Food Like That: Recipes your mouth will like

VinoCamp Vancouver is coming up fast this Saturday, August 16th from 10 AM to 6 PM at UBC’s beautiful Botanical Gardens.

The schedule and speakers have been finalized and there are some great speakers and panels to go along with the tasting. It’s going to be a great day!

Register before it fills up: http://vinocamp2008.eventbrite.com/

There’s been a lot of summertime drinking going on chez moi, but it’s been a while since I’ve posted a Happy Hour and it’s also been a painfully long time since I’ve been trying (and failing) to get to The Cascade Room. We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief because now both of those things have happened.

The thing about The Cascade Room is that they are trying to bring back the “golden age of the cocktail” so there are martinis on the list, but nary a cosmo to be seen. Instead there are drinks reminiscent of another time; gimlets, sazeracs, old-fashioneds and pimm’s. They also have wallpaper, but I’ll get to that later.

Last night I was drinking bourbon since I’ve been on a bourbon kick most of the summer and while you may not think of bourbon as an ethnic drink (coming as it does from our American neighbours), let me tell you why it is: We have no bourbon in Canada. Not any of the good stuff anyways. We have rye. And the Shebeen sees Scotch and Irish whiskies done well, as do a few other places around town. But most places (BCLD included) have only a limited selection of bourbon and it’s rare to see a bourbon cocktail on the menu.

So when I saw the mint julep I ordered it straight away. It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper mint julep.

Giant and full of crushed ice, it arrived on the table like an oasis in the desert. Minty and fresh, all subtle flavours mixing together deliciously and not struggling for dominance. I sat and sipped and watched the Main Street crowd go by while I waited for my drinking companion. In many ways the mint julep is the perfect drink for summer, but I wanted to experience the full range of what The Cascade Room had to offer, so I moved on to The Cascade Room Cocktail: “bourbon shaken hard with fresh pressed apple & lime juices, vanilla bean, bitters and egg white, served straight up with a shaving of roasted hazelnut.”

I’m generally of the opinion that the simpler cocktails are the better ones; rye and ginger, vanilla stoli and coke, scotch and ice…so i admit that I was a bit hesitant about this one. And…I didn’t love it. The bourbon, apple and vanilla flavours went well together and should definitely be attempted again in another experiment, but the hazelnut seemed like overkill to me and I think the eggwhite definitely ruined it. No matter, there are still several drinks I need to try in the full compliment of bourbon-based cocktails before I can move on to another section of the menu. Next up:

Sazerac: bourbon, bitters and sugar stirred over ice and strained into a chilled absinthe and pastis washed glass with a lemon twist.

Millionaire: Tennessee sour mash whiskey shaken with lemon juice, grenadine and egg white, served straight up.

and my personal favorite, the Whiskey Sour: bourbon, lemon juice, and sugar, shaken and served over ice.

Most drinks are $8 or $9 and all contain at least 2oz of premium liquor, which is why I only managed to have 2 this past evening. But I will definitely be back soon. I love the “novelty” of serving almost all classic cocktails (they also have some new concoctions on the fresh sheet), I love the decor, which is part modern mixed with gorgeous lush wallpaper. I love the signs on the walls. I love the blue neon sign on black. I even love the snacks. Of course I love the snacks! Rolled in lemon pepper batter and dipped in sundried tomato aioli, this is the best calamari I’ve had in quite a while.

About the only thing I didn’t love was the service. While it wasn’t exactly lacking, it was sitting right on the line. A puff of air from the kitchen could have sent it right over into bad. There was no smiling, there was no picking up of feet (by that I mean service was not slow but sluggish), and there was no…enthusiasm. We were looked after and suggestions were made based on what we were drinking (which could imply attentiveness) but even this was done so apathetically as to be disappointing. We’ll see how that goes. I will kee you abreast of any developments after future visits.

Tonight is a dark ‘n’ stormy night, so before I head off I will leave you with this parting shot:

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The Cascade Room

2616 Main Street, Vancouver

Trying to find food on the way to the fireworks, there were a couple of options, but Gyoza King (don’t bother clicking the link unless you can read Japanese) won out because they had the shortest wait time.

Fine by me, I am a huge fan of Gyoza King and hadn’t been there in a while. Authentic Japanese with a seemingly strong stance against sushi (they have shirts and signs indicating that there is no sushi whatsoever to be found on the premises, although several of their dishes bear striking resemblance…), their specialty is obviously gyoza. There are 6 different kinds of gyoza - ranging from vegetarian to prawn - and even though some of the dishes we’d ordered after the gyoza showed up first, it was simple and delicious, with a solid wrapper covering piping hot, meaty filling.

I could eat gyoza for days. Cheap, tasty, filling and easy to eat…it’s no wonder that almost every country in the world has some form of dumpling.

And unlike that other staple of Japanese cuisine, the thick cuts of fresh sashimi, gyoza is easy and cheap to make. So predictably Gyoza King and several other eateries on this stretch of Robson are filled with ESL students from Asia attending classes nearby. They can usually be found giggling and slurping noodles at the bar or in the raised section of the restaurant where you need to remove your shoes.

Tourists and other sullen adults tend to gravitate to the other side of the room, but the youthful atmosphere permeates. Servers are usually smiling (altho sometimes they seem frazzled, despite the restaurant’s small size) and small bits of pop culture add to the decor, such as a toy Yoda ready to hurl mints from the candy dish.

It’s fun and - although we had to wait 20 minutes to get a table on fireworks night - fast, but the food doesn’t disappoint. Their menu is divided into various sections, alongside a hefty specials page, and we chose the Saba Miso (mackerel in a tangy miso sauce), Scallop hotate with Mushrooms, and Albacore tuna marinated in vinegar and served sliced thin over white rice to accompany our beer and gyoza.

The Saba Miso was perfectly tangy and flavourful and the fish so well done that it broke off with the tip of a chopstick. I tried to savour it while scooping up mouthfuls, but alas, it was gone far too quickly. The subtle taste of the scallop and mushroom dish faded a bit between the stronger fish dishes, but there were no complaints.

Did I mention it was cheap? We were full and happily sated for $40, food and beer combined.

I tend to think of cosy little Japanese eateries like this one as more for winter. Curled up in a corner with a bowl of noodles and perhaps a book and some never-ending gyoza sounds idyllic to me, but now that I’ve sampled the summer fare, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back before the seasons change.

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Gyoza King

1508 Robson Street, Vancouver

There used to be a time where anyone wanting to take me on a cheap date could just walk me around the corner to the pet store where I would spend an hour in front of the chameleon tank. Now it seems that I can get in dinner and a show. At Sha Lin Noodle House they make all their noodles fresh on site and a window into the kitchen lets you keep an eye on the process while you’re waiting for dinner. A plexiglass partition does double duty keeping things sanitary and keeping the kids away from the vats of boiling water too.

Notice that I was the only one up there with the children, but I find it very interesting to see how food is made, especially something as mundane as noodles. These guys were on to something way before Fuel’s open kitchen hit the streets.

Here’s a video I found that showcases the noodle-making technique a bit better:

Now for the food.

We ordered a green onion pancake to start, followed closely by handmade cutting noodles with beef and broccoli. At that point, I was starting to get pretty full. The green onion pancake was flaky and savoury, made with just a small amount of oil, and the freshly made noodles were both delicious and interesting in that they were not uniformly shaped.  A pan fried dumpling, dipped in vinegar (only available at dinner) followed after I had already eaten too much food and so the majority of it had to be saved for lunch the next day.

Entertainment plus way too much food plus 2 beers for $30.00 equals a definite success.

The service was quick too. Food and beer were brought to the table almost immediately and while the pan fried dumplings did come last, after a bit of time, it was still much quicker than the potential 20 minute wait the waitress warned us about. We seemed to have just beat the rush because as we were tucking in to dinner a long line up started forming of hungry diners and people eager to pick up their take-out orders. It’s definitely a neighbourhood favorite and be prepared to wait a bit if you go at dinnertime.

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Sha Lin Noodle House

548 W Broadway, Vancouver

It took me a while to get to the Richmond Summer Night Market this year. They almost didn’t secure the space for the market, then the food section started off a bit stunted due to water problems and then well, then my weekends just seemed suddenly full. But I finally made it there this weekend for one of my favorite kinds of moveable feasts; the kind where you are the one wandering through the crowds and stands, searching out new delicacies and old favorites until you’re quite full.

We started off with the basics, Har gow and Siu Mai ($3) with a Quail Egg wrapped in bacon for good measure. Then some Sticky Rice wraps with Chicken ($3):

Mixed up the palate a little with some Nutella, Custard and Red Bean Car wheel cakes, apparently from Taiwan ($1 each):

Personally I thought the red bean paste was by far the best (the others were too sweet), but predictably, they were the ones that no one seemed to want. Nutella was in high demand:

Then some deliciously juicy Beef and Spicy Lamb skewers (6 for $10):

The BBQ Squid (below) is defiinitely a favorite of mine, but this time we tried the flattened whole squid instead. It was tasty, but rather on the chewy side, almost like squid jerky.

Then finished it off with some Dragon’s Beard Candy and bubble tea before rolling ourselves back to the car.

The dragon’s beard candy is pulled sugar dusted with glutinous flour and wrapped around chopped peanuts. The texture is not unlike cotton candy. They had quite the assembly line going here, with the old man pulling sugar, the middle woman wrapping the nuts and the last woman boxing it all up, but it was very popular and we ended up waiting quite a while. By the time we got the candy I was done my (disgusting) bubble tea and were definitely ready to leave.

I didn’t have room for takoyaki (the non-octo variety), the fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste (top), spicy curry fish balls or custard. And I need to go back to the better bubble tea place that was out of pearls this time around.

Good thing that I can probably make it happen since it doesn’t shut down until October 5th. Yay!

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Richmond Summer Night Market

12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond

I am often complaining that there is no good sushi in Yaletown and I’m not sure why. There is Bistro Sakana, which is pretty good (although I feel guilty ordering something other than the healthy lunch) and the rest of the places scattered around are grab-and-go quick fixes. Except that there is also Honjin Sushi, tucked away behind the Roundhouse Community Centre. I’m not sure how I manage to forget about Honjin so often. Yes, it’s out of sight of my office, but this is some seriously good sushi.

The focus at Honjin is about freshness. The house roll is a favorite, with and salmon, tuna and avocado topped with tobiko and I always get a chopped scallop cone. In any of them, the fish is always tasty and the flavours of the seafood balance well with salty seafood and toasted seeds. Generous helpings of wasabi help out on the side.

The rolls are quite an ample size, but you can see from the photo above that the contents are a bit lacking in the chopped scallop cone. Even if they had filled the cone up with rice it would have made a better impression than this bit of orange and green peeking out from the wrapping.

The decor is typically Japanese, but on a bright, sunny day the patio is a great place to be. They also have a decent amount of space, so even though it’s a busy lunchtime spot, you have a good chance of getting in.

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Honjin Sushi

138 Davie Street, Vancouver

In high school my friends and I used to drive into town from Langley and sit for hours in Wazubees. Except we called it Cafe Cafe Cafe because that’s all they had on their sign and we never thought to ask past that. There are so many establishments in this city that fall into the category of decent, possibly unmemorable food that are described as “that pho shop up on Hastings” or “the dim sum with the blue awning”. They don’t need to have a sign or even a name (although I guess they must need to have one somewhere to register as a business) because there will always be people around in the community who need to eat. This post is a tribute to all of those places.

Last week I ate at the Ginseng Seafood Noodle House. I only know the name because I made a point of taking a photo of the sign:

We went because it was late and we wanted something cheap and not too unhealthy. We were greeted warmly and after not too much deliberation, decided to order the Special Dinner for Two. Soup of the Day, a thin vegetable soup that was nourishing but otherwise uninteresting; Deep Fried Quail, a succulent, tender little bird that also came with the head; Prawns and Scallops with Gai lan, delicious, fresh steamed Chinese broccoli topped with seafood ;Bean Curd & White Nut with Vegetables, an interesting but tasty concoction involving something called White Nut (actually yellow and I’m pretty sure from the bean family) and tofu skin in soup; accompanied with Steamed White Rice and followed by fortune cookies.

I’m not sure that “special” is the right word for it, but the variety of flavours and colours complimented nicely and for $32 we ate very well.

I even ate a bit of the quail head, dipped in fortified salt. Little strange, but it was actually pretty good.

So while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the Ginseng Seafood Noodle House, I’m sure I’ll be back, and I’ll enjoy it.

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Ginseng Seafood Noodle House

Cambie Street, Vancouver

People have been telling me to go have tacos at Doña Cata for well, much longer than I care to admit, considering that I just went there for the first time last weekend. But even though I’m devastated to lose out on a year’s worth of tacos, it was worth the wait. They are exquisite.

I ordered one each of the the Al Pastor, Longaniza and Barbacoa de borrego tacos which are marinated pork meat with pineapple, cured pork sausage with chili and lamb respectively. They come in a no-frills basket with chopped onion and cilantro and you can mosey up to the salsa bar to choose your topping from 10 different homemade sauces.

They were so tasty! A little messy, to be sure, but all the best foods are. Tender, spiced meat balanced beautifully in flavour and temperature with the cold cilantro and onion and a little squirt of lime made it just exactly right. Try some roasted chilies on the side for extra smoky flavour.

Doña Cata is often voted Vancouver’s best Mexican, best tacos, etc, and Vancouver Magazine recently rated it best in the Americas. I’m astounded that such a small shop way up Victoria has managed to command this kind of attention, but I don’t disagree. The steady stream of happy customers more than the wall of accolades is proof enough that they’re doing everything right.

I know that Doña Cata’s has moved to a larger establishment recently and while I had not seen the old taquería , this one managed to be both homey and festive and…fun! The pink and turquoise walls, Mexican kitsch and friendly, happy staff felt like we were just on the verge of a party or some kind of fabulous family gathering. I love food and am often beside myself when getting to try out a new place, but there were a few times during lunch that I actually caught myself grinning. Of course, that could also have been the margarita…

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Dona Cata Mexican Foods

5076 Victoria Drive, Vancouver

I love it when you stumble upon a place with no expectations and they are fulfilled wildly for you. That happened to me recently with Yuum Yai Thai, a little Commercial Drive storefront that upon first glance could swing in either direction, to dingy and depressing or excellent and secret. With a colourful awning outside and a small, basic room spruced up with Thai accents, it is welcoming enough and comfortable. Also clean.

The menu has all of the dishes you would expect to see in a Thai restaurant; green, red, yellow and Panang curries, pad Thai, etc. but also a lot of non-standard specialties. I waffled a bit before choosing the Choo Chee with king prawns (you can also get it with a fish fillet) for $15.95. It’s a kind of curry (not overly spicy) made with kafir lime leaves and sweet basil and served over white rice it’s a little piece of heaven. The lack of heat really makes the spice mixture shine and there is a generous helping of prawns, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Delicious.

A foodie friend who’s been to Thailand told me later that this is one of the most authentic Thai places in town, and I can definitely see that. Go check it out if you’e in the neighourhood.

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Yuum Yai Thai

1859 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

A good friend recently came back from a vacation to Jamaica and in fit of jealousy this week, I took myself to Jamaican Pizza Jerk on Commercial Drive. I’ve also been to Riddim & Spice, another Jamaican place on the Drive, recently and not blogged about it, so here goes the showdown.

It’s actually not much of a showdown, more like a blowout for Jamaican Pizza Jerk. When I walked in at lunchtime, there was only one other table occupied, but warm smiles greeted me all around the vibe was happy and mellow. I’m sure that the Bob Marley concert playing on the television did much to add to the ambiance, as did the colourful Caribbean decor. My entrance to Riddim & Spice a week earlier was not really noted and while I floundered around the sparse room deciding on where to sit, I actually considered leaving. It lacks warmth and, at least while I was there felt empty and apathetic.

Even though Jerk Chicken must surely be the national dish, I was after the curry goat. They did have it at Riddim & Spice but the tiny Asian waitress seemed to think I should have the jerk chicken, so I did. It was pretty good. The meat was tender and fell off the bone, but I didn’t find the meat as flavourful or spicy as I was expecting. It was, however, a lot more food than I was expecting and I was stuffed by the time I left to collect my laundry from across the street.

Curry Goat is only available on Tuesdays and Fridays at Jamaican Pizza Jerk, so I ordered the chicken again and eventhough I am not actually a chicken conoisseur, I was quite enthralled with this dish here. The dark meat of the chicken was very tender being so close to the bone and cooked to perfection. The brown sauce was much thinner than at Riddim & Spice (where it seemed like more of a glaze), but tastier. Both came with rice cooked in coconut milk and spices and a salad; at Jamaican Pizza Jerk it was a tangy homemade coleslaw and at Riddim & Spice it was a green salad with a thick yellow dressing. In this respect, both opponents faired equally. I found the coleslaw somewhat more interesting, but in both instances they were delicious. Serving sizes at Jamaican Pizza Jerk are noticeably smaller, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re starving.

So, the verdict? I am planning on going back to Jamaican Pizza Jerk as early as next week to try the curried goat, oxtail and ackee and saltfish dishes, while I’m pretty sure I won’t revisit RIddim & Spice. Sad, because Riddim & Spice clearly has the more prominent storefront and I’m sure many diners stop in one time only thinking they’ll get an authentic Jamaican experience. Incidentally, I actually have no idea which place is more authentic. I’m waiting on my friend to check them out and let me know, but in the meantime I’ll be at Jamaican Pizza Jerk.

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Jamaican Pizza Jerk

2707 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Riddim & Spice

1945 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Another hot weekend, so I searched for some cold noodle recipes. I settled on this fairly straightforward Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles recipe, seeing as I had nearly all the ingredients already in my fridge. I added shredded carrots to add texture. Next time I'll use plain buckwheat soba noodles instead of the green tea soba ones I had on hand, and I'll probably marinate the chicken (as suggested in the comments) before grilling as well. It was very yummy, so I don't think it'll be long before I make this again.

I didn't know what to call this simple salad -- "smoky" really only refers to the slightly smokey flavor of the dressing. I sliced some brown field mushrooms thinly on a mandoline, tossed it together with shavings of parmesan in a bed of herb boxed greens, favoring red leaf lettuces and radicchio. For the dressing, I mixed together olive oil, red wine vinegar, sesame oil and a small teaspoon of miso paste. It was so good, I made more the next night and brought the rest to work the next day.

This was Thursday night's dinner after an exhausting day. I had frozen some fresh scallops about a week ago, so I thawed them in a bowl of warm water while I grabbed some boxed greens and made a quick vinaigrette with olive oil, white wine vinegar, a smidge of dijon mustard, salt and brown sugar. Top off the greens with seared scallops and sprinkled chopped chives and black pepper.

Now that patio season is upon us, there is just no excuse for drinking indoors and one of my favorite West Side patios is at Las Margaritas.

Dappled sunlight comes in through the copious greenery on the patio and splashes against the faux adobe walls and does a passable impression of a Mexican cantina…at least after you’ve had a few margaritas.

The drinks, however, are all American. There is a choice of 4 different sizes - regular $6.26, large $9.75, monster $13.45 and pitcher $27.95 - to ensure that you get the exact amount of liquid libation you’re looking for, as well as 9 different flavours: Lime, Strawberry, Peach, Banana, Apricot, Coconut, Pineapple, and Raspberry. Thankfully complimentary chips and salsa are dropped off soon after you arrive, in an attempt to soak up the alcohol. The food here is also quite good if you’re hungry. Inauthentic, mind you, but tasty.

According to their website, the fruit margaritas are all made with natural fruit juices and nectars, but after trying the Peach, Apricot and Strawberry, I found them to be exceedingly sweet and syrupy. There was no denying the flavour of the drink, but the thick mixtures were so perfumed and specific that they almost seemed bottled. A lime marg would have possibly been more up my alley with Triple sec, lime and lemon juice and house made sweet and sour mix. I will give that one next time, or else sample from the top shelf margarita list, where the choices seem clearer (less thick) and more cocktail-style.

At any rate, there is enough variation on the margarita page alone to keep a dedicated researcher like myself busy for several hot afternoons this summer, even considering that I will have to rotate heavily with the hand-muddled selections at the Tequila Kitchen. I shouldn’t even have brought the TK margaritas in here, because there is no way their complex, refreshing flavours can compare with the sweetness of Las Margaritas’ margs, but tequila is a friend that takes many forms and sometimes you want to hang out with your sophisticated friends while other times you just want to party. And if you’re the kind of person that likes serious friends, true tequila aficionados can take the Tequila Final Exam. Let me know if you can get it to work.

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Las Margaritas

1999 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

I've had a few heavy suppers the last week, so I thought it was time for a light summery salad. I threw together an impromptu mish-mash of sharp, peppery greens (arugula, watercress, baby spinach, chervil) plus toasted walnuts, sliced strawberries, soft goat cheese and a berry vinaigrette.

This month’s EAT Magazine is out now, with a short piece I did called Five Great Restaurants We’d Never Heard Of on five of my favorite local (ethnic) haunts. Dai Tung Chinese Restaurant for dim sum is one of them and because I was just there again this past Monday, I thought I would post some photos. You can read the article online (the entire magazine is now online, which is fabulous), or pick up a copy around town.

Specialty of the House: Braised Eggplant with Shrimp Paste

No dim sum is complete without Har Gow.

Or Siu Mai.

Delectable Fried Tofu with Prawns in Black Bean Sauce.

Fried Spicy Squid. Kind of like yam fries, but squidier.

Yes, that is a foot. It came off a chicken.

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Dai Tung Chinese Restaurant

108-1050 Kingsway, Vancouver

I’ve been meaning to post about the Tequila Kitchen for a couple of weeks now, and in the meantime, instead of posting, I keep going back and eating there again. So I’ve had a few things from the menu…especially from the fantastic margarita list. Allow me to elaborate.

My first visit was at lunch, so I hadn’t anticipated dipping into the tequila and instead ordered the Special Lunch Platter (pictured) which is an utter feast. Guacamole and Salsa arrive with some chips for dipping and a small green salad with tangy citrus dressing. That spread of zing and spice gets your palate warmed up and thinking of Mexico and primed for the second course; a crispy chicken tostada, two pulled pork tacos in a spicy sauce, 2 poblano chili tacos topped with corn and onions and a nod to traditional Mexican rice and beans.

We were stuffed and happily sated but my crush on this place fully blossomed when our waiter, hearing my chagrin at our tequila-less meal, brought over a hand-muddled cucumber and serrano margarita on the house. Even given the rule that free drinks are automatically tastier than any other ones, this was still the best margarita I’ve had in a long time. Possibly the best one ever outside of Latin America. I don’t have much of a taste for sweet, syrupy cocktails, so the freshness of the ingredients, the mild taste of the cucumber punched up with the spice of the peppers and the quality of the tequila all make this a winner.

The only liquor served at the Tequila Kitchen is tequila, so you can be sure it’s done right. And after the cucumber serrano margarita, I knew I needed to go back and sample the other flavours. Hibiscus Rose (handmade hibiscus syrup and rose water) was the choice on a subsequent visit, followed by several Watermelon margaritas on another summer evening. Both were delicious, and while clearly sweeter than the cucumber, not even close to cloying. 

Most of the responses I’ve heard about the Tequila Kitchen is that it’s not as authentic as Salsa & Agave around the block, but so what? It’s a fun and sophisticated place in the midst of Yaletown’s frippery, the service is impeccable and I for one will certainly be back. Often.

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Tequila Kitchen

1043 Mainland Street, Vancouver

Success! I braved the Canada Day crowds at Granville Island today and picked up a few pounds of fresh mussels for dinner. I adapted this easy Cioppino recipe, subbing in salmon, prosciutto, and used leftover cabernet. Few meals of mine are wholly without carbs, so I just had to throw in some capellini as well to soak up the thick stew. And buttered bread on the side, too.

Ok, what is the deal? I had a whole mussels meal planned for Canada Day dinner and I went all over town (well, to all the big grocery stores anyways) and was thwarted at every turn. I saw plenty in tanks just the day before (and had been planning the meal every since) but what the feck happened today? Did I get there too late? Or is Vancouver just out of mussels? Plenty of clams, lobster and fish, but where are my fresh mussels?!?