Archive

April 2011

Browsing

It was game 7 of the Canucks vs Blackhawks. The whole city was on the edge of their seats hoping that the Canucks would win. There was so much tention that you couldn’t cut it with a knife. I watched the first period and then decided I wanted to get something to eat.

M and I were trying to go to Los Compadres, but they were closed, so we looked at Bombay Bhel…also closed. It felt like North Burnaby shut down to watch game 7. Fortunately, Anton’s was still open. It was prime dinner time and it was empty!

It was so funny because when something would happen, the staff would run back to the kitchen to check out the action.

M and I were here before for dinner and he loved the large portions. Today we decided to get different dishes and share them.

As usual bread and butter arrives on the table.

Our first pasta was the Penne All’ Emiliana ($15.50). This has italian sausage, panchetta, tomatoes, basil, black olives,fetta cheese, Extra virgin olive oil, and penne.

M did enjoy this because it has their amazing tasting sausage and olives. He has weird taste… but I didn’t think it was too bad either. The tomatoes seemed a bit random and I could have lived without them in this dish.

The next pasta was the Fusilli Alla Toscana ($15.50). This has chicken, mushrooms, white wine, and pesto cream sauce. If you like pastas with lots of sauce, this is your type of pasta.

I am a fan of really saucy dishes. This is very rich and is packed with pesto flavour. The type of pasta they use really increases the surface area for the sauce to stick onto.

We had our work cut out for us. 2 pastas for 2 stomaches. We obviously did not finish this all and packed it back home. This became our next 2 meals.

Anton’s pasta does not have THE BEST pasta, but they do have large portions that men do like. As long as I am not ordering the usual carbonara, or meat sauce spaghetti, I am happy.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Free parking near TD Bank
  • Long line ups during peak hours
  • Large variety of pastas
  • No debit, they only accept credit and cash

We Rate Anton’s Past Bar:

Address:

4260 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.antonspastabar.com

Anton's Pasta Bar on Urbanspoon

 

It was another Korean Night with Fabo, TanGuy, M and InsecureGirl. We ventured off to try a new restaurant on North Road that specializes in Jajangmyun, which is Korean black bean noodles. M and Fabo both really wanted some good Korean black bean noodles!

Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant has Korean Style Chinese food, so you won’t find the traditional tasting chinese dishes.

Apparently, this new restaurant has gained quite a popularity in the Korean community and there are actually line ups for dinner time. All the seating is booth style, so it can accomodate large groups.

If you are Chinese and you walk in here thinking the menu will be easy to understand since you are an expert at Chinese food, think again…everything is in Koreanized english. You will need to know a few basic Korean food words to get by.

The menu is quite large but good thing it has pictures, so you can just point at it and order.

Tea and cold water arrives at your table when you are seated.

The side dishes that come a pickled Daikon, black bean paste and onions. You can eat the pickled daikon alone, but to eat the onion, eating it alone would be torture! What is so amazing is that if you dip the onion into the black bean sauce, it will cancel out the potent onion taste. It’s quite interesting!

You also get a small side of radish kimchi as well.

We all decided to share the Kan Poong Ki ($15.90). This is the Korean version of Kung Pow Chicken. It is evenly battered and covered with a sweet and spicy sauce. The chicken is very moist and is probably the best Kan Poong Ki we have ever had in the lower Mainland.

There are condiments on the side – soy sauce, vingar, and red pepper spice. You mix them together and use that as a dipping sauce for the Kan Poong Ki.

M and TanGuy both ordered the Gan Jajangmyun ($6.50). It has vegetables, pork and black bean sauce on noodles.

This is probably the most traditional Korean dish there is. You are presented with the noodles and black bean sauce mixture seperately. What you do is to mix them together in the larger bowl. The best way to enjoy this is to mix is very very well together. It does taste way better if you take the time and effort into mixing it throughly.

Their sauce is very amazing and is the best we have ever had. Dou Gau Bee has nothing on this restaurant.

Fabo and InsecureGirl both ordered the Jjam Ja Myun ($7.90). If you are a person who likes a bit of everything, this dish might be for you! You get half Jajang Myun (Black bean noodles) and  Spicy Seafood with noodle soup.

The black bean noodles are just perfect and the spicy noodle soup was also well done. If you are new to eating the spicy seafood noodle soup, it IS spicy! Most of the heat is located near the top, so do be sure to stir around the soup to disperse the heat.

If you cant handle your heat, it is best to not order the spicy seafood with noodle soup.

I wanted to see what Korean Style Chinese food is like, so i ordered the Stir Fried Rice ($9.50).

It has a bit of the black bean sauce, cabbage salad, and fried rice with egg on top. Ok, this was the best fried rice I have ever had. The fried rice was moist and rich in flavour! It has sizable seafood in the rice and just amazing flavour!

You also get some of the spicy seafood soup on the side as well. Yet again, it is quite spicy.

Overall, very good food and Korean style chinese food is really good!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Jajangmyun and Stir Fried Rice are highly recommended
  • Lots of Parking at the plaza
  • Under $10
  • There may be line ups during peak hours.

We Rate Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant:

Address:

#24 435 North Road
Coquitlam, BC
Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Foodology Disclaimer: This was a fully subsidized private tasting from the managers due to poor service a month ago. This experience does not prove or guarantee 100% on the service and food you might normally get from this restaurant. Refer to the previous post – ” Cactus Club Cafe: The Tale of Awkward Service“.


One day I was just checking my email and the managers of Cactus Club Burnaby emailed me to invite me to a private tasting to amend the bad service from my previous post. Seeing that there were no strings attached, I accepted and invited 4 others. Honestly, I felt guilty. I did not create a food blog to get preferential treatment or to write for free meals. I pay for all my meals 100% unless otherwise noted, such as the disclaimer at the top.

It took me a while to figure out if I wanted to cover this event or not. I needed to see for myself if there was any benefit to the readers of Foodology. Upon knowing that Private Tastings are openly available to all patrons of Cactus Club, I have decided to write about my experience at the tasting. There was no pressure from management whatsoever to talk about the tasting.

Private tastings are bookable through reservations only on Thursdays (according to the Burnaby Cactus Club Branch). You are allowed to have up to 6 people at the tasting and costs around $350. You get 5 courses with wine pairings and its hosted by the senior manager. This works out to be about $67 per person. All the proceed apparently go towards charity, so thats a plus.

All 5 of us – ConsultingGirl, M, Fabo and LinLin arrived promptly at 6pm. We were greeted by the Manager and was showed to our table. Waiting at our table were 5 settings each with a Cactus Club water bottle. I am assuming pink for the girls and silver for the men.

Since this tasting fell on a game day, it was not bad at all. The restaurant was packed with people watching. The large projector screens made it easy to watch the game. Too bad the only Canuck fan was ConsultingGirl, she would be sitting there making noises such as “ouch” “oh no” and  “SHOOOT”. Plus people at other tables would be making noises as well. It wasn’t bad since it was an indication to see what was happening on the big screen.  It wasn’t a very intense game either – Round 2, Game 1 against the Predators. Canucks won!

The private tasting menu gives you a feeling of exclusivity since they put the persons name at the top. It shows the 5 items you will be served. We also noticed there were other people having the private tasting as well.

Our humble manager – Sean Doran made us all feel welcome and not too awkward. He was pretty down to earth guy and seemed pretty chill. Sean would explain in great detail about the wine pairing and the history and flavour profile of each wine.

The chef would explain in detail about the dishes that were presented to us.

Even though they did go on long rants about each item, it was interesting to know what was in our dish and where each ingredient originated from. I am usually the type of person where I have a really really short attention span, so I honestly can say I was only listening to 20% of what they were saying.

I did pick up a few things and it really made me appreciate the food I was presented with. All of us were really surprised from where all these ingredients were from and their history. It was quite surprising because as a chain restaurants, you wouldn’t really expect too much.

Our first course was the Tuna Tataki paired with the Gray Monk, Pinot Gris from Northern Okanagan.

This dish has seared albacore tuna, green papaya slaw with a yuzu vinaigrette. We all liked this dish, it was light and simple. The acidity from the yuzu and the sweetness from the papaya really accentuated the flavour of the tuna.

Our second course was Rob’s Goat Cheese + Feta Flatbread paired with the Prospect Winery, Pinot Noir.

It contains grape tomatoes, caramelized onions, pesto, arugula, balsamic vinegar and sea salt. One thing we noticed off the bat was the inconsistencies between the flat breads. Since we were given 3 plates of the flat bread, 2 of the flatbreads were more soft, while one of them was more crunchy. I think the flatbread was supposed to be more on the soft side, but we did prefer the flat bread to be more crispy, kinda like a pizza. It’s probably another one of our personal preferences.

If we focus on the toppings, it was a good blend of savory, acidic and salty.

The third dish was the Prawn + Scallop Spaghettini.

This dish has pan seared prawns and scallops with  spaghettini in roasted tomato sauce, and parmesan crostini.

As the chef was explaining the dishes, he mentioned that this dish was more of an oil based dish rather than tomato. We found this was quite interesting. We all loved the prawn and the scallop! If you left me in a corner with a whole bucket of them, I would be happy for a whole day! On the other hand, without knowing that this dish was more of an oil based pasta, we would not have been keen on liking this dish. All of us are more use to the traditional pastas where there would be lots of sauce.

All of us agreed that the crostini was a bit soft and if it was a bit crunchier, it would have made the dish a bit better. The noodles were average and the oil based sauce was pretty bland. M remarked his mother could’ve made better Spaghettini.

The forth course was Rob’s Hunter Chicken. This was paired with the 2008 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon from California.

It had portabello mushrooms, crimini, button and shiitake mushrooms (talk about a mushroom party), demi glaze, green beans and herb fingerling potatoes.

I have had this dish in the past several times and I would have to say its my favorite. The chicken is brined for  a few hours so the inside of the chicken is moist and juicy. Everyone else really enjoyed the taste. The chicken was so tender and juicy, while the skin had a slight crispiness texture of a rotisserie chicken.

The last course of the day was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bar.

This has Tahitian vanilla ice cream, the bar, caramel sauce and chocolate pearls. This was by far our favorite dish of the night! Who doesn’t love dessert right? The bar was very rich and sweet, but when you grab a bit of the caramel and the vanilla ice cream, they complement each other very well.

Apparently, the chocolate pearls were imported from Paris. They are made up of a rice crispy covered in what seems to be dark chocolate.

By the end of this, we were all stuffed. Fabo and I ordered some green tea to help us digest such a large meal.

Overall, it was a great experience to be able to attend this tasting. It gives you a greater appreciation for the food, but for me it was all about the taste regardless of where the ingredients are from.

If I had to spend $350 for a tasting, I’m not sure if I would. Begin a student, its a bit steep.  Nonetheless, we would consider returning again for a few of the dishes we did enjoy. All of us agreed that the 2 items that blew us away was Rob’s Hunter Chicken and the Chocolate peanut butter bar.

This is my last food post about my Seattle eating adventures and I am quite sad. So much good food in 2 amazing days.

As we were making our way up Seattle, we wanted to stop by Red Lobster but our GPS took us to the middle of a residential area. We didn’t want to use our data or else it would charge us an arm and a leg, so we decided to head up north to the Seattle Premium Outlets to do more shopping. After walking around and buying some great items, the only restaurant in sight was either McDonalds or Olive Garden. We chose Olive Garden. I was not so keen on going since I did not like my past experience but I reluctantly went.

Since we were a party of 5, we were told that would wait would be about 45 mins. Not knowing what to do, the waitress suggested we could go to Walmart to do some shopping. We started driving towards Walmart… ended up in the wrong direction on a one way street… made crazy fast U-turns and ended up at the Casino’s Valet / Taxi line up….dangerously backed up into traffic and as soon as we knew it, we were at Walmart. It was an adventure indeed. As we got out of the car, our electronic beeper thing went off. =(

We really wanted to get some cheap random things from Walmart, but we just ended up driving *safely* back to Olive Garden. As we went back in the restaurant, they already gave away our table =( Lesson learned, never let the waitress tell you to go shopping in Walmart as you wait for a table. Their time estimations are always wrong.

After waiting a few minutes, we got our table and began ordering!

The menu items.

Since the Sampler Italiano ($11.25) looked very good in their menu, we decided to share it with 3 different choices. We chose from calamari, stuffed mushrooms, fried zucchini, chicken fingers, fried mozzarella or toasted beef and pork ravioli.

We chose the chicken fingers, toasted beef + pork ravioli and calamari. This dish also came with tomato sauce and ranch dip.

At first sight, you knew these were frozen and just fried/heated up. The dish was very average and not the most spectacular thing I have ever ate.

M and BusanGirl both ordered the side soup – Pasta e Fagioli. Soup comes complementary with all meals. The waitress described this more of a chili/stew type of soup. It has white and red beans, ground beef, tomatoes and pasta in a savory broth. M remarked that the consistency of the soup was not like chili, rather a watered down tomato soup. It was as Peter Griffin would say, “rather dull and pedantic.”

Fabo and TanGuy ordered the side soup – Zuppa Toscana. It has spicy sausage, russet potatoes and cavolo greens in a creamy broth.
Our server was quite interesting. She kept suggesting us to try other soups that were on the menu. She said if we didn’t like one soup, we can always try the other ones as well. At the other Olive Garden, we did not get the same offer. Most of us found it weird, so we didn’t get additional soup.

I was the only one to order the Garden-Fresh Salad as my side. I find salads cool! Their salad comes in a large bowl with huge scissor-like tongs. It has the usual lettuce, olives, peppers, croutons, cheese, and onion dressed with a light amount of italian dressing. Simple salad. The best part was the minimal amount of dressing. Thats what I like. I really hate over dressed salads.
The salad has unlimited refills but I couldn’t eat any more salads. The salad they brought for me had about 2 portions. I was tempted, but I had to save room.

M ordered the Lasagna Classico ($14.75). It has layers of pasta, meat sauce and mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and romano cheese.
This is a classic lasagna, M loved it since he doesn’t get to have lasagna on a usual basis.

Fabo ordered the Five Cheese Ziti al Forno ($13.50). It has ziti pasta in a five cheese marinara sauce, baked with a layer of melted Italian cheeses.

From looking at the name, you would have no idea what it is. She found this to be quite average and not too spectacular.

TanGuy ordered the Garlic-Herb Chicken con Broccoli ($15.25). It has Rosemary-seasoned chicken breasts sautéed with fresh broccoli in a garlic cream sauce over orecchiette pasta.
He found the dish to be quite bland and tasteless. For a second he thought his taste buds weren’t working.

BusanGirl ordered the Ravioli di Portobello ($13.75) It has portobello mushroom-filled ravioli in a creamy smoked cheese and sun-dried tomato sauce.

She was so funny, it took her a while to figure out her ravioli was stuffed with mushrooms. Perhaps she didn’t look at the description close enough. I don’t think she was too keen on the dish either since she didn’t finish it all.

I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana ($15.50) It has parmesan-breaded chicken breasts, fried and topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Served with spaghetti.

The amount of spaghetti was very small and pretty average. Nothing very special. It was a bit simple and seemed like something you could make at home quickly. The chicken breasts were a bit on the dry side, so it didn’t impress me much.

After you finish the meal, you are given mint chocolates! Safe to say this was the best part of the meal.

Since Olive Garden is a chain, you can see why its quite average. The service was good at least. Our server was very chipper and quite entertaining at times.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Close proximity to Seattle Premium Outlets
  • Nothing impressive, Italian words thrown around with no authentic Italian taste.
  • Rather Expensive

Address:

10326 Quil Ceda Blvd
Tulalip, WA
Website:
http://www.olivegarden.com/

Olive Garden on Urbanspoon

After walking around Downtown, then venturing through Olympic Sculpture Park and checking out Seattle Center, we were so tired of walking! It was time for dinner and we wandered into Bell Town.

After asking people of the Twitterverse where I should check out, I settled with Cyclops.

As we slowly got to Cyclops, we realized it was more of a pub setting. Since everyone was not 21+, we didn’t know what to do since there was a sign saying that people had to be 21+ to enter. Too bad the legal age isn’t 19 in the states. We walked a little bit further and we were super confused, there was another restaurant also named Cyclops. We stood there staring and staring at the doors until someone told us that one was the bar area and another was the dining area. It all made sense!

Cyclops is split in half to accomodate two types of crowds.

M thought of Jim Carrey’s character, Uncle Olaf in the movie, Series of Unfortunate Events, with all the different creepy one eyes in the restaurant.

Their menu is just 2 pages and there is also an additional one for specials.

Since I am over 21, I decided to get myself a Stella Artois. If I’m legal in the states, why not have a drink. Plus, since we did so much walking, I needed a little break. They had a lot of beers that I was not familiar, so I just got Stella.

I used to not like stella since it was a bit bitter than usual beers, but over the years it has grown on me. It has a nice refreshing finish and accompanies meals very well.

BusanGirl was not feeling very hungry, so she ordered the Roasted Corn & Chicken Quesadilla ($7 USD). In this quesadilla is roasted chicken breast, roasted red pepper, caramelized onions, roasted corn, feta, and cheese in a flour tortilla.

She was amazed by the great flavours of the quesadilla. The roasted onions and the roasted corn added a lot of savory flavour.

M and Fabo both ordered the Meatloaf sandwich ($10 USD).   As I mentioned before, M loves Meatloaf… 2nd time today he has had meatloaf. This sandwich has BBQ glazed meatloaf on sliced sourdough bread with basil aioli served with fries.

TanGuy ordered the El Cubano ($11 USD). It is a sandwich with roasted pulled pork, sliced ham, cheese, thin pickles, dijon mustard, poblano aioli on a grilled ciabatta bun. He thought the sandwich was ok, but the dijon was very potent.

I ordered the Pepper Bacon Mac n’ Cheese ($8 USD). It has penna pasta, cheddar, swiss, pepper bacon and bread crumbs all baked in the oven and ready to serve. It even comes with some toasted bread on the side.

The Mac n’ Cheese was pretty good, the amount of bacon gave the mac n’ cheese a more salty flavour to the dish. It also added a bit of texture since the bacon was crispy.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Unique artwork on the walls, check website for info about them
  • Under $10
  • Lots of tables and great for groups

We rate Cyclops Cafe & Lounge:

Address:

2421 1st Ave
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.cyclopsseattle.com
Cyclops on Urbanspoon

We were making our way back to Vancouver and decided to stop by Alderwood Mall to do a bit of shopping. I love Alderwood Mall! It has basically everything. Since the sun was shining and we were exhausted from sitting in the car, we decided to get refreshments.

We wanted something healthy so we headed to the food court. Nothing but soda and coffee could be found, so we looked at the directory because we knew there had to be a juice bar somewhere close. Sure enough, there is a Jamba Juice right outside the food court.

For a Friday afternoon it was quite busy.

Their menu has lots of smoothies and even hot drinks.

Fabo ordered the Razzmatazz (16 oz – $3.40 USD). This contains mixed berry juice blend, orange sherbert, strawberries, bananas and ice.

BusanGirl ordered the Mango A-Go-Go (16oz – $3.40USD) . It contains passionfruit mango juice blend, mangoes, pineapple sherbert and ice. She liked the smoothie a lot because a few hours earlier, she got another smoothie from another store but it only had 1 strawberry and 3 blueberries. She was impressed by the quality and the amount of fruit at Jamba Juice.

M ordered the Strawberries Wild Smoothie (Original size $4.40). It contains apple strawberry juice blend, non-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, strawberries, bananas and ice.

I ordered the Apple n’ Green Smoothie (16oz – $4.20 USD). It has apple-strawberry juice, vegetable juice (carrots, spinach, bell peppers, kale, and lettuce), peach mangoes, bananas and ice.

The thought of having a fruit/vegetable drink might sound weird, but it was really good! It had  very smooth consistency and it did not get icy at all. It had a distinct tastes of apples and then hints of mangoes afterwards. The best part of this drink are the little fruit bits left behind from the blender. Maneuvering your straw to suck up all the little mango chunks.

Overall, we loved this place! Hands down, we all agreed this place was 100x better than Jugo Juice and Booster Juice.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Free Boosts of your choice
  • Lots of flavours and options

We Rate Jamba Juice:

Address:

3000 184th St SW Ste 880
Lynnwood, WA

Website:
www.jambajuice.com
Jamba Juice on Urbanspoon

Beths Cafe is most famous for their 12 egg omelets! They have been featured on Man v. Food when Adam takes the 12 omelet challenge. After watching that episode, it was on my ‘to-do’ list for Seattle. Who wouldn’t want to tell the tale of having eaten a 12 egg omelet?

We arrived around noon, which is probably the worst time to go to any popular restaurant. Can you guess why? Line ups. There were people lining up. There were probably a good dozen people or so infront of us, but the time passed by pretty quickly. They have chairs set up outside and the sun was shining! We basically spent most of the time looking at the menu contemplating which 12 egg omelettes to order.

What is super cool about Beths Cafe is that all the walls are covered in customers art work. This is the ultimate hole in the wall restaurant. Old outdated furniture, tons of tape and paper on the walls. It’s actually quite interesting to see a few of the drawings on the wall. I even found a cool Charlie Sheen reference! I also found Angry Birds too!

M was so happy he sat in the exact same seat where Adam Richman of Man V. Food was sitting in! I think it made his day.

Their covers of their menu even has artwork. When flipping through the menu, the only thing we were interested in was the omelettes.  6 different types or you can even customize your own.

TanGuy needed his caffeine fix since we clearly walk around too much. M ordered Mr. Pibb, the Pepsi version of Dr. Pepper.  He went nuts when he could order it here. It was his childhood drink that he has long forgotten. They don’t sell it in Canada, so he wanted to get his hands on this drink.

As we waited for our meals, we began doodling! Fabo drew a scary version of the Deuce Panda and the rest of us collaborated to draw a picture of the Nyan Nyan Cat. The Nyan Cat is this viral website featuring a cat non-stop singing. Similar to badger badger badger. No worries there are no viruses in the above links.

M and TanGuy shared the Triple Bypass 12 Egg Omlette ($20.75 + $1.50). You need to add on an additional $1.50 per person sharing the dish. This dish is so huge that it needs to be served on a pizza tray. Inside the triple Bypass are bacon , sausage, ham, double swiss and double american cheese. The egg is folded up and placed onto a bed of bottomless hash browns. Then you also get 2 pieces of toast on top. You also have ketchup, tabasco sauce, salt and pepper to season your omelette if needed.

The girls wanted in on this 12 egg omelette, so the 3 of us ordered the Makin’ Bacon 12 egg omelette ($17.25 +$1.50 +$1.50). this was also massive! It had mass amounts of bacon, sour cream, tomatoes and swiss cheese.

Eating this was quite interesting, I started off with 1/4 of the omelette was a piece of cake, then I ate the hash browns and I started feeling the barrier. The hardest and most filling item is not the omelette, but the hash browns! If you really want to finish the whole 12 egg omelette, your best bet would be to finish the eggs first and then dig into the hash browns.

Just be warned, there is no reward for finishing the entire omelette. It says specifically on the menu to stop people to attempt the hard challenge. The only reward you will get is self satisfaction and bloating. As all women know, feeling bloated is not a good feeling. If you plan to attempt this, make sure you walk around for a few hours to burn it all off.

Overall, it was a great experience  and the omelette was actually tasty!  I would eat this again if I was in Seattle!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Try their famous 6 or 12 egg omelettes
  • Best HashBrowns EVER (Never Frozen)
  • Psych yourself up by watching Man v. Food (episode about Seattle)
  • Open 24 hours

We Rate Beth’s Cafe:

Address:

7311 Aurora Ave N
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.bethscafe.com
Beth's Cafe Restaurant on Urbanspoon

As we were around Pike Place, there was one place I had to check out – Pike Place Chowder. Nicolb highly recommended this place, so we were basically anticipating their Clam Chowder all day.

Pike Place Chowder is in Post Alley – perpendicular to Pike St. On a nice sunny Friday, this place was packed for lunch. All the tables were taken up and there was a long line up. Pike Place Chowder was voted to have the best Clam Chowder in Seattle, so there really wasn’t any surprise.

They sell more than just Chowder. They also sell sandwiches and salads. Since it is called Pike Place Chowder, can you guess which item is most popular? Of course, Chowders! Since it was their specialty, we all ordered their famous chowders.

You can have their chowder in a cup or add $3 to have it served in a sourdough bowl.

Since the area where they sell their chowder is quite small, they make their chowder elsewhere. If you walk a few more steps into the building, you can find their kitchen. You can see them in action making their delicious chowder.

M ordered the Clam Chowder ($10). He got it in the Sourdough bowl. The Clam Chowder was very delicious and the only words that came out of M’s mouth was “Epic”. Thats how he would describe this soup. There was lots of clams in this! The sour dough bread definitely accentuated the deliciousness of the creamy chowder. M loved dipping the top bread and when there was only a bit of soup left, M made a Chowder mini sandwich.

I ordered the Seafood Bisque ($7). I also got it in a bowl since you really can’t enjoy this without the bowl. It had a lot of shrimp, cod and salmon. The soup is made up of their  creamy tomato basil broth. It was very good and flavourful! One of the best I have ever had! I even devoured most of the bowl since it worked really well together. If you ate the bread by itself, it really would not be as good. The combination of the sourdough and the chowder makes this dish amazing. I highly recommend getting the bread bowl with this dish!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Get the Bread Bowl, best extra 3 dollars spent!
  • Go there in unorthodox times such as 2-4 for lunch/dinner to avoid standing!
  • Buy to go, if possible.

We Rate Pike Place Chowder:

Address:

1530 Post Alley
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.pikeplacechowder.com
Pike Place Chowder on Urbanspoon

Every time I’m in Seattle at Pike Place, I must have my dose of Le Panier! They are most famous for their macarons and croissants. I also have a crazy obsession for their cookies. Since we were in the area, we decided to take a look and buy a few goodies.

It is usually quite busy with lines close to the door.

They have a lot of bread and different types of croissants.

Lots of cookies and pies!

Of course, there are macarons! Fabo ordered one of each macaron ($1.50 USD). They come in many flavors – Chocolate, raspberry, coffee, vanilla, lemon, pistachio and orange. I had these in the past and they were so good! Probably one of my all time favorite places for macarons.

There are also other pies and cookies that are packaged. It’s great for gifts and to bring back home. I got a package of mini hazelnut cookies to bring back for my parents (~$5 USD). These were all finished within a day! It had large chunks of hazelnuts and I really just love their texture and the satisfying way they crumble with every bite.

I also ordered all of their cookies they had that day.

Sable Chocolat ($1.75 USD)

Sable Noisette ($1.75 USD)

Sable Duo Chocolat ($1.75 USD)

Sable is the french term for their Butter Cookies. They all have a nice crumbly texture and is by far the best cookie I have ever had. My favorite is still the Sable Chocolat because it has both chocolate chips and hazelnuts integrated into a butter cookie.

Overall, all the items at Le Panier are really good! Their Danishs were also very good!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Macarons and cookies are a must!
  • Long Lines
  • No parking

We Rate Le Panier:

Address:

1902 Pike Pl
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.lepanier.com
Le Panier on Urbanspoon

I love watching the “Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the Food Network. The first thing we did in Seattle was visit Toulouse Petit for their cheap Happy Hour breakfast. Melissa d’Arabian, the host of Food Network’s Ten Dollar Dinners said her favorite “bang for the buck” meal was at Toulouse Petit for their Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash.

Arriving 5 minutes before they opened, there was already a line up. We quickly parked across the street and I was amused at how the parking receipts had to be stuck on the inside of the windows.

It is quite easy to pass by Toulouse Petit without noticing it, but when you see the green building and this board, you are at the right place.

The max capacity is 176 people, but it fills up fairly quickly when everyone want to devour their Happy Hour Breakfast. After 5 minutes of opening, every table was filled and there were people waiting for tables! The interior is very old and outdated. The lamps are quite eerie as they hang off the ceilings.

The menu is quite large and everything is $7 USD unless noted on the menu. A lot of the items are quite different from what you would find at usual brunch places in Vancouver. It took us a while to figure out what to get, because of all the choices.

I got the green tea ($3.50 USD) and everyone else needed a caffeine fix so they got the press coffee ($~3 USD)

Fabo and TanGuy both ordered the Creme Caramel French Toast ($7 USD). It has nice thick slices of toast drizzled with caramel with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar. You can also add a side of meat or eggs for an additional $3.00. Fabo and TanGuy both thought the eggs and the meat were for free since the waitress asked so casually if they wanted it, so they said yes. Fabo asked if it came with the meal and she heard the waitress say yes, but later when the bill came, the waitress seemed a bit annoyed and said very firmly that she did indeed say no.

M loves his meatloaf so he ordered the Cajun Meatloaf  and eggs with Tasso Gravy ($7). It comes with hashbrowns, eggs, gravy and 2 large pieces of meatloaf.

Even though it says Cajun, it wasn’t spicy at all. M really loved it and he dubbed this the best breakfast he has ever had. The meatloaf had a nice texture, and the potatoes were finely covered in cajun powder.

BusanGirl and I shared the Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash ($7 USD). The pork cheek had a nice smokey flavour and it is very flavourful when you start chewing on it. There is also some potatoes in it as well. It is topped off with an egg.

It’s a very simple dish but the flavours were really incredible.

BusanGirl and I also shared the Rustic Duck and Pistachio Terrine ($7 USD). It comes with hash and 2 poached eggs. I’ve never had a terrine before, but it’s basically a meatloaf. It was wrapped in bacon and you can clearly see the pistachio inside. The bacon added a nice salty texture and the pistachio nuts added some nutty flavour to the meatloaf. I really like it because it was different and was incorporated together very nicely.

Overall, we all had a great time. We were all so surprised how cheap the meal was! Great price, great meal! One thing that could be improved was the service.

As our meal ended, we headed off to more food adventures, as well as sightseeing!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Arrive Early
  • Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash Featured on Food Network
  • $7 Breakfast Happy hour (Weekday 9am – 11am)

We Rate Toulouse Petit:

Address:

601 Queen Anne Ave. N.
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.toulousepetit.com
Toulouse Petit on Urbanspoon

A few friends and I decided to go away to Seattle for a little bit of sightseeing, shopping and of course FOOD! After leaving the house at 4am, we got to the border at 5am to encounter a 45 min line up. We sat waiting in the car sipping on canned coffee and eating Koala crackers. After we crossed the border, we all got really hungry and decided to head to Jack In the Box!

Jack In the Box is an American Fast Food Chain… similar to McDs. It’s basically located at most highway exits.

What is great about US fast food chains is how they have to inform their customers about how many calories are in each item. Even though it is awesome, you do get a horrible feeling knowing how many calories is in the item you order. It made me want to order the item that had the least calories.

Everyone had Minute Maid orange juice with their meal. All you do is stab your straw in the center. M was not that smart, so he opened it up like a milk carton. I guess it was too early for his brain to function. Later he told me he was just lazy to get a straw.

M ordered the Sausage Croissant Combo ($3.75USD) with 855 – 990 calories.

He loved the croissant bun with the yummy sausage patty. The hash browns come in little sticks. Very delicious and its not even comparable to Mc Donalds. M is a huge fan of Jack in the Box, lunch items, and this was his first time eating their breakfast menu.

Fabo and BusanGirl shared the Grilled Breakfast Sandwich Combo ($4.49 USD) with 885 – 1020 calories. DAMN! Thats a lot of calories. They asked them to cut the sandwich in half and it was no problem. The sandwich was actually quite large, so it was no problem sharing between 2 people.

I ordered the Sausage Egg and Cheese Breakfast Biscuit ($2.39 USD) with 570 calories. Told you I was tempted to find something with the lowest calories. This biscuit was way better than Mc Donalds Buttermilk biscuits! It held together firmly and did not crumble. The sausage was so good because it was just saturated with fat and all that yummy goodness.

On your placemat, they even have a suggested area to put your ketchup.

Whenever I go to Seattle, I must take a trip to Jack In the Box! It’s not in Canada and I just love their sandwiches.

Website:

www.jackinthebox.com
Jack in the Box on Urbanspoon

Every time I pass by North Road, I always see this Restaurant Called ‘Good Friends’ with a large green clover for their branding. It looked like it was for a younger hip crowd.

M, BusanGirl and I finished all our exams and was itching to get some food since 7-10pm exams are not very fun. Driving along North Road, there were not that many restaurant open late except for Korean Bars… M is not fond of Korean bars, so we headed to see if the Good Friends Restaurant was open.

Good Friends restaurant was deserted when we went. No staff were seen except when we looked into the kitchen. We rang a few bells at their front desk but no one seemed to hear, so M started calling out “juh gkee yoh” to get the waitresses attention. After calling for them about 3 times, she came out to seat us at the table.

We actually thought they were closed, but turns about they are open till midnight.  Soon after, more people showed up in the restaurants, so we were not the only ones.

Their menu is quite extensive, so it might take you a while to figure out what you want to order.

5 complementary side dishes arrived – bean sprouts, kimchi, zucchini, tofu, and radishes. Since they were closing soon, they also gave us complementary soup for everyone. It was spicy  fermented bean soup. (similar to Miso Soup, but with bean sprouts and other vegetables)

These are all bottomless, so it is refillable if you ask. They were all pretty average and nothing too spectacular.

We ordered the Nude Kimbap ($3.50). Its a normal Kimbap but just inside out so the rice is on the outside. There is also a bit of cabbage salad on the side.

We were actually surprised at how the roll was presented because we thought it would just presented poorly since the service was not that great. We enjoyed the roll, it held firmly and it was like any other kimbap roll.

Then we ordered Marinated Beef Kimbap ($3.99), this was exactly like the nude kimbap roll. There was nothing too special and it also tasted like a usual kimbap roll. Again it came with a side cabbage salad.

We also ordered the Hot Spicy Boneless Chicken with cheese ($13.99). This was fairly spicy! It was too much for me to handle, but for the Koreans, it was a piece of cake for them. This dish had rice cake, chicken, jalapenos, zucchini, and cheese.

This dish was good for the price, it was quite big. M was disappointed on the size of the chicken pieces. Since the main feature of this dish was chicken … there should have been more. The chicken was sparse, but there was a hearty amount of cheese.

Lastly, we ordered Fried Chicken (Half order $9.99). There was about 9 pieces and it was very interesting how it was SO HUGE for half an order. They come with dips – salt & pepper and a hot Korean standard for chicken BBQ sauce. You can choose to have your chicken in original or hot flavour. We just stuck with the original since I didn’t want my taste buds to suffer.

The outside was very nice and crispy, but the inside was not very juicy, which was a bit odd. For the price it was pretty good. M complained that there was no way to figure out which piece of the chicken one was eating. Even the drum stick was odd.

Overall, it was decent Korean food but not the best. If you are just wandering around late at night and looking for decent Korean food, this place is as good as any to go to.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Open till midnight
  • Large menu choices
  • Free parking
  • Average tasting Korean Food
  • Poor service

We Rate Good Friends Restaurant:

Address:

535 Clarke Road
Coquitlam, BC

Good Friends on Urbanspoon

Another stroll near Waterfront and I wanted to check out Arturo’s Mexico To Go. I’ve never heard of a Mexican Themed Food Truck, so I look my lunch break to head on over.

They actually have a pretty HUGE food truck. They basically tower over you and you kinda feel like a midget.

Their menu has 5 items – Burrito, Burrito Salad Bowl, Quesadilla, Tacotino, and Tortilla Soup.

I ordered the Burrito Salad Bowl and the Tortilla Soup. The whole time I was waiting for the food, it was super awkward and it seemed like the staff lacked coordination. As one of the staff prepared my meal, this other person was just standing around and you really didn’t know if he accepted the money or was just there cause he wouldn’t look at you or say anything. Super awkward.

When I got my order, they forgot I ordered the tortilla soup, so I had to remind them that I ordered the soup. All he said was “oh” and made it. He said nothing more and I got confused. I shrugged it off  and headed up to some outdoor tables near Price Waterhouse Coopers. (Great view of the Inlet!)

The Tortilla Soup ($3) was alright. I expected a bit more from this soup. The cheese was not fully melted and the tortilla was all limp and soggy. The soup itself was a bit spicy and had a really rich tomato taste. Very good depth of flavour.

Next, I had the Burrito Salad Bowl ($7). This is basically the normal burrito but laid out in a box like a platter. To be honest, the name of this item threw me off. I expected more salad since it is called a “salad bowl”. They should probably rename this to be called “Burrito Platter”.

You can choose between their different types of meat – pork, beef or chicken.

I ordered the chicken and it was really tender and flavourful. I was not 100% satisfied because I was expecting everything on top of lettuce. The taste overall was alright.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Under $10
  • Great flavour in meats
  • Decent portions
  • Close to Waterfront Skytrain
  • Awkward Service

We Rate Arturo’s Mexico To Go: 

Address:

775 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.arturos2go.com
Arturo's Mexico To Go on Urbanspoon

All the way near Waterfront Station lies a street cart specializing in Dim Sum. No need to wait for a table and fight with others to get the last egg tart or buns. Have Dim Sum anytime, in your office, or on the street…..

Walking to the cart, I was approached by someone asking for change but I quickly dodged them and ran to the street cart.

Looking at the menu, there was really one clear choice! Dim Sum Combo ($6.99). Since it is a Dim Sum cart, it should be their specialty.

As I paid for the food, the same person approached me asking for change so I quickly shoved the money back into my pocket but I was so nervous that I dropped all the coins on the floor. FML. I wasn’t that pretty looking either…just Converse, a T-shirt and jeans. I had no sympathy for that man since he kept changing his story of why he needed money. Plus, I’m still a student and I spend all my pay checks eating out.

Once I got my order, I quickly walked away to find a seat somewhere to sit and enjoy this dim sum meal. I chose to use chopsticks but if you aren’t so good using them, you can get a fork instead.

This Dim Sum Combo ($6.99) has a pork bun, gai lan, 2 pan fried dumplings, 2 shrimp dumplings, and 2 sui mai.

Everything came out right away from the bamboo steamers except for the Gai Lan. It was made on the spot. The Gai Lan was sauteed with garlic and topped with sesame seeds. Very simple and probably the best part of this meal.

Everything else was pretty bland and nothing compared to the Chinese restaurants. It seems like everything was frozen and just steamed up. I think I can find better frozen Dim Sum from T&T. I think I just have high standards for Dim Sum because I’m Asian and thats what we do on Saturday mornings.

Even though, this lunch totally sucked, it was ok for $6.99 considering its a food truck in Downtown.

They also give you a fortune cookie with your combo! I was actually really excited because I was craving the sweet taste. I opened the packaging and was about the crack it open to reveal my fortune BUT the cookie was flexible and it wouldn’t crack open.

WORST FORTUNE COOKIE EVER. It was so flexible, you could bend it back into a flat circle. This is not Dim Sum Express’s fault, but they should be aware of the quality of fortune cookies they purchase.

My fortune said “Try a new system or a different approach“. Try a new system? Should I switch to Linux? Should I try an XBOX 360? I would say this advice would be more suitable for Dim Sum Express. Please order better fortune cookies and make better Dim Sum.

Word of Advice:

  • Very bland Dim Sum
  • Under $10
  • Many items to order
  • Close to Waterfront Skytrain
  • Fortune Cookie let down

We Rate Dim Sum Express

Located:

200 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC

Dim Sum Express on Urbanspoon

M and I were near Metrotown and we do what we do best – eat. After many failed attempts of going to other restaurants, we stuck with Curry King – HK Style Cafe. M wanted to go to Oscars and I just wanted to review a new restaurant…so we drove around and around and decided this was the place.

Curry King is located on Kingsway close to Saffron and Bubble World. Lots of space inside for groups of 4 or 5. Like most HK Style cafes, they have set menus and the usual items.

M and I started off with Lemon Coke and Cold Milk tea. Pretty usual and nothing cool about it. I prefer my cold milk tea to come with liquified sugar to add however less or more I want, but oh well. M’s Lemon Coke had a strong Lemon taste due to the 4-5 slices of lemon found inside it.

The set mini meals come with soup and today their daily soup was a cream soup with ham, corn and fish. Decent soup but the fish had a very odd texture. It wasn’t flaky like a fish, but more of a solid block. Very odd.

I ordered the Chicken Steak with Rice Mini Meal (~$8). This is probably the best chicken steak I’ve had at any HK style Cafe. The chicken was nice and juicy on the inside. The outer part was sightly crispy and the black pepper sauce went well with it.

There were more vegetables! I love vegetables.

M ordered the Meat sauce with rice in a Stone Bowl ($8.95). It has meat sauce, raw egg, and peas on top of rice. At first it looks like a large amount of sauce and meat, but when you begin mixing it all together, there really isn’t that much meat. M was a bit disappointed. No meat to be found for the carnivore. Even with the amount of sauce, he said it lacked flavour.

He even stole a bit of my black pepper sauce for his rice….then he asked the waitress for hot sauce… and then even considered asking for MSG or soy sauce.

I took a few bites out of his dish and it wasn’t too bad. It still had a good flavour, but I guess it wasn’t his type of thing. This meal does have a lot of rice, so you will get full.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Free rear parking
  • Under $10
  • I <3 Beef steak or Chicken Steak
  • M’s wisdom is if you get any kind of rice Stone Bowl, press the rice against the sides to get them crispy!

We Rate Curry King: 

Address:

4250 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Curry King Cafe on Urbanspoon

CandiedZen and I were on a search for some mochi after our day of eating, but it was nowhere to be found…plus we didn’t want to scarf down a whole box of mochi from Konbinya.

We decided to satisfy our sweet tooth cravings by heading to Bella Gelateria. As usual they have some amazing gelato flavours packed with a lot of flavour. What makes Bella Gelateria awesome is how all their gelato is made with care and in small batches so to ensure its quality.

Since I love London Fogs, I got the Earl Grey gelato. The taste was very amazing and you could clearly see the earl grey tea was perfectly infused. Lots of great rich flavour and it’s really great after dinner.

CandiedZen ordered the Yuzu Sorbetto. It doesn’t really look like much except for snow, but the yuzu sorbetto was also very amazing. Yuzu is the small little oranges on the small asian trees. They are usually made into teas, jams or the famous yuzu soy sauce. The yuzu does not taste like an orange, but more close to a lemon. It has a very nice crisp taste.

If you are looking for some amazing high quality gelato, be sure to check out Bella Gelateria. It will knock your socks off.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Amazing quality
  • Close to Waterfront or Burrard Skytrain
  • Expensive parking on the street

Address:

1001 W Cordova St
Vancouver, BC

We rate Bella Gelateria:

Website:

http://www.bellagelateria.com/

Bella Gelateria on Urbanspoon

 

After the horrific events in Japan, Melody Fury (@GourmetFury) and Joy (@Gourmeted) came up with an amazing idea to help raise funds for Doctors Without Borders to aid the Tsunami and Earthquake victims in Japan. They put together an AMAZING bake sale held at Roundhouse in Yaletown. In a very short time span, they gathered bakers from all over the Lower Mainland to participate in this event. With over 19 groups (or so?)  of bakers and an amazing amount of sponsorship, this event turned out to be a grand event.

It didn’t matter if they were professional bakers or amateurs, what mattered was that they were willing to do something and help a good cause.

I arrived at 6:30pm and the line up to enter Bake For The Quake went ALL the way out the door…past the hallways and out around the building. It was nuts but everyone loves a charitable bake sale. Even though it was a long line up, people just decided to bear the wait and get to know their neighbours. I found tons of SFU-ers to hang out with.

Here is a turn by turn shot to show you exactly how long this line up was.

Line up outdoors as of 6:30pm

Line leading indoors

Last bend before entering Bake For The Quake

Lots of congestion everywhere. Packed like sardines.

Even thought the line up was long and a lot of people were complaining, it was not necessarily a bad thing! This means there was lots of support in the community and people believed in the cause and what Bake For The Quake really stood for.

There were lots of tables with LOTS of baked goods. I got $25 worth of tickets and began hunting for some yummy treats. Sounds easy enough right? Some tables had crazy line ups like Sweet Tease Cupcakes where everyone tried to get their hands on their amazing ornate creation. BAH! was even sold out of all their items before I arrived.

I was very determined to fill up my huge tupperware container (It’s huge! Look at my hand!).

Stephanie SiaMelanie SiaSaschie Maclean and Karra Barron teamed up together to make a few items such as brownies, cupcakes and cookies!

There was even Domo cookies and other cute creations!

Foodist and Social Bites were there as well serving up scones, cookies and brownies.

Christophe Chocolat was there as well selling some chocolate creations and a few items from Giovane.

Melany Yeap of Kawaii Eats was selling her super cute Japanese inspired macrons and cakes.

French Made Baking sold Parisian macarons and canelés de Bordeaux.

Something Sweet For You had little lollipops – Sanrio and sushi cake pops, as well as pecan bites.

Some Kind of Wonderful had lots of different cookies.

Gastrofork was there as well! I thought it was cool because she is also a food blogger. Her and her friend- Bren made some lovely treats – Biko, cookies, Rocky Road, Puto, shortbread, and banana loaf.

Apres – midi quenched the guests thirst with their selection of specialty teas.

There were also many prizes up for auction, so you got way more than just baked goods…you might have walked away with books, gift certificates…etc.

There was also live entertainment from Kristie Young – local acoustic-soul, singer/songwriter. Another performance was from Artinair.

When I left around 7:45pm, it was still packed!!

I was happy! I surprisingly filled up my huge container with goodies. It was  bit hard to close the lid.

My favorite item of the day was from Something Sweet For You. They ran out of all the other Sanrio Characters, so I got Peckle. I remember being a kid and watching all the Sanrio cartoons!

From Baked In Vancouver, I got their cupcakes that supposed to ressemble Cherry Blossoms. They also sold Canucks cupcakes, but I’m not a fan of sports.

I also got a mini crossant cookie and the Domo cookie! It was so cute so I couldn’t resist!

After hearing about their cookies that come with cookie cutters, I just had to get one! Each cookie has something different written on it, but I decided to go with “Social Bites“.

Christophe Chocolat had these pair of super cute bunny cookies, so I had to get it in time for the Easter Long Weekend!

If you have a dirty mind, no, these bunnies are not doing that thing that you are thinking they are doing.

I got a few items from Gastrofork since I saw her list of items on her blog. They sounded good and it wasn’t the usual items that others sold.  I got the Banana Bread.

Then I got the Rocky Road.

AND then, I got the Biko. This was my favorite! Who doesn’t love sticky sweet rice desserts?

Since she posted the recipe of all her items up here, I will be looking forward to making a few of these items!

$25 worth of baked goods. Some delicious, some not so delicious, but I am not gonna judge these treats. Everyone who made these items did it all in the name of charity, so I’m not here to judge. I had a great time despite the wait, met a few new people and caught up with a few old friends.

I will have to give 2 thumbs up and say this event was a success! They had over 650 people attend this event and I am quite certain they did raise a lot for Doctors Without Borders.

Props for Joy and Melody for putting this all together! Their hard work really paid off!

My goal is to try as my food carts as possible while the weather is just fantastic. Next on my list was Big Dogs Street Hots, I have to admit, I walked past it the first time. I thought it was just another Hot Dog stand, so I took a large detour to head to the Comic Book Store (I’m a nerd when it comes to super heroes). Since they did not have the figurine I wanted, I headed back to get a closer look for this food cart. Going up Granville, I passed by many Hot Dog stands, but I knew it had to look more like a food truck… sure enough it was the original Hot Dog stand that I passed by.

I came back and I was a bit worried it would just be the regular Hot Dogs…but no, I was 10349540 times wrong. They have several kinds – the usual stuff which you would think a Hot Dog stand would have… and then BAM all the other cool sounding Hot Dogs. I know, I keep using the word Hot Dogs, but these are not the ones you find at the grocery store!

These are more like sausage. But better because they are organic! They pride themselves as having Sausages with no nitrates, lactose, preservatives, fillers or growth hormones.

When you actually read their menu, they have some pretty sexy types – “Hella Good Halibut”, “Hawaii 5-0”, “Slammin Salmon”, “Blueberry Bison” and  “Chicken Apple Maple”. These rang musical bells in my head, maybe not literally but yes I did hear music from my headphones (LAME).

After thinking to myself, I ordered the “BIG Fat Greek Dog” ($7). If Americans met the Greeks to make an amazing creation it would be this Hot Dog! Lamb smokie with green peppers, cucumbers, red onions and tzatziki sauce on a whole wheat  bun. They also asked if I wanted cooked onions on my Hot Dog, so I added those on too.

What struck me at first was the bun, this did look like a whole wheat bun and not just brown. The juicy sausage and the tzatziki sauce melded very well together surprisingly! The vegetable give the Hot Dog an extra crunch in texture. Even the addition of the cooked onions made it that much more amazing.

I know Downtown is saturated with so many Hot Dog/ Sausage stands but I hope this one stays. They pride themselves of their ingredients and do have unique Hot Dogs compared to other vendors.

They price maybe a bit steep at $5 – $9 for a large Hot Dog may be a bit steep but it is very satisfying!

We Rate Big Dogs Street Hots:

Location:

Granville Street between Dunsmuir & W Georgia

Twitter:

@BigDogsOrganics