to have been attached to a mall. The International Cuisine Food Fair is a stand alone fair tucked into the businesses along Hornby Street, across from the YWCA. And international it is. You can get Greek, Italian, Japanese, East Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese and Sandwiches. This trip was for Indian.

There are no Taco Times or A&Ws in this food fair. All of the stalls look to be Mom and Pop type joints. That is a plus in my book. Go up the stairs and it looks like a food fair, albeit a 1987 food fair that could use some updating. Plenty of seating, but it does get really busy.

India Abroad seems to be one of the more popular places in the fair, judging by the size of the lineups. They offer a typical assortment of food fair Indian items, with rotating by day selections. The exception is Butter Chicken, which is always available.

I went with a 2 curry combo. They asked if I wanted naan, I said yes. I realized after that they asked because the combo does not come with naan, it a dollar extra. It comes with a papadum. Still, even with the add on, my lunch was under $10.00.

I chose the mutter paneer and the butter chicken combo, with a side of naan.

I enjoyed the little salad on the side. I am not sure what was in the dressing, but it was tangy and a bit spicy and then a creamy dressing on top of that. Both of the curries were tasty, but not mind blowingly spectacular. The portion sizes were right, but I was disappointed in the one piece of cheese that I got in the paneer.

I made this trip with my ladies who lunch- Adele, Cristina and Andrie. We all ended up getting the same thing, so boring for blog pictures, but we all agreed that lunch was fine and we would most likely go there again. We then all agreed that we preferred our old curry spot, Grounds for Appeal, but it is too far away for us now. India Abroad will fulfill my curry lunch needs, but I will continue to see other curry restaurants.

Miyako Sushi

2012-02-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

The downtown core of Vancouver has around 50 sushi restaurants. You would think that much selection would make it easy to replace my (old) favorite lunchtime sushi restaurant since the office move. I certainly don't mind trying new places, but I want to find THE ONE. The good, reliable one that I can go to over and over when I don't feel like something new. My criteria for the one is available seating, good lunchtime specials, a clean bathroom and quick- but polite- service. I think I have found a contender in Miyako Sushi on West Pender.

My sushi gang- Adele, Cristina, Andrie and me- went for a lunch date to check it out. The restaurant is fairly large, and by the time 12:00 hit, very busy. We were able to be seated right away. There is also a take out cooler near the door that had meals and rolls to go.

Andrie chose one of the lunch combos, Assorted Tempura with California Roll (served with miso soup) $8.95

She enjoyed the tempura, saying that it was crisp and not greasy. I noted the lack of blotter paper under the tempura and there wasn't a puddle of grease. She also said that she liked the lack of cucumber in the rolls. She has a weird thing against cucumber while I like my rolls to be full of as much stuff as they can pack in. She liked the creaminess of the rolls and said they were not heavy on they mayonnaise.

Cristina chose one of the vegetarian lunch box options, Box B (vegetarian) $9.95. Miso soup, green salad, 6psc. cucumber and avocado roll, vegetable tempura, tofu teriyaki on rice and fruit.

This was a good looking box. She said the same about the tempura and liked the batter on the tofu. There was a really generous portion of avocado in the rolls. Another plus was the green salad. I normally dislike the salad that come with these boxes because they are iceberg lettuce from a bag with an obscene amount of dressing. This was actually a salad they made, it wasn't fancy, but it was fresh and well portioned.

Adele went with a couple of rolls, salmon and avocado roll $3.75 and spicy salmon roll $3.75

She was very happy with the rolls. The salmon and avocado roll had a nice ratio of salmon to avocado, in comparison to some other rolls recently. The spicy salmon roll was not overwhelmed with sauce, and she enjoyed these as well.

Since this was my first visit to Miyako, I had to order the pork gyoza $3.95.

Bonus points awarded for serving them in a boat. I love when food is served in the boat. The gyoza were good. Not greasy, nice crisp on the wrapper and the filling was tasty. I couldn't tell if they were made in house, but I liked them.

I ordered my meal mainly for the name, the low carb box. Miso soup, sunomono, salmon and tuna sashimi, dynamite roll, chicken teri and fruit. $10.95

I didn't think we were still doing low carb. In the end, I loved this box. I do have a tendency to eat the fish off the sushi and not eat the rice for teriyaki, so this serving was perfect for me. The sashimi was nicely cut and really fresh. I liked the bits of crabmeat in the sunomono. The "fruit" section made me laugh. The picture in the menu shows a large serving of oranges and grapes. The one I got, not so much. This has a really good chance at becoming my regular order as I liked the selection and it is a really good price for the amount of food I got.

We left Miyako happy and full. I will continue on my search of sushi downtown, but I know we will come back here again.

Cheers!

Olympia Bar & Grill

2012-01-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure where to go to eat one day so I started towards Granville Street to see what caught my fancy. I chose the Olympia Bar & Grill because I am pretty sure this location used to be a Taco Time when I lived downtown. That amused me, so I went in to check it out. I like not knowing what is going to happen when wandering into a random restaurant. Will it be an amazing? Will it be a giant mistake? Find out what happened, after the jump.

To end that dramatic cliffhanger, it turned out to be an awesome meal! I love when that happens. Olympia Bar & Grill has a Greek food focus with a bonus all-day breakfast menu. The inside is dark and cozy, it felt a bit like an upscale sports pub as there were big TVs on the wall playing sports. There is seating for around 40 or so. The front is all giant windows so there was plenty of natural light. There is also a nice sized patio on the front.

Since it was a Greek restaurant, I went for a Greek lunch. Lamb wrap $8.95- Tzatziki, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and feta served on a pita. All sandwiches and wraps are served with fries or green salad. I asked for half fries half salad, which they did. Good move, in my books. They also gave me the choice of Greek or green salad so I chose Greek!

I was so impressed with this meal! Everything was fresh cooked, and the right temperature. The salad was warm, and not straight out of the fridge. This is bonus points for me as I like my cheese at room temperature. The pita was warm and fluffy with a nice crispy outside while the lamb had a nice char on the outside without being dry on the inside. The fries were crispy with a bit of seasoning on them. Perfect amount of fries for me. I like a few fries that I don't feel bad for finishing.

All told, my meal came in under $10.00. I was so happy that I went back for another visit with Courtney. She went for the Chicken wrap $8.95. The same as the lamb wrap, but with chicken. She also chose the green salad. She has a weird thing against cucumbers.

She also really enjoyed the wrap. The chicken turned out moist and she liked the flavours. Another winner.

I moved away from the Greek and tried a burger. I don't have the description of the burger, but I was again able to get half salad/half fries. The price was under $10.00.

The burger was great! The patty looked like it was home made and it was cooked to just done so it was really juicy. The bun was toasted so that added a nice crunch. I liked the salad dressing they used, I think it was a balsamic vinaigrette, it was tangy.

Olympia Bar and Grill turned out to be a wonderful surprise. The service was friendly, the food was great and the atmosphere was warm. The location, on the corner of Granville and Smithe, would make the patio a great people watching spot in the summer time. I will be back, so I will let you know.

Sapporo Ramen Shogun

2012-01-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

I struggled with this review because the most interesting thing about Sapporo Ramen Shogun is the name. It makes me think of drunken kung-fu fighters. The name is cool, the food is...okay. Review done!

Just kidding. I took some pictures.

Some of my favorite ladies who lunch, Adele and Andrie, joined me for a lunch date to Shogun. I love ramen and they were looking for some sushi so we thought we would try out something new. The entrance to Shogun is street level on Hornby, but upon entering, I felt like we entered some body's seventies basement.

The walls were white washed cinder block, the floor tiles were chipped and the ceiling tiles were yellowed and uneven. Not a good start. This is a place that could really use a restaurant makeover. There is plenty of (old) seating and they got really busy, so the decor must not bother other people.

There sushi section of the menu was surprisingly small. They offer more soups and plate meals. Andrie ordered a California Roll.

Yup, crab and avocado. They didn't even bother to mix the crab with anything or add cucumber. She said it tasted okay, but her favorite part was that it was in a boat! The plate was the best part.

Adele chose a salmon roll and a dynamite roll.

She liked the size of the dynamite roll, it was not too large to eat. She said they both tasted fine. Nothing bad with the rolls, but nothing exciting about them either. I know, what exciting things can you expect from a salmon roll, but we were left wanting more.

I am currently obsessed with ramen, so I ordered the wonton ramen soup.

The best part was the wontons. They were really tasty and I felt there were a good amount of them in the soup. I was really amused by the addition of the corn. I love corn and liked the sweetness that it added. The broth was not what I was expecting. It tasted like it was just chicken broth, there was no creaminess or fattiness to the broth that makes ramen awesome. Maybe this is a different kind of ramen and it should be this thin broth, but I didn't like it. I ate the wontons and corn and pretty much left the rest.

There was nothing really wrong with this meal, all the ingredients were fresh and the service was friendly and quick. There was just nothing great about it. I think this will be my one and only visit. But you can go, if you really want to.

La Taqueria- Cambie St.

2012-01-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of La Taqueria on Hastings. One of my favorite places to go. I had been trying to get to newest location on Cambie Street since they opened, but I kept trying to go on a Sunday when they are not open (I forget every time!). It finally dawned on me that I am across from the Canada line and since La Taqueria Cambie is located directly across the street from the Broadway-City Hall station, it is now a lunch time destination!

I like the design and feeling of this new location. The style is the same with bright colours and Mexican accents, but the large windows running across the restaurant give this location a bright and sunny feeling.

The menu at the Cambie location is the same as the Hastings location. The regular menu offers some beef, pork, chicken and veggie/vegan offerings, plus a daily special.

My order was the same as I usually get. Sometimes the special of the day will grab me but I am a creature of habit and I love these tacos:
ASADA- grilled ‘AAA’ flank beef
CARNITAS- pork confit with pickled red onions
AL PASTOR- pork marinated in achiote chilli and pinapple
POLLO CON MOLE- maple hills chicken with chocolate mole sauce (contain nuts)

That is a beautiful plate of tacos. There are sauces available that you can add to the tacos, but I am a purist and ate them as is. My favorite, at this time, is the Al Pastor. I love the spiciness of the pork and the sweetness of the pineapple. I had no complaints about any of the other tacos on the plate. They are all moist and flavourful. Messy to eat, but so very tasty.

I will have to do a test to see which location is closer and faster for me. The Hastings location might be closer but they are slammed at lunch time and the Cambie location is a bit bigger for seating. I look forward to conducting that test! Tacos!

Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck

2012-01-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

Doesn't that name tell you everything about this food truck? I was so happy to hear that a grilled cheese truck would be hitting the streets in the last round of street truck additions. Even more happy that they are one of the closest ones to my work. Total win for me and for everyone who eats there, really. Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck is located on the Howe St. side of the art gallery, Monday through Friday at lunchtimes.

On the menu, grilled cheese sandwiches. They offer a "classic" sandwich where you can choose your bread and cheese type. You can also choose gluten free bread or vegan cheese. That is pretty cool. The classic sandwich will run you $5.50, cash only. They offer some add-ons including pickle, onion, chili and bacon ranging from $0.50 to $1.50.

The two "Mom's Specialties", are The Jackson 3 (Our triple cheese, triple decker grilled cheese…three pieces of sourdough surrounded by melted, Brie, Boursin and Gruyere) and the Mom’s Meatloaf Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Topped with marinara sauce, and surrounded with melted Mozzarella and Parmesan) come in at $8.50. The meatloaf sandwich sells out quite quickly, so be early if this is what you are going for.

For those with a sweet tooth, they have a couple of desserts: Sweet Little Vals (Caramelized apples, candied pecans, and cinnamon mascarpone cheese on Brioche) and most awesomely, The Fat Elvis (Peanut butter and banana with a sprinkle of smoked sea salt on white).

It was a dark and stormy day when I hit the truck. Rain was bucketing down, so I was happy that the truck has an awning. I started with Roasted Tomato Soup (Topped with basil mascarpone.) Shot $1.00 Cup $3.50. Served in a cup, it was perfect to sip on while I waited for my sandwich.

It was a lovely soup. A nicely spiced tomato base and the basil mascarpone smelled delicious while adding a creaminess that was not overwhelming.

Score another win for the early lunch because I was able to get my hands on the meatloaf grilled cheese. Get ready for this:

How many synonyms can you think of for delicious? Insert them all here. The bread was crispy, the cheese perfectly melty and the meatloaf was moist and meaty. It was the perfect size. The chips and pickle were a surprise and nothing make me happier than surprise potato chips.

Always expect a line up when you go to Mom's. The food is delicious, the location is great for picking up some lunch and the service is friendly. They are some of those amazing people who remember names, that always impresses me. The only downside that I could come up with is that when asked what type of music we wanted to hear while waiting in the line-up, she had a shocking lack of Bon Jovi on her iPod. And I still go back. That is how good the food is.

Steamrollers- Hornby

2012-01-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

I want to like Steamrollers more than I do. I am a huge fan of burritos, especially Mission style burritos. Big M used to live across from a Steamrollers and he waxes poetic about their Christmas turkey and cranberry burritos. Me, meh.

Steamrollers on Hornby is one of the closer "quick service" type joints to my new work. It is one of those places that I come back to every once in a while because, as I said, I want to like them. I do like the industrial style design of the stores with the orange accents. The Hornby location is quite large and set up mostly with long rows of stools. There are a few booths to the side. They can fit quite a few people in there and it does seem quite busy at lunches when I go by.

The menu offers a variation of vegetarian, chicken and beef burritos. You can order them "wet" in which they top them with sauce or order a "roller bowl" (which the derby girl in me loves!) which is the toppings without the tortilla. As all of their burritos are steam cooked, they are a fairly healthy lunch option. They offer a calorie count on their website if anyone is interested.

On this trip I went for the Deluxe Chicken burrito for $7.95. "DELUXE CHICKEN- whole wheat tortilla, Spanish rice, pinto beans, jack cheese, lettuce, salsa, garlic yogurt sauce". It was ready less than five minutes.

On the inside:

It was very... brown. My least favorite part were the beans. They were cooked, but lacked any flavor or seasoning. I wish the meat were spicier as well, but a good size and very filling. I was trying to think of more to say but, really, that's it.

I like that Steamrollers is a healthy (depending on what you get) lunch option in the downtown core. I also like that they are a Vancouver company started by a San Fran transplant who missed Mission-style burritos (there they just call them burritos), and started a company to sell them. I like that they are successful. I just wish I was more blown away by the flavour. I will keep trying.

Harambe

2012-01-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

Ethiopian food is the coolest because you get to eat it with your fingers and spongy bread, it is all about sharing and it is usually really spicy. These are three good things in my book. My favorite Ethiopian restaurant is in my hood on Commercial Drive, Harambe.

I used to live just down the street from Harambe when it was a smaller restaurant and was always packed. A few years back they expanded the restaurant and it is still packed. I would guess they now seat around 50. The restaurant is really accommodating to large groups, if you let them know in advance. The decoration is all traditional Ethiopian artwork and colours. A very cozy feeling restaurant.

One of the drinks offered on the menu was an "Ethiopian Tea" for $3.25. Great, I thought this was going to be something cool, like Vietnamese coffee. Boy, was I ever a chump.

Turns out it was a chai-type tea bag and some hot water. Over $3.00 for a tea bag?! Not cool.

Happily, the food was awesome. We went with the Chef's Choice Combination for 2 people $25.99. What you get is some meat wots (like a thick stew)
yebeg wot (lamb simmered in berbere sauce, seasoned with assorted harambe spices), doro wot (chicken stew with hard boiled eggs) and alitcha wot (diced lean meat simmered with onions, spiced and purified butter, ginger, garlic and assorted harambe spices. The veggies are shero wot (ground chick peas cooked in berbere with onions and assorted harambe spices), mesir wot (red split lentils cooked with onion in berbere and assorted harambe spices), tekil gomen (steamed cabbage, onions and assorted harambe spices), gomen (spinach boiled in onion and sauteed with garlic and assorted spices), yatekilt alitcha (sauteed carrot, string beans, potato and onions seasoned with assorted spices) and finally, harambe salad.

It is served with a plate of Injera, which is like a springy, flat sourdough.

I love almost everything on this plate. The only one I am not a fan of is the cabbage, but that is because I don't like cabbage. It is cooked well and Big M really likes it. My favorite is the lentils they are hot and spicy and I like the texture. So much fun to eat with the bread. I wish that they had served the injera warmer, you could tell it just came out of the fridge, but it was light and tangy.

This is a mighty plate of food. Every time we get it, we think that it isn't going to be enough but with the bread, it is very filling. We gave it a good try:

I love Ethiopian date night. The food is tasty and fun to eat. The service is very friendly, but it is not quick. This is not a place for a quick meal. This is a sit and enjoy your meal and friends kind of place.

Pizzeria Farina

2012-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Pizzeria Farina is another addition to the Neapolitan pizza craze that has hit Vancouver- hooray! This one is East Van style- in a cozy little spot next to the Cobalt. This strip of Main is quickly becoming one of my favorite foodie hot spots with Electric Owl, Campagnolo, and Union as neighbours.

(Google translate tells me that the sign roughly says "In life, nothing ventured, nothing gained")

It was a dark and rainy night when Big M and I decided to finally stop in. We were on the Adanac bike route and it was an easy choice. This area does not have an abundance of street parking but it has two bike racks in the creepy alley in between the Cobalt and Farina.

The inside is sparsely decorated in a red and white theme. The walls are white washed and there is a bike hanging on the wall. I love how bike friendly/focuses they are! There is a communal table for about 10 in the middle, a couple of two seaters and then some single window seating. Even though it was rainy and cold the night we were there, they had a good number of take out orders.

The menu has seven pizzas, with one being a special pizza, ranging in price from $9 to $15. Four of those seven pizzas are vegetarian.

Big M ordered first and chose the Calabrese- Soppressatta, tomato sauce, mozzarella and nicoise olives $14.00.

This was a very tasty pizza. The crust had a nice amount of char on the bottom and the tomato sauce was fresh and tangy. I would have preferred more soppressatta, but I love salty meat products so there couldn't be too much for me. We could have ordered extra for $3.00 more.

I went for the most expensive on the menu, the Funghi- mushrooms, mozzarella, parmesan, red onions, garlic and arugula $15.00.

This was a pizza! I love when there is salad on top of my pizza because that makes is good for you. The arugula was nice and peppery so I felt it went really well with the mushrooms. Again, the crust was perfectly cooked. There were big chunks of garlic, which I also love. I am sure the rest of the pizzas here are equally good, but I will be ordering this one again on my next visit.

Pizzeria Farina has a hip, young vibe to it and the service was friendly and quick.

I liked that they had self serve water on tap, regular and sparkling. You can also top your pizzas with some infused oils (I believe they are made by Farina), an oregano based oil and a spicier oil.

You can follow Pizzeria Farina on Twitter- @pizzeriafarina. They tweet their specials and when they run out of pizza for the night. Good to check before you head down that way.

Casablanca Mediterranean Cuisine

2012-01-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

Back when I worked in Gastown, in my before days, I used to have Shawarma Tuesdays (and sometimes Thursdays as well). I love shawarma. I love the smell, the rotating chicken cooker thing, watching the chicken fall as it is cut off the rotisserie, yummy sauce, hummus, I love everything about it. A shawarma plate would be the food that I would pick to be with me on a deserted island. To be specific, I would choose the shawarma plate from Casablanca Mediterranean Cuisine.

Never heard of it? I guess you haven't been spending too much in the Harbour Center Mall food court. Amid the 1985 glory of neon lights and mirrored ceilings is my favorite shawarma shop.

I haven't been back to Casablanca in about three years, so I was happy to see that it was still there and the staff was the same. Back in my 2x a week shawarma plate days, they used to know me and my order. I guess 3 years and 85lbs will change a person...

But here it is, my favorite shawarma plate:

On this plate you will find shawarma, hummus, pita, green salad (you can get tabbouleh), sauce. All pretty standard for a shawarma plate. The ingredient that put it over the edge for me is the potatoes.

For a carb loving girl, this is a great addition! I am not going to say that it is the most amazing tasting shawarma that has ever existed, but it is a very good example and generous portions. The pita is from a bag, but the rice is flavourful and the chicken is well seasoned. I like the consistency of their hummus and that it is not oily. This is in a food court, so there is not much in the way of atmosphere and it gets quite busy at lunch time.

Although I will not be resuming Shawarma Tuesdays, I will most certainly be back to Casablanca when I want to give myself a special treat or if I am magically transported to a deserted island and have to choose one food to live on forever.

Au Petit Chavignol

2012-01-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

During my rock and roll days, we had a rehearsal space on Hastings and Hawks. The only cool thing around in those days was the nightly karaoke at the Astoria. I mean, we knew a guy that we called "Stabby". Nowadays, the area is becoming cool thanks in large part to the duo of Les Amis du Fromage and Au Petit Chavignol. I have purchased many cheese from the friendly people at Les Amis but hadn't tried the restaurant until a beautiful Saturday brunch date with the lovely Sarah.

The restaurant is fairly small and always crowded. There is a large amount of bar seating and table seating for about 25 or so- or exactly 36 as I just finished reading on their website. They do take reservations which I would suggest, especially for brunch. I didn't make reservations so Sarah and I ended up sitting at the bar. Okay for us, as we both enjoyed talking to the cook at the meat cutter.

The brunch menu offers a really nice selection of cocktails, small plate meals, egg dishes, some sandwiches and a burger. Not surprisingly, all dishes seem to have a focus on cheese. You can order a cheese and meat plate as well.

Sarah went for a really fun twist on the traditional breakfast benny, the Croque Benny served with home fries.

What a fantastic idea. It looked great. Sarah said the eggs were poached well and she liked the sandwich underneath. The homefries were crispy and well seasoned. She felt this was a great brunch option. I am not a fan of poached eggs and runny yokes, so I took her word for this.

I have heard many a good thing about the cheese burger- Ground AAA beef chuck from Cioffi's, toasted Kaiser bun, secret sauce, pickle, frites. I went with a "Cave-aged Gruyere" for my cheese option.

Every good word about this burger is well deserved. It was moist, juicy and really fresh. The patty had great flavouring, a nice amount of salt. The secret sauce was tangy and light. I would have this burger over and over. It was damn good. The fries were my favorite style, crispy and not too thick. Good amount of salt on the fries as well.

Sarah twisted my rubber arm into dessert because she had heard great things about the cookies. Petit Chocolate Cookies $7 Dozen, served warm.

Served warm is right! They were obviously fresh baked from the oven. The chef brought them over to the table herself. I could have sat there and smelled the cookies all day, the aroma was heavenly. They were chocolaty and gooey-almost like a lava cookie- and cutely served in a paper bag. If I had not eaten a whole meal, I would have fought Sarah for the whole bag. I love her, but these cookies are worth a bit of a fisticuffs.

The service was friendly, the atmosphere festive and I really enjoyed my meal. My next visit will be for the dinner menu as it offers some fondues and raclette. Awesome.

Tossed

2011-12-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

Tossed on Hornby and Robson is one of the recent restaurant/fast food joints that have opened up around downtown like Chopped Leaf or Freshii. I don't have any problems with that! I really like the concept of these restaurants: fresh, fast, healthy and customizable. Tossed also offers online ordering so to make your lunch go that much faster.

The inside is fairly large with different types of seating for singles, duos and groups. The decor is modern styled with the classic "green and wood means fresh and natural" color scheme.

You can pre-order on the website (which I think gives you a 10% discount), or order off the menu boards that are by the door.

On my first visit I decided to go with one of the combos, Tossed 2, which offers half a panini and a small soup for $7.95. The restaurant is geared towards take-out as they didn't ask if I was eating in, and it came packaged to go:

Inside the bag, I went for a roast beef panini (Roast beef, roasted peppers and baby arugula with thousand island dressing) and a mushroom bisque.

I am going to admit, this meal surprised me. It was a lot better than I had expected it to be. The sandwich bread was really fresh and nicely toasted. The roast beef was moist and well seasoned, without being really salty. The thousand island dressing worked really well.

The soup was the biggest surprise of the meal. As Tossed is a chain, I expected more of a prefab type of soup. I don't know how much was fresh made on site, but it was full of mushrooms and really flavourful and rich.

One of the better soups that I have had at this type of place.

I went for something different on my second visit. They offer a crepe sandwich variation: "Crepe Wrap freshly made whole wheat, fat free crepes. Served with chips." $7.95 for $2.95 more you can add on a small soup.

I have been to so many specialty sandwich shops lately with their fancy homemade sides, that I was not expecting to be handed a bag of Old Dutch. Not that I would pass up an opportunity to eat potato chips, I was just surprised.

The crepe sandwich I chose was the "Chicken and Goat Cheese Crepe Wrap- Roasted chicken, smoked bacon, goat cheese and baby arugula with kalamata olive vinaigrette"

The sandwich maker did such a good job at rolling this, it was perfectly round. I know that doesn't impact the taste, but it looked good. It tasted good, too. Chicken and goat cheese is a classic combination and hard to do wrong. The kalamata olive vinaigrette was a really nice addition to the flavor. And of course bacon=awesome. It is a mathematical fact.

The "Wicked Thai Chicken Soup" was a winner as well.

It had a nice spice level to it and tasted really fresh and home made. There was a rice in it for filler that I could have done without. They sure do get the soup flavours right, though.

Very enjoyable lunches at a good price. I will admit that I wasn't expecting that much from a chain place, but I was happily surprised. I like when that happens.

Thierry Patisserie

2011-12-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I like to treat myself to something a little bit fancy. It was on one of those days that I ended up at Thierry Patisserie. If you are a fan of pastry and chocolates, you have probably heard of Chef Thierry. He was the pastry chef at Cin Cin and west and the opening of his cafe on Alberni and Thurlow was highly anticipated by pastry lovers, of which I am one. It took me a while to get there, but the anticipation did make the occasion special.

The inside is lovely. There is a giant pastry counter along the back and side walls that offer plated desserts, macarons, chocolates and sandwiches, among other things. The menu also boasts some boozy hot chocolate that I would like to try sometime when it is not my lunch hour. There is some cafe seating for about 15-20 on the inside and a lovely deck on the outside that would sit about 10-15 more.

This may be odd, but my favorite part of the decor was the roof and the lights.

It took all the strength I had not to order 4 desserts for lunch but I managed to order myself a sandwich.

Salami with aged cheddar and watercress pesto.

Of course this sandwich was served on a fresh made, and delicious baguette. It was so tasty. I love a salami sandwich and dislike when they get stingy with the meat, but that was not a problem here. Perfect meat to bun ratio. The watercress pesto was something that I had never tried and I liked the flavour. It added a bright, tangyness to the sandwich and didn't overwhelm the taste like some pestos can. The amount of the aged cheddar on the sandwich was nice as well, I love white cheddar.

As this lunch was a treat, I tried one of the famous macarons. This one was the special of the day, apple spice.

Crunchy top with a gooey inside, it was the perfect texture. There was even a chunk of apple in the filling. Sigh.

This meal cost around $12.00, which I feel is a bit on the high side for a sandwich with no sides and a cookie but this is a really good sandwich and an even better cookie. All worth it in my book.

Here is a date idea for all you winter daters out there: go for a skate at Robson Square and then over to Thierry for some boozy hot chocolate and pastries afterwards. And then send me an invite to the wedding because this idea is a guaranteed winner and I am a sucker for love.

Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant

2011-11-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant, from the outside, looks like one of those places that serves everything but doesn't seem to focus on anything. Going from what you can read when you pass the outside you can get: breakfast, lunch, snacks, salad bar, dinner, all day breakfast and authentic Vietnamese. I am a bit wary of the serve everything under the sun places as but, I heard this was the closest soup restaurant and I was looking for some pho.

The inside was much bigger than I had expected with giant arches on the ceiling. It gives the impression that it was some sort of Italian restaurant before Joyeaux moved in and they didn't do much redecorating. There is seating for groups plus seating at a communal type table in the middle with about 5 single seats by the door. There is a small balcony outside that would be lovely in the summer but is too cold for now.

It was a bit confusing on my first visit. You have to walk all the way through the restaurant to the back to do your ordering. The menu is printed on the wall in pictures and a chalkboard with specials. They really try to move you quickly through the line up. And boy, is there ever a line up. Even at my early lunch at 11:30, there was a line up that made it to the door and stayed there for most of the lunch hour. The cashier even has two debit machines running at once to try and move the line quickly. You are then given a tray with a number and then you need to find a place to sit.

There are no "wait to be seated" signs, but they are very specific about seating here. There is a host who will seat you. If you are a party of two, they will not let you sit at a table for four. They seem to have a complicated system, and there are always people waiting for tables, but I would say that is really a sign of how yummy the food is. I have mostly come here as a single diner and I wouldn't recommend larger groups between 11:30 and 1:00 as you will have a hard time getting a table together.

The menu focuses on Vietnamese food with some all day breakfast thrown in. I do like the option for pancakes whenever I want them, but I have yet to order them. My first visit I got the rare beef and beef ball pho.

I know it is not a very adventurous dish, but it is my favorite. I was really happy with the amount of beef and balls in the soup. The beef was rare and very tender. The broth was great and the perfect temperature. I was a bit surprised that the bean sprouts were under the noodles. I have a tendency to eat in layers so at the end of my first bowl I had a big pile of sprouts left. I have learned to stir it up a bit now.

My other favorite is the Wonton Noodle Soup. They give you the choice of "meat" wontons or shrimp. I went with meat.

I love the amount of wontons in the soup. My guess was that the "meat" was pork, but it could be a mixture. Either way they have a nice spice to them. I would top everything with those fried onions, given a choice. This seemed to be the same broth as in the pho and I again enjoyed it.

Both of these options run about $8.00 and I think they are the perfect size. The service here is efficient but not attentive. Once they serve your food, they are done with you. There is some self serve water available near the register.

Soup is one of my favorite things, especially in the fall and winter, so I know I will be fighting my way through the line-up here quite regularly.

Benkei Noodle Shop (Thurlow)

2011-11-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Ramen is one of my new obsessions and with Big M coming downtown for a lunch date, I thought it would be a great idea to try out Benkei Noodle Shop on Thurlow. It looks like they have 3 locations and the one on Thurlow is the closest ramen to my office.

Another cheer for the early lunch as we were seated right away. The line up started very soon after our arrival. There is a very small entry area so the line up always crowds around the tables near the front. The decor of the restaurant is very cozy. Wood work everywhere with 4 top table seating and a large U shaped table for single seating.

I knew what I was going to get before we got there as Benkei has a website with a menu. Based on the description, I chose this:

"Shio - Boiling the pork and sapping out the rich taste, this Fukuoka-born ramen contains collagen and calcium - a source for beatiful skin and strong bones. This is a recommendation for our female ramen lovers."

I am a female ramen lover, so how could I say no? Beautiful skin and strong bones in a bowl of pork soaked soup- couldn't pass that up! I asked Big M if I had a beautiful skin glow about me when we were done but he said the lighting was too dim in the restaurant to tell. Maybe it is one of those things that needs more time to kick in...

I really liked the broth of the soup. It was really creamy and flavourful. The amount of noodles in the bowl was generous. They do offer an upgrade option if you want more noodles. I wasn't the happiest with the pork. It never seemed to get really and soft. Maybe the broth wasn't hot enough because it stayed kind of tough. Still really tasty, but not melt in your mouth soft like I have had at other places. I have been back here since this meal and the pork was the same. Not terrible, but not the best I have had.

Big M chose the spicy offering:
"Akaoni - Mixed with various kinds of spices, this spicy-miso is a favorite for many. The addition of garlic oil creates a much richer flavor. The burning sensation followed by the soothing delicious taste is going to make you come back for more."

He really liked the spiciness of the broth. The pork was shredded in his dish, which he found a bit surprising, but he said it was tender and well cooked.

As I can't pass it up, we also ordered the pork gyoza.

I really liked the gyoza. They were spicy and fresh with a nice crisp on the bottom.

I have been back to Benkei since this visit and had another offering:
"Shoyu - This traditional Tokyo Ramen is a standard in ramen stores. Served with bamboo-shoots, spinach and nori, it's a very healthy Japanese style-Chinese noodle". I didn't have the camera on this day but between the two bowl I ate, I would go with the Shio over the Shoyu. Not only for the beautiful skin it offers me, but the creaminess of the broth. I found the Shoyu a bit lacking in the flavour that the Shio offered.

A big bonus for me is the loyalty card:

I love the enthusiasm of the YES!! free ramen box. I am excited too! Just think of how beautiful my skin will be after 10 bowls...

Urban Grill & Urban Sushi

2011-11-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

One of the first things I did when our office moved was to find a new sushi joint. There is certainly no shortage by my office. According to Urbanspoon, there are 53 downtown sushi restaurants. How do you start? I went to the closest one. That would be Urban Grill and Urban Sushi on Granville St.

The restaurant is a sushi restaurant on one side and a stir-fry grill on the other side. There is seating on both sides, some booths and a large communal table, but the seating fills up really fast at lunch time. They seem to specialize in a take out menu. They also have a great website that allows you to pre-order your sushi. The website says they will also deliver within walking distance of the restaurant although they suggest 24 hrs notice for that service.

I have been to the sushi side a few times now and the grill once. I like the selection of sushi combos that they offer as I tend to order combos more than individual pieces. My first visit was my standard setter for a new sushi restaurant, a dynamite roll and gyoza.

Dynamite Combo- 8pcs: Dynamite Roll & Salmon Sushi x 3 $7.65

Wow. Was the plating ever a nice surprise. It was much fancier than I had expected for a fast-food type of sushi place. I would have liked the lettuce to be dressed, since I did eat it, but I liked having it on the plate. The salmon sushi was a nice cool temperature. Not too thick, and tasted really good. The dynamite roll was the perfect size. Sometimes they can be made as a large roll which I find hard to eat. The tempura was still crisp and it was not swimming in mayonnaise. This roll was a win, in my opinion.

The gyoza ($4.45). If you are a reader of the blog, you will know how much I love food wrapped in dough- it is my favorite food group. The plate started out well:

The gyoza had a nice, crisp outside and then I picked up the first piece. There was a pool of grease underneath it. Like they poured the gyoza, oil and all, onto the plate. Not appetizing.

They were unremarkable in taste as well. Standard, not very fresh tasting but I was really put off by the grease pools so that really put me off the taste of them. I think this was the first time in my life that I wished I hadn't ordered the gyoza. It was a good thing that I got the beautiful, and tasty, sushi plate first. That saved the experience. And the fact that the price was great.

As I really enjoyed the sushi, I went back for a second visit. I stayed away from the gyoza this time but I did choose another combo

Urban Sushi Combo- 8pcs: Sockeye Salmon Sashimi x 3, Tuna Sashimi x 2 and Urban Roll (imitation crab meat, prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber, lettuce, & Fish Roe) $10.50

I liked this one more than the dynamite combo. I really enjoyed the sashimi combo. The fish was fresh and I liked the thickness and cut of them. The urban roll was great. I liked the size and again it was not floating in mayo. Another sushi win. I am certain this combo will become my regular order.

Off to the grill side. I am always weary of these because I inevitable take more food than I can eat and then it becomes fairly pricey. I have learned to stay away from noodles and pile the plate with leafy greens before I add anything else. This seems to work to keep my plate price down.

All of the items looked really fresh and I was there quite early so it was all full. I choose to go with a beef short rib and a soy sauce. Happily, the price came to about $8.00. Perfect.

to

Nothing really fancy about this lunch, but it was fresh and well cooked. The beef short ribs were really moist and tender. I would go back here again.

There is self serve green tea available, but a warning, the spout spits off to the left side and the tea is really hot when it splashes on your hand.

There is not much to say about the service, all the cashiers were pleasant and the food came quite quickly but there is not table service once you sit down and the tea and water are self serve. I like the clean modern look of the restaurant and the sushi was good enough that I will be back for sure. I just have to get to the 52 other places first....

Mario's Coffee Express

2011-11-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

We have been in our new office building for just over two weeks now and Mario's Coffee Express is fast becoming a favorite, quick lunch spot with my coworkers. Tucked into a building on Howe and Dunsmuir St, it would be easy to miss except for the signs outside claiming "the best coffee in town". Every time I see this type of sign I want to run into the restaurant and re-enact the scene from Elf. Awesome. I have yet to do that, but I did stop in for a "famous grilled sandwich" (no video clip available)

Mario's is tiny on the inside. A coffee bar dominates the right side of the restaurant and two top bar-style seating for about 8 runs along the other side. They have pastries available and a selection of pre-made sandwiches in the display case. Everything looked really fresh and homemade.

The in person visit was actually my second sandwich from Mario's. On moving day for my office some coworkers picked up a bunch of grilled sandwiches for every one's lunch. I had eaten lunch but I am not one to pass up a sandwich so I took it home. I don't know the exact name of the sandwich but it seemed to have ham, salami and grilled peppers in it. I was quite surprised at how good the sandwich was, especially since it had been in my bike bag for a while and then reheated. I had quite high hopes for a fresh made sandwich.

On my visit I decided to get the chicken breast panini as it also had olive tapenade, spinach and grilled peppers.

The fresh sandwich lived up to my expectations. The bread was really fresh and had an excellent crispy crust on in, grilled perfectly. The chicken was moist and all the ingredients were really fresh and a great combination. I found the little side of pickles, pickled peppers and a pickled plum a nice kick. I wouldn't say no to more pickles on the plate. I am not sure where these sandwiches are famous, but it was a damn good sandwich.

Even though Mario's is in the heart of downtown, it has a real neighbourhood feel to it. Mario, a boisterous fella, greeted most of the people who came in by name. You can tell that people are very loyal to him, and his coffee. Maybe it is the best in town...

Tomahawk Restaurant

2011-11-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that I have lived in Vancouver for 16 years and I have never been to the Tomahawk Restaurant in North Vancouver? I went through the broke years, the vegan years, the no cars years and then finally, thanks to the amazing Sarah, I made it to the legendary Tomahawk.

I knew it was the place to be when we pulled up and the Young Porche Owners of Canada were in full force. Isn't that the sign of a good diner- a parking lot full of really expensive cars?

Somehow we lucked out and arrived at a perfect time so we didn't have to wait for a table. My first thought, after being quite surprised by the amount of Native art that packs the walls, was that it is smaller than I had expected. I can see why there is a weekend line up. I grabbed my culturally sensitive head wear and we were ready for breakfast.

Sarah and Toby go to the Tomahawk on a regular basis, so they knew what they were getting. Sarah swears by the Tomahawk pancakes but she likes to get bacon with her pancakes but they don't offer bacon with the order of pancakes that she likes. She pointed to the section of the menu where they say "no substitutions" and said they really mean it. They won't even entertain the idea of substitutions, the kitchen is too busy. Luckily for her, Toby likes a meal that involves 5 pieces of bacon. Toby being the good guy that he is, they share. How symbiotic.

Sarah's choice: TOMAHAWK TRADITIONAL
Two country-fresh eggs fried or scrambled, two large buttermilk pancakes, and two delicious pure pork sausages. Served with creamy whipped butter and all-natural Canadian syrup.

Sarah loves these pancakes. She let me have a bite and they were good. Fluffy and light. The syrup is billed as being an all-natural Canadian syrup. I can't verify that but, it did taste really good.

Toby's choice: YUKON-STYLE BACON & EGGS
This is it. The one that started the Legend! Five generous slices of Yukon-style bacon. Two country-style eggs served fried or scrambled, a heaping portion of golden-griddled hash brown potatoes, and two thick slices of Klondike toast.

Wow. That is a mighty pile of bacon. I am happy they share! I ended up getting the smaller version of Toby's meal so I didn't try any of his. He felt everything was great with his meal.

I was torn between pancakes and hash browns but the potato won out so I went with: SUNRISE SPECIAL
Two country fresh eggs, fried, scrambled or poached, accompanied by a generous portion of griddled hashbrown potatoes and two thick slices of Klondike toast.

This breakfast was a win. I was so happy with the hash browns! They were not deep fried and they were seasoned perfectly. The dicing skills of the prep cook should be mentioned here. Great job. I don't like runny eggs so I was really pleased with how well cooked they were. My only criticism would be that I like crisper bacon, but it was still tasty.

Tomahawk would be a great place to take a date or someone that you don't know very well because if you run out of things to talk about, you can fill your time with looking at the crazy amount of stuff on the walls and roof or the awesome place mats.

I enjoyed my Tomahawk experience, especially because we didn't have to wait. It was a bit pricier than cheap diner prices, but the food was better too. After all, you can't go wrong with a joint loved by Porche drivers AND Guy Fieri.

Gyudon Ya

2011-10-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

Gyudon Ya is a Japanese fast food restaurant on the corner of Robson and Richards. For all you old-skool Vancouverites, it is the Cafe Sil Vous Plait location. (I miss their cornbread.) They used to be very recognizable from their giant orange canopy outside the restaurant but I guess they decided to tone it down and now the signage is red. They serve one thing, Gyudon-a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce.

I have never been to Japan, so I can't verify the authenticity of this place, but I have always enjoyed my meals here. They serve a couple of version of Gyudon- beef, short rib, chicken, curry and veggie. The restaurant is set up for the single office worker to grab a quick lunch as most of the seating is bar or window seating. There are a couple of two people tables at the back. They always have a line up of to-go orders as well.

The menu is fairly simple with the 5 bowls offered. You can order them alone or as a "value meal" which comes with soup and a pickled salad.

I went with the "Grilled" Short Rib bowl ("grilled" is always in quotes on the menu, like "100% All Beef TM") for $6.50.

From the menu: "Grilled Short Rib- Beef short ribs marinated in a fruits and garlic based soy sauce. The beef is cooked on the grill and served with sauteed onion and chopped lettuce on the bowl of rice".

I think the portion size of these bowls are perfect. I normally like to have some more veggies with my lunch, but sometimes a straight-up bowl of meat and rice hits the spot. The first time I had this I was worried that the meat was going to be tough, but it was really moist. There was just enough sauce to make it flavorful, but not runny. This one is my favorite.

This is not a meal that will blow your mind, but it is tasty and quick and sometimes exactly what I am looking for. The service is always very friendly and welcoming. I would think the low Urbanspoon rating probably reflect the "authenticity" of the Gyudon, but I have always had a good meal here.

Peaceful Restaurant (Davie)

2011-10-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

I am going to be upfront and say I really wanted to like this restaurant. I love handmade noodle shops. I love meals in soup. I really thought that Peaceful Restaurant on Davie was going to be an awesome meal. Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives went to the Broadway location when they came to town. I will also admit that I may have made a menu mistake and maybe something else would have made me come away with a better experience. That being said, I was sadly let down by this lunch.

Our office has finally moved to our new central downtown location so last week I tried to fit in as many Yaletown places as I could. I actually ended up at Peaceful Restaurant by default. I chose shake with my Urbanspoon app and the place it told me to go was actually closed. So I walked a little further up the street and found the noodle house. With my earlier lunch I was able to get a seat right away. The restaurant is fairly small and popular so it filled up quite quickly after I came in.

The menu was a bit different than I was expecting, I expected mostly soup items. They have some regular menu items and then some lunch specials. I chose to go with something from the Soup Noodles section:
Sichuan Beef Soup Noodles (stewed beef in a dark spicy broth, spinach and cilantro) $7.95

The good parts first. The noodles were great. Longer than I generally like them as they are messy to eat when they are long. I liked the spinach and onions on top. The portion size was great for the price.

The bad part. The broth was a bit too salty for me, but I liked the spice level. The meat was the killer of this dish. I understand that stewing beef is generally the cheaper cuts of meat, but this:

is way too much for me. All of the beef was chewy and or full of tendons and veins. I ended up leaving the meat and broth and just finishing the noodles and veggies.

Again, maybe it was a bad menu choice for me, I am sure there are people who don't mind these bits. I am not sad that this restaurant is out of my lunchtime range now as I don't think I would be making a return visit. The service was efficient, if inattentive. All in all, not a happy lunch.

To end on the positive, it was a beautiful day for a walk and to say goodbye to my Yaletown lunchtime adventures.

Eat, Drink & Perch at the ARC Cafe

2011-10-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

Eat, Drink & Perch has been on my wish list for as long as I have been back on the drive. Located at the bottom of Commercial Drive, it is one of the closest breakfast joints to my house. It was a lovely Saturday morning when I finally made it down there. I had just finished an early morning exercise class and decided to reward myself with a new breakfast experience. So much better than I had expected.

At first glance, this place is very eclectic. There is a bottom floor with seating for about 15 or so. There is also an upper floor, that I didn't go to, but could see that there is some funky furniture up there. There is an outside patio with a beautiful hanging garden. This is where I should have been spending my summer days!

I went in to grab a seat and saw an old school Super Mario Brothers machine. When I looked closer I saw that someone had left a credit on the machine- sweet! Then I realized that the machine was rigged so that it was always free- FREE SUPER MARIO BROTHERS. Then I realized that this was the place for me when I looked down to the other side of the restaurant and saw FREE TETRIS! I didn't even have to try the food to declare this the best restaurant ever!

I did decide to try to play it cool and order some food before hitting the games. The menu selections were really reasonably priced and I was impressed that the menu had three vegan offerings. I chose to go decidedly non-vegan and get the:
STEAK N GUINNESS CHEDDAR BAKED EGGS- eggs, beans, steak, Guinness cheddar, toast $9.00

So pretty! The steak and Guinness cheddar were on top of a fried egg that was on top of the baked beans. The presentation was not what I was expecting at all, and not in a bad way. I generally am afraid of runny egg yolk, but in this case I mixed it into the beans and that added to the creaminess of the dish. The beans, toast and Guinness cheese made it feel like I was eating a good English breakfast. The steak was really juicy and not tough at all. A definite win.

The dinner menu has some really interesting items on it featuring pizzas that can be made vegan and some gluten free dished. I love Commercial Drive. The website also shows some events they have like "Bengo" on Thursday nights-"Three.fifty cans of Pilsner
Nine Dollar Nachos
Live Bengo with Prizes
Rap"
I like that "Rap" has it's own line. I can't wait to find out what that means! See you there on Thursday night.

P.S. By the time I finished playing Tetris, I had 5th high score. Oh yeah!

Something Healthy Wholesome Meals & Juice Bar

2011-09-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

That is some name! No beating around the bush with what you are going to get here. Something Healthy Wholesome Meals & Juice Bar was a surprise to me. I ride my bike past it almost everyday, yet I didn't realize it was there until I stumbled across a description of the restaurant on another website. I was quite excited to try it as I am always on the lookout for good, affordable and healthy lunch options. It can't always be ramen...

Something Healthy is located down the street from International Village Mall in one of the new condo buildings. I am assuming they are fairly new as their website is nothing but a place holder, which I find strange in this day and age. There are a few pizza joints on this block and the Skytrain exit is right across the street so I imagine they must get some street walk ins.

The inside is modern and clean lines. There are some window bar seats, a bench in the middle where you can wait for your food with a nice selection of health type magazines to read while you wait. On the side is some booth seating for maybe 12.

Happily the bathrooms are clean and very spa like. I really like the detail on the floor.

I was quite impressed with the selection they have in the ready made cooler at the front. To go packs of fresh hummus and crackers or veggies, pre-made paninis you can take away or have heated to eat there and some really fresh looking salads. They offer a menu of "burwiches" (explained to me as a yummy mix of a burger and a sandwich), pita pizzas and quesadillas. They have quite an extensive smoothie and juice menu as well.

One of the highlights of the menu, for me as a card carrying JC member, is the calorie count. I love, love, love that all of the menu items are under 500 calories. All burwiches are "served on sprouted flax or whole wheat bread, with a side of celery & carrot stick."

My first visit was for a Lean Beef Burwich $7.75= 425 Calories. "beef patty is made with parsley, bell peppers, onions and spices, topped with romaine lettuce, red onions, honey roasted red pepper ketchup, mustard & skim cheese"

And a bonus dill pickle. I was really impressed with the sandwich. The patty was extremely flavourful and still really moist. Anyone who has cooked lean beef burgers knows how easily they can dry out. It was packed full of colourful and fresh veggies as well.

This sandwich was a winner in my book. It was low calorie and it tasted good. I wouldn't complain if they added more veggies to the side, but I certainly did not leave hungry.

I went back for a second visit later that week to try one of the pizzas. Something Healthy is down the road from my favorite new pizza joint so I thought it would be interesting to see what the low calorie option would be like.

The pizzas are "whole wheat thin crust. Made with skim cheese= 350 calories" I chose the Hot & Spicy $6.25 "banana & bell peppers, turkey pepperoni & sun dried tomatoes".

Looked and smelled great! They cook it in a pan so that it has a curve and lip on it so that the slices can hold the ingredients. Cool. I also enjoyed the pizza. It was quite spicy, there was some sauce on it that had some heat to it (although I am a lightweight when it comes to spicy). It was also packed with veggies. Again, this was a really fresh, tasty and surprisingly low cal meal.

I was so pleased by myself for eating two low cal lunches in one week that I decided to get a raspberry bar!

There was no calorie count on the desserts, but this bar was really good. The top was really crumbly and there was a generous amount of filling.

There was a mix of women and men coming in to get lunch on the days that I was there. There was a strong leaning towards yoga pants and small dogs, not surprisingly.

I did have one problem on my second visit that had (mostly) nothing to so. The woman in the kitchen was wearing short shorts. Cut off jean short shorts that were, apparently, not short enough as she had them folded up to make them shorter. Sorry for going all Stacey and Clinton here, but short shorts are never acceptable work clothes, especially when making my food. It was really off-putting.

Poor clothing choices aside, I really liked the meals. I am sad that my office is moving in a couple of weeks and that is going to put them out of my lunch time range. They are so close to my current office that I wish I had know, or that they were around, about them some time ago.

Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill

2011-09-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have lived in Vancouver for over sixteen years now which means that it gets harder to find new and exciting things to do when my Mom comes to town. Some things we repeat, the Granville Island market is a favorite, and some things I will never do. I am talking to you, suspended bridge of doom. This visit was our first trip to Steveston. For living here so long, Steveston is still new to me. My first trip there was earlier this year for BBQ. This time we were there for the fish and chips.

Big M, surprisingly, decided to opt out of the trip to Steveston to poke around in the little shops and awesome Farmer's Market. So it was just Mommo and I as we hit the boardwalk in search of food. It was an amazingly beautiful Sunday so every place we saw was packed. We randomly chose a restaurant which turned out to be Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill.

It was a beautiful day so the ample patio seating was full. Happily we had a very short wait.

The inside of the place was empty. Mainly because why would you sit inside on such a beautiful day, (we've had so few) but I think the horrifying carpet may have had something to do with it. Yikes. The carpet was black and kind of sticky. The carpet leading to the bathroom was not pleasant. The bathroom was very clean, happily. I was worried on the walk up there.

Service was pretty slow and fairly erratic. The waitress said that they did not have any bussers on shift. On a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Mistake. They did have unlimited refills on ice tea.

Mom went with one of the specials of the day, Cod Bites.

I thought the bread crumb crust was a nice change from a beer batter. It made the bites crunchy without a thick coat of batter. The chipotle and tatar sauces were nice, but I would guess they came from a big bucket of pre-made sauce instead of a fresh, homemade sauce. Mom ordered salad so I thought the inclusion of ketchup was a bit strange. Probably preset on the plates in the kitchen. She liked them, they were fine.

I went with a pretty traditional choice, one piece of cod with fries.

It has been a while since I ordered fish and chips and I forgot that it would most likely come with the dreaded coleslaw. I am not sure what coleslaw did to me in a former life, but I can't stand it. I try to remember to ask for no slaw when applicable because I hate wasting food, but I still won't eat it if it is on my plate. The batter was good, crunch but not overly thick and it was a generous size portion of fish. The texture of fish was lacking. It was, cream? Thick? Not flaky? Hard to describe but not entirely pleasant.

It took forever to get our bill and get out. You would think that clearing us out would be a top priority with the line of people waiting.

I have since learned that Pajo's is the place to go on the boardwalk. Had we turned right instead of left, we would have ended up there. Maybe we will try again when the in laws come to town. Another thing I learned is that you can play "Dust in the Wind", "Sound of Silence", the theme from Kill Bill and "We are the World" on pan flute.

Red Burrito (Robson)

2011-09-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was playing around on the Urbanspoon site the other day trying to figure out where to go for lunch and a sidebar add came up showing a burrito. Perfect, as soon as I saw it, I could think of nothing but burritos. One of the closest burrito places to me is Red Burrito on Robson. Big M is a big fan of the Red Burrito on Commercial and he used to get burritos from there all the time when we lived on 5th. I hadn't been to the Robson location yet, so it was the natural choice.

The inside looks just the same as the one on Commercial, if a bit larger. A counter where you order the food and then single window seating for about 4 or 5 with some table seating for maybe 15-20 in the back. A bonus for me was the TV which the staff had turned to HGTV so I got to watch Love it or List it (my favorite!). Thanks for not playing sports!

They have a limited menu with a choice of burrito or tacos with beef, chicken, pork or shrimp as the main options. I think they also have a quesadilla. You can also get a salad bowl as an option if you don't want the carbs. (are we still doing that?)

Here is where I had a problem with the set up. I got there about 11:45 and there was one person working. She was finishing up with an order at the cash register when I walked in. By the time she took my order, about 4 more people were behind me. Having only one staff at lunch seemed an odd choice. She then took my order- beef burrito on a whole wheat tortilla (choice of whole wheat or tomato)- steamed the tortilla, put the rice, beans and meat in and then set it aside and moved on to the next guy. She did this for everyone in the line. Because I was first in this queue, my burrito sat there for about 5 minutes before she moved onto the fillings stations. Not the best way, IMHO. Another staff member finally joined her around 12:20ish but there was a bit of a backup by that time.

All burritos get rice, beans, meat and choice of fillings including salsa, hot sauce and lettuce. Cheese, and guacamole are extra. I believe it comes with sour cream although I did not take it.

It was fine. The meat was juicy and nicely flavored and I liked the green chili sauce that was added. The rice was kind of hard when I started eating but it softened up as it absorbed the sauces. Certainly didn't blow my mind as the best burrito I have ever, but it satisfied the craving that I had. I haven't tried the tacos but I am a La Taqueria fan so I think I would rather go there and have super awesome tacos then try them at Red Burrito.

Sake Maki

2011-09-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have resisted going into Sake Maki but not because of anything Sake Maki has done (I have heard good things about them) but because I really like the restaurant that used to be in that space. They had an awesome peanut satay soup that I will never have again... However, I put that aside and stopped in to fulfill a sushi craving on my way to the Trout Lake Farmer's Market a few weeks ago.

Sake Maki is very blue on the inside. They have quite a few tables for two and just a few tables for four. I guess they could move some of the twos together if they get more larger groups. I was lucky enough to get a seat right in one of the windows.

I will always order gyoza (food wrapped in dough!) for my first visit to any place that offers it. If they mess up gyoza, they are done for me. Happily, I enjoyed the gyoza I ordered.

Pork Gyoza $4.95

The presentation was nice with the gyoza set on the plate so they weren't touching. This way the wrappers didn't stick together and rip. The filling tasted like it was freshly prepared. The crisping of the outside was done well. Gyoza sauce is one of my favorite things and theirs was tangy and a bit spicy. I liked it.

I decided to go with something that I have never ordered before for lunch. I wasn't feeling like a roll, even though their menu has some really interesting house rolls, so I went with:

Chirashi Don (assorted sashimi) $10.95

Well. This is just sashimi on rice! The only other donburi I have ordered has been Oyako Don (Chicken, egg, onion vermicelli) so I expected something like that. If I had ordered assorted sashimi and a side of rice it would have cost $10.00. Huh. But all of that aside, it was a nice bowl of sashimi. Both of the fishes had a really nice texture and temperature. A+ for the presentation as well, it looked really nice.

Saki Maki was head and shoulders about my other sushi adventure on the Drive. I would like to go back again and try some of the house special rolls. Maybe I will convince Big M to go with me next time so we can order some assortments.

The Noodle Box (Yaletown)

2011-09-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

I had no idea that they had opened up a Noodle Box near my work in Yaletown until I read a Georgia Straight article about another restaurant opening near by. So excited! The Noodle Box in Kitsilano had been on my wish list for a while as I love noodles, but I rarely get to Kits. I was so excited about the Yaletown opening that I took Big M there for a lunch date.

My first impression was that the place was huge! Giant loft ceilings and quite a bit of seating. Seems much bigger than their Kits location. We arrived around 11:40 so we had no problem finding a seat. At about 12:15 there was a line up to the door.

This is a order at the counter and then wait for your name to be called out place. Not my favorite, especially when the music is played a too loud and the gal working the orders is not loud enough. The fella working the counter that day was very helpful. I said it was my first time and he did a great job of explaining the ordering process and the highlights of the menu.

I decided to go with an appetizer and a bowl of noodles a) because I am unable to resist dumplings and b) I was unaware of how big the bowl of noodles was going to be. The helpful fella at the counter even let me order half veggie/half pork dumplings!

FRIED DUMPLINGS $7.50 Six pork or vegetable, served with ponzu sauce.

I don't know why I was surprised that they were deep fried dumplings. I had expected pan fried. The pork were the winners of the two types. They were quite tasty. The veggies ones tasted like deep fried dumpling skins. They didn't have much of a distinctive taste past deep fried. I don't think I would get them again for lunch as it was too much food after I received my noodles, and I think they are a bit expensive for what you get.

For my noodles, they had me with the first listing on the menu. BLACK BEAN AND GARLIC- Hokkein noodles, wok fried with garlic, peppers, asian greens,sprouts, herbs and black bean sauce. I went with chicken for $10.75.

This was a giant bowl of noodles! It was a lovely presentation. I really enjoyed this meal but it was straight up salty. Black bean sauce is generally salty and there was an abundance of sauce in the bowl. I liked the fresh sprouts and onions on the side and there was a generous amount of chicken.

I ate about half of my noodles and then got a cute take out box for my leftovers. I have to say, my half eaten noodles filled the box which made Big M and I wonder if you get more noodles for eat-in rather than take-out. A fun experiment to try for next time...

Big M went with the TERIYAKI BOX- Thick Japanese udon noodles, wok fried with garlic, peppers, asian greens, sprouts, green onion and a sweet and mild teriyaki glaze. He chose the beef for $12.00.

He thought the noodles were very tasty, but they had too much sauce. A general theme for our meal.

I really enjoyed my food. One observation: there is a self serve water tap-which I appreciate- but there was a drip pan underneath with rocks that needed to be cleaned. I can see why they decided to open such a large space. The place was hopping by the time we left and I can only see it getting busier. I will certainly be back.

Verace Pizzeria Napoletana and Enoteca

2011-08-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that Vancouver is having a pizzeria explosion. Food on top of dough is almost as good as food wrapped in dough. Verace Pizzeria Napoletana and Enoteca is the newest offering within walking distance of my work, right beside the T&T Market, across from International Village Mall.

I like the seating options that are offered. It is quite a large place with some booths, tables, a long communal table for large groups and then quite a large outdoor patio area. I know this might be odd, but I really love the floor. When you are there in the daytime, the floor is really shiny with bronze sparkles. The restaurant is very open with the oven in view of the tables so you can watch your pizza being made.

I have been for lunch a couple of times already. They offer a great lunch menu where you can get your choice of a Pizzette (8”) with mixed green or Caesar salad, Calzone with mixed green or Caesar salad or a sandwich with mixed green or Caesar salad for $12.50. One price for everything! That makes it easy, especially if you are splitting a bill.

I was there for pizza. On my first visit I went with: DIAVOLA
Pomodoro sauce, spicy genoa salami, capicollo, roasted red onion and peppers topped with grana padano, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil

I am going to start with the salad as it was way better than I was expecting.

Look at the giant piece of artichoke and the roasted peppers. I had to ask the waiter what type of dressing they used as it was citrus-y and peppery. Turns out it is just a vinaigrette with really nice olive oil. Huh. I guess that it makes sense that it would be nicer than the [generic store brand] that I buy.

This was a perfect sized meal for lunch. They recommend that you eat this style of pizza with a fork and knife as it is a "wet" pizza. The sauce was delicious. The menu also points out that they use local fresh ingredients when possible. Good. I really enjoyed the pizza. It was hot, fresh and really tasty. The pizzas only take about 90seconds to cook in the oven so the food was served really quickly, great for downtown workers with a one hour lunch.

I took Cristina with me for my second visit. We both ordered a pizza. She went with the MARGHERITA- Pomodoro sauce and fior di latte mozzarella topped with grana padano, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil with the green salad, dressing on the side.

She liked the pizza and the salad was again full of yummy roasted peppers.

I chose the BIANCA- Fior di latte mozzarella, fresh garlic, fresh basil, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil

This was a great pizza! Sometimes tomato sauce can be upsetting to my delicate constitution so a nice white pizza is a great addition to a menu. The garlic in this pizza was so tasty. Just the right amount to let me know that I was eating garlic (which I love) but not enough to make my coworkers take a wide berth around my desk.

Both of my visits have been fantastic. The waiter on my first visit, I am sorry I don't remember his name, was so fun. He had flourish and was funny. I like that in a waiter. There are some nice little touches that made the visits really enjoyable. They offered sparkling or regular water. On the first visit they had some leftover dough so the chef made some bread with a veggie spread for everyone who was there. The owner is so friendly and is was happy to answer all my questions.

I have only been for lunch but am really intrigued by the brunch menu as they offer a benny pizza and a fig jelly and goat cheese pizza whose description even makes my mouth water.

All of this added together has made me a huge fan and Verace a restaurant that I will be going to for a long time.

Ramen Jinya

2011-08-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about Ramen Jinya before it opened. They are located in the strip of restaurants just down from the Library on Robson; the old Ezogiku Noodle spot. They were also a ramen joint and I was never really pleased with their soup. My anticipation was building every time I went by the remodel, however, as they had a giant poster in the window stating that Ramen Jinya was named "one of the 10 best dishes of 2010 in LA". Well, high praise indeed and after my first taste of my soup, I was a believer.

I have been for ramen four times in the last two weeks. It is almost hard for me to go anywhere else at the moment and I am a bit obsessed. The restaurant is fairly small with bar seating in the middle and table seating for maybe 34-40. I liked the renovation. The room is nice wood and tile, very warm and inviting. I am not the only person who thinks this as they have been packed, with a line out the door, every time I have been there.

My first trip was on the opening week so the place was packed with flowers. I like that tradition. I received one of the most enthusiastic greeting from a Japanese restaurant I have ever upon entering, I also love that tradition. I was taken aback a bit by the music they were playing that day. It sounded like we were listening to a sports radio station. On my second trip I realized that it was the audio for the projection TV that they had playing on a wall. They must not have had the video set up the first time.

I went with a Wonton Chicken Ramen $8.55 Chicken Broth : Wonton, Spinach, Green onion for my first visit.

Wow. The broth was so much better than I was expecting. It was rich and creamy, almost buttery, and so flavourful. Thankfully, it was not overly salty and I didn't need to drink a gallon of water after I was done. The wontons tasted really fresh and had a nice mix of chicken and onions. I liked the texture of the ramen as well, they were not soggy and had a nice bite to them. I felt it was the perfect serving size as well. Great dish.

On my second visit I went with the Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen $8.55 Original pork broth,Pork chashu, Spinach, Bamboo, Green onion, Fried onion.

I liked this dish even better. The fattiness of the pork gave the broth a gravy like taste and the pork itself was so melt in your mouth tender. I love the fried onions. I am not sure how they prepare the bamboo shoots, but I have never eaten a tastier one.

They offer this dish in a miso broth as well, which I have tried. It was no where near bad, but I think I will stick to the original broth. I took Big M there for visit three and he had the pork dish with spicy broth. He said it was an okay amount of spiciness but I thought it was really spicy. He has a much higher threshold for spicy than I do.

They also offer a Vegetarian broth soup that I will try at some point but I can't seem to tear myself away from the pork...

Ramen Jinya is a fantastic addition to the Robson strip of restaurants. I am really happy with how this strip is shaping up. It looks like NU Greek is opening a store front next to Japadog soon. Awesome.

PS. I don't know who the people who voted they didn't like this place are. They certainly haven't left comments on the Urbanspoon page. I am always surprised when I like a place so much that has a low rating...

Nelson the Seagull

2011-08-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Nelson the Seagull. I love this restaurant name. Something about having a proper name in there makes me think there is some kind of back-story. Was Nelson a pet bird of the family that saved their Grandmother's life and therefore deserves eternal fame and glory? I tried to get more information from their website, but it is in desperate need of an update. The best background I could find was from a Scout Magazine article from early summer. So, not as dramatic as my idea, but still pretty cool.

Initial impression: if you are a hipster and you need a really tasty sandwich or a place to hang out, drink coffee and ponder your next art installation- Nelson the Seagull is for you.

Cool J from Lez Renovate was my date for this lunch adventure. We rode our bikes down to the restaurant as it is deep in the heart of Gastown. For all the old school rockers in town, you will remember this location as the Brickyard. It was a fun realization for Cool J and I as we had another memorable outing in this location many moons ago.

The space is large with an open concept. The tables look into the prep area where you can watch the kitchen staff bake bread and make your meal. There are some tables and arm chairs near the front of the restaurant to take advantage of the large sunny windows that run along the front. The back has a couple of communal tables. With the amount of laptops going on, I assume they have some sort of wi-fi set up as well. The decoration scheme is all white walls and wooden tables. I like it a lot.

The breakfast menu runs from 7-12 and then the lunch from 12-closing. We arrived at about 11:45 and I was happy that they let us order from the lunch menu. The menu is a chalkboard on the wall and there was a large selection of pastries on the counter.

I was a little surprised as the amount of items that were "sold out" for such a small menu, but we were there pretty early in the day, I guess. Cool J and I both decided to go with the Carnivore Sandwich $9.00. We were told the sandwich came with a side salad.

Everything on the plate was incredibly fresh. The bread was soft and crusty and I think they got the pesto/meat combination correct. The "salad" was tasty but here is where I get really nit-picky. What do you define salad as? How many ingredients do you have to have in spinach before you call it salad? I would call this a side of "spinach with a slice of strawberry on top". It was really well dressed and tasted lovely, but a bit of a stretch to call it salad. This is totally my hang-up though, I am certain other people will have no issues with this. No complaints about the taste of everything, we agreed it was a really good lunch.

We both decided to go with a lemon tart for dessert. Not the most diverse lunch for blogging, but it was the option that appealed to us both the most.

The filling was a bit on the runny side but the pastry was fantastic. A nice amount of sugar without being overly sweet. I really want to go back and eat more of their pastries. They all looked amazing.

Nelson the Seagull was not a cheap lunch, but it was tasty and I loved the atmosphere. I felt cool while I was there. Could have been the company I kept. I want to order a picnic board on a warm late September day to linger in the sun and think about art.

Cafe Du Soleil

2011-08-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

I lived down the street from Cafe Du Soleil for 10 years. For seven of those years I was a vegan. I have eaten more tofu scramble than I could possibly put a number to. (Note to current vegans: I don't know if the tofu scramble is completely vegan. You should ask, I never did and just assumed it was. Back then the breakfast options were severely limited.) Cafe Du Soleil has been on the Drive forever, or at least since I started hanging around in the late 90s.

They are known for a few things: vegetarian food, a kid friendly dining room and their stage where you can find poetry and music nights. It is quite a large room with an assortment of seating and small patio with bar seating in the summer. They have large communal type tables for large groups, which I like. The menu is written on the wall.

Order at the counter, grab all your cutlery and jams from a station at the side, hopefully find a seat, and the kitchen staff will yell out your name when you breakfast is ready. I am always a bit saddened that most people use their real names instead of names like "Arthur Fonzarelli". Maybe it is too early in the morning...

On this day, I ordered my current favorite- The Croissant Scram. Cheddar, flat scrambled eggs on fresh baked croissant with hash. $6.50

The server who took my order had to check and see if the croissants were baked yet when I ordered. It was fresh and flaky. This is my favorite way to eat eggs. I like my eggs mixed and well cooked. (this is a hold-over from the vegan days. Eggs still weird me out.) There was a nice amount of cheddar in the middle of the eggs, like an omelet. I have always been a big fan of the hash browns. Cooked potatoes that are then fried as hash browns should be. I love the really, really crisp ones.

I also would recommend trying a house baked muffin or a smoothie. Both are excellent options.

Cafe Du Soleil is not a fancy brunch spot, although I have taken my Mom here. The music is generally loud, the children are louder and it gets really busy. That is what makes it awesome.

Finch's Tea & Coffee House

2011-07-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Finch's Tea & Coffee House was a total surprise to me. I used to work a couple of blocks from the restaurant but would pass right by thinking it was just a coffee/bakeshop that was underneath a weird hostel. It wasn't until I was eavesdropping on a Twitter conversation (eavesreading?) between @YVRBcbudz and @foodologyca where Sean included a picture of his recent sandwich adventures that I took notice. She didn't end up going to Finch's that day, but I am so glad that I did.

The feeling that I get from the inside of the restaurant is like a quaint, French, country cafe with the mismatched furniture and exposed plaster work. There are tables in the window to enjoy your sandwich in the sun or a few tables on the floor that have always been used as communal tables when I have been there. They have also been full every time I have been there, even with my earlier lunch time. I hear they serve a mean breakfast as well.

The menu is written on chalk boards in gold frames on the back wall.

They offer a wide selection of vegetarian and carnivore sandwiches. I liked that the veggie offerings were more than just a vegetable sandwich. There were really creative offerings like Brie, Grape and Roasted Walnut or a Cheddar and Onion sandwich. They also offer some salad versions and a soup, salad and baguette combo.

On my first visit I decided to go with the "Gypsy Salami- lettuce, tomato, pesto-mayo" $7.75.

Now that is what I am talking about! Look at the amount of salami in that sandwich! The baguette was so warm and fresh. Crunch on the outside and so soft in the middle. There was so much awesome in this sandwich that it was a bit hard to eat as the meat kept sliding out. That is a problem I can happily deal with. They used a perfect amount of pesto to compliment, but not overwhelm, the fillings.

The greatness of this sandwich, which is served on a piece of butcher's paper, made me regret every time I walked passed without eating a sandwich.

My next trip was on Meatless Monday, so I ordered a "Baked Brie and Olive" for $7.25.

I was so happy that they were green olives. The salty olives along with the creamy, warm brie was a really nice combination. It was a simple sandwich, just cheese and olives, and really worked for me. I love olives and was happy to have them as the main ingredient.

Another charming feature is the water options. You have your choice of cucumber or lemon water. That is a nice touch.
I decided to give myself a treat and order a cookie as well. I was thinking about the chocolate chip until it was pointed out that I could get a chocolate chip, raisin, oatmeal cookies. Healthy. Even better.

I was so excited about the cookie that I started into it before I remembered to take a picture. It was soft in the middle and packed with raisins and chips. Yum.

I have decided that Finch's will be my new obsession for the summer and will continue to go back until I try every sandwich. Everyone needs a hobby.

Save on Meats Coffee Shop

2011-07-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

Big M and I decided to celebrate Canada Day by bike riding around the city. Our first stop was to be the celebrations down at Canada Place and then over to Granville Island. All this bike riding would require some sustenance and we decided to take the opportunity to check out the newly reopened Save On Meats Coffee shop.

I will admit that I had never eaten at, or been to, Save On during it's first incantation. I didn't even see the No Reservations Vancouver episode where Anthony Bourdain ate there until after the restaurant closed. I will also admit that I love me a good bandwagon so I was excited to go to the new shop.

I like the old style diner look that they have given the coffee shop. The shop is long and narrow with booth seating on one side and a really long bar with stool seating along the other side. This bar, while attractive, does pose some design/flow issues that I will get to in a moment.

When we came in there was a line up and this sign:

That seems straight forward except there were no numbers, just a white board with name. It was unclear if we were to add our names to the list or wait for a "host" to give our information to. There was a fella who, after being there a while, seemed to be seating people but he was behind the really long bar and did not glance up at all when we came in. Big M took his indifference to mean that we wrote our names on the board ourselves. Turns out this was the right procedure. A hello or explanation of the system would have been appreciated.

This is also where the design flaw comes in. When he noticed there were empty seats, he would have to walk all the way to the end of the restaurant to go around the bar and then back down to the front where we all were waiting and then back around the bar to get back to what he was working on. Along the way he would be asked for service by the people sitting along the bar. That part doesn't seem well thought out.

As it was a holiday we were hoping for a late brunch. Turns out that breakfast service is from 7am to 11am except for an "All Day Breakfast" option.

I have been suffering through a rash of bad hashbrown experiences lately so to save myself some heartache I went with a sandwich.

"Toasted Cucumber Sandwich $5.00. Thin Sliced Cucumbers and Mayo on Toasted White. A proper afternoon Sandwich." All sandwiches come with your choice of coleslaw or fries. Since this was a holiday and I hate coleslaw, I went with fries.

I am nothing if I am not proper, so this was right up my alley. First off, I want to swim in a vat of this bread. Holey camoley it was good. Fresh, fluffy and flavourful. The crust was crisp but not too hard as to cut the top of your mouth. The bread is made in house. I would like to suggest giving the baker a well deserved raise. The cucumbers would have been better if they were dried and seasoned before being put in the sandwich. It ended up being a bit soggy by the end- which is a crime to do to the amazing bread. The fries were the kind that I like, not too thick, crispy and seasoned well. I enjoyed this lunch.

Big M did choose the "All Day Breakfast $4.00. 2 Eggs any Style, Hashbrowns. Add Sausage, Bacon or Ham $2.00." "All breakfasts are served with White, Wheat, Rye Toast or Biscuit". Our waitress said the sausages were house made so Big M went with sausage and biscuit.

The biscuit and the sausage were the definite stars on the plate. Kudos, again, to the baker. The sausages were pork and really flavourful. I liked that they weren't super greasy like breakfast sausages can be. I was right to be weary of the "hashbrowns" as they are indeed deep fried potatoes. Big M said the eggs were cooked perfectly.

We both ordered a coffee which I will say was "Damn good coffee". I am not normally a drip fan but theirs deserved a Twin Peaks quote. Their pie looks good too, but I didn't try it.

I am very intrigued by this menu section and would like to give it a try one night.

From reading their website, I am really excited about the direction that Save on is taking- "Job creation and affordable healthy food were two key goals that the team wanted to achieve. Additional sustainability efforts such as a self-powered organic rooftop green house, in house composting and bike delivery are also some of the exciting features added to the business."

They have also opened the take out lunch counter for an economical lunch on the go.

We both enjoyed our meals. Some parts were big time standouts- the breads and sausages- and the rest was fine. The portion sizes, which others have talked about being inconsistent, were perfect for us.

I have stopped by the butcher shop side as well a couple of times on my way home from work. All the meats I have purchase have been fresh and really well priced. I love, love, love the lamb burgers and the butchers are really nice and helpful.

Legendary Noodle

2011-07-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

I know that I have previously mentioned my love of street festivals. Walking down the middle of streets that are normally teeming with traffic gives me no end of joy. Italian Days on the Drive was beautiful and sunny; car free days were not. It was so cold! I walked right past the Commercial Drive car free days (how many booths of sarongs does one place need? In my opinion, nine is too many.) and on to Main St. By the time I walked up the street I was so cold that I felt it was a perfect opportunity to partake in my second favorite thing, dumpling. Legendary Noodle House was calling my name.

Since the loss of my beloved Sha Lin Noodles (which seems to be on the brink of reopening- hooray!) I have been adrift in my need for dumplings. I have been to Legendary Noodle House on a couple of previous occasions and have enjoyed their version of the in house noodles. They are quite a small restaurant but feature a big window to see the noodles being made. Most of the seating is booth seating for groups but I was lucky enough to get the one window seat for two.

I was torn about how much food to get as I wanted soup noodles and dumplings. That is usually a large amount of food for one person and I was going to be walking around for a while after lunch I didn't want to be carrying leftovers. Then I found this item:
"Noodles in Beef Broth w/5pcs Pork Cabbage Dumplings w/Spinach, (Wonton)". Perfect! Like they read my mind.

While I waited for my soup, I watched the "action" on the street.

Cold! Congrats to the brave folks who made it out to the fall like festival.

They also give you a pot of tea so I was warmed up quite nicely.

The soup was really good. I ordered the thin noodles which I knew would be long and difficult to eat but luckily they were not sticky so it wasn't so bad. The dumplings were delicious. They have a really nice blend of pork and spices. The broth had an interesting spice to it. If I had to guess I would say it was a Chinese five spice as there was a nutmeggy hint to the broth. Very enjoyable. The serving size was perfect with the amount of noodles and dumplings. Just what I needed.

Before I left I thought should use the facilities since I drank a pot of tea and a bowl of soup. Um, a bit scary. It is a small place so you need to walk through the kitchen (past a cutting board that had a GIANT clever on it) to the, shall we say, older bathroom. There was an old sign posted to the door:

Hm. It was clean, but old. It would not stop me from going back though as my food was delicious.

What will stop me is that the restaurant seems to be closed! What? I went back to add the Urbanspoon tag and they now indicate this location is closed. I really hope Sha Lin is reopening soon as I need dumplings! I seem to doom every place that has dumplings I love. I hope that is not my superpower....

Nu Greek Street

2011-07-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

I will admit that I was one of the curious who walked up and down Georgia Street the day after the stupid hockey riots and although I love Vancouver, I didn't feel the need to write on the boarded windows of the Bay. I don't think I could have made it through the crowds anyway. I did however, fight my way through the crowds to the Nu Greek Street food cart. I am so happy that I did!

Nu Greek Street is the third cart for some of my favorite vendors- the Ips. (I miss the croissants!) They are now working with Nu restaurant and offering up Greek food.

I have been to the cart twice now and both times ordered the Lamb Pita. They make the pitas themselves and grill them up at the time of order:

The pita is amazing! They add some olive oil and salt to the pita while grilling and it was so fresh and tasty.

Honestly, everything on here was perfect- both times. The satsiki was fresh and really flavourful. I decided to skip on the onions just to give my co workers a bit of a break. The lamb was moist and not chewy at all. Skewers are so easy to over cook but these turned out really well. This meal rates high in the portability of street food as well. Wrapped well enough that it could travel but not too fussy to try and unwrap and eat.

I didn't try any of the sides or salads, but I like that you can get veggies and dips and a salad.

I hope that Nu Greek Street sticks as I really liked the food and am a big Greek fan! The cart now makes me want to try the sit down restaurant.

Cafe D'Azur

2011-06-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about my office move coming up, now in October. I do most of my blog eating at lunch time and I have hit most of the restaurants that I am really excited about in the area. I am on to the ones that are in the area, but don't excite me that much. Whether that be in the food that they serve or the look of their signage. (I do judge a restaurant by it's cover). This does leave me open for a pleasant surprise in some lunch spots but sadly, not this time. Just off Robson is a little French cafe, Cafe D'Azur.

The inside of the restaurant was clean and cute. There was seating for about 20 with a couple of seats outside. A big open kitchen/prep area in one corner. The tiles on the floor were nice and a blue theme throughout to go with the name.

The pastry case had some fresh made pastries and pre-made sandwiches. A sign on the counter indicated the soups of the day. The waitress said that they could make any sandwich that was on the board, even if it wasn't in the case.

I went with a Tomato, Pesto Brie Baguette for $6.95 and added a small soup for $3.00. The soup was Butter Chicken soup.

I loved the presentation of the soup. The croutons seemed to be freshly made and they were crunchy, buttery and well seasoned. The soup was quite flavourful. Nice chunks of chicken breast and the broth had a rich taste. I liked that it was a thinner version of butter chicken. My favorite part of the meal whole meal were the croutons.

I was disappointed with the sandwich.

For $7.00 I expected more. The tomatoes were sliced so thin, as was the brie. All I could taste was pesto. It was really overwhelming. It tasted like pesto bread with some mushiness in the middle. I really like sandwiches so I take sandwich disappointment very hard. There are so many awesome sandwich places that I could have gone to in that area...

Other reviews had commented on how lovely the French pastries were. I guess I should have stuck to them. I am going to give a pass on going back to find out though.

Ragazzi Pizza Truck

2011-06-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Remember that one really nice day that we had this month? Yes, that one where the sun was shining and we all got a bit of a sunburn because it was the first sunny day and we forgot to wear sunscreen. The one where we thought, finally- summer is here! That was the day of Italian Days on the Drive. I wanted to ease everyone into the sunny pictures that you are about to see. On that one sunny day, I ate pizza at the Ragazzi Pizza Truck.

I loved the Italian Days decor they had going.
I am a huge fan of street festivals. I get such enjoyment walking down the middle of what is normally a heavy traffic street. Although many of the restaurants on the Drive had street patios set up, Big M and I felt that a street festival called for some street food!

Since I had dragged Big M to the festival really early (I was excited), most of the vendors weren't quite ready when we were ready for some food. The Ragazzi truck had an excellently Italian set up going on so we decided to have a seat and wait for the pizza. This was an advantage as well as we were first in line for some really fresh pizza.

Ragazzi is normally located downtown near the Burrard Skytrain station. It is out of my lunch time comfort zone, so I had yet to try it. We felt it was the perfect option for Italian Days. They had a Margarita pizza and a Prosciutto pizza. The deal was 2 slices and a drink for $6.00. We both had a slice of each plus upgraded our drink for $1.00 more.

I really enjoyed the pizza. I think it helped that we got the first slices out of the truck. I liked the prosciutto one just a bit more because of the meat but i think they were basically the same pizza. The crust was crispy and it was a perfect amount of cheese for me. I don't like heavily cheesed pizzas.

I was surprised by the low rating on the Urbanspoon site. Once we got our pizza there was a line up 6 or 7 people deep the whole time we were eating. Maybe they are non-voting people...

A great experience on a great day. I can see myself going back to the truck when our office moves down that way later this summer.

PS. Look at how happy we looked in the sun and smoke from the Portuguese Club sardine cookout. Sigh.

Fresh Local Wild

2011-06-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Previously on Fresh Local Wild...

To catch you up to speed, the FLW cart I reviewed previously is now the Kaboom Box at the same location on Granville and Robson. Do not fret, they still serve the awesome poutine. I am happy to report that Chef Josh is back on the streets with his new cart Fresh Local Wild on Burrard and Hastings.

And what an impressive cart it is! It has a patio and is carbon neutral. Chef modified the generator to run on the used fryer oil. That means the more french fries I eat, the more I save the world. Thanks Chef! Talking to him about the cart he said that he designed and built a lot of it himself as the cart has some very unique features like the patio and the saloon-type doors that open into the trailer.

The new cart is not within walking distance from my current office, but it will be when we move at the end of summer. It is within biking distance as I can use the bike lanes to zip down there within 10 minutes. Thanks City of Vancouver! They are located on a large corner with steps and flower bed edging for seating, but the closest bike parking is on the other side of the block. I would recommend trying to get there early as even though they have only been open for a couple of weeks, there has been a line both times I have been there.

On my first visit I ordered a burger. Not usually on the menu, but the Chef said he woke up feeling like he should cook a burger that day. I am happy for his whim because it was good. I was lucky enough to get a space on the patio that day so they gave me a plate rather than a container. Hooray!

This may sound weird, but this burger was a kind of a revelation for me. The patty was tasty and cooked so that it was juicy but not too rare. The best part for me, and the revelation, was that he seasoned the tomatoes. I didn't know how much more awesome this makes the burger taste! Where have I been eating that I have never noticed this before? There was so much flavour on this burger. I hope he makes it again.

On this visit I ran into one of my Twitter-verse friends, @YVRBcbudz. He ordered the Tuna Melt and really enjoyed it. Find his review on his blog, Sean's Adventures in Flavourtown. I always find it amusing to run into virtual friends. On more than one occasion I have been in the room with other Twitter friends and not even known it...

On my second visit I had a more regular menu item, the Chicken Club sandwich with fries (saving the world fries!).

Grain Fed Chicken Club, hand sliced bacon, spicy aioli $8.00. I had a combo with fries and a drink for $3.50 more. They do offer a Caesar salad option now as a side but I didn't get it because the salad does not save the world as the fries do.

This sandwich was way more than I had expected. Instead of sliced meat or a processed chicken breast it was chunks of fresh cooked chicken! The pieces were juicy and really tasty. I loved the aioli. The bacon had a really nice smokey flavour I prefer a more crispy bacon. The sandwich tasted amazing but the bacon was hard to bite through and therefore a bit messy to eat. Of course, that could have been my fault as well because I wore white pants and it was inevitable that I would spill.

I am so happy that FLW is back on the streets- one of my favorite carts in the city. They also offer hats for sale now and will have T-shirts later. I will be happy to wear my Fresh Local Wild T-shirt and even happier when my office is closer to the Chef.

Boneta

2011-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Big M and I celebrated our one year anniversary on May 29. We had talked about returning to Vegas, where we got married, but instead we spent that money on a trip to Red Deer for my Mom's birthday. Red Deer is just as awesome as Vegas. (Hi Mom!) But that did leave us with what to do for anniversary dinner. I always enjoy a chance to dress up and be fancy so I sent Big M a "short list" of about 12 restaurants from my wish list and he chose Boneta. Hooray!

I was working in Gastown when Boneta opened up on the corner of Cordova and Carrall St back in 2008. I will admit that at the time, I thought this was a crazy choice and they wouldn't last. This was before the Woodward's building were complete and pre hip restaurant explosion in Gastown. Prime Time Chicken was the closest competing restaurant. Well, I was sure wrong on that prediction.

Our waitress said that the building used to be an old bank. It is a very large room divided into a lounge/bar area and a couple of levels of seating with some private booth areas in the back. I like the mirrors hung on the ceiling. They have the menu projected on the wall above the kitchen. You can see that from outside when you pass by. I have always thought that was cool.

We decided to go for a shared appetizer, separate main courses and shared dessert- it was a romantic night after all. And nothing says romance to me more than...

gravy.

Poutine, Hand Cut Fries, Fresh Okanagan Cheese Curds & Proper Gravy- $10.00. I love that they offer poutine. Looking around that night, it was a very popular choice. I asked the waitress what "proper gravy" meant and she said it was made with real meat juice from what they cooked there. It was perfect. An excellent french fry to gravy ratio with a good amount of cheese. The gravy was rich and tasty and the fries were perfectly crisp. It wasn't overly salty either, which can easily happen with poutine. I would get this again, but alas, I have limited myself to one poutine day a year. But now I have something to look forward to in 2012!

Big M went with a Pork Belly dish. (sorry no description, it is not on the online menu at the moment) It had a couscous salad and beets.

He really enjoyed everything. I found that the top of the pork belly was really solid, to the point of being hard to eat. He didn't seem to have that problem with it. He liked everything that was served with the pork. The presentations of the plates were really excellent.

I went with Halibut Cheeks, Crushed Peas, Bacon; Watercress Salad; Brown Butter- $24

Wow. It was beautiful, to start with, and tasted wonderful to boot. I am now a big fan of halibut cheeks. They were so tender and flavourful. The brown butter sauce was really nice with the fish. I think I had an alternate version of the salad listed above as mine had pea shoots and mushrooms. They seem to be really on top of updating the menu on the website- which I appreciate except for when I am late on posting blogs...

We ended with Almond and Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Fudge; Rhubarb Sorbet- $9.00

A perfect ending. My favorite part was the rhubarb sorbet. The cake was warm and gooey and perfect. Big M enjoyed most of the fudge as it is not really my scene.

The serving size of all the plates made just the right amount of food. Along with my meal I had an cocktail from a really excellent cocktail list. I went with the Galleon- A little taste of Churchill's naval tradition. A quote worth looking up...Goslings Black Seal rum, Amaro Montenegro, fig syrup, orange oils and bitters. I chose this one because of the rum and fig syrup combination. A very nice cocktail. At $10.00 a drink, a little on the expensive side for me but after I tried it, it was $10.00 well spent.

Our only complaint about the night was the really large group of 30 or so who were seated on the level right beside us as they were really loud. Other than that, it was a perfect anniversary night. We looked good, the food was excellent and the service was top notch. I hear that they will be closing this location soon and moving to a new location, so I am happy that we got to try it before they moved.

Big M- Happy Anniversary, Sweets. I never expected to be someone's wife, but I will be eternally happy to be yours. xoxox

Theresa's

2011-06-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

I have been going to Theresa's, in one form or another, for years now. Back in the day it was a favorite breakfast place of the old band, Hurricane Kitty. We liked it because they had a good vegetarian breakfast and because of the owner, Theresa. She remembered every person who came in and what they ordered. I have always been amazed/jealous of people who could do that.

Theresa moved away and the restaurant then became a worker owned and run co-op cafe that they named Theresa's. They renovated, I don't miss the corrugated metal wall that people wrote on, and slowly the things that I enjoyed about the restaurant changed. The service became a bit standoffish, the potatoes and bread changed. We slowly stopped going. Then Big M and I moved to Burnaby and the restaurant had a kitchen fire (not related). Now we have moved back to the Drive and the restaurant has reopened (also coincidence) so we thought it would be a good time to go back.

First impressions were great. They had renovated the restaurant again and I like the new look. The chairs made me nostalgic as I used to have 4 chairs just like them that I got off a binner with a trailer who was driving up my alley one day... They used to be quite mismatched with the furniture so I enjoyed the change.

Another thing we noticed is that the comrade working the counter was really helpful. He was chatty and pleasant and they weren't blasting reggae or metal. Good signs!

The menu hasn't changed with the re-opening. They offer several breakfast choices named for streets in the area. Our regular is the Hastings- eggs with sausages, bacon or lox (wild smoked salmon), potatoes and toast.

I went with a scrambled egg and sausage:

Big M went with over easy eggs and sausage:

I was really happy with the breakfast. The eggs were cooked perfectly (I asked for a well done egg) and the sausages were tasty and not overly greasy.

Let's talk about the hash browns:

They were 99% perfect. They were a good size, not deep fried and well seasoned- hooray! I loved the giant chunks of roasted garlic. My only issue were the whole pieces of peppercorn. It was quite intense. I ended up flicking most of them off. Big M said he didn't notice as he was too busy eating.

I was really happy with this return trip to Theresa's. I am a big old lefty so I have always liked the idea of supporting a worker run restaurant. Now that we are back on the Drive and the food was good, we will be coming back here for sure. Power to the people!

Caffe Barney

2011-06-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today's post is brought to you by the awesomeness that is the Legend of Bonefish. Way back in the day I worked in theatre and my favorite shows to work were the sketch comedy shows. (I once ran the lights and sound for a show with the cues written on a napkin two minutes before the show started! Without mistake, I might add.) With that work I was lucky enough to meet award winning actor, writer and man about town, Peter New. 15 years later, he took me to lunch at Caffe Barney on Main Street.

We had wrapped our green screen filming before we were able to go to our next location so actor Peter New took Mike, Phil and I out for lunch to Caffe Barney as it was near our second shoot destination. I was excited about this lunch as another friend loves this place and I have been past there many times and there is always a crowd. That has to be a good sign, right?

The inside is bright and large with a really tall ceiling. They have some table seating, some bar table seating and some single seats around the bar. A nice interior. They also have some patio seating which I am sure is lovely. It was not warm enough to sit outside on this day, even by Vancouver standards. I was happy that we didn't end up at the bar table seating because I dislike stools. We got a nice 4 top by the window, with no line up!

Phil and I chose to go with breakfast, while Mike and Peter New went with burgers. A little bird told us that the lunch menu is stronger than the breakfast menu, but I wanted breakfast.

I went with a Scrambler (3 eggs on a bagel with hash) $9.50- and I chose Chorizo Sausage cheddar, home cut salsa, green onion.

I have been staring at the screen for a couple of minutes trying to come up with how to describe my feelings about this meal. A couple of things right off the bat:
1. The bagel wasn't toasted. The eggs and salsa just soaked into the bagel making it wet and gooey. Mushy is not a pleasant texture. Toasted would have helped.
2. Deep frying potato chunks does not make "hash". It makes deep fried potato chunks. I would have preferred to order fries if I had known that this is how they would come. I like my deep fried potatoes thin and crispy.
3. Nothing was seasoned. Neither the "hash" nor the fries that came with the burgers had any trace of salt or pepper. Plain deep fried potato chunks.

I did enjoy the eggs and chorizo mix. The eggs were cooked well and there was a nice amount of sausage and cheese. I added my own salt and pepper, again.

Phil chose the 2 eggs with sausage, multi grain toast and hash for $7.50

He said that it was fine, but nothing was seasoned. That is all I can remember him saying about the meal. It was very beige. I don't know if I am getting snobbier in my old age, but not much presentation here.

Peter New and Mike both had burgers- basic burger $10.00. The cheese and bacon are extras.

Mike was smart enough to order gravy with his fries! Both fellas felt the burger was fine. At least it was colourful.

I enjoyed the coffee and the service was efficient, if not really friendly. There seemed to be one waitress for most of the restaurant.

I really wanted to enjoy my meal there more. The company was excellent. I like the location and I know people who really enjoy the food. I think I am going to give it a pass.

PS- Watch the Bonefish videos. I am so happy they have decided to film these old sketches. They are some of the funniest people that I know and I am happy that they let me tag along. <3

Campagnolo Roma

2011-06-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

I like to flatter myself into thinking that I have my finger on the pulse of all that is hip and cool. For instance, Big M and I bought a condo near Hastings and Commercial because Hastings Sunrise is going to be the next big thing. The Waldorf had just reopened and then Red Wagon came along and now Campagnolo Roma opened up right across the street from Red Wagon. All awesome. Finger on the pulse (not a phrase that I coined, BTW).

Campagnolo Roma is the newest restaurant in the Refuel, Campagnolo family. I was amazed by the speed that they opened this restaurant. It is in the old Caribbean Hut Express location, and if you know that building, it is not pretty. A lovely example of 70s architecture that is all brown, cedar panelling and set back from the road a bit. Big M and I wondered how they were going to make this location look cool. We should never have doubted.

The inside is a lovely mixture of wood and bold paint colours with table seating for about 40 or so. I was amused that they left the old 70s brick tile on the floor and just gave it a black paint job. You can still just make out the old restaurant name in the floor tile. Funny. The bathrooms also had some nice work done to them with wood and mirror panelling plus, they were clean! We were there on their first Friday open (I was excited!) for a date night and they were busy, but not full. It was a hockey night though...

Their menu is said to focus on the Rome region of Italy. They offer some appies, pastas and pizzas on the regular menu and then a specials board. The specials board heavily featured spot prawns as it was the first week of their season.

I was so happy to see the Burrata cheese on the special menu. They had Burrata on the Valentine's day menu at Campagnolo and we loved it.

It was so good. I was trying to figure out how to describe the texture so I hit the interwebs and discovered that Burrata means "buttered" in Italian. Perfect description as it is made with mozzarella and cream. Buttery cheese drizzled with olive oil that you eat with a really tasty bread that was salted. I could have happily eaten 3 more and then end the night with Big M rolling me home.

We did decide to try other menu items and share. I went with a pasta from the regular menu. They offer all of their pastas in a small and large size, which I think is a great option!

tagliatelle- artichokes, calabrian chili, lemon 12 / 17 (This is the smaller $12.00 plate)

The small was the perfect size to share. The pasta was perfectly cooked and I loved the chili flakes. As I ate the pasta, I discovered lovely pieces of artichokes on the bottom. It had a really nice flavour without being saturated with sauce. A very good veggie option.

Big M chose the pizza option. He chose this one because of the addition of anchovies.

romana- olives, anchovy, tomato sauce 12.5

We couldn't see the anchovy so we guessed they must be in the sauce. It didn't make a difference to us in the end because the pizza was so tasty! The crust was a perfectly cooked and the toppings worked really well together. I love olives so I would not have argued with a whole pile more. Big M thought it was one of the tastier pizzas he has had lately.

The portion sizes were big enough that we didn't have room for dessert (which shocked Big M- I love dessert). We will just have to go back another night for dessert!

We had a very lovely date night filled with great food. The waitstaff were all nice and we seemed to have every waiter in the restaurant drop by the table at some point in the night. I am so happy that Campagnolo Roma has come to my neighbourhood and wish them many years of success. We will do our best to help them out with that as often as we can! Hopefully this is the beginning of a restaurant Renaissance in Hastings Sunrise!

Carnage shot:

Frankie's Italian Kitchen & Bar

2011-06-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Frankie's Italian Kitchen is the new restaurant in the Georgian Court Hotel, where the William Tell and the Beatty St. Grill used to be. We get very excited when new restaurant opens near our work (someone needs to take over the old Dix space!), so it is no surprise that the day I went to Frankie's two other groups of co-workers came in.

I have worked down the street from the Georgian Court for a couple of years now but I had never gone to the William Tell. The Beatty St. Grill had been a favorite of a few co-workers. I was happy to see the bartender of Beatty St. had been kept on as a waiter in Frankie's. I feel bad that I don't know his name, but he was always the highlight of the Beatty St. Grill.- happy and always quick with a joke every time we went in there. He said that the pub side of Beatty St./Frankie's Kitchen was not going to be open for lunch for a while but would be open at night. They have an excellent patio and always do some sort of BBQ for game nights.

The interior of Frankie's Italian Kitchen is nice. Nice chairs and booths with a lounge in the front and table and booth seating in the back. Standard Italian posters on the wall with a nice neutral/gray colour palette.

Courtney and I arrived at 11:30 and it was empty. It quickly filled up as the time moved closer to 12:00. Another plus for the 11:30 lunch time! The menu offers appetizers, soups, pasta, pizza as well as some sandwiches and mains. We couldn't decide what to get so we decided to share a pizza and a beef dip. I often judge restaurants on their beef dips.

Beef Dip Italiano- Shaved top round stacked on a hoagie bun with melted Fontina cheese & au jus $11

Hm. The fries were great! Nicely seasoned and perfect amount of crispy. The sandwich itself was not a win. It was just uneven. It came with caramelized onions, but only on one half of the sandwich. We had cut the sandwich in half and my side didn't have onions and Courtney's had all the onions. She doesn't like onions, so we switched. That worked well for us but not for a consistent sandwich. It was kind of dry and not really moist and flavourful as we were expecting. As we were leaving we ran into a group of co-workers and they said they had heard the same about the beef dip. Where were they at the beginning of the meal?

The pizza saved the day! It was so good. I wish we would have ordered 2 pizzas instead. Good idea for the next trip...

We ordered the Funghi pizza which isn't on the menu on their website for some reason. It was mushrooms and mozzarella on a home made crust and it was around $10-12.

The waiter went on about their home made crust and he was right. It was fantastic. Crisp and thin just as I like it. There was just the right amount of toppings and the sauce was tangy and fresh. It was a perfect size for two people to share. I would get this again.

As we were eating our co-workers came in so I handed off my camera for some pictures and guest reviews! Co-worker A had a daily special vegetarian pasta:

Leek and Aubergine Ravioli

Her review, "The leek and aubergine ravioli was delectable - the chef successfully encouraged the dish towards flavour without drowning the pasta in its own sauce". I want to eat that now! What a lovely description. Sure shows up my "it tasted good" reviews. (aka, last time I ask a writer for a guest review)

Linda (or Co-worker A+) had a pasta from the regular menu:

Seafood Linguini- Clams, mussels, scallops & prawns tossed in alfredo cream sauce $15

"I feel slightly pressured to say something witty but I'm in a bit of a yummy-food coma so: Seafood Linguini… it was good. Haha, okay, serious thoughts: Light tomato-based sauce complementing a seafood medley topped with perfectly tender lobster. Yum :)"

She provided a lobster close up:

The consensus around the office is that Frankie's is a great addition to the downtown lunch scene. Excellent service, good food and nice ambiance. It was almost a 100% score, except for the sandwich. We will be back!

Hog Shack Cook House

2011-06-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Roller derby has brought many wonderful things to my life. One of those things is the amazing, funny and talented Cherry Grant aka Vicki. So when she emailed me and said "Let's go eat some meat", how could I say no?

I almost did though, because she wanted to go to the Hog Shack Cook House... in Steveston! I realized that in the 16 years that I have lived in Vancouver, I have never been to Steveston. Mainly because I didn't have a car for 13 of the 16 years and Steveston is really far on the bus. I made Big M come with me in case I got lost in the wilds of Richmond. Such a strange road that has farms on the one side and suburbs on the other.

But, we made it to the BBQ house!

The Shack is located right on the waterfront in the downtown stroll area of Steveston. It was a rare nice night and felt like being in an episode of the Gilmore Girls with the bikers, walkers and looky-loos that were hanging around the wharf. My favorite was the heavy metal kid who was sitting alone on the dock staring at the water with his ipod. I feel ya, kid.

The restaurant itself is bright with all the windows. It looks like they have those garage style windows that open up to a balcony when the weather is nice enough. It is smaller than I had expected. From the front it looks huge, but there is another restaurant in the back. The bathrooms were small, but really clean! Hooray!

We arrived a bit early as we didn't really know how long it would take us (about 45 minutes) so Big M had a chance to browse the beer list. They have an excellent selection of craft beers with a fun and interesting rating system. They offer a fun selection of "Cowboy Cocktails" for the non beer drinkers as well. Big M was happy that they had his favorite girly-owl beer from Japan.

The menu offers a wide selection of BBQ items such as ribs, pulled pork, brisket and smoked chicken plus burgers, seafood, pasta and interestingly- tacos. Each main menu item comes with a choice of 2 sides- coleslaw, mashed potatoes, yam fries, baked beans, spanish rice pilaf(?), sauteed vegetables, potato wedges, handcut fries and corn bread. Any FYI, they do not skimp out on portions. The plates are huge!

Vicki went with Smoke Lover's Combo- Smoked Brisket & Pulled Pork with texas toast- $16.00. She chose the sauteed veggies and handcut fries as her sides.

I will not lie, I was really jealous of her meal. Mainly because she could eat her whole meal with a fork. She let me try most of it and it was great. I really enjoyed the brisket, flavorful and tender. The pulled pork was good but I found the sauce a little sweet. That is a personal preference though, I find all BBQ sauces of this style quite sweet. I find it amusing that "texas toast" is just big slab of toast. I like that type of seasoned french fry.

Big M went with 1/2 rack Hog Shack Baby Back Ribs- pork baby back ribs bursting with smokey heaven $17.00. He went with Yam Fries and Corn Bread for the sides.

He thought they were great. Tender, moist and pulled right off the bone. He liked the yam fries and cornbread. I thought the corn bread was the best of the sides, personally. It was really fresh and yummy.

I ordered the Hog Shack Dinosaur Bones- 2lbs. smoked beef ribs- $22.00. I went with the cornbread and vegetables for sides.

OMG. I don't think the picture does justice on how big these ribs were. I felt like the opening of the Flintstones when the car falls over because the ribs are so big. It was actually intimidating. And truthfully, hard to eat. I learned that beef ribs aren't eaten off the bone quite like the pork ribs are. I tried to pick them up and eat them, but they were too big for my dainty hands. I then tried to use a knife and fork but it was messy and fussy. When I did get some, they tasted great. I am sure there is an official way to eat these that I was not doing, but I would order something else next time. I was impressed by the vegetables. I expected either a greasy, sauteed mess or a bunch of really overcooked, soft veggies. Neither was true. They were cooked really well and were quite plentiful.

A secret, non-menu item is the Burnt Ends (I don't remember how much they cost). We heard through Twitter (@hogshackca- he tweets A LOT) that the burnt ends were a must. They also come with 2 sides so we got more fries.

They are the burnt ends of the brisket slathered with sauce. They had a bit too much sauce, but I wish that I would have ordered this as my main dish. Yummy. Ask your waitress if they are on the menu that night.

Man, that was a lot of meat. Here is a pic of the carnage.

So of course, dessert! We went with a couple of dessert items. I chose the Southern Pecan Pie- Topped with a Jim Beam chocolate sauce $7.00.

Very good. I would have liked to have it served warm, it was quite cool. I liked that it wasn't really sweet and the chocolate sauce was a fun addition.

Vicki said we had to try the Ek Mek- a crust bottom layered with custard and amaretto topped with toasted almonds $6.00

The legend of this cake is that it is the only menu item to survive from the greek restaurant that was in the spot before them. I guess it was that popular. It was quite yummy, again it would have been better served a bit warmer. I was so full of food by this time that it is hard to remember!

In the end, it was a fun adventure. Big M and I have added Steveston to the list of places to take our parents when the next arrive. I am not the biggest BBQ fan so I don't know if I will make the trip out just for the food. It would be a great place for summer patio eating to watch all the people go by if the weather ever gets nicer.

Thanks to Vicki for the food adventure. You should follow her on Twitter- @cherry_grant as she is one of the funniest people that I know. She can also sing Heart on Karaoke which impresses me to no end. That is hard.

Next Noodle Bar

2011-05-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

My hours at work changed recently which gives me an earlier lunch time. I now lunch from 11:30-12:30. For a lunch time blogger, this has been an excellent change. I can now hit the more popular restaurants before the lunch time crowd gets there.

Next Noodle Bar is one of those places. On my 12-1 lunch times I was never able to eat here as there would be a line up by the time I made my way up Robson St. Now, I can walk right in and get a seat. I have taken advantage of this on more than one occasion now. This will be an amalgamation of three lunches! (spoiler- I like this place)

The restaurant is fairly large, long and narrow. There is plenty of seating for two available plus some larger tables for groups. They have some bar seating for singles, but I have never seen them use it.

It was a fairly chilly spring day on my first stop to Next Noodle House so I was feeling the need for something warm. Soup! The menu has quite a few options with a regular menu and a lunch specials menu. I was drawn to the War Wonton Noodle Soup. $8.50

This soup reminds me of my Dad as he loved War Wonton soup. I wish I could remember the place in Chinatown that he used to go too... I liked most of this dish. The wontons were perfect and I liked the broth. It was really flavourful and not too salty. The BBQ pork and the veggies were nice. I didn't enjoy the noodles. I believe it was an egg noodle and they were impossible to separate and eat. They just clumped in the bottom of the bowl and when I tried to pick them up with my chopsticks, the whole noodle ball would lift up. I don't know if there is a trick to eating this type of noodle, but I made a huge mess trying to separate everything and eat them.
They also offer a nice selection of Dim Sum. I went with with the Scallop and Shrimp Dumplings- $3.00.

I liked the presentation with the steamer and the mustard/hotsauce plate.

They kind of look like eyeballs! I found them tasty but again, hard to eat. They were too large to eat in one bite, but fell apart completely when trying to bite through them.

Another trip for lunch and I went with one of the lunch specials. Spicy Schezwan beef on a crispy noodle $7.95.

All of the lunch specials are served with a little egg roll, a salad, and the soup of the day. My soup that day was a corn chowder. This was my favorite of my lunches. The beef was tender and there was just enough spice in the sauce. I loved the noodles in this form! Much easier to eat than in the soup. The side dishes were nice and made for a very filling meal. I enjoy the presentation of this meal as well. A really good value, in my opinion.

My third trip was for more soup. I decided to go with a dish without soup noodles so I chose the Wonton Laksa Soup.

I really enjoyed the idea of this soup. Wontons in a laksa broth. The broth really coco nutty and a nice level of heat. Every once in a while I would get a hit of fish that I couldn't figure out until I got down to the bottom of the bowl where I realized there were little, clear shrimp in the broth. A tasty addition but kind of surprising as I figured out what they were when one stuck to the side of the bowl and looked up at me.

I like the food at Next; the service is always quick and efficient if not exactly friendly. They fill up very quickly at lunch time but I believe they can do take out as well if you don't want to wait. The tables seem to turn over fairly quickly if you want to wait.

Falafel Maison

2011-05-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

You know that game where you have to pick the one food you would be stranded on a deserted island with? For me, it would be a hard toss up between the pan-fried vegetarian dumplings from the deeply missed Sha Lin Noodles, or a shawarma plate. I L.O.V.E. shawarma. Think of the heavenly smell of walking past a shawarma place with the meat rotating on the spit.... Sigh.

Back in the days before I found JC I used to have Shawarma Tuesdays (and usually Thursdays) every week. Apres JC, I have only been a couple of times. Like poutine, I have made the switch to make it a special treat rather than a regular occurrence.

So it was a special day that brought me to Falafel Maison on Robson St. They are located in that strip of restaurants that are across from the Library by Japadog and Viet Sub. A great place to go if you are not quite sure what you want... I, however, had no doubts that I wanted a shawarma plate.

As with the other restaurants in that strip, Falafel Maison gets really busy at lunch and they have minimal seating for maybe 10 people at the most. Not a problem in the summer when you can join the office workers who lunch on the steps of the Library. If it is raining or cold then you would want to get there early if you want a seat.

I am amused that I don't know what their falafel is like, because that is the food that is in the name. I always get distracted by this:

I really like the whole process of cutting the chicken off of the spit so I was disappointed a bit when she gave me chicken from the chaffing dish.

It was a very nice plate of shawarma. The tabbouleh was light and fresh with an excellent amount of lemon and not too many onions. No grain involved though. The chicken was moist and flavorful and a very generous portion. I like the version of hummus that they serve as well. Tangy and smooth. Next time I go back I will ask for less rice as it was too much rice for me. It also comes with a piece of pita.

Nothing special there, it is a pita from a bag. Comes in it's own basket though. I would prefer if it was served cut up into smaller pieces.
Hm. Writing this post has made me really hungry. I think today is a special day...

Cora

2011-05-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

My favorite breakfast chain has finally come to BC! My first introduction to the Montreal based chain, Cora was in Newfoundland when we went to visit Big M's family in 2005. We had just gotten off the plane and the in laws took us there for a late breakfast. It was a long trip and I was a bit plane fatigued but I remember being so impressed by breakfast. My first breakfast with I wondered why they were not in BC as their focus on healthier, fruity breakfasts would be a hit on the Best, I mean West, Coast.

We had another couple of visits when they opened up a franchise in Calgary. I was happy to go, but it makes me crazy-mad when Alberta has things that BC does not. That is just not right. So my joy was increased when I found out that some smart person had opened up in Coquitlam, near the Coquitlam Centre mall.

Big M and I were so excited that we woke up early to go for brunch....on Mother's Day.

Probably not the best choice of days to go to a brunch spot geared towards families. I will admit that Big M tried to wake me up earlier so that we could avoid the lines but I resisted and we got there at 10:00 on the dot. The joint was rocking. There was a line out the door. We were expecting a line as every trip we took to Cora's has involved some sort of line up. Happily, the line moved quickly and the Manager gave us regular updates on how long we were going to wait, but it wasn't as long as he was estimating.

The restaurant has the same look as the others we have been to. A large, sunny yellow room with the names of the dishes on the walls and a country feel to the decor. I am not so big on the "country-cute" theme, but I can overlook that for awesome breakfast. There is also a bit of a patio, but it was too cold to be opened.

Everything on the menu has a cute name and story to go with it. Fun. I also like the big colourful pictures that go along with the description. Knowing what is coming to your table is a bonus for me.

Big M went with the Cora's Special:

A good sign for the restaurant is when the plate that you get actually looks like the one in the menu. He really enjoyed the breakfast. The potatoes were a highlight as they were really nicely seasoned. He said the eggs were cooked nicely, and consistently. (inconsistent eggs have been a problem for his last couple of breakfasts...) He is not a big fan of ham, but I noticed that he ate everything, so it must have been tasty.

I was torn between pancakes/crepes or something that offers more fruit as their breakfast are known for their fancy and plentiful fruit servings. I happily found one that offered both, the Buckwheat Blessing.

It is impressive on the menu, even more when it arrives at the table. I wonder how many chefs are in the kitchen just to carve fruit? The waitress also brought this to the table:

I had to call her back to ask what the second bottle was for. It is Molasses. Weird. Michael figured it must be a Montreal thing.

The crepes were well cooked and I liked the cheese and sausage combination. I did not try the molasses with the breakfast, it was just too weird for me. I don't generally like syrup on my sausages so I couldn't do it, even though it was offered. I also ended up with a nice amount of leftovers, in an earth friendly recyclable container, as I couldn't get through it all.

It was well worth the trip and line up. We actually had fun in the line up as they brought us fudge and we chatted with the people in front of us. Their daughter, Melissa, was working there in her first hostessing job.

Mellie, your parents are really proud of you. I hear you are an excellent soccer player as well. They gave me a couple of soccer nicknames for you but I won't mention them here. ; ) I tried to convince your parents that they should play the "my daughter works here so bump us to the front of the line" card, but they wouldn't do it. They also told us that the actual Cora had been there earlier in the week to ensure the restaurant was running up to her standards. Nice for a chain.

Hooray for Cora's! We know they are going to be extremely popular and would really like to see one open a bit closer to us, but it is a fun trip to Coquitlam and an excuse to go to the mall.

Pho Thuy Dong- Red Deer

2011-05-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

My love of pho has no borders. It even follows me to Red Deer. After spending the day at Bower Mall, which is a good mall now but I miss MMMMmmmmMuffin and San Fransisco, we decided it was time for lunch. And for Big M and I, this brought on a craving for pho. Mom had taken me to a Vietnamese plade behind the Superstore (where I worked in the early 90s) before, so we went again.

Pho Thuy Dong Vietnamese Restaurant is much bigger and fancier since we were there last. They must be doing well as they have taken over the place next door and now run one of the biggest pho places, with the nicest decor, that I have been in. I said it before with the Momo sushi review, but wow. My favorite pho place in Burnaby is a hole in the wall with some pictures of Vietnam taped to the wall along with menu photos. Nothing like this:

I found it interesting how stepping up the decor made me expect more from the food. When you walk into a stripped down restaurant, you expect stripped down food. I expected fancy food from Pho Thuy Dong. It wasn't fancy, but it was tasty.

Did you spot the other difference..... Forks! No bin of spoons and chopsticks. I wondered if they were going to bring them with the meal or not...

As we do, we started with the spring rolls. Deep Fried Spring Rolls served with fish sauce (5) $5.99

They were okay. They were tasty enough but they could have been cooked longer. I really like spring rolls that are stuffed full of tasty pork instead of fillers. These were more like egg rolls.

Big M went with his favorite pho: Medium rare beef & beef meatball rice noodle soup $5.99 (they did bring chopsticks for the soup)

He liked it. He would have liked to see more meat (seems to be a theme with us!) but he said the broth was tasty and there was a good portion of noodles. He also used a bit too much of the Sriracha which was fun to watch for Mom and I.

I branched out a bit and chose the: Medium rare beef, Vietnamese ham, beef & pork meatball rice noodle soup- $5.99 (spicy indicator beside this one in the menu)

I really liked this soup. There was just enough spiciness to make it fun, and not painful, to eat. I really wanted to try the Vietnamese ham which was a nice addition to the balls. I didn't enjoy the pork ball as much as the meat ball but a very tasty pho.

Mom had the most interesting pho of the day: Hu Tieu My Tho Style- wonton, shrimp, crab, BBQ pork, Vietnamese ham with transparent noodles- $5.99

That was a good portion of meat! She really enjoyed this soup.

We were happy to be able to have pho in the RD. According to Urbanspoon there are quite a few pho places now. Hooray!

Note to my Mom- Remember how hard it used to be to find a place to eat in Red Deer when I was a vegan? Ah, the crazy times of the early 90s when every salad in Red Deer had meat (and the waiters were confused when I asked them to take it out- "but it's *in* there"), Safeway didn't sell tofu and you wouldn't cook for me. Good times!

Momo Sushi- Red Deer

2011-05-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

Big M and I recently travelled to Red Deer for my Mom's 65th birthday party. Mom suggested that we go for dinner on one of the nights to a cute place that was around the corner from her place. It turned out to be a sushi restaurant! When I left Red Deer in 1994 I had never been to a sushi joint. I am not even sure if RD had any sushi places. Back then my tastes ran towards Boston Pizza and Humpty's Egg Palace (an all night coffee house with grumpy waitresses who would let a bunch of broke college kids sit around and drink pot after pot of coffee as long as we ordered some fries and were willing to take their abuse. Hi Susan!).

Momo Sushi comes quite highly rated on the Red Deer version of Urbanspoon. My Mom is quite and adventurous eater so we braved the snow and off we went for some sushi.

There are a couple of differences between restaurants in Red Deer and Vancouver. Because of the weather, most restaurants in Alberta have double doored entrances to keep the cold drafts to a minimum. I really like that. There is nothing worse than getting stuck at a table by the door when the weather is cold and rainy. Especially if it is a place with a line up where people insist on holding the door open.

Second, Asian restaurants in Red Deer have much nicer interior designs! I am used to a white room with really close tables and *maybe* some pictures of the food on the wall.

Momo Sushi was a really nice room. It is quite long and skinny but the atmosphere was warm and cozy. Leather like seats and really large Asian style painting on the walls. Every table had flowers on them as well.

We debated about ordering a bunch of stuff to share but Mom is not quite as adventurous as sashimi so she decided to get a set dinner. She chose the Teriyaki & Tempura dinner- Chicken Teriyaki and Assorted Tempura, rice- $15.50. All dinners come with salad & miso soup.

It was quite tasty. A nice sized portion of chicken that was juicy and not over cooked. The sauce was sweet and not overpowering. Mom really liked the cabbage that was on the bottom. I am not a cabbage fan so I just took her word for it. The tempura was light and crispy and did not leave a big pile of grease on the plate.

Big M and I decided to share a bunch of items. We started with the Gyoza- Pan fried, homemade meat dumpling- $6.00. I found it amusing that they didn't specify the "meat". Keeping the options open, I guess.

Turns out they were pork and delicious. They really did seem to be homemade and not frozen out of a package. The pork was nicely seasoned and they were cooked to a really nice crisp on the outside. Good start!

Next we chose, Tuna and Salmon Sashimi- $11.00.

What is the saying about eating raw fish in a place where you can't see the ocean? Not the best sashimi, but certainly not the worst I have ever had. The tuna had that soft, mushy texture that says it has been frozen and thawed although the salmon held up to it really well. The presentation was nice. I am a sucker for that fake grass. Defiantly makes you appreciate sashimi in Vancouver. Hooray Ocean!

We also went with three rolls. We mainly chose them for the awesome names.

Yam Yam roll- (crabmeat, avocado, cucumber, yam tempura top) $6.50
Crispy Crispy Roll- (shrimp tempura, crabmeat, avocado, crispy stuff) $6.00
Okay- we ordered this for the "crispy stuff". We could not pass up the opportunity to see what that was. This is Japanese food, it could be anything!
Beef Roll- (teriyaki beef, cucumber, mushroom) $4.95. Normally I don't really like a beef roll but when in Alberta...

Fun bowl! All of the rolls were better than I had expected. My favorite, by far, was the Yam Yam roll.

Great idea to put the yam tempura on top. The tempura stays crispy as it does not sit next to the mayo and it looked really pretty.

The "crispy stuff" turned out to be tempura batter.

This was a really tasty roll. The crispy stuff plus the sauce gave the roll a tangy taste and crunchy texture in your mouth. Enjoyable and tasty.

The beef roll was good as well, but like most beef rolls I found it chewy. The combination of chewy beef and chewy seaweed is not a winning one for me. This was not the fault of the roll though, just a personal preference.

Big M ordered a Japanese beer to go with his meal, I chose Saki. We were amused by the beer serving:

A really enjoyable meal. The prices were a bit hefty for what we were used to. $15.50 for a teriyaki meal was a bit shocking, but it was all cooked well and the service was pleasant. We left happy!

PS. Happy birthday Mom! You are my favorite Mom. Here is a pic of the birthday cake that I made her. (lemon cake with almond flavoured butter cream, fondant decorations) The cake topper and candles were from her childhood birthday cakes!

Roundel Cafe

2011-05-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

I really, really wanted to like the Roundel Cafe. Breakfast here has been on my list for some time. Everyone I know raves about the food and it is now just up the street from me. I love the signage and the look of the interior is right up my alley in a retro/vintagey/hipster mismatched tables and wood style.

And then they served me what I have come to refer as....
PANCAKES OF DISAPPOINTMENT.

I love pancakes. I once knew someone who called pancakes "doughy plates of disappointment". She said they smelled great and then all you got was a disappointing plate of dough. She was so wrong. Fried dough rules.

It was with some excitement that Big M and I headed off to the Roundel on Good Friday. We went at about 10:00 expecting a crowd as we have often seen line ups here. Luckily for us it seemed the rest of the crowd was using the holiday to sleep in. (Or work for those not in cushy governmenty jobs like Big M and I) We sat in a booth and checked out the menu.

The waitress, who I came to assume was the owner-but I could be wrong, was super friendly but really harried. I assume she is used to a super packed restaurant as she was rushing everywhere. She never seemed to finish anything. She asked what Micheal wanted and then rushed off before asking what side he wanted. She did eventually realize that when she was ringing up the order and yelled across the restaurant to ask him. Every time she poured our coffee she would turn to leave before the pour was done and we had these trails of coffee all over the table.

As it was Good Friday, they had a cleverly named special- the Good Friedegg Sandwich:

Big M really enjoyed the sandwich. It has kicked off a weekend fried egg sandwich streak for him. He was not super happy with the potatoes, they could have been more crispy. He did not like their ketchup. We think it was homemade and Big M described it as "watery, tasteless salsa. It wasn't sweet or salty like ketchup should be. " In the end he decided it was not too shabby of a breakfast.

I decided to go with Blueberry Corn Pancakes with House Syrup.

It was a huge plate of pancakes and I had so many issues with them.
1. The pancakes were so large and piled so high with blueberries that they were difficult to eat. There was no where to move anything on the plate and the berries kept falling all over and staining everything.
2. The blueberries were the frozen field berry kind. They were not flavorful and shockingly messy. They left a purple stain over everything. The pancakes, my hands, the table, my pants and even the wall:

They would have been much better if the blueberries were added into the pancake as it would be easier to eat and add some much needed moisture into the pancakes.
3. The pancakes were so dry. I know that a corn cake has a much denser texture than a regular pancake but these were like eating straight cornmeal. They were so dry that they kept falling into two pieces- the top and bottom would crumble away from each other.

In the end, I ate maybe one in total. They were just too dry and way too messy.

I don't want to give up on the Roundel. I still love the look and the service, if a bit scattered, was really friendly. I do want to go back in the evening as they have a great burger and beer special:

After digging around the other reviews to see if mine was the only disappointing experience, I read great things about the burger and dinner menus. I am not going to rush to dinner there, but I will give it another go. Some places I just really want to love....

Britannia Sushi

2011-05-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I love about Vancouver is our rush to the patio whenever there is even a suggestion of sun. Even if it is not warm. Just turn on the patio heater and bring on the sangria!

It was one of those days that brought me to Britannia Sushi on Commercial Drive. Britannia is the closest sushi place from my house when I head south on Commercial. They do have a patio but I really don't enjoy eating my food outside when the weather is below 20. I know, strange for a Vancouverite.

To start with, this place is not much to look at. The seating is all booth seating and there is plenty of it, but zero on the atmosphere. Not necessarily a bad sign for the food, though.

Before I get into the food, I would like to discuss the service and another thing that I learned about myself and eating in restaurants:

I do not like it when my waitress wears flip flops.

I am not eating at a beach, it is not one million degrees outside- wear some shoes! The combination of her bare feet and my raw fish was really off-putting. The fact that she was shockingly indifferent with her service did not help the matter. Who works in a restaurant? Is this frowned upon/against the rules? It could be my over-reaction but it seems that flip flops in a kitchen would be really dangerous with boiling water and knives being around. -50 points for service. I am sure that the service had a great effect on how I felt about my meal.

I went with a "Sashimi Chicken Teriyaki Box- Chicken Teriyaki, Rice, Tempura, 2pcs Tuna, 2pcs Salmon, California Roll (6pcs) $9.95"

I was happy with the sashimi. It was fresh and a nice size. The teriyaki chicken was also good. Nice and crispy. Neither seemed to have been sitting around, which is good. The tempura were not so good. It was really oily.

I am not a sushi expert, but I was surprised that it was just a chunk of "crab" rather than the usual shredded meat and mayo mixture. I liked it. The rolls were a bit loose which made them hard to eat, but not unpleasant.

The waitress never came back to the table. It wasn't busy. I even paid someone different at the counter.

Even thought the food was fine, I don't think I will be going back there due to the service. I did not check out the bathroom because if the flip-flop wearing, indifferent waitress is in charge of cleaning....

The Prophouse Cafe

2011-05-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

I ride my bike past The Prophouse Cafe almost every day. They have one of the more interesting concepts for a restaurant in the area. From what I can tell, they originally opened the store as a movie rental/vintage shop and then they decided to add a cafe/coffee shop to that list.

I think the best word to describe this place is eclectic.

Some shots of the seating area:

Upon entry there is a counter with some pastries, quiches etc. Go up the stairs and they have divided the seating into 2 sections with mismatches tables and chairs. Each area has a type or feeling to it. You can sit at the ice cream shop type table or the bistro style table. They have them all! I love lamps. This place was light a lighting nirvana. They also have music there on a stage area in the back on occasion. I am not sure where to find a listing for the events here as they don't have a website.

The menu seems to be what is in the pastry case for the day and then a chalk board of sandwiches/soups. They also offer coffee and tea drinks.

The coffee fixings bar may be the fanciest one I have ever used.

I realize that this place is "wacky" and everything is mismatched and crazy and wild, but don't serve me coffee in a chipped cup.

Unless this cup belonged to the owner's beloved great-grandmother who drank out of it every day until she died, don't use it. And if it is sentimental, put it on a shelf. I had her pour the coffee into another cup as this one was chipped on all sides. I hope they threw it out. Value Village is just down the street to pick up more mismatched mugs.

It is funny the things that bug us. The americano itself was really good.

So, the food. I went with a vegetarian quiche that comes with crudites and your choice of tzatziki or hummus.

To start with the good, the filling of the quiche was excellent. It was light and had a nice amount of goat cheese. I really liked the crudites and hummus as a side. It was the perfect amount of food and I liked the way they made the hummus.

The crust on the quiche was not as good. It was not flaky and fresh. The don't have a "kitchen" in the cafe, just a prep area and I would imagine a microwave. I ended up eating the filling and leaving the crust which was a shame because I love dough.

The servers were really helpful with the menu and seemed to be having a good time at work. The crazy decor made you feel like you were having lunch in your crazy (but clean) Aunt's basement. It is one of the closer cafes to me so I will be back to check out the other items.

Maybe I will bring my own mug, just in case.

Marulilu Cafe

2011-05-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy Sunday that found Big M and I at Whole Foods. Big M loves their muffins. On occasion I come with him and we have lunch at their food bar. It is a bit expensive but we have developed skills to avoid taking the heavy, pricey items. On this day we got there about the time they were switching from breakfast to lunch. Nothing that was currently out appealed to me that much so we decided to go elsewhere.

After lamenting the loss of Sha Lin Noodles, we chose to go to Marulilu Cafe which is across the street and the corner from Whole Foods on Broadway.

(sorry about the weirdo angle. It was crazy raining out and I wanted to stay under the awning)

Marulilu is a Japanese/Canadian cafe. They have a really large menu that offers both Japanese and western style breakfast and lunches. The also have an array of pastries but I couldn't tell if they made them on site or not. The restaurant itself is really tiny. They have seating for about 20 or so. Big M didn't like the cute Japanese style of everything (all of the pastry description cards had cute cartoon animals on them) but I thought it was lovely.

They also have a very long drink menu as well as a smoothie menu.

Okay, so what is the difference between a Canadiano and and Americano? And really, the dollar is so strong right now, shouldn't the Canadiano be cheaper?

I considered the Japanese breakfast of "Grilled salmon, plain omelet, rice, miso soup, choice of natto or tofu" for $6.99. Let's face it, natto scares me. I only know it by reputation and I wasn't that adventurous on this day.

I chose the "Breakfast Plate with Waffle- Eggs, Hash brown, (no toast), choice of bacon, ham, sausage" $8.50. I went with sausage.

I did not expect breakfast to take up two plates, the waffle was way bigger than I expected.

I loved the two types of whipped cream. The breakfast with waffle is a really good deal as the regular breakfast is $5.99 and the waffle by itself is $4.99 so getting both for $8.50 is a great price.

I like my eggs scrambled and well done so these eggs were perfect for me. The sausages were fine, nicely cooked and I was amused by the hash brown patties. They could have been crisper. Nothing felt particularly fresh. It didn't have that just cooked and rushed to the table piping hot feeling. I felt like they had most of the food precooked and then assembled. Nothing tasted bad, though.

Big M went with the "Eggs Benny- Choice of Bacon, Ham or Salmon". $5.99

The same issue with his hash browns, they weren't very crisp. He said he enjoyed the Hollandaise sauce but his eggs were really inconsistent. One egg was poached hard and one was poached soft. Strange. We felt that the hard poached egg must have been sitting around for a while as they wouldn't have such a difference in consistency had they been cooked at the same time.

The fella sitting next to us ordered the Okonomi Yaki ($6.99) which may have been one of the coolest looking Okonomi Yaki's I have seen. It had all these fluttering pieces of seaweed on the top that made it look like it was moving. Smelled really good, too.

Overall, I liked the amount of food that you received to the price that they charged. I had issues with the freshness and inconsistency of what they were serving.

One day I might be brave enough to try the natto breakfast. (maybe not).

La Brasserie Street

2011-04-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

La Brasserie Street is a new street food cart, sort of. Kimono Koi Crepes has closed their lovely pink cart and reinvented themselves in a collaboration with Davie Street restaurant, La Brasserie.

They have a simple, and awesome concept. A good sandwich.

In fact, that is all they offer. One sandwich and an assortment of drinks. For $6.25 you get The Brass Sandwich: "Beer brined rotisserie chicken in gravy, on a buttermilk bun, topped with crispy onions." For $7.15 you can get a drink combo.

Everything about this sandwich is right. The chicken was moist and so tasty. Look at the huge chunks of meat! Crispy onions were the perfect topping and I love anyone who serves me gravy.

Thanks to their excellent use of Twitter and Facebook, I had been eagerly anticipating this cart. I went on the first day about 11:45 and was already customer 11. They frequently sell out as they are that awesome.

Who wouldn't buy a sandwich from these guys? I like the idea of a restaurant cart. I don't know that I would have gone to La Brasserie as I don't get to Davie that often but I am certainly going to go now. If this is the level of food they serve from a street cart, I am excited to see what the restaurant will offer.

I am so excited that this cart, at the corner of Georgia and Granville, is going to be the closest cart to me when our office moves. I anticipate many La Brasserie Street sandwich/Kaboom Box poutine lunches. Street combo of awesome.

Chocolate Buffet at Flerui in the Sutton Place Hotel.

2011-04-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

The story of the Chocoholic Buffet at the Sutton Place Hotel has been passed around like a legend for quite some time. I believe the first time I heard it was when I was at an underwear party and a fella was trying to impress me with how many ladies he takes to the buffet (not impressed, btw. He was barking up the wrong tree in those days. I finally had the chance to go as Liza planned her birthday party for the buffet.

The buffet is located in the Fleuri restaurant in the hotel. You will know where to find it as you walk in. You can smell the chocolate from the lobby. The official details for the buffet are:
• Seatings: 6:00pm - 8:30pm and 8:30pm - 10:00pm
• $28.00 per adult / $14.00 per child (12 years and under)
• Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday

They strongly recommend reservations, although we were there on a Thursday and there were maybe 4 groups there. I can imagine that weekends would be busier.

They are not joking when they say it is an all chocolate buffet. A long table with many different types of cakes, pudding, candies and a crepe station. I am going to admit that I am not the biggest chocolate eater in my everyday life. I would be all over a potato chip or french fry buffet. I REALLY want someone to do that. Or I maybe I should just need to call my JC lady for a pep talk...

But, when in France, eat some chocolate!

Round One: (note the fruit for "health")

Round Two:

Everything I tried was as it should be- chocolaty and sweet. I enjoyed the crepe because it had boozy options and was freshly made.

I would like to send a special shout out to the chef who invented this:

That is a triple chocolate croissant bread pudding. I will measure all desserts by this one. I love bread puddings and this one was amazing. It was served warm with a cream sauce on the side. Sigh.

By the end of the dinner I was pretty hepped up on a sugar high. I tried to take a picture but after 4 attempts I realized that either I was not going to get the camera to focus, or I really was vibrating like this:

A whole "meal" of chocolate was quite intense. I would have like some savory to cut the chocolate. You could order from the regular restaurant menu but after paying $28.00 for the buffet and a fairly pricey cocktail, I didn't want to order a $12.00 to $25.00 meal.

Thanks to Liza for a fun birthday party idea! The buffet would be a fun date night option, if you are a chocolate lover.

PS. I really would like a french fry buffet.

Red Pagoda

2011-04-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

It was a rare sunny day that brought me out for a walk down Commercial Drive. A trip to Home Depot, some new pants at Spank and lunch at Red Pagoda were on the agenda.

Red Pagoda is one of the restaurants that appeared during my absence from living on Commercial. This spot used to be an Indian restaurant that I enjoyed, but I am happy to have a pho restaurant on the Drive! And even happier that it was good pho.

I was lucky to get a nice booth window seat. I like the decor of the restaurant. A couple of booths in the window and nice leather chairs for the rest. I really liked the giant sized art on the walls with the red lanterns.

I am trying to be more adventurous with my pho selection so I went with the #19- Pagoda Special Beef Noodle- medium rare beef, well done flank, beef brisket, beef meatball and tripe" $7.75 and, of course, the spring rolls $5.50

Okay, here is where I admit that I am only 50% adventurous. I asked her to leave out the tripe. It's the texture I don't like. She did tell me that it also had tendon, which is not listed in the menu description. I haven't tried tendon so I went with it. (Note to self for future: I don't like tendon.)

First off, I was happy that the beef was actually served rare as I have been having a run of not rare beef lately. The broth was flavorful and thankfully not too salty. I would have liked more meatballs in the soup, but that is just a personal preference for the meatball. They only offer one size of soup and I was worried that it would be too large, but this was the perfect sized serving.

The spring rolls were good, if a bit thin. They were cooked perfectly- very crunchy. I really liked the presentation except for the chipped dipping sauce bowl. Did they not notice or do they not care about chipped dishes? Neither is an option I like. Chipped dishes really bug me.

A note on the bathrooms- so clean and nicely decorated. That was nice to see.

I am excited about going back to try some of the other dishes they have to offer. Everything looked so good as they were bringing it to other tables. They have some fun cocktails on the menu such as the Pagoda Lychee Colada $6.50 (Malibu Rum, Lychee, Pineapple juice, Grenadine) that I would love to try. Eating alone at noon on a Saturday didn't seem like the right time for a cocktail. Maybe if it was after 1:00...

Cafe Des Arts

2011-04-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

This post is more of an amalgam of meals rather than a description of one meal. Cafe Des Arts is the restaurant that is directly across from my office so I have enjoyed many breakfasts/lunches/snacks there.

There is a good chance that you would not have noticed a restaurant here. It is located beside the old Dix building. People in the area do know about it as there is always a line up, especially at lunch time. I am going to coin a phrase here and call it a "hidden gem". I hope that catches on.

The inside of the restaurant can be referred to as eclectic. There is a mix of tables, a couple of four tops and some deuces. There is a communal type table in the middle that is made of deuces put together so you can separate them if you wish to eat your dinner apart from strangers. There is also some armchair/sofa like seating that I cannot attest to the comfort of as I have a public furniture phobia. Other people seem to sit there quite often. There is some art on the wall but the main feature is a chalk board wall with sayings/poems/squiggly lines drawn onto it.

The staff are fantastic. I am not sure that the owner knows who I am but every greeting I get is friendly and welcoming and makes me feel like he does. The menu board offers breakfast items and sandwiches. Two things I really enjoy about these offerings: 1. You can order a half sandwich. I love that. A half sandwich and salad is a perfect light lunch choice. 2. Their fruit salad is always full of assorted fruit and not a couple of berries and then all melon. Barely any melon, in fact.

They also offer a selection of Vietnamese dishes that you can order. They have the picture of the dishes by the till for those of us who need that help.

My two favorite dishes are the Pho and the Vietnamese Stew or Bo Kho.

First, and my most often ordered dish Pho, with spring rolls.

I think it is the broth that I like the best about this Pho. They changed the dish a few months ago. It used to be smaller, with rare beef. Now it is larger but the beef seems to be cooked when it comes to you. The broth is really flavorful, but salty. Could be why it is so good. Different from other traditional pho places as the broth is more flavored, like a beef broth. Plenty of meat and noodles every time I have had it. A go-to lunch for me.

The spring rolls are nice, if a bit on the small side. I have never seen a fryer there so I think they must cook them elsewhere and reheat in a microwave.

A new discovery for me is the Bo Kho. As I have the tendency to order the same thing every time I go to a restaurant, it took me a long time to branch out and order this dish.

You are given the choice of ordering this with a bun or with some noodles. I chose the noodles and that made it a spicy pho stew. Awesome. Again, the broth is very flavourful this time with extra spiciness. The meat was really tender and there was a lot of it. Good amount of vegetables in the stew as well. I think I might switch to this for a while.

Other random things I enjoy from here is:
-Cream of Mushroom soup. It has big chunks of mushrooms and tastes like rosemary.
-Breakfast burrito- fresh made and full of eggs and cheese. You can also get one with chorizo if you are looking for some meat.
-Papaya salad- I appreciate anyone who peels the papayas for me as I usually can't be bothered to do it myself.

A nice go to lunch place, not open in the evenings. I will miss the Cafe when our office moves further downtown near the end of the summer.

Volcano Sushi

2011-04-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

A recent self discovery about my restaurant habits is that I am attracted to fonts. I judge a restaurant by it's awning much like I judge books by their covers. I have subconsciously judged people who use papyrus as their main font. This could the be the reason that I have wanted to go to Volcano Sushi and Grill since we moved into the hood. I love their sign. The image it portrays to me is bad-ass sushi.

The inside of the restaurant was fine. It is in the corner of the building and there are windows all around so it was nice and bright. There is booth seating on the window side, booth and bench combo on the other side with some four tops and deuces in the middle. I liked that the big TV was not blaring sports. They muted it and had some nice music playing. A bonus, the bathrooms were spotless.

It was a lunch time when I was there and I have never seen so many construction workers at a sushi restaurant at one time. For some reason it really pleased me to see these big, muscled guys eating with chop sticks.

The menu has a wide selection. I tend to get intimidated by large sushi menus and go with a preset combo. Today I decided to power through and order a couple of rolls myself. Mainly because I wanted one of the chef rolls completely due to the name, the Pink Lady roll. Does it come with a jacket? The pink ladies pledge to act cool, to look cool and to be cool. Till death do us part. Think pink! I hope it is served by Danny Zuko.

It wasn't served by a T-Bird, but it was a great presentation! I loved the long skinny plate. The menu describes the roll as "Prawn Tempura, Cucumber, Avocado w/Salmon on top". I appreciate when the description tells me if masago is involved, but sometimes you have to roll with the punches. I really enjoyed this roll. The spicy sauce on top was a really nice compliment to the roll. The tempura was still crispy when it was served. The salmon on top seemed a bit cooked and I couldn't tell if that was because of the sauce on top or if it was a bit cooked before being served.

The other roll I chose was a pumpkin tempura roll.

I loved this roll. I have never seen a pumpkin roll before. The pumpkin was really tasty and again the tempura was nice and crispy. It was a nice alternative to a yam roll.

I also ordered a miso soup, which I normally don't take pictures of, but I took a picture of this one because it was really good. The broth was fragrant and seemed to have more flavour than some of the other misos I have been enjoying lately.

Big M and I went again to Volcano for dinner on another night and ordered one of the boat specials. I forgot my camera but we will have to go back because the boat was HUGE. It had masts and a sail. Fun.

The Charlatan

2011-04-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

I mistakenly left Commercial Drive for a couple of years, so I hadn't been into The Charlatan yet. I know that it was there before I left but I actually hadn't been in that spot since it was Bukowski's Pub. I spent a lot of time in Bukowski's Pub, back in the day.

Yvette and I set up another Drinks on the Drive date and we decided on The Charlatan as it is somewhere in the middle of where we both live. I found out from their website that they are the same group that runs The Five Point on Main St. Excellent, I like that joint.

The inside was classier than I remembered. Bukowski's decorating was... eclectic at best. They did a nice renovation as The Charlatan is dark wood and leather booths. Very cozy. There are 3 levels with the top being a bar stool and TV level. Down some stairs and there are booth seats. Down some more stairs and there is another bar and some more tables that would be great for a private event. There are big shutters that run across the second level to close off access to the bottom so I would assume they do quite a few parties down there.

I find that pub food is always hit or miss. Some places offer food as an afterthought to the beer. I was quite surprised with the food at Charlatan. The menu has pub standards like nachos, chicken wings and burgers but they also offer fun choices such as "Poutine A La Maison Charlatan- Hand cut kennebec potatoes, pulled BBQ pork, Montreal cheese curds, piping hot gravy and caramelized onions" and "Not Your Mom's Meatloaf- Bacon wrapped with a spinach & mushroom stuffing, served with buttery mashed potatoes, veggies & gravy." Maybe both of those stuck out to me because of the gravy...

In the end I went for Chicken Tenders $10.95- "Buttermilk marinated and coated with cornmeal and panko, served with honey mustard sauce and hand cut fries" I substituted a side salad for the fries.

So much better than I expected. The chicken tenders were obviously not from a box. They were juicy, tender and very flavourful. I loved the cornmeal crust instead of a batter. I was also very happy that with the salad. I am always disappointed in places that give me an iceberg salad from a bag. This salad was full of fresh cut veggies. The plating also pleased me as I still have issues with my food touching.

Big M went with an order of Sweet Potato Fries $8.95- " Tossed in thyme, sea salt and cracked black pepper served with a lemon ancho aioli."

Sometimes I think that Big M orders Yam fries because I don't like them and won't eat any. I did try one for the dipping sauce though as everyone at the table was raving about it. Mike liked the Yam fries and the dipping sauce was great. Really tangy and a bit spicy.

A drawback of their menu offerings is the lack of veggie options. Only fries, edamame and a Veggie Burger. Yvette chose the Veggie- $12.95- "House made roasted nut and vegetable patty topped with roasted red peppers, guacamole, crumbled goats cheese and served with sweet potato fries"

Again, impressed with the home made products. I stole a bite of the patty and it was fresh and tasty. The bun was a soft bun as well which I prefer with my burger. You can never go wrong with goat cheese on a veggie burger.

Dillon went with a burger as well, but meaty. Bacon Cheese Burger- $12.95 "The basic taken to the next level. Our house made patty topped with thick-cut bacon and smoked Canadian white cheddar"

The menu says: "all beef is naturally raised, hormone free, fresh and local." Dillon enjoyed the burger. I didn't get a steal in for the burger but I did manage to steal some fries. I like a thinner fry and these were nice and crispy.

Yvette's Heather, or Heather number 2 in my book, got an order of Edamame- $6.95 "Tossed with sea salt, crushed chili and sesame seeds".

She said they were not as salty as she would like, but I loved the smell of sesame. I would have thought they were tossed in sesame oil but the menu just said seeds.

They also have a fun cocktail list. My favorite was the Pineapple Love $7.95 "Stoli, muddled basil with pineapple juice topped with soda". I was happy that I ordered this one after I ate as it was so full of chunks of pineapple that it was like a dessert! I ate the pineapple out of the drink with a fork.

Overall, I was really impressed with the amount of "homemade" items the menu had. I was expecting premade food out of a box so the meals far surpassed my expectations. I like when that happens.

The one low light of the evening was the ladies bathroom. It did not smell fresh and clean. The rest of the place was spotless so I think that made the bathroom issues stand out a bit more.

Nuba (Waldorf Hotel)

2011-03-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

I am going to start this post with an apology to the fine people of Silverton and New Denver. I am sure your part of BC is lovely and you are all very wonderful people. I just don't take my friends leaving Vancouver and you are going to bear the brunt of my anger because I don't know you.

Jay and Robin finally delivered on their threat to leave Vancouver and move to Stupid New Denver. Technically, New Denver is the big city to where they moved, Sucky Silverton- population 400. Now, 402. Since we live in the hood and Jay is a vegetarian who doesn't eat cheese, I thought it a perfect opportunity to go to the Nuba(Waldorf)!

Picture from the Waldorf website.

Warning. This dinner was epic.

Back in the days when I was a rockstar, Hurricane Kitty used to go to the Waldorf Pub when after practice when they didn't have karaoke on at the Astoria. Back then it was all green and black and 80s. No more. I love the makeover. I am a huge fan of the Tiki stylings and love the renovation. Look at the chairs! Another good thing, the bathroom was warm instead of ice cold like most ladies' rooms. Thanks!

I had been wondering how they laid out the room with 2 restaurants being in the same space. Nuba is in the front and the Leeteg Room is in the back and they give you the option of one or the other at the door. We chose Nuba.

Jay and Robin went with a sharing item: Le Feast $28 Two course vegetarian mezze sampler for two. The appetizer course was hummus, taboulleh, baba ganooj and home made pickle.

If you have eaten at one of the 4 Nuba locations, you will know how awesome the baba ganooj is! A nice sharing plate to start with.

Big M and I went for something I hadn't tried before, Pan Seared Halloumi Cheese $8.50- served with fresh tomatoes, dried nut sweet pomegranate vinaigrette and fresh mint chiffonade.

So amazing. I am not sure what chiffonade is, but it tasted fantastic. I was surprised by the texture of the cheese. From the description I was expecting a grilled cheese more like a saganaki, but this looked like pieces of fried egg. The cheese was tangy and you can't go wrong with a cheese and tomato combination. I am 100% ordering this again the next time I go.

Jay and Robin's second course was a really nice looking plate (Robin picked the cheese out of the olives so Jay could have some- love.).

They really enjoyed this. I only managed to try an olive so I can't comment on the taste. The cauliflower looked great and it smelled really good...

Big M and I were done with the sharing and he went for Lamb Chops $18.50- Mint and sumac crusted lam chops over organic hummus, tabloulleh and tzatziki. According to Big M- "that was tasty food".

I went for Beef Tenderloin $14.00 Fraser valley sirloin beef tenderloin with pomegranate reduction & crispy onions served with a potato, feta cheese and tahini terrine.

I enjoy steak, but I was really excited about the sound of the terrine. It was good, I enjoyed the potato and tahini mix. Not something I had tried before. The whole meal was perfectly sized for a dinner portion.

Normally, I enjoy a dessert after a meal on special occasions. As this was our last supper, and we were dining with Robin-a pastry chef we ordered 4 out of the desserts they had to offer. This brought around my favorite exchange with the service staff (who were all wonderful. I am sorry I forget our waitress' name because she was great). When they came to give us the dessert menu (from the Leeteg Room side), the man with the lovely accent said he could probably guess which dessert we were going to order. Game on. He guessed the chocolate fondant cake to which Robin replied, "what do you think we are, amateurs?" Awesome.

Jay's choice was a baklava plate (not on the menu, he asked and they had it.)

Sticky and flaky and sweet as they should be.

Robin chose the Rice Pudding Brulee $7.00 Caramelized Arborio milk rice pudding with orange peel and cinnamon.

Robin is going to be working at a Mexican restaurant in Stupid New Denver so she was interested in seeing how they did this dessert. I thought the brulee top to a rice pudding made it more interesting. I enjoyed the addition of the orange peel as well.

Big M and I chose the Idiazabal Cheese Napoleon with Parsley Syrup $8.00-Idiazabal cream layered with filo pastry, parsley syrup and fresh fruit.

I wasn't sure what we were going to get with this one. Parsley syrup? What is idiazabal? Still not sure what the cheese is but this was one fantastic dessert! They had me at filo pastry. The parsley syrup tasted so much better than you would expect. It gave a nice contrast to the sweetness. Loved.

We did end up ordering the cake. Mainly because he said that today it was served with a coconut ice cream. Organic Chocolate Fondant with Seasonal Ice Cream $8.00.

Both Robin and I are cake decorators so when you call something fondant, I expect rolled sugar icing. In this case, it is like a lava cake. The cake was good, but the ice cream was the star for us on this plate. A bit on the dramatic plating. This was the only thing served on a giant black plate the whole night.

A great dinner with good friends. I am happy that I live so close to a Nuba now and I am excited about the Leeteg Room.

If you are looking for something to do this summer, why not travel to the lovely town of Silverton and stay at the William Hunter Cabins? There is a nice Mexican restaurant in the fantastic township of New Denver that will serve amazing desserts. Tell them Dr. Jenny Fever sent you and they are jerks for leaving.

Rasoee Indian Kitchen

2011-03-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Most times I choose restaurants to go into based on reputation or recommendations. Some serve food that I like to eat, some I go into because I like the look of them. I went into Rasoee Indian Kitchen on Robson Street because it smells so good! Every time I walk by it is like walking into waves of yummy Indian food smells.

Turns out, I also like the look of it. Excellent modern decor. The chairs look great, not so awesome to eat in as they are a bit low. The booths and tables to the side of them are perfect height.

I am a bit behind in posting my downtown lunches so I had a chance to eat here twice. The first time was on my own. They don't offer the best seating options for single diners. There are booth tables that seat 4-6 on the side and then a couple of deuces. No bar seating if you are a lone diner so you have to take up one of these options.

They offer a regular curry option and then a curry wrap option. I decided to go for the Chicken Tikka Curry Wrap: "An exquisitely mild tandoori barbecued chicken with fresh cut vegetables and a sensual side of your choice. Served in a fresh baked Rasoee Naan (Regular or Whole Grain" $7.99. Um, okay. Pretty wording for a curry wrap. I also chose to "combo your curry wrap" for $2.49 with some baked Rasoee fries and a water.- "Crispy oven baked, spiced up (or plain) home style fries"

The fries were a nice surprise. I enjoyed the spice on them and liked that they were baked instead of fried. The little things...

I liked the wrap. Everything that you would get on a curry plate in a naan. Hard to go wrong with that. The portion size was nice as well. I often find the curry plate too much rich food but in a wrap size it was just the right amount. Amazingly messy to eat. Good for a sit down but I don't think it would do well as a walking and eating wrap. My sensual side for this wrap was the Raita Dip: "our refreshing probiotic yogurt, mint and cool cucumber". I am not so sure about how sensual it was, I didn't end up jumping the guy/gal at the other table, but it was tasty with the chicken tikka... The chicken was fine and I liked the amount of fresh vegetables in the wrap.

My next trip was with Courtney and the our new girl, Melissa. The tables were full so we loomed over a table of boys until they finished their meal and left. Just in time for our food to arrive.

Courtney went with the 'Chic' Pea Curry $7.69 and samosas $1.79.
"Hello, awaken your senses with roasted cumin and chili pepper. This tender chickpea curry is tres chic, a vegetarian delight! Served with a side of basmati rice."

She felt the curry had just enough spice in it and found it tres enjoyable. The samosas were not greasy and quite crispy.

Melissa went with the Butter Chicken Wrap 7.99 "Our most popular curry with cardamom basmati rice, fresh cut vegetables and sensual side of your choice." I guess they felt that everyone already knows butter chicken so they didn't need to spend time coming up with a more flowery description.

She said it was good. Really messy to eat but it smelled fantastic.

I went for the Be Green Curry $7.49 meat/6.99 veg- $2.49 combo. "An exotic spinach sauce infused with a hint of cinnamon and served with your choice of chicken, beef, or Rasoee's own "fresh pressed cheese" and a side of fragrant basmati rice".

Interesting interpretation of "rice on the side". The bottom side, I guess. This tasted much better than it looked. Again, quite mildly spice which is a plus for me. I think of the bowl or wrap option I would go with the wrap. The bowl was a bit too much food. I got half wrapped up to go.

That was also so I could order the Honey Dots for dessert!

I don't have the description and I know it is based on a traditional Indian dessert. First, I loved that they looked like Muppet eyeballs with that service. They tasted like little cinnamon donuts dipped in a honey sauce aka- awesome.

I enjoyed my meals at Rasoee. They strike me as a Yaletown version of Indian food (even though they are on Robson). To drop a little math: Rasoee is to Indian like Fresh Bowl is to Malaysian. Both are good, but could not be considered authentic. Sometimes, you want a little fancy.

Hubbub Sandwiches

2011-03-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

I could not be any happier that sandwiches are a current trend in Vancouver. I will happily follow along with this trend. Sandwiches are perfection.

The newest specialty sandwich shop to hit downtown is Hubbub Sandwiches on Hornby and Smithe. I found out about Hubbub through the Urbanspoon Vancouver Restaurant Tweet Feed found on the bottom of the home page. They did and excellent job with tweeting their impending opening and then daily tweets about their food.

I couldn't wait and ended up going 3 times last week! The first because I was excited about sandwiches, the second because I "forgot" to take a picture of the outside so I HAD to go back again and then the third because Adele wanted to try the sandwiches and being such a good friend, I could not let her walk all the way there on her own. I had to go back again. Because of this, Hubbub Sandwiches is my most researched posting yet!

I love the decor of the restaurant. Their design really appeals to my aesthetic being clean and hip, mostly wood and tile, with some booths on the side, bar seating at the window and some more stool seating opposite of the booths.

Their concept, which you can read about on their excellent website, is a sandwich base that you choose your protein for to create "sandwich bliss". They are serious about the base of the sandwich and will charge you for any substitutions that you want to make. They offer 5 protein choices: pork, chicken, turkey sausage, prawn and vegetable. They also have a nice selection of interesting and healthy sides: corn, quinoa salad, potato chips and slaw. If, for some crazy reason, sandwiches are not your thing, you can get the protein in a salad bowl instead. They are also licenced and you can get draft, Red Stripe or Pabst Blue Ribbon.

On my first visit I asked one of the owners, who was greeting everyone in the line and explaining how to eat the sandwiches what he thought the best one was and he did not hesitate to say "pork". Great! Pork it was for $8.49. I decided to pair it with a quinoa salad for $2.99.

I love the metal tray and bowl! As I was picking up my order I was told that the sandwich can be messy to eat so it is best to peel down the paper and keep it wrapped. Good advice.

The bun was fantastic. I liked that it was a submarine sized bun but a much better quality of bread. I was worried about how I would handle the jalapenos but they were pickled which made them much milder and not to hard on my delicate stomach. The pork was amazing. I liked that it was a slow cooked pork but not BBQ pork. It was tender and very flavorful. I can see why they would be proud of this sandwich. The salad was also really fresh with big chunks of corn, beans and peppers in the quinoa. A very good sandwich.

On my second visit I decided to try the chicken and the salad bowl for $8.99. I was proud of myself for ordering the salad so I ordered a side of potato chips for $1.99.

The salad was excellent. As with the quinoa salad, it was made with corn, beans and peppers. The jalapenos were a bit harder for me to eat in this way than in the sandwich. The chicken has been marinated in coconut milk and it was really moist. I liked the salad but really missed the bread...

So on the third visit (can you stalk a restaurant?) I went back to the sandwich form and went with the turkey sausage ($9.49) and for fun I chose the elote corn side ($2.49).

I loved the sausage! It is a locally made chorizo and was delicious. I liked that it was served sliced as it was easier to eat. This is the most expensive of the sandwich options. I would order it again.

The corn was my favorite of the sides. So much fun to eat as it reminded me of summer and the fair.

They describe the corn as being brushed with a "creamy, tangy sauce". I am not sure what that is, but it tasted good. I loved the stick. They said that when summer comes they will be using locally sourced corn.

Adele ordered the Veggie sandwich.

I am glad she ordered this because one of the main ingredients is zucchini- the vegetable of the devil. She really liked it. This is apparently the most messy of the sandwich options and they serve it with a fork.

I am, quite obviously, a fan. I like restaurant that focus on one thing and then do that really well. I also like the decor. My favorite thing, weird as this is, is the fluorescent light in the bathroom. I want one.

Right now they are on the outside edge of my lunch time comfort zone but will be just down the block when my office moves later this summer. Dangerous. They do offer online ordering from their website in the meantime to help with the time frame. That will be handy because I have a feeling that Hubbub is going to get very busy, very soon.

Le Do Vietnamese

2011-03-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Big M and I are so excited to be back on the Drive! Our old place was on the Broadway side of the drive so living down on the Hastings side has opened up so many new restaurants within walking distance. Our first project, find some Pho.

Our first weekend in the new house we hit up The Red Wagon for some breakfast (the same time that Sherman was there. It was very exciting. Big M stopped me from going up and babbling that "I am a blogger too!". Probably a good idea as I get pretty excited...) Next door is the Le Do Vietnamese Restaurant. I figured that since the Red Wagon is right next door and I love them, this place must have great food. Not the most rational reasoning but happily, it worked out well!

The inside of the restaurant is spare, seating for about 25 or so people with everything you are going to need on the tables already.

I have been past Le Do a few times now and there are always people in there. Saturday afternoon seems to be a busy time for pho. I like the amount of neon they use in the windows.

We figured we would go with our favorites, to see how they stack up. We ordered the Cha Gio (deep fried spring roll) $5.25 and Pho Tai, Bo Vien (rare beef and beef balls) small- $5.95.

The spring rolls were good. The outside was crunchy but I think the meat could have been more seasoned. My only real problem with them was that they cut them into 9 pieces. That is not an even number! We really like spring rolls and do keep count of how many the other person takes. Or I do anyway. That could be why I ended up with 5 pieces... I also tend to eat all the end pieces to get the most crunchiness I can. Either Big M doesn't notice this or he is a dreamy husband and pretends to not notice. <3

I really liked the little salad on the side. My favorite part was after you started eating the salad you uncovered this:

Thanks Le Do! Right back at you.

The soup was good as well. Again, it didn't knock our socks off with it's amazingness, but it was tasty.

The broth could have been more flavourful and they seemed kind of spare with the rare beef. The size was perfect.

Does anyone know if there is a reason why some places serve the bean sprouts/basil with lime or lemon? Is this a regional thing or the personal preference of the restaurant chef?

All in all we were happy with Le Do. A nice pho place within walking distance of the house and a meal for two under $20.00. A few more places to try on the block so we will see how it stacks up. A game I am excited to play!

One of these times I will order something different. I am still a Vietnamese newbie so If anyone has any suggestions, lay them on me.

Sushi Maro

2011-03-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

I am going through a sushi craving phase. Huge cravings for sashimi. This has lead me to try put some new lunch time sushi joints. Sushi Maro has an excellent Yaletown location right across from the Yaletown/Roundhouse skytrain station.

The restaurant is small to mediums in size. Table seating for about 30 and very limited bar seating for 3. I like the bar seating because you get to watch the chefs prepare the sushi. Dinner and a show.

The waitstaff are very friendly. On my first visit I had my ipod in my coat pocket on the back of my chair. The waitress saw this and suggested that I move it because it could easily be stolen from my jacket. She was quick to point out that they do not have a problem with crime in the restaurant, just that she heard that it has happened in the area. Thanks! I found them very attentive during the meal as well, filling the tea frequently and clearing plates when they were done.

I normally go with a combo or lunch special when I am at a sushi place. I like that someone else has put thought into what goes well together and how large the portion should be; same reason I like set menus at restaurants.

On the first visit I went with a Bento box combo:
Lunch Bento C $10.50
Crispy chicken served with sashimi, California roll, salad, rice, miso soup

$10.50 seems to me to have some Yaletown pricing in it but I was very happy with all of the food. I loved the sashimi- it was cut in a fan shape rather than just a square slab. It didn't taste any better but really added to the visual appeal of the fish. The California rolls had the perfect amount of mayo in the crab and you just can't go wrong with deep fried chicken on rice. The salad dressing was nice but, as most of these type of salads are, just chunks of iceberg lettuce.

On my next visit I decided to try one of their Chef's Special rolls and some gyoza. They have some very interesting rolls on this section of the menu. I almost went with the Sunshine Roll $5.95- Crab, mango, avocado wrapped with soy sheet but I went with the Rainbow Roll- $7.95 California Roll wrapped with assorted seafood.

It was lovely. The seafood was really fresh. One was something that I have never had before (and I don't know what it was) so that was an adventure!

I can't pass up an opportunity for food wrapped in dough so I ordered the gyoza- $4.95

They were nice and warm with the right amount of browning. Hooray!

I have already been back here twice and I know that I will be back again. They offer some outside seating that will be nice when the sun decides to come back out. Take out on the seawall would be nice too...

Knight & Day (Boundary)

2011-03-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a food related dirty secret- for some people it is McDonald's fries or eating nacho chips for breakfast. I have a dirty secret. Here it goes. I like to go to Knight & Day. Phew. It's out. I blew my snobby-foodie cred, but I needed to come clean.

Photo by Sherman- I forgot to take an outside photo...

I can try to save myself a bit and say it is not because the food is awesome. I have had good meals there, I have had terrible meals there. I will NEVER go for the breakfast buffet again- lesson learned.

I love the experience of Knight & Day: The waitress who will talk to you about drinking beers on her Harley, all day breakfast, the truckers sitting at the counter seats by the kitchen, the craziness that happens in a 24 hour diner, the seniors menu that still offers liver and and chopped veggies, the giant fish tanks with the mutantly large goldfish, the ability to seat a large number of people for a birthday party. It just adds up to awesome.

To celebrate one of our last night in Nobu, Big M and I hit up the Knight & Day one more time.

Although we went on "all you can eat Lamb Dinner night" (Roast Lamb Dinner ... 14.99 Deliciously tender roast lamb shoulder with Dijon sauce served with rice and vegetable) we both ordered something else.

Big M went with his standby the Classic Clubhouse sandwich- $10.79. "A triple decker with fresh in-house roasted turkey, double smoked bacon, fresh lettuce and tomato." Substitute Yam Fries for another $2.50.

This sandwich is huge. I didn't think you could get the size of the sandwich without something in there for scale:

Big M likes the clubhouse, but has his doubts that it is "fresh in-house roasted turkey". He says, "It's still tasty though". I mean, it does have bacon. He loves the yam fries. I am not a yam fan so I can't judge. (blech)

I figured since this was a monumental occasion, I would go for something crazy... the Monte Kristo sandwich- $10.79 "our fresh in-house roasted turkey, ham and Swiss cheese between thick-sliced bread, dipped in egg and grilled golden brown".

Has anyone actually ever eaten one of these? I have seen them on diner-type menus for years, but never in real life. It was...unique. Like a grilled ham and cheese (and turkey) sandwich served in french toast. A fancy breakfast sandwich that you eat for dinner.

It was a bit messy to hold because of the eggs, but I liked it. Not something that I will get every day, but a fun, special occasion sandwich.

I did order the sandwich with half fries, half salad. You will notice no salad on the plate. That is because this is their idea of "half salad"!

I like a thinner fry myself, so the fries were just okay for me. The salad was an iceberg salad. What is there to say about that except for it was big and salad-y.

Was a it a culinary masterpiece come to life? Nope, but it was fun.

Sfinaki Taverna

2011-03-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

Sfinaki Taverna is another North Burnaby restaurant that Big M and I went to on our goodbye tour of North Burnaby. I have had some food from here during Hats Off day but not a sit down meal. I am happy that we finally made it before we left the area because our dinner was great.

My question is, why must Greek restaurants decorate like this?

I know I am not in Greece, why so this? I have never understood the fake roofing. I find it all very distracting. I am sure I can enjoy souvlaki without looking at a statue or urns.

The thing that impressed us the most was the freshness of the food. We were there at around 8:00 on a Sunday night and everything came to the table quickly and not, as Big M calls it, "tasting like fridge". This was especially true with the Greek salads that were included with the meal.

We both expected the salad to be really cold, like they just pulled it out of the fridge after prepping it way earlier in the day. We were so wrong. It was fresh, crisp and not fridge cold. The dressing was really tangy. Excellent start to the meal.

Big M ordered the Kalamari Plate $17.00:
"Deep fried baby squid topped with onions; served with lemon and tzatziki. Guaranteed to make you come back for more!" All plates come with rice pilaf, roast potatoes, Greek salad and pita.

I just asked Big M if this indeed made him want to go back for more. The answer was yes! No lies in this menu. He liked the batter- it was crispy and tasty. These are big plates of food.

The pita was light and warm as it should be:

I ordered the Lamb Souvlaki Plate- $18.00-
"Marinated in our own blend of herbs and charbroiled to perfection; served with tzatziki"

I think the item they should be bragging about is the tzatziki. So good. Again we expected it to be fridge cold and bland but it was really creamy and flavorful. I could have had 3 more. Or the potatoes! I LOVE lemon potatoes. The souvlaki was charbroiled to perfection. The lamb was not dry and it was very flavourful. There was so much food that I had half boxed up and ate it the next day. Luckily for my co-worker I chose to eat it for dinner, not lunch, as they do not go skimpy on the garlic here.

If I could turn back time I would have eaten at Sfinaki more often. The food was so tasty and the service was great- the owner came around and chatted with us about the food, a nice touch.

Great place to go, but don't be fooled by the decor- you have not been transported to Greece.

Grounds for Appeal

2011-03-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Grounds for Appeal is the punnily named lunch counter/cafeteria in the Law Society building at 845 Cambie. If you are an office worker in the area you will know that they have the most amazing, homemade Indian food in the area. If you don't work or live in this area, it would be so easy to pass right by thinking they were just another sandwich shop down a low foot traffic street.

There is always a line up here. If you show up for lunch you can expect to see this type of line, although most people get take out and there is plenty of 80s style seating.

They offer sandwiches and salads that are ready at the counter that you can have grilled along with pastries and coffee drinks.

The gold is the Indian menu. They have 6 curries daily on a rotating basis. The Indian menu is written on a white board near the counter.

They are known for their butter chicken. Adele and Courtney both got the butter chicken this day. All of their items come with rice and naan.

Here is Adele's feelings about the butter chicken:

I like it because it is really rich and creamy, not overly tomatoed. A nice amount of spice is in there as well. There is always plenty of chicken that is not overly cooked. The naan is always fresh as the sheer number of orders they go through prevents anything from sitting around too long. The rice has nice flavour and is not greasy.
The angry lions that live in my stomach often prevent me from eating butter chicken, so I went with one of my favorites- Vegetable Korma.

I love this curry. So creamy and stuffed full of goodness.

I am sure their sandwiches are good as well, I have meant to try one for a long time, but every time I go in and smell the curry I have to have it. Courtney swears they make the best Nanaimo bar in town.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say this place is a must for downtown workers. The food is fresh and the service is quick and efficient, if not overly friendly. It is off the beaten track, but well worth the trip.

PS. Megan, it was nice to see you on Saturday. It's been too long. Lurker.

Campagnolo- Valentine's Edition

2011-02-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

Big M and I celebrate Valentine's Day, but we never make a huge deal out of it. Normally we have a nice dinner at home. I figured that since this was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, we should do something special. This plan also gave me the opportunity to have some fun with Big M as I know that he wouldn't have remembered it was VD nor would he have made any plans.

Me: So, Valentine's Day is on Monday
Big M: I guess so...
Me: Have you made us dinner reservations yet?
Big M: Um, no. I'll get right on that.

Awesome. I normally make the plans so I was excited to see what he would come up with. We came close to crashing Luke Meat's dinner at Me & Eds, but then Big M hit it out of the park. We were going to Campagnolo.

(picture from the back of the restaurant. I like the East Van-ness of this photo)

Campagnolo has been on my wish list forever. I ride my bike past the restaurant everyday so I have been talking about going there for a long time. It was a big score on Michael's part.

They offered a 4 course set menu for Valentine's day. I love a set menu. I really don't know anything about "the progression of food" so when the Chef offers this, I like to take it. It normally guarantees that I get a dessert as well. You can't say no if it is part of the menu!

Since they offered 2 options for each of the courses, we decided to get one of each and swap halfway through so that we could each try every dish. Since I was not the designated driver for the night, and I love a fancy cocktail, I indulged in 2 of the cocktails offered for $9.00 each.

*Here is another apology for the quality of the pictures. I don't like to use flash so let's pretend they are rosy due to the sheen of love over the meal*

The Giuletta- galliano, gin, blood orange puree, pergolo porsecco.

Yummy. I loved the tang of the blood orange and I just plain love gin.

The Romeo- plymouth gin, limoncello, pergolo prosecco.

Again, very lovely. The lemon was not overpowering. Both drinks, plus the champagne we drank at home) made the evening smooth....

First Course!

Burrata Mozzarella- house cured ham, castelvetramo olive, bread.

One of my favorite dishes of the night. My first experience with Burrata cheese and it was heavenly. So creamy. The waitress said they have it specially brought in for them. If they would have given me 4 plates of this I would have been very happy. I would have preferred to have pitted olives though as spitting out the seed is always awkward.

Tuna Crudo- golden beets, faro & radish salad, mint

This was my least favorite dish of the night only because I am not a fan of cooked tuna. The beet salad was nice and Big M really liked the dish.

Pasta Course. My favorite course.

Potato Gnocchi- sage butter, Parmesan

Michael almost didn't get to try this dish as it used all the strength I had not to finish the whole thing. I love gnocchi and this was light and delicious with the perfect amount of cheese.

Bucatini All 'amatriciana
guanoiale bacon, tomato sauce, basil

I loved the thickness of the noodles in this dish. I prefer pasta that isn't overly sauced and this one was perfect. And it had bacon.

Meat course

Poached Steelhead Trout- fried cauliflower, lentils, parsley puree.

The fish was cooked perfectly in this dish. I really liked the combination of the fried cauliflower and lentils mix as there were some greens mixed in there as well.

Polderside Chicken mascarpone soft polenta, black kale, king oyster mushrooms

This was my other favorite dish of the night. I am now a fan of mascarpone polenta and am going to try to make this at home. So good! I have never heard of black kale before so that was fun. I liked the rolled chicken as well. The sauce that was on the chicken was amazing, especially mixed with the creamy polenta.

Dessert course (hooray!)

Chocolate & Passion Fruit for two.

I loved the amount of chocolate in this dish and am a big fan of the combination of chocolate and passion fruit. What better fruit for Valentine's day? My one problem with this dish was the hard layer of chocolate on top was hard to break through and share as it broke into big shards. Very minor issue for a great dessert.

Turns out that Mignardise means bite size dessert (2 desserts- hooray!) like a petit four that came with the bill. You won't see a picture of these as I was a but in my cups by the time the bill came and got really excited about the tiny dessert so that I ate it really quickly. Trust me though, it was cute and tasty.

All of this came to $50.00 per person, which in my opinion, was a steal. I love the vibe of this restaurant, the mix styles they have. There is beautiful wood panelling around the restaurant but the rest of the wall in cinder block. Beautiful tables on a vinyl floor with plastic chairs. The light fixtures are 4 types of bulbs tied together.

I am so close to adding Campagnolo to my favorites list from just one visit. I can't wait to go back for the Nona's table dinner or just because as we will soon be in the neighbourhood again. They now have a cafe side that is open for lunch that I will try soon as well.

Thanks for the love, Campagnolo and Big M.

Vancouver Community College Cafeteria and Seiffert Market

2011-02-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Vancouver Community College has become my "go to" place downtown. A coworker has a birthday and I forgot to make a cake? To the Seiffert Market! Fancy lunch- It's JJ's Fine Dining! Need a quick lunch that is sure to be interesting? The Cafeteria!

Cafeterias fascinate me. I went to school in a small town in Central Alberta that did not have a cafeteria, unless you count the submarines that the band would sell out of the Home EC room. If you were cool, you went to the Dairy Queen (the only fast food chain in town) for lunch. If you were cooler, you went to the Yellow- the local arcade- to smoke and get high score on Tetris (guess who!) The closest I got to the cafeteria experience was from 80s movies and TV.
There are a few sections to the caf. There is a grill where you can get breakfast, burgers, fries etc. They offer a salad bar, take out sushi and on some days an Asian hot lunch counter. The section I go to is the hot entree section where they offer a rotating assortment of mains and sides.

The options are listed on a paper menu. Pick your main and then choose THREE sides to go with it. A crazy amount of food. I have only ever taken two sides. It is always a good idea to get there a bit early as they have a finite amount of food and when it is gone, you are out of luck. I usually make it there about 12:15 and have fairly good luck.

My first trip I chose a lamb stew on Israeli couscous, scalloped potatoes and stuffed tomato.

After I paid my $7.00(!- plus tax) I took my tray and headed towards the rows of tables and kids. I was quite pleased to have a Mean Girls moment where I tried to figure out which table was the cool table. I sat down next to a young man who was chatty.

Him: Thanks for buying me lunch.
Me: Wouldn't that be funny.
Him: So, are you a teacher here?
Me: You think I look old enough to be a teacher?
Him: Aw, you're not that old.
Me: (put in headphones)
Pick up FAIL.

Lunch, was hit and miss. The tomato was the most surprisingly yummy thing on the plate. The stuffing was amazingly flavourful and the tomato was not all mushy, but still warm. The lamb was really moist for sitting in a chaffing dish for who knows how long and the couscous was perfect. The miss was the potatoes. They were raw- barely even warm. I wondered if I should go back and tell them, this is supposed to be a learning experience after all, but I didn't. Amazing self restraint for me!

It was my coworkers birthday and I did forget to make her a cake. The Seiffert Market offers all the baked goods that the pastry school makes that day. This is the undiscovered gem of the city. Pastries, pies, bread, cookies, tarts all priced so cheaply. They also offer some packaged dinners and whatever meat they were learning to cut that day. I have seen rack of lamb, hamburger, stew meat etc.

I do find it funny that the boxes of the same things will have different prices. I guess if your pie looks good they price it higher than the ugly pie. Graded by price point.

On this day I purchased what I thought was a shortcake or flan:

$5.50! So awesome. The funniest part was that we went to cut into it and the base turned out to be some type of hard cookie that had a layer of hardened chocolate. The filling was whipped cream with some fruit slices on top. Not at all what I thought it was, but it was great. I have also picked up a box of eclairs that have no picture as we ate them too quickly.

A second trip to the cafeteria with Cristina!

I went through the line first and ended up getting the last of everything that she also wanted. For some reason, I found this much more amusing than she did.

I had the roast beef with jus (they had run out of Yorkshire), carrots and potatoes.

It was great! I was again surprised with how moist and well cooked the beef was after sitting in the service area. The carrots were buttery and seasoned well and I was happy that this batch of potatoes were cooked. A win for me!

Cristina went for salmon with a lemon sauce, zucchini and the potatoes.

She really enjoyed her lunch and said the salmon was well cooked. I was happy that she ended up with the zucchini.

I love the lunch adventure that the Vancouver Community College offers and will be back for more! You may see me there one day. I will be the old lady with the headphones at the cool table.