The Gray Olive

If you don't already know, The Gray Olive out in North Burnaby has expanded.  They have taken over the insurance agency that was next door on the corner.  Hence, they have tripled their capacity and now are a full-service restaurant (rather than the counter service they had before).  I've actually been here somewhat recently and enjoyed the fact I didn't have to wait in line and also could have my order taken at my table.  The best thing of all is the food is still on point and there are even some new items on the menu.  I had a chance to try more dishes as we were invited to do so!

Things got off to a great start with the GO Breakfast Platter featuring 2 eggs, bacon, pork & leek sausage, chimichurri, tomatoes, toast and a side (cubed hashbrowns in this case).  So on the surface, preparing a plate of breakfast items doesn't seem overly complex.  However, to create an appealing plate is another matter.  They did that well here with thick cut and meaty bacon as well as a juicy and flavourful leek sausage.  The addition of bright chimichurri atop fresh grilled tomatoes made things a bit more brighter.

We can't forget about their Chicken & Waffle and as much as this version is pretty straightforward, it was executed properly.  The generous portion of fried chicken thighs were juicy and tender while having a uniformly crunchy batter.  The chicken itself and the batter were both properly seasoned.  As for the waffle, it was crispy on the outside while fairly airy on the inside.  On the side, we found creamy honey butter and maple syrup.

Staying with fried chicken, you know that the fried chicken thigh would be repurposed in some way.  Well, if your guess was a Fried Chicken Sandwich, then you would be right.  As you can see in the picture, there was more than enough chicken for every bite of the sandwich.  It sat in a soft, but toasted brioche bun with cabbage, pickles and dill aioli.  Side of fries were super crispy. Solid sammie, but I personally like the spicy version more for an extra $1.00.

 

One sandwich that I've never tried before was the Cheesesteak Dip.  All the usual ingredients were there including shaved beef, sauteed peppers, onions, mushrooms and shredded cheese on a toasted baguette.  By itself, I thought it was already a substantial sandwich that had plenty of umami, sweetness and cheesiness.  However, when it was made into a beef dip, this added more saltiness and of course moisture to the crunchy baguette.  Personally I would've eaten it without the dip as the sandwich was great already with a nice crunch from the bread.

They also have a nice selection of Bennys and for myself, my favourite is the Crab Cake Benny.  Now if you have tried different versions of crab cakes, you will find this one a bit lacking in crab.  However, for me at least, it was still tasty since the texture was light and fluffy while being crispy on the outside.  Besides, this Benny costs as much as the other ones, so we wouldn't expect a jam-packed crab cake for that price.  These sat on top of a biscuit with red pepper relish and arugula.

Yes, that means the Pulled Pork Benny costs as much as the Crab Cake Benny.  But don't worry, they pile so much tender pulled pork on top, I believe you still get your money's worth.  For this version, everything sat on corn bread.  It was crispy with a fairly moist interior.  Good call on using that as the bread because it went really well with the pulled pork.  Eggs were soft-poached with a runny yolk while the Hollandaise was creamy, not overly heavy and well-seasoned.

Another favourite of mine is the French Toast made with slices of baguette.  These were soaked enough so that the texture became more like bread pudding.  Hence, there was this custardy, soft thing going on that was rather appealing.  Don't mistaken it for soggy though as it wasn't.  These were seared up nicely with a nutty flavour from the butter.  This was served with syrup and even more butter on the side.

Making sure we represent the whole menu, we got both of their daily soups including Mushroom and Tomato.  I thought the mushroom was tasty without being salty.  The earthiness did come through, not only from the mushrooms, but also from the thyme and rosemary.  Tomato soup was somewhat creamy and sweet, hence it took some of the harsh acidity out.  It was smooth and had great natural flavour.   The missing side to the GO platter was the cubed hashbrowns in this picture.  Last item was the Pancake and it was fairly fluffy and aromatic.  As for our beverages, I was the only one to select something hot in the Spanish Latte.   It was creamy and lightly sweet.  We also had the Thai Iced Tea, Cold Matcha Latte and the Thai Iced Ying Yang.  So, The Gray Olive has been around since 2017 and they have consistently put out quality and delicious food for breakfast & brunch (also some lunch items in the past).  It is nice to see things are still on the right path with more seats!  

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Solid breakfast and brunch

- Well-portioned

- Now with more seats!

The Bad:

- Like with everything else and everywhere else, prices are creeping up there

 

The Grey Olive

For some reason or another, I haven't been paying much attention to The Grey Olive for the past few years.  After the initial hype, I just stopped going.  It wasn't because the food wasn't good.  I've always enjoyed their solid execution of breakfast and lunch items.  I do believe one of the reasons I stopped going was the lack of seats.  However, that has been rectified as they have taken over the space next to them that used to be an insurance agency (as you can see in the picture because I didn't take a new one).  So it was with great pleasure that we waltzed in and got seated immediately.

We had to get their G.O. Breaky Sandwich with crispy cheese, scrambled egg, black truffle aioli and bacon (can choose sausage or smoked tofu too) on a toasted brioche bun.  Solid sammie with crispy and meaty bacon.  The egg was fluffy and not overdone while the crispy cheese was nutty and indeed texturally awesome.  The bun was soft and held everything together.  There was just enough aioli in there without being too strong.

Now I'm not doing my Fried Chicken Sammie quest anymore, but just had to get the one here.  It was a good decision as the fried chicken thigh was juicy and tender.  The batter on the outside was crunchy and stayed as such even with all the sauce on it.  Now the sauce wasn't exactly super spicy (add $1.00 for that), but it did have a slight kick.  It came with the usual compliments such as crunchy slaw and pickles.  It was also served on brioche and I would say this was pretty solid.  Fries were crispy too.

Moving back to breakfast, we had the Crab Cake Benny with hashbrowns.  The deep fried crab cakes were actually quite good with a crispy exterior and fluffy interior.  The poached eggs were perfectly runny while the Hollandaise was actually not overly heavy.  It was still silky though and had all of its buttery goodness.  A bit more tang would've been perfect.  The side of hashbrowns were super crispy and just somewhat greasy.

Although the French Toast was not really a dessert, we treated it as such.  It featured egg & milk soaked baguette which had a custardy bread pudding like consistency.  That was perfect in our opinion.  It came with whipped cream, butter and syrup.  Overall, The Grey Olive lived up to its past history, but now with more seats!  I don't have many complaints now!  I guess I'll be back more often.

The Good:

- More seats!

- Solid breakfast

- Pricing is reasonable for what you get

The Bad:

- Service was friendly, but a bit hard to get anyone's attention at times

Suren Persian Cuisine

Here we go with another nearby restaurant that I have passed over and over again, but I just have not stopped to dine there.  The place is Suren and I've actually stared at the place many times while dining at North King Noodle across the street.  Yep, it was about time I would finally dine on the Persian cuisine there.  I guess an invite from them was really the catalyst for me to check it out.  I'm glad that I did because they really did a good job renovating from the old Greek restaurant that used to reside there.  Now onto the food!

We kicked things off with 2 starters including the Deep Fried Dumplings served atop some crispy fries.  These were more like flaky pastries akin to Cornish Pasties   Inside, the meat & vegetable filling was moist and well-spiced.  That was good, but the Eggplant Dip was killer.  The soft eggplant was sweet and tangy while spiced with bright mint and sweet caramelized onion.  On the side, we found some  Persian flatbread to dip into the eggplant.

Onto the mains, we were served a variety of kebabs starting with the Chicken and Koobideh.  Beautifully-charred and in a beautiful shade of yellow due to the saffron, the chicken was super juicy and tender.  Despite being chicken breast, this was nowhere near dry.  Nice aromatics.  As for the Koobideh (ground beef), it was also well-charred (but not burnt) and juicy.  It was beefy while sweet from the onions and earthy from the spices.  Loved eating these with the yogurt dips on the side.

Off to two more kebabs, we had the Salmon and the Steak.  As you can see, the salmon was seared up well on the outside.  Although not super moist, the fish was not dry either.  As for the steak, it was probably the best of the bunch being charred with a smoky nuttiness.  The marinated meat was succulent and really moist.  It required very little chewing and yet, it still had a natural meat texture.  In terms of flavour, the natural meatiness was complimented by the sweetness of pomegranate.  A similar sweetness and tang could be found in the Barberry Rice (in the background).  It complimented the chewy, yet fluffy saffron rice beautifully.  So delicious on its own!

The fruity rice thing continued with a full plate of Lentil Rice and Lamb.  This was super tasty where we found large tender chunks of lamb nestled in fluffy rice, tender lentils, raisins and caramelized onions.  The raisins really added punch to the dish while the earthy spices (like cumin and turmeric) provided the usual compliment to the lamb.  Loved this dish!  Continuing with the same theme, we also had the Lamb Shank with Fava Bean Rice.  Mostly tender and gelatinous, the lamb shank was flavourful and classically "lamb-tasting".  It was cooked with the usual spices which gave it an aromatic and earthy flavour.  This was best eaten with the jus poured over the rice.

We added on a dish that sounded great on the menu called the Chicken Tahchin. This consisted of oven cooked saffron rice with chicken, yogurt, egg and barberries.  Loved the crispy rice as it was served upside down.  It was also intensely aromatic.  Inside, the rice was fluffy while the chicken was flavourful.  We also had some drinks with our meal including the Torsh, Purple Flower and an orange-coloured drink that was not on the menu.  I really enjoyed them all, especially the Torsh as it was fruity and not too strong.

We ended up with four desserts to end the meal and the Cream Roll was reminiscent of the Chinese version.  We quite liked the thin and fluffy sponge cake with plenty of fresh cream in the middle.  This was not heavy and a great dessert for someone who wanted something light.  Then we had the Napoleon which was shockingly excellent.  It looked really dense at first glance, but after we put a fork into it, the whole thing collapsed.  It ate super light with flaky layers and semi-sweet cream.  Some pistachios provided some nuttiness.

Of course we were going to have some Baklava and you know what?  I didn't hate these.  Most of the time, Baklava is so super sweet, I can't eat them.  This one was still sweet, but not overly so.  Nice crispy phyllo and nutty pistachios to compliment.  Lastly, we had the Cream Puffs that featured light eggy choux pastry and fresh cream.  Another light dessert that also can be shared easily.  Overall, the food at Suren was delicious and made me want to come back ASAP.  The meats are cooked beautifully with a char while remaining tender.  Flavours are impactful and most importantly, the prices reasonable.  

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Impactful flavours
- Meats cooked properly
- Prices are reasonable

The Bad:
- Maybe the salmon could've been just a bit more moist, but it wasn't dry either  

Nemo Sushi

Not too long ago, we tried to visit out local Sushi Town on Hastings and to our shock, it was closed forever!  Okay, we realize that the sushi there isn't mind-blowing, but it was serviceable and relatively affordable.  We did notice that it was going downhill for awhile in terms of quantity for the price, so I guess we shouldn't have been that surprised it closed.  But now, there is a new spot in its place called Nemo Sushi (so they serve clownfish?).  They have completely renovated and the place looks quite snazzy looking more like a high-end dessert spot rather than a sushi joint.

We ordered a wide-range of items and the first to arrive was the Chicken Yakisoba.  Huh?  This was not what we expected as our first dish...  Anyways, it was rather saucy and hence quite sweet.  The noodles were not soggy though, retaining a chewiness.  There was a decent amount of chicken, but it was quite dry.  Veggies were not as crunchy as we would've liked.  Due to the amount of sauce, the dish was too wet and lacked some of the caramelization that we normally associate with a hot cast iron plate.

Next, we had the Chicken Karaage that came in a rather large portion.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that the chicken was in pretty small pieces.  Combined this to an aggressive deep-fry, the chicken turned out to be chewy and dry.  The good thing was that the skin was properly rendered while the exterior was super crunchy.  Maybe a bit too crunchy though.  It also could've been seasoned a bit more aggressively as it was quite bland-tasting.

Our next dish was the Beef Teriyaki Don and at this point, I figured that the kitchen was pumping out food faster than the sushi bar.  This featured a massive amount of thinly-sliced beef on top soft rice.  We quite liked the beef as it was tender and actually decently moist.  It was aggressively sauced, but there was lots of beef and also the rice underneath.  Hence, the salty sweetness was balanced by the components.  The rice could've been drier as it had to deal with the moisture from the veggies and sauce, so it became a bit soggy.

Paying homage to the previous tenants, we ordered the Awesome Roll.  I guess this was somewhat similar to the previous place, but in a sense, not really.  It was really a California-based roll topped with a mess of fried baby shrimp and too much sauce.  Hence, the saltiness of the teriyaki sauce (which tasted strangely like Maggi) and the creaminess of the chili mayo was the dominant texture and flavour of this roll.  Really wasn't a fan of this as it was not balanced.

We had the Assorted Tempura next and this was actually quite good.  The batter was relatively thin and hence was not cumbersome to eat.  It was crispy and light without much greasiness.  The components were cooked properly where the ebi was buttery soft and the sweet potato, squash and yam were tender, but still had texture.  Even the broccoli was still crunchy, yet still cooked through.  Tempura dip was a little saltier than other versions I've had.  It was far too concentrated.

We also ordered the House Roll and it was a little rough in its construction.  It didn't eat poorly though because they didn't skimp on the filling (tuna, salmon, tamago, imitation crab & avocado).  Rice was a little on the softer side though.  We got some Sockeye Salmon Sashimi and it was good.  The fish had a nice sheen and it smelled fresh.  Wasn't super flavourful but was not bland either.  Slices were a tad thick, but was tender enough to chew through.

Got our usual fix of Nigiri in the form of Toro, Chopped Scallop, Tamago and Atlantic Salmon.  The pieces of nigiri were fairly big with a good ingredient-to-rice ratio.  Toro was soft and buttery while the scallops were nicely dressed and soft.  Salmon was typical while the tamago was the usual run-of-the-mill non-layered variety.  Once again, the rice was a bit soft and also not particularly flavourful.  

Lastly, we had the Ebi Mayo that featured 6 fried shrimp with only a smattering of chili mayo.  This was serviceable with large meaty shrimp with a somewhat dense batter.  Hence it ate on the heavier side.  There wasn't enough chili mayo though and the dish ate rather dry and a little bland.  So in general, the food at Nemo Sushi is passable, but not really all that good in my opinion.  Considering the price point (when the grand opening 20% off special is over), I feel there are better options in the neighbourhood.

The Good:

- Large portions

- Nice decor

- Decent service

The Bad:

- Sushi rice (and the rice in the don) was too soft

- Food in general is very average

Portobello

11 years ago, we dined at the Broadway location of Portobello.  Now, we have noticed that it had moved into the former spot of the Pear Tree on Hastings in Burnaby.  I filed that away in my mind so if we ever needed as place to grab some Italian eats, we would hit the place up.  Well, it was my mom's birthday and we didn't want to venture into Downtown, so yep, this was the place for us!

We ended up sharing a bunch of dishes starting with some starters including the Caesar Salad and the Burrata.  Dressed in a house-made dressing, the Caesar salad was fairly mild in flavour despite the rich anchovy colour.  It was plenty creamy with some aromatics and fresh crunch from the romaine.  Soft and creamy, there was a good amount of burrata atop the dressed arugula and fresh cherry tomatoes.

Onto our pasta course, we ordered 3 of them.  The most simple of the bunch was the Fusilli con Polpette.  This featured 2 humungous house-made ground prime rib meatballs sitting in a tomato sauce with shaved parmigiano.  There was enough filler to prevent the meat from being dense, yet at the same time, the beef texture was still prevalent.  The tomato sauce was bright and tangy, yet was a bit one-note.  The shaved parm did help in this regard.  As for the fusilli, it was al dente.

Our favourite pasta of the bunch was not really a pasta, but a risotto.  The Risotto di Mare was a large portion of aborio rice, prawns and halibut.  We thought the rice was perfectly prepared as it was cooked through while still retaining a bite.  The combination of white wine, butter and cream was on point where it made the risotto rich without being too heavy.  Beyond the on point seasoning, the natural sweetness and brininess of the halibut and prawns came through in the background.

We also had the Agnolotti di Ricotta in a rose sauce.  These were not made in-house, but rather imported from Italy.  Well, these were legit as the thin pasta was firm, yet still tender to the bite.  Inside, the creamy ricotto and spinach were dry enough to not impact the integrity of the agnolotti.  Hence, they stayed together even after being cut in half and covered in sauce.  About that sauce, it was nicely balanced with a creamy and subtle tanginess.

So for our Primi, we also ordered 3 dishes including the Cioppino di Mare with clams, mussels, prawns, halibut and squid in a fish stock with white wine, garlic, fresh herbs and light tomato sauce.  This was quite the pleasant dish where the broth was definitely the star of the show.  It was naturally sweet and plenty "seafoody" with a spicy tanginess.  The seafood was perfectly cooked with buttery mussels and clams as well as delicately bouncy pieces of squid.

We really enjoyed the Ossobuco Classico where the large veal shank was so tender and rich with flavour.  It was fork-tender with the flavours of the wine and root vegetables coming through.  That was also evident with the braising liquid that melded perfectly with the al dente and creamy risotto on the side.  When combined, the richness of the risotto and the jus created a delicious bite.  Even better with a piece of the tender veal.

Staying with veal, we had the Piccata al Limone.  This featured several thin slices of veal that were lightly floured, sautéed in butter, white wine and lemon juice.  They were tender while mildly-seasoned.  The lemon did come through, offering up a certain brightness to break up the heaviness of the buttery.  I found the veggies on the side to be perfectly prepared where they retained a crunch.

For dessert, we had the Raspberry-Rhubarb Cobbler and the Tiramisu.  We felt the cobbler was quite good in terms of flavour and texture.  Nice tanginess and balanced sweetness from the fruit while the topping was not too thick nor dense.  As for the tiramisu, the mascarpone cream was light and just sweet enough.  Ladyfingers were properly soaked and we got that espresso hit.   So this meal at Portobello was exactly what we thought it would be.  It's not the sexiest Italian food in town, but is generally solid.   Love the new space in the ol' Pear Tree and the service was fantastic.

The Good:

- Generally solid food

- Excellent service

- Nice dining space

The Bad:

- Thought the tomato sauce pasta was a bit one-note