Seb's Market Cafe

*Restaurant is now closed*

I have to admit it. This meal (much like many) happened a while back in the summer. However, for some reason or another, I wrote half of it and did not finish until now. No rhyme or reason really. Much like in the past, I would push schoolwork that was due at the end of the term until the day before. Procrastinator? Absolutely! Okay, with that out of the way... Last year, Viv and her coworkers crammed into Seb's Market Cafe across from Anna's Cakehouse on Broadway for some brunch. She remarked that the food was pretty good and of course I filed it away in my "to eat" list. As circumstances presented itself, it took me a year to finally make it out for brunch. Hey, it's not like we didn't want to pay it a visit, it just seems that always something else comes up. Well, more like something newer and flasher that piques my interest. Fine, I'll put my "get caught-up in the hype" hat down for today. Sometimes, the small little places dish up the best food despite no glitz whatsoever.

Reminiscent of the many eclectic establishments in Portland, Seb's certainly has character and charm. It's quite homey and so is the service. I'm not really sure of the overall theme of the place since the menu seems all-over-the-place. Case in point, I had the Seb's Benny on a savory biscuit with crab meat and Thai coconut sauce. Certainly sounds interesting eh? Usually, this type of fusion is disastrous; yet it was certainly not the case here. Consisting of a perfectly free-hand poached egg, sweet crab meat with a mild and fragrant coconut sauce - this was a tasty Benny. The crab was in no way masked by any of the components including the sauce. In that way, the entire dish worked.

Viv got the French Toast which comes with a choice of banana bread or French bread. She went for the latter. Nothing particularly amiss with this dish. Maybe slightly aggressive with the pan fry on the egg; but it didn't adversely affect anything. The main thing is my son ate it, so all is good. With the 2 dishes we sampled combined with Viv's previous visit, Seb's offers up some pretty solid food with some twists. Definitely homey and personable service to boot. I will be back.

The Good:
- Some interesting options
- Mellow, homey vibe
- Personable service

The Bad:
- Not expensive; but not cheap either
- A bit crowded inside

Findlay Convenience Store & Cafe

Other than pure randomness, it is very hard to find hidden restaurants. What? You see, we know all the usual places to eat. They are in everyone's top-10 list, blogged extensively about and/or heavily promoted. The small little places are usually either ignored or only known by regulars. For someone like me, to find out about these places, there are only a few ways. I could merely spot it while driving, research the internet or read about it from one of the many other food blogs in Vancouver. However, probably the most valuable resource are other people. This is the case here. While slurping on noodles at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (yes, for the 3rd time, I like the place...), Rich Guy's friend tipped me off about a small convenience store that serves up good Banh Mi. When he explained that it is located right behind the Croation Cultural Centre off of Victoria Drive, I was thoroughly confused. I really don't recall a Vietnamese sandwich shop around there (and I know the area well!). Obsessively curious, I made it a pit stop on the way home.

From the outside, it looks very much like any other family run corner store. Except, there is enough posters plastered on the window to enhance the "shadiness" quotient. Rich Guy was a bit nervous since he is not one to visit hole-in-the-walls or dives. McDonald's is a stretch for him! We eventually made it in and were greeted by a very friendly couple. Surprisingly, this little store has a pretty diverse menu. In addition to Banh Mi, there are burgers, noodle & rice dishes and regular sub sandwiches. Trust me, no one would expect this by just looking at the outside. I got one each of the Special, BBQ Pork and Chicken subs. The Special consisted of Vietnamese ham and roast pork with pickled carrots, lettuce, butter-mayo and a savoury hot sauce reminiscent of Viet Sub. Despite the simple ingredients (no cilantro, onions, hot peppers, fish sauce or pate), the sub was quite good. The bread is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside (much like Empress Bakery). What makes the sub is the sauce - lots of flavour and a bit spicy. The BBQ Pork sub added a touch of sweetness from the processed meat and the Chicken sub ended up to be similar to the Special. Despite not the resembling Banh Mi you'd find at Ba Le or Tung Hing, these were still good in their own way. Enough so, I'd probably get them again.

The Good:
- Bread is quite good, crunchy outside, soft inside
- The spicy sauce makes the sandwich

The Bad:
- Not expensive; but there is cheaper
- Like most Banh Mi joints, it's take and go (even though there are tables)

PanDa Fresh Bakery

You'd think after a steak lunch at Glowbal, I'd have no more room for eats. Oh c'mon. You don't know me very well then! Truthfully, I was full from lunch; but I really wanted to try out PanDa Fresh Bakery. Since I was only a skip and a hop away from its location on Pacific and Drake, it was all that more enticing. Funny thing is that I missed it on several passes through the intersection. Sure, it's a food cart; but I wasn't aware that it was an old converted school bus parked on the corner. The signage is both modest and unassuming. Mind you, we almost didn't make it there because an A-hole driving a green Explorer almost ran us over at the intersection. He intentionally tried to beat us to the corner and after turning abruptly almost lost control. Note to driver, there is something called karma... Anyways, our mood immediately changed from shock to happiness as we perused the menu. Yup, food equals joy!

Whipping Girl decided on a dessert with the Sesame Ice Cream Croissant. First and foremost, the croissant is served warm and flaky. A real nice contrast to the ice cream, which incidentally was a bit icy. It did taste good though with a black sesame nuttiness. For me, I was considering dessert, until I spotted the Mac 'n Cheese Croissant... Oh yeah. Rich, cheesy and buttery, the mac fit perfectly in the crunchy croissant. Each crispy bite yielded a heart-stopping real cheddar cheesiness with the crunchy; yet not that buttery croissant. So wrong; yet so right. I was full. Didn't matter, I kept eating it. I didn't get to try their other items such as the complete turkey dinner croissant (???). However, from the items we did sample, it was a nice treat.

The Good:
- Crunchy croissants
- Items are fresh (hence the name)

The Bad:
- Not sure about the location, not close for most people
- A bit pricey

Glowbal Grill Steaks & Satay

Slowly, one-by-one, I have been visiting each and every Glowbal Group restaurant. The quest started with Italian Kitchen, then Society, Trattoria, Coast and now the flagship, Glowbal Grill Steaks & Satay. Only Sanafir remains (which I have since visited and also Black + Blue). Despite not being a chain by name, the Glowbal Group does have some similarities with each and every restaurant, namely their signature item - Kobe Meatballs. Another theme throughout is the commitment to style, service and decor. Some would argue that it's smoke and mirrors to hide something... like the food. That would be true for Society; but honestly, the food has been acceptable at the all the others so far.

Joining me today was Rich Guy (2nd time in less than 12 hours), Whipping Girl and Vandelay. Nice to have dining company, especially since I wanted to leech food off of their plates! Since early 2010, Glowbal has somewhat reinvented itself by adding steaks, in addition to their satays, as a specialty to their menu. As such, we started with the Chef's Selection of Satays. We got one each of Braised Short Rib, Panko Crusted Ahi Tuna, Tiger Prawn, King Mushroom, Kobe Meatball (not sure how this is a satay), Blackened Wild Salmon, Coconut Chicken and Prosciutto-Wrapped Aspargus. Served on the side was a Thai slaw, ginger white soy and Chinese hot mustard. Of the aforementioned items, the short rib was my favourite. Of course, you can't lose with braised short rib. It was tender and full of flavour (of the rich savoury variety). The tiger prawn was cooked nicely with a nice snap to it while the mushroom still retained a certain firmness. Cooked perfectly rare with a crisp panko coating, the tuna went well with the tobiko aoili. Nice textural contrast there and not too much condiment to hide the natural flavour of the tuna. The blackened salmon was overcooked and a bit bland while the asparagus was perfect accompanied by the saltiness of the prosciutto. And as for the Kobe meatball, it was more firm than what I've had in the past; but still moist. We universally didn't care for the coconut chicken - Overcooked and flavourless.

Whipping Girl likes meatballs and had a whole plate of them in the Spaghetti Kobe Meatballs. She thought that the meatballs were slightly underseasoned compared to other times she's had them. Otherwise, the pasta was al dente and the sauce was well-balanced. I thought it could've used a bit more salt though. Rich Guy selected the daily feature which was the Seared Arctic Char with a buerre blanc sauce. The fish was prepared perfectly. Flaky and moist inside and nicely seared on the outside. Not too much in the way of sauce; but that's a good thing. Let the seafood stand out and it did here. Rich Guy kept remarking how surprisingly good the fish was cooked.

Vandelay opted for the Parpadella with short rib, woodland mushrooms, toasted pine nuts and cafe âu lait. I gave this one a try and you know what? It was pretty good. Of course, once again you can't go wrong with short rib and combined with the the earthiness and nuttiness from the other ingredients, it had a pleasing taste. I would've liked the pasta to be even more al dente (Vandelay thought it was fine); but otherwise a well-executed dish. For myself, I went for their lunch special in the Grilled Striploin with mushroom ragout. For $16.00, this was a decent cut of beef. Well-marbled, tender and cooked the way I wanted it (medium-rare), I was pleased with my selection. The mashed potatoes were creamy, while the bevy of mushrooms was welcomed. Only thing I would change would be the sauce. It was both too oily and salty. Sure, it flavoured the meat; but maybe a tad too much so. Interesting... We all came here not expecting much. After all, the Glowbal Group routinely gets trashed for its so-so food. But honestly, for the prices we paid (including the Costco gift card discount) made for some reasonably-priced eats. And good eats at that. Sure, it won't put fear into other fine-dining establishments nearby. However, we all agreed that Glowbal trumps both Earl's (which is next door) and Milestone's since the food is both better and less expensive (assuming you use the discount).

The Good:
- Surprising (or should we?) good eats
- Well-priced (if discounts are taken into account)
- Excellent service

The Bad:
- Without discount, regular prices are typical Yaletown expensive
- Some items sound better on the menu than they really are

SD Galleria & Sushi Lounge

It appears that I have finally weaseled my way back into Thursday night hockey as a regular. You see, I abruptly stopped playing with this group after my son was born over 5 years ago. Hey, life was busy and some things had to give. As of last year, I've been playing off and on with this group and since the start of this season, I've been a regular attendee. It's nice to reconnect with people again, even after 5 years later. However, one problem with this group is they don't eat out after hockey. Something about getting home and sleeping... Phffft... Whatever! Tonight, or should I say this morning, I was able to talk Rich Guy into joining me for late night eats once again. This time around, it was going to be late night sushi. No, not the AYCE variety; rather, it would be SD Galleria and Sushi Lounge. Located upstairs on Main Street near 27th, it is one of the few Japanese restaurants that are open past midnight. In addition to Rich Guy, I was able to convince Gordo in joining me as well after the game. You see, I promised to give him a lift to the game. In return, he'd have to join me for food after. I'm sinister, I know...

Now, walking into the place, one would never expect it to be a Japanese restaurant. It's more sports bar than anything else. One look at the menu and we were surprised at the low prices. 2 pieces of Nigiri for $1.75? Maki Sushi starting at $2.00? WTH? This is not a take-out joint nor is it located in a shady area. Alright, price is one thing, how about the actual food itself? Well, let's start with that cheap Nigiri. We got 4 pieces of Chopped Scallop and 2 pieces of the Unagi. Size-wise, they were modest. But given that they only cost less than 88 cents each, we weren't complaining. Okay, the rice was pretty average. The best description for it would be too "ricey". What I mean about that is it resembled rice too much rather than the slightly chewy sushi rice variant. With that being said, it wasn't terrible. As for scallops, they were fine, sweet and not mushy. The unagi was also pretty good. I liked that it wasn't oversauced.

Seeing how the salads were only $2.00 each including the Wakame salad, we all ordered a different one. Luck would have it that they ran out of Wakame... So I went for the Gomae instead. The spinach was cooked pretty well with a nice nice crunch and a bit of chew. The sesame dressing was on the sweeter side of things (and not really the type of Gomae that I personally prefer). The sweetness was tempered by a proper dressing to spinach ratio. Gordo's Ebi Sunomono was pretty decent, especially with a full sized ebi on top. Rich Guy's Green Salad was crisp while laced with the typical sweet gingery soy dressing.

We weren't expecting much out of the Assorted Sashimi and in fact, Rich Guy was quite nervous. He's not used to paying so little for food... Well, to our surprise, not only did the sashimi look fresh, it was quite good as well. The textures were all good including the tuna. Nothing mushy or too chewy at all (including the tako). We decided to try 2 of their deluxe rolls starting with Rainbow Roll. Essentially a California roll with alternating slices of various fish on top, this was pretty good for $6.50. Sure, it wasn't an artistic masterpiece nor was it outstanding. Yet, it was more than acceptable for the price. The same could be said about the Dragon Roll. Usually falling somewhere in the $10.00+ range, this was only $6.00 here. Sure, it is not as extravagant or large as some other places; but it was also good with ripe avocado, crunchy cucumber, unagi and tobiko. Once again, only thing that could've been better would be the rice. If you look at the picture closely, you can see it sliding towards the mushy side of the rice continuum.

Finally, we ended off with an order each of the Assorted Tempura and Prawn Tempura. When it arrived, we were slightly concerned at the ample amount of batter; yet it didn't really have an adverse effect since every piece remained crispy. I'm not sure how it would do if it cooled down a bit. The prawn had a nice crunchy texture and was quite sweet. As for the veggies, they were good as well. Nothing soggy nor overcooked. Well, well, well... We didn't expect decent eats at this place, for this price and at 12:30am in the morning on a Thursday. Of course it's all relative. There are better Japanese restaurants naturally. However, the food quality for the prices they charge makes it worth a look. Considering the fact that there are barely any other Japanese restaurants open this late on a weekday makes it even better.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Decent eats
- Open late

The Bad:
- Of course there is better Japanese food elsewhere; but not at this price and this late
- Service is friendly but extremely sparse

Poke'm

*This is no longer operating, Bun Me Baguette took over the location*

It's interesting that the City of Vancouver randomly selected vendors for their little street food experiment. I'm not sure why they didn't go into more detail as to the type of food, quality and staying power of each business. Case in point, I didn't even get a chance to try Chinese Skewer King, it didn't last very long. And some carts didn't even get up and running before the prime summer months. I digress. Now when it comes to classic Asian street food, there is nothing more common than the meatball (particularly curry fish balls). So, I was pleased to find out that there is indeed a cart that serves balls and lots of them! With sauce no less! Ahem...

Residing at the prime corner of Robson and Hornby is Poke'm. The premise here is to pick your balls and sauce. Nothing like a choice of balls and sauce! One order of 4 costs $3.75 and the combo of 2 choices goes for $7.00. A little pricey for meatballs; but it is consistent with most of the other food carts in Downtown. Not knowing what to order, I asked for the 2 most popular balls. The first one was the Cuttlefish Balls with Japanese sauce. By looking at the picture, something is quite obvious. If you said that it looks like balls with Terimayo (a la Japadog), you are correct. A combination of teriyaki, mayo, sweet wasabi, nori and sesame seeds, this tasted very similar to the Terimayo. In terms of the cuttlefish balls, they were quite soft with only a slightest of chew. I personally like mine a bit chewier; yet they were still quite good.

I wasn't as enthused about the Chicken Balls with Vietnamese sauce (sweet peanut, cashews, fried onions and green onions). Nothing wrong with the sauce itself, it was not bad with a definite nuttiness. However, the chicken balls were too big. I don't like big balls. Uh... Anyways, the sauce to ball ratio (man, this whole post sounds sketchy...) was not good. Furthermore, there was this strange aftertaste from the chicken ball that was not pleasing. Imagine the aftertaste from a Vietnamese beef ball in the form of a chicken ball. However, this could just be a personal preference. Actually, I enjoyed the snack here at Poke'm. Not bad, especially with all the possible combinations. But... once again it comes down to the pricing. Normally, curry fish balls are one of the cheapest items. I realize that there are operating costs involved and this is not exactly curry fish balls. I'm just wondering if people can look past that psychological barrier due to the image of meatballs and how much they should cost.

The Good:
- Easy-to-share snack-type food
- Interesting combinations
- It's actually not bad

The Bad:
- Despite all the positives, do people want to shell out almost $1.00 for each ball?

Sherman's Food Adventures 2nd Anniversary

Can you believe it? It's been already 2 years since I started doing this. Well, I'm sure my stomach doesn't want to believe it. But it's true. From that first post in November of 2008, I have both experienced and learned a lot. Hey, I'm still learning lots every day! I need to give thanks to the many readers of this blog who leave insightful and encouraging comments. After all, it was that first comment that prompted me to do more than my "one" post. Yes, that's right, I only started this blog to get a particular someone off my case. She was an annoyance then; yet an inspiration today. Without her encouragement, this would've never existed. I have to reiterate that this blog is a passion of mine that is still a hobby of some sorts. I sincerely hope it is exemplified in my writing and pictures.

To show my appreciation for continued readership, I'm holding another draw for a $50.00 gift card to a restaurant which is convenient for the winner. Yes, it is less than I had for last years draw; but it comes out of my own pocket, so forgive me. Blame the HST or something like that. So, for each person who leaves a comment on this thread, they will be entered into a draw for the GC. Please leave at least a last name initial so I can differentiate between people with the same name. The draw will be held on November 15th via a random draw (using Random.org). Once again, thanks for reading and let's see if I have the appetite for more!