Acme Cafe: First Edition

Frankly, who gives a shit about what they're eating unless they are enjoying the company they're with? That's why I thoroughly enjoyed the post-workout bro-down over Rueben's with the boys last Friday.

I can't help but comment on the rapidly changing neighborhood and hope that the Acme Cafe is a sign of things to come. Walking into the Cafe calmly transports you away from the frenzy of West Hastings. The place is clean and crisp, with uncluttered 50's diner-style nostalgia. The giant man who takes your order is kind and prompt. All this comes together over comfort food and fart jokes, and what more could a girl ask for?

The portion sizes weren't huge, but for nine bucks it was a reasonable Rueben sammich. And really, unless it's an all-you-can-eat situation, I try to avoid supporting gluttonous behavior. The show-stealer was definitely the side of Broccoli Almond Slaw, which I highly highly recommend. I would even suggest getting a double portion and skipping the potato chips.

I want to go back for the Breakfast. I want to try the Mac and Cheese and the Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwhich. I wanna eat lots of pie, and next time I will try the Espresso Milkshake instead of the Strawberry. On second thought, I should probably go back to the gym first.

Japadog: Everybody's doing it.

Yayaya! Oishi!

If you live in Vancouver and haven't heard of Japadog you're retarded.

It's old news that after spending several years building their street cred, the Japadog empire of street meat hot-dog carts have upgraded to a full-on store-front location at Robson and Richards.

After receiving some sage advice, I chose the Kurobuta Terimayo. Kurobuta being extra special fatty pork from Bershire pigs raised in Japan, and Terimayo is the oh-so-genius combination of terryaki and mayo sauce. This succulent tube steak is garnished with nori (dried seaweed), which I indifferently picked off after the first bite. As per usual, the Japanese raise the bar; this is next-level hot-dog.

It's worth the wait, just avoid the fries that taste like butter.

Kurobuta Terimayo = Happiness in a Hawt-dawg. 

Kadoya #2 Addendum

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a creature of habit. This doesn't always bode well for bringing NEW! and EXCITING! information to a blog, but yet again, fuck it. I'm all about finding the places in my hood that I can call my own, my hovels of comfort, the places I can rely on for being their awesome or awesome-ly shitty selves.

Now that it's getting warm out, the Denman Kadoya patio is a perfect place to catch up with besties.

Inari Nigiri: one of my favs, the oh-so-sweet bean curd sac.

Chicken Karaage: it tastes as weird as it looks. Unless you're a fan of tempura-flavored chicken dry ribs style, don't do it.

I Shouldn't Really Talk About This: The Nuba Secret.

So I've stumbled upon this ethical dilemma; to talk or not to talk about "The Secret". After thinking about it for half a second I realized that no one really reads my blog anyway. No offense, but I have Google Analytics and know that all four of you don't actually take me seriously (technically there's really only three because I still have to figure out how to get it to stop counting myself), so whatevs, enjoy:
 

Nuba started out small and created a solid reputation for authentic Lebanese fare. It carved a little niche for itself in the city and expanded to three locations (Seymore @ Drake, Cambie @ Hastings, and 3rd @ Main). I had numerous recommendations from friends, but hadn't gotten around to checking it out... until I discovered the perks of nepotism.  FYI: the opportunity to try The Secret may have been the kicker for going on a second date, just sayin.

Aptly named, The Secret is an off-the-menu dish which is a collection of their best/favorites that you can only order if you know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody, etc. Granted I was distracted by the wine and conversation, but I'm not really sure what exactly it was that I ate. I'm guessing it was taboulleh, a lentil dish with rice, and tzatziki. I found it flavorful in that warm, comfort food, salt-of-the-earth delicious way, and in reality it probably could have been anything because half the excitement is the fact that it's this sneaky secret thing. 

The selection of vegetarian and vegan options are rad, the ambiance is great, and the general theme felt very 'bead-curtain chic'. The service was a bit slow, but the overall experience made it worthwhile. If you're in the neighborhood I recommend giving it a whirl, after of course, you've tried La Taqueria.

 Najib's Special - crispy cauliflower. Sounds odd, but uniquely yummy. 

The Secret. 

...On second thought, I might go to blogger hell for this.  It's a special circle where we'll be assaulted with ad-space, typos, and blurry photos

Cinch on Robson

Sunny day lunch on the Cinch patio!

Pan-seared Prawns and Seasonal Greens Salad. Heck Yes.

Mattchew Fong's Braised Short-Rib Sammich.

I had to hold myself back from beating him up and stealing it.

Eat!Vancouver Festivities

Jacqueline and I checked out the new convention center for the first time this weekend, hitting up the Eat Vancouver Food and Cooking Festival in search for some interesting local grub. The tickets were $15 at the door, $12 online, or $10 if you buy them off scalpers like we did. The food tickets were 50 cents each and each food item was about 4 or 5 tickets ($2 - $2.50), so it was reasonably priced. The only setback was that we got a little overzealous buying the tickets and were full before we ran out. See Solution Below. 

Technically the first thing that I ate was some Butter Chicken from an Indian booth, but I was too hungry to remember to take a picture. These are lamb tacos from Dona Cata, and although the sauces weren't as good as La Taqueria, they were made with lotsa Latino loooooove. 

What makes a ham samich Peruvian? I'm guessing the slow-cooked pork part. Even with the plain-old mustard it was tasty.

Butterscotch pudding with chocolate from Milestones. Reminded me exactly why I don't eat at Milestones. BORING.

Smoked salmon and creme cheese panini from Fishworks. We had to wait the longest for this one, but didn't mind because we were distracted by the cute and chatty promoter boy. It was good, I'd eat it again if it had more filling. 

My first experience eating Kangaroo was from the Australian tourism booth. I give it an overall thumbs up, it tastes similar to venison. The mini sammich was called a Slider, so for the rest of the day I had stuck in my head (in an Australian accent): "G'Day Mate, Roo Slida?"

 What to do with all the left over food tickets? Hit up the alcohol samps!
Ps. avoid Canadian-made tequila, it tastes like gasoline.