20Feb, 2011 - Big Lou's Butcher shop

Yea!  Finally a post on Vancouver food :)

Big Lou's has been on the top of my "to-go" list ever since it appeared on urbanspoon with a high rating (and maintained it ever since)

So this time when I went back to Vancouver, I thought I had to catch any opportunity to try their subs :)

....

and- it came on a nice sunny afternoon when Jordan and I decided to go to Chinatown to grab some groceries....

 

...When I "accidentally" found Big Lou's ;)

When I made the suggestion, it seems that Jordan has already tried their subs and even bought meats from them! So naturally, I had to try it :)  How can I miss Vancouver's awesome culinary experiences during my short stay here?

 

It came in a little cute paper wrap, with a string.  The way they wrap your cut of steak in a butcher shop :)

Jordan went for his favorite: Roast beef

I originally wanted the Porchetta but was told that they ran out... so instead I ordered a "shooter" which is consisted of seared steak, mushroom, shallots, pickles and hot mustard.

Jordan's Roast beef and my Shooter :) - it turned out that mine was a cold sub :( disappointing!!!

When I opened the wrap, there was loads of seared steak found in between a multigrain country bread.

The hot mustard worked really, really well with the steak.

It was almost like the horse radish sauce you use for prime rib.  

It was refreshing and provided a very nice kick to the otherwise oily and bland meat.  (to be honest, the meat portion was just alright... I have definitely had better steaks at ((even)) moxies - but hey!! it's not all about the steaks!!! ((i think?)) )

I guess I was just a bit disappointed by the fact that it was cold... the bread was hard to chew... :(

but I definitely enjoyed my sub because it was one of the better subs I've had!!

 

Jordan's Roast beef.  

One bite off this, I didn't want to go back to mine.

The Roast beef was tender and juicy (not dry like most of the sub places serve)

and full of, FULL of flavour!!!

It was a bit of heaven with the warm bread and melting cheese and pickles....

oh gawd.

I remember telling him right there and then that I regret not ordering a roast beef!!

But he was generous enough to spare me with few more bites.  :D

Next time when I visit, I will definitely have to try their Porchetta!! 

hopefully they don't run out... I don't visit Vancouver THAT often :S *fingers crossed*

08Feb, 2011 - Winterlicious Corner house

Woot.

Yes.  I am determined to post up all the winterlicious I have had, today, 2 (almost 3) months later!!

Corner house!

Please excuse the quality of my picture.. it was dark and I only had my phone :S

It was indeed a little house located in the residential area - and it was found on the corner of a street! \

how charming :)

 Some bread and hummus again.  Not impressed with either this time.

 

House cured Graved lax - it was very standard Graved lax.  Reminded me of the ones I often get at Ikea.  :S

I wish the mustard was a bit more sour - as graved lax can get oily.  Lemon zest would have helped too.  I didn't enjoy this dish very much. 

 

Tina's Grilled tiger shrimps.  She enjoyed it very much!  Maybe I was just bad at picking appies :(  Everyone around me seemed to have ordered grilled shrimp. Arg.

They were ginormous!!! 

 

We both ended up ordering the same entree - Cornish hen with roasted root vegetables.

This, was executed perfectly!

The skin was indeed crackling, while the meat remained really juicy.  I've never had any poultry dish that's marinated so well while still maintaining its texture.  Usually the protein begins to change after some hours of marinade due to the salt but this, was really good!

 

A close-up.  Hehe. 

Tina and I both enjoyed it very much :)

 

Again, we went for the same dessert :P I know, I know.  We just want what we want!!

Buttermilk panna cotta with berry compote

standard panna cotta.  I love everything milky-puddingy :)

"Flower"-less? 

Cute.  lol

oh, one thing to note tho.  We had a rude server.  I guess the night was busy and they had a huge line-up at the front, but I suppose we should still have our right to enjoy our dinner regardless.  I guess some of the comments he made was supposed to be "funny" but when 2 out of 3 people do not find it funny, I guess he is going a little over-board.  

Over all, the dinner was alright.  I had higher expectations due to the raging reviews but the only thing that wow-ed me was the entree.

Food: 3/5 stars

Service: 2.5/5 stars

Ambiance: 2.5/5 stars - too squishy - it was literally a house!!!

Feb 05, 2011 - Winterlicious at Quince

Gosh.  It took me a while to write about this one.

or, to write another blog in general. :) I should do this more often... note to self.

A little night out with my cousin.  She's the closest one to me in this city.

It was snowing that day, but we arrived a bit early.  I think we got there a little before 5.

The place was empty (well, mostly because they open at 5 for dinner, anyway) so we were lucky to get a window seat :)

That little dish of hummus was heavenly!! probably the best hummus I've ever had.  

It was nutty, garlicky, and surprisingly not sour!  I don't know about you but I don't like hummus being too sour... authenticity aside, I'd prefer this one over other ones anytime.

 

House cured veal carpaccio with shaved parmesan, capers, fried rosemary, lemon zest, truffle oil

This was very flavorful too.  The curing process really brought out the umami of the veal; shaved parmesan added a bit more depth to the meat when eaten together.  I didn't taste any truffle oil tho... But that's okay.  Truffle oil would have ruined the dish anyway, since it will be too overpowering.

 

 Beef poutine!  need I say more?  

However it was a bit lukewarm when we received it.  Flavour wise, it is almost like a beef-stew but in a much sweeter gravy.  I liked it tho :) I like everything a bit sweet!

 

Braised lamb shoulder - The lamb was tender, fall of the bone tender, while still being juicy.

My cousin is very picky with lamb - but she was able to finish this one :)

I'd say it was a good dish.

 

House made gnocchi with wine braised beef brisket - this one was a fail.

Ever since my great gnocchi experience as Trapezzi on Danforth, I have been on a little gnocchi obsession at restaurants.  But this one didn't even come close.  The gnocchi was powdery and had almost no texture.  The wine braised beef sauce was fine tho, but the flavourig was just standard.  I guess the gnocchi is really the key to make or break the dish.

The desserts :)  yea, we did take our time for our dinner!  It's already dark outside.

The rice pudding was fairly standard.  The quince jam was a little lacking in the scent of quince and the cinnamon really just over powered everything so the delicate quince jam didn't do much anyway.

But the chocolate bread pudding was delicious!

It was almost like a chocolate torte but less dense and has the bread pudding consistency (I am not sure if that makes sense?) - it has sufficient bitterness from cocoa and that is nicely balanced by the creme anglaise.

Over all, the dinner was worth the value ($25!!) and we had a great time together :)

Winterlicious 2011 - Lunch at Jump

I Love and Hate winterlicious!  Love it because there's more excuses for dining out (esp. the finer dining places) and Hate it because..Ugh my diet plan is always ruined :(

I think I gained another pound or so since I came back from the holidays (on TOP of all the holiday weight I've gained over the holidays)

I think it's time for some damage control....

Treadmill here I come!!!!

So Jump is a sub restaurant that belongs to the O&B group (same owners as the famous Canoe restaurant).  But unfortunately, Canoe is EXTREMELY difficult to book for their any (season)-licious type of events so I opted for Jump because I thought the restaurant owned by the same group of people should execute their food the similar way.  (or at least, not too much worse)

Nice blinds! right?

Well, Yea.  

Am I foreshadowing too much?  :P I think by now most of you can probably tell where I am going with this but... you might have a different opinion than mine so...

I really pushed our lunch this time because it was an extremely difficult one to arrange.  Mostly because they open only on weekdays (maybe also sunday?) for lunch and, although the restaurant itself is located within the financial district of DT Toronto (wellington and Yonge) - if you don't work around that area, it's really hard to finish the entire lunch within one hour and get back to work.

Anyhow, I managed to lure Janice and Grant into having this lunch with me, mainly because their lunch menu looked just fabulous! (Actually dinner was not so, and more costly)

The restaurant itself was very energetic and lively; with a very modern decor and a high ceiling (esp. loved the blinds they were using)  But as we were having lunch, I noticed that it was a bit too loud for anything.  We had to yell over the lunch table in order to hear what each other was saying.

Now on to the food.

Janice and I both started with the Canadian Rock Crab Cake.

It came with roasted red pepper sauce and celeriac & carrot slaw.  The crab cake was nicely done.  Not too much binding, lots of crab meat, and very little fishy taste.  However, the sauce and the slaw were both quite bland.  

Grant had a Wild Mushroom soup (I forgot to take a picture) - but it was claimed that they did not use any cream or butter, just the mushrooms.  Grant noted that it was flavourless (he had to add more salt to compensate)

Pulled BBQ beef short rib sandwich - :) no comment; but it surely looked delish!!

 

ta-dah-!! Janice and I both opted for Pan-Seared nova scotia scallop (this is also the reason why I chose this restaurant for lunch - despite all the difficulty in finding people joining me!!!)

But... :( this was a major MAJOR disappointment!!  To be fair, the scallops were fresh - it was sweet and had a bit of that resistance when you bite into it. But the crostini was a disaster (yes, there was a crostini and no I didn't eat it) - it was in the broth.  

:S

I really didn't get it.  And it pretty much ruined the dish because it was soggy, and mushy and.. well yea everything but tasty.  The artichoke ad mushroom minestra was also very very bland.

Maybe they were some how running low on their salt supply that day.  Or I guess health conscious people eat less salt these days.  But if the food is less salty, you have to use more herb to compensate!! less salty does not mean the food has to be flavourless....

I felt bad for those little scallops :(

Flour-less chocolate torte <3

need I say more?

but this one was just alright.  Tasted more like a brownie (a little dry.. i wonder if they just left it there for too long? )

Over all, I enjoyed my company at Jump.  We sure had a relaxing lunch (I was worried that the ambiance might be too serious but it was very bright and vibrant, which was great) but the food.. I really can't say that I enjoyed them that much.

From all the other feed backs that I have gotten from other friends of mine, I probably will not go back to try their food.

Price $$$

Food 2.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

ambiance: 4/5 or 2/5 depends on if you are looking for the subtle type or the vibrant type!

31/Jan/2011

Okay... so I admit that the title should be 01/Feb/2011; and I should really just be honest and say that it is 1:40am.  But, well, it kind of makes me feel bad about procrastinating at this time and I guess I just didn't want to miss the last day of a month :)  So I am keeping this title and really, I am blogging about 31 of January anyway.

I really like the last day of a month, especially when the month ends with 31days.  It makes me feel like I have gotten most use out of that month.  That been said, I am not ready for a 32+days-month either.  Don't ask me why!  Weird, I know... :)  Anyways, which day of the month do you like?

It was so cold today!  So I decided to remove some stuff from my freezer onto our balcony.  It worked last last week when the temperature was around -20 outside; things stayed nice and frozen until the temperature quickly rose back up to somewhere between -6 to -1C.  Hmm... Yep.  My popsicles.didn't handle that news very well.  

They cried me a lot of rivers....

  FOOD!

Yes.  Finally. I know.  :)

Hero (Certified) Burgers.

I had them with sweet potato fries instead of their regular fries.  I liked their sweet potato fries a lot because the sweet potato was really sweet :) so the texture inside was a bit gooey-sticky while the outside was crispy.  Ones with caramelized exterior were especially good!

My 6oz Kona burger + sauteed button mushrooms (0.99extra) + tomato + onion (both free) - the burger itself comes with pickles, chedder cheese, peameal bacon, roasted pineapple; and a sweet chili sauce. 

Okay, maybe I've never had better.  But I absolutely loved the bun!  It was fluffy and chewy at the same time while providing just enough balance to the meaty, saucy center.  The patty was not bad, a little to the dry side but still had a very nice char-grilled flavour to it.  The dry-ness of the patty was masked well by the condiments (pickle, pineapple, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms) - so over all it didn't feel dry at all.

The only thing, was that they forgot to give me the chedder cheese that was supposed to come with my burger. :( I think with the cheese it will be even better because the cheese will add in another dimension of savoury and creamy taste to the burger.  Oh, and peameal bacon, was not exactly necessary as I couldn't taste much of it. :S  Probably due to the strong flavour of the sauce and the patty itself.  

Tina with her 4oz burger :)

Overall I really enjoyed my burger.  But I wish I could have ordered grilled pineapple as a topping so I could have just ordered a hero-burger with all the toppings I liked and NOT adding the peameal bacon :(

And I really liked the idea of their free toppings including tomatoes, onions and even mesclun green.

Food: 4/5

Service: N/A (but pretty good for a fast food chain)

ambiance: N/App

Hero Certified Burger (yonge and King location)