Havana Cafe
1212 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

On my University years, my schedule was the usual crazy one for those who were working and studying. In my case, my latest class was 10:30 p.m. and, a lot of times, it mean grabbing something to eat. There were some “usual” 24 hours places and, in one of such places, I always went for one thing: a Cuban sandwich. What I liked about that sandwich was that combination of savoury, sweet (*), sour/acidic and gooey cheesy. While there are great sandwiches here in Vancouver, I haven’t been able to find anything that resembles it yet. Now, it isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing, as I have learned to “appreciate” the other sandwich types. Instead, well, I miss it. When Sherman went to Havana Cafe and mentioned they make this sandwich, I was all up for it. Alas, it partially fell off the radar but, on one night, I was near Brittania Community Centre and that gave me a good excuse to drop by for that Cuban sandwich.

(*) This might due to the use of a braided bread, rather than the traditional Cuban bread.

When I arrived, I chose to seat outside. No particular reason other than, probably, lightning. But, even then, lightning conditions were not that good. Anyway, there wasn’t much need for me to take a look at the menu. Given the restaurant’s name, it was more a formality to check if they had the Cuban sandwich… And to check if it came with anything else! And here it is.

Their Cuban sandwich and I had the option of soup of the day, fries or salad. I went for the soup of the day which happened to be a corn and chorizo chowder. From a plating perspective, it is clean but there is something else… that bugged me right away, which confirmed one key note from Sherman’s visit. More of that in a moment.

I will have to give them credit for this one. The soup was actually good, as it had a good mix of sweet and savoury. Now, it wasn’t perfect by any stretch: I wish it was slightly creamier or slightly sweeter (due to the corn), not to mention spicier (due to the chorizo). But, I guess it is a case of cater to the masses which I will have to leave those preferences aside and accept the fact that it is still a good soup. Anyway, back to the soup, it had a good broth and a decent amount of vegetables plus the said corn and chorizo.

OK, let’s go through a checklist of the ingredients that are usually in this sandwich: Roasted pork? Check. Ham? Sort of check. Cheese? Sort of check. Pickle? Sort of check. Pickle? Check. Cuban bread? Fail, but will give it some leeway. Before I go to the major epic fail, let me add that, those “sort of check” can go either way. First, the ham. In their case, they used black forest ham. In my case, I am used more to either the honey ham, cooked ham, glazed ham or Virginia ham. The reason why I prefer these? Because black forest adds too much saltiness to the overall conction and, as a result, didn’t work for me. The cheese used is not something I worry too much about as it is partially “absorbed” by the rest of the flavours but, at least, it does provide something “gooey” to the rest. The resulting sandwich “as is” is still decent but it does no justice to the Cuban sandwich of my past for one reason: it wasn’t pressed.

See, it is that action of brushing some melted butter outside (or, in some cases, oil) and then press it, is what melds everything together. That is specially true with the cheese… By not doing so, it is just a plain sandwich that you can get even in Subway. (OK, exaggerating here, as the bread there is nowhere comparable to the Cuban or braid bread). The funny thing about all this is that, when I made mention of this fact to the waitress, she just dismissed it as “the sandwich being bigger”. Hmmmmm…. OK, you completely missed the point…

Because of that simple fact, I will have to say it is a fail for me. It is possible they have other good dishes but the fact they can’t make a sandwich related to their namesake is a let down. One other thing that does not help is their price. At $14, this ain’t a cheap sandwich; in fact, it just compounds to my overall issues. Oh, well, the “quest” continues? :/

The Reef
4172 Main Street
1018 Commercial Drive (location visited)
Vancouver, BC

On Monday’s post of Luda, I made reference to a failed initial attempt. What I did not mention was that, to salvage this epic fail, Sherman and I were mulling about what to do next. In our cases, we were drawing blank until Sherman suggested we drive to Commercial Drive and go from there. We did and, even then, we were walking around and, for each suggestion, it was either me been there previously, Sherman been there previously or too shady for Rich Guy. Well, to badly misquote Sherman, there is a reason why he is “Rich Guy”, right? Fortunately, in our group was Viv also and, at least, she was the voice of reason when she gave sort of an ultimatum: establish up to what block to walk.

In the end, we ended up turning back and let Rich Guy decide: Britannia Sushi (which none of us have been but wasn’t too enticing at that moment) or, its next door neighbour, The Reef. While both Sherman and I have been to The Reef (my previous post here), we weren’t there for dinner so we opened to that possibility.

Update: Sherman’s post here. And, just for kicks, Elaine post here as well!

After we sat it in and the menu given to us, that argument of dishes to order and what not began. Hey, we want to cover all the basis, you know! Eventually, we decided on the dishes and, in-lieu of complimentary bread, we were given these:

Johnnycakes or journey cakes or whichever iteration you want to use. At first I was confused why Sherman called it as such but that’s because I am more used to the flat version. But, past that initial confusion, I thought it was quite a good substitution for bread. It had a denser consistency compared to fluffy bread and the honey (?) coconut butter was a great compliment to it. The only danger of these is that it could end up quite filling, specially if you start drinking a lot of liquid. One per person? Good way to start.

We ordered some appetizers, starting off with plantain chips. For the most part, these were good; however, from personal preference, I would have preferred them crispier. That’s nitpicking though. We were debating about the dipping sauce and what was in it but, in the end, we just agreed that it was good!

We ordered two patties: a beef version and a vegetarian version. From visuals alone, it would have been quite difficult to tell one from the other. In fact, even from the texture perspective, they were about the same. When we got the second one (the supposedly vegetarian one), we kept mulling if they made a mistake. But, after a while, given the amount of spices and small texture differences (this pointed out by Viv), we concluded the second one had to be the veggie one. As for the crust, it was flaky, thick in some parts, slightly overcooked but, otherwise, good.

Moving to the main, here is Rich Guy’s: jerk chicken. I only taste a piece of the chicken (white meat, in this case) and it was actually quite moist. It was good but not sure if I would order it… Now, not for that reason; instead, it is because of the other dishes.

In my case, ackee and saltfish, that stereotypical Caribbean dish. And, while the name would suggest this to be a salty dish, it ain’t. Aside for the dried fish texture (think a tougher, flaky version of canned tuna), for the most part, it had a slightly fruity taste (difficult to describe, though). Would I order this again? Certainly but, unlike the jerk, there might be a bit of acquired taste for this dish so, some people might not necessarily appreciate it.

Viv’s dish: oxtail. Sorry about this picture: I didn’t try to take a second picture as Sherman and I were blinding Viv a little bit. This dish was both a winner and a loser. The meat was tender; however, it was also well seasoned – Probably a bit too seasoned. So, while it was good for me, to Viv, she thought it was a bit too salty, and depending on your tolerance, it might be the case. However, it might also be the broth at the bottom, as the rice soaked it.

Finally, Sherman’s dish: lamb, served with mashed potatoes. The lamb itself was OK, though Sherman did make mention it was slightly overcooked. The mash potatoes, on the other hand, was quite well seasoned. We were guessing if they used milk, cream or buttermilk, as it had a unique taste. However, what really made it was the curry-like sauce served with the lamb. Its coconut-y taste gave an additional, unique layer of flavour to the mash.

One part I didn’t really make reference was the rice and beans and the sides. For the most part, it worked quite well for me, as it is something I grew up eating. Now, I could say they could have used coconut water/milk to prepare it but, nah, that, again, would be nitpicking.

Before hitting my last thoughts about The Reef, there were two instances during our dinner that I have to make mention: First, it was the vegetarian patty. While we ordered the patties together, the vegetarian one came a couple of minutes later (~9 minutes). According to them, the original order was overdone so, rather than serving it that way, they decided to make a second one. Something similar happened with Sherman’s lamb: It seems there was a mix-up and, rather than making us wait for having that ordered re-fired, they served the remaining dishes (~17 minutes after the second patty) and, to make up, they served an additional plate of the oxtail. At this point, we were wondering if all this extra service was due to the fact of both Sherman and I taking pictures (with flash, I must mention). I mean, some of the dishes, namely the lamb, is not something you can re-cook in 15 or so minutes! (On that note, the oxtail plate came ~10 minutes after the other dishes were served). So, let me put it this way: Were they trying to sway us with extra service/food? I can’t help but help but wonder considering all the dishes require a lot of heads up preparation (stewing the oxtail, soak the saltfish, braise the lamb and so on).

But, putting that aside, I thought the food was actually good. Of course, I can’t help but wonder how much of this might be due to what was mentioned above. So, think of it as a good but with a small caveat…

Uprising Breads Bakery
1697 Venables Street
Vancouver, BC

Note: Today, I have a two-post “special”. The “other” post – Vancouver’s Bakers Market, can be found here.

A week and a half ago, during Thanksgiving weekend (as a reminder for non-Canadian readers, specially if you are from the US: we celebrate Thanksgiving in the second Monday for October), I was invited to my family friend CL’s home. Wait, did I say family friend? Don’t my parents live in Panama? I have a long history with CL, since he has known me since I was a child, before he moved to Canada and my parents moved to Panama. And, what happened when I moved here to Canada? Originally I was planning to go to Toronto but my mother “suggested” me I should go to Vancouver and stay at CL’s place instead. I am very thankful for what he has done for me on all these years and there was absolutely no what I won’t accept his invite to have the Thanksgiving dinner at his home. But, but… Despite I was the only non-family guest and was assured there was no need for me to bring anything, I won’t show up empty handed. Originally, I wanted to go to Fratelli’s to bring a cake or pie but, alas, it was closed (I forgot they are closed on Sundays). I thought then “I guess I will have to fall back on buying something from Save-on-Foods…”. That was until I was driving north on Commercial Drive when I recalled another nearby bakery and that fellow blogger Sherman wrote about previously: Uprising Breads Bakery.

Please do not let the picture above deceive you! It was one of those calm before the storm pictures. On the other side of the bakery, there was an area you could sit and have your goodies. It just happen nobody was in the “middle” of the shop at that time. A couple of seconds after I took this picture, there were people looking at the baked goods and queueing to pay for them. And what type of goodies we are talking about?

There were your regular suspects, i.e., pies, cookies, cakes (actually, I am not 100% certain of this one, though I am sure there were), scones, muffins, et al. On that note, some of the goodies were abnormally large for a single serving, like the scones above were easily the size of a large grapefruit! Being located near Commercial Drive, there are some “unique” ingredients and/or characteristics to the goodies found there: vegan, organic (?), et al. For the most part, I don’t mind what is being used, provided it is not poisonous/toxic to me and tastes good! And, as a guinea pig, I got for myself this:

Now, let’s fall back a little bit: How can you make chocolate cookies if the chocolate requires some form of fat – usually butter, which is an animal product? Are we stretching the boundaries here? And then, how “strong” would the flavour be? I will have to admit these were quite interesting, as it had some fibrous component that gave an unique texture to it. The best way to describe it would be shredded coconut. As for the chocolate taste, I wished it had more of it as I thought it felt short. Regardless, it is a quite good variant for chocolate cookies, specially if your favourite happens to be Oreo.

But wait! I did not go there for the cookies! I was there to get something for the Thanksgiving dinner, remember? In this case, I wanted something more characteristic of this holiday: Apple pie! Oh, wait, take that back, pumpkin pie! At $10, it is not the cheapest one around but I was certain to an extent this one would be good. However, I had to endure a couple of hours of patiently waiting for the dinner and, afterwards, dessert to find out…

Here, my slice which was served with some ice cream. And, of course, for “decoration” purposes, I grabbed that star, hehehehe. I will have to say the pie felt somewhere in-between: not too sweet, yet it failed to pack a punch. I could easily taste the pumpkin but it was somehow muted. As for other ingredients in the back, I am sure I tasted nutmeg and something similar to cinnamon; however, I can’t be certain of these, as I had some wine (Riesling, which I brought as well) and was a bit tipsy (wine + possible side effects of over-eating). Let’s just say if I get some, it will most likely be for holidays only.

Overall, the cookies were good and, although the pie felt slightly flat, I thought the goodies overall were quite, well, good. The question is: would I come back here or go to Fratelli’s? Unfortunately, Fratelli’s has the upper hand in the meantime but Uprising Breads Bakery is quite a good alternative for some other goodies.

Lime Japanese Cuisine
1130 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Feel free to call it alignment of the stars of just because an atom happened to be in a place at the exact time: This post had to do with two very strange topics: perception of sushi and omakase. The first topic is related to a post written by Foodosophy team regarding sushi – you can find it here. It is a really worthwhile read; it might even change your thoughts about sushi. Go ahead, this post will still be here… The second topic is that of omakase, a concept not that different of a tasting menu; here, you “entrust” to the chef to prepare a meal for you. So what Lime Japanese Cuisine has to do with both? It just happened that due to the comments regarding Lime, I was ready to dismiss it but, based on Foodosophy’s team, I was encouraged to give it a second chance. I went there one late night for regular sushi or for soba; however, when I arrived, I noticed they made mention of their omakase menu, at a base price of $35. It was a leap of faith but I knew I had to do it…

As mentioned above, I arrived late night. OK, it wasn’t THAT late, it was around 10:30 p.m.; in Vancouver standards, that is late. Yes, you will find spots still open; but, let’s face it, they aren’t that many. When I walked in, there were a couple of occupied tables. Come to think about it, most of the places in the area were starting to wind down, with probably the exception of Latin Quarter where it seems an-all night party was taking place. I was given the option to sit anywhere and, originally, I was thinking on a table. However, when I was told I could sit at the sushi bar, everything changed. I inquired about the omakase and was given different price ranges, again, the basic one being $35. I decided to go for the “next” price range: $50… Afterwards, some questions were asked to try to “tailor” that meal for me: Any allergies? Nope. Anything I do not like? Nope. In a way, I was in an Anton-Ego-like mode: basically, surprise me. And the adventure began…

Of course, being seated in front of the chef and having a “bulky” dSLR, it would be impossible for anybody not to notice I was taking pictures. So, rather than asking forgiveness than permission, I checked with the chefs/itamae if they were good with me doing it. Actually, they were more than happy.

I must apologize for the quality of the pictures of this post. Going to Lime that night wasn’t completely planned and, as a result, I did not have all the tools of the “trade” with me. In this case, I did not bring my external flash. But, come to think about it, that would have generated a problem of its own: the only other customers at that moment were seated on tables nearby and given the “dark” ambiance, that would have been a bit annoying to them. So, for these pictures, call it “best effort”. And now, now, to the food:

The first dish, albacore tuna. Well, at least, this is a sustainable tuna dish so I won’t complain on that. Since this is my first time having this, I asked the itamae what I should do. His answer?, mix the quail egg into the tuna and eat it “as is”. I will admit, that was the best approach because, when I tried a piece on its own, it wasn’t that tasty. However, when mixed, the sauce at the bottom plus the yolk started to do wonders. Now, it is not a melt-in-you-mouth affair but still very tasty.

Before moving to the second dish, a big caveat emptor. When I was taking pictures of the first dish, the itamae mention something on the lines of I should take good pictures for “the review”. Whether that is reflected on how I was treated the rest of the meal, I can’t say. But, what I did tell them is that I was a “photography student” and it was suggested I take pictures of everything for “practice”. They sounded slightly disappointed but, in the end, I was asked if I could send them a copy of the pictures…

Second dish of the night smelt on salad. If there was a disappointing dish that night, it would be this one. Now, it is not that the execution was bad. My (personal) problem with this dish is that the fish was fried too lightly and, as a result, the skin was barely crispy. Some people might say “But you shouldn’t overfry the smelt!”. Sorry, guys, but that is not my concept of “fried”. If you fry something, you go for broke. Other than that, it felt just like a regular salad…

The next dish a tempura dish. Here, zucchini flower filled with a shrimp paste and a slice of pumpkin tempura. Another fried dish? Hmmmmm… It was good and not so good at the same time. It was good because, well, fried food it is almost always good! The batter was light as expected and, to a certain extent, the broth (not pictured) was unnecessary. However, the not-so-good part of this dish was the shrimp. Call it a personal preference, I would have preferred it wasn’t “mashed” down to a paste. Had it retain some “chunks” so it has that springy “bite” of the shrimp, it would have been a winner.

Pork with mushroom and mashed potato. The mashed potato was really smooth and, in an interesting note, had a dab of wasabi in it. The mushrooms, if memory serves me right on this one, included shiitake, matsutake and enoki. I won’t say I really tasted all the potential of the mushrooms but, nevertheless, it had a good savoury taste and bite to it. And, ah, the pork, soft pieces of pork belly/brisket… (There is no point on trying to describe it, heck, it is pork!)

Finally, the last two “dishes”: a lobster cone and an ahi tuna cone. Both had its highs and lows. From the lobster side, If found the lobster a bit over cooked in the sense that from my first bite of the cone, I had to “drag” all the piece of lobster with it. Other components from that dish complemented the lobster, though. As for the ahi tuna, it was a bit more flavourful due to a combination of soy sauce used to lightly marinate it before it was wrapped into the seaweed/nori. On that note, the nori was slightly “toasted” before it was wrapped. One snag shared by both cones was the the sushi rice could have been a bit more flavourful, as the rice in this case was slightly bland.

At this point, if I were to draw a conclusion, you might assume there were one too many “buts” in my comments. I will agree that is the case. But, (ha!) there are some parts that can’t really be described. For example, the interaction with the itamae. Also, I must mention that some of the dishes might be “partially” my own fault. Remember, unless you let them know what you like/dislike, they won’t know what you want to be served. In this case, because it was my first visit, I can’t blame them for it. Still, it was that interaction that won me and, as a result, I tipped way above my usual range.

So, it now goes down to these two questions:

1) How was the sushi? As mentioned above, it had its highs and lows. Still, I would say it was way better than a lot of low range sushi spots and worth the $$$ I had to fork for it. To make a really wacky analogy, Lime would be Burger Heaven or any other high-end burger shop; Oyama Sushi would be Save on Meats Burgers/Burger Burger and most other sushi spots would be MickeyD’s.
2) How was the omakase? It is not cheap and until they gets familiarized with my likes/dislikes, things might have ups and downs. However, this is not the type of dinners I would be able to afford on a frequent basis (maybe once or twice a year?) so it is unlikely it will work for me. Still, from the adventure perspective, it was good.

Despite all the sideways, convoluted comments, in the end, would I go back for just sushi? I think I will… And, finally, to O-toro, Foodosopher, Shokutsu, thanks for that great insightful post!

Belgian Fries
1803 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Earlier this year, I wrote a post on poutine, that quintessential, unique Canadian “dish”. It has been some months already and I think I have recovered enough from that experience (and the bypass!) to try it again on a different place. So, for this one, I chose to go to Belgian Fries in The Drive, where, according to their banner (and quote from the CBC Montreal), they have the best poutine in BC. Are they? Let’s see!

It seems they have grown a little bit, as I recall they used to occupy the space in the middle of the block and now they occupy the whole corner. But, the only thing I was “worried” about: since their expansion, has they been able to keep up with quality?

Do they *really* need two salt shakes plus a bottle of soy sauce?!

I arrived late afternoon/early evening and it was empty. Not sure if that was a good or bad sign. But, regardless, I looked at the menu and… Well, they have several versions of the poutine so, rather than ordering the basic version, I went for one of poutine variations. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of this poutine variation, rather what it had… (But, I think this is the “deluxe” version).

So, let’s try again, this is poutine I got which, in addition to the basic (fries, cheese curds and gravy), it also has bacon, mushroom and red peppers. Now, one thing I must mention: this variation does NOT come in a small size! When I went to Fritz, I ordered the basic in a small size and I finished it. The one seen here is the medium version ($8). The question is, do I have the guts to finish it?

I must admit I completely underestimated their meaning of “medium” size serving. This serving is darn bloody big! If served as a main, it could easily serve two; as a side, easily four. I don’t want to imagine the size of their large serving! Anyway, I am not here to talk about that but my poutine experience…

First, the fries. It was actually quite good; however, I think it could have been better. In a way, it lacked that fluffy inside, semi-crunchy texture outside you get when you fry them twice. (Yes, really good fries need to be fried twice!). The cheese curds… Well, unfortunately I will have to say these were a bit absent in my dish. No, they were there, just that there weren’t that many curds. And the ones that were present, they didn’t really melt (depends on how you like them, this might be either good or bad) but when I tried a whole piece, it did had a slight “bite” to it. And the gravy… Ah, the gravy… It didn’t have an artificial taste to it. But, it did have a problem: it didn’t “sink” to the fries at the bottom. So, after eating the fries from the top… Well, the ones at the bottom ended up being just normal fries…

Unfortunately, I had to put this picture out of sequence: this is what I left un-eaten. Yes, such a waste… But, then again, when I first saw all the bowl of fries!

As for the bacon, mushroom and red peppers, unfortunately, they didn’t add too much to the eating experience. The bacon wasn’t crunchy enough – had you “shaved” some deli meat (ham? roast beef?), it would have ended up doing the same. And, similar to the cheese curds, there weren’t that many pieces of mushroom, so no comments on that. Finally, the red peppers gave a nice light sweet taste but wasn’t enough pieces to make that much of a difference.

Overall, I felt I ate french fries with gravy and some toppings in it. The lack of cheese curds ended up making the experience fall a bit short. However, from the few mouthfuls I had with cheese curds, I will have to say they were quite interesting. Are they the best? Given that I have been only to two places, I can’t make that judgment. And, now, I must take a long break before I dare to try poutine again! ^_^;;;

Dolce Amore
1590 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Feel free to call it odd, feel free to call it funny. There is a heat wave hitting BC and temperature records were broken not once but twice in the last week or so. The 35C/95F we had would be something akin to what I had to deal almost on a daily basis in Panama but there was something… different. Humidity? Whether it is or not, in both cases it felt really hot, just that in Panama, you would be sweating bullets and be soaked after you walk a couple of blocks; not necessarily the same here for me. Regardless, that does not mean I can use the same tactics to deal with the heal, like getting some ice cream – or, in this case, some gelato from Dolce Amore in Commercial Drive.

Of course, ice cream/soft serve/gelato/snow cone/et al, whatever it is, I won’t be the only one looking for something to deal with the temperature. So, when I arrived, there was a small queue. Oh, well… Now, they ask you to pay first which is a bummer. It is not that I mind paying first; instead is the fact that those who paid already will most likely be in front of the counter which does not really allow you to see what flavours are available. And, of course, when they call the next (paid) customer and he/she dallies a little bit, there will be others unhappy about why he/she are taking so long. Darn. Anyway, I was able to take a peak while waiting in line and it was just a matter of waiting until it was my turn.

Sorry for the glare effect…

While they had two counters, there weren’t that many trays in the second counter. Most of the gelato were in this one in particular. This looks good to me as too much variety will, well, give you many options but quality will most likely be compromised. Anyway, as for myself…

I ordered a two scoop and, among the flavours I wanted to give it a try was fig mascarpone. But… But… When I arrived, the “new” tray was a different flavour and fig mascarpone was the label for what a tray they removed just before my turn. Argh!!!! That really threw me off as I wanted to give that one a try. In the end, I went for orange creamsicle and pistachio. Not sure how noticeable they are from the picture above: the pistachio is the slightly brownish one at the bottom, the orange is the top version. The orange-y syrup had some pieces of orange (zest?).

In both case they were good and had something “bad” at the same time. For one part, the flavours were there, i.e., it wasn’t one of those cases where you had to try really hard to taste them. I specially liked the pistachio, as it had a hint of roasted pistachio rather than the regular “dry” pistachio flavour. The orange, well, when you taste small chunks of zest… However, here is the “bad” part. For one, it was starting to melt a bit too fast! Sure, you can blame the heat but, from the first of the two pictures above, do you see it already starting to drip? Also, the orange had a slight unnatural orange flavour. OK, probably this is me nit picking. Whenever I have orange, I don’t expect the all-sweet-orange-y flavour. Instead, I expect a bit of acidity. There wasn’t none in here…

However, overall, it was good, as the negatives I have mentioned are more on the nit picky lines rather than they being “bad”. It was quite rich so probably going for two scoops was a bit too greedy: one scoop would have done fine… ^_^;;;

Sake Maki
1414 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Here I go again, in the search of some interesting eats in one of the most “interesting” (for lack of a better word right now) neighborhoods in Vancouver: Commercial Drive. It was a hot night (Vancouver standards) and I just wanted something to eat. It was approximately 9:30 p.m., that gray hour in restaurant business. Since a lot of these shops close at around 10:00 p.m., it is inside the threshold of “last calls” but, since you are a walk-in customer at that point and time, you felt there could be a rush for you to finish and leave. What to do, what to do? Of course, I could go to one of the several clubs/pubs in the area that close later; however, I didn’t feel like going to a place where the main intent is to sell you over expensive watered down drinks (not to mention my low alcohol tolerance plus the fact I was driving). So, while walking by, I noticed something that might be “decent”, yet not that expensive: Sake Maki.

First impressions were mixed: There is a sandwich board outside describing the different specialty rolls (hence the “maki” part of their name?) at a flat $8 per roll. When I first started to eat sushi, like most people, it was rolls. However, the more rolls I ate, the less satisfied I felt. No, I am not referring to a filled stomach – something that a maki does a decent job. Instead, it was something else. When I started to order more nigiri, I found I like nigiri a bit more – probably because it was simpler? Regardless, I still have an occasional roll but, given, the options… As for the sake part of the name, yes, they do mention sake in their menu; however, since I won’t drink in this case, I did not even bothered to look into it.

As for the decor, something that I seldom write about, it was likewise odd. We all know about multiculturalism in Vancouver, right? However, I am not sure how well Greek and Japanese mix. Here, it seems they managed quite well to recycle the existing decoration and use it as part of their own. Feel free to call it creative…

And, now, to the food! As you might have read previously in my other Japanese/Sushi posts, I usually end up ordering a combo that has different type of nigiri sushi. Now, before any purist start yelling at me, I know I should be seated at the bar, ordering 2 or 3 pieces at a time and so and so. However, I am a fast paced eater, plus when it comes to food, I don’t like eating a bit, wait for the next order, eat another bit, make another order, wait for it and so on and so on. Of course, I could be wrong but, until then… Anyway, I started with…

Goma-ae, something I usually end up ordering (hey, you need your share of veggies, you know!). As for Sake Maki’s version, I will have to say it was disappointing. Now, the spinach was there, the sesame dressing was there, the visual was there. However, the flavours were not. Sure, I could taste the sweetness of the sesame seed; however, past that, the spinach was completely bland, no taste at all. I tried several pieces individually to check if it wasn’t a fluke of one leaf/stem or anything like that. Nope, it was the whole spinach serving… And the sesame dressing did not really managed to salvage it…

In an almost complete reversal of what I wrote above, I ordered the most infamous rolls of all: the California Roll. However, here is the twist: instead of ordering the “regular” one, which is made from surimi, I ordered one that is made from actual crab meat. While I had doubt of the claim, I was curious as well. As you can see, curiosity won this round. And, yes, indeed, it was made with crab meat. And, not sure if it was intentional or not, I ended up “biting” into a shard of the shell… One thing I did not ask was: what crab specie? As for the taste itself, it did taste slightly different from the ones made with surimi. Here, the consistency was slightly different (not as uniform as in the case of surimi) and there was a slightly sweeter taste. While it was different, it is not something I would order again: while it delivered what it promised, once you “graduated” from it, you will never want to go back.

I apologize for these two pictures as it is blurrier than what I thought. It is one of those instances you wish you brought your Speedlight/external flash with you… -_-;;; This is the rest of my order, four pieces of nigiri sushi, starting with amaebi (sweet raw shrimp), tuna, salmon and unagi/eel – each of these at $1.50 a piece. While not the worst I have had, it is not the best I have had either. In fact, when I saw that piece of salmon, I was wondering about the knife skills of whoever prepared it. There was no fishy smell to eat and it was quite pleasant to eat. However, other than the unagi/eel, I did not taste that taste I usually associate with shrimp, tuna and salmon.

I know that overall this post is full of contradictions: ordering something I usually won’t order just for the sake of it (no pun intended), like it but dislike it at the same time, etc. etc. So let’s bring it down to the question of “would I come back?”. The answer is “depends”. I will have to admit it looks better than some other sushi spots in the Drive (though I am almost sure that Lime will be vastly superior), yet there are some other better sushi spots outside of the area. So it boils down to, it is an option if I am in the Drive.

Now, unrelated to the post, but relevant at the same time (did I mention contradiction? ), the operators are not Japanese. I am positive I heard several versions of Cantonese, if not Korean (though, since I was seated next to a wall did not help). So, to those who believe this is important, caveat emptor. Also, a really odd story: To those who pay their bills using a debit/credit card, you might have noticed that Micros (among other Point-of-Sales vendors) have units where they will bring them to the table to swipe the card(s). While that is usually good, the problem is that these are expensive and some places can only afford one, which is fine, considering that paying bills, unless split in 8 ways, is a straight forward process. However, when somebody does not have enough funds, it forces the operator to go over again and again. This happened to me in my meal: two friends, who were dining at the other end of the restaurants, were paying the bill and one of them did not seem to have enough funds in their debit card. It ended up in a “try this card, try that card” game and, which held the waitress – and the POS unit – for almost ten minutes, before they found one with sufficient funds. Needless to say, I was not happy and was really close to pay cash (no particular reason why I was paying credit). While the waitress was apologetic about it (it was not her fault, though), c’mon people, can you check if you have the $$$ before you go out to eat? ARGH!

This is a part 2 of 2 post. For part one – Car Free Day 2009 – Denman Street, please, click here.

Right after my visit to the Car Free Day event in Denman Street, I went to Commercial Drive’s. While I had the chance to also go to the one in Main Street (my original intent), I ended up in this one instead. Don’t ask why, OK? ^_^;;;

I arrived around 2:30 or something like that and, as you can see from this picture, packed would be an understatement…

Yeah, more roller blades! People were encouraged to give this a try. Unfortunately, I have such bad balance…

Dancing reggae/Caribbean music.

Don’t ask…

Not sure if this is something you would NOT expect in this area…

No, the person at the bottom did not fall; rather, she is “break-dancing”.

A parody of boardrooms (regarding the current economic situation).

Celtic music (I think).

Demonstration of capoeira, the Brazilian version of martial arts.

This would be easily a geek’s dream: a demonstration of the mondo spider.

Just as the Car Free Day in Denman, a lot of restaurants had tables on the streets. In this case, The Reef, which I blogged previously. And, on the topic of food…

What is more refreshing than some fruits?

Corn cob and skewers from Lime Restaurant.

Lots of sausages! In fact, there were several Italian eateries selling these.

I felt I had to have one of these but, for $3, it ended up being a disappointment. (sigh)…

This is the other disappointment. See the queue to the left? When there is a long queue, there ought to be good food, right? Well…

How about some chicken ($10)?

Or, as a lot of people was queueing for, sardines! 4 pieces for $5, which put the $3 sanma sold in the Chinese Night Markets (post pending) into shame.. Oh, these where from the Portuguese Club of Vancouver.

And, finally, some free hugs!

However, just as in the case of Denman Street, I left after an hour or so. Again, it was so packed full to the point it was difficult to move around (don’t even mention taking a picture, as chances are somebody will suddenly walk in front of you). Also, I was starting to “feel” the wrath of the sun so I chose to leave. (On that note, unlike people here in Canada, in hot countries like Panama, rather than basking like iguanas, when it is that sunny, people look for shelter instead). No, it is not that event is not fun; just that it was starting to be a bit overwhelming. I am sure others will enjoy it more than me.

Megabite Pizza
Several locations in Vancouver
820 Thurlow Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC

4 Brothers Pizza
1417 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Welcome to another iteration of Battle of Pizza Parlours! As suggested by the subject, this is the second version – the previous instance was based on my favourite pizza spot, 2001 Flavors, compared to 604Foodtography’s suggested Uncle Fatih’s Pizza. In the end, I thought both were good options, it is just dependant on where you are. This time, the comparison is similar: A local chain, Megabite Pizza against another Commercial Drive local pizza shop, 4 Brothers Pizza (4BP, from here on). As a sidenote, I must mention, Megabite also has a shop somewhat near 4BP, in Broadway/Commercial Skytrain Station, not to mention a variant called Pizza Garden (check this post by, again, 604Foodtography); however, I went to Downtown Vancouver’s location. So, without further ado…

First, Megabite Pizza. This location is not that close to my workplace but still walking distance. I arrived just prior to lunchtime, yet they already had several pies ready for customers like me. And, again, this is both a blessing and a curse: you can have your slices right away, with the caveat they may have been sitting under the lamp a bit too long…

During this visit, I ordered two slices and, I will admit, I still have no idea of what I ordered. I just pointed two that looked really good and went from there. Along with a can of pop/soda, it was $5. In this case, the fact it was sitting there was a blessing. Sure, the pizza was not pipping hot but, somehow, the dough managed to “soak” the sauce, yet it did not end up soggy or still crusty. As for the topping themselves, they were not extremely generous but had enough to not call it stingy. Overall, it was quite decent for the price…

And, now, 4BP. I went there after my Friday night activity and, that night, it was a bit later than usual. Anyway, just like other pizza parlours, the pies were sitting there for a while. However, while eating mine, I noticed a constant string of customers, which is always a good thing.

Obviously, with these prices, they are trying to make you buy two slices and a can of pop/soda. Yes, that was what I ended up ordering in the end.

Just like Megabite, I was not sure what I ordered so you will have to guess… ^_^;;; And, while the dough did not really soak the sauce here, it did not cause the cheese/other toppings layer “slide” away from the dough. In the end, I must say it was quite good too but not sure if it can be called “The Best Pizza on the Drive”… Should I revisit this after I visit all of them?

So, how do these two pizza parlours compare to each other? In a way, they were quite similar. Both are good, though I am sure that hunger certainly had something to do with it. So, yet again, straight comparison is unfair. Had I gone to Pizza Garden instead…

The Reef
Two locations in Vancouver, one in Victoria
1018 Commercial Drive (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC

I will admit something. I have restricted myself a little bit on the places I have gone. To an extent, that is not voluntary, rather, I get distracted and end up going somewhere else. One of these places is Commercial Drive, aka, The Drive. I have blogged about restaurants in this area, like Tony’s Deli, Fratelli Bakery, La Grotta del Formaggio, Memphis Blues and so on. One day, although slightly cloudy, I chose to drive there for lunch. Did I need a reason? Not really… And, when I got there, it seems a lot of people chose to do the same, as most restaurants were almost packed. So, when I saw an opening in The Reef, I almost ran there…

Although The Reef labels themselves as a “Caribbean Restaurant”, I would say it is more on the lines of eclectic. Jerk tofu? Quesadilla? Bennies? OK, they might be taken some liberties but still I won’t say it is Caribbean in the same sense I would call (the now closed) Kiss Yo Mama or Taste Nice. Sure, these two are Jamaican and do not represent the Caribbean as a whole, but you should get the idea…

The patio, an almost perfect spot for “people watching”.

As mentioned in my post on Raincity Grill takeout, patio furniture is out and everybody is taking advantage of it. Well, not that in some restaurants they were ever stashed in winter but I am digressing.

Although I arrived after noon, that day (Saturday), they had their brunch menu up, not their lunch menu. Oh, well, brunch menu it would be. To start with, I had their smoothie – in this case, pineapple, banana and coconut. Sounds like a tropical combination, eh? It was thick; however, not thick as in milkshake thick – but thick enough. The only complain I have would be the artificial coconut taste.

My infamous condiments picture, hehehehe.

Just after my drink, the condiments. To the right, your usual catsup; to the left, their version of hot sauce. And it was hot, I tell ya! It made me sweat in almost no time and the pain was painfully good. ^_^

And here is the “main”: A breakfast burrito with scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, choice of jerk or chorizo (I chose the later), salsa, served with hash and fruits. No, you are not seeing wrong, the fruit was missing. Hmmmmm….

Back to the burrito. I have to wonder myself: why it is called a burrito? Why not just call it a wrap? Could it be because it is more marketable as a burrito? Hmmmm…. Anyway, the combination of the egg and chorizo was tasty and the hot sauce just made it even better. The hash was just there, I did not pay too much attention to it.

Overall, I enjoyed this meal. I am not sure, though, how representative is this meal with the rest of their menu (specially the more “Caribbean” ones). For that , I will defer it to other fellow bloggers (Vancouver Slop, Deeelish, or Sherman) with the caveat they went to one of the other The Reef locations.