The Tastiest Things I’ve Eaten in 2011

2011 was a great year!  In particular, my son “Lexicon” was born and I founded Yowza!culinary + concepts.  It was an exciting year, both personally and professionally and was punctuated with copious amounts of great food.  In honor of New Year’s Eve, I’ve created a collage of sixteen of the tastiest foods I ate in 2011.  The truth of the matter is, there really should be other items included on the list, but due to poor lighting and my overwhelming desire to eat hot food, I have missed many food picture opportunities.  It will be my New Year’s resolution to remember to take proper food pictures before I eat and to use my fancy new DSLR rather than my shaky/unfocused iPhone 3GS camera.  Missing items from the best of 2011 include the chicken wings and “everything pork” at Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge (PPX), my first taste of Northern Divine Caviar, the sablefish dish at Hawksworth and the late night margherita pizza at Nostrana (PDX).

1)     I don’t know what it was called, but the warm salad of eggplant, mushrooms, fresh herbs and toasted rice flour at Maenam was unique and delicious.  Bright, earthy and perfect, this dish was the highlight of my first meal at Maenam and I look forward to my next meal there.

2)     The 4 course live Alaskan King Crab dinner at Yan’s Garden has become an annual tradition for my family and “The Godfather and The Girl.”  Such stunningly fresh and clean crab flavor and due to its proximity to home, Yan’s is our favorite local Chinese restaurant.

3)     At the end of summer, I attempted to create an approachable, but special burger that would satisfy my burger desires.  In turn, I came up with “The Burger;” house ground chuck/short rib, cooked sous vide, soft sesame bun, aged cheddar “cheez whiz,” crispy prosciutto, compressed tomato, romaine lettuce and my secret sauce.  Add seared foie gras for “The Burger Royale.”  Yowza!

4)     Live spot prawns while spot prawn fishing with the boys from Organic Ocean.  I’ve had lots of raw spot prawns in my life, but nothing compares to their taste and texture straight from the trap.  You just can’t get them any fresher.

5)     A plethora of sea urchin nigiri sushi right at the opening of the local sea urchin season.  Unbelievable!  We were at Sushi Town with two other couples and unexpectedly were treated to the year’s freshest and finest uni.  I love uni.

6)     The Deluxe Makunouchi Bento Box at Kingyo was outstanding.  10 different dishes, with rice and miso soup for $16.  Was every bite amazing?  No, but what a fantastic variety and what a wonderful lunch overall.

7)     My Mom’s homemade dumplings are always a special treat when my “parental units” come to visit the “grand-kiddos” and us.  A combination of prawns, a touch of pork and simple seasonings = perfectly delicious. Mom’s dumplings are my favorite.

8)     The Reggie Deluxe at Pine State Biscuits (PDX) probably took a few years off my life, but it was worth it.  An amazing biscuit, fried chicken, fried egg, cheese and sausage gravy.  Yowza!  I think I might try and duplicate this at home.

9)     The bacon maple bar at Voodoo Doughnut (PDX) was stellar.  A yeast doughnut with maple icing and crisp bacon.  Is everything better with bacon? Yes.  Lineups around the clock at this Portland hot spot is completely unfathomable to me, but killer doughnuts.

10)    10 pieces of sushi from Maruwa; I don’t even remember what they were, but the chef/owner made them special for me and they were wonderful.  I skipped out of dinner service around 9pm and went for sushi at Maruwa by myself; it was an enlightening experience.

11)    The Jamaican beef patties straight from the oven at The Patty Shop was life changing.  I was their first customer of the day and I was rewarded with amazing and hot beef patties.  Flaky pastry, tasty filling and plenty of childhood memories.

12)    The Gargantuan Feast at Cora’s makes the list, not because it’s the best breakfast I’ve had in 2011, but because of all the fond memories it awakes and I just love a good meat-y, egg-y, greasy “brefix.”  Who doesn’t?

13)    Geoduck clam sautéed with three kinds of mushrooms; one of our favorite dishes at Yan’s Garden and at “Lexicon’s” one month birthday party, it was spectacular.  Despite the appearance of geoduck, it’s easily my favorite mollusk to eat.

14)    Some crazy Taiwanese hot dog/sticky rice deal that “Monk” and I shared at the Richmond Night Market.  It was tasty and definitely something I have never tried before, but the reason it makes the list is because it was a last-minute date, and one of the very few occasions in 2011 that Monk and I had a chance to spend together without  ”Jazzy” or “Lexicon.”

15)    Half beef/half tendon Taiwanese beef noodle soup at No. 1 Beef Noodle House.  I’m no beef noodle expert, but on this particular day, this meaty, beefy bowl of noodles caved my whole head in and blew me away.

16)    Dinner at home; beef tenderloin, popovers, baked potato, assorted vegetables and red wine gravy.  I eat a fair amount of steak and usually it’s rib eye.  On this particular day, I cooked some beef tenderloin en sous vide (my first filet of 2011) and it just melted in my mouth. Combined with my killer popovers and Fairview Cellars wine, it was one of my favorite meals of the year.

2011 was pretty tasty and I’m hoping 2012 will be even tastier.  All the best and Happy New Year!  Cheers!

Yowza! Moment #3 – The Gargantuan Feast

A few weeks back, me and my brood (“Monk”, “Jazzy” and “Lexicon”) hopped in the hybrid, headed out for breakfast at Cora’s [3025 Lougheed Highway, #390, Coquitlam, (778)285-8577 ] and to do a little Christmas shopping.   Unless you are from back East you might not have heard of Cora’s before, but I’ve had a long time love affair with this old lady and though this Coquitlam location is less than a year old, I’ve been eating at Cora’s in Quebec since the late 80′s.

I’ve got fond memories of Cora’s for many reasons, but the primary reason is I love breakfast.  A big “brefix” (it’s how me and the “The Undertaker” say breakfast) of eggs, meat and potatoes is like heaven to me.  Salty fried “brefix” meats and runny egg yolk to dip your toast into;  I’m salivating as I type.  Sure, I like pancakes, french toast and other sweet delights every now and again, but I love a big, greasy savory breakfast more than you can imagine and these days, I crave it often.  I never order the sweet items for “brefix”, I’ll let “Monk” order the “fruity waffles” and “nibble a little” off of her plate.  I think my passionate relationship with breakfast primarily boils down to my long-term romance with bacon.  I love bacon, who doesn’t, but my love for bacon runs deep and it’s a liaison that only bacon and I understand.  I won’t go further into my bacon affinity and will save that tale for another time.

As a kid, my first signs of cooking talent appeared when I would cook breakfast for my family on Sunday mornings.  As I got older, I stopped eating breakfast consistently and maybe that’s why big meaty breakfasts are such a treat for me.  My first experience with Cora’s was some time in the late 80′s, when we were in Montreal on a ski trip.  Ever since that amazing experience, I insist that each time I visit “La Belle Province,” we pay Madame Cora a visit.  In university, weekend party trips to McGill or ski races in Quebec, meant the occasional visits to Chez Cora continued.  Not only was it a decent “brefix,” but it was also the best hangover cure one could imagine.  In the mean time, “The Undertaker” and I searched high and low for the best and most value-priced greasy spoon breakfast and one of our highlights was the 333 at the Wooler Road Diner.  We were on route to a secret fishing hole in rural Ontario, chanced upon this diner and for $3.33, we got 3 slices of bacon, 3 sausages, 3 slices of ham, 3 eggs, 3 slices of toast, 3 pancakes and hash browns.  Unbelievable!  I know I’m getting a little off topic, but all these “brefix” memories are flooding my brain and I can’t help myself.

OK, I could sit here and tell you “brefix” story after “brefix” story; trust me, I’ve got a ton, but let’s get back to the meat and potatoes of it.  So what is the Gargantuan Feast? It’s a breakfast offering at Cora’s consisting of two eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, creton, home fries, a crepe, toast, baked beans and fruit.  It’s a big plate of “brefix” and at $13.55 it sure lives up to its name.  A quick side note, I can’t believe at my age and as a relatively well-educated human being, I still don’t know how to use a semi colon properly, mis-use quotations marks frequently and interchange “it’s and its” like it’s going out of style.  OK, enough grammatical self deprecation, back to the topic of “brefix.” It’s a tasty brefix, with lots of protein, lots of fat and lots of carbs.  For me, the star of the dish is the creton.  Cretons is a Québécois breakfast item which is essentially a spiced pork pate which you spread on toast.  Basically ground pork is cooked with spices in milk and formed into spreadable meat cake.  Maybe that isn’t the greatest description; think of cretons as a spreadable pork rillete, but with ground pork.  The key to cretons for me is the yellow ball-park mustard accompanying it.  I don’t use yellow mustard for much; hotdogs, smoked meat sandwiches, warm pretzels and a few other things, but it’s just perfect with cretons.

Is it the best breakfast around? No.  Is it the best bacon, sausage and ham I’ve ever had?  Heck no, not even close;  it’s a chain restaurant that does what it does, is relatively consistent , but most importantly, it satisfies my “brefix” cravings and brings back so many fond food memories for me.  That’s why it’s my Yowza Moment #3.

Until my next Yowza! moment, peace be unto you.

Christmas Recipes

Christmas is a special time of year for me and my family.  Particularly with a couple of little ones at home, it’s an even bigger deal these days.  Christmas always conjures up memories of family, friends, food, fruitcake, fine wine and festive times.  Lots of my favorite F-words.

A lot of people have been asking me for holiday recipes, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite recipes with you.  I particularly like these recipes because they are very straight forward and the results are excellent.  Let me know how they work out for you.

Here are the recipes for butternut squash soup, Yowza! popovers, roast Christmas turkey and sable cookies in PDF format.  They are all relatively simple recipes, yet the final product is elegant and delicious.  I hope you enjoy them and let me know if there are other recipes you’d like posted.  If I don’t blog before the 25th, have a Merry Christmas!  Cheers!

Yowza! – Butternut Squash Soup

Yowza! – Popovers

Yowza! – Roast Turkey

Yowza! – Sable Cookies

Introducing! Yowza!culinary + concepts

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It’s been a crazy week around here and it’s time to toot my own horn. Chef’s Night Out fans, I’d like to introduce you to my new restaurant consulting and catering company!

Yowza!culinary + concepts
We are a boutique firm, based in Vancouver, BC, focusing on restaurant consulting, culinary media and distinctive catering. There are three major components to the business.

Yowza!concepts – Full service restaurant consulting including restaurant start-up, concept changes, kitchen design, menu engineering, financial assessment, sustainability implementation and complete food and beverage management.

Yowza!media – Restaurant media consulting including social media, traditional media and overall marketing analysis. Chef Alex Tung is available for culinary public speaking, cooking demonstrations and food focused team building events.

Yowza!catering – Distinctive catering by Chef Alex Tung; menus are tailored to your individual tastes and circumstances. Chef’s simple, yet elegant cuisine is heavily focused on tasty, local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients.

Take a look at our website, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook and thank you in advance for your support. Check us out and it would be our pleasure to serve you.

Yowza!culinary + concepts
Mobile — (604)808-4673
Email — info@yowzaculinary.com
Website — http://www.yowzaculinary.com
Twitter — http://www.twitter.com/yowzaculinary
Facebook — http://www.facebook.com/yowzaculinary

Yowza! Moment #2 – Sweet Potato

I just finished a lovely Sunday dinner at home with the brood and felt inclined to share the story of something delicious I just ate. Dinner was great; I roasted a pair of free range chickens, pan roasted some shaved brussel sprouts with double smoked bacon, blanched some haricot vert and opened a bottle of Orofino Red Bridge Red ’07. The chicken was great; cooked perfectly, plus it made me a little giddy because I hadn’t roasted and basted a whole bird in a while. Yeah I know, I sound like a food geek; you’re right and I’m proud of it. The brussel sprouts were super tasty, shaved, browned and roasted with the bacon and it’s fat, but though they were spectacular, they were not the “Yowza! Moment!” The haricot vert were surprising good too, cooked perfectly to my taste and since I have not had a baby green bean in quite some time, I found them rather delicious.

The sweet potato slices are at the bottom of the plate

The real surprise and tasty treat were the sweet potatoes. No, I didn’t bake any, mash any or fry any. In fact, there was one lonely sweet potato in “Nuoc Mom’s” fridge and being a cook with a conscience, I decided to use it up. Normally, when I roast my chicken, I stuff the cavity with herbs, lemon, garlic and shallots, season the cavity, tie the bird and then coat the bird with Dijon mustard and freshly chopped herbs. I roast it in a hot oven and usually put the chicken on a baking sheet, on a base of sliced potato. Today, I substituted the humble sweet potato as the trivet. The whole idea is the chicken sits on the sweet potato, so it does not stick to the baking sheet, but the glorious side effect is the sweet potato gets browned on the bottom and cooks as it absorbs all the chicken drippings and butter from the bird. Kinda like a chicken-y confit of sweet potato, but all I’ve got to say is yowza! I probably haven’t eaten a sweet potato in months and the last few years only very rarely in a sushi roll or tempura-ed. This piece of sweet potato was amazing. Perfectly seasoned, chicken-y, butter-y, salt-y and just all around wicked tast-y. I’m pretty good at using stuff up in the fridge, but this was the tastiest utilization I’ve done in a while. Even “Monk” liked it and she despises sweet potatoes. Man, I might roast some more birds again soon, just so I can use regular potatoes as the trivet and feast on those amazing spuds. Don’t forget, next time you oven roast a bird or a joint of meat, stick some slices of potato or sweet potato underneath, you’ll be glad that you did.

Until my next Yowza! moment, peace be unto you.