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

[Brenda]

Ali Baba Pizza in Victoria - I'd never ordered from them before - nice crisp, not too thick crust and intriguing toppings (smoked salmon, artichoke,and spinach

for example - sounds meh but is surprisingly good).

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Doesn't sound meh at all, sounds delicious, excellent combination! What kind of sauce do they use?

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It was a mildly spicy tomato sauce. I think it had a hint of cinnamon in it. They didn't slather it on though.

[snacky_cat]

Saturday morning at Seb's (see breakfast thread for customary laudatory remarks and heaping jam praise), Saturday night at Shanghai River (see Chinese in Vancouver thread for more kind words) and lunch today with PapaCat at Rehannah's Roti in Port Moody. It was written up in one of the local papers a few weeks back so we decided to check it out. For the last 8 years it's been 10min away from PapaCat's house but this was our first visit and certainly not the last.

The restaurant and the menu are both quite simple. The restaurant has a bit of pizza-shop vibe to it: a few small tables (3?) in front, a counter, and a magic window into the back where the food is prepared. The menu is basically Roti and Chubby. Any kind of roti you can imagine, and a lot of flavours of Chubby. Jamaican patties too, I think, and water and pop, but who needs anything more than roti and Chubby? Seriously.

I didn't check the prices and flavours of the veggie rotis (any section of a menu labelled "vegetarian" doesn't even register in my visual field), but meat rotis were around $6-$11, most around the $7 or $8 range. PapaCat and I both went for the goat roti (Goti?). You choose whether you'd like the curry mild, medium or hot. I recommend medium - it was perfectly spiced so that I enjoyed the flavour of the first 3/4 of the roti and then had burning ears for the remaining 1/4. PapaCat - the man who makes salsa by buying a huge can of jalapenos, dividing it into 1/6 and 5/6 and using the 5/6 for the salsa rather than the other way around - chose medium too and on the drive home said his mouth was tingling.

Thr rotis are massive - I'm a horrible estimator, but I'd say about 6" long, 4" wide, and 3" high. The roti bread is wonderfully puffy, hot and fresh, and the filling was delectable. There was so much of it I skipped a lot of the potato and just concentrated on the goat, which was cooked so wonderfully you could cut it with a gentle tap of the fork. Slow-roasted goat is delicious. I've been having these awesome goat-burps all afternoon. You get a great big slice of cantaloupe along with your roti too.

Anyway, if ye be passing by Port Moody way, stop by Rehannah's. It's on St. John St., north side, half a block west of the A&W. Open lunchtimes and early evenings. Rehannah is lovely, and seems to do a brisk take-out business (lots of folks she knew by name stopped in to pick up stuff while we ate). You can check out photos of various Trinidadian and Caribbean celebrties who have stopped by, like Buju Banton and Angelique Kidjo. And you can buy tickets to upcoming reggae shows and read The Source while you eat.

Rotis. Chubby. Reggae. Goat. That's all you need to know.

[Ling]

Dare I ask what's a "chubby"? I'm picturing extra-girthy roti?

[makanmakan]

if i'm not mistaken, i think the aforementioned "chubby" is a soft drink from the caribbean islands.

http://flakmag.com/misc/chubby.html

the bottles are wide in girth, indeed!

[Ling]

Oh right, my students are always drinking those! I think the shape of the bottle is super cute.

[snacky_cat]

makanmakan's got it. The Chubby is indeed a tiny soda. I didn't know about its Caribbean provenance, however! First time I ever saw them was piled high in a Loblaw's when I lived in Montreal.

I just love how it warrants its own line on the menu at Rehannah's. Water. Pop. CHUBBY.

[Vancouver Lee]

Dare I ask what's a "chubby"?

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Ling, you're going to give Arne's delete-button-finger a serious workout with that question...

[BCinBC]

Dare I ask what's a "chubby"? I'm picturing extra-girthy roti?

←

As you know Ling, it's all about the girth.

[Vancouver Lee]

My last three:

Monday night dinner was Japanese comfort food: take-out sushi, gyoza and chicken teriyaki from Hakari (on Cambie just north of Broadway). These guys turn out a consistent product that doesn't blow you away, but is a half-step above the three other discount sushi joints that are a few steps away. We ran out of our own soy sauce halfway through the meal and had to use the little packages that came in the bag - blech! It was way too sweet. I can never figure out how Hikari stays in business. I eat there probably once a week, at varying times of day, and I've never seen more than 3 tables occupied.

Sunday dinner was the "Autumn Reds" wine tasting dinner at Cru with Mr & Mrs Mooshmouse, Mr and Mrs BCinBC and *Deborah*. Despite having a pouning headache through most of the meal, it was excellent. I would post the menu but I inadvertantly recycled it this morning. Hopefully Mooshmouse's photos turned out and she can provide the complete rundown. The highlight for me was the first course: a smoked albacore tuna with roasted beets and shallots that was out of this world.

Sunday brunch was a la familie at Aurora Bistro, with the whole Mooshmouse clan. The service was a bit off and it was a bit weird being the ones getting annoyed by the overly-loud table next door, but I'm glad we finally experienced Aurora. I need to go back for a proper dinner, I think, to properly get a feel for the kitchen (somehow I don't think French Toast lets a chef stretch his/her legs). Nonetheless, the five spice donuts are outstanding (and if the plum sauce was available by the bottle, I'd buy a case) and the duck bacon was fun to try.

[Ling]

Today...(Saturday)

Lunch

Take-out from Parker Place Meats. Soy sauce chicken, roast pork (siew yook), char siew (bbq pork), and rice. My parents usually buy me lunch when they're grocery shopping, since I work on the weekends and don't really have time to cook something for myself.

Dinner #1

My parents got take-out for themselves tonight, and I ate dinner with them since I had a late reservation at Mistral. We had coconut curry brisket and Hainan chicken from Deer Garden in Richmond...like I've posted before, it's a bi-monthly thing.

Dinner #2

I ate dinner with a few friends at Mistral tonight. Reservations at 8:30pm, and we were seated at 9pm (drinks on the house due to the wait--they were incredibly busy!) We started off with a couple plates of the duck platter--pate, foie gras terrine, a slice of duck prosciutto, rillettes, onion jam, and cornichons. The favourite at the table was definitely the pate--it was coarse, and very flavourful. (I am unfamiliar with the term "crepine"--the pate was wrapped in some sort of fat that looks like caul fat to me, but I'm not sure exactly what type of fat is used in a "crepine".) The onion jam was sweet and appropriately tangy, and the rillettes were very smooth and a bit underseasoned. (I would also have preferred it to be more coarse, and less like a duck-flavoured butter. Not that there's anything wrong with that, fud. ) I drank a Grey Goose "martini" and a glass of the Noble Chardonnay.

We moved on to a few dishes of the mussels in saffron curry--large, plump orange mussels bathed in that rich, mildly spiced sauce. It was easily one of the best seafood dishes I've had recently. This was our favourite dish of the evening.

After the luscious sauce was mopped up, we had the warm goat cheese, salad, and prosciutto with pears and the pissaladiere. The goat cheese was a bit disappointing in that it wasn't as tangy as I had hoped it to be. The prosciutto was moist and of excellent quality. The pissaladiere was one of my favourites--an almost paper-thin crust laden with soft, browned tangles of onion redolent of anchovies.

The evening ended with coffee, the soft-centered chocolate cake and lemon tart with raspberry mousse--both ordered after reading the recommendations on Egullet. The texture of the chocolate cake was incredible--soft, delicate crumb that almost melted into a fudgy sauce with the ice-cream. The lemon tart was good, but I would have preferred a tangier curd. The crust is buttery, but not very crisp.

Edited November 20, 2005 by Ling (log)

[bill_n_opus]

... and lunch today with PapaCat at Rehannah's Roti in Port Moody. It was written up in one of the local papers a few weeks back so we decided to check it out. For the last 8 years it's been 10min away from PapaCat's house but this was our first visit and certainly not the last.

The restaurant and the menu are both quite simple. The restaurant has a bit of pizza-shop vibe to it: a few small tables (3?) in front, a counter, and a magic window into the back where the food is prepared. The menu is basically Roti and Chubby. Any kind of roti you can imagine, and a lot of flavours of Chubby. Jamaican patties too, I think, and water and pop, but who needs anything more than roti and Chubby? Seriously.

I didn't check the prices and flavours of the veggie rotis (any section of a menu labelled "vegetarian" doesn't even register in my visual field), but meat rotis were around $6-$11, most around the $7 or $8 range. PapaCat and I both went for the goat roti (Goti?). You choose whether you'd like the curry mild, medium or hot. I recommend medium - it was perfectly spiced so that I enjoyed the flavour of the first 3/4 of the roti and then had burning ears for the remaining 1/4. PapaCat - the man who makes salsa by buying a huge can of jalapenos, dividing it into 1/6 and 5/6 and using the 5/6 for the salsa rather than the other way around - chose medium too and on the drive home said his mouth was tingling. 

Thr rotis are massive - I'm a horrible estimator, but I'd say about 6" long, 4" wide, and 3" high. The roti bread is wonderfully puffy, hot and fresh, and the filling was delectable. There was so much of it I skipped a lot of the potato and just concentrated on the goat, which was cooked so wonderfully you could cut it with a gentle tap of the fork. Slow-roasted goat is delicious. I've been having these awesome goat-burps all afternoon. You get a great big slice of cantaloupe along with your roti too.

Anyway, if ye be passing by Port Moody way, stop by Rehannah's. It's on St. John St., north side, half a block west of the A&W. Open lunchtimes and early evenings. Rehannah is lovely, and seems to do a brisk take-out business (lots of folks she knew by name stopped in to pick up stuff while we ate). You can check out photos of various Trinidadian and Caribbean celebrties who have stopped by, like Buju Banton and Angelique Kidjo. And you can buy tickets to upcoming reggae shows and read The Source while you eat.

Rotis. Chubby. Reggae. Goat. That's all you need to know.

←

Good choice. I've been going there for many years. I always chuckle when I walk in because the entrance is so basic. Good rotis. More "fat" than "massive is my description ... I should actually say that they are my favorite roti in the city, delicious ... but I don't want Rehannah's head to get too big if that comment came out and she heard it.

If you like West Indian food another place to check out is Taste Nice.

I'll pull up the info from mytelus.com since i'm such a computer nerd.

Taste Nice Caribbean Restaurant

13448 108 Ave, Surrey, BC V3T2K1

(604) 581-2444

Up the hill when you get over the Patullo, hang a right at 108 (top of hill) and it's in the non-descript tiny strip-ish mall on the left.

As for the topic at hand, I can only remember the last meal we had "out" - or rather "take out".

McDonalds. 10 piece McNugget combo and a couple of cheeseburgers. The kids loved the McNuggets, fries and Diet Coke. What a surprise.

They had bites of one of my cheesburgers. I had the other one. The only thing that i'll eat from Mickey D's with some regularity. It's because of my old soccer days. An association of good times and greasy food.

[fud]

Friday night was Joe Fortes 1985 prix fix

---

They had clam chowder, salmon and a raisin bread pudding. We also had "sweet potato" fries. Yumm! The clam chowder was pretty good, but I wouldn't say it was in my top 5. The salmon was a little on the bland side (more salt!) but I will mention that the portions were INSANE. I was positively stuffed! Stomachs must have been bigger in '85. The rasin bread pudding was good too but they served it with creme when ice cream would have made the dessert. I don't blame them since they were probably serving a billion of these things that night.

Saturday afternoon I had sushi at Miyagi Sushi on Main.

---

It was a last minute decision due to time constraints and Toshi's being closed. The Tamago was pretty good. The Katsu don was a little drenched with sauce and the teryaki was way too sweet. But someone did go in and was raving about their bubble tea (?).

Saturday night

---

I was inspired by a previous thread and decided to make...

The cake consisted of a layer of beef, a layer of buffalo with red peppers, zuccini and onion. The layers were separated by a a layer of corn and yam mash.

I then covered the entire thing with garlic yam mash and "tried" to make it look like a cake. As you can see I am still a young grasshopper when it comes to cake making. Actually I ran out of yam mash too so it was a panicked move to ration it. I know what to do differently for the next one (I'm making another one? I must get my head examined). The white flakes on the outside are chicken poached in miso and shredded to look like coconut flakes.

Innanimate, your friend is nuts

[vanderb]

Calgary on Friday night to celebrate a recent promotion, went to my favourite special night out location - Muse. Once again a great dinner, excellent service and a good bottle of wine (although I wish Christian would get a few bottles under $40, I always feel like such a cheap skate ordering a $50 bottle).

Started with the trio of salmon, one was a nicely grilled piece of sockeye, another smoked salmon wrapped around avacado and third was a little fried salmon cake. My entree was the duo of lamb, first was lamb loin grilled medium rare, second was a fried lamb cake/fritter thing that is out of this world, accompanyment were roasted potatoes, mushroom ragu and green beans. Finished off with a cheese plate and cognac. I can't complain about anything or any part of the evening, outstanding as always.

Last Saturday finally tried the much ballyhooed Uptown Sushi on 11th Ave and 11th Street SW. It was as good as everyone else (chowhound.com) had said it was. Very fresh fish well presented and with prices I can afford weekly. I really enjoyed the ambiance and decor they had going, it's a small unpretentious space but it didn't feel small. Delivery for orders over $30 means there will be a fewer chinese orders to the door and more sushi in the near future.

[McTee]

Last 3 places:

1. George, for a drink after dinner at HSG. My first visit, and I thought it was a funky room, but the crowd made my stomach turn. Lots of "beautiful" people hanging out simply to be seen at the flavour of the month. The cocktail list was excellent and our two drinks were very well made and had lots of flavour. Expensive, but I work in hotels, so I'd be a hypocrite if I mentioned much more. Luckily, we were almost finished our drinks when the drunk guy came along and started telling us that he was ordering a Drambuie and soda because of the commercial on TV, and then started singing and generally acting like an idiot. Overall rating: Thumbs up on the drinks, Thumbs down on the atmosphere.

2. HSG - stumbled upon a large group and my immediate thought was "EGullet". Then I thought that maybe it was an early Christmas party or something. BUt once I saw a few faces that resembled the pics here and saw Daddy-A make a speech and get heckled, my original thoughts were confirmed. Hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

As for my experience - Started off with the Black & Blue Ahi Tuna, I remember it from a few years ago and still very good. I could do with a touch less sauce. Also started with the Sweet Potato Fries, always a good change of pace from the norm. Mains - My love had the Lamb Sirloin and I had the infamous Hanger Steak, my first. I would definitely order the steak again, as it had a great roasted garlic flavour, but I have to say that it has been hyped up on the threads here to the point that it couldn't possibly live up to its reputation. My love said that although she enjoyed the Lamb, she wouldn't order it again, but she isn't a big fan of aromatic spices as much as I am, so I would just chalk it up to the dish just not being for her. 1/2 Litre of Casillero del Diablo Carmenere, a very nice wine and excellent value.

Overall rating: Thumbs up on the food and wine.

3. Epic at 1st and Cypress, upstairs. Saturday night, it was slow when we arrived at around 9pm, but the place started to fill up while we were there, as they have a DJ playing on Fri./Sat. starting at 10pm for the cocktail crowd.

Dinner - Started with the Grilled Portobello Mushroom with Zucchini Risotto. A past favourite and it delivered again. Also started with the spinach salad with Brie wrapped in Prosciutto - yum! and the cured beef with arugula which was very good as well. Mains were the Veal and Lamb Sausage pasta which was a bit oily, but it was supposed to be, so it was very good and the Gnocchetti with Ricotta and Bacon which was very rich, but very, very nice.

Had a 1/2 L of Negroamero, which my love wasn't too fond of, but I liked it.

Overall rating: Thumbs up on the food and service (which is infinitely improved from opening). The food is very rustic in presentation and the flavour is there.

Now my vacation is officially over, so back to the grind and eating in the cafeteria.

[*Deborah*]

Sorry you didn't introduce yourself, McTee!

Hope we weren't too loud...

[vanderb]

Friday night just outside Banff, Alberta - 7000 feet above sea level at the Sunshine Inn, Sunshine Ski resort. It's not really so much about the food up here as it is the skiing and the hot tub. I guess if you've got the cash for the Eagles Nest dinning room there are some great meals to be had, but after the cost of the room I'm stuck in the lounge. Did bring along some great Happy Days chevre frais and a very nice Quebecois goat cheese (rolled in vegetable ash) to have post skiing and pre dinner.

For dinner stuck to a bowl of the potato leek soup and half a pizza (spinach, chicken and roast garlic). Not the best bowl of soup nor the best pizza but the early season skiing was great and even better was just getting away for a couple of days.

[John Jameson]

On a foggy evening in London back in the winter ’86, I found myself in the Grill Room at the Dorchester, shaking hands with Anton Mosiman.

I was a commis waiter at Maxim’s de Paris, sister restaurant to the great Maxim’s in Paris, made famous by Toulouse Lautrec, beloved by exiled Russian blue bloods, and frequented by allied officers during the 1st world war.

Pierre, another commis, had agreed to cover my shift out of a sort of kindred spirit, as we were both outsiders in that very French world. I was the only non French national in the entire dining room and Pierre, with a Vietnamese mother and a Legionnaire father killed at Dien Bien Phu, had a face that reminded the French too much of that humiliating defeat.

Seated at my table were Francis Brennan, the owner of the Park Hotel in Kenmare, Ireland’s only Michelin star property, Liz O’Mahony HR manager for Dromoland Castle in Co.Clare and Dan Mullane owner of the already famous Mustard Seed Restaurant in Co. Limerick. I was 18 and completely out of my league but they were gracious enough to nurture me. At a pre-dinner drink at the Ritz they gently pointed out that my cardigan would not pass muster with the Grill Room Maitre D’ and then procured a jacket from the concierge.

It was that very night, as I stared at the venison medallions, that I decided to make the Hospitality business my career and through the many highs and lows I have constantly reflected back on that night and remembered why I chose this path.

Another such night came on Friday, November 18th, when I looked up from the lobster terrine, sipped my champagne and looking down the length of interesting characters at my table, saw Rob Feenie and Charlie Trotter fussing over plates.

My favourite dish was the lobster terrine whilst my least favorite was the quince jelly and candied celery. I’d love to give more details, but a combination of great conversation and too much alcohol robbed me of the ability to recall exact details. Suffice to say that from now on I have another evening to add to the Dorchester night.

A week prior, whilst in Vegas, I had two great meals. The first at Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak and the second at Kerry Simon’s eatery.

Craftsteak is a steakhouse without the “old boys club” feel. Earlier this year I dined at Colicchio’s casual New York spot “CraftBar” and was blown away by his “hen of the woods and raclette panini” and so I was expecting excellence and that is exactly what I got. Two of us shared the porterhouse and the third had the hangar steak. All were delicious but the kicker was the marrowbone that accompanied the porterhouse. The marrow once removed melted over the meat for an unbelievable flavor. Only one of us ordered dessert, (vanilla crème brulee) and instead of just the extra spoons that we had asked for, our server brought us an extra brulee. A nice touch, but we are as yet unconvinced that she wasn’t just avoiding the spectacle of three red faced Limerick men brawling over the last spoonful of a fancy custard.

The next night saw us at the Hard Rock Hotel, across the hallway from NOBU, at Simon Kitchen & Bar. I’d eaten there before and knew that this kitchen was definitely worth a visit. Pumpkin soup with crispy sage and applewood smoked bacon to start, meatloaf perched atop garlic mashed potatoes for an entrée. At the end of the meal the server placed a giant bowl of blue candyfloss in the center of the table. As most of us had not touched/tasted candyfloss since our childhood, we had a good laugh….in hindsight our giddiness probably had more to do with the free pour Bombay & tonics. The guys in the booth next to us looked vaguely familiar and we fell off our seats when we realized that they were the lads from Twister Sister. I knew that things were about to go pear shaped when one amongst us placed some floss on his head and started singing “we’re not gonna take it”.

I spoke to Kerry about his Iron chef experience (aired last week) and his competitor Cat Cora….he thoroughly enjoyed himself aided in no small part by his victory. He also mentioned that he has had meetings with a certain Vancouver hotel re: opening a Simon Kitchen & Bar here. I’d be delighted to see it happen.

Cheers,

Sean Heather

[Ling]

Last Saturday

Spicy Szechuan in Richmond

I had a few take-out dishes (i.e. left-overs from my parents' lunch)--a deep-fried donut-like pastry, filled with minced meat and onion. It was tasty...but then again, most meaty fried pastries are tasty.

There were also two sticky rice rolls wrapped around Chinese donut and shredded "pork fluff" (dried, heavily seasoned pork). I also had maybe five potstickers, three fried chicken wings, and a styrofoam container with two kinds of noodle--one was the thick Shanghai noodle dish, and the other was "neen go"--a "rice stick" noodle that's sliced into flat ovals.

Monday night

Pacific Crab and Co.

Had dinner here with a few friends b/c Mondays is "Buck-a-Shuck" night--they have a few selections of westcoast oysters for $1 each. A pretty good deal, considering my friends and I often haul a cooler down to Lobsterman and buy over a hundred oysters for a little less than that. (Also, someone invariably gets hurt after downing too many beers and then trying to shuck oysters...so why not pay a pro to do it for you? ) I had six Fanny Bays, and six Chef's Creek (I preferred the latter, although all the oysters were nice and fresh.) I also had lobster with roast potatoes and vegetables, and also a glass of Chardonnay from BC--I think it was Blue Mountain. My friends had the bouillabaise (she has not read Bourdain), my best friend had the burger (the meat looked grayish and he said it was a bit dry), his gf just had oysters and the cumin yam fries (comes with chipotle aioli...quite good). And my other friend, whom I'm seeing (??) had the crab, oysters, and seafood chowder. The food was decent, but I stuck to a "safe" choice of steamed lobster after reading some lukewarm comments about this place.

Thursday night

Shanghai Wind

I had take-out from Shanghai Wind tonight...got there at 8:20 p.m. and the restaurant was still packed! Ordered the lion's head meatball dish, the xiao long bao, and the seafood hot and sour soup. I prefer the vegetarian version of the soup...I love shrimp and scallops, but it was strange eating them in hot and sour soup. The lion's head meatballs were the size of baseballs! I've never seen such...BIG...balls. They were quite rich and the texture of the meat was very smooth. The meatballs were studded with waterchestnuts and the broth was rich and savoury. Came with bok choy, of which I did not partake (eww...healthy green things.) We ate and watched the third Harry Potter, in preparation for the fourth one, which we'll see soon.

(P.S. He did the dishes. 2 points!)

Edited December 2, 2005 by Ling (log)

[McTee]

Had dinner at Tapastree the other night, despite memories of 2 years ago, when the menu bored me silly and the food was along the lines of something I could make myself.

Once again, same old menu. Ended up getting Bruschetta, Grilled Asparagus, Beef Tenderloin, Duck Confit and a Spicy Tuna Tartare.

Bottom line is that until they change the menu, I won't be returning. What I would love to do is see the restaurant go up for sale. I would jump at the opportunity to buy the place, make a couple of much needed changes (cocktail list, smallwares, no more paper on the tables, etc...) and really revive it.

But as for now.........Tapastree bores me. It baffles me how they can get such consistent praise.

[Brenda]

Had dinner at Tapastree the other night, despite memories of 2 years ago, when the menu bored me silly and the food was along the lines of something I could make myself.

Once again, same old menu.  Ended up getting Bruschetta, Grilled Asparagus, Beef Tenderloin, Duck Confit and a Spicy Tuna Tartare.

Bottom line is that until they change the menu, I won't be returning.  What I would love to do is see the restaurant go up for sale.  I would jump at the opportunity to buy the place, make a couple of much needed changes (cocktail list, smallwares, no more paper on the tables, etc...) and really revive it.

But as for now.........Tapastree bores me.  It baffles me how they can get such consistent praise.

←

[Brenda]

Oops messed up there. Sorry folks

McTee, about your comments re: Tapastree, that's why a few of us mentioned it would be a good candidate for the TV show "Restaurant Makeover."

[fud]

My Last three meals? I was taking a class all week and found no time to cook/eat but..

Wednesday night - Brie/Goat cheese with Pistachios and walnuts, breaded and deepfriend on a bed of greens and an apple cider vinegarette with pear and kiwi salad (I had all the cheese assembled and frozen in the freezer, these 'cheese discs' are THE best. You can freeze hundreds of them and use em here and there.

Thursday night - Delissio - 20 minutes in the oven but I topped it with some leftover Cambazola (mmm)

Friday night - Company Christmas party at the Hyatt. It was standard boofay (buffet for people who can spell) affair. Roast beef, mushroom stuffed ravioli, about a zillion different salads and a salmon roulette (this was realy good). Plus a dessert buffet which was completely annihilated by the time I got to it.

[*Deborah*]

This past week has been just a daze, but I know I haven't been eating much at home (currently required to stay hyperclean for showings) so I must have been eating out?

Yesterday was Panago chez Mouse; Hawaiian and BBQ Chicken. Hit the spot.

Friday was...oh I didn't eat dinner Friday.

Thursday, following a few drinks at the Hammy, was pasta and more pizza at Marcello's on the Drive, my inaugural visit. Doubtless not my last, as I will soon be moving not too far away...I enjoyed the pasta v much: tender and very evidently homemade, you can't fake that texture, really nice, in two red/rose sauces, I found it v enjoyable. We also had a pizza to share, which...I'm not such a thin crust girl really, I know a lot of people consider it the epitome of pizza goodness, but I like a regular kind of crust a bit better. So, for me, it's a bit meh. I'll likely stick with that lovely taglietelle, another time. Comfort food.

Wednesday, again the HSG! an R&B lager and some of those award-winning yam fries with snacky-cat. We happen to live in the same building, although not for long, and had probably our last neighbourly drinks.

Sunday for my first showings, I had breakfast at the HSG around 5:30 or so...I had been cleaning all weekend, basically. I was going to go to Diner and try it out, but the Hammy is two blocks closer to my house, so it won due to my extreme tiredness. Barrett found me a table in the corner where the Grey Cup people wouldn't disturb me unduly, and I had a half-litre of Mission Hill Reserve Shiraz (? I think) and then Steve recommended me some very tasty Beef Wellington that was on the fresh sheet. The pâté was just lovely, with truffles, and I managed to eat almost the whole plate, which is usually v hard with their portions. Housecleaning will do that to you, I guess.

I don't regret my forthcoming move (yeah, but wait till the renos start! then I will) but I will regret not having the Hammy two short blocks away. Proximity to good food is one of my favourite things about Yaletown.

[Daniel]

last place I ate?

in the lunchroom at work where a good friend of mine made me a birthday cake with three layers using five different types of meat (short rib, chuck, sirloin, chorizo, turkey) and parsley mashed potato frosting.

some people do know me too well.

←

Wow.. What a good person you must be, to have inspired such an amazing thing.. Can you go into further detail about the different layers.. Or can I purchase some literature on this item, this thing needs its own thread.. Why isnt your friend on egullet..

[tarteausucre]

I haven't contributed to this thread in a while but here goes:

I went to Culinaria for lunch on Wednesday. I've been meaning to go for quite some time. I thought that the meal was lovely and very reasonably priced. I had the salmon with hollandaise sauce and sauteed vegetables. My friends had the lamb tenderloin with apple and squash gnocchi, and the lobster clubhouse with fries and lobster bisque. Our server was pleasant although exceedingly nervous. All in all, a good place for lunch.

Friday night I went to Cioppino's since I had been craving good pasta as winter has made itself increasingly more apparent. I started with the scallops with risotto, followed by the agnolotti of beef short ribs, finished with the milk chocolate mousse with raspberry cream centre, sour cherries, and mango coulis. My friend also raved about her garganelli witih lobster and crab in tomato-cream sauce. I am never disappointed when I go to Cioppino's. The service is impeccable, the ambiance cozy, and the food divine.

Lastly, I had brunch at Cafe Campagne in Seattle yesterday. I had their "Oeufs en meurette" which consisted of poached eggs with onions, bacon, mushrooms in a red wine and foie gras sauce. The eggs were served atop garlic croutons. There were also pomme frites on the side with garlic lemon aoili. Thoroughly enjoyable.