My beef with restaurants that don’t take reservations is that it doesn’t make sense to the customer (me, at least) to stand around and wait when I know where and when I want to eat. But what if it makes sense for the restaurant? If you could be outrageously successful working 20 hours a week, wouldn’t you do it?
I sure would, which is why I was trying to be patient with Salumi.
The charcuterie shop in Pioneer Square is the retirement project of Mario Batali’s father, Armandino Batali, and for a while I tried to pretend that its popularity was celebrity-induced. But then Owen took a roadtrip for the express purpose of eating the specialty cured meat and it moved to the top of the list.
The trouble is that even at the top of the list, it took me months and 3 trips to Seattle to actually get there. Did I mention they are only open 20 hours a week? 20 weekday hours. This is great for people who work in Pioneer Square and want an awesome lunch. It’s less helpful for the rest of us and after I made it to the door a couple of times – getting there early enough to stare longingly at the greasy fingerprints still on the window, but too late to make any myself – I started to sulk. I had all but given up when my last trip took me down midday to an office only a couple of blocks away. I was twitching with excitement, then worry as meetings went longer and got delayed and when my client asked if there was anything else we needed to do in Seattle, I managed to yell I HAVE TO GET SOME SALAMI before running out the door.
There was no line, which was worrisome, because from all reports there is always a line. But no, it was open and I managed to order a sample platter of select meats. I thought about ordering one of everything, but visions of chucking cured meat out the window in the border line forced restraint.
And so you know how sometimes food tastes amazing only because you’ve waited a long time for it? I sometimes think that’s the strategy of restaurants with long lines, but that was not the case here at all. Greasy good salami, in all different sizes and flavours and all were amazing; hot soppressata, fennel and even chocolate! I ate them all happily from the tinfoil with my fingers. I can’t even imagine how good the soups, sandwiches and pasta dishes must be. Maybe next year I’ll be able to sample something else.
Salumi is in Pioneer Square, 309 3rd Avenue South, in Seattle.
Categories: Italian
Tagged: batali, coppa, cured meat, degan, degan beley, deli, ethnic eats, ethniceats.ca, Italian, lunch, meat, roadtrip, salami, sandwiches, sausage, seattle, soup
October 27, 2009 · 1 Comment
A couple of years ago my friends introduced me to dosas and I couldn’t get enough of them. Curry rolled up in a crêpe? That’s two of my favorite things for the price of one and I went back to the Southern Indian dish over and over again until I had tried a representative sample. I’m still a fan, but for some reason lately, they’re popping up again.
My coworkers have recently discovered the House of Dosas and some friends took me to Madras Dosa House, which I had not been to before and I’ve been happy to re-savour some old favorites.
Chicken 65 (or 66) is a South Indian favorite, even though no one seems to know that the numbers are for. The number of spices? The number of days old the chickens are? The number of days to prepare the marinade? Who knows. It doesn’t matter, just order it.
I had the Spring Masala dosa at Madras Dosa House and the Mixed Meat and Veggie at House of Dosas, but fillings range from spicy to creamy with options for different meats and vegetables. I like the peppery gunpowder dosa with lots of cooling chutneys and my friend prefers the giant paper dosa – extra thin, but almost 2 feet long.
Another friend, Susie, dined at House of Dosas recently and had this to say:
I ordered my favorite, the Palak Panir Alu Dosa (spinach and cheese), and was served piping hot. The dosa pancake and its filling contrast wonderfully in the mouth, mixing the crispy texture of the pancake with the savory filling. My meal came with a lentil soup and a couple of mystery sauces that my inexperienced palette couldn’t identify easily.
Service is understated but there’s nothing wrong with it either – your meal comes quickly and courteously, if in a fairly businesslike manner. The dining room is large enough to accommodate a group meal, and in health-conscious Vancouver, this place is a good choice if you need to accommodate vegetarians. The prices are extremely reasonable; my meal would have been a filling dinner and at $8.99 it hardly broke the bank.
My dining companions also ordered the Chicken 65 appetizer, which was reportedly quite spicy; it had that tell-tale pinkish red that indicates you should have some bread nearby to cut the heat. Since I’m not a big fan of that burning sensation, I let them sample that without me.
All in all, this is what I would call South Indian comfort food, as perfect on a rainy Vancouver day with a little bite in the air to one of those rare winter moments when we have snow. Come hungry, leave full.
see also Crank the Heat in the House of Dosas.
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House of Dosas
1391 Kingsway, Vancouver
Madras Dosa House
5656 Fraser Street, Vancouver
Categories: Indian
Sometimes I don’t blog about things because I want them to stay a secret. And sometimes they’re just too much a part of my regular eating habits to occur to me to write about. Babylon Cafe is one of those places that I frequent regularly, but haven’t blogged about yet. As you can see from the line up in the photo, the it’s no secret and I can tell you that there is a line for a reason. Standing inside the tiny shop with the cold air outside and the heat from the cookers while the small space fills with aromas of garlic, onion and cooking meats one of the simplest pleasures. My stomach was grumbling in anticipation of greasy goodness the other day while my shawarma was laid out with hummus, onion, tomato, hot sauce, tabbouleh and finally, lamb.
You get in and you get out. There’s not a lot of room, so people stand around outside eating hungrily (especially late at night) and the deconstructed shawarma plates that are often available at other Lebanese places are not on the menu here. It’s probably just as well, because walking down the street trying not to spill hot sauce out of your wrap is hard enough, but well worth it.
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Babylon Cafe
708 Robson Street, Vancouver
Categories: Lebanese
Tagged: chicken, degan, ethnic eats, ethniceats.ca, lamb, lunch, shawarma, take-out, Vancouver
September 20, 2009 · 2 Comments
The last time I had dinner with my grandmother, we ended up at Denny’s on Davie, and I choked down whatever I ordered while staring longingly across the street at La Brasserie and imagining the beautiful bistro food being prepared. Surely someone was tucking into the simple elegance of steak frites, or nibbling delicately at a nicoise salad while I was not even entirely sure I was eating food.
I started with a Lillet, an aperitif like delicate liquid marmelade, while my friend ordered a Lillet d’ete. This is Lillet blanc mixed with homemade lemonade and thyme. True to its name, it tastes like sunshine and grass; summer in a glass.
We were unanimous in our decision to share the duck confit to start and fell upon it hungrily, the textures and tastes of the tangy frissee and succulent, soft duck.
Then our paths diverted a bit. La Brasserie is not a French bistro but a restaurant specializing in the cuisine of Alsace. So there is also suckling pig with schopfnudel on the menu, and other German delicacies. I stayed on the French side of the border with the 7 oz steak onglet and frites while my dining companion switched sides with an order of bratwurst. Simple food done well is both comforting and special and this was both. Swirling burgundy in my glass and looking out onto the street (in the vastly preferable direction) I had no complaints. You have to squint hard to pretend you’re not in Vancouver but the food is authentic and sometimes that’s enough to transport.
On Sunday, October 4 from 5 pm – 7 pm, La Brasserieis is having a 1-year anniversary party and Oktoberfest bash. They’ll have complimentary German beer and wine, as well as traditional Oktoberfest fare, including bratwurst and suckling pig sandwiches.
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La Brasserie
1091 Davie Street, Vancouver
Categories: French · German
Tagged: aperitif, appetizer, burgundy, confit, degan, dinner, duck, duck confit, ethnic eats, ethniceats.ca, lillet, restaurant, steak, steak frites, Vancouver, west end, wine
September 9, 2009 · 1 Comment
Every country has some form of dumpling and meat on a stick shows up all over the world too, from Indonesian satay to American county fair corndogs. Why? Because somewhere along the line we discovered that putting a piece of meat on a stick was a handy way of cooking and eating our protein. And also because it tastes good.
Yesterday saw us sampling Vietnamese brochettes and sugar cane, today we go to the Richmond Night Market and have siu mai and lamb skewers.
Meat on a stick is made for festivals and fairs and night markets. What better way to wander around and eat than to have your meal handily presented on a bit of wood? You have a handle. You have a utensil. You’re golden.
Unsurprisingly, there are several kinds of meats-on-sticks to be had at the Richmond Night Market - the street meat epicentre - as well as a new item that showed up this year, the trendy “potato-spiral on a stick“. I don’t think it will last, but you never know. It sure looked popular.
In terms of meat, there is sausage on a stick, siu mai and whole grills full of lamb, beef and pork skewers. While there is nothing wrong with smokey, charcoal-grilled meat, especially cooked outdoors so you can smell the meat cooking a block away, I usually pass it up in favour of the many more interesting things on offer. The siu mai are flavourful and fatty dumplings, 4 to a stick that are a perennial favorite and the BBQ squid, rubbery and tentacly and saucy, is an absolute must.
Richmond Night Market is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights until the end of September and then you’ll have to wait until next year.
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Richmond Night Market
Richmond, behind IKEA.
Categories: Asian · Chinese
Tagged: degan, degan beley, dim sum, ethniceats.ca, market, meat on a stick, richmond, richmond night market, siu mai, skewers, summer
September 8, 2009 · 1 Comment
Every country has some form of dumpling and meat on a stick shows up all over the world too, from Indonesian satay to American county fair corndogs. Why? Because somewhere along the line we discovered that skewering a piece of meat was a handy way of cooking and eating our protein. And also because it tastes good.
“Meat on a stick week” lost some ground when I left my camera at the beach, but I have it back now and we will resume with some Vietnamese skewers. Last up was Japanese yakitori.
Vietnamese brochettes are something of a staple, alongside your pho. My preference is pork, though chicken and beef are also common, accompanied by Nước chấm dipping sauce.
I stopped into A Taste of Vietnam to order some pho and got an order of brochettes to go with, but then something else caught my eye. Prawn “supreme” on sugar cane. Not to be intimidated by eating 2 different meats on sticks in one day, I ordered both.
I should have known better. The brochettes were tender, juicy and the Nước chấm sauce was sweet and tangy. The pho was even ok. But if there’s one rule I already learned, it is to not order anything called “supreme” ever. Pressed prawn meat wrapped weakly around a piece of sugar cane with satay sauce did nothing to endear me to different types of stick-meat. But it sounds so good in principle, I’m sure I need to try it somewhere else. Preferably where it’s not on special and doesn’t have the words “supreme” anywhere near it.
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A Taste of Vietnam
1016 West Broadway, Vancouver
Categories: Vietnamese
Tagged: carrot, degan, degan beley, dinner, ethniceats.ca, meat on a stick, pho, pork, prawn, restaurant, shrimp, skewer, soup, sugar cane, supreme, Vancouver
Every country has some form of dumpling and meat on a stick shows up all over the world too, from Indonesian satay to American county fair corndogs. Why? Because somewhere along the line we discovered that skewering a piece of meat was a handy way of cooking and eating our protein. And also because it tastes good.
Yesterday saw us sampling souvlaki from Greece, today’s protein on a pike is Japanese yakitori.
Walking into Zakkushi, I did a double-take. Servers and kitchen staff hollered out a loud welcome in Japanese, soft candle-light reflected off warm wood walls and ceilings and rows of sake bottles lined the rafters. I felt like I had fallen through some kind of wormhole into a roadside inn somewhere in Japan. A crowded inn. Stunned, we left our names with the hostess went back outside to Kitsilano.
The second entry was no less lovely for being somewhat expected and we settled in to order some meat.
They call themselves Zakkushi Charcoal Grill Diner, because their speciality is yakitori – meat (usually chicken) grilled on bamboo skewers. The flavour is smokey without being saucy, although as with the souvlaki, sauces are provided. At Zakkushi, the idea of limiting themselves to chicken is laughable, although they do have 7 different kinds of skewered chicken. They also have pork, beef and chicken “meat balls”, pressed chicken with toppings. My friend and I ordered the kushi set, which includes Momo (chicken thigh), Memaki (garlic stubs wrapped with slices of pork), P*toro (pork belly), Shiso Maki (chicken thigh wrapped in shiso leaf), and Harami (beef with Japanese radish and ponzu sauce). Skewers are available individually.
The idea is simple. Who doesn’t like grilled meat? But the execution is sublime. Harami was the best of the five, the beef getting a sweet-salty taste from the ponzu sauce, but the variety was welcome and had I not been stuffed to the gills from an enormous lunch, I would have tried many more.
We also ordered some ahi tuna sashimi, ahi tuna poke and edamame and it was decent, but next time I’m going to keep it simple and just order one of everything from the grill. A couple of those bottles of sake off the rafters too.
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Zakkushi Charcoal Grill Diner
1833 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
(+ 2 other locations)
Categories: Japanese
Tagged: asahi, asparagus, bamboo, bar-b-que, barbeque, bbq, beef, beer, chicken, degan, degan beley, edamame, ethniceats.ca, grill, meat on a stick, pork, pork belly, yakitori
Every country has some form of dumpling and meat on a stick shows up all over the world too, from Indonesian satay to American county fair corndogs. Why? Because somewhere along the line we discovered that skewering a piece of meat was a handy way of cooking and eating our protein. And also because it tastes good.
One of my favorite meat on a stick meals is Greek souvlaki. Usually pork or chicken (but sometimes lamb or beef too), it’s cooked without a lot of spices, but served with pita and garlicky tzatziki. I love it, but my sister and I ate so much of it in Greece a couple of years ago that she still can’t order it. My friend and I ended up at Piato Estiatorio, a relatively new restaurant on 4th. To be fair, I haven’t been yet because I haven’t heard great things about it and my hesitation was compounded by the several quizzical looks I got from people on the way there when I told them where I was going. I guess they haven’t made much in-roads with the locals.
But it’s a beautiful room, blue and white as all greek restaurants must be, with stylish accent pieces set against painted brick. And the menu had several items that jumped out at me, including the seafood souvlaki with skewered Albacore.
They brought (pita) bread and butter to start and I ordered the lemony chicken avgolemono soup, which I thought would be perfect for the cold I was starting to get. It was delicately flavoured and light and delicious. Next I had the standard souvlaki, which at Piato is lamb and pork belly, accompanied by a Mythos beer – something else my sister and I had a lot of in Greece.
I wasn’t sure how pork belly was going to hold up on a skewer and while it was definitely tasty, it seemed like a less fatty part of the pig than pork belly. The lamb leg was also good and the platter came with grilled onions, peppers, asparagus, fresh tomatoes, pita bread and lots of tzatziki.
I think Piato’s trying to re-style themselves as a more stylish Greek taverna, and if that’s the case, I should have had something more stylish than meat on a stick. The soup was good and the souvlaki was fine, but there’s plenty of greek places around town that do it better.
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Piato Estiatorio
1835 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
Categories: Greek
Tagged: avgolemono, beer, degan, degan beley, dinner, ethniceats.ca, kitsilano, lamb, meat, meat on a stick, pita, pork, pork belly, skewer, soup, souvlaki, tzatziki, Vancouver
I’ve reviewed Havana before, but I haven’t said much about the food. Usually when I eat at Havana, it’s because I have to, either because I’ve drank so many mojitos that eating is imperative, or because someone else wants to go there. The food used to be good but it’s gone through so many fads and phases that it doesn’t seem very authentic anymore. That’s ok, they’ve got a beautiful decor, good service, great drinks and a fantastic patio, does it really matter if they’re not authentic? It hadn’t to me until I tried to order a medianoche sandwich. The last time I had one of these was in Calle Ocho in Miami and I was so enthralled by it that I ordered it without thinking, so grateful to have another taste of it. It’s supposed to have pork and ham on slightly sweet, spongy bread, which technically this one did, but it’s not anywhere near the sandwich of my dreams. It was so dried out and sad that I abandoned it for yam fries and beer.
Brunch is better, with omelettes and black beans and chorizo, but your best bet it a mojito.
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Havana
1212 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Categories: Cuban
Tagged: beer, degan, ethnic eats, ethniceats.ca, fries, ham, lunch, medianoche, pork, sandwich
I sadly realized that this post was still sitting in my drafts folder, from our dinner back in June. But better late than never…
Sharing food and communal dining is coming back into vogue, but in some corners of the world (or city!), it’s never gone out of style. Ethiopian cuisine, for example, is perfectly suited for gathering a group of people together to bond over food. There are no plates, cutlery or pretenses.
It’s also a cuisine that is still relatively off the radar for most people. While I have a friend who makes his own injera and several friends who are die-hard fans, I also get enough blank looks when I talk about Ethiopian food. For these reasons, I knew it would be perfect for the second Ethnic Eats dine out. A while back a group of us descended on Cafe Kathmandu for Nepalese food and since I love introducing people to new food and restaurants, I think this is going to be something of a regular event.
Our group converged on the Red Sea Cafe at Broadway and Fraser. There aren’t many Ethiopian restaurants in Vancouver, and they are mostly concentrated around Broadway and Commercial Drive. I had sort of landed on Fassil as my favorite, but Raul kept raving about the Red Sea Cafe and I knew I had to try it.
We had two vegetarian combos that were different on each end of the table; yellow peas called alicha; red lentil birsin; creamed corn, okra in tomato sauce, stewed spinach, and cabbage, plus a couple of lamb and chicken dishes like doro wat – chicken in a spicy Berberie sauce – and yebeg tibs – spicy lamb stew. I would have liked it to be a little spicier, but the range of flavours was appreciated and the heat was perfect for a group outing.
In Ethiopian dining you get a plate of injera bread with the stews or wats on top and some extra injera on the side. To eat it, you rip off a piece of injera and wrap up some stew in it with your fingers. When you run out of extra bread, you can eat the bottom layer that now has all kinds of flavours soaked into it. Ethiopian always ends up being so filling and split between so many people, our dinner came to a whopping $12 per person.
The service was impeccable and everyone was so kind that it felt like we were invited over to someone’s house for dinner. I think I’ve been to all the Ethiopian places in Vancouver now, but I still have not experienced a coffee ceremony, so I’ll have to circle back around and see which of these does that best.
Where should we go for our next outing? I’m thinking it might be time for dim sum, or a good Indian dinner. Join the Facebook page for updates.
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Red Sea Cafe
670 East Broadway, Vancouver
Categories: Ethiopian
Tagged: communal, degan, Ethiopian, ethnic eats, ethniceats.ca, injera, restaurant, stew, Vancouver, wat
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