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!

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.

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

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!

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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.

Yesterday morning, I had to make an early morning airport run to send my “Parental Units” on their “merry way.” After a three-week visit with my brood, and months of cruising/travelling and being away from thier home, I’m sure they were happy to get back to their home base and re-acquaint themselves with their “old people” routines. After dropping them off, I realized I had about thirty minutes to kill, so I contemplated a little “bref-fix” or a tasty coffee somewhere.

Suddenly, it popped into my head and I remembered that I had been itching to go try out the Jamaican beef patties from The Patty Shop [4019 Macdonald Street, Vancouver, (604)738-2144]. I first heard about this place through the food editor of a local newspaper. She mentioned it once and since I have fond childhood memories about Jamaican beef patties (JBPs), I filed the data away in my “plus-size nooggin,” and started planning for an eventual visit. For over a year, my sous “The Great Wall” and I would discuss it on occasion and I always expected either him or I to show up with a “box of dem beauties” on one of our days off.

Jamaican Beef Patties! The one with 5 holes is the spicy one.

Long story short, I called the Patty Shop, they told me they opened at 9am and my GPS told me that would also be my exact time of arrival. I parked the car, skipped into the shop (time warp) and ordered 5 normal JBPs and 1 spicy one. Got ‘em back in the car, dug right in and let me tell you; Yowza! Still piping hot, straight from the oven, a gorgeous flaky crust and a tasty spiced beef filling. Absolutely delicious. So amazingly good that I ate another one right away. I ended up eating the spicy one hours later; “Monk” and I lightly heated them up in the toaster oven and they were almost just as good. The spicy JBP was super tasty, a perfect balance of heat and flavor and will be my personal preference for future visits.

Definitely not the JBPs of my youth, but trust me, I will definitely be back for some more soon. Until my next Yowza! moment, peace be unto you.

If I could travel anywhere in the world, to go a full-scale dining adventure, without a second thought, my answer would be Spain. Nothing would make me happier than to hop on a first class flight to España (my girth does not agree with economy seats for longer flights) and spend a month touring, drinking and eating my way through the country. From “fancy-schmancy” places like El Cellar De Can Roca, Mugaritz and Arzak, to sampling the entire country’s pinxto and tapas offering, to overdosing on jamon Iberico, to cherishing grilled calcots and romesco, to feasting on luxurious baby eels and goose-neck barnacles, to gorging on chocolate con churros, the gastronomic list is endless. Then reality kicks in, I remember that I have two amazing, but young children (“Jazzy and Lex-y”) and a beautiful wife (“Monk”) at home, who’s lives do not revolve around what “Daddy-dearest” wants to eat and drink (even though they probably should).

Though I might not currently have the opportunity to take off for a month and go eat my way through Spain, I know that with a little arm twisting and considerable begging, “Monk” would allow me to hop on a plane and dine my way through one of my favorite cities for the weekend. So I did a little daydreaming and compiled a list of where I would eat, if I spent a few days in Chicago, London, Montreal, New York, San Francisco and Toronto. I’m not picking the best, the most expensive, the hippest or most glamorous restaurants, but selecting the food I would want to eat, for my own nostalgic and selfish reasons. You ready? Here we go!

Chicago
Alinea, 1723 N Halsted Street, (312) 867-0110
Avec/Blackbird, 615/619 W.Randolph Street, (312)377-2002
Hot Doug’s, 3324 North California Avenue, (773)279-9550
Lou Malnati’s, 6649 North Lincoln Avenue, (847)673-0800
Topolobampo, 445 North Clark Street, (312)661-1434

The last time I was in Chicago was in 2005; “Monk” and I were on a cross-country road trip, had the “Exploder” filled to the gills and we made a three-day pit stop in the Windy City. If I went to dine there today, there’s no doubt that I’d have to go eat at Alinea and experience Grant Achatz’s genius. I’d easily spend the $210 for the 20 course tasting menu and though I would never want to cook his style of food, I am utterly impressed by his dedication and constant desire to innovate. His work ethic, strength of character and commitment is very refreshing in this day and age and the experience of dining at Alinea has been on my list for quite some time. If I could wrangle it, I’d probably check in at Aviary and Next the following evening too. Avec and Blackbird would also require a visit; since they are right next door to each other, I could easily kill two birds with one stone. Paul Kahan (chef/owner) is a chef’s chef and cooks the food I want to eat. I have only heard good things about all his restaurants and friends tell me he’s a great chef to work for. Hot Doug’s is on my list because I’m interested in trying an authentic Chicago style dog and Lou Malmati’s would need to be visited for their deep dish pizza. There’s no way I could go to Chicago, without eating a little deep dish pie. Topoplobampo would be a must eat because I think Rick Bayless is a genius and years back, he was very generous with his time when I first started cooking professionally. His dedication to authentic Mexican cuisine is unparalleled and I have so much respect for his knowledge and passion.

London
The Cock Tavern, Smithfield Market, 020 7248 2918
Harrod’s Food Halls, 135 Brompton Road, 020 7730 1234
Hibiscus, 29 Maddox St, 020 7629 2999
Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, Wilton Place, 020 7235 1200
St. JOHN Bar and Restaurant, 26 St. John Street, 020 3301 8069

Having worked and lived in London during the turn of the millennium, I am dying to return and to see the changes that have taken place. Years back, I fell in love with London and learned so much from the city’s restaurant culture. As a lover of a proper English breakfast, there is no doubt I’d have to pay the Cock a visit. Easy on the jokes peeps, this is a PG website. Located by Smithfield Market, a breakfast of sausage, bacon, blood sausage, eggs and Guinness would put a big fat smile on my chubby face. The food halls at Harrod’s would also be on my list because of its opulent surroundings and the over the top offerings. Over a decade ago, I would spend many a day shopping at Harrod’s, picking up cheese, charcuterie and bread, then heading over to Hyde Park to enjoy a little picnic. Hibiscus is high on my list because I’ve heard so many great things about Claude Bosi and his kitchen brigade. Marcus Wareing makes it on my list because I used to work in the Berkeley, have such fond memories of that property and have been admiring Chef Wareing’s work for many years. Finally, I’d have to visit St. JOHN Bar and Restaurant as an homage to Fergus Henderson and celebrate his spreading of the gospel of “nose to tail eating”; Fergus’ approach to cooking makes him a hero to cooks around the world.

Montreal
Au Pied De Cochon, 536 Duluth Est, (514)281-1114
Fairmount Bagel, l74 Fairmount West, (514)272-0667
Joe Beef, 2491 Notre Dame Ouest, (514)935-6504
Swartz’s, 3895 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, (514) 842-4813
Toque! Restaurant, 900 Jean-Paul-Riopelle Place, (514)499-2084

My last visit to Montreal was in 2004, so I’m definitely a bit out of the loop. For old times sake, I’d have to stop by Fairmount Bagel and Swartz’s because it’s been way too long and I adore places that specialize in doing one or a few things exceptionally well. Those bagels are perfect and the smoke meat platter at Swartz’s is “happy happy time” for me. PDC would be on my list because I really appreciate Martin Picard’s excessive nature and oh yeah, because he puts foie gras on everything. Joe Beef would be a must eat because I’ve heard impressive things about their approach to food and I have not been able to put down their recent cookbook. Toque! would require a visit because I haven’t dined there in ages and a tasting menu I enjoyed there “a long, long time ago,” was one of the most memorable and influential meals of my life. BTW, have I told you how much I adore Montreal?

New York City
Blue Hill at Stone Barns, 630 Bedford Road, (914)366-9600
Eataly, 200 5th Avenue, (212)229-2560
Eleven Maidson Park, 11 Madison Avenue, (212)889-0905
Empellon, 230 West 4th Street, (212)367-0999
Gray’s Papaya, 402 6th Ave, (212) 260-3532
Momofuku Ko, 163 first Ave

New York City has a special place in my heart; having lived and worked in Manhattan, I fell in love with the city’s energy and constant buzz a long time ago. Without a doubt, it is my favorite food city in the entire world. Though I haven’t been back in many years, I foresee a trip in very near future and I look forward to getting re-acquainted with the city. I wonder if “Godfather” is ready for this kind of over-the-top eating? Though Blue Hill at Stone Barns is about an hour from Manhattan, it would be a must eat, because I am so intrigued by the facility that they have created. Dan Barber and his family’s dedication to agriculture, environmentalism, education and tasty food is an ideal I strive for. Many friends have visited Eataly of late and they tell me it’s like “Disneyworld for lovers of Italian fare”, so I’d have to experience it first hand. EMP makes the list because Daniel Humm is a spectacular chef and his new cookbook is fantastic. Empellon is a must eat because Alex Stupak and I crossed paths back in the day and I’m intrigued by his divergence from the world of fine dining to pursue well-executed humble Mexican fare. I’d have to make a pit stop at Gray’s Papaya late one evening because no hot dogs anywhere in the world snap like a Gray’s Papaya dog. At 4am, after an intense night of excessive behaviour, it’s quite possibly the best thing one could ever eat. Finally, even though the odds of me getting a reso at Ko are slim, I would love to have lunch there and enjoy multiple monumental mouth-watering courses of Momofuku madness.

San Francisco
Benu, 22 Hawthorne St, (415)685-4860
Gary Danko, 800 North Point, (415)749-2060
Hog Island Oyster Company, 1 Ferry Bldg Shop 11, (415)391-7117
Roli Roti Food Truck, San Francisco Ferry Plaza Market, (510)780-0300
The Slanted Door, 1 Ferry Building #3, (415)861-8032

From a career standpoint, the “City By The Bay” is where I always thought I would end up. It’s an awesome food city and if I hadn’t met “Monk” in the bowels of the Wedgewood Hotel, Frisco would definitely been my next stop on my culinary career. So many places to eat, but Benu is a must eat because Corey Lee (Ex-French Laundry chef de cuisine) is doing some astonishing work these days, Gary Danko because he’s the man and the original reason why I was supposed to head to San Fran and The Slanted Door because I heard that Charles Phan’s modern Vietnamese cuisine is “way beyond tasty.” I’d have to have a porchetta sandwich off the Roli Roti truck because I saw it on TV and had to rewind it 5 times and Hog Island Oyster Co. because I love slurping their oysters, raw and roasted and they make wicked clam chowder. BTW, I’d probably make some time to look for a good clam chowder/sourdough bowl down by Fisherman’s Wharf too!

Toronto
Bar Chef, 472 Queen Street West, (416)868-4800
Canoe, 54th Floor, TD Bank Tower, 66 Wellington Street W, (416)364-0054
The Grove, 1214 Dundas Street West, (416)588-2299
Lai Wah Heen, 108 Chestnut Street, (416)977-9899
Sushi Kaji, 860 The Queensway, (416)252-2166

Toronto, my home town, my hood, it’s where I’m from. The truth is I haven’t really lived there since the mid 90′s, but it will always be home to me. I’m a little out of touch when it comes to the food scene there, but it would not take long to get back in the loop. I hear Bar Chef is an outstanding modern cocktail bar that would blow my doors off. I’d have to visit Canoe, because ever since I did a stage at Canoe, I’ve been a big fan of Anthony Walsh and the incomparable view from the dining room. I’d have to visit The Grove; it is a new restaurant that my friend Ben Heaton will be opening within the next few months and though I know little about the concept, I’m sure with Ben’s involvement, it will be exccellent. Lai Wah Heen is my favorite Chinese restaurant I’ve ever eaten at, so I’d love to revisit and devour some highly specialized dim sum and finally Sushi Kaji because I hear that his omakase menus are simply world-class. I’m likely going to be visiting Toronto in the next few months, so hopefully I’ll be able to take this list and “git ‘er done.”

Sounds like a whole lot of daydreaming, but hopefully, I will hit up one of these cities soon. My mouth is watering just thinking about some of this exotic fare and cannot wait for the opportunity to sample them for real. It’s so eye-opening for me to travel to a different place, be inspired by the people, their food culture and experience their local customs. But mainly, I just wanna go eat. Until then, thanks for reading, eat well and be good to each other.

Hmmm.  The biggest news for us is “Monk” gave birth to our beautiful son on October 4 and we could not be happier.  ”Lex-y” was born hairy, healthy and happy  and we now have a perfect little family of 4.  Apart from the fact that I own two late-model vehicles, which do not fit two car seats and another passenger and the fact that my garage is filled with too many strollers which are configured differently and are for different environmental conditions, life is perfect. “Jazzy” is digging her little brother and I feel very fortunate to have such an amazing family.  Even in my “middle aged-ness,” I still can’t believe that I have two kids and need to be a responsible role model to them.  You would not believe the wacky thoughts that run through my mind on a daily basis and I feel like  I could easily meet up with “The Undertaker” tonight and do some serious “drive-by suckering.”  Long story; we’ll save it for another time, but  trust me, “it wasn’t me, prove it.”  Don’t get me wrong, I live like a Supertramp song, “sensible, logical, responsible, practical,” but sometimes I just feel the need to get a little bit loco.

What other big news do I have?  Well, I recently exited Tapenade Bistro; I am no longer cooking at Tapenade and am no longer involved with the restaurant in any way.  This is Tapenade’s press release from October 31.  Tapenade Bistro Press Release

The bottom line is I will miss Tapenade a great deal.  My kitchen brigade in particular, the entire rest of the restaurant staff, the loyal guests, my hard working suppliers and the entire community of Steveston; it was like family.  I put in many years of committed, focused, hard work into

Tapenade and am sad to see our relationship end.  Since there are some unresolved issues, I will leave it at that for the moment.  Moving forward, I will be spending the immediate future hanging out with my family and will enjoy some serious “quality time” with them.  My “Parental Units” are visiting for a few weeks, so we’re spending a lot of time cooking comfort foods and eating at home.  We recently celebrated “Lex-y’s” one month birthday and we had a “shark fin-free” banquet in his honour.  Here are some photos of the delicious 12 course banquet at Yan’s Garden.

To quell some of the recent rumors, I have not accepted any position with any Vancouver restaurant.  I’m currently unemployed or as I like to wildly dream, semi-retired.  As I said, I look forward to some down time, am hoping for an epic ski season and will be doing some part-time work as a restaurant consultant, high-end private catering and possibly  teaching a few cooking classes.  I am investigating many different avenues and will be announcing exciting new projects in the near future.

What else is there to report?  Back in September, I took a quick three-day trip to Portland, Oregon.  First time there and previously only heard great things about the city.  I had heard about their amazing food culture, the fantastic food carts and the city’s dedication to the “farm to table” ideal and I wanted to eat it all.  The main purpose of the trip was to experience something different, get a fresh perspective and see what our neighbors to the south were up to.  It’s always nice to observe something new and find inspiration in an environment outside of your day-to-day.  Coincidentally, “Barjonesing” was celebrating his stag in PDX that weekend, so I was fortunate to hook up  with those “wild and crazy guys” to drink and eat our way through the city.  After hitting up 15+ restaurants in three days, I definitely got a feel for Portland’s food culture and have a list of favorites and a list of places to hit up next time.  Some of my highlights were the sipping vinegars and all things pork at Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge, Margherita pizza at Nostrana, the barrel aged Negroni at Clyde Common, the “Reggie Deluxe” at Pine State Biscuits, the perfect Pimm’s Cup at the Teardrop Lounge, the amazing charcuterie at Little Bird and Olympic Provisions; the list runs deep!

What else do I have for you?  Towards the end of my tenure at Tapenade, me and my boys were working on a new project called “The Burger.”  In all my years, I’ve never had a burger on the menu.  I love a great burger and I don’t use the word love lightly.  I only served a burger once a year and every year for Canada Day, I would serve my “Once a Year Burger.”  Well, I went on a Lower Mainland burger search, had a hard time finding a burger I really loved, so I decided to do my own burger, purely because I wanted access to a great burger at any given time.  After much research and development, I decided on a 70z house  ground short rib/chuck patty, cooked sous vide to medium, aged cheddar “Cheez Whiz”, a soft sesame seed bun, my “Secret Sauce”, compressed vine ripened tomato and crispy prosciutto.    I got to tell you, it was a really tasty burger and when the “lily was gilded” with 30z of seared foie gras, “The Burger Royale” was something special.  One day soon, I’m pretty sure I will be offering up “The Burger” on a menu near you and hopefully you’ll like it as much as I do.

Well that’s it for now.  I hope to be blogging more in the next while and I look forward to some tasty and new food experiences.  Until then, word to the wise, greed is not good and let’s get tasty.  Peace.

Have you ever had live BC spot prawns?  When I first arrived in BC in 2002, I barely heard of them and only ate them raw in high-end Japanese restaurants.  Well let me tell you, they are fantastic and are only available live for about two month of the year.  You can  enjoy them frozen year round, but nothing compares to the purity of a live spot prawn.  There’s about two weeks left in this year’s spot prawn season, so maybe I can get some of you excited about them and convince you to go try them out.  Spot prawns are known for their sweet, delicate, clean flavor and have a very pleasing, firm texture.  They are recognized by the white spots on their tail and are reddish-brown in color.  Interesting fact, spot prawns are hermaphrodites; for the first two years of their lives they are male and then change to females for the duration of their lives.  I was going to make a joke about “Momo” here , but that would be too easy.  Sorry, back to the spot prawn.  They typically live for four years and all mature prawns have the ability to spawn.  BC spot prawns are Ocean Wise and come from an exceptionally well managed and sustainable fishery.  A local, seasonal, delectable, sustainable delicacy; what more could you ask for?

Spot prawn season kicks off with the Chefs Table Society Spot Prawn Festival down at Granville Island.  2011 was their fifth year; every year it keeps on growing and they do an amazing job promoting these amazing prawns.  Seven years ago, no one really knew about spot prawns and the bulk of them were being exported to the Japanese market.  Though the festival is on a Saturday every year, I usually get my first delivery of spot prawns on Thursday or Friday.  I always anticipate my first spot prawns of the season and regardless of what we are doing, when they arrive in the Tapenade kitchen, we all stop our mise en place and enjoy a few of them raw immediately.  We’re a bunch of “food nerds” at heart and always smile and discuss their spot “prawn awesomeness” for the next while and figure out how we’re going to feature them.  The highlight of the 2011 spot prawn season was when the boys from Organic Ocean took me and some of my boys from the Tapenade kitchen brigade out spot prawn fishing.  It’s a big deal for us to see where our ingredients come from and to see the work required to provide us with these perfect specimens.  On our Monday off, “Great Wall”, “Momo” and I got up early and met down at Granville Island and  what a great morning we had out at sea.   No rain, beautiful prawns, awesome fishing stories, I didn’t get sea-sick and a tasty lunch on the water.  Thanks again to Frankie and Steve of Organic Ocean and check out these photos of our spot prawn adventure.

Some more spot prawn action.  Through out the spot prawn season, we get a fair bit of media coverage about how we serve them at Tapenade and their sustainability back story.  I’m more than pleased to tell the tale of the spot prawn; a recent highlight was when we had a group of Seattle food bloggers visit us and this is what Ronald Holden of cornichon.org had to say about it.  http://www.cornichon.org/2011/06/spot-that-prawn.html

Also, a couple of weeks back, Chris Stanley of the Richmond Reel came by Tapenade and shot this short video about how we serve spot prawns at the Tapenade.  It was a sunny, fun afternoon of tasty spot prawns, good wine and a couple of cameras.

Listen to me, go try some spot prawns!  The season is almost over and you won’t get another chance till May of 2012.  Go visit Frankie and Steve down at the Granville Island Fisherman’s Wharf and pick up some live prawns to cook at home or come by Tapenade Bistro where I will be featuring them until the end of the season.   Spot prawns are awesome and you really need to go experience them.  Now, if only I could get people this excited about our upcoming sardine season.

Like my hairdo?

It wasn’t until I moved to Vancouver and met “Monk” did I start really understanding and appreciating Vietnamese cuisine to its full extent. “Monk’s” family is of Chinese descent, but have lived in Vietnam for a few generations.  “Nuoc Mom” and “all her offspring” were born in the homeland, except for “Monk” who was born in Newfoundland.  Wow, talk about a wild mix “Monk” is, she’s a newfie, Viet-Chinois; she’s like a bottle of Schreech, infused with lemongrass, fish sauce, ginger and soy sauce, a potent salty melange, a mixologist’s nightmare.  I better ease up making fun of her, I do have to live with her and her tolerance for my ethnically charged humor is minimal.  Sorry honey. Well over the years, she’s be exposing me to the intricacies of Vietnamese food and I’ve really started to grow fond of it. In fact, I now appreciate and crave certain elements of the cuisine.  In 2007, we toured Vietnam, backpacked our way north to south and “had a trip of  a lifetime.” Eating vibrant street food, while crouched on little plastic chairs, in the back alleys of Hanoi was game-changing.  The live soft shell crabs and the swimming fish in Saigon were epic.  The flavors and textures I encountered during that trip left an indelible impression on my culinary outlook.  Our varied food experiences were very eye-opening and I now consider myself “open-minded” toward Vietnamese cuisine.

Here in Vancouver, we eat at Vietnamese restaurants relatively frequently.  What’s more satisfying than a hot, tasty bowl of pho on a rainy Vancouver day?  I continually ask the “out-laws”, friends and acquaintances where the best Vietnamese restaurants are and have yet to find a clear winner.  Though I personally have pinpointed a few weaknesses in the overall cuisine, I enjoy it for what it is and love many different dishes.  A few months back, we were running some errands up by Coquitlam Center, noticed that a Vietnamese restaurant has sprung up, where there was previously a sketchy Japanese joint and we thought we’d give it a try.  Pho Phu Thinh [1175 Johnson St, Coquitlam, (604) 468-8686] is located in a strip mall behind Coquitlam Center and you’d probably miss it unless you were looking for it or you accidently turned into this strip of shops/restaurants.  Over the past few months, we’ve eaten there a half-dozen times; the food is tasty and consistent and the service is quick and friendly.  What more can one ask for?

Over the past few months, between “Monk” and I, we’ve sampled quite a few of the dishes on the menu. I still tend to be fairly boring when it comes to ordering in Vietnamese restaurants.  Monk is much more adventurous, but her tastes and mine are significantly different.  Of the dishes we’ve eaten at Pho Phu Thinh (PPT), I found the spring rolls (cha gio) consistently good, always fresh and crispy and not too greasy.  The salad rolls (goi cuon) were fair, though I much prefer the ones we roll at home.  I did like the dipping sauce, which often tends to be “a little sickly sweet”, but theirs had a nice amount of savoriness.  The fried chicken wings were tasty, but definitely not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination.  Well seasoned, hot and cooked nicely.  Most recently, “Monk” and I shared a banh mi with grilled pork; I’ve blogged about banh mi before and could go on for hours about the perfect Viet-sammy; let’s just say this one was fresh, nicely toasted and a good balance of all the ingredients.  Banh mi is not their specialty, but it was fairly good.  We’ve also tried assorted rice and noodle dishes, which all were very good and they all fell completely within our expectations.

“For our purposes”, the two dishes I will focus on is the pho dac biet and the bun bo hue.  Pho dac biet is my staple go to dish at most Vietnamese restaurants.  It translates to special pho and is usually their finest pho offering.  To me it’s a bowl of noodles with hot flavorful broth and assorted meats including sliced rare beef, well cooked flank, fatty flank, tendon, tripe and beef balls.  This bowl of noodles is also accompanied by a plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, chilis and citrus.  The combination of the hot ingredients, with the fresh ingredients, the amazing textures, the contrast in temperatures and the overall warmth of the dish, makes this a classic to me.  PPT’s version is “spot on” in my opinion.  I’ve had it on three different occasions and it’s been the same every time.  In my opinion, consistency is the cornerstone of a successful restaurant and I appreciate it so much more than creativity and other “bally-hoo.”  ”Monk” complains that the pho dac biet is too meaty, but since I’m a “meaty kind a guy”, it’s right up my alley.  So if pho is classic and clean, bun bo hue (bbh) is a pho’s angry step brother.  I have no idea whatI’m trying to say, but I’ll just leave it at that.  Bbh is a lightly spicy noodle soup traditionally served with beef shank, pig’s feet, blood cake and pork balls.  Yes it’s noodle soup, but different noodles, different broth and different meats.  Over the year’s, I’ve been fortunate to have some exceptional versions of this dish.  Once, prepared by “Hair By Lena” here in Vancouver, an all day labor of love and the second time was in Hue, at a restaurant aptly named Bun Bo Hue.  Both of these versions were amazing and I now compare all others to these.  The one at PPT is good; it doesn’t have the exotic ingredients (pig’s feet, blood cake) that I truly love, but the flavors and the balance of all the ingredients make it very enjoyable.  At PPT, their version includes well done flank, beef shank, pork ham and chicken meatballs.  The flavor of the broth is very nice, not overwhelmingly spicy and again was perfectly consistent the two times I’ve had it.

Issues and concerns; I don’t really have any.  The service is always extremely friendly and on our last visit, I noticed the good amount of regular patrons they’ve already amassed.  They’ve only been in business since November and I feel it’s my personal obligation to support small independently owned restaurants.  When the food is good and the service is efficient and friendly,  it’s makes that task so much easier.  The food is consistently good, above and beyond that, the location is relatively convenient for us.  So, give PPT a try; it might not be the best Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver, but it’s certainly becoming my favorite.

On my chef’s night out scale, Pho Piu Thinh receives 3.5/5 SOB(slices of bacon).