Trocadero

We visited Trocadero Pizza & Steak House tonight after our hockey game. Wow, talk about nostalgia! When I was very young, we lived nearby and I can still remember going to Trocadero. This place has been here since 1970 and thankfully, it's older than me. I don't want to feel any older than I am already! It's been renovated a few times since then; but it's still the same ol' Trocadero's to me. Funny how I was a bit intimidated by the place when I was young. It was kind of dark and mysterious, something very different than McDonald's which I was used to.

Looking over the menu, we noticed the Dinner for 4 for $59.95. It sounded really good since it included Roast Lamb, Mousaka, Kalamaria, Dolmathes, Chicken Marinara, Roast Potatoes, Rice, Pita Bread, Tzatziki, and Greek Salad. Yes, this was the perfect meal at midnight. And what a meal it was, it arrived on a large pizza pan! The picture does not do it any justice at all. There was more than enough food for us and the variety is perfect if you wanted to try everything. The Greek Salad and pita were served separate plates. The Pita was actually crispy and not really all that soft; but it was still good since the tzatziki was fabulous. It was loaded with julienned cucumbers and it had lots of garlic flavour. The Greek salad was the best I've had in the last little while. If you've been reading, the ones I had at Anastasia and Taverna Gorgona were splashed with balsamic vinegar. I don't know about you, but personally, I do not like balsamic vinegar on my Greek salad. It not only stains the cheese and vegetables; it over powers the whole salad. Thankfully, the one here had fresh pieces of vegetables and was just lightly flavoured with feta, oil and herbs. I didn't detect any acid; but there could've been some lemon.

The platter itself was impressive. Not only was it large, the food was quite good. The roast lamb was fork tender and was flavoured nicely with garlic and lemon. The Mousaka was also delicately flavoured and the thick layer of Bechamel sauce went well with the meat. The Kalamaria was cripsy and plentiful. The chicken in my mind was an epic failure. It was dry and a bit flavourless. The rice was surprisingly good, it was not mushy and we ate it all. However, the roast potatoes (not really the traditional lemon potato), were a bit dry and hard. Yet, we really liked the Dolmathes, the filling was not over spiced or over salted.

The fact that the Dolmathes are wrapped in preserved grape leaves brought up a funny story. Polka King had given some "joong" to a friend (let's call him JB) for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Joong is sticky rice, meat, sausage & salted egg wrapped in banana leaves and boiled. Well, JB comes back to Polka King and says, "The joong was quite good; but that wrapper was quite tough to eat...". Uh... We think that he confused it with something like Dolmathes and actually tried eating the whole thing... including the bamboo leaves!!! If you've ever had joong, the bamboo leaves have the same texture as bay leaves. LOL! Anyways, most of the food on the platter was very good and they did not skimp on the portion size either. We had a good time sharing the food and it was a bit of nostalgia for me and Milhouse (he lives nearby).

The Good:
- Good food
- Good portions
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Not cheap

Trocadero
2411 Nanaimo Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-253-8714
www.trocaderorestaurant.com

Business Hours:
5:00pm - 1:00am (Thu - Sat)
5:00pm - 12:00am (Sun - Wed)