Tempest Lounge

*Restaurant is now closed*

Here we go. Back to the regular routine of heading out for eats after Friday Night Hockey. After doing a somewhat "last resort" visit to Breka Bakery last week due to an 11:00pm game, we were in search of something more substantial this time around. At first, we attempted to go to the Kozmik Zoo (which was formerly Hennessy), but that idea was quashed quickly due to a massive crowd inside. We couldn't figure out why it was so busy... So the only option for non-Asian eats nearby that I could quickly think of was Tempest Lounge (formerly Tempest Steakhouse). Sure, there were other places nearby, but I had recently visited all of them! Too early to do a revisit...

As implied in its namesake, Tempest is a lounge-type restaurant, so food is not necessarily their main focus. Thus, the menu is quite simple and limited. As such, Mr. Blueberry and Sweet Tooth both had the Steak Sandwich (because it was hard to not have duplicates) which they both enjoyed. The steak was cooked medium-rare as they requested and was relatively tender. The sauteed mushrooms and onions were flavourful with a proper amount of caramelization. Although they liked the crispy fries, we would've liked to see a better attempt than Cavandish from Costco. They could've done a better job with the bun though, which was of the generic sesame variety. For myself, a steak sandwich wasn't enough, instead I went for the 10oz Top Sirlion Steak with fully stuffed baked potato and creamed corn. The steak looked bigger than 10oz and was cooked roughly medium-rare. It was fairly moist and tender considering it was not one of the premium cuts of meat. It was seasoned properly and nicely charred. The baked potato was surprisingly good considering we were there for late night. It was soft and required very little effort to eat. The creamed corn was quite watery and that was slightly off-putting. However, I thought it tasted decent with a cream flavour and the pop of sweet corn.

Milhouse had his ol' standby being the Cheeseburger. Well... It was a cheeseburger. The meat was nicely charred and not too overdone. Gadget Girl surprisingly had the Veggie Burger (she is a meat lover) and she actually liked it. I'm thinking that they don't make their own veggie patties here, so it was probably supplied by Yves Veggie or something like that. Whatever the case, it was moist and flavourful. In the end, most of the food - other than the steaks - was probably supplied by Sysco, GFS or merely purchased at costco. Therefore, the one thing I can comment on is execution. In that case, I would give them a passing grade since nothing was particularly wrong. With fairly reasonable prices, Tempest is an option for those wanting a side of food with their drinks.

The Good:
- Most items are reasonably-priced
- Food is alright considering the focus of the restaurant
- Service is pretty decent, if not a touch sparse

The Bad:
- Not the most spacious of seats in the middle section
- Food is not the main reason you come here

Sake Maki

Okay, what's up with the injuries lately? First, I return from an almost 2-month absence due to a knee sprain, then 2 weeks later I get a concussion. Sami Salo has got nothing on me! Hey, as long as it doesn't affect my chewing and digesting, it's all good. Fortunately, I didn't miss any Friday night games due to my latest injury since we had a bye week. Upon returning, I got a shutout, which prompted my team in suggesting I get more concussions. Uh... No. So of course, the thing I look forward to the most on Fridays is not the game itself, but the food that follows. Originally, our plan was to check out The Charlatan out on Commercial, but that was quickly quashed since the place was packed. Quickly scanning the other choices nearby, Milhouse nixed the idea of Marcello's since our last visit there was a test of our patience. Hmmm... I spied Sake Maki across the street and since there were no objections, that was to be our place for eats.

Joining us were Gordo's cousin (Dragon Lady) and friend who really didn't eat, but were content to watch me take photos and notes. We started the meal off with the Assorted Sashimi which consisted of 3 pieces each of albacore tuna and sockeye salmon, 4 pieces of tako, 2 pieces of pacific salmon, 1 dollop of chopped scallop and 1 twirl of tai. Making up for the lack of portion size was the quality of the items on the plate - aesthetically and texturally pleasing. Next up was the Toro Avocado with Yuzu Dressing. In between the ripe slices of avocado were thick slices of toro. Although this was not bad, I felt the soft toro with the even softer avocado was mush-on-mush. Dragon Lady suggested if the toro had been sliced more thinly, it would've made a difference. I would have to concur with that sentiment. The citrus notes of the yuzu-shoyu sauce lightened the texturally-challenged dish.

Due to our hunger pains, we went ahead and ordered 4 specialty rolls beginning with the ever-so-typical Dragon Roll. It is worth noting that all of their specialty rolls were only $8.95 each, which I consider a reasonable price. Unlike most versions of this roll, the inside consisted of avocado and ebi tempura rather than imitation crab meat. On the outside was unagi, tobiko, unagi sauce and sweet mayo. This was pretty good with quality ingredients and a freshly fried ebi. The one thing that could've been better was the sushi rice. I found it dense and lacking in flavour. Dragon Lady called it the curse of the Chinese-run Japanese restaurant sushi rice. I am going to cut the place a bit of slack because we arrived 15 minutes to closing and the rice may have not been in the best state at that time. For our next roll, the Ebi Tempura with Mango & Coconut was presented missing the coconut. Turns out Gordo is not a big fan of the stuff. So we had to resort to having it served on the side. Too bad for him because I felt that the coconut was the best part of the roll. With the same good filling as the previous roll, the topping of sweet & tangy mango was complimented well with the aromatic coconut. The flavour was very tropical and pleasant.

As a break from the rolls, we got the Agedashi Tofu next. It came out piping hot and crisp. I loved how they didn't serve it in the dashi sauce because I hate soggy Agedashi tofu. This was good, but I would've loved to see some grated daikon though. Moving along to another fried item, we had the Assorted Tempura. At first glance, I was concerned with the abundance of tempura batter. However, it was crisp all the way through and not doughy at all. As with the ebi tempura in the aforementioned rolls, it had a nice texture and was sweet. Okay, back to the rolls. We had the Spicy Girl next and really, it was not really all that spicy. Mind you, Japanese food is not supposed to be kick-in-the-pants spicy either. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese in any of my maki sushi, but this was made more bearable with bacon and avocado accompanying it in the middle. On the outside was smoked salmon, lemon rind, tobiko and "spicy" mayo. This was probably my least favourite roll, partly due to my bias against cream cheese.

While the Spicy Girl was not that impactful, the Hornby Roll had quite the kick to it. Essentially a negitoro roll on the inside with cucumber and spicy mayo topped with chopped scallop & tobiko with more spicy mayo, this was my favourite roll of the meal. Loved the crunch from the cucumber combined with the soft tuna and sweet scallop accented by a significantly spicy sauce. It appeared most people at the table concurred that it was the best roll. Keep in mind that dense rice tempered our enthusiasm, but then again, I've already gone over my thoughts on that. Despite ordering 4 rolls, we added a couple of filler items. We universally thought the Tonkatsu Don was poorly executed. It was too bad really since the pork cutlet was actually quite good. It was large, tender and had a thin crumb coating. However, they seemed to have dumped all of the sauce on the pork cutlet and none of it seeped into the rice. Hence, the meat was super salty while the panko coating went all soggy. Worst of all was the rice, it had absolutely no taste and despite trying to
combine pieces of salty pork with it, the flavour was not balanced. On the other hand, most of the issues with this could be alleviated if they merely redistribute the sauce.

Our last dish was the Chicken Yakiudon which arrived on a sizzling hot plate. This, compared to the tonkatsu don was much more successful. There wasn't a big pool of sauce or residual moisture from the veggies which ensured that the noodles were caramelized with flavour. There was a good noodle-to-meat-to veggie ratio which also enhanced the dish. In terms of flavour, there was a level of acidity which balanced out the sweetness and saltiness. This was a decent end to a relatively decent meal. Sure, it ain't authentic, but the prices are reasonable and the proprietors are friendly. Yes, the sushi rice could've been better but if you accept Sake Maki for what it is, it's an okay place on the Drive.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Friendly proprietors
- Overall, food was acceptable

The Bad:
- Sushi rice could be better
- A little cramped inside

Pho Thai Hoa

In Vancouver, there are a few Vietnamese places open real late into the early morning hours. I say a "few" because there aren't as many as one would think considering the plethora of these places. As such, the only ones open at these hours are all of the Pho Hoa locations and a few others. As much as I don't mind Pho Hoa, it is not exactly my first choice when it comes to Vietnamese grub. As for the "others", nothing has made me classify them as must "eats" either. So when we had a game that ended at a more reasonable hour for our Friday night league, we headed over to one of the "better" Vietnamese restaurants in town - Pho Thai Hoa. "Better" because it earned the silver in Vancouver Magazine restaurant awards (if that had any influence on our decision to eat here). We barely made it since the place was due to close at 10:00pm. As such, many of their menu items were unavailable except for the basics.

Gordo and Sweet Tooth ended up sharing the Spring Rolls to start. If you take a gander at the picture, you'll clearly see that they are prepared with rice paper wrap. That in itself is a good start. The use of rice paper gives the spring roll a totally different texture and appearance. This one was done very nicely being crisp, light and with a filling that was flavourful. Due to the limited items available, Milhouse settled on a Grilled Chicken Banh Mi. The bread was slightly dense while still crisp from the toasting. Nestled within the typical ingredients such as pickled daikon and carrots, cucumber and cilantro was moist and tender chicken. It was flavourful and was more than enough to give the whole sandwich some punch.

Gordo ended up with the Lemongrass Chicken and Shredded Pork (pork rind) with rice and it was expected to be good since the meat would be exactly the same as the one found in the banh mi. So yes, it was moist, juicy and full of flavour. Loved the colour of it too. For myself, I had a banh mi as well and a bowl of Pho. Hey, I can't eat only one item right? Unlike some other Vietnamese joints, the pho here looked like there was some care exercised in its preparation and construction. The noodles were not clumpy and perfectly al dente. Moreover, the meats were sliced evenly and were tender. The broth had a pleasing colour and was neither too salty nor too light. It was more on the savoury side than sweet though. I would say this was an above-average bowl of pho but still doesn't compare to my personal favourite at Pho Tam in Surrey. Yet, what I can say is the food that we tried here at Pho Thai Hoa was solid and reasonably-priced to boot. In a sea of Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsway, it is hard to find significant differences sometimes. Well, we could tell that this was a notch higher than the usual.

The Good:
- Carefully prepared food
- Food looks and tastes good
- Friendly proprietors

The Bad:
- Well, not a surprise really, they are friendly, but service is spotty

Brewmaster's Dinner @ Romer's Burger Bar

Boy, I haven't been back to Romer's since it opened in 2010. That was after our softball game where the whole team descended on the former location of Pinky's Steakhouse. With the remnants of past decor combined with the premise of gourmet burgers, we came away satisfied. That was quite the feat since we had 8 people with different tastes. Fast forward almost 2 years and I get an invite to sample one of their Brewmaster's Dinners. Think along the lines of the Long Table Series at the Irish Heather. At Romer's, this meal is held in the "vault" downstairs, where there is communal seating at 2 long tables. The meal is a ticketed event that needs to be booked in advance. For tonight's dinner, Howe Sound Brewery was featured where every one of our 3 courses was paired with a specific beer. In addition, we were treated to a souvenir glass along with a can of Howe Sound Lager .

Since Miss Y was with me the last time I was here, it was only natural she be my guest for the meal. We got to know our neighbours quite well since they were obviously enjoying their brew. In particular, Rosie and Bra-Lady. Yes, they wanted to be mentioned in the blog... LOL... As mentioned, we started off with the Lager and then progressed to the Garabaldi Honey Pale Ale, Nut Ale and lastly, the Diamondhead Oatmeal Stout. For Miss Y and I, the clear winner was the Honey Pale Ale since it was smooth and had a nice finish. Onto the food, we started with the Lobster Gnocchi & Cheese. Hidden beneath the crispy crumb coating and melted cheddar was a rich, creamy mixture of white cheddar, black truffle oil, honey pale ale and tarragon. The sauce definitely had a bite and was cheesy-smooth. I found the gnocchi to be on the denser side, yet I didn't mind it since I'm not a huge fan of mushy gnocchi. There was a good gnocchi-to -lobster ratio where the meat was perfectly cooked. It was accompanied by a watercress and dried cranberry salad with tarragon dressing.

For our "burger", it was something out of left-field. Or should I say it was from a field? We were presented with the Kitsilano Paleo Special consisting of a lean turkey burger combined with cilantro, chili flakes, cumin, nuts, cranberries and yams. It rested on top of a lettuce tower, with roasted beets, topped with apple wood bacon, fried egg and roasted pepper salsa. Vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh sliced avocado was served on the side with a red pepper drizzle and edamame. When I first looked at it, I asked myself, "what's with all the vegetables?", figuring that I would not be satisfied. How wrong I was. Sure, I dusted the whole thing off, but I was full. Apparently, they did not add any extra salt other than the pre-existing sodium in the bacon. As skeptical as I was, I enjoyed the burger. Now, I still would've preferred a beef burger with the works, yet this was more than acceptable. The patty was moist and somewhat spicy which was balanced by the sweet cranberries. With crispy bacon and a runny egg yolk, there was body to the burger. With all the greens on the plate, I actually didn't feel any guilt.

Well, there was guilt with the gnocchi and then finally a bit more guilt in the dessert. We were presented with the Oatmeal Fudge Bar with a stout creme anglaise and raspberry coulis. Although I found the bar itself to be a touch dense, the mild sweetness won me over. I personally hate desserts that rely too much on sugar. This one, I could taste the chocolate and the subtle hit of booze was a surprisingly flavour addition. This was a pleasant end to an unexpected 3-course meal at Romer's. For $28.00, considering the amount of beer included (of course the beer company is promoting their stuff), the meal is well-priced. Definitely a unique experience for those who want something a bit different.

The Good:
- Fairly good value considering the booze
- Enough food to make one full
- Kudos for trying to be creative

The Bad:
- The vault is nice, yet cramped
- No choice of main (but then again, you would know that while booking the reservation)

Breka Bakery

After nearly 2 months away from hockey due to a knee injury, I was chomping at the bit to play. Finally, I felt good enough to give it a go. The first game back would be my Friday co-rec league game, which also meant eats afterwards! Fate would have it, the game was at 11:30pm. When has 11:30pm become prime ice-time??? Well, the return to action was successful being a 3-2 win, but the options for eats after the game were slim to none. To spice things up a bit, there was a light dusting of snow with indications of more to come. No matter, I drove the SUV and so did Sweet Tooth. Milhouse laughs in the face of snow, so that wasn't a factor for him either. With my sights set on 24-hour joints, I suggested we try Breka Bakery out on Fraser. I think I had Sweet Tooth at "desserts". For those who are unfamiliar with Breka, think of it as a simpler version of the ol' Bread Garden.

With falling snow the size of cotton balls, we stuck with the plan undeterred. Walking into the place, Sweet Tooth was pleased at the selection of sweets. Normally, we frequent places which either do not have desserts or the desserts are of the Mario's Gelato boxed variety. Now, right off the bat, I need to mention that most of the items at Breka are very reasonably-priced, so expectations must be tempered. On that note, I had the Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quiche and it was pretty average. I guess it did the job in filling my stomach, but it lacked any punch. There was very little gaminess and I didn't get much taste from the mushrooms. For my sweet item, I had the New York Style Cheesecake. Probably due to sitting in the display case for an undetermined period of time, parts of the exposed cheesecake became rubbery. Once past that layer, the rest of the cheesecake was actually quite nice. Loved that it wasn't too sweet either.

Sweet Tooth was considering in going crazy with several orders of dessert, but she wimped out and only got one order of Tiramisu. Okay, right away, we noticed there was something amiss with it. Rather than lady fingers, the bottom layer was comprised of sponge cake. A touch blasphemous, but not overly disturbing in the grand scheme of things when we ate it. The tiramisu was light and not too sweet. We didn't get much in the way of espresso hits, but it was a pleasant dessert nonetheless. As for Milhouse, he was hungry. Therefore, he first had the Tuna Panini. Well, there was not much to comment on this other than it was toasted up hot and crunchy with plenty of tuna and veggies in the middle. It hit the spot for Milhouse without much complaints.

For dessert, he had the Chocolate Mousse which for all intents and purposes did the job. It was only semi-sweet and somewhat chocolaty. It wasn't a rich bittersweet chocolate taste, rather it was just flat chocolate. Not sure if I explained it correctly. The texture was alright, it could've been lighter. It wasn't terrible nor was it memorable either. I guess that would be pretty much what Breka Bakery is about. There are some gems to be found, yet as a whole, everything is acceptable for a late night (or in this case, early morning) snack. It's not fancy and it certainly is not trendy, but at 2:00am, who really cares?

The Good:
- Open 24 hours
- Lots of choice, in terms of desserts
- Inexpensive

The Bad:
- It's "meh"

Mom's Grilled Cheese

If you read this blog often enough, my son's love for grilled cheese sandwiches is as apparent as Snooki's love of pickles (actually, I think they're the same height... LOL...). When we heard that there would be a food cart dedicated solely to the buttery, crunchy and gooey concoction known as the grilled cheese, it was as if our prayers were answered. So on a cold winter's day (and I mean cold), I took my son to Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck smack dab in the middle of Downtown. Located during lunch hours on Howe at Georgia, the incredibly personable staff prepare each and every grilled cheese to order. Outstanding commitment to quality, yet on a blustery day, it's an excruciating wait. As a reward for our dedication, the staff offered up samples of their wonderful roasted tomato soup with basil mascarpone. Didn't get a picture of it, but believe me, it really hit the spot.

And for once, there was no doubt as to what my son would order - yes, a Classic Grilled Cheese with cheddar on white. It came with a handful of Hard Bite chips and pickles (Snooki would be happy!). What I really liked was the non-reliance on butter to crisp up the bread. Rather, a hot flat top did that beautifully with good colour and texture. Loved that they didn't skimp on the cheddar cheese either (which wasn't particularly oily either). My son liked it very much. For myself, I decided to try 2 sandwiches (which were the only other 2 options) starting with The Jackson 3 consisting of 3 slices of sourdough with Brie, Boursin and Gruyere. This was a somewhat heavy grilled cheese because of the rich cheeses. Most of the flavour was provided by the Boursin and the rest of the subtleness of the other cheeses melted within the crunchy sourdough.

I was okay with this one, but I was completely blown away with Mom's Meatloaf Grilled Cheese. What amounted to be a meatloaf melt, this thing was messy and flavourful. The combination of mozzarella and Parmesan afforded both flavour and stringiness. The contrast between the crunchy sourdough and moist meatloaf with a good splash of marinara made this a hearty meal. Okay, I'll admit that I did not have high expectations for the place (it's grilled cheese after all). However, the people and the food make this a repeat visit for sure. And it is not because of my son either!

The Good:
- Loved the people who run the place
- Good ingredients
- Good execution

The Bad:
- You'll have to wait, the grilled cheese is made to order (which is a good too)

Cento Notti

* Restaurant is now closed*

For the longest time, I had planned to visit Elixir at the Opus Hotel in Yaletown. That was well over 7 years ago, when I lived a stone's throw away. Apparently, I took too long because it closed in 2010 and gave way to a popup restaurant called 100 Days which later became 100 Nights. In fact, I attempted to get into 100 Days one time after hockey, which never worked out. I finally gave up and now the place has morphed into Cento Notti. Mijune and I were graciously invited for a meal and to make fresh pasta in their kitchen (with Executive Chef Paul Marshall, formerly of the Italian Kitchen). Well, Mijune made fresh pasta, I just took photos. She's more photogenic anyways... In addition to fresh pasta, they make their sausages in-house as well (to Mijune's delight... ahem...).

After the pasta-making and sausage-gawking (by Mijune only), we settled in for dinner. We started with their House-Made Burrata with rosemary oil, buttermilk bread and a side of roasted onion jam. Unlike a typical burrata, this one was prepared with truffles and has a texture that was more chunky and stringy. The whole thing was encased in mozzarella and received a drizzle of salted rosemary oil. It was an unexpected surprise when I first spread it onto the slice of bread. The texture really threw me off, however, I really liked the taste. The salty-woodsy-cheesiness really went well with the sweetness of the onion jam. Then, we were presented with 2 pastas. We tried the Spaghetti Bolognese first and it was pretty good. Due to the nature of fresh pasta, we can never expect it be super al dente. With that in mind, I found the pasta to be texturally fine. The bolognese consisted of pork neck and veal which had been cooked until it was super tender. I found the sauce to be on the saltier side, but at the same time very flavourful. Lots of sweetness from the carrots and tang from the tomatoes.

Despite the good pasta, we were disappointed with the Savory Island Clam Fettucine Vongole. Let me rephrase that. The one thing that ruined what was an otherwise solid dish was the clams. For some reason or another, the clams were mushy and fishy. What made it bizarre was that each and every clam had opened. So they were not dead. Maybe a bad batch? So ignoring the clams, the sauce consisting of preserved lemon, leeks and white wine butter was quite tasty. I loved the acidity and tang from the lemon which helped break up the buttery sauce. Now, if we had left the meal right there with those 3 items, I'd have to admit that there would be some indifference. However, we asked for one more item in the Bromme Lake Duck Cacciatore for variety purposes. Thank goodness we did because it was friggin' fantastic. There was sliced duck breast with a braised leg resting on top of taleggio polenta. First of all, the seared duck breast was perfect. It appeared they sous-vide the duck and then seared the skin. Hence the meat was super moist and tender while the skin was crispy and nicely rendered down. The braised duck leg was moist and mostly tender. The skin was beautifully prepared where most of the fat had rendered leaving a gelatinous texture. There was a depth of flavour which was rich and flavourful. Lastly, the polenta was super tasty and went well with the braised duck meat. The taleggio added a nice cheesy flavour and some texture as well.

Of course with Mijune around, we couldn't leave without dessert! We had their signature Warm Jumbo Cookie first, which was a leftover item from 100 Days and Nights. This large treat was prepared in an iron skillet and topped with vanilla gelato. Although I thought it was a little on the sweet side, I did enjoy the contrast between the crispy exterior and soft interior. It was certainly warm (actually hot) and the gelato made it even better. For our second dessert, we had the Sponge Cake with macerated cherries and olive oil gelato. I found the sponge cake itself a touch dry, yet the crunchy exterior sprinkled with sugar was yummy. The cherries inside added some tart sweetness while the macerated cherries (with rum?) on top added some brightness. The olive oil gelato was good texturally and it helped alleviate the dryness of the sponge cake. Not a bad end to a relatively decent meal. The highlight for sure was the duck, which unfortunately will be taken off the menu for the spring (so go get it now!). Too bad about the clams, maybe it was just bad luck. A real plus is that the new chef, Paul Marshall, has made it his mission to make as many things in-house as possible, which bodes well going forward.

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

The Good:
- Many ingredients made in-house such as the pasta
- Most of the prices are okay in relation to the area
- Some may not like it, but I love the funky interior

The Bad:
- Some items are priced a touch high
- To some, the place may be confusing: is it a nightclub, fine dining restaurant or is it casual?