Burgers Etc...

I had first visited Burgers Etc. over a year and a half ago. Back then, I had stated that I would love to return to try their BBQ meats since Viv and I only tried the burger and brisket sandwich. Funny how it took us so long to pay them another visit! Looks like other food got in the way first... Well, we really didn't plan on a return visit actually. However, after a full day of my daughter's birthday, we were not wanting to cook or take care of the kiddies anymore. Lucky for us, the grandparents took 'em and we could go out for a bite. Since Rich Guy was at the party already, he had initiated the idea of eating out. Originally, I was thinking of Indian food; but Viv wanted BBQ instead.

Burgers Etc. is a really small joint that slightly resembles any Memphis Blues location. In fact, it serves up many of the same items including sharing platters. Yet, their one claim to fame are there burgers which were voted as the best by CTV News viewers. With that in mind, Rich Guy was determined to give their "Best" Burger a go. As described, it consists of a 6 oz ground chuck steak cooked medium well with the usual condiments. It comes with a choice of corn niblets, potato salad, coleslaw or baked beans. From past experience, stay away from the niblets, it's just boiled generic corn. Much like last time, the burger was pretty good. The homemade patty was moist and had good beef flavour. All the ingredients were fresh, not much to complain about. Is it the best? It's up there; but there is better.

Burger, been there, done that. We were here to try the Etc. Platter which is comprised of Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, BBQ Chicken, BBQ Ribs, Spicy Italian Sausage and Spicy Chicken Wings with a choice of 3 sides. We decided on the Potato Salad, Fries and Baked Beans. The best part of the platter is the pulled pork. It's actually quite moist while still retaining a slight chew. The BBQ sauce is more tangy tomatoey rather than smokey. Unlike Memphis Blues, the brisket here is not fall-apart tender. Rather, it very much resembles the brisket you'd get in Vietnamese Pho, except chewier. I personally prefer the one from Memphis (dry, burnt parts withstanding) over the one here. To me, the spicy sausage was fantastic. Meaty and easy on the fat, the sausage was moderately spicy with great meat flavour. The ribs are very similar to the ones at Memphis. Slightly dry with most of the moisture provided by the sauce, these are moist, just not juicy. As for the BBQ chicken, we got 2 portions of white meat. For me, that means dry and chewy. Yup, that's how it turned out. I fully expected it to be so though. The spicy chicken wings were not really that spicy (but we have a high tolerance for that). They were your typical BBQ wings.

Previously, I thought the fries here were not very crispy and generic. Well, they are still generic; however, they were very crispy this time. We liked the texture of the potato salad, too bad it was bland. The baked beans also had good texture as each kidney bean retained its shape. Mostly sweet and lacking depth, the baked beans were not that impressive. As for the coleslaw, that was a real winner with thinly shredded cabbage in a light tart mayo dressing. Much like last time, I'm not sure if the burger is the best in town; but it is indeed solid. As for the BBQ items, I have mixed feelings. Some were good, some were not. But definitely a good value in terms of portion size. Bottom line is - I would come back.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Solid burgers
- Decent portion size

The Bad:
- Some sides need work
- Some of the BBQ items are pretty average

Guu with Otokomae

I love the Canucks. Yes, even though they have given me my fair share of disappointments over the years, my support for them is unwavering. I do go to the occasional game here and there; but due to my busy schedule (and the freakin' expensive ticket prices), I haven't been to many games lately. Hey, the stadium was still GM Place the last time I watched a game. In fact, it was courtesy of Rich Guy. He had invited me to watch a game in his brother's private suite. Now you can see why his brother has the nickname of Richer Guy! Last week, Rich Guy had invited me again to a game; but I was unable to go. Fortunately for me, he asked me to go again and I jumped at the chance. Apparently, Costanza and Toolman jumped at the chance too. Ah, nothing like watching a Canucks game from a suite. The private washroom is worth it alone! However, who really orders stuff from the menu? $80.00 for a prime rib sandwich??? Uh, no thank you very much. I can get a whole prime rib at that price. Consequently, we left our eating until after the game.

Since we were in Downtown, we headed over to Guu with Otokamae in Gastown. Wait, aren't there closer locations to Rogers Arena? Yup, but I've been to every Guu in the GVRD except the one in Gastown. Now it is complete... Since we didn't have an actual dinner, we were quite hungry. So we ended up ordering 15 dishes. Our server was giving us the funny face when I got to about the 11th dish while ordering. I guess he assumed we were here for a snack. Well, Izakayas are not technically meant for dinner since it is supposed to be an after work drinking establishment with some small bites.

We started with the Sashimi Salad and it looked big due to the large amount of spring mix and daikon underneath the fresh slices of salmon, tai and scallop. The garlic dressing with wasabi mayo added nice flavour to all of the components without being overwhelming - a nice start to the meal. From healthy to no-so-healthy were the Japanese Yam Fries with honey mayo. Unlike the common yam fries we are accustomed to, these ones were appreciably thicker and less crunchy. The outside was still somewhat crispy while the inside was noticeably smooth yam. Thus, there was a nice textural contrast within each fry. The honey mayo was nice; but personally, I would've like to see a dip with some zing (with some balsamic or acid). Rich Guy loves Beef Tataki, so it was natural we order it. In fact, he merely looked at me and I already knew. It's like ESP or something. Maybe he's just predictable, much like his aversion to cheap food... This was a textbook version of the dish with lightly seared beef served in thin slices topped with ponzu, garlic chips and green onion. I like this combination of flavours the best, unlike some other less authentic Izakayas that employ a vinaigrette of some sort. The only negative in this case was the slightly chewy beef.

When I spotted Eel & Egg on the fresh sheet, I thought we should give it a shot. It's basically a breaded piece of eel topped with a half-boiled egg and teriyaki sauce. Texturally, this worked because the soft egg was a nice contrast to the crunchy eel cutlet. However, I personally wasn't all that convinced of the flavour. Let me rephrase that, the lack of flavour. Since the eel was fried, it got lost in the breading. The egg had no inherent flavour of its own and the modest amount of teriyaki sauce didn't have much impact. Meh. Okay, call us crazy; but we decided to give the Crab & Shrimp Dumplings a try. I know, this is an Izakaya, not a Dim Sum joint. However, it just seemed so interesting to us, especially since they were steamed in a bamboo steamer exactly how it would be at Chinese Dim Sum. They weren't bad per se; but there were some issues. First, the dumpling wrapper was too thick, resulting in a gummy product. Furthermore, I didn't taste or see much crab. Sure, there was plenty of shrimp and good shrimp at that (crunchy and sweet, slightly overcooked), just not much in the way of crab. Well, crab is pretty delicate anyways and it can get lost if it is overwhelmed by other components. I think the thick dumpling wrapper aided in that respect.

Another dish selected by Rich Guy was the Saba with Garlic Herb. It turned out to be a pretty large fillet of grilled mackerel with garlic chips, dill, soy and olive oil atop a bed of peppers and onion. Naturally, mackerel will never turn out to be buttery soft such as black cod; however, it was prepared nicely since it was still quite moist. I'm not a huge fan of mackerel; yet this was not bad. Despite the large amount of aromatics and flavouring agents on the cast iron plate, I found the fish to be surprisingly bland. On the topic of bland, it was quite disappointing to find that the Grilled Beef Short Ribs to be lacking in flavour. Maybe because it was only seasoned with salt and pepper? On the menu, it states that it's very tasty with the green onion oil. No one at our table thought it was very tasty. Furthermore, the short ribs were cold and very chewy. We've definitely had better elsewhere.

Not to worry, the meal got back on track in a hurry with the Duck Breast which is braised in red wine and soy topped with a blueberry and mango sauce. It's amazing how a place like Guu can outdo many finer establishments in terms of preparing a duck breast. As they say, we eat with our eyes and if the presentation is any indication, the dish was excellent. Perfectly cooked and uniform looking, the meat was moist and tender. The accompanying sauce was neither too sweet or too savoury - it let the duck have its day. Costanza really wanted Ebi Mayo. It's his favourite dish. He likes it so much, he wanted to order two. Our server looked at him weird and this was on top of him already wondering why we were ordering so much. We only ended up with one in the end. Although we liked this version of Ebi Mayo, it certainly pales in comparison to the one at Hapa. The liberal use of tempura batter added too much to the shrimp and thus partially obstructed the natural texture of the shrimp. The chili mayo had a nice kick though which is always welcomed.

Another fish dish, guess who ordered it? Yes, Rich Guy. He and his rich tastes... This time it was the Maguro Tataki. As you can see in the picture, very nice tuna, lightly seared topped with a light ponzu dressing, garlic chips and green onion. The natural sweetness of the tuna really shone in this dish and the little amount of ponzu provided a slight acidity and saltiness as an accent. Next up was the Spicy Ika Garlic. Beautifully presented as a town of fried squid, this was one of my favourites of the entire meal. Although the squid had lost much of its crispiness due to being tossed in a spicy tomato sauce, the moisture-soaked batter made for an interesting texture. A little chewy while still easy to eat, the squid was very flavourful and spicy (not too much so). I could've had a few orders of this with a few beers. Alas, I didn't, even though I wasn't driving. That new .05 limit keeps me on my toes!

When dining at an Izakaya, it is often prudent to get some "filler" dishes just to ensure satisfaction. We never did order a rice or noodle dish; but we did get the Okonomi-Yaki. It's often called a Japanese pizza or pancake. Whatever the name, it usually consists of flour, cabbage and some sort of seafood and/or meat (squid in this case). The whole thing is pan-fried and topped with wasabi mayo, tonkatsu sauce, bonito flakes and nori. The one we had here was very soft, almost falling apart when we picked it up. Personally, I like this texture more than it being stiff. The large amount of toppings and sauce made it messy to eat, but it was delicious. A good combo of sweet (predominantly), savoury, slightly spicy and tart.

Alright, whenever at Guu, I get the Takoyaki or affectionately known as octopus balls. I know what you are thinking, and not it's not a bunch of ball-less octopi left as a result of this dish. Rather, it is bits of octopus combined with a flour mixture then pan-grilled in a mold. The ones here are deep-fried and topped with tonkatsu sauce, wasabi mayo, bonito flakes and dried seaweed. Good as usual. Last dish of the night was probably our least favourite - Maguro with 5 Colour Sauce. It's a combination of chopped tuna, avocado with mango sauce, wasabi mayo, sour cream, teriyaki sauce, yuzu pepper sauce topped with seaweed, radish sprouts and crispy wonton skins. Even the crispy wonton skins couldn't hide the mushiness. There was just too much going on here, too muddled and over-ambitious. However, a typical Guu experience is not like that and in fact, is very good for the price. No different this time around. Solid eats, reasonable prices, friendly loud staff along with good friends. Good times.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- All around good food
- This location is actually quite comfortable

The Bad:
- Maybe a little less refined than Kingyo and Hapa, but it is less expensive too

Rainbow Butterfly

The state of Dim Sum in the Tri-Cities area can be summed up in one word - pathetic. Other than a few places, it is a Dim Sum wasteland of sorts. Kirin, by default, is the go to place. Of course this may not be everyone's first choice; but there is very little in the way of competition nearby. Sure, there used to be Maple Garden near the Brick. That is long, long gone. And yes, there are/were some on Anson Ave as well. Those come and go, with Kam Ding being current one. When I used to live in Coquitlam, Dim Sum would mean "driving to Vancouver or Richmond". Oh, and don't lump Hon's into the equation, that is not a true Dim Sum restaurant. So while we were out with the kiddies at Coquitlam Centre, we briefly considered eating at the food court. Okay choice when you got kids in tow. However, we wanted something more interesting. How interesting? Try Dim Sum in Port Coquitlam. Okay, please don't laugh. Ever since we got really good Dim Sum out in Langley at Luxe, anything is possible. As we passed every conceivable chain restaurant while driving down Lougheed Hwy (it's like this in the burbs!), I really began to wonder if this was a good idea. Yet, as I turned onto Oxford, I noticed the line of Bimmers and Benzs pulling into the parking lot.

Walking into the place, it is quite obvious that it has changed hands a few times. It's got this mix of decor including a former sushi bar and North American decor. Quite comfortable with the booth seating; but makes for a tight squeeze when it comes to Dim Sum service. Moreover, there was a substantial lineup too. I wanted to leave; but Viv talked me into staying. Turns out it was a good idea, the food was not bad. And about that food, we started with the Haw Gow. I found that the dumpling skin to be slightly overcooked. However, as it sat there and cooled, it tightened up and was not bad. The shrimp filling was crunchy; yet quite sweet. On that note, we found the Sui Mai to be more sweet than savoury as well. I could definitely taste the pork, which was not necessarily a bad thing. Texturally, it was mostly soft with a few bits of chewy pork and crunchy shrimp. Not bad, just a bit too one-dimensional in the flavour profile. Sweetness continued into the next dish which was the Szechuan Green Beans. Normally, this dish is quite spicy and savoury with a touch of sweetness. However, this version was far from spicy. In fact, it was very sweet. Despite this, I didn't mind the dish, if I thought of it as something other than Szechuan. The beans were oil-blanched nicely so they were still crisp. I also liked the addition of crunchy pickled radishes. Nice texturally and flavour-wise. I didn't care for the julienned pork. It was not necessary.

From too sweet to lack of flavour, we have the Pork Spareribs. In terms of the meat itself, it had a nice chewiness to it without being tough. Furthermore, the ribs were not fatty or oily. Thus, it was really too bad that there was almost no seasoning whatsoever. All we could taste was pork. Not that again is not necessarily a bad thing. However, there was no garlic, peppers or black bean flavour to be found. One of my favourite dishes that we normally do not order is the Fried Bean Curd Skin Rolls. Viv is not a big fan of it and really, if I ate all 3 of them, I would lose most of my ability to eat anything else. But I went ahead and ordered it anyways, knowing full well I'd be taking leftovers home. Well, after trying one of them, I probably wished I didn't order it after all. Once again, the main flavour I got was sweet. Generally, the starch-thickened sauce should be a good mix of savoury and sweet. It is based on oyster sauce, so saltiness should be a given. But the flavour wasn't the biggest issue here. Rather, it was the texture of the pork inside. It was pretty dry and almost mealy. Not very pleasant to chew. Furthermore, there was a lack of veggies to provide the necessary textural contrast. Normally, there are a good amount of wood ear mushrooms, carrots and celery. There was a minimal amount here.

As if there was a sale on Rogers Sugar, the Honeycomb Tripe was also pretty sweet. In fact, it had a sweetness with depth. Believe it or not, I didn't mind this since it went well with the soft tripe. Also, there was a discernible garlic flavour. It was possibly slightly too soft; but I didn't mind it since it still had a bit of chew left. Nothing worse than overly chewy tripe. Can't eat it. Viv spotted some people having the Pan Fried Taro Cake and it was massive. Suffice to say we got an order. Thickly-cut while still soft, these were good. Nicely browned (well, 2 of them at least) and full of taro and Chinese sausage, these had good taro flavour.

Now for a dish we just don't find much of anymore - Deep Fried Shrimp Toast. As the name suggests, we got a mix of prawn mousse and pieces of prawn atop bread, then deep-fried. In this case, there was a considerable amount of sesame seeds on top. The sesame seeds provided a nuttiness to an otherwise one dimensionally-flavoured dish. Toast was crispy and the shrimp mixture was sweet while exhibiting a nice bounce. I love shrimp toast, too bad it is so darn oily. Continuing onto our 9th dish... Yes, we were hungry and well, we had lunch for tomorrow too. Okay, the Beef Meatballs. Often ridiculed since many people refer to to them as "beef balls" which scare away those who don't know what it is. They are merely pureed beef usually tenderized with baking soda and mixed with starch, water chestnuts, green onions and/or cilantro. Typically, the desired texture is one that is somewhat "bouncy"; rather than moist or chewy. These ones were indeed bouncy and had a nice balance of flavours being not too heavy on the greens.

Dim Sum is not complete without an order of Rice Noodle Rolls. We ended up getting both the beef and the shrimp. For some odd reason, instead of the typical 3 large shrimp per roll, there was a combination of shrimp mousse and shrimp. Not something that I am used to; however, it was not much of a detriment to the final product. The rice noodle itself was slightly on the thicker side; yet was still soft and easy to divide with chopsticks. The beef was pretty good too with essentially the same meat as the beef meatballs. Finally we get to dessert. I'm not a huge dessert person, so these were mostly for the kiddies. We started with their favourite, the Egg Tarts. Served fresh from the oven, these were hot and flaky. Maybe not as flaky as others I've had; yet these were still very good. The filling was custardy and not too sweet. And as evidenced from the picture, these were baked nicely with good colour.

Last dish was the Steamed Custard Buns. We normally do not order these; but since our Portland trip, our son has discovered that he likes them. And in this case, it was no different. He willingly ate the bun and quite quickly I must add. So fast, I didn't get to try them. From handling them, I could tell the bun was soft. Beyond that, the kiddies seemed to like them a lot, so we'll leave it at that. Overlooking some issues, specifically the overuse of sugar, the food was more than acceptable. Take into account that the pricing for most dishes is only $2.75, we have ourselves a winner out in Poco. Pleasantly surprised is the only thing we could think of as we left. I could definitely see myself returning if we were in the area. A good, less-expensive alternative to Kirin.

The Good:
- Very affordable
- Good portions
- Despite some issues, decent eats (Dim Sum)

The Bad:
- Restaurant is small, long waits during peak times
- Place is not designed for Dim Sum, space is at a premium

Show Case

As I have been chiming about over and over again - fine dining and young children are not necessarily a good mix. Sure, this is highly dependent on the individual children and different restaurants. However, as a rule, most fine dining establishments are not exactly kid-friendly. So how do we get around this problem? What if a family wants to go for some unique eats other than the usual chain restaurants such as Red Robin or Boston Pizza? And with some of the prices creeping up at these chains, it's almost makes sense to eat something better. Well, other than the odd fine dining establishment that embraces families, the venerable hotel restaurant fits the bill. Of course by virtue of this, some compromises must be made. Often, hotel dining does not equate to creativity nor exciting eats. There are exceptions; but really, they have no choice. Think about it. A hotel caters to many different people differing in age, nationality and preferences. Consequently, hotel food needs to be somewhat neutral and safe. With that being said, hotel restaurants also means kid's menus. At the very least, kids are welcomed at these places.

So that was the issue I was facing when picking a place to celebrate my dad's birthday. Where could we go as a family? We finally settled on Showcase in the Marriott Pinnacle in Downtown. More of a "near" fine dining establishment than anything else, Showcase fit the bill for the family. In fact, they sat us in a corner at a round table away from everyone. Perfect in my books. The kids can be kids and I can use my flash without worry. Now, one look at the menu and it is obvious that Showcase is a mesh between fine and casual dining. Case in point, of our 3 appetizers, only the Crab Cakes could be considered fine dining material. And those crab cakes were pretty good. Soft and fluffy on the inside with a crisp coating, these were naturally sweet. The corn and cilantro relish underneath only added another level of sweetness. I liked how there was only a conservative amount of cilantro used; but the dish probably needed some more savouriness.

For our second appetizer, we got the Artichoke Dip with pita chips. The pita chips were fantastic. Thin and crispy, these went well with the cream cheese dip. The dip itself was very cheesy and garlicky. To further exemplify the non-fine diningness of Show Case, we ordered the Yam Fries with garlic mayo. Hey, this is a simple appy, but the fries were crisp to the very last piece. My dad and Viv ended up ordering the same 2-course meal. The horror! Duplicates! Anyways, they started with the Seafood Chowder and it was terrible. Yes, there was plenty of seafood and fresh tomatoes. Moreover, the bowl was really large. But it was as if they poured a vat of vinegar into it. So tart, it could be considered sour. We really should have sent it back. Fortunately, their main course, which was Seafood Linguine, was much better. Well- executed seafood atop al dente pasta in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. Viv remarked that everything seemed right about this dish; yet at the same time it was nothing special. I tried it myself and yah it was not bad for a non-Italian restaurant.

For myself I went for something light due to the many appetizers we had ordered. When the Seared Black Cod arrived, it was indeed very light. 2 small pieces of cod was accompanied by an arugula and fennel salad with tomato oregano dressing. On the side was a grilled lemon which went well with the cod. The fish was prepared nicely being flaky and moist while the salad was a nice mix of flavours (bitterness from the arugula, licorice from the fennel and tartness/sweetness from the dressing). My mom ended up with something heavy in the Rib Eye with black pepper Hollandaise, mushrooms and roast tomato. She couldn't finish it so I basically filled the void left from the cod with the steak. She asked for it to be prepared medium-rare and it was indeed so. However, for some reason or another, the steak was not tender. I do realize that a rib eye is not normally as tender as a NY striploin; but this was bordering on tough. Very strange since the meat was well-marbled. Bad batch? The dish ended up to be quite saucy, maybe too much sauce. The Hollandaise was quite good; however, it was almost overwhelmed by the sweet demi-glace. At least I think it was demi-glace since it was resembling something like teriyaki. Loved the mushrooms though, added a nice flavour into each bite of steak.

Now for the real reason we chose this place - the kiddies! It's nice to have an actual kid's menu available. For my daughter, she had the Hot Dog with fries and fruit salad. For $7.99, there was quite a lot of food. Lots of crispy fries and fresh fruit salad (cut up into smaller bits for the kiddies). The hot dog was... well a hot dog. At least the bun was toasted. My son went for his favourite - Mac 'n Cheese with the same fries and fruit salad. Not much to comment on the mac 'n cheese really. It was alright for kids; but I personally wouldn't eat it. But for a hotel restaurant of this class, the amount of food for the price is quite fair (for the kid's meals). And once again, that is the main reason we came here. Our entire family including the kids could go out for a meal that doesn't involve Red Robin or White Spot. However, the food here at Show Case is average at best. For the items we tried, they were all edible; but not worth the price point. With that being said, Show Case is already one of the more "affordable" hotel restaurants in Downtown. In fact, with some of the menu options, Show Case tends to lean more towards casual dining rather than fine dining. Despite this, there are better eats in this price range nearby.

The Good:
- Prices are okay considering the location
- Family friendly
- Varied choice on the menu including less expensive items

The Bad:
- Food in general is below average

New Lakeview

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure that my activity schedule was really all that well thought out. You see, we had just returned from Portland at around midnight on Friday. Then we had to wake up the following morning to do the whole PNE thing with the kiddies. Well, that really wasn't that bad. After all, there was lots of eating to be had! The problem is... I had promised to play a hockey game that night as well. So with the limited amount of time between returning from the PNE and heading off to hockey, I shoveled some Vietnamese takeout into my mouth. Now with legs feeling like Jello, I took to the ice and luck would have it, the game was a bit one-sided. We got outshot by a ratio of 2:1. Now my legs were really feeling it! Not all was lost though because Betaboy promised he'd go eat with me afterwards. That was the deal if I played goal for him tonight. Yes, it was my "gentle" persuasion to get people out to eat. Joining us were ChunkyLover69 (See: Simpsons) and Max Power.

Since we were playing at Moody Park, we headed over to New Lakeview. Only up the block, it was a natural choice. Well, not really... A bunch of people opted to head to the Market Crossing Boston Pizza. 2 problems with that. It's not on the way home for us and honestly, BP sucks. Paying $17.29 for a plate of overcooked pasta with bland, watery sauce is plain lunacy. I don't care how big the portion is. Oh and Bolognese sauce does not have green peppers! Sorry, just me ranting. So, the main draw with New Lakeview are the low prices and large portions. As evidenced by Max Power's Combo A dinner (for only $8.95), it can feed 2 people. Loaded with Chicken Chow Mein, Sweet 'n Sour Pork and Chop Suey, this would put any Manchu Wok or Panda Express meal to shame. ChunkyLover69 had the Brisket Rice Noodles and it was alright. The broth was somewhat weak while the brisket was dry. However, the large portion made up for it.

Betaboy and I shared 2 items starting with the Chicken & Lettuce Fried Rice. This was also on the bland side and the rice was quite dry. However, for fried rice, dry is certainly much better than wet. Lots of chicken in the rice too. We also shared the Fish & Tofu Hot Pot. We got this because the table next to us had it. It looked absolutely huge and stuffed with lots of fish and tofu. Indeed it was a lot of food and very garlicky as well. However, the fish was tad "fishy". Not that they would use fresh fish anyways... And that really says it all about the food here. Mostly okay; but certainly not outstanding. But considering the prices and huge portion sizes, it makes up for some of the deficiencies. Taking into account its location, there is really not much around that can compete; thus, it will most certainly have a steady stream of repeat customers.

The Good:
- Freakin' large portions
- Cheap
- Open late

The Bad:
- Food is okay, but not great
- It's a dive