Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 2)

[Zucchini Mama]

Host's note: this discussion is continued from the topic "Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 1)"

 

 

Three Brown Rice: Seriously Seeking Spaaa

I realize that the last three places I've eaten out, I've been seeking healthy food to cure my body of a recent spate of sugar and caffeine overload. I'm seriously fantasizing about going to a spa and retreating from the stress of ....well, reality! So I've been drawn to places that serve some sort of veggies over brown rice. I tried the macrobiotic diet about ten years ago, and found it to be a fascinating experiment. I think I lasted about four months. What I discovered was how much more intense simple food tastes when you cut out all the junk.

I saw one episode of Nigella Lawson't show, and she cooked hangover food-the "my body is a temple the morning after it was a brothel" kind of thing. So, my last three meals out have been at Green Ginger, Om, and Natural Garden. Green Ginger is in Kits (2967 West Broadway at Bayswater). It's a cheerful little place with very limited seating. I think a picnic table and one other table. There's a whole blurb on the back of the menu about the history and philosophy of the little place, for example: Oikonomia, the Latin root word for 'Economy or Economics', means the management of a household so as to increase its value to all members of the household over the long run. Our household is the Earth and we share it with millions of other peoples and organisms. In order to leave the world a better place for future generations, we must be mindful in the way we conduct business." I actually like that statement, and find it to be a refreshing way of thinking in today's greed-centred snatch and grab while you can culture.

This is the second time I've been here. The woman behind the counter is exuberant and friendly. The first time, I had a cup of their chai, which is the real thing. This time-no caffeine, so I had the Mandalay Curry, which is a Burmese vegetable curry made with their own Masala. This is served over an organic brown rice pilaf with a side salad. The salad was really good looking, crisp, and colorful, with its grated beets and carrots. The dressing was original, and zippy and I loved the addition of sunflower seeds. The curry was not my favorite-It had a lot of potatoes in it and was not that memorable. I liked the raisins in the rice. I will try another curry next time. I had the small serving which was very reasonably priced at $6.50. Next time I'm in the hood, I'd like to try the new "Chai" down the street. Anyone been there yet?

The next experience was at Om Restaurant between 18th and 19th on Cambie, which is my old neighborhood. I've had the vegetarian dim sum here, which I found to be satisfactory. I was with my son this time, so I ordered a boat of brown rice with veggies in a brown sauce. Om is very much into the purple chakra. They have a definite purple thing going on in the decor, set off by plates in other colors of matching intensity-a color oasis in a land of dusty pink Asian restaurants! This place could be like an Asian Rebar with the right tweaking. Right now it appears to be filling a niche with the seniors living in the neighborhood, which is great. See, here's a menu, where the scope makes me uncomfortable-dim sum on the one hand, and lasagne on the other...? Anyway, our boat came in a (surprise) bright blue lasagne dish with an iceberg and sprouts lettuce salad on top of the warm veggies, rice, and tofu. That presentation was really unappetizing, but we managed to dig under the salad and my son ate a really hearty lunch. The brown sauce was very weak, but I suppose if I'd been on a macrobiotic diet, it would have been "subtle". We split a mango pudding afterwards, with chunks of mango in it. My son loved it. The servers are very friendly, patient, and caring, and they gave my son a lollipop after the meal-which I accepted, but WHY do people do this? I can't afford dentist bills as it is.

On to another day- this time, I am alone. About two doors down from Om at
3432 Cambie Street is a new place in the old Major Chutney spot called Natural Garden. I was puzzled as to why they would open another place serving veggies and brown rice, right next to another restaurant that serves veggies and brown rice, but perhaps there is a brown rice revolution going on that I don't know about, and maybe that's a good thing. This is the real deal-macrobiotic food prepared in a Japanese style. They too, have a statement of their mandate on the menu, and it is devoid of the overblown rhetoric of the local schmocal seasonal shmeasonal type. For example; "The food we serve is...Balanced with Oriental health philosophies and modern nutrition recommendations. Cooked in quality cookware over a gas stove. We do not own a microwave. Prepared fresh by hand every day." The menu is very limited, but that can be a good thing. It's almost the opposite of the Om's everything under the sun menu. The new paint job is really gorgeous, in soothing tones of creamy yellow, sage, and golden rod contrasting with the dark wicker chairs and matching tables. It's very chic. It's very spa. I asked if I could close the door because the traffic noise on Cambie was interfering with the spa ambience. There was only one other table of eaters in for lunch, and we quickly struck up a conversation. One woman had a baby, and after she apologized for a bit of screeching- I said, "Don't worry, I have a child, I understand, screeching babies I can handle, it's the traffic that gets on my nerves!" I ordered the Macobiotic Lunch Plate for $11, which is served from noon-2 pm: green leafy vegetables, pressed salad, beans, seaweed, brown rice, miso soup. The waitress brought me a tiny teapot of tamari and a mortar and pestle with gomashio inside. Oh, now I know what those little bowls with the crenelated insides are for. I love gomashio and lately I've been puttjng it on and in everything: salmon, scrambled eggs, asparagus and mayo, avocado sandwich When the plate arrived along with it's bowl of rice and bowl of miso, I was pleasantly surprised at how artfully it was arranged on the plate-wish I'd had a camera. The chopsticks are those dark wooden ones with really fine tips, so that eating is an exercise in mindfulness, as you can only pick up a very small portion of food up at a time.

It's nice to have such a variety of food on your plate. I loved the rice-it was so small-grained-nutty, almost like barley. It was excellent with the tamari and gomashio. There were two little croqettes, of (I think) Seitan-very yummy. The bean salad was good-kind of like the bean salads of Saskatchewan potlucks-I got a kick out of eating it with chopsticks! There was a tiny portion of salad, but it was flavorful. The strangest thing was the cold mashed squash. It was tasty, just hard to get used to something you'd normally eat warm.

The women next to me started joking about how there were two side to the stomach, the left and the right, and since they'd filled up the left, it was time to equally fill up the right with sweets. This is a dietetic theory I can ascribe to! I had the chocolate cake with vanilla soy ice cream ($2.50). The cake was fudgy and moist-kind of like a flourless chocolate cake. It was pretty good, and a nice way to balance out the yin and the yang! It's a pricey lunch for the amount of food, but my body is my temple, and tomorrow I'm going to have to worship at the Altar of the Churro! Sounds like a Saturday morning breakfast excursion.

Zuke

[James Kendal]

Just got back from a sales meeting at the 4 Seasons and overnight stay in Vancouver.

Our Sales manager, Moira Fitzpatrick, and I had eats at Feenies. Very reasonable and excellent food. A little "packed to the rafters" for me but it was fun. After dinner we toured the kitchen at Lumiere. I felt like I was on the deck of a starship in that kitchen. Very cool.

After dinner we went to Raincity Grill. outstanding and friendly service, wonderful wine selections by the glass and the location is perfect.

[Ling]

Tuesday:

Had the porky-soup dumplings, the pan-fried pancake with beef rolled up inside, the hot and sour soup, and the tan tan noodles at Ba Guo Bu Yi. It's been awhile since I've been here, and though everything was good, I prefer the food at Shanghai Wind. The soup dumplings at Ba Guo Bu Yi hold an incredible amount of soup within the thin wrapping, but I think I enjoy the thicker wrapping and the more flavourful soup at Shanghai Wind. I also like the hot and sour soup at Shanghai Wind more, as the soup served at Ba Guo Bu Yi didn't seem sour enough and I ended up adding spoons of black vinegar into my bowl. The pan-fried pancakes with beef is one of my favourite dishes at Vogue, but the ones we got didn't contain much beef or sauce, and the pancake wasn't browned at all. (However, I don't know if this is the authentic way of making the dish...just stating what I prefer.) The tan tan noodles were good--savoury, with lots of chopped peanuts, and salty/spicy from the preserved vegetables. Finished off my lunch with a (very average) peanut butter cookie from Starbucks.

Tuesday night:

I ate a huge, multi-course dinner at home, but that didn't stop me from having a second dinner at Shiru-Bay. Best of all, it was FREE. I guess the chefs remember me, because I got complimentary plates of the ebi chili-mayo, the scallops with the vegetables (cooked in the deep-fryer!), and the salmon tartare with sun-dried tomatoes, served with a warmed pita. I've never had such special treatment before. Clearly, they've mistaken me for some sort of celebrity. I also got my first kiss from a cougar. But that's another story.

Tonight:

Instead of lunch plans, I took my friend to Yuji's and he even brought his digital camera to take pics of the food without me having to ask! It was his first time here, and he enjoyed the food very much. We had the flounder with ponzu, flounder fin (endgawa? I still don't know how to spell this!), grilled beef tongue, sugi king fish with julienned vegetables and wasabi dressing, steamed wild boar, mango tuna salmon roll, dynamite roll, and my favourite hot item on the menu--the sweet potato fries (especially with that tartar sauce!) And then we went to Safeway and loaded up our basket with three bags of Kettle Chips to scarf down while watching gory movies (all different flavours...my favourite was red pepper and cream cheese.) 'Twas a good meal.

Edited June 4, 2005 by Ling (log)

[snacky_cat]

Every time I try to post in this thread, something awful happens and my post gets eaten.

Tonight was the weekly Ukranian-family-goes-out-for-Chinese-food night; this week's destination was the always tasty Connie's Cook House on W. 4th. We had the chicken and corn soup, beef and black bean chow mein, dry garlic spare ribs, tangerine peel chicken and vegetarian mui sui. Everything was completely delicious as per usual, and I ate probably half the plate of the ribs. They should have these in bars instead of peanuts. I know I'd drink about 10x as much beer if that were the case. Mmmm... bar pork... Back to Connie's. It's a great place, and we've never had a bad dish in the many years we've been going there.

Last night Mr Cat and I hit Il Nido for a Entertainment coupon night out. We loved it, and will definitely be back there again. The kitchen was sending out little amuse bouches to all the tables - crêpes wrapped around bocconcini and lovely fresh asparagus - which made a nice start to the evening (I'm a grad student. "Free food" is possibly the most beautiful phrase in the English language.) On the waiter's recommendation, we drank the 2002 Bodegas Castano Hecula - a budget-concious red that impressed us both. When Mr Cat asked for the name of the wine again (we kept morphing Hecula into Hercules), the waiter brought the label by for us to pictorially memorize and dropped off a card with the name written on it. It has thus been added to our pantheon of reds to drink around Chez Cat. We both had pasta - Mr Cat went for the spaghettini in a light cream sauce with figs and prosciutto (I stole a bite - delicious!) and I had the tagliatelle with oyster mushrooms and slow-roasted Italian sausage. It was ridiculously good, and our most awesome waiter overheard me when I said I liked to re-parmesan my pasta halfway through, so when I hit the halfway mark in the tagliatelle, he came over, parmesan spoon in hand. We shared a torte di limone for dessert, and left very full and very, very, very pleased.

I can't remember precisely what the antepenultimate meal out I had was for certain; I think it might have been sushi at lunch on Wednesday. Once a week I'll meet up with my Dad for lunch, and we usually go to Matzusushi in Coquitlam (it's in a funny little strip mall on the northeast corner of Lougheed and North Rd.) It used to be a Fujiya until it broke ranks or something and went rogue. Half of the place is a Japanese supermarket, the other half is a restaurant. All manner of sushi, sashimi and hot dishes are on the menu. You order and pay at the counter, then they'll bring your tray round to you when it's ready. There's more free tea than you can shake a stick at, and their sushi is great. The crab in the spider rolls is always hot out of the ol' fry vat, and they make an awesome potato korroke (I think korroke must be a Japanese corruption of croquette, for that's what these things are.) A plate of yakisoba for Dad, two potato korrokes, a spider roll and a rainbow roll will set you back about $14 or 20. Bargain.

[Ling]

I can't remember precisely what the antepenultimate meal out I had was for certain; I think it might have been sushi at lunch on Wednesday.

←

Who uses this word, seriously?!

A few days ago, I noticed (Vancouver) Lee using the word "curio" in one of his posts.

And Joie uses "magnanimous" sometimes.

Egullet is running amok with word-geeks.

Edited June 5, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Vancouver]

What does "amok" mean?

Cheers!

[*Deborah*]

I can't remember precisely what the antepenultimate meal out I had was for certain; I think it might have been sushi at lunch on Wednesday.

←

Who uses this word, seriously?!

I nearly congratulated her on it, it is exactly le mot juste. But I know you lot already think I'm a geek and I didn't want to give you more ammunition

Edited June 5, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

I can't remember precisely what the antepenultimate meal out I had was for certain; I think it might have been sushi at lunch on Wednesday.

←

Who uses this word, seriously?!

A few days ago, I noticed (Vancouver) Lee using the word "curio" in one of his posts.

And Joie uses "magnanimous" sometimes.

Egullet is running amok with word-geeks.

←

I'm flattered that you have included me in your list of work-geeks, truly I am. But I can't take credit for "curio" unless it's a typo, or my memory is failing badly. Could it have been Canucklehead, perhaps?

And I totally agree with you about the unusually high level of literacy here. It's one of the things I love about eGullet.

[snacky_cat]

I can get up to preantepenultimate, but after that, I'm lost.

Speaking of which, my preantepenultimate dining experience was Annapurna. That place is SO tasty, it's easy to forget that you're eating vegetarian. We had bhartha, malai kofta, aloo gobi and matar paneer, and enjoyed the lot of them. Annapurna is one of those rare Indian restaurants where you're not left with weird orangey-red oil pools floating around in the dishes after you scoop all the good stuff out. Plus, when they bring out the little dish of fennel seeds with your bill, ALL of the seeds were the candy-coated kind.

[Ling]

I'm flattered that you have included me in your list of work-geeks, truly I am.  But I can't take credit for "curio" unless it's a typo, or my memory is failing badly.  Could it have been Canucklehead, perhaps?

←

Yes, sorry it was Canucklehead. I remember laughing out loud when I read "curio". That's got to be the dorkiest word, ever.

Edited June 5, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Ling]

What does "amok" mean? 

←

I believe it's a variant of the word "amuck".

[tarteausucre]

Always good to consume superior writing ... although not quite as good as food consumption

Recently, I went to Cardero's Restaurant. The view from the patio was unbeatable as always. I had my usual wok squid, panfried oysters, and Coal Harbour Burger with fries. The food and overall experience were exactly what I felt like on a sunny Saturday night. Cardero’s may not be highly innovative but it is a dependable choice for me.

Later on in the week, I went to Ocean 6 Seventeen. I had extremely high expectations so I suppose that it was to be expected that I would meet some disappointment. I would definitely go back but the meal definitely was lacking in some respects. I thought the decor inside was modern in a pleasing way and our server was attentive and friendly in all the right ways. However, I found the patio to be lacking. It was a lot smaller and less grand than I imagined it to be. I think they could have invested in better patio furniture.

As well, their "just-in-time" inventory system was a bit off putting. We arrived at 8pm and were informed that they only had one of each of their daily specials (sea bass and trout) and only one of their vegetarian lasagnes left. Since their menu isn't that extensive, this shortage was a bit of a problem especially since they didn’t seem to have the volume that night to justify it. My friends and I had to negotiate with each other in order to divide up those three remaining dishes amongst ourselves. Later on, when we asked for blankets when it started to get chilly we were informed that they were out of them (it seemed they only had a few). We were starting to see a trend ... When our meals eventually arrived, we were satisfied with our choices although I have to say that my trout was overcooked. We ended the night with a warm chocolate cake that was decent but definitely not stellar. Overall, I would recommend the restaurant for its superior location and reasonable menu selections. I’m sure that as time progresses they’ll be able to make the dining experience more seamless.

And finally, I had lunch at Shota Sushi on Yew in Kerrisdale. The decor was sharp, the service pleasant. My friends and I had the lunch special that included miso soup, salad, a spicy tuna taster, and one of their "famous rolls." Two of us had the Philadelphia Roll (salmon, cream cheese and avocado, smoked salmon, tobiko & green onion - somehow the chef forgot to include the avocado and the green onion) and the other had their chopped scallop roll. Lovely plating and a nice melding of flavours!

Am I allowed to include one more? Just got back from brunch at Aurora Bistro. The food service was a bit slow but my friends and I were in no particular hurry. I was thoroughly impressed by the food and the décor which was quite the achievement on their part considering I was grumpy from the weather. My friends and I shared the five spice doughnuts which were lovely – they tasted very much like the mini doughnuts I made last weekend (she adds smugly). My one friend had scrambled eggs with steamed asparagus and hollandaise sauce atop a sablefish potato hash. She seemed very pleased with her choice. My other friend and I had the black truffle scrambled eggs on puff pastry with roasted tomatoes and a drizzling of maple syrup. Delectable! A nice spot of food sunshine on an otherwise gloomy Vancouver day.

[canucklehead]

I'm flattered that you have included me in your list of work-geeks, truly I am.  But I can't take credit for "curio" unless it's a typo, or my memory is failing badly.  Could it have been Canucklehead, perhaps?

←

Yes, sorry it was Canucklehead. I remember laughing out loud when I read "curio". That's got to be the dorkiest word, ever.

←

Well - it takes one to know one. Actually - I used the word 'curio' in my personal ad too - but that is a forum of an entirely different nature.

Keeping things OT - the last three things I ate were lobster lobster and lobster.

[*Deborah*]

Last night: Burger Club, Rodeo Drive-In, Surrey. Drove 30 km or something for a burger that I took 6 bites of before I found the patty. Processed cheese food did not do it for me. Nice bun, though, and the company was fine.

Yesterday: Mooshmouse introduced me to Josephine's and we had soup and combo plates including rice with: beef stew, bbq chicken, a whole fish with veggies and fruit and ginger, and a dish with mung beans and a prawn, I wish I could remember what they were called....and then for dessert, a banana thingie wrapped up in a pastry wrapper, OMG delicious, and this cassava-coconut-condensed milk concoction that blew me right away. Keep me out of the Phlippines, I would eat that stuff all the time and explode!

Yesterday morning, Prado's minimalist environment for a very nice oatmeal cookie and a coffee to fortify us against the rigours of Costco. I think it worked out fine!

Edited June 6, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Chocoholic]

Friday night, usual takeout from Jumbo Sushi on 6th & Laurel. My 21 month old now recognises the place and starts enthusing "sussi!" when we pull up. Cheap and cheerful Japanese, but definitely a notch above the average hole in the wall Japanese place.

Sunday late afternoon we decided to try the new Red Door "Pan Asian Grill" on South Granville. This place has been open for about 2 weeks now after a record setting construction time of about 6 weeks I would say. Impressive given the fact that they completely tore down the old Bread Garden that was there. The space has the classic red/black colour scheme with mostly black furniture and red accents. Seating is a mixture of tables, bar stools and booths. Booths are good when eating with small kids, the Tiny But Messy One was corraled between his parents in the booth with enough space for toy deployment. Food wise we had potstickers that were decent if a bit bland, won ton soup in a great spicy broth with won tons that actually had discernible ingredients in the filling, a welcome change from the usual nondescript paste that you find in them. We also had the Singapore street noodles, Pad Thai and a shrimp curry. The Singapore noodles were my favorite with pieces of BBQ pork and bacon in a flavorful sauce on egg noodles. The Pad Thai was good, not my personal favorite but the little one had fun trying to fit as many noodles in his mouth as possible. The curry was a bit of a let down, it looked good with lots of crispy green beans but the sauce missed that lemon/spicy taste you'd expect from Southeast Asian curry.

This place has potential, they are definitely trying to market themselves specifically to the Earls/Cactus club style crowd I believe. Think of a cross between Wild Rice and Cactus Club. They have the slushy drink machine churning behind the bar and the black-clad servers cruising the room. I mean that in a good way though, I can see it becoming a regular stop since the food was good and authentic enough to make it worthwhile. They do take-out as well, which is great for weeknights.

One thing though, trying to eat slippery noodles and sugar peas covered in curry sauce with those laquered chopsticks does not work! I am quite adept with chopsticks but my side of the table was starting to resemble my son's side which he was expertly covering in noodles, vegetables and assorted bits of other food.

After Red Door we headed for Churrolicious to try the Churros and hot chocolate. Fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar dipped in hot chocolate is of course always good! Needless to say we came out of there with a comfortable sugar rush. Nice people behind the counter, they gave Chocoholic Jr a little iced chocolate milk, his first I might add. His eyes lit up and he refused to let go of the cup until he drained every last drop of it. The Churros are great, the hot chocolate could do with a version without milk, I remember the thick luscious melted chocolate I had in Spain for breakfast. That's what I am after, I guess I will have to keep melting bars of Scharffen-Berger at home.

[Zucchini Mama]

Hey Chocoholic,

We went to The Red Door as well the other day for lunch. I think you've nailed that one on the head-it will be very popular with the Earl's crowd. We had the House Tea Smoked Duck with flat grill pancakes. I had one piece of duck that was lovely, smokey and tasty, but most were tender but bland. I liked the pancakes, but they were very stingy with the amount. Overall, I felt it ws a fun and friendly place but over-priced.

We enjoyed the candied ginger and toasted coconut ice cream for dessert.

Zuke

[Ling]

My last 3:

Monday: Fiction. I loved the minty mojita I drank before dinner, though I'm not sure how it's different from a mojito. Tried several wines from the suggested pairings, too.

Wednesday: food at Tim Horton's at 3 in the morning. Why do people like their coffee? bleah....

Friday: food at Tim Horton's at 3 in the morning. Their maple pecan danish is not bad. Why are they always out of the chocolate croissant?

[Daddy-A]

Been a slow last few weeks ...

Last Friday: Arroy-D (Cambie & 15th) with the usual suspects, plus surprise visitor from Seattle rockdoggydog. Decent Thai ... had the pad thai and several other shared plates. Not great, but their 6.95 lunch special is good value, and I like their pad thai better than Thai Away Home's. A nice addition to the lunch repetoire around my office.

Wednesday AM: Phat for coffee and a chocolate croissant. They sure think their coffee is "a thing of beauty" (his words). Meh. But the croissant!! Yikes that was awesome!

Wednesday: The iCafe for HK style Western food (canucklehead's description, not mine.) Had Ox-tongue with rice and grilled(?) zucchini. What the f*** is the sauce on everything? I described it as a negative taste ... looks weird, and sucks the taste from the borscht (sans beets) right outta your mouth!

Thursday AM: Churroliscious. Nothing to say except: Fried dough ... Good!

Thursday" HSG for grilled salmon. Say Neil, was that Copper River Salmon?? I hear that stuff is AWESOME!! One of the very few restaurants in town where I really enjoy the salmon. Neil's kitchen knows how to treat the fish ... simply. Really great. And I'm not just saying that because of the blackmail photos Neil's keeping.

A.

[*Deborah*]

Here and there, where have I been?

Lunch today: Kolachy Shop. I know, I know, I sound like a paid shill (I'm not!), but I just love this store. Today, the Tuna Melt, which I am so into. I love tuna salad, and this one has mirepoix celery (you should have heard me trying to explain mirepoix to some guys who were behind me in the lineup! I only have a vague concept, not a proper definition). I never have celery in the house, so I never put it in my tuna salad, much as I like it. This (plus a spare for later) and the Black Bean Soup are just making my day.

Dinner last night: Jang Mo Jib with Mooshmouse and another woman of small stature and large appetite (I of course am large in stature AND appetite). After a nice circumnavigation of Stanley Park on the Seawall, we dragged ourselves to my first (!) Korean meal. The only dish I have any hope of spelling recognizably is bulgoki. It was delicious! We also had sweet potato clear noodles with vegetables and meat, and the rice dish with an egg and vegetables and meat that you mix up at the table and let crisp against the sides of the metal bowl. It all came with kimchi and bits of this and that (mmm, seaweed!) and including tea and one beer (a Heini in honour of Neil, Andrew and Jamie), came to $46. We were all quite stuffed, and could have taken home almost enough for someone's lunch if we wanted.

That's all for now...by this time next week I should have some more new places on my list!

[nwyles]

Yes Arne, that was Copper River. It was an "egullet" complimentary upgrade. It was really a bribe: hoping never again to have a post deleted. I see this morning that it did not work. Next time, Silverbrite ( Chum ) for you !

[Vancouver Lee]

My restaurant dining has slowed recently, now that I'm "on sabbatical" and not making any money. Old habits, however, die hard:

Last Sunday: Burger Club at the Rodeo Drive-In. In a word: awful. I had to take a shower when I got home. See the Burger Club thread for details.

Monday: The Waiterblog dinner at Fiction. As good as the Rodeo was bad.

Tuesday: Cheeseburger and fries at the restaurant in Boundry Bay Airport. I was studying hard and not paying any attention to my food, so I can't tell you much about it. I'll be starting a thread in Adventures in Eating called "The $100 Hamburger" shortly to discuss airport lunch counters/restaurants and will provide an update there next week.

Thursday: dinner at Incendio West. The Montreal pizza was as good as ever, but the surprise of the evening was how terrific the Pomodoro sauce on my son's Kid's Size Spaghetti was. Big chunks of fresh tomatoes in a beautiful home made sauce - very very good. Sadly, the service wasn't as good as the food, but whatcha gonna do when it's pizza you crave?

Friday: Lunch at Fatburger on Denman: Watch our Vera, there's a new sherriff in town. See the Burger Club thread for details.

[John Jameson]

Lunch at Feenies with my better half. A relaxed affair with a shared plate of steamed white asparagus, shaved pecorino and Parma ham followed by braised short rib over papardelli for me and steamed black cod for the missus.

All were great, ditto the service which was executed admirably by a chap named Frank...it helped that he wore a Claddagh ring (Claddagh = member of the Irish tribe)

Friday 730am, (middle of the night really) found me bleary eyed and bedecked in a seldom worn suit at the Four Seasons for a breakfast meeting with the President of Ireland.

Sounded important but it was really myself and 200 other business folk. I barely got to see her, however she was very impressive. Anyway, the Four Seasons put on a full Irish breakfast: black pudding, white pudding, pork sausage, rashers, grilled tomato, potato farl and scrambled eggs. It was a fairly decent effort...the farl was more mash potato than potato cake and the bacon (rashers) was cooked crispy which is fine for fatty cuts like streaky bacon but not for lean rashers.

Side note-I was delighted to host the Presidential entourage back at the Heather that night for a few bevies.

While in Seattle on business I found myself with enough time to visit Salumi. This tiny space, located on the rougher side of Pioneer Square, is Mario Batali's dads homage to cured meat. Mr. Batali took early retirement from Boeing and four years ago opened Salumi, a meat lovers Mecca.

http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/

All of the Salami and prosciutto are cured in house and are then sold by the 100g or used in the sandwiches. I was most curious about the Lamb Prosciutto but unfortunately this was sold out. All was not lost as I managed to secure a delicious sandwich of roast leg of lamb, herbed caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and fontina cheese on some sort of rustic loaf. Despite a mere 14 seats spread over 3 tables this marvel had already served over 200 guests that day.

This place is a must try the next time you are in Seattle.

Sean

[kurtisk]

Went to White Spot today for the first time in years, we shared a BC Burger (Bacon/Cheddar) and their 'Chicken Veronica Salad' which had greens, grilled chicken, red grapes and a balsamic dressing. The dressing could of used a bit more zing, but whatever... All in all, we needed a quick satisfying bite and it delivered.

At Benny's Bagels the other day I had a Reuben on their Focaccio bagel and it was very very good. I'm gonna say that again even; it was very very good! Good wad of sauerkraut, smoky meat and a hell of a juicy pickle. Sleeves of draft beer are $2.75 there, park yourself on their leafy patio and you're laughing!

Dre tossed me the Fillet mignon alsacein (beef tenderloin, soft munster cheese, sunchoke confit & fava bean ragout) and the Thon grillé libanais (grilled tuna, parsley & mint tabouli, with cumin, and smoked aubergine) at Chambar the other day, capped off with a Cooper's Sparking Ale which brought back many Australian memories. As always- Chambar kicks ass, but you already knew that didn't you?

Edited June 12, 2005 by kurtisk (log)

[*Deborah*]

Well, another pair to talk about:

My mum and dad called me a few weeks ago and said, "we're on our way to Oliver, birdwatching," I said, "Oh, go to Burrowing Owl for dinner!" and they did. So when she got back home, she started bugging me, "Oh, we have to go! you have to go! let's go!" So I just spent 12 of the past 36 hours driving to and from the South Okanagan. We had a late lunch in Oliver yesterday, at a place whose name I have blocked. We started with breaded calamari and a red pepper sauce. I have eaten calamari in dozens of restaurants, with and without breading and batter, with various sorts of sauce. I am not sure what they dipped these poor bits of squid in...I felt bad for it. When I could find it. Honestly, it just got worse from there. I ordered a hamburger and fries, and the burger was very charcoaly and dry, I ate about as much as that Rodeo Burger last week. I'll be at Vera's soon enough, I guess, my tastebuds are now crying piteously for a decent hamburger. My mum had an onion and cheese tart of some sort, served with Caesar, and neither was to her taste, either.

I felt bad for the server, she was anxious that we didn't like our meals. We didn't but we were horrible customers and lied in our teeth that we just weren't that hungry, and just wanted it to be over. Do I have to cease posting on eGullet for failing to tell the restaurant what they could do to improve? they have so very much to improve, I don't even know where they should start.

Happily, dinner was not a disappointment. We taxied down to Burrowing Owl and got a very nice table next to the fireplace. The room is HUGE! The ceilings are very high, wood, with beams, and painted designs...enormous light fixtures. Well, I mean the building itself is perched up on the hill like a fort, at the moment, I suppose in time it will be sweetly landscaped in but I half expected to see sentries pacing the roof... It's very theatrical! I don't mean to sound like I don't like the building or anything, it's just very...exuberant!

The first thing I saw upon entering the room is these cute little stuffed burrowing owls. Needless to say, I have one gracing my mantel as I type this.

Pierre looked after my mother and me superbly. We started out with the '02 (?? may have been 2000) Méritage. I called my dad in Alaska to let him know I had arrived safely and that we were about to dine (we always try to include my poor dad when he's away). He got to hear me say, "Oh, they're decanting the wine! wheee!" which I think made his day as much as it made mine. The wine was just delicious, and breathed out even better. Turns out that Pierre likely served us at la Crêperie long long ago...small world. My mother couldn't decide between several fabulous appetizers, and in the interest of being able to eat her dinner and still have room for dessert, simply had a mixed salad. I started with the scallop special appetizer, gorgeous scallops in their shells, with a Pernod and fennel sauce. The only problem was that there were so many of them! I ate 9 I think, but the last few were beyond me, I had duck on the way. My mother had the lamb main, and ate it all up. Which is unusual in itself, she has a very small appetite. I had seared duck breast, I can believe in God because he/she/it created duck, and people with the brains to prepare it in ways that please me. It was served with mission figs and I just ate the leftovers on toast for supper. For dessert, my mum had the warm chocolate velvet, and I had a gianduja truffle. You know, we didn't even discuss how good it was, but we ate it all, so I suppose it was OK.

Thus fortified, we got a few bottles of '03 Syrah and the aforementioned owl, as well as a stylish t-shirt for me (which you gulleters no doubt will see modelled at upcoming events ).

Edited June 13, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[snacky_cat]

Our kitchen has had a mysterious stink about it for the last few days (which we finally vanquished tonight after much scrubbing of EVERYTHING in sight, as well as a massive dump of expired things. NASTY!), so we have been eating out whenever possible.

Lunch today was at Go Fish with dear Papa. I had the catch o' the day - red spring salmon - on greens and it was lovely. The salmon was grilled to perfection - a little crispy thanks to the glaze on the outside, and soft and moist inside - and was the cutest shade of, uh, salmon pink. Dad had his usual halibut and chips and I swear I've never had the same chips twice at that place. I've been a few times, usually a month or so apart, and the fries seem to be completely different every time. Today they tasted almost like cassava fries, with a much different texture than the usual. They had that foamy/crispy cassava feel to them. Oh well, I liked 'em enough to steal a good number from Dad's plate.

Yesterday's dinner was Vera Burgers!!!. Mr Cat and I stopped by the Denman St locale on our peregrinatiosn through the West End. He was eyeing Fatburger but when I explained that one Kingburger contained pretty much my weekly fat intake, he relented and we hit Vera's. I had the turkey burger, he had the lamb, and they were yummy as usual.

Monday lunch was Matzusushi, my favourite cheap Japanese place in Burnaby and a common entry on my last-3-restos list. They were out of asparagus so I had to go without my beloved asparagus roll. They do it up right there - one long thick spear of asparagus, ensconced in a light, crispy tempura batter. At this littl eplace, the food comes right from the fryer to your tabel, so the tempura is still hot when you bite into it.

Sunday breakfast at Melriche's in Yaletown. The usual breakfast sandwich for me. I guess they were in a generous mood since it seemed to have twice the egg as usual. In my opinion, this is the greatest breakfast ever. You can hold it one hand and eat and turn the pages of the paper at the same time. All breakfast food should be so portable. The only way they coudl make it better woudl be to put it on a stick.

Saturday dinner at Chili Pepper House, whose virtues I extolled in the Chinese Take-out thread.

Saturday breakfast at Uprising Breads. I like their muffins, but beware of the low-fat muffins. When you peel the muffin paper off, half the muffin goes with it. That's probably why it's low-fat - it's nothing to do with the ingredients, it's the fact that you end up with 1/3 less muffin to eat. I prefer Sen5es muffins - they may be tiny, but there's none of that wretched muffin paper business to deal with. Stupid muffin paper.

I'm going to sniff around the kitchen now and check the status of Operation StinkBeGone 2005.