Hurricane Grill

Once again, I was scheduled to play a hockey game at the same time as the Canucks tilt with the Blackhawks. It's almost a great excuse to skip our game. However, most of us made it to our game, unlike Polka King (who got free tickets). Well, karma reared its ugly head. While we won our game 6-3, the Canucks lost 7-4. We all had a good laugh at Polka King's expense. Deciding where to eat after Friday hockey has become somewhat of a tedious experience since some of our games don't exactly end early. Thus, our dining options get severely limited. Sometimes, it gets so desperate, Knight & Day starts to creep into the conversation. Noooooo! I'd rather drive the wrong way in the Crystal Mall parking lot with a bulls eye pasted to the front of my car. That way, I'd be dead, I wouldn't have to eat at K & D.

Okay, enough of the morbid thoughts. I had something on the North Shore in mind dependent on the outcome of the Canucks game. I thought that we could give the Hurricane Grill a try since it's relatively nearby and open late. Now if they had won (ya right!), people would be happy and drink 'til the bar closed. But if they lost, I figured people would clear outta there faster than the end of discounted Dim Sum at 11:00am. And you know, I was right. Upon arrival at the Hurricane Grill, there were more frowns than a bunch of football players at a salad bar. With plenty of seating abound, we could pick our table. So, by virtue of being a bar that serves food, one might assume that the eats here are ho-hum. Well, at least everything sounded good on the menu.

Gadget Girl and Lionel Hutz took a chance with the Warm Seafood Spinach Salad. Yes, it's generally not the most natural choice at a bar. However, the salad looked quite good. With a bounty of shrimp, prawns and scallops atop fresh greens, mushrooms, goat cheese, roasted almonds and Mandarin slices, this was not a small salad. Gadget Girl was pleasantly surprised with the honey mustard dressing since it did not taste like the stuff you get with your chicken strips. Sweet Tooth also had the salad, albeit a heartier one in the Grill Salad. Consisting of a 6oz NY Steak atop grilled veggies and spring mix with a balsamic reduction, she was quite happy with it. The steak was cooked slightly beyond her request, but it was still easy to eat. Furthermore, the veggies were fresh and cooked perfectly. Both Boss Woman and Mr. Blueberry had the Seafood Linguine which consists of prawns, scallops, shrimp, onion and mushrooms in a rose sauce. While Boss Woman liked her pasta indicating that the sauce was well-balanced, Mr. Blueberry was less enthusiastic. He thought the pasta was a bit soft and sauce weak.

Now, what's a visit to a bar without a burger? Emilicious and Milhouse both had the Danish Burger. Yes, all this repetition of food was killing me... Anyways, the burger is made with a 7oz homemade patty with Danish bleu cheese. It was a consensus that the burger was solid. The meat was well-charred and there was no shortage of sharp bleu cheese flavour. Not much to comment about the fries, they were of the generic variety. For myself, I went for the 16oz Lamb Shank with veggies and roasted potatoes. Although I'm sure that the 16oz measurement is the pre-cooked weight, it just didn't look all that large to me. It was extremely tender with a nice gelatinous meat falling off the bone. The sauce was quite understated and really didn't add much to the flavour profile. The veggies were crisp and the potatoes were perfect. Curiously, the lamb shank itself was luke warm, which detracted from my eating enjoyment. Ginseng was not that hungry and went for the Yam Fries. Although they are probably the frozen variety, they were fried nicely with a crisp exterior. In general, the food execution was quite good here. Nothing spectacular; but surprisingly good food for this type of restaurant. Not exactly cheap by any stretch of the imagination, the prices are on par with popular chain restaurants.

The Good:
- Pretty decent food
- Lots of menu items to choose from
- Nice vibe

The Bad:
- Service is a bit slow
- Some items are not cheap