Asian Jazz

Boy. Have I ever been avoiding this restaurant. The reason? Well, this restaurant used to be Delta Wonton House before they closed and was replaced by Asian Jazz. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary many might think. Not so fast. I had a chance to try DWH before it closed and gawd, they had probably the worst wonton noodle soup ever. The soup was like saltwater and the wontons were gritty and cold while the noodles were a soggy mess. I was none too impressed. I guess many others shared the same sentiment since it bit the dust shortly after. Now, why would I avoid the new restaurant? You see, I had some suspicions. On Urbanspoon, there were "reviews" on Asian Jazz that were exactly the same people who gave the "thumbs up" to DWH. Coincidence? I think not. Hence, I really wondered if they were just the same people with a revamped name and menu. Despite this, I finally made it out to the place and dragged Pops along with me.

One look at the new menu and to many, it might send them running for the hills. When they claim to be a fusion restaurant, they weren't kidding! Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisine all in one place... Yah, it didn't seem promising; but hey, I'll give anything a chance! Besides, I really liked the renovations. The place looks spiffy now. So for myself, I went for the Wonton Noodles as a means to exorcise the one I had before. And despite being pork wontons, they were decent. The meat had a nice bounce texture and tasted good. The wonton noodles were slightly overcooked; yet still had some chewiness. Surprisingly, the soup base was very acceptable. It had some depth with a good balance of flavours. It looked the part too. For my second item, I went for the Teriyaki Chicken with rice. I thought the chicken was cooked perfectly. Crisp on the outside and very juicy on the inside, it was lightly sauced. It had a peculiar taste that didn't seem very Japanese; but it was pleasant enough to eat. Now the one fault of this dish was the rice. Rather than using Japanese short-grain rice (which is sticky and chewy), they merely used Jasmine rice. That in itself provided the wrong texture and essence.

Pops went for their Lunch Combo where he was able to choose any 3 items from a list. He went for Chicken Chow Mein, Ginger Beef and Tso's Spicy Chicken. Although this was a very typical North American Chinese combo, the food was actually quite acceptable. The chicken was extremely moist with a slightly spicy sweet glaze. As for the beef, it was crisp and quite gingery. The chow mein was pretty textbook and not too oily. A huge amount of food for $10.00. On a return visit, I finally got to try the Unagi Fried Rice, which they didn't have last time. You know when something is good? When you can't stop eating it. Well, this was the case here. The rice was perfectly chewy with a good amount of caramelization from the hot wok. Plenty of diced unagi and sweet corn made for a sweet and savoury mix. For research purposes, I also ordered the Pad Thai and you know what? It was not too bad if you weren't expecting authenticity. The noodles were al dente and mixed with plenty of ingredients (not sure of the green peppers though). However, tastewise, it was too sweet. It had a certain "Chinese" chili taste to it. But it was acceptable. Well, well, well... Although the food won't blow anyone away, it is relatively decent across the board. Authenticity aside, the prices and portion sizes are good. A much better spot than the original Delta Wonton House.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Good portions
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Don't expect authenticity here

Lully's Sandwich Cart

*Cart is now closed*

Quick. If some random person asks you where one would find a good Montreal smoked meat sammie, what would you say? La Belle Patate comes to mind. So does Estrella's in Langley. Don't even start with Kaplan's because that is more to do with corned beef. Besides, they are really stingy with the meat. As you can clearly see, there are not a whole lot of choices. So it is not much of a surprise that one of the newer food carts to hit Downtown serves up - you guessed it, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. Formerly known as Panda Fresh out on Pacific Blvd, the outfit has been reincarnated into Lully's.

So on a blustery day in Downtown Vancouver, I made my way out to the cart on Granville in between Georgia and Dunsmuir. While the meat was being steamed, I chatted with the operator and he told me that the meat was brought in from Montreal. As much as some people would cry foul since they do not make their own meat, I don't really care, as long as it is good. So yes, they don't make any of the ingredients, from the pickle to the bread to the meat. However, I must say I enjoyed the sandwich. The meat was fatty, tender and substantial. There are 3 sizes to choose from and I only had my eye on the Jumbo Stack, which is a 12 oz monster of a sandwich. Naturally, this doesn't compare with the Woody Allen at Carnegie in NYC; but we're not in NYC and that is too much meat anyways. For $10.00, I thought it was a fair price for the size of sandwich. Moreover, it was an enjoyable to eat. Sure, they didn't "make" anything, they merely assembled the sandwich. But I don't care, it was satisfying nonetheless.

The Good:
- Decent value
- It's a good sandwich (if you like this kind that is)
- Really nice operator

The Bad:
- They didn't "make" it, if that really matters to you

Nao Sushi

Ack! I really, really do not like meetings after work. Well, who does? I'd much prefer going home to relax and if I have time, blog a little. However, I had to be at this meeting. Given that, I accepted that I would be home much later. Luck would have it, Apu sends me an email asking if I could play goal for his hockey team the same night. My first thought was to decline the request since I had no interest in extending my day any longer than it was already. Yet, there were a few things pushing me towards playing. First, it was nearby at Planet Ice Delta. Second, it coincided with the end time of my meeting. Third, he promised to go eating with me afterwards and would convince Milhouse as well. Okay, okay... The first 2 reasons were inconsequential. If you know me, he had me at "eat". It truly completes me...

So after tying 4-4, we were mulling around the locker room trying to figure out where to go. As much as a juicy burger and beer sounded good; it just didn't seem like the healthy thing to do. Thus, we settled on Japanese food, in particular Nao Sushi. It was on the way home for all of us; yet it was near closing time. So we hopped in our cars and made it quickly over just in time for last call. With not much time to think, we ended up with a bunch of items starting with Salmon & Tuna Sashimi. Nothing amiss with the fish here. Nice big slices that were fresh and naturally sweet. We got the Deluxe Assorted Sushi to share as well. It was comprised of 1/2 Tekka, 1/2 Salmon Roll, 1 piece each of Tamago, Red Tuna, Ika, Salmon, Hamachi, Ika, Amaebi, Unagi, Hokkigai, Masago, Chopped Scallop and Uni Nigiri. Once again, there was nothing bad to say about anything in this combo. The items were fresh and prepared correctly. Furthermore the rice had a nice chewy, while not dry, texture to it. This is quite the feat since it was near closing time.

We got 2 cooked dishes as well starting with the Teri-Beef Don. Now, if you are wondering where the goupy teriyaki sauce is, there ain't any. And that is completely fine with me. Unlike other "Japanese" restaurants, the teriyaki beef is cooked with sauce rather than being doused in sauce afterwards. The result was a nice caramelization of the beef and onions. It went well with the perfectly chewy rice. To counter-balance the healthy, we needed to get an order of the Assorted Tempura. We can't help ourselves! Despite the appearance of a heavy batter, the tempura was surprisingly light and crisp. It wasn't that oily either. I guess it was healthy after all...

Fine, back to the sushi... We went for the Rainbow Roll. Not trying to sound like a broken record; but... the different slices of fish were fresh while the avocado was bright and of the right texture. Add good sushi rice with a nice bite and flavour, you have a solid roll. Lastly, we got a Spicy Tuna Roll. To some, the extremely melt-in-your-mouth tuna may be a turnoff; yet the texture was purely intentional. Prepared in that fashion, the fresh tuna was soft and spicy. Of course, the same good sushi rice added some chewy texture while the small piece of cucumber added a slight crunch.

As we were waiting to pay, there was a discussion about Japanese-run restaurants. In the sea of Japanese restaurants in the GVRD, there is only a small percentage that are truly authentic. Then there is an even smaller percentage of those that are actually Japanese-run. With that being said, that doesn't necessarily guarantee good food either. However, Nao Sushi is an example of an authentic Japanese-run restaurant. The food quality was very good, while the prices are definitely reasonable considering everything. We will be back.

The Good:
- Solid food
- Reasonable prices
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Portions are modest in size

Always Seafood Restaurant

With a string of really late games on Friday night, we find ourselves searching for those restaurants that are open past midnight. To further complicate things, as per usual, everyone lives in different parts of the GVRD. So there is never a really central location, let alone a place that is open late. To satisfy those who live on the West side of Vancouver, we headed out to Honolulu Cafe on Main Street. That would've been fine if it was open. They close at 1:00am, so we were outta luck. In fact, SD Sushi Gallery upstairs had closed too. Fortunately, the restaurant directly below was open. In fact, it closes at 4:00am! Formerly Accord Restaurant, Always Seafood Restaurant seemed a bit empty when we walked in. An hour later, it was completely packed. Don't people have to sleep? Wait, that would be us too. Wow, and we were out until 3:30am the previous week at Gigi's! Like any Chinese restaurant, Always has all the usual stuff including "da lang". This type of late night meal consists of smaller dishes of food served with plain congee. It actually took a little while to get any service. Kinda strange since there were 3 servers on the floor. Wait, I forgot, this is a Chinese restaurant, where service is only a rumour...

So when we did get to order, we ended up picking one dish each. I ordered in Cantonese and the manager was so impressed, he threw in the congee! I knew my Cantonese-ordering skills would come in handy! So, we started with the Fried Squid. These were wok-tossed in green chilis, garlic, green onion and salt. There was a nice kick to them; however, the squid itself was too soft. There was none of the good chewiness we associate with squid. Okay, the next dish, I secretly love. Don't judge me, it's the Sweet & Sour Pork. Milhouse ordered it like he usually does. It elicited much humiliation and laughter. Hey, don't knock the dish, it may be very "North American"; but it is indeed a real Chinese dish. When done right, it's tasty. This one was nearly tasty. The pork itself was fried nicely in big chunks; but the sauce was not very flavourful. Now the next dish is a da lang classic being the Fried Silverfish. Don't be alarmed here, it's not the same creepy crawlies found in kitchens. Rather, they are actual small fish that are coated with flour and fried. Then, much like the squid, are wok-tossed in salt, garlic and chili flakes. This is best dumped directly into a bowl of congee. It adds both flavour and texture. These ones were good, if not modest in quantity.

The award for the oiliest dish had to go to the Satay Beef. It arrived glistening like a pubescent male's forehead. Further examination led to a pool of oil at the bottom of the plate that would make lard jealous. It made for a really greasy eat. Despite the flavourful tender slices of beef, I personally didn't enjoy this dish. In fact, it seemed a bit heavy on the MSG, which would explain the intense flavours. On the topic of greasy, the 4 Seasons Green Beans were crying out for some Oxy. Well, it was expected since restaurants typically deep fry the beans first before stir-frying. The beans turned out to be a little overcooked; but once again, there was great flavour and good caramelization.

Emilicious ordered the Black Bean Clams and frankly, I'm not a huge fan of ordering this in a restaurant. It's not that I don't like it, I just find that there is not a lot of food for the price. The dish ends up to be mainly shells and a few precious pieces of clam meat. With that being said, I really like this dish otherwise. In fact, I made it at home recently, for roughly the same price; but with 3 times the amount. I know, I know, a restaurant needs to cover their overhead and operating costs... Anyways, this dish was prepared correctly with every shell open. The black bean sauce was thick enough and exhibited that salty garlicky flavour we look for. Gordo ended up selecting the biggest dish of the meal with the Soya Fried Noodles. Once again, this was greasy. However, this dish is supposed to be somewhat greasy otherwise the noodles would stick together and the wok as well. Other than that, the noodles were pretty good with a chewy texture and good caramelization.

The last dish was Mo Po Tofu. This is usually better with rice; yet both Gadget Girl and Sweet Tooth both wanted to order it. Hey, we can make any food work for us! It just became mo po tofu congee, which was actually quite tasty. In addition to being tasty, the tofu actually had quite a kick. The first bite was pretty normal and then the heat kicks in. We liked how they were not conservative with the spice. Lastly, the tofu itself retained its shape and integrity, even after we picked it up. Okay, I realize that da laang is not supposed to be a filling meal. After all, it is a form of late night tapas. However, for the prices, I felt that the dishes were meager in size. Furthermore, the use of grease here is horrendous. Add a huge dash of MSG and we have a prototypical greasy Chinese joint. I'm not sure of their regular dinner service; but if this is any indication of their food, it is a bit troubling. I realize that Chinese food ain't exactly the healthiest thing out there. With that being said, liberal use of oil and salt/MSG turned me off.

The Good:
- It's open until 4:00am
- Lots of flavour and spice

The Bad:
- Overly greasy
- Overly salty

Gigi's Pizza & Spaghetti House

As I was packing up my gear for Friday night hockey, I glanced over at my camera bag. "Should I bring it or leave it at home?" After all, the game starts at 11:30pm and doesn't end until 12:45am! Once showered and changed, it would be nearing 1:30am... Geez. Most places are only open until 2:00am. So, I threw my hockey bag into the SUV and started to leave. Wait. What's the harm in bringing the camera anyways? So I stopped and ran in to get it. What a great decision that was. Averting disaster, I find out after the game we were indeed going out to eat. Turns out it was Milhouse's birthday. Well... it was his birthday as we started the game. Since we finished after midnight, it was technically not his birthday anymore. Whatever, we all decided to celebrate it. Where? Only 24 hour joints came to mind. Milhouse balked at Knight & Day, Denny's and Tops. I really don't blame him. For me, I call those places "desperate 24-hour food". So once again, reaching deep within my subconsciousness, I suggested Gigi's out on Broadway. Man, I personally haven't been to this place since my University days when dining at 2:30am was normal. In fact, it was a scene of a vehicular "incident" that Viv will never let me forget. It was one dark, rainy Vancouver night (isn't it always???) when I was driving along Broadway with Viv, Costanza and Elaine in my ol' GTi when I got cut off suddenly. Swerving to the other lane, I lost control and did 2 complete 360's in the middle of Broadway and ended up parking backwards in between 2 cars in front of MEC. Miraculously, the car did not hit anything (other cars, people, curb, pole). First thing that came out of my mouth was, "at least the car is okay". You can imagine Viv's response! Well, Viv wasn't with me tonight, so I joyously recounted the story to everyone instead... So, I didn't get the evil eye...

Now as for the food, Ginseng and Sweet Tooth decided to share the Calamari. Turned out to be a good choice since it was freakin' large. It was quite crispy and not too oily; but the batter was quite thick. Ultimately, it didn't detract from the final product though. As for the tzatziki, it was well... not tzatziki. No cucumber, no garlic, no taste, it was just yogurt. For myself, I had to get a pasta. Not that I was in the mood for pasta really; but no one ordered it! Can't go to a place that specializes in pizza and pasta and not try it! So I sacrificed and had the Spaghetti Bolognese. Although the pasta was not exactly al dente, it was far from being overcooked. There was an overwhelming onion taste to the sauce. So much so, that was all I could taste. Now, it wasn't a bad onion flavour. In fact, I enjoyed my pasta. It just wasn't balanced. On top of this, I shared a Hawaiian Pizza with Gordo. Trying to be healthier (HA!), we went for the whole wheat crust. This was pretty much a solid pizza. The crust was neither thin nor thick, somewhere in between. It was crispy and slightly chewy while there was just enough toppings and cheese. Better than most while not particularly exciting.

Lionel Hutz ended up with the Lasagna and yes, it was quite the meal. Look at it. Lots of noodles, sauce and cheese. Not particularly much in the way of meat, it was still a decent lasagna. Noodles weren't too soft and surprisingly not that oily. Ever since Polka King met Polka Dot, they have been inseparable, which means he has not been eating out with us. So it was a total shock he joined us tonight. Part of his healthier diet, he ordered a Chicken Salad. Um... It was a chicken salad... At least the chicken was plentiful and moist. Knowing that Polka King was going to pay for his dinner, Milhouse milked it for all it was worth by going for the 10 oz. New York Steak. Dude. It's 2:00am. A New Year steak??? Anyways, he asked for it to be medium-rare and it came out past medium. It wasn't exactly super tender; but it wasn't tough either. He managed to finish it all... and the baked potato too. All-in-all, the food was acceptable given the time we ate it at. So we didn't have incredibly high expectations. Not sure if we'd necessarily eat dinner here on a regular basis; but it's an option when one wants non-Asian food early in the morning.

The Good:
- Open really late
- Lots of choice
- Food is generally alright

The Bad:
- Food is generally alright
- Some items are actually pricey

Oki Doki Japanese

* Restaurant is now closed*

Japanese food and Ladner. Not something that quite rolls of the tongue. In fact, there is probably no tongue to be found here either... Ox tongue that is... I digress. Okay, Ladner is somewhat of an oddity. Separated from Richmond by an arm of the Fraser river on one side, Burns Bog to the East and farms to the South and West, it is small community isolated from the rest of Delta. Therefore, it is never on anyone's culinary radar. Other than the locals, not many people venture into Ladner for eats. Recently, I had an outstanding meal at La Belle Auberge which would warrant a drive into the community. It's not like there isn't good food to be found here, you just need to know where to look. Maguro Sushi and Taverna Gorgona have been solid eats for me at least.

Today, I decided to try one of the newer additions to the limited Japanese food scene in Ladner - Oki Doki Japanese. Yah, it has an odd name and it doesn't necessarily instill confidence. That hasn't stopped me before though! I decided to go for one of their lunch combos and ended up adding an Appetizer Tempura to start. Although the tempura was crunchy, the appearance bothered me a bit. The batter seemed unusual and quite oily. Looking past this, the shrimp was okay and so were the veggies. I decided to get the Sushi Combo B which includes 5 pieces of sashimi and a choice of a specialty roll (5 pieces as opposed to the normal size of 8 pieces). I got a Sunomono Salad and Miso Soup to start. The miso soup was miso soup, so I'll talk about the sunomono. It was quite good with chewy noodles in a perfectly balanced sweet and vinegary "dressing". As for the Sashimi, it was fine. Nothing wrong with it and nothing spectacular either. The salmon looked and tasted good. The tuna was alright, kinda bland.

For the specialty roll, I choose the Green Dragon which consisted of dynamite roll with roasted eel on the outside. Appearance-wise, the darn thing was not a thing of beauty. Haphazardly made and a bit hard to pick up without pieces falling out. However, the roll itself was tasty. The rice was actually not bad with a nice bite. I could detect vinegar and sweetness in the rice as well, not a lot; but it was there. The prawn tempura was not very crunchy and I guess it is forgivable considering the amount of moisture from the other ingredients. Despite some issues with the food, my visit to Oki Doki can still be considered decent. Although, it is not a stretch to say my standards for sushi in Ladner are kinda low. Service was as good as it could be given that there was only one server. I thought the prices were a bit high; yet I guess this is due to the lack of competition nearby. With that being said, I would still head up the street to Maguro first.

The Good:
- Some interesting specialty rolls
- The lunch options are decent
- Friendly owners

The Bad:
- Not exactly great on the presentation
- A bit expensive

Minori

Once again, I'm continuing on my mission to revisit some restaurants in hopes of accomplishing a few things. First, I want to see if they are as good or bad as the first time I tried them a few years ago. Second, I would like to try more items to give them a fair shake. Third and most importantly, I want to retake my photos. You see, I started off with my Blackberry, then upgraded to my Canon point and shoot; ultimately graduating to a DSLR. I'm quite OCD about my pictures and if I didn't do something about the crappy ones from the early beginnings of this blog, I would go nuts. So here I am back at Minori, which is often heralded as the best Japanese restaurant in North Delta. Of course that is not really of an accomplishment since there are only 6 other Japanese restaurants within a 2km radius. However, it is what it is and finally I have returned. Joining me for lunch was Pops, who is usually a willing participant in my lunch adventures.

Now, the first time I ever ate at Minori, I was thoroughly impressed at the quality of the food, especially since I was not expecting much in North Delta. Sure, it's not Japanese-run; but I rather let the food do the talking. Interestingly, the lunch combo has shrunk in size. There seems to be less food in the bento box and in fact, there are only 4 pieces of California Roll to the 6 I had 2 years ago. At least the quality didn't suffer. The rice is still of a pleasing texture being chewy with a touch of sweetness and vinegar. The Tempura is still very good with a very light batter. It's crisp and none-too-oily. Once again, it is only modest in size. The last item in my lunch combo was the Chicken Teriyaki. By looking at the picture, it is not very apparent how much chicken there is in relation to the size of the box. I was able to finish this in a few bites. With that being said, it was once again decent. The chicken was moist and there was just enough sauce. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the box as a whole because you could see much more box than food!

Now Pops had a different combo that included nigiri. I was going to post that picture here; but we ended up ordering a Party Tray C for a meeting we had a few weeks later. Hence, the picture of the Nigiri is that from the tray. You'll noticed that the salmon is of the wild sockeye variety (in addition to the tuna and ebi) and that is the same for their combo as well. We found the fish to be of good quality and texture. However, the slices were quite thin. The other part of the tray consisted of a House Roll, Futomaki, Chicken Teriyaki Roll, Dynamite Roll, California Roll, BC Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll, Asparagus Roll and Unagi Nigiri. The size of the rolls were not too bad and not over-ladened with rice. Pretty good stuff, although I found the chicken teriyaki to be overcooked and hard. Surprisingly, I really liked the asparagus roll despite my aversion to anything veggie in maki sushi. As with most things at Minori, the rolls were solid.

Now solid food is one thing; but with this current experience at Minori, I have noticed a trend. The portion size seems to be shrinking. Not a big deal if you don't have a big appetite; yet it could matter to some when you can get more food for the same price at other places. We ended up actually ordering the other half of our takeout meal from Nordel Sushi (I know, not my favourite...) since their combos have more food. Of course the quality lags behind Minori... So my point is - if you don't care about quantity and want mainly decent food, then Minori is probably still the best in North Delta.

The Good:
- Generally decent eats
- Carefully made
- Very friendly service

The Bad:
- Portion size is small
- Restaurant is really tiny