Q Go Ramen
1443 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Reflecting on my last ramen post, i.e., Motomachi Shokudo, I have to admit that, despite new ramen shops have appeared, one thing is also good: Opinions have been divisive as to which ones are “good” and which ones are “bad”. In fact, some people believe Kintaro is still king of the hill, while Santouka is overrated, the lower profiled Benkei hits the spot and Sanpachi seems to be middle of the road. Unless you are the one who says “everything is good” (specially if you didn’t have to pay for it), these opinions are good because it allows so room for discussion. So, just to throw yet-another-ramen-shop, I went to Q Go Ramen….

Now, unlike the other ramen shops mentioned above, Q Go Ramen isn’t located in Downtown Vancouver: it is located in the Broadway corridor near Granville Street. If we had to do some comparisons, the nearest competitions would be Benkei (near Cambie) and Menya (also near Cambie). However, that’s not the full story on how I ended up here: I went there because of an epic fail of sorts. See, I was supposed to go to Xoxolat to pick up a gift and, just before that, I was supposed to visit Mochikas, a Peruvian restaurant in the middle of nowhere. OK, in the middle of a car shop… (Check Sherman’s post for more details!). Anyway, according to their website, they are supposed to open before noon; however, when I arrived almost 1:00 p.m., it was still closed. Hmmmm…. So, after my visit to Xoxolat, the next question was “where”? Driving through Broadway, I noticed Q Go Ramen and said “might as well!”.

Despite it is not a new shop (it has been opened for couple of months already), it still maintained a bit that “new”-ish feeling. Given that day was a bit outcast, I chose to sit at the “bar” facing outside to use natural light rather than the artificial light inside. Of course, that also meant I didn’t really “absorb” the feeling of the restaurant. Is that a bad thing? Well, I only care about what is served, so, probably no! And talking about food, after the waitress left the menu and I made my order, I got…

Edamame. Wait, I actually didn’t order this; it was complimentary. Technically, I am not surprise at that fact, after all, Mijune mentioned it in her post. But, still, there is the fact it was provided “free”. As for how it was, if you have had edamame before, then you have a good idea of what to expect. If you haven’t, think a bit waxier peas with some salt on top. Anyway, it was an interesting, nice touch.

Moving to the food that I actually ordered, I went for their shio ramen – tonkotsu broth enhanced with salt flavouring served with boiled egg, marinated chashu, arage kikurage fungus, bean sprouts and green onion. For the pork, I had the option to go for lean and fat. I chose the later. In a “good” way, they only have three broths: shio, miso and shoyu, all of these with pork. Furthermore, they have a vegetarian dish version. Past that, you have some toppings and some sides, in the form of gyoza and takoyaki, plus kimchi, steamed rice and extra pork.

One thing that might not be necessarily evident in the pictures above is the size of the bowl. Alas, I should have brought something for comparison purposes. The circumference of this bowl was easily a third larger than most of the other ramen bowls. However, that could have also being an optical illusion. But, does more mean better? Anyway, the noodles felt a bit soggier than others I have had, though it could be due to the time I took to take the pictures. Darn! >_< The pork, wow, it was fattier than what I expected. Ever since that bowl I had at Kintaro, I have to wonder how much my threshold for fat has lowered… But, as for taste… I don’t know, I wished it had more of that pork flavour. I mean, you knew it was pork but it felt there was something missing. Oh, sorry about the egg, as I didn’t take a picture. I had it in a single mouthful.

I also had a side of gyoza, which had a nice crispy skin. The filling though… Was OK, once again, nothing extraordinary. At least, in all senses, it was better than Hida Takayama.

Overall, I won’t say I have necessarily high opinions of Q Go. I mean, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good or outstanding. Could it because of some external factors that result in a so-so product? For instance the time it took me to start eating? Not sure but… Too many buts. In the end, if I happen to be in the area in the need of a quick fix, may be. But not as a destination, nah. Now, can somebody tell me why of the name? As in Nine Five Ramen? :/

Big Lou’s Butcher Shop
269 Powell Street
Vancouver, BC

“Me, too”, “Me, three!!!”. Isn’t it funny that, once somebody establish a new type of restaurant, copycats pop out as if there is no tomorrow? After Meat & Bread opened, there is Dirty Apron Deli and Big Lou’s Butcher Shop – the topic of today’s post. Well, it is not that it is bad; specially when these are different enough and/or has an unique twist. Rather, it is the fact that it does not feel… Original? Regardless, here is the question: How is the end product?

Now, what I just mentioned is not 100% accurate. Some delis have been selling sandwiches for a long time. For example, La Grotta del Fromaggio makes killer sandwiches; likewise, some banh mi shops double as Vietnamese delis as well. But, given some short-sightedness of some Vancouverites, i.e., it has to happen in Downtown Vancouver for it to spread or to be noticed… But, I am digressing here.

Big Lou’s is not a deli; instead, as the name suggests, is a butcher shop. And, yes, they have steaks, chickens and what not. But, at the end of the shop, there this small area where your sandwiches are prepared. Furthermore, they have some pedigree: they are the same people who run 2 Chefs and a Table (which I haven’t had a chance to visit yet). So, despite it is a “new” shop, the excuse of “recently opened” shouldn’t be used. But, moving to the food…

They have a couple of stools and after, getting my order, it is there where I sat myself to snap this shot. OK, I am just teasing you guys here, it does not tell you exactly what it is but it does show some details, specifically the butcher theme. Butcher paper to wrap the sandwich? Twine to tie it? As for the sandwich itself…

Since I have mentioned Meat & Bread (M&B), I had to order that one said sandwich instead of their namesake Big Lou’s Chicago Style sandwich (which is a house made sausage sandwich). Yes, I ordered a porchetta sandwich! So, a direct one to one comparison has to be made. Starting off with the bread, this one had a good texture and the fact it felt lightly toasted gives this one a slight edge over the one from M&B. Also, it felt chewier compared to M&B but, given this is a preference thing, it could go either way. As for the meat, M&B felt it was roasted a bit more and it had more cracklings sprinkled. The one from Big Lou’s had a slightly meatier/fattier feeling to it. Once again, depending on how you like yours… Now, here is the main difference between the two places: In M&B, they use salsa verde; in Big Lou’s, they use chimichurri. OK, there can be a bit source of confusion: salsa verde literally translates into “green sauce” and chimichurri can be technically considered to be a salsa verde. But, here is the key detail: salsa verde can be made from green herbs but chimichurri has to be parsley based (along with minced garlic, olive oil and probably chilli flakes). In this case, it was the chimichurri that provided a different savoury tartness and herbiness that M&B’s can’t compare. Does that mean one is better than the other? Not really, both have merits of its own; rather, it is a good sandwich to start a debate!

Should I have stopped at one sandwich? Nah… So, what sandwich is this one? And is that an… Asparagus? Yup, that’s an asparagus spear. Not only that, this is their banh mi. What?! Banh mi as in that Vietnamese sandwich? Should I add “only in Vancouver?”. But, as mentioned, Big Lou’s is a butcher shop and they have some pickled items so it seems it ended up being a case of why not? Anyway, this one contains pork should, house made pate, spicy mayo among other components.

Alas, just because it contains some banh mi components, it does not automatically makes it a banh mi. Sure, you have pate, pickled vegetables, cilantro, mayo in a baguette. However, it didn’t “feel” like it; specially considering the comparison I have to make in regards to Edmonton’s options. Now, here is how it went “wrong”:

• The pork was too sweet.
• It used the same bread as the porchetta; however, it felt too heavy for banh mi.
• Pickled vegetables… Nah, didn’t work the same way as the ones from Vietnamese banh mi.
• The spicy mayo felt more on the lines of a Thousand Island dressing than spicy mayo.
• Pate was physically there but didn’t have that strong taste.

I feel that, had they called it a braised pork shoulder sandwich, I won’t say too much and just say it was a decent sandwich, though still too sweet. But, as a banh mi? Please, no. If you want a banh mi, just walk a couple of blocks to Chinatown. For the same $8 you would have paid for this, you could have gotten two Vietnamese banh mi… And probably get some change back.

Overall, Big Lou’s offer a good sandwich; however, I feel you have to stick with the tried and true ones (porchetta, I am quite certain about their namesake sandwich). For more ethnic ones? Order at your own risk?

I have mentioned that I am un-Chinese Chinese. What does that mean? That, while I was raised with the culture, there are a lot of things, specially traditions, didn’t really “stick” with me. Of course, growing in another part of the world (read: Panama) meant I had to balance things: local vs. background? Of course, moving to Canada wasn’t even in remote parts of my mind back when I was growing… Oh, how things have changed. But, what has not changed is that desire to celebrate the major Chinese holidays. Chinese New Year, Autumn Festival, et al. And with that it means… Food!

Alas, here is one of those strange situations: Since my parents are in Panama, my options are extremely limited, in the sense that I can’t have a family dinner. Fortunately, a lot of times, a family friend drops me a call and, well, I simply tag along. This year, though, for other reasons, I was quite busy and didn’t check; but, still wanted to a meal with roasted pork… Hmmmm… Pork… Granted, I could have gone to Chinatown and buy a pound of roasted pork and cha siu. Had I done some, would it be blog worthy material for Chinese New Year?

Here is a wacky completely non-sequitur note: reflecting the population of Metro Vancouver, over half of the people in my work department are of Asian origin. This meant that before Chinese New Year, there were some plans hatching to have a lunch. Considering that we might be spending a bit too much time together at work, heck, why not. But wait, not just a simple lunch at the nearby Hon’s. No, no, no. We had bigger… BIGGER plans. How big? As in THIS big…

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a WHOLE roasted pork. C’mon, people, don’t tell me you didn’t want to see the *real* stuff? Buying a couple of pounds and eat it with other dishes? Once again, doable, but that is something anybody could do on a regular day. I mean, it is not that I haven’t done it myself; for example, when I visited HK BBQ Master. But, for something as significant as Chinese New Year, c’mon, if I am going to blog about it, it has to be overkill or just go home. Taking snapshot of a pound or two of roasted pork just does not cut it! (And, heaven forbid, imagine I start making videos!!!). No, I will be doing a disservice to readers.

But, I am jumping ahead… Before getting that whole roasted pork, there was a bit of logistics involved, starting with… Where? In my case, I work in the West End and there are only that many places that can make it, namely, Hon’s. But, after the downfall of Hon’s even as a regular restaurant (yes, it has gone downhill), the closest “suspect” would be Chinatown. But looking for somebody to deliver (not to mention a “good” place), we started to scout places in Richmond. Alas, to be able to do this, it would require somebody to drive there and, given we are all busy working, nobody was willing to take some time to do it. In the end, we restricted ourselves and plans seemed to fall into oblivion. Fortunately, Mr. Spoon saved the situation by getting a suggestion from his mother-in-law and others pitched in by volunteering to drive. That place ended up being Dollar Meat Store in Chinatown. OK, OK, I am sure that some of you will be laughing at the name but, hey, they would prepare it in sort of a short notice and we were all up for it.

Of course, you could eat the pork by itself but it would sound… Strange? Anyway, we needed some other dishes to go along; but, given all the logistics involved, Mr. Spoon took reign on the situation and only ordered *one* dish to go along: shrimp fried rice from Hon’s. Well, he is the organizer and I will leave it up to him. Before anybody anything, let’s go back what I mentioned about the population: Despite the main dish was pork, some people in our group does not eat pork so that one other dish had to be non-pork based… But, there was still one issue: no vegetables. To “salvage” the situation, at least from a personal level, I ordered some side gai lan.

In the end, everything was assembled and ready to go… Now, I wanted to go directly for the belly but, based on how it was reconstructed… Well, that meant I could only have it in round 2. And, yes, I went back for more pork. Sad reality is, most people were full after their first round. Some fools (me included) went for other rounds afterwards. That brings the next question… How was it?

In the case of the pork, there is never a correct answer, as it depends on how you like your meat. But, overall, I found there was a really nice balance of fat and lean. No piece was dry and there was a thin layer of fatty-like goodness between the craklings and the meat… Ah… On the topic of cracklings, they could have been better; however, I must consider the fact this wasn’t a suckling pig and the rainy day, plus transit time plus wait time, would have impacted in the end result. Not complaining here, as, in the end, it was eaten with major big smiles…

That brings yet another question: Did we finish it? Here I will be saying something that you will hardly read/hear me say: there was too much pork. No, we did not and there were enough leftovers for the following day, something that people went for. Now, notice something… Missing? Being the stereotypical Chinese, we will almost for certain, get the bones, the head and trotters. Some people, on the other hand, were squeamish about it. As a result of that, I ended up packing the bones and trotters for soup. The head? If it wasn’t because I was full at that moment, I would have produced a knife and started cutting the cheeks out. Alas, that was not to be.

Overall, despite there were some odd moments/situations, it was still a good meal. We enjoyed this so much that we were considering getting a lamb from the Greek Festival later this year!

Boccalone
1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA

A couple of weeks before I went to San Francisco, I received an email from a very dear friend telling me “[this picture] is for you! All things PORK! ”. That “thing” my friend was making reference to was a sandwich board saying “Tasty Salted Pork Parts”. I guess some people really do know me, hehehehe. So, when I was in San Francisco, I made sure I visit Boccalone, this place with this sandwich board!

Interestingly, I passed by Boccalone several times on this trip: while walking around San Francisco’s Ferry Building for their Farmer’s Market, before going to Hamburgers in Sausalito, then on our way back to San Francisco, then later that night for Foodbuzz gala dinner. So, after parting ways with Sherman after dim sum at Dol Ho, I had the afternoon to decide what to do. I said to myself “well, I might as well go to Boccalone now!”.

When I arrived (battling some rain, I must add), I did a quick walk around first. Hey, who knows, there might be something that might entice me more! Wait, why the sudden change of heart? Well, unless you missed my Incanto post, in one of the pictures, they have some Boccalone stuff hanging in a display. What that has to do? Well, it just happens that Boccalone is owned by Chris Cosentino who also own Incanto. So, given I was going to try some of his cooking, I could second guess it. But, no, since my dear friend made mention of it, I had to make sure I went there!

So, the usual question: what to order? Since I had to pace myself, I knew that the only option was a sandwich, which begs the usual question: Which one? Because of what happened with Sherman in Salumi (my post here; his original post here), I knew that, if I order the “wrong” one, I am somewhat certain I will unleash the fury from some readers. But, well, those are the chances I had to take…

That sandwich ended up being a hot sandwich, namely their “Mess Piggy” sandwich – Pulled pork with spicy pickled peppers. The sandwich was what promised it was and a bit more: The bread was sliced then pressed in a panini grilled before pulled pork was added to the mix and then the hot peppers. The pork was juicy and had that nice pork texture. However… One thing failed: the spicy peppers overwhelmed any hints of smokiness from the pork. And that was despite it wasn’t excessively spicy but just enough. It was a shame because, otherwise, I would have really loved the crispy texture of the bread and the softness of the pork.

On my way out, I decided to grab some of their cold cut “snack”: for $3.50, you get a “meat cone”, which has a sample of some of their cold cuts. With an average of slightly over $1 a piece, I believe they provided a good example of what their cold sandwich could have been. If that statement is true, in that case, it was good in its own ways, though, of course, it brings back the question of whether any “additional” component (like the spicy pepper above) would have throw things sideways.

With that in mind, how was it? Based on its location and the end product, I will have to say it more or less provides what it promises. It could be better, yes; but, still good enough for me to consider a revisit. Now, if they had pig ears sandwich…

Rosamunde Sausage Grill
2832 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA

OK, OK, final stretch of San Francisco post. Aside from this one, for Friday’s post, I have Boccalone located in the Ferry Building (more details on that one when time comes) so, until I have another trip to San Francisco…

As for today’s post, so far, almost all posts I have had for San Francisco have had a companion/partner-in-crime component. Once again, I have to give Sherman thanks for being a good sport and tagging along. From taking the ferry for Hamburgers to going to a dim sum dive-y place to agreeing to go to Incanto (located not necessarily in a main street) rather than some more popular restaurant. Of course, there were things that I wanted to do by myself and, in those cases, I chose to break apart from the main group. So, on the Sunday after dim sum at Dol Ho, Sherman had plans with his cousins at Foreign Cinema and I had plans to visit Boccalone (again, Friday’s post). After that, I was planning to do some sightseeing, walking around. One of those places was the Castro District – the equivalent of Davie Village in Vancouver. A very dear friend of mine made mention about it so I decided to drop by. Of course, crappy weather slowed me down a little bit but, still, I managed to drop by. On my way back, I decided to stop by one of the BART stations to get some food. The interesting thing is that, near the Mission BART stations, there is a certain level of Latin food but, oddly, I chose not to go that route. Instead, I went for something more… Mundane? Basic? Something that “normal” people can identify? Namely, meat in a tube? (OK, that sounded strange…). That’s how, I ended up going to Rosamunde Sausage Grill.

While the name of this place has “sausage” and “grill” in it, one other things is pretty obvious: This is local watering hole of sorts. There were your stereo for music, TV for watching games and, to add that locality point, it is a self-serve shop! Nothing wrong with that, if that helps the food served faster and things moving, I am good with it!

As for the food side, OK, their name is straight to the point: They serve sausages. (< — feel free to, ahem, insert any jokes here). In my case, I looked at the menu and was starting to get confused with the list of options. In fact, some of them sounded a bit… Esoteric? Anyway, I pulled a trick from Mijune’s book and asked for their recommendation hoping they didn’t say anything on the lines of “everything is good”. Alas, they did say something on those lines but ended up choosing the one they mentioned first along with something I ordered myself which ended up being…

Currywurst. I know this sounds confusing: Given the area, i.e., surrounded by Latin influence, why would I ordered a German dish? Well, aside from “it is in the menu”… But, let’s face it, how this can go wrong? A curry powder + tomato/catsup like sauce over sliced sausage, your definition of simple can’t go further. Well, in this case, in several ways. The sauce felt mostly like plain tomato/catsup sauce, without any hints of curry at all. The second part is more of a finer point note: Rather than having the sausage completely sliced and tossed into the sauce, I would have preferred it “whole” with slits into it. By having it tossed into the sauce, I felt it “cheapened” the end result. In other words, imagine a batch made sausage stew of sorts. The red peppers topping didn’t really get into the way and, at least, the bun was decent but, then again, for currywurst, the bun is secondary.

Sausage #2 was the suggestion given to me that day: The Sicilian – pork, bell peppers provalone & romano cheeses. Here is the opposite effect compared to the currywurst: This was served as two smaller sausages. Again, that would be fine if it worked. Alas, the flavours were too mild for the toppings (chili and sauerkraut) and it ended up lost in the mix. On that note, the chili was actually quite decent, I wouldn’t have mind a bowl of that some other time.

Despite my wacky thoughts about the sausages, actually, this would be a place I won’t mind coming back to hang out. (But, then again, this is a big IF considering this is San Francisco). It has that vibe of being an extension of your home if you just want to have a good time, some basic food and so on. However, as you all know me, that’s not usually why I go to restaurant: I’m only there for the food!

Incanto
1550 Church Street
San Francisco, CA

Earlier this year, fellow blogger Chris of Eating is the Hard Part visited San Francisco and wrote of Incanto, the restaurant of celebrity chef Chris Cosentino. To those who do not know, Chris Cosentino’s, aside form rustic Italian cooking, has also participated in different TV shows, including his won Chef vs. City. However, what I care more is about *what* he cooks: in his menu, he includes offal dishes. Yes, cooking from head to tail and almost everything in between! So, when the FoodBuzz Food Festival was announced, restaurants plans were flying going back and forth. While JS/TS and Sherman had quite an extensive list, I had only two places in mind: Hamburgers (Sausalito) and, you guessed it, Incanto!

Update: Sherman’s post is here; Mijune’s post is here.

In addition to “the usual suspects”, aka, JS/TS, Sherman and Mijune, who came along with cousin MY, we had the pleasure of having along Naomi (aka “The Gastro Gnome“) and Chowhounder Grayelf (who came along with family). In total, we had 10 people seated in the table. Unfortunately, I was seated in the far end of the table so I didn’t have much interaction with Naomi, Grayelf and family who were seated at other far end. That also means I didn’t take pictures of what they ordered (except for a couple of instances).

Here is one thing about having a large dinner party with people you don’t necessarily know (in my case, I had TS on one side and MY on the other): We might be having a bit too much fun talking and ordering food… Well, for a while, that became secondary! However, we knew we had to order eventually so we started checking the menu. As for me, I was pretty much set from the very beginning. See, originally, when I found out the group was large enough for their prix fixe or their leg of the beast, I was pushing for it However, TS, who made the reservations, despite her heritage, didn’t want to know any of it. I guess it would have been a safe approach considering the composition of the party plus it would have given us more chances to try everything from their “regular” menu (which might partially be an oxymoron because their menu changes frequently). Anyway, by the time we got to make our order, some bread arrived:

There were three types of bread, the third one being a focaccia type bread. It was served with a tapenade which, for the most part, was fine. If I want to “complain” a bit about it would that I would have appreciated a bit more olive oil (given Chris Cosentino’s affinity for it) but, again, that’s nitpicking. As for the breads in general, there were OK, I wasn’t too picky about it.

TS/JS started with two appetizers. To show you how much attention I paid, I will have to “guess” what these were based on the receipt: “Rapini, Baccala (sic?) & Lemon” and “Local Sardines & Sunflower”. I didn’t try these so there isn’t much I can say… :/

On his side, Sherman ordered cod milt & duck egg. I won’t try to describe this dish because, truth is, I couldn’t get past this serie of tweet:

@Sherman38: @followmefoodie just had milt (spirit of cod) and she swallowed!
@followmefoodie: Just tried @Sherman38 ‘s milt (spirit cod)… I did swallow… BUT so did he
@Sherman38: And she got it all over her face too!
@Sherman38: She thought it was a bit salty…

And you guys thought the “rack” incident was enough?! O_o

While waiting for the second appetizer, Grayelf passed us their “main” appetizer which was the “Mystery Flight” for you. I think it was more on the lines of salumi platter… I didn’t try it so I won’t comment about it.

By then, our second appetizer started to arrive. Here, MY’s spaghetti with tuna heart. I will have to admit, this was a strange dish. You would think that the tuna heart will have a fishy taste, but, actually it wasn’t, instead, it was a bit earthy. It seems there was an egg yolk there (which I didn’t scoop a bit off when I tried it) and it added some creaminess to the dish. Can anybody say “Alfredo”?

Sweetbreads, potato and green walnuts salsa (?). In a testament of how English is a messed language, these aren’t sweet nor are breads (if you don’t know what it is, not sure if you want to know!). I had a piece of it and found these average? Now, it wasn’t bad by any stretch, just that the end result wasn’t necessarily exciting. The crispiness was appreciated and that would be something that would entice people coming back for this dish. I just wanted some additional layer of flavour.

Paccheri al nero, Mijune’s appetizer. Here, squid ink is used to prepare the pasta but, truth is, I can’t necessarily say I could have “tasted” it – this is a straight comparison to my dish (more of that in a moment). As for the seafood, it was cooked to a good consistency so, from that perspective I won’t complain. Having said that, the dish is good but not necessarily extraordinary.

As for me, I went for something that might gross a lot of people: (pig) blood pappardelle, served with raisins and sage. One thing not really noticeable is the consistency of the pasta – compared to the other dishes, specially Mijune’s, these felt undercooked. However, that might be because of the pig’s blood: had it been cooked slightly more, I would be willing to be the end result would have been similar to overcooked pork blood cubes, i.e., a somewhat metallic taste. So, as is, while you could tell it was based on it, it wasn’t overwhelming. And the butter and sage was actually a good combination (herby, buttery, what more do you want??? ) and the raisins gave it a sweet taste. In other words, a contrast of texture and taste!

Finally (?), the entrees. TS and JS ordered two versions of risotto: one with mushroom and one with “best part of the chicken”, which ended up being the skin, chicken oyster, thigh and I think I saw some gizzard and chicken heart. In both cases, the rice was cooked as it should and, out of the two, the chicken was “better”. In the case of the mushroom one (if memory serves me, it was mostly chanterelle but might be mistaken as I don’t recall tasting the mushroom), there wasn’t anything wrong just that it felt too… Average? As for the chicken, it did show up a bit more but, still in the end, well, the usage of those parts of the chicken didn’t necessarily blow me away (I had chicken thighs, I think). Good dish, still.

Mijune’s entree: California yellowtail. Sorry, didn’t write down the rest of the details of this dish. From the small piece I tried, I found it was… Meh? I didn’t find anything exciting and, except for a slight fishiness, it was mostly a blank palette. For a piece of fish, I thought it could be better or tried be more creative. Don’t recall trying the pumpkin so I will leave that to Mijune, given it was her dish…

Sherman’s dish, the porkbelly. Let’s face it, other than raw/undercooked pork belly, how you can go wrong with this? This piece of braised porkbelly was what it was supposed to be: A bit of crispiness which gave it some initial resistance to the fork but once you pass that initial token “resistance”, it was melt in your mouth almost. The interesting part is that the side of arugula provided some contrasting bitterness to the otherwise sweet taste of that piece of pork belly. Did somebody say balance? Yup, from that perspective, it was good…

MY’s dish: Pomegranate-glazed poussin, almost a Cornish hen type fowl. Believe it or not, this ended up being the best dish of the night (or, at least on my side of the table). Did somebody say simplest dish works better? In this case, the pomegranate provided some unique sweetness to the “chicken”, which, well, simply worked. Now, despite it looks “burned”, that’s not necessarily the case, it was just caramelizing. Mostly a blank palette that works.

Finally, my dish: offal bollito misto, mustard, salsa verde & horseradish (the sauces on a side, picture not taken). Despite my love for offal, this dish simply didn’t work for me. When it was served originally, the broth wasn’t there: it was poured at the table. I was a bit distracted when the components were described to me, what I do recall are the foei gras (?!) sausage (closest to the plate), some pork belly (to the bottom left), tongue (top left) and chicken thigh. For the most part, this dish failed for me. While I knew it would be a soup-y dish, the fact it was “assembled” at the table meant the individual components were cooked independently. In other words, they didn’t necessarily “mix” together from the very beginning but, rather, it seemed forced together. If they were to served with broth, I think it would have been better had sausage be served “bangers” style (as in bangers and mash, though unlikely as it was extremely soft due to the fat), the tongue be served Chinese style and then the broth be added by the diner rather than in the bowl itself.

In the end, the dinner was actually quite an experience of its own but, as usual, the dining companions helped. As for the food itself, while some of the “odd” dishes failed, the “normal” ones worked well. So, I do appreciate the fact the attempt to cook offal was made, still, in the end it felt slightly short (either that or, because I eat offal so often, it didn’t meet my expectations). Even then, I believe the restaurant overall did provide what it was supposed to and, from that perspective, that experience was worth it.

Oh, one more thing: I was really tired at that point and partially asleep. At that point, Mijune, Sherman and the rest of the gang ordered dessert:

As for these, I will leave Sherman and Mijune describe them! Once again, Sherman’s post is here; Mijune’s post is here.

(side note: Chris Cosentino wasn’t in the kitchen that night we were there)

Taylor Street Coffee Shop
375 Taylor Street
San Francisco, CA

Ah, San Fran, San Fran… After FoodBuzz Street Food Fare Welcome Reception, Sherman, JS/TS and Mijune, each one of us called it a night. However, since we didn’t necessarily planned to attend all FoodBuzz events for the morning, we decided to tag along for some other activities. In my case, Sherman and I agreed to meet for breakfast and go from there, which included looking for some good eats outside of the San Francisco area. But, that is jumping ahead so, for this post, breakfast.

Here is a bit of a curve ball: while the hotel did offer continental breakfast, how exciting that would have been as blogging material? I guess not much. So, we decided to look for nearby options and option #1 had a somewhat ridiculous queue… At 8:00 a.m.! How bad it was? Imagine a breakfast version of Stepho’s… 1 hour queue? For breakfast??? While walking around, Sherman mentioned Taylor Street Coffee Shop (TSCS) as an option. Sure, why not!

Since the hotel was in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco but still really close to Union Square, one would think nearby restaurants would follow the “trendiness” of the shops near Union Square. Well, actually, a lot of them were; however, TSCS was anything but. If you see in the picture above, you could easily surmise this is a dive. And, when we walked in, those thoughts were partially confirmed. Nothing fancy and that would work fine for me!

After perusing the menu, we observed the “usual suspects”: eggs, ham/bacon/sausage, hash, pancakes/French toast, omelette and so on. And then there were lunch type items like sandwiches and burgers. Given the time of the time, we focused solely on breakfast dishes, which included:

Sherman ordered toast while I ordered sourdough. It was your usual slices of breads so, from that perspective, not much to comment about. Actually… Given this type of shop, I thought the toast was a bit past the burn point (or at least past certain point). As for the sourdough… No, sorry, it was barely any of that sourdough characteristic. In fact, it tasted borderline white sliced bread! >_< I mean, this is San Francisco, you would think their sourdough would be “better”! Anyway, these are just slices of bread so moving on…

Dish #1 was the Meat Lover’s Special which has a “Ham Steak, bacon (3), breakfast sausage (3), two eggs and toast”. For an additional $1.50, the breakfast sausages were switched for two links of chicken apple sausage. The eggs were ordered sunny side up and the only “flaw” would be the fact it was slightly overcooked, i.e., part of the egg yolk was “hard” already. The ham was a bit salty but I guess that’s expected. As for the sausage: Well, I thought it had a bit too much earthy taste. Again, depending on how you like yours… Finally, the one part that disappointed from that dish: the bacon. From the looks, you could say it was quite well cooked which, by itself, it is not necessarily a bad thing. The problem was that it was extremely salty! C’mon people, do you have to make it so salty?!

For dish #2, we went to the other end of the spectrum: we ended up ordering a dish that, in a way, I thought didn’t necessarily fit the dive type description of the restaurant considering the ingredients included. Here, their Sailor’s Hash – “Seasoned hash browns topped with eggs scrambled in garlic butter, shrimp, Dungeness crab, jalapeño and bacon. Covered with cheese, scampi shrimp, smoked salmon“. Yup, you read it right: It has salmon, it has shrimp, it has Dungeness crab!

And, I will have to admit that dish was as promised: the flower salmon, the shrimp and some strands of crab. The hash was actually quite good and the egg/cheese combination provided a nice, hearty (not to mention artery clogging) breakfast. However, the part that would, in theory, make it sound out made me have mixed feelings: The salmon provided some contrast but the shrimp and, more importantly, the crab wasn’t really noticeable. In fact, if I were eating it blindfolded, I won’t have noticed it!

At this point, one would say TSCS delivers what it promises. And, I will have to admit that’s true. However, there is one major factor that would prevent me from consider it as an option next time I am in San Francisco: Price. See, for the location, I wasn’t expecting to be paying $10+ for these dishes! (Though willing to give them some allowances considering it is in the Tenderloin). OK, probably the Sailor’s Hash considering the ingredients used but, then again, this is a dive! OK, let’s assume I would be willing to fork the $$$. If that’s the case, I still won’t return. Why being so harsh? That’s because, on our last day in San Francisco, we went to a place that I thought was way superior to this and at the same/lower price… As a result, no coming back for me.

Update: And here is Sherman’s post of Taylor Street Coffee Shop!

Yu Kee BBQ Kitchen
111 – 2609 East 49th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Some of you might be wondering: Am I not the one who “complains” about Chinese restaurants and do not visit too many of those? True… So, why another Chinese restaurant post, then? Well, *another* might be stretching it but, while I can do Chinese for a full month, truth is, I do not want to bore you with visits to Chinese after Chinese after Chinese. Besides, there are a lot of other non-Chinese restaurants out there! Of course, there is another reason why I do not blog too often about Chinese restaurants: you can seldom go there by yourself (compared to say, Vietnamese where you can still get a decent meal).

So how I ended up in Yu Kee, a small Chinese restaurant in Killarney Market? While I have known of its existence for a long time, all the previous instances I have been there were a bit of a failed attempt: for the most part, I arrived too late. However, that was before they opened a proper restaurant side, which, unlike their previous iteration, they are open until 10:00 p.m. And the fact that Anita dropped me an email asking if I was interested in checking it out, that pretty much sealed the deal.

We arrived for lunch time and, given it was a Saturday, I was both surprised and partially confused as to why it wasn’t packed. But, it does not matter: what we care about was to be able to get a table! With that settled, it was a matter of checking the menu and make our order…

Normally I start off with my dining companions order; however, in this case, I will start with mine. More on that in a moment. So, above, their two BBQ meats on rice. I went for cha siu and duck. I couldn’t find an option for a third meat type, namely, roasted pork, so, alas, I had to settled for these two. The cha siu was a bit mixed: It had the pork taste to it; however, I thought some sweetness was missing and wished it was fattier. Now, I know some people will tell me “I could have asked for it that way!”. My answer would be, sure, I could; however, instead, think of how a regular Joe would have made the order – without specifying how. The duck was, well, duck-y but, similar to the cha siu, I wished it was fattier and juicier. In the grand scheme of things, I would say it is good, though not necessarily the best I have had. As a dish, there was one thing that I wished that, again, they did by default: add more sauce to it, as it started to drag down the dish.

We ordered wonton soup to share and we were both surprised at this serving: this ain’t the big order! Each wonton had its share of both pork and shrimp – unlike some places that ax the shrimp and still call it wonton. It was good, though, there was one thing they could have done to improve it: make the pork pieces chunkier, but this would be nitpicking.

Now, Anita’s order. See, the reason I left it for last is that I just want to bug her about her order. Yup, she ordered that, congee! I was thinking, c’mon, out of all possible orders, specially BBQ or something on those lines but congee? Why??? Why???? (Oh, wait, Sherman has already given the name “Miss Y” to somebody else… ). If you have had congee before, you know what to expect, so there isn’t much point on me trying to explain it, probably other than the fact it was smooth.

And, when you order congee in a Chinese restaurant, chances are you will order this: yau ji guai or youtiao, or simply Chinese doughnut. I haven’t had these in a long while but, still, I can say these were quite good. It was still crispy while partially doughy, good to drop into the congee. However, the most important part? It wasn’t too oily, the big issue I have ran into other parts.

Overall, while not necessarily perfect, Yu Kee still it is quite good, specially considering its location: basically in the middle of nowhere – or at least a place where most people won’t necessarily know it exists. It gives me an incentive to come back some other time but, given some things were a bit sideways, it would be more of a case of if I am in the area more than anything else.

Meat & Bread
370 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC

Last year, Sherman visited Salumi, which is better known for being a deli shop opened by the father of celebrity chef Mario Batali. In that post, readers bashed him left and right. To quell the horde of people with pitchfork demanding Sherman’s head, sort of a compromise was set up: how about readers point out what was the dish he should have order and, next time either one of us was in that part of Seattle, try to get it. After my visit and Sherman’s re-visit, we came to one conclusion: It is the one sandwich that seems to be THE key dish there, the rest could be hit or miss. That one sandwich was their porchetta sandwich.

However, going all the way down to Seattle, not to mention on that really narrow window where they are open for business is sort of a crazy proposition. Instead, it was rather a matter of finding something in Vancouver that could be equivalent to it. So, when I found out that Meat and Bread, a restaurant which signature dish happened to be *that* one sandwich at Salumi, I was jumping to give it a try…

In what seems to be a trend nowadays, in addition to a couple of small tables, there is a long communal table. Come to think about, for this establishment, it is actually a good idea (on that note, at the back of Salumi, there is also a couple of small communal tables). And, right after you walk in, there is the counter where the sandwiches are prepared. Or, more specifically…

Yes, that is their porchetta sandwich in the making! On that note, here is a contrast between this porchetta and Salumi’s porchetta: whereas Salumi’s is more on the lines of braised pork the one here is roasted. This results in one key component… CRACKLINGS!!!!! Huhahahahahha!!!! OK, now to my actual order.

I started by ordering the soup, here their potato soup. It wasn’t “creamy” but starchy enough. While it wasn’t necessarily bad, let’s just say it didn’t wow me either. Next time I think I will just skip it. But, given it changes on a frequent basis (on another day, it was tomato soup), it can go any way.

And here is the sandwich, huahahaha!!! Here, the porchetta sandwich served with salsa verde. I might have overlooked it completely but I don’t think I taste too much of an herby “feeling” to it. Rather, there was the overall pork savoury taste in it. Yes… Roasted pork goodness! And, the crackling, ah… Crunch, crunch! From a Chinese perspective, the best way to describe it would be taking the less fatty, less salty pieces of roasted Chinese pork and put it between to slices of bread. If you can imagine that, you can pretty much know what you are up for.

Now, given what happened with Salumi, I decided to drop by a second time and order another sandwich. OK, a bit about the menu here: They seem to have three “fixed” sandwiches: the porchetta, the meatball (which look more on the lines of a sloppy joe when I was observing it being made) and a grilled cheese sandwich. The fourth one rotates so, for kicks, I decided to order the one available on that day, which happened to be “Roast Chicken, Caramelized Onion Jus, Cabbage Apple Slaw”, which I ordered along with a salad (yes, despite this is a “meat” place, they have a daily salad).

The salad was… OK, I have had better. My problem is that there wasn’t much of a predominant flavour. Think of it as a coleslaw-like dressing tossed with cooked potatoes. Toss and serve. Again, it wasn’t bad but I have had better. As for the roasted chicken sandwich… It was a fail. See, this looked more on the lines of braised rather than roasted. As a result, it tasted plain. So much it could have been done, yet it felt short.

One final item that made me curious was the ice cream sandwich, specifically, maple bacon ice cream sandwich! Did somebody say bacon? Now, after I made my order, I had to wait: basically, the waffle were made to order, which gave it a sweet and slightly crumbly taste. As for the ice cream itself… It was ice cream but I have had better. The maple didn’t really stood up and, worst of all, the piece of bacon weren’t crispy nor had a definite texture. For $3, it wasn’t bad, in fact, it seems well priced but I might not order it again.

Overall, that experience in Salumi was sort of repeated here: their signature sandwich is really good but the other daily rotating one could be hit or miss. So, if you stick with the porchetta, you are good. And, depending on your perspective, at $8 it might fall a bit short in the value perspective. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a good sandwich, just that, after finishing a sandwich and soup/salad, I wasn’t full. Depending on how hungry are you, well, you get the point.

Honey Hole Sandwiches
703 E Pike Street
Seattle, WA

One of the “interesting” features that is seldom mentioned is that of Vancouver being *really* close to the US. Border crossing queue aside, you should be able to go to the US from Vancouver in around an hour (or less). Once there, two or so hours later, you hit Seattle, another major US city. Sure, you could go from Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan or Hamilton, Ontario to Buffalo, New York in about the same time but, c’mon, there is no comparison here. So, on Thanksgiving, I chose to do a day trip “just because”. While timing worked great, weatherwise, it ended up being awash: It was miserable and detracted me from some outdoor activities. Well, I was on that side of the border so… Let’s go to eat!!! Originally I had two places in mind: Latin food in the form of La Isla or more “regular fare” in the form of Honey Hole Sandwiches. The later was chosen because, well, it was an odd combination of timing and circumstance. Does not matter how or why, what matters is that I was there and it was time to eat!

Upon arriving, I wasn’t sure about how to proceed: should I sit down or should I line up? Well, following the same when-in-Rome logic, I queued in the line but still had to let some customers go ahead as I wasn’t sure what to order. Granted, there are only sandwiches but being by myself meant I had to choose carefully. In the end, the decision winded down to one thing: Pork!!!

After making the order (and giving my name), I sat down to look around. I am not sure if I was impatient that afternoon or they were really taking its time but I was starting to be a bit restless. Where is my sandwich??? I am hungry!!! OK, in the end, it was my impatience because those 10 or so minutes seemed to have taken forever… Anyway, here is my order, their Buford T. Justice hot sandwich – In-house smoked all natural pork, pulled and smothered in our sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, coleslaw, and melted pepper jack on a demi baguette. And for good measure, I also ordered their soup of the day which happened to be a corn chowder.

Their soup was… Unique. The chowder had a curry-like kick which while I didn’t mind, I found it slightly distracting. I don’t know, when I have a corn chowder, I would expect it to be sweet not a mix of sweet and spicy. So, depending on what you expect from such soup, it could go either way. Another detail was that it wasn’t really smooth so, once again, depending on your likes or dislikes, it could be distracting…

Ah, yeah, pork, huahahahahaha!!!!! One thing I will have to do, despite I do not want to, would be to compare it to Re-Up‘s. That’s because that would be the easiest comparison point to those of us in Vancouver. Starting with the bread, I would have to say this one was toasted which resulted it being crispier. Furthermore, it had a chewiness to it, which I consider I good thing in this type of sandwich. The pepper jack cheese was mixed. It did provide some spicy tones, which I found was good but there was no creamy overtones I would have expected from such cheese.

The pork was a bit of a mixed bag. It was tender; however, it was as moist as it could have been. But, it seems they caught that fact from the very get go and added some sauce to compensate. It did work to an extent and, in fact, it added some smokiness to it. Was it the best? Well, no but it was good enough. Going back to that Re-Up comparison, I would say they are quite similar in execution.

Given that I liked Re-Up, at this point, my thoughts ought to be quite similar. In this case, this sandwich (no pun intended?) board outside the shop tells it all: “damn, that’s a good sandwich”!