Tràng Tiên
9449 Jasper Ave
Edmonton, AB
Finally, my posts from Edmonton! As suggested a couple of weeks ago, I went to Edmonton for BC Day/Heritage Day long weekend and, finally, I am catching up with those posts, hehehehe. Actually, at this point, I am starting to wonder if the posts in this month of August will be mostly non-BC based… Other than Minoas Greek Taverna (a min-gathering suggested by Elaine) and Mui Ngo Gai, all the posts so far have been from Tacoma and Edmonton. But, wait, what about the rest of the month, there are still weeks to go, right? Well, yeah… In part! Because, as possibly suggested by some tweets (here and here), I just came back from Portland! (And, yes, there will be some food carts!).
But back to Tràng Tiên… Not sure if you might have or might not have caught up but, when I wrote in last Friday’s post of Mui Ngo Gai, I made reference to “a reader” suggesting order other dishes in addition to pho or banh mi. That reader happened to be Trinh who was my host during my trip in Edmonton. So, putting things to test, I asked Trinh if she could take us to a place she would go for pho or, in her case, bún bò hue. And that’s how we ended up going to Tràng Tiên
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Tagged as:
Edmonton,
Pho,
Vietnamese
Mui Ngo Gai
2408 Nanaimo Street
Vancouver, BC
For quite some time already, I have wondered about dishes representatives of a culture. This is somewhat “important” because, when we go to an ethnic restaurant, we want to go there to have a taste of that culture. So, not sure how or why, in the case of Japanese, it ends up being sushi, though there is a showing of izakaya places lately. In the case of Greek, it shouts lamb. But similar to NY style pizza, chicago deep dish pizza (which, technically is a casserole), St Louis style or California style, each region has its unique version. So in a chain of emails with a reader who prefers not to comment, she made a note that “whenever you (as in food bloggers in general) go to a Vietnamese restaurant, you always end up ordering pho or bánh mì and, in-lieu, we should give bún bò hue a try instead. While I have unknowingly tried it once in Pho Maxima, when I went to Mui Ngo Gai, I consciously decided to give this dish a try instead. So, would it change my thoughts of pho and start ordering this other dish instead (if available)?
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Tagged as:
Pho,
Soup,
Vietnamese
Friesenburgers
308 East 26th Street
Tacoma, WA
Hmmmmm…. Burger…. That quintessential North American sandwich. And I will be more than willing to admit I am at times guilty to have one too many burgers. Something that can be really cheap (and done well) and something where you can also make it fancy for no other reason just because (and, in my opinion, break its simplicity). Despite its bad rap, if done well, it can be a thing of beauty. And, again, who better than Americans for this creation? So, on my last day in Tacoma, on my way back to Vancouver, I had to do a small stop for lunch and what better place, than, well, a burger shop? And that’s how I ended up in Friesenburgers.
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Tacoma
Renaissance Cafe
1746 Pacific Ave
Tacoma, WA
Back when I was in University, I never had to go through one of those stereotypical late night assignments ending at wee hours of the day and, as a result, the next morning going around for a substantial breakfast. (That does not apply even if you change it to a night out drink). Let’s just say I have my own way on having things done but there was one thing I did have with a certain frequency: After finishing class past 11:00 p.m. (yup, call it crazy!), I went to a mini-mart where they made some killer Cuban sandwich. Alas, last time I checked that place was gone (then again, it has been eons ago). So, when I was in Tacoma, on my last day, I wanted to check some local spots where students would frequent (University of Washington at Tacoma was a couple of blocks away from the hotel) for the same purpose and that’s how I ended up going to Renaissance Cafe. Now, not late night eats but early ones instead.
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Tagged as:
Breakfast,
Tacoma
MSM Deli
2220 6th Ave
Tacoma, WA
There are a lot of guide on-lines now a days to where to eat. From a global perspective, there is Urbanspoon and Yelp (the later, plagued with some issues). From a local Vancouver perspective, there is Dinehere.ca. And, of course, in almost every city, there is your local food blog, which I am proud to belong; though, my usual caveat is that, despite a lot of emails of people coming with pitchforks demanding my head, I do NOT do reviews. Rather, what I do describe my visit to restaurants and the meal I had. Then, based on that visit, whether if it is a place I would consider coming back in the future. The funny thing is that, given the frequency I blog, there has been few times I have revisited a restaurant! But I am digressing here… The real reason I bring out on-line sites is because there are at times some really wacky trends, specifically, which restaurants are the highest ranked. Now, forget for a moment places like Zagat or Michelin. I am not talking about places for a dining experience written by professionals; rather, I am talking about average people “voting” for the spots they have visited, which brings back to Urbanspoon and Yelp. In the particular case of Urbanspoon, I used it quite frequently as a guide and, while in Tacoma, checked which one was the highest ranked one and that ended up being MSM Deli. A deli as highest ranked? “There ought to be something wrong with that!” Well, in Vancouver we have as the highest ranked a hot dog cart so you draw some wacky comparisons…
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Tagged as:
Sandwich,
Tacoma
Two Koi Japanese Cuisine
1552 Commerce Street – Suite 100
Tacoma, WA
As you have noticed already, a lot of times, when I go on business trips, I end up going to a sushi restaurant in a sort of personal quest: that of find whether that claim that Vancouver’s sushi offerings in general are THAT good. In a way, it was disproved when I went to Shiro’s in Seattle, as it was really good (compared to the mid-range offerings in Vancouver). So, on my trip to Tacoma, I did something similar: I went to Two Koi, such restaurant type near the hotel I was staying, for yet another comparison…
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Tagged as:
Japanese,
Sushi,
Tacoma
Yesterday, I wrote about my trip to Edmonton, Alberta for BC Day (here in BC) or Heritage Day (in Alberta) long weekend. For today’s post, one of the showcase events during that weekend: Heritage Festival. Don’t we have festivals here in Vancouver, like Caribbean Days, Greek Day or Summerfest, Powell Street Festival? Yup, we do. However, how about a festival that takes a full park and tents of over 60 countries participate? As I have been saying about Edmonton ever since I came back: Sure, Vancouver has a lot of great “features”; however, we take them for granted. On the other hand, Edmonton does not have similar features but they make the most out of what they have. So, for a long weekend in summer, that’s what they have been doing for the last 35 years… So, my visit to this event in Edmonton, Alberta… Enjoy this photo essay!
Yup, blue sky the whole time!
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Tagged as:
Edmonton,
Events
