Wally's Burgers

Alright, we were in North Van today shopping at Michael's. Let me rephrase that, Viv was shopping at Michael's and the family accompanied her there. As much as I don't mind scrap booking and arts & crafts, I'm not all that excited about going to Michael's. Being the typical male, I'd much rather be at Futureshop or The Hockey Shop. I think the kids were having a good time, playing with the craft supplies as if they were toys. We took advantage of being in North Van to visit Wally's Burgers in Cates Park (Whey-Ah-Wichen). Kevin (604Foodtography) and Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food!) have already visited the newly revived burger joint and feeling left out, I finally made it out there.

The drive out to Cates Park from the Second Narrows Bridge is roughly 10 minutes if you are following a slow car (#$(&#$()#*$)# which we were). Or 7 minutes if you had no one in front of you (on our way back). Arriving at Cates park, there is a noticeable sign stating that Wally's Burgers is in the park. Located right next to the waterfront, Wally's is really non-descript. It is basically the old concession stand, now with a large Wally's menu in the front. It was nostalgic to see the ol' items from the old Wally's on Kingsway near Earles. However, the prices are definitely not the same as before. I decided to go full on and order the Deluxe Chuckwagon with cheese. Viv got the Combo Burger with cheese and mushrooms. For our sides, we got the Onion Rings and Yam Fries. Both came with a roasted pepper dip. With 2 bottles of water, our bill was in excess of $26.00. Cheap eats this is not.

After a short wait, we anxiously opened up the wrapper to get at our burgers; well, after I took pictures that is. Note to self, do not take pictures with sunglasses on, everything looks too dark! I opened up my Chuckwagon to find the requisite 2 patties, lettuce, tomato and enough sauce to make White Spot jealous. Viv's Combo had the one patty, a large split hot dog wiener, mushrooms, cheese and a little less sauce than my burger. I have to say I agree with Kevin and Kim, the burgers are... nothing special. They weren't bad; in fact, they are better than most concession stand fare. However, either there is something different about these Wally's burgers or maybe they aren't that unique anymore. It doesn't help that the burgers patties are frozen too. My hypothesis (oooo... big word!) is that I've tried many really good burgers lately and it's possible that Wally's just isn't as good. I much prefer going to Burger Burger for their $5 special which includes fries and drink.

On the other hand, we thought the sides were very good. The yam fries were crispy and sweet, while the onion rings were crispy and not oily. The roasted pepper dip was a bit bland, it was more sweet and mayonaissy (is that a word?), rather than spicy. After finishing up our meal, we took the kids to the playground and it was a great, albeit brief family outing. I had to leave because I had a hockey game (yes, I played hockey with a Chuckwagon digesting in my stomach). Funny thing was, we could see where we lived across the water in North Burnaby. Too bad we had to drive all the way back to the bridge and back again. As much as I prefer other burgers in the GVRD, I think at the very least, Wally's at Cates Park is in a unique location. If you were there anyways enjoying the scenery or hanging out, grabbing a Wally's burger just adds to the experience.

The Good:
- Beautiful, if not stunning setting
- Nostalgic
- Everything is made to order

The Bad:
- Meat was a bit dry
- Not cheap

Thai Son

Tonight was game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals for 2009. What an exciting game! The Pens were leading after 2 periods and Crosby had been knocked out of the game! I can't believe I left to go for dinner rather than catching the 3rd period. Well, actually food takes precedent over everything else... Not wanting eat anything really all that heavy, we ventured to Thai Son in the T & T complex at 1st and Renfrew. This particular location used to be a Pho Hoa; but all of a sudden it became Thai Son, with the same staff. Well, more than one person can tell you that it is a change for the better. No offense to Pho Hoa; but Thai Son is better.

Of course, when I make a statement like that, there must be a reason. Well, I think Thai Son has better portions than Pho Hoa. Is it just me or the portions at Pho Hoa getting smaller every year? Also, I think Thai Son has better consistency and is less expensive. Sometimes it looks like the stuff at Pho Hoa has been just thrown together in haste. With that being said, I still visit Pho Hoa occasionally since it's still decent.

Today we ordered a variety of dishes. First, we got the Grilled Pork Chop, Chicken and Shredded Pork with Fried Egg on Rice. This was an enormous dish with plenty of food for more than one person (unless one was very hungry). Both the pork chop and chicken were very flavourful and cooked perfectly. We also got the Beef Brisket Stew with French bread. The French loaf came out warm and toasted. Perfect for dipping in the rich stew which has the requisite oil slick on the top. Alas, that my friends, is where all the flavour is! The beef, tendon and carrots were tender; yet still all intact.

Naturally, we couldn't visit Thai Son without ordering some Pho! We got the Pho Dac Biet which is essentially "everything but the kitchen sink" Pho. It's got flank, brisket, meatballs, tendon, bible tripe and rare beef. At some of the other Vietnamese restaurants, this is what they would classify as the "Adventurer's Choice". We got the cilantro and onion on the side because my mom doesn't particularly like that stuff. Pho was good as usual, with a decent amount of noodles and meat. Moreover, the soup isn't too salty; yet still rich with beef flavour. This was yet another great meal at Thai Son. Of course there are some smaller Vietnamese restaurants that maybe better; but for a chain restaurant, it's pretty good.

The Good:
- Reasonably priced
- All around good food
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- No ambiance, but hey, that's not what it is all about...

Business Hours:
10:00am - 10:00pm (7 days a week)

Dim Sum @ Golden Phoenix

*Restaurant is now closed*

The Golden Phoenix - now that's a name from my childhood. When I used to live in the area, we used to go to Golden Phoenix for dinner all the time. It was good, inexpensive and we didn't even have to drive. The original owners sold the restaurant 20+ years ago and reopened as Golden Swan on Victoria. Located between Trocadero and Bon's off Broadway, Golden Phoenix has gone through several name changes and owners (it was East Ocean for awhile). Finally, it's back to the original English name; but it's not the same in Chinese. From the outside, the restaurant looks a bit dumpy, with it's yellow signage and graffiti right on the awning itself. However, the inside has been completely renovated a la Sea Harbour. Yes, it looks very similar to the renovated interior of Sea Harbour Restaurant. In fact, they share the same unappealing exterior; but surprisingly inviting interior.

The whole family made it out for Dim Sum today, so it was a real gong show since I had to take pictures, eat, take notes and deal with the kids all at the same time. Like Windows Vista, I felt like on the verge of crashing or BSODing (blue screen of death). At first, I was told not to take pictures of the food. However, I whipped out my Moo card and everything was under control. Those Moo cards have come in handy since it's a bit difficult to explain what a food blog is in Chinese.

One thing that struck me about the Dim Sum here is it is very large and full of shrimp. We started with the spring rolls and they were stuffed full of large shrimp. They were presented quite impressively similar to Bing Sheng. The Shrimp Dumpling (Haw Gow) were really large and also full of shrimp. They were steamed perfectly and each bite was cold-water crunchy. Guess what? The Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll was full of? Shrimp? NO! Rather, it was full of prawns (or mutant shrimp). It's rare to see rice noodle rolls so full of shrimp or prawns. There was actually more filling than noodle, which by the way, was soft and fluffy.

Continuing on our shrimp adventure, we had the Scallop and Shrimp Dumplings. Yes, again they were full of shrimp with scallop and fish roe on top. Suffice to say, the shrimp again was excellent. Okay, guess what was in the next dish? Yes, it was the Shrimp & Pea Shoot Dumpling with Dried Scallop. At the very least, I think it makes the Dim Sum chef's life easier if s/he is merely reusing the same shrimp mix for everything. Again, the dumpling was good with a good mix of shrimp and pea shoot. The dried scallop gave the entire dumpling a really aromatic flavour. Had enough shrimp yet? I think my friend Donna Chang would've been in the hospital by now because she's allergic to shrimp. The last dish with shrimp in it was the Stuffed Eggplant with Black Bean Sauce. These were fried up quite nicely, being tender; yet not falling apart.

One of the more visually appealing dishes we had was the Steamed Rice Flour Balls. These were stuffed with a variety of ingredients such as dried shrimp (I lied about no more shrimp), pickled veggies, green onion, shitake mushrooms and peanuts. These little pockets of goodness were delicately soft and were packed with a diverse amount of flavours (salty and sweet). Other non-shrimp intensive dishes we ordered were the Black Bean Spareribs, Bible Tripe, Beef Rice Noodle Roll, Fried Taro Dumplings, Mexican BBQ Pork Buns, Egg Tarts and Yeung Chow Fried Rice. The spareribs were very meaty and unlike some other places, it was not filled with useless fatty or cartilage pieces. The tripe was alright; but a bit over steamed or overcooked. They were quite soft and devoid of texture. The taro dumplings were awesome, being full of pork filling and fried perfectly. They were not oily and there was a good contrast between the crunchy coating and the soft fluffy taro. The Mexican BBQ pork buns are not really a Spanish dish, despite the name. I'm still not sure where the Mexican part of it comes from; however, it's essentially a baked BBQ pork bun with a crunchy sweet topping (similar to a pineapple bun). This was pretty good for a Dim Sum bun, it was full of BBQ pork and the topping was nice and crispy. Egg tarts tasted as good as they looked. The crust was flaky and the centre was soft, semi-sweet egg goodness.

I left the discussion of the Yeung Chow Fried Rice to the end for a reason. We specifically ordered it without green onions. And it arrived with not only green onions, but plenty of it! The waitress who brought it to our table stammered, "I didn't take the order!" Uh, so what do you want us to do about it? Should we go into the kitchen and tell the chef ourselves? Does it matter that you didn't take our order??? So if I go buy a car and it's defective, should the service guy tell me to take a hike because I didn't buy it from him/her??? It just didn't make sense. Anyways, despite the green onions, the fried rice was excellent. It was full of ingredients (including shrimp) and the rice was perfectly al dente.

Despite the green onion incident and the fact our server was a bit clueless as to what was in her job description, we truly enjoyed the food at Golden Phoenix. It was fresh, great tasting, large, well-priced and served in a nice renovated dining space. Service was acceptable except for the green onion incident. I will give Golden Phoenix a mulligan on that, we'll see the next time if they mess it up again. With all the shrimp we ate today for Dim Sum, they should really rename the place The Golden Shrimp.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Inexpensive
- Quality ingredients

The Bad:
- A bit heavy on the msg/salt, I was quite thirsty afterwords
- Green onion incident with the waitress not wanting to handle it

Business Hours:
9:00am - 10:00pm (Sun - Thu)
9:00am - 1:00am (Fri & Sat)

Sammy J Peppers

*Restaurant is closed*

I sound like a broken record sometimes, at least that's what Viv tells me. But, there are not many more places that I can visit along the Scott Road corridor. It seems like I'm merely pecking away at the places I do not want to go. Today, my colleagues suggested we go to Sammy J Peppers and being the good person (hah!) that I am, I followed along. I haven't been back to Sammy J's for quite awhile. I'm not all that fond of their food, despite the nice "scenery". I really have no problem with chain restaurants in general. They serve a purpose and some are actually quite good. But when a chain restaurant serves up
mediocre food at fairly high prices, I believe that there are better places to eat at.

I know that Sammy J's is known for it's spicier food, such as their skillets and meat items. But I really didn't want to order any of that for lunch. Besides, I've had them before and they are nothing special. Today, I decided on a large bowl of Seafood Chowder and a Beef Club sandwich. Things didn't start off well, the chowder was luke warm. If this soup was kept in a warmer, and this was the prevailing temperature, I'm not sure how Food Safe this is. Moreover, the soup was quite bland. I had to add quite a bit of hot sauce to give it some flavour. The one good thing was that it was packed with seafood. The sandwich itself was a disappointment and I didn't even bother taking a picture of it. Well, not really, I actually forgot. Can you believe it? I was so busy taking pictures of everyone else's' food, I didn't remember to take a picture of my own! I was expecting real roast beef; but what I got was cold cut roast beef. If a restaurant is going to serve this as "roast beef", then I could go to Arby's or go to Superstore and grab a Club Pack. Not only was it cold cut roast beef, there was very little of it. Only good thing about the sandwich was the spicy aioli. Suffice to say, the Beef Dip was no better. Imagine dipping salty cold cut roast beef into salty powdered dip. Not good. The beef dip at one20 and E's Up were way better and cheaper too.

One dish that was pretty decent was the Monster Burger. It was pretty big and full of nicely sauteed mushrooms. The accompanying fries were very crispy, if you like the starch-covered type that is. The spinach salad was alright too, it was pretty fresh and full of toppings. The dressing was flavourful and had some zing. Despite these last 2 dishes being good; overall, I didn't like my meal and past visits to Sammy J's. It's not that the food is horrible; but it's just not great all around. In this competitive market of chain restaurants, the food has to be pretty decent on average. The food at Sammy J's is not as good as Milestone's, Earl's, Cactus Club or Joey's. If you look at the prices of some of their more expensive items such as their steaks, you really can eat anywhere for those prices. I'm in the school of thought that if you want a steak, go to a place that specializes in steak such as The Keg. I know there are better places to get a steak than The Keg, but I'm trying to compare within the same price range. With that being said, the restaurant itself is quite trendy and it's quite possible the food could be an afterthought. It's still a great place to meet up with friends, have a drink and shoot the breeze.

The Good:
- Comfortable, trendy dining space
- Service was quite good
- Large selection of food items

The Bad:
- Food is not only generic, it's not really all that good
- Pricey for what you get

Grub

*Restaurant is now closed*

We were playing at Lord Byng again for our Monday softball game and despite having rights to the field, there was a little league team practicing on the facing field. Since we had some real heavy hitters on both teams, it was a certainty the kids were in harm's way. So we politely asked the coach to remove the kids off the field for their safety. However, they didn't budge. Is it just me or some people are so stubborn that they do not see that their actions may lead to injuries? Anyways, we finally hit a ball smack dab into the middle of the kids and one the opposing outfielders had to bail to avoid the kids. Finally, we decided to TELL the coach to get off because the last thing we wanted were some severely injured little leaguers. Talking about injuries, I decided to run home on a very shallow sack fly by Miss Y. I ran full tilt and didn't slow down as I reached home plate, consequently smacking my face into the metal fencing. Yes, it left a mark...

Oh well, it didn't bother me because we get to eat as a team afterwords. I was remarking to Boss Woman, who runs the team, she had me at "eating after each game" when asking me to join the team. Today I got my wish and the whole team headed to try Grub on Main Street. Grub is a very small restaurant that serves up gourmet eats at reasonable prices. I actually called ahead to see if they could accommodate all 9 of us and they actually held a table for us. The menu at Grub is really quite simple. There are some antipastos, pizzas and salads. Their entrees are featured on the wall. The ambiance at Grub can be described as classy casual. The service was quite unpretentious, friendly and very attentive. For the 2nd time in 3 days, I ordered a Hoegaarden beer. I really find the name amusing, despite the fact it's not pronounced the way it looks.

For my entree, I got the featured beef dish which was a Korean Style Braised Beef. The organic beef was braised with shitake mushrooms and Napa cabbage. Resting on top in a radicchio bowl was a buckwheat soba noodle salad with a ginger soy vinaigrette. The dish itself was quite spicy. I guess it shouldn't have been surprising since it was "Korean-style". I thought the shiitake mushrooms added alot of earthiness and flavour to the dish. I really liked the soba noodle salad. Too bad there wasn't much of it, I could've eaten a whole plate of it. While I had the beef, Miss Y went for the vegan dish. It consisted of an acorn squash stuffed with "spiced millet pilaf", chive and chickpea dumplings and lemon herb parsnip & carrot confit. Personally, I didn't like this dish so much. It's probably because I like meat. However, with or without meat, I found the dumplings and the millet to be a bit dry. I'm not sure if that was the intention or not; but I was expecting it to be a bit more fluffy. Mind you, the flavours were pretty balanced and delicate.

Judes had the Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken. I actually liked this dish the best. The chicken was ever so tender and the sun-dried tomato stuffing was very flavourful without being overpowering (not too tangy, it was balanced with sweetness). It rested on a bed of mushroom risotto which was perfectly cooked (neither thick or runny). The risotto had an earthy taste thanks to the mushrooms. Bear had the Cashew Crusted Pork Chop with Yam & Potato Pave. This dish was definitely the most impressive looking. On top of a large yam & potato pave rested an equally large pork chop. The dish was finished off with sherry-poached figs and prune compote. I thought the pork chop was cooked perfectly. The meat was moist and tender. I didn't find the cashews all that crunchy; but they did add a fatty nut flavour (that didn't sound right...). The yam & potato were soft; yet not mushy.

4 people had various pizzas; but I'll comment on only 2 of them. Milhouse ordered the Salmon Gravlax and Goat's Cheese Pizza. He thought that the pizza was quite balanced since each component was discernible. He particularly liked that there were ample toppings as well. I didn't try this particular pizza; but I had a bite of Hot Chocolate's pizza which consisted of Sopressata, Artichoke Hearts, Black Olives and Red Onion. I really liked the the pizza since the crust was quite thin and the tomato sauce was light. However, since all the toppings were bold, the resulting flavour was saltiness. Mind you, this was probably the only real criticism of the food. Another minor problem was that the food took a long time. Since Grub is a small restaurant, they may not have been equipped to handle a large group of us all at once. However, the service was very good and the servers kept us happy while we waited. The combination of good food, decent portions and attentive service makes Grub a must try.

The Good:
- Food tastes good
- Decent portions
- Friendly and unpretentious service

The Bad:
- Restaurant is extremely small
- No A/C, it was a bit warm
- Food came out a bit slow

one20 Pub & Grill

You're probably wondering why I chose to eat at a pub for lunch. No, I'm not boozing it up during lunch hour! In fact, I had to resort to drinking ice tea, in a bar. Pretty sad sight, I know! The real reason for my visit to one20 was that I had received a gift certificate on Friday and I decided to use it. Actually, when I went to pay, it was apparently expired!??!!? Luckily the server was nice and still accepted it. I've been to one20 before and despite it being a bar, the food isn't all that bad. Of course it's the usual stuff: fried appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and some entrees. But if you look more closely, there are a few interesting items as well.

As I was sipping my iced tea, amongst people drinking beer, I decided to start with the Hot Wings. I know it's quite difficult to get really excited about a pound of hot wings; however, these were pretty good. They were decent in size and fried perfectly. The outside was crispy, while the inside was still quite juicy. In addition, the wings were coated with just enough hot sauce which covered the entire wing without drowning it. Thus, the wings remained crispy even though it was completely coated with sauce. Despite it being an all day special, blue cheese or ranch dressing was included. The "second course" as my server declared tongue-in-cheek was a Beef Dip with fries. I was pleased to discover that the beef was actual roast beef (not that Arby's ham-like roast beef). Moreover, there was plenty of roast beef stuffed in a crusty bun. Although the au jus was probably powdered mix, it was not overly salty. The fries that accompanied the beef dip were pretty pedestrian.

On a return visit with Pomegranate, I finally got to try their Loaded Beef Burger. For all my previous visits, I've had anything but the burger. And we all know that a good pub needs a respectable burger! And yes, it was a respectable burger. The patty was not overly dry and not oily while the bacon was lean and crispy. The mushroom were sauteed nicely; but the onions are hardly caramelized. I decided to substitute yam fries and they were crispy. The chipotle mayo had a decent kick to it, which I enjoyed very much. Pomegranate had their Chicken Wrap and although the flavours were good with some spice and fresh veggies, the chicken was quite dry. It probably needed more sauce to make up for that.

I don't usually head to a bar to get lunch. Frankly, my image of a bar includes beer, beer and more beer. Food is almost an afterthought. However, the food at one20 is more than passable. It's not gourmet; but it really isn't expected to be. Moreover, the prices are very reasonable, nothing is really over $10.00. Mind you, my ice tea was $3.75. I could've had a beer for a little bit more. But I can't go back to work after guzzling beer! I will go back to the one20 for lunch again; but I'll just stick with water.

The Good:
- Food is pretty cheap
- Food ain't bad for a bar
- Service is pretty good

The Bad:
- Beer everywhere and I can't have any...

Ramies

Originally, we were planning to go out as a family for some schnitzel at Old Bavaria Haus tonight. However, the parents didn't feel like going out and the kiddies were a bit sick. Incidentally, Viv wasn't in the schnitzel mood either. What's wrong with everyone? Where's the love for some fried veal? Fine, so we had to pick another place to eat. You'd think this is an easy task don't you. Well, I really didn't want to do the Asian restaurant thing again and trust me, in the GVRD, it's hard to avoid Asian food (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Thai, Malay etc...). Okay, there is this one place that I used to frequent with my hockey team - Ramies. For those who are not familiar with Ramies, it's a small Greek restaurant on Kingsway across from Saffron and Curry King. One look at the place and you'd really wonder what was the big deal. It's not really all that noticeable, it's small, it's not really that cheap and the portions are not particularly large. Not a ringing endorsement eh?

The whole story is in the food, period. Whatever they lack in quantity or in price, the food makes up for it. If you want quantity on the cheap, then go to Stepho's. Tonight, HL joined us for dinner. And yes, we do refer to him as HL because his name is a bit difficult to pronounce (for some people). Believe it or not, he wanted to join us on a food adventure because he kept reading my updates on Facebook. We decided to split a Calamari to start. I thought the pieces of squid were the perfect size. When they are too small, the squid gets tough and hard. When they are too big, the squid doesn't become crispy enough. The batter was not over seasoned; yet there was a bit of a grease on the bottom of the plate. The tzatziki sauce was very good. It was full of garlic and lemon flavour while having the right consistency.

HL and I both had the roast lamb. I ended up taking a picture of my plate because it looked nicer. Although the piece of lamb was modest in size, the quality more than made up for it. It was tender throughout and perfectly seasoned (just the right amount of garlic and saltiness). The Greek salad was fresh, the lemon potato was soft in inside and nicely broiled on the outside and the rice was cooked perfectly. Only complaint were the veggies, some of the beans were a bit soft.

Viv had the Lemon Chicken. No, this is not some Greek version of the Chinese dish. Although it would certainly be a sight to behold a fusion Greek/Chinese Lemon Chicken! Rather, the chicken here is marinated in lemon and roasted. Viv really enjoyed this dish. The chicken was really tender and juicy despite it not looking as such. Curiously, the chicken did not have a strong lemon taste, almost barely detectable. Once again, we had a good dinner at Ramies. Food tasted great, textures were bang on and service was decent.

The Good:
- Food is made with care
- Food tastes as it should
- Textures are correct

The Bad:
- A tad pricey
- Not much in the way of ambiance

Business Hours:
11:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Sat)
4:00pm - 10:00pm (Sun)