Chocolate and Zucchini, a Paris Food Blog

Just a quick note to highlight one of the latest additions to my links list, Chocolate and Zucchini. Although I like to focus on local foodie sites, I thought Nancylanders might like to daydream about little food adventures in Paris once in a while. I certainly am, as I research travel in Europe, looking for potential adventures for my trip in September. This blog caught my eye while I was dreaming about El Bulli again, and doing a search on how people get reservations. Turns out I thought about the restaurant only a few months too late. As Clotilde Dusoulier, Chocolate and Zuchinni blogger, found out, they take requests for reservations for their May through September season in October of the previous year. Look here for her terrific account of her meal, complete with photos, and even practical information such as cost (with their water, coffee, and wine - which they let the sommelier decide without limits - it looks like their thirty-five course tasting menu cost the equivalent of $330 CAD/person, before wine $250). I think this blog is inspirational also because she wound up quitting her day job as a software engineer, two years after starting to blog, to write about food full-time. She has Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook coming out soon!

Some Days I Just Feel Scattered, Smothered, Covered...and Chopped, Chunked, Capped and Topped

I admit to being a very nostalgic person, and the enjoyment of food to me has a lot to do with the context in which it is experienced. Minutes ago, I had a nostalgic craving strike me suddenly. Striking is absolutely the word I want to use for that, like having a big, plump, friendly chef (he has a bushy, black moustache for some reason) sneak up behind me on tip toes and wack me swiftly on the head with a big baguette. After the impact, I imagine him laughing "Ha HA!" in a big booming voice, which means "Crave that, you fool!" Heehee, don't worry, I'm not on anything. Imagine my hallucinations if I actually was!

Well, if any of you have been to the Waffle House, maybe you'll understand this one. The American Deep South is scary and charming all at the same time, and the food is no different. There's a lot of charm to be had in the food, even (or maybe I should say especially) the greasiest junkiest food down there. It's a place where the greasy spoon chain, and the really old burger joint can become iconic places of history. I have no problem with that. I loved the Waffle House when I was down there, for a place to get breakfast, but especially as a place to go late into the night. It's a place where hash browns aren't just hash browns, like they are up here. They're a meal. A greasy, messy, beautiful pile of a meal. Here's how to have them:

"scattered" across the grill

"smothered" with onions

"covered" with cheese (you know what I'm talking about here, right? Yah, I'm not ashamed; I eat processed cheese)

"chunked" with diced ham

"topped" with chili

"diced" with diced tomatoes

"peppered" with jalapeno peppers

"capped" with mushrooms

What a wonderful, cheap indulgence it was for me - a "starving" (yah, I know, well, it's as close to starving as I get) student living in Athens. Just a handful of dollars for the whole mess of it, plus a cup of bottomless coffee. It even includes entertainment - I used to love watching the system - the cook, master of the grill, brandishing his trusty spatula, sucking in the hollered lingo-laden orders from sassy waitresses, and shooting out the food like a machine - keeping their cool, in the middle of all that sizzling, spinning and bubbling around them. Now that I think about it, the hollering is a bit like some of the izakayas around here. Except you go to Waffle House after the drinking, not during. I had my first serving of grits ever in a Waffle House, late night, post-partying. I was a bit skeptical about the whole concept of grits, while my friend enthusiastically tried to convince me of their merit. I think the main selling point was that you have to have them smothered in butter and cheese... They turned out to be okay, but he treated the ordeal like it was a rite of passage. And of course, because of that, it remains a cute, warm WaHo (to borrow a blogger's term of endearment) memory for me. Okay, I have to go buy some potatoes now.

The Dine-Out Burn-Out

Does anyone else find themselves saying "bah humbug!" to the yearly end of January, beginning of February Dine Out Vancouver (DOV) event? Yes, I know there are some good deals out there, but is it worth wading through the incoming herds of "frugal" suburbanites, the need to book dinner nearly a month in advance, and the on-the-edge servers who are just one "water only table" away from snapping like the sugar topping of your creme brulee? Jason Chin, a fellow blogger at Eat Vancouver.net, is opting out this year. And I think I am too. So, for anyone else displaying the symptoms of Dine-Out Burn-Out, here is a quick top five list of under $35 non-DOV bargains to be found in our great food city. They're not necessarily going to be fine dining, but you should be able to eat very well, and be treated very nicely, without breaking the bank.

5. Senhor Rooster (Renfrew St., at Venables, four blocks south of Hastings), Rack of lamb about $35. You can pretty much order whatever you want off their menu and get out well under $35 a person, but go ahead and splurge on the whole rack of lamb if you get a chance. I don't see it on the online menu, but it is probably on the specials list when you go to the restaurant. You might think this price is comparable to the rack of lamb at other restaurants, but you'll often find you get a half rack or less at the same price elsewhere. I haven't had a chance to try the new location, but it's open for business. Next time I go, I'm going to try to call ahead and try their salt-encrusted Cornish game hen.

4. Raincity Grill (Denman at English Bay) Early Bird Menu $25 between 5-6 pm. I haven't tried this one out myself yet, but I've had a number of nice meals at Raincity over the years, and hope to try this out sometime. Three courses of West Coast focused food in a crisp, clean room.

3. Rinconcito Salvadorean Restaurant (Commercial Drive, between 4th and 5th Ave.) Lots of food for $25 each - my friend and I ordered enough food to stuff ourselves silly, including their famous papupas (flat corn tortilla filled packages of pork beans and cheese at $2.50 each), a whole fried fish with beans, rice, avocado and salad, a mini chicken tostada salad, fried yuca root with fried pork chunks, yummy tamarind drinks (non-alcoholic), and carmelized plantains with vanilla ice cream.

2. Sakae Sushi Restaurant (Downtown, Thurlowe and Alberni St.), Dinner Set $24 More authentic Japanese food than you can shake a stick at. Well, maybe not if you're really good at shaking sticks...at any rate, it's a lot of high quality food for under $25.

1. Mistral (W. Broadway at Trafalgar), Three Course Lunches $18 - 22. Another one on my Places To Try Soon List. I've heard good things about this one, and the menus look great. And if you're a guy looking to impress a lunch date, this should do, don't you think?

Sakae Japanese Restaurant, Downtown

When did my comfort food become Japanese cuisine? Maybe it stems from my very first trip away from my parents, just after graduating from highschool - I had a glorious six-week homestay experience in Osaka, Japan. It was like I found another place in the world that felt like being home, even though it was completely different from being actually home, which was (and is now) Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Sakae (745 Thurlowe St. off Alberni St., 604-669-0067), hidden in a tiny, downtown, underground mini-mall of restaurants (next to Samba Brazillian Barbecue, and Aki Japanese Restaurant), is my current favourite traditional Japanese restaurant. By traditional, I mean both that the food feels quite authentic, and also that the menu offers what the original wave of Japanese restaurants in Vancouver offered - not izakaya small plates, but sushi, sashimi, tempura, noodle dishes, robata, rice dishes, and combinations. I just came back from having a fantastic dinner set ($24), which I thought was delicious and good value. They currently have a sushi, sashimi and unagi don dinner set, and these are not your run-of-the-mill Vancouver dinner sets. Be forewarned though, that in the summer time, I was looking for their dinner sets and they didn't offer them, but they're back now. I chose the sashimi one, which had a beautifully fresh plate of sashimi (garnished with real shiso leaf, and a very fragrant wasabi - maybe it's freshly grated?). I chose to start with this part separately, and it had lovely slices of salmon, mackeral, a very good amaebi, and snapper, I think. Then an exciting array of goodies came on a tray. There was a generous portion of grilled marinated black cod that was really tasty. There was a good chiwan mushi (savoury steamed egg custard) with assorted meat bits, topped with a pretty slice of fishcake. I enjoyed the delightful plate full of small cold things including egg omelet, a seafood pate, lotus root slices, a deep fried breaded dumpling ball, two meaty balls on a pick, and a pate topped with eel. There was also a little bowl of zaru soba, and a fried dumpling served in sauce, covered with bonito flakes (sorry, I don't know what it was exactly, but it was tasty). There was a really tasty sunomono type salad (but not the type with the noodles swimming in lots of liquid). It had a sweet, vinegar dressing, as well as a thicker orange dressing, and was fragrant with the smell of fresh cucumber. It had chunks of a white-coloured protein (maybe a clam?), and chewy transparent, colourless threads, that I think were some sort of seaweed product. There was a dish of daikon and cucumber pickles too. I also received a big bowl of rice garnished with what I'll call salmon pixie dust and a very nice miso with clams in their shells and tiny bits of shiso. Does this sound like a lot of food? It was. And I was happily stuffed. I also had a small bottle of warm Gekkeikan sake ($4.50), perfect for coming in out of a snowy, wet night. The room is quiet and cosy, and like a little underground hideaway - a nice, place of stillness to replenish your energy stores (both mental and physical) or have a quiet talk with someone about life.

Service was perfect tonight, with my tea cup being refilled diligently, and every bit of hospitality displayed despite my disheveled jeans, sweatshirt, and raingear appearance.

Now here's my big confession for this restaurant to end this post. I've lived closeby to this restaurant for about 8 years now, and I only learned about this place less than a year ago and I heard about it from, of all people, someone in Seattle! This place is a part of my neighbourhood, and I had to have a tourist point it out to me in order for me to pay attention to it! An eGulleter in Seattle was recommending a Japanese restaurant to someone else in Seattle who was going to visit Vancouver. The Seattlite who was due to travel was asking my advice, and the other Seattlite piped up. I am very glad s/he did. It's a wonderful little hidden gem, made all the more charming because it is off the radar for many. Shhh, don't tell too many people.

New Year's Food

One new year's day, my friend Bac'n Girl invited me to her family's home for their traditional Japanese New Year's Day lunch. It was an impressive feast, with hand-pounded mochi and all sorts of interesting things to eat. Maybe you have some new year's food traditions. If not, you can always make up something. Here's hoping you eat something noteworthy tomorrow. And here are some traditions from around the world. Cheers!

Red and Green Food

Beet Panne Cotta

Just a quick post on Christmas Day to wish Nancylanders happy holidays! This bit of red and green was a delightful dish I enjoyed at Fiddlehead Joe's (1-1012 Beach Ave, 604.688.1969) on the north side of the False Creek Seawall, under the Burrard Street bridge, amongst all the Concord Pacific highrises. The beet "panne cotta" was soft and silky, made from organic roasted beets, served with goat cheese, gorgonzola and organic greens ($10). The meal I had at Fiddlehead Joe's was really a pleasant surprise. I had never paid much attention to this little restaurant on the water, despite having cycled and walked past countless times. It's actually been around for about seven years. Service from the bartender (in retrospect, I'm wondering if it was Fiddlehead Joe himself?) was absolutely delightful and the little dishes I had were creative and tasty. I also enjoyed a soup that was like tasting the forest in a bowl - fiddlehead (as you may know, they are unopened Ostrich fern fronds, and have an appealing coiled shape) and forest mushroom soup ($6). It was a nice brown, earthy broth, which I thought was quite fun, at least conceptually. As for flavour, I'm more of a thick, creamy soup person, so I might not order it again, but it was good and worth trying. I also had some great pomme frites with a mayonnaise based dip. And last but definitely not least, I had a fantastic dessert. The chocolate chili sauce had just a perfect amount of heat to really make this dessert interesting. It worked perfectly with the crisp rounds of meringue and the dense chocolate mousse underneath ($8).


Toasted Meringue with birds eye chilli infused chocolate mousse

I actually wound up going to this restaurant on the spur of the moment, as I was trying to sober up from the EnRoute magazine cocktail party at Nu where they announced their Best New Canadian Restaurants awards. The funny thing is that this experience at Fiddlehead Joe's won me over more than anything else that evening. I'll definitely check it out again sometime. I was in the mood for something light and interesting that evening, but they also have "medium plates" for $15 and "large plates" for $24. I'm now eyeing the trio of quail under the medium plates section of the current dinner menu. They serve brunch and lunch too. In fact, it seems as if they're always open. I'll also keep it in mind for large groups, as the restaurant was almost entirely taken up by a large group when I was there eating at the glowing bar, and the staff seemed to be doing quite well with them.

The Best Restaurant in the World? Guess I'll Have to Take Their Word For It

I'm drooling over the thought of my very first trip to Europe in September 2007, which starts in Spain. Naturally, I'm thinking ahead to the meals. This is my naïve line of thought: "Hey, isn't elBulli in Spain?" A quick look at the elBulli restaurant's website confirms that they were touted as the "Best Restaurant in the World" as voted by 500 critics, chefs, and gourmets from around the world that put together the 2006 list of the World's Best Restaurants for The Restaurant magazine. "I know about this trip nine months in advance, maybe I can save up all my money for one unbelievable meal, or a snack, or..something..." I poke around the site and find the very serious "synthesis of elBulli cuisine" - twenty-three statements laid down like restaurant commandments. The pretension of it all feeds my curiousity rather than squelches it like I might expect it to. I skim through the bios of the chefs. Again, very serious stuff. *CLICK* - the reservations page. They are filled up for the 2007 season. Aw, man. The whole year. Well, I really shouldn't be surprised. I know how hard it is to get in to even the French Laundrey. So then, feeling a bit silly for thinking this would be easy, I go looking for the menus, to really rub it in. The history of all of their dishes from 1983 - 2006 are photographed and catalogued beautifully. I've borrowed the phrase graduate level dining before, but I think the phrase really applies here. The geek in me savours the elegantly organized documentation of their creations. Is this place overrated? Who knows? Possibly, but I would so like to take that gamble and experience it in person. I mean, I just started slow with the food porn on their site by clicking on last year's cocktails...and even that looks wildly creative. Also, I'm actually quite fond of foams, so I'm good to go. So join me and feast, virtually, upon some wonderfully ambitious food and drink here. You'll have to click your way through. There is always an English option (EN), go past the ad for the books, and click the "enter to elBulli.com" at the bottom of the screen. Find the catalogue under gastronomy. Bon appetit!