Sherman's Food Adventures: Gigi's Pizza & Spaghetti House

Gigi's Pizza & Spaghetti House

As I was packing up my gear for Friday night hockey, I glanced over at my camera bag. "Should I bring it or leave it at home?" After all, the game starts at 11:30pm and doesn't end until 12:45am! Once showered and changed, it would be nearing 1:30am... Geez. Most places are only open until 2:00am. So, I threw my hockey bag into the SUV and started to leave. Wait. What's the harm in bringing the camera anyways? So I stopped and ran in to get it. What a great decision that was. Averting disaster, I find out after the game we were indeed going out to eat. Turns out it was Milhouse's birthday. Well... it was his birthday as we started the game. Since we finished after midnight, it was technically not his birthday anymore. Whatever, we all decided to celebrate it. Where? Only 24 hour joints came to mind. Milhouse balked at Knight & Day, Denny's and Tops. I really don't blame him. For me, I call those places "desperate 24-hour food". So once again, reaching deep within my subconsciousness, I suggested Gigi's out on Broadway. Man, I personally haven't been to this place since my University days when dining at 2:30am was normal. In fact, it was a scene of a vehicular "incident" that Viv will never let me forget. It was one dark, rainy Vancouver night (isn't it always???) when I was driving along Broadway with Viv, Costanza and Elaine in my ol' GTi when I got cut off suddenly. Swerving to the other lane, I lost control and did 2 complete 360's in the middle of Broadway and ended up parking backwards in between 2 cars in front of MEC. Miraculously, the car did not hit anything (other cars, people, curb, pole). First thing that came out of my mouth was, "at least the car is okay". You can imagine Viv's response! Well, Viv wasn't with me tonight, so I joyously recounted the story to everyone instead... So, I didn't get the evil eye...

Now as for the food, Ginseng and Sweet Tooth decided to share the Calamari. Turned out to be a good choice since it was freakin' large. It was quite crispy and not too oily; but the batter was quite thick. Ultimately, it didn't detract from the final product though. As for the tzatziki, it was well... not tzatziki. No cucumber, no garlic, no taste, it was just yogurt. For myself, I had to get a pasta. Not that I was in the mood for pasta really; but no one ordered it! Can't go to a place that specializes in pizza and pasta and not try it! So I sacrificed and had the Spaghetti Bolognese. Although the pasta was not exactly al dente, it was far from being overcooked. There was an overwhelming onion taste to the sauce. So much so, that was all I could taste. Now, it wasn't a bad onion flavour. In fact, I enjoyed my pasta. It just wasn't balanced. On top of this, I shared a Hawaiian Pizza with Gordo. Trying to be healthier (HA!), we went for the whole wheat crust. This was pretty much a solid pizza. The crust was neither thin nor thick, somewhere in between. It was crispy and slightly chewy while there was just enough toppings and cheese. Better than most while not particularly exciting.

Lionel Hutz ended up with the Lasagna and yes, it was quite the meal. Look at it. Lots of noodles, sauce and cheese. Not particularly much in the way of meat, it was still a decent lasagna. Noodles weren't too soft and surprisingly not that oily. Ever since Polka King met Polka Dot, they have been inseparable, which means he has not been eating out with us. So it was a total shock he joined us tonight. Part of his healthier diet, he ordered a Chicken Salad. Um... It was a chicken salad... At least the chicken was plentiful and moist. Knowing that Polka King was going to pay for his dinner, Milhouse milked it for all it was worth by going for the 10 oz. New York Steak. Dude. It's 2:00am. A New Year steak??? Anyways, he asked for it to be medium-rare and it came out past medium. It wasn't exactly super tender; but it wasn't tough either. He managed to finish it all... and the baked potato too. All-in-all, the food was acceptable given the time we ate it at. So we didn't have incredibly high expectations. Not sure if we'd necessarily eat dinner here on a regular basis; but it's an option when one wants non-Asian food early in the morning.

The Good:
- Open really late
- Lots of choice
- Food is generally alright

The Bad:
- Food is generally alright
- Some items are actually pricey

Gigi's Pizza & Spaghetti House (Broadway) on Urbanspoon

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