Red Card Sports Bar + Eatery

"You heading to the Auto Show this year?", queried Costanza. "I think so, but I'm not sure if I can go early", I replied. Turns out that he was thinking about a later time as well since he had to take his son for swimming lessons in the evening. For me, I had to wait for Viv to get home first. I decided to ask if Rich Guy and Vandelay wanted to join us and at first, both were hesitant. For Rich Guy, he had to take his daughter to her swimming lessons as well and Vandelay had to put his youngest to bed first. Yikes. How times have changed. Gone are the "last-minute-drop-what-you-are-doing-and-go" activities. I knew this a long time ago, but seems like we are all in the same boat. Well, since we were all out of our respective households, it was a good opportunity for us to grab some late night eats afterwards.

Trying to stay within the Downtown core, we took a stroll over to Red Card Sports Bar + Eatery. It seemed like a proper venue for 4 dudes right? Yah, well, imagine the banter when we decided to order 4 balls to share? Well, to be clear, they were 4 Arancini balls described on the menu as fried risotto balls stuffed with mozzarella, peas and prosciutto cotto with marinara. These were pretty good with a nice crisp non-greasy exterior kissed by some Parm. On the inside, the risotto was moist and flavourful maintaining some texture. It was certainly cheesy and zesty. Next up was the Portobello Fries. These reminded me of the ones at The Fray, but not as good. The biggest issue here was the crumb coating - it was far too thick. Hence, the mushroom got lost and in fact, didn't fully cook either (which is not too bad considering that overcooked would've been worse). The dense coating was quite crispy on the outside and once again kissed with Parm. However, it was a chore to eat and it felt like we were eating fried dense crumbs.

One thing that really stood out on the menu was the Red Card Poutine consisting of mild chicken curry, shredded mozzarella and hand cut Kennebec rosemary fries. I wanted to like this really badly, but in the end, it was kinda goopy and too mild for my tastes. Now, I completely understand why they didn't amp the spice level since they need to appeal to a wider audience. So I'll cut them some slack there. The bottom line was it did taste pretty good as a mild sauce. Now, I only wished they were a little less aggressive with it because most of the fries underneath soaked it up and became clumpy. The use of regular mozzarella was not the best choice either as it became lost in the curry. Moving past the appies, the other most prevalent item on the menu was the Neapolitan-style pizzas. As I quote Vandelay (who has actually been to Naples) from his previous visit (and this one too) at Red Card: "they have all the tools and ingredients to make a great pizza, but something gets lost in the process".

This was perfectly illustrated in the Margherita. From the looks of it, it was pretty legit with a crust made with caputo tipo "oo” flour topped with Fior di latte, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil and sea salt. We enjoyed the great tasting tomato sauce along with the cheese and fresh basil. The problem? The crust just didn't exhibit enough leoparding aka charring and blistering. Hence, it didn't have that rich nutty taste nor was it able to stand up to the wet ingredients. This was further exacerbated by the use of more toppings on the Hat Trick with Sausage, sopressata, bacon and mozzarella. It had great flavour but the crust just wilted and died on this one.

Trying to get a feel for the entire menu, we had the Italian Spiced Pulled Pork Sandwich. The meat itself was quite nice being in big chunks (which kept it both meaty and moist). The sauce itself was quite sweet while the coleslaw had no impact in terms of flavour nor texture. The bun held up quite nicely to the wet ingredients though. We also loved the fresh-cut Kennebec fries on their own rather than the poutine version. Lastly, we had the Rigatoni with a slow-cooked spicy ragu. This was actually not bad considering where we were. The pasta was al dente and the ragu was very meaty and spicy. There was actually quite a lot of meat hidden within the pasta. In the end, the food was hit and miss. However, if we take into account that Red Card is more than just about the food (like catching the game and/or for some brews), the overall experience was decent.

The Good:
- Pretty nice dining space
- A good place to hang out and catch the game

The Bad:
- Food is hit and miss
- Service was friendly, but was rather confused and forgetful

King's Chinese Cuisine

"Hey, my mom wants to go for Dim Sum tomorrow", Viv yells out from the living room. For the love of... Shoot me now will you. Better yet, just feed me some recalled beef products. That way, with a heavy dose of e-coli, it would give me an excuse not to go. "Oh and she wants to go to Dung Sing Chin again", Viv adds. OMFG. No offense to the place, but must we always go to the same place??? It's either there or Fortune City. I guess they are really set in their ways. As an alternative, I suggested that we try somewhere new or at the very least some place we haven't been to in awhile. Ultimately, my mother-in-law decided to veto almost every restaurant that we could come up with. Excuses ranged from "too far" to "too noisy". WTF? Dim Sum is not Dim Sum without some old lady screaming at the top of her lungs at the next table! Wait, that would just be my mother-in-law at our table... Anyways, I finally threw a hissy-fit that would make Veruca Salt look docile. That, in turn, allowed us to head over to our first choice, which was King's Chinese Cuisine. Apparently a local favourite, their draw is reasonable prices and decent eats.

The kids, Viv and I arrived a bit early which allowed us to snag a table in the relatively small dining room. 15 minutes passed and no sign of the MIL. I was partly annoyed and mostly hungry. I hate watching other people eat. Since the kiddies were hungry, we decided to order first. Well, I was hungry too... Once again, we started with dessert in the Egg Tarts. I realize that it is not as easy as it seems when it comes to food expedition during Dim Sum service. However, it is annoying to eat sweets first. Then again, my kids didn't mind, so what do I know? As for the tarts, the puff pasty was doughy and dense seemingly almost underdone. The egg filling was nice though with a smooth texture and the right amount of sweetness. Deviating from his usual rice noodle rolls and/or rice hot pot, my son actually requested the Fried Taro Dumplings. These were not bad with a good mashed taro-to-
pork filling ratio. However, the pork was slightly dry and pretty bland (as was the taro). At the very least, it wasn't oily and was basically acceptable. Right on cue, my son went back to his old ways and we had to get the Soy-Fried Rice Noodle Rolls. As evidenced in the picture, these were not all that deep in colour nor was there a whole lot of caramelization. The result was pretty much bland rice noodle rolls that needed an extra side of sweet soy. Furthermore, the noodles were missing that pan-fried flavour. Rather, it was as if they had tossed it in luke-warm oil and light soy sauce.

When my MIL finally arrived, she ordered a few of her favourites including the Jellied Chicken Feet. Yes, sounds delish eh? Well, it is more of a textural experience than anything else where the skin and gelatin are usually prepared so there is a certain resistance and snap. The one we had here was a touch on the undercooked side and slightly bland as well. My MIL proceeded to berate our server regarding the dish's deficiencies to our utter horror and embarrassment. Tact is not one of her strengths... Did she really want our food to arrive with "extra" ingredients or worse... "sauce"??? A very good reason to avoid eating out with her. Anyways, another one of her choices was the Deep Fried Smelt tossed in salt, garlic and chilies. This was a pretty decent attempt with lots of smelt with the requisite roe. The batter was slightly heavy, yet not terribly so. Despite the appearance of plenty of chilies and garlic, the dish was actually quite mild tasting and according to Viv, not impactful. I didn't mind it and appreciated the lack of grease.

Moving onto the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll, it was pretty stiff and doughy. The shrimp were pretty small and despite being properly textured, had very little impact. Continuing on the topic of shrimp, the Haw Gow were pretty average. The dumpling skin was wet and gummy while the shrimp/shrimp mousse filling was a touch soft. There was not much in the way of a snap from the shrimp mix. On a positive note, they were large and seasoned properly with a good balance of flavours. On the other hand, the Sui Mai were more of a one-note taste wonder. All I got was sweetness and little in the way of savouriness. The meat was dense and not really all that bouncy in texture. At least it wasn't very fatty, which in theory could've contributed to the dense texture. Furthermore, they were a touch pale looking, which does matter since we eat with our eyes first.

Now something with good texture was the Beef Meatballs. This is not as easy as it appears. Properly textured balls are a work of art. Er... Wait that's a bad analogy, unless we were talking about art history in Europe. Let me rephrase that. To achieve the desired "not-naturally-occurring" bounce meat texture, corn starch and baking soda plus a whole lot of food processing are involved. I'm sure you could in theory bounce one of these meatballs on the ground. Actually, I once dropped a Vietnamese beef meatball and it literally bounced across the kitchen (mind you, that is a totally different texture). Makes you wonder how unnatural that is... Enough of my random blabbering, the beef meatballs here were the proper texture with a good mix of water chestnuts and green onion.

Now if you look at exhibit A, you will find a crime scene of severed Chicken Feet. Yah, I know it is a typical Dim Sum dish, but really, these were terrible. So much so, it resembled more like butchered chicken feet than something we'd want to eat. These were pale and obviously not fried correctly. Usually, chicken feet are fried in all of the old oil because there is no need to use new oil (I bet you didn't want to know this...). Hence the dark colour is a result of that oil. Sometimes you can taste it, if the chicken feet aren't prepared properly. These pathetic things were scrawny and bland. Probably one of the worst versions we've ever had.

Okay, I'll admit it. I am a glutton for punishment. Why? Well, why else would I order Xiao Long Bao at a Cantonese Dim Sum service? It could be plain stupidity as well... Whatever the case, we had low expectations. These XLBs pretty much met those expectations with very little soup (which was more like melted fat). Furthermore, the meat filling was one-note in flavour (pork tasting) without any ginger hit. However, the dumpling skin wasn't too thick nor was the meat too gritty. Therefore, for what it was, it was a decent dumpling (just not an XLB). For our filler item, we got the Sparerib Rice which included another chicken foot and a stalk of yau choy. There was a good amount of meaty pork spareribs on top, however, they were on the softer side with little chew. They were well-seasoned without being salty. The rice was mostly dry and chewy except for a few wet spots.

Lastly, we got the Shrimp Spring Rolls because he loves the fried wrapper. Yes, he doesn't prefer the filling so much. Well, there wasn't much issue here since the spring roll had barely any shrimp inside. And the ones that we found were completely lost in the crunchy wrapper. If they were going to be so skimpy with the shrimp, they should've just offered a regular spring roll consisting of veggies and pork. At the very least, the rolls were not greasy. As you can clearly ascertain, the Dim Sum at King's was pretty hit and miss. Of course, with such a small restaurant, it would be unfair to expect top notch Dim Sum. With that being said, we've been to some small places (such as Good Choice) and they've been better. Yet, with reasonable prices and decent service, King's serves their local clientele well.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Decent service

The Bad:
- Hit and miss
- A bit dark inside

Dim Sum @ Gingeri

Whenever Goose is back in town, he often suggests that we head for Dim Sum. However, it usually means a visit to Victoria Seafood Restaurant at Royal Centre. Hey, I don't mind the place and in fact, that was the place Viv and I held our wedding banquet. On the other hand, with sentimental thoughts put aside, there are better choices to be found in the GVRD. So I proactively suggested we try some place different, particularly in Richmond. Richmond? Why? Well, it is the mecca of Chinese food in the Lower Mainland after all. That almost negates the driving issues... Almost... Since we had to pay Toys R Us a visit anyways, I figured Gingeri would be our best bet. We had made a reservation which more or less we got it on time. A major feat for any Chinese restaurant I might add (for Dim Sum service that is).

So what did we start with? The Egg Tarts of course! Dessert? Hey, it's a new fad, reverse eating. You must try it sometime. Instead of a appetizer, why not a lava cake or a baklava? Of course I'm kidding, but then again, we've seen stranger food trends... You see, in a Chinese restaurant, food expedition (especially during Dim Sum) is pretty random. Sort of whatever is ready goes out of the kitchen. Anyways, the Egg Tarts were not exactly my cup of tea (pardon the pun considering Dim Sum is AKA "yum cha" or drink tea). The tart shells were more of the butter doughy type rather than the puff pastry version. Hence it was denser and to me at least, did not go with the soft egg custard. Too bad really since the custard was silky and not too sweet. Next up were the Rice Noodle Rolls (we got one each of the Shrimp, Beef and Ja Leun). The rice noodle was soft while not sticky nor loose. Each roll was neatly prepared with plenty of filling. The large shrimp had a good snap as well as exhibiting a natural sweetness. I particularly liked the beef filling as it was soft, yet still meaty. The salty donut in the ja leun was crisp and went really well with the soft noodle. It was too bad the darn thing was so small that we had to get 2 orders.

Something that I normally do not prefer in Haw Gow are bamboo shoots. I don't think they add much in texture since they get limp in the cooking process. Furthermore, when not prepared correctly, the smell and flavour of bamboo shoots overwhelm the delicate shrimp. Well, apparently, they did a fine job here since there was no stinky aroma from the bamboo shoots despite its obvious existence in the shrimp filling. In fact, the shrimp and shrimp mousse filling were sweet with the essence of sesame oil. The texture had a snap while the dumpling skin had good elasticity. On the other hand, the Sui Mai were not as successful. They were pale and full of chewy pork which did not have any bounce or snap. This could've partially been attributed by the use of lean meat and not much in the way of added fat either. With the lack of fat, meager amount of shiitake mushroom and the some conservative seasoning, the dumplings were pretty bland too.

Much like the beef filling in the rice noodle roll, the Beef Meatballs were just as good (probably because they originated from the same mix). There was a good bounce texture combined with a level of meatiness. The water chestnuts added a nice crunch and brightness to the well-seasoned meat. Another solid dish was the Black Bean Spareribs. Despite the fact you'd need a search party to find the black beans, there was plenty of flavour in the form of garlicky savouriness. As evidenced in the picture, most of the rib pieces were attached to bone which are the best parts. The meat was slightly on the chewier side yet still easily eaten with little effort. Something I really liked was the puffed tofu at the bottom which soaked up all the flavours (and fat). I know it ain't rocket science, but something other than pumpkin made it interesting.

Now for an epic fail - the Phoenix Talons (chicken feet). For those familiar with this dish, if you look closely, it is obvious that the chicken feet were not fried properly. They were so under-fried, they could've passed for boiled if not for its colour. Hence, the skin was hard and the cartilage underneath was inedible. The only saving grace was the abundance of flavour from the black beans and jalapeno peppers. Normally, the Shrimp Mousse Stuffed Eggplant is fried and then laced with a black bean & bell pepper sauce. The version here was tempura-battered and fried. As a finishing touch, it was dusted with chili garlic wok salt. This was pretty good. Due to the batter, the eggplant remained very moist as well as the shrimp mousse. Hence there was a wonderful textural contrast between the crispy exterior and the moist ingredients. The chili garlic wok salt was aromatic and flavourful. It complimented the sweetness of the shrimp.

Normally, we get at least one offal item, however, when there is the Offal Hot Pot, we go big or don't bother. Who can resist a whole pot of lung, tripe, tendon and spleen??? Although it is generally a good idea to braise the meats until tender, this was taken a bit too far here. Most of the pieces were far too soft. It was a big bowl of mushy offal. The tendon and tripe were particularly textureless. At the very least, the seasoning was good with a surprising hit of spiciness. Okay, onto something more universally appealing - the Shrimp Spring Rolls. No offal in here! In fact, these were fantastic. They were crisp, not greasy and full of whole shrimp. Great texture on the shrimp as well as a nice crunch from the addition of wood ear mushrooms. To top it off, there was plenty of seasoning in the form of garlic and a good balance of salt combined with the natural sweetness of the shrimp.

Lastly, we got a filler dish to ensure our fullness. We ordered off the regular menu and ended up with the House Special Fried Noodles. This was served with the fried noodles separate from the ingredients and sauce. The premise behind this was to keep the noodles crisp. However, this was a moot point since the noodles were not all that crispy. Rather, they were greasy and lacking the slightly burnt noodle ends that we are accustomed to. Oily noodles withstanding, the sauce with all of the ingredients was very good. It consisted of BBQ pork, sliced chicken thigh, shrimp, basa, squid, scallops, sliced carrots and yau choy.

I actually left out 3 items from the meal which were some buns and the pan-fried noodle rolls. Just too much to talk about. However, I'm sure you get the gist of it from all the aforementioned food in this blog post. Generally, Dim Sum at the Gingeri is solid with only a few exceptions. Now, you can look at it 2 ways. For the relatively higher prices here, one would expect no duds. On the other hand, we can take the position that there will never be perfect meals, consequently, if over 75% of the food is good, then it is a good meal. For me, I happen to agree with the latter.

The Good:
- Our reservation was somewhat close to being honoured (which is a success in a Chinese restaurant)
- Food is above-average
- Plenty of parking and waiting in the mall for your table is a bonus

The Bad:
- Prices are higher than average
- Service wasn't bad, yet it was rushed too

Thai Away Home

As we ate at the now defunct Sala Thai (now U & I Thai) on Cambie many years ago, a much smaller Thai restaurant caught our eye from across the street. "Thai Away Home" eh? We wondered what that was all about - a takeout fast food Thai restaurant? I guess we kept wondering for the next 13 years because we never tried it out. Don't get me wrong, we weren't avoiding the place, it just never happened. However, an invite from their social media manager lead to our eventual visit. Consistent with its namesake, the place is mainly takeout with only a few seats (think along the same lines as Hawker's Delight). When we took a look at the menu, the prices looked quite reasonable, in particular, their combos. Taking a peak at the other tables in the place, portion sizes seemed respectable as well. I ended up pulling a Mijune somewhat by ordering 4 dishes plus one appy and one dessert. She is a bad influence for sure!

The first dish to arrive was the Chicken Cashew consisting of stir-fried chicken, vegetables & cashews in a spicy sauce. Okay, to preface my comments, Viv and I love spicy food and our tolerance is quite high. Hence, when we say something isn't spicy enough, it could be plenty for others. With that out of the way, we thought this dish was more sweet than spicy. However, it was pretty good with crisp veggies and tender chicken. When the Chicken Satay showed up, it looked like it had been fried and grilled. A shortcut? Perhaps, but in the end, the chicken was sufficiently moist and meaty with a crispy exterior. The peanut dip was somewhat sweet while not being overbearing. Even before we dug into the Pad Thai, the smell of ketchup filled the air. For those who prefer the tamarind version, you're out of luck. For myself, I can handle either type as long as it tastes good. People have to realize that a restaurant is a business and is most interested in catering to their target market. With that being said, I personally like the tamarind version more, so this was a bit too ketchupy for me. However, the noodles were cooked up nicely with big chunks of fried tofu, shrimp, crisp sprouts, egg and ground peanuts.

Moving onto the curries, we had the Chicken Green Curry first. Immediately, we noticed that the coconut milk had slightly separated. This was probably the result of adding it in when the temperature was too high. Despite this, it did not affect the end product. It was more of an aesthetic issue. The green curry had a nice aromatic coconut milk consistency where it wasn't too thick nor too thin. We really got a sense of the shrimp paste along with a slight hint of heat. The eggplant slices were oil-blanched perfectly where they retained their shape while being super tender. The chicken was slightly on the drier side, yet was not tough to eat. The Beef Penang Curry was advertised as the spiciest of the available curries and it did exhibit a touch of heat. Again, our tolerance to spice should be taken into account. What we consider mild may be spicy to some. Otherwise, the flavour profile of the dish was fine as it was neither too sweet nor bland. The beef was not super tender, yet it wasn't chewy either. This was fine because we weren't eating a Chinese dish (where the meat would've been baking-soda'd to death).

Lastly, we noticed some posters plastered on the walls advertising the Sticky Rice & Mango dessert. We gave it a shot and it was mosty good. The tart mango was fresh and went well with the sweeten coconut milk. However, the sticky rice seemed to be rushed in its preparation. Therefore, it was dry and hard. In the end, Viv still liked the dessert for the flavour more than anything else. Now, from reading this blog post, you might get the sense we were being a bit picky. Yes, it's true. Hey, we eat a lot of Asian food, we can't help it. But, Viv and I both agreed that Thai Away Home serves its target clientele successfully with reasonable prices, decent portions and unoffensive food. Sure, there are some shortcuts taken, yet I don't think the steady stream of customers (while we were there) really minded it at all. *This meal was comped*

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Good portions
- Friendly people

The Bad:
- There are some shortcuts taken (but forgivable given the type of operation)

Anatolia's Gate

There have been certain restaurants that have been left sitting on my "to eat at" list from the very beginning of this blog. Due to its location and operating hours, Anatolia's Gate has never been an eating destination after Friday hockey. I've had to endure the "you haven't eaten there before???" query for the past 3 years regarding this place. On a side note, how many people can claim to have eaten everywhere and never be asked that question? I digress... So with an 11:30pm game looming, Gordo suggested we eat before the game instead of after. That was a pretty good idea considering the fact we could finally make it out to Anatolia's. However, we would learn later this was not the ideal meal to have before a hockey game...

I sent out an email and in addition to Gordo, Milhouse, Sweet Tooth and Bear was able to join us for some pre-game eats. Now, I'm not going to pretend I know much about Turkish food because I don't. I've never been to Turkey and with the lack of Turkish restaurants in town, the only thing I know is that it is a hybrid of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. We ended up sharing a bunch of items beginning with the Mixed Plate consisting of Chemen, Eggplant Salad, Hummus, Barbunya, Babaghannush, Stuffed Grape Leaves and Olives. We got a Whole Wheat Lavash to share as part of our meal. At first, we were concerned that it would be tough and chewy since it was made of whole wheat. Our fears were alleviated once we took a sample of the soft, slightly chewy texture (with a slight crispiness on the outside). This was so good on its own, yet went well with everything else too. Sweet Tooth spent a whole month in Turkey which made her our resident expert at the table. She took the least amount of time deciding what to order, selecting the Beef Iskender. This version was slightly different than the ones she had in Turkey, yet we didn't mind since it was tasty. Although it wasn't exactly juicy, the combination of yogurt and tomato sauce moistened up the dry beef. It had lots of meat flavour and went well with the lavash underneath.

Gordo went for the Chicken Curry and it was essentially grilled chicken kebabs with a curry sauce on top. The curry was spicy with a definite coriander and cumin hit along with the typical turmeric colouring. The chicken was relatively moist being in big chunks. This wasn't bad as it went well with the nicely textured rice and the lavash. Milhouse randomly chose the Chicken Filet with Cheese and it was probably our least favourite item. He took the blame but really, how could he have known? The chicken breast was pretty dry and even the abundance of melted cheese couldn't help the cause. The peppers and mushrooms on top were pretty good, however, the dish was not all that flavourful. While I was munching on the chicken, I could not stop thinking that it resembled something out of a Lean Cuisine box. That's not an insult, it was the thing that popped into my mind.

Lastly, Bear went for the Mixed Plate consisting of Chicken Shish, Lamb Chop and the turd-looking thing in the front, Adana Kebab. This was ample meat for one dish and for one person, could be quite filling. Despite its appearance, the Adana Kebab was quite good. The meat was moist and well-seasoned with onion and spices. It could've used a bit more charring though. The chicken was exactly like the ones from the curry (without the curry of course). As for the lamb chop, it was forgettable. It was fatty, chewy and pretty pale. Sure, the lamb wasn't that good and neither was the chicken with cheese. However, the food was something out-of-the ordinary and satisfying. In a city that boasts some of the best Asian food in the world, it is nice to find something else to eat, even if there is nothing really to compare it with.

The Good:
- Something different
- Good portions
- Loved the lavash

The Bad:
- Meats are somewhat dry (but then again, can't compare with Asian cooking)
- Although we thought the value was there, it is not exactly cheap either