Yum Yum Yum!

It's time for Dine-Out Vancouver again! Time to try out some new restaurants' set meals for $18, $28 or $38.

I see that the Boathouse is participating again! That's one of my favourite places to eat. Their steaks are to-die-for. Much yummier than the Keg (which is also participating)!

This year I'm hoping to try out Au Petit Chavignol and the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.

Last year I tried the Reef, which was amazing and had a good, relaxed atmosphere. I plan on trying Abigail's Party at some point, just because the restaurant has such a great name. But they are in the Entertainment Book so I may just wait for that one...

My Horoscope...

My horoscope on Sunday night called for mussels in a white wine sauce...

I headed to the Libra Room on Commercial Drive with some friends quite by accident. We were actually looking for the Reef, but apparently we parked in the wrong spot. Unwilling to lose the money we'd put in the parking meter, we walked until we heard music coming from one of the local eateries.

That's how we ended up at the Libra Room, where I enjoyed mussels & fries and a couple of glasses of a lovely red wine (unfortunately, I can't remember which red wine it was now!!).

They had a live jazz band, which worried me a little when we arrived because I'm not a big jazz fan. But this band was mellow and unobtrusive, and conversation carried on throughout the restaurant during their performance.

I finished off the night with a piece of cheesecake, which had pomegranate and some other berries on it, and it was absolutely delicious.

Star rating for the Libra Room?
5 outta 5 for food
5 outta 5 for service
5 outta 5 for the live jazz (from someone who doesn't really like jazz!)

Nice work!

Schokolade

The Schokolade Cafe on East Hastings in Vancouver offers a chocolate high tea! What a great gift for your girlfriend who's a chocoholic! They have high tea coming up on December 19th, 20th, 23rd & 24th. Or, treat yourself in bleary January: in 2010, Schokolate Cafe will be offering high tea every Friday and Saturday!

You can find out more at http://www.schokoladecafe.com/high-tea--winter-news.

Yummy Yaletown!

Yaletown is enticing diners into the area by offering a deal similar to Dine-Out-Vancouver: It's "A Taste of Yaletown!"

More than twenty restaurants are serving up three-course set menu meals for either $25, $35 or $45 (depending on the restaurant). What a great opportunity to go out and try some new restaurants! The event runs from October 15th to 31st, 2009.

You can get all the info at www.tasteofyaletown.com.

So many choices, I don't even know which I should try!

Wine Festival

The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival starts tomorrow and runs right through to next Sunday: www.playhousewinefest.com.
My pick is Our Land, Our Best next Saturday from noon to 2:30pm at the Pan Pacific (tickets are $89). This is a showcase of BC's best wines and also BC's best food! The foods listed on the menu (see the website) sound delicious: steamed gulf island mussels on the half shell, west coast dungeness crab cakes and mini Salt Spring Island lamb sliders. Yummy!
It looks like there will be loads of sea-food and other local delights! Go try some new local wines and just remember - you're supporting local business when you do this! What a great reason to check it out.

Dine-Out Vancouver

It's that time again! Time for Dine Out Vancouver! This is one time a year for two weeks (January 14th to February 1st) when almost 200 local restaurants want you to come try them out, so they serve you an established menu at a lowered price. Your meal will either be $18, $28 or $38, and you can dine in many of the city's best restaurants.
My favourite last year was Sip Resto-Lounge, and they look pretty good this year, too: Goat-Cheese Salad appetizer, Mushroom Cannelloni and Bailey's Mousse? Count me in!
I think my top picks for this year would be Bacchus Restaurant, with their Roasted Yam and Apple Velouté, Crisp Confit of Duck with Fingerling Potatoes "Forestière" and Vanilla and Mascarpone Cheesecake for dessert; and the Stone Grill's Cornish Game Hen stuffed with Wild Rice. Alright, now I'm hungry.
www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/dining/dineout.php

"Mojitoed"

I usually dine out with a couple of my close girlfriends. We tend to have the same interests – martinis, yummy food, cocktails and occasional dancing.

The last time I visited Steamworks for my usual pitcher of mojitos (and trust me, this one I always do with friends. It wouldn’t do for me to go around alone drinking a pitcher of mojitos with dinner!), my dining partner and I came up with a new word.

“Mojitoed.”

Let me explain: On that particular night, we had met for dinner and both of us had been extraordinarily hungry. I had found a fly in my lunch and tossed it in the bin (the whole lunch, not just the fly). My friend, for whatever reason, had also had a tiny lunch, so both of our tummies were rumbling.

We headed to our regular dining spot, Steamworks, and ordered our standard drink, a pitcher of mojitos for the two of us. We took our time with the drinks, but since there was nothing else in our stomachs when we started in on them, they hit us a little harder than usual.

We didn’t exactly linger over our meals. We scarfed them down (and yes, contrary to my spellchecker, I am certain that scarfed is indeed a real word). And then, with happy, full bellies – and feeling a little warm and tingly from the drinks – we headed towards the Granville Mall. Where the Aldo Outlet shoe store is.

And as we were walking there, we were trying to convince ourselves that we didn’t need new shoes, and that we only wanted new shoes because of the mojitos. And then we said that we were mojitoed. Thus, a new word is born.

But it’s not just a word. It’s a state of being.

“Mojitoed” describes the bliss that you feel after a hard day of work, when you were very hungry and then you filled up on good food and had a couple of lovely, minty-lime alcoholic beverages. “Mojitoed” means the warm fuzzies you get from a good meal and a couple of drinks with a good friend, even if your judgment may be affected.

The shoes will last until I break the heels off of them. The memory of mojitoed shoe shopping with a good friend will last forever.

Sidetracked. Again.

So a friend of mine and I headed out last night to a fundraiser for skin-cancer awareness or prevention or research or… well, obviously that wasn’t the part that I paid attention to. The part that I paid attention to was this: it was in a restaurant, and there would be appetizers and cocktails for us. And there would also be some spa giveaways and a silent auction. The evening was going to be put on by a local spa. Doesn’t that sound great?

Honestly, it sounded great to me when I read about it. Last night, however, after an unfortunate incident with my lunch at work (there was a dead bug involved, you can guess the rest), I was staaaaaarving by the time I left my office. The problem with the spa fundraiser night, really, was that it was not downtown. It was not near the Skytrain line. So that was the end of that plan, my friend and I immediately scrapped it and headed for…

Steamworks! It happens to the best of us. We were starving, we were tired from a day of hard work, and we really needed a pitcher of mojitos.

Immediately upon sitting down, we flagged down our lovely server and asked her for a plate of yam fries and a pitcher of mojitos. The yam fries disappeared in seconds! We did show some restraint and managed to make the mojitos last throughout the meal. We ordered some of the best pizza on earth – I got one with kalamata olives, basil and tomatoes and my friend’s had something like bacon and feta on it – and inhaled it almost as quickly as we did the yam fries. I managed to save two pieces for lunch today and it was absolutely the best leftover pizza I have ever had. There is no doubt about it. I usually only eat leftover pizza because I can’t stand to throw away perfectly good food. I usually barely tolerate leftover pizza, but leftover Steamworks pizza is a whole new story. I would welcome leftover Steamworks pizza as my lunch any day of the week. Maybe even every day of the week! It really is that good.

Side-Tracked at Steamworks

Sometimes it’s nice to try a new restaurant or bar. And I do love trying new restaurants and bars! But sometimes it’s nice to go somewhere familiar, a place that you know is always great.

It has happened to me more than once, where I’ve headed downtown with a new restaurant or lounge in mind and then I’ve gotten sidetracked and headed to Steamworks, beside Waterfront Station. I know that Steamworks will never let me down!

I have not yet had a bad experience at Steamworks. The food is always good, even if I try something experimental (Proscutto Salad) instead of my regular favourite, the Santa Fe Salad.

The best part of going there is sharing a pitcher of Mojitos with a friend. The waiters don’t look at you judgmentally for splitting a whole pitcher between two people. They’ll even offer you another if you finish it!

Martinis & Manicures (and other delightful activities)

So here I am on a Monday night having a look at what’s going on in Vancouver in the upcoming weeks, and I found one that tops them all!

La Vallée restaurant is having a Martinis & Manicures night on March 11. While this doesn’t seem to be announced on La Vallée’s website, they do have a listing that describes one such evening held last October. I was too excited to read it word for word, but it looks like the evening involves martinis, manicures and chocolate covered strawberries. What’s not to love? I will be checking back on La Vallée’s site to find out more details.

I also discovered tasteof604.com, which reviews local restaurants (and they seem to include Whistler as local). It’s up-to-date, and the reviews come from diners, which I mention because I find a lot of websites that seem to make any restaurant that pays them sound fantastic. These sites are always really well maintained, but how can you trust reviews that come from the restaurants themselves?

The Interior Design Show West will be taking place at the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre from March 19-22. This is a sister show to one in Toronto (The Interior Design Show), and there is a printable coupon for $2 off admission on their website (www.idswest.com).

I would also like to mention that Portobello West is coming back, mark your calendars for the last weekend in March (29-30). Portobello West is a fantastic artists’ market that is held on the last Sunday every month from March to November, usually with an additional market in December for holiday shoppers. Local designers peddle their fantastic wares, and the participants vary from month to month so there is something new each time. Admission is free, and my favourite part is that so many of the goods are affordable! It’s not like some art markets where everything is overpriced. The market is held at the Rocky Mountaineer Station, and there is a free shuttle that runs from near Main Street-Science World Skytrain station.