All Entries in the "European" Category

Vassilis Souvlaki Greek Taverna on Kingsway, Burnaby

For the good three quarter of this year, my work life had been consumed with what is called Project “ONE”.  It was an important cornerstone for a series of ambitious projects that will put in place the world’s largest system that will manage and distribute “fares”. You probably have no idea how archaic existing aviation systems are — many of which are still done on mainframes with green-screen monitors.  This is because aviation systems are one of the early adopters of computers and it had been that way for generations.  So the so-called Project “ONE” goal is to move systems out of mainframes to an open system — sounds easy but it’s not.

The eight months of hard work were filled with daily voice, web and video conferences because the various teams are located in many parts of the world with the project managed centrally in Vancouver.  There were quite a bit travel when face-time is required especially when it comes to plannings.  Anyway, this blog entry is dedicated to the “boys and girls” who had so successfully rolled out a swanky new system which is getting rave reviews from airlines all over the world.

To the team members of Project “ONE” — this blog entry is for you.

We had a little celebration for the successful execution of the project by having a lunch at Vassilis.  Timing was bad such that we had been given directive that cost cutting is to strictly enforced because of the expected downturn in the aviation industry viz the meltdown of the financial sector in the US.  Going to an Asian place is out of the questions because the white blokes would end up eating nothing.  So, we eventually settled for Greek.  It narrowed down to either Minoas or Vasssilis.

We eventually decided on the Vassilis Souvloaki Greek Taverna.  Vassilis is located on 6558 Kingsway in Burnaby.  That is at the almost eastern end of Kingsway.  Parking is plentiful in front of the building and you will not miss it along Kingsway.

Question for you all … does anyone of you know why the Greeks like blue and white so much?  I mean, I know the colors on their flag is blue and white but why blue?  Just about EVERY Greek restaurant I know paints their restaurant blue and white.

Inside, it is really spacious with many sections and rooms.  This is because this restaurant used to be a mansion of sorts eons before Kingsway became commercialized.  All over the place … there are these little plants hanging all over the place.  Geez … I was thinking how much time they had to spend watering them.  Despite this, the interior were very bright because they installed sky lights (?) that allows natural sunlight into the dining rooms.

We went on a Friday afternoon.  I expected lots of people but no, it was just half full the whole time we were there.

Most of us took a lot of time figuring out what to order.  Other than Souvlaki, many of us knows next to nothing about Greek cuisine.  You know, hardly anyone ordered drinks at all.

Surprisingly, they have a really tiny 2-page menu only.  It makes the selection easier. I was not very sure but the menus we were given were perhaps just their lunch menu.

Most people will just order the most expensive item because the project is paying!  I had planned for $40-$50 per person but according to the menu, $30 will cover it quite nicely.

We got a couple of their Hot Appetizer Platter.  It has spanakopita, kalamari, artichokes, “fektethes” and tzatziki.  This one is $29 each which I thought was quite expensive and the most expensive item on the menu.  It was great but I would think that this should not have costs that much.

The above is tzatziki, I think.  I said “I think” because this one looked prettier than the blob I normally had with Souvlaki in the food court.  How does one normally eat this?  I use it like a spread on items like bread, the spanakopita and such.  I sometimes apply it on top of the rice too.

The bread was just so-so but it was served warm.  At first glance, the bread looked dry, don’t you think?

I ordered the Paidakia which is described as “charbroiled loin of lamb chops marinated with fresh herbs and spices, served with Greek salad, rice pilaf and potatoes”.  It was quite good.  I wished the lamb chops have more meat because about 1/3 of them are bones.  Although I am not much of a salad person, I must say I really enjoyed the Greek salad on the side.  $16 for the dish above.

I did not go around taking pictures of the team members’ plates because it was quite impossible to move around.

I think the one above is called Saganaki, pan fried cheese ($9).  I wanted to share with you the rusted through plate they served this in and that for some strange reason we all accepted that it was kind of great it was served on this.

Washington DC: Sbarro Lunch in Union Station

By the time we got to the hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags it was already past 2PM.  We were not too hungry but decided that we should just get something to eat since we only had cereals for breakfast.  I guess it must have been the excitement that we’re not feeling that hungry.  We asked the hotel’s front desk where we could find food and they pointed us to the Union Station.

The Union Station is an old station built at the turn of the 20th century.  At that time, train travel is the main form of long distance travel.  The city designed and built this station as a ceremonial station and as a grand entrance to the city of Washington DC.  Today it is the main train hub in Washington DC.  We started our day from this station everyday.

Considering this a building of over a hundred years old, it is amazing that it looked so new.  I felt that this station is brighter and better maintained than the more famous Grand Central Terminal in New York City.  Like many other buildings in Washington DC, the ceiling is designed with sunken panels.

Washington DC was unbelievably hot and humid in summer.  We were more thirsty than anything.  We walked around the level where there were a few places to eat and decided to stop by Sbarro.  I saw a lot of Sbarro when I was in New York City and decided to try it.  Sbarro is a fast food joint that serves Italian food.

It was not cheap, I recall.  We just had this slice of pizza and …

… and a side pasta.  This came to almost $10.  We had a quick bite and then headed out to the US Capitol.

Dine Out Vancouver 2008 - Chambar

I had been to Chambar twice before with the last time during last year’s Dine Out Vancouver. However, this year, I decided to go there again because Suanne had never been there before and wanted to try their famous mussels.

Chambar is a Belgian restaurant located on Beatty St just outside that Stadium Skytrain station in Vancouver. Our reservation was for 5PM. By the time we arrived 5 minutes before, many had arrived earlier and waited at the lounge. We can see that Chambar is perhaps one of the most popular DOV venue.

We got seated in the inner dinner hall which I preferred because it is wider and had a big window (not that there is a view from it anyway). One thing you will notice about Chambar is that the walls are decorated with art pieces which they help local artists showcase their work.

Just a couple of tables away was a group three Asian diners who also whipped out cameras and took pictures of their food. For a moment, we were wondering if they are one of food bloggers we know. We tried to establish eye-contact but failed. I thought it will be great to say hi to bloggers.

Oh, we were also told that we had only 1.5 hours for DOV. We understand the reason why.

Since this is a Belgian restaurant, I chose a Belgian beer. They had a good selection Trappistes beer which is renowned to be “all one needs” and are known to be brewed in monasteries by monks. I got myself the Rochefort 8 which is 9.2% alcohol. Small bottle but packs quite a punch.

For the appetizer, we had the La Salad d’Hiver. This is a Belgium endive and watercress salad with cranberry and vanilla vinaigrette. Stacked up high and had fresh crunch but otherwise, it was pretty tasteless save for the vinaigrette.

The next appetizer is one of the most interesting we ever had. It’s called the Carpaccio de Chevreuil. It is very thinly sliced (but also salty) venison and served together with crispy golden Yukon potatoes and roasted garlic and horseradish tapenade. Together they pack a good mixture of texture.

My main was the Truite et Ravioli. It is basically a trout and ravioli dish. The trout was crusted with absinthe butter while the pepper and goat cheese ravioli was roasted. It was quite bland. Frankly, this was not the star of the meal.

The star of the meal is none other than the Mussels Congolaise. It came in a big pot with a lid that you use to discard the shells.

The mussels were cooked with a tomato coconut cream, smoked chili and lime. We ordered a bread roll ($3!) as a side to dunk. It’s such a waste for good soup. Bread should be free especially with this.

And the mussels were simply the fattest, juiciest we had ever tried. I had mussels in Chez Leon in Brussels just last year and there is simply no comparison to good old Vancouver mussels.

Since I had been raving about the frites I had in Brussels, Suanne wanted to see what the fuss is even though we know this is really Vancouver fries. It was pretty much the same as any fries we had locally. This small cup is $5.

Pot de Creme is a green tea (Matcha) pot de creme and topped with lemon sable & blueberry compote. It was light and not overly sweet.

The Belgian Waffle was served warm and crispy and topped with homemade vanilla ice-cream and warm chocolate sauce.

In all, this is about the only DOV dinner that we came away absolutely full. There were a lot of food partly because of the extra pomme frites and bread roll we ordered. That big pot of mussels did help too. This is a $25 per person plate. The total bill came up to $83.

We like Chambar because of the reasonable prices. You should go try their mussels. I think you will like it.

Cascade Pizza in Bellingham, WA

Ever since we had started blogging two years ago, we had never met up with any fellow bloggers. That is not until around the (US) Thanksgiving last year. We had been in contact with Jennifer from Pie Is The New Toast for some time and had agreed to meet up if we are in the Bellingham area. Actually, Jennifer had already blogged on our meet-up here.

Suanne and I went spent a day in the US during Black Friday for shopping. We had been there shopping almost every Black Friday but do find it is somewhat subdued this year. After 10 hours of walking around malls, our feet were killing us.

The Cascade Pizza is an Italian restaurant located on Meridian Street. If you know where Bellis Fair Mall is, you’ll easily find this place. Bellis Fair is on the intersection of I-5 and Meridian. So, you just drive south bound along Meridian for 1.5 miles after the I-5 intersection.

The Cascade Pizza is one of Jennifer’s favourite restaurant. What we like about this place is that the quality of the food is good and the price really reasonable. It was a great choice of restaurant, Jennifer.

The Garlic Bread looked absolutely delicious. We like it with lots of garlic spread and we can see how much the spread had soaked into the bread. And most important of all, it is toasted to a crunch.

The Lasagna and Ribs were some of the richest, creamiest lasagna we had tried. It was just excellent and the portions were generous. What I enjoyed most about this is the ribs … they were simply beyond great. For $8.95 and the portion we had, I really find this value for money.

One thing that Suanne and I find about the ribs in the US … they are much bigger than what we normally find in Canada. Every since, MammaViv raved about how she will make trips to the US to buy ribs, we had been comparing the ribs we find in Vancouver’s Safeway, Safe-On-Foods, Costco, Superstore, etc against what we find in the US. The ones we buy from the US is like twice the size of the puny ribs we have here. So, nowadays, we almost end up buying ribs back from our shopping trips to the US.

The Garlic Chicken Pizza with white sauce was great stuff. We ordered that pizza because it had uncommon ingredients for a pizza. The small pizza costs $10.95 and still it was way too much for us.

It was great being able to meet up with fellow bloggers and to be able to put a face to a name. Jennifer, it was a great choice of restaurant. Suanne and I really enjoyed this place — we would not have found this on our own. So, where will you show us the next time meet up again?

New York: Lombardi’s Pizzeria Nepoletana

New York is considered the birth place of the American Pizza. It is so much so that many of existing Neapolitan pizzas are also known as New York-style pizza. I made it one of my quest to seek out the grand daddy of pizzeria when I was in New York … and that is the Lombardi’s Pizzeria Nepoletana.

There had always been a dispute whether if Lombardi’s is really the first pizzeria in America but at least they have the proof that no one ever had. Lombardi was licensed by the City of New York in 1905 and no one else had ever had proof that they are opened earlier.

I am not sure what Zagat Survey is but I guess it must have been a big deal to be voted as “Best on the Planet” for pizzas. They claimed to have started the pizza culture in the US and is still at the top even after 100 years.

I guess they know that I am a tourist. It’s because they brought me on a little tour through their kitchen. I can see that their coal fired oven is emblazoned with the words “1906 Lombardi’s”. It looked really old … I do wonder if this is the same oven that they had used for the past 102 years.

I was shown a quiet corner of the restaurant. As a matter of fact, I was the only one there.

I ordered their house made Sangria, which is a Spanish wine punch of sorts. It was sweet and fruity.

I tried to be a bit adventurous and ordered from their specialty pizza section of the menu. I ordered the Clam Pie. I reckon that for $26 for a 6-slice, 14″ pizza, it had to be somewhat special. It is described as follows … “more than 2 dozen hand shicked clams, oregano, garlic infused oil, Pecorino Romano cheese, virgin olive oil and black pepper, topped with fresh parsley, served with fresh lemon on the side … and does NOT come with tomato sauce”.

On hindsight, I should have just stayed with their “Gennaros original Margarita Pizza”. This one, well, is too dry for my liking. It is not bad and I like the thin crusted bread but I guess I had already tuned myself for a New York-style pizza … and this is not NY-style pizza. Shoot! I came all the way here and wanted to try NY-style Pizza and I ended up with a specialty pizza.

The 6 slices were too much for me. They don’t have anything smaller. I had only three slices and then asked them to pack the remaining to go.

The entire bill came up to $41 including tips and taxes. Kind of expensive for pizzas, huh? Well, the Sangria is $7 and the Clam Pie is $26. One thing … they only accept CASH. For an establishment like this, I find it strange that they only accept cash.

Sigh … I guess I cannot scratch off “New York-Style Pizza” from my list of “Food to Eat Before I Die”. Note to self: Stick to the basics … don’t try to be fancy.

Atlanta Trip: Locanda D’Amico at Minneapolis Airport

I flew for the first time on Northwest Airlines. Since NWA is headquartered out of Minneapolis, I had a stopover at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. You know what’s the greatest attraction at this airport? For American, they’ll know that it’s the washrooms!!

For those who do not know, Senator Larry Craig was arrested at this airport for “disorderly conduct”. Apparently what he did was he tapped his feet in the washroom. This is so new to me … tapping of the feet is a signal for people who wants to engage in well, “disorderly conduct”.

Well, I made very sure I did NOT tap my feet when I used the washroom. I have half a mind of taking pictures but there are so many people going in and out that I am sure I would get arrested for taking pictures in the washroom. :-) … Enough of that.

Anyway, we had lunch at a casual-Italian restaurant called the Locanda D’Amico.

They served sliced bread … nothing to shout about.

I had the Chicken Scallopini with Prosciutto, served with Linguine with Fontina Sauce. The scallopini was exceptionally good with the cheese sauce.

Amsterdam Series: Pannekoeken Breakfast and Museums

I did not know exactly where I was this morning. I was on a tram trying to get to the city centre when I spotted a bustling flower market. I thought I just spend a few minutes here to check out this place. It’s still early spring and so one could hardly see any tulips around. However, there were quite a lot of bulbs on sale — some of which are bigger than a fist.

There were quite a few restaurants along the street where the flower market is. My only impression of a Dutch breakfast is the pannekoeken (or known as pannekoek in Canada). We had once tried these dutch pancakes in De Dutch here in BC.

So I guess this is where I could get the real dutch breakfast.

The interior is dim and cozy. It was early and I was their only customer.

I ordered coffee as usual … always coffee with milk. And there’s the piece of cookie like they always give you with coffee in Europe.

I ordered the Pannekoeken but can’t remember which one I ordered. I thought it was banana but looking at this picture now, it does not look like it. Unlike Canadian pancakes, these are quite large but thinner.

I think the Dutch likes sweet food. On the table was three types of sweeteners. It’s easy guessing what they are even though you can’t read Dutch right?

My first stop of the day was at the Anne Frank’s House. The Anne Frank House is a museum dedicated to the Jewish girl who wrote a diary during World War II. She and her family hid from the German soldiers as they rounded up all Jews. There was a long line of people.

The museum is the actual house that Anne Frank hid in for a few years. We get to see the secret doorways that her father built and a glimpse of how life was during those few hard years leading to her eventual death in a concentration camp. It was a very moving exhibition. When we got to the final display, everyone was so silent …

I next went to the van Gogh Museum which is dedicated to the most famous dutch impressionist artists. This museum has the largest collection of van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world. It chronicles the stages of his life until his death. I am no expert in van Gogh’s paintings but I could not see some of his most famous paintings here. I guess most of the better ones are in either private hands or in other museums in the world.

I enjoyed the Rijksmuseum immensely even though a large part of it is closed for renovations. Of all the exhibits, I enjoyed those that showcased the Dutch golden age and how for a short span of 100 years, the little Dutch country dominated the world trade and culture. I also enjoyed the paintings, especially Rembrandt’s complex Night Watch and the simple Milkmaid painting by Vermeers.