Home-cooking Chinese meal

I really wanted to share the very homestyle-tasting bamboo shoots and mushrooms dish I learned to make recently. It was so successful that now I need to be sure to have some bamboo shoots in my pantry to make this dish in a pinch. I was a little heavy-handed with the sauce. And I knew it wasn’t very real-vegetable heavy so I tossed together a “fusion” sautee with two types of zucchini (NPY’s favourite) in hoisin sauce and lemon with cute button mushrooms. And for a fruit dessert, I’ve discovered Cara Cara oranges (a cross between orange grapefruit) and strawberries.

Spam & Egg “Mc”Muffin Meal

Ever since making the Spam and egg breakfast sandwich a month or two back, I really wanted to share it with NPY and looked forward to his arrival. I shopped for hashbrowns and picked up Milo for a really hearty meal. It was all fun to prepare because I have a Cuisinart grill on which I can make the whole spread at once.

This meal really held me for a while!

NPY’s Request: Mac ‘n’ Cheese

NPY made a request and I wanted to fulfill it: to have some homemade mac ‘n’ cheese. I pinned a Lunch at Six Point Beer Mac and Cheese recipe and followed it except it was very flexible. Chose the beer (sweet Innis & Gunn), pasta (cavatappi which we love from cavatappi Alfredo at Cactus Club), cheese (Asiago, provolone, and Bremmer), and instead of bread crumbs, I crumbled some of the sour cream and onion Popchips we have around. I will eat potato chips if it is part of a meal.

Since the pasta dish was not so veggie at all, I threw together a soy sautee of asparagus, zucchini, and tomatoes. Because when the kitchen is nice, cooking is easy… almost fun.

Thompson Diner

After the Yonge Street 10K and we stopped moving, we were cold! It was only about 6 degrees. In addition to the streetcars on Queens Quay being messed up due to construction, the additional load from runners and spectators meant it didn’t look like we’d get on a bus soon so we started walking and Bathurst looked viable for brunch.

The wait for a table felt long. We ordered and the wait was long… for everything. I had barely formed an idea from the menu what to order when Lil Sis pointed out the Brunch burger that had fried egg topping a burger that is on a donut! Both Lil Sis and NPY had eggs Benedict and I shared with them part of my burger and fries so it wasn’t so bad for me after all. ;)

Real Sports Bar & Grill

I walk by Real Sports all of the time and more recently I learned it had been voted in 2010 by ESPN as Best Sports Bar in North America. Not shabby! There is a two-story television screen surrounded by medium screens on the left and right and smaller screens line the bottom edge. We got a good seat along the back row of tables (even better would have been a booth but it was just the two of us) and overhead, a second level dining room gets a bird’s eye view of the big space. We were there to watch the all-important game 5 between Canucks and LA Kings with the Canucks fighting to stave off elimination from the play-offs. My reservation was half an hour before the game started and we watched as the place filled up and I was delighted that the big screen switched from the Raptors game to the Canucks game at 8 p.m.

NPY ordered a predictable beer while I tried The Winner. I couldn’t get away from the name! I has a mixture of vodka, Red Bull, Gatorade and OJ. When I told Lil Sis about it, she made a face. But it looked like an innocent tall glass of orange juice and it provided me with a buzz and energy. We ordered a pound of wings dipped in a winning sauce of maple bacon mustard. The wings (about 7 of them) were meaty and delicious. I loved dragging it through the tzatziki.

Ten-Ichi Japanese Cuisine

Since our last visit in late January, Ten-Ichi moved to a different unit in the same plaza and renovated so NPY was treated to a modern-looking restaurant. Just like last time, we waited for about 20 minutes and I had made a reservation! I was eager to show NPY our favourite dishes and in the second round, he confidently took control and made an order in order to fill in his gaps. I raved about their hand rolls – crispy nori sheets used each time – and after NPY had his first hand roll (a salmon one), he ordered two more unagi ones! We had a lot of fun and ordered a bevy of desserts. I didn’t take many pictures since we have been there twice before.

Destiny Tea House [yelp.ca]

There’s an amazing little “plaza” at Highway 7 and the 404 with all the Big Box Restaurants you would want to hit up for a while: The Keg, Marlowe, Alice Fazooli’s, The Melting Pot (new!), Jack Astor’s… and Destiny. NPY was impressed by the size of the place and wondered if it gets filled. It might suffer during the dinner rush but I have the feeling it’s really busy and hopping in the late hours and after clubs close (if they are still open). Service is just as you expect in a Taiwanese shop (less than non-existent, worse than at other Chinese restaurants). It was cold while NPY visited and additionally it was a rainy day so we warmed up before dinner with warm milk teas.

Bannock

Bannock is one of those new iconic restaurants in Toronto that I’ve actually wanted to try. I’m getting older, or the scene isn’t so exciting, or I usually have no one to go with, but I don’t have great hankering to try much around here… except Bannock. “Canadian Comfort Food” is its tagline and I made sure we got comfort food for at least one of our dishes. I would have liked mac ‘n’ cheese but I thought I saw one served and it looked puny and I was making my own later in the week.

So we went with a shrimpwich that was just okay and as a cold sandwich, not so comforting. But it was light and the bread was buttery. NPY’s Arcadian chicken pot pie was a success with generous and big pieces of tender chicken and the mashed potatoes were creamy with a fragrant gravy that was strongly chicken.

Prairie Girl Bakery

I wish there was more choice but since there isn’t, it seems that Prairie Girl has the cupcake market in downtown Toronto cornered. My closest location is in the PATH and at lunch time the queue to order/pick up cupcake orders is long and dominates the hallway. I was successful getting the the flavours I wanted when I went down around ten in the morning, my strategy from now on as I might indulge and get these cupcakes, oh, once a month.

We enjoyed the chocolate cake with strawberry icing over lunch and the cake was divinely moist and the icing so fluffy. We saved the cafe au lait chocolate cake (the day/week’s special) for dessert in the evening but by then the chocolate cake was getting chewy and the icing was more solid. Still intensely flavourful.

Spice Route

When I asked V for a suggestion where we could all meet up, she suggested Spice Route. We’ve wanted to check it out when it turns into a lounge later on but it was also a cool place to have dinner… but the reviews are not so great. We all go in wary because it’s an Asian fusion place and we have high standards for that stuff.

The dining room is really dark so my photos are so grainy! We would have ordered separate dishes as it was most convenient and we have different tastes and waved away when the waitress asked if we had dined there before and explained it was “family style”. But something about how it the food was plated and we switched over to family style and shared all the food. Mongolian beef that was spicy and tenderized slices of beef. Teriyaki beef with cabbage-wrapped steamed rice was well done. Soy miso cod was good but not plentiful and came on a bed of Shanghai noodles. Seared yellowfin tuna was alright.

Mill St. Brewpub

After poking into every corner of the Distillery District, we walked into the most lively spot, Mill St. Brewpub. The New York Rangers-Washington Capitals game was on one of the screens and NPY could point his bar stool towards it. He got an organic ale from the microbrewery while I pored over the beer flights and got a G&T instead. NPY surprised me, ordering a pulled short rib poutine. Nice to nibble on and just as we were finished it, all the screens were changed to the Blue Jays-Mariners game. Time to leave!

Tofu Village [yelp.ca]

A trip to Toronto is not complete without a Korean meal! Given my homebase is downtown, we went to Korea Town at Bloor & Christie. But which restaurant of the tens to patronize?? I’ve been to the North York version of three of the top four Korean restaurants in the Annex: Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu, Owl of Minerva, and Joons Korean Cuisine. We walked by Imonay and Tofu Village, both of which have 100% ratings on Urbanspoon with 24 and 16 votes, respectively. NPY liked the look of Tofu Village better so we ended up there. After a wait, we were seated in a packed dining room.

I hate to point it out but I was jarred and then a little worried because my usual barometer to read how good a place can be had to be re-calibrated. In North York, all of the customers are Asian. It’s the nature of the neighbourhood and proximity to Richmond Hill and Markham. I like the flaked firm tofu that came with our banchan and each time I see the bean sprouts dish, I am reminded of how I want to figure out how to make it. I ordered the oyster soon tofu (tofu soup) “medium” on a scale including plain, mild, medium and spicy. We were a little full from the day but tofu soup will open up my appetite.

Cottage cheese is one of those things I feel like I “should like” and have not given a decent try. I haven’t procured for myself a great amount of it before but have tried it at a breakfast/salad bar with the fruit that was sitting next to it as mixings. Perhaps I did not also take enough of the syrup the fruit was dunked in and as a result I did not like it. Perhaps just fruit+cottage cheese just won’t float my boat. Perhaps I was young and not prepared for the taste and texture.

A 500-gram tub of cottage will not be a huge quality but I can try a few things and here are the recipes that use just pantry staples to figure out how on earth I like my cottage cheese:

• Warmed with apples: bite-sized apple chunks, cinnamon, cottage cheese, nuke it [source]
• Chocolate: sugar, cocoa, vanilla extract “tastes like chocolate cheesecake” [source]
• Black pepper, EVOO, salt, boiled egg: Nordica posted on FB inviting comments on how to prepare cottage cheese for a quick snack and this theme kept coming up [source]
• Pineapple and cottage cheese: recently, The Food List Challenge has been going around on Facebook and I laughed when I saw on the list pineapple+cottage cheese and I couldn’t check it off!

Other than despising the apple and cinnamon recipe, I enjoyed the other three which covers both sweet and savoury ways to enjoy cottage cheese.

• Instead of butter on the outside, spread mayonnaise like Miracle Whip (or Kewpie that I have??) on the surface
• Grilled Caprese: sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, EVOO
• Grilled Chipeeze: potato chips in the sandwich (although I’ve strictly banned potato chips from my diet, they are allowed if it forms part of a meal)
• Grilled Brie with Nutella
• Grilled Kimcheeze
• Crisp Grilled Cheese: grill in a thin layer of Parmesan cheese so the outside is crispy like a cheese cracker
• Grilled cheese eggsplosion: prepare a grilled cheese sandwich first then use it to make egg in a hole!

These are not ingredients I normally keep around so it might take a while. Oh, but there will be photographs.

Now, because I am so inclined, here is a parade of photos from my Flickr stream of grilled cheese sandwiches from my past!

When I bought chicken quarters and ingredients like cloves and star anise earlier in the week to finally make Hainanese chicken curry, I thought I would just be cooking for myself. The logical day to cook fell on today, Good Friday, when everything around my apartment is closed. But ,um visited Toronto for 48 hours and she and Lil Sis stayed over last night. Just before coming home last night after a Ching Ming dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in North York with three uncles, we dashed into T&T in their last 10 minutes of business and racked up $50 of groceries. That’s a lot!

Good Friday was a comedic day. We got up at 7 on very little sleep since I’m pretty excitable with so many guests and I didn’t get to see mum much this trip. Brought mum off at the airport where the three of us enjoyed a Starbucks together (a total rarity) and returned to the apartment to fell asleep until 4 in the afternoon! It was then time to start making dinner, well, starting at 6pm.

Preparing everything so it was mise en place and ready took 75 minutes! Then it took another 45 minutes to actually cook. It’s a bit of a joy cooking in my fancy big kitchen but I still don’t like cooking. People hear about what I make and assume I like cooking. I don’t. I like having control over what I eat. I like being self-reliant. But when I’m preparing food, I hardly feel joy. I don’t look to improve on recipes. I don’t care to learn the “proper” technique and hold a knife in an unwieldy manner.

So, this is what I made for an impromptu Good Friday Chinese meal….

Lotus root turkey soup I made a couple nights ago. First attempt ever cooking with this vegetable and it makes a satisfying soup.

Sauteed peashoots and garlic chives. Bringing together two of my favourite Chinese vegetables.

Hainanese chicken curry. Kind of just tasted like curry to me while I hoped some of the ingredients on the long list would confer Hainanese chicken flavour (if you know what I mean) but it was just a fancier Chinese curry, in my opinion.

The original reason we went to T&T last night, to pick up Melona bars for mum who doesn’t get them in Halifax (at least not for just $3.99 a box of 8)! I laughed and laughed as she enjoyed and gorged on them, polishing off three in one sitting!

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On Saturday morning, a little plan was running through my head. I had blown way too much money at Old Navy during their Friends & Family (30%) sale and had to put my credit card on ice for a few days. But food shopping is a justifiable expense and I lined up five recipes I wanted to knock off in the course of two days.

And as I was writing out my shopping lists, I was listening to the most recent DNTO episode Live from Toronto: We’re “in over our heads!” and had to laugh at myself after hearing Deborah Kimmett’s segment. Talking about a particularly rough time in her life, she said, “It was kind of like I was in a country and Western song and I couldn’t get out, basically. And I was really depressed and, you know, I’m the kind of person who picks myself up fairly quickly but I hit this depression that was just unbelieveable. And I was making soup over and over again. Just little piles of soup and putting it in the freezer. I was very depressed, did I mention that?”

I seem to be obsessed with making soup. And there’s always so much left over so it goes into my freezer! And there are some dark hours where I feel worried about the course of my life.

But I forged on because, when you evaluate the motivation behind the fanatical cooking, it all makes sense. When a lot of things feel out of control, cooking for myself is one of the last vestiges of control I know I have. Providing my own nourishment is empowering; I continue to be inspired by the original concept of the Not Eating Out in New York blog. (Not Eating Out in Toronto?  I’m not so derivative.) I have this irrational fear about the future so I have to get it all done now. Since I have to concentrate on the steps of the recipes and stay on track, I’m occupied for long tracts of time from other worries. I won’t have to cook for a week or more. I can move recipes from my cook this! Pinterest board to my cooked this Pinterest board, which brings me disproportionate satisfaction.

When I look at the breakdown of the five recipes, it turns out three of them are from Chow Times, one from Su-lin’s blog Tamarind & Thyme, and one was a recommended in a blog or on Twitter.

Recently, so late to the game, I discovered the power of the macro setting on my camera and have been taking photos that really capture the texture of food. When the lighting is cooperative, like it is in my current “dream kitchen”, I step back and admire my photos like a total narcissist. I’ll still take that Lynda.com Food and Drink Photography course. Someday.

So, I made… ice cream from just one ingredient (banana!) with a sprinkle of cinnamon, tomato non-spicy non-sour hot & sour soup over brown rice vermicelli, Su-lin’s recipe for roti John, biscuits (!) in the form of “Grandma’s butter dips”, and mushroom and barley soup.

I’ve been using new No Salt Added chicken broth which is so bland you learn just how much salt is in the original. My soups could stand to have more seasoning but it’s a nice feeling that I can control it.

At the beginning of the weekend, my fridge looked so humble. I laugh when I think about what a bachelor(ette) fridge I have. I only get what I will eat and over the next couple of weeks, I will chip away at the containers in the freezer and the top shelf of the fridge.

******** This is a blog series complementing my regular blog posts with the original idea was to share our parallel lives, NPY’s and mine, while I’m in Toronto and he’s in Vancouver, 3,400 km away. For me, it’s been pretty fun because I’m this long-time blogger and enjoy repackaging parts of my life in “blog bites”. It’s been more difficult for NPY who hasn’t experienced a change in scenery (although I do not think it is necessary) so I’ll be continuing this with just my photos. I might have something every day. I might not.

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Post-op meal: avocado, steamed heirloom tomatoes, non-spicy mapo tofu, Japanese rice. Everything overcooked to slide down with minimal chewing effort involved.

I totally psyched myself out about my “mini surgery” today until NPY convinced me that it would all be okay. But during the procedure, the periodontist gave me a running commentary, which included him noticing something else wrong, and modified his procedure away his original plan. While in the dentist chair, I squeezed out a tear because the very thought of having to go to that office again is very stressful for me.

It really could be worse, but it’s no fun at all.

NPY has been with me all day by way of text messages and a phone call, the same case if I was still in Vancouver: we have work during the day and wouldn’t see each other anyhow. But at the end of the day, I come home alone and no one was going to join me.  I have been through so much on my own and on some level, it works well for me. Even in a couple, I can feel alone so what difference does it make? On on a day like today when I feel beat up and vulnerable, I’m learning that the physical presence makes a world of difference. And as much as I might be a loner character, it’s getting increasingly sad to be alone as you get older. I was so strong and independent-spirited a year ago in this regard, and an about-face about it right now.

On the bright side, it’s awesome for what I (haven’t been) eating, however. Even an hour afterwards, I would tell NPY that I never wanted to eat again! I easily skipped lunch and was not hungry even when I got off work.

******** This is a blog series complementing my regular blog posts with the original idea was to share our parallel lives, NPY’s and mine, while I’m in Toronto and he’s in Vancouver, 3,400 km away. For me, it’s been pretty fun because I’m this long-time blogger and enjoy repackaging parts of my life in “blog bites”. It’s been more difficult for NPY who hasn’t experienced a change in scenery (although I do not think it is necessary) so I’ll be continuing this with just my photos. I might have something every day. I might not.

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On a particularly lazy day when we did not deserve to dine out, Lil Sis and I went to Shoppers Drug Mart near her place and the old-looking Il Fornello looked appetizing. There are several locations around town and with seven locations around GTA, we were going to try it sometime so why not that evening? We went in almost resolved to order just one dish to sate our appetite for Italian food but the prices were not too bad and who wants to cook the other half of dinner when we get back anyways??

We ordered the linguini salmone with smoked salmon, peas, and lemon tarragon sauce. I had recently had a taste of smoked salmon and wanted more. The cream sauce was good but a touch too thick. Lil Sis ordered the fichi pizza with marscapone, proscuitto, figs, shaved grana padano, honey, and arugula. She was trying to decide between two pizzas, wary that this one might miss the mark but it was “her risk” so I pushed for the “weirder” one. And it turned out really fantastic! It was a divine pizza with the tastiest combination of toppings. Who would have thought that?

Downtown Toronto location at 214 King Street West (at University)

Alice Fazooli’s (Markham)

One evening, Lil Sis was jonesing for a big box restaurant meal. It’s not often she requests that at all and I was excited for what we might get to try! There is a “plaza” at 404 and Highway 7 with an embarrassment of big box restaurants including The Keg, Jack Astors, Destiny Teahouse, Marlowe’s, Caffe Demettre, and some Malaysian place to name the ones I can remember. The Keg was too much of a treat, Destiny didn’t offer what she wanted, and Marlowe’s has scary signage so we tried out Alice Fazooli’s which has four other locations around GTA.

There was something about the description that Lil Sis and I both ended up getting the Salsiccia dishes (one pizza and one past). Salsiccia is Niagara Berkshire pork sausage so perhaps we wanted to have a taste of the wine country. The Pizza Salsiccia was topped with the sausage, fresh Niagara artisanal mozzarella, chili oil, basil, arugula, and lemon. The pasta was very pedestrian, a ragu with the sausage, spinach, and roasted tomatoes. Instead, both entrees were underwhelming (the pizza just a little less so) and overly salty. Sausage’s fault or kitchen’s fault?

Downtown Toronto location at 294 Adelaide Street West (at John)

Me Va Me (Vaughan)

When we were up at Bathurst and 16th, Lil Sis pointed out Me Va Me as a restaurant she went to with Big Uncle and our cousin Warner. They went to an older location and I salivated at the sight of the shiny new location serving up Arabic cuisine.

What should two little girls order to maximize what they try yet also be budget conscious? We decided on ordering a trio of dipping sauces, selecting green eggplant salad, matbuha, and a marinated mushroom salad. Of course the button mushrooms were tasty and we ate all those up with the pita bread provided. Mathuba consists of cooked tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers. It was nice, but I found I didn’t like it so much in such quantities. To be different, we ordered the green eggplant instead of the more popular baba ganoush and that was our downfall. Cilantro was not listed as an ingredient but it was definitely there and we couldn’t eat it.

We also ordered the grill delight with a skewer each of lamb, tenderloin, chicken thigh, and chicken breast. While the lamb was chewy, the tenderloin was really delicious, tender, and juicy. It’s a good bet if you had to pick just one type of meat!

Panera Bread (Richmond Hill)

I have loved Panera Bread since learning about it in 2005 ahead of my trip to L.A with Lil Sis. It’s so pedestrian for Americans but “exotic” for me such that I was excited to introduce NPY to Panera at Northgate near Seattle. The only way to kick it out of my system was to have easy access to it, in Canada! There are four locations in GTA, one of them in Toronto at 322 Yonge Street, but I was visiting the Richmond Hill one.

Besides their great bakery (like breakfast souffles), I love their Pick 2 combos and just before I would not longer have telecommuting days to spend at Panera, they advertised a great sounding combo: roasted turkey artichoke panini with mac ‘n’ cheese as a deluxe side. I almost balked at the $12 price tag for “soup ‘n’ sandwich” but softened a little when I was reminded that their own label of kettle chips is included. I found the panini to be overwhelmed by the other roasted vegetables and not the artichoke. The mac ‘n’ cheese was a nice sized portion and had a bold taste and fancy tasting ingredients.

Downtown Toronto location at 322 Yonge Street (at Edward, north of Dundas)

Druxy’s (in the PATH)

I remember Druxy’s from when it was the closest place to go eat when I was working at Ericsson in Mississauga… over fifteen years ago. It has changed a lot since then, a sandwich and smoked meat shop where I would get bagels and seen better times and toughed out the leaner times. I’m still impressed by their presence around downtown Toronto these days and love their reliable offering.

At Druxy’s they challenge you to try as many of their 40 salad toppings as you can when you get a design your own salad and I like how, unlike the sandwich shops nearby, they don’t charge extra for “fancy” toppings like avocado and tofu. Their smallest salad is $6 and they really pack in the toppings and toss the salad evenly with your dressing of choice. For me, it’s a meal with ample leftovers.

Vina alerted me to their design your own grilled cheese where you can get a basic grilled cheese for around $2 but you can changed the bread or cheese and add ingredients like vegetables and meats for extra. I love getting their eggy challah bread and you can have breakfast-for-lunch with a slice of sausage in your grilled cheese!

Red Lobster (Richmond Hill)

In early November, Lil Sis and I had cause to celebrate and we eschewed a celebratory dinner at The Keg for one at Red Lobster. We had been curious about the kind of reputation RL has north of the border and had been seeing the surf ‘n’ turf advertisements on television. Lil Sis already knew she was going for surf ‘n’ turf was was I going to, too?

We were in on a Monday evening which was very quite at the Richmond Hill location (among 7 in GTA). After we ordered, we were presented with crunchy cheese and scallion scones. They were warm and fluffy and I loved them, hoping dinner would be just as good.

Lil Sis ordered the surf ‘n’ turf consisting of a grilled Maritime lobster and peppercorn sirloin. She thought the steal was somewhat low in quality and the lobster was undercooked. But then there was the matter of my lobster…. Trying to keep things “light”, I ordered the Harbourside Lobster and Shrimp meal with shrimp both on a skewer and in garlic butter, rice pilaf and baked lobster tail. The shrimp were good enough but my lobster was so tough and dry, entirely like nothing I’d ever had before–lobster tail that had sadly been ruined.

Downtown Toronto location 20 Dundas Street West (at Yonge)

Baton Rouge (Toronto)

Oh, I remember my first encounter with Baton Rouge. It was back in 2007 when I visited Ottawa and Mona and I went there for a late night bite. It was before I rigorously photographed everything (new) I ate so I can’t remember what I ordered! With two locations in the heart of the city (and at least six more in GTA, I guess Baton Rouge is Toronto’s Earls, Milestones, and Cactus Club (Earlstone Club?) and you know I’ve eaten at those chain restaurants countless times. And while I personally rank the food at Cactus, then Earls, then Milestones, I just might rate Baton Rouge even worse. Ouch, huh?

We went to Baton Rouge after a night out, ahead of a day at CNE (Vina and Rita, not me) and I went for lunch fare in the form of a pulled pork sandwich with cinnamon apple slices as a side. It just tasted sweet to me and I was disappointed since this is Baton Rouge. The plating was careless and the apple slices were mushy. The best item we ordered, I think, was the Mississippi calamari with Cajun spice.

The chicken tender salad has all the ingredients that please me: fried chicken tenders, mixed greens, croutons, chopped egg, bacon bits, sliced avocado, and marinated hearts of palm and artichokes. I ordered it with honey mustard dressing. The whole thing was embarrassingly massive (I couldn’t finish) and the nutrition content is appalling (970 calories). The chicken tenders were not battered in bread crumbs or the like but a thick batter like you would find on fish & chips. A little too thick, I think. Otherwise it was quite tasty, because it had to be.

Downtown Toronto locations at 277 Front Street West (at CN Tower) and 216 Yonge Street (at Eaton Centre)

Faubourg Paris

As we admired the beautiful bistro area behind the cafe of of Faubourg Paris in Kerrisdale, I was asked how I learned of the place. Well, I don’t recall. When NPY and I couldn’t go to L’Abattoir (new-ish French restaurant in Gastown) and I was in the mood for holiday high tea, it kind of came together. I do believe it was Urbanspoon afterall.

I got a little worried because in the bistro so far at 12:30 were ordering lunch while we were set on trying out their Pink Tea–three girls and NPY because NPY and I like our tea tradition, matching everything we eat. As we got deeper into the afternoon, more of the new tables were also ordering the tea set. I urged NPY to get something warm and so he ordered a lovely, rich cream of mushroom soup.

Here are my thoughts on the Pink Tea items, listed in the order that I ate them!
* passionfruit soufflé we were urged to eat this first or early as it would deflate, so we ate it first. The passionfruit was strong throughout and the texture was really light, porous. A really nice start.
* smoked salmon and wasabi cream I don’t like the idea of flattened bread and wanted to get into this item for which we had two each first. It was okay, not brilliant.
* chicken, apple, country ranch dressing I loved the look of the mini herb-dusted focaccia and enjoyed the bread as much as the creamy chicken salad in between the slices.
* cucumber, roast beef, coriander cream Another beautiful mini loaf but I don’t like roast beef (which almost tasted funny to me) or cucumbers. The coriander cream was barely palpable.
* cranberry scone Nice scone that was dry enough and fluffy enough with tart cranberry bits. I learned I don’t like orange marmalade.
* apple-cinnamon cake We ate this first of the desserts (aside from the soufflé) because it looks so boring and healthy! It was just a couple of bites, rich, moist apple-cinnamon-nutmeg cake or muffin.
* mini passionfruit opera This was a beautiful piece with such delicate layers and passionfruit top layer.
* lemon tart The tart shell was crisp rather than dense and buttery and the lemon custard was not so sweet yet delicious. My measure is whether or not it made my tooth ache! Lovely sugar crystals ringed around the tart provided a sweet crunch.
* chocolate mousse Just scrumptious, rich, dense chocolate mousse topped with light whipped cream.
* parfait A nice tart and refreshing end to our tea!

Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe

Continuing on the French theme, I wanted to try Thierry Patisserie. I heard of it first at Follow Me Foodie and when Lynn Chen visited Vancouver for VAFF, she tried to go but it was too busy. Sometimes I wonder how NPY gets away not knowing about the hottest new places in his own city but he surely won’t forget this one as he commented on how it’s a nice turn for the city with the arrival of places like Thierry and Faubourg, bringing culture, elegance, something truly nice. That means he likes it.

The menu is designed by the executive chef of CinCin so I could console myself that it was like eating there (because I don’t know when I will!). The Quiche Lorraine was packed with mushrooms and bacon but also still creamy. NPY who doesn’t usually like quiche liked it. I think it was the mushrooms and bacon taste!

Then came the difficult choice of what to have for dessert! There are so many choices and a slice of cake runs at least $6. They have a beautiful passionfruit cake but we were at Faubourg (above) just the day before and had two passionfruit desserts. I considered having an opera slice (just like the day before) but it looked the least popular based on there being many slices left. What would both NPY and I like? I heard that people were ordering a chestnut slice (Chinese people!) and I made up my mind to order it but it was sold out! So I settled on macarons–one cranberry and one lime. Why haven’t I seen a pistachio one in a while? The crazy thing about the macarons is that in addition to the sweet jelly layer between the biscuits, there was buttercream! Lime flavoured buttercream in the green one and regular buttercream with a fresh crushed cranberry in the red one. We were smacking our lips and it was a nice size to finish off our meal (which also included an apple turnover, not pictured, and some small madeleine samples).

Kintaro Ramen

Not having found a good ramen place in Toronto (I don’t think they exist), I was adamant about getting ramen in Vancouver. Kintaro (where I have never before been) or Ramen Santouka, the new darling restaurant. When we reached downtown on Friday night at 11 p.m. after I got in, all the ramen shops were closed. It frustrated me. So we tried again three days later on a rainy Boxing Day.

NPY looked worried as I kept putting Kintaro ahead of any of the other shops and Ed and Olive were really great sports. We queued at Kintaro for just about twenty minutes during which time NPY and I wandered around the corner to check out Ramen Santouka. It looked like Santouka wasn’t yet open as there were about 25 people standing outside. Oh, that was the queue for the restaurant. So NPY was resigned to Kintaro. Our orders were taken as we neared the front of the queue and when they could arrange for us to separate but neighbouring two-tops along the wall, we took the offer. It’s not like it was the kind of meal where you linger and have conversation. When we got our seats, the queue for Kintaro was much longer.

NPY seems to have developed an affection for vegetable ramen and orders it where we go. At Kintaro, he got to chose his broth and he went with a milder shio and in medium weight broth. To get the full experience, I ordered the miso ramen in rich broth with fatty (versus lean) barbecued pork slices. To be fair, I did not eat all of the really marbled meat alone, giving NPY half of the pork portion to fatty up his vegetable ramen dish! The rich miso ramen was crazy cloudy and the noodles were just perfect.

Would we go back again? It’s definitely good enough but a little hard to justify the line-up when there are many other stellar ramen shops in the immediate vicinity.

Fatty Cow Seafood Hot Pot

NPY and I laugh about that time back in ’07 or something when we went to hot pot with Andy and Lil Sis right before Lil Sis and I got onto a red eye flight to Halifax where I really wanted to sleep. But wearing constrictive jeans and feeling so full as if I was continuing to expand was very uncomfortable and I moaned about that flight ever since. These days, I fly wearing more comfortable garb and tentatively have hot pot. During the first December Vancouver trip, we had hot pot with our friends in Burnaby at Top Gun. This time, it was NPY’s mother’s birthday and we went to Fatty Cow, a great hot pot addition to Vancouver proper.

There isn’t a great deal to say about their hot pot except it was good, we’d be back. The restaurant is renovated and nice and modern in the dark wood and chrome kind of way. We were a party of eight and they connected two four-tops with a stainless steel connector which I think they often use to accommodate parties more than four. That mean each four-top had their own hot pot pot and they wrote different table numbers on the order sheets but they brought all the food to the other table and we didn’t ever see our vegetables. It was frustrating. We ordered the double soup with clear tofu and nappa cabbage in one half and spicy broth on the other. The spicy was super spicy and we cooked most of our food in the clear broth. Some items I thought were just fine in the spicy broth, like basa fillets, tofu, and vegetables. At the other table, they were not boring at all with tom yum in one half and satay in the other!

Peaceful Restaurant

Now that I’m not in Vancouver for a while, where do I want to go when I go back? Actually, I wanted to try Lin’s on West Broadway which is supposed to have some of the best XLB in town and I also wanted to try their chicken “fen pi” salad. But we were disgruntled and tired after moving all afternoon and Peaceful was a welcome choice. We walked several blocks in my old ‘hood but did not stroll because we wanted to be in and out in an hour… and it started to drizzle a little.

If I had my way, our order would be two of my favourite dishes: potato roll and Shandong noodles. But I didn’t feel like interfering and NPY ordered the tomato and egg noodle that his mother once chided him about (it’s easy for her to make it at home) and in order to make it somewhat novel, I ordered the chicken clear noodle salad.

“Oh,” NPY said, “my mom makes that.” With moist pieces of chicken and perfectly chewy sheets of noodles? With a well-balanced sesame paste, tender spinach, and a sprinkle of chili oil? “Well, no, not the noodles… or the sauce.” I happily chewed on the noodles. Craving satisfied.

Suika Japanese Izakaya

Ack, I should have written my review of this meal earlier, like immediately after the early December trip. Of all the short trips and weekends I was in town, both Kitty and Cari were free and I first suggested Joey’s on Broadway. But it’s loud and generic and I’ve been there countless times. At the last minute, I change the venue to Suika, just a block away and we didn’t look back.

We all agreed upon the deluxe “suika” box which was a lot of fun to pick at. I didn’t like any of the nine dishes overly so it was good it was not too much per portion. Asian kakiage was like the Korean and Japanese omelettes, a little chewy, with pieces of seafood and a lot of cilantro laced in. Fortunately the cilantro did not infuse too much flavour. I felt like this dish desperately needed the dipping sauce because it was quite plain.

When looking over the menu, we decided on the mackerel salad of the salads but I bungled it up and pointed to the mackerel pressed sushi just below it, aburi “shimi-saba” sushi. I was really apologetic because Cari doesn’t really eat sushi but cured mackerel was as good as cooked for her and it turned out to be one of my favourite dishes of the evening. The mackerel was brilliantly marinated and cured and it was a truly flavourful sushi. In the Tokyo oxtail ramen, I wasn’t a big fan of the noodles (just okay) but the broth and meat were delicious!

Cari advocated ordering Chinese poutine and I wasn’t going to argue! Busy talking, we didn’t really get to it until the cheese had hardened again. Spicy ground pork is a nice topping and they had the good taste to use good shoestring fries. Chicken karaage sounded like a good idea but I really have to be wary when they are talked up so much. I wouldn’t normally order it except at all-you-can-eat Japanese and at those places, “chicken karaage” is a chicken wing. And when it is a piece of chicken and battered, it’s supposed to be better? I don’t see the thrill of it.

Egg pudding, asparagus chawan-mushi, is a lovely idea but when I have it, I wonder why I don’t just make it myself (granted, mine is a little grayer and less appetizing loking). It was a smooth, light dish. Finally, we got the matcha brulee to share. People have been blogging and raving and was I going to be disappointed?? No! The frozen matcha custard was like ice cream and I loved the caramelized sugar. With a dollop of whipped cream and red bean sauce, it had all the right essences of Asian dessert tastes and oh-so elegant.

Red Wagon Cafe

Everyone’s talking about this Red Wagon place for brunch that has the pulled pork pancakes so that’s where I arranged for us to have brunch with Franked. They arrived before we did and put their name down. Silly host said it would just be an hour and offered them a mug of hot coffee. We waited for an hour outside on a chilly December morning. At least it wasn’t raining.

I had to order the pulled pork pancakes with sweet barbecued pulled pork layered between thick pancakes. Jack Daniels maple syrup was drizzled over the pancakes and I ran out of the sweet, strong nectar with over a whole pancake left. They would charge me for more JD syrup so I got much less fabulous plain maple syrup. I found the pancakes a little too thick and not fluffy enough. NPY ordered the much more balanced smoked salmon scramble which was made with house smoked salmon.

Petit Four (Commerce Court)

For a few months, Vina raved about the under-200 calorie desserts from Petit Four and little did I know that I would have easy access to this shop in Commerce Court as well!

First, I tried the tiramisu (right) which I thought was just divine and a perfect portion in a 2-oz. glass; they provide the small spoon for small bites. That day, Vina tried the salted chocolate nougatine and reported back it was very good, her favourite so far, so I got it next despite wariness about nougat. The salty pockets were delightful as a salt-lover and the wafers of nougatine were more like chocolate toffee so I’m in agreement. Most recently, I tried the double chocolate ‘n’ cream which had milk chocolate and dark chocolate mousse. It was all topped with light as air whipped cream.

Sushi Q (Commerce Court)

On my way to Far Niente Four to pick up a chilled dessert before picking up a hot lunch, I walked by Sushi Q. Then I backtracked. It’s a sushi stand in the style of pumping out maki rolls in clear containers and placing them in an open, refrigerated bin for you to fetch your own. I mulled between brown rice salmon and brown rice avocado until I saw the “Salmon Lover” combination of salmon-avocado maki (white rice) with two salmon nigiri that pumps up the price. It doesn’t hurt to try it once….

Alas, it was about as poor quality as my iPhone photo. The maki rice was cold and almost hard. The salmon was a few hours from truly tasting off.

Tamarind Indian Kitchen (BCE)

Vina told me about Tamarind so I made the trek to BCE following the PATH signs carefully. She really likes their chicken tikka (not fattening) and they seemed to give her favour and gave her extra on her combination. For my part, I was just a normal customer. Chicken tikka has no sauce so it does not float my boat and so like a normal customer, I got the butter chicken, incidentally the highest priced curry combination and tied with the chicken curry that also sounded good.

The butter chicken is so red in colour from a great amount of tomato used. I was a little worried about the pieces of cilantro that were chopped and throughout the sauce. However, it only lent a smoky flavour that was not offensive. The butter chicken was good, not too greasy, and chicken toed the line between mushy and of questionable quality and too white and too dry. Still, the place is overpriced even if it is on par with other Indian quick service restaurants.

deKEFIR (Bay Adelaide Centre)

I have to hike a little (relatively) to get to deKEFIR from my office but there’s nothing wrong with that!! Vina asked me if I had tried it because it’s a healthy yogurt but really pricey! Prepared for that, and having read their website, I went over. They gave me a sample of their frozen kefir which tastes quite a bit like the Pinkberry style of yogurt but more tart. It makes a nice snack and they have the usual fruit and granola toppings. The associate told me that the frozen kefir is sweetened so I was as little worried about the parfait which I had my heart set on.

To top my regular kefir yogurt, I selected their signature walnut-sesame and their holiday feature topping of ginger cookie (I got upsold) and she drizzled some honey over the top to sweet the otherwise plain yogurt. The yogurt was thinner than I thought it would be and kind of flowed around the toppings and that was okay because the regular is a very small cup and I enjoyed the toppings with a slight tart yogurt coating. I especially liked the essentially candied walnuts and the ginger cookies had a nice zing but were just a touch too sweet. I really don’t know if the fruit toppings would have worked for me in a parfait given it was so runny.

They have another offering that is a smoothie. The website recommends a most decadent sounding combination: fig and walnut smoothie. I can just imagine it with the candied walnuts but I didn’t see the figs laid out amongst the toppings.

The Cereal Bar (Commerce Court)

The Cereal Bar apparently appeared on Dragon’s Den and received a good response, well-received by the audience. In the Commerce Court food hall, it looks out of place, and seems less busy than the other (chain) quick service restaurants.

There are just three choices: cold cereal, hot cereal (oatmeal), and parfaits. As much as I wanted to have a cereal in honour, the run-of-the-mill cereals like Raisin Bran, Corn Flakes, and Vector did not entice me. I could have gotten cereal in a parfait but still went with the “value-added” granola and it turned out I was going to be running around a bit running errands before I could sit down to it.

As usual, it interests me when I get to design my own and watched the associate as he squeezed blueberry Astro yogurt into the bottom of the cup and layered it with pumpkin granola. I had a choice of three toppings which I selected strawberry and peaches (canned, of course), and clodhoppers for a dessert feel. It was a hearty but light lunch. I ordered the large which is $4.95.

The Soup Nutsy (TD Tower)

While Vina’s office sits above one of the food courts, it’s hard to say which restaurants are “mine”. There are three shops at the base of the escalators I take including good ole Bagel Stop, la prep Fresh Food, and The Soup Nutsy. At least there’s Soup Nutsy. Perhaps you can even ascribe the Duke of Devon to my building, where I had lunch my first day. They have good fish & chips and you can get a modest half-order.

Soup Nutsy is nuts! In that their queue for food between 12 and 1 is extremely long although it moves fast enough. That’s why it is prudent to check their website and figure out which one you want, read up on the ingredients. Otherwise you will get confused by the acronyms following each soup describing soups as Cream (C), No Cream (NC), Dairy-Free (DF), Spicy (S), Low Fat (LF), No Fat (NF) and a few other descriptors. I keep changing my mind at the last minute upon peering into the open cauldrons of soup and I surely won’t hold up the line to ask for a sampler!

On my first visit, I tried their Caribbean chicken stew and did not enjoy the presence of sweet potatoes. One small soup is an $8 meal but does come with a big slice of bread and your choice of a piece of fruit or pre-cut vegetables. Soups are grouped into Seafood, Vegetable, Meat, and Chilled categories, each priced differently. On my second visit, to be “defiant”, I went for the combo which is one price regardless of the soup you pick. My combo consisted of my soup and a blue cheese and fruit salad that came with balsamic vinaigrette–it was indulgent. And I was going to order West Africa Sengalese Peanut Chicken soup before seeing how thick it looked and I switched to what I imagine to be a perennial favourite: Sherried Beef Stroganoff with Green Peas. Lovely creamy with tender pasta ribbons and melting pieces of beef.

Then I was back the next day to get a rice bowl. I checked the daily soup selection online and thought I might try the Jamaican crab bisque. Since there was no one in line, I asked for a sample and tried it. It was rich and a little spicy and it was thin which is better than something creamy. But did I want a whole bowl of that? The associate-in-training scooped what I determined upon taste to be brown rice into the medium bowl and as he was about to ladle in soup, I told him I changed my mind to the sherried lobster bisque. Yes, another sherry infused soup. I guess… and no regrets. It was full of ingredients like lobster and green and red peppers and just the right thickness that it looked lumpy but was not choking. I agreed to the loyalty card which will sit firmly in my desk drawer. No need to blow all my money at Soup Nutsy although it’s so tempting….

Brick Street Bakery (First Canadian Place)

I could smell the pies from a distance in the otherwise neutral-smelling PATH and stepped into the big bakery space. I love being able to look around in a bakery and select items a la carte. When I looked at the dessert case and saw the lemon tarts, why did they look so familiar? Because just the the day before, I was in the Distillery District where there was another Brick Street Bakery location. They seemed to be out of pie in the Distillery District so I didn’t order anything. All three pies, shepard’s pie, steak and potatoes, and tarragon chicken, were available. I could try all three, they sound so tasty, but I went with the chicken tarragon which was really good. The crust was hearty and it was a good size pie for just $6.

Four (Commerce Court)

To wrap this PATH dining post (which probably won’t be the only one!), Vina and I went for after-work drinks after I was in the job almost three weeks and she just four weeks. Yay–celebrate! We went to Four which is halfway between our buildings and advertises $4.44 1-oz. cocktails after 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and you can order three appetizers for $25 (or five for $40). Sounds like a screaming deal and fun way to try out the place!

Four is on OpenTable.com so I could get another 100 points making a reservation the same day and at 5:30, the place was swinging with all their tables full and people standing near the bar and mingling with colleagues or new friends. We kicked off with a Red Lotus each, a lychee cocktail with vodka, SoHo lichee liqueur and mix. Lip-smackingly yummy. And since we anticipated the feast, we saved our appetites and not-so-coincidentally ordered the three highest-priced appetizers to make up our trio.

We ordered the crab and corn cake. It almost looked disappointing that there was just one cake but it was thick and split well. There was a hint of cilantro but it wasn’t so strong and it was a nice bit of crab. The mango and jicama slaw was really nice and refreshing.

We also ordered mini bison burgers which came topped with avocado and monterey jack cheese. The cheese I could taste and the bison was tender. It was perfect to have two mini burgers. Our third appetizer was the mezze plate with lamb skewers, tzatiki, and pita to build your own pita. The lamb was a bit underdone and too chewy for our liking.

For round two, Vina went for a 2-oz. White Pear Cosmo while I tried another 1-oz. cocktail, the Bloody Maria.  A really fun evening and we’ll try really hard to do this once a month and try other places!

Shake Shack (Midtown, Times Square)

We could see the new midtown Shake Shack from BiNK’s apartment and determine that at the time we got into New York and the Times Square area at 2-ish, there was no line out the door so we could not get it out of our mind to not go there immediately. Last time, in 2009, I ordered a hot dog while NPY ordered a Shackburger and we did not share although NPY decided it was the best burger he ever had. That means I spent two whole years of wanting my own!

The magical combination of sirloin, chuck, and brisket was juicy and fragrant and we gobbled our burgers really quickly. NPY wondered in the middle of the trip if we’d go back so we were back at lunch hour on Sunday and it was a zoo! We tried the ‘shroom burger which is an expensive and small burger with the oddest crusted portobello “patty”. We still like the original Shackburger best. Next time, I’m trying the scary-sounding Concrete!

Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien (Midtown)

The Shake Shack visit the day before was unplanned but meeting up with Alfred to check out Burger Joint, “the hidden/secret burger restaurant”, was planned. I think I first heard of the restaurant years ago from ljcfyi blog and “hidden” was something easy to remember while the restaurant has apparently remained popular over the years. For a moment, I worried that it was so hidden I would not find it but I looked for telltale curtains and just around the corner was the little neon sign depicting a burger and an arrow.

It is a tight squeeze in the Burger Joint with the order counter, grill, queuing area, and seating occupying just about 200 sqft (could be my bad estimate) of space. There was an overhead list of instructions to most efficiently give your order and I was so anxious that I forgot to mention how I wanted my meat cooked.

It was a delicious burger nonetheless, very juicy and hearty, and a really fun New York experience to hit up that place.

Bouchon Bakery (Midtown)

Last time, we did walk by Bouchon in Time Warner Center but, for the life of me I don’t know why we didn’t order anything. Perhaps I was looking for something really unique I had never heard of or seen before and I’ve since grown up to accept trying things that I have seen or had before but appreciate a different restaurant’s take on it.

So, after visiting and lingering at the hilariously fun temporary Museum of Conan Art exhibit, we got some coffee and baked goods from Bouchon and, not finding any seats upstairs, enjoyed them in the caf area of Whole Foods on the basement level.

The super chocolate-y pain au chocolat was indeed unique but it frightened me so I ordered an Oreo-looking TKO which I now know stands for Thomas Keller Oreo. The dark chocolate biscuit was soft and chewy and the white chocolate ganache sandwiched in between was a dreamy filling. Alfred’s chocolate macaron was also good but even better was the pistachio one NPY and I got a few days later. And the pistachio one was pretty and green.

Rice to Riches (SoHo)

In 2009, we went to Rice to Riches which I heard about from Lil Sis. We went not once but twice and I got two orange Solo containers and rice pudding spoons which have been great reuseable containers over the years… until I disposed of them during the move a few months ago. It was nothing new to try but we had saved room by not ordering much at Teariffic in Chinatown and I decided not to order anything if they could not accommodate my request for a green container.

Well, you can figure out they did give me a green container and instead of a white/cream-coloured rice pudding I went dessert mode with the chocolate hazelnut rice pudding with toasted pound cake crumbs. The volume of food is large although it is stated to serve one person but I felt fine because it is light on taste with the fun contrasting texture of lumpy rice pudding and crunch crouton-like cake crumbs.

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria (Brooklyn, DUMBO)

While we did pick up a slice at the pizza shop next to Century 21 in the financial district, it was not the right experience so I picked a couple of pizzerias this time to make sure we had a proper thin-crust New York pizza and we checked that off the list when we went to Brooklyn and queued up to get into the famous Grimaldi Pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge.

I imagine there is a constant line to get into the famous eatery and we found the end of it while wondering just how long we would have to queue for starting from 2:30 and if we wouldn’t be full still when we went to dinner. The Asian places we went to so far had clipboards where you sign yourself up but I saw no such system at Grimaldi’s. Instead, we observed the host pop his head out of the restaurant and shout something like, “Two more!” before letting the heavy wood door slam shut. The people at the head of the line would figure out which is the next party of two and they would enter the restaurant. Once, in the 30 minutes we waited, the host came out to see which bigger groups were in line for him to save his bigger tables for.

Upon being seated at our table in the restaurant, a welcome thing, we learned just how they managed to handle the constant crowds. Besides having a very simple menu, we sat cafeteria-style with our two-top table attached to three other two-tops. Being that the place was packed with tourists, it was a bit of a fun style of eating and I could lean over and ask the couple next to us what size pizza they ordered and the two couples to my left struck up a conversation that started with asked how the food was and learning they all hailed from the L.A. area.

While some part of my wonky logic would drive me to order a lot because we waited for half an hour, there were other spots to hit up before dinner and we ordered a six-slice small pizza with three toppings: pepperoni, mushroom, and olives. All the red pizzas came with tomato sauce, cheese, and basil. I would have preferred salami or anything other than the dried hard pepperoni disks, the mushroom was barely there, and thus the olives were relatively overpowering. My crappy selection of toppings aside, the pizza was delicious, with good tomato sauce, really good mozzarella cheese, and thin, fresh crust.

Holey Cream (via Seamless Web)

Oh, the thrill of living in a big, fast, tightly-packed, demanding city: BiNK introduced us to Seamless Web for which they have an account and can order from a mind-boggling variety of restaurants home delivery of good food through one integrated system. She suggested Holey Cream and described a donut ice cream sandwich that made me champion the place even more. I wasn’t going to eat it but I wanted NPY to have it!

I went with a blah fat-free (and it tasted like it) coffee almond frozen yogurt and took over customizing NPY’s donut ice cream sandwich with three different ice cream flavours (red velvet, peanut butter chocolate, cookies & cream), adding waffle pieces, and sprinkling it with pink and purple (they forgot the purple) sprinkles, cocoa puffs, and gummy bears. It took two sittings for NPY to finish this dessert.

Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien (Midtown)

BiNK raves about Norma’s and takes all her visitors which means she knows her way around the menu very well. We were green newbies by comparison. I checked out the menu the night before and marveled just how inventive their brunch menu is. Despite that, NPY ordered the most normal eggs benedict where the twist was using pancakes instead of English muffins… so his is not pictured! I ordered the Super Cheesy French Toast and started to get anxious that I would just die from the volume and cheesiness. It was ultimately manageable (unlike the Foie Gras French Toast, I hear) with a cheese-coated ultra-flakey croissant-like bun and most crispy applewood smoked bacon. The accompanying gravy was thin but very savoury to dip some toast and the greens. The potato pancakes were ordered for us all to share but I couldn’t appreciate it much after working and putting away my own meal. The pancakes were okay but it was the sweet carrot puree that I did not initially see as complementing potato so much that was tasty.

BiNK raved about and ordered the Waz-za which is an innocent-looking Belgian waffle  topped with fresh fruit and stuffed with something like a thick and creamy yogurt fruit smoothie. The bananas were slightly seared for the brulee effect and taste. They also ordered the Artychoked Benedict which I would have wanted NPY to order–all he needs is for the poached egg to be present–but couldn’t vouch for the creation until it arrived and is just about the best Benedict idea ever. Instead of Hollandaise sauce that makes my head reel to think about, they used a truffled porcini sauce, a perfect complement to artichokes. I loved my taste of it but it still might have make me keel over if I had to eat a full or even half portion.

Southern Hospitality (Midtown)

BiNK pointed out Southern Hospitality one night but could not recommend we go there for food. And that it is owned by Justin Timberlake whom NPY likes. The next night, we were only looking for somewhere to drink and traditional places like “social” did not appeal and other places like Ember Room were full. At least we could say that we had been to JT’s restaurant. And they had free wi-fi!

Which meant I could check into Southern Hospitality on FourSquare and learn that NPY’s Coors Lite could be comped and he decided we could order an appetizer, at the risk of ruining our appetite for dinner later, and we went with fried green tomatoes, a Southern classic dish neither of us had tried before. They came three to the dish with BBQ ranch dipping sauce. The crust was beautiful, uniformly crispy and fresh and the green tomatoes were firm and a touch sour. It was a good choice that nearly seemed healthy!

Lobster Place in Chelsea Market (Chelsea)

“What’s Chelsea and why are we going there?” NPY asked. I didn’t really know what we were getting into but our afternoon in Chelsea was really nice. It reminded us of a bigger version of Gastown and there were wondrous sights. After eating, we would walk along the High Line which was a really nice and efficient way to walk uptown, but first we went to Chelsea market which I warned him would be like Granville Island’s prepared food section… only better!

The bakeries like Fat Witch and Eleni’s were nice to visit but I wanted a small meal and I was holding out for a meat pie from the Tuck Shop and/or a proper clam chowder from the Lobster Place.

Lobster Place is a seafood market that reminds me of home (Clearwater on Bedford Highway) with fresh and stinky seafood being sold and prepared food offered at the back. A row of serve-yourself soup cauldrons were on a table and it was a no-brainer to go with the red Manhattan clam chowder over the creamy New England clam chowder. The chowder had broken clams and potato and was hearty and just the right small meal to tide us over to the next place!