Pizza Palooza (presented by Vanfoodster)

I have to say I like pizza, but don't necessarily love it.  For me, after the first few slices, I tend to lose interest since the carbs start filling me up.  However, that is not a problem for Inner Fat Girl as she LOVES pizza.  Hence, I knew if I went without her, she would've punctured my tires.  So off we went to Pizza Palooza with 5 stops of 2 slices each on a rainy Vancouver evening (no wonder David Duchovny complained...).  Our registration point was at Hot Art Wet City where we found some very interesting pizza art.  Let's just say it's at the very least PG...

Our strategy for the night was to hit up the "predicted" best pizza first so we could enjoy it rather than attempting to do it with our 10th slice.  So off we went to Straight Outta Brooklyn across from the VPL.  We ended up with one each of their available pizzas including Pepperoni, Spice, Margherita and White.  We loved the crust here as it was thin, crispy throughout and slightly chewy everywhere else.  There was a decent char that led to some aromatics to go with the impactful toppings.  I personally loved the spice and white as they were the ying and the yang.  The spice lived up to its name with a salty heat while the white was more subtle with a smoky garlickiness.

Moving onto the closest spot from Straight Outta Brooklyn, we headed to the DTES and got rock star parking across the street from ZeroZero Pizzeria.  We were served 2 slices including the Vegetable Pizza and the Contadina Pizza.  Being a Roman-style of pizza, these slices were thicker and crunchier.  Being meatatarians, we were indifferent with the vegetable pizza, but the Contadina with mozza, tomato sauce, smoked chicken, sundried tomato, red onions and oregano had much more flavour and body (naturally of course).  Still, we would've liked to see chunks of chicken rather than thinly sliced deli-style.

Heading out further East, we visited Nonna's Table located in the Waldorf Hotel.  Still sporting remnants of the former Shameful Tiki Room, it didn't really have a feel of a pizzeria.  However, the slices we had were decent.  They consisted of Funghi Misti, Nonna's Pizza and a Stromboli.  I found the crust to be thin and relatively crispy with a soft centre especially with the funghi.  I would've liked to see more seasoning in the dough though as the funghi was pretty bland.  That wasn't a problem with the other 2 as there was salty meats to make up for the lack of seasoning.

We finally decided to return to near the start at Pizza Garden, but gosh the place was packed!  There was simple explanation though, as they decided to do Pizza Palooza on the same day as their grand opening celebrations.  I guess kill 2 birds with one stone?  Anyways, for a chain slice pizza spot, they produce a very serviceable product.  The thin crust was well charred and crispy, albeit a bit dry.  Toppings were fairly plentiful which meant there was enough flavours, yet I found the tomato sauce (or sauce in general), lacking.

Off to the furthest restaurant of the bunch, we ended up at Ragazzi Pizza.  It was somewhat ironic that I had just visited the place 4 days ago.  Therefore, I went for 2 slices that I didn't have the last time - Prosciutto e Ruccola and Quattro Stagioni. I liked both equally where they sported a thin and chewy crust.  It wasn't as crispy as Straight Outta Brooklyn as it was fairly soft.  It didn't matter as it was still good especially with the right amount of toppings adding enough flavour to each bite.  By now, we had eaten the equivalent of a whole pizza.  Maybe if there was something less carb heavy next time...  like a Rib Palooza?

*All food was complimentary*

The Good:
- If you like pizza...
- Due to the carbs, you will be very full

The Bad:
- More variety of pizzas (types) would've been better
- Not particularly close together    

Thai Confusion

I've always have had a love hate relationship with fusion cuisine.  On one hand, we wouldn't be the beneficiaries of things like Banh Mi and Pho without the French colonization of Vietnam.  Yet, on the other, we are often left with garbage Asian food found at such places like the defunct Lower Mainland locations of Rockford.  So when the people at Bob Likes Thai Food opened up Thai Confusion in the old location of The Abbey (and before that, ironically Wild Rice), I was curious and amused at the same time with the concept and name.


Well, the Poutine Challenge brought Emily and I out to the newly opened eatery focusing on Thai tapas with a twist.  We started off with the Bacon-Wrapped Lychee and Pineapple atop cucumber relish.  Although Emily wasn't a huge fan of these, I thought they were decent with a plump (albeit canned) lychee and pineapple encased in a thick piece of rendered and meaty bacon.  I'm not sure what type of bacon they used, but the salt content did not really stand up to the sweetness of the lychee.  Next was the Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, relish and grilled bread. The chicken was fairly tender and decently charred, however the meat itself was not particularly marinated enough to stand on its own.  The sauce was flavourful, yet too sweet and greasy.

Moving along, we decided to sample the Tom Kha with fried curry rice.  With a classic galangal coconut milk soup base with basil, lemongrass and lime, the flavours were indeed familiar.  However, I felt it could've been more rich as it was rather thin (more coconut milk perhaps?).  The sticky rice was fried with red curry paste, lime leaves and sesame.  I didn't get much of the 3 aforementioned items, but the texture of the rice was appealing.  Something that had more impact in my opinion was the Gai Yang.  It was fairly tender with well-rendered skin.  The marinade penetrated the meat and I could definitely taste lemongrass and fish sauce.  On the side was a nam pik which was an appetizing sweet, spicy and tart.

One of the more expensive and subsequently more filling items was the Pork Ribs with the same nam pik.  The ribs were somewhat succulent with mild garlickiness and a soft exterior bark.  Once again, the impact came from the nam pik which added the necessary acidity and spiciness.  As for the Thai Poutine 2.0, it featured deep-fried taro strings lightly covered with as spicy green curry as well as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and red chilis.  Beyond the aromatics, the whole thing was pretty spicy.  On the side, there was a scrawny deep-fried soft shell crab.  Due to its small size, it was more batter than crab.

Emily and I have something in common other than eating prowess.  We like to order lots!  So we continued with the Curry Fish in Banana Leaf.  Since basa is generally a forgiving fish, it was still fairly flaky despite being overdone.  I really didn't get much of the green curry, hence I had to use the charred lime to liven up the flavours.  I did get the essence of coconut milk though.  Our last dish was something that was a letdown.  The Grilled Pork Cheek with roasted coriander seed, lemongrass and kaffir lime did taste smoky and well-seasoned on its own.  However, the texture wasn't what we expected.  Rather than the chewy rebound texture one would expect, the meat was dry where some pieces were very hard to break down.  As you can probably ascertain, we weren't overly impressed with the Thai tapas concept at Thai Confusion.  Sure, most of the items were fine, but nothing seemed to justify the prices for the small plates of food.

*Poutine was complimentary*

The Good:
- Hip dining space
- Something different

The Bad:
- Food was not impressive
- Expensive for what we got