inanimate

I gave El Taco on davie a shot this week, and while the chicken burrito I got pee'd all over the place, it was pretty tasty. I'm not sold on having lettuce in a burrito though, but I suppose that's easily corrected when ordering. The tortilla suffered from the wetness of the filling inside though and not having been grilled, it was rather soft and damp. Still, not a bad burrito. Much better than the flavorless offerings at steamrollers, though I don't think I'd go so far as to say it was much if any better than Taco Del Mar.

I was back there last week after quite an absence and speed of service issues were still a problem. Lunch shouldn't take close to 2 hours for grilled cheese and soups, mac and cheese etc.

a friend and I went for lunch yesterday to see if the shack lived up to the hype. They were out of chicken at the time that we ordered so we only got steak and fish tacos and I found both a bit underseasoned, and the steak a bit dry. Otherwise, good fresh ingredients, but it's still not quite up to par with my american taco experiences which have the benefit of being made my real mexicans. I've heard it's coming, but carnitas would be great. It's inclusion might also speed up the wait for the tacos which seemed like close to 10 minutes, but I think another couple's order got bumped ahead of us by accident. Based on the food itself, I'd give chilo's the go-ahead for the moist, tasty meat (including tongue!), but chilo's unreliable hours and decor/location do them no favours either.

Well, I went so far as to phone their offices a few times and there was no answer each time. Pretty sure humanity let them down and they're gone now.

I haven't been able to find a box of jimmy's in over a year. It's been a heartbreaking experience.

I took a stab at the seafood laksa at next noodle bar and was a bit disappointed. The broth was flavorful but not rich or terribly complex. The kiwi mussels were a downer compared to the fresh local crop. The noodles were a bit overcooked as well. I think I just need to hit tropika for their version which I recalled as being much richer and for lack of a better term, bold. also hit Noodles Supreme Asian Bistro at the roundhouse in yaletown. Ordered the Indonesian peanut saute and found it surprisingly tame, so much so that I asked for hot sauce for it. It was fine, but uninspiring and really didn't do anything to evoke thoughts of indonesia. The decor could have been much stronger as well. The place just seems spartan which is fine for most chinese restaurants I visit, but hey, we're in yaletown and you're a "bistro". A little more colour and personality wouldn't hurt.

Had the menudo and 3 tacos tonight. tacos were great, menudo was pretty good but not as good as the ones I had outside portland. tacos seem so simple that I should really just make them myself though

I've heard that my favourite pho place ever, Pho Thang Long on Main st has closed due to a huge increase in rent, and I'm hearing that Legendary Noodles also on main is also gone. My heart is aching.

I've had pretty good experiences at Da Rae Oak on Kingsway right next to Samosa Garden. They don't have grills at the tables, but still have great meals there.

finally managed a meal at chilo's tonight. Sadly, he was out of soup and could only serve us tacos. Quite a lot better than tacos mexico rico, with fresher ingredients and bigger portions. Would love to go back and have tacos with a bowl of menudo.

Went to tacos mexico rico last night. Thought it was a bit more expensive than it was worth. Tacos were ok. onions and cilantro were a bit dry, my soup was too salty. Looking forward to getting to chilo's.

I went today for lunch and was heartbroken to find them closed. I had to settle for a great bi bim bap at da rae oak instead, but my heart was really set on tacos.

I personally found their pizza to be pretty lacking during lunch. Soggy crust with no chew to it. I was lucky to have a proscuitto pie over at lombardos the same week and was much happier with it. Also quite liked their linguine alle vongole as well.

A bit of a tangent, but Rachel Ray's Tasty travels featured vancouver yesterday. They hit Feenie's, Vij's, sun sui wah, the alibi room, the cannery, and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head. Some of the features were decent, though some (like the cannery) didn't really feel like they conveyed the essence of the restaurant very well. But, whatever. It's a tourism show.

When my friend first showed up at my place and suggested we eat at a place he passed on his way over called "senhor rooster", I laughed and said sure. I had heard nothing about the food before that, so it was based solely on the name that I gave it a shot. it reminded me of the mexican chicken joint on commercial drive that I never got a chance to try.

Having recently eaten at Maria's on denman and taki's on davie, I was rather impressed with taki's and really left wondering why anyone would wait in line for 30-60 minutes to eat at stephos. I had the roast lamb and was surprised by the size of the portion, which was massive to the point of being ridiculous. Considering it was only $12.50, I can't imagine the quantity/value argument from the stephos crowd can carry any weight. Both hot and cold appetizer platters were good, and I found it to be one of the better greek meals I've had in town. Maria's lamb was drier when I had it which was disappointing considering how much I had heard about them. But then again, this was the denman location and most of the praise was about the one on 4th. Still, I liked my meal a lot at taki's and plan on returning. Though when it comes to lamb in general, my favourite has got to be the afghan horseman. The potato pakoras and eggplant there are also killer, so well worth the higher price of admission.

the red burrito's menu looks like it was ripped off almost verbatim from chipotle's in the states, which had some pretty amazing mexican-like fast food. That is, except for weaker meat options at the red burrito vs chipotle's. Chipotle also grilled their steak and chicken which was actually really very very well prepared.

I really don't mean to be mean, but Diner hasn't been able to impress myself or friends lately. The biggest problem is the speed of service (front of house and kitchen at times). For lunch on a weekday, lunch easily climbs past the 1 hour mark. Usually there's only one server so even getting a drink can take much too long (requested refill of coke didn't make it until I was on the last two bites of my meal about 7 minutes later), wait for food was around 30 minutes (perogies, meatloaf, burgers). Food overall was fairly good, but not rave-worthy. My mashed potatoes were a bit watery instead of creamy. I've heard feedback from two friends having dinner experiences there that have no desire to go back, largely due to service issues, but some food ones as well. I think concept and menu are good, but I think the ship needs tightening.

Hm... other top 2 meals before death... I haven't actually figured those out. Lee's is the only one that has a permanent spot on the list. I should have noted, the fries are nothing to write home about and neither is the gravy. When I go to Lee's, the chicken is the main event. As well, I only ever order the crispy version and never the regular/famous recipe version. I've had the famous chicken when they toss me a bonus piece (I visit once a month like clockwork). Honestly, I would go crazy if they had the sides that popeye's has. The chicken at popeye's I've often found good but not terribly exciting, but also small and expensive but the sides have often been great. I'm thrilled you guys are enjoying the chicken though. I've had too many of my favourite family run food joints close down for lack of business in my lifetime (mirasol + home sweet home).

Lee's is in Richmond at 160-11780 Thorpe Road. Near cambie and 5 rd. It's actually called L.A. Chicken now, but my friends and I still call it Lee's since that's the name it had 13 years ago when I first started going there. (it's a different location now). The one in burnaby is similar, but much greasier and not as good. When I turned 27, I had a bit of a birthday party there; meaning we wore cheap conical cardboard party hats and ate their chicken. If I had to choose a last meal on earth, it'd be in my top 3 for choices.

Oh Lee's... how I love your non greasy crunchy spicy juicy goodness...

I found the popeye's in Toronto to be much better than the one in coquitlam. Lee's is still my monthly fix of fried chicken.

For one under the radar, I ended up at exotico brasil cafe on charles, just off of commercial drive for lunch and ordered the Feijoada, a traditional dish of black beans with pork, beef and sausage. It was served with sauteed kale and rice and was really delicious. The black beans were very flavorful and must have had a fair amount of pork fat involved considering how rich they tasted. The meat was tender too. Nice chilli oil on the side with a tangy salsa and another condiment I couldn't identify. My friend had the meat fritata and said it was good but I didn't manage a bite for myself. The menu is pretty simple (I can't remember much on it), but the feijoada was good enough to have me wanting to go back for a another try. The dish was only $9, but my americano with a touch of steamed milk came out to almost $4 which was a bit on the high side. Regardless, worth checking out if you're in the neighborhood I think.

Ah, that's terrible to hear. Great pies, nice people.

I admit, I'm one of those tap water drinkers. But it's not because I don't enjoy wine (actually, I don't really care for the stuff, but I can appreciate it), it's because alcohol does terrible things to my stomach. So for those of us who cannot enjoy delicious BC VQA wine, how can we avoid the "oh my god what cheapskates, they're only drinking tap water" glances from the waitstaff? Short of ordering bottled water, that is. Do most of the restaurants have amazing non-alcoholic beverage pairings for their menus? ← Good question. I'm not huge into wine and sometimes not into drinking alcohol with dinner. I ran into an article in the new york times about how some restaurants were doing non-alcoholic drink pairings with their meals for pregnant women or people who just didn't want to drink alcohol. Seemed very interesting to have those pairings of cery unique mixed juice drinks, teas etc for people preferring not to drink. Surprised we haven't seen more of it here.