Monthly Archives: October 2008

Japadog, a Hot Dog with Flair

Posted on October 30, 2008 by | 5 Comments


Hot dogs are about the most North American of foods, except of course when it’s completely re-done in ingredients from another culture. Japadog, a hot dog stand off Robson Street, has taken the lowly frank to a whole new level with their “Japa-Style” hotdogs.

The Terimayo dog ($4.25), pictured above, has an all-beef sausage topped with onion, teryaki sauce, mayonnaise and dried seaweed. At it’s core it is undeniably a hotdog, but the onions sink into the teryiaki sauce for a bit of sweetness and the seaweed flakes provide a salty, sushi-esque element that you just don’t get with the regular ketchup/mustard/relish combo. My preference would be for something a little lighter on the sauuce. It’s a little too liquidly (although not the slightest bit messy, I will add), for my taste, but it’s something I can easily deal with instead of messing with the flavour balance

Although the terimayo is my favorite, on other visits I’ve tried both the Oroshi dog ($4.50) which is a daikon, soya sauce, grated horseradish and green onion on a pork Bratwurst sausage and the Miso Mayo dog ($5.00) comprised of miso sesame sauce, mayonnaise, and radish sprouts on a turkey smokie.

I have not yet tried their latest special dog, the Okonomi ($6.25), which is flavoured like an Okonomiyaki dish, with a Kurobuta (black hog) sausage and spice flakes. If anyone’s tried this one, let me know what you thought. Otherwise I’ll be back to try it soon enough.

They also have a full range of regular hotdogs onto which you can put whatever condiments you like, but I rarely see anyone ordering them.

Japadog (Burrard & Smythe) on Urbanspoon
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Japadog
Burrard Street, in front of the Sutton Place Hotel, Vancouver

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A Vancouver Foodie List

Posted on October 28, 2008 by | 13 Comments


Here’s another list of things to try, this one particularly close to town. I mentioned a while back that Vancouver Magazine had done a list in their last issue of “101 Things to Taste Before You Die” – from Vancouver, but now Jen has adapted it to a checklist style with an Omnivore’s 100 style legend. I added the red and blue bits and the links.

Bold – Things I have tried from those particular suppliers
Struck-out – Foods I’ve had, though possibly not from the supplier they recommend
Italicized – Foods that have been on my radar for a while, but I haven’t tried yet
Left plain – Foods I had no idea were so high on the “must-try” list
Red – things on the top of the list to try
Blue – things I am not particularly interested in trying

1. Raspberry Wheat Ale – Granville Island Breweries
2. Salmon Tacones – Go Fish
3. Gyu Yukke – Gyoza King
4. Thomas Haas’ Double-Baked Almond Croissant – 49th Parallel
5. Rabbit Sausage – Cioffi’s
6. Smoked Beef Tenderloin –JN&Z Deli
7. Hercule De Carlevoix cheese – Mount Pleasant Cheese Shop
8. Clayburn Raspberry Jam – Sugar & Co
9. Chef’s Chicken Salad – Koon Bo
10. Honey Doughnuts – Honey Doughnuts and Goodies
11. Foie Gras Parfait – Pied-a-Terre
12. Raincoast Crisps
13. Dark Chocolate Carmelitas – Chocolate Arts
14. European Deli Hummus – European Deli
15. Lavash Bread – Yaas Bakery
16. Nk’mip Pinot Noir
17. Arepas – Baru Latino
18. Kashk-eh-bodem jahn – Kashcool
19. Chocolate-Walnut Rugelach – Siegel’s Bagels
20. The Doug Special – Vera’s Burger Shack
21. Mariage Freres Tea – Urban Tea Merchant
22. Vanilla-Salt Chocolates – Wendy Boys (formerly of Lumiere)
23. Penne with Wild Boar – Cioppino’s
24. David Wood’s Chevre
25. Savary Island’s Tourtiere
26. Black Hills Alibi
27. Green Party Cocktail – Ocean Club
28. Cricket Bread – Vij’s
29. Deep-Fried Zucchini Blossoms – Cioppino’s
30. Japadog
31. Kobe Meatballs – Italian Kitchen
32. Topanga Cafe Chocolate Cake
33. Deep-Fried Frog’s Legs – Phnom Penh
34. Sablefish – Finest at Sea Seafoods
35. Wild White Salmon – Elixir
36. Friulano Salumi – Moccia Italian Meat Market
37. Abalone – C
38. Polenta Fries – Cascade
39. Vegetarian Poutine – Templeton
40. Venturi-Schultze Balsamic Vinegar
41. Solly’s Kosher Pickle
42. C Citrus Salt
43. Spot Prawns
44. Ambrosia Apple
45. Barese Sausage – Columbus Meat Market
46. Ramen at Motomachi Shokudo
47. Pan de Sal – Aling Mary
48. Taboo Absinthe
49. Tiger Blue Cheese
50. Shiitake Mushrooms at Bo Kong
51. Mission Hill Oculus Cherries
52. Georgian Baguettes – European Breads Bakery
53. Double Chocolate Porter – Phillips Brewing Co
54. Rosemary Raspberry Sea Salt – Maison Cote
55. Scallops in Octopus Bacon – C
56. Lamb Bacon – Fuel
57. Bad Girl Hazelnut Truffles
58. Xiaolongbao – Lin’s
59. Liege Waffles – Patisserie Lebeau
60. Stock Market’s Hot Porridge
61. Butter Baked Goods’ Marshmallows
62. Beer-Injected Fried Oyster – Nu
63. Soda Bread – Savary Island
64. Stellaport
65. Smoked Bison Carpaccio – Boneta
66. Dodonis Feta Cheese – Pantheon Supermarket
67. Stamina Roll – Blue Water Cafe
68. Osake Premium Sake
69. Burrata – Les Amis du Fromage
70. Moroccan Chicken Wings – Habit
71. Sweet Georgia Browns – Purdy’s
72. House Special Pho – Thai Son Vietnamese
73. Sandwiches at So.Cial
74. Quail’s Gate Old Vines Foch
75. Financiers – Ganache Patisserie
76. Hy’s Stuffed Potatoes
77. Ethical Bean Coffee
78. Farmhouse Alpine Gold Cheese
79. Muc Tuio Rang Muoi – Phomn Penh
80. Chocoatl’s Hot Chocolate
81. Fuel’s Fried Chicken
82. Cru’s Macaroni and cheese
83. Blis Maple Syrup
84. Natural Pastures Mozzarella di Bufala
85. Milsean Dark Chocolate
86. Thierry Busset’s Tiramisu – CinCin
87. Doughnuts – Congee Noodle House
88. Oysters with Horseradish Snow – Gastropod
89. Biltong – African Breeze
90. Hazlenuts – Canadian Hazlenuts
91. Ukrainian Church Perogies
92. Eleni Olive Oil
93. Sumac Ridge Steller’s Jay Brut
94. Pupusas – Rinconcito Salvadoreno
95. Belacan
96. Cocoa Nymph’s Ila Chocolates
97. Blue Fig Martini – Chambar
98. Naam Miso Gravy
99. Quadra Island Honey Mussels
100. Gelato – Brazza
101. Matsutake (Pine) Mushrooms

I’m not actually a very big fan of this list. Ignoring the obvious problems with any ”Top” lists – that your favorites are inevitably missed out – I just don’t think they’ve done a stellar job of covering off Vancouver’s fantastic range of delicacies. There is only one piece of sushi on here and 3 separate items from C restaurant? 5 different chocolates and no fanny Bay Oysters? Where is the Indian food? Where is the Joie Noble Blend? COME ON, you can’t not have the Joie. I can deal with the omissions, but there are so many places doing interesting things with food in this city that the number of repeats on here galls me, but all the same there are some gems and some things I’m definitely looking forward to crossing off.

Via Loud Murmurs.

UPDATED: May 2nd, 2009.

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Toshi’s Not Really Worth the Wait

Posted on October 28, 2008 by | 10 Comments

A friend and I were meeting for tea on Main Street recently and Toshi Sushi seemed the obvious choice for food beforehand, since you really can’t go wrong with sushi in this city and it’s been on my radar for a while. Toshi’s is one of those joints that is noth tantalizing and repellant with their long lineups outside, because you can never really know (without waiting in the lineup) if it’s from reputation or hype. For months every time I drove by I would make a note of the time and the size of the line to see if it was significantly different, and other than coming home in the small hours, it was not. So I polled around to see what the consensus was. Surprisingly, it was not overwhelmingly favorable.

Surely a place that popular had to be fantastic, no? My interest was instantly piqued and I finally got to see what all the hype was about.

When I arrived at 6:30 on a Tuesday night there was already a crowd outside and I wrote my name a considerable ways down the list. No matter, my dining companion showed up soon after and we had a lovely chat about all things under the sun. At some point a hostess told us we could be seated immediately if we would share a table. Not particularly wanting to cram in, we chose to wait a bit longer and when almost an hour had passed, we were finally shown to our table.

The menu wasn’t big on specialty items, but they did have all of the standards and judging what was showing up on the tables around us, it looked delicious and fresh.

We shared the edamame then I ordered the Chirashi Don ($14.75) which included mackeral, tako, hamago, tuna, salmon, rice, daikon, the biggest wad of ginger I’ve ever seen, ikura, tobiko and I also ordered 1 piece of Uni on the side. Susie had the Assorted Sashimi ($15.75) dish comprised of tako, salmon, toro, tuna, and something else and we both tucked in heartily after nearly fainting away in the waiting area.

Sometimes a little of a wait can contribute to a restaurant’s sucess. You start to anticipate the meal, you’re smelling and seeing the food coming out of the kitchen and having spent a portion of your precious time waiting to eat, you’re more inclined to like the food that arrives because you want it to be worth your while. It’s a fine line to walk though and too long of a wait will have the opposite effect. Patrons will be hungry and cranky and bitter at been made to wait.

I didn’t hear anyone around me complaining about having had to wait so long, but it was definitely past the point of acceptable (my standards, anyways) by the time we were able to start eating and that ruined the experience somewhat. The sushi was very fresh and tasty, but I barely paused to consider it as I tried desperately to fill the gaping hole in my stomach.

If this was in Prince George or even Langley, I could see the desperation for decent fish, but this is Vancouver! Without the wait, I would put Toshi into my roster of favorite sushi places regularly frequented, but with those kinds of lines, I just don’t have the time. There are 147 Sushi restaurants listed on dinehere.ca for Vancouver city, and I will tell you that some of them are at least as good as Toshi’s with little to no wait. Shiro and Honjin come to mind, and I’m sure there are others. In the meantime, I’m going to keep monitoring the crowd outside and hope for a time when it’s even slightly shorter.

Toshi Sushi on Urbanspoon
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Toshi Sushi
181 E 16th, Vancouver

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One Saigon, Many Dishes

Posted on October 22, 2008 by | 3 Comments

In an increasingly difficult struggle to find decent lunch places close to my work, I recently ended up at One Saigon on Hornby Street. A cute little Vietnamese place tucked into a row of storefronts, it’s otherwise unassuming, but the decor is bright and clean and the lunch is both tasty and good value.

Not feeling for my usual pho, we ordered special bánh mìs (although they call them “baguettes” this close to downtown), with a prawn and green papaya salad and a pork salad roll to start. Another friend ordered Combo #2 with grilled marinated pork and spring rolls on vermicelli and veggies, which I didn’t try but which looked delicious.

The pork salad roll ($3.00) was quite tasty, but we could have done without the prawn and green papaya salad ($5.00). Not only because it was somewhat dried out and bland, but also because it was too much food. By the time my special bánh mì ($4.75) arrived, filled with cold cuts, more pork roll, sui mai, cucumber, carrots, daikon, cilantro, jalapeño and various sauces, I was already starting to get full. Which was unfortunate, because it was easily the best part of lunch. I regretted not ordering the special (2 sandwiches for $8.00) and keeping one for lunch the next day.

Luckily it’s close by and with the various combo deals, it will take me a while to get sick of it. When the rain sets in again, I bet I’ll be slurping up a lot of their pho.

One Saigon on Urbanspoon
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One Saigon
979 Hornby Street, Vancouver

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Raviolino’s Secret Sandwiches

Posted on October 21, 2008 by | 2 Comments

Raviolino’s (short for Raviolino Gourmet Pasta & Foods) is known about town for their delicious handmade pastas and sauces. When you walk into the Italian food shop there are cases and freezers full of different fresh pastas, sauces, entrees and pizza dough that you can purchase to take home for an easy dinner or most are available to eat in store as well. A family at the table next to us was having a spaghetti lunch that looked simple and hearty, but we were there for the sandwiches. 

Depending on who you talk to, the eggplant sandwich may or may not be on the menu. If you order “A Sandwich” from just the right person, you’ll get this eggplant deliciousness pictured above, replete with eggplant in a spiced tomato sauce, lettuce, tomato and cheese. Our particular sandwich-maker had just started so there was a bit of explaining but persistance paid off and soon enough we were tucking into our sandwiches.

I wrote recently about taking La Grotta del Formaggio’s sandwiches on a road trip and while it’s not really fair to compare such completely different sandwiches, I will say that the ones from Raviolino’s should definitely be eaten in. They’re messy with all that tomato sauce, but definitely worth it.

Our intrepid sandwich maker, making The Sandwich for her first time:

 

Raviolino Gourmet Pasta and Food on Urbanspoon
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Raviolino Gourmet Pasta and Foods
2822 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

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A Taste of Singapore at Prima Taste

Posted on October 12, 2008 by | 1 Comment

Prima Taste is a company that makes pre-packaged pastes and noodles and other types of ready to eat food. Sounds somewhat un-awesome, but somehow they are also behind the world-wide chain of concept restaurants serving up tasty Singaporean dishes. Interesting conundrum.

Walking into the sleek, polished bistro with large images of Singapore on the walls, there is nothing to remind you don’t think of the frozen food aisle. It’s all showcase and style and they pull it off well. Most patrons would never know about the larger portion of the business (or even the other locations, for that matter), unless they visited the company website.

Most recently I had the Mee Goreng (pictured above), which is various pieces of seafood and a couple of prawns cooked with noodles in a tangy sauce. A dab of chili paste sits on the side to be added for extra spice. The dish was alright, but doesn’t compare to the Laksa and Hainanese chicken rice. Singaporean specialties that are decently authentic here. The laksa, a fragrant, soupy noodle dish, is a good choice now that the weather has turned so cold.

My only wonder is whether they make the dishes in the restaurant with their line of pre-packaged food. I’m thinking that they must, and while I’ve clearly had no complaints so far, I’d like to do some comparing around town and see if there’s somewhere that serves the same restuarant with fresh ingredients.

UPDATED: Prima is now closed.
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Prima Taste Restaurant
570 Robson Street, Vancouver

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La Grotta del Formaggio Rocks

Posted on October 10, 2008 by | 7 Comments

Last night a friend and I went on a bit of adventure. We rented the Zipcar Mini and drove out to Langley to the Drive-In. It was a repeat of a thwarted summer adventure and turned out to be a spectacularly awesome evening, but you can’t have a proper adventure without snacks and that’s where La Grotta comes in.

An Italian deli, La Grotta del Formaggio is a central point on the Drive for all kinds of olives, pastas, spreads, imported dry goods and (of course) cheese, but possibly their best kept secret is that they also make kick-ass sandwiches.

The sandwiches are fully customizeable and can come Meat or Veggie, with your choice of bread: full foccacia (huge), half foccacia, Portuguese bun or baguette. The meat selection ranges from salami to turkey to prosciutto (for $1 extra) and cheeses vary but popular options are provolone, havarti and cheddar. Then you have to decide on the condiments, and this isn’t Subway, ok? The condiments are the best part. Hot pickled eggplant, marinated red bell peppers, artichokes, green olives, banana peppers, fresh onion, lettuce and tomato.

I don’t really like warm lettuce and tomato, so a typical sandwich for me is half-foccacia on white with prosciutto and provolone cheese, all the fixings minus the lettuce and tomato, and then grilled. It’s delicious. This one pictured here is a turkey and swiss cheese sandwich and I did actually get fresh tomatoes on it, just to try something different. Still delicious.

So after having decided in the late afternoon that we were planning a road trip to Langley, I rushed to La Grotta, hoping that they were still open and breathlessly ordered 2 sandwiches. In fact I still had half an hour before they closed (at 6 PM), but the staff is always so genial and friendly that I’m sure I would have still had dinner for the road even if I’d been later.

La Grotta Del Formaggio on Urbanspoon
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La Grotta del Formaggio
1791 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

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Crank the Heat in the House of Dosas

Posted on October 2, 2008 by | 7 Comments

What’s better than a kick-ass curry? A kick-ass curry stuffed inside a rolled-up crepe, obviously. A specialty of Southern India and Sri Lanka, this delectable dish is called a dosa. It’s basically a pancake made out of rice and fermented lentils filled with curry and served with various chutneys on the side and the place to get them in Vancouver is at the House of Dosas. I’d been there with friends once before, quite a while ago and then it slipped off the radar entirely until an ex-coworker recommended it for a cheap lunch destination.

So good! How did I ever manage to forget about the dosas? At the waiter/owner/proprietor’s suggestion, we ordered 3 dishes to be divied up equally; lamb korma ($12.99), lamb curry dosa ($9.99) and seafood masala dosa -fish, shrimp, and crab ($10.99). And then we threw in an order of vegetable pakoras ($4.99) for good measure.

The prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get, but for a really stellar deal, go on Monday when the dosas are only $5.99 each.

I haven’t really been excited about the food selection around here since I got back from New York, but I started out this meal with a very loud, “MMMMMM!,” and kept it up through the entire meal until I’m sure my dining companions were irritated with me. It was impossible to stop but at least we were so full after the dosas that there was no chance of dessert.

The lamb korma was possibly the best korma I’ve ever had. A little bit sweet with chunks of lamb meat in it, I had ordered it medium spicy and while I normally like things spicy, the creamyness of this dish suited the amount of spice. If you’re sensitive to spicy things, you should be ok here, but even so, it comes with both naan bread and the cripsy, paper-thin pappadums, plus rice and yogurty raita to cool it down. I would have preferred if the seafood dosa (also ordered medium) and the lamb curry dosa (ordered mild) were spicier, so I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m back. Even without the heat, however, the dosas were delicious. The crepe covering was light and thin and proved to be the perfect medium for housing the generous chunks of curried meat and seafood.  

I also ordered a salted lassi to drink purely so that I could check it off the list, and was pleasantly surprised at the heat-cutting, refreshing yogurty taste of it. Possibly an acquired taste if you’re used to the sweeter mango lassis, but I often find mango too sweet, so I’ll definitely be having the salted one again next time.

House of Dosas on Urbanspoon
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House of Dosas
1391 Kingsway, Vancouver

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