Verace Pizzeria

*Restaurant is now closed*

Out of the blue, while in the changing room prior to our hockey game, Apu pipes up about a new Neapolitan pizza joint. Apparently his wife had visited Verace Pizzeria and the feedback was positive. Furthermore, their whole menu was 15% for the month of July. There were several attempts to visit the place; but due to our late games, we never made it out there. I even tried with our softball team; yet we were never really all that close by. It looked pretty grim as the days in July were dwindling. Finally, after our game at Montgomery Park, I made it a point to head over there. “Over there” was right next to the T&T Supermarket near the Stadium Skytrain Stadium. Hence, parking is a little bit scare. Consequently, I volunteered to carpool everyone. Not sure if it was Karma or just plain luck, I got the closest parking spot possible within a stone’s throw to the front door. And about that front door... It’s not very flashy. It can easily be missed, especially located in a roundabout hidden from the main street.

Bear was surprised by the classy decor and the overall style of the restaurant. He didn’t expect an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria in this neighbourhood. Well, I wasn’t. So many great places to eat have opened up shop in the most unsual places (see: Acme Cafe, Campagnolo, 2 Chefs & a Table among others). We decided to share a few things starting with the Burrata complimented by pizza bread and a balasmic reduction. Although I still have fond memories of the Burrata I had at L’Osteria del Forno in San Francisco, the one here was pretty solid. Each piece of Burrata was smooth and buttery. Surprisingly, the pizza bread almost stole the show. It was crispy, chewy, flavourful and worked well with the Burrata. I liked how the balsamic added some acidity and sweetness as well. Of course, no visit to an authentic Neapolitan pizza joint would be complete without trying the Margherita. In this case, we had the Verace Margherita DOP which consists of San Marzano Tomatoes, Buffalo Mozzarella and fresh basil. When it arrived, it sure looked good. Reminded me of the one I had at Nicli Antica. The outer crust was pretty good – chewy and charred (or what they call leoparding). At the centre, it was soft, which is normal; but slightly wet. Not as wet as the one I had at The BiBo; but wetter than the one at Nicli Antica. In terms of flavour, the San Marzano Tomatoes were money. So flavourful from the natural sweetness and acidity, the pizza would’ve succeeded on that alone. Of course the cheese was subtle along with the fresh taste of basil. A solid pizza.

As a comparison, we also had a more substantial pizza in the Diavola which was comprised of peppers, cappicola and salami. This particular pizza was naturally more flavourful due to the various meats and sweet peppers. Nice mix of sweetness and some spice from the capicolla. This one was actually less wet in the middle, which we preferred. Moving away from the regular pizzas, we decided to also try the Peppe Calzone. As expected, it was essentially what it represents – a pizza folded over to create a Calzone. So the dough was still the same being chewy slightly charred. There was no shortage of ingredients which may have contributed to it being a little wet as well. To be fair, we cut it apart into 4 sections which is usually the way it was meant to be eaten. So all the juices spilled out. Judes decided to go for the Caprese Sandwich which was almost like our Calzone, except it was not sealed. She liked it. Although, for me, it looked like a lot of dough and indeed she couldn't finish it. In my opinion, I'd stick with the pizzas over ordering a "sandwich". The accompanying Caesar was much like the one we got with the calzone. It was crisp and fresh; however, it was a tad underdressed. The dressing was good, we just didn't get enough of it. After our meal, we were presented with complimentary Hot Chocolate. This was a good hot chocolate. Not sweet at all with dark chocolate richness (and slight bitterness), this was a small little treat.

By now, all of us were on carb overload and I could feel the dough really settling in my stomach. However, that didn't stop some of us from trying some dessert. Bear originally wanted some cheesecake. Too bad it was all sold out. He settled on a scoop of Sorbetto which was refreshing. I got to steal the kiwi fruit from his plate, he didn't want it. In fact, the dessert I settled on sharing with Milhouse, he couldn't have any due to the lemon (which upsets his stomach I think). The Lemoncello Layer Cake was the only thing that stood out on the dessert menu. The description - Lemoncello-soaked lady fingers layered with lemon curd - sounded so good! Well, it was really good. The Lemoncello was very apparent in the ladyfingers which afforded a sweet citrus zing. The fresh lemon curd added another hit of tang which put the whole thing over the top. Where some desserts advertise lemon and the result is flat, this one makes up for all of them. The only thing we would've liked to see was a smoother curd. Some further investigation and we found out their pastry chef had worked for Thomas Haas. Interesting. In fact, the whole meal was quite interesting in itself. The pizza definitely reminded me of Nicli Antica and The BiBo. If I had to rate it, Verace slots in between the 2. That is a compliment, for those keeping track. For a place that has just opened, that is not bad. The only concern I have for them is that some people may not understand the regular pricing. The type of pizza they are serving is not remotely related to Uncle Fatih's around the corner (although I love Uncle Fatih's!), so there is some justification for the higher prices. We ultimately enjoyed our meals and thought we got good value at the discounted price we paid.

The Good:
- Pretty solid wood-oven pizza
- Comfortable digs
- Polite service (not sure what other word to use...)

The Bad:
- A little pricey
- Parking is limited in this area

Vancouver Foodie Tours (Downtown Food Carts)

Last year, I was fortunate enough to be invited to sample both the Granville Foodie Tour and the Richmond Foodie Tour run by Michelle Ng. It is a great concept really. A group of people pay one flat price to be taken to several restaurants sampling their wares. It is a good way to get a taste of everything without having to visit each restaurant individually. Vancouver Foodie Tours is back this year and it does cost more. Last year, it was a measly $10.00 per person because it was sponsored in part by the Downtown Vancouver and Richmond Tourism. Now it costs $60.00 and really, that is still reasonable considering the amount of places visited. This time around, I was invited with other media to experience Vancouver Foodie Tours - World's Best Street Eats Tour edition. With the explosion of food carts in our city, it can get quite confusing what is out there, where it is located and when they are open. The food cart tour is best suited for those unfamiliar to the city and are not interested in doing their own research.

So we met up at the Vancouver Centre Skytrain Station where La Brasserie Street was located. We got to sample half of their Brass Chicken Sandwich. I've had the good fortune to try most of the food carts featured in this tour and one of my favourites was this particular sandwich. I love it when a sandwich gets messy. Much like the pulled pork sandwich from re-up, the chicken sandwich is dripping with gravy which makes the whole thing moist. The buttermilk bun does a good job in keeping things together while the fried onions adds crunch and sweetness. The Butter Tart supplied by Tartine claims to be "World's Best" (not usually part of the tour, we just got to try it). Well, by virtue of not being a dessert person, I'm not the one to either confirm or deny that claim. Personally, I found it a bit too sweet. It was like eating a whole lot of buttery caramel. However, in the end, it was still pretty good, so I'll leave it at that.

From there, we took the walk over to the original "interesting" food cart - Japadog. I'm sure most of you know the story of Noriki Tamura, who came to Canada and wanted to start a business. He originally wanted to do a crepe cart; but due to the stringent regulations at the time, he had to settle on hot dogs. Not wanting to just do a regular hot dog cart, he created Japadog - hot dogs with a Japanese flair. We ended up at its original location and had the dog that started it all
- the Terimayo (which I believe is still the best one). Consisting of a beef sausage, teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, sautéed onions and nori, this makes all the other hot dog stands look boring (however, I'm sure there are those who still prefer a regular hot dog, which Japadog does sell). There is something about slapping teriyaki sauce and sweet mayo onto a hot dog that makes it taste good.

After this we strolled over to where Poke'm used to be located. Now it has been replaced by a Banh Mi cart aptly named Bun Me. The cart reminds me a little of the Nom Nom Truck out of L.A. which was a participant on the Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. Now we all know that Banh Mi is pretty widely available in Vancouver for roughly $3.00 - $3.75 depending on the store. However, that doesn't really include Downtown Vancouver. Other than a few other places, Bun Me offers up something that is under-represented in the Downtown core. Of course there is a slight premium to be paid, their Banh Mi costs $4.25. Yet, that is still considerably less than many of the other offerings from other food carts in the area. There are only 2 options: Lemongrass Chicken and Tofu. We tried the Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi today and it included the usual pickled carrots and daikon, hot pepper (if you want), cilantro, mayo, cucumber and their special sauce. I found their bread to be crisp and slightly dense. There was plenty of ingredients packed into the baguette, so in terms of value, it was a winner. As for flavour, I would've liked to see the pickled carrots and daikon to have more acidity and for the chicken to have more lemongrass kick. With those 2 tweaks, I believe that the flavours in this sandwich would sing.

We then headed over to Granville Street where we met up at Kaboom Box. For those who are familiar with Fresh Local Wild, the Kaboom Box replaces it on Granville with roughly the same menu. And about that menu, I remember having concerns about their Po' Boy and other sandwiches crossing the $10.00 threshold. That in itself priced themselves out of the food cart market. I'm happy to report that they have lowered their prices where all of their sandwiches (Po' Boy, Venison and Salmon) are only $8.00 each. We didn't get to sample any of the sandwiches today; rather, we had the Mushroom Poutine. This totally vegetarian dish is comprised of fries, white cheddar cheese curds and mushroom gravy. For me, I liked the gravy. It was just right with a good mushroom flavour. However, the cheese curds were not squeeky and I found them a bit salty. Furthermore, I would've liked the use of a thicker cut and shorter fry. In the end, I felt that half of one of their fabulous sandwiches, in particular the Po' Boy or Salmon, would've been a better representation of their food cart. I'm sure there were cost concerns related to this.

Finally, we ended up kitty-corner to where we started at Nu Greek Street. Incidentally, I had just tried their fabulous pitas the week before. So I was glad to be back. Part of the Kambolis Restaurant Group (which includes C, Raincity Grill and Nu), Nu Greek Street is their first foray into the food cart business. And low and behold, who was helping to man the cart today for our tour, Harry Kambolis himself (Coincidence? I think not...)! We got to sample a smaller version of their Chicken Pita. The star of this thing is the pita itself. It's fresh, soft, slightly charred and I would gladly eat it plain without any complaints. However, with the addition of a fabulous garlicky tzatziki, there are wonderful flavours and textures going on here. This was a great end to a pretty fun time going from food cart to food cart. However, I'm not sure if I would necessarily pay $50.00 for it. I could easily visit all of the aforementioned carts and have a full order of each item for far less than $50.00. Of course I wouldn't get a guided tour with interesting information about each cart. But then again, I'm pretty sure I don't belong to the target market of this tour.

*Note: This was an invited dinner where all food was comped*

On Yuen

So you have 5 bux in your wallet and you're plenty hungry. What are the options? Nachos with mystery cheese sauce at 7-11? Nope, not that, I'm talking about a real meal. There are the usual fast food joints such as McD's, Wendy's, Burger King and so on. So sure, it is possible to get a full meal for that amount of money. Now if we ignore these places, where else can one go? Pizza slices, sandwich shops and something like Kent's Kitchen could do the job as well. And let's not even mention food carts. I dare anyone to get full from any of the new food carts in Vancouver for less than $6.00. A good bet is Chinese food. Generally inexpensive and plentiful, it is one of the best values out there. Sure, it ain't pretty sometimes and generally greasy; but for quantity, it can't be beat. Yet, even with that being said, for $5.00, that is still a tough thing to find even at a Chinese restaurant.

So imagine my curiosity when I heard that On Yuen in Surrey had lunch specials for $4.95. Normally, when it is advertised that there are lunch specials from $4.95, there are usually a token dish while everything else is much more expensive. Not here though. The majority of the lunch specials were indeed $4.95. With all the choices available, I went for the Brisket in Portuguese Sauce on Rice. Now, this was more of a curry sauce than Portuguese. Even with that, a "Portuguese" sauce is actually a Chinese interpretation, so don't expect anything remotely related to Portugal. This was the result of the Portuguese influence on their colony of Macau. Anyways, the curry was actually very flavourful and had a noticeable amount of heat. There was a considerable amount of sauce for the rice on the plate. The brisket itself was not too fatty while being extremely moist.

Ma had the Yeung Chow Fried Rice, which is better known as the BBQ Pork and Shrimp Fried Rice. I found the rice to be too soft. It was probably either not day-old rice or it was too wet to begin with. Hence, it ended up to be a bit clumpy. It was properly seasoned though; yet the shrimp was very bland. Too much cold-water rinsing? It probably washed away all the flavour and they didn't do anything to season it. At the very least, the cold-water rinsing resulted in a desirable texture. When the Chicken in Cream Sauce on Rice arrived, it looked a bit too saucy. However, it was better than it appeared. The sauce itself wasn't exactly creamy. It was more milky-starchy than anything else. However, it had a good flavour with tender slices of chicken and vibrant veggies. With that being said, I would take a HK-style cream chicken rice over this.

Looking over the menu, it was baffling to some that there was no Chicken Chow Mein. In place of that, there was a Broccoli Beef Chow Mein. I've seen this on rice; but rarely on noodles. In the end, I thought it really didn't work. Possibly it was the wrong choice of noodles though. We got the soft noodles and the whole thing ended up to be wet. Maybe it would've fared better with the fried noodles. If we looked at the broccoli and beef independently, it was okay. The beef was sufficiently tender without losing its texture while the broccoli was still crunchy. I wasn't a big fan of the sauce though, it was a bit heavy on the oyster sauce.

Moving along, we also had the Satay Beef with Rice Noodles. The rice noodles were fried up nicely where there was still texture without being clumpy. However, the entire dish was extremely oily including the sauce. The sauce was decently flavourful without being spicy at all. Once again, the beef was properly tenderized without losing its texture. On the same note, the Beef Fried Rice Noodles were equally greasy. That was not surprising though since the only way to keep the rice noodles from sticking to the wok is the use of oil and high heat. Overall, the food was okay. Hey, what can we expect for $5.00 + tax and tip? While we were there, we noticed a diverse crowd getting takeout. Hey, if you can get a meal for $5.00 that doesn't involve a drive-thru, it's a deal.

The Good:
- Cheap lunch specials
- Friendly if not sparse service (it got really busy)
- Food is alright

The Bad:
- Food is alright (there is definitely better; but probably not nearby)

Pho 99 (Schoolhouse)

Normally, I try to be as creative as possible when looking for eats. This is especially true when I'm all by my lonesome. Think of it, I'm already bored due to the fact I have no one to talk to. Why not eat something interesting to make up for it? Well, call it an epic fail this time around. I was scouring the neighbourhood around Maillardville for lunch options, in particular along Austin Road. One after one idea was squashed due to the absence of available parking. What is this? Richmond? Well, I really didn't have time to circle around and around looking for a space since I had to take the car in for servicing shortly after. Thus, I ended up at the new Pho 99 location attached to Zone Bowling right next to Silvercity.

Creative? Nope. Food that can be eaten quickly? Yup. As I walked into the spacious restaurant, it was only about 1/3rd full. Yet, they tried to stick me in a corner with no light. That won't do right? I asked for a window seat and everything was back on track. Normally, I order far too much food and this time it was no different. I decided to start with the Roll Combo consisting of one spring roll, one shrimp salad roll and one grilled minced pork roll. I have to say all 3 rolls were pretty average. First, the spring roll was made with a wheat wrapper. Not a big deal if it were good; but it was kinda bland. Then the 2 salad rolls did not have enough lettuce and didn't have any sprouts or basil. Hence it was mostly soft without any crunch. On the other hand, the Pork & Vietnamese Ham Banh Mi was pretty good. The bread was crunchy on the outside while airy and soft on the inside. There was a good amount of meat, pickled carrots along with crunchy cucumber.

As always, I went for the Pho Dac Biet. Similarly to all the other times I've been to the other locations of Pho 99, the portion size is acceptable - neither too little or a lot. I found the meats to be tender while the noodles were al dente. As for the broth, it was sweeter than I would've liked and it had this "daikon" flavour to it. Not sure if they used daikon in the broth; but it surely tasted more like Chinese soup than Vietnamese beef broth. With that being said, it was good in its own ways. It just didn't taste typical of Pho. So there is my boring meal. It was okay and pretty typical of what you get at Pho 99. At the very least, it is a better value than
Phố Hoàng Tung nearby.

The Good:
- Predictable
- Conveniently located from the Silvercity and Zone Bowling crowd
- Okay value

The Bad:
- Food is predictable; yet it is missing some things
- Service could be more attentive

Toulouse Petit

Lineups. I can't stand lineups. I've expressed this sentiment over and over again. Hey, I'm all for good food; but if there is an excessive amount of people waiting for it, I tend to shy away. This is especially true when I have the kids with me. Just imagine their patience level waiting in line to be seated. This is what happened the previous day when I drove by Paseo. No can do, I just kept on driving. So you can see my apprehension about visiting another Seattle favourite - Toulouse Petit. They do take reservations; but not for breakfast. So my only choice was to show up early. That involved waking up, loading up the car and heading into Seattle from Bellevue. It was all worth it though. We got seated right away. By the window no less!

Besides being a great place to grab brunch, another reason we ended up here was the kid-friendliness of the place. As such, there was the usual crayons and coloring paper; yet curiously, there was no kid's menu. Hence, we had to order a regular-sized breakfast for my son. No matter, I was hungry anyways. The Classic Eggs Breakfast consisted of 2 eggs, choice of sausage, ham or bacon, hashbrowns and toast. My son decided on the scrambled eggs and sausage, which incidentally would've been my choices as well. Hey, might as well test the skill of the kitchen with scrambled eggs right? Well, the eggs were nearly perfect. They were folded nicely and fluffy. I would've preferred them just a smidgen less cooked; however, that is nit-picking. The house-made sausage patty was meaty and devoid of fatty chunks. It was not overseasoned where we could still taste the meat. The hashbrowns were the cubed fried variety and were seasoned with with cajun spice.

For myself, I had the Cured Pork Cheek Confit Hash which happened to be featured on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". Although I didn't make the breakfast happy hour price (which was the theme of that episode), it really didn't matter. I really needed to see for myself if it deserved the fanfare. Consisting of tender pork cheek, parsnips, potato, arugula, asparagus and chilies, this was an interesting hash. I mixed in the perfectly poached eggs and this was a very enjoyable plate of food. The best thing I ever ate? Well no. However, I can't deny that it was something a bit different and tasty. I found the pork cheek in this application to have a similar consistency as stewed beef tongue (which is a good thing btw). There were other flavours at work here other than the salty pork cheek. The bitterness of arugula and the kick from the chilies added a few other angles of flavour.

As for Viv, she decided on the Duck Terrine Benedict. Now when they say terrine, they meant it. Sitting atop the muffin was a thick slice of duck liver terrine with pistachios. And on top of that was 2 perfectly poached eggs and a wonderful Hollandaise. The terrine itself didn't exhibit much "duckiness"; yet it was still very good nonetheless. We thought it would be heavy in an eggs benny and it really wasn't. The main thing is that it was different. In fact, that was one of the highlights of this breakfast. We didn't eat the same ol' thing again, like bacon and eggs. Add into the fact that it was tasty while being in an eclectic environment with solid service, well we can see why Toulouse Petit is so popular. I can't wait to return for their dinner service.

The Good:
- Something a bit different
- Food is executed well (for what we tried)
- Service was attentive

The Bad:
- A bit pricey for breakfast (but was worth it IMO)
- There are no reservations taken at breakfast, prepare to lineup

Facing East Taiwanese

When Goose first moved down to Seattle, particularly Redmond, for employment in the high-tech industry, Asian food was only an afterthought. I remember him taking me to Noble Court for Dim Sum in 1999 and it was completely forgettable. To be fair, I was trying to hold up Vancouver standards for Asian food in a completely non-Asian place. Fast forward over 10 years later and the Asian food scene in Seattle, specifically in Bellevue has improved dramatically. With more and more Asians moving into the Emerald City and its suburbs, there are more legit places to go for Asian food. Hey, even the world-renowned Din Tai Fung decided to put a location at Bellevue Square. So after a relatively decent noodle experience at Boom Noodle (honestly, it was not bad with all things considered), I set my sights on Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant. That's right. Not only was I going for Chinese food in Bellevue, I was aiming for a specific type of Chinese cuisine. With all the Taiwanese joints available in the GVRD, you'd think it would be nuts for me to head to Bellevue for such food.

Well, I went in with an open mind and considering all the great reviews it gets, I did have high expectations. First of all, we had to try their drinks. Bubble tea and Taiwanese cuisine seem to go hand-in-hand. Well, just like what others have said, the drinks were very good. Rather than substituting sugar for flavour, the drinks here tasted like its description. For instance, the Mango Slush was like drinking a mango, while the Pineapple Slush was the same. The drinks were blended until smooth; yet there were still desirable chunks of pineapple in our slush. As for the Red Bean drink, I didn't ask Goose about it. Besides, I'm not a huge red bean fan (LOL).  

According to many of the reviews, the "must have" item was the Pork Burger. Reminiscent of many modern takes on an Asian pork belly slider, this was the real deal. Encased within a soft mantou was a large piece of melt-in-your mouth braised pork belly. There was a little of everything in there to tickle the tastebuds including white sugar, ground peanuts, pickled mustard greens, cilantro and a touch of sweet hot sauce. Combined with the inherent flavours of five-spice, soy and ginger from the pork belly, it was a veritable flavour explosion. This is really a must order. The next dish might seem odd to some people - Silky Tofu with Aged Duck Egg and Dried Pork Floss. What? Well, for the uninitiated, the preserved duck egg is indeed the black thing on top. The whole dish is finished with dried pork fluff and a thick sweet sauce. The result is something that is very tasty. The silky tofu acted as a blank canvas for the other flavours. The preserved egg has a unique sweet umaminess to it and when combined with the sweet sauce and saltiness of the pork floss, it created another flavour explosion.

Another suggested dish was the 5 Spice Fried Chicken with Basil. This is somewhat similar to salty peppery chicken except for the obvious addition of 5 spice powder. There was still some salty, peppery and spicy thing going on except with the addition of more flavours and of course basil. In this case, they used breast meat which made for slightly drier chicken and less flavourful in my opinion. This was probably one of the more average items we had at the table. Another appie was the 5 Spice Beef Wrap. In this version, it was really a wrap as the menu description implies. It was almost like a cone with thin slices of beef shank, onions and cilantro. I found that there was an overwhelming amount of cilantro and onion, where that was all I tasted. The pancake itself was very thin and crisp. Again, this was only okay for us. When at a Taiwanese restaurant, I guess the Beef Noodle is mandatory. So yes we got a large order with thick noodles. It arrived it a really large bowl with lots of beef broth. I found it to be pretty decent with some meat flavour, somewhat sweet and a small hint of spice. The noodles were al dente while the beef and tendons were super tender.

While reading up on Yelp, another one of the recommended dishes was the Spiced Pork Stew over Rice. I got the large order and it was a fair-sized portion for $4.95. In fact, most of the items on the menu are priced reasonably. This was a pretty solid dish. In fact, my son ate it, so it must've been good. I found the rice to have a good texture whereby it was soft while not being wet. The stewed pork was super moist and flavourful and when mixed into the rice, there was just the right amount of seasoning. Of course, the familiar taste of soy, 5-spice, rock sugar, ginger and garlic were quite apparent. For some strange reason, I added the Pork Chop on Rice even though we already had a pork and rice dish. We universally agreed that it was unnecessary since there was more than enough food already and the fact it was quite "meh". The pork chop was not really all that moist or tender. Furthermore, it was not really all that flavourful either. It exhibited some of the same spices as the stewed pork; but there was not enough to make the rice tasty. Served on the side was pickled mustard greens, half a tea egg and Shanghai bak choy.

For our requisite veggie dish, we had the Four Seasons Green Beans. Despite the appearance of very little ingredients and lack of colour, the beans were seasoned properly. Lots of garlic, onions, salt, sugar and a touch of spice made up for the lack of flavour from the pork chop. The beans could've stood to be a bit less cooked since they were slightly soft. At least we made use of the plain rice with this. In fact, the 3 Cup Chicken was another dish that went well with the plain rice. These were some of the largest pieces of chicken I've had with this type of dish. Consequently, the chicken was moist and tender. As for the seasoning, there was a good balance of flavours including a good amount of zing from the Shao Xing wine and aromatics provided by the whole cloves of garlic and fresh basil leaves.

As we were finishing up our meal, it was quite obvious there would be plenty of leftovers. I guess I forgot we only had 4 adults eating along with 3 kiddies. However, we kept eying the endless stream of the Fresh Mango with Shaved Ice passing by us to literally every table. Well, when in Rome... So we ended up with a small order, which was still plenty for us. The large is just plain massive. Atop a big pile of shaved ice was big chunks of ripe mangoes topped by mango juice and condensed milk. Despite its appearance, it was not very sweet. Rather, it was a refreshing end to a surprisingly good meal. We went in with high expectations and Facing East mostly lived up to it. Of course it isn't a mind-blowing experience (rarely anything is); but it was solid and considering the location, it is both authentic and a good value.

The Good:
- It can give Vancouver Taiwanese restaurants a run for the money
- Reasonably-priced
- Good portions

The Bad:
- Service is hurried
- Long, long lineups
- If you thinking parking lots in Richmond are insufficient, you haven't seen nothing yet

Lunchbox Laboratory

After a failed attempt at snagging a Cubano at Paseo due to the crazy ass lineup, we were in search for other eats. No fear though, I came prepared. Our backup plan was the Lunchbox Laboratory, which was suggested quite awhile back by Inspector Gadget. It has since moved from its original location and now occupies digs which are more spacious and modern. I never got a chance to visit their old place; but from all indications, the new place is not as divey nor has as much character. That was not a major concern for me since I had my son in tow and we were starving. So what's the deal with the Lunchbox Laboratory that I'd actually use up one of my meals during my brief stay in the Emerald City? Well, it is consistently rated one of the best burgers in Washington and in fact, the country. They only use Kobe Beef and organic kaiser buns from Essential Bakery. With that in mind, it somewhat explains the premium price on their burgers.

With window seat acquired and stomachs growling, we set down to ordering. I paid my respects to Dick's Burgers (even though I'm not a big fan) by going for the Homage to Dick's Deluxe which consisted of American cheese, honey-cured bacon, lunchbox onions and top secret burger sauce. One bite into the burger and that's when the grease started to flow. This was totally expected since Kobe beef ain't diet food. With oil and sauce dripping from the burger down my arm, I took bite-after-bite of seriously moist beef. It was more greasy than juicy per se; but the meat was not dry at all. I really liked the crisp bacon, it was low on the fat and heavy on the flavour. The bun was easy to eat and generally held the burger together until near the end where it disintegrated. 

For my side, I had the Mac 'n Cheese, which I promptly passed to my son. This was one seriously flavourful mac 'n cheese without the reliance on salt. It had a sharp cheddar taste while exhibiting some blue cheese hits. This was seriously cheesy and rich. For my actual side, I had the 3/16th Skinny Fries which were closer to crisps than fries. They were very crunchy and had no potatoness left in them. I did like them though, they were crispy all the way to the last one.

Viv ended up with the Smoker. No, she wasn't standing outside hacking a butt; rather, it was a burger consisting of Havarti cheese, honey-cured bacon, smoked pepper mayo and she substituted balsamic onions in place of the lunchbox onions. I gotta say good call on the balsamic onions. They added an oomph that really cut through the heaviness of the meat. And in the spirit of the sign out front which exclaims "6 pieces of bacon is just normal", there seemed like that much in her burger. For her side, she had a Caesar salad. A salad? Like that would really help cut down the fat of this meal. Anyways, for good measure, I added another side of Tater Tots because the table beside us seemed to be enjoying them. And I can see why, they were fried up perfectly crisp while being soft on the inside. Such simple pleasures in life. Burgers in general can be simple as well; but not here. The meat is rich, the toppings are tasty and plentiful. Health food this is not and cheap it is not as well. For me, I appreciate the quality of the ingredients that go into my food and the meat is indeed good here, as well as everything else. However, I can see how some people could be turned off by the pricing.

The Good:
- Moist Kobe beef
- Lots of quality toppings
- Comfortable digs

The Bad:
- Some people may not see it as good value
- Well, it's greasy (but I like it)