Save-On-Meats Coffee Shop

There was a time when East Hastings between Cambie and Main would be the hub of activity in Vancouver. With such stores like Woodward's, Golden Crown, Army & Navy (still going strong) and Save-On-Meats occupying the heart of the action, people would make it a point to head to the Downtown Eastside. Then sometime during the late 80's the place began to deteriorate with stores closing one-by-one. In the more recent past, the area is beginning to experience a form of revival, first with the new Woodward Condo development, the opening of Acme Cafe down the street and The Charles Bar. Sadly, last year, Save-On-Meats and its coffee shop closed for what seemed like forever... until last month. The iconic flying pig is once again lit up in bright neon as Mark Brand (of Boneta) has revived this Vancouver institution.

The meat shop is back and so is the coffee shop, albeit with a bigger menu and retro diner look. Milhouse and I took advantage of our proximity to Save-On-Meats after Sunday morning hockey at Brit. Kaiser Soze refused to join us since he considered it too sketchy of an area. And he's Chinese??? We managed to snag a parking spot nearby and without any wait, we got 2 seats at the counter. There was a friendly greeting from the staff despite the bustling activity within the restaurant. Milhouse decided to start with a Vanilla Shake and I wholehearted agreed with him. This was my chance to try it without ordering one myself! It was thick, blended well with hard ice cream and milk. It was a solid shake with real vanilla bean in the ice cream. For his main, Milhouse had the Clubhouse consisting of their in-house rotisserie chicken, bacon, tomato and lettuce on focaccia. As much as it is difficult to get excited about a clubhouse sandwich, at the very least, all of the ingredients were fresh. The real chicken meat was plus. As for the fries, they were pretty generic looking and tasting. They were fried perfectly crisp though.

For myself, I had to get the Save-On-Meats Burger. For $6.00, it consisted of a bacon cheeseburger and a side of fries. Take that McD's! This was actually a pretty decent burger; but the patty itself was very loose, in a meatball sub kinda way. It was moist though and had a nice char to it. With crisp, thick bacon, cheese and fresh tomatoes and lettuce on a toasted bun, there is not much to complain for the price. However, the 2 dishes didn't seem like a big enough sample size in terms of the food. Thus, I also got an order of the Meatloaf. When Milhouse tried a piece, he said there was some taste to it and yes there was. We believe that this meatloaf was a blend of beef, pork and lamb. It was slightly gamy and mostly stiff. It was on the drier side and needed the gravy. I found the gravy to be a little light; yet it did its job. I really liked the buttery mash potatoes and the nicely prepared peas and carrots.

As if this wasn't enough already, I also felt the need to try the Fried Chicken. I found the fried batter to be hard rather than crunchy. Furthermore, I felt there wasn't enough seasoning either. It was decently moist inside though. In the end, the food wasn't necessarily the draw here. Don't get me wrong, it was a respectable diner experience. However, I'm pretty sure most people will be nostalgic while loving the quirky location. And with such reasonable prices, there is not a whole lot to complain about.

The Good:
- It has got history
- Reasonable prices
- Friendly people

The Bad:
- Other than the burger, the food is hit and miss
- Well, some people might be turned off by the location (I'm not...)

Yamato Sushi

For me, the Urbanspoon top-100 restaurants list is more about popularity than good food. Sure, there are legitimately great places included in that list; but more often than not, most of them are not there due to great food. Yet, I have to admit that it is at the very least, a starting point for someone who is unfamiliar with the culinary scene in Vancouver. With that being said, the best places to eat are still the ones that locals go to. This leads into one of the newer members of the top-100 list - Yamato Sushi. Seemingly out of nowhere, Yamato is nearly in the top-50. That piqued my interest and only a visit would give me a clearly picture of the place. Meeting up with Vandelay for lunch, we were lucky to get a table in this extremely small hole-in-the-wall on Davie Street. For those who care, this place is Chinese-run. Vandelay and I are of the opinion that the food does the talking, not the perceived people who make it.

We started with the Assorted Sashimi consisting of Atlantic salmon, sockeye salmon, tuna, tai, mackerel and hokkigai. At first, I thought the presentation looked a little flat and upon further inspection, it was. As you can clearly see, it is missing the daikon underneath. No matter really, just an observation. We thought the sashimi as a whole was more than acceptable. Aesthetically, texturally and taste-wise, there was nothing amiss. Next up, we had the Assorted Tempura consisting of ebi, sweet potato, zucchini and carrot. I thought the liberal use of tempura batter would've affected the final product; but in the end, it was crispy and light. We particularly liked the ebi since they were large, cold-water crunchy and sweet.

After that, we had 2 rolls starting with the Yamato Roll consisting of avocado, tamago, cucumber and unagi on the inside with avocado, tobiko and sesame seeds on the outside. The roll was finished off with a drizzle of sweet mayo and teriyaki sauce. I thought the sushi rice was a bit dense-like in texture; yet still acceptable. I would've liked more flavour as well. As for the roll itself, it was fine. It was on the softer side due to all the mushy ingredients. With that being said, it had a good rice to ingredients ratio. I didn't need to dip it into soy sauce/wasabi since it had enough flavour on its own. We were planning on only getting one roll; but when Vandelay spotted the Spider Roll for only $5.95, we had to get it. Normally, a soft-shell crab roll is easily pushing $10.00. Despite the price, the roll was stuffed full of a large fried soft-shell crab. It was fried perfectly with a light crisp exterior while still being fluffy soft inside. The dense rice was somewhat of an annoyance; but there was plenty of crab to offset it.

Now as if this wasn't enough food for use, we also got the Chicken Yakisoba. Arriving on a sizzling hot plate, this was a pretty large portion for the price. I found the noodles in need of a bit more flavour. It would've been nice to have some pickled ginger on top for some zing. There was plenty of chicken though. However, the one thing that was the downfall of this dish was the ample use of oil. I found it greasy. Lastly, we had the Oyako-Don which was an extremely substantial portion for $5.95. It wasn't a typical oyako don; but it was chock full of chicken, egg and evenly sauced rice. I did find the rice to be rather soft though. Despite that, it was an enjoyable and satisfying interpretation of an oyako don. So as you can clearly see, the draw here is mainly value and above-average food. Sure, it isn't an "authentic" Japanese restaurant per se; but really, how many are in Vancouver? If one was looking for decent eats with good prices and large portions, Yamato does that job well. Yah, the place is small and it's best not to linger too long. As we ate, we noticed many people getting take-out. I'm pretty sure Yamato is not a top-50 restaurant in terms of the best places to eat in Vancouver; yet it is definitely a good option for those who are not picky.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Large portions
- Above average "Japanese" food

The Bad:
- Not a place to hang out for long, small and cramped
- May upset the authenticity police

Ruby Chinese Restaurant

As much as online comments about a restaurant give insight into the establishment, there are often some that really stand out. You know the type. It's either glowing (which indicates someone related) or it is incredibly negative (ie. worst meal of their life). Just like scores from figure skating, it's best to throw out the highs and lows. This is the situation that we faced when we wanted to venture out for Dim Sum in PoCo. Yah, it's not the hotbed for Chinese food; but hey, Rainbow Butterfly was not half-bad. We figured, why not, let's give Ruby Chinese a try despite the warning from one diner who claimed it was "the most terrible Dim Sum that they ever tasted". Pretty damning eh? A warning perhaps? Or was it a challenge for a food adventure? Yah, it was the latter.

So we packed up everything and loaded the kiddies into the SUV and headed out on a glorious sunny day to Downtown PoCo. When we walked in, there were other Asians present, so that was a good sign. Little did we know, these were either holograms or Asians who really had low expectations for their Dim Sum! I have to declare right now that this was one of the worst Shrimp Dumplings (Haw Gow) we've ever had. Looking beyond the thick and overcooked dumpling skin, there was a shrimp filling that would offend most people. First, the small shrimp were full of veins. That didn't make for an appetizing nor texturally pleasant experience. Second, the shrimp were not cold-water crunchy; rather, they were rubbery. Third, the binding agent was a goopy mess which looked like a combination of pork fat and filler. Hence the whole thing fell apart once bitten into. And let's not even get into the taste.

Continuing on with the same bad shrimp was the Shrimp Spring Rolls. These sad things were woefully greasy and overcooked. The shrimp inside had begun to take on a "dried" appearance and texture. It is probably due to the poor wrap job and the small shrimp. Lowering my standards a bit, the Sui Mai was somewhat acceptable. The chunks of pork were chewy, maybe a bit too chewy though. Once again, there was too much pork fat. Yes, I realize that is what acts as both the binding agent and for flavouring/texture. However, with really large chunks of flavourless fat, it becomes a huge turnoff. Furthermore, these dumplings also fell apart on contact.

Okay, after 3 dishes, we were already wondering what we got ourselves into when suddenly we got a dish that was not readily recognizable. If you can believe it, despite not looking remotely like it, this was the Stuffed Eggplant. With all the lovely colour of eggplant sucked out by over-steaming, this was not appealing to look at. One bite and WTF? Gritty pork??? Where's the fish or shrimp mousse? Texturally and flavourwise, this was an utter disaster. Futhermore, any black bean flavour was washed away by the steaming process. We left this as is and didn't bother with it for the rest of the meal. Finally, after that, something edible arrived in the Black Bean Spareribs. The meat was actually the right texture being soft while retaining a nice chewy texture. There was also a decent amount of black bean flavour. It could've stood for more garlic since it was mostly a one-note dish.

You won't believe it. The next dish was okay as well! Wow, a 2-dish winning streak! But you know that is just the kiss-of-death. Anyways, the Satay Tripe had the right texture. It was super soft with some bite left. It was not gamy - a clear indication of proper cleaning and prep. However, the whole dish was lacking flavour. Sure, I could taste something; but tripe is not exactly flavourful on its own. Hence, they needed to add more satay sauce. Okay, here is the when the good stops again. The Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll was purely laughable. The rice noodle was far too thick and as stiff as a pubescent teen surfing the internet. Moreover, the tiny shrimp (once again) were not the desired cold-water crunchy texture. And to top it all off, the sweet soy was bland as can be. The soy is supposed to
be watered down; but they took it a step too far. It was no longer able to flavour anything.

The same soy also didn't help the Chicken Rice much either. It was better off that the soy wasn't used extensively anyways because the rice itself was wet. The chicken, mushroom and sausage on top helped moisten the rice too much and most of the top was soggy. The chicken itself was white meat and it was mostly dry. And yes, it was none too flavourful as well. It's as if they didn't even marinate it. A very poor attempt all around. Lastly, we had the Egg Tarts. The first thing we noticed was the predominant tart shell. It seemed to overwhelm the egg. And about that egg filling, it was cracked. In fact, if I had taken a picture of both tarts, the other one would've looked worse. Also, yes there was only 2 tarts. Very unusual number. Generally, there are 3 or 4, not 2. The tart shell ended up to be quite flaky; but the filling was too sweet.

Alright. I am a loss for words. And that is not very common for me either! How can Dim Sum in the GVRD be so poor? And why are there Chinese people eating here? I've had better Dim Sum in Portland of all places. Sure, the food isn't very expensive at only $2.75 per dish; however, we were not really all that motivated to eat it all. Viv was only eating it because she was hungry. Otherwise, she had no intention of putting herself through this experience. I hate to be so negative. Really! However, the food on average was extremely poor in terms of execution and quality of ingredients. I know some might attribute it to its location in PoCo. Yet, there is Rainbow Butterfly only 5 minutes away. Furthermore, Kirin and Kam Ding are only 10 minutes away. I think this time, I should've listened to that poor review on Urbanspoon...

The Good:
- Cheap
- Friendly owners
- Spacious

The Bad:
- Sub-standard ingredients
- Poor execution

Penny Restaurant

The first time I blogged about Penny Restaurant was after Wednesday late night hockey over a year ago. At that time, Polka King and I had only 3 items which were extremely underwhelming. However, after reading several other posts and comments about Penny, it has convinced me to do a revisit in order to try a much wider variety of dishes. This time around, I got the whole hockey team to join me including Polka King once again. This is no small feat because he has become quite anti-social after getting engaged to Polka Dot. Hey, I don't blame him! Although he is the butt of jokes courtesy of Milhouse and Lionel Hutz. Something about doing his best impression of cream... whipped... Anyways, we all decided to order one dish each and do a typical Chinese shared meal.

Milhouse really wanted congee and thus ordered the really large bowl of Preserved Egg and Salted Pork Congee. Much like last time, the congee base was more like an homemade one than being restaurant quality. That maybe attractive for some; but for me, I do not mind the MSG-laden thick restaurant congee base. Consequently, the base was neither thick nor flavourful enough. There was, however, a good amount of preserved duck egg and diced salted pork. And once again, just like last time, Polka King ordered his favourite being the Beef Fried Rice Noodles (or Gawn Chow Ngau Hor). I think Polka King only knows how to order this one dish in Cantonese. That's why he orders this all the time. This was an average attempt. The noodles didn't have an appealing colour and it was oily as per usual. The lack of colour didn't only affect its appearance, it was very bland as well. This needed hot sauce badly. At the very least, the beef was tender.

Boss Woman loves Scramble Eggs with Shrimp, so she ordered it again. Man, we seem to have the same dishes over and over again! Anyways, this dish was a fail. The scrambled eggs were very greasy and in little clumps. It had actually separated while being wok fried, so most of it resemble spatzle rather than scrambled eggs. Although the shrimp was cold-water crunchy, it was underseasoned and bland. All around a very substandard attempt. I'm not sure who ordered the Sweet & Sour Pork; but I didn't mind because I actually like it. It's really too bad this was another disappointing attempt. The sweet and sour sauce was not typical of an authentic Chinese restaurant. Rather, it resembled one you'd find at Manchu Wok. Radioactive in colour and really too sweet, this was not good. There was a lack of pork itself since everything was almost gone after one circle of the lazy Susan. The pork was in small chunks which led to crunchy bits with very little meat texture.

With a total lack of greens, I decided to get the Gai Lan and Beef. This was a significantly better dish than the rest so far. The gai lan was reasonably fresh in texture with a nice crunchy while not being too old. The wok heat was sufficient since there was no pool of water at the bottom of the plate. The beef was tender and there was a good amount of garlic and seasoning. Another decent dish was the Yeung Chow Fried Rice or BBQ Pork and Shrimp Fried Rice. As evidenced in the picture, there was an ample amount of cold-water shrimp, BBQ pork, peas and egg. While the rice could've been more dry and chewy, it wasn't a big deal since there was enough seasoning. Lastly, we got the Cod and Tofu Hot Pot. It arrived bubbling hot and looking slightly pale. The positive? There was a huge amount of food stuffed into the hot pot. The fish was fried up crispy while being flaky on the inside. The tofu was fried perfectly as well being silky in the middle. However, the whole hot pot lacked seasoning. Once again, I had to resort to using hot sauce to liven it up.

Alright, I think there is enough food evidence here to make a re-evaluation of Penny Restaurant. And as expected, it has confirmed what I concluded last time - the food is very average. There were some decent dishes mixed in with subpar efforts. Seeing how there are quite a few late night options for Chinese food in town, Penny would not be anywhere on my radar. Furthermore, not mentioned in this post was the terrible wonton noodles I had last time. The pork wontons were gritty and bland while the noodles did not have the desired chew-bounce texture. The only thing they got going for them are the cheap prices and the late opening hours.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Open late

The Bad:
- Below average food
- Epitome of a dive

Hawksworth

Ever since the first time I heard that David Hawksworth was scheduled to open his restaurant in the renovated Georgia Hotel (at the time, it was under renovations and still ongoing today), I was planning my future visit. Little did I know that my visit would take place over a year later. You see, Hawksworth was supposed to go live in late 2009. Fast forward to mid-2011 and the place has only been open for a couple of months. Well, better late than never. It seemed like the refurbishing of the Hotel Georgia was taking longer than a total rebuild (which can be the case, I've been told). Well, one look at the decor of the place and it is quite obvious that a total transformation has taken place. Gone are the traditional furnishings. They have given way to a modern look which has a very New Yorkish feel to it.

So why was there so much anticipation for this restaurant? Well, it has a lot to do with David Hawksworth. Formerly of West, he was awarded Chef of the Year in 2005 by Vancouver Magazine and inducted into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame in 2008. However, for most people, they can recognize him from his appearances on the Food Network. For me at least, it is all about the food. Nothing really matters much if the food isn't good. So when I got the chance, I rounded up the whole family for an elegant lunch at Hawksworth. And when I say whole family, I mean the kiddies as well. You see, being in a hotel, they have a kid's menu. Score!

Normally, the lunch menu at most fine dining establishments are slightly less expensive than dinner. In this case, it was about $2.00 less per entree. The one peculiar thing on the menu was the charge for Bread. It was $4.00. Hey, it was good bread and high quality olive oil; yet not being complimentary caught us off guard. At the top of the menu, there was a selection of zero proof drinks. Viv had the Aloe Vera which resembled a mojito when it arrived. In certain aspects, it did taste like one due to the mint. However, there was no mistaking this was aloe vera with the chunks of jelly (much like the Asian drink). Except for the kiddies and my dad, we all started with appetizers. My mom had the Roasted Tomato and Fennel Soup with spot prawn, bacon and basil served table side. The soup was packed with flavour from the tartness of the smoky tomatoes exhibiting only a hint of fennel. The spot prawns were cooked perfectly being delicate and sweet. The added hit of herbiness from the basil and saltiness of the bacon provided balance.

For myself, the Dungeness Crab Salad caught my eye. It turned out to be the right decision. Resting on a bed of celery leaves was a plethora of perfectly cooked crab meat. It was sweet and delicate. Thinly sliced heart of palm, chives, parsley, roe and lemon foam finished the plate. I thought the amount of acidity in the salad was perfect. It really made the flavours pop which livened everything else. Viv had the other appetizer that I had my eye on, which was the 48-Hour Beef Shortrib with black pepper jam, honeydew, green papaya, red chili, peanut and Thai basil. There may have been only 3 pieces of shortrib on the plate; but there was a lot of impact nonetheless. The meat was super tender and bursting with flavour. The black pepper jam really had a punch which was accented by the sweet honeydew cubes and tart green papaya salad.

As if the shortrib wasn't enough meat, Viv had the Roasted Hanger Steak for her main. It was served medium-rare (the only way it should be prepared by-the-way) and served with chimmichurri, arugula salad and thrice cooked frites. The reason why a hanger steak should not be cooked past medium-rare is due to the cut of meat. It is typically a bit tougher while being quite flavourful. This particular steak was cooked beautifully where it was both very tasty and remarkably tender. The chimmichurri sauce was not particularly impactful; but it didn't need to be. It added only a faint level of garlic and saltiness to the steak. As for the frites, they were large, crispy and very potatoey on the inside. There weren't a lot of them on the plate and it wasn't necessary either. They were quite heavy and filling. For my main, I had the same frites which accompanied the Hawksworth Beef Burger. I know, I know... A burger at a fine dining establishment? I've done it before, when DB Bistro was still open. However, this time around, the burger didn't have things like shortrib, foie gras or truffles in it. It was just a plain burger with applewood smoked bacon, aged cheddar, tomato, butter lettuce, spiced mayo and a fried red onion ring on a toasted sesame (and black sesame) bun. Hold on there, there is one thing that makes it really special - the fact you can get it cooked medium-rare. Yup, they can do that. Since they prepare their own burger patties as you order them, it is safe to cook it less than well-done. Therefore, the quality of the meat combined with the medium-rare preparation results in an extremely moist and juicy burger. Something that is a rarity these days (pardon the pun). Not since my visit to Chee Chee burger in the States have I had ground beef prepared this way.

My mom always looks for the lamb dish on any menu and since the Tagliatelle was the only item with it, her decision was easy. It consisted of slow cooked lamb, tomatoes, sundried olive, pine nuts, shaved Parmesan and mint. Despite the large amount of pulled lamb, the whole pasta was not gamy. There was only a hint of lamb flavour, which was enough in this application. There was a pronounced tartness from the olives and strong impact from the mint. There wasn't enough pine nuts to add anything significant to the dish. The pasta was al dente and slowly started absorbing the excess cooking liquid from the sauce. At first, I thought there was too much liquid; but as we ate the tagliatelle, it disappeared. My dad had the Pan Seared Sooke River Trout with fingerling potato, haricot vert, olive and brown butter. First of all, the fish was cooked perfectly. Flaky and moist flesh welcomed us as we enjoyed the crispy skin on the exterior. The fish was seasoned just enough to add flavour without being overpowering. It allowed the brown butter to do its thing. The accompanying veggies were cooked perfectly with crisp green beans and crispy potatoes.

I'll give you one guess what my son had. Yes, he had the Mac 'n Cheese. Well, in this case, it was more like orichetti & a blend of cheeses. The orichetti was al dente which is a nice departure from overcooked pasta usually associated with mac 'n cheese. The blend of cheeses was really tasty. It was creamy with a bit of sharpness. We suspected there was some Gruyere in there. My son loved it, he ate it without protest. For my daughter, she had the Cheese Pizza. Reminiscent of a pizza Margherita sans the basil, this was actually very good. The crust was crisp and only a bit soft at the centre. The fresh mozzarella and tomatoes really made this pizza gourmet compared to most kids pizzas around. Granted, this one cost $14.00! It better be good!

At this point, we were debating whether to have dessert or not. Surprisingly, Viv was leaning towards dessert. Was she possessed by Mijune? Whatever the case, we decided to share 2 beginning with the Yogurt Panna Cotta served with grapefruit segments, orange coulis, grapefruit sorbet and a basil lemon gelee. The yogurt itself had vanilla bean as well. This was an extremely refreshing dessert. There was a whole lot of tartness going on from the yogurt and citrus elements. Yet, there was enough sweetness to balance it out. For our second dessert, we tried the Mango Custard with vanilla bean, coconut and lime. This was a very light offering which was not particularly sweet. This suited me just fine since I can't stand overly sugary desserts. The mango custard was very smooth and aromatic while the tang from the lime made up for the lack of zing from the mango. The little meringues provided a textural contrast to the custard.

If I had to describe this meal with one word, it would be "solid". The execution level was high and the attention to detail was evident. Despite what appears to be high menu prices, I thought it is fair considering the location, the chef and the level of refinement. Of course, by virtue of having a kids menu, it suddenly makes it alright for families to dine here. However, the "kids meals" can be deemed expensive. The service we received was generally attentive and consistent. If we take everything into account, it appears that Hawksworth is a winner.

The Good:
- Almost flawless execution
- Attentive service
- Wonderful dining space

The Bad:
- A bit pricey (however, I think it's fair)
- Kids menu is a plus; but not at those prices