Happy Kitchen

As much as we have plenty of Chinese restaurants to choose from, there are certain pockets of Greater Vancouver which lack a good selection.  Case in point, let's look at North Burnaby.  For such a large population of Chinese people, there is a confounding lack of good eats in the neighbourhood.  So whenever a new joint opens up, my curiousity and low expectations bubble to the top.  And yes, I've been to nearly all of the spots including Wah Lun, North Burnaby Wonton, #1 Chinese, but yet to visit Double One and Garlic and Chili.  Recently, when I passed by the former location of Gohan, I noticed a new place named Happy Kitchen. Of course, we made our way there in search of, at the very least, decent Chinese eats.

We started with the Wonton Noodles which were pretty average with soft noodles and a broth which was more chicken soup than anything else.  The beef & shrimp wontons were fine though where the meat was a touch gritty while the shrimp had a nice snap. Getting the ying with the yang, we had the Fish Congee.  It was thick in a home-style fashion.  Hence, it was very mild with little MSG.  There was a good amount of moist Basa which was just cooked.  Continuing on, we got the Sweet & Sour Pork.  It was meaty where there was barely any pieces of fat.  I think they used the pork shoulder which made for a relatively "healthier" dish, but I thought a little more fat would've been better.  The pieces of pork had a somewhat heavy coating where it was not crispy. I found the sauce to be rather mild and only exhibited a touch of sweetness and in need a bit more sour. 

Lastly, we ordered the Curry Beef since we saw a few tables eating it. We found it a bit spicy, but bland at the same time.  The base was not savoury enough.  Moreover, it was thin and in need of more coconut milk (or starch).  The tenderized beef was easy to eat, but there was too much baking soda which made it a texture that didn't really fit with the curry.  For the limited dishes we did try, our thoughts of the place was "meh".  Not particularly horrible, yet not great either.  Ultimately it can do the job in a pinch, but nothing I'm itching to visit again anytime soon.

The Good:
- Okay if expectations are not too high
- Friendly people

The Bad:
- Average eats
- No staff = overworked staff member

Top's

Another 11:30pm game??? Ack...  What the heck were we going to eat this time???  With very few options by the time we ended up leaving the rink, I suggested Top's.  Yes, I've had this in my back pocket all these years "just in case" of eating emergencies such as this.  Sure, Denny's and Knight & Day were options too, but we tried our very best not to degrade our standards (especially with the latter). Unbeknownst to us, as we pulled up to Top's, they had changed their operating hours from 24 hours to close at 2:00am.  Luckily, the manager decided to let us in despite being officially closed for the night (or should it be morning?).  Looking over the diverse and large menu, it was quite difficult to settle on one dish.

I decided on the Top's Burger which was a monstrosity of 2 really large beef patties with shrimp, lettuce, red onion and tomato.  I briefly considered forking and knifing it, but in the end, I did what needed to be done and eat it like a burger.  I generally held it together, but naturally, the shrimp kept falling out.  I found the meat patties to be super moist and juicy, however, they were more cutlets than actual beef patties.  It was processed heavily where there was obviously a good amount of filler to keep the meat moist.  With that being said, I didn't dislike it and I had eater's regret after finishing the whole darn thing.  As for the fries, they were pretty generic, but were fried nicely though.  Milhouse had the Spanish Omelette and it was filled with a good amount of ingredients.  He thought the flavours were nice, but the omelette itself was quite dry from being cooked too long.  He really liked the homestyle hashbrowns as the potatoes were soft, yet crispy on the outside.

Lionel Hutz went for the Chicken & Ribs with spaghetti.  The chicken was on the drier side while the ribs were generally tender.  The BBQ sauce was pretty standard stuff being more vinegary than smoky.  The same could be said about the spaghetti as it was like any other North American version.  He did remark that it was still al dente though.  Gordo was really ambitious and had the Prime Rib dinner with a side of Fettuccine Alfredo.  Although the steak was pale and grey, it was actually prepared nicely medium-rare and was sufficiently tender. 

Sweet Tooth and Emilicious ended up sharing a Reuben because they wanted to save themselves for dessert.  How surprising...  Again, it was a pretty typical diner melt with a modest amount of meat.  It was toasted crispy and there were no complaints.  And as for the desserts, they arrived nicely plated.  Sweet Tooth had the NY Cheesecake and it was pretty textbook.  I'm not sure if they made it in-house, but it was pretty dense and very cheesy.  It was sweet enough.  Emilicious had the Apple Pie a la Mode and it was decent.  The crust was not that flaky, but did have a nice firmness.  The apples still had a bite and there was a good balance of tartness with sweetness.  You know what?  The food was acceptable considering we didn't have a whole lot of options for eats.  Sure, it wasn't particularly modern nor gourmet, but we weren't expecting it to be.  It did the job and the people were nice.

The Good:
- Open late (not 24 hours anymore)
- Nice people
- Food is passable

The Bad:
- Not particularly modern nor exciting eats
- Decor is way past its prime

Pho Rex

Fresh from a visit to Mai's out in Walnut Grove, I was curious as to the other Vietnamese offerings in Langley.  Seeing how I was in the area anyways, I decided that a visit to the highly-rated Pho Rex (according to Urbanspoon and Yelp!) was in order.  I wasn't exactly clear why the place is named as such.  Maybe they had dinosaur-sized portions?  Possibly the owner is named Rex? Hmm...  by the looks of the crown atop the "E" in the name, possibly some form of royalty?  Well, at least it is more original than a number such as Pho 99, Pho 101, Pho 66 or Pho 69 (well, probably not the last one...). 

H-Boy and I started with a Salad Roll which was constructed neatly where it was filled with the usual ingredients including basil.  This little addition did wonders for the flavour of the roll.  I found the dip leaning towards hoisin more than peanut. Of course we had the Pho Dac Biet as well. We found the broth to be clean with a mild meatiness.  It wasn't particularly sweet nor salty, rather it tasted somewhat "natural".  The noodles were good and so were the meats. Since we already had the Pho, I went for something different in the Bun Bo Hue. Notably absent was the pork knuckle and pork's blood, but I personally didn't mind and hey...  we were in Langley...  The broth had a noticeable lemongrass hit as well as shrimp paste.  It was sufficiently spicy while the meats were plentiful and tender.

Lastly, we shared the Lemongrass Chicken on Rice which was fantastic.  The chicken was aesthetically-pleasing while being super moist and flavourful.  And I mean flavourful, bursting with lemongrass and savoury notes.  Moreover, there was just enough char to add another layer of flavour.  When it was all said and done, we were impressed with the food here.  It was both cheaper and better than Mai's in our opinion.  Definitely a good option out here in Langley.

The Good:
- Above average eats
- Friendly people
- Okay pricing (compared to Mai's)

The Bad:
- Not the biggest place, but then again, that is common for this type of restaurant
- Friendly people, but not overly attentive

Texx Big Burger

For a relatively large North American city, Vancouver is not endowed with great burger joints.  Sure, there are some good ones such as Romer's, Moderne, Splitz, Burger Heaven and Stackhouse.  And I'm not going to include Fatburger or Five Guys because they are not unique to Vancouver since you can get them practically everywhere.  Not that I don't like them, I just want to focus on local joints.  Of course there is also the very respectable The Burger at Cactus Club and the ones from Vera's, but I would like to leave the big chains out of this (Romer's and Splitz aren't big enough chains yet to earn that distinction).  Now, other than Burger Heaven, all of the aforementioned joints are quite polished and some have an upscale slant.  

Enter another player in town, Texx Big Burger out in Surrey.  Decidedly simple and basic in decor, this joint serves big, fresh burgers at a reasonable price.  I picked up a few items including a Bacon Cheeseburger for Mrs. Spray Bottle.  For $6.99, it included many optional toppings for no extra charge including grilled onions and sauteed mushrooms.  This was a well-constructed burger with a moist, but not oily patty with crispy bacon, fresh veggies and a bun that held up to all the ingredients.  Their Fresh-Cut Fries were starchy while being crispy.  Loved how they did basically dumped all of it in the paper bag a la Five Guys style.  That was a lot of fries for $1.99.

But really...  I wasn't here for anything else other than the Super Texx Big Burger ($21.99).  This monstrosity consisted of 3 x 10oz patties with bacon, cheese and all the optional toppings one could handle.  Despite the novelty of it all, this was actually a very tasty burger.  The meat was super moist, meaty and flavourful without being oily.  Yes, the bun got a bit soft with all the ingredients, but it still held up.  I thoroughly enjoyed this burger.  And if you can finish this in-store within 30 minutes, it's free! Even if it wasn't free, I'd gladly pay for it.  Possibly the best burger I've had in town (for the price) up to this point.  I take back my comment about no good burger joints.

The Good:
- Fresh, moist burger patties
- Reasonable pricing considering what you get
- Charismatic owner who cares about the customer

The Bad:
- Kinda basic operation, if that matters to you

Burnaby Palace

When a Chinese restaurant is filled with 90% non-Chinese customers, what would be your take?  Is it: a) a Westernized Chinese joint? b) It is located in a small town? c) It's not in Richmond? d) It's name starts with "PF"? Well, the restaurant we decided to visit satisfied "A & C" at the very least.  For over 25 years, Burnaby Palace has busily been serving up Chinese food, where I had apparently never felt the need to check it out.  Well, after driving by it countless times, it was about time (actually I've been here before, but it was for a wake and no, I wasn't going to blog about it!!!).  So I convinced my parents to join me even though my mom indicated that it wasn't exactly catered to us.  Nevertheless, she actually doesn't mind Westernized Chinese food occasionally. 

When we arrived the place was packed and they ended up opening up the 2nd floor.  We started with an order of the Crispy Chicken which arrived in a very dark shade of brown.  Despite the appearance of being cooked too long, the chicken was still somewhat moist (with some dry spots).  We liked how it wasn't salty either.  Next we sampled an order of Sweet & Sour Pork because we knew it would be a big seller here.  The good-sized pieces of pork were meaty with very little in the way of fat.  Thus, it wasn't as moist as we would've liked, but it was hardly dry either.  The sauce was on the milder side, yet balanced as well.

For the kiddies, we got then the House Special Fried Noodles which were dressed with a good amount of mild starch-thickened sauce.  The plethora of toppings were prepared properly with tender squid, crunchy broccoli and snappy shrimp.  Since they advertise themselves as a Mandarin restaurant, we opted to try the Mandarin Orange Beef.  The batter on the strips of beef was crunchy while on the thicker side.  The sauce was very sweet with some spiciness.  There was a distinct taste of black vinegar which added a syrupy tartness to the dish.

Lastly, we had the Fried Fish with Cream of Corn Sauce.  We requested the sauce to be served on the side to preserve the crispiness of the fish.  It turned out to be a very light crunch on the outside, giving way to a slightly gummy batter on the inside.  The fish was moist and flaky though. Not a bad finish to a relatively okay meal.  Keeping expectations reasonable, there was nothing particularly bad about the food.  In fact, some dishes were quite good.  However, if you were looking for Chinese food that was more along the lines of Kirin and Red Star, you'd better move along.  But if you desire Westernized Chinese food, then Burnaby Palace is a good option.

The Good:
- Attentive and friendly service
- Acceptable eats (considering everything)
- Not too heavy with the MSG

The Bad:
- A bit pricey
- Not traditional Chinese food, if that matters to you

4 Brothers' Pizza

I've had it.  Playing sports usually means I get to eat out with the team afterwards.  But with certain groups, either nobody wants to go out or it is the same ol' restaurant over and over again (like Alleluia on Saturday nights).  Thus, I decided to eat late night all by my lonesome.  But wait, I wasn't planning on being that creepy guy at 2:00am taking pictures of his congee in the corner.  No way!  I would only do such a thing during daylight hours... Therefore, I decided to head to 4 Brother's Pizza for some slices instead.  I went for 3 for variety reasons and honestly, I could eat that much.
 
Of course I had to get the Beef and Blue Cheese as a comparison to Uncle Fatih's and it was naturally different.  Although the crust was thin and crispy, it was noticeably less airy than Uncle Fatih's.  To state whether it was better or not as good would be completely subjective.  I can definitively say I liked the crust.  As for the topping, it was very similar with bits of crispy beef and blue cheese dressing.  I would've liked to see more dressing as it wasn't very impactful.  I did like that the pizza was not salty at all.  My next slice was the Capicollo and it did not disappoint in the spice department.  Combined with the cheese and mild tomato sauce, it created a zesty concoction of flavours.  I liked how the entire slice was covered with meat.

Lastly, I had the Ham & Pineapple which was pretty standard in taste.  It did have lots of pineapple which added a good amount of sweetness.  The ham was lean and completely covered the slice.  I didn't really notice the tomato sauce very much, but then again, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  Hey, for 2 bucks a slice and open until 3:00am, 4 Brothers did the trick.  I'd hit it up again for some slices when I'm all alone.

The Good:
- Priced right
- Crispy thin crust
- Decent amount of toppings

The Bad:
- Sauce could've had more impact

Burnaby Empty Bowls Fundraiser

In anticipation of attending the Burnaby Empty Bowls Fundraiser, I'd like to draw attention to the wonderful event for a worthy cause.  On Thursday, April 18th, 2013, the 7th annual fundraiser (at the Hilton Metrotown Hotel) will benefit the less fortunate in the community.  Bites for the event will be prepared by celebrated local chefs, including Chef Scott Jaeger of The Pear Tree Restaurant, Chef Tong Lim of the Hilton, Chef Alana Peckham of the Hart House Restaurant, Chef Daniel Craig of EBO Restaurant, and Baker Jack Kuyer of The Valley Bakery.  Tasty samplings will also be created by the Burnaby School District's ACE-it Culinary Program, led by renowned culinary instructor Steve Wade.  If you would like to attend and support a good cause, visit their website to buy tickets.  See you there!