Two Chefs & a Table

*Restaurant is now closed*

While driving down Alexander after brunch at the Alibi Room, RBC noticed a small quaint restaurant with a nice wall of wine bottles. Right then and there, we knew this was to be our next dining destination for the following Sunday. You see, there seems to be a trend towards brunch after Sunday morning hockey. Seems logical. However, for some reason or another, we are drawn to areas around the Downtown Eastside. First it was Acme, then Deacon's Corner followed by the Alibi Room. Now we have Two Chefs & a Table. Located in the unlikeliest of locations or should I say somewhat shadiest of locations, Two Chefs brings some class to an otherwise forgotten neighbourhood.

With the two chefs, Karl Gregg and Al Bosomworth, who have worked at Red Door and Feenie's respectively, bring finely crafted food at a reasonable price. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, RBC and I made the short jaunt over from Brit for brunch. For some reason or another, we were denied a window seat. A subsequent party of 2 got the table we originally wanted... Anyways, looking over the small; yet focused menu, something caught our attention - a Bacon Bloody Mary! Hey, I'm not a big drinker; but I had to try this. Turns out I really shouldn't have. Chalk this up to personal taste. Salty, oily and short on punch, this bloody mary was not my cup of booze. On the other hand, my breakfast choice was absolutely fantastic! The Monsieur Andres Brunch is a take on the classic Croque Monsieur. In this version, there is a selection of chacuterie meats and cheese within grilled sour dough. On top is an over-easy egg and Parmesan Hollandaise. With all components cooked to perfection from the crisp sour dough to the runny egg yolk, every bite was delicious. Served on the side were cooked-from-raw breakfast potatoes. The result were starchy pieces of well-seasoned bites. Very good.

RBC opted for the Smoked Salmon Benedict once again (like the Alibi Room). Both poached eggs were perfectly executed. Fluffy whites and runny free-range yolk atop barely cooked spinach, house-cured smoked salmon, mustard cream cheese and house-made English muffins. I took a sample of the smoked salmon. I found the flavours intense and the texture soft. He was very happy with the Benedict and declared it to be much superior than the one from the Alibi Room. And it was less expensive too. Being that we just played hockey, we decided to share the Homemade Apple Pancakes to make sure we satisfied our appetites. Simply presented as a 3-stack, these pancakes were somewhat fluffly inside while crisp on the outside. A nice contrast of textures for sure. Caramelized apples bits were strewn throughout providing a sweet surprise. These were very good pancakes indeed. If brunch is any indication of the type of food served here, I am already planning my visit for dinner. It seems RBC had the same idea and wondered if we could make it a table for 4. Sounds good to me, maybe we can get a window seat next time.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Carefully crafted food
- Quaint little place

The Bad:
- Dodgy neighbourhood
- Place is extremely small, small parties only

B.C. Sushi

Okay, you should know my feelings about AYCE sushi by now. But believe it or not, there are times when I actually don't mind it. However, those "times" usually involve being really hungry and/or not giving much a damn about food quality. Tonight would be one of those "times". You see, earlier in our softball season, we were rained out a few games. Thus, it was inevitable we'd need to play some double-headers. This was our last night of the regular season and it also happened to be a double-header. Of course the weather was looking crappy, indicating we'd be all wet. Personally, I'm a fair weather person. Okay, let me rephrase that. I don't shop for sun dresses at Fairweather, I'm mostly into fair weather sporting activities. Although some of those dresses have really nice floral prints... er... So, when the wet stuff comes (I really should have not said it this way...), I'm not too happy about being outside. I don't golf in the rain, I don't play softball in the rain, I don't camp in the rain (wait, I don't camp at all!) and I don't even like driving in the rain. So, when I called up Boss Woman to check on the status of our games, we had to play 2 games rain or shine.

Imagine the joy when the weather turned for the better. I was as happy as a gamer in a EB Games lineup on boxing day. Well, maybe not that happy... So, I knew we'd be hungry after 2 games and since we were playing at Canarvon, it looked like a good opportunity to give B.C. Sushi a try. Taking advantage of our late ending time, I made a reservation for their late night AYCE sushi for 9:30pm. Of course, our games had to end early at 8:15pm... So we ended up "practicing" in near darkness waiting for our reservation time. Note to self: hurling a big round object at each other in darkness is tempting fate. Although they did start to resemble large Takoyaki after awhile. Hmm... a sign that we should go eat!

We arrived at B.C. Sushi a bit early, so a few of the ladies decided to wash up in the restroom. Okay, that was a disaster. 2 of 3 toilets were malfunctioning and there were no paper towels. I think they should check on their washrooms more often. Anyways, we got seated shortly after that. The late night menu is a good value in my opinion. There are 2 options: pick Menu A items only - $10.95, do both A+B, it's $14.95. We went for the $14.95 menu and it includes sashimi. If raw fish ain't your thing, the $10.95 menu has a large selection already. We started off with the Gomaae and it is your typical too-sweet, over-sauced spinach. The Agedashi Tofu was okay; but it looked pretty plain without the grated daikon and green onions. Ebi Sunomono was pretty decent, lots of flavour and great texture on the vermicelli. Miss Y ordered 2 BBQ Corn and they were good as well. I remarked that one of her corns were bigger than the other. She replied that it was normal to be that way... (take that however you want). Judes upped the discussion by saying that Miss Y was feeling "corny". Funny, the oyster motoyaki hadn't arrived yet...

Anyways, Judes really wanted to try the Baby Octopus. No good, it was chewy and bland. On the other hand, the Gyoza were quite good. The filling was not packed too tight and they were fried up with a good colour. The Ika Karaage was on the oilier side while still being crisp and easy to chew. The Fried "Scallops" were your typical imitation type offering. It's rare to have Sashimi in AYCE late-night, so it was a treat. The sashimi here was acceptable. Salmon was better than the tuna. When Boss Woman saw Chicken Knees on the menu, she was a happy camper. Not bad, probably too much batter though. The Tempura was okay, too much batter again. The Chicken Yakitori was alright as well, the meat was moist and there was not too much sauce. Boss Woman really wanted to try the Fried Cheese Sticks. She wished she hadn't. Ew.

Of course Bear wanted Short Ribs and lots of it. He was really happy with these ones since they were super tender, not overly fatty and not over-seasoned. I liked them too. The Tonkatsu was crispy while the meat was still moist. The same could be said about the Chicken Karaage. Strangely presented in reusable tart tins, the Oyster Motoyaki was good. Decent sized oyster, not too much sauce. Of course we got some Maki Sushi as well. The sushi rice was bland and on the drier side (to be expected). Yet, once again, it was more than edible. Same with the Nigiri Sushi, okay rice made for okay sushi. As for the Beef and Chicken Teriyaki, the beef was dry while the chicken was quite moist and tender. I got an order of the Unagi Don and it wasn't bad either. The rice was firm and not oversauced. Now onto another filler dish (I must've been nuts), I got the Chicken Curry. I expected Japanese curry. What I got was Chinese curry (of course, the place is Chinese-run). Didn't like it. No flavour and the chicken was not even cooked in the sauce.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to get filler items as Miss Y and Milhouse went for the Beef and Chicken Udon respectively. Miss Y thought the broth was quite flavourful with chewy udon. Then we were presented with 3 bowls of Ramen. We didn't order any ramen. They just said to keep it and don't eat it if we didn't want to. I looked at it and tried it. Decent noodles, laughable broth. We got Mango Pudding to end off the meal and it was AYCE-style mango pudding. So if I sound a bit repetitive and unenthusiastic, it is because most of the food is typical AYCE fare. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing in this case. For the reasonable price we paid, it was well-worth it if that is what you are looking for. We didn't come for quality Japanese food, we came for quantity and value. This is exactly what we got.

The Good:
- Very reasonable late-night AYCE
- Large selection of items
- Fairly decent service

The Bad:
- Yucky washrooms
- Regular AYCE is pricey
- As with most AYCE, food quality is so-so

Dim Sum @ Kam Wah Loong

Last time, when we were waiting in line for Dim Sum at the Roc, JuJu noticed that there was another place across the street. That, in his mind, would be our Dim Sum adventure the next time after hockey. Turns out his wife visited the place in the meantime and apparently it passed the test. Thus, after Sunday hockey, we headed over to Kam Wah Loong for some Dim Summing. I know it's a given that I would complain about parking all the time; but honestly, there is so little parking around for so many business in the area. It took me a bit of time to find space. When I walked into the restaurant, I was the first person "in-line". But then I noticed a sign-up sheet on the bar counter. Thus, I headed over and waited for someone to take down my name. While I was waiting, a crowd of people began to form, including an old lady next to me. When the hostess returned, she was about to give the old lady a number first; but I wasn't going down without a fight. In Cantonese, I quickly declared that I was first, despite her skepticism. The old lady didn't offer up that I was indeed first and I knew that I had to stand my ground. Hey, if everyone wants to play the "Chinese" rules of engagement when it comes to lineups, I'm not only playing along; I play to win! I finally ended getting my way and felt proud to outwit, outplay and outsmart a little old lady. Ah, the small victories... Next, I'm going to attempt to win a parking spot in Richmond. Okay, okay, I won't tempt fate.

After a short wait, we got our table, made our order and anxiously waited for our food. You see, we were famished (late lunch combined with playing hockey = me need food badly). We started with the classic duo of Haw Gow and Sui Mai. The haw gow were of a decent size and generally quite good. The dumpling wrapper was slightly on the chewier side while the shrimp was crunchy and modestly seasoned. They could've bonded the filling better since the shrimp fell apart quite easily. The sui mai were solid with slightly chewy pork and the occasional shrimp. I could definitely taste pork here due to the light seasoning. For the life of me, I have no idea why people order Xiao Long Bao in a Cantonese restaurant. I try to avoid doing this; but it never fails, someone orders it. The dumplings never turn out right, usually ending up as a regular pork dumpling with no juice. In this case, it was pretty much the same with a gummy dumpling skin and no juice inside. It did taste good though.

We also got an order of the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll. Slightly sloppy looking, it didn't detract from the texture. The rice noodle was soft and there was plenty of shrimp. Although, the shrimp seemed to be in little bits. Something that I normally don't order much of anymore are the Fried Taro Dumplings. Hey, I love 'em; however, they are so unhealthy. These fried football-shaped mashed taro dumplings are usually filled with ground pork in a starch-thickened sauce. In this version, it was a curry pork filling. I prefer this type of filling, in addition to the Portuguese sauce version as well. The dumplings didn't appear to soak up too much oil making them a little less guilty to eat. For some reason or another, no one really wanted to touch the Pork Spareribs. There was nothing wrong with them. In fact, I though they were pretty good. As you can see in the picture, most of the meat are directly attached to bone. Not much in the way of cartilage or fatty pieces. I liked how the meat was not over-tenderized; thus there was a nice chewiness to them. Only complaint would be that they were a bit salty.

Since we were so hungry, we got 2 filler items. One was the BBQ Pork & Shrimp Fried Rice for $6.99. With such a large portion, it surely made the $6.99 price tag look very attractive. Furthermore, the rice itself was excellent because each grain was discernible and slightly chewy. The shrimp was just cooked and we appreciated the lean BBQ pork. Sometimes you really wonder if it is indeed BBQ pork or just BBQ fat. With the rice being good, the Satay Beef Flat Rice Noodles was not. For the same price as the fried rice, it was actually a pretty large portion. However, we would've preferred less or maybe none at all. The noodles were so grossly overcooked, it became an indistinguishable pile of mush which was coated with a sauce so greasy, it would make a Pizza Hut pan pizza jealous. To top it off, it had no flavour at all. Yuck.

Other than the crappy rice noodles, most of the food was pretty decent. Things tasted like they should and the textures were bang on. The prices didn't hurt our bottom line and the portions were good. Service, as expected was sparse at the best of times. The place is extremely tight and you really do not want to linger. It gets really busy and you'll need to accept the fact there will be a lineup. Just make sure no little old lady tries to school you in the art of skipping the line...

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Good portions
- Acceptable food for the price

The Bad:
- Very tight seating
- Sparse service
- Lineups

Blue Ginger Korean

It's that time of year again. Summer vacation and Goose's birthday. Huh? What does that have in common? Well, for the last couple of years, plenty. You see, on our way down to the States, it has coincided with Goose's birthday. And since he lives in Bellevue, we can easily meet up with him for dinner. Thus, much like last year (when we met up at McGrath's Fish House, now thankfully closed), we met up again on our way back from Portland. Originally, we were supposed to meet at Joy in Sushi (insert joke here). But for some reason or another, we ended up at the Blue Ginger. We weren't aware of this until some furious texting btween Viv and Goose while I was speeding up the I-405. Luckily we caught wind of the change in plans before it was too late. A quick re-enter into the GPS and we made our way into Bellevue. If the name Blue Ginger rings a bell, it is the same name as Ming Tsai's restaurant. But there is absolutely no affiliation at all. This Blue Ginger is a Korean/Japanese restaurant. Okay, now for those who live in Vancouver, I'm sure there is a level of skepticism when it comes to Asian food in the Greater Seattle Area. Well, it has gotten a lot better and there is no need to visit places like PF Chang's.

Walking into the place, it is very much like any other Korean BBQ restaurant with built-in units complete with large ventilation hoods. To make the meal interesting, we'd have 4 kids at the table. It is literally playing with fire when we bring the kiddies to Korean BBQ or Chinese Hot Pot. It takes multi-tasking to a whole new level where one not only has to cook their own food, they need to feed the kids, make sure they don't cook the kids with spilled hot broth or any wandering hands. Add a camera with flash into the equation and I was so swamped with multi-tasking, I practically BSOD (blue screen of death) like a Microsoft OS. Fortunately, I don't have to reboot in safe mode and I just carry on with no food in my stomach; but with a bunch of pictures instead. To further complicate things, much like a full desktop of icons, our table was not remotely sufficient for the amount of food. My son was uber-annoyed at the large plate of salad placed in front of him throughout the meal. It was the lesser of 2 evils. Plate of salad or plate of raw beef. Salad it is. As for that Bulgogi, it was fatty, tender and distinctively marinated in the typical sweet soy mixture. Combined with a BBQ that didn't have too many flare-ups while still being hot, the meat received the necessary charring. We also got the Kalbi and it turned out to be tender as well.

Strangely, the Banchan arrived after the meats. No matter really, we were too busy grilling to notice anyways. It consisted of spinach, potato salad, spicy radish, kimchi, sprouts, steamed egg, and pickled onions. For me, it was pretty average. Nothing that I really wanted more of; but then again, they did their job. We also got the condiments required to eat the BBQ meats such as slivered garlic, peppers and bean paste. But curiously, we didn't get the romaine lettuce to wrap it in. Rather, we got a salad made of romaine. Not sure why it was served that way... From this point on, the food came quickly and filled up the entire table. The Dolset Bibimbap came sizzling hot with well-cooked rice and plenty veggies, beef and raw egg. I really liked how the rice was not mushy (which seems to happen much too often). 

With the standard things we order, of course next came the Japchae. At a reasonable $11.00, it was a reasonable portion. A tad wet and overloaded with too many veggies, I thought this was only okay. Flavourwise, it was slightly bland while the wetness of the noodles made it hard to eat. Another predictable dish in a Korean restaurant is the Pajeon (Seafood Pancake). Normally, I'm really not all that excited about it since there is no seafood and the oil at the bottom can rival any pan pizza from Pizza Hut. As you can see in the picture, there is plenty of seafood and it's not merely imitation crab meat either. However, I found the pancake too wet and doughy from the copious amount of green onion. I know that green onion is an integral part of the dish; however, there was far too much green onion! 

With only a sprinkling of green onions, the Jjigae (Spicy Tofu Soup) was pretty much what we expected. Only moderately spicy with plenty of silky tofu and seafood, this was good. It went well with the many bowls of white rice which were included with various dishes. Epic fail on my part since we had 2 Dolset Bibimbaps! With 4 kiddies at the table, it is a given that we got 2 orders of the Ebi Tempura Udon. Now, for the udon itself, it wasn't too bad. The noodles were not overcooked and the broth was decently flavourful without being salty. Not much depth; but okay nonetheless. Now the ebi tempura... Let's just say that the batter was caked on more than makeup on Joan Rivers' face. It was nearly impenetrable. Soggy, doughy, cold and dry, this was really bad tempura. To top it off the ebi was gummy. Yuck. I give them credit in making it purely ebi tempura (without the veggies); but it really was pretty bad.

Okay, for a while there, we thought the meal was done, no more food coming out. Then we figured that the Naengmyeon (Cold Buckwheat Noodles) was missing. Not sure why it arrived so late into the meal... Well, it was certainly ice cold and the noodles were chewy. The broth was distinctively vinegary with cucumbers, daikon, sliced beef and boiled egg. This is mostly a textural dish and based on that alone, this was good. In general, the food was passable and didn't offend (well, maybe the tempura). I thought it was reasonably-priced and the service was okay as well. I wouldn't necessarily be active in planning my next visit (especially since I'm in Vancouver); but it does the job if you are nearby.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Portions are alright

The Bad:
- Food is average (you can do much better)
- Service was alright; but a bit sparse

Mother's Bistro & Bar

Originally, Mother's was our scheduled breakfast joint on Monday morning. However, due to an epic fail on my part (not checking the hours of operation), it was not open. Since we were heading to the Oregon Zoo, we altered our plans for a different Downtown eatery (which was Bijou Cafe). Now, Bijou was pretty good; but the thought of not giving Mother's a try before we left Portland was not sitting well with me. Actually, missing any eating opportunity would not sit well in general. Hence, I shoehorned another breakfast before our 5 hour drive North. Like almost every place we've visited in the past week, there has been a lineup. Roughly a 20-minute wait, not bad. There was a small area where the kids could play too, so that made the wait more bearable.

This family-friendly restaurant, complete with home-cooking classics, is run by chef/owner Lisa Schroeder (who is a mother & grandmother). Back in the 90's, she realized that there was a lack of restaurants offering food that she would cook at home (if she had the time). This became the inspiration for Mother's Bistro. For us, we were just happy that there was a place we could bring the kids where there would be food that they'd eat. Now, I'm not sure if my mom ever forced me to eat liver; but I really wanted to try the Chopped Liver at Mother's. Yah, there is no need to force me to eat liver, spinach or anything like that. I'd eat it happily. Now as for my son... Liver? Yah, the day I move to Richmond! For those who haven't had chopped liver before, think pâté. It's not exactly the same, whereas chopped liver is a combination of liver, onions and sometimes egg. This was good. Smooth enough to spread; yet with some texture and only moderately seasoned. Went well with the crackers.

For my main, I decided on Mother's Rueben consisting of corned beef brisket, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Islands on grilled bread. Loved the tender meat and the ample tartness from the sauerkraut. I'm not a huge fan of Thousand Islands dressing; but it worked in this case. As for the side macaroni salad, it had a lot of dressing on it. I did like that the pasta somehow managed to remain al dente. Viv went for the breakfast special which was a Meat Omelet which consisted of cheese, bacon, ham and sausage. With that combination, it was predictably salty; but not in a bad way. She liked that it provided the necessary flavour for the omelet. Now the egg portion of the dish was subpar. It was very rubbery and overcooked. Unlike the fluffly eggs at Bijou, this was not to our liking.

As always, my son opted for the Kid's Pancake (added chocolate chips). Made to look like Mickey Mouse with ears and banana slices with chocolate chips for eyes, this thing was massive. An adult would have a tough time finishing this, let alone a picky, low appetite kid. I give it to him that he ate as much as he could handle. I tried it and it was fluffy and tasty. No need for syrup. But of course my son doused it in syrup. For our daughter, we got her a Kid's Mac 'n Cheese. It ended up as bowties and cheese which really worked out because she pretended it to be butterflies flying into her mouth. Score! The bowties were al dente while the cheese sauce was cheesy, not salty. It could've been a bit smoother in my opinion.

In general, the food was alright based on brunch/lunch alone. Sure, it ain't hoity toity; but that is not the premise here. It's about being comfortable in a family-friendly environment with food that resembles home-cooking. Add honest and personable service into the mix as well. In fact, mother herself (Lisa Schroeder) came out and greeted us while settling the bill. For us, that was exactly what we needed as we prepared to leave Portland for home after 5 busy days running around and eating.

The Good:
- Well-priced
- Comfortable, homey atmosphere
- Family-friendly

The Bad:
- Some items were not that refined (but that is not the premise of the place)

Panda Express

Okay, go ahead. Go right ahead and laugh. In fact, throw some tomatoes at me. Wait, save those for a nice sauce... Panda Express. Need I say more? Considered the antithesis of real Chinese food by many while ridiculed for its non-Asian staff, I personally think it is often misunderstood. You see, there is no reason to compare it with an authentic Chinese restaurant. C'mon. Really. It's North American Chinese fast food. It is what it is. If you really needed to compare with anything, you'd have to look at places such as Manchu Wok, Flaming Wok, Famous Wok and the sort. So why on Earth did I end up with Panda Express food despite the plethora of really good eats in Portland? How about visiting the food carts and my son not wanting to eat any of it. I had to practically force him to eat the fries from Potato Champion! For the love of... What kid doesn't like fries??? Thus, it forced my hand. I resorted to visiting a place which would most certainly lead to my ancestors rolling in their graves. But hold it right there. As mentioned, I don't come to Panda Express looking for a 10-course Chinese meal, unless I wanted fried meat slathered in every colour of the rainbow.

It was getting late and we pulled up and walked in. Other than the one Asian employee, we were the only Asians in the place. We ended up getting a 2-item and 3-item meal each. Viv went for steamed rice with Mushroom Chicken and Veggies. I went for the triple crown of fried with Chow Mein with Beijing Beef, Mandarin Chicken and Sweetfire Chicken. The Chow Mein was mainly for the kiddies and yup, they ate it. Well, it was Americanized chow mein, what can I say? The Beijing Beef was actually pretty decent compared to other "ginger-type" beef dishes. Large slices of meat that was not fried to a crisp combined with lots of flavour, it was alright. I wasn't so fond of their Mandarin Chicken. I've had it in the past and when done right, it's moist with a crunchy exterior laced with a sweet and tangy sauce. This time, it was dry. The Sweetfire Chicken was essentially the same with a different sauce.

On the other hand, the Mushroom Chicken was quite good. The chicken was tender and cooked right while the zucchini was still a bit firm. The Mixed Veggies were really crisp and still had life in them. Too bad that there was no flavour whatsoever. Yah, yah, I'm sure some of you are snickering at me as you read this. But once again, let's not look at this as real Chinese food. On a side note, I've had "Chinese food" that has less in common with the actual cuisine than Panda Express. I'm in no way, shape or form implying that Panda Express is something that I would frequently eat. However, in a pinch and with reasonable expectations (or low expectations), it is your typical North American Chinese food. It's too bad that they advertise it to be "gourmet" Chinese food though... Makes for an easy target to ridicule...

The Good:
- It's convenient
- If you are expecting North American Chinese food
- Inexpensive

The Bad:
- If you are expecting authentic Chinese cuisine
- Some of the stuff looks to be sitting out too long
- Lots of fried stuff with sweet and sour sauces