Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

To say that the latest fad in Vancouver is Neapolitan pizza would be an understatement. Much like Japanese ramen, macarons and diners, there seems to be a new joint opening up every month. The one that started it all was Nicli Antica and it led to a host of others such as Verace, BiBo, Farina, Barbarella, Novo and Via Tevere. Now we finally get our first "chain" Neapolitan pizza chain called Famoso. Originating out of Edmonton and now expanding to BC and Ontario, Famoso prides itself on serving authentic Neapolitan pizza. Viv and I were invited to their media preview where we were instructed to order whatever we wanted. Wow. I'm glad Mijune wasn't around because I'm sure she'd try everything on the menu. Channeling my inner-Mijune, I decided to try as much as I could by ordering a bunch of stuff beginning with the Famoso Salad. It was a hearty concoction consisting of romaine lettuce, prosciutto crisps, carrots, cherry tomatoes, spicy sopressata, fire-roasted chicken and feta dressed in a dijon-balsamic vinaigrette. This was more of a meal in itself rather than a starter. The sopressata provided a nice kick as well as a nice chewy textural contrast to the crisp lettuce. The fire-roasted chicken was flavourful while being not too dry considering it was breast meat. There was a good amount of feta on top to cool the spice from the sopressata. The vinaigrette was mostly on the sweet side and could've benefited from a touch more acidity. Despite that, the salad was good.

For our appy, we went for their Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella Balls baked in Campania tomato sauce, fresh basil and pecorino romano with flatbread served on the side. Although lacking in texture and shape, the fresh mozzarella balls were nicely seasoned by the salty prosciutto. Surprisingly, the best part of the dish was not the balls themselves, rather it was the fresh tomato sauce. One taste and the sauce exuded a brightness from fresh tomatoes. It was naturally flavourful with a desirable tartness which really complimented the mozza balls. Remember how I channeled my inner-Mijune? Well, Viv and I decided to share 4 full-sized pizzas. A daunting task for sure, but hey, the more things we try, the better we'd understand the menu. Of course it was a given to get the Margherita as a baseline of sorts. Okay, sure it is pretty obvious from the picture that the pizza wasn't exactly blistered nor exhibited much in the way of leoparding. I'll cut them some slack because they were pumping out multiple pizzas at a time. Normally, we wouldn't order 4 pizzas and neither would the couple next to us (actually they ordered 7). Hence, it appeared they rushed it a bit. Therefore, the pizza was quite soft in the middle. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the oven, which was not wood-burning. If we focus solely on the ingredients, they were good. The fresh tomato sauce was very much like the one found in the appy we had. The fresh fior di latte and basil were legit, but with a soggy crust, it was not the complete package.

Our second pizza was the Funghi Tartufo with roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, truffle oil and reggiano parmesan. Rather than a strong mushroom flavour, we got more truffle oil than anything else. This was not a complaint, instead that was more of an observation. They weren't shy with the mushrooms, which in turn made the middle of the pizza even more soft. This was a good pizza, yet could've benefited from more salt. That was not an issue with the Pollo though. Despite being a chicken pizza, there was plenty of flavour thanks to a nice sprinkle of salt on top. In addition to the chicken, there was roasted red pepper, basil and artichoke hearts. With flavourful fire-roasted chicken (like the one in our salad), sweet peppers and tart artichoke hearts, there was a balance of flavours which didn't miss the tomato sauce. With less wet ingredients, the crust on this pizza was more chewy and crisp on the outside.

While we were chatting with the couple next to us, we came to an agreement that we would share any non-duplicated pizzas. As such, we got to try the San Andreas consisting of EVOO, garlic, and oregano, fresh mozzarella and chili-lime marinated roasted chicken. Once baked, it was further topped with fresh avocado slices, diced roma tomatoes, diced onion, cilantro and drizzled with light cream, served with a lime wedge. Okay, I'm not going to sugar-coat it, this was universally the least-liked pizza. With so many toppings, it only served to make the entire crust even more soggy. It was really too bad since it sounded good and in fact, was good in terms of flavour. We also sampled the Siciliana topped with Italian sausage, Italian ham and baked prosciutto. As an all-meat pizza, I was already liking it. And yes, it was very meaty. However, the flavours seemed muted for some reason or another. It didn't make sense to me since I could see all of the meat, yet couldn't get a tonne of flavour. Now that was not a problem with the Spicy Thai (with mild spicy peanut sauce, fire-roasted chicken, fresh mozzarella, smoked mozza and topped with matchstick carrots, bean sprouts, cilantro and crushed peanuts) though. We ordered it with reluctance because Asian fusion on a pizza could be a disaster. Furthermore, anything dubbed as "spicy" on a menu usually means "not spicy enough". This pizza was a complete surprise as it became our favourite one of the night. There was definitely a kick to the pizza which could not be considered wimpy. Yet, it wasn't too spicy that it overwhelmed the other flavours. The crunch from the carrots and sprouts added some texture while the squirt of lime brightened the flavours.

By now, we were in a food coma, but hey, there was dessert! We didn't hold back and ordered 4 of them. Yes, that's right. Take that Mijune! We began with 3 scoops of gelato consisting of Salted Caramel, Vanilla Bean and Key Lime. Since the gelato was not made on-site, the texture was compromised being a touch icy. The salted caramel had a nice balance of sweetness and salt. In fact, I found it not too sweet which made it easier to eat. The vanilla bean could've benefited from more vanilla beans since the flavours were quite muted. As for the key lime, it definitely tasted like its namesake. I enjoyed it and kept eating it. We also got the classic Tiramisu which was pretty much a textbook version, if not a bit generic. We didn't dislike it nor did we rave about it either. Our only wish was it to be made in-house rather than being pre-made. Our second dessert was the Panna Cotta and it was okay. The panna cotta itself was a touch stiff, but was pleasant enough to eat. The side of pineapple was refreshing, yet surprisingly bland. Therefore, the entire dessert was not very memorable.

The very last item we had for the night (thank goodness) was the Dolce & Banana. This was the best dessert by far. The caramelized bananas were tasty and sweet. However, we liked how the bananas themselves were not overripe which meant that the sweetness was not overbearing. Again, we didn't care for the gelato. Now after our meal was over, I was still troubled by the soggy pizza. With so many Neapolitan-style pizza joints in town, this would be a serious problem. So to make sure, I returned a few months later right when it opened for lunch. Therefore, no rush, no pressure and hopefully no soggy crust. I went for the Conforto with Italian sausage, roasted mushrooms and roasted red peppers. Okay, the good news first. The outside crust was sufficiently charrd with a nuttiness to it. Also, the toppings were tasty and plentiful. The bad news? The rest of the pizza was again soggy. It almost had a crepe-like quality to it. I realize the middle of the pizza is supposed to be softer, yet this was beyond soft. This was really perplexing to me since they have all one needs to make good Neapolitan pizza. Can it be the tomato sauce is too wet? Oven not hot enough? Too many toppings? All of the above? Bottom line - there is a complete Neapolitan pizza to be found somewhere here, it just hasn't happened yet.

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

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Lots of good ingredients
- For the visit I made on my own, the service was good

The Bad:
- Soggy crust

Rogue Kitchen and Wet Bar

Gadget Girl doesn't like to go out of her comfort zone when it comes to late night eats after Friday hockey. So much so, we have to eliminate areas such as Downtown and the North Shore (although we play our games on the North Shore... ???). So when a few of us decided to head to Rogue after the game, we had to think of a game plan to convince her to join us. Think of it, Downtown is only a mere 10 minutes or so from the 2nd Narrows if one uses Powell. And since it is late night eats, parking shouldn't be an issue in terms of cost or availability. Yes. That was the argument we were gonna use on her. Well, it was all for naught because Sweet Tooth had actually driven Gadget Girl to the game. She was our food hostage! Bwahahaha...

Another reason I suggested Rogue was due to the fact I had been there earlier in the day on the Taste Vancouver Food Tour of Gastown. The sample of Lobster Mac n Cheese was pretty impressive and since they open late, it was an obvious choice. On that note, Rogue was one of the only stops on the food tour to offer up a sample large enough to get a good gauge of the food. Hence, it lured me back. The other stops (other than Brioche) had tiny portions that didn't leave a lasting impression. As the adage says, "you only get out what you put in"... I digress.

So despite being hopping for a Friday night, we were able to score a table quickly. In order to get a good idea of their menu, I decided to share some things with Gordo. However, I had the Fries X3 all to myself. It included 3 types of fresh cut kennebec fries: Poutine, Truffle Oil & Parmesan and Gorgonzola Cream & Bacon. First or all, the fries were pretty good on their own being crispy and having that "fresh cut" quality. The cheese curds in the poutine were squeaky while the gravy was thick and mild. My favourite of the 3 had to be the truffle oil and & Parm because the fries maintained their crisp texture. Moreover, the right amount of truffle "mustiness" and salty Parm made them quite tasty. The gorgonzola cream was creamy and rich. It wasn't as sharp as I would've liked as it was quite mild.

Onto the items I did share with Gordo... We had the Seafood Linguine with prawns, scallops, salmon, halibut, lemon, herbs, red and yellow peppers. This was a fairly generous portion with al dente pasta and a considerable amount of lemon flavour (with lots of garlic and herby taste as well). For me, that was really appealing because more often than not, seafood pasta can be pretty bland. I was a bit indifferent with the large amount of crunchy veggies though. On one hand it offered up a textural contrast, yet on the other, it "got in the way" of the pasta. If the seafood wasn't overcooked, this would've been really good. Our second item was the Spicy Tiger Prawn Pesto Pizza (prawns, red onion, pesto, mozza, feta, grana padano Parmesan) which was actually quite spicy. It was just spicy enough to add a kick without overwhelming the rest of the ingredients. The prawns had a nice snap and were naturally sweet. The crust was mostly crispy on the outer edge while being soft in the middle. We thought the pizza was more than acceptable.

Gordo didn't stop there either and got an order of the Lobster Mac n' Cheese for good measure. Consisting of four cheeses, mac and lobster, this has been one of the better versions I've had lately. I like that they use a variety of lobster meat rather than just from the claw (since it is kinda spongy). Also, the mac is al dente while there is just enough sauce. So the mac is not wet and it not too rich either. The crumb topping adds texture and I appreciate that the whole thing doesn't reek of truffle oil. Moving over to Gadget Girl and Emilicious, they shared 2 dishes beginning with the Baha Fish Tacos. Although the menu stated Basa, we were informed they used Mahi-Mahi instead. It was Cajun-spiced with avocado cream, mango salsa, house coleslaw wrapped in white flour tortillas. When it arrived, it looked to be rather small in size, but then again, there was a good amount of fish and mango. Despite being $14.00, they thought it was well-worth it since the fish was moist and flavourful while the abundance of mango really amped the flavour quotient. For their second dish, they had the Coconut Poached Chicken Salad (snap peas, red and yellow peppers, mango, mixed greens, cashews, thin Asian noodles in a sesame soy dressing). This was a really mild tasting salad with fresh ingredients which provided different textures.

Bear and Milhouse also had the Lobster Mac n' Cheese as well as the 9.2 oz Rogue Burger with house ground sirloin (cooked to medium) with bacon and cheddar on a sesame brioche bun. The patty was juicy and moist, and when combined with the rest of the fresh ingredients, it turned out to be a solid burger. The brioche bun became a bit soft on the bottom because of the moisture content, yet still held together until the last bite. Now when it came to desserts, Bear was all over it. He went for the biggest one being the Apple Pie & Ice Cream. It arrived in a cast iron pan and somewhat resembled a galette. The "crust" was actually puff pastry which was flaky and crispy. The sliced apples on top were soft with still some appleness to them. The pie wasn't very sweet where the ice cream made up for it. Sweet Tooth and Gordo shared the Hot Fudge Sundae and well, it was a large sundae. Not bad, just a bit too much whipped cream. Lastly, Milhouse and Emilicious had the White Chocolate Cheesecake with an oreo crust, dark berry compote and caramel drizzle. The cheese cake was smooth and rich. Pretty good for late night eats. Actually, we agreed that practically everything was either decent or above-average. Of course nothing would win any culinary awards, but Rogue is pretty good for this class of restaurant.

The Good:
- From the sample size we had, the food was above-average
- Place has a good vibe and decor
- Diverse menu

The Bad:
- Service was mostly attentive (especially the drink refills) but there were long gaps where we couldn't find our server
- Portion size varied from dish-to-dish (naturally, the ones with more expensive ingredients were smaller)

Taste Vancouver Food Tours - Gastown

For a city with so many great place to eat, there are relatively few food tours out there. For those unfamiliar with the concept, it is essentially a guided tour of various restaurants and establishments where little bites are served. Think of it as a moving multi-course meal. I was invited by Taste Vancouver Food Tours to check out their Gastown Food Tour hosted by Gassy Jack himself. Well... not really Gassy Jack, but someone doing a good comedic impression of the historic neighbourhood which is named after him. We met up at the Starbucks in Canada Place where we were supplied with lanyards and a headset (which was tuned to the same frequency as Gassy Jack's mic).

As I was mingling with the other people participating in the tour, we were presented with 2 sample sized items consisting of a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino and Banana Loaf. If you've ever had a frap at Starbucks before, this brand new one is pretty much the same except for the addition of crumbled cookie. The best way to "drink" this is with a spoon. As for the banana loaf, it was pretty moist and had a nice spice to it (spice in terms of spices, not spicy). Personally, I would like to see a local place featured in this spot. After this, we started our Gastown Tour with a stop at Rogue Kitchen & Wet Bar for some Lobster Mac n' Cheese. For a food tour with so many stops, this was a fairly healthy portion of al dente noodles, nicely prepared lobster chunks within a mildly cheesy sauce. This was a drier version of mac n' cheese, but it was still moist. It wasn't overly cheesy nor creamy, but the flavours came through. I loved how they didn't put a bunch of truffle oil in it (which usually totally overwhelms the dish). On a side note, I actually returned to Rogue that same night with my hockey team because the lobster mac n' cheese was impressive enough. Furthermore, as you will see later in this post, portion size matters too. It is not that there wasn't enough food in the tour, but to get a sense of an item, it has to be large enough than a small little nibble.

After Rogue, we sauntered across the parking lot over to Steamworks for some brew. We sampled the Copper Roof Ale which had a bite while still going down smooth. We also tried the Raspberry Ale which I wasn't a huge fan of. It started off nice with a fruity kick, but then went down like cough syrup. As a personal preference, I'm not a huge fan of beverage-only stops especially alcoholic ones. A few bites of food (like some appies) would really help enhance the experience. From raspberry ale, we went to Roger's Chocolates and tried their Raspberry Dark Chocolate Truffle. This was not bad since it wasn't too sweet and I could get the bitterness of the dark chocolate. I only wish I could eat more chocolate! Not to fear, more sweets were near in the form of Maple Delights Bistro. There, we were given a sample each of their Raspberry and Maple Shortbread Cookies. Well, I must confess that I find anything maple to be extremely sweet. And these cookies were no exception. On top of the buttery and crumbly shortbread was a super sweet maple glaze. Thank goodness for the tea that was served along side of it. That helped control the sugar-overload. We also got to sample their maple cotton candy (yes, more sugar) and it was predictably sweet.

Moving along, we headed across the street to Brioche. We ended up on the backside of the restaurant on Water Street. The main entrance is on Cordova. At the back are a few seats that compliment the small dining room. Here we were served a decent portion of their 3 Cheese Tortellini with sausage tomato sauce. We were given a basket of bread as a side to the pasta. The tortellini itself was a bit soft with a tasty cheese filling. The sauce was rich, meaty and creamy with peppery notes and a mild tang. This was an enjoyable pasta. After that, we went back across Water to Trees Organic to sample their famous cheesecakes. Now, I'll be frank here. The portion size of the cheesecake was far too small to make any impact. There was 2 to choose from, one being the chocolate cheesecake and the one that I tried, the Pineapple Cheesecake. Although the portion was tiny, I was still able to get the rich, smooth and velvety baked cream cheese in the cake. The pineapple was not very apparent, possibly due to the sample size. I liked how it wasn't very sweet.

From Trees Organic, we took a stroll down to the famous steam clock and crossed the street again to the Water Street Cafe. We were ushered into a private upstairs dining area to sample another small bite. It was a quarter of their West Coast Crab Cake consisting of dungeness and blue crab, pacific shrimp, corn salsa and garlic aioli. Okay, I'm sure it had something to do with the portion size, because I didn't get much fluffy crabness nor much in the way of natural crab sweetness. The corn salsa, on the other hand, was quite apparent with the crunch and sweetness of the corn. Again, I'm not looking for a humongous crab cake, just something bigger than the one we had. From there, we inexplicably visited John Fluevog. Yes, it is wesome that there is a 10% off coupon included in our package, but there was not much to do (nor eat) there. Even for the people who are interested in shoes, the time allotted is not enough to actually shop. We could've done without this stop.

Moving close to the end of the tour, we paid a visit to Peckinpah, which is a Carolina-style BBQ. Generally, their meats are more dry and the sauce is thinner. We were given, once again, a very small sample of their Pulled Pork. I lightly doused it with some BBQ sauce. It was moist and tasty, but then again, it was too small to make an impact. Onto our last stop, Gastown Tea Company, we were served Fruit Symphony Tea with an oatmeal cookie. I really liked the tea, it was aromatic and of course fruity. The little bite of chewy cookie was a nice sweet accent to the tea. Now, despite my criticism, the tour itself is a fabulous deal for only $39.00. Now, the reason why some of the portion are really small is because the restaurants are providing the food for promotional purposes. Hence, we can't expect to much. Furthermore, with 10 food and beverage stops, it might be too overwhelming for some people. But in my opinion, for someone to return, it would be best that the sample size be impactful. The tour operators don't have a lot of control over that though. Yet again, if we look at all the stops and the entertainment value provided by our host, you can't really lose for the price.

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

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Entertaining host
- Lots of stops

The Bad:
- Portions at some stops are too small
- Stop at the shoe store unnecessary

Taste Vancouver Food Tours

All You Can Eat Hot Pot Fresh Juice Shop

*Restaurant is now closed*

It never fails. Softball season starts and the weather refuses to cooperate. I often forget that we live on the Wet Coast. It didn't look good for our Monday softball game, yet we were able to finish before the torrential downpour started. We escaped with only a bit of rain during the game. Honestly, I am a fair weather person when it comes to sports. I don't golf in the rain and I'm not particularly fond of it during softball either. In fact, I don't even like camping. I consider Motel 6 as roughing it. Yes, I'm a wuss. I'll admit it. Anyways, we were cold and damp after the game. Perfect for hot pot. Despite our proximity to Richmond, we opted to go elsewhere in search of a boiling pot of soup. You see, Judes had to make it home early to feed her hungry cat and Richmond was too far away. It's true! We didn't avoid Richmond for the more obvious reasons...

We ended up heading over to All You Can Eat Hot Pot Fresh Juice Shop. Yes, that is the real name of the place. And yes, that picture of the front is really the front! Name and appearance withstanding, the place serves up "Japanese-style" hot pot (aka Sukiyaki, no not the song...). I put that in quotations because it really ain't Sukiyaki. Think Posh, but even less refined (Posh is not authentic either). However, like Posh, the prices are the same for the AYCE menu. Unlike Posh, there are more meat options with the exception of fish. And really unlike Posh, the interior is as unposh-like as a place could be. We were greeted by a very friendly lady (who was probably the owner) upon arrival. We were presented with a large pot on an induction burner. We checked off the limited options on the order sheet and the food came pretty quickly. To get things straight, Japanese Sukiyaki is not like Chinese hot pot. First of all, the pot is significantly smaller and shallower. The broth is soy, sugar and mirin-based and the only meat available should be beef (or sometimes pork). Furthermore, the cooked meat is dipped into raw egg. Now, if one went in with a "it needs to be authentic" attitude, this place would inevitably disappoint. However, we went in with no prejudices and expectations.

Among the things we ordered were all of the Meats (beef, lamb, chicken, pork) which were more or less good. They were still quite frozen though and a bit difficult to slide off the plate. As for the broth, it was very "Chinesey"-tasting rather than Sukiyaki. That was to be expected considering everything. But that really didn't bother us because we didn't expect authenticity. In addition to the meats, we checked off a bunch of veggies and various items which arrived in several large plates. Theses included spinach, tofu, taro, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, yam, rice cake, baby corn, winter melon, noodle bundles, enoki mushrooms, fish cake, zucchini, button mushrooms, fried bean curd skin, tofu puffs, glass noodles and an instant noodle brick. Everything appeared and tasted fresh (well, the stuff that was supposed to be fresh that is).

The nice owner-lady offered us all a free apple drink which was more colourful than flavourful. No matter, it was refreshing and well, it was free. Our overall hot pot experience here was acceptable, especially for the price. Sure, it ain't anything to look at inside and out. Moreover, it isn't authentic nor is there any frills. However, it did the job without going north of $20.00.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Friendly owner-lady
- Food is fine for what it is

The Bad:
- The place has the bare minimum in terms of decor and ambiance
- Limited items for those expecting a Chinese hot pot (it's Japanese Sukiyaki, well sorta)

The Five Point

Visiting late night hot spots is usually a game of Russian Roulette. You win some and potentially lose a lot. That was the case when we tried to get a table for 10 at The Five Point one Friday night after hockey. LOL. Yah right. We'd have a better chance at getting Christy Clarke to ride on the back of Richard Branson sans clothing. Uh... Therefore, we never ended up returning to try again. However, I got my chance when Sean invited me to share in his good fortune. You see, he won a gift card from The Five Point via their Facebook page. Seeing how we were going to meet for brunch on a Sunday after my hockey game, Milhouse, JuJu and Kaiser Soze tagged along as well.

Unlike late night weekends, getting a seat for Sunday brunch was a breeze. We started off with some complimentary Donuts which were served with strawberry jam and cinnamon sugar. These were cake donuts and naturally dense. They weren't bad nor were they great either. Hey, free donuts. We didn't mind that. JuJu and I decided to share their Tuna Bites since someone had recommended it to us. These were togarashi crusted and seared, then tossed in soy and ginger with a pea shoot salad in miso lime dressing. It was topped with crispy taro chips and a side of sesame ginger aioli. I gotta say this was hit and miss on one plate. It really depended which piece we picked up. If it was from the centre of the tuna steak (before it was chopped up), it was nicely rare. However, if it was along the side, it was woefully overcooked and dry. What really saved the dish was the Asian flavours and the wonderful aioli which provided the necessary moisture.

The Carolina Pulled Pork Benny caught my eye and I decided to go for it. It was bathed in a rum & Coke BBQ sauce and served with apple fennel slaw. I had high hopes for this dish and it ultimately disappointed. First off, the poached eggs were nothing but. They were more like soft-boiled. No runny yolk - fail. Secondly, the BBQ sauce was pretty weak and I didn't get much of anything from it. On the other hand, the pork was quite nice being moist and not chewy. The slaw could've been more impactful as it was crunchy with little distinguishing flavours.

Sean had the Five Point Burger consisting of house beef patty, Guinness cheddar, double hickory smoked boar bacon and smoked red pepper aioli on a brioche bun. Since Five Point is related to The Charlatan, I was not surprised that he liked the burger. The brioche they use is one of the best I've come across. He remarked that the beef patty was moist and delicious. The Kennebec fries were crispy, yet were quite starchy inside. Kaiser Soze went for the Stuffed French Toast and not surprisingly, it was a little on the wet side. He neither disliked it or liked it (if that is a good enough description). He did remark that it was a little bland. One dish I didn't put up a picture of was Milhouse's breakfast. It wasn't all that interesting and the scrambled egg was poorly executed - looked more like a folded overcooked omelet. That pretty much summed up the breakfast items we had - poorly executed and disappointing. However, to be fair, the burger was good. Maybe we should stick to dinner eats instead next time?

The Good:
- Service was pretty good
- Nice vibe
- Burger was solid

The Bad:
- Breakfast needs some work, execution was poor