Falafel Drive-In

It had to happen. Blame it on Murphy's Law. After we picked up our rental car, the GPS we brought with us refused to work. Great. I guess we had to rely on our own devices. Without knowing where we were really going, we did what any dedicated food-crazed person would do - keep forging ahead! There is not much that could dissuade us from good eats. No, not a leisurely stroll through the TL in San Francisco nor going for some authentic Mexican fare in San Diego. The destination this time was another Triple D special - Falafel Drive-In located in San Jose. I know, I know, not all of Guy Fieri's suggestions are necessarily good, but some do hit the mark. For us, we did hit the mark and made it sans GPS. In fact, we arrived a bit early and had to wait for the place to open.

We got a few items and started with the Babaganouj. I really liked the texture as it was smooth with the occasional chunk of soft eggplant. In terms of flavour, we thought it was far too tart. We couldn't get the tartness off our tongue even with the addition of olive oil and their fabulous hot sauce. The portion size was pretty good where we still had a lot leftover even after using up our pita bread. For our second item, we had the small Gyro which was stuffed with spiced steak, crisp lettuce, tomatoes and tahini. The meat was moist and quite flavourful, however, the predominant sauce was the mild-tasting tahini. This definitely needed a splash of their hot sauce. With that slathered all over the gyro, then flavours came out. Now let's get real, we didn't come here for the Babaganouj nor a Gyro! We were here for some falafel action...

So we got a small Falafel Pita, which was really not all that modest in size. In fact, there was plenty of crunchy falafels hiding beneath the lettuce. These were moist in the middle with a pleasant herby taste. Once again, the hot sauce really amped up the flavours. So in the words of Guy Fieri, the falafels were money. Really good textural contrast between the exterior crunch and fluffy inside. As for the other stuff? Meh. It was alright. Come for the falafels only.

The Good:
- Falafels have great texture inside and out
- Not expensive
- Hot sauce works with everything

The Bad:
- Everything else is kinda average
- It's all outdoor seating (if that matters to you)

Paseo

With a 6:45am flight from SeaTac, we were originally planning to drive down at 2:00am. Uh... No. Not only was it a concern we'd fall asleep at the wheel, it also meant nothing to eat that early in the morning (other than places I didn't want to eat at)! Therefore, we decided it would be a good idea to stay over the night before at a hotel where we could also ditch our car. More importantly, we could grab some eats that night as well. Pressed for time, we ended up at a Seattle favourite - Paseo. I know, I know... We were a little late to the party as this place has been blogged to death. Yet, I had to try the place eventually right?

Apparently we were too late on our visit as they ran out of their most popular sandwich (Caribbean Roast). No matter, we went for the second favourite being the Grilled Pork (cubed pork loin grilled over lava rocks & basted w/ Paseo Marinade until golden brown on a lightly toasted baguette slathered with aioli, fresh cilantro, pickled jalapeños, crisp romaine lettuce & crowned with caramelized onions). The pork was mostly tender except for a part which was dry. Despite this, it wasn't difficult to eat. The same could not be said about the baguette because it was quite hard to a chore to chew. With a good amount of aioli, the darn thing was messy to eat. This was not a bad thing as it added to the experience. The onions were caramelized on the edges only which made them sweet and smoky in parts. The sandwich was good, but not mind-blowing either.

For our second item, we gave the 1/2 Chicken Dinner a go. It included a house salad consisting of romaine lettuce, sliced purple cabbage, pickled julienne cut beets & cilantro sprigs drizzled with house vinaigrette & extra virgin olive oil. Completing the plate was fluffy jasmine rice, vegetarian black beans & seasoned corn on the cob. The dark meat was moist while the white meat was quite dry. The chicken was decently flavourful thanks to the spice rub. However, the star of the place had to be the wonderful black beans. We loved the texture (as it was not too thick nor thin) and there was a depth of flavour. So does Paseo live up to its #1 ranking on Urbanspoon? I'm not sure about that, but it is worth checking out while while in Seattle.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Something different

The Bad:
- Not a whole lot of seating, best to get take-out
- Not a whole lot of parking in the area, best to drop someone off to get it

Top King Meat Company

Have you ever heard of the Chinese expression "ga liew"? Literally, it means to add more ingredients. Typically, it can refer to bringing something extra to a meal such as takeout or in most cases - Chinese BBQ. I remember going to family meals where we would bring some BBQ duck. I loved the plum sauce. I would often use one packet for one piece of duck. Yah, I liked the sugar. I was a kid, who could blame me? I just didn't understand why they had to stuff it in with the duck. Made the packet so darn greasy! Fast forward to the present, I grab Chinese BBQ because I'm just plain lazy and don't really want to make a meat dish for dinner. Buy some cooked meat and just water-blanch a bunch of gai lan and voila - dinner! So, continuing on my adventures in Chinese BBQ, I paid a visit to Crystal Mall. Yes, my favourite place besides Richmond... I dropped by Top King BBQ, which I've tried before, but never had the urge to blog about it.

This time, I went for the big 3 which included Roasted Pork. The trick here is to have a crispy skin without being too hard. It was more or less like that. The meat on the other hand was a different story. It wasn't as succulent as the one from HK BBQ Master (but really, what is?). It was a bit too salty in parts too. I decided to get a whole BBQ Duck because it is generally more moist since it wouldn't be hanging in the display drying out (like half of a duck). This would be true in theory if the duck itself was prepared properly in the first place. Unfortunately, we found the meat to be dense and dry (especially the breast meat). Furthermore, the flavour just wasn't there.

Now, we could gladly accept the roast pork and BBQ duck for what they were, but as for the BBQ Pork, this was a complete fail. The meat was marinaded far too much and became more like a ham than BBQ pork. By just looking at the colour of the meat, the red colouring penetrated completely through the meat. Hence, the texture was off as well. Suffice to say, it was salty and lacking in meat flavour. This is the 2nd time we've bought stuff from here and it hasn't been that impressive. I'm quite surprised that it can compete with Delicious BBQ upstairs. I guess the lack of competition nearby helps its cause.

The Good:
- Meat seems to be of good quality
- They're actually quite customer-friendly there

The Bad:
- Stuff is edible, but the BBQ Pork sucks

Red 6

Will travel for food. In fact, will travel long distances and into seemingly dangerous places for food as well (such as walking the length of the TL in San Francisco). That is how I roll. Good eats over personal safety. However, one thing I seem to overlook are restaurants that reside close by. Maybe I take it for granted or possibly they just don't seem all that interesting. Heck, I even make the trek out to Richmond over restaurants located a few blocks from where we live. Yah, that's right, I really do put food ahead of my own well-being (in this case, it would be my car's health). So to keep it local and preferably inexpensive, we descended on Red 6 Restaurant. Okay, the place is nothing much to look at from the outside. And it doesn't get much better on the inside. This is a prototypical family-run joint that keeps things simple. How simple? The whole menu consists of single serving build-it-yourself hot pots. Granted, it is a hot pot, but it is not a hot pot with chaffing device though.

With the kiddies around, it meant only one thing - Chicken Udon. Yup, a go-to item of sorts, especially in a Japanese restaurant. Of course, this being not a Japanese restaurant, it was a bit different. The udon sat in a homemade chicken soup which was actually quite flavourful. I'm pretty sure there was MSG in there, but it was tasty nonetheless. For myself, I had the Curry Beef with a side of noodles. This was also very flavourful and we were certain that MSG helped in that regard. There was plenty of beef mixed in with enoki mushrooms, tofu puffs and napa cabbage. The beef was not exactly chewy, but had a "rough" texture to it. The noodles were pretty good being chewy and thick.

We also had the Seafood Hot Pot in a hot chili broth. Although the seafood was limited to mostly crab stick and fish balls, there was no denying the massive amount of food for one person (there was some shrimp and mussels too). The broth was not really all that spicy, yet there was a decent amount of seasoning though. Lastly, we had the Dumpling Hot Pot in a Thai broth. First off, there was nothing really Thai about the broth other than the red chili peppers. I'm sure they wanted to emulate a Tom Yum soup, but it was not even close. No problem though since that would be an unreasonable expectation for a joint like this. I found the broth to be rather one dimensional in flavour being tart with only slight spice. The large dumplings were not bad consisting mostly of chives and pork. Food aside, the one thing that Red 6 does well is offer decent value. For as low as $6.99, someone could leave full with little damage to their wallet. On the other hand, the food is not complex and could be easily replicated at home. It really depends on one's expectations. Personally, I thought it was an okay place to grab a quick cheap meal.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- Food is neither complex nor "restaurant" quality
- It's a family-run operation with the teenage son on the floor, he tries his best, but service is very sparse

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

The lack of Southern-inspired restaurants in Vancouver is not surprising. First of all, our Northern location doesn't exactly scream out "bayou". Secondly, there are not many people immigrating from Louisiana to the GVRD. Lastly, due to our demographics, the dominant cuisine would of course be Asian. However, there are few places that try their best to serve up Southern cuisine. The last one we went to was a mitigated disaster (Crawfish King). Service withstanding, the food was not very good. That left a bad taste in our mouths literally and figuratively. It was especially disappointing for Hot Chocolate since she loves her Southern eats. In fact, she is our resident expert on the stuff. Therefore, our visit to Chewie's Steam & Oyster Bar was a redemption of sorts (to rid our memories of Crawfish King). It is worth noting that Crawfish King did attempt to reach out through a PR firm. I respectfully declined as this happened well after a month had transpired from that fateful meal. I give them credit for trying to rectify their problems.

Once again, the meal was preceded by our Monday softball game which we lost handily. We were famished, but the search for parking spots and the eventual 30 minute wait for a table made us extra hungry. Hence, I ended up sharing a bunch of food with both Judes and Hot Chocolate. First up was the Buttermilk Biscuits with a Cajun honey butter drizzle. Although, on the menu, it stated herb butter which I'm pretty sure it wasn't. We were more than happy with the substitution because the sweet, spicy and sticky concoction really livened the biscuit. As for the biscuit itself, it was soft, warm and really satisfying. The same drizzle adorned the Southern Fried Chicken which I shared with Hot Chocolate. She sampled it first and all I could hear were sounds of delight (no, not that kinda sounds!). I finally got around to eating (after picture-taking) and yes, that fried chicken was fantastic. I got the white meat and it was succulent and juicy. The 2-day buttermilk marinade really shone. The outside was super crisp and remained adhered to the chicken until the last bite. Despite being mild-tasting, the chicken benefited from the drizzle which would not be out of place on some waffles. The freshly made mash potatoes (which we watched being made while waiting for our table) was chunky and rustic (not creamy nor over-processed) while the green beans were perfectly crisp.

The second dish that I shared with Hot Chocolate was the Soft Shell Crab Po' Boy with lettuce tomato, pickle and Creole remoulade. There was plenty of fried crab in the sandwich, yet it was so fried, it was more like a crisp. We do realize that there is not much to a soft shell crab, but it did seem a bit too fried. Despite this, we still enjoyed the sandwich due in part to the airy baguette, fresh veggies, crunchy pickle (not too salty) and fantastic remoulade (a good hit of spice). The accompanying Kennebec fries were good being crispy and lightly seasoned. Just for curiosity's sake, I got a side of Fried Okra as well. These were coated with crunchy cornmeal which stayed intact on each and every piece of okra. Naturally, the okra was a touch slimy (which is normal), however, the crunch from the exterior made up for it. The accompanying spicy Creole remoulade added a nice kick.

On the topic of kick, Judes had the BBQ Shrimp and Grits which was plenty spicy. It wasn't a burning tongue spicy though. Rather, it was a slow rumble which really added a lot of flavour. The shrimp were really large and cooked perfectly. They exhibited the requisite snap and tasted darn good (in a shrimpy kinda of way, if that makes sense). As for the grits, there was lots of texture, which I know some people prefer. For myself, I would've liked it to be a touch smoother. The spice level was exactly the same with the Gumbo consisting of shrimp, chicken and andouille sausage. The flavours were rich and the spiciness of the sausage added another layer of flavour. Milhouse and Boss Woman both had the Jambalaya, which was a fairly large portion served in a cast iron pan. Mixed in with the nicely cooked rice (retaining a nice bite) was house smoked chicken, andouille sausage, prawns and tasso ham. Once again, there was a good amount of spice from the Cajun seasonings in addition to the sausage and ham (more like spicy smoked pork).

Bear opted for the Cochon de Lait (Pulled Pork Po' Boy) which was of a decent size. Nestled within the airy baguette was plenty of moist pulled pork which was mostly sweet (and not spicy). Although the meat was smoked, it didn't exhibit much smokiness. Bear thought it was a good sandwich at a reasonable price. Being the dessert fiend that he is, he couldn't resist ordering the Caramel Custard Bread Pudding with black currents, brandy maple glaze and vanilla whip. Unlike many bread puddings which are too bread-like (I know, that sounds contradictory, but stay with me) and dense, this one was more pudding-like. This was to Bear's liking and mine as well. The brandy maple glaze was sweet without being overwhelmingly sugary. We loved the obvious brandy hint as well. This was a fitting end to a redemption meal. Good Southern food, which exorcised the demons of Crawfish King. What really made it legit was that Hot Chocolate went away already planning her return visit.

The Good:
- Not shy with the spices
- Carefully prepared eats
- Great service

The Bad:
- Place isn't very big, which leads to usually a wait for a table (which is good for them!)
- Parking in the area really sucks (which is not their fault...)

Volcano Sushi

The dreaded backup restaurant. You know, the one that you have to settle for because Plan A was an epic fail. It's those types of places where you always keep in your back pocket if nothing else comes to mind. That was the case when the hockey team tried to visit Via Tevere on its opening week. Imagine the hostess' reaction when I requested a table for 12 considering the place was packed. I'm surprised she didn't just laugh at me. Well, maybe she was laughing inside, but she held it together. The chances of us getting a table before they closed was as good as Sean Avery getting a hot blonde girlfriend. Wait... Scratch that. What gives with that anyways? I digress. So we made an executive decision to grab eats somewhere else. Lionel Hutz chimed in with a nearby place called Volcano Sushi.

Yah, most of us were pretty familiar with the place. Formerly Wonton Noodles, Volcano Sushi cannot be missed while driving down Hastings due to the flaming awning (no, it's not on fire). Fine, we decided it was close enough and with a bunch of hungry people, we weren't going to be really that choosey. With a brief cameo appearance, Polka King joined us for eats. It probably had a lot to do with Polka Dot's presence (I guess she could keep an eye on him). Along with Gordo and Sweet Tooth, we decided to share some grub. The first item to arrive was the Gyozas. If they called these anything but gyozas, they would have been some really good dumplings. Unlike typical gyozas, the filling consisted of pork, shiitake, cabbage and carrot. Normally, there is only cabbage, pork and onion. With all that being said, the dumplings were fluffy with a moist filling and a thin wrapper.

Since we had 5 people sharing, the best bang for the buck was one of their sushi combos. We went for the largest one being the Titanic. Ominously named, this consisted of sashimi, nigiri and choice of 2 specialty rolls. As evidenced in the picture, the Sashimi was vibrant and aesthetically-pleasing. Nothing wrong with the salmon, tuna, toro, hokkigai or Ika, yet the ebi was not as buttery as we would've liked (but that is nit-picking). As a result, the Nigiri (sockeye salmon, tuna, Atlantic salmon, chopped scallop, ungai, tako and ebi) was good as well. We did notice the rice was strong on the vinegar by itself, but it was okay when combined with the fish. The texture was slightly gummy. The best thing about the sushi platter was the 2 fried ebi heads. I absolutely love head! Er... Luckily for me, no one wanted any, so I got head twice! Uh...

Anyways, for our 2 specialty rolls, we got the Dragon and Vancouver. I would say that both rolls (if ordered a la carte) are not bad for the price ($8.95). Pretty standard stuff really. The rolls were neither offensive nor memorable either. For a filler dish (if we actually needed one), we had the Oyako Don. The rice itself was prepared nicely being chewy with the right amount of moisture. However, everything else was way too salty. The vermicelli was soft and salty while the chicken and egg were salty as well. We could've done without the plethora of fatty chicken skin as well. Lastly, we had the Assorted Tempura which was quite greasy with slightly thick batter. It was okay.

Emilicious had the Chiraishi Don which had a decent assortment of sashimi. Naturally, it was on par with what we had in our platter. She was a bit more sensitive to the vinegary sushi rice than we were. She was pretty indifferent with her food. In the end, Volcano Sushi did the job for a reasonable price. Sure, it ain't great Japanese food, yet it is acceptable. I guess that is all we can hope for in a backup restaurant.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- Seating arrangements are somewhat tight
- Service is a bit slow

Novo Pizzeria and Wine Bar

After our good experience as Via Tevere, we were still craving Neapolitan-style pizza. Seeing how there were not many left for me to try, we headed over to the former location of Incendio, which has now become Novo Pizzeria and Wine Bar. This time around, it was the softball team, not the hockey team (although Milhouse, Lionel Hutz and Bear are on both, just like me). With a fairly large group, it looked to be a good way to try many different items. Thank goodness too, if it were only myself and Mijune, we'd be trying the same amount of food for the both of us! Now, despite the absence of Mijune (who has joined us for meals before), I still did the "share food with more than one person routine" to get more variety.

So I shared a Calamari with Chill first and it was pretty good. It was crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. The batter was a bit crumbly though. We particularly liked the gremolata on top as the lemon zest provided a nice bitterness. The dip was mild and slightly greasy. Dark Helmet (use the Schwartz!) decided to try the Sicilian Meat Balls (hmmm... how ironic... "my Schwartz is bigger than your Schwartz!) consisting of currants, pine nuts, reggiano and marinara. The pine nuts were a nice addition to the moist meat balls. The meat was slightly loose and seasoned quite well (the cheese added another layer of saltiness). That and the full-bodied tomato sauce (with good freshness and zing) made for a flavourful dish.

Milhouse, Boss Woman and Bear were nice enough to share several dishes with me starting with the Gnocchi, which were pan fried with warm sage butter. These were dense and doughy. I generally like it more dense, but these could've stood to be less so. However, the wonderful pan fry add a nice crisp texture while adding a smokiness/nuttiness from the butter. There was just enough sage for flavour without being too herby. For our second pasta, we had the Sausage Orecchiette with Swiss chard, fennel pollen and toasted bread crumbs. The orecchiette was perfectly al dente and laced with plenty of meaty sausage. The fennel pollen really came through and complimented the sausage. There was some spice, which added another layer of flavour and welcomed crunch from the toasted bread crumbs. We liked this pasta a lot.

Being a pizza joint, we naturally had some pizzas to share as well. The first to arrive was the Calzone. Unlike a typical calzone, it was open-
face (which meant it was a pizza... duh...) consisting of buffalo ricotta, Italian sausage, fiore di latte and marinara sauce. As the picture suggests, there was good leoparding which added a nuttiness to the crust. However, I felt the dough wasn't salted enough. Furthermore, the crust could've stood to be less soft (I realize that the middle should be soft, but the entire pizza was on the softer side). With that being said, the pizza itself was fine as a whole. In fact, the outer crust was chewy and smoky/nutty. We also had the Prosciutto & Arugula pizza (not pictured) and it was pretty much the same except not as soft. It probably had something to do with the drier ingredients.

Bubbly ordered a pasta for herself being the Fettuccine Bolognese. This was a healthy portion with lots of slow-cooked moist meat. I found the pasta to be past al dente and quite soft. There was plenty of sweet onion hints in the bolognese, yet not much in the way of any tomatoness. Despite all of its shortcomings, it was not a bad plate of pasta. Chill went for something totally different from everyone else with the Grilled Chicken Focaccia. When I asked Chill about it, his response: "it is a chicken sandwich...". Yes, I saw that and no, that wasn't very descriptive. It sort of reminded me of our meal at Pied-a-Terre. I was able to squeeze more information out of him this time around. The chicken was moist will the other ingredients didn't wilt. The focaccia was grilled nicely being crisp on the outside while still soft on the inside. Ultimately, everyone left satisfied with their meals. Nothing was particularly outstanding, yet nothing was below-average either. Therefore, that would qualify as a decent restaurant experience overall.

The Good:
- Attentive service
- Nice dining space
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- Pizza dough could be seasoned more
- Pizzas could be more flavourful