La Meza Grill

When I first caught wind that Pinpin was opening up another location along Scott Road, I was pretty excited in eating something other than Indian food for once.  Hey, as I've said all along, I absolutely love Punjabi cuisine, but it gets rather monotonous day after day.  Besides, I'm Chinese and even I can't eat Cantonese food every day either!  But when I finally got to dine at Pinpin, it fell a bit short, being even more mediocre than its Vancouver location.  Then out of the blue, I stumbled upon La Meza Grill where I hoped I could find acceptable Filipino eats.

I decided to go for 2 items beginning with the "small" Crispy Pata.  Yes, what you see on the large plate was a significant amount of gelatinous meat that was fairly moist and tender.  Naturally, there were some pieces that had been completely fried and crispy (and a bit tough).  But the best part was the crackling as it was not overly hard while still crunchy and aromatic.  The accompanying dip was well-balanced between sweet, tangy and salty.  Moving on from that filling "appie", I went for the classic Pancit Bihon which was also well-portioned.  This was mildly-seasoned (and it generally is most of the time) featuring chewy noodles mixed with plenty of ingredients.  The noodles in my opinion were just right being soft while retaining a bite.

On another visit with Chill, I also went for 2 items including the Sigsig.  I explained to Chill it was sizzling pork face, to which he gave me a strange face (ironic?).  It arrived sizzling hot where the fatty meat crisped up and caramelized right in front of our faces (sorry for the lame joke).  I enjoyed the fatty and gelatinous textures mixed in with the crispy meat.  It was nicely aromatic and somewhat silky from the egg.  A squeeze of lemon helped light and liven things up.  For my next item, I had the Seafood Palabok.  Saucy and sporting a background sweetness, the noodles were a tad too soft (although they are usually this texture).  In terms of flavour, I would've liked to see a bit more "seafoodiness".

Chill decided to go for the Curry Chicken with a side of Garlic Rice.  Smooth, creamy and coconutty, the curry was actually rather spicy.  As for the chicken, it was mostly dark meat being tender and almost succulent.  The garlic rice was chewy, nutty and of course aromatically garlicky.  So from these 2 visits, the food at La Meza was superior compared to Pinpin down the street.  Although not without faults, La Meza combines enough positives for future visits.

The Good:
- Nice people
- Comfy and clean dining space
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- Other than the curry, seasoning was a bit weak    

Doolami

*Place is now closed*

When it comes to desserts, my eating prowess declines faster than the Loonie.  However, there are times that I do enjoy some sweets after dinner, especially the fruity variety.  Since we were still on the search for the best Mango Sago in town for the Chinese Restaurant Awards, Emily and I stopped by Doolami after "snacking" on tapas at Bodega on Main.  Yes, that meant trekking across town, but really, we were never going to be in the Marpole area anytime soon.

Well, we got right down to it with the Mango Sago which arrived in a fairly deep bowl topped with plenty of fresh mangos and grapegruit.  The "soup" was served ice cold (while not icy) and was creamy and airy.  There was definitely a noted mango essence without the addition of too much sugar.  Since mangos aren't in season, these were from Australia being firm with flavours more on the tart side.  Overall, this was a satisfying and good mango sago.  We continued with the same theme with the Mango Ice with fresh mango slices.  The fluffy ice was airy and super light.  It was lightly sweet with a natural flavour.  The accompanying mango was similar to the chunks found in the sago.  In actuality, I preferred the firmer and tarter flavour as it was refreshing.

From there, we decided to try some of their famous freshly-made ice cream.  Although Durian can often clear a room faster than an exotic sports car with an "N" in Richmond, this one was more subtle and aromatic.  Again, the sweetness was mild while the ice cream was light and creamy while maintaining a richness.  Interestingly, it remained stable without much melting to the last spoonful.  Despite my passive aggressive protests, Emily ordered the Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream as well.  The initial first few bites were definitely floral, but as we continued, it was less pronounced.  Again, there was only a marginal sweetness which let the blueberry come through, yet ever-so-marginally.  Texturally, it was on point like the Durian.

Emily was so smitten with the desserts we tried, she made me trek out again, but this time from Burnaby! Man, the things I do for food... Anyways, we started with the Lychee Snow with freshly-peeled lychees.  I found the ice even fluffier than last time where it sported a naturally sweet lychee taste.  We loved the snow so much, we ended up eating most of it before we tackled the lychees.

Of course we had to try more items including the Earl Grey Ice Cream (not served in a waffle bowl because they were about to close).  As clearly evidenced when compared to the previous 2, this one was more soft and melty.  However, that didn't compromise the creamy and airiness.  There was a considerable amount of real vanilla bean that initially overshadowed the earl grey, but it did come through at the end and actually lingered.  We also had the Chocolate Ice Cream which was silky and creamy.  It was slightly sweeter, but not too much so.  There was a definite chocolate hit that had a subtle bitter finish.  This one melted even faster than the earl grey.  From these 2 visits, it was pretty clear to us that we found some solid desserts at Doolami.  I guess we're making the long drive out again?

The Good:
- Carefully-crafted desserts and ice cream
- Not overly reliant on sugar
- Decent service

The Bad:
- Can get pricey
- Not a whole lot of seats
- Inconsistency with the ice cream?  

Golden Lake

Although Golden Lake is fairly accessible in terms of distance from my house, I seem to travel farther for Dim Sum.  Unlike my recent re-visit to Yan's Palace, there was also not much motivation to stop in at Golden Lake, until now.  Apparently, they have changed ownership (hence the new awning) and have revamped some of the menu.  They have added some "Chef Tony-esque"-type of offerings to their Dim Sum service.  With that in mind, we had an impromptu visit one Sunday morning.

Getting right to the "new" items, we tried their Siu Mai with Surf Clam (pork and shrimp dumplings).  As much as the surf clam added a new twist on presentation, it did little to enhance the dumpling. In fact, since it was steamed for the same amount of time as the pork and shrimp, it became rubbery.  The dumpling itself was good though with more whole shrimp (meaty snap texture) than pork (more as a binding agent being bouncy and mousse-like).  We found the taste to be rather bland though with only a bit of sweetness.  The same could be said for the Haw Gow (shrimp dumplings) as there was little seasoning for the whole shrimp (also exhibiting a meaty and firm snap).  A touch floury and lacking elasticity, the dumpling skin was also a bit thick.

Moving onto more standard items, we had the unappealing-to-look-at Phoenix Talons (chicken feet).  With unattached skin and generally disheveled appearance, it didn't look all that appetizing.  Although it ate better than it looked, the skin was too soft while the cartilage and tendon underneath were somewhat melted.  Furthermore, other than some garlic notes, the dish was underseaoned.  Continuing with the underseasoned trend, the Steamed Spareribs with taro lacked punch.  Again, there was some garlickiness, but other than that, we could really taste the pork.  Texturally, it was on point with nice rebound and easy on the fat and cartilage.  They could've eased up on the starch though as it was goopy.

Served in a broth and topped with 2 pea shoots, the Beef Meatballs featured barely any green onion.  As such, the flavour profile was a natural tasting beefiness.  In fact, other than a modest rebound from the meatball, there was a certain amount of real beef texture.  Once again, they were pretty conservative with the salt as we really needed the accompanying Worcestershire sauce.  Okay, we were pretty much expecting the Xiao Long Bao to be average at best (since Cantonese Dim Sum rarely yields a good version), however, these were below average.  Featuring a thick and doughy skin, the rest of the dumpling was subpar.  There was no soup to be seen and the meat filling was inexplicably spiked with dried orange peel. 

Back to the more interesting dishes, we had the Fried Fish Rice Noodle Roll sporting a shade of pinkish-red.  Inside, it consisted of a considerable amount of fried basa.  Hence, it ate more heavy than the usual shrimp or pork version.  With that being said, the fish was still flaky and soft while the rice noodle was thin and sported the right elasticity.  The most interesting item we had was the whimsical Steamed Mushroom Buns shaped like large shiitakes.  Inside the soft and fluffy buns, there was an array of impactful and woodsy mushrooms.  We loved the creativity and presentation of this dish even though the filling could've used some more salt.

Of course my son reminded us that we had to order the Shrimp Spring Rolls, but to his chagrin, they also included a layer of seaweed.  We reminded him that he has had this before on a prior visit and he ended up eating it anyways (phew...).  Similar to the haw gow, the spring rolls were filled with whole shrimp sporting the same meaty snap.  We liked how they were crunchy while easy on the grease.  We were not sure why we ordered the Pan-Fried Daikon Pudding Cake because we never finish it (and the kids are indifferent with the dish).  Well, we didn't finish it despite being a nice soft and smooth texture.  On the other hand, this was woefully bland and could've used a more aggressive sear.

We ended things off with the Steamed Thousand-Layer Cake featuring salted duck egg yolk custard.  Although a bit wet, the sponge cake portion was soft and fluffy while easy on the sugar.  The duck egg yolk custard was sweet and aromatic which helped balance the cake in terms of flavour and texture.  So this revisit to Golden Lake reiterated what I've said before about the place - decent albeit a bit pricey.  We did like their attempts to offer something a bit different than the regular with varying degrees of success.

The Good:
- Decent eats
- Acceptable service
- Some interesting dishes

The Bad:
- Not a very big dining room, our table was very cramped
- A bit hit and miss
- Not cheap

Pho Triple 8

It was a cold and stormy night...  No, I'm not quoting the often used phrase by English-novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.  But yes, it was indeed cold (snowing) and we were hungry.  Let me rephrase that, the kids were hungry and not afraid of letting us know about it.  We were on our way home from Cloverdale and driving through Surrey (specifically Guildford) and a hot bowl of Pho seemed like a good plan.  Rather than going to the usual places, we stopped by Pho Triple 8 to give it try.

Steaming hot, Viv's Pho Dac Biet was decent on the noodle content, but it was light on the meat.  In terms of execution, the noodles were appealingly chewy despite being clumpy to start.  The modest amount of sliced meats were not particularly tender nor moist.  As for the broth, it was fairly light and clean, but noticeably sweet with a star anise finish.  For my Bun Bo Hue, it almost seemed like they ran out of lai fun noodles as I needed to call for search and rescue because they were so hard to find.  The same could be said about the meats as well, but I did appreciate the pieces of pig feet.  I did enjoy the broth though as it was seafoody with a light spice while completely aromatic.

For the kiddies, they shared the Lemongrass Chicken with Rice where I added an extra fried egg for good measure.  Unfortunately, they completely obliterated the eggs where they were completely cooked including the yolks.  The 2 large pieces of lemongrass chicken were nicely marinated where the meat was succulent and flavourful from the brine.  The skin could've used more charring and rendering though. Although the food was pretty average overall, the fact we warmed up and the kids got their fill, it was a decent experience.  But for others, I can see the lack of substance as a major problem.

The Good:
- Food is okay in taste and appearance
- Friendly enough people

The Bad:
- Lacking in noodles and meat
- A minor detail, but the egg was cooked completely wrong

Tang Yun BBQ

Continuing the marathon aka as "trying to find the best signature dishes for the Chinese Restaurant Awards", we found ourselves at Red Star.  Taking this very seriously and going quite obscure, we sampled their Mango Sago and another go at their BBQ Duck.  After that, we went across the street for more BBQ Duck action at a little place called Tang Yun BBQ tucked in the corner.  Yes, we realized that Marpole or South Granville isn't the hotbed of Chinese BBQ, but hey, why not give it a try?

Digging into it right there, we took a few bites of the aesthetically-pleasing BBQ Duck.  I thought the skin was nicely rendered while lightly crispy.  The meat was somewhat chewy while being fairly salty.  This was a respectable effort, especially for the West side of Vancouver.  For myself, I had to try everything else, so I did. By virtue of picking a fattier piece of BBQ Pork, there were some succulent pieces (as you can see in the picture).  However, there was also an equal amount of fatty chunks that were inedible as the fat was pretty chewy.  Flavourwise, I found that there could've been more sweetness to balance the saltiness.

As for the Roast Pork, it was disappointing where the meat was dry and chewy.  Moreover, there wasn't a whole lot of flavour other than some porkiness.  As much as the crackling looked good in terms of colour and texture, it was far too hard where I could barely break it down.  Lastly, I went for a Soy Chicken Leg that sported a fairly attractive dark soy hue.  The skin was nicely gelatinized while the meat was a touch dry (especially for dark meat).  I found the soy braise to be impactful as it penetrated the meat.  In general, I thought that the BBQ items at Tang Yun were pretty average at best with the BBQ duck being the best of the bunch.

The Good:
- Cheery owner
- Decent BBQ duck

The Bad:
- Everything else is average at best 

Gastown Brunch Crawl (Presented by Vanfoodster & Dine Out Vancouver)

Despite the fact we weren't planning on participating in Dine Out Vancouver, we were (or specifically myself) slated to attend all 6 of the Brunch Crawls as part of the DOV festival.  Of course it didn't hurt that I was invited to all of them by Richard, but I find some of them (depends on the restaurant lineup and locations) a good reason to socialize and to satisfy my food ADD.  The Gastown Brunch Crawl led off the lineup this year with a rather rainy morning and wait at the registration point of Prado Cafe.

Walking into the warm confines of Prado Cafe, we were offered a choice of beverage.  I went for the prettiest one in a paper cup being the Holiday Spice Latte.  This was definitely Fall/Winter tasting with a muted sweetness to compliment the smooth and milky coffee.  From there, we sauntered next door to Zero Zero Pizzeria where we were presented with a choice of 2 pizzas.  We got one of each, with the one with hot dogs, bacon, olives, artichokes and rosemary potato being the Zero Zero. This was on a thicker crust being crispy on the bottom while chewy and soft throughout.  The thinner mini-pizza (with potato, bacon, spinach and red pepper scrambled eggs) was too crunchy and hard for my liking (and was probably the victim of the reheat in the oven).

When we moved down the block over to The Capilano, we almost missed the small little shop.  Well, it was rather obscure since its official grand opening is slated for February 1st.  We were given a selection of teas and my choice was the Seankw Village (False Creek) comprised of hibiscus, rosehips, black currant, cranberry, blueberry, elderberry, lemongrass and rooibos.  As expected, the tea was full-flavoured with plenty of berries and a noted tartness and aroma from the lemongrass.  We snacked on Baked Bannock with butter and jam as well as Ancient Phyllo stuffed with bison, sweet potato and herbs.  I personally have a bias towards fried bannock so I found this one a bit dense and dry.  However, the phyllo was on point with a flaky exterior giving way to a tasty filling that was meaty and hearty.

Heading East, we sampled a selection from Grain, hosted at the Bird's & The Beets, that consisted of Sprouted Curry French and Green Lentils, Kale, farro and toasted bread salad, Spicy Lentil Spread on seeded bread and a Wholegrain Stoneground Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Of all the items, my favourite was the kale salad as the ranch dressing was creamy and accented nicely by the savoury and crunchy toasted bread.  The cookie was also a highlight as it was crisp and chewy at the same time while mildly sweet.

A quick jay walk across the street, we lined up briefly at Rodney's Oyster House where we had one each of the Smoked Salmon Croque Madam and the Crab Cake Eggs Benedict.  Hands down, we all preferred the crab cakes over the croque.  In actuality, the only thing that prevented the croque from being spot on was the choice of bread (baguette).  It was thick and too chewy.  Otherwise, the egg was perfectly runny and complimented nicely by the buttery smoked salmon.  We enjoyed the crab cake as it was full of crab that wasn't exactly fluffy, but the exterior crust was appealingly crispy.  The egg was runny while the Hollandaise was super-buttery with a slight hint of lemon.

For some strange reason, Bao Down was not ready to go until 11:30am, which meant a lineup and a bottleneck for the crawl.  We were presented with 2 options and of course we went for one of each including the Morning Glory Bao with sausage, bacon, chive omelette, cheese, banana ketchup, mayo, hashbrowns and scallions.  Frankly, this was "meh" as the individual ingredients were cold and lifeless as well as the lukewarm bao.  I really didn't like the fried bao posing as "Beignets" as they were too hard, oil-soaked and too sweet.  They were more like overly sweet biscotti.

Our last stop was at the Smallflower Cafe & Bakeshop occupying the former Burgundy Restaurant space. As much as I loathed to sample gluten-free and vegan food, it turned out to be surprisingly good.  I loved the Tomato Basil Soup as it was bright, tart, sweet and natural-tasting.  Loved the consistency too.  Despite not looking so appetizing, the BBQ Tofu Slider featured a tasty biscuit that was crispy and sweet on the outside and fairly soft on the inside.  The tofu was tender but not too soft while the BBQ sauce was sweet and savoury.  Our last treat was the Mini-Waffle Cone with vegan ice cream, chocolate sauce and caramel.  Made with coconut milk, the ice cream was a touch icy, but still creamy enough while moderately sweet.  However, the chocolate and caramel raised the sugariness a few notches. In the end, this was a fairly decent kick-off to the 6 brunch crawls with enough variety and amount of food.

*All food and beverages excluding gratuities were complimentary*

The Good:
- Enough food in terms of variety and portion
- Walkable distances between establishments

The Bad:
- There was a bottleneck at Bao Down since they weren't ready until 11:30am