The Red Wagon

I'm not an extremely squeamish person. Hey, I love offal and really enjoy the sight of it in restaurants and a butcher shop. However, one thing that totally gets me is blood work. You see, I needed to get a blood test and well, it requires the extraction of blood from moi. I put on a brave face; yet it is all for show. Inside, I am a tortured soul. Actually, the wait in line is probably equally torturous! Well, this time around, it was quick. I was in and out within 10 minutes. That was great. Now I was super hungry! I had fasted for over 14 hours with hockey in between. I quickly called up Rich Guy and wondered if he wanted to join me for breakfast. He was really in the mood for eggs benny and suddenly, The Red Wagon came to mind. The brainchild of Brad Miller, formerly of Au Petit Chavignol, Bistro Pastis and West, this unassuming little diner offers more than it appears.

We were originally seated at an inside table with little natural light. I stalked the table near the window and once they began to pay, I snatched it. Anything for my pictures! So Rich Guy got his fix with the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. With perfectly poached eggs and a relatively light Hollandaise sauce with a good lemon zing. Rich Guy probably said it best: "the eggs benny is better than some fancier places". And he has been to many fancy places to quantify this statement. For me, I had 2 items that were a must-try. One of which were the Pulled Pork Pancakes. With 3 thick; yet fluffy pancakes and tender pulled pork sandwiched in between then doused with butter and syrup, these were frickin' awesome. I've had something similar at Deacon's Corner before; but this version is definitely better. It could've used a bit more sauce and less syrup (or served on the side); however, for what we got, it was delicious and I couldn't stop eating it.

Now I mentioned that I had 2 dishes in mind... Well, instead of trying to decide, I got them both. I also ordered the Crispy Pork Belly which came with two eggs, home fries, griddled tomatoes, salsa verde, hollandaise and toast. The star of this plate was of course the pork belly. It was excellent. Completely melt-in-your-mouth meat and fat with a slightly crisp exterior, this was a sin worth committing. The only thing I would change are the potatoes, they could've been more crispy. So after loading up on a gazillion calories, we were stuffed and satisfied. I guess my starvation made me order too much... Well, that's my usual MO anyways. As for the Red Wagon, it ain't much to look at; but for the breakfast items we tried, it was very good at a reasonable price. Service was friendly and efficient for the one person working the room. Breakfast is only one portion of the menu here since they serve lunch as well. Lots of interesting items to try there as well. I will be back to try those dishes and a side of those pancakes too!

The Good:
- Solid food
- Inexpensive
- A good divey atmosphere

The Bad:
- Artery-clogging diner food (I don't mind though!)
- As you can imagine, it'll be really busy during peak hours

Falconetti's

Really. What is so special about sausages? It's a tube of mystery meat that is usually stuffed inside a bun of some sort. Hardly something to get really excited about. However, much like many other basic foods like the sandwich and burger, the modest meat in tube is gaining recognition. Okay, lemme clarify one thing first. A sausage does not necessarily equal a wiener. Especially at Falconetti's, if one dares to refer to their house-made sausages as wieners, the patrons might be offended. Mijune and I were on a mission tonight - to find out what the fuss is about these sausages. In fact, Mijune wanted a lot of sausage... Um... For me, I guess this was a sausage fest that could not be avoided. For the record, we were partially comped for this meal.

We were presented with a few of their most popular sausages to start. Fortunately or unfortunately, we began with the Polish sausage. You see, this was the best one we had hands down. Either that can be seen as a great start or something that ruined us for anything else. The beef sausage itself was very meaty and lean. Despite being lean, it was juicy and tender. Tasting quite mild, it went well with the sauerkraut, onions and grainy mustard. The bun was served toasted and warm. It was soft while still being able to stand up to the ingredients. Sure, it's a sausage in a bun; but it was a very good sausage in a bun. For no other reason that we just were curious, we wanted to try the Asian Thai Chicken. With familiar flavours and a chunky chicken sausage, this was a very predictable offering. It was a harmonious blend of coconut, curry, lime & ginger with asian veggies, sesame oil & hoisin. Nothing wrong with it at all and in fact it was quite good. But we're Asian and well, it tastes Asian.

As for the Chaurice, Mijune really didn't care for it. A combination of Cajun style chorizo with diced tomatoes, red onion, house & hot sauce, the whole thing left our tongues stinging. I personally didn't dislike it; although it was mostly a one-note flavour. For us, we weren't huge fans; but those who like it hot may love it, so it's all up to personal tastes. Besides, I liked the texture of the sausage itself. It was moist and only a little bit greasy and really spicy. What we should have done was try the Hot Italian first as our mouths were on fire. So we ate the rest of it later and got a true sense of the combination of Parmesan, tomatoes, onions and house sauce. This was our second favourite after the Polish. The sausage was a bit chunky with plenty of texture and only a moderate amount of spice. I loved the addition of shredded Parmesan since it added a salty/pungent flavour that complimented the spice. As if that wasn't enough sausage, Mijune indicated she'd like to sample the Honey Brat. Yes, she likes her sausages with lots of sauce... Comprised of somewhat caramelized onions and a honey mustard sauce, this was predictably sweet. However, it wasn't as sweet as one might think. We didn't get a whole lot of honey mustard flavour, which to me was not necessarily a bad thing. That would probably overwhelm the brat. Instead, the savouriness of the brat could stand out against the sweet ingredients. With that being said, this would worked even better if the onions were caramelized a bit more to give some extra smokiness and rich flavour.

At this point, I was so full, I was going to burst. But not Mijune. She asked for more sausage! Er... Yet it wasn't meat in a bun. Rather, try sausage in a Quesadilla. We selected the Polish sausage as the meat in this dish. Normally, for us, a quesadilla is a quesadilla. Not really all that exciting. This one was not an ordinary quesadilla. Filled with 2 cheeses, onions, sausage and then grilled and pan-fried, this was a messy, flavourful concoction. The house-made tomatillo sauce was the necessary tang that helped cut through the richness of the ingredients. We really liked this dish. So how did the sausages fare? Very well. We could definitely taste the quality and care that went into making these sausages. Good flavour and texture. Of course there are some that worked better than others; but that is always the case and due to personal preferences. These are definitely not your run-of-the-mill sausages. They are higher-class will you, just like the gourmet burgers and sandwiches that are all the craze. In fact, one could buy these gourmet sausages from the soon-to-be open meat shop next door.

The Good:
- Very good house-made sausages
- Reasonably-priced
- Funky ambiance

The Bad:
- When the live band is playing, it's really loud (but if you like that, then it's a good!)
- Didn't try the other items, so the jury is still out on that

Arturo's Mexico To Go

With the mini-explosion of food carts in Vancouver, it has been somewhat of a challenge to hit all of them. First we had the slow roll out, with some still not yet up and running. Second, they are scattered around everywhere and unless you work in Downtown, they are not exactly easy to get to (especially finding parking!). Another issue is tracking them down in general. Some have closed up shop completely (Chinese Skewer King) or even moved locations (Eli's Serious Sausage). However, I must admit that my visit to Arthur's Mexico to Go has not been due to any of the aforementioned issues. It is no secret that Mexican food is not exactly my first choice of cuisine. I am in no way saying that Mexican food cannot be good. With the stagnant variety of Mexican fare in Vancouver, it makes it very hard for me to like it. I might actually have to risk my health and eat a authentic eateries in Mexico to alleviate this problem. Or maybe I can just spend lots of money and visit Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill in Chicago. So, in lieu of those ambitious adventures, for the time being I'll have to settle for what we got. Hey, as TS (from Eating Club Vancouver) states, "we deserve the restaurants that we get".

Last time I had visited Dim Sum Express (which is right around the corner from Arturo's), I briefly entertained the thought of having a second lunch from Arturo's'; but I wisely did not. Such self-control! Anyways, this time around I was hungry and went for 3 items starting with the Tortilla Soup. With a combination of avocado, beans, cheese and crisp tortillas, this would have been great if the tortillas were served on the side. I tried the soup immediately; but there was little crispiness left. Despite this, the soup base itself was good with some spice and tomato. For no reason other than to have some variety, I ordered one each of the Tacotino and Burrito. For the tacotino, I went for beef and asked for it to be spicy. For me, I didn't find it spicy. Rather, I found it tart from all the onions and peppers. I really didn't taste anything else. It was partly the same for the burrito as well. I went for chicken and depending where I bit into, the same overwhelming tartness from the onions and peppers took over. If I bit somewhere else, the burrito was actually quite good. Everything was vibrant and fresh. Next time, I think I'll just ask for less grilled onions and peppers. Overall, the food was not bad. It's just probably not my favourite type of cuisine. Thus, I would try it again if I'm in the area; but I am not necessarily rushing back.

The Good:
- Ingredients are fresh
- No absence of flavour

The Bad:
- For me, the flavours were not balanced
- A little pricey

Beautiful Island

Awhile ago, Jenny had blogged about this small Taiwanese bubble tea restaurant out on Imperial called Beautiful Island. From her post, it didn't inspire me to visit the place anytime soon. However, the place is open late and you know I like to eat out after hockey. So... it suddenly reappeared on my radar, especially since there are not a whole lot of places to eat in Burnaby after midnight. From what I can recall, there is The One, Potter's Garden, Au Wing Kee, #1 Beef Noodle, Bubble World, Curry King and of course the chain restaurants. Chill used to be one option; but it has since closed down. If you read my post about it, you'll see why that happened. One problem with Beautiful Island. I wasn't sure when they actually closed. Easy, just call them. Yah, that would be ideal if they actually had a number listed! The number on Urbanspoon is wrong and there seems to be no other form of documentation on the internet about this place. I really didn't want to randomly visit the place to find out it is closed.

Yet, that is what we did. No choice. We wanted to eat, it was late and we wanted to head to Burnaby. Luck would have it, it was open. Open until 1:00am on Friday and 2:00am on Saturday. Oh and I still don't have the right phone number because they don't have a take out menu. I usually get the info that way. I didn't write down their phone number. Epic fail of sorts. The reason we chose Beautiful Island is because Apu, Gordo and myself reside in Burnaby. Thus, Milhouse and Boss Woman were the token Vancouver residents. When we arrived, there was only one other table. Maybe it was late? Maybe they don't have a working phone number listed??? Sorry, that just bugs me!

Boss Woman really likes to share food as a means to try more than one dish. Hey, so do I! Perfect! Hence, we shared 3 items starting with the Marinated Combo consisting of Beef Shank, Pig's Ear and Chicken Giblets. This would've been really good if the sauce actually tasted like anything. For some reason or another, the sauce was bland despite the rich colour. Therefore, the meat was flavourless. Where the meats were bland, the Salty Peppery Chicken Nuggets were a flavour explosion. As the name suggests, it was salty and peppery; but in good balance. I liked the moist chicken that still had a light crunch. This was very good. Surprisingly, the best dish, in our opinion, was the Shrimp Fried Noodles. The noodles were al dente and none-too-oily. Lots of crunchy cabbage and carrots with large butterflied shrimp (should be called prawns) made for a solid fried noodle dish.

Now we wouldn't visit this type of restaurant without trying the Beef Noodle would we? Well, I made sure that everyone knew this... Milhouse and Gordo both got an order to try. First off, the noodles were al dente and the broth actually had some kick to it. However, as Milhouse remarked, "the soup is flavourful; but I can still taste the water". Thus, the soup lacked any real depth. The meat was actually quite dry and slightly chewy. Not a bad beef noodle, just not a good one. Apu went for one of their set meals which includes 3 mini-side dishes (pickled cabbage, green beans and a severely overcooked boiled egg). His main dish was Stir-Fried Cabbage and Pressed Tofu. Although the plating was not the prettiest, the dish was not bad. The cabbage was still crisp and there was no absence of flavour or spiciness. Hey, I gotta agree with Jenny here. The food ain't bad; but it isn't memorable as well. Good for late night, not sure about other times.

The Good:
- Open late
- Drinks were not bad
- Pricing is okay

The Bad:
- Food is pretty average
- Service is not really that attentive

Nagano (Newport Village)

It's truly a wonderful day. The birds are singing. The sun is shining (well, the day before at least). And Rich Guy is arriving into YVR! Yes, that only means one thing - more eats! Gone for what has seem like an eternity, I had lost one of my "go-to" dining companions. Anxiously, I awaited his return. Naturally, I offered to pick him up from the airport. Scheduled to arrive at 4:00pm, it looked good that we could catch some dinner in the land of eternal traffic. Unfortunately, his flight arrived early and that ultimately kiboshed our dinner plans in Richmond. No matter, we made it to my house first and I gathered up the entire family to go out to eat. Besides, Rich Guy was treating! LOL. Since we had to give him a lift home to Coquitlam, we decided to eat in Port Moody.

Trying to stay away from heavy eats after sitting on a plane for 15+ hours, we settled on Japanese. Located in Newport Village, Nagano has a reputation for good eats; yet at relatively high prices. Once again, Rich Guy was treating, so that was perfect! LOL... One look at the menu and indeed the prices are a bit scary... $9.00 for an udon... That kinda says it all. But then again, we have an open mind and prefer to let the food do the talking. After we put in our order, we were given free head. Er, no wonder the everything is so expensive! ROFL! Okay, what I mean is we got a complimentary BBQ Salmon Head. Hey, not much to complain about since it was free. Mind you, it was pretty good too. The attached meat was moist and the rest of the parts were what you expect from a fish head. Fate would have it, the Ebi Mayo arrived after the head. Doused with an obscene amount of mayo, this was almost ironic after the head... Whatever the case, this has been one of the better versions outside of an Izakaya. The shrimp had the requisite snap texture while the light tempura was crisp. Despite the appearance of too much mayo, it was the right amount.

Next up was the Salmon Sashimi and it was good. As you can see, it sure looked fresh. Nice colour and texture. We could actually taste a difference. The flesh was quite sweet. We decided to try 2 of their specialty rolls starting with the Moody Fever. Now if someone wasn't familiar with the fact they were in Port Moody, the name of this roll could elicit some strange thoughts. This could be one "emo" roll... So the actual roll was comprised of a prawn tempura roll with tobiko, tuna and avocado topped with smoked salmon and seared tuna. Despite its modest size, the roll was substantial. If you look closely, what amounts to an entire order of tuna tataki rests on top of the roll. I took a sample of the sushi rice and it was more than acceptable. Slightly on the drier side, it was chewy and had some flavour.

The next specialty roll was the Dancing Unagi. First we had a roll that had emotional issues, now the second one is a dancing eel. Not sure what they are smokin' here... But I can see why they call it as such. The large pieces of unagi almost appear to be "dancing" atop a real crab California roll. The whole thing is finished with radish sprouts and unagi sauce. Despite sounding good on paper, I'm not sure if it is necessary to have real crab in this roll, it gets completely lost. With that being said, the roll is a fantastic value since there was enough unagi to make several rolls over. If we thought this roll was big on the unagi, it didn't prepare us for the Deluxe Assorted Tempura. The darn thing was so large, I had a hard time figuring out how to take a picture of it. Look at it! It was a mound of prawn, fish, squid, yam, sweet potato and squash tempura. Although the batter was on the thicker side of the ledger, it was cooked all the way through and wasn't heavy.

Since the kiddies were with us, here is the requisite Chicken Udon. Although the udon was good in its own ways, I personally do not like it cluttered with so much stuff. Look at it, you can barely make out the udon from the myriad of veggies. Then again, I can't knock it too much since the noodles were still chewy and the soup was quite tasty, albeit not tasting like most other udon I've had. For our last dish, we ended up getting the Chicken Yakisoba as a "filler" of sorts. Little did we know that their portions are quite large. We actually didn't end up eating this dish at all since we were quite full. Of course I had to take a sample still! From what I tried, it was quite good. The noodles were chewy and it was delicious. A nice balance of savoury and sweet. Lots of chicken and other goodies mixed in with the noodles too. Rich Guy had it for lunch the next day and remarked how good it was.

You know what? I have been somewhat avoiding Nagano for awhile because I have seen the prices. Compared to many of the nearby Japanese restaurants, Nagano can be deemed expensive. However, after this visit, the portion-to-price ratio appears to be quite fair. In that respect, it offsets the prices. We thought most of the food was fresh and well-made. Compared to nearby Sango, Nagano provides a better bang-for-the-buck at roughly the same prices. Furthermore, Nagano has the slight edge in terms of service as well. A solid experience all-around.

The Good:
- Good portions
- Friendly service
- Solid food

The Bad:
- Can be deemed expensive

Q Go Ramen

Consider this scenario. I'm sitting alone in a corner at Q Go Ramen. I'm disturbingly giddy taking photos of my noodles. There is a Mandarin-speaking couple sitting next to me. Due to the nature of the table configuration, they are practically encroaching on my personal space. They really have no idea what the heck I'm doing. How did I end up in this situation? Well, I'm no stranger to eating alone. I do it all the time for lunch. However, for some reason or another, dinner seems different. Originally, I was going to try out Hida Takayama in Robson Market. But I had to push those plans a few days forward since I was going to meet Kim for lunch. Thus, I was alone, still hungry and craving ramen.

So as mentioned, I was seated in a corner of sorts, so at the very least, only the immediate people around me could stare and point... In addition to water and utensils, the friendly server presented me with some complimentary Edamame. A nice touch in my opinion. Undaunted by a free appy of sorts, I decided to start with some Gyozas. I wasn't expecting much; yet these gyozas were pretty good. The best part was the dumpling wrapper itself. It was thin, easy to chew through while still retaining some chewiness at the same time. The filling was also quite pleasant being non-gritty; yet still meaty. The filling was a tad on the bland side; however, I did get some sweetness and that's what the accompanying dip is for anyways.

Again, not satisfied by only one appetizer, I went for a Mini-Chashu Don as well. Hey, I was hungry! I found the rice to be on the drier side while not terribly so. I prefer this over mushy rice any day. The chashu on top was also a bit dry. A bit more fat would've been better. I found that there was not enough sauce for the amount of rice. After awhile, I was only eating white rice with no more meat nor sauce. When I did get sauce, mayo, green onion and nori, the rice did taste okay. Overall it was acceptable. Now for the main-event. I went for the Shio Ramen with a side of corn. Included in the basic ramen was 2 slices of chashu, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, green onion and half of a ajitama egg. For the price ($7.95) and considering the portion size, I consider this to be a decent value in comparison to other ramen joints. Now of course value and taste can be mutually exclusive things. In this case, I asked for fatty broth and meat. As you can clearly see, there were a lot of "floaties" intermingled with the oil slick on top. Unhealthy? Yes. Flavourful? Generally. I say generally because the broth was not a rich as I was expecting. It wasn't silky and lacked depth. No "porkiness" or slight thickness we would find at Kintaro. Sometimes I complain about too much salt in a shio broth such as the case at Sanpachi or Menya. However, I felt the broth here could've used more salt. With that being said, the broth was acceptable. The noodles were past al dente, being on the softer side.

As for the chashu, it was fatty alright, pretty much melting-in-my-mouth. So the texture was good and the flavour was decent too. I really liked my half-ajitama egg (not a whole one...). It was perfect. Of course not everything was perfect and honestly that would not be possible. I would say that their broth does not match up with Kintaro and Santuoka. Yet, considering the price and portion size, I would say Q Go is an okay place to go for Ramen outside of Robson Street. Although, if one is mobile, head over to Kintaro and Santuoka.

The Good:
- Good portions
- Decent eats
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Friendly server, but that was the only server
- Broth lacked depth and flavour

Beyond Restaurant & Lounge

Once again, it is our yearly conference in Downtown Vancouver. A time to learn new things, to get away from our job and to network. Yah right. For me, it a chance to kidnap a bunch of colleges to go eat with me for lunch! Originally, they were set on going to some salad bar place. Oh the agony! Leafy greens for lunch? In addtion to being boring, the pictures would monotonous. How I dreaded the thought of it. But somehow, I was able to "convince" everyone to join me at Beyond Restaurant & Lounge, which was across the street from the Wall Centre (where our conference was held). Originally, they had no clue where Beyond was located and really what it was. For me, I remember it to be the location of the long gone Roy's Seafood House located in the Century Plaza Hotel. Completely renovated and tres chic, this place is not out-of-line with the other Burrard Street hot spots such as Cactus Club and Joey.

We were seated right in front of the "open" kitchen. In reality, we were separated by a huge glass window; but we got to see all of our food being made. We all thought this was very neat and somewhat of a "cool" gimmick. After a difficult time choosing what to eat, due to the variety on the menu, I settled on starting with the Yam Fries. I know this is generally a generic starter usually supplied by Sysco. However, with a clear view of the kitchen, I spotted the tub of what appeared to be freshly cut fries. It's still possible they could be prepared; but at least to me, it seemed fresh. When it arrived, it was extremely large with an equally large side of cajun aioli. The fries were crispy and non-greasy. Unlike many ailoli dips out there, this one was very flavourful. For my main, I went for the Prawn Spaghetti. It turned out to be a linguine rather than spaghetti. No matter, I prefer linguine anyways. I found the pasta to be slightly past al dente; yet not terribly so. The tomato sauce was nice and thick being very mild. Normally, that would be a problem; but with the addition of whole olives and plenty of fresh Parmesan, there was no absence of saltiness. The real star of the dish was the ample amount of large prawns. They were perfectly cooked and naturally sweet.

I guess I wasn't really paying attention since someone else had ordered yam fries with their Chicken Burger. Normally I'm on top of this so I don't do duplicates; but I guess I dropped the ball on this one. Anyways, the chicken burger was extremely large with BBQ sauce on top. It was moist and good for what it's worth. The Salmon Burger was just as large. In fact, surprisingly large considering that the salmon fillet was actually bigger than the bun itself. Nicely grilled and still moist, it was a solid burger. As for their pizzas, we had both the Vegetarian and Asian Chicken Pizza. Universally, we all thought the pizzas looked the part with a decent amount of charring and colour. The consensus among those having the pizzas was that there was no absence of flavour or toppings. The crust was thin and crisp.

The last item was the daily special which happened to be the Chorizo Quiche. In theory, this should've been a slam dunk. Think of it, quiche is usually mild-tasting. Add spicy chorizo, the flavours should explode. Well, the flavour was actually decent; but the most important part of the dish was not. The quiche itself was extremely dry and crumbly. Despite the disappointing quiche, the rest of the food was actually quite good. The prices in general were not anymore expensive than Cactus Club or Joey. In fact, it was probably a bit less. Keeping in mind that the place is nicely decorated with attentive service, we were more than pleased with our lunch. Of course dinner service could be another story. Yet, if this is any indication, then Beyond is more than acceptable for what it is.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced lunch given its location
- Good portions
- Attentive service

The Bad:
- Nothing ground-breaking here
- It's in a hotel, what did you expect?