Memphis Blues again

I guess Memphis Blues can be a hit and miss sometimes.  I went there with a couple of buddies from work last week and found this out.  Also, I found that I made a mistake on my previous post on Memphis Blues in the name of what we ordered. 

Deep fried Oysters -  a little on the dry side, but arite once dipped in tartar sauce.

The brisket was a lot leaner than the last time I was here.  It was almost tough, so I guess if you want the "edible grisle", maybe have to ask for it.

The coleslaw was still gross, but some of my friends liked it.

I'm really starting to dig the beans at Memphis.  Reminds me of the beans that Tony Roma's used to serve.

The hoison-flavoured bbq sauce was still good as ever, and aided with the slightly drier meats.

Still love the cornbread, even though it's a filler

So, THIS is the Elvis Platter.  Apparently, the last time around, we ordered the Memphis Feast, which was actaully half the size of the Elvis Platter.  I mistakenly boasted to the cashier that three of us easily defeated the Elvis Platter.  When the real Elvis platter showed up, I ate my words silently, giving no eye contact to our server/cashier......so embarrasing,

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The side dishes came in ceramic bowls rather than the large paper cups.  The bowls contained roughly couble the amount.

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Before......

.....and after.  Little difference right?

Unlike my last visit, I didn't even try to eat everything on the platter.  Despite certain items being slightly leaner than the last time I was here, I was looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch.  A glorious battle, but we were all fallen wariors that night.

Mongolian Little Sheep Hot Pot

I've walked by this restaurant dozens of times, even heard about it from my parents, but never occurred to go in and try it.  I like hotpot once in a while, and I suppose it's healthier to boil all your food, rather than pan-fry or stir fry, bu it's just not my thing.  Still, whenever I have hot pot, I'm usually able to find something I like to eat.  The first impression of Mongolian Little Sheep Hot Pot is the overwhelming smell of B.O. that manages to waft into the shopping mall.  I know it's not B.O. but the odors are very similar.  Clearly, the ventilation system is just there for looks (sort of like Kyung Bok Palace, haha!)

The restaurant looked spacious, and it wasn't packed.  It was a Thursday night so maybe that's why it wasn't so busy.

The cost-savings are clearly seen in the way they have set up a self-serve station for the sauces.  The servers no longer have to waste time bringing the sauces to the clientele when they can just go up to the make-shift station (set up next to the cashier/bar) and help themselves.  I don't mind this myself, as I can totally load up on sauces....

So, we had a boiling vat of chili oil on one side, and regular stock on the other.  The spicy side will gah-ron-teeh you ring-of-fire.  I tried something just dipped in that side and my mouth was on fire.  Today, I have a slight stomach ache, haha!

Lots of freshly defrosted frozen meat, very typical of hot-places.  They would never be able to afford to stay open if it was all fresh.

Some pickles

And yes, I ordered Spam!  For $25(inc tax) AYCE, there waeren't any prawns, or oysters, but there was spam, haha!

Actually, our servers worked pretty hard for us tonight, which was very, very surprising for an AYCE place.  They always brought the food very quickly after we ordered it, they came and refilled our drinks and came to clear our tables on a regular basis.   My only gripe was at the end, when we wanted to split the bill, the cashier turned out to be an inept teenager who had no idea, nor the authority to make decisions bigger than what kind of change to give.  Apparently the manager was gone for the evening and there was no way for him to divide the bill. 

The food was okay, some of the service was awesome, some of it really sucked (cashier), the The washrooms were filthy (but not unexpected), the price was okay I guess, but I would have liked to have seen a few higher end items on the menu for $25, and everyone's clothes smelled like B.O. the next day, despite the place being a boil place rather than a grill place.  No smoke, but even less ventilation.  Would I go back?  I seriously doubt it.   

Earl's on Broadway

This was the second time I've been to Earl's (the first time was about 10 years ago) and I have to say that I was pretty imressed with the service.  My iaido club in hosting a big seminar this weekend and some pretty senior instructors from Japan are here in Vancouver to attend.  A few of us took them out for dinner the night they arrived and it just happened to be Hockey Night in Vancouver (Canucks vs Bruins).

Somehow we managed to make a reservation and let me tell you, this place was packed to the brim.  And despite the place being completely packed, we still got excellent service.  When we first entered, the staff attending the doors and reception greeted us with a friendly smile, and took our group to our tables.  There was a bit confusion on how we wanted the tables arranged (on our part) but they managed to accomodate us and make sure we were happy with the arrangements.
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The Earl's on Broadway and Fir has pretty ample parking if not in the lot, then in the area.  It looks actually quite small, but I had no trouble finding a spot. 

I had my regular Chivas Regal 12 yrs, single on ice.

I don't drink beer much, but the pints looked pretty massive.....

......as were the cocktails.  My friend's cesar looked like a tower from across the table. 

Now, this has nothing to do with the serving staff, but more so for the supplier or the buyer of Earl's.  The wings were small.  Tiny little dried out things and I have I wasn't impressed with them.  But then again, I guess I'm used to the wings from The Flying Beaver. 

Our server warned us that the Hot, Hot wings were really hot, and she wasn't kidding.  They were sort of ordered out of curiousity as one of the sensei with us was wondering how hot they could be.  I was only able to eat one before deciding if I ate any more, I'd burn out my o-ring.

The kalamari tasted pretty good and was a good appie.

My sensei had the Spicy Seafood Linguine which was topped by this massive jumbo prawn.  He said the noodles were cooked Al Dente, and the dish tasted fantastic.  Our server mentioned that Earl's head chef had recently returned from Italy after studying there for some time, so look forward to some interesting and new pasta dishes at Earl's. 
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My sempai ordered steak with rice instead of fries or mash potatos.  He said that Earl's has one of the best steaks he's had.  I should have tried the steak, but for some reason, I wasn't very hungry and also feeling a bit kechi this night so I got a burger instead.

The Bronx Burger was recommended to me by one of our servers and she mentioned it's one of the more popular dishes.  Now, my current favourite burgers are the Four Cheese Burger from Milestone's (because of the goatcheese and roasted Garlic), and serveral offerings from Romer's.  I had my reservations about a burger from Earl's, but I kept an open mind.  When it arrived, I saw the mountain of French fries which didn't look like anything special, but turned out pretty good and quite tasty.  My eyes then zeroed in on the burger and noticed what looked like a griddled brioche bun, but it turned out to be a freshly made, toasted sesame bun which tasted pretty good.

My townering Bronx Burger easily rivals Romer's burger in size.  It looked incredibly appetizing when it arrived but I knew there was no way to eat this burger gracefully.

I ended up spitting the burger in two and somehow managed to not make a mess.  The burger was a nice micture of textures, from the moist and savoury burger patty, to the crunchy onion rings to my surpise, the green stuff,  I usually don't pay much attention to the vegetaion on my burgers, but the lettuce used had reduced (from the heat of the burger) down to something that went quite well with the burger.  I don't know if it was made that way, or because I let my burger sit for a while before eating it.  Either way, it turned out to be one of the best burger's I've eaten and now it's given me another reason to go back to Earl's. 

The other reason I have to return to Earl's is the excellent service we received that night.  Our entire group was very, very happy with Earl's on Broadway.  Our smallish group of 10 people were assigned two servers, both of whom knew their jobs and the product very well.  They were supervised by an excellent night manager who made sure we had everything that we needed.  Considering how busy it was that night, and considering that we had some special requests and details that needed to be looked after, we received excellect service and were never neglected for a moment.  Summer, if you're reading this, I thank you and your staff for making the evening run so smoothly.  I think you went above and beyond your job to look after us and you deserve recognition from your company for service excellence. 

Salmon House on the Hill

It's been years since I 've been to Salmon House on the Hill and what drew me back to drive all the way to West Vancouver was a coupon, haha!  I'm so cheap.  Anyway, Salmon House had a Steak and Lobster Tail Combo as a May special that usually goes for $32 but with a downloadable coupon, it was $19.95.  There's something slightly embarrassing about using a coupon at a high-end place, but I figured, what the hell, I'm not that proud.

We got there around 7ish and the sun was still up so we got to see pretty much all of Vancouver. I'd imagine that the night view should be spectacular. Our server seemed pretty professional, not intrusive at all. He brought our drinks: Strawberry Virgin Marguarita (which didn't taste very virgin to me) and my drink - Chivas Regal, 12 yrs, single on ice. Since I was driving, I nursed it all the way through my meal.

The complimentary bread was fairly regular, but the butter it came with wasn't really butter. It was slightly darker, so I thought maybe it was garlic butter, but it turned out to be something else. I have no idea what it was. The texture was like dough or some sort of paste...not a whole lot of flavour, but we ate it all anyway!

We were pretty hungry so we scarfed down the bread pretty quickly. Our Salmon House Sampler ($18) followed soon after, and I have to tell you, I was a little disappointed with the portions. For the price, I figured it may have been enough for two, but I probably could have had two orders just for myself.

The smoked salmon wrapped scallop was done perfectly, not to rubbery and also managed to absorb a good amount of flavour from the smoked salmon but still retaining it's own natural flavour. The sampler was good overall, but I'm not sure if it was worth $18.

The prawn and salmon spring roll was pretty good, but as some of you may know, I'm not a big fan of this new fushion thing.  If I wanted to eat prawn spring rolls, I'd go have dim sum.  That being said, they tasted good. 

The smoked oysters themselves were good, but sat on a bed of green beans that didn't agree with me.  To me, and this is going to sound really uncultured, it tasted like B.O.  But like I said, I did like the smoked oysters. 

We both got the steak and lobster dinner. As usual, I ordered my steak as fat and bloody as possible. When our entrees arrived, the server knew exactly what I wanted - blue rare. It came out perfectly and the other one came out exactly to order as well - medium rare. Both steaks came out as ordered, however, it seemed one of them got all the seasoning. The medium rare one was a bit on the salty side, and my blue rare was a little bland. I guess I probably shouldn't eat so much salt anyway and just enjoy the natural flavour of the beef.....but fat tastes so good with salt! The mashed potato and the veg tasted incredible on both plates, and the lobster, surprisingly was actaully quite good, depsite it being of the readily availablble, frozen lobster tails similar to the ones available at M & M. I'm glad I paid $19.95 because it was a pretty decent meal for $19.95, but I would have felt a bit unahppy had I paid the full $32.

Medium Rare - cooked to perfect as requested.

Blue rare - fat and bloody, just the way I like it.  One of the few times I actually got it exactly as I asked.

The Orange and Maple Creme Brulee came to $9 and I enjoyed it a lot.  The top layer was caramalized nice and thick (some may not like this), the fruits were fresh and didn't contrast the creme brulee too strongly. 

I liked the coconut macaroons, but they were served on the side, and that's exactly what they were, on the side and unecessary.  Tasty. but unecessary.  

Overall, I was pretty happy with my experience with Salmon House on the Hill.  The food was of good quality and excellent presentation, despite my grumblings about various things.  Part of the hefty bill goes towards a pretty nice view and overall good service.  It wasn't on par wtih say Tea House or Joe Fortes in terms of service, but still pretty good.  Would I go back?  Probably.  There were a couple of other menu items I wouldn't mind trying!