Jack in the Box

Jack-in-the-Box???  Really?  Did we suddenly have no ideas as where to eat?  No, it was Thanksgiving in the States and we were down in Seattle for Black Friday.  However, not many restaurants were open, especially in Kirkland.  That left Costanza and I with very few options.  Sure, there were some fancier joints open for special dinners, but that really didn't fit our schedule.  Hey, the stores were beginning to open at 8:00pm!  Yes, Capitalism at its best...  or at its worst???  So much like everyone else attempting to score some deals that night, there was no turkey nor giving thanks to anything but the fact we had no rain (for the lineups).

So what's the draw at Jack-in-the-Box, other than the Jackhead antenna balls?  Well, not e-coli...  That was many moons ago.  When at JITB, it is all about the Sourdough Jack. Take a burger patty, slap some cheese, bacon and tomato; put it in some sourdough bread and grill it.  Voila, something a bit different than a regular burger.  Consider it like a burger melt and you get the idea.  Pretty good, but the meat was a little dry, but you'll have to forgive them.  No need to have another e-coli scare like they did in the 80's.  For me, I went for something ordinary being the Cheeseburger with a side of curly fries.  Well, not much to say other than it was a decent cheeseburger.  Meat was once again dry, but the crisp lettuce, fresh tomato and sauces made up for it.  The bun was slightly generic, but it didn't kill the burger.

As for the fries, I decided on the Curly version because the cashier was super enthusiastic about them.  In fact, he was rather chipper for working on a Thanksgiving.  Double time?  I guess that would be a reason to be chipper?  Anyways, the fries were crispy and flavourful due to the seasoning in the batter.  Pretty greasy though, but we weren't eating health food here folks.  And that is probably why Costanza was guilted into ordering a Chicken Salad...  Well, the veggies were fresh, but the chicken was a formed patty which had a weird texture and taste.  We didn't prefer it.  Serves us right for ordering a salad!  Whatever the case, it filled our tummies on a night where there was not much choice.  Not sure if it was the right decision prior to lining up for Black Friday...

The Good:
- Some different options
- You can buy a Jack head and put it on your antenna
- The service we got was really good, maybe too good?

The Bad:
- The chicken in the salad was weird
- Greasy, but what fast food isn't?

Carver's Steakhouse

Quick. Richmond. What immediately comes to mind? Bad drivers? Yes, but that is too easy... Chaos? That too. Courtesy cars? But of course! Asian food?  I think that would be the most appropriate and politically correct answer.  So when a steakhouse tries to make it in the land of noodles and Dim Sum, it becomes a little bit of a curiousity.  For me, I've already tried Chop located in the Sandman and although it was expensive, the steaks were pretty good.  I had the opportunity to do a quick taste of the other steakhouse (Carver's) on the Richmond media dine-around last year.  Of course that really didn't quality as an actual meal, so I was planning to return one day.  Well, that day came when I spotted a deal on Travelzoo.  I went ahead and purchased 2 vouchers and brought the whole family with me for some meat.

Now one of the complaints of dining in Richmond is the parking or lack of. That apparently came to fruition here as well.  Despite the provided parking pass, I was almost unable to find parking in, around and within the parkade. Finally arriving a bit late, we got down to ordering.  I started with the Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio with olive & truffle oil, smoked lemon juice, grana padano cheese and avocado salsa.  Unlike the tasting, this time the carpaccio was a bit underwhelming in terms of flavour.  I didn't get much of the truffle oil nor the lemon juice.  I did, however, get enough of the cheese while the corn, red pepper and avocado salsa provided a brightness and sweet pop. Moreover, the beef practically melted in my mouth  Seeing how that would be a "light" appie, I went ahead and got the Carver's Cheesebread for 2 as well.  Despite the plethora of cheese and garlic butter, the bread itself was the weak link.  It was too dense and got mushy from the moisture.  This would've been far better if the bread was airy.


Viv and my dad both had the Crab Cakes and when they arrived, we thought they were fried oysters.  Unfortunately, this form of preparation really didn't do the crab cakes justice.  I've had deep-fried crab cakes before (at the Crab Shack in Juneau) which were fluffy and delicious.  These were neither.  They were indeed crispy, but the exterior yielded to a dry and mealy filling. We really didn't like this dish.  As a side, we got the French Fries and although they were crispy, there was nothing special about them.  For a steakhouse, the fries should've been "better" than the usual generic GFS/Sysco-type frozen stuff we'd normally see in a cafeteria.  Again, not bad, but pretty disappointing considering the venue.

Okay, ignoring those aforementioned items for a sec, let's get to the meat (sorry for the pun) of the meal.  I went for the Rib Eye and as you can clearly see, it was prepared a nice medium-rare.  The meat was fairly moist and tender (as much a rib eye can get) and quite flavourful.  I loved the "just-cooked" veggies underneath.  As for the mash potatoes, it was a bit dense and could've been creamier.  Viv's Filet Mignon was more on the rare side rather than medium-rare, but forgivable since the cut was quite thick.  In the end, it was tender and moist.  Of course it was not as flavourful as the rib eye due to the cut of meat.  My mom went for the Striploin with Prawns and it was probably the least successful of the 3 steak dinners.  The steak itself was not bad, probably only a little past medium rare.  But the prawns were a little strange.  Sure, there was a cold-water texture thing going on, but the prawns were flavourless (probably too much cold-water rinsing?).  Furthermore, there was no char on them whatsoever, which in turn led to underdeveloped flavours and appearance.

My dad once again went the healthier route by ordering the Salmon.  Yes, salmon in a steakhouse, not the best idea...  Although the salmon was cooked through, it wasn't too dry.  Yet, there was too much glaze which made it quite sweet. But then again, salmon in a steakhouse.  We'll cut them some slack...  The kids shared an order of Linguine with chicken in tomato sauce. Since we were in Richmond, it was not surprising to see the noticeable sweetness in the sauce.  If you are familiar with HK-style cafe cuisine, the tomato sauce is generally mild and sweet.  Well, this one was exactly that and who could blame them?  They must cater to the locals and in this case, the kids didn't mind it.  Onto dessert, Viv decided on the Molten Chocolate Cake with a liquid chocolate centre, raspberry coulis and ice cream with a white chocolate sauce.  This was a pretty good version with a crispy exterior giving way to a fluffy interior.  The cake itself wasn't super sweet, but could've stood to be more chocolaty.  The liquid chocolate was also not super sweet.  

My mom had the Duo of Creme Brulee (Ginger and Green Tea).  Okay, I can't really sugar-coat this (sorry for another pun), but there was no hard sugar topping on this "brulee".  Honestly, this was a feeble attempt where they merely torched the top of a seemingly sugarless custard.  Did they forget?  Really too bad since the custard was decently smooth and had a nice consistency.  It was also not super sweet and there was no mistaking the flavours.  But yes, epic fail nonetheless.  My dad had the Apple & Pear Martini which was naturally served in a martini glass.  It was almost like a crumble without the sugary topping.  I found the pears and apples to be nicely textured (where they were not mushy nor too firm), but the slices were too large and hard to scoop out.  One thing I would've liked to see was more acidity as it was semi-sweet and not much more.  Lastly, I had the Unbaked Cheesecake, which I ultimately ruined by spilling a whole glass of water on it.  Yet, they cleaned it all up and insisted on bringing a whole new one out for me despite my clumsiness.  I liked the cheesecake for its silky texture and once again, controlled sweetness.  There was enough tartness as well to balance it all out. 

Okay, this was a fairly hit and miss meal if I had to describe it.  Now if we merely looked at the steaks alone (since it is a steakhouse), they were not bad.  But in terms of everything else, there were some real duds (like the creme brulee and crab cakes) mixed in with so-so items.  In the end, we didn't dislike our meal, especially with the level of service we received.  However, if I were to compare Carver's to other steakhouses in Vancouver, they may need to step it up a notch to compete.

The Good:
- Attentive and generally great service
- Steaks were mostly done right

The Bad:
- Hit and miss with everything else
- Parking is somewhat of an issue on weekends (where you might have to park far away in the parkade)

Dim Sum @ Western Lake

Finding above average Dim Sum in the GVRD is generally as easy as running into a poorly parked car in Richmond (that wouldn't be literally running into one...).  So what is the difference between a decent Dim Sum joint from a great one?  Generally, it requires one to separate the restaurants into 3 groups: expensive, moderate and cheap.  However, the majority of these restaurants fall within the moderate category.  For me, the class of this bunch is Western Lake out on Victoria Drive.  It has the appealing combination of good portions, quality and price.  In fact, I would go as far as boldly declaring Western Lake as one of, if not, the best place to have Dim Sum in Vancouver.  

As such, we decided to take my father-in-law there for his birthday (in addition to Tung Sing Chin for dinner). Of course it meant the mother-in-law would be there too, but for some reason, she has been rather mild-mannered lately.  Have traffic laws suddenly been recognized in Richmond too?  No, hell has not frozen over...  Even though we made an early morning reservation for 10:00am, we still had to wait nearly half-an-hour for a table.  For those unfamiliar, this is common occurrence.  If you don't make a rez and/or arrive early, you won't get a table.  Period.  Once seated, we started with dessert first as per usual.  Yah, Dim Sum is a crap shoot in terms of food expedition since they usually serve whatever is available.  It's definitely FIFO rather than LIFO.  OMG, I made an accounting joke... How lame of me...  Despite the visuals, the Egg Tart shell was not flaky.  Rather, it was somewhat doughy.  The custard had a nice consistency while being somewhat sweet.

Moving onto more logical items, we had the enormously large Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) These puppies (sorry for the analogy, no puppies were harmed) were chock full of whole snappy shrimp.  There was some dense filler, but that didn't bother me that much.  The only thing that could've been better was the rice flour dumpling skin, it was a bit thick. Probably the best quality/size - price ratio in town.  If the haw gow were impressively sized, the Sui Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling) were even bigger (less round corners, more filling...  LOL).  These babies (no, no babies were used) were 75% shrimp with a touch of pork.  Hence, the texture had a snap and was more like a shrimp dumpling than anything else.  The large chunks of shiitake were a welcomed flavour hit.  Generally, when there is Bean Curd Skin Roll on the menu, one would expect tenderized ground pork filling with other ingredients such as wood ear mushroom, bamboo shoots and shrimp.  However, this one was filled with fish mousse and greens.  That made the rolls very light considering the fact that the mousse was airy.  Furthermore, the flavours were mild and sweet as a result. A definite departure from the typical, yet good in its own way since it was not too heavy.

When the Beef Meatballs arrived, it was shockingly large.  So large, in fact, that they barely fit onto the small sauce plate and merely blended into one large meat blob.  These were some really impressive balls!  Too bad Mijune wasn't around...  Anyways, they were as good as they were large.  The flavours were balanced with a hint of dried orange peel.  The amount of greens was just right while the meat had a nice chewy, bouncy and tender texture.  The large theme continued with the Shrimp Mousse Stuffed Eggplant.  While the eggplant was moist, yet still firm, the exterior of the shrimp mousse was a touch too chewy.  On the other hand, the inside was bouncy and moist.  The black bean sauce was pretty ineffective, but the inherent seasoning in the mousse made up for it.  The Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll was almost normal as it wasn't as huge as the other dishes. We found the noodle to be slightly thick while still being soft.  The whole shrimp on the inside had a nice snap, yet it wasn't really all that seasoned. But then again, that is what the soy sauce is for.

As if we were channeling Bubba Gump, we had more shrimp in the form of Spring Rolls.  These were crispy and light with very little greasiness.  The darn things were jammed-packed with whole crunchy shrimp.  We liked how the shrimp were not overseasoned, allowing the natural flavour to be heard. Okay, moving away from shrimp, the Black Bean Pork Spareribs were pretty good except for the obvious hit of baking soda.  Yes, that is pretty necessary to create that tender bounce texture (which was evident here), but the taste of baking soda was too strong.  Other than that, the flavours were mild while the pieces were of the meaty bone variety.  Okay, for the kiddies, we got them the Chicken Rice served in a clay pot.  On top of the chewy rice was a plethora of deboned thigh meat with one broccoli floret and half of a Chinese sausage (I bet it had envy over the beef meatball dish...).  There was not much to dislike about this dish as the rice was done right as well as the moist chicken.  I think there was more chicken than rice.

Onto a more unique dish, we had the Offal & Rice Noodle Roll Hot Pot.  On top of a considerable amount of plain soft rice noodle rolls, there was tripe, brisket and tendon.  The tripe was tender with some bite, while the tendon was soft and the brisket a bit chewy.  The whole thing was laced with a thick rich braising liquid that provided all the flavour that was needed for the rice noodle rolls.  What ultimately made the dish was the fact that all of the offal was braised together including the brisket (ensuring a rich consistent flavour and texture).  More often than not, some restaurants get lazy and merely dump the ingredients (that were cooked separately) into a starch-thickened sauce and call it a day. Now for some reason or another, I wasn't paying attention when I chose the offal hot pot because we had already ordered the Soy-Fried Rice Noodle Rolls.  So we had a duplication of rice noodle rolls!  Unfortunately, these were not as good as the ones in the hot pot.  They were stiff and dense.  Probably the ones in the hot pot benefited from the sauce and additional cooking.

Then, the Honeycomb Tripe arrived!  OMG.  I really must've had a brain cramp while ordering.  Another duplicate of sorts! Although quite saucy, the tripe itself was texturally pleasing being soft with some chew.  The flavours were sweet with lots of garlic and a touch of spice.  With a similar tasting sauce, the Phoenix Talons (Chicken Feet) were almost flawless (nothing is ever perfect right?). The halved feet were plump and fatty with a nicely fried exterior.  The skin was intact and not shriveled with a good amount of soft tendon underneath.  Once again, the sauce was sweet with a good hit of garlic.  By now we were pretty full, not only because I ordered too much food (and duplicates), but the portions were ridiculously large.  Combine that with good food quality and reasonable prices, Western Lake is not only the best of its class, it is possibly the Dim Sum destination in town.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Well-executed food
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Cramped seating
- Rushed service
- Long, long, long lineup with not much of a waiting area

Late Night @ James on Hastings

While we were enjoying the Curry Crab at James on Hastings, the owner (James) was really friendly and chatted us up. Admist the conversation, he informed us that they were open for late night "da lang".  Oh snap!  Perfect for after-hockey-eats on Fridays!  This was good news because the options are not good after midnight.  Denny's?  If you like all of your food in a shade of brown.  Knight & Day?  If you want all the sauces to look and taste the same (which is not a good thing).  No. 9?  It's in Richmond!  And quite greasy...  So after another one of our typical 11:00pm games, we headed over the 2nd Narrows to James on Hastings.  

The insomniac eater's club consisted of myself, Emilicious, Milhouse and Gordo. We did go for the "da lang" menu and decided to try out the Black Bean Snails. On paper, it sounded really good (well, to us at least!), but in the end, these little suckers were hard to eat!  Even with toothpicks!  But that is not to say they weren't good since there was a decent amount of spice in the sauce while the snails were tender (and not mushy).  Of course da lang would not be complete without the Fried Silverfish.  Okay, don't freak out.  These are not the ones you'd find crawling out from beneath your kitchen cabinets.  These are actually little fish which are battered, fried, then wok-tossed in salt and chilis.  These were good.  They were crisp, not overly greasy and full-flavoured.  Perfect for the accompanying plain congee (which we got for free since we ordered 6 dishes).

Continuing with the salt and chili theme, we had the Fried Tofu. With the same wok-tossing of spices, there was a good balance of flavours including spice, saltiness and garlic.  These were fried up crispy, yet a touch stiff.  For some reason or another, Milhouse needs to have Sweet & Sour Pork when we do Chinese late night.  He is unashamed and unapologetic about it too.  Hey, I don't blame him because I like the dish too despite its reputation as a North Americanized Chinese dish.  It can be butchered as a dish, but when done right, it doesn't matter if it was eaten at an authentic Chinese restaurant or not.  In this case, it was done beautifully right.  The chunks of pork were of a good size which ensured they were moist and tender with a crunchy exterior.  The fact they weren't overfried helped the cause too.  There was just enough sauce which exhibited a nice balance of flavours.

Concerned that we weren't getting any greens in our meal other than the garnish, Emilicious suggested we go for the 4 Seasons Green Beans.  We found the beans a touch soft, yet not mushy.  There was a tonne of ground pork hidden beneath the beans.  This was a very flavourful dish with a hint of spice.  If this wasn't enough vegetables, we also got the Stir-Fried Pea Tips.  This was a generous portion for a "small" size.  As shown in the picture, the pea tips were a vibrant green which was an indicator of the it being cooked just enough.  So it was only slightly wilted while maintaining a crunch.  Also, there was enough garlic and seasoning to make an impact.  Up until this point, we didn't have much to complain about.  That changed when we got the Brisket and Daikon Hot Pot.  There was nothing amiss with the brisket as there was plenty of it (which was tender).  But the daikon had a weird slimy texture and was slightly sour.  We couldn't really figure out why, but the owner happily took it back and offered to replace it with something else. 

That something else was the Stir-Fried Pork Blood with chives.  Yes, kinda gruesome, but don't knock it until you try it.  Think of it as slices of soft tofu with a iron-like finish and taste.  Okay, that didn't convince you did it?  Well, we liked it as the pieces remained intact and they once again, seasoned it enough. So other than the brisket dish, the food was above average and well-portioned.  Combined with service that is better than most Chinese restaurants, James is definitely a good option for late night eats.

The Good:
- Generally well-executed food
- Good service
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- A little more pricey than the rest, but worth it in my opinion
- If you do decide to park in the lot, you'd better not drive anything bigger than a civic

Potlatch @ Skwachàys Healing Lodge

As much as this is mainly a food blog, in particular eating out in Vancouver, there are times when a event and/or food adventure that deviates from the regular.  Recently, I was invited to visit Skwachàys Healing Lodge for a Potlatch.  Now for those who are unfamiliar with the venue, I don't blame you.  I'd never heard or seen of the place before I arrived.  What it turned out to be was part art gallery, part healing lodge for those aboriginal artists who are recovering from addiction.  These artists stay at the lodge while participating in the creation, maintenance, and operation of the Fair Trade Aboriginal Art Gallery on the main floor of the facility.  With support from the Federal Government, Province of BC, BC Housing and City of Vancouver, the lodge also provides an array of other training, educational and employment opportunities for Aboriginal people in such areas as the hospitality and tourism, elder care, communications and community relations.
 
As I arrived, a few others were milling around waiting for the Potlatch including a familiar face, Degan who writes the blog SmokySweet. Before we ate, we were given a tour of the place including the common and individual rooms.  These included a smudge room and a partially completed sweat lodge.  I've personally done a smudge, but have yet to do a sweat because it can get pretty intense.  From the lighting fixtures to the trim, all are custom-made by artists and truly add some traditional elements to a mostly modern facility.  Lastly, we made our way to the dining room (adjacent to the kitchen of course).  Meeting us there was a modest spread of food (I only say this because traditional Potlatches are bigger, but that was not to be expected here of course) consisting of Salads, Stuffed Tomatoes, Salmon Cakes, Squash and Meatloaf.  We finished off with a Chocolate Mousse Tart.  I'm not going into detail about the food because the premise of our visit was more than that.

Without talking too much about myself, I have a modest background in First Nations culture and history.  Hence, I am supportive of any initiative that provides assistance in a positive and progressive manner. In addition to the art gallery, the lodge is now open to the public for reservations, which I'm sure will aid their bottom line.