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.

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.