Crème de la Crumb
466 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Whenever there are high notes and/or excitement when a new place opens, I approach it with certain skepticism. More often than not, it is hype; others, the “free” food factor. However, as I mentioned in my Bella Gelateria post, there are people I trust, like Mijune and Sherman. When Mijune wrote about Crème de la Crumb in her Granville Foodie Tour post, I knew I had to visit it, despite sweets are not my first option and a lot of what is sold here are pastries…

So, given my lack of sweets experience, why I choose to come anyway? How about sandwiches? Yes, when Mijune wrote about it, this was the one item that actually caught my attention. So, what does this little shop has to offer? How about this?

Here, Grilled Steak and Blue Cheese Mayo w/ Balsamic Caramelized Red Onion, Arugula, Mushrooms, which was grilled just before it was served. Now, here is something I must mention right away: These are not prepared to order; as their menu states: ” Our gourmet sandwiches are hand-prepared each morning…“. So, if you are those who like to customize your sandwiches, sorry, what you see wrapped in the cool display is what you get.

One thing that really surprised me when I took the first couple of bites is the bread. While I think the cut was a bit too thick, one thing you could notice almost right away is that it is not your run off the mill bread. It wasn’t necessarily a sweet type bread not complete neutral type. But it was the fact there were pieces of walnuts in it. It is quite an interesting departure from the usual ones, indeed.

As for the filling itself, that’s where things were… Interesting. On one side, there was a balance, in the sense you had some greens plus the savoury part and then there is the mushroom. On each bite you could taste a bit of all. However, how the meat was cut was what confused me. Each piece was almost a chunk rather than thin slices. If that was the intent, well, it worked; however, I would have preferred it differently, more on the lines of longer slices (think Philly cheesesteak). In the end it worked though…

Now, a really odd note about my selection: it seems that I should have ordered the turkey one; however, I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the turkey for some reason. Probably because, given the option, I prefer beef over some fowl in a sandwich? (Not that I haven’t had that before but…) Or because I am biased against turkey? Regardless, here is the big question: how does it compare to nearby places? Compared to, say, Bread Garden, I think we have a winner. However, if we compare it to made to order places, like Finch’s or Brioche, well, it is a case of comparing apple to oranges, specially in the case you are looking for something quick (if you are short on time, going to Finch’s is almost madness)

OK, OK, I am not THAT crazy about pastries but, given I was in one, shouldn’t I have tried some as well? Here we have their lemon poppy seed loaf. Just for kicks, I asked for my colleagues to give this one a try and, for the most part, they were quite enthusiastic about it. They found it was moist but without getting really oily (compared to say, some muffins from other places). One thing they liked a lot was the fact there was that contrast between the moist centre and there was a crusty exterior. As for the lemon taste, actually, I find it was lemon-y, though I wished it was more of a “natural” taste but, I guess, it being baked there will be some transformation from that natural taste. And, oh, the poppy seeds… Let’s just say that we were joking about triggering a false positive in drug tests!

For myself, I also got a vanilla bean + pear scone. There was a particular note about this: I wasn’t planning to eat it right away so I asked if there would be any special instructions if I wanted to eat it later. Lydia, the owner, suggested me to put it in a toaster oven until the exterior was getting crunchy (while, in this case, the interior was kept soft and, I dare to say, sweet!). I did exactly that later that day and… Well, my perception of a scone is something neutral, in this case, it was sweet. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given it has vanilla and pear. However, I didn’t really taste much of the vanilla. Probably if I tried really hard… Or I had things mixed up with the sweetness (it had some level of)? And there were actual pieces of pear but, once again, it was somewhat muted. Now you knew there were there, as you could “feel” it but somehow lost in that sea of sweetness.

On another day, I decided to drop by really early hopefully to get that turkey sandwich to have it as breakfast. Alas, they weren’t available yet so, instead, I went for something “sweet”. Sigh, pushing my limit on sweets…

Here, their banana chocolate chip loaf. Alas, I didn’t eat it right away but later in the afternoon as a “snack” later that day. In a way, it shared a lot of characteristics to the lemon poppy seed bar, i.e., it wasn’t really that oily and moist. However, there was something lost in translation here: I can’t say I could taste the banana. Could it be they weren’t that ripe when they made this batch (considering that gap between green to ripe before spoiling is really narrow). I mean, I knew it was there because I could see the strands/specks but couldn’t taste it that much. In the end, it felt more like a chocolate chips loaf – and there is nothing wrong with that!

Finally, what seems to be something that almost shouldn’t be missed was their cinnamon bun. And that’s what I had for breakfast in the end. When I was growing up, I could eat a couple of these; however, after that desire for sweets wane, so did my tolerance. However, I will admit, despite it looked as a sugar overload (OK, technically it is), they weren’t as sweet as it could be. And, true to its name, the cinnamon was there. Alas, one thing I didn’t quite enjoy was the frosting on top. For some reason, there was something that bugged me and I couldn’t really find out what. So, pieces with frosting were fine, those with, I ended up scrapping it off. I guess it is more on the lines of personal preference.

Overall, the fact I was able to eat some of the sweets despite my low tolerance tells me something. Alas. if it wasn’t because it is somewhat far from my workplace prevents me from coming back for a quick lunch. And, for some pastries, if it wasn’t because of their hours (then again, this is Downtown, a lot of places aren’t open on some days/after certain times). Otherwise, I think Crème de la Crumb is a good option.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a really great week because… Well, a lot of things happened, all of them in a good way. Needless to say, me and my camera = some pictures!

Remember DVP? I met her for dinner at Ebisu on Broadway a couple of months ago. I found out she likes hiking and, I myself, was more than willing to give it a try. Truth is, after living in Vancouver all these years, I still can’t believe I haven’t visited a lot of great places we have at a short driving distance. In this case, I tagged along for a hike to Diez Vistas (“Ten Views”) trail around Buntzen Lake. Me being crazy enough, I brought my camera with me! And here are some pictures I took:

I know, some of you might be saying “WTF with this picture?!” OK, what happens is that, while we were going uphill, after a somewhat steep section, this bird (pheasant?) jumped out of nowhere and scared both DVP and me! (In my case, I was more scare of the fall had I “jumped” back!). Funny thing? I stayed right there until I took this picture… >_<

Sorry, I would have taken more pictures but, truth is, we “missed” a couple of more Views, not to mention I wanted to conserve some strength for the rest of the hike. Oh, just for the record, it took us ~6 hours to finish it. According to a friend of mine who hikes with some frequency, she can do it in ~4 hours (the lower end of the range) but, for a first time, 6 hours is good enough. Ouch… I guess I really dragged DVP on this one! Oh, just for the record, I did fall once. To quote DVP, “It isn’t a hike until somebody slip or fall!”. OK, I guess that was me… Finally, we didn’t see any bears… ^_^;;;

On another day, one of the most interesting things happened to me. I have mentioned a couple of times already that I have met people thanks to food blogging. So far, the people I have met are from Vancouver itself. The special part about TNG is that she is NOT from Vancouver. It just happened she is comes to Vancouver with certain frequency and asked me once about restaurants. We missed each other when she was here earlier this year (I was in Panama) but, fortunately, this time I was not only available but served also as a guide. Asking people for suggestions as to where to take an out of town guests, the idea to visit Squamish came. So, to Squamish we went!

Murin Lake

Shannon Falls

Given this is a food blog, it would be wrong not to include some food right?

Yes, *this* bus

After visiting some of the local trails, lakes and parks, it was almost lunch time and we decided to go to a place we drove by by earlier that day, Mountain Woman. Story goes, a couple had an abandoned school bus and decided to open a restaurant with the condition the husband would cook if and only if it was called Mountain Man. However, the couple split and the wife kept the “restaurant” and renamed it Mountain woMan.

TNG left the ordering to me. Let’s just say that was a bit of a mistake on her side. In a wacky attempt to try as many dishes as possible, I ended up ordering fish and chips as well as prawns, as seen above. Despite its thick batter, it actually tasted quite good! It had that characteristic prawns taste, though, because it was fried, not necessarily that seafood taste. Alas, they didn’t clean the prawns so, it is possible you will run into that “vein”.

Here, the fish and chips. Compared to what is served at some places… *cough*Pajo’s*cough*, these pieces were quite large. Alas, it was extremely oily and bland. Unlike Moby Dick‘s where the fish was bland but the tartar sauce salvaged; here, nothing salvaged it… To make it overkill, the fries were bad, as we barely touched it. Conclusion? It was a pass for me.

If you thought I was going to drive almost 100 Km just for fish & chip you are completely mistaken! After we had lunch, which, again, was a bit disappointing, we went to Squamish and to Grilled Fromagge for some, you guessed it, cheese sandwiches!

While we just had the fish & chips barely an hour prior, we still made an order here and rather than ordering individually, we ended up sharing one grilled cheese sandwich. Here, their Holy Cheeses: Swiss, Holy Sauce, applewood and bacon. When it arrived, it was served in a really interesting way: they split that single sandwich between the two of us (served on different plates)!

I will have to say this sandwich was quite good in its own ways! However, me being raised Chinese… The only issue I had was, oddly, the cheese! No, it was good; just that because I seldom eat something with so much dairy in it, there were instances it felt really it was a chore… Regardless, I am sure there will be a lot of people whose background is different from mine and have a really good time with it. The bacon stood up by itself, as well as the applewood..

After that, we went to a nearby micro-brewery and TNG sampled some of the beer (sorry, no drinking and driving, I am a responsible driver!). In the end, we checked with the front desk and they told us about at nearby trail that leads to the ocean. This is the closest to the Ocean we got ourselves into: somehow, that trail took odd wacky turns and we got “lost”!

After Squamish, we went back to Vancouver and… Well, you will find out later this week!

Euro Deli & Market
3665 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

I apologize if I offend anybody for using this word: Nazi. Unfortunately, that term has taking its own twist and turns, specially with a certain episode of Seinfeld which immortalized the phrase “Soup Nazi”, in reference to . (The funny thing is that, while I have watch snipplets of it, I haven’t watched the full episode! Yeah, shame on me…). So what does “Soup Nazi” has to do with Vancouver? Well, let me remind everybody of Salam of Le Charcuterie, the self proclaimed “Sandwich Nazi”. Jokes aside, when I went there last summer (wow, it sounds like it was a LONG time ago!), he mentioned he used to own a second location that he eventually sold. That location became Euro Deli & Market.

Getting there was a bit of a pain. First, their hours are limited. As in Monday to Friday for lunch and close before 5:00 p.m., except on Fridays where they close at 4:00 p.m. Given I work in Downtown and they do not open on weekends, getting here was close to impossible for me… Unless it was a day I had off! Yup, that’s what happened and I took a leap of faith to go there.

When I arrived, the place was quite quiet. Now, it had your share of customers; however, it didn’t have the same “vibe” as Le Charcuterie. However, not sure if to entice customers or as a reminder of old times, they had a small sign making reference to the Soup/Sandwich Nazi. Alas, the person at the counter Soup/Sandwich Nazi he wasn’t… In fact, I would even say he was quite nice.

I started off with a lentil soup, which you can add to any order for $2. I won’t comment much on this one as I have a certain preference for my lentil soup, specifically, I like them thicker. However, from a restaurant perspective, despite legumes are relatively “cheap”, it is not that feasible. As for this one, it was hearty with its share of vegetables so I am sure it will certainly hit the spot.

Alas, the sandwiches offered were not even close to the ones offered in Le Charcuterie. OK, actually, they had subs; however, the way they were listed… They also had some Middle Eastern wraps and, what I ended up ordering here, “Euro Grilled Sandwiches”, specifically, their “French Eifel (sic) Tower” – Smoked turkey, spicy herb turkey, Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onions, pesto mayo, grilled. Normally at $7, on that day, it was the special for $1.5 less. I won’t say I was particularly excited about it, as it was really simple and, then there is La Grotta del Formaggio for comparison purposes… However, I might be comparing apples to oranges, given the popularity of the later.

To put it in a perspective, probably Euro Deli is there to cater a more local crowd and, if that is the case, that might certainly fit the bill. Unless that is, you want to go around the corner and stuff your face with all-you-can-eat sushi. In my case, if I am on that building and want lunch without leaving that block, it presents an alternative. But, back to the Sandwich Nazi part… Sorry, Euro Deli does not live up to Salam’s legacy.

Giovane
1038 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC

For some reason, embedded in my head is that concept that most hotel restaurants are… Well, disappointed. Of course, given that I travel on a budget, the hotels I end up staying aren’t necessarily a five star hotel; instead, they are usually your regular hotel chains, i.e., Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, et al. And, then again, even if they have fancy locations, I seldom end up staying in those. After all, why should I? If travelling on business, it is my customer’s money, not to mention I spend the whole day at the customer’s site; if it is leisure, chances are I am only there to sleep and some basic necessities.

But, even when I stay in the “fancier” locations of those hotel chains, more often than not, the food has been average at best. But, then again, Fairmont is a luxury hotel chain so comparing them to the other chains might be akin to comparing apples to oranges. With that in mind, I went to Giovane, the “cafeteria” located in the recently opened Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and little sibling to Oru, the main restaurant in the hotel. Hey, I wasn’t in mood to fork big bucks to Oru, given the mixed feedback!

From what I have seen, Giovane can be “broken” down into three distinct sections: a coffee shop, a pastry/bakery shop and a deli. Now, deli might be stretching that definition, given they have salad, soups, pizza and sandwiches. Now, I will focus a little bit in the deli part given I am not much of a coffee drinker and I am not crazy about sweets. Having said that…

Instead, I am a tea drinker. Here, a cup of, you can guess it!, Earl Grey. I will have to say their leaves they use are actually quite good. A nice hint of bergamot oil yet not to “dry” to the taste. It was quite enjoyable. The only thing that puzzles me is the leaf strainer. It looks “barbaric”… I mean, how about getting me a small teapot? Hmmmmmm…. OK, being nitpicky here!

For this visit, I was there for breakfast and I ended up ordering their Italian Sausage Strata – onion, sausage, tomato, sweet pepper, parmigiano, croutons. The reason I went for this was that their breakfast sandwich didn’t look too exciting. Why? I had that odd feeling I would have gotten better value if I had gone to Timmie’s for the breakfast sandwich! And, while there was also their “Giovane” Breakfast – Soft poached eggs, asparagus, prosciutto, piave vecchio, toasted croutons, I had some wacky feelings about it and ended up ordering the strata instead.

To me, strata is a savoury version of a bread pudding but this one felt more on the lines of a quiche – or, to be more technically correct given this is “Italian”, a frittata. The reason is that I didn’t feel anything that had a bread texture. But, putting that aside, I didn’t particularly liked the combination of flavours. In a way, they didn’t really add up; instead, it felt like each component was fighting for supremacy over the other. Furthermore, that eggplant layer created a “divide” between the top and bottom layer: the top having the vegetables and the bottom having the sausage. The crouton, was actually quite interesting but, hey, I was there for the quiche, I mean, frittata… I mean, strata…

To go along, I also ordered a side salad, here, a tomato and bocconcini salad. I put it in that order because over half of the “salad” was bocconcini! Now, the day I went (over a month ago), tomato wasn’t really in “season” yet so they weren’t that sweet. Given the case, I won’t be too harsh on them. The one part that was odd was the basil. Notice it is staring to get brown? Well, it seems they had it prepared ahead of time and had the basil tossed by then. Probably I am being too demanding? :S

At this point, I will have to say I wasn’t particularly impressed by their breakfast options. But, at the same time, people was telling me that wasn’t necessarily their forte. OK, I thought. Let’s give them another chance. So, on another day, I was there again and debating what to order: either pizza or sandwich (and salad/soup).

Behold, their green onion, chorizo and corn soup with a porchetta sandwich – Braised pork, shaved fennel, garlic aioli, fontina. The reason I chose soup and sandwich over the pizza was because the pizza was prepared and left on top of a counter which would be reheated when order. I guess that’s what you get for $9… However, that wasn’t enough reason; instead, it was rather because they didn’t really look that good which lead me to go for the sandwich instead. Granted, the sandwiches are also in a cool display case rather than outside but I believe sandwiches can last longer than pizza under this condition…

Despite I shouldn’t, I was actually quite surprised by the soup! Well, corn is in season, right? Here, the corn wasn’t completely creamed, instead, you could still feel some texture of the corn kernels. It was sweet but not excessively so. That sweetness was “cut” by some spiciness from the chorizo. A really good combination. The green onion was somewhat odd, though. Given it was sweet and a bit spicy, the “freshness” of the green onion didn’t work that well. Fortunately, you could easily scoop it out.

Out of all sandwiches, I chose to go for porchetta. As a reminder, one of the best porchetta sandwiches I have ever had is from Salumi in Seattle (though the other sandwiches were just average…), not to mention I believe I can make a good enough oven version of a pulled pork. So, in a way, high expectations. In this case… It disappointed. For one, I thought the amount of pork was a let down. Furthermore, there wasn’t much of pork taste and the cheese, while there, didn’t help much in terms of flavour. The saving grace was the bread, which was quite good, as it was crispy but, c’mon, I am not here for the bread; I am here for the pork!!!

So, after having giving Giovane two chances, I believe there are better options. In fact, recently I went to Creme de la Crumb, a just opened pastry shop, and their similarly set up sandwich was better than this. However, I am also sure people will be saying something about pastry/bakery and coffee. If that’s what you want, by all means, go ahead. Since I am not much of a coffee drinker nor a sweets person, I had to go for the remaining option. In this case, their “deli” didn’t really work for me. And, with that, my thoughts of hotel restaurant/food. (I guess I have to go to hotels in Asia before this opinion change…)

Checkers Bar & Grill
1755 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC

OK, OK, the World Cup is over but I still have posts in the queue from those days… Sorry? ^_^;;; So, similar to my posts to Fogg N’ Suds and Dover Arms Pub, PO and I chose to go to pubs to watch the games – except that day there was no game. Despite that, PO was fine to visit a pub just for kicks (or drinks). At first, we were planning to go to some pubs in English Bay but, guess what? When we arrived, despite it had a sandwich board outside and the doors weren’t locked, there was absolutely nobody there! We took a peek around and there was absolutely nobody. So, without further hesitation, we just turned around and look for the closest pub and, among the several ones, we ended up going to Checkers Bar & Grill.

At first, we were confused as to where we ended up walking into. It wasn’t until we realized the entrance was shared with the Best Western hotel. Oh, boy, hotel food? Anyway, we turned left after the entrance and that’s where it leads to the “pub”.

Unlike the Great Bear Pub where, despite there was no sign of whether we should sit ourselves or wait, not long after we walked in, a waitress spotted us and told us to take any table. That meant a table that has some good light source, which translated into one near the window… And here is the “oddity”. Staff aside, I think we being in the restaurant brought down the average age of the dinners by over a decade! I guess it “helps” the restaurant has a special menu designated specially for customers of a certain age group…

After we got the table, here comes the “usual” question: What to order? In the case of Checkers, it had some usual suspects but we decided to go for their specials. In PO’s case, that ended up being one of the daily specials in the form of…

Grandma’s Meatloaf Sandwich – Fresh meatloaf served with sourdough bread topped with sauteed mushroom and gravy. Served with the option of salad or fries. I am not sure what is the general though of the gravy, whether it should look similar to a demi-glace or that brownish colour; regardless, to me it looked really odd… But, as for the sandwich, it came with two large pieces of meatloaf, which was a bit too grounded for my liking, not to mentioned it desperately needed seasoning. Wonder if it was targeted specifically to the group we observed?

As for me, I went with the other special that requires a purchase of a drink: their steak sandwich – A 6 oz. sirloin steak smothered in mushrooms and served on garlic toast. Normally, had I ordered it by itself, I would have been $16. During certain times of the day, with a purchase of a drink, it will be ~$13. Suddenly, it sounds like buy the sandwich, get the pop for free?

But, back to the sandwich. I wasn’t expecting any form of melt-in-your-mouth type meat. I mean, after all, this isn’t fine dining… The done-ness level was good enough for what is being paid. Tastewise, there was some noticeable beef but, past that, it is pretty much similar to most of such sandwiches of this type you can find. As for the rest… Well, that’s where some question marks kick in. What’s up with the same mushroom served over both the meat loaf sandwich and this sandwich? Where is the top bun??? The bread actually managed to soak whatever was falling down from that perspective, it did its job.

In the end, the food served here was… Average at best, considering the fact this is a restaurant in a hotel? Even if it wasn’t it wasn’t exciting at all and, for the same price, I might as well go to another nearby restaurants as the price range is about the same and, in a lot of other cases, better food. However, given the age group of the customers, that also means something, just that that something does not apply to me.

KFC
Hundred of locations in the world
15036 Tukwila International Blvd (Location visited)
Seattle, WA

One thing nobody can deny is that fast food restaurants have been given a really bad reputation. Do they deserve it? For the most part, yes but, at the same time, it fills a niche… OK, let me try again… For the most part, yes but, at the same time, there is a group that wants/demands their goods. It does not necessarily help when eating at these places are cheaper than cooking a meal at home… And then, we have each of these companies trying to outdo each other, every time offering an even “worst” rendition of one of their dishes. Triple baconator anybody???

Now that obesity is at his height, I am not sure why companies try to compete amongst themselves and, instead, not combat the issue of obesity. I know of people who are fighting an uphill battle and I really admire the fact they have acknowledged it plus the fact they are doing something about it rather than sitting around it. And that brings the topic of today’s post…

In that out-do each other quest, a couple of months ago, KFC unveiled their Double Down sandwich “a sandwich so big they didn’t have space for a bun”. In a nutshell, it is two pieces of grilled or fried chicken breast serving as bun and some cheese/bacon in the middle. While calories-wise isn’t worst than some offerings in the market, from a nutritional perspective, the killer part is their sodium content: one of these sandwiches easily contain the max suggested intake for a whole day!

From a health perspective, I won’t have ordered it myself; however, from a food blogger’s perspective, I knew I should give it a try… But, since it was an US only item, plus the fact I haven’t had a business trip for a while, meant my only chance to eat this was to go down the US. Of course, I could do what Chris did when he created the Canadian, eh? version of it. But, but… Suddenly, I was on my way to the US for my current work project and, huahahahahaha! Double Down!!!!

But, first, do you want fries with that? In this case, it was in the form of potato wedges. To put it quickly (even to the point of not including a picture here) and get it out of the way: I have had better…

Now, back to the main topic, huahahahaha! Here is the “sandwich”. I will have to say it is quite overrated. I mean, doesn’t it look flat? It is as if they didn’t use a whole chicken breast; instead, they butterflied it and use it as top and bottom. As for the sauce, bacon and cheese, if it wasn’t because I saw them there, I won’t have been able to tell they were there…

But, what, there is more! Did you think I was going to go all the way down here and try the fried version??? No, no, no! I was going to go for the grilled version as well! In this case, there wasn’t much difference between the two. If you have had their chicken, you pretty know what to expect.

I will admit one thing: I didn’t eat it as a sandwich; instead, I had it with fork and knife. Reality is, I believe that is the best way to eat it. Had I had it as a sandwich, I will imagine all the fat on my fingertips afterwards. Furthermore, the issues with sodium was quite evident: after a couple of bites, I was drinking all the pop I could (literally).

So, aside from the fact it is overrated, what are my other thoughts of the sandwich? If you want this, you might as well go to your local supermarket and buy a rotisserie chicken. It might end up cheaper and you get more chicken out of it. If you really want to eat it as a sandwich, you cut the chicken meat yourself. As for me, no, I didn’t finish them – I ate the equivalent of a sandwich and the rest went directly to the garbage. It is a case of me rather throw away food than poison myself…

Zako’s Deli
500 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

A couple of weeks ago, I had an appointment near Cambie and Broadway and, for good or for bad, it was around 1:00 p.m. Good because that means I got to explore that area of town for lunch; bad because that means I will be somewhat lethargic for that appointment! Now, there are some interesting places but, given I was somewhat limited by time, it had to be something fast. Pizza Slice? No… McD’s or Timmy’s? C’mon, I won’t go out of the way to go there? How about poutine… Wait, didn’t I exceeded my poutine allowance after the poutine pizza from Brado? Well, that is true but, hey, there are times where there will be some sacrifices, hehehe. And what place it is? Zako’s Deli, who was suggested previously by my Quebeçois friend as his poutine place to go – that was, of course, before we went to La Belle Patate.

It is almost pointless to even check the menu but, just in case, in addition to the poutine and smoked meat sandwiches, they also have hot dogs. But, c’mon, there was only a reason for me to come here: poutine. And here it is:

Unlike la Belle Patate, they don’t have that many options: three size and smoked meat, yes or no. In my case, I ordered their medium size serving and chose to add the smoked meat. When I got it, I was a bit hesitant. First, the size of the cheese curds looked small. But, I put those issues aside and stab the fries with my fork…

My faith was somewhat restored when I noticed that, while it was creating some strings, they weren’t that bad as, say, mozzarella. So, I took some and took a bite. Ouch… The fries and gravy were lukewarm (though with a slight crispiness on the outside, starchy in the inside); however, the cheese felt cold. OK, that shouldn’t be that much of a problem, except that it felt too cold for my liking to the point it was creating a sharp contrast between warm and cold. But that might have end up being in a mixed feeling of sorts, as the cheese didn’t melt much further than what you see in the picture above. However, to make it even odder (sp?) the cheese didn’t squeak. So, the end result left me in a really odd situation: the characteristics a lot of poutine fans look for weren’t there: no squeaky cheese nor melted cheese… As for the smoked meat, it was actually quite decent – hint of savouriness and meatiness at the same time; however, it didn’t manage to salvage the serving of poutine.

I finished that serving and was completely disappointed. If I had to rank it with the ones I have had in the past, it would be way down. However, that smoked meat made me curious about its possibilities so I decided to go another day for a smoked meat sandwich
:

This is the medium sandwich. When I ordered it, I had the option for regular yellow, dijon or hot mustard. Since I knew the sandwich would be cut in half, I asked for dijon in one half and hot on the other. The sandwich is served with coleslaw and pickled and, for an additional $2, a small salad. Among the different options, I hoped they had tabouleh that day but alas, they didn’t. Instead, I went for…

A chickpea salad. The other options that day were potato salad and pasta salad. When I inquired, the freshest one that day was the chickpea one so I went for it. Now, the salad is quite simple: some cooked chickpeas, bell peppers (different colours) and a dressing. This might be something you can make at home so I won’t try to draw any comparisons.

But back to the sandwich. One thing I had mixed feelings to begin with was the bread. While it wasn’t sold as a Reuben, I wished the bread wasn’t, literally, sliced bread. Rye bread, instead? Both mustard had a strong kick so, from that perspective I won’t complain. From there, things went in really weird ways. The meat was machine sliced and ended up quite soft – almost to the point I didn’t have to chew much of it. But the one thing that kept distracting me was a sweet corn like taste it had. I couldn’t really pinpoint the reason behind it so, in the end, I didn’t quite like it.

At that point, I started to wonder if I had some initial high expectations for Zako’s Deli. But, after thinking about it over and over, my conclusion was that, even if expectations weren’t that high, I don’t think I would have liked it as much. So, in the meantime, for poutine, it is still La Belle Patate…

Cinco Estrelas Restaurant
2268 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

Whenever you see a greasy spoon in Vancouver, chances are it is a regular American type restaurant or a Chinese-Canadian. Don’t ask me why (or how) I ended up with this conclusion… In a wacky way to prove myself wrong, I was in the Kingsway area when I drove past Cinco Estrelas, a greasy spoon which happened to be Portuguese rather than Chinese! Hey, I was hungry so, why not!

I was there on a weekend around lunch time so I wasn’t really expecting too much in terms of business. Probably as a result, only an elder (?) couple (owners?) were there managing a restaurant – he was cooking while she was managing the tables. There was one other customer browsing the newspaper but, otherwise, that was about it during my meal.

While Portugal (and, in an odd way, Brazil) is neighbour to Spain (and, in the case of Brazil, several Latin American countries), I wasn’t sure how similar or different to Latin American cuisine would be. In fact, I can’t say I have a good idea of what to expect from this cuisine! So, in a random way, I ended up selecting…

Caldo Verde. In Spanish, that would literally translate to “green broth” and I am willing to bet that’s the same in Portuguese. However, literal translation is one thing, actual meaning is another. In this case, I later found out it was a potato, kale (and some other ingredients) soup and, in some cases, to “spice” things up, additional ingredients like chorizo. In Cinco Estrelas’ case, there were some slices. If it wasn’t for these slices, for the most part it would have been a somewhat bland, potato-ey soup. It was the chorizo which actually made it for me.

As for my main, the bun in the far end already tell you what I ordered but, first, the salad I had along. In this case, I had the option for soup, salad or fries. Since I already planned for the soup, that really meant two options. But, given that I can have fries almost any place, any time, I went for the “healthy” alternative instead. For the most part, it was your regular green salad with some olives on top.

Piri-piri hot sauce!

So, let’s try again. For my main, I ordered a bifana. Actually, it was a toss up between the prego or bifana; in the first case, it was a steak sandwich; in this case, it was a pork sandwich. Hey, given I am Chinese, pork is always the top option!

It was served with some fried onions, which added some sweetness to it, which matched quite well to the cooked slices of pork. Furthermore, the Portuguese buns soaked the juices from the pork. No butter needed here! The piri-piri didn’t really match the pork but, if you give it a chance, it is an experience of its own (not that spicy, by the way). If somebody tells me it looks really simple, well, it is but, at the same time, by being so simply it is where it shines.

In addition to the beef/pork sandwich mentioned above, they seem to have some squid dishes and other steak dishes as well (of course, with its Portuguese twist). While given the size of the operation I am not sure how fresh the squid can be, at least, it really made me curious. But, similar to Latin American dishes, where options are far and in-between, something similar is with Portuguese. As a result, I am more than willing to return and give those other dishes a try

Pomegranate Lounge
836 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

6+ years ago, when I moved to Vancouver’s West End, I used to walk around the area a lot. Back then, I didn’t pay too much attention to nearby restaurants, as I was more interested in… Well, just walking around! However, I had to eat and didn’t care where. Hell, I am not ashamed to say that the people in Subway knew me enough to almost starting to call me by name! But, once in a while, I chose to go to actual sit down restaurants and one that caught my attention in those days was Rooster’s Quarters. Why the particular interest? While there weren’t that many izakaya places yet (while there was Guu and Gyoza King, there was no Hapa or Kingyo), it was one of the few non Asian restaurants. Somehow, it seems it was only a matter of time… And, indeed, it closed last year. I was wondering what would replace it and, given all ethnic options, I was quite surprised when Pomegranate opened. It was a tapas-type place but it didn’t have decor or ambiance as the other nearby tapas-like place, including izakaya. So, what then? With that in mind, I went there with PO.

Here is one thing that I should learn about tapas places: going there for lunch might not be necessarily the best of ideas. After all, it is supposed to be more of an after-work activity. But, I have been busy in the last couple of weeks and that meant going there after work wasn’t much of an option. Despite the restaurant was semi-empty, its menu didn’t really reflect that. There was one page dedicated mostly to tapas but, the rest, was mostly regular fare. Given we were there for lunch (read limited time), we decided to go for something can, supposedly, can be easily prepared and consumed. But, of course, we had to as well order something to share, which ended up being…

Calamari. No particular reason for this one but we both agreed this was one that you would easily order to share. From a frying perspective, it wasn’t too crispy and the batter didn’t hold very well. However, that batter was quite thin and the end result wasn’t chewy. The addition of the jalapeño peppers was a nice touch to contrast the two tastes. The tzatsiki was also a winner, as it provided some creaminess and freshness at the same time.

Out of the brunch/lunch options (including omelette and egg benedicts), we both went for sandwiches. In PO’s case, he went for one of the dishes I would have ordered myself: flatbread halibut burger – battered halibut filet with prosciutto, lettuce, roma tomato and pesto mayo. One thing that drives me crazy at times is that the description of flatbread is not really consistent. At times, it is something similar to a pizza; at other times, it is a sandwich, like what was served. But, given what was served, the feelings was mixed. While the idea was good, the execution left something to be desired. For example, we both thought the halibut would have been better had it been grilled rather than fried. Likewise, had it been set up in a pizza like environment would have been easier to eat. But, then again, it was not me trying to eat it so… The pesto mayo didn’t really add much and the prosciutto provided some necessary saltiness. One detail that really failed was the fries. I think the visuals should tell you enough…

As for myself, I went for the steak sandwich and, rather than fries, I went for a salad. Starting with the salad, I thought the dressing was interesting yet odd at the same time. It was quite sweet and we found out why when we were told it was a maple syrup vinaigrette. I was expecting something acidic so that caught me completely off guard. By itself, it was too sweet for my tastes but I can imagine some people liking it.

As for the steak sandwich itself, it had some heavy savouryness in it, thanks to the amount of mushroom in it. The steak itself was cooked medium, despite I request it to be medium rare. This switching in the steak done-ness didn’t detract from the end result, as there was enough juice over that bun. And, talking about the bun, it felt generic but did its work, as it soaked the au jus as mentioned above.

Overall, their offerings are quite decent; in fact, somewhat better than expected. Price didn’t hit a sweet spot though (they were ~$12 each) but they do have cheaper options. And, as for the tapas, despite we tried only the calamari, we thought they were good enough to make us drop back – specially if I don’t want to find for a table in an izakaya but want small plates to share. And, did I mention they have daily (drink) specials? Because of this, I hope they will be able to succeed.

Paul’s Sub Shop
4608 Imperial Street
Burnaby, BC

Ah, finally back to my regular rotation! After my trip from Panama, I came back to an empty fridge – after all, I was out of town for over a week. No (soy) milk, no fruits, no vegetables, no yoghurt, nothing. The following morning, I woke up early and rushed to get some soy milk. However, didn’t get any grocery shopping done, as I still had a lot of things to do and cooking lunch wasn’t the top of the priorities. Instead, running some errands, chores, etc. etc. While running some errands, I was driving around Imperial Street and noticed Paul’s Sub Shop. Now, for some reason, I had a hunch about this place…

I went there on a weekday during lunch time and it was overrun by kids. Then I realized there is a school across the street! I guess they would go to the nearest places for lunch (though there is Metrotown, as well…). For the most part it was fine; however, the kids were kidding the owners some hard time. (Mixed orders, running out while making some noises and so on). That also meant also screwing up my order. But, after what seemed to be an eternal wait, I got my order (to go).

Behold, their 6″ Super Sub – Steak, salami, cheese, capicolla and mushroom. It indeed contains what it promises it has and, sizewise, it reminded me some other sandwich place… Specifically, Bob’s Submarine Sandwich! After looking around, it seems Bob’s used to be Paul’s until they “moved” to their current Burnaby location. I guess that explains why the sandwiches look so familiar!

But, back to the sandwich, for the most part, it is almost the same as Bob’s. However, there was something missing. The meats were there, the veggies/mushroom were there. However, it felt that the meats used were generic ones. I mean, I felt as chewing some meat-y thing but couldn’t taste much. Almost nothing. Heck, not even much of the fat from butter or cheese!

The main killer is the price – $9. Sure, it is big but, at that price, I can think of a lot better options. Crystal Mall food court anybody? OK, that might be an apple/oranges comparison but, given I couldn’t really find a redeeming quality, I still won’t recommend it.