Main Street

[nwyles]

I met the owners of Wingnuts on Main St. the other night. I had not even heard of it. HAs anyone been ? I drove by and it looked like they did takeout ad dine in.

[Ling]

i used to go to this little place on 6th and main called the whip.. very cool vibe there and the food was delicious.  haven't been for a while tho.. has anyone been?  is it still good?

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My friends went there last week and they enjoyed it.

ETA: I'm going to Aurora Bistro tonight--I guess I'll be posting pictures in this thread.

Edited April 22, 2005 by Ling (log)

[canucklehead]

I met the owners of Wingnuts on Main St. the other night. I had not even heard of it. HAs anyone been ? I drove by and it looked like they did takeout ad dine in.

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Yeah - the wings are good. They have a wall of fame with people who can down large quantities of ther uber-spicy wings. I went and had, I think 18 wings, not the super spicy, so I did not make the wall of fame.

The night that I was there were a couple of teenagers who were so baked - they smelled like reefer madness. They had a tonne of wings - then they wobbled across the street to McD's. Oh... those days are behind me.

[peppyre]

Wing Nuts is pretty good. I haven't been in a while but the hot wings are just Frank's Red Hot tossed on deep fried wings. It's a deep fried heaven.

[Memo]

Aurora Bistro - to me it is the epitomy of a modern "Canadian-proud" restaurant. I sure hope Chef Jeff re-introduces the root-beer-braised short ribs!

[Zucchini Mama]

The King's (Wing) Nuts

Whenever I eat chicken on the bone, I think of Henry the Eighth. If he were alive today, I'm sure he would gnaw on gargantuan piles of chicken wings. If he was the king of England in 2005, maybe he would have tried to legalize polygamy so he could have the best of six wives all at the same time. At Wing Nuts on Main Street, there would have been enough sauces for them all. Jane Seymour, prim and proper, would probably have gone for the simply seasoned. Let's see, Spanish Catholic Catherine of Aragon would have gone for something spicy but not vulgar, the original hot would have suited her. What about the bewitching Anne Boleyn? She would have dipped, for sure. Probably the Honey Double Dijon, licking the blue cheese sauce off that sixth finger she tries so hard to hide. (She's a woman after my own decadent heart.) The paragon of virtue, Katherine Parr? She would have secretly liked the Chicken Teriyaki. That saucy wench, Catherine of Aragon would have gone for the messy spicy lip-burning hottest wings they got. His sperm-challenged highness would probably have one of each-he's the kind of guy who had to have a finger in every pot. Anne of Cleves? Peanut Thai for her. There are even more flavors than this...room for a couple more wives, but who's counting?

We've developed a habit of a take-home Wing Nuts dinner every second Wednesday, with either apple cider or ginger beer. It gives you that "Hey, we're in university, hanging out in a bar" feeling. (Mid-life crisis, moi?) Add some of your own vinegar to the dill coleslaw and skip the fries. My faves so far are the honey double Dijon and the Peanut Thai. They also have a sign that says "new menu coming soon" which has been there for two months.

P.S. If you thought deep fried Mars Bars were an urban myth check the chalkboard, Jock, and keep it under your kilt. Yechhh!

Zucchini Mama

[Ling]

^They have deep-fried Mars bars there? I've had deep-fried Oreos and deep-fried Mars bars....I like the Oreos better. I haven't had chicken wings in awhile. Egullet meet?

edit: On second though, I'm a really messy eater, and I don't want to see pics of me with sauce smeared all over my face floating around on the Internet.....

Edited April 23, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

P.S. If you thought deep fried Mars Bars were an urban myth check the chalkboard, Jock, and keep it under your kilt. Yechhh!

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Really????!!!!! I'm one of those who thought this was a myth.....I've got to check that out.

[peppyre]

So, shall we say next Friday night after drinks at Wing Nuts? I think there are people that would pay to see Lorna with deep fried wing gook smeared all over her face

It's close to my place if you want to crash again.

[Ling]

I had dinner with my friend last night at Aurora Bistro. The service was great, and the food was even better than I expected it to be. (And I had pretty high expectations, considering their recent award from EnRoute Magazine. )

Since I had one of our infamous "mafia" lunches yesterday (lots of food at Lilykate and Ganache Patisserie), I wasn't especially hungry, and so my friend and I ended sharing an appetizer and dessert.

The manager, Curtis, recognized me from Egullet and kindly introduced himself. He sent us a beautiful amuse of seared scallop on fava beans. The scallop was cooked perfectly (imo) to medium.

The bread was served with a lemon/thyme butter.

We started with the Lentil Flour Crusted Fanny Bay Oysters with curried aioli and plum chutney--crisp coating, soft, creamy interior. I ordered this because Lori mentioned it in her review, and I'm really glad I did. I thought the sweet and tart chutney with the curry aioli really worked well together, and I thought the Indian influence in this appetizer was quite creative. This was my favourite dish of the night. With this, I drank the Kettle Valley Viognier, and this was my favourite wine of the evening too. I apologize for not being confident enough to post my wine notes--still very much the wine newbie, you know!

Chef Jeff came out and introduced himself at this point. He was really friendly and mentioned that he would be posting on Egullet soon.

My friend had the Sweet Potato and Balsamic Caramelized Onion Strudel with morel mushroom sauce. I thought this dish was stunning--the cubes of sweet potato were mounded high and encased in a buttery pastry that had been braided across the top. The menu on the website lists a morel mushroom sauce, but I think I remember tasting porcini instead....could've been all the wine I was drinking, though.

With my main course, I had two glasses of wine--the Stag's Hollow 2003 "Simply Noir" and what I believe was the Joie Chardonnay (sorry, I can't seem to find it on the wine list online). (And yes, I know the rule about switching from red to white, but I've read about Joie and I wanted to try one of their wines...so again, I apologize if I'm making you wine enthusiasts out there cringe! ) I ordered the Potato Wrapped Smoked Sablefish braised organic greens and a Saltspring Island mussel and winter vegetable chowder--what I believed to be Aurora Bistro's signature dish (which Curtis later confirmed. ) I can see why the restaurant can't seem to take it off their menu--the lightly smoked fish met my fork with a bit of resistance (which I prefer, as opposed to having fish "flake" easily...I tend to think fish is a bit overdone at this point.) A wide strip of potato is wrapped around the fish, and then the whole thing is fried. It looked like a golden brown parcel sitting atop the spinach. I enjoyed this very much.

My friend drank a couple of beers throughout the evening.

For dessert, I asked the chef if he would kindly choose for us, and we got the apple cake with creme fraiche, dried apple chip, and caramel sauce. I liked the contrast between the soft, cooked apples and the almost-crunchy bottom of the cake.

I drank the Quail's Gate 2003 Optima, and the chef graciously sent the birthday boy a glass of the Domain Combret 2001 Gamay Icewine, if I recall correctly. (Slurring words and generally acting like a fool at this point. )

After dinner, Curtis chatted with us for a few minutes, and told us about the other items on the menu. I had a few cups of an excellent, organic coffee from Origins on Vancouver Island.

We were in the restaurant for just over three hours--it was a long, leisurely meal and definitely one of the best dining experiences I've had this year. I'll definitely be back.

Edited April 24, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Ling]

So, shall we say next Friday night after drinks at Wing Nuts?  I think there are people that would pay to see Lorna with deep fried wing gook smeared all over her face

It's close to my place if you want to crash again.

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Evidently, based on last night's drunken pictures, I am horribly unattractive after a few drinks. (And probably even more so with sauce on my face.)

[Ling]

Sorry, I'll do that this afternoon (have to go to work now).

I think the pictures will work if you have an Imagestation account; you might have to hit the "Refresh" button.

Edited April 24, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

About 10 years ago, an accomplished chef and part-time food writer friend of mine told me about Deep Fried Mars Bars. He had never seen then, but had been told they were somewhat of a delicacy overseas. Since then, I have kept my eyes and ears open waiting to find somewhere here in Canada that offered this desert, to no avail. Until, that it, Zucchini Mama posted on Friday that Wing Nuts Wings (4444 Main Street) offered it. I hustled my rapidly expanding butt there just as soon as I could, camera in tow, to satisfy my curiousity.

Here it is, fresh out of the fryer:

Notice that they dust it with icing sugar.

Another view, cracked open to see the gooey centre....

What does it taste like? Interestingly enough, not like a Mars bar at all - more like a chocolate donut. I think you would have to really love fried food to enjoy this desert, but if you like donuts it's worth a try. For only $2.49 (not including tax and any increase in your life insurance premiums), what the hell?

I also tried the wings, and quite enjoyed them. I messed up my order and ended up getting plain wings (i.e. no sauce) so it wasn't the best sampling, however the wings were nice and juicy with a crisp exterior, and really really salty. I didn't think I liked salty wings, but I sure do now... The wings are fairly small, but I think I'll give them another try, next time with sauce.

Edited April 24, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[Vancouver Lee]

Oh, they also make a Deep Fried Snickers bar, for those of you who prefer nuts in your chocolate.

[Ling]

^That deep-fried Mars bar looks better than the one I ate on the Steveston wharf. The one I had hadn't been fried long enough, and wasn't gooey in the middle. I bought one the day they opened though, so maybe (hopefully) they've got the frying time/temperature figured out.

(On a sidenote--can everyone see the pictures from Aurora now?)

[DarkDante]

^That deep-fried Mars bar looks better than the one I ate on the Steveston wharf. The one I had hadn't been fried long enough, and wasn't gooey in the middle. I bought one the day they opened though, so maybe (hopefully) they've got the frying time/temperature figured out.

(On a sidenote--can everyone see the pictures from Aurora now?)

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Yup, they look great! They are on my To-Eat list.

[Zucchini Mama]

So the Wing Nuts new menu has come out. More deep-fried chocolate (see the sweets thread) and new flavors for wings.

I asked to taste the "Togorashi", which is a dry spice mix they put on the wings-kind of like gomashio with chilis-very hot and salty. Next time I'm going to orger a half dzen of those to try, but this time I tried the Taj Mahal Tandoori-a bit weak-it's going in the right direction, but needs more oomph and depth. It tasted good when I put a little of the Thai peanut on top. I love the Spicy Thai peanut and think it's even better now that they cover them with pieces of crushed peanuts. I think I'm going to ask for even more crushed peanuts next time. Drool!

We had three dozen wings. My son ate one dozen by himself!!! E-gulleter in the making!

Zuke

Another interesting new flavor: Kung Pow Plum. Did I mention they serve beer?

[Zucchini Mama]

Had lunch at Chutney Villa today at Main and Broadway. I love this place and go often, but I must say it's starting to look a bit frayed around the edges. It needs a bit of a shot in the arm. I wish they would experiment with a few different lunch specials. I had the chicken curry today again-very flavorful and rich. I love the cranberry chutney and the coconut chutney. I had the fresh lime juice mixed with soda water, which is a refreshing drink to have with the curry. However the paint was starting to peel off the sugar bowl and the bathrooms just really need a makeover. I really want this place to survive, so I hope they can experiment a bit, give it a bit of TLC and keep it going.

Zuke

[PlanitV]

Romance at Aurora

When you have had a hard week, you ask your boyfriend to take you to Aurora Bistro. P's next door at Pulp Fiction books while I preview the new wine list. Now I'm excited. This wine menu is all B.C. and I like the way they've hi-lighted some of their favorite choices. There is a good selection by the glass so you can try a few different ones and then pop down to Dunbar and 41st to buy a bottle or two. I can tell by the new menu they have developed a strong identity and made a stronger commitment to local wine and food. There is even a list of B.C. cheese, with their own little sides which bring out the unique flavors of each one. I'm over the moon!

I ordered the Salad of hazelmere Organic Beets and Blood Oranges with arugula and chive blossom vinaigrette. It amuses me so much that pickled beets are given such rarified treatment here. They are cut into thick strips and stacked up log-cabin style with an accompaniment of three tiny pieces of blood orange). My mom's pickled beets were really too beautiful to keep in the root cellar. When we ate them, they weren't given there own course, just plopped on the side of the plate where they seeped into the edges of the potato salad, tingeing it bright purple. For this reason, and for the earthy sweet and tart bite they deserve this blood-orange duet on their own plate.

I bet that's blood orange peel in the butter and bloody good bread, too.

I start with the Cipes "Aurora" Brut: floral, dry, light and summery. That's because its Summerhill Pyramid winery- can you feel the vibrations? We share Fanny Bay Oysters breaded with lentil flour and served with curried aioli and plum chutney. Yes! I could have stopped right there and ordered two more plates. P's warm goat cheese and pear slice were classic. He had that sexy cherry red sports car blush. I'm not even going to tell you what it is, because (even thought I can't afford it) I want it all!!!! This is why I could never be a food critic. Je suis méchant.

For my main course, I had a glass of the Hainle Zweigelt, which is fantastic. I find there's a bit of a longstanding wine storage issue here at Aurora. Their reds are almost always served a touch warmer than they should be. Anyway, the Hainle is a big surprise. It's got tons of big Bing Cherry on the nose and more weight than usual in this varietal. Full of bon ami.

My vegetarian strudel was decadent. Flaky pastry criss-crossed over sweet potato and onion mixture that weren't baked to a mush the way it is when I try to do it. The morel sauce kept it savory-balanced it out and gave it elegance. P. loved his halibut.

For dessert I had the Vanilla Bean Pannacotta with pistachio cream, chocolate salad, and pistachio brittle. I love the idea of a chocolate salad!!! The contrast in textures were what makes it a stellar dessert-creamy, wobbly, crunchy.

So much cheese to choose from, so little time. My partner in fromage had Meadow Mountain sheep cheese with a golden fig compote. The descriptions of the types of cheese were very helpful.

I'm so glad Aurora is in our neighborhood. It's casual enough for the guy at the next table to wear a baseball cap, but fancy enough to feel like a real treat. The decor is witty and unpretentious in its glitzed up plywood kind of way. We gotta go here more often! It's good for our relationship!

Zucchini Mama says eat yer chocolate greens.

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Quite right, ZM, we had a wonderful evening at Aurora. Great food and wonderful ambiance and a good chat with Curtis and Jeff. Thanks Daddy-A for the directions to this thread.

[chester copperpot]

I may be alone hear but I had a terrible experience at Aurora. I even went so far as to say to the the waiter that I would eat whatever the chef to cook for me, anything that he thought was outstanding. I got a course of Beet Batons with a watery orange vinaigrette. Thats it nothing else. I am big fan of less is more, but come on!

if you want to spend that kind of money on dinner, skip Main street and go to Chambar, Cru or Fiction, all in the same price range, but with food executed at a more refined level.

sorry to those that loved Aurora, maybe I was there on an off night?

Edited May 23, 2005 by chester copperpot (log)

[Zucchini Mama]

Hi Chester,

Love your avatar. Are you related to Rodney Copperbottom? You've got to give us a bit more to go on, love. What were the other courses like? If you're gonna give us a rant, go for the gusto! See Joanne Kate's review in Saturday's Globe re: "Czehoski needs to stop playing games." She is very bitchy, but at least she paints a picture of why she's got her ginch in a knot. (My friend Donna tells me thongs are not all they're cracked up to be.) But I digress.

We need more info. Otherwise we don't have a clue what you're talkin' about.

Zuke

P.S. Beets appear to be quite a contentious ingredient:

"Who in their right mind would let them put a big pile ofcubed white beets beside a small lemon semi-fredo."-Joanne Kates, ibid.

I myself, always insist on a side of beets with my semi-fredo.

Also, sometimes simple ingredients, simply done are best. People want razzamatazz and glamour, but I've seen too many meals overworked because of these expectations.

Edited May 23, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[chester copperpot]

Hi Chester,

Love your avatar. Are you related to Rodney Copperbottom? You've got to give us a bit more to go on, love. What were the other courses like? If you're gonna give us a rant, go for the gusto! See Joanne Kate's review in Saturday's Globe re: "Czehoski needs to stop playing games." She is very bitchy, but at least she paints a picture of why she's got her ginch in a knot. (My friend Donna tells me thongs are not all they're cracked up to be.) But I digress.

We need more info. Otherwise we don't have a clue what you're talkin' about.

Zuke

P.S. Beets appear to be quite a contentious ingredient:

"Who in their right mind would let them put a big pile ofcubed white beets beside a small lemon semi-fredo."-Joanne Kates, ibid.

I myself, always insist on a side of beets with my semi-fredo.

Also, sometimes simple ingredients, simply done are best. People want razzamatazz and glamour, but I've seen too many meals overworked because of these expectations.

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I am all for simple, I am. But there were just so many blaring errors.

the duck for example was over cooked, sauce had been put down either too early or on too hot of a plate. It came with a pomme darphin or was it maxim? maxim i believe, that was cooked at too high of a temperature, the potato was the colour mahogany, ever eaten a maxim that colour? Bitter and acrid come to mind.

Am i overly picky? I don't know, there was just sooo much hype about this place, it seemed Vancouver critics kept falling all over themselves about this place. Did I eat in the same restaurant as them?

At least with Joanna Kates, she is critical, but she is pretty much on the mark most of the time. I have worked in both Vancouver and Toronto restaurants and find the critics as a whole in Toronto, more objective and professional. (with maybe the exception of James Chatto). I left the restaurant wondering if critics in Vancouver were starved for new blood that anything could create a frenzy? I hope I am wrong.

[Zucchini Mama]

Dear Chester,

It sounds like they were having a bad night. Did you complain? It seems like the kind of place where they would take complaints seriously, and try to make amends.

Zuke

Edited May 24, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[BCinBC]

Had one of the lunch specials at Budapest yesterday; my first foray into Hungarian cuisine was "Sz... cabbage" with pork paprikash. The Sz... is a region or county - or possibly a tribe? - in Hungary. My understanding of the proprieter's answer obviously was not complete.

Anyway, the dish was kind of like a stew of shredded cabbage and tender braised chunks of pork. Spiced very nicely, though there was no discernable heat to the dish despite the brick-red colour of the broth (which I assume was due in part to paprika). In fact the broth was delicious, mopped up with bread. Cabbage is funny, I prefer it cooked over raw, even though it loses it's texture. But in this dish it still had some body, it was not mushy.

I will definitely return to try the sausage platter on their regular menu. And there's more pork paprikash in my future as well... Another source of porky goodness.

Oh yeah, note to Shellback: I was told that the chef is Slovakian - again, unconfirmed info here - so that even though the cuisine is Hungarian, there is a slight Slovak twist. I am not qualified in the slightest to discern the subtle differences between Hungarian, Slovakian and Czech food, but I think the latter two must be pretty similar. BTW my source is originally Czech himself.

[BCinBC]

I finally got around to trying WingNuts last Friday. I went with my wife, her sister and a friend of theirs and there were a few beers prior and during so we weren't exactly the quietest patrons there. Anyway, the beer really put us in a wing mood.

The Friday special is 30 wings for $15.99, which isn't cheap, but turns out is totally worth it. A year ago I was working half-weeks in Calgary, and we used to go on wing binges as they were $0.15 each in most places. Let me say that these wings blew any and all of those cheap pretenders away.

We started with 60 wings: the middle hot, Jamaican jerk, Thai spicy peanut, and honey garlic, and a side of fries (for extinguishing purposes). The middle hot were hot enough - too hot for two of my tablemates to eat - however I thought they had a nice taste besides the heat. It is indeed a Frank's RedHot base. My sister-in-law and I plan on returning to eat 12 of the "uber-hot" (added chilis to Frank's) to get onto the wall as Canuckle mentioned. The jerk were okay (edited to add they were not real jerk as I know it; they were wet with sauce, for one thing, whereas I think of jerk as drier and much spicier - as introduced to me by Trinidadians), the peanut were good, but I was most impressed with the honey garlic. For the first time in my life, the garlic was actually a stronger taste than the honey, and it was good! All of the wings were crispy outside, juicy inside, no trace of raw meat which sometimes plagues pubs. Someone else mentioned the small sizes above, but they seemed normal to me. Which is much larger than the pidgeon wings we were eating during the avian flu.

Having not had quite enough wings, we ordered a half-dozen of the kung pao plum. I think these are the way to go for a good cool-me-down if you're trying to get on the uber-hot wall. These or the honey garlics. Not hot like actual kung pao. (edited to add I will never again order 6 wings, it is too sad to see the basket only half-filled with delicious wings).

To finish we had to have the Mars bar. Now ever since I've heard of this, I have been a staunch disbeliever that this could be good. No way would I enjoy this, I thought. But I tried it anyway, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I think it's less sweet than an actual Mars bar - or maybe this is an illusion given the premise of deep frying a candy bar, then adding powdered sugar on top. It is warm and gooey inside. It is not bad. I don't think I'd eat a whole one myself, but it caps an already-gross dinner (when you stop to think about it) pretty well. Now the deep fried Smores bar... Gagging at the thought!

Edited June 6, 2005 by BCinBC (log)