Joe Floats my Boat

After many many years, I finally got the chance to go back and dine at Joe Fortes. It's not the most affordable places, so the last time I went there, it was because my friend was a chef there, and now I have the pleasure to know one of the pastry chefs.

We started off w/ complementary appie. Bruchetta accompanied by foie gras pate, summer pate, and a type of apple gelee. The flavors of the patees were great and very bold, but was nicely tamed with the sweetness of the apple gelee, and what seemed to have been a type of raspberry puree.

Classic Brown Derby Cobb Salad.$17.95
A classic at Joe Fortes w/ blue cheese, avocado, tomatoes, chicken and dressing. I didn't try it, but I was very impressed when the waitress came out w/ the ingredients all separated. then mixed them together on 1 plate, as she tossed it with one hand. A very entertaining party trick, I must say.

Miso Marinate Sablefish. $25.95
I was a little suprised at the size of this dish, compared to the salad I thought it might be bigger. Nonetheless, I tried a little of this dish. It had a nice rich savoury taste, with a nice hint of sweetness, almost caramelized miso perhaps? But the fish itself was like butter. Full of flavor, and so moist. Cooked perfectly.

Seafood Linguine.$21.95
I don't think I stopped saying "yum" the whole time I ate this. This dish was full of flavor, and full of rich, large pieces of seafood(salmon, scallops, prawns etc) however, the flavor wasn't overpowered by seafood taste. I had absolutely nothing bad to say about this dish.

Last but not least, brought out to our table by our friend pastry chef herself. This wasnt even on the menu. Lava cake, chocolate mousse, vanilla ice cream w/ coconut wafer and my personal favorite, disassembled banana cream pie. Absolute bliss.

My overall impression, I was amazed by the customer service that we recieved, and the food was great. It's quite pricey, but with food and service that good, it's all worth it.

Joe Fortes Seafood Restaurant
777 Thurlow Street
Vancouver, BC
604-669-1940
http://www.joefortes.ca/

Dunkin' Oreos

A few weeks ago, I decided to finally re-visit my childhood pastime and visit PNE to see what's new. This was what was knew, that I discovered.... Deep fried oreos. yessir.

For many years, it's been observed that Canada took pride in having food that were in no comparison to the U.S.A....at this moment, it seems as though we're catching up. Please don't misunderstand me, I was one of the lost souls that fell into temptation and bit down on these fluffy and crunchy pillows.

As I stepped up to the window to order, I noticed that they also served deep fried Jelly Bellies, however, the sound of that didn't tickle my fancy. So, as I stood in line waiting for the deep fried treats, one person, after another, after another came to the window to order the oreos, and clearly out of pure curiosity.

In short, they were quite satisfying, soft and chewy dough outside, and a little bit softened warm oreo inside. Delicious, yet decident enough, so make sure that if you do order these devlish puffs, arm yourself a good ol' glass of cold milk, and a buddy to share this with.

It's too late to Brew

This weekend, my friends any I found ourselves wandering the streets of Yaletown, looking for something to quench our hunger. Our goal was Cactus club, but somehow found ourselves in the walls of Yaletown Brewery Inc. I have never been there, and this definately wasn't the 1st impression I was looking for.

Sometimes, service out rules good food.

Our server(who will remain nameless) was definitely not placed in the employment that played on her best qualities.

Occurrences that happened that would never make me go back again(all has to do with the server, not the restaurant itself):
1. Server claimed that the Backyard Burger was 'the best burger you'll ever try'.(That's one thing you should never do. If it really is the best burger, the customer will figure it out on their own.

2. When asked for a wine list, she listed out, "oh, we have really good Merlot, Cab Sav, Chardonnay etc etc...". All very vague. When asked for a wine menue, to get the specifics, all she got in immediate response was a dirty look.

3. I had to ask 4 times before recieving my requested straw.

4. When it was brought to the attention of the server that she forgot to add cheese to the burger, the server actually argued with my friend that she never ordered it, and left the plate at the table, and came back with a cold slice of cheese on a plate!

5. They busboy took away our dishes without asking if we were finished.

6. It let us sit waiting for 15min, after finishing and clearing out table to bring us our bill.


Food was good, but it sure left a bad taste in my mouth.

LEST WE FORGET THE PIRATE PACK

A couple weeks ago, it was brought up to eat lunch @ the good ol' White Spot, and hey, why not all of us get the Pirate Pack. Brilliant idea. The White Spot Pirate Pack is limited to children 11yrs old and under, but that's the beauty of take out. You pick it up and take it back to work to eat.

Years ago, I used to do the whole drive-in thing with my mom and have a classic mushroom burger. These days, my taste buds aren't familiar with their monty mushroom burger anymore. It tastes different. However, with the Legendary burger that comes with the Pirate Pack, minus the mushrooms, definitely brings me back to the early 90's drool factoring classic burger.

So lesson of the story, if you're looking to reminisce over a timeless classic,save $5(monty mushroom burger $10.49 vS. Pirate Pack $5.99), and have a plenty-full stomach, order the Pirate Pack. Plus, with the Pirate Pack you get a regular size burger, a smaller fries, a small drink, a ice cream, a gold coin and a decorative boat =p all for $5.99