Taste of the City 2009

I guess I am starting to make this into a trend, hehehehe. As part of the on-going summer (food-related) events in Vancouver, yesterday, I went to the Pacific National Exhibition for an event called CityTv’s Taste of the City. And what is this event? Organized by CityTV, one of the local television system, it is all about food, as the name suggests. In this case, over 20 restaurants would showcase some of their dishes and the samples would cost between $1 to $4.

I must admit I have some type of hesitation about these events, hesitation I mentioned when I blogged about EAT! Vancouver earlier this year. While at first $1 to $4 sounds cheap, it sort of depends on the portion it will be given to you, not to mention how much you would be able to eat anyway. Fortunately, unlike EAT! Vancouver, there are no food exhibitors (OK, actually there was one, but they were part of the organizing group) so no gong-show or long queues for free samples. However, that did not stop people from lining up some of the vendors.

Did I mention something about long queues to *one* tent/vendor?

Lots of people, alright!

Just like in EAT! Vancouver, rather than paying at the tents, you need to buy tickets. Here, $10 gives you 20 tickets. (You could also buy 10 tickets for $5). Unfortunately, that creates an odd problem: What if you just want to sample something that “costs” 8 tickets? What would you do with the remaining two tickets??? Hmmmmm….

Now all that aside, to the food! Here are the pictures of dishes I did not order but, instead, grabbed it from people walking by with their loot! ^_^

Tacos from Doña Cata, previously blogged here.

Some Indian food, not sure if this was from Maurya.

Tempura from Toyotomi. On the note of Japanese food, there was also Sushi Zero One.

Crab cakes and ahi tuna with caesar salad. Two of the best deals (4 and 5 tickets each). However, the lines for this stand was ridiculous so I skipped this one completely.

And, now, to the dishes I did order.

Hot dog from Big Dawgz. Actually, it was half a dog but they had tons of toppings. Unfortunately, being only half a dog, there was only that much you could put. In my case, I added some pepperoni, sautéed mushroom and cherry tomato. And, of course, mustard! The dog was not too different from what you would be able to get in a regular hot dog stand. Well, probably with the exception the first bite of the dog had a bit more bite but, otherwise, not that different. However, just like Japadog, toppings matter and in this case, the ones I added were quite good, if I can say so myself! ^_^ The shake, on the other hand, was a real winner. Unlike mango lassi from a lot of Indian restaurants, where the taste is quite homogeneous (regardless of which restaurant – here in Vancouver or in the US), here, it had a hint of acidity, which I considered quite good and interesting. Could it be they used real mangoes? Hmmmmmm…

Here is what I considered the best deal of the day, white spring salmon with cranberry coleslaw. This was for 8 tickets. As you see, it was not a small plate, it was almost a regular size serving in some restaurants. While the salmon was lighter than the regular salmon, it was still good (some lemon juice would have helped, though) and the coleslaw was tart while maintaining a bit of its crunchiness.

I also had some grilled steak with a salad (which has goat cheese), also for 8 tickets. However, obviously, it was not as a better deal as the salmon. It was just OK I will have to say. The goat cheese was quite good – creamy and pungent which balances with the salad. Hmmmmmmm….

Finally, some dessert in the form of Hazelnut ganache (3 tickets). Small portion but quite decent, nonetheless. The interesting part was the yellow-syrup: it was mango, which gave an interesting contrast between sweet, acidic and bitter. Yummmmm!

Finally, for one ticket, a small snack pack, here the “cran-blueberry” crunch.

Also, in the main stand there were cooking presentation from some of the restaurants with the presenters of the different CityTV’s local shows: Dawn Chubai, Riaz Meghji, Michel McDermott, Kyle Donaldson (from Breakfast Television and Lunch Television, the later two), Erica Sigurdson, Graham Clark and Paul Bae (from The List – absent, though, was Charlie Demers who was on a trip/gig out of town). Despite the bunch from The List were the comedians, the real act was that of Michelle and Kyle. Sorry, there are some lines I can’t repeat here (as this is supposed to be a PG site)! One thing that I should mention is that the local celebrities were quite approachable. In fact, a lot of people wanted autographs and pictures from them and they were more than happy to do so – A real class act.

Overall, I must say I enjoyed this event more than I thought I would, probably because one show was noticeably absent: the gong show. And, unlike EAT! Vancouver, there was no entry fee and the dishes here were better proportioned (and I am not talking about the ones I sample but the ones I observed). Unfortunately, have to wait for one year for next time… -_-;;;

Edit/Update: Jenny of My Secret Garden blogged about this event as well. Check it here.

Tagged under: Dessert • Events • Fish • Hot Dog • Random • Seafood • Snacks • Vancouver