Crawdaddy

With the sting of my visit to Crawfish King fresh in my mind, you'd think I'd avoid all things crawfish for awhile right? Wrong. On our recent visit to San Jose for my cousin's wedding, I made it my mission to test out a similar Southern boil just to make some comparisons. Naturally, with one being in Vancouver and the other being in San Jose, it would not be exactly fair. However, it would at the very least give me a sense if the stuff at Crawfish King was bad... or really bad... So let me set this up: both have as similar menu and both are Vietnamese-run. We met up with Cable Car Guy and AZee which gave us 2 other opinions and some eating assistance.

With AZee expecting twins, she decided to opt out of the shellfish fest and decided to try their Chicken Strips and Cajun Fries. This was a large portion for the price with moist, tender chicken strips. The cajun fries were crisp with lots of spicy seasoning salt. As boring as this might've sounded, it was actually quite good. Now onto the main event - the Crawfish. They had a special where if one orders 4 lbs. of crawfish, they throw in another 1 lb. So we essentially got 5lbs. of crawfish for $44.00. I'm not sure if they were generous with their measurements, but it sure seemed like more than 5lbs. In addition, we added 4 corn and 3 sausages for 60 cents each. Not wanting to blow our tastebuds, we went for mild. Okay, for mild, this was pretty spicy. Not sure if they made a mistake, but we liked it. Notice that the crawfish were not covered in grease like Crawfish King. The crawfish were mostly large and cooked nicely. The corn was really half of a cob while the sausage was of a decent size (that sounds wrong doesn't it???).

Overall, it was a good experience where the service was friendly and attentive. Our water glasses were never empty while we were asked about the food at least twice. Let's see here... Good food, reasonable prices and attentive service - a pretty good combination right? Seems like Crawfish King needs to learn a thing or two. And yes, it is not a completely fair comparison, but at the very least, I've seen something done the right way which further exemplifies how bad Crawfish King really is. As for the locals, Cable Car Guy thought Crawdaddy was better than the Boiling Crab as it provided better value.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Pretty good service
- Enjoyable eats

The Bad:
- Usually a lineup
- It gets quite messy (I didn't mind it though)

In-N-Out (Gilroy)

Last year when we arrived in San Diego at midnight, guess where we went right after leaving the airport? The hotel? Nope. McD's? Uh no. We went to In-N-Out of course! Hey who cares about sleep! And the kiddies? Nah, we're on vacation, they could sleep in until whenever. Besides, they'll be happy with the stuff we got from In-N-Out anyways. This time around, within a few hours of landing at San Jose International, we headed out to Gilroy for some outlet shopping. As I was enjoying my free internet from Starbucks (that's what I do on every trip), the familiar yellow and red of In-N-Out caught my eye. There it was. The thought of a double-double staring me right in the face. What should I do? I wasn't particularly hungry, but it's In-N-Out for heaven's sake! I tweeted my predicament out and I really had no choice - go and have a Double-Double Animal-Style with some fries.

For those unfamiliar, Animal-Style is on the (not-so-secret) secret menu where you can add lettuce, tomato, extra sauce, pickles and sauteed onions to anything (even the fries). So why do I flock to In-N-Out whenever there is one nearby? Well, for the price, it is a pretty darn good freshly made burger. There are better out there, but not at that price. As for the Fries, they are fresh cut and only slightly crispy. For those who like it crunchy, ask them to fry them longer. I personally don't like it Animal-Style because it just gets soggy. Once again, a satisfying meal at In-N-Out. I will miss you until the next time...

The Good:
- Well-priced
- Everything is fresh and freshly-made
- Focused menu

The Bad:
- Long lineups every time anytime (but it goes fast)

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

*Stall is closed*

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

*Restaurant is closed*

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...)