eatvancouver
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Posts posted by eatvancouver
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But then again, I can't afford to revisit places I don't like. The result: almost no negative reviews.
Amen. The true issue here and why it really is pretty hard to "avoid" places based on reviews. Only word or mouth works this way since people are more inclined to speak their minds over coffee than to actually write it in stone. Every place deserves a second chance yet there are too many places to try to warrant going somewhere you didn't particularily like the first time.
Ok I really am curious about that mexican place on main and broadway on the second floor: El Taco I think that's what it's called. It looks a little scarey but I want to know if anyone has tried it.
yeah i'd like to know about it as well. all i know is that they leave the open sign on at night and it gives you the false hope of a late night taco.
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The locals obviously like this Habit. I feel sorry for them if this is as good as it gets in Vancouver's East End. To paraphrase Eliza Doolittle, this is a lame place on Main that falls far below the plain.
I think the attitude from these two last sentences sum up the review rather accurately.
Or maybe the pun was just too good to pass up, "An easy habit to break."
Serously though, panning a restaurant based on one visit is just really bad form. Although that's how it reads, I hope she has been more than once. That's precisely the reason you don't find many negative reviews on my site, if I go once and it sucks I won't write a review based on that because it could have easily been an off-night. But then again, I can't afford to revisit places I don't like. The result: almost no negative reviews.
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Umm...where is the restaurant? I'm interested.
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I'm partial to the spanakopita some naked dude sells on Wreck Beach. Not sure where it comes from, aside from his declaration, "Spanakopita, fresh from the greek deli!"
Good stuff my friends, good stuff.
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it's light years beyond the soggy, flavorless crap you get at Steamrollers. Steamrollers really is the bottom of the barrel; I imagine it was conceived by someone who has never tasted a proper burrito, and has an obsession with steam.
This is kind of funny. I don't think Steamrollers set out to be a top-notch restaurant. I think the idea was to provide an alternative to a high fat burrito. I like to think of it more as a wrap. I eat them. I like them. It' an alternative to all the fat food, fast food out there. When I'm in a rush I'll got there for a healthy, nutritous wrap. To me it's the best fast food out there.
My point is I'd first like a place to find the Steamroller's high fat cousin.
edit:
Wait, wait: I mispoke. First, a good burrito doesn't have to be high in fat. Grab yourself a nice freshly made tortilla, some rice, throw in some smokey black beans (probably smokey because of some pork product, granted), some nice grilled chicken or steak (or even better, braised goat), peppers, maybe a freshly made roasted tomato salsa, quese fresco, and you are good to go. Not high in fat, high in delicious. And that's certainly not an authethentic mexian burrito. It's probably more california-mexican, but unlike the stuff I've found in this town, it doesn't rely on prepackaged materials and misconceived flavor combinations, and it might actually taste good.
And I never said Steamrollers set out to be a top-notch restaurant, but I have to assume they set out to be non-horrible.
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Oops, that was supposed to be steamrollers. Really bad stuff.
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I haven't tried Red Burrito yet, but if it is indeed merely a Chipotle clone, I pretty much have. And although Chipotle certainly isn't good, although it is serviceable in a pinch, it's light years beyond the soggy, flavorless crap you get at Steamrollers. Steamrollers really is the bottom of the barrel; I imagine it was conceived by someone who has never tasted a proper burrito, and has an obsession with steam.
I haven't tried all of the places on this thread yet, but from what I have tried I would have to say, no, it's not possible to find good mexican/tex mex/salvadorian/peruvian/bolovian/etc. It's a real disappointment because I come from a town in friggin' Virginia where the above was easier to find. Then again, about 60% of the population was hispanic, so perhaps it's not that surprising. I'll break down what I have tried so far.
Andales: Simply brutal. Last time I checked there is no Mexican, Tex-mex, or South American cuisine that serves everything in the same bland tomato sauce.
Pepitas: A notch above Andales.
That place on 70th and Granville: It really doesn't get much worse than this. The tacos are no better than taco bell, and no thanks, I wouldn't like my dinner served on a cold tortilla which was obviously in a plastic bag a few minutes ago.
Riconcita on commercial: Reasonable. It's fairly authentic, except that it's obvious a lot of the time that the kitchen staff really doesn't care much, sending out food that is oftentimes underseasoned, or had clearly been sitting out for quite a while.
Los Margaritas: Let's put loads of monterrey jack cheese on everything and call it mexican food!
And it is seriously hard to find a decent Mexican beer in this town. Corona, as it were, is watered-down drippings of infected chihuahua penis
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I went to Nu on Sunday during cinq a sept and I had a phenomenal time. As many of you know, Jay Jones is very knowledgable about his craft and mixes some great drinks. What with his cocktails and the canapes coming around, it's easy to lose track of time (and space). I was hoping to meet Leonard and pick his brain, but I suppose that will wait until next time.
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I've made reservations at HSG because I was assured it would be relatively laid back that evening.
But where are you going?
You can find my shot at a guide, with some input from Ling, at this location right here.
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had dinner here with some friends on Monday and the word of the night was medicore. I thought the coq au vin lacked flavor, the soup was too acidic and the shrimp cocktail was boring. I think the restaurant is probably better on non-DOV evenings as the DOV menu, even the desserts, seemed pretty dumbed down. The waiter was nice, though.
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Sounds excellent. I'll be going tomorrow night with a group of six, so hopefully we won't be subject to the wobbly tables.
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great information chris!
does anybody want to get together on an order to save on shipping?
any chance of you sharing any good recipes with us chris?
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Honestly I don't see how HSG's menu could not appease everyone. Yes it is slightly more adventurous, if mussels or fish and chorizo can be called that, but given the other choices (including the other menu at $35) I would think everyone would see something appetizing.
The irony is that in a regular non-DOV setting, I think of HSG as more comfort food and Pastis as more adventurous French (rabbit, frogs legs, organs).
ETA: You could always get a different group of friends together to do Pastis the night before.
i can't actually seem to find the $35 menu, is it online?
oh and if i can scrounge up enough friends, i'll do both.
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Here's my dilemma (it's not quite as straightforward as the $25 or $35 menu at HSG, which Arne nailed):
I have friends coming from out-of-town and so I booked Bisto Pastis for the 23rd, since that was originally the only night that worked for everyone. I also booked HSG on the 24th as a back-up plan. Now it turns out everyone can make the 24th as well so I have to choose - both, although my preference, isn't doable for everyone.
Now clearly I'd prefer HSG, but looking at the menus it seems Pastis is geared more towards classic french dishes, and HSG is more for the adventurous eater. There are few finnicky eaters among us, so that poses a problem.
Although I'm the type who likes to appease everyone, I'm leaning towards HSG. But, I thought I'd open it up to everyone in case there is an obvious solution, like with Sushiboy's question.
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I'm kind of sad. I just checked the HSG menu. I'm going to have to choose either the hangar steak on the the $25 menu or the gingerbread pudding on the $35 menu. I can't have both.
That's quite a dilemma. But it's one of those good ones, where even if you lose, you still kinda win.
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anybody been to bisto pastis for dine out? i've heard great things about the place in general, but nothing about what it tends to do for dine out.
thanks!
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I recently discovered a little family owned hunanese place, which I believe is one of the undiscovered gems in the area. The beef with preserved chili, although not one of their better dishes, has the distinction of being the first dish in Vancouver that has actually been spicy enough to affect me.
Check out our review, which I believe is the finest our little website has put out yet. - Hu Nan Chinese Restaurant
Some Gulleters went for lunch there last summer? fall?
It was very tasty indeed
Yeah - based upon a recommendation from Nondual - we went last year - see posting #71 up thread for details. It was very good and I am glad that others have gone and enjoyed it also.
Reminds me that I should go visit again - this time asking for more heat.
Neat, thanks for the heads up. I should have known egullet would have beat me to it
But it's great that this little family owned place is getting our business. -
I recently discovered a little family owned hunanese place, which I believe is one of the undiscovered gems in the area. The beef with preserved chili, although not one of their better dishes, has the distinction of being the first dish in Vancouver that has actually been spicy enough to affect me.
Check out our review, which I believe is the finest our little website has put out yet. - Hu Nan Chinese Restaurant
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This nugget of sheer joy comes from today's "Dear Amy" of the Chicago Tribune:
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Dear Amy: My family and I enjoy dining out at some of the upscale restaurants in our city.
We select on the basis of cuisine and ambience, which we hope will be conducive to a pleasant dining experience.
Unfortunately, on several occasions our meal has been interrupted by raucous, shrill and spine-tingling shrieks from tables of women.
If we were patronizing bars I might understand, but not in a four-star establishment.
Management apologizes but does nothing else.
Other than stay home, is there a solution?
-- Disgusted
Dear Disgusted: I ran your letter past Phil Vettel, the Chicago Tribune's restaurant critic, who says that this issue is so familiar that his wife, Paula, came up with a formula: "The Noise Level of a table of women can be determined by multiplying the number of women by the amount of liquor each consumed (in ounces), divided by the sum of their ages. Thus, eight 22-year-old women consuming 4 ounces of alcohol each will have a Noise Factor of .181, whereas 10 32-year-old women drinking the same amount will have a Noise Factor of only .125."
In short: Women + Alcohol = Squealing.
If this behavior is bad enough that management sees fit to apologize for it, then you should expect a manager to step in and at least attempt to control it.
Instead of leveling an open-ended complaint to the manager, you should ask directly, "Could you please ask the women at that table to keep their voices down?"
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Nirvana does indeed have a buffet, quite a good one I might add. It is not, however, near chinatown.
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I went last night for the $15 surf and turf at fiction. Save the mound of stiff mashed potatoes, everything was delightful. In fact, the tenderloin, which as cooked to a perfect rare, was about as flavorful as that cut of meat can be.
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Mentally -- if not officially -- "sushi" is a distinct category for me, as opposed to "Asian" generally but I'll grant you that. On the other hand, if you couldn't find good Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese or Malaysian food you weren't looking -- just as they weren't.
I will agree that Ethiopian should be on the list, but
1. I was looking for good Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Malaysian IN the district.
2. It was nearly impossible to find. For Vietnamese Falls Church is where it's at. All the good Thai places seem to be in Arlington. Okay, I have heard of some underground place run by a guy named Toth, but I haven't tried it yet. If lives up to the hype, then maybe they should have mentioned that. Chinese is DC flat out sucks. We have one of the worst Chinatown's ever. Tai Shan is reasonable but only if you know the owner. Eat First can be good, but is highly inconsistent. Full Kee is alright, but mainly because it's open so late. Some of the more expensive places are better, but don't fit the requirements of the article. China Garden in Rosslyn is good, but again, not in DC. I blame it on Tony Chang thinking he is the godfather of chinatown. I haven't really looked for Malaysian food, so you've got me there.
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I got the joke. But you keep saying that the ambience is ill-suited for a bachelor party. I couldn't agree more, but I'm assuming that this a pre-bachelor party dinner, not the actual location of the bachelor party. And I think there is a greater chance of having the best meal of your life at buck's as opposed to the palm.
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Dude (ette?):
Despite the butch name and the big steak, Buck's Fishing & Camping is way too sensitive male for a bachelor's party.
Though, if Carole herself would burst out of a cake, sashay over to the table and....substitute both the sauce and the vegetable from one of her entrees, I'd be pretty excited.
I think you are missing the gist of the request. I don't think he plans on having the party at the actual restaurant. Besides, if this was a restaurant appropriate for a bachelor party, could you really expect to have the best meal of your life there? So as far as a place for a steak, not too haute, I think buck's fits the bill. lap dances, football and male bonding, probably not so much.
Main Street
in Western Canada: Dining
Posted
This is probably getting off-topic, but such a ridiculous point needs to be addressed. Because it's shoddy, irresponsible journalism. Because she's not just commenting on her experience, but on the restaurant as a whole. Because what she writes has real-world implications. Need I continue?