Pier 88 Boiling Seafood & Bar

On our way back up to Vancouver, after some pretty epic eats in Portland, we stopped in Lynnwood to end this foodie road trip with a bang.  The place?  Pier 88 Boiling Seafood where the name says it all, featuring an array of seafood dishes as well as the main event, the seafood boil.  Now seafood boils are no longer a novelty because there are quite a few of them to choose from.  However, the key difference between them are the actual physical restaurant as well as different sauces and of course pricing.

As for Pier 88, the purpose-built dining room is spacious with a clear nautical theme.  Lots of room on the table to make a mess with your crab legs.  On the topic of crab, we had the Deep Fried Soft-Shell Crab with parprika aioli.  These little guys were not so little.  They were lightly breaded and fried just enough so they were crispy while still tender and custardy.  Of course there was the natural brininess that made this taste really good.

We then had another pair of fried appies in the Calmari and Popcorn Shrimp.  They have mad deep fryer skills as both were perfectly prepared.  The tender calamari rings were coated in a light and crispy batter while the same was true for the shrimp.  As for the shrimp, they were of a decent size with a buttery, yet not overly soft texture.  I particularly liked the tartar sauce that came with the shrimp.  It was creamy with nice bite from the bits of onion and pickles.

Going from deep-fried to a couple of cold appies, we had the Lobster Salad and a dozen of the Shinsei Oysters.  As you can see, the salad had a good amount of lobster claw meat atop greens, tomatoes, croutons and egg.  This came with a 1000-Islands-type dressing.  The oysters were similar to kushis and were shucked properly.  These petite oysters were briny and sweet with plenty of liquor.

So all of the appies were fantastic, but really, we were here for the seafood boil!  On this platter, we had Snow Crab Legs, Whole Live Dungeness Crab and King Crab Legs in 88 Special Sauce (Medium Spice Level).  Both the snow crab and king crab legs were cooked just right being fluffy with that classic crab rebound texture.  The live dungeness crab was also done right.  We got this in the 88 Special Sauce which was buttery and garlicky with a background kick.

On our next platter, we had a Whole Live Lobster, Head-On Shrimp, Mussels and Crawfish in Garlic Butter (Mild Spice Level).  As with the crab, the lobster was prepared properly with sweet bouncy meat.  The mild garlic butter complimented without being overpowering.  Mussels were plump and briny while the crawfish were earthy tasting as expected.  Shrimp had a nice rebound and were sweet.

For dessert, we tried both the Chocolate Molten Cake as well as the Butter Toffee Cake.  Of the 2, I preferred the latter as it was soft and moist with a rich sweetness that wasn't overpowering.  Naturally, it was buttery and no, it probably wasn't good for my figure...  However, one thing is for sure - the seafood was fresh (even the frozen ones) and prepared properly.  On top of that the sauces were delicious and the prices were fair.  Would do this again.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this post*

The Good:
- Fresh seafood (even the frozen ones)
- Prepared right
- Fair pricing

The Bad:
- Even though I feel the pricing is fair, naturally seafood is expensive, so you will need to be prepared to spend some money 

Brodeur's Bistro

Here is another spot I've been meaning to try for a very long time.  People have raved about it and yes, I've seen those monster Montreal Smoked Meat Sammies on social media.  So why the delay in eating there?  Well, it is in Abbotsford.  Nothing against Abby, but I'm rarely out that way.  Therefore, on our yearly trek out to Castle Fun Park, we made a pitstop at Brodeur's Bistro for some lunch.  As a bonus, they have a dedicated EV charging spot at the side of the restaurant.  Score!  I was all over that!

I was also all over the Fried Spicy Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich, because as most of you know, I'm trying the find the best one in the GVRD (although Abby doesn't really count as GVRD, oh whatever).  This came with cheddar, greens, tomato, jalapeños and extra spicy chipotle heat sauce.  This didn't look all that different but it was actually quite good.  The chicken breast was tender and moist with a crispy batter.  There was a good amount of spice and tang all wrapped up in a soft toasted bun.  At Brodeur's, one can choose one of 27 sides for your meal and for this one, I had the Seafood Chowder.  This appeared to be freshly made with a light creamy broth with chunks of barely soft veggies and just cooked seafood.

The other item that we had to order was their Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich in "Le Monster" size (16oz) on light rye bread.  Got this in their fattier cut and with hot mustard.  Sliced super thin and being buttery soft, the smoked meat tasted a bit different than all of the other ones I've had before.  Much more earthiness from the coriander and cumin.  Bread was good being soft, but still held things together.  Yes, I didn't finish this if you were wondering.

Another sandwich that contained the same meat was the Montreal Smoked Meat and Fromage featuring smoked gouda, cheddar & Cajun alfredo sauce.  Again, this merely looked like any a melt sandwich, but due to the smoked meat, there was more depth from the smoke.  Also, the smoked gouda added even more of that and creaminess as well as the alfredo.  For the side, we had the Bacon and Cheddar Smashed Potatoes.  This ate like a cross between mashed potatoes and scalloped potatoes.  It was heavy and cheesy.

Viv decided on a Quebecois classic in the Tourtière with pork, beef, mushrooms and onions.  This did not eat as heavy as it appeared.  Yes, there was a lot of meat, but it was fairly loose and tender.  The gravy on the side was flavourful without being salty.  Crust was decent with a few denser spots.  For her side, she chose the Pea Soup, which was pretty good.  It was rich, but not heavy and there was some ham served on top.

For my son, he once again went for his standby, the Beef Dip Po' Boy with beef brisket, crispy onions and horseradsih aioli.  As you can see, this was a large sandwich with a wealth of tender beef brisket.   Lots of crispy onions provided crunch and aromatics.  Bread was good being crusty, but completely soft when dunked into the au jus.  His side was the Garlic Parm Poutine and that was ok.  Cheese was completely melted, would've liked some curds to chew on.  However, that is nitpicking as most of the food was solid and in good portions at Brodeur's.  Lots of sides to choose from and something a bit different in a mashup of Quebecois/Cajun cuisine.  

The Good:
- Large portions
- Interesting items
- Free EV charging

The Bad:
- Not many lighter options available, but you don't really come here looking for that

Cochon

Prior to embarking on our New Orleans food adventure, I did plenty of internet research.  From that, I made a list of places to go and narrowed it down since we only had 5 days.  No, I'm not like Mijune, who can eat 10 meals a day, so it really had to be a condensed list!  However, I did ask her for some recommendations and her list did overlap with mine.  One of the spots is Cochon located a block away from our hotel.  Not only was that a convenient dinner location, it is one of the most recommended spots according to many top 10 lists of places to eat in Nola.  We ended up heading there for dinner on our first night.

Since Cochon isn't a fancy spot (still classy though), we were able to dress down a bit (yet looking respectable).  We went for 2 of the more popular small plates including the awesome Crawfish Pie.  Looking like an overstuffed Jamaican patty, this was flaky and crispy like one, but much more buttery.  Inside, the etouffee filling was chock full of briny and Earthy crawfish, rice and veggies.  It was noticeably spicy and smoky, but not overwhelming while hits of spices were in abundance.  This was super tasty and despite being sinfully rich, I couldn't stop eating it.  Next up was the Smoked Pork Ribs with watermelon pickle which was equally tasty.  These aggressively sauced ribs were tender and meaty while retaining a succulence. They were also smoky and well-seasoned.  The sauce was spicy, sweet and tangy with plenty of depth.  What really put this over the top was the pickled watermelon rind which was almost like candy being sweet and sticky.

For our mains, I had their signature dish being the Louisiana Cochon with cabbage, cracklings & pickled peaches.  In terms of flavour and overall impact, we enjoyed this dish as the meat was full of depth without relying on salt.  There was a definitely spiciness that continued to build and linger with each bite.  Also, there was a hint of clove and/or star anise that added more body.  This was lightened up by the Asian tasting tangy cabbage and daikon underneath.  On top, the pickled peaches were sweet and sticky.  But the meat itself was a little dry where it didn't create an appealing mouth-feel.  Viv went for one of their features which was the Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab atop tomatillo sauce with a corn salad.  This was one large cornmeal crusted soft shell crab.  It was crispy on the outside while moist and sweet on the inside.  The tomatillo sauce was bright with a slight kick that went well with the crab.  The sweet pops of corn were complimented by cilantro, basil and Italian parsley.

For dessert, we shared the Pineapple Upside Down Cake served with coconut milk lime ice cream and caramel sauce.  This was aromatic and buttery where the caramelized pineapples were intensely sweet.  Loved the "ice cream" as it was tangy like yogurt but still had the aromatic richness of coconut milk.  The texture was more sorbet-like as a result.  We thought the sweet caramel sauce was not necessary as the cake was already pretty sweet with the pineapples.  Despite the dry pork, we thought Cochon lived up to our expectations at a very reasonable price.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Simply tasty food
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Pork was dry