Grilled Cheese Grill

I've been looking forward to our little Portland trip for quite a while. No, this is not our first time in Portland; in fact, I've been here a good half-dozen times. The fact that Viv and I were going without the kiddies was the real reason for our enthusiasm. That meant more shopping and eating! You can't imagine how much more efficiently you can eat without the kids! We really made good time traveling south on I-5 and arrived in Portland around noon. We went straight to the Grilled Cheese Grill out on Alberta Ave.

Actually, I had all my meals planned out for the next 4 days. Hey, efficient eating requires advanced planning! With a little help from Portland's top food blogger, Elizabeth Fuss (Lizzy Dishes Portland), I lined up some real gems.

The Grilled Cheese Grill (GCG) is definitely what you call a unique experience. It is essentially a trailer in an gravel parking lot with picnic tables and a school bus. Yes, there is a converted old school bus that doubles as a dining room. Adorned with some really funky designs on the ceiling, the school bus has both booth seating and bar seating. Novelty? Yes, but it works, what a cool place to eat! The menu itself is quite simple - merely different variations of grilled cheese. Definitely something that everyone can make at home; but for some reason, the grilled cheese here is pretty good.

I went for the simple Kindergartner which is essentially a 2-slice grilled cheese. I added a fried egg and ham. It was a really basic sandwich; yet made oh-so-yummy. Nestled in between 2 perfectly browned pieces of bread were 2 melted slices of gooey real cheddar cheese, a runny fried egg and slightly grilled slices of ham. Completely messy to eat - it was delicious! Viv opted for a gourmet grilled cheese - The Jersey which consisted of sauteed mushrooms, Swiss and turkey on rye. Being a bit less messy to eat than mine, the Jersey was crispier and had a really good mix of flavours. Viv remarked it was more like a melt than a grilled cheese. No matter what you call it, it was delicious.

So why such a simple food, which can easily be made at home, become so appealing at GCG? First, the ingredients are good, so that's a start. Second, the menu is focused, so they are experts at making one thing. Third, how can you not like the venue? It's in a freakin' school bus! That's just plain killer! Also, the GCG is open until 2am on weekends, so you can enjoy some grilled cheese late when you have the munchies or completely in a daze while inebriated.

The Good:
- Really unique venue
- The grilled cheese is filled with goodies
- Who doesn't like grilled cheese?

The Bad:
- Not the best place when the weather gets nasty

Golden Star

*Restaurant is now closed*

Okay, tonight was the blogger's dinner at The Brave Bull organized by Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food!). There were a few last minute cancellations that pointed towards a postponement. With a bit of miscommunication, I ended up heading out with my family for dinner instead. I had to drop off something at Milhouse's place in Vancouver, so we decided to try a new restaurant. Well, not exactly new; it was the old International Chinese renamed as Golden Star. Just as we were seated, I got a text message on my phone. It was from Kim asking where I was and that they were waiting for me. Uh oh... I ended up kicking myself over missing the dinner. I soooo wanted to try The Brave Bull! Well, next time...

Personally, I didn't notice any significant changes to the restaurant despite the new yellow awning on the front of the building. Side question - why do Chinese restaurants use the ugliest yellow for their signage? One thing I did notice was the old carpet. It has really seen its best days and needs to be replaced. On a positive note, the washrooms were really clean and I didn't have to do my best "get in, do my business and run" routine. I actually took my time and didn't need to hold my breath.

After I stepped out and crossed the street to take an exterior shot of the restaurant (the things we do for a blog), we got down to ordering. We noticed that in addition to their regular menu, Golden Star had set meals which includes soup of the day, crab, rice and dessert. We settled on the dinner for 4 which had a choice of 4 dishes and the aforementioned crab. A pretty good value at $58.80. Curiously, the first dish to arrive was the Gai Lan with Beef. Usually, the crab should arrive first. Anyways, the dish was quite large with plenty of tender beef atop crisp Gai Lan. This was a well-executed dish since there was little to no water at the bottom of the plate, colour of the beef and Gai Lan were good and the overall taste was not too salty.

We had added noodles to the crab dish so it would soak up all the sauce and juices. There are usually several ways a crab can be prepared: Fried with Chili Salt, Stir-Fried with Ginger and Onion, Steamed with Garlic or Butter Cream. We choose the Butter Cream. Since my mom is sensitive to onions, we had requested it to be cooked without it. Unfortunately, it not only came with onions in the sauce, there was lots of it. The crab itself is what we call a "water crab" which means it has been starving for a while. Instead of lots of meat, there was quite a bit of water retained within the shell. No matter, the crab was free anyways, what can we expect? The cream sauce itself was not very creamy, it was more corn starch than anything.

The Peking Pork Chops were both plentiful and very tasty. They were fried up perfectly being tender and slightly crispy. Exhibiting good tang and sweetness, there was just enough Peking sauce to coat each pork chop. I hate it when places drown the meat in sauce, it's neither very appealing nor good to eat. The kitchen redeemed themselves with the Shrimp with Scrambled Eggs because they didn't put green onions into the dish as requested. I thought the dish was executed pretty well with lots of soft egg and big juicy shrimp. My mom did remark that some of the egg was fried too much due to an overly hot wok. On second glance, she was indeed right; however, the dish was still good.

The last dish, Tofu and Fish Hot Pot, was actually quite poor. I'm not sure what fish they used (not a good sign); but it was rock hard and dry. Furthermore the sauce was thin and weak being practically flavourless. Even the pork was dry and tasteless. Only good thing about this dish was the perfectly fried tofu. When the desserts arrived, we were surprised that we got 2 different ones! The first was Sweetened Coconut, Tapioca and Taro Soup. The second was Almond Cookies. I really prefer the coconut soup over red bean soup. This one in particular was delicately sweetened and had lots of tapioca pearls and taro. I didn't get to try the cookies; but the kids seemed quite happy with them (of course they would!).

Overall, the food was a bit hit and miss; however for the price, I really am not complaining much. Portion sizes were very generous and probably after a few visits, we'd figure out what was worth ordering and what to avoid. The dining space is quite spacious and comfortable with the exception of the carpet. The service was generally friendly and attentive; but I thought that the manager didn't handle the onions in the cream sauce incident too well. I made it clear that we weren't going to send it back because you never know what you'll get back if you do! I still need to try their Dim Sum out and I'll make a point to do so soon. But for now, Golden Star is a decent place for Chinese food at a very reasonable price. It's just not anywhere at the top of my list.

The Good:
- Generous portions
- Reasonable prices
- Spacious dining space

The Bad:
- Food is a bit hit and miss

Lombardo's

Deciding where to go with the whole family is a bit more difficult than you think. Much like the day we went to Choo Choo's, true family restaurants are far and few-in-between. When Costanza and Elaine wanted to meet up for dinner this week, we spent a bit of time thinking. We really didn't want to go to the regular places such as Red Robin or Boston Pizza. Yes, they are kid friendly; but some of the food is really not all that good. Finally, we decided on Lombardo's. No, not exactly a kid's playground; but it actually worked out pretty nicely. In fact, we made a last minute reservation and they were able to accommodate us. I loved where we were seated too, right next to the pizza station and oven. It's mesmerizing watching them kneed the dough and layer it with toppings. Anyways, for the first time in a long time, Krazi (she gave herself this nickname) was able to join us for dinner. She has been on a diet and eating with me was a no-no. Well, she looks really good now and has finally decided she can eat again. However, I don't think that I'm a good influence, she really should stay away...

We were all a bit hungry and ordered a good amount of food. We started off with a Caesar Salad and a large Calamari. It was indeed a large amount of calamari on the plate. The perfectly-sized pieces were fried just right, being a bit chewy; yet still tender. Costanza and I enjoyed eating the tentacles, that's our favourite part! The pizza dough bread that accompanied the dish was not that good. It was hard and quite cold. The Casear was... well a Caesar. It did have the right amount of dressing and was not too salty. We also ordered 3 large pastas to share: Spaghetti Pomodoro, Smoked Salmon Tagliatelle and Linguini alla Pesce. When we say large, we're not talking about Anton's large. Not many places have the same portion sizes as Anton's. However, I'm more a fan of quality rather than quantity. Mind you, if the portion size is ridiculously small despite the good quality, that is no good either. The large pasta was a bit small at Lombardo's, along the same lines as Marcello. But at least the pasta here was hot and the service was quick. By the time we got our pastas at Marcello last time, they were stone cold. Our favourite by far was the linguini. Flavourful and fresh tasting, there was a perfect portion of tomato sauce coating the al dente linguini. A generous portion of mussels, clams, shrimp, squid and scallops rest atop the pasta. The only complaint was that the scallops were overcooked. We also liked the tagliatelle; but it was extremely rich and buttery. Again, the pasta was al dente and there were plenty of smoked salmon and capers. Yet, we thought that it would be difficult to finish the whole dish if it were for one person. Krazi said she could finish the whole dish herself. Uh... I don't think she should dine with me anymore, I can kill any diet. The least popular pasta was the spaghetti. Being a freshly made spaghetti, it was a bit doughy, even though it was al dente. Moreover, the sauce was a bit bland and tart. It needed possibly more spices such as garlic and a bit more olive oil.

Finally, we had ordered 2 medium pizzas - the Capricciosa and the Salsiccia. However, the Salsiccia arrived as a large. I guess it was too loud in the restaurant and there was a mixup in communication? Whatever the case, we didn't mind since the Salsiccia was fantastic. The crust was thin and not overly crispy, with a bit of elasticity when we took a bite. There were no shortage of toppings (mushrooms, onions, green peppers and Italian sausage), which really worked well with each other. The Capricciosa was equally good, with plenty of salami, ham, artichokes, mushrooms and olives. The total bill came out to roughly $30.00 per person excluding the kids. Not exactly a cheap meal; however, it was quite good and filling. I remarked to Costanza that I would gladly pay more money for good food. With that being said, for $30.00, you can practically eat anywhere including a fabulous 3 course meal at Pied-a-Terre or Mistral. Yet, if it's good pasta and great thin crust pizza that you crave, then Lombardo's is not a bad choice.

The Good:
- Great brick oven thin crust pizza
- Pretty good fresh pastas
- Attentive and friendly service
- Validated underground parking

The Bad:
- Small restaurant, seating can be a bit tight
- Not exactly cheap

Dinner @ Floata

Alright, what the heck am I doing at Floata? There are not many restaurants that I truly despise. On that list are Po King and Floata. Every time I go for Dim Sum at Floata, it's been the same experience over and over again. The service is completely devoid of professionalism and attention to detail. Furthermore, there are times it's just plain rude. In addition, the Dim Sum at Floata is not really all that good either when you compare to other places such as Sun Sui Wah, Kirin, Red Star, Victoria, Sea Harbour, Spicy Court and Fisherman's Terrace. My aunt invited us to dinner at Floata tonight and we gave her "face", which means despite our feelings towards Floata, we gave her respect and showed up. Well, I have been to dinner on many occasions at Floata in the past and mercifully the service is actually decent. Well, it's easy to be decent when there are always less than 5 tables every time we went for dinner.

Tonight, the restaurant was cordoned off for a function in the next section. I have not idea what it was, but the diners were taking turns going up to the mic and singing their hearts out. It was excruciating while we were eating our dinner. There were several non-Asian tables in our section and I could see the pain on their faces. Great, now the stereotype not only includes bad driving, add bad singing into it too! Let me be totally fair and tell you that the service tonight was pretty attentive and accommodating. Either it was truly the lack of tables or the managers are different from the day shift. I've actually had managers during Dim Sum insult us when we were in the right!

Admittedly a bit indifferent, I left the ordering up to the others at the table. There were several specials including the Peking Duck (2 Courses). At least the meal started off in a positive manner since the skin was crisp and the flour pancakes were soft. I particularly liked the table side carving of the Peking Duck. The next dish was Steamed Crab on Sticky Rice. Again, the presentation was pretty good with the crab majestically sitting atop a plethora of stir-fried sticky rice in a bamboo steamer. Although the sticky rice was fantastic (slightly chewy, yet still soft), it was seasoned a bit too aggressively. This essentially masked the natural crab juices which were supposed to seep into the rice.

Right when I thought that the food at Floata was acceptable, it started to go downhill from here. The second course of the Peking Duck was the Duck Lettuce Wrap. If you look at the picture, there is an absence of rich colour in the dish. There was not enough caramelizing of the ingredients in the wok to give it good colour. Also a splash of dark soy might've helped too. The result was a flavourless filling for the lettuce wrap. The hoisin sauce added some flavour; but that was about it. The Pea Shoots with Bean Curd Stick was a disaster. The pea shoots were so overcooked that the colour became a pale green. Moreover, the shoots were limp and overly soft. The same could be said about the Ginkgo nuts. Upon picking them up with my chopsticks, they disintegrated. There was some redemption in the Stir-Fried Green Beans with Fish Slices. The fish was cooked nicely and the beans had a bright green colour. However, for me the beans were slightly soft.

Coming curiously late in the meal was the Roasted (fried) Squab. Usually this dish is supposed to arrive early in the meal (unless if it is on a wedding menu). I must admit, the squab had good colour and was not dry. It was adequately seasoned without being salty. However, look at the picture - why was there only one head for 2 squabs??? Continuing on the fowl head theme, the Free Range Chicken was freakishly presented with the head pointing up on a large platter. It looked like whoever chopped the chicken merely slapped the poor thing onto the plate. Rather than impressively presented on the plate as it should be, it resembled more of a fowl crime scene than anything. Moreover, most of the pieces were not even chopped correctly since everything was stuck together. Taste wise, the chicken was well-seasoned; but as with all free-range chickens, the meat was a bit tough.

The last dish to arrive was the Pan-Fried Yee Mein. The good news - it was a large amount of noodles on the plate. The bad news - it was horrendous. It was so dry and flavourless, I had an extremely difficult time swallowing it. It's similar to stuffing 4 saltines in your mouth. So there you have it. Another disappointing meal at Floata. I'm not sure how this place continues to operate since it's such a big restaurant. With so many better options available for Chinese food in the GVRD, Floata is not even on my radar. Granted, the service was half decent tonight; but on the whole, it's not very good (especially at Dim Sum). If you ever read Urbanspoon or Dinehere, you will see that others share my sentiments. With their business highly dependent on tourists, I cannot fathom how they cannot see that they are on a one-way street to disaster. Tourists read online reviews and comments! I only hope for their own survival that they take customer comments seriously.

The Good:
- We had lots of room, because the place was empty!
- Service was actually acceptable, because there were so few customers!
- Some dishes were decent

The Bad:
- Most of the meal was disappointing
- Restaurant needs a bit of a cleaning
- They claim to be classy, but are far from it

Choo Choo's

At least to me, it seems like there are not many "family-themed" restaurants in Vancouver. For the amount of families that eat out, it seems like we're stuck with the chain restaurants such as Red Robin, White Spot, Ricky's, IHOP and ABC (bleck!). I actually like most of the aforementioned restaurants other than ABC; but honestly, there are not many independent family restaurants around. Maybe I had to head further out to the burbs to find one? Well, I had an opportunity to try a family restaurant out in Langley. Why Langley? First of all, my good friend from school was visiting from Australia. "Aussie" had moved down there with the love of his life who he had met during his worldly travels (aw, how romantic). He was staying out in Langley with his parents, so I decided we'd meet where he was. Second, I personally feel that the burbs have been largely ignored as viable options for dining. Yes, there are many good restaurants in Metro Vancouver; yet there are some really good eats in Greater Vancouver as well. Besides, most people live outside of Metro Vancouver itself. Alright, enough with my ranting.

I had actually arrived in Langley on time, but one wrong turn and it took me forever to get back to where I was going. The traffic out here is horrendous! I finally made it to my destination - Choo Choo's. Choo what? Well, Choo Choo's is a family restaurant which employs a predominantly locomotive theme. In fact, as the kiddies enter the restaurant, they are welcomed to grab a toy train to play with for the duration of their meal. Furthermore, a model locomotive travels along a track throughout the restaurant above the diners. All the kiddies were mesmerized by the train coming and going, coming and going. Ah, how simple life is as a child...

For some strange reason, all 4 of us ordered burgers (or sandwiches), including the kiddies. Well, I guess Choo Choo's is a family restaurant and most people would order things like that. There are things like steaks, ribs and schnitzel on the menu as well. On the topic of schnitzel, I went for the Schnitzel Sandwich. When it arrived, it wasn't exactly how I envisioned it. Rather than one piece of schnitzel, there were several small pieces of schnitzel resting on the bun. A little bit apprehensive, I slapped the top half of the bun on to the schnitzel and gave it a go. Surprisingly, it was fluffy and light. Moreover, the bun itself was soft and moist. This was a pretty good schnitzel sandwich! The fries were decent as well. Nothing to write home about; but they were crispy and looked fresh cut (?). Aussie went for the biggest burger on the menu - the Choo Choo Burger. It was 2 patties large with mushrooms, cheese and bacon. Although it costs over $14.00, it really didn't look that large. He did say however that it was good, I'm not sure if that satisfied his appetite. When we were in University, he was heavily into bodybuilding and he could eat a whole prime rib roast all by himself. I had to get TWO large prime rib roasts at my parties just to account for him and another guy who was hitting the gym. Pure gluttony! Viv ended up with the Southwest Burger and Aussie's brother had the California Chicken Burger. Not much to comment here but much of the same.

My son went for his ol' standby - the Grilled Cheese with Curly Fries. There was a decent amount of food on the plate for $5.50 and he seemed to enjoy his sandwich. Mind you, he was too interested in staring at the train that was passing over us every few minutes of so. The food itself maybe a bit standard here at Choo Choo's; but the whole premise here is about the concept. It's a family friendly restaurant which offers up something a bit different. Unless you order the really expensive items, most meals are modestly-priced. The service we received was friendly and honest which helped enhance the overall experience. If you are ever in Langely (or live near there) with your family, give Choo Choo's a ride, the kids will love it.

The Good:
- Very family friendly
- Food is pretty predictable, no surprises here
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Some items on the menu seem a bit expensive for this type of restaurant
- Everyone getting kinks in their necks staring at the train above them

Wok Box

To tell you the truth, up until recently I've never heard of the Wok Box. Apparently they have locations all over Western Canada and some in Washington state. Probably the main reason is that I rarely pay attention to establishments like these. After all, with all the authentic Asian restaurants around, why would I care? Well, here is the thing. It seems like that the word "fusion" is fast becoming a dirty word. It essentially advertises the fact that "food served here is not authentic". With Wok Box, they serve everything Asian. You name it, they have it. Chinese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Malaysian, Singaporean and Mongolian cuisine are all served here. At this point, I'm sure there are some of you who are reaching for the mouse and heading for the "close window X". Hang on, bear with me on this one. The reason I tried Wok Box today was not because I was in search of authentic food. If I wanted authentic Asian cuisine; trust me, I know where to find it. Instead, I was on my way home and wanted to grab a bite and also pick up some take out for Viv. Now, I could have visited McD's, Wendy's and the sort; but I was not in the mood for that type of food.

So, I headed over to the Wok Box with a perfectly open mind and no prejudices. When I walked into the place, I was rather taken aback because it was quite nicely decorated. Manchu Wok this is not. A bit confused, I walked over to take a look at the menu. I was handed a take home menu which helped explain the dishes a bit better. At first, I was quite overwhelmed by the many choices that were available. I decided to get quite a few dishes for both tasting and pictures. The Coconut Shrimp caught my fancy because it reminded me of the ones I had at Bubba Gump. They turned out to be pretty good. The perfectly cooked shrimp were coated by sweet and crunchy coconut. Served on the side was a curry coconut dip. The dip was quite bold and flavourful, don't use too much, it overwhelms the shrimp.

I had originally also ordered the Vietnamese Salad Roll; but they didn't get their delivery of rice wrappers yet. Therefore, they offered me any other appetizer, even ones that were more expensive. I appreciated their professional and generous handling of this inconvenience. I ended up substituting the salad roll with the Ginger Beef. Now, for most Chinese people, ginger beef isn't exactly what they make at home or even order at a restaurant. With that being said, I'm not much of a stickler when it comes to what a Chinese person should or shouldn't order. I'm happy with anything that ultimately tastes good. Unlike most variations of ginger beef I've had, this one at the Wok Box was not the chewy, over fried and unidentifiable strips you'd find everywhere else. Rather, they were large strips of beef that were only slightly fried and bathed in a light ginger glaze. The glaze itself was a bit bland. I would have preferred a richer and more ginger tasting sauce; but knowing that all the sauces are pre-made, I should not expect much.

For my main, I got a regular-sized Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowl. There are 3 sizes for everything main entree - Lunch ($6.49), Regular ($10.99) and Sumo ($19.99). Presented in a large bowl, there was quite a bit of beef over a huge mound of rice. I really didn't mind this dish, it was full of well-seasoned beef and crisp carrots. A quick call to Viv and she decided on the Szechwan Pepper Chicken on Rice. Now, for Szechwan aficionados, the sauce in this dish might offend. But again, it was pleasant to eat with lots of fresh crispy veggies and chicken. However, the sauce was more sweet than spicy; thus not really being Szechwan. Furthermore, it was too bad the chicken was already pre-cooked.

Alright, the meal at the Wok Box was decent. Please don't give me heck for it. I liked it in a perverse manner that would make many of my Asian friends cringe and insult me. But let me ask you this - if the food you eat is decent, do you really care who is making it and where you are eating it? Sure, the Wok Box has this "Panda-Express" thing going on; yet all their food is cooked to order, so it's not sitting there under a heat lamp. It ain't authentic, but it never claims to be. Although you won't find me seeking out Wok Box locations; I don't mind eating it either.

The Good:
- Diverse selection of Asian dishes
- Clean and inviting dining space
- Really quick meal for dine-in and take-out

The Bad:
- Not "authentic" for those who care about that
- A bit pricey compared to an actual Asian restaurant