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In American

Holy Chuck: Best Burger in Toronto

August 17, 2014

During my visit to Toronto, there was one place I was dying to try out – Holy Chuck Burgers. I tried going on my trip to Toronto earlier in the year but it was closed due to the long weekend.

This time, I made it a mission to come here and I am glad I did. They opened in 2011 and have been serving quality burgers ever since. They hand roll their patties every hour, which are made of aged high quality steak. Their most popular burger – Holy Chuck burger was named the best burger in Toronto by a few celebrity chefs. Plus, have been rated one of the Top 100 restaurants in Toronto for 2014.

Looking at the menu, there are a lot of choices and everything looks pretty good. You’ll be staring at this board for a while trying to figure out what to get.

Holy Chuck Burger ($9.99) is a double cheese burger with bacon and caramelized onions. Everyone at the table ordered this and you can get it cooked to any wellness level. Fabo got her burger patty done to Medium.

Everyone loved this burger and you can tell the patties were so juicy and full of flavour!

Mmmm everyone was so addicted to this burger. Yum! I would highly recommend this. It’s quite a simple burger with a few ingredients, but it all works together really well.

Grind n’ Shine Burger ($10.99) with hand cut crispy fries ($3.49).

The Grind n’ Shine Burger is a double cheeseburger with bacon, caramelized onions, topped with crispy potato chips and a fried egg. Oh boy, was this delicious!

The fries were ok, but it wasn’t all the crispy. Some were limp and some were crispy.

Just take a look, it look amazzzzing! The differing textures works well, especially the egg, potato ships and the onions.

Overall, this place does have delicious burgers and oh man, the patties are juicy and dripping with flavour! I’ll definitely be back for more.

We Rate Holy Chuck Burgers:

Address:
1450 Yonge St,
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://holychuckburgers.com/

In American

Tap and Barrel: Burgers in Olympic Village

August 16, 2014

Tap and Barrel has their first location in the Olympic Village. The second one is near Coal Harbour. I met M and the relatives for lunch at Tap and Barrel. It was a nice day, so we sat outside on the patio enjoying the sun and the view.

They are known for their selection of beer on tap and their pub-style food.

PB&J Burger ($15.45) has a 7oz 100% CAB chuck burger patty, chipotle peanut butter, bacon jam, mayo, lettuce and tomato. M also substituted with Yam Fries for an extra $1.75.

It’s a strange combination with the PB&J, but it’s not bad at all! Yam fries were a good upgrade!

Roasted Portobello Sandwich ($13.95) with sea salted fries. The sandwich has goat cheese, sprouts, avocado, lettuce, tomato, hummus, and red onion. The sandwich was ok, but it wasn’t amazing. It was like bitting into a garden. There could have been more portobello mushroom in it.

The sea salt fries were not crispy and pretty limp.

Overall, it’s pretty average when it comes to food. With CRAFT Beer Market down the street,

We Rate Tap and Barrel:

Address:
1 Athletes Way
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.tapandbarrel.com/

In American

Mamie Taylors: Food and Taxidermy

June 29, 2014

Mamie Taylor’s is one of the newer restaurants to open up in Chinatown across from Phnom Penh. It’s usually busy in the evenings and there is pay parking in the streets. They serve up modern American food on their menu and have a wide selection of drinks and cocktail. A perfect place to go after work with coworkers.

The inside is very nice, but it’s creepy when you start looking at all the taxidermy on the walls. It definitely gives this restaurant character.

Sapporo ($6) was my choice as usual. I’ve always liked it’s light crisp taste.

Japanese Whiskey Flight ($20) has nikka super, nikka from the barrel and nikka black. My coworkers enjoyed trying the different types and how their taste differed from one another.

Corn Bread & Biscuit ($4) comes with a jalapeño bourbon butter. These two items were very delicious! Full of flavour and quite enjoyable.

Fried Olives ($4) has blue cheese, currants, and sherry. I do love olives surprisingly and it was a nice way to add some crunch to an olive. It is a small dish, so these olives can go quickly if you are a quick snacker.

Pimento Cheese ($5) comes with cannoli, espellete, and salad o’ celery. This was yummy! The delicious cheese paired with the crunchy cannoli was perfect. I could eat a few of these.

Tuna Melt ($6) the tuna is cured & smoked, has potato salad, and cheddar. There’s some small onion on the side too. This was a yummy tuna melt.

Turducken ($6) has scotch egg in the centre. It is accompanied with tomatillo sauce and a garlic mayo. It’s not exactly what I imagined for a turducken but it’s their fun twist to it. It tasted alright.

Overall, we ordered all their snacks but didn’t stick around for dinner since we all had alternate plans after drinks. I’ll definitely be back for dinner since their entrees looked pretty damn awesome.

We Rate Mamie Taylors:

Address:
251 East Georgia St.
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://mamietaylors.ca/

In American

KFC Select: First in Canada

May 14, 2014

KFC Select is a new concept restaurant to attract younger customers. This location close to Younge and Bloor is the first location to pop up in Canada. They are still sticking with what they do best … making chicken. Except, you won’t find any big buckets of chicken here.

The location opened last December and the exterior is mostly black to give it a modern look.

You can even find images of Colonel Sanders inside.

The interior reminds me of Chipotle. It’s very very similar.

They have 5 main items:

Chicken Burgers
Burritos
Bowls
Salads
Chicken Strips

Then you can choose to make it a combo or add any extra desserts. Interesting desserts – Kream Ball and Strawberry Cheesecake. I would have thought they would have chosen something more healthy.

You order like an assembly line, similarly to Chipotle.

Double Decker ($4.99) has two hand-breaded crispy chicken fillets with their special sauce and pickles between toasted sesame seed bun. Double crunchiness and M did enjoy it. Who can say no to fried chicken? I sure can’t.

Fresh Deluxe ($4.99) has one hand-breaded crispy chicken fillet with cilantro mayo, salsa roja, mild cheddar and crisp lettuce, freshly stacked on a toasted sesame seed bun. It is the same price as the double decker sandwich, but this one just has a single fillet.

To make it a combo, just add $3. You get a drink and a side. The sides you can choose from are:

Waffle Fries
Coleslaw
Side salad

Waffles fries was the side we got and it was pretty darn good. So addictive too. I like it crunchy.

California Chicken Bowl ($5.99) you get grilled chicken over cilantro rice topped with Guacamole, cilantro mayo, sour cream, and pico de gallo.

The bowl was ok, but it just contained so much sauce. It didn’t have a very healthy look to it.

They have a pretty awesome beverage fountain. I haven’t seen this in Vancouver yet, but it’s SO cool.

The pop dispenses through a touch pad. You will find all different Pepsi products like 7 Up, Brisk , Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper and Dole.

When you select pepsi, you can have regular, cherry, lime, vanilla, lime or strawberry. M really loved this machine!

Overall, KFC Select is great because they know they need to evolve to suit their consumers tastes. Unfortunately, there were so many ways of making their food healthier, but I just didn’t see it. It seemed like a weird mishmash of KFC and Chipotle. I would have loved to see some grilled chicken in their burgers rather than the crispy fried ones.

We Rate KFC Select:

Address:
730 Yonge St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.kfcselect.ca/

In 24 hours

Hash House A Go Go: Huge Portions for Breakfast in Vegas

April 15, 2014

Hash House A Go Go is a 24 hour restaurant in The Quad. They are known for their breakfast in amazing large portions. It’s been featured a lot on Food Network and it was recently featured on Man vs Food for their Andy’s Sage Fried Chicken Benedict.

We got there at 10am and there was already a line up. We waited about 45 minutes for a seat. If you hate lines, it always best to come at non-peak hours.

There’s a lot of seats inside but not all of them were occupied.

Ground turkey, mushroom & broccoli Farm Scramble is served with mashed potato, fresh fruit and biscuit.

House smoked salmon benedict with asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, chili cream and two basted eggs.

It’s huge and tastes decent. This isn’t any normal eggs benny. My mom commented that the salmon was dry.

HH Famous Meatloaf House Hash has roasted red peppers, spinach and smoked mozzarella. It is tossed with crispy potatoes & topped with 2 eggs, served with fruit and biscuit.

Its served in a huge pan too.

Roasted Chicken House Hash has garlic, onions, asparagus and rosemary. Then tossed with crispy potatoes and topped with 2 eggs, served with fruit and biscuit. My dad enjoyed it.

Andy’s sage fried chicken benedict with fresh spinach, hardwood smoked bacon, market tomato, griddled mozzarella, chipotle cream and scrambled eggs.

They threw a knife in there to hold it all together.

The knife was huge and this was just oozing with calories. I didn’t mind, so i just dug in to enjoy all its flavours.

It has everything but my favourite part was the bacon and scrambled eggs on top. The chicken was dry.

Overall, the only thing it has going for them are the huge portions. Tastewise, it was ok. It’s not a place for everyone.

We Rate Hash House A Go Go:

Address:
3535 Las Vegas Boulevard S
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Website:
http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/vegas/menu/

In American

Burgoo: Amazing Comfort Food

March 28, 2014

I’m so glad I work so close to Burgoo. Burgoo is the ultimate place for addictive comfort food. Sometimes, we have to put diets aside and just indulge in delicious food. Their location is on Main street and have others in Kitsilano, North Vancouver, and Point Grey areas.

They have Mac and Cheese, Grilled Cheese, fondue, soups, stews and a bunch of other satisfying items. They don’t take reservations on Fridays/Saturdays, but they only do reservations for large groups (8-12 ppl) on other days. The wait time can fluctuate. One time I had no wait and another time, it was an hour.

After School Special ($16.50) give you the choice of any sandwich and soup on the menu. To keep it classic, M chose Gooey Cheese Grillers which includes two grilled, angle cut, house baguette sandwiches with melted Mozzarella, Gruyere, Emmenthal and white Cheddar. For his soup, he chose Straight Up Tomato Soup with red wine simmered tomato and garlic, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

This is the ultimate comfort food! Best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. You can’t go wrong with this choice. They don’t skimp on the cheese.

Mussels Cocotte ($18) has fresh mussels cooked with white wine, cream, herbs and bacon, served with house bread. Its an appetizer that is supposed to be shared, but I had it all to myself. This is my version of comfort food. There was a lot of mussels and the size was definitely worth the price.

There was so much sauce too! Great for dipping the bread into. There was also large chunks of bacon. MMMMmmmmmm BACON.

Overall, M and I were impressed. The price is fair and if you make the right choices of your dish, you’ll be in heaven.

We Rate Burgoo:

Address:
3096 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://burgoo.ca/

In American

Cheesecake Factory: Chowing Down in Seattle

February 20, 2014

Can you believe it? I’ve NEVER been to a Cheesecake Factory till now. It’s taken me 25 years to make a visit and taste their cheesecake. I’ve never seen the allure of huge slices of cheese cake and horribly prepared food. I’ve always just had that impression in my mind.

On our recent trip to Seattle, we stopped by Cheesecake factory for an early dinner. It was really early…it was so early, they still had their lunch menu. What can I say? We had a schedule to keep if we wanted to go shopping.

The place was huge, but there always seem to be a line up near the door. It’s super packed during lunch and dinner.

Complimentary bread arrives and you have brown and white. We actually didn’t touch the bread since we had to save our tummies for our meal and dessert. No need to waste space for plain bread.

M ordered himself a coke. Free refills!

Koreangirl got herself a lemonade. Free refills too!

Tomato, basil and cheese pizza ($11.95) from their lunch menu is pretty crappy. There’s no tomato sauce, so it’s just the 3 basic ingredients over the pizza dough. I will not order the pizza again.

The pizza did come with a salad. The salad was pretty good. No complaints. It had a balsamic vinegar dressing. I definitely enjoyed the salad a lot more than the pizza.

Famous Factory Meatloaf ($11.95) comes with 2 sides. M chose corn and mashed potatoes with gravy. The lunch size was still huge but the dinner size is even larger. M likes the portion for lunch as he could actually finish it.

Renee’s Special ($10.95) comes with half a turkey sandwich, a cup of soup and a green salad. You definitely get a little bit of everything. The portion is large for lunch and its very filling.

Fettuccini with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes ($11.95) was ordered by Scarface and looked good.

30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake has layers of their original cheesecake, fudge cake and chocolate truffle cream. M gets this every time he comes here.

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake ($6.95) has chocolate cheesecake with a layer of Belgian chocolate mousse and whipped cream.

Fresh Strawberry ($6.95) has the original cheese cake topped with glazed strawberries and whipped cream. It’s been their top seller for 30 years. The strawberries were huge and fresh. I really liked it and its a good cake to share. The classics are always the best.

Overall, cheesecake factory is ok. It’s a good price for their huge portions. I wouldn’t come back for the food but cheesecake is worth it.

We Rate The Cheesecake Factory:

Address:
700 Pike St
Seattle, WA

Website:
http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=700+Pike+St&sll=47.6116985,-122.3333375&sspn=0.0055549,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=700+Pike+St,+Seattle,+King+County,+Washington+98109,+United+States&z=16 “]

In American

A&W: Teen Burger at YVR Airport

February 19, 2014

After checking in and going through security at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR), M and I were pretty hungry. There’s not a lot of choices before boarding international flights.

We had to choose from:

Milestones
Starbucks
Tim Hortons
Euro Cafe
A&W
Burger King
Subway
Hanami Express

It’s all fast food and it’s definitely hard to choose what your last meal before the plane will be.

I actually quite like A&W for the burgers and you can really notice their fresh ingredients. It doesn’t come close to McDonalds. All their beef is 100% pure and contains no hormones or steroids. Also no additives or preservatives.

Their quality has gotten a lot better over the years and I prefer it over the other fast food options.

We got 2 teen burger meals, onion rings, yam fries and cokes.

My favourite sides are the onion rings. The batter is fried till its crispy and the onion is large. I wasn’t a fan of the yam fries, but I never liked yam fries in the first place. M did enjoy the yam fries.

Teen Burger is my favourite and it has lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheese, ketchup, onion, pickles and the burger patty between the two buns. Even looking at the burger, the ingredients look fresh. I ate it all and enjoyed it! Yum.

All the other burger at A&W are pretty good, but you can’t beat the teen burger.

Website: www.aw.ca

In American

Rachel’s Ginger Beer: A Treat at Pike Place

February 9, 2014

Rachel’s Ginger Beer is the newest place in Pike Place in Seattle. We were wandering around the area after lunch and needed something fizzy to settle our stomachs after eating at Pike Place Chowder.

They started selling their signature Ginger Beer at Seattle’s Farmers Market and with great success, they opened up their shop in Pike Place during the summer of 2013.

When you walk inside, you’ll be mesmerized by all their drinks. These are the larger jugs that are to go.

Don’t be fooled by their name, they have more than just soda. They have boozy cocktails and ice cream. Some of the drinks can be made warm too instead of cold.

When you order a cup of the ginger beer, it comes right from the tap. I think it’s a really cute touch even though it is non-alcoholic.

Mango Tangerine ($5) , Pink Guava ($5) , Original ($4), and Blueberry ($5) were ordered and it has a very distinctive aftertaste of ginger. You can feel the drink slide down your throat and heating up your body. It can really shock the sickness out of you if you aren’t feeling too well. Good combination is all the soda’s but I liked the original to stay true to ginger beer.

It’s not a drink for everyone. If you don’t like ginger, you probably won’t have a keen liking to the drinks.

We were glad we stumbled upon this cute little shop. I would have never expected a ginger beer shop to exist.

We Rate Rachel’s Ginger Beer:

Address:
1530 Post Alley
Seattle, WA

Website:
http://rachelsgingerbeer.com/pages/pike-place-market

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1530+Post+Alley&sll=47.6093656,-122.3410995&sspn=0.0055551,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=1530+Post+Alley,+Seattle,+Washington+98101,+United+States&z=16 “]

In American

Memphis Blues Barbeque House: Meat Sweats with Elvis

December 27, 2013

Where do you go where you can eat enormous amount of meat like you just don’t care? Memphis Blues of course! After a heartbreaking meeting, the 11 of us decided to drown our sorrows in meat.

I went Memphis Blue’s other location on Commercial drive about 5 years ago and I remember it was pretty good. This time around, we went to their newest location on Robson Street.

The space isn’t that large, but can accommodate large groups if you make a reservation ahead of time. The staff was nice and was able to split the bills without hassle.

Anchor Steam Beer is light refreshing beer with a sweet finish. I’ve never ordered this before, but I liked it.

They also do a lot of different cocktails.

Elvis Platter was massive and around $70. It’s a good size for 5 – 7 people. I shared it with 5 women, and we devoured the ribs and rib ends, but we still had a lot of the other things left. We filled up 2 take out containers.

It comes with:

Smoked Chicken
Pulled Pork
Sliced Beef Brisket
Smoked Sausage
Rib Ends
Corn Bread
Potato salad
Coleslaw
Fries
BBQ Sauce
BBQ Pit Beans

The Elvis platter was fun to eat, but a lot of the meat was dry. We had to smother the meat with BBQ sauce and vinegar to give it more moisture. Memphis Blues is great for group meals since the platter is very convenient and comes with most of the stuff on the menu.

We Rate Memphis Blues:

Address:
430 Robson St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.memphisbluesbbq.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=430+Robson+St.+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=430+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+2B7&z=16 “]

In American

The Rumpus Room: Monday $10 Burger + Beer Special

December 26, 2013

My coworkers wanted a place to grab a drink and enjoy some nibbles. We settled on the Rumpus Room as it was close by the office and seemed like a great after work place to chill. The space is a bit small, but it makes up for it if you were a 80s kid. The menu is in a duotang and theres some cool memorabilia on the walls. Plus, in the Summer their patio is open and there’s a bunch of plastic pink flamingos.

As it was a Monday, we were surprised to hear they had a special! I love specials! A burger and beer for $10. A pretty awesome deal considering the price of a burger is $7 to $15.

Red Racer IPA is a local beer brewed right in BC at Central CIty Brewing. It has a strong taste of hops that lingers till the after taste. It’s not my type of beer because I don’t really like the hops flavour.

Peanut Butter Burger is made with a hormone-free 6oz beef burger patty, bacon, cheddar, lettuce, apple cranberry chutney, tomato, and creamy peanut butter on a brioche bun. I found that the ingredients went well together, but the beef patty was a bit overcooked so it because quite dry.

You also get a side to choose from. The options are fries, yam fries, veggie chili, soup, coleslaw, salad, side wedge salad, mashed potatoes, a waffle or ants on a long. I went with the salad. It was pretty decent as it had beets and sunflower seeds.

Overall, the price of the food is great for large portions. The quality of the food is alright but not too impressive. The servers are nice, but with only 2 people serving, they can tend to forget things…like… our bill. We had to ask twice for our bill, but we weren’t in a rush so we didn’t really bug them.

We Rate Rumpus Room:

Address:
2689 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.rumpusroom.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2689+Main+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=2689+Main+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+3E7&z=16 “]

In American

Panago: Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza

December 22, 2013

Panago Pizza recently introduced their new Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza. As Panago pizza is very close to our place, M decided to order some for lunch. Best lazy meal ever. We both love spicy food, so we really wanted to see if it would really set our taste buds on fire. The basic pepperoni pizza is awesome and you can’t go wrong. When you add a bit of spice into the picture, it should taste good.

We ordered a Large Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza for $15. It is made of Italian tomato sauce, spicy pepperoni, and mozzarella. There’s so much pepperoni that you can’t even see the pepperoni slices underneath.

It wasn’t very spicy and had a bit of a spicy tingle. If you want some extra spice to it, add some tabasco sauce or Franks Red Hots sauce.

To balance out the greasy pizza, I ordered the Chicken Garden Salad that comes with grilled chicken, romaine lettuce, green peppers, grape tomatoes, and red onions. It comes with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The salad was alright. The chicken pieces tasted ok, but it wasn’t great.

Overall, the Deluxe Spicy Pepperoni Pizza is a good item to order when people are over.

Website: http://panago.com/

In American

Bennigan’s in South Korea

December 7, 2013

Doing some research on where to eat in Korea, M wanted to go to Bennigan’s. It’s an American chain restaurant that serves up Irish and American food. After doing a debate of dining choices, I reluctantly agreed to come here for lunch. They serve Monte Cristo sandwiches here and M has been searching far and wide for this sandwich.

The restaurant is located on the third floor. There is also a Bennigan’s Kids on an alternative level for just kids. Adults can watch them from a monitor on the third floor and have their privacy.

This is what we came for.

Complimentary Bread arrived.

Sweet Pickles came as the side dish.

World Famous Monte Cristo (10,000 won) has honey wheat bread layered with tender ham, roasted turkey, Swiss and American cheeses. Batter-dipped, gently fried and coated with powdered sugar. Served with red raspberry preserves for dipping. Fries came on the side.

This dish was huge and very filling. It was hard for M to finish the whole thing.

Soup and pop combo (+ 4,000 won) can be added to your meal.

Chicken Quesadillas (10,000 won) has Garlic-marinated chicken with Colby and Monterrey Jack cheeses, flavorful spices and crispy fried onions folded in a flour tortilla.

It is served with salsa, guacamole, and a lime sour cream sauce. The quesadilla was decent.

Chicken Stir fry (10,000) is served on a hot skillet with rice, vegetables and chicken.

Sweet Potato Pan Cheese (10,000 won) is a very korean inspired dish since Koreans love sweet potato. You won’t find this in North America. You definitely want to share this because you’ll get sick of the taste quite quickly.

Overall, the food was ok, but the Monte Cristo is always the sinfully delicious item to get. The place was pretty busy during a Friday and with lots of families. The prices are comparable to the states. The menus here have english, so you won’t have any issues ordering.

If you want to explore Korean cuisine while you are traveling in Seoul, this is probably not the place you want to go. M and I went here because we don’t have one in Canada.

We Rate Bennigans:

Address:
3F, 94, Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Website:
http://www.bennigans.co.kr/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=3F,+94,+Nonhyeon-dong,+Gangnam-gu,+Seoul,+South+Korea&t=m&hnear=94+Nonhyeon-dong,+Gangnam-gu,+Seoul,+South+Korea+(334+Dosan-daero)&z=14″]

In American

Dunkin Donuts in South Korea

December 5, 2013

Dunkin’ Donuts in Korea is very different from the ones in North America. Everything is Korean-ized, so you will find things like sweet potato donuts, olive oil donuts, and other weird creations.

M and I were in Coex Mall and everything was under construction. We had very bad timing when coming here. Only a few shops were open and it totally sucked. We were roaming around the vast empty mall and found a Dunkin’ Donuts and we felt like it was time for a little snack.

As we were traveling in Korea near Halloween, they had some cute treats.

What is unique about Dunkin’ Donuts that drew me in was their breakfast and snack items. They look pretty decent.

When I saw their burritos I got kinda hungry. I actually have no idea if they have these in the North American Dunkin’ Donuts because I’ve never seen one. There is a Dunkin’ Donuts in Montreal but nowhere else in Canada.

Plastic food on display.

M and I shared the Spicy Chicken Burrito, Sausage Burrito and a Grapefruit slush.

Sausage Burrito (3,500 won) it’s a huge sausage with cheese, fried rice and chili sauce.

Spicy Chicken Burrito (3,500 won) has spicy chicken, fried rice and a blend of two types of cheese. It was a bit spicy.

Grapefruit Slush was really gross. It was very sweet and it was more artificial. It melted so slowly that we could of used a wider straw.

Overall Dunkin’ Donuts is ok. A bit on the mediocre side, but kinda reminds me of Tim Hortons in Canada.

Website: http://www.dunkindonuts.co.kr/

In All You Can Eat

Montana’s Cookhouse: Wednesday All You Can Eat Ribs

November 29, 2013

It was M’s Birthday, so he chose to go to Montana’s Cookhouse. As it is a Wednesday, they have all you can eat ribs! I made sure to prepare and wore sweat pants to prepare for this occasion. Trying to figure out what camera to bring to a restaurant is always a pain. As I haven’t used my HTC One yet, I used it instead of my iPhone or my LX7. The last time I went to Montana’s we were able to eat a large amount of ribs. 3.5 racks to be exact, but back then they were much smaller. I was definitely up for the challenge!

If you come here during your birthday, they make you put on a moose hat, sing you happy birthday in front of the restaurant, and bring you a free piece of cake. M of course was too shy, so he didn’t tell anyone it has his birthday.

The interior is very country. It’s family friendly and has tons of seating. There’s some pretty cool things on the ceiling to look at. Like… cars, canoes, antlers, etc.

Water comes in mason jars and you get some crayons to draw all over the table. It’s fun to just doodle as you wait for the food.

For the ribs, you get a bucket for your bones, lots of napkins, cutlery, ketchup, wet naps, and straws for your drinks.

AYCE Back Ribs ($28.99) starts off with the first rack with the flavour sauce of your choice, 2 sides and cornbread. We were surprised to see the ribs were so large and meaty. Each rack has 12 ribs and the meat was moist, plus it had a nice smokey flavour.

As our order arrived, we immediately put in an extra order for half a rack since it took the quite a while to get our first order.

Of all the flavours, our favourite was the Texas Bold.

3 people’s worth of half a rack of ribs. We could only finish 2 more before we had to stop. We were very full after 14 ribs. We asked if we could take it home, but we weren’t able to. I guess that’s a good thing since some people might abuse the AYCE system. We felt bad for over-ordering since we didn’t want it all to go to the trash.

Overall, the ribs were pretty good with the Texas Bold sauce and I would come again for AYCE. It’s a bit expensive, so only go when you have a crazy appetite. Do be warned that the service is very slow. We waited about 40 minutes to get our first order, but we knew it wouldn’t be a quick dinner, so we had our phones with games to keep us company.

We Rate Montana’s:

Address:
1046 – 2929 Barnet Hwy
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
http://www.montanas.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2929+Barnet+Hwy+Coquitlam,+BC&t=m&hnear=2929+Barnet+Hwy,+Coquitlam,+British+Columbia+V3B+5R5&z=16 “]

In American

White Spot: New Location in North Burnaby

November 17, 2013

The old ABC Country Restaurant in Kensington Plaza finally closed down after years of horrible service and food. When we passed by and saw White Spot opening up, we were ecstatic. Anything was better than ABC.

M and I decided to head over as it was very close in the neighbourhood and we were too lazy to cook.

The interior has had a complete makeover that matches their other restaurants. It was bright and welcoming. Lots of booth seating and it was pretty busy on the weekend.

The White Spot Club has turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo & chili sauce on sourdough bread. I substituted my fries for their Spot Salad. The spot salad has dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, toasted almonds, greens and arugula with a honey sherry dressing.

I didn’t like the sourdough bread for this particular sandwich because the crust was quite hard and would cut my mouth, but other than that, it tasted good. There was a lot of bacon, so it made me happy.

Bacon Cheddar Bigger Burger has a 6 oz beef burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce & tomato with Triple O sauce. M substituted his fries with the Zoo sticks, which as zucchini fries. The zoo stick were very thick, so you definitely get a lot of zucchini.

There was also some coleslaw on the side. The burger was pretty decent.

The Spot’s Salad with Chicken also has artisan greens and arugula with honey sherry dressing, cranberries, sunflower seeds & toasted almonds. It supposed to come with garlic panini bread, but I don’t know why I didn’t get any.

Either way, I still really like the salad.

B.C. Chicken Burger has chargrilled BC chicken breast, cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion and the Triple “O” sauce. M also got the Zoo sticks substitute this time too.

Overall, the food isn’t too bad. We left feeling satisfied with all this comfort food. It’s nothing fancy but its good and simple.

We Rate White Spot:

Address:
6500 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC

Website:
https://www.whitespot.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=6500+Hastings+Street+Burnaby,+BC&t=m&hnear=6500+Hastings+St,+Burnaby,+British+Columbia+V5B+4B3&z=16″]

In American

Original Pancake House: Dutch Baby and Apple Pancakes

October 6, 2013

A great thing about going on vacation and visiting relatives and friends is that they know where cool restaurants are. I’ve never heard of the Original Pancake, but they are most famous for their Dutch Baby and Apple Pancake.

Ifs located all over the states and if you recognize this place, you know they have very cool breakfast food. It was pretty busy on a Saturday morning and line ups almost out the door. We waited for a bit but got a table quickly.

The Apple Pancake is oven baked with fresh granny smith apples and pure Sinkiang cinnamon glaze. It was really good but it’s best to share since it’s loaded with sugar.

We all cut it up into slices are shared it. Pretty delicious and amazing. Highly recommended.

Dutch Baby is oven baked. Served with whipped butter, lemon and powdered sugar. We opted for the smaller version since we knew we wouldn’t finish the large version.

Blue Crab Meat Benedict has poached eggs, sauteed Blue Crab Meat & lightly grilled tomato slices on top of a grilled English muffin with our hollandaise sauce. Garnished with parsley & capers. It tasted alright, but not crazy amazing.

The benedict came with a side of fruit.

Sausage & Basted Eggs was alright, but nothing special. You get 2 eggs, 2 sausage patties and pancakes.

Pancakes that came with the sausage and basted eggs.

We also ordered side of bacon and side of hash browns. We loved the bacon because it was nice and crispy.

We had so much food that it barely fit onto our table. It was a yummy breakfast.

Overall, the specialty items were quite amazing. You must come here to order the apple pancake and the dutch baby. You won’t be disappointed.

We Rate Original Pancake House:

Address:
153 Green Bay Rd
Wilmette, IL

Website:
http://www.walkerbros.net/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=153+Green+Bay+Rd+Wilmette,+IL&ll=42.070354,-87.704587&spn=0.012822,0.030642&t=m&hnear=153+Green+Bay+Rd,+Wilmette,+Illinois+60091,+United+States&z=16 “]

In American

Chicago Food Planet Tours: Gold Coast & Old Town Food Tour

October 4, 2013

I had a week in Chicago and it’s quite hard to eat everything. There’s only so many restaurants I can go to in one day. I contemplated for a long time if I should take a food tour or not. 7 restaurants in 3 hours is always enticing for a foodie for $50.

Chicago Food Planet Food Tours offered a tour of Gold Coast and Old Town‘s best eats. It’s a cool neighbourhood, but the only reason I went on the tour was to try a slice of deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s. I really didn’t want to eat a whole pizza to myself or eat alone.

We explored:

Lou Malnati’s
Delightful Pastries
Kamehachi Old Town
The Fudge Pot
The Spice House
Old Town Oil
Tea Gschwendner

The group was only 16 people, so it was a nice decent size. What made me feel awkward was that everyone else came to the tour as a group or a couple. It made me feel like an awkward turtle.

Lou Malnati’s

Our first stop was Lou Malnati’s for their famous deep dish pizza. This was the starting point of the tour. They are an iconic Chicago-Style Deep Dish pizzeria. It’s been around since 1971.

All 16 of us sat down and started beginning chowing down on our meal.

We began with a salad.

Then the deep dish pizza! So satisfying and the crust is so crispy. Definitely the highlight of the tour.

Tea Gschwendner

We then walked a short distance to Tea Gschwendner. They are Europe’s leading specialty loose Green, Black, Oolong and White teas merchant and have been around since 1987.

We were given a little lesson about different types of tea and how to make tea.

Iced tea was given to everyone as a refresher after the yummy pizza. As it was a hot summer we definitely needed.

We then headed into Old Town and was told about the history of some notable buildings and history.

Kamehachi Old Town

Kamehachi Old Town is Chicago’s first Japanese-style restaurant, sake cafe and sushi bar . It has been around since 1967.

We had 2 types of maki rolls, but only 2 pieces. It was ok, but not great. Coming from Vancouver, this doesn’t even compare to what good sushi is like.

The Fudge Pot

The Fudge pot is Chicago’s oldest chocolate confectioner, butter toffee and home-made fudge shop. They have been around since 1963 making delicious sweets.

We were taken to their kitchen to hear the history of the Fudge Pot and their production.

The butter toffee samples we received were pretty awesome. So addictive.

Spice Merchants

We then stopped by the world-famous merchant of hand-prepared spices, blends and artisan seasonings. Once you step close to the door of this place, you’ll definitely smell the amazing flavours. It’s quite strong stuff.

They have hundreds of spices! They have even made their own special blends. You can probably find any spice you’re looking for.

We looked around the shop and then taken to the back to get a lesson on different spices, best ways to store spices and how to get the most flavourful spices. Interesting stop on this tour, but we only smelled spices.

Old Town Oil

Old Town Oil is America’s premiere supplier of aged balsamic vinegars and 100% extra-virgin olive oils. I’ve never seen so many tins of olive oil and balsamic vinegar before.

We were able to try all the flavours we wanted. Interesting flavours.

We continued walking around the neighbourhood and heard more about the history.

Delightful Pastries

Our last stop of the tour was at Delightful Pastries. It’s an authentic Polish-European bakery serving pastries, pierogies and pies.

Two Macaroons

Two different types of perogies.

The Chicago Food Planet Tour of Old Town and Gold Coast was fun and enjoyable, but if you are a hardcore foodie, a majority of the places aren’t super amazing. The shops are unique and have a long history, but it won’t keep you coming back. Especially if you are a local.

As a tourist, it was a good use of 3 hours to visit so many shops and restaurants, plus learn a little bit of history in these 2 areas. The 2 restaurants that stood out to me was Lou Malnati’s and The Fudge Pot. Mmmm pizza and chocolate.

Our tour guide was great! He was funny and was very personable to each person on the tour.

Website: http://www.chicagofoodplanet.com/tours/near-north-food-tour/