Gigi's Pizza & Spaghetti House

As I was packing up my gear for Friday night hockey, I glanced over at my camera bag. "Should I bring it or leave it at home?" After all, the game starts at 11:30pm and doesn't end until 12:45am! Once showered and changed, it would be nearing 1:30am... Geez. Most places are only open until 2:00am. So, I threw my hockey bag into the SUV and started to leave. Wait. What's the harm in bringing the camera anyways? So I stopped and ran in to get it. What a great decision that was. Averting disaster, I find out after the game we were indeed going out to eat. Turns out it was Milhouse's birthday. Well... it was his birthday as we started the game. Since we finished after midnight, it was technically not his birthday anymore. Whatever, we all decided to celebrate it. Where? Only 24 hour joints came to mind. Milhouse balked at Knight & Day, Denny's and Tops. I really don't blame him. For me, I call those places "desperate 24-hour food". So once again, reaching deep within my subconsciousness, I suggested Gigi's out on Broadway. Man, I personally haven't been to this place since my University days when dining at 2:30am was normal. In fact, it was a scene of a vehicular "incident" that Viv will never let me forget. It was one dark, rainy Vancouver night (isn't it always???) when I was driving along Broadway with Viv, Costanza and Elaine in my ol' GTi when I got cut off suddenly. Swerving to the other lane, I lost control and did 2 complete 360's in the middle of Broadway and ended up parking backwards in between 2 cars in front of MEC. Miraculously, the car did not hit anything (other cars, people, curb, pole). First thing that came out of my mouth was, "at least the car is okay". You can imagine Viv's response! Well, Viv wasn't with me tonight, so I joyously recounted the story to everyone instead... So, I didn't get the evil eye...

Now as for the food, Ginseng and Sweet Tooth decided to share the Calamari. Turned out to be a good choice since it was freakin' large. It was quite crispy and not too oily; but the batter was quite thick. Ultimately, it didn't detract from the final product though. As for the tzatziki, it was well... not tzatziki. No cucumber, no garlic, no taste, it was just yogurt. For myself, I had to get a pasta. Not that I was in the mood for pasta really; but no one ordered it! Can't go to a place that specializes in pizza and pasta and not try it! So I sacrificed and had the Spaghetti Bolognese. Although the pasta was not exactly al dente, it was far from being overcooked. There was an overwhelming onion taste to the sauce. So much so, that was all I could taste. Now, it wasn't a bad onion flavour. In fact, I enjoyed my pasta. It just wasn't balanced. On top of this, I shared a Hawaiian Pizza with Gordo. Trying to be healthier (HA!), we went for the whole wheat crust. This was pretty much a solid pizza. The crust was neither thin nor thick, somewhere in between. It was crispy and slightly chewy while there was just enough toppings and cheese. Better than most while not particularly exciting.

Lionel Hutz ended up with the Lasagna and yes, it was quite the meal. Look at it. Lots of noodles, sauce and cheese. Not particularly much in the way of meat, it was still a decent lasagna. Noodles weren't too soft and surprisingly not that oily. Ever since Polka King met Polka Dot, they have been inseparable, which means he has not been eating out with us. So it was a total shock he joined us tonight. Part of his healthier diet, he ordered a Chicken Salad. Um... It was a chicken salad... At least the chicken was plentiful and moist. Knowing that Polka King was going to pay for his dinner, Milhouse milked it for all it was worth by going for the 10 oz. New York Steak. Dude. It's 2:00am. A New Year steak??? Anyways, he asked for it to be medium-rare and it came out past medium. It wasn't exactly super tender; but it wasn't tough either. He managed to finish it all... and the baked potato too. All-in-all, the food was acceptable given the time we ate it at. So we didn't have incredibly high expectations. Not sure if we'd necessarily eat dinner here on a regular basis; but it's an option when one wants non-Asian food early in the morning.

The Good:
- Open really late
- Lots of choice
- Food is generally alright

The Bad:
- Food is generally alright
- Some items are actually pricey

Oki Doki Japanese

* Restaurant is now closed*

Japanese food and Ladner. Not something that quite rolls of the tongue. In fact, there is probably no tongue to be found here either... Ox tongue that is... I digress. Okay, Ladner is somewhat of an oddity. Separated from Richmond by an arm of the Fraser river on one side, Burns Bog to the East and farms to the South and West, it is small community isolated from the rest of Delta. Therefore, it is never on anyone's culinary radar. Other than the locals, not many people venture into Ladner for eats. Recently, I had an outstanding meal at La Belle Auberge which would warrant a drive into the community. It's not like there isn't good food to be found here, you just need to know where to look. Maguro Sushi and Taverna Gorgona have been solid eats for me at least.

Today, I decided to try one of the newer additions to the limited Japanese food scene in Ladner - Oki Doki Japanese. Yah, it has an odd name and it doesn't necessarily instill confidence. That hasn't stopped me before though! I decided to go for one of their lunch combos and ended up adding an Appetizer Tempura to start. Although the tempura was crunchy, the appearance bothered me a bit. The batter seemed unusual and quite oily. Looking past this, the shrimp was okay and so were the veggies. I decided to get the Sushi Combo B which includes 5 pieces of sashimi and a choice of a specialty roll (5 pieces as opposed to the normal size of 8 pieces). I got a Sunomono Salad and Miso Soup to start. The miso soup was miso soup, so I'll talk about the sunomono. It was quite good with chewy noodles in a perfectly balanced sweet and vinegary "dressing". As for the Sashimi, it was fine. Nothing wrong with it and nothing spectacular either. The salmon looked and tasted good. The tuna was alright, kinda bland.

For the specialty roll, I choose the Green Dragon which consisted of dynamite roll with roasted eel on the outside. Appearance-wise, the darn thing was not a thing of beauty. Haphazardly made and a bit hard to pick up without pieces falling out. However, the roll itself was tasty. The rice was actually not bad with a nice bite. I could detect vinegar and sweetness in the rice as well, not a lot; but it was there. The prawn tempura was not very crunchy and I guess it is forgivable considering the amount of moisture from the other ingredients. Despite some issues with the food, my visit to Oki Doki can still be considered decent. Although, it is not a stretch to say my standards for sushi in Ladner are kinda low. Service was as good as it could be given that there was only one server. I thought the prices were a bit high; yet I guess this is due to the lack of competition nearby. With that being said, I would still head up the street to Maguro first.

The Good:
- Some interesting specialty rolls
- The lunch options are decent
- Friendly owners

The Bad:
- Not exactly great on the presentation
- A bit expensive

Minori

Once again, I'm continuing on my mission to revisit some restaurants in hopes of accomplishing a few things. First, I want to see if they are as good or bad as the first time I tried them a few years ago. Second, I would like to try more items to give them a fair shake. Third and most importantly, I want to retake my photos. You see, I started off with my Blackberry, then upgraded to my Canon point and shoot; ultimately graduating to a DSLR. I'm quite OCD about my pictures and if I didn't do something about the crappy ones from the early beginnings of this blog, I would go nuts. So here I am back at Minori, which is often heralded as the best Japanese restaurant in North Delta. Of course that is not really of an accomplishment since there are only 6 other Japanese restaurants within a 2km radius. However, it is what it is and finally I have returned. Joining me for lunch was Pops, who is usually a willing participant in my lunch adventures.

Now, the first time I ever ate at Minori, I was thoroughly impressed at the quality of the food, especially since I was not expecting much in North Delta. Sure, it's not Japanese-run; but I rather let the food do the talking. Interestingly, the lunch combo has shrunk in size. There seems to be less food in the bento box and in fact, there are only 4 pieces of California Roll to the 6 I had 2 years ago. At least the quality didn't suffer. The rice is still of a pleasing texture being chewy with a touch of sweetness and vinegar. The Tempura is still very good with a very light batter. It's crisp and none-too-oily. Once again, it is only modest in size. The last item in my lunch combo was the Chicken Teriyaki. By looking at the picture, it is not very apparent how much chicken there is in relation to the size of the box. I was able to finish this in a few bites. With that being said, it was once again decent. The chicken was moist and there was just enough sauce. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the box as a whole because you could see much more box than food!

Now Pops had a different combo that included nigiri. I was going to post that picture here; but we ended up ordering a Party Tray C for a meeting we had a few weeks later. Hence, the picture of the Nigiri is that from the tray. You'll noticed that the salmon is of the wild sockeye variety (in addition to the tuna and ebi) and that is the same for their combo as well. We found the fish to be of good quality and texture. However, the slices were quite thin. The other part of the tray consisted of a House Roll, Futomaki, Chicken Teriyaki Roll, Dynamite Roll, California Roll, BC Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll, Asparagus Roll and Unagi Nigiri. The size of the rolls were not too bad and not over-ladened with rice. Pretty good stuff, although I found the chicken teriyaki to be overcooked and hard. Surprisingly, I really liked the asparagus roll despite my aversion to anything veggie in maki sushi. As with most things at Minori, the rolls were solid.

Now solid food is one thing; but with this current experience at Minori, I have noticed a trend. The portion size seems to be shrinking. Not a big deal if you don't have a big appetite; yet it could matter to some when you can get more food for the same price at other places. We ended up actually ordering the other half of our takeout meal from Nordel Sushi (I know, not my favourite...) since their combos have more food. Of course the quality lags behind Minori... So my point is - if you don't care about quantity and want mainly decent food, then Minori is probably still the best in North Delta.

The Good:
- Generally decent eats
- Carefully made
- Very friendly service

The Bad:
- Portion size is small
- Restaurant is really tiny

A Few Things...

Normally, I'm not predisposed to posting anything that doesn't involve me eating something. Hey, it is my eating adventures after all! But this is something so important that I really couldn't ignore. Recently, the events in Japan have been both heart-wrenching and poignant. Of course there are many ways we can support the people of Japan. That has been well-documented in the news media and Twitter. However, it has been brought to my attention that Sanpachi has been doing their own. You see, the owner has relatives in Sendai and have not heard from them since the Earthquake. Until the end of March, they are donating 1 dollar for every bowl of ramen sold to the Red Cross to Japan. Of course, this is only one of the many ways to people are helping out the people of Japan; but I thought it was something I'd like to share. Now on a totally different topic, MyCityCuisine is a wiki project that is looking for contributors. It is a resource meant to be a traveler's guide to local cuisine around the world. Check it out. It seems like a neat idea. Okay, I'm done talking.

Dim Sum @ Lougheed Wonton Restaurant

About 5 years ago, we had randomly stumbled upon Lougheed Wonton Restaurant in its original location. You see, they used to be in the plaza on the corner of North Road and Cameron. We were actually at the Dollar Giant and walked over to try it out. We ended up eating there quite a few times. Both Dim Sum and dinner were more than acceptable at a reasonable price. Although the place was small, the service was hurried and sparse. Then all of a sudden, the plaza was bought-out and slated for demolition. Now a restaurant with no home, they had to relocate. At first, there were rumours that they would buy out Yan's Garden and relocate there. But it never materialized. In fact, Yan's went on to expand and do its own thing. Therefore, if you were wondering why a restaurant on St. John's in Port Moody is named Lougheed Wonton Restaurant, this is why. We had visited the place immediately after it moved and the dinner was okay. The place is definitely bigger, if not in need of a serious cleaning. Service once again was hurried; yet friendly. For reasons unknown, we have totally disregarded the place as a source of Dim Sum even though I pass by it daily. We have ended up going as far as Coquitlam to Kam Ding and Poco to Rainbow Butterfly. So when Viv asked what we were doing for lunch on Sunday, I thought it was about time we returned to try out their Dim Sum.

Reminiscent of my youth when my parents would take me out to Dim Sum every weekend, it seems like we take our kids to do the same as well. Great, now my kids will think that eating out so often is normal. The cycle continues... But I doubt my son would continue writing this blog since all he eats are carbs! Anyways, unlike last time at Chong Lum Hin, we didn't park in front of a sex shop. Rather, it was a consignment store. No need to explain what "adult toys" are to my son this time. Lucky for us, we had arrived just before the rush. This place is nuts on the weekend! Mind you, not everyone was having Dim Sum. There were quite a few tables eating crab, Peking Duck and even lobster! Wow... Extravagant lunches! We couldn't order those dishes even if we wanted to. The kids would not be impressed. Instead, we started with the Soya Fried Noodles. As evidenced in the picture, the noodles were really wok-fried. So much so, it was nearing the point of burnt. But no harm, no foul and the noodles were alright, if not messily prepared. Another kid-friendly dish was the Chicken & Mushroom Congee. We really wanted the prawn congee instead since they were all one price. Hey, the Chinese in me took over. Get the most expensive item for the same price! Anyways, it was a no go. My daughter insisted on chicken. As for the congee itself, it resembled something I'd make at home. That means it was very much home-style where it was not really all that flavouful while being chunky thick. The chicken was decently tender and there were big shiitake mushrooms throughout. Of course, we got a Salty Donut to go along with the congee. That and my son absolutely loves it. He also loves beaver tails and spring roll wrappers. Hmm... something about fried dough... Darn carbs again! This was indeed freshly-fried and not too oily. Not as airy as we would've liked; but it was good nonetheless.

Onto the most important items of all - Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) and Sui Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumplings). As for the haw gow, they were big and full of shrimp with the desired snap texture. However, there was a slight fishiness to the taste. It didn't ruin the dish; but it was noticeable. The dumpling skin was perfect though. Slightly chewy and not too thick. The Sui Mai were okay, if not a bit too fatty. I realize that there must be a certain amount of fat for flavour and texture; however, there were big chunks of fat that could not be chewed readily. Despite it tasting pretty good, the big fat chunks ruined it for me. As mentioned, we had ordered the salty donut. For some reason or another, they brought out the salty donut rice noodle roll. Despite not ordering it, they tried to talk us into taking it. Since we already had the pan-fried noodles and a Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll coming, we took a pass. It was comical to see them trying to hawk the darn thing to every other table. As for the one we did order, the shrimp were big and crunchy. The noodle itself was also quite good although being slightly on the thicker side. Not sure if it was just bad luck; but our rice noodle roll was appreciably smaller than the other ones we saw at neighbouring tables.

One of Viv's favs is the Deep Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Mousse. These ones were perfectly cooked with the eggplant still retaining its structural integrity (I bet you didn't think I would use that term in a food blog!). There was a decent amount of shrimp mousse and they didn't overdo it with the amount of black bean sauce. Seems like we always get the BBQ Pork Buns; yet the kids rarely eat it. Why do we order it then? We end up taking it home all the time. I guess that is our breakfast for the next day! As for the buns, they were not bad. They were fluffy while the BBQ pork wasn't too fatty. We did find the filling to be on the sweeter side though. At this point we decided to order 3 more items and it took quite a long time. However, the server did warn us of this. At this time, the restaurant became super packed and the available staff were working really hard to keep up. Dishes were not cleared and the teapot was not refilled. I think they might need at least one more worker, maybe a bus boy to collect dishes and stuff. So as for the 3 dishes, the Beef Short Ribs were a complete miss. These are normally quite tender. Sadly this was not. They were extremely chewy and frankly not worth eating. We did like the garlicky peppery flavour though. The Phoenix Talons (aka Chicken Feet) were passable. A tad on the over-steamed side, there was very little in the way of anything underneath the fried skin. Once again, the flavour was quite good though being garlicky. Our last savoury item was the Bean Curd Skin Rolls which are actually fried bean curd sheets wrapped around pork and veggies. These rolls were in dire need of moisture. The filling was pretty dry while there was not much sauce at the bottom of the plate. The rolls would greatly improve with the addition of more moisture or possibly more veggies in the filling.

The Egg Tarts were not really the last dish we had for our meal; but I just couldn't talk about it in the order we received it. For some reason, talking about dessert at the start of a blog post seems odd... Besides, it seems like Dim Sum is a free-for-all where dessert shows up first. Yes, they are far too busy to ever expedite food in their proper order. Despite the use of puff pastry for the tart shell, it was still not that flaky. Furthermore, the filling was a tad runny. It was a bit bland; but that is a whole lot better than too sugary. I would say that these were pretty average egg tarts. In fact, the Dim Sum as a whole was pretty average. Of course we shouldn't expect too much considering we were having Dim Sum in Port Moody. One thing that works against this place is the lack of staff. Granted they are trying their very best while maintaining a cheery disposition; yet it is quite frustrating waiting for something as simple as tea. I guess if one was not too picky, this would not be an issue. But it took us almost 2 hours to finish our meal due to waiting. I'll let you be the judge of whether that is a good thing or not.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- No other Dim Sum within a country mile
- Servers are friendly despite being completely overwhelmed

The Bad:
- A bit dirty
- Severs overworked; thus there really isn't any service
- Average food

Hong Sushi

Generally, I'm not a huge fan of getting food to go. Hey, it's nothing against take-out. Especially with kiddies sometimes, it is the best way to eat. However, pictures just don't look too sexy in Styrofoam. Hence, I often take a picture of the food and then get it to go afterwards. Often, this elicits strange looks from the restaurant staff; but do I have much shame left? Well, Mijune does ask complete strangers for samples of their food... That is truly shameless. Anyways, there are times where I really have no choice. Take Hong Sushi for instance. Not only are they predominantly a takeout joint, they do not have actual cutlery and plates. Rather, everything is made of plastic. Sure, they have 2 tables; but it is not a place you would necessarily sit down to eat. With that in mind, it was the perfect place for me to pick up some dinner after a tough day at work.

For the first time, I placed my order over the internet via YummyWeb. It seemed to work out pretty well, especially when I really didn't want to name every piece of nigiri in my order. Approximately 5 minutes after my internet order, I get a call from the restaurant informing me that everything is ready for pickup in 15 minutes. Of course, after I picked up the stuff and brought it home, I did my best to be a food stylist. I know, I know. Don't give up my day job. At least I tried. Better than being scrunched up in a Styrofoam container! So the first thing we ate was the Black Dragon Roll. Consisting of spicy salmon, cucumber and ebi tempura on the inside and salmon and avocado on the outside, this appeared to be a well-constructed roll. However, I found the rice to be fairly dry and hard. It did have a nice vinegar taste though. The rest of the roll wasn't too bad. For me, other than the maki sushi, the sashimi is a must when I eat Japanese food. I got an order of the Assorted Sashimi which included salmon, tuna, tai, amebi, chopped scallop, tako, hokkigai and saba. The pieces were very generous in size and pretty decent in quality. The salmon and tuna were okay; but we found the tai to be very chewy. Also, the tako was cut quite haphazardly. However, I'm not even going to begin comparing with "better" Japanese sushi bars here. It is acceptable for the price.

Of course, I always get Nigiri as well since I always seem to order it. I got one piece each of the tai, salmon, tuna, unagi, chopped scallop and inari. Pretty much the same as the sashimi - big pieces and did the job. Once again, the tai wasn't so good. At least it was consistent. For the kiddies we ordered a Chicken Yakisoba. Wow, this was very oily. They had placed a paper towel underneath to soak up the oil and that didn't even do much to help. The noodles had a nice chewy texture while the veggies were crispy and vibrant. The chicken was okay too. But the whole thing needed quite a bit more flavour. It was oily and bland. Not a good combo. Lastly, we got an order of the Prawn Tempura. There was way too much batter on them, especially on one side. A clear indication that they sitting at the bottom of the frying basket where the dough collected. Didn't do it for me. It was not a particularly memorable Japanese meal for us; yet at the same time, it was convenient, inexpensive and good value for the money. So, take it for what it is. A neighbourhood Japanese restaurant that doesn't do any more or any less.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Generous portions
- Convenient web ordering

The Bad:
- Food is so-so
- Take-out only (a few seats), if that matters to you

Kitchening with Carly

Okay I admit it. I'm not much of a dessert guy. Call me the typical male. I don't mind. Hey, I like savoury snacks to go with my beverage. Sweets? If I have room afterwards. So when I was invited to a tasting with Mijune that would mainly be based on Macarons, I went in with no expectations. Only recently gaining popularity in North America, Macarons originate from France. Thanks to Vandelay, I've had the pleasure of enjoying Macarons by Pierre Hermé. His macarons are arguably the best in the world. What sets his apart are the flavourful and rich fillings. Over here, there are a few decent choices such as Thomas Haas and Paul Crouteau. There is another source for good Macarons in the GVRD and one would never guess where. The place? Kitchening with Carly. Who?

A trained educator who has traveled to France for patisserie training, is now teaching others how to cook. And yes, she makes some pretty good Macarons as well. That is what Mijune and I were here for. To eat, taste and provide feedback pertaining to her unique creations. So without further adieu, let's get to the sweets! The first one we tried was the Vanilla Bean with Lavender Butter Cream. Okay, lemme be honest here. I'm not a huge fan of lavender. I don't like it in ice cream and I don't like it in my sweets. So, despite the Macaron itself being visually appealing and of a nice texture which melted in my mouth, the flavour was not my favourite. I did like the intense vanilla flavour though. Next up was the Raspberry with Creme de Citron and Italian Meringue. I liked the flavour with this one. It's worth mentioning that Carly takes some risks here by actually flavouring the Macaron itself, which is usually only tinted with colour. We honestly didn't know it was raspberry until we read the description; but it was pleasing with the light creme de citron. The meringue was pretty; yet detracted from the eating experience.

For me, I'm a sucker for salted caramel. So I liked the Natural Almond with Rosemary Salted Caramel and Vanilla Creme. The intense flavour of the salt on top of the Macaron really hit my tastebuds. I only wished that there was a more uniform saltiness rather than only the middle. Something completely out of left field was the Toasted Coconut and Curry with Mango Jelly. I give Carly full marks for being daring and creative. But in the end, this was my least favourite. I really wanted to like it. However, the mango jelly was too wet and ultimately made the Macaron soggy. Furthermore, the curry totally overwhelmed any mango flavour. Now onto my favourite, which was the Espresso with Avocado Cream. For me, I like bold flavours, and this one delivered. With a generous sprinkle of espresso on top, this Macaron packed a wallop in each bite. The avocado cream was somewhat lost; yet I could still enjoy the smooth creaminess after the initial coffee hit.

My second favourite happened to be the Cocoa with Dark Chocolate Chili Ganache. Another bold flavour combination, I really appreciated the thicker filling (which is more traditional) and the sprinkle of chili flakes on top. Dark chocolate and chili, what's not to like? Well, maybe a tad more spice would've been better; but it was a good combination nonetheless. Now before we had tried the Macarons, there was this Lemon Tart... Oh alright, I'll admit it. If there is any dessert that I do crave is a lemon tart. I like citrusy things and this fits the bill. First of all, I loved the radiant yellow colour of the tart due to the use of organic free-range eggs. I also liked the smoothness of the filling and the nice balance of tart to sweet. There was a layer of almond cream in between the lemon custard and the crust to prevent the crust from getting soggy. It worked; but I didn't taste the cream, which was probably the intention anyways. Served on the side was a frozen raspberry jam which was not sweet at all. Unlike a coulis, this jam had seeds and it was almost a welcomed textural surprise.

Talking about surprises... I really didn't know what to expect when we met up with Carly. Unknown to me at first, now permanently etched into my mind. Her creativity and risk-taking is admirable. I would definitely classify her as an up-and-comer with loads of potential. If this is only the beginning, I am looking forward to what lies in the future. It is worth noting that the Macarons are still being refined as I am writing this blog post. What we tried were a work-in-progress. With that in mind, I'd keep an eye on Carly, you'll be hearing lots more of her soon enough.