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
After we went back to the Legislature and then to West Edmonton Mall (no, it was only one visit to WEM, I am narrating things slightly out of sequence), some of Trinh’s friends were having dinner and they were very gracious to let me join them. The real kicker/interesting part? The person cooking (“L”) is a food blogger who drove from Calgary to cook the dinner! (No, he wasn’t there cooking for me but for their friends. I just happened to be there at the right time… Lucky? 
). Here are the dishes “L” cooked.
OK, actually, this is a drink prepared for me…
(Warning, this post is a photo-essay of sorts. It contains a lot of pictures and, as a result, I have broken it in part 1 and this part 2).
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Tagged as:
Edmonton,
Photo Essay
About a month ago, I wrote about an out of town guest whom I called TNG (and, from here on, after given authorization to use her real name, I will refer her as such: Trinh). Truth is Trinh is from Edmonton and has been in Vancouver a couple of times. As for myself, living in Vancouver for 8+ years, I have seldom been around town other than usual places. So, when my task was to showcase some “other locations”, well, I had to resort to the help of others. And I believe it actually worked, as Trinh seemed to enjoy the places we went, not to mention the dinner we had at City Temple of Shanghai in the end (not necessarily the food but, at least, the company). So, a couple of weeks prior to BC Day, somehow the idea pops out: Would I consider visit Edmonton, given I haven never been there? (Just in case, they celebrate Heritage Day on that same long weekend). At first, I was hesitant but, in the end, why not! So I checked with Trinh and that seemed to be a good idea. So, I booked myself a ticket to the place a lot of us diss (and sometimes even themselves) as “Deadmonton”.
(Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the airport or some major sign saying “Edmonton”. However, given the high price of gas in BC, I think this works quite well…)
(Warning, this post is a photo-essay of sorts. It contains a lot of pictures and, as a result, I have broken it in part 1 and part 2).
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Tagged as:
Edmonton,
Photo Essay
Bob’s BBQ Pit
911 S 11th Street
Tacoma, WA
If you look around the different restaurants I have been, you will notice that I tend to visit out of the way places that most people won’t. In a way, let’s just say, I have a soft spot for such type of restaurants, not to mention that, while I could go to the most popular one, for the most part my fellow bloggers are already taken care of it plus, in the case of some large chains, they have their share of hype and blaggers. It won’t be that different for me when one day I wanted meat, as in BBQ. Now, this is the Pacific Northwest, a part that is not necessarily known for their BBQ (for BBQ in places like, say Texas, check these two posts from Mijune); however, I was hoping for BBQ nevertheless (otherwise, I might have ended up in a place like Asado). So, browsing through Urbanspoon again, I was able to locate two nearby places: B&B BBQ and Bob’s BBQ Pit. For the first one, the day I managed to get there… Let’s just say I wasn’t sure if they were in business or not, as it was “open” but nobody was there. As a result, I turned around and went for my second option. Did I mention I tend to go to out of way places and visually looks like a dive?
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Tagged as:
BBQ,
Southern,
Tacoma
