Meat & Bread

Coming soon to Victory Square. So Stoked.

Raincity Grill: Fish and Chips Bro!

Perfect way to spend the afternoon with the people you love most. Halibut fish and chips from Raincity Grill, sitting in the sunshine by the ocean. Finish it off with some Gelato and life can't get much better. 

Pork Belly Beer House!

Entirely unplanned, the theme of the week ended up being pork. First the spitroast pig, now the pork belly, my coronaries are thoroughly enjoying their fill of grease this summer.  

I have found my newest favorite neighborhood dive. Thankfully I randomly stumbled across a review of this place, otherwise I'd never have learned that the Pork Belly Beer House exists. This Korean BBQ joint at 814 Bidwell is tucked in between Robson and Haro. It has absolutely no storefront signage and I'm guessing a non-existant advertising budget. Even foot traffic would have no idea what they were walking into because this place is a greasy, messy little jewel, and that's why I love it.

So for ten bucks each you get a plate full of pork belly, or if you wanna go all out it's sixteen bucks for all you can eat. Then you split a bottle of soju and for relatively cheap you can get crackered while eatin' some cracklin'.

You carefully arrange the bacon and toppings on the grill.

Then you dick around with it, cut up the bacon with scissors, and try not to burn yourself as the soju kicks in.

Then you take all these toppings...

...and wrap them up with the crispy bacon in a lettuce sammich.

Chambar: Festival of Gluttony!

It's not often that I get to say that I thoroughly enjoyed being a third wheel, but how can a girl not be tickled pink to join the Cord and Paul Bromance? The combination of accents and Mom jokes was enough to make me question if my gut was sore from the gorging or the laughter. Sigh. Such a cute couple.

Being a huge fan of Cafe Medina, it was good to see the Chambar side of the gorgeous giant doors. It's an enticing, well thought-out space. The service is super smooth, pulling off sophisticated without being pretentious.   

On to the food! Apparently National Belgian Day falls on July 21st, and really, I'll take any excuse to eat 17 courses that includes a Spitroast Pig. (Sidenote: does dessert count as a course? I think the argument is lost on the fact that it's SEVENTEEN COURSES).  The Medieval Theme is my favorite form of fine dining: bib on, no utensils, finger lickin', and*ahem* pigging out, I was clearly in my element.

My favorites were the clams, prawns, and pigs ear. Frankie hooked us up, and not even kidding, it was like this chewy/salty/crispy bacon-like thing. My complaints are that the corn and cheese didn't really go well together, and the calamari was bland; but in reality, when I eat for two hours straight, I chalk it up to a solid night. Did I mention that dessert was bowls of Belgian Chocolate Fondue with pastries and fruit to dip?

This little piggy....

This is what I had to put up with.

Clams

Probably had more fun playing with this dish than eating it.

The theme of the night, Menage A Prawn?

Artichokes

Pig's Ear!

Fuck it. I wasn't about to let that chocolate go to waste.

StreetMeat: Chinatown Night Market

I think that Africa was a great prep for my Street-Meat adventures. I'm pretty sure that my gut can now handle any kind of meat fried on a stick. Preferrably wrapped in cheese. I give credit to the Asians, they know how to keep it cheap. Just be prepared to do some serious chewing. I'm just working my way up to the Richmond nightarket, baby steps.

The assortment of pan-fried gyoza and steamed dumplings. My fav was the ones on the right, assaulted with hot-sauce.

Rice roll thingy, doesn't taste like anything except the saucey stuff.

Finish the night off with some cocktails and steamed buns at Bao Bai and you're good to go.

Was it as Guud for you as it was for me?

I can't say for sure, but this may not have been my first Guu experience. Upon entering the Thurlow location I had a vague flashback from one of my first visits to Vancouver while still super sheltered. All the shouting flooded back feelings of being scared and overwhelmed and totally weirded out by the food (reminder: I grew up in a town where dining out was a choice between DQ and A&W). Needless to say, my I hope that my palate and courage have grown up a little bit this time around.

The niche of Ikazayas is it's own little world, nothing is quite like it. The Guu crew understands that it's about so much more than just the food; it's about the busy atmosphere, the loud comraderie, the steady flow of cold beer in little cups, the cute japanese server girls, and small portions so that you never get bored. If you go back it's not only because of the unique food, but because you had an effing good time eating it. 

This always reminds me of the Little Mermaid

 Tuna Tartar. Pretty, but generally just meh.

Beef Carpachio.

Baked Shrimp and Avocado in Cheese. Surprisingly dissapointing.

Fried Eggplant. Tied for my favorite.

Black Cod. Tied for my favorite.

DEEP FRIED BRIE CHEESE!!!

Society

This evening I joined some friends at Society (on Hamilton and Drake), the newest venue of the Glowbal group, to get nice and sauced up before working my last nightshift. I arrived without any expectations and didn't even make it past the patio, but was definitely intrigued. The semi-annoying server convinced us to have the raspberry mohito, which was fresh and tasty and I don't even like rum!

So after getting this complimentary cotton candy and noticing that the menu started off with this:

I wondered what kind of focus group of cracked-out, Sex-And-The-City, unemployed yaletown girls thought that this would be a good idea?? Cookie-flavored alcohol and, like, pink chandeliers?!? Like, Totally!

Acme Cafe: Second Edition

There's nothing about the Acme Cafe that's gonna knock your socks off. It's simple and unpretenious and it's rad because it takes the standards and does them well.

Oh, and it ALWAYS SMELLS LIKE PIE!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mac N'Cheese.

Da Club.

Death by Banh Mi

So on my lunch break yesterday I made the mistake of thinking that my favorite pho dive would make a great Banh Mi Vietnamese sub thingy.

Little did I know that this puppy was laced with shrapnel-like shards of Jalapeno peppers that would set fire to the roof of my mouth and numb the right-hand side of my face.