Birthday dinner #2 - Joe Forte's, smoking dog bistro, and r.tl (regional tasting lounge)

So, there was a little funny story to this birthday of mine.

I got upset at Jordan for letting me plan everything myself.  I know, I know.... being a guy, he just thinks that it's the best if I plan everything myself so that I'd get everything I want.

But I don't want that!!

I just want a quiet  and relaxing birthday - I just don't want to plan!!! I'd be pleased with anything he plans, even if it were a free burger at Red Robin's! Anyhow.... so I got upset :(

Him, being the insensitive and man of the men and know that I simply can't resist seafood, surprised me with a seafood dinners weekend. LOL So now, after my crab dinner at The Keg, we are back to Joe Forte's (right across the street from the Keg) for more seafood!

Bread - with balsamic vinegar and lobster oil (3/5)

Seafood tower on Ice - 2 tiers - $60/person 3/5

The Bread - I loved the lobster oil.  But it was just, cooking lobster shells and heads in olive oil..... I don't understand how it can be sold for $22/bottle when it is easily replicated at home.. (with the waste parts too!) I'd recommend to make this at home if you love lobster - why wasting the shells and everything right? :)

The seafood tower - what a disappointment!  It was composed of (from top, clock wise) salmon fillet, oyster rock feller, steamed half lobster, dungeness crab, seared scallops and (middle) steamed mussels in white wine scarce.  The salmons were really really dry and tough; though the dill flavour really came through.  The mussels were the worst; they had a foul smell to them.  (This was the biggest turn off, as I didn't expect the mussels to smell funky... it didn't have to be fresh, but unsanitary was a whole different story!  Jordan had a mild allergic attack after consuming the food.... and I am suspecting the dirty mussels)

Our favs of the dish were the scallops and the oyster Rockefeller.

The scallops were really nicely seared and with a perfect doneness being plump.  It was bouncy and sweet; a great sign for it being fresh.  The Oyster Rockefeller, well, hands down for it to be their signature dish.  It was garlicky, sweet, savoury, crunchy and creamy... all the greatest flavour and texture combinations you can ask for!  A little splash of lemon cuts down the richness of the sauce a little and it was super heavenly!  

The ambiance tho was a bit too touristy - it almost seemed like everyone in the restaurant were a tourist.... our server wasn't very attentive either and we had to ask multiple times just for our water to be filled.  He only came around to take our orders and basically to give us our bill.  I didn't feel welcomed or well taken care of and really was a bit disappointed.

Food - 2.5/5 (fairly average for the quality....)

Service - 2.5/5 (not very attentive

Ambiance - 3.5/5 - great if you are a tourist!  but it looked a bit dated for me...

The smoking dog bistro - bouillabaisse - 3/5

I planned my girl's night out with the girls on the day of my birthday; so I picked the Smoking Dog Bistro in kits.  There were many more dishes ordered and other than the bouillabaisse I also tried the escargot as well as the baked brie.  The escargot was a tad too salty but it was plenty garlicky and buttery - but it was really salty....  The baked brie tho was creamy and paired well with the balsamic vinegar, cranberry, and (esp) the garlic!  

My bouillabaisse tho, was quite bland.  The saffron broth lacked any depth or flavour, the seafood was predominantly mussels and that piece of toasted bread was like a joke.... There were some spicy mayo at the bottom of the bread that not only made the bread soggy but also made no sense at all.  I didn't enjoy it very much.

However, what made the night was the company and also Jordan's second surprise.  

He phoned the restaurant and paid for all of our meals!

It was definitely a surprise and although a tad cheesy, it was definitely a plus point among all my girl friends :) A word of advice for all you boys out there: 

it is feasible - so try impress your girl's girls with this! 


Service for the night was great too; but that could have been because we were the only customers there.  We received all the attentions and even got a glass of wine on house!

Food - 2.5/5 - really average food...

Service - 4/5 - minus for server watching hockey during work

ambiance - 3.5/5 - not exactly romantic but definitely casual and comfortable

Bread chipotle butter - 2.5/5

Another day for my bday in yaletown with my faux sister - Sophi <3 we were roommate for 3 years in Toronto and she's just like my little sister; probably the closest person to me other than Jordan and my mother. :)  We headed to R.TL (Regional Tasting Lounge) in yale town for my bday gathering.

It really took me by surprise that a restaurant of this calibre is charging extra for the bread.  At $5, it does not live up to what it is at all.  The bread was cold and the chipotle butter was nothing special.  I wouldn't order this again; and I don't think you should either.  It's just not worth it!

We ordered the "La Formule for two" that was composed of :

Mussels - green curry - 3/5

(From left to right) Szechuan steak sliced flank, vegetables & spices 1.5/5 ; (choice) wild mushrooms 3/5;  mushroom  & truffle risotto, wild mushrooms, shaved parmesan 3/5

dessert - 

saffron gelato rose water, pistachio, crème congelé 

The mussels were really flavourful with a lot of lemon grass flavour.  However the steak was so tough that I could barely chew.  I liked the risotto as the truffle oil really came through and the rice was al dante.  (I love truffle oil so... it might be a bit overwhelming for some...)

The whole meal was $55 (+$5 bread) and Sophia and I ordered a bottle of wine to share.  It was definitely  not the best value but given the ambiance and the service (quite nice; but it was slow when we went in...) it was Okay.  

Food - 2.5/5 - mediocre at best - maybe we didn't order the right items?

Service - 3.5/5 - very good - but it was slow when we went in!

Ambiance - 3/5 - not the most romantic place; but definitely cute and chic

Birthday dinners - The Keg on Thurlow

I love the Keg.

Despite that they are chain restaurants and all, I find them to be one of the more reasonably priced steak houses that serve up great steaks.

Jordan and I made it to their Crab festival month for this birthday dinner, here is what we ordered.

20oz rib steak

Jordan ordered the rib steak.  It was a really nice piece of steak.  It was perfectly rare with a really nice char on the outside.  The meat was also really really flavourful ( I didn't understand the "flavourful" until I've had a filet mignon and a sirloin grilled to the same doneness side by side; if you have difficulty grasp that, you should try my method too!)  He enjoyed this!

Crab dinner

I had a really great experience with their crab dinner when I was back in Toronto.  The crab was sweet and meaty and it was everything a crab lover could as for on a dungeness crab!  I loved it so much that I was so excited when I found out that the Kegs here in Vancouver also has the crab fest so that is exactly what I ordered.  After all, Vancouver is where dungeness crabs come from!  How can this go wrong?

What a disappointment.

The crab must have been starved for days before they cooked it.  It didn't have much meat in it and was incredibly salty.  The meat was quite dry (probably from being boiled or steamed for too long) and it was just quite awful.  The grilled veggies were nice tho - but those will never make up for the failed crab dinner.

The ambiance here is great tho, definitely more lively than some of the other Keg restaurants and the high ceiling really upstages everything.  Service was phenomenal and our water glass was never empty.  Over all I enjoyed this dinner, not because of the crab but because of everything else.  (I will be smart and order a steak next time.) 

Food: 4/5 (crab was the reason for -1)

Service:  5/5 (amazing, despite the traffic)

ambiance: 5/5 (great for date nights or nights out!!)

 

Japanese snacks (Bourbon petites and more!) - from konbiniya on robson

I love Japanese snacks!

Not only that they automatically come in portion controlled sizes; the unique Asian influence on them just make them 10 x better than your usual ketchup flavoured chips!

Strawberry langue de chat - $1.49

I loved the prominent strawberry flavour and the strawberry chocolate/cream centre!  Petite sizes are also perfect for study/work time snacks and for sharing (if you want to share!)

BBQ corn - $0.99 

I got this one on sale because it was close to expiring.  I want to explain the definition of expiry date (at least in Japan) here because many people have misconceptions toward it.  In Japan, the expiry date on foods usually means "best before" - so even some foods "expire", it doesn't mean that they are not fit for consuming; it simply means that the manufacturer cannot guarantee the flavour of foods to be just as good as if consumed before the "expiry" date.

I loved the simple BBQ-ed sweet corn flavour of this chips.  In Japan, BBQ does not mean BBQ sauce flavoured; so that's great because they can provide you with the smokiness that comes naturally with BBQing foods yet you do not have to taste the horrid artificial BBQ sauce flavour. (I love barbecue sauce tho, just some chips use too much!!)

  

Brown sugar kinako (soybean powder) wafers - $1.49

Brown sugar kinako (soybean powder) wafers - $1.49

Brown sugar kinako (soybean powder) wafers - $1.49

 I know, I know... what is kinako/soybean powder and how do they put THAT into wafers??!!!  Relax :) kinako is sweetened soybean powder that is used prominently in Japanese snacks (wagashi).  They put it on mochi (sticky rice cakes), on sticky rice (ohagi), warabi-mochi (sorry I've got no translation for this one but it's a special type of mochi made of an Japanese herb extract)...etc - this is a very typical Japanese ingredient!

This one is my favourite as I am a sucker for anything traditional Japanese! (older generation taste buds :P )  It is definitely for those of you who are more adventurous as kinako is more an acquired taste.  It definitely tastes soybean and the bitterness of the brown sugar is perfect for balancing the whole thing out.  Loved it!!

rice cracker (senbei) Korean nori/seaweed flavoured - $1.49

This was my least favourite as I did not grasp the concept of Korean seaweed from this item at all.  Maybe it's just I do not understand how Japanese interpret Korean seaweed; but I found this to be on the bland side and almost tasted just like the normal ao-nori (Japanese powdered seaweed) flavoured rice cracker.  To me, it could have used more sesame oil flavour for sure.

Butter and soy sauce flavoured Curl - $1.99

Curls (yes, that's what they are called because of their curly shapes!) are one of the more traditional Japanese snacks as they have been around for more than 25 years!  The fact that they use butter with soy sauce screams traditional Japanese!  It is almost like a Japanese barbecue sauce but they also eat it with rice and they can incorporate it into pastas.  

I love Curls because they are my childhood memories!  It's amazing how inexpensive they are in Japan but how expensively they are sold here..... but yes, definitely worth a try, just for the butter-soy sauce flavourings!