Vij's

Oh how I hate lineups. I hate lining up at the border (I got Nexus now, so not big deal), lining up at any Government office, lining up at Stupidstore, lining up at Costco, lining up at the PNE, lining up at the airport, lining up for Dim Sum, and I even hated lining up at the hospital to get a room when our son was born. I HATE LINES! So, that's why it's taken me so long to actually go eat at Vij's. They do not take reservations at Vij's and if you aren't the first wave of diners at 5:30pm, you could be waiting for over an hour. Finally, I couldn't hold out no more, I needed to eat there. With Viv still stuck doing report cards, TS (eating_club Vancouver), Vandelay, Donna Chang and Whipping Girl join me in this lineup to get into Vij's. Right at 5:30pm, Vikram Vij opens the door and greets those who were in line. Almost if it were planned, we were directed to a seat right at the entrance and near a window. Light! Great for pictures!

Shortly after we were seated, the complimentary appies and chai came around. Usually, if you are in the lineup, you get these little treats. We got to try 3 appies - Pakora, Cassava Fries and Puris. We spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what to eat, especially TS. She even asked Vikram personally what she should order (the Sablefish or the Pork Loin). Being the experienced restaurateur that he is, he asked TS what she had for lunch. TS sheepishly replied that she had pork chops for lunch. We all burst out laughing, including Vikram, realizing that was a rhetorical question. TS ordered the sablefish. TS and I decided to order one spoon each of the Punjabi Heart Attack. Each spoon had a generous helping of spicy cashews, raw sugar, paneer and ghee. For me, it was like eating dessert before my meal; but that was a good thing. It was delicious and buttery sweet. TS thought it was very good. It wasn't spicy, but definitely very rich-tasting from all those ingredients. It came served with a quinoa salad with lemon dressing to counteract the richness with something lighter-tasting and more refreshing. We also got the Jackfruit in black cardamom and cumin masala as a starter. We were surprised that it was a completely savoury and spicy dish. The jackfruit resembled artichokes in this preparation and it was a delight to eat. TS thought it was just "okay".

I love lamb, it's such a delicious meat. I don't really get to eat it much since Viv doesn't like it. Of course when I have the opportunity, I will order lamb, and this time was no exception. The Wine Marinated Lamb Popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on turmeric spinach potatoes are to die for. The lamb is super tender and combined with the curry, the dish comes alive. It's a bit spicy, but is tempered by the cream and the potatoes. TS had the Marinated and Grilled Sablefish with grilled zucchini in Mango Reduction. In the words of TS: the unctuous nature of the sablefish (or black cod) is precisely what I don't like about it, but in this case, it was complemented perfectly by the mango reduction sauce. The sauce was slightly sweet, yet very multi dimensional in flavor, with a nice balance of spices giving it a general warmth. The dish also came with both grilled zucchini and grilled asparagus.

Donna Chang had the Beef Tenderloin with almonds & garlic in tomato and yogurt curry. Vandelay had the Duck Breast marinated in ground mustard seed and ginger paste with sauteed yellow/green zucchini. Quoting Vandelay: The duck breast curry had a strong depth of flavor, not spicy but the hints of ginger finished off the sauce very well. The duck breast was a little bit overdone, but was seasoned very well. Of all the dishes had that night, the beef tenderloin was the most subtle in flavor and taste. Compared to the other dishes, the tomato and yogurt curry was not as bold, but the flavors were well balanced, and what was surprising was the addition of blueberries which added a nice texture to the curry. However, the beef was not as tender as I would have liked it.

Now in the words of Whipping Girl who had the Braised Short Ribs in cinnamon and red wine curry with warm greens. My first thought was, holy $#!T, how am I going to finish it, it’s huge!!! Next thought, it smells so good, dammit Sherman, you better be quick with the photo opt, I’m hungry! The meat was cooked perfectly, being very flavorful and tender. The curry itself was bold and rich. From the description of the dish, I was expecting the curry to be more cinnamon in flavor, but it was more of a tomato sauce with a kick of heat and loaded with lots of different spices. All the different flavors melded very well together. I really enjoyed the dish; in fact I enjoyed it so much that I took the last piece of naan and sopped up the last bit of curry.

Each entree included unlimited naan and rice; however I thought the naan was not as fluffy as I prefer. So it looks like a home run for Vij's according to everyone at the meal. Compared to the Indian food I normally have, Vij's adds a definite "je ne sais quois" to every dish. Moreover, Vikram Vij is very much interested in pleasing each and every one of his guests. It is both worth the cost and the wait to experience the food and ambiance at Vij's

The Good:
- Vikram Vij is a gracious host
- Portions were good
- A unique twist on Indian cuisine

The Bad:
- Long lineup (but you do get complimentary appies)
- Naan was a bit stiff

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