Mystery seasonal soup; We don’t remember what was in it.

Phil selected Refuel Restaurant for this month’s Dinner Club outing. Its website motto is “honest food relaxed atmosphere” and I don’t agree with either of those statements. The restaurant seemed to be suffering from an identity crisis; flipping between glorified dishes that all “taste beautiful” according to our server who was sporting a low-cut shirt displaying her breast tattoo, and over-priced bottled sodas paired with miniature dishes that were either over-salted, over-cooked, or tasted like broccoli (even though there was none in it). Based on taste alone, the dishes should’ve been served in take-out containers and with double the amount for half the price.

We started with seasonal vegetable soups, wild arugula salad, and warm spinach and mushroom salad. The salads didn’t taste beautiful or ugly, but they also didn’t garner much feedback either. They were ordinary salads on pretty white plates. Nobody remembers what was supposed to be in the soup, but nobody could tell either. Phil’s initial reaction was “tastes like broccoli” but we were certain the server did not mention any broccoli. Morten and I thought the soup was too watery and while Ang liked the croutons that garnished the plate, I thought they could’ve been crunchier.

Confit duck leg

For mains we ordered dry aged beef burgers, mushroom and crème fraiche ravioli, a foie gras croquette, and confit duck legs. Phil ordered the fois gras croquette on top of his burger and was very happy with it. Morten didn’t have a fois gras croquette but burned his tongue on the first bite of his burger when the oil from it squirted out. Ang, Kenny and I all thought the confit duck legs were overly salty and too skinny. It was as if they cooked duck legs in a pan and added salt thinking it would be the same as curing the duck, washing off the spices and then cooking the duck in its own fat (a proper duck confit). These ducks were probably on a diet before they were overcooked. Morten’s taste buds were muted from his cold, but he still complained that his fries were over-salted. For me, the final straw was the pickled apples that were served with the duck but didn’t taste pickled or fully cooked; they tasted like thin apple pieces that were added to a pan as an afterthought and added to the dish as little more than a weak garnish alongside mini onions taken straight from the jar.

Refuel Restaurant: 2.5 out of 6

There’s not much worth writing about at Refuel Restaurant so I’ll stop here. If you want honest food served with an unpretentious atmosphere, try another restaurant.

Overall Food Group Rating: 2.5 out of 6

The Good: The dishes and décor looked good.

The Bad: Nothing tasted great.

The Ugly: Unless the restaurant is a super casual place with homey hearty food served with paper napkins, or even a really hip joint with fantastic well-prepared dishes that are so great nothing else matters, patrons shouldn’t be able to see the server’s breast tattoo.

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Booze at Metropolitan Bartending School

The date ended as awkwardly as it began, and much later than it should have. Since then, I’ve been quite adamant about not accepting first date homemade dinner invitations and spend a little more time in the liquor store when trying to pick out a proper wine.

Since I still don’t know how to properly pair wines and beekeeping is not an option in the winter, I chose to take a Wine Workshop at Metropolitan Bartending School with Samba Days. When I phoned to book a spot in the class, the new owner recommended that I take the Bar Chef class instead because in his words “it’s a lot more fun.” So I thought, “why not? I’d much rather have fun than study for a potential date with a guy who I probably wouldn’t hit it off with anyway.” The owner at Metropolitan Bartending School is pretty easygoing so using the Samba Days card for a class that wasn’t listed wasn’t an issue.

Micah showing some flair

Our class began with an hour-long introduction to the basics of mixing drinks and an abbreviated history of cocktails. Our instructor, Micah, was enthusiastic about his profession and likened becoming a bar chef to a doctor deciding to become a specialist; every bartender can tend a bar just as every doctor can treat a patient, but bar chefs create cocktails using fresh ingredients that you would find in the kitchen, whereas mixologists focus on creating drinks that differ by their chemical structure, and beer pub servers know how to pour a lager. There were some amusing anecdotes thrown our way, but I did find myself wondering when we were going to start making drinks in this three and a half hour class.

After a half hour break, we each picked out a cutting board, knife, hawthorne strainer, regular strainer, muddler, cocktail shaker and glass to set up our stations. We were instructed to make whatever we wanted using the various fruits, vegetables and sauces that Micah had picked up from the supermarket ahead of time, and were left to our own devices. Micah walked about the room making sure all our questions were answered, and we basically played with food for the next two hours.

After each drink that we made, we would present it to the class and everyone would taste a sample. We each made three drinks which each contained only half a shot of gin / whiskey / rum so nobody even got buzzed, and we learned things like dragon fruit is difficult to muddle, more than a quarter of a Thai chili pepper in a drink will make it burn, and pear mixed with carbonated pop can end up tasting like detergent. It’s a good class to take if you enjoy experimenting with foods, and want to spend an evening with friends doing something different.

Thanks to Samba Days for letting me try this class!

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Samba Days offers both private instruction and group lesson packages with Academie Duello in their Explore and Action & Adventure package listings. As a Sambassador, I received a gift card for the Explore package, which includes either one hour of private instruction, or eight group lessons with the Taste of Renaissance class. I chose the latter and finished my last class on Thursday.

Samba Days Package

I think my favourite part about blogging is the mail I get. (In case you haven’t heard it enough) I LOVE getting mail! And I read it all too! While most of it’s via e-mail or through my Contact Page (which ends up in my inbox), every once in a while I get something through snail mail, and that’s doubly exciting because it usually means it’s something extra special.

Instead of calling up Academie Duello to arrange the sword fighting lessons, Samba Days sent me the gift card by post so that I could go through the process of using a gift card like their customers do. Even though I knew it was coming, I was still super excited to see it in the mailbox! I called up Academie Duello and booked the Taste of Renaissance package for October (Tuesdays and Thursdays for one month).

Taste of the Renaissance: An Eight-Class Beginner’s Course

Walking into Academie Duello for the first time was a tad intimidating. I felt completely out of place as I looked around at the walls of medieval weapons, corners with old torture devices, shelves of fantasy books, and a bunch of guys wielding swords. A wave of geekery like I have never known swept over me, and I felt like turning back around and out the door. I’m glad I didn’t.

The receptionist there is really nice (and female — smart move Academie Duello, smart move!). She gave me the run-down on the place: combat area, change rooms, showers and washrooms, and a library / sitting area above. I filled out the liability waiver forms, logged my registration on the touchscreen attendance sheet, and entered the combat area.

Longsword

Our first class began with introductions to our instructor (Greg), Assistant (Kat), and our fellow students (a total of six in our class: four male, two female). The first half hour of every class was spent learning new positions / movements, and reviewing what we learned in the previous class. Then, we would join the other more advanced classes for swordplay practice with rotating partners — sometimes playing games like “wrestling” or what I call “crab tag” beforehand* — followed by stretching / cool down.

I learned a fair bit about how to attack and disengage using a rapier sword, but we also had two classes devoted to the sidesword and longsword. My favourite of the three is the rapier only because it seems to require better technique and mastery, so I have a greater appreciation for it. The longsword comes in at a close second for being a weapon that requires both hands (my wrists would be sore after holding a rapier up for too long and I kept bruising myself while swinging around the sidesword), and also for making some pretty spectacular and flinch-worthy sword cutting sounds during combat.

Some classes were better than others, and I think a lot of that had to do with the student mix. All of the instructors were really helpful, but I found that the classes I liked best were ones where I knew a friend (turns out, the pharmacist who used to work next to my old workplace takes sword fighting classes) or where my class had more than one girl so I had a partner I was comfortable “wrestling” with. The best class was one where there were two girls in my class and we all got a fantastic workout practicing attacks and disengagements with the rapier sword. My least favourite was the fourth class when a guy who I had practiced with several times before asked “is this your first class?” It was pretty bummifying since I thought I had gotten better by then.

At the end of eight lessons, we were tested on our swordplay skills and knowledge. My mind would always wander when we were being taught the names of the different positions and the history of different techniques, so I was pretty sure I was going to fail miserably. Imagine my surprise then when they called my name as one of the three people in our testing class of five that actually advanced to ‘Green Cord’ (the first of five levels). I am officially trained in the fundamentals of swordplay! En garde!

Lunge Order: Terza, Seconda, Lunge (still in Seconda)

Tips for the Aspiring Swordsman / –woman

1. If you’re unsure about whether you want to spend the money on a month’s worth of classes, you can arrange a free drop-in group class. You would be grouped in with the Taste of the Renaissance class.
2. Wear dry-fit clothes to class. I really don’t understand how some people fight with jeans and dress shirts on. It can get really hot in the studio — treat the classes like a workout session.
3. This is more of a courtesy suggestion: wear deodorant. Man alive, the place can really stink at the end of a class! Play nice.

There are a lot of tips for the actual sword fighting (look through the hilt when attacking, keep the pressure on the back leg at all times unless lunging, keep your side protected when in ‘terza’ position but always keep the tip of the sword up and aimed at the opponent etc.), but I should really leave all that to the instructors at Academie Duello. They’ll do a much better job of explaining all the different positions and techniques than I could in a single blog post.

If you’ve ever considered trying swordplay, take a look at Samba Days’ Academie Duello packages, or on the Academie Duello website. Academie Duello also offers some really interesting programs on horsemanship (with real horses!), a night where they let everyone play with sharpened weapons against slabs of meat and fruits, and other fun stuff (including archery). It’s pretty impressive that they offer so many unique classes. Based on the hands-on and very helpful feedback from both instructors and fellow classmates (everyone is really nice!), I would definitely recommend Academie Duello to anyone interested in swordplay, or even a fun workout (they have a hard-core workout class too).

*When we were asked to “wrestle”, it meant partnering up and holding each others’ necks and elbows while pushing and pulling to navigate one another. The “crab tag” was a game where everyone was scattered throughout the room and we would squat and pivot around like crabs to try and tag others. It was actually a lot of fun!

Standing outside Sushi Kimura admiring their decor

Morten hates fish. He also doesn’t drink tea. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then to find out that he’s not a fan of Japanese restaurants. But it was Ann’s turn to pick a restaurant for Dinner Club and Sushi Kimura was her choice.

Our reservation was for 6pm when the restaurant opens its doors for dinner service. Ang insists on having dinner when the seniors come out to dine. It’s been a decent plan so far though because we’ve found that oftentimes the food doesn’t arrive until the staff has had enough time to hunt for the meats and fondle the vegetables before actually cooking.

Raise your hand if you don’t like ordering food at a Japanese restaurant? *raises hand* (Ang raises her hand too) There are simply too many options. How many pieces should I get? If I want sashimi and sushi, should I just get a combo box? But I don’t want tempura and they always have tempura. Should I order tofu? Or a sunomono? What goes with what? Does that even matter? I just want to eat, damnit!

Ann and her Tempura Udon

In the end, Ang, Kenny and Phil all decided to save themselves the headache and ordered the Black Cod Special which had been advertised on the front of each menu with a handwritten note. There weren’t that many options to choose from for Morten, so he ordered a chicken curry. What surprised me the most though, was Ann’s order of a Tempura Udon, California Cone, Cucumber Sunomono and Black Sesame Ice Cream. Whaa? Udon? California Cone?

I decided to opt for my usual food-ordering strategy: pick whatever sounds the most interesting. Unfortunately, I had to place my order in three chunks because our server kept having to inform me that what I wanted wasn’t available and I would have to review the menu again. By the time she came around for the last time I gave up and decided to order a few regular sushi pieces so I’d have something to compare with other Japanese restaurants. The things that I had wanted to order but weren’t available include Renkon (spicy sauteed lotus root), Horse Mackerel, Fresh Water Eel, Spotted Shad, and Gobou (spicy sauteed burdock). In the end, our table order looked like this:

Ang, Kenny and Phil: Black Cod Special (Grilled Black Cod, Assorted Tempura, Assorted Sashimi, Yakitori, Kobachi, Rice and Miso Soup); Phil also ordered Chicken Gizzard Yakitori
Ann: Tempura Udon, California Cone, Cucumber Sunomo, Black Sesame Ice Cream
Anny: Chicken Skin Yakitori, Spicy Tuna Sashimi on Crispy Rice, Yaki Onigiri with Salmon Flakes, Eel Avocado Roll, 1 pc Albacore Tuna, 1 pc Uni, 1 pc Hotate (scallop)
Morten: Chicken Curry

Sushi Kimura

Black Cod Special: Assorted Sashimi

We’ll start with a dissection of the Black Cod Special. Miso soup? Good. But then again, how do you go wrong with miso soup? The sashimi slices looked like they had been lovingly rolled, but a little sad all the same with only two pieces per plate that looked a bit mushier than normal. Nobody said anything about it though, so I guessed it had been decent. The tempura was nothing to brag about, and nobody did. The Yakitori included one skewer or veggies and one skewer of chicken. Slightly charred. The Grilled Black Cod was the only thing that received a unanimous nod of approval. I tried a bit of Ang’s Black Cod and it was well prepared, but I was glad I didn’t order it.

Tempura Udon, California Cone, Cucumber Sunomono and Chicken Curry… not much to say about those. Ann had a tough time trying to finish her Udon and after we had all finished our meals she was still struggling with whether or not to eat the California Cone. I don’t remember if Kenny ended up helping her with that one. Morten didn’t seem pleased with his Chicken Curry, but it wasn’t because it was bad. It just wasn’t anything special.

Spicy Tuna Sashimi on Crispy Rice

And then my dishes: The Spicy Tuna Sashimi on Crispy Rice arrived first to our table where the majority had just consumed bowls of very ordinary miso soup. If I were them, I would’ve been jealous. The dish looked great! I took a bite and was so happy I ordered it. I hadn’t tried crispy rice before and they used all those condiments you find on a Japadog with the Japanese mayo mixing in with the spicy tuna sauce. Yum! Ang kept nibbling on pieces of the crispy rice.

The Yaki Onigiri arrived next and I discovered that they’re triangles of fried rice — not fried rice as in the type of rice you find at Chinese restaurants, but rice that had been fried in triangles! They were nice and hot, but it was just rice with salmon flakes. I ate one and waited for the other dishes to arrive so I’d have something to pair with it.

The Chicken Gizzard and Chicken Skin Yakitori arrived together so Phil and I split the order so we’d each get one of each type. Phil got the better end of the deal. My Chicken Skin was infinitely better than his Chicken Gizzard. The Chicken Skin was hot fatty goodness that went well with the Yaki Onigiri. The Chicken Gizzard was just chewy. Plain and chewy. Bleh.

When the Eel Avocado Roll arrived, I wished I hadn’t ordered it. It was so boring in comparison to everything so far and it looked like the sad unloved relative of a more popular Spicy Tuna Sashimi on Crispy Rice. If the roll had been packed tighter it would’ve been about 75% of the size, but instead it flopped on the chopsticks like an eel on its last breath. This was a filler roll (the kind you order because you just want to eat, and not because you enjoy eating).

Albacore Tuna, Hotate (scallop) and Uni

And then arrived the 1 pc Albacore Tuna, 1 pc Uni and 1 pc Hotate (scallop). I wasn’t sure I’d like the Uni because it looked rather unappetizing with its mushy orange liquidy topping. But the Hotate looked promising! It ended up being decent and relatively light, but unmemorable. Same with the Albacore Tuna. I was right about the Uni though. I discovered I really don’t like Uni. This is not the Uni’s fault though. I’m sure this was “good Uni” but the texture was just awful. It was like biting into liquid. Fishy orange liquid.

Ann and Phil had decided to share a Black Sesame Ice Cream (which is really something since Phil never shares! Haha). Everyone but Morten tried a bit too. This was the best black sesame ice cream we’d ever had. So good! The kind you get at T&T is all grainy with a wimpy sesame to ice cream ratio. This was an in-your-face-I’m-all-kinds-of-Asian kind of ice cream. It was like the Bruce Lee of ice creams; so good, that Phil asked whether they sold it for consumption at home and Ann tried to lick the bowl!

Sushi Kimura: 4.5 out of 6

While we were deliberating our votes at the end of the meal, I had a really hard time deciding. On the one hand, the dishes that I had ordered out of interest were really good and I had been pleased. On the other, the items that people would be more likely to order at a Japanese restaurant were not especially good looking or flavourful, and ordinary at best. But then again, Japanese-style dishes are often understated and appreciated for their subtlety. Tough call. Would I go again? Probably not. Is it worth the price point? Again, probably not (the menu items are only slightly more expensive than most other Japanese restaurants in the area). But did I enjoy my meal? Yes. In the end, I gave it a thumbs up.

Overall Food Group Rating: 4.5 out of 6

The Good: The few more atypical dishes on the menu were definitely worth trying.

The Bad: We didn’t try anything that we thought was “bad”. Just ordinary. Nothing special.

The Ugly: That Uni!

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Sprouted Walnut Roll

Is it Organic Lives (noun) or Organic Lives (verb)? I still don’t know.

Since it was my turn to choose a Dinner Club restaurant, I decided it would be a good time to go veg (I do this for one month each year, usually in the Spring). Instead of choosing the new Russian restaurant that I’ve been meaning to visit before it closes down, I went with Organic Lives on Quebec St.

Choosing a place that only serves raw organic food was definitely the most contentious decision in Dinner Club history. But hey, isn’t Dinner Club all about trying new things? We hadn’t gone to a vegetarian restaurant before — let alone a RAW organic restaurant, but we’ve had practically-all-meat meals at Memphis Blues and Old Bavaria Haus.

When we got there, I think we were all really pleasantly surprised. Their menu sounded delicious! It has everything from Chilli Sans Carne to a Sushi Platter with Sprouted Pecan, Sprouted Walnut and Sea Veggie & “Rice” rolls. If everything tasted as good as it sounded AND was healthy for you then we would’ve been happy campers.

We’re not happy campers.

Organic Lives

Phil during the first sip of his juice. The expression says it all.

We started by ordering juice (Deep Cleanse) and smoothies (Superexpialidelicious, Blue Flame and Body Builder with pear instead of banana). You can’t go wrong with juice and smoothies right? Oh, so wrong. Even though the smoothies had banana, blueberries, pear, berry extract etc., they weren’t sweet. I had the Body Builder and it tasted like someone took a bunch of nuts, ground it into pulp, added water and a dash of powdered medicine, and tried to serve it as a beverage. Phil had the Deep Cleanse and said it tasted like cucumber and celery. Ang and Morten shared the Superexpialidelicious and it reeked of banana so I didn’t go anywhere near that one, and Ann and Kenny shared the Blue Flame which looked super sweet with its bright purple hue but apparently its taste didn’t live up to its description.

Well, even if the juices and smoothies weren’t good, we could still look forward to the food. How are they going to make curry and sushi rolls if nothing they use can be heated? Answer: it doesn’t taste like proper curry or sushi rolls. In the case of the sushi rolls, it’s okay that they didn’t taste like sushi because they were still good in their own way. The sauce that came with the rolls was what took the Sprouted Walnut Roll from good to yummers. We all agreed this one was good. It was also the first thing that came out and the presentation was perfect. In fact, everything looked simply gorgeous. Props for presentation.

Then came the Lasagna with its zucchini substitute for pasta, Mexi Spirals, Aloo Tikki, Spring Roll, Thai Curry, and the remaining two rolls from the Sushi Platter.

Bland Lasagna

The Lasagna was bland but the side salad had a dressing that Kenny was impressed with because the taste was very close to a Caesar. The salad also had non-bread croutons that tasted like slightly bitter crushed nuts that simply weren’t a good substitute for the real thing — it was like biting down on bitter granola chunks.

The Mexi Spirals were popular with Ann and Ang. They were also served in sushi form with crisp veggies in the middle rolled together with a sundried tomato wrap that reminded me of fruit roll-ups. This one wasn’t horrible, but it would’ve been better with a tamer sundried tomato flavour and less of the hot sauce.

Up next was the Aloo Tikki served with three chutnies (two of which were decent, one of which was disgusting). This is where it all went downhill for me. All the dishes seem to have a lot of cilantro, but this one had a chutney that was so heavy on the herbs and spices that I had to down some of the Body Builder to drown my wailing taste buds. The actual Aloo Tikki pieces tasted like soggy cardboard that had been packed into round molds with some nuttiness and it fell apart just as easily.

The Spring Roll was exceptionally bland, especially since it came immediately after the Aloo Tikki. The coconut and pear wrapper was mildly interesting on its own, but the kelp noodle was “sub-optimal” (as Morten would say) and the greens inside of the roll were about as interesting as wet sock. This wasn’t on anyone’s list of favourites.

“Thai Curry”

The Thai Curry was very controversial. It really shouldn’t be called Thai and it really shouldn’t be called curry. What is should be, is cooked. But it’s not. By this point in the meal, Morten was practically fuming with disgust. Without heat, the spices that are supposed to infuse the curry with flavour can’t work their magic so the “curry” ends up as an unfinished substitute for a sauce. Add that on top of a bitter vegetable slaw and you’ve got something that feels incomplete and closer to inedible than delectable. Out of the dishes that we ordered, this was on the top of the list for Phil and Ang (though neither really vouched for the authenticity of the dish), but definitely below the acceptable line for Morten. I was closer to Morten’s position on this one, but mostly because I was beginning to feel sick from the exorbitant amount of cilantro the chefs insisted on adding to everything. It’s as if they’ve never heard of other herbs!

Even though Ang and Phil thought the Thai Curry was the better of the evils we’d tried so far, we were all looking forward to the last two sushi rolls because nothing had been very good since the first sushi roll. These last rolls were still better than the Thai Curry, Spring Roll and Lasagna, but I was still so sick of cilantro that I couldn’t enjoy yet another dish with a mouthful of the stuff. I’d like to point out that I’ve never had anything against cilantro and whenever I include herbs and spices in my soups, pasta sauces etc, I almost always use it. But this was just way too much. Way, way too much. Bleh.

Worst cheesecake and pie EVER.

By the time I put the last bite in my mouth I felt like I just forced myself to finish an eating marathon but at the same time, I wasn’t full. We decided to order dessert as a last attempt to have a somewhat decent meal: an OMG (coconut cream pie) and a strawberry cheesecake. OMG how the eff can they charge $7 for such a tiny piece of frozen malt on top of crushed nuts? This was the worst excuse for pie and cheesecake I have ever had the displeasure of putting in my mouth!! SO disappointing.

After we left and paid the highest bill for a Dinner Club meal, Phil was the only one smiling (sidenote, he’s also the only one of us who eats gruel regularly — not oatmeal, gruel). Morten had a scowl on his face and the bite of a man left to starve for no good reason. Kenny and Ann were also still hungry and ended up going to A&W for full meals and a giant piece of cake. Ang was disappointed, and I was starting to feel ill from repulsion.

Organic Lives: 2.5 out of 6

Ang pointed out that for people who only eat raw organic food, Organic Lives would be an option. Not a good option, but an option. I think people are better off spending the money at the supermarket on a box of greens. They could eat the box and it would still taste better.

Overall Group Food Rating: 2.5 out of 6

The Good: Beautiful dishes. A+ on the presentation.

The Bad: The stuff on the plates.

The Ugly: The face you make when you eat the stuff on the plates.

Sidenote: After Kenny saw Phil’s thumbs up, he wanted to change his vote to a thumbs down to offset it but that’s against Dinner Club rules.

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Yummy Dishes

Kenny outside Acme Cafe with Ann’s take-out Chicken Pot Pie

Kenny began round two of our Dinner Club escapades and decided that Acme Cafe would be his saving grace in an attempt to wash out the stench of Memphis Blues. The usual suspects were present with the exception of Ann who was unable to make it to the restaurant but had take-out delivered to her (Chicken Pot Pie).

Acme Cafe sits on the fringe of sketch-ville Vancouver (aka East Van) and is just about the cutest little diner you ever did see. Fedoras and poodle skirts wouldn’t be out of place here. The menu is probably the only thing that doesn’t jive with the ’50’s vibe with its fancier items like their Local Cioppino and Wild Boar Sausage & Turkey Cassoule. They even have a “High-falutin’” take on the classic grilled cheese sandwich that uses cheddar, swiss, brie and cranberry-Grand Marnier relish on a grilled Ciabata panini. We were pleasantly surprised both by the decor and the food selection.

We normally order several items to share, but Acme Cafe is more of  a ‘to each his own’ type of establishment. Amongst our five present judges we ordered a High –falutin’ Grilled Cheese, Wild Boar Sausage & Turkey Cassoule, Chef’s Feature (goulash with a barley risotto), Local Cioppino and Meat Loaf for mains. The presentation for all of the dishes deserves mention because everything looked great. With the exception of Kenny’s barley risotto side dish, everything came out at once and at just the right temperature too. We were all so engrossed in taking photos of our dishes and sampling from each other’s plates that we didn’t even notice that the risotto was missing until our very attentive server stopped at our table and noticed something was missing on Kenny’s plate. Props for great service!

Local Cioppino

I was skeptical about how good Ang’s Local Cioppino (fresh BC seafood stew in a tomato fennel broth) was going to be since we were at a diner in East Van and there were no other seafood mains on the menu, but her dish was my favourite of the lot. The stew had a really nice flavour to it and having it served in a sourdough bread bowl was perfect.

Morten’s Wild Boar Sausage & Turkey Cassoule was similar to chili (which he loves) but a little bit lighter and also a touch classier with its ingredients. He was quite happy with his choice. Phil inhaled his High-falutin’ Grilled Cheese with its side of barley soup quite contentedly, but I’ll admit I wasn’t watching him the whole time since I was busy scarfing down my own Meat Loaf dish. The Meat Loaf was a little on the drier side, but the sauce, multi-coloured potatoes and side salad worked well together to balance out the moisture in each subsequent bite.

Meat Loaf

Kenny was also pleased with his goulash and piping hot barley risotto, and I received an update from Ann about her Chicken Pot Pie that reads “pleasantly surprised. Chicken was tender, flavour was yummy, and the sauce was very creamy. It was baked right in the foil take-out container.” All in all, the entire Dinner Club gang was pretty happy with the mains.

In addition to the mains, we also ordered two Vanilla Milkshakes with double-espresso shots, one Chocolate Milkshake and one Americano. We had never tried coffee-infused milkshakes before and I’m surprised that more establishments don’t offer them! The Vanilla Milkshakes with double-espresso shots were delicious! Ang thinks they should’ve been colder and I’m sure they would’ve been even better if they were, but I thought the actual taste was really very good. You know how a lot of milkshakes taste like they’re made with powdered flavouring and milk mixed into a thick slush? This wasn’t like that. It was more like real milk and espresso infused with vanilla and whipped up into a thicker milkshake consistency. I tried Morten’s Chocolate Milkshake too to make sure it wasn’t just the espresso covering up some not-so-great flavours but his non-espresso milkshake was also lip-smacking yumminess.

Peach Pie — the only one that was good

Since we were on such a roll with the mains and the drinks (and also because I’m a sucker for pie), we ordered four desserts: Lemon Pie, Apple Pie, Peach Pie and Boston Cream Cake. And this is when things went downhill… There’s nobody I know who loves pie as much as I do (wait, maybe Phil — see 2 am Cravings below), but these pies were on the bleh end of the yumminess spectrum. The Lemon Pie was bitter from an excess of lemon zest the length of large porcupine hairs, the Apple Pie was drowned in cinnamon and covered with enough crumble to carpet the floor, and the Boston Cream Cake was no better than an afternoon donut (not quite as fresh as when they’re first made but not stale enough to chuck). The only decent dessert was the Peach Pie and even that had more crust than filling. We contemplated voting separately on the mains and the desserts (I suspect the desserts would’ve gotten a 1 / 5 at most), but decided it would be against Dinner Club rules.

Acme Cafe: 5 out of 5

Overall Food Group Rating: 5  out of 5

The Good: Great selection of mains from simple sandwiches to seafood bowls you could eat with one pinky up. Flavourful and original spins on traditionally simple dishes.

The Bad: The desserts. Get a milkshake instead.

The Ugly: The area isn’t exactly a family friendly district. If you’ve ever walked through Vancouver, you’d know exactly where East Van begins and ends. There is a very distinct border around the blocks where the majority of Vancouver’s homeless people live and Acme Cafe sits right on top of that line.

Silly Photos

Pain and a Consolation Cookie

In addition to a review this month, I’ve also got a rather embarrassing story and a few accompanying bruises to go along with it. You know how we’re a snap happy bunch at Dinner Club? Well, after we finished dinner and were chatting outside Ang told me to go inside and pose on one of the stools by the window so she could take a picture. I walked in, took a right turn towards the stools and immediately tripped over a step. I landed with a thunderous “kaboom” on the edge of the counter and floor. I fell so hard that the counter edge left a dent in my arm and I had to take a moment to let the pain in my hip subside before I could get up. I was SO embarrassed that I didn’t look up when our sever ran over to help, and walked straight back out with my head down. If I had a tail it would’ve been between my legs. SO EMBARRASSING (and painful)! When I made my exit, our server followed me out and gave me a little bag. Inside the bag was a consolation cookie and as he handed it to me he compared the act with giving a child a cookie when s/he hurt himself. SOOOOOO EMBARRASSING!!! I would totally go back to Acme Cafe for the food, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to show my face there anymore! *palm meets face*

2 am Cravings

While we were chatting away during dinner we discovered how desperate Phil can get at two in the morning when he has a craving for pie. We were talking about battle scars and food cravings when Kenny said we should ask Phil how he got the scar on his hand. Apparently one night at about two in the morning, Phil just had to have the pie that was sitting in his freezer but didn’t have the patience to let it thaw out in the oven. So, he began chipping away at it with a knife and put all his weight into one stab in an attempt to break it that his hand slipped down the blade and sliced right through to the bone! Ouch, right? Lesson: never leave a pie in the freezer. LOL

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And that concludes this edition of Dinner Club!

Biriyani at J.R.‘s Taste of Ceylon

J.R.‘s Taste of Ceylon serves up Sri Lankan dishes which are supposedly similar to East Indian cuisine with hints of Malay. I can’t comment on the Malay influences since I’ve never tried Malaysian food, but this was no butter chicken. We ordered Mutton Rolls, Sri Lankan style Devilled Beef Curry (that’s how its spelled on the menu, and yes the little red squiggly line that indicates incorrect spelling is killing me), Fish Curry, Hoppers (fyi, not beer), Rotti Chanai, Biriyani (a rice dish), Sri Lankan style Chicken Fried Rice, and Pittu. Oh, and we had a taste of Iddly.

When the Mutton Rolls arrived, they smelled really good. I was looking forward to the first bite. It was.. ordinary. Ang, Kenny and Ann were talking about the spiciness of the roll and I was all “What? What spice? I don’t have any spice.” I took another bite. I guess the end of the roll (my first bite) wasn’t indicative of the roll as a whole. There was definitely a hint of curry in the roll, but nothing crazy. It was a decent starter and reminded me of a cylindrical samosa stuffed with a mutton link.

Sidenote: Our server brought the Mutton Rolls with a bottle of ketchup. Is it just me, or is that really weird? It was so weird, that I think that’s why Kenny didn’t believe it was ketchup and even after eating his roll with it thought it might be some kind of sweet sauce. I dipped my fork in a blob of it and exclaimed “Kenny, that’s KETCHUP!” to which he replied “Well, it isn’t Heinz.” LOL Apparently Kenny has a very discerning palette when it comes to ketchup.

Pittu and curries

Then came the curries. We had a chicken curry and a fish curry, and both were very spicy (we had ordered mild / medium). Ann was practically in tears so our server not only came around with water refills but he also brought a bowl of Dal (mushy lentils) to calm the taste buds. Props to our server — he was great! The fish… not so much. The vote was unanimous: the fish was dry and pretty terrible. The chicken was just chicken. Nothing bad. Nothing special.

To accompany the curries we had Hoppers, Rotti, and Pittu. Hoppers are noodles that are semi-dry so you can spoon a mini saucer of them onto your plate with ease. Rotti is that yummy bread that you can dip into curries. And Pittu, well Pittu is just plain strange. It looks like a roll of fluffy spam, has the consistency of fake snow, and tastes like paper with decorative coconut shavings.

We also ordered two rice dishes: Sri Lankan style Chicken Fried Rice and Biriyani. It’s hard to go wrong with fried rice and this was no exception. It was good, and what you would expect of fried rice. The Biriyani was decent, but the side yogurt and sour runny yogurt-ish sauce that it came with made my face scrunch up like I just smelled something rancid. I’m pretty sure this was what made my tummy unhappy (I’m mildly lactose intolerant).

A taste of Iddly

We were about to end the meal when Phil brought up the Iddlys. Well with a name like that, we just had to try it! It took what felt like forever for them to arrive, but they arrived in style looking as cute as little squished man-tao buns. Iddlys are also side dishes that are meant to be eaten with curries. I thought they were right up there with the Pittu and ketchup on the ‘weird’ scale. I couldn’t figure out how to describe it and was going to go with “crumbled styrofoam”, but Phil hit the nail on the head with “grits!”. Yes, they have the consistency of grits and as much flavour as styrofoam. I wasn’t a fan, but I think Ann might’ve taken a liking to them.

In the end, we were asked if we’d like tea or coffee. The restaurant serves complimentary tea and coffee after your meal. Why after and not before? I have no clue. We could’ve used something while we were waiting for the Mutton Rolls. Perhaps it’s part of a Sri Lankan custom I don’t know about. Anyways, I had coffee and it was prepared with milk which probably didn’t help my tummy that was now filled with a bunch of weird things including the rancid yogurt and gritty styrofoam. I don’t think anyone else had an upset tummy, but I also don’t think any of us will be going back.

J.R.‘s Taste of Ceylon: 3.5 / 6

Overall Group Food Rating: 3.5 / 6

The Good: The service at J. R.‘s Taste of Ceylon is great. Our server was attentive, able to give recommendations, and personable.

The Bad: The fish and the side yogurt served with the Biriyani were terrible. Other than that, the dishes weren’t “bad”. They were just ordinary and either overly spicy or super bland.

The Ugly: I made a face when I saw that the items on the outside restaurant photos were spelled differently than what appeared on the menu.

Lalibela Platter

Ann put a lot of thought into this month’s Dinner Club selection and with only three days to go, she announced tonight’s restaurant: Lalibela. While Phil is off riding his bike in Vietnam, Angela, Ann, Kenny, Morten, and myself drove to North Burnaby to see what Lalibela has to offer. Although most of us have tried Ethiopian dishes, we were all new to the restaurant (which in case you were wondering, is named after a holy city in Ethiopia known for its stone-embedded churches carved below ground level).

Most Vancouverites who have tried Ethiopian cuisine have paid a visit to Fassil on East Broadway. When it comes to customer attention, Fassil wins hands down over any of the African restaurants I’ve tried. I still remember our lunch there a few years back where the owner spent a ridiculous amount of time explaining everything you’d need or want to know about Ethiopian food, cooking, and coffee. Our server today was courteous, but trying to get him to recommend a dish was like trying to pull teeth from a pitbull. If we’re being completely honest though, service alone isn’t enough to generate repeat business. I haven’t gone back to Fassil since my first visit. And when it comes to food, Lalibela takes the prize.

We ordered Lalibela’s signature dish Qey Doro Wot (spicy beef stew), Dereq Tibs (lamb sautee), and a Lalibela Platter to share. The Platter included five vegetarian dishes, and four meats including a lamb wot, chicken tibs, and two beef tibs, served on a mild injera.

Word of warning, this post contains a lot of foreign terms. In case you’ve never been properly introduced to Ethiopian cuisine, here’s a quick brief: Ethiopian dishes are served on and with a spongy warm flatbread the size of a large pizza (injera). It’s soft, squishy, slightly sour, and can come in a light tan, brownish, or grey colour depending on the restaurant’s method of preparation. You eat the dishes much like you would eat Indian food, by tearing a piece of injera and using it to pick up some tibs (vegetarian or meat dish), wot (stew), or (if you really trust the restaurant) kitfo (raw marinated beef). There are no utensils and it’s more fun to go with friends, so make sure you have friends with good hygiene.

The vegetarian dishes in the Platter consisted of Misir Wot (lentil), Shiro (chickpeas), Kosta (spinach), Tikil Gomen (cabbage), and Fasolia (potato, green bean and carrot gumbo). Kenny and I found the Misir Wot to have a rough and less enjoyable texture than the Shiro, but Ann was in denial and favoured her seasoned lentil puree. The Kosta was a popular choice, but only two of us placed it in our top three picks. I found the sour Tikil Gomen and Fasolia to be boring at best, but Ann’s quote of the night “Cabbage — it’s like eating dessert!” was worth having them included in the Platter.

Qey Doro Wot

When it comes to the meat dishes that were included in the Platter, I’m afraid I simply don’t know for certain what we were eating! Our server pointed out which one was chicken (which was pretty evident from the drumstick sitting in the middle of it), lamb, and which two were beef. But, he probably thought it’d be a waste of time to describe each in detail and so he didn’t. Of these four dishes, the lamb was the most popular for its unique blend of spices. One of the beef dishes had chunks of notably overcooked meat that left a dry aftertaste, while the other was made of ground beef and had an interesting mildly spicy kick. The drumstick in the chicken dish proved to be a bit of a challenge to split without the use of utensils, and was less memorable than the other meat dishes.

Finally, the Qey Doro Wot (beef) and Dereq Tibs (lamb) were by far the most popular choices tonight. It’s no wonder the Qey Doro Wot is their signature dish. The wot is spicy with an almost liquid texture that seeps through the injera faster than you can pop it into your mouth which makes for a very messy meal especially since plates are not offered at Lalibela (definitely not a date-friendly venue). The Dereq Tibs didn’t make my top three list because the lamb was annoyingly chewy. Ang noted that the lamb was fatty in addition to being chewy, but still thought it was good enough to make the top three cut — as did Kenny and Morten. Go figure.

Lalibela: 5 / 5

At just over $10 per person, our dinner was cheap compared to past Dinner Club meals and we all agreed that Lalibela was worth a repeat visit.

Overall Food Group Rating: 5 out of 5

The Good: Great flavour in the meat dishes, and I highly recommend the Qey Doro Wot and Kosta. The Qey Doro Wot is their signature dish for a reason, and you won’t find a better Kosta anywhere else. If you like lamb, you should also try the Dereq Tibs which was very popular tonight.

The Bad: No cutlery and no plates in combination with lots of runny sauces makes for a very messy meal. Don’t wear white.

The Ugly: My photos of the food. It looks terrible in pictures, but it’s yummy in your tummy!

Before beginning this month’s Dinner Club review, I’d like to take a moment to dedicate all my deliciously fatty morsels of burgers, fries, cake, cookies, chocolate, and everything else that’s chubbifying to the douchy louche Kenneth Tong. This bite’s for you!

You can see our jaw muscles working as Morten and I try to take our first bites. These are single patties. There was one guy who ordered FOUR patties in his burger.

Phil chose our first Dinner Club destination this year and he set his stomach on Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Park Royal.

We drove around the mall for a bit trying to find this place (Google Maps is a bit off the mark for this one), and when we did I was surprised to see a red and white fast food joint. It looks like it ought to be a Checkers, but it’s not. Checkers has a much bigger menu selection.

The Five Guys menu consists of burgers and fries (can’t say they have a misleading name), hot dogs, and sandwiches. You don’t have the option of choosing chicken, or vegetarian for your burger patty, but you do get to choose what ingredients you want slapped on. We ordered five burgers with just about every topping, one sandwich, Five Guys Style and Cajun fries, and soft drinks.

Ann had ordered a “Little” burger, but I’m pretty sure she got a regular sized burger instead. Kenny ordered a bacon cheeseburger but he’s “pretty sure they forgot the bacon”. And Ang ordered a Veggie and Grilled Cheese sandwich, but was pretty sure they forgot what food is.

When it comes to the actual burgers, Ann, Kenny, Phil and Morten all thought they were “good” even though there was an “um..” followed by a long pause from Kenny before he decided he liked his meal. I thought the burger was alright, but there was nothing special about it and I got so bored half way through that I decided to stop eating. Though the burger patties were decent (not great, but not inedible), it bothered me that someone else’s bits of bacon had obviously burned on the grill before attaching to my bacon strips and bringing up thoughts of cancer as I took my bites. But, the thick cut pickle slices and grilled onions did make up for a bit of the bad burnt taste. Poor Ann was struggling with her waterfall of a burger that was literally pouring out of its wrapper and onto her lap. I still can’t figure out why hers was so soggy. Finally, I think everyone made a comment at some point along the lines of the burgers being “ugly as hell”, “disgusting to look at” etc.

Sad Veggie and Cheese Sandwich

Ang’s sandwich deserves a paragraph all on its own. That was one saaaaad something — I hesitate to even call it a sandwich. The “cheese” was that kind of liquid fake crap that you find in those little cheese and cracker dippers you get as a kid, but watered down. The vegetables were the same that we had in our burgers, but in a cold bun with fake liquid cheese, which leaves me wondering where the “Grilled” part of her “Veggie and Grilled Cheese Sandwich” was supposed to be. It’s pretty sad when the diner is happy to see peanuts (self-serve and free for patrons) after eating the worst meal in Dinner Club history.

I was satisfied at least with my Cajun fries until I tried Kenny’s Five Guys Style fries and immediately noticed that his were ten times fresher! I got stale fries. Then, I didn’t like them as much.

Not only was the service and food quality unreliable, but the place isn’t a cheap burger joint either — comparable to Red Robin at about $13 per meal. I won’t be going back.

Overall Group Food Rating: 4 out of 6

Five Guys Burgers and Fries: 4/6

The Good: Free peanuts and drink refills, generous scoops of fries, edible burger patties

The Bad: Unreliable service and food quality, and a lot of leftovers under the tables including a pickle that Ang kept stepping on.

The Ugly: The burgers. My goodness were they ever ugly. I’m sure a lot has to do with their tight wrapping of their mushy buns. Knowing that though still doesn’t make it look any better.

Sidenote: Phil wanted to give a little more than a half vote, but that’s not allowed according to Dinner Club rules. If it was, I would’ve given a little less than a half vote. So, we end up balancing out.

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Pakora

It was my turn to pick a restaurant for dinner club, so I went with one that I’ve probably passed a hundred times but never tried: Green Lettuce Restaurant near the corner of Kingsway Avenue and Victoria Drive. The judges this month: Ang, Morten, Phil, Kenny, Ann, and me.

Normally I’m not one to choose a Chinese restaurant, but I’d walked past it once when there was a long lineup and overheard someone say that it was really good. They’re supposedly the “First Indian Style Chinese Restaurant” (that’s what it says on the menu cover). But then again, the cover also says there’s “Ample Free Parking at Rear” when there’s only enough room for seven small cars.

Ang had read some reviews online that said the food is great, but the service is terrible. We lucked out with our server who was very friendly, but I understand where those reviews might’ve come from. We were asked by two waiters if we’d like to order, after we already ordered with our first server — they could do with a bit more organization. Plus, the other waitresses (though very polite) didn’t speak English.

Now onto the food! We asked our server to recommend some dishes, but to make sure there was a soup, a second appetizer, pakora, a rice dish, and a noodle dish.

We started with chicken lettuce wraps and a very spicy hot and sour soup. To quote Kenny, “these might be the best lettuce wraps I’ve ever had.” Coming from someone with a Chinese background where you’re bound to have had a million lettuce wraps by the time you reach 30, this is quite the compliment. They were pretty good. I’m not sure if I’d say they were the “best”, but I could say with confidence that they’re in the top percentile. The wraps had a kick and included a medley of finely chopped vegetables and those crispy rice noodle strands that are so simple, but give the wrap a nice semi-crunchy texture. The soup didn’t receive the same reaction as the wraps since it was way too spicy to be a starter, but there was a general consensus that it was good. I especially liked the water chesnut in the soup.

Then, out came what was probably my personal favourite dish of the entire meal: vegetable pakora! They taste like bite-sized samosas made with tiny veggie bits mixed into thick batter before hitting the fry, and are served with a sweet but slightly spicy sauce. Yum yum yum!!

All Thumbs Up!

Finally in a typical Mandarin style, the remaining dishes came all at once. A lazy susan would’ve come in handy. Fried rice (Ang says it was Masala chicken fried rice), chicken and shrimp chow mein, eggplant and green beans, and chili lamb. Mmm… Phil and Kenny thought the world of the fried rice with it’s hint of cumin, while Ang preferred the chow mein, and everyone liked the chili lamb (my favourite of this set). The general vote was that the eggplant and green beans were alright though nothing spectacular, but the chili lamb was especially tender and delicious. I could’ve done without either the fried rice or the noodles, but at least one was necessary to balance the spicy dishes. We ordered “mild to medium spice” for everything. I don’t think my taste buds would’ve been able to take a full on “spicy” dish.

Overall Group Food Rating: 6 out of 6!

The Good: Great food, friendly service, and great value (about $15 per person).

The Bad: They could use a bit more organization ’cause I can see them having problems on a busy night, but other than that I think they’re great.

The Ugly: Most of the fortunes in the fortune cookies weren’t actual fortunes? Yeah, that’s it really. I have no complaints.

Sidenote: Like most Chinese restaurants, it’s best to try this place with a large group of friends so you can have a bit of everything. Ordering just one item could end up being boring. Bring me! I’d go back.

Updated November 15, 2010