Chow Times » Western

The Cannery Seafood House on Commissioner Street, Vancouver

Ben — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:23:03 +0000

It’s such a shame.

It’s such a shame that such a fine restaurant like The Cannery are forced to close through no fault of theirs.

Last week, I had a week long strategy planning session with our core project members who came from several countries. The meetings were grueling to say the least. On the last day of the meeting, it rested upon me to organize a team dinner. I love planning dinners like these and chose one of the best place one could go to for such team dinners — The Cannery.

If you have never heard of The Cannery, you will never accidentally bump into this place. It is because it is located out of way. As a matter of fact, it is located right in the middle of the Vancouver Port.

To get to The Cannery you need to clear the port security although it is generally no fuss. They will ask where you are going and they will let you through if you just say you are going to The Cannery.

It will feel kind of weird because located in the middle of warehouses, silos and train tracks is a restaurant very unlike what you will find elsewhere in Vancouver.

The moment we walked, my guests were already remarking how this place exudes the old-fashioned attractiveness and charm. When I told them this place will close in just a few months, they said the same thing … “what a shame”. That is said even before we had started eating.

Gail was saying that they can never replace a place like this. They can’t just close this and hope to reopen it in another place with the same experience. Sha said that it will never be the same again. I agree.

You really got to see this place for yourself. I felt it is just the perfect restaurant for just about any occasion. There are nice little corner with the view of the Burrard Inlet for a nice cozy romantic dinner. At another corner is a casual setting at the fire place.

We got ourselves a very nice corner for our group of 13 people. I could not be happier myself. :-)

Our waitress was a cheerful person and knows the food and drinks they serve very well. Too well, because she rattled off such a long description of the martini that most of us just did not understand what we got. Most of us had that martini “with a dash of raspberry” you see on the right.

We had a few bottles of wines to accompany the food. One of them was Syrah which they all raved about. I had the strong red wine but really, I can’t tell the difference between this vs other red wine. Our waitress offered someone in our party to taste it before they are poured for the rest of us.

Looking at the number of bottles we ordered throughout the night, I can imagine how much this is all gonna cost. Good thing I am not the one who had to expense it!

It was very dim in the restaurant. I had to push the ISO setting to “enhanced” in order take these pictures. Even that, it came out with motion blur for some picture. But really, am glad it turn out mostly OK even with these difficult lightings.

The bread was nothing to shout about and does not wow us at all. I had tasted better … but …

… the lobster oil with the balsamic vinegar pretty much made up for the ho-hum bread. This is produced and bottled in Vancouver and is the invention of their Executive Chef. You can actually buy them at $25 a bottle (see here).

I had a lot of the bread with this dip.

Their menu is laid out as “first course” and “second course” instead of the normal Appetizer and Main.

My first course is the Roasted Mussels ($16). The mussels was kind of OK — no big deal. It was served on a sizzling cast iron pan resting on an iron stand. The better part was not the mussels but the gravy and the really crispy bread.

Here are some of the other first courses that the others in our party ordered. The Cannery’s first courses are …
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Go Fish at False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf Near Granville Island, Vancouver

Ben — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:23:17 +0000

The best fish and chips in Vancouver is not a a place where you would stumble upon despite its close proximity to the one of top tourist destination in Vancouver, Granville Island.

Even if you so happen to stumble upon it, you would probably not give this shack a second glance if not for the hordes of customers.

But believe it or not, this humble looking fish shack is started by no other than the same chef behind the Bin 941 Tapas Parlour. That alone explains pretty much the popularity of the food.

Besides the food, it also had a million dollar view of the False Creek. This is certainly a gem of a place.

It is the type of place where you would recommend to tourists and you can be quite sure that they will be impressed with it. Go Fish is so Vancouver — beautiful view and good fish.

Their prices are not too expensive considering that they include GST. Click on the image of the menu above to get a clearer view.

Their specials are shown on the chalkboard. We wanted to just order the Scallop Sandwich but they were JUST sold out.

You place your order at the side of the shack. There was not a line at all when we were there. We had expected a long line as that day was beautiful with the sun out. I guess it was because it was cold and windy that afternoon.

Even that, we were told that it will be 10 minutes for our order. One can just imagine how long the wait is on a busy day. They make the food only when you order it, even the fries, so that you get absolutely the best.

For fish and chips, they had cod, salmon or halibut. Too bad they don’t have a combo of all three. They only have it either-or.

We thought we try the more expensive halibut. It is $10 for a piece of the fish and fries. Interestingly, it is served in a Dim Sum bamboo basket. It is so practical.

The fish looked and smell great. It was piping hot too having just been taken out from the fryer. The menu mentioned that the batter is made with …
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Bin 941 Tapas Parlour on Davie and Burrard, Vancouver

Ben — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:45:53 +0000

“Oh My God!”

That is how we would describe this Friday dinner we had recently.

We had heard so much about the Bin 941 Tapas Parlour … read a number of reviews about them. We never thought it would be our kind of place. Reviews after reviews pointed out their loud music … and that it is dark … and that it is dingy.

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Looking at Bin 941 from Davie just off Burrard, you will probably give this place a miss. With rusted looking frontage and just next to a pawn shop, what would you expect? We walked passed by Bin 941 many times. We did not think much of them.

It is cramped. And really small. If you had not known better, you would probably call this a hole in the wall.

There are only tables lining one side of the restaurant … really small tables. Put on a couple of plates and drinks, there is hardly any room left for anything else. The rest of the seats are at the bar.

Regardless, people tell me that the food is great. So I called ahead in the afternoon trying to make a reservation for a table for two. Well, they said that they DON’T take reservation. They told me that if I wanted to be sure of a table, we got to be there early. They open at 5PM for dinner. Only dinner, no lunch. They close late too. Real late … like 2AM.

So we went early. Too early as a matter of fact. It was 15 minutes before opening time. We just walked in because it was cold and windy at that time. Guess what … they shoo’ed us out! Where is the compassion?!? It was frigid cold out there. So we waited outside. It was awkward to say the least. At this point, we thought this whole place is a bad idea.

After 5 minutes, they came out and beckoned us in. “Sorry” they said. They added that it will be a few more minutes before they can tend to us. Fine by us. We were not in a hurry.

Got a drink. Beer on tap for me — $5. Suanne’s is just water — no charge. The drinks menu is just dominated by wine and beer. Certainly no bubble tea here for Suanne.

This place wasn’t that bad. The music was not loud. Certainly not discotheque loud as a reviewer claimed. The place kind of grew on us. Being the first customer that night, we snagged that great little table by the window. It was cramped with hardly any legroom to move.

But it was a fantastic window seat to enjoy the food … a cosy private little corner of our own … and watching the world go by.

It is people watching at its best.

Their menu is just a 1-pager. Very simple. Every single item looked great.

The menu said “Serious About Food” … “Serious About Fun”. They are right … Suanne and I had great food and we had fun too. You will see.

The waitress asked if we were here before. “Nope” we replied. She wanted us to know that they serve the meal one dish at a time. The concept is sharing. We like that. Anyway, between Suanne and I, we had ALWAYS shared our food.

Then the fun began.

We ordered their Pomme Frites. It was only $6. I had never had a taller pile of fries in my life. It was at least 6 inches tall, maybe 7. We have no idea how they managed to pile it so high.

No ketchup necessary. It was drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar. The shoestringy fries very crisp. It was great. Simply some of the best we ever had.

Suanne tugged on one piece and the whole structure …
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Rodney’s Oyster House in Yaletown, Vancouver

Ben — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:00:54 +0000

Suanne and I went to Hamilton Street in Yaletown for our Friday dinner out. Of all places, we chose a restaurant along Hamilton St because I want to check out the “happening street” during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I read in the papers that Hamilton street will be made pedestrian only and will be THE connector between the two main party sites for the games.

It will be interesting to see how these restaurants will gear up to maximize on the biggest event ever to be hosted by Vancouver.

We went to Rodney’s Oyster House. Frankly, we are not fans of raw oysters ourselves. I eat it but Suanne, she can’t stand the slimy texture when eaten raw.

We did not have a reservation but on hindsight, it would have been better if we had. It was because they only have one table left when we arrived just before 5PM.

Rodney’s Oyster House has two levels of dining area. We got seated upstairs on the table that overlooks the whole of ground floor. We like that table — great for people watching and observing how the staff shucks the oysters.

Rodney’s is a noisy restaurant. It was not so loud that one could hardly keep up a conversation but it has a very noticeable din.

The first thing they did was to bring the bread even before we got the menu and stuff. Our waiter is great. I read of reviews that Rodney’s wait staff are exceptional, playful and relaxed … they sure are. The waiters are all guys and they are exceptionally good with the ladies. LOL!

The bread was OK … a nice sort of OK. It was sourdough, we think. First thing we did was touch it. Was it warm? No, it was not but we enjoyed it all the same.

For drinks we had Heineken ($5.75) and Iced Tea ($3.50). I got Heineken because, you see, I am on training.

I am training to drink beer without getting flushed red all the time. Yeah, I know you people don’t think this can be trained. I’ll prove you all wrong. LOL!

I swear … my face was not as red as it used to. Don’t believe me? Suanne can attest to that.

Rodney’s call their Happy Hours the Low Tide. Monday to Saturday 3PM to 6PM. We were there for this, otherwise a meal here could be pricey depending on what one order. I was reading this one review that has a couple spending over $90 just on 18 oysters and two bowls of soup.

We see that a lot of people order the oysters by the platter with at least a dozen pieces, often more. We? We asked for …
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$2.95 Breakfast at Bon’s Off Broadway in Vancouver

Ben — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:12:33 +0000

Nanzaro loves camping. He signs up for every camp that he comes across. I don’t think he is bothered with what the camp is just as long as he goes camping. It could be leadership, survival, physical education, flying … anything. So over this long Thanksgiving weekend he was off again to another camp.

He needs to be at the Vancouver Meeting Point at 8:30AM. So we thought for once we take that long drive to Vancouver and have our breakfast before dropping him off.

I have heard so much about Bon’s off Broadway and of their $2.95 Breakfast which includes GST. I can’t think of any breakfast cheaper than Bon’s in Metro Vancouver other than IKEA’s $1 breakfast.

We planned to wake up extra early and be there at their opening time of 7AM. When we got there, we found out that they only open at 8AM on weekends. Well, there was no way we could have breakfast and then drive to Nanzaro’s drop off point on time. So, I suggested that we take him to breakfast in McDonalds or something, drop him off at the meeting point and then the rest of the family return for the breakfast in Bon’s.

Understandably, Nanzaro was upset because he was looking forward to the breakfast here. I had hyped it up the night before and shown him some pictures on the web.

So we ended up going to a nearby Tim Horton’s and got him a breakfast sandwich. And he insisted on having COFFEE to go with the sandwich, not hot chocolate. No siree. He is not going to take no for an answer because he was still fuming mad about not getting to eat at Bon’s. So we let him — that was about the only way to make it up to him.

We dropped him off. The moment he sees his friends, the whole issue was all behind him. LOL!

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Bon’s Off Broadway is located at the north intersection with Nanaimo. It is easy to locate, just look for the bright red sign and awning.

We got back to Bon’s at 10 minutes past their opening time, so there were some tables open. ”Anywhere!” someone shouted the moment we walked in. So we grabbed one of the remaining three tables available. Our waiter asked if we wanted the menu. I guess most of the customers are regulars and therefore do not need a menu. We need it for sure.

Bon’s off Broadway is obviously a neighborhood restaurant. You really don’t need to dress up eating here. It is very casual and nothing pretentious. The decor is garish … with neon lights in odd places and old movie posters slapped all over the wall. No frills. We like the casualness.

We had coffee and hot chocolate. The are free refills but you should not expect them to come by your table regularly to fill it up for you. They are just too busy to do that even though they did fill it once for us. Many people just helped themselves with the refill. Truth be told, their coffee was nothing to shout about.

One would have thought that a $2.95 (including taxes!) breakfast would be just plain toasts and eggs but this is a full-on substantial breakfast served on a large plate. Just look at that picture above. The only thing you should overlook is the fact that the plate is all greasy and that it is chipped — not one but in several places. LOL!

Service is slow. Our orders took over 30 minutes to arrive. We were OK with that because we had read reviews about this issue. To their defence, it is not that Bon’s service is slow but it’s just that there are a lot of tables to serve and breakfasts to prepare.

For $2.95 we got two eggs done anyway we want and a choice of …
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Frat-Bat Sampler at Alibi Room in Gastown, Vancouver

Ben — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:31:01 +0000

I finally met up with Kevin of 604foodtography.com.

We had planned to meet up for a few months but failed to for one reason or another. When we came to a date that suits both of us, Suanne had to go for her canning workshops. So it was just I who went and met with Kevin.

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We met at the Alibi Room. The Alibi Room is located on Alexander Street in Gastown.

Having never been to this part of the town before, I thought it was just next to Water Street in Gastown. I was running late and I did not check the exact location before I parked at The Harbor Center.

Boy, it was a long walk to the Alibi Room from the Harbor Center. And to add to that, Alexander Street was so empty and quiet. I thought for a moment I was at the wrong place. Spin around the Google Street View above. It IS that quiet with hardly a soul in sight. It is situated in an old heritage building and there is no prominent sign on the restaurant front.

The Alibi Room opens at very odd hours. I am curious as to why they keep such odd non-uniform opening hours. See their hours here:

Tuesday – 5pm ‘til late
Wednesday – 5pm ’til well after dark
Thursday – 5pm ‘til closing time
Friday – 5pm – 1am
Saturday – 10am -1am (brunch 10am-3pm)
Sunday brunch 10-3
Monday – CLOSED

The Alibi Room’s decor is minimal and laid back. This adds to the charm of this place. It did appear to me that this is primarily a beer place. That is fine with me even though I am intolerant to alcohol. Since it was at that time there was a discussion on chowtimes about beer, I thought this would be a great place to learn a bit more about beer.

You know how bad my alcohol intolerance is? I first found out about my condition in the worse of circumstances. Of all times, it was at a …
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IHOP on No 3 Road, Richmond

Ben — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:10:02 +0000

Oh … I am so swamped with work these days that I had no time for the blog. I would be so drained by the time I got back to work, I would sometimes fall asleep in front of the TV with the notebook on my lap after dinner. So yeah … the blog is furthest from my mind now.

So for the past couple of weeks we had been going back to our favourite restaurants. We did not need to find new places to blog about. It was good to be normal for a change!

We went to IHOP over a month ago. That was how much backlogged we are in writing about our dine out experiences.

IHOP would not have been my first choice but Arksensen and Nanzaro insisted that for once we go for a non-Asian breakfast. So we went to a place closest to our home. It is the one on No 3 Road and Park Road.

This IHOP has an open kitchen right in the middle of the restaurant. So it smell of frying bacons and brewing coffee the moment we walked in. It is like a perfect morning smell.

One thing that struck me was how all the IHOPs that we went to so far are the same. They even uses the same bronze color flasks for coffee and the four syrup dispensers. It is not just with the Vancouver area IHOPs but it is the same in all the IHOPs we went to before in Washington state, Georgia, Nevada, California and Pennsylvania.

By the way, do you know why they call IHOP the International House of Pancakes? It is because they serve German, French and Swedish styles pancakes. They are also known for their French toasts and Belgian waffles. Now you know.

It was coffee for the adults and …
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The Edge Social Grille and Lounge on Granville, Vancouver

Ben — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:46:21 +0000

Friday is my favourite day of the week. That is day out — with our boys blessings. Nanzaro and Arkensen is at the age when they are just glad to get rid of us from the house.

A couple of Fridays ago, Suanne and I decided to go for a movie. As much as we could do the movie in Richmond, we decided to go downtown and at the same time check out the new restaurant we had walked past several times the past months.

We came across The Edge because we often parked along Granville Street. Parking was (is?) free because I think of the road constructions the city were making. I don’t think this will be free for long … but until they start collecting for parking, we will always park here when we are in downtown.

The Edge is new. It is about maybe 1-2 months new. Located at the intersection with Helmcken St along Granville St, the Edge lies smack in the midst of the Granville Entertainment District. This section of Granville St had undergone a lot of changes the past year and I like the changes I see.

The Edge is actually located at the ground floor of the Best Western Chateau Granville which makes me think that The Edge will get many tourist type customers.

We were surprised how big The Edge was. We can see that they have all sorts of seating configurations. We were asked if we wanted to sit by the dining area, the lounge or at the outside patio. We decided to take the dining area although the plush seats at the lounge was kind of inviting. We were here to eat.

As plush as this place is, there was something here that was so unexpected. We could hear the cloud clanking of stir frying wok from where we sat!

Service was great. Our waitress was chatty. She thought we were tourists because we had a camera with us. She asked where we are from. We were evasive and said “around and what about you?”. She went on to tell us she is Australian and how she had been all over the world working and had just came to Vancouver. When she said that I was thinking that perhaps people are starting to turn up in Vancouver to work part-time leading to the Olympics. You reckon?

I said I wanted a light beer and was given a Coors Light. (yeah, yeah, yeah … too much foam I know). Hey, is this the beer where the color of the mountain on the label turns blue if it is cold enough. I saw it on the TV commercial several times already. I tried to warm up the label by rubbing it but it stayed blue.

Oh even with “light” beer, my face gets all red. Tell me … why is that so? You think with “training” I could get less red over time?

On to food …
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Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House on Robson and Thurlow, Vancouver

Ben — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:52:12 +0000

I just gotta get a few more old posts out of the way before I start on the Spain series. Suanne reminded to do it because she knows that if I don’t blog about it now, I will never get down to doing it.

This is a follow-on post from the Lets Go For Dinner post I made previously. With the $50 dinner certificate, I invited chowtimes readers to join Suanne and I to share the famed Seafood Tower on Ice in Joe Fortes. The plan was to get the $150 THREE-TIER Seafood Tower on Ice and have nothing else but that.

Joe Fortes is located at the busy intersection of Robson and Thurlow. Suanne and I decided to park all the way on Granville St (free street parking!) and walk all the way.

That got us there a bit late. We should have taken the Joe Fortes taxi. LOL! There was this bright yellow taxi parked in front of the restaurant. I was wondering if it is just for show or if it is an actually running taxi operated by the restaurant.

There were five of us who went to Joe Fortes. Jenny (My Secret Eden), Ricky and Anita joined us.

Some of you who are well versed with Vancouver’s history would have heard of Joe Fortes and his contribution to the city (see above). There is a Joe Fortes drinking fountain memorial at the West End’s Alexandra Park.

Now, lets get this clear … Joe Fortes did NOT open nor owned this restaurant. The restaurant just adopted his name. Now you know.

To me, Joe Fortes is a touristy restaurant. I can see lots of tourists eating here.

I had always heard that there are two levels in Joe Fortes. Rumour has it that if you dressed nicely and formally, you get seated upstairs. If you dress in jeans, you are banished to the busy ground floor. To my dismay when we got there, our guests were already seated at the ground floor … not just any table at the ground floor but the WORST table. It was located just at the entrance to the kitchen.

So I had to tell our waiter that I simply cannot enjoy my meal with people rushing behind me every five minutes. They promptly moved us … UPSTAIRS and the best table upstairs too! We had nice bright spot at the corner with a sweeping view of the restaurant. We were quite pleased.

Anyway, the rumour about Joe Fortes seating customers based on how they dressed is not true because we were casually dressed in jeans and Ts. Many customers upstairs are similarly attired.

Service was top notch … very polite and cheerful. The waiters were all decked in short white jacket. Table setting was nice and formal. Things were looking up and I was eagerly anticipating the seafood feast.

Then they gave us warm wet towels. I can’t remember now if they gave this to us at the start or at the end of the dinner. But anyway, I like it.

However, one thing I want to ask all of you for your opinion. You see, when I get this in a dinner with the family, I would take it and wipe my FACE. Ohhhh … it’s so refreshing doing that. However, with friends I just used that to wipe my hands, lest people think I am a hobo (not that I am not one … LOL!).

Is it bad etiquette to wipe the face? Would you use it to wipe your face … have you?

I did not even bother to look at the menu. I just told them we’re there for the Joe’s Seafood Tower on Ice … and emphasizing on THREE TIER!

Our waiter jokingly told us that if we order this he will refuse to allow us to order anything else. The way he said it was convincing us that we had made the right order.

Joe’s Seafood Tower on Ice are available in 1-tier ($49), 2-tiers ($99) and 3-tiers ($145).

Bread was served with soft butter. No complains … good bread.

And there it is … the Joe’s Seafood Tower on Ice. At a glance, it was a sight to behold. It looked so busy with so many goodies in it all at once that you don’t know what you are looking at. Needless to say, everyone was delighted to see it.

We took lots of pictures … standing up. That’s the only way to take the pictures of this towering presentation.

However to my dismay, …
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Nando’s Chicken on Marine Way, Burnaby

Ben — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:00:57 +0000

Nando’s wrote to us out of the blue a couple of weeks ago letting us know that Rochelle Schätzl, the world’s foremost authority on Peri-Peri Chili, will be in Vancouver asking if we would be interested in meeting her. Rochelle is an award-winning author and chef from South Africa, the home of the Peri-Peri Chili. She had written a book about it called “Peri-Peri: The Contrasts and Contradictions of the African Bird’s Eye Chili”.

We said yes, because we knew it will be an opportunity to learn more about the Peri-Peri Chili and its exotic flavours … and boy, was that some learnings we had! Never in my imagination could someone share non-stop about everything Peri-Peri for two straight hours. LOL! We had a great time and this is what we learned.

After a few email exchanges, Mark suggested that we meet at the new Nando’s Restaurant in South Burnaby, in the new big boxes shopping mall by Marine Way. We were greeted by Nick, the owner of this outlet, and Mark and Rochelle. Believe it or not, Suanne and I had never been to Nando’s before because we thought that it was just a spicier version of fried chicken.

We found out how different Nando’s is from KFC and Church’s and that it is not quite the fast food the way we know it. Well, it is like a cross between fast food and slow food is how I would describe it. You place your orders at the fastfood style counter and given a wooden block with a number where there will bring the food to your table when it is ready.

This particular store was busy during lunchtime when we were there during a weekday.

Nando’s originated from South Africa in 1987 and is a restaurant with a Portuguese theme. Nando’s operates in 35 countries today with their biggest market in South African and Britain. There were a lot of other facinating stories about Nando’s history and beginings but am not going to bore you with those.

Anyway, this restaurant we visited carries the South African theme with African decor and artifacts. The restaurant was pleasant, clean and tastefully designed.

Rochelle gave a copy of her beautiful book on Peri-Peri. It took her two years of research to write it. It was a privilege to be given the inside scoop of this brilliant pepper and how it is impacting the global culinary landscape. Specialty Food Magazine recently listed the Peri-Peri Chili as one of the Top 10 Flavour Trends of 2009.

From our time with her, we can clearly see that Rochelle is proud of South Africa, it’s food, people and culture. She told us how the tiny Peri-Peri Chili represents very much a way of life of the South African adding that all restaurants in South Africa will have some form of Peri-Peri.

Peri-Peri is the African version of the Bird’s Eye Chili. It is very much like the South East Asian version of Chili Padi or Thai Pepper. This chili packs a punch despite its size. Peri-Peri is used in a dry form and not fresh. Do you know why?

Let’s see a comparison of Scoville Scale (a measurement of hotness) of Peri-Peri Chili against other common peppers:

Law enforcement grade pepper spray: 5,000,000 Scoville Rating
Naga Jolikia (Hottest chili in the world): 1,000,000
Habanero: 100,000 to 300,000
Peri-Peri: 50,000 to 175,000
Thai Pepper: 50,000 to 100,000
Cayenne Pepper: 30,000 to 50,000
Tabasco Pepper: 30,000 to 50,000
Chipotle Pepper: 10,000 to 40,000
Jalapeno Pepper: 3,000 to 8,000
Bell Pepper: Zero!

There had been attempts to cultivate Peri-Peri Chilies outside of a small region in southern African but all attempts had failed. Rochelle said that the Peri Peri is a chili with a bad attitude … the harsher conditions and weather, the meaner the chili gets. There had not been much success in cultivating the Peri-Peri commercially.

Suanne and I sampled a lot of food at Nando’s but there is one I love a lot … the Chicken Livers ($7). Oh major yum. I guess it is not for everyone but if can get over the texture and the thought of it, chicken liver is really delicious.

We ignored the bread that came with the Chicken Livers. We can’t help but notice the tempting looking Portuguese Garlic Bread ($2) …
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