Flying wedge Cambie

I went to see "Harakiri" at the Vancouver International Film Festival a few weeks ago and I was starving so I went across the street and popped into Flying Wedge.  I haven't been into a Flying Wedge since my days of working at the airport.  In my opinion, they're a bit overpriced, but then again, you get a huge slab of pizza. 

Being the cheapskate that I am, I dumped on the parmesan cheese, and basically lost all of the original flavour...not to mention the ranch sauce I dipped every bite into. 

The regular pricing is a bit high for my tastes, but I heard they got this all you can eat thing going on for Sundays.  I don't know if I'd ever try that, but who knows.  This particular location?  Aren't they pretty much all the same? 

Joey on Burrard

Two weeks ago, I was downtown for training and during our lunch on the last day, some of us decided to eat downstairs at Joey's on Burrard.  I've been to the Joey's on Broadway before and even though they overcooked my steak, it still tasted good, and the service there was good.  I figured I'd give this one a try.  Actually, I'd been here before, but just for drinks.

I posted this picture because of the steak and sushi.....what is this world coming to???  Enough with the ridonkulous fusion....

God, will the madness ever end.  Tell me why in the world would I ever order sushi at Joey?  I gotta say, it blows my mind to see things like this......wonton noodles at Cactus Club, haha!  Seriously though, it's true, it really is on their menu.

Anyway, enough poking fun at silly menu items.  My colleage ordered some sort of pasta and it came with a towering slab of garlic bread.  The dish looked tasty and my colleage assured me it was....but I didn't get a sample :(

Kobe Beef spaghetti and meatballs.  Personally, I haven't found a better example of this dish outside of Italian Kitchen, but then again, I didn't sample the one from Joey.  I'm sure it tasted good though.

Some sort of grilled cheese sandwich.

Not sure what kind of hamburger this was....

....but I was in no mood for burgers.  I'd been looking at pictures of prime rib and steak all week so I ended up ordering the 9oz Cab Top Sirloin for $24.49.  I asked for fat and bloody and I got fat and bloody.  I was blown away because after the server walked away and went to place the order, he actually came back and confirmed if I wanted my steak done blue rare.  I said yes, thinking that they'll probably bring it to me medium to medium rare, but I got mine blue!!! 

Just look at this thing.  Presentation was top-notch and everything tasted as good as it looked. 

That spring-roll looking thing was crispy mashed potato.  Essentially it was mashed potato encased in a spring roll skin, and I was pleasantly surprised.  It actaully tasted quite good and it was interesting to have a crispy texture with mashed potato. 

Now onto the star of the dish, my precious blue rare top sirloin.  For a 9 oz, it sure looked massive in real life.  To see such carnage in the middle of a sunny Friday afternoon would probably put some people off, but my steak gave me the thrill I was waiting for all week.  The spice rub went really well with the steak and didn't overwhelm the flavour at all.  And although I asked for fat and bloody, it was definetly a good cut have it that way.  It was easy to cut and melted in my mouth. 

Would I go back?  In a heartbeat, as long as they can prepare it every single time like this.  Consistancy is the issue with a lot of places, so I may take a chance and go back, hoping they can replicate my experience. 

Cafe Gloucester

Gloucester Cafe, been around for ages and I've even been there on numerous occasions, but I never had a camera present.  I remember one of my earliest experiences with Baked Seafood on Rice was at this place.  I had a cousin from out of town, and another cousin I probably hadn't seen in 5 or 6 years and we decided to get together at Gloucester's. 

One thing that I don't think many places have is the option to supersize your drink.  I don't even remember seeing this on the menu, but my cousin orderd an extra large ice lemon tea.  It was a monster.

I of course had to relive the glory days and had the baked seafood on rice.  It was rich and creamy, just as I remember.  I've had better, but I'd probably order this again the next time I go back here.

I heard there are other menu items that are good, but I've only evern eaten the baked seafood and baked pork chop.  The prices here are a bit more than say Alleluia, but not out of this world.  The nearest competion is Copa Cafe just up the road. 

The service here is friendly, and I've always been treated good.  Street side parking is available, don't bother trying the back as they only have a handful of spots. 

Richmond Sushi

Holy cow, I haven't touched my blog in nearly a month and what's the first thing I come back with?  AYCE sushi, haha!  Apologies for the long absence.  I've been in the middle of changing jobs from one department to another so I haven't had much time to work on this...also, my Nikon P100 died on me a few weeks ago so I had to send it in for (hopefully) warantee.  Several of the controls stopped working and my PC stopped detecting the camera, and started charging it, even though I had set it to no-charge.  Anwyay, I loved the camera, so I hope it comes back in one peice.  Anyway, back to the blog, the pictures for the next few entries were either taken my my dad's Nikon L24 or my HTC Desire. 

So, I was at my other job and we were called in on a Saturday with lunch paid and what did the group decide to do with their $13 meal allowance?  They got us to go for AYCE sushi at Richmond Sushi.  I haven't stepped into this place for more than 6 years.  The parking is crap here, maybe that's why I don't come here often.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the place wasn't very full.  I was surprised because I remember this place used to get pretty packed. 

Haha, it's been so long, I don't remember what this was...I think it might have been some some sort of....no, nevermind, I'm not going to guesss.

The gyoza presentation wasn't as bad as Aji Taro, and I do remeber these not tasting too bad.

Of course, there's always someone who can't handle the raw fish so we got them some California Rolls...as you can tell, the rice to filler ratio isn't all that bad. 

The ebi sunomono was pathetic.  It was by far the worst sunomono I have ever had.  The one single shrimp sat on a bed of crunchy, yes, crunchy noodles.  These were not al dente, they were raw.  Unbievable, even worse than Aji Taro.  Mazui desu.

I dunno what's going on with AYCE sushi nowadays, but I find they always have to drown the deep fried stuff in the Thai chili sauce...you know, that sweet and spicy sauce?  Yuck. Anyway, the ika karaage came with that stuff on it and I didn't like it.

Shrimp bombs!  With more Thai Chili sauce.  This was a hit with some of the non-raw-fish eaters.

Teriyaki beef was dried out, but rehydrated with sauce.

Chicken karaage?

Assorted carrot tempura.  Actually the nasu (eggplant) wasn't too bad and kind of a surprise to find in this place.

The obligatory salmon, tuna and saba nigiri sushi, ordered en masse until we were sick of them.

I had to do it, I had to order the kaki motoyaki in the egg tart trays.  First, because I like oysters, and second, because I love egg tarts.  Haha, but after a few of these, I felt not so hot.

All in all, Richmond Sushi was more or less the way I remember.  I didn't go by choice, but it was more of a social thing so I went along with the group.  Would I go back again?  Not willingly.