Tasting Journey #16 - Jethro's Fine Grub

Jethro's Fine Grub
3420 Dunbar Street
604-569-3441
www.jethrosfinegrub.com


Finally, after 2 attempts of dining at Jethro's Fine Grub for brunch, we finally got a table after an entire hour of waiting in line. Last week, we arrived at noon and was shocked at the crazy line up, so this week, we thought we'd better be an early bird stay away from the crazy line up.  To our surprise, the line was just as long at 9:30am.  There was a time where I loved watching the "Diner's Drive In and Dives" on the Food Network.  This is an American show where they go around to different parts of the country to introduce some excellent diners.  For one of the episode, they decided to head North to Vancouver.  Jethro's was the restaurant that they recommended trying out.  Seeing that it is a short 3min drive from my house, I had the name of the restaurant imprinted in my brain as a "must-try" place, perfectly in line with my goal for this year.

After an hour of waiting in the bone-chill cold windy cold weather, we finally got in.  While we waited, we peered yearningly through the window (somewhere down inside, I thought to myself that maybe if I stared at the guests eat, I'd telepathically make them gobble faster and leave, ha).  Jethro's got 8 tables, and probably seats a maximum of 25 people. I would say that the average table turnover rate is maybe every 30min.  As expected, every table had ordered some sort of pancake.  The portions are enormous, in a size easily made for giants.  As soon as we sat down, it was all business - order, eat, leave. 

We had ordered a "Gold Rush" pancake-caramel, pecan and streusel folded in a banana flavoured pancake, and a "La Nina"-corn cake benedict with chili & poached egg with drizzles of Hollandaise sauce.  The pancake was awesome (note the size...I had purposely included the mug in the photo to give you a visual perspective of what I mean by huge)! Fluffy, full of flavour, and rich in taste and texture.  Though amazing, we were only able to eat 3/8th of the pancake.  The La Nina on the other hand, wasn't as good as expected. It looked delicious, but the cornbread was very flaky and the Hollandaise sauce was slightly too blend to well-compliment the poached eggs. It was a weak dish.  I would have liked to try their sandwiches (or even the pull pork as recommended in the show), but with just the two of us, two dishes is already way too much to consume.

Is it worth the one hour wait? well, maybe for the first time.  Would I go again? Maybe...but I'll seriously consider either 1) calling to put my name on the wait list first so that I don't have to spend an hour waiting in line, or 2) order take outs although it probably won't taste as good.  If this many people are willing to wait in line at 9am on a weekend, then Jethro's gotta be doing something that's extraordinarily good right?

Tasting Journey #15 - Guu Garden

Guu Garden
M101-888 Nelson St.
Vancouver, BC
604-899-0855
http://www.guu-izakaya.com/garden/


Guu has been around for many years. I remember this was one of the first izakaya places that has opened up in Vancouver since the beginning of the Japanese cuisine invasion.  Did you know that there is currently a total of 5 Guu's in the GVA (with 4 of them in downtown)?
Though I've been to Guu back in my highschool days, I am still counting this as one of my 25 restaurant goal since technically speaking, it is my first time visiting the Guu Garden.

Unlike the Guu on Robson, Guu Garden is well-hidden, and located on the 2nd floor of a plaza on Nelson. The building is an interesting one; The structure of this building looks more like a 2-stories open roof parkade.  Guu Garden is the only restaurant located on the 2nd floor, with large panels of windows that overlooks the wide open space.  There are trees planted outside the restaurant, and I can just imagine how relaxing it would be sitting outside during the warm summer weather, as if we are in the garden of Edens.

Menu selection was similar to the other Guu's. Black ink on white laminated paper.  As I have previously visited Guu in the past, I knew that the quality of food would be quite decent, and that the portion would be quite "delicate".  So to fill us comfortably, we had ordered a total of six dishes.  Fried calamari drizzled with a vinaigrette dressing that well-balanced the deep fry; The broth in the spicy miso hotpot with pork & bean sprout was excellent; Black cod was tasty though I did not like the mayo dressing (Aldin said that the fish would've tasted better if warmer); yaki-udon with beef; beef shortrib with sprinkles of fried garlic;  and finally the pork gristle dish that Zofia didn't want to order yet Aldin insisted on trying.  I did not know what a gristle was until this night...According to the dictionary, gristle = cartilage...I was expecting it to be like tendon, but it by no means did not taste like cartilage nor tendon, but rather simply - fat.  I'd have to side with Zofia that eating a slab of fat is quite unappetizing.  All I can say is that the broth was good (though the spicy miso was better), and that I've tried it, check. 

The food was great, but it was as expected, as Guu has always presented quality food.  Of course, it is also reflected in the pricing since the 3 of us ended up paying $60 + tips for the dishes and unwilling to admit, my stomach growled around 11pm that night.  Of the Guu's I've been to, I'd probably rank Guu Garden my top Guu choice - for the atmosphere, and for the spaciousness of the restaurant.  However, if you are looking for a true izakaya experience,  then it would have to be Guu Garlic though keep in mind that it is always packed with people, and with tables almost lined up against each other).

Tasting Journey #14 - Primo's Mexican Grill

Primo's Mexican Grill
4509 W. 12th Ave.
Vancouver, BC
604-736-9322
http://www.primoson12th.com/


Located in the Vancouver westside, and on the corner of West 12th & Granville Street, I read that Primo's is a locals favourite.  I've gone by this place many times, but never had I noticed that there is a Mexican restaurant at that intersection.  It just happened that the other day, I was checking out the deals on Groupon, and Primo's offered a $15 for $30 worth of food.  Since it is close to where I live, and since I really need to work harder on completing my restaurant goal, I - without hesitation - clicked Buy.  I knew that I had half a year to find someone to go try it out with me.

The restaurant, from the outside, looked more like a high-end steak house to me.  No typical Mexican red & green colours on the exterior wall, no fancy cactus deco, and no sombrero hat mascot indicating that this is a Mexican restaurant.  From the inside, the restaurant was dimly lit, and was only 2/3rd full (maybe because it was Sunday night?).  No endless pages of menu selection which made it easy to choose from.  Prices were in the range of $20 +/-, more on the higher-priced end for Mexican maybe? 

Similar to most of the Mexican restaurants I've been to, we were served a basket of tortillas as soon as we sat down.  I wasn't super hungry so we ended up ordering 2 tapas and 1 main entree to share.  Deep fried jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese, Jumbo prawns sauteed in spicy garlic butter, and a very basic chicken fajita.  The jalapeno was a good appetizer to start (but only tasted good while it remained warm), and the basic chicken fajita was nothing but ordinary.   The jumbo prawns were by far my favourite for the night.  The prawns sat in a pool of garlic butter with chili peppers.  I loved the extreme garlic-ness of the dish, and the spiciness of the chili peppers.  The dish came with a thick slice of french bread which I easily gobbled up by dipping it in the garlic butter.  To top it off (and to wash down the spiciness), we ordered a pint of Cerveza (beer in Spanish).  Perfect blend for the dinner. 

It is a restaurant worth trying out...even better with the Groupon discount.  Without it, we would be looking at a $55 dinner 2 people.

Tasting Journey #13 - Seto Japanese Restaurant

Seto Japanese Restaurant
155-8460 Alexandra Rd., 
Richmond, B.C. Canada
Phone: 604-231-9493
http://setosushi.ca/ 

Just realized that I forgot to log this restaurant...
Stopped by Seto for dinner earlier last month because a friend of mine, Allen Lin, was in town.  I knew Allen briefly during my time at Nike.  He held a temp job in the CE lab one summer while I was working there. Considering that he was easy-going, and was nice to work with,it only made sense that I played host and spend an afternoon with him.  He was in town for some really random reason; he was in Seattle studying and decided to cross the boarder to renew his visa.  Unexpected, his US visa was revoked when he tried to return to US, and was therefore, "stuck" in Canada.  He hadn't brought along any luggage or change of clothes as he originally planned it to be a day trip.  He is now money-less, friend-less, luggage-less in a foreign country.  What was supposed to be a day-excursion turned into 2-months vacation...

Anyways, so we ended up having dinner at Seto.  Seto reminded me of Daimasu, a long-time favourite go-to place for sushi.  I've had lots of experience with eating Japanese food.  Though I can't say I am an expert, but having opted for Japanese food 90% of the time I eat out, and having lived in Japan for 8 months (not to mention at least 5+ times of visiting Japan), I can tell whether the food is at least, at minimal, up to Vancouver standard. The food was well prepared, and what I thought stood out for me was the wasabi salt (instead of the regular salt 'n pepper) that they had - it really spiced up all the dishes well!  It blended really well with almost every dish, from the agedashi tofu, to the tonkatsu... I need to get my hands on a bottle of this, and I'll be the happiest person on earth! :)

Tasting Journey #12 - Crave on Main

Crave on Main
3941 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
604-872-3663
http://www.craveonmain.com/index.php

Another great dinner with an awesome friend whom I've known for 20 years. Wow.  It always puts me in awe whenever I think about how long we've known each other.  Not because it reveals our age, but on how our friendship never fails to last.  We've been friends since gr. 8, and since university, we've been going our separate ways, having our own circle of friends, and living in different cities.  I guess true friends don't need to connect everyday;  There are friends that you hang out with, and then there are friends that you connect with.  These are two completely different things.

This is the second time that I've met up with Judy since she's been in town.  We talked about work, talked about Lucas (Judy's baby boy), talked about food...all just random chit chats.  There's no need to think about what better to say, and what better not to say.  Our friendship is built on a simple, straight-forward bond.

So back to our topic on food... We were originally planning on going to the Grub on Main only to find out that all tables have been reserved for the night.  So to Judy's suggestion, we decided to head over to the Crave, located only 4 blocks north of the Grub.  Judy recommended the Crave for its beautiful garden located at the back of the restaurant.  Apparently, you'll have the option to have dinner in the garden during the summer time when the weather is warm, and the day is long.  It must be really lovely to have dinner in the garden...just imagine yourself a royal descendant enjoying afternoon tea in a garden full of beautiful flowers and green grass.  hm...^^ Well, back to reality - Since we are still in the season of winter (I hope it leaves soon), and that the weather was dark, wet and cold today, we had dinner inside.

The restaurant size is not huge...probably sits 30 people comfortably, and is around the same size as La Buca.  We had arrived the restaurant around 6pm, and all but two tables were full.  Most of the guests are already well into their entree.  I wonder why such early dinner?  We ordered 3 dishes to share: ahi tuna tempura roll, organic beef crave burger, and a shorty rigatoni.  The portions, to our surprise, were quite large.  Ahi tuna tempura roll was really well made. A large cube of tuna wrapped in a sushi roll, then deep fried.  The roll was crunchy and full of flavours.  Excellent.   The burger was juicy, and patty was wonderfully grilled.  Maybe the organic beef made a difference?  As for the shorty rigatoni, we both thought it was a meat dish (since we are both meat lovers), but it turned out to be a pasta dish with beef stew.  Still very well made, and delicious.  I would say that my tastes buds were happily satisfied this evening.

All 'n all, the experience was great.  I do look forward to revisiting the Crave during the summer time...just imagine....Cecilia relaxing in the garden, sipping wine, enjoying the summer breeze, birds chirping... happy thoughts... :)

Tasting Journey #11 - The Templeton Restaurant

The Templeton Restaurant
1087 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC
604-685-4612
http://thetempleton.ca/

Classic old-school diner, similar to Celine Dion's Nickel's, or Denny's.
Like any other diner, the interior was comprised of red, white and black...and of course, to top it off, the classic juke box.  Cute.  There were a total of maybe 8 tables, all taken, but no line-ups.  Menu selections included items like burgers, fries, fish 'n chips, milk shakes and some brunch stuff.

I wasn't feeling too hungry, so I only ordered their soup of the day (Parsnip Barley).  Zofia was starving (she had completed 14 miles of running AND a yoga class) so she ordered milk shake and a burger.  The soup came with 2 pieces of toast, covered in balsamic vinegar & olive oil; Quite fancy for a diner bread.  Thumbs up.  As expected, the portion was huge, and the taste was great diner-quality food.

Overall, great place for cheap and quick eats but not an ideal place to chill and lounge on a weekend.  We were headed off to a movie screening so it didn't really matter for us.  Would I recommend this place? Nah, I'd probably just go to White Spot or Denny's.

Tasting Journey #10 - Bella Vita

Ciao Bella Vita
703 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
604-688-5771
www.ciaobellavancouver.ca

We were originally planning on going to The Tea House @ Stanley Park for Dine out today.  We had booked it 2 weeks ago, but right before we made our way to the restaurant, I decided to go online to check the menu. It was then I noticed the fine print on the bottom of the page that Dine Out Lunch is not available on weekends.  Hm... I had said that I wanted to make a reservation for Dine Out, and they had accepted it... Hm... so I called to reconfirm, and needless to say, they don't offer Dine Out menus on Sunday.  We had to find another place quick.  This was when we decided to go try out Ciao Bella Vita, and it was definitely a pleasant find!

Ciao Bella Vita's Dine Out Lunch menu is the same as their dinner menu, with the only different - price.  If dining for lunch, it was $20. If dining for dinner, it was $28.  Perfect.

This Italian restaurant is located near the busy corner of Denman & Georgia.  Though I've driven past it everyday for almost a year (when I was working in N. Van), I have never noticed the restaurant.  It was very low profile in terms of attracting wandering guests, well distracted by the vast bike rental shops in the neighbourhood.

Food was very generous in portion, and well-prepared.   The basa was juicy, and the pickled olives & capers complimented the dish.  The veal was tender and extremely flavourful.  Tiramisu was light, fluffy and not-too-sweet.  The sorbet was quite interesting in the fact that it is coconut flavoured, and I felt that it was more like an "ice-cream", and not the typical light taste of sorbet we would expect. Interesting.

We fully enjoyed the meal. It was still too early in the day to start drinking, else the meal would have been even more perfect if complimented with some wine.  One of us originally had wanted the chocolate mousse cake, but only to find out that they were out.  If I must critique, It would be that it was quite disappointing to see the item on the menu, and not available to try.

   

Did I mention that Ciao Bella Vita is a piano bar?  It has live piano performances every Wed-Sun nights.  I would definitely love to visit this place again at night!

Tasting Journey #9 - Ap Gu Jung

Ap Gu Jung
1642 RobsonSt.
Vancouver, BC
604-681-8252
www.apgujungrestaurant.ca


Restaurant recommended by food addict - Carol,  Ap Gu Jung offered western-style setting but Korean-style cuisine. 

Seeing that the restaurant is packed with people by 6pm, the restaurant, it has got to be authentic.  Unlike most of the other Korean restaurants I've tried, Ap Gu Jung offered 6+ pages of selections to choose from.  Since it was Zofia's first time trying Korean, we had to order some of what I think represents Korean dishes: Kimchi Rice Cake, and Seafood Pancake.  To be safe, we also ordered chicken on skewers.  Of course, there's also the complimentary and unlimited side dishes that is like an added bonus to the meal.

The portions at Ap Gu Jung were all quite large.  Unlike my all-time-favourite Korean restaurant, Jang Mo Jib, I find that Ap Gu Jung's dishes were much more intense in flavouring.  Could be a good or bad thing, I feel.  The dishes were all served in generous portions of thick sauce.  According to my cousin, real authentic Korean dishes ARE supposed to be like this;  Chicken skewers splattered with BBQ sauce; Rice cake fully immersed in extreme spiciness and sweetness.  I very well enjoyed the first bite of every dish, as it always burst rich taste and texture.  However, as we worked our way through the dishes, I quickly get "sauced-out" by the added flavouring.  To me, these dishes are not "team players" - they do well alone, but when combined, not so great.  For example, a great choir is a team consisting of singers that well-compliments each other.  When every sound is at its loudest, it then becomes noise, and not harmony.  Maybe this is just a Vancourite depiction Korean food.  Maybe an excellent Korean meal actually consists of all bold dishes.  Maybe this is why the 20+ year old Jang Mo Jib is so popular amongst the locals.  Maybe.

Tasting Journey #8 - Burgoo

Burgoo
2272 W.4th Ave. (& various locations)
604-873-1441
www.burgoo.ca

A restaurant that offered comfort food in a comfortable atmosphere.  I've heard good reviews on Burgoo, so when I was offered the invitation to dine at Burgoo prior to our movie night, I immediately said yes.  The atmosphere was lovely, and the service was friendly.  We were on a time schedule (less than an hour for food since we had a movie to catch), and the waitress was very helpful in pushing our orders through.  We ordered, we ate, and we left.  We made it to the movie on time.  No reason why we should not offer a generous tip.
The restaurant was dimly lit, perfect for a cozy, relaxing night with friends. 

Food was not as enticing as I had expected.  Kentucky Burgoo, a stew with beans tomatoes, okra and biscuits, was what I had ordered, based on recommendation from the waitress.  The stew was very thick, thicker than spaghetti meatball sauce, and thicker than the fillings you would see in a meatball pie.  It wasn't unpleasant; just different.  I also liked the option of being able to choose either biscuit or mash potato as the base of the stew.  Biscuit presented a lighter option whereas I think I would have been really full if I had gone with the potato option.  Okra also went really well with the tomato base.  Slightly crunchy still, and gave a smooth texture to the sour tomato, and chunky texture of the meat. 

Not a big fan of stew (since I don't like "mushy" textures), but I guess it ain't all that bad.  Would I come back again?  The food selection doesn't appeal to me, but the atmosphere does.  Maybe I'll try a sandwich next time?

Cost: $20 for a bowl of decently sized stew.