Hot Chefs Cool Jazz

There are times when I am invited to various events and tastings. I have to admit that I'm very lucky to be considered since I don't take myself too seriously. Actually, I don't think any my friends take me very seriously. Maybe that's why they ignore me... Anyways, it's good that some people think of me and invite me to events. Tonight, along with Melody, Darina, Victoria, Joyce and Mr., we attended the Hot Chefs Cool Jazz event at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The event was put together as a fundraiser for Team Canada's entry into the Bocuse d'Or competition. 24 countries will be represented in Lyon, France in January 2011. The Bocuse d'Or is often considered the culinary Olympics and is arguably the most prestigious cooking competitions in the world. Ryan Stone, Executive Chef at the West Coast Fishing Club on British Columbia's Haida Gwaii, was selected in 2008 to head the Canadian contingent at the Bocuse d'Or.

As part of the media, we were treated to delicious gastronomical delights from 30 of the best restaurants in Vancouver. The evening's focus was not only on the food. Rather, there were intentional wine pairings for each and every item offered. Wines were categorized as bubbles, crisp, fruity, luscious, juicy and bold (Svedka martinis were available as well). Wineries represented included Sumac Ridge Estate, Nk'Mip Cellars, Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate, See Ya Later Ranch, Inniskillin Okanagan and Osoyoos Larose. At every restaurant station, a placard described each food item as well as the associated wine pairing. At first, I attempted to hold onto my wine glass, camera and plate of food. Alas, it was an accident waiting to happen. Thus, I put my wine glass down and completely forgot about it. Well, it was all for the better, I was driving anyways.

Before entering the main hall, we sampled some items from Savoury Chef, including Canapes - Peking Style Duck, Chinese Tea Egg, Edamame & Shiitake Salad and Macaroons. They were nice little bites and a good start to the endless eating. A simple and delicate Sake Kasu Sablefish with sweet miso sauce tickled my fancy at the Oru station. Slightly torched at the top, the fish was well-prepared (not mushy or overcooked), while the miso did not overwhelm. Right across was Araxi and its well-prepared BC Albacore Tuna with ponzu pears & cress. Beautifully presented, the tuna was allowed to show it's natural flavours. From what I can gather, the ponzu appeared to be prepared with sodium alginate and then putting it in a calcium chloride bath (Molecular Gastronomy).

At the Hapa Izakaya table, there were 2 treats for us to sample. The first was the Cold Sweet Soy Marinated Duck Breast with orange mustard miso. Served on a spoon, these one-bite morsels were tender, not overbearingly seasoned (thus a nice duck flavour) and beautifully complimented by the sweet mustard. The second item was probably my favourite of the evening. Surprising, considering the culinary heavyweights in attendance. The Fresh Spot Prawn Shooter was something I knew I was going to enjoy before I even tried it. Merely a raw spot prawn on a skewer, it is placed into a shooter glass. Then hot spot prawn dashi (made from the shells) & shiso oil were poured into the glass. Thus, it "cooks" the prawn somewhat. Since spot prawn are so delicate, it is very easy to overcook them which results in a chewy product. In this case, the prawn is able to retain its natural sweetness and texture. A tad on the salty side, the prawn dashi exhibits the richness and depth of a bisque without the butter and cream. I loved it so much, I went back for another at the very end, even though I was stuffed beyond belief.

Something that definitely caught my eye was the offering from CinCin. I'm sure most people would be attracted to the Dungeness Crab & Scallop Ravioli with spring peas and lobster tarragon vinaigrette. Not as fluffy as I would've like (probably due to the venue and its limitations), the dish as a whole was very good. Stuffed full of crab and scallop, the natural sweetness is all the ravioli need for flavour. The vinaigrette offered a slight acidity to the dish. Over at the Voya table, possibly the most visually stunning offering at the event was the Seafood Ceviche served in a seaweed cone. I'm actually quite happy with the photo, especially since I had to pose it in one hand and take the picture with the other. In enjoyed the cone very much. The ingredients were fresh, the flavours were clean and the cone retained its crispness despite the filling.

Another favourite of the night had to have been the Peace River Lamb Shoulder wrapped in bacon with lentil du puy from La Belle Auberge. The lamb was super tender and the fully cooked piece of garlic help give a boost of flavour. A sprinkle of sea salt and bacon provided all the seasoning the lamb needed. I ate it so fast that I didn't really notice the lentils underneath nor the demi-glace. The last item that I will talk about is the offering from Five Sails. Simply a Chilled Local Spot Prawn with wasabi aioli, it was clean and delicious. I believe the prawn was poached and just barely cooked. The natural sweetness was not hindered by anything on the plate. Rather, the wasabi aioli was quite understated and did not overshadow the prawn. Honestly, there was so much to sample that we were full halfway through. I made it a point to try everything else and I was busting at the seams.

Of the other food stations I didn't even get a chance to blog about, they included: The Apron, Bocuse D'or Canada, Boneta, C Restaurant, Diva at the Met, The Grand Bay Cafe, L'Abattoir, Les Amis du Fromage, Mosaic, Peartree, RauDZ, Showcase, Terminal City Club, Two Rivers, VCC, Vij's, Westcoast Fishing Club and The Wildflower. The final restaurant, Moxie's, was the title sponsor of the event. Some may scoff at the mere mention of Moxie's, especially compared to the culinary heavyweights present. However, it is important to note that our Canadian Bocuse d'Or contingent relies on sponsorship. Besides, the Chipotle Pulled Pork Sliders at the Moxie's station was pretty good. Served with a beer, you really can't go wrong can you? Once again, it was a privilege to be part of this prestigious event. I felt like a kid in a candy store. And I ate all the candy. *burp*

Miki Japanese Ramen

*Restaurant is closed*

Once again, I was in search of a quick meal. You see, it is my son's birthday and I had to buy a whackload of stuff from Costco. However, I was not really in the mood to grab anything from the food stall at Costco (although it can be pretty good occasionally). So on my way from work to the new Costco on Willingdon, I was planning on paying Miki Japanese Ramen a visit. Driving across the Queensborough, I had 2 options - go up Griffiths via 20th or go up Royal Oak via Marine Way. I decided on the latter and for the love of... I hit a major traffic jam on Marine Way due to construction. Now I'm in more of a rush than before! Even doing the "drive through the strip mall and cut back in" routine did not save me much time. Finally, arriving at Miki, it looked good for a quick meal since there was only one other customer. However, something seemed a bit odd...

After I put in my order, the sole waitress did a sprint to the kitchen and disappeared for awhile. I heard some cooking and then my Miki Ramen arrived. Apparently their self-proclaimed "most popular item", it consists of a miso ramen with pan-fried chashu, bamboo shoots, corn, kimchi and Ajitama Egg. The first thing that struck me was how greasy the broth felt in my mouth. Either the broth itself is oily or the panfried items (with its oiliness) integrating into the soup. The broth itself was actually alright with a thick richness to it. However, it was a bit bland (could be good for those who don't like salt). The ramen itself was cooked perfectly al dente with a nice rebound. I also liked the Ajitama Egg. I added a Chashu Rice and the small portion was perfect as a side to my ramen. Once again, the waitress disappeared and re-emerged with a fatty piece of pork (yet curiously dry) rested atop slightly dry rice. However, there was a nice amount of shoyu penetrating the rice which provided the necessary moisture and flavour. Even with some shortcomings, I enjoyed the rice.

I wasn't planning on ordering anymore food but there was BBQ Beef Tongue on their specials menu. If you know me, if there is tongue, I'll eat it. I love tongue. However, I wasn't really all that enamored about this tongue. It was not moist; rather it was quite dry. I don't like dry tongue! Although, the accompanying "takoyaki-like" sauce did help with that somewhat. Overall, the food here at Miki is passable. It does not compare with the big boys in Downtown; but it is better than Kawawa Ramen nearby.

The Good:
- Noodles are cooked properly
- Friendly service
- Passable for Burnaby

The Bad:
- Broth is a bit greasy
- Not sure if the waitress doubles as the chef all the time...
- A tad pricey

Nimby Burger

My favourite burger in terms of cost/quality ratio, hands down, is In-N-Out Burger. Sadly, the closest location resides in Redding, California. Talk about a drive for some burgers! What makes it so good? Quite simple actually. Fresh ingredients, including fresh patties and freshly cut fries to order, at a very reasonable price. For a fast food chain, they have got the formula down right. There is nothing remotely close to that in Vancouver. Well, Five Guys just opened up in West Van and that could possibly be somewhat close. Now another In-N-Out wannabe begins to open up shop for real on Friday, May 21st. Located in the former beer storage room of now the defunct Malone's (now Local Public Eatery) comes Nimby Burger. A venture by the good people at Joey Restaurants, they try to use the same formula as In-n-Out. I was planning to check the place out on its grand opening date; but I was a little impatient. When I discovered that they were doing test runs all week, I though that it would be a great opportunity for me to give it go. But it seemed that their operating times were very random. While getting a haircut prior to my softball game, I noticed a tweet that they were doing more tests at that very moment.

Once my haircut was done, I hightailed it outta there and made my way to Kits. Located near the corner of Yew and Cornwall, you will easily miss it since it's an extremely small outfit. However, you won't miss the abundance of staff in their ultra-clean white unis with a big Nimby Burger logo on the front. I parked the car and headed over. I decided on the Dooblay, Fries and a Diet Coke (yah, to somewhat temper the guilt...). How much did it cost me? Nada. It's free during their test week up until their grand opening on May 21st! Score! Most people waiting for their food were quite happy with that fact. Great PR move in my books. While I was waiting, I noticed that they were cutting their fries as orders came in. They were testing out Russet potatoes after trying out Yukon Gold the week prior. As with some other fast food restaurants, the prep counter is temperature-controlled to keep the burgers warm while being dressed. It was really too bad that the milkshake machine was not up, so I didn't get to try it.

So what about the burger? Well, a Dooblay is essentially a double cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and pickles. Other than that, only other choices are a hamburger and cheeseburger. They keep it simple here, just like In-N-Out. Now, if you look at the picture, the burger is served exactly like In-N-Out. But how does it compare? Well, it was pretty good. I like the toasted bun, it was soft, yet dense enough to hold everything together. I thought the beef was cooked up nicely without being dry. It wasn't super juicy; but for it's thickness, that wouldn't be possible anyways. With plenty of cheese and fresh crisp veggies (pickles were good), the burger was a pleasant eat. It's hard to compare with In-n-Out since I haven't had one for over half a year; yet, I can't deny that this one was good. On my original visit, the "test" fries were terrible. However on a random visit (albeit they treated me to the fries), the fries improved immensely. Now using Kennebec potatoes, they are crispy, light and well-salted. These are now comparable with those at In-N-Out. As I was there on a sunny weekend afternoon, they were doing brisk business. With a killer location and a relatively reasonable price tag for the area, Nimby should do pretty well.

The Good:
- Simple and focused menu
- Fresh everything (loved the pickles)
- Excellent location for the beach crowd

The Bad:
- It's strictly takeout, so you'll need to take it to the beach (which is good on a sunny day)

Rosario's

*Restaurant is now closed*

One particular cuisine that I don't normally eat is Filipino. No, I don't have some aversion to it; rather, it is quite under-represented considering the large Filipino community we have in the GVRD. Rich Guy's wife is from the Philippines and he has a good understanding of the food. He very much likes the food; but considers it to be "home-style" cooking. Thus, there is not a lot of motivation to go out to eat if you can just make it at home. I'm not sure if this is the sole reason for a lack of Filipino restaurants; but I'm sure it factors into it. Other than the now long gone Aquarius restaurant in Surrey, I've never been to another Filipino establishment. Thus, when I first spotted Rosario's in Port Moody right on St. John's, I was intrigued. While Pomegranate is busy getting whiplash from eying the ladies, I'm constantly keeping my sights on new restaurants. When he remarks, "check out the legs on her!", I'm responding with, "Hey, look at that sexy awning on that restaurant!".

Joining us today once again is RBC (and yes, he works for the bank too). When we first walked in, we were greeted by what we could gather was the daughter of the owner. We asked what were the "must order" dishes and she seemed to draw a blank. She left and dragged out the owner (Rosario?) and she proceeded to suggested a few dishes. We started with the Miki Bihon which is stir fried Shanghai noodles and rice vermicelli (yes, this dish is influence by the Chinese). We all really liked this dish since it was fried up nicely without being too wet. Flavourwise, it was a nice balance between being salty and sweet. Next up was what I considered the star of the meal - Crispy Pata or deep-fried pork hock. It appeared that RBC and Pomegranate did not share in my enthusiasm. But for me, something resembling Chinese roast pork with cracklings and fat, it is pure heaven (crunchy skin and gelatinous fat = YUM!). The pork itself didn't have any seasoning; but dipped into the vinegary soy sauce, it was delicious.

Going with another one of her suggestions, we got the Caldareta or beef stew in coconut milk. The sauce was very understated with only minor hints of tomato and coconut. The beef was quite tender as with the potatoes. This was an okay dish, probably would've worked better with a side of rice. The last dish, Calamares, was an add on by RBC (he was a little late). As the name implies, it is merely fried squid. Consisting of big rings, the squid was very tender and tasted great on it's own. However, the batter was much too soft and there was absolutely no crunch. Once again, we're not experts in Filipino food; but we can judge it from a pure eating enjoyment point of view. In this case, most of it was pretty good, except for the squid, so for me at least, I probably will return to try other dishes.

The Good:
- Relatively inexpensive (considering the location)
- Friendly owner
- The place is spotless

The Bad:
- Portions are on the smaller side
- Flavours could've been a bit stronger

Cake-Ya

If you thought that Port Moody was an unlikely place to find outstanding roti, then be prepared for more strangeness. Well, the fact that you can drive leisurely without fear of someone stealing your parking spot is probably odd enough; but hey, we're not in Richmond! Something straight out of "it should be on Robson Street", Cake-ya exists where you least expect it to be. Yes, it is a Japanese bakery/dessert shop located on the backside of the major thoroughfare (St. John's) on Clarke Street. It churns out delicious treats in an extremely non-descript storefront. There are 2 reasons I know this place exists. First, the good folks at Foodosophy told me so. Second, Guy Smiley treated me to a bunch of their Purin or Japanese pudding, which resembles a Creme Caramel; but is steamed, not baked. OMG, these cups of creamy awesomeness blew me away. The reason? I wanted to eat more of it, much more. The custard is smooth, only semi-sweet and the caramel sauce has depth with a beautiful burnt essence.

Other than the regular Custard, you can choose from Matcha, Coffee, Cheese, Black Sesame and Milk Tea. My favourites are the custard and cheese. The other flavours are indeed good, with an excellent infusion of flavours; but I'm somewhat partial to the more plain flavours. It is somewhat consistent with my love for vanilla ice cream and regular potato chips. Call me boring; but that's how I like it. The price for one Purin is $2.50 and if you get 6, it'll be somewhat cheaper at $13.99. If you do get 6, that is exactly the amount of flavours they have, so you can try them all this way.

Alas, Purin ain't the only thing going for this little bakery that could. I was hoping to try some of their freshly made Daifuku (or mochi balls stuffed with red bean paste); but they didn't have any. However, on a return visit, I was able to score some. Usually, one must call in ahead of time to reserved an order. It makes sense really. Nothing worse than leftover daifuku which will not be as soft as the day they are made. Furthermore, they cannot readily find the right sized strawberries for the daifuku. I got one each of the Strawberry Red Bean and Red Bean Chesnut. Unlike the prepackaged daifuku at T&T, the ones at here are a bit chewier. Not hard to eat by no means, it just has more elasticity to them. I personally like this over pillowy soft versions. The chunky red bean filling is sweet while not being too much so. I know this might sound strange, but I prefer the filling in the prepackaged versions because they are smoother. So, back to the original visit where I got a "Cheese Cake" and a Strawberry Cake Roll. Now I put the cheesecake in quotations because it is not the same as the North American version. With the addition of cornstarch, the cake becomes almost souffle-like. I enjoyed this particular one since it was not really all that sweet; thus I could get a nice cream cheese taste. Furthermore, the soft, creamy texture is just a delight to eat. As for the strawberry cake roll, that was another surprising treat. Simple looking, yet executed with care and delicateness, it was light to eat. The whipped cream is ever so airy and conservatively sweetened. The ripe strawberries are fresh and the cake, super soft and moist. With most Japanese food items, there is a certain delicateness and masterful attention-to-detail. This is more than evident with the products from Cake-Ya. Geez, there are some hidden gems out here in Port Moody. Wonder what we'll find next? Hmmm... Tune in tomorrow...

The Good:
- Delicately prepared treats (that are not overly reliant on sugar)
- Reasonably-priced
- The staff is super nice

The Bad:
- Well, it's in Port Moody, not exactly accessible for everyone
- Limited operating hours, it'll be closed before many can get to it
- Relatively small selection of items

The One

The One Restaurant. Not to be confused with 2 other establishments in the GVRD with almost the same name, is the new snazzy venture by LSD (Lao Shan Dong). Located at the former location of Moore's, we have beef noodle where suits and ties were once displayed. Unlike most times after Friday hockey, it was only myself and Milhouse doing the late night food thing. However, 2 weeks later, practically the whole hockey team joined us for some late night eats. Apparently, they were amazed at my willingness to visit a restaurant twice in such a short period of time (much like when I went to Santouka twice).

So the first time I visited this place, Milhouse and I were greeted to a nice automated sliding glass door. Somehow, it felt like entering a retail store rather than a restaurant. But being that shiny, new electronic things always fascinate me, I love the door! The thing that immediately struck us as we entered was the sheer brightness. The decor is both colourful and "Vegas"-like. Add a couple of slot machines, poker tables and a whole lot of smoke, it would give The Venetian a run for its money. Well, Milhouse and I are not the gambling type, so we didn't stray far from the regular stuff. We shared the Spicy Wontons to start. If there was ever such a thing as al dente wontons, these would be it. The wonton skin was quite chewy (in a good way) and held up really well to the sauce. Too bad the sauce was more vinegary than spicy. A bit more chili oil would've really made the dish. We ordered one more appetizer and it ended up to be all mine. You see, it was the House Meat Platter which consists of beef shank, dried tofu, tripe and pig's ear. Milhouse is not a big fan of offal and despite the fact that 2 of the items were not, did not sway him into trying it. Although
texturally different, all 4 of the items were doused with the same sweet and salty sauce. I personally could've done with less since all I could taste was the sauce. Despite this, everything was good with the tripe still retaining some elasticity and the pig's ear was gelatinous.

Milhouse went for the standard Spicy Beef Noodle with Flank. For myself, I had the practically the same except with tendon added on. Very much like LSD, the broth had depth without being overly salty. We wished that it could've been slightly spicer; but it was flavourful enough. The ample amount of noodles were al dente and the plethora of mustard greens added both acidity and crunch. As expected, the flank was tender and the tendon was soft. Curiously, the broth was not as hot (temperature-wise) as we would've liked. Alright, so I made a return visit to The One a few weeks later with practically the entire hockey team. It wasn't necessarily my first choice; but it just happened to work out due to type of food, location and the fact it was still open. So in addition to Milhouse and I, we were graced with the presence of Boss Woman, Mr. Blueberry, Gadget Girl, Emilicious, Gordo and Ginseng.

I once again ordered the Spicy Beef Flank & Tendon Noodles while Milhouse had the Spicy Beef Flank Noodles. Yah, you would think I'd try something else. Not to worry, I ended up sharing 4, count'em 4 items with Boss Woman in addition to my noodles! We started with the Fried Squid Tentacles. Glistening with grease and oily enough to scare most people, the squid itself was quite tender and slightly chewy. We found that the batter was both a bit bland and not crispy enough. Next up was the Beef Onion Pancake Roll. Appearance-wise, it had all the elements of a good roll - nice browning on the outside, flakiness, decent amount of beef and hoisin and some scallions. However, one bite and it's obvious that the appearance of flakiness didn't mean it was so. Rather, it was very doughy and gummy. Tastewise, it was good due to the adequate amount of hoisin; but texturally, it was a flop. Trying to be a bit different than last time, instead of getting the meat platter, we went for the Mixed Meat consisting of tendon, shank and tripe. The whole thing was tossed in a spicy sauce. Well, I think it was more like chili oil rather than sauce which made the whole thing really greasy to eat. All the meats were prepared correctly being tender; yet still maintaining some "bite". But again, too much chili oil. And I thought there was too much sauce in the meat platter... Now our last dish was the Boiled Dumplings. Actually, we weren't expecting them to be last; but apparently, they left out our order. Ginseng and Emilicious had ordered the same dumplings and had received them first. When I asked the server why there was only one order, he remarked that we had only ordered one. I questioned him again and he insisted we ordered only one. That's all fine and dandy if that actually happened; but everyone heard and knew we had ordered these dumplings. For me, this is a huge annoyance with Chinese restaurants. Haven't they heard of the "customer is always right"? The whole charade didn't end until the manager overheard this and stepped in and apologized and quickly put in an order of dumplings. As for the dumplings themselves, they were worth the wait. With a slightly chewy skin and flavourful filling, these were a nice little bite. Almost everyone else had a Spicy Beef Noodle and agreed it was pretty good (could be spicier though was the consensus). For me, I did like the noodle too, but everything else is just quite average. But it sure is a good alternative to LSD since you can practically get the same stuff with no wait and more comfortable seating.

The Good:
- Practically the same good LSD noodles
- Comfortable digs
- Open late

The Bad:
- Other than the noodles, everything else is quite average
- Service is decent; but why argue with a customer?

Q4 Ristorante

*Restaurant has moved to 2563 W Broadway*

Today I had a plan. A plan that would be decisive and benefit many. Much thought and research went into this plan. And what was this about? Eating naturally! So many a time we would stand around after softball, looking dumbfounded trying to decided where to eat. Often, people look to me for guidance. However, I'm never one to make long lists of restaurants we should eat at... until now. I took the time and did the legwork and made 4 pages of potential eats ranging from the exotic to the regular. You see, with so many different tastes, a variety is necessary. After all, Silent Bob's aversion to exotic Asian cuisine is quite apparent when he needs a lesson every time we suggest something in Richmond. Who knows, he probably thinks Dim Sum is a mathematically-challenged individual. Another part of my plan was to finally take advantage of our willingness to dine out on a Monday night. Surely there must be a deal to be had somewhere. 2 places that immediately came to mind were Q4 (formerly Quattro) and Pinky's. Yah I know, if you are familiar with both establishments, it really shouldn't be any contest. On Monday nights, Q4 has their $10.00 pasta (it has gone up to $12.00) special while Pinky's (now since closed) entire menu is 50% off (or so we thought).

Apparently, after deciding to give Pinky's a try (despite better judgement), we found out upon arrival that the 50% special no longer exists. Fine, it probably was an omen anyways. We headed a bit further down the street to Q4. There was one little problem though... We were not really appropriately dressed nor smelling the best after softball. Miss Y proclaimed that one could dine anywhere in Vancouver in sweats. Well, she maybe more comfortable with our attire than I was. Call me self-conscious; but my track pants and Nikes were really out of place here. Maybe if I did the whole track suit thing and had an Italian accent, I could've gotten away with the being a Soprano. Anyways, I have to credit the staff. Generally, they didn't even care how we were dressed and it was friendly throughout the night.

Other than myself, everyone else had water since they were quite thirsty after softball. With the excellent complimentary bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it very much resembled the Friend's episode where they were so shocked at the prices, they only had water and bread... Yah, poorly dressed, reeking of sweat, eating complimentary bread and drinking water. You'd think they'd kick us out. Nope, they were good, they get props for that! So when we got down to ordering, Boss Woman and I got greedy and picked out 2 pastas each. That's right, we got 2. For my first pasta, I went for the Pasta di Nonno (housemade pasta of the day) which was rigatoni with short rib, corn, parmigiano reggiano and cream. With extremely al dente rigatoni and loads of big, tender nuggets of short rib, this pasta plain rocked. There was just enough cream to basically coat the items on the plate with sweetness provided by the corn. My second pasta was the Fusilli Con Rucola which consisted of handmade fusilli with shaved beef tenderloin, arugula, fresh tomato and parmigiano reggiano. Not as al dente as the rigatoni (was expected since it's smaller), there was a nice lightness to this pasta as opposed to the cream of the rigatoni. The fresh tomato provided tartness, with some good bitterness from the arugula.

Both Judes and Boss Woman had the Linguine Frutti di Mare which consists of fresh tomatoes, white wine, peperoncino and seafood. Also with al dente pasta, the flavours were clean. The fresh tomatoes and herbs combined with the perfectly prepared seafood made for an enjoyable eat. The peperoncino helped add a slight kick; but not so much to actually classify it as spicy. Boss Woman's second pasta was the Fettucine Ghiotone which consists of minced chicken, cream and brandy. As you can see in the picture, there is nearly as much chicken as pasta. This, along with the brandy cream, made for a rich and hearty pasta (even thought it was chicken). Once again, the fettucine was al dente.

Milhouse had only one pasta and he regretted that decision. Not that one wasn't enough, it's just that he can always eat more. He looked longingly at our second pastas... His only pasta was the Penne Salsicce with chorizo and portobello in a tomato ragout. His pasta was al dente and very flavourful with a nice tangy bite. Ingredients were fresh and there was an underlying spiciness from the sausage. Bear had a slight problem ordering since he has a few food allergies and settled on the Fettuccine Tartufate which consisted of wild mushrooms, pesto cream and parmigiano reggiano. However, he isn't a big fan of funghi, so he ended up picking it out. I'm not sure what type of bear he is since some bears eat mushrooms and some do not. Anyways, he asked for his pasta to be prepared extra al dente and it came out so in a creamy pesto which was actually quite light tasting. Bear was very happy with the amount of sauce since the pasta was not drowning in it. Miss Y went for the Penne Arrabiatta. It is a spicy mixture of pancetta, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and peperconico. Unlike the rest of us, her penne was a bit past al dente and a tad salty (probably due to the pancetta). She really enjoyed the fresh crushed tomatoes; but thought that the pasta could've been spicier. She was generally happy with the value since it was only $10.00 and in a very nice restaurant to boot.

Being that I was pretty stuffed from my 2 pastas, I decided to share a dessert with Miss Y. We decided on the Ciliege Filate or sour cherries and marscapone cream sandwiched between layers of crunchy, sweet phyllo. We were both impressed with the balance and contrast of flavours - sourness of the cherries with the sweet crunch of the phyllo and smoothness of the marscapone. Milhouse went for the Chocolate Brownie. It was quite sweet, rich and chocolaty. He liked it; however, it was nothing that floored him. Judes ended up with probably the best dessert of the night with the Tiramisu. Before she even took a bite, we were all staring at it longingly. Not your run-of-the-mill tiramisu found at most places, this was a flavour explosion. With a decadent creaminess, there was strong rum and coffee hits. There was no denying that this was an actual tiramisu. Bear was debating on the which dessert to choose and I was quite happy he decided on the Creme Brulee. Why? Because with that decision, we covered all of the desserts for the night! Yah, I have a one-track mind... A nice hard sugar topping revealed a semi-sweet, velvetly custard. One spoonful and it was enough to exude a vanilla essence which smelled and tasted very good. Bear, being the dessert fiend that he is, thought this was done very well. We also felt that at roughly $8.00 each, the desserts were reasonably-priced for the level of refinement and execution.

As a group, we were very pleased with the pastas and desserts at Q4. Personally, this is the type of pasta that I absolutely love. Pefectly al dente pasta with just enough sophisticatedly prepared sauces in the proper portion size. It is practically the antithesis of the pastas offered at places such as Anton's and Amorosa. No offense to those places since they have their fans, I'm just not into the big plates of soft pasta covered with enough sauce to drink. Considering that the ambiance and service at Q4 emanates class and refinement, $12.00 for any of their pastas on Monday and Tuesday nights is an absolute steal. We were further impressed with the expertly crafted desserts.

The Good:
- Food is prepared with care and precision
- Nice ambiance
- Quality ingredients
- $12.00 for all pastas on Monday and Tuesday!

The Bad:
- Normally, it's pricey to eat here (but is worth it for the food execution)
- Although service was generally friendly, it was slow in spots