brunch Archives - Page 7 of 8

Toulouse Petite Kitchen Lounge (Seattle)

November 6, 2014

I was also down in the States last weekend, and although I was hoping to have some quiet time to relax in my hotel room and blog, it didn’t quite happen. This time around, we decided that we wanted to try different restaurants that Seattle had to offer other than just the restaurant chains we were used to (I’m looking at you, Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs). Yes, they are delicious and reputable restaurants, but I wanted to try places that were only offered in Seattle.

One of the places that we wanted to try on our visit here last month was Toulouse, but we didn’t get the chance to. This time, we made sure that we would check this place out! We were also quite fortunate, as our hotel was a mere 10 minute walk away (if we didn’t get lost, that is.. but in my defense, we didn’t have a physical map or data on our cell phones to find it).

After walking around the Queen Anne neighbourhood for a bit, I knew that we had reached the restaurant when I saw tons of late brunchers waiting outside a dark/lime green-ish building. I braved the crowd and asked for a table of two. We were told that the wait was going to be 35-40 minutes. WHAT?! Since we were set on trying this place and we wanted a seemingly delicious lunch, we sucked it up and walked around Queen Anne a bit before coming back to wait in line.

After 35 minutes of waiting, we were seated at a big and high communal table, with 4-6 other brunchers sharing the space with us. The colouring and decor of the wall gave it a very rustic and homey feeling, despite the high ceilings. The liquor cabinet was definitely something to be marveled at though, look at how extensive their collection was!

But it was too early for alcohol and I had already bought a smoothie while waiting in line earlier. The boyfriend was very impressed with the intricate detailing of our tables, known as wood inlay. With his carpentry background, he knew and appreciated the about of labour and effort that went into what (to me, at least) looked like a seemingly basic painted wood design on the table. Needless to say, we were very impressed with the decor and ambiance.
Another thing to note about Toulouse is that it has won numerous awards and was featured a couple of times on The Food Network (!!!!!). We had absolutely no idea until we were reading the menu. That explains the long waits and high ratings!

Toulouse is rated one of the Top 5 Restaurants in America by Trip Advisor. That is crazy, I had noo idea and it just made our restaurant trip even better. At that point, the boyfriend decided to order two entrees because he couldn’t decide, and it wasn’t often that we ate in one of the “top” restaurants in USA LOL.
Snake River Farms Kurobota Ham Egg Benedict ($14). I thoroughly enjoyed the smoky flavour of the ham, which was a bit salty as well. The ham was very light and carved really thin. The yolk oozed perfectly onto the ham and english muffin. The hash was seasoned very well and very filling. I’m not a huge hollandaise fanatic, but I do appreciate a delicious hollandaise sauce, this one was no different. It went very well with the smoky and thin texture of the ham. This dish takes second place out of the three entrees.

This was the entree that I finally decided on, the Spicy Creole Andouille Hash ($14). First off, my eggs were perfect and ahhhhh-maaazing. It was cooked perfectly in the way that the yolk slowly oozed out, encompassing all of the hash, sausages, and veggies underneath. I was very impressed and happy at how perfect it went. As for the hash, tasso, housemade andouille sausage, peppers and tomato confit underneath, I enjoyed it as well but found the taste of the red pepper taste to be a bit overpowering. It was my first time trying andouille sausage, a Southern classic. I wouldn’t mind trying it again. There was a lot going on in this dish, but every ingredient complemented each other perfectly, bringing together a very dynamic Creole dish. The fresh green onions on top was the cherry on top of a great dish.

My favourite plate, hands down, of the day. We found ourselves constantly thinking about this dish even after we had finished it on our stroll back. Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash ($15), featured on The Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” TV show. Was it the best thing I ever ate? It certainly came close. The cured pork cheeks was SO GOOD, it was very tender and melted in your mouth, packed with flavour. Mixing in the ooey yolk, hash, arugula, and other vegetables, it was love at first bite.

I love my hearty Southern food because of how savoury and comforting it is. Would I wait 35 minutes again in line? Yes. From the friendly service, intricate decor, and delicious southern food, I am very glad we made the stop here on our trip.

Urban Fare Deli (Yaletown Location)

October 30, 2014

It was a lovely, sunny afternoon in Vancouver back in July (yes, late post I know.. sorry) and I spent it studying with a friend from school. She lived in Yaletown, so suggested that we meet up there to study. But how do two hungry girls study without proper food and nourishment? We don’t.

So we decided to make a quick stop for lunch at Urban Fare before diving into our pop music history notes. I’ve only ate at Urban Fare one other time, and had a panini which I vaguely remember was pretty tasty. I was going to order another one based on that memory, but as I went up to order it, the calzone caught my eye.
After much speculation, I decided to get the calzone instead because a) It was cheaper b) Being the curious girl I am, I wanted to try it and c) the sandwiches didn’t sound super delicious that day. Ordering here is a bit different here. You tell the staff what you would like, then they print out a receipt for you.

Then, you go to the cashier and pay, where they initial your receipt and you go back to the deli counter and they hand you your food at the pickup window. Since that visit in July, I’ve been to Urban Fare a handful of times and I have yet to master their seemingly confusing system. Oops.
I ordered the four cheese pepperoni calzone ($5). It came with sausage, pepperoni, red onions, tomatoes, basil, parsley, monterey jack and Parmesan cheese, and warmed up. I immediately fell in love with the softness of bread, and how doughy it was. The warmness of the dish just emphasized the softness even more. As for the inside, there was a decent amount of sausage and pepperoni. For a dish that has the word “cheese” in the title, it wasn’t that cheesy, which I didn’t really mind. I ended up ordering another one for an afternoon snack later on.
My friend ordered their breakfast omelette platter, which came with an omelette (duh), sourdough bread, and potatoes. I only tried the sourdough bread, which tasted pretty standard and normal.

-Carmen

Cora Breakfast and Lunch

September 9, 2014

After a turn of unexpected events, my friends and I found ourselves hungry in Coquitlam one sunny afternoon. We never go to Coquitlam, and were at a lost for ideas. Minutes passed as we uncomfortably sat in my friend’s leather seat car while our thighs burned from the sun, looking up place to place on our phone (LOL). I suddenly had a eureka! moment and remembered a joint by the name of Cora.
Cora is located in a plaza by Coquitlam Center. Honestly, at first glance, it reminded me of a daycare center or a preschool. It definitely looks like a kid’s paradise. Little did we know what was in store for us…

Walking in, my eyes were greeted with a dramatic and exuberant display of fresh fruits and bright colours. I looked around the restaurant in awe, as I took in all the bright colours and the measures they took to make this place kid-friendly.

Walls were painted with cute drawings of fruit in cute fonts. Cereal boxes which doubled as home-y decor. Friendly servers in brightly coloured uniforms. Cora is truly a fruit-lover’s heaven.
Cora does not skimp out at all with the fresh fruit. I have a feeling that parents must love taking their kids here, because it is such a fun atmosphere for kids to eat their fruits. This plate here was the eggs benedict with smoked salmon, served with roasted potatoes and fresh fruit. He fell in love with the eggs benedict at first bite. The Hollandaise sauce was delicious, and the English muffin tasted soft. Together, the eggs, Hollandaise sauce, smoked salmon, and English muffin went really well together. The fruit was extremely fresh as well. Yum!
Unfortunately, I forgot the name of what I ordered and I couldn’t find it on their website 🙁 I’m pretty sure it was just the standard breakfast plate. It came with bacon, sausage, roasted potatoes, eggs, and of course, fresh fruit. My meal was pretty average, just the standard breakfast plate that you would normally find. Nothing too special about it and was a bit bland, I wished that I had chose the eggs benedict instead because it tasted a lot better!
My friend got Cora’s special, which came with the standard breakfast sides, toast, and crepe. He enjoyed his plate, and we ended up all sharing the bread but we couldn’t finish it all.
My boyfriend ordered the mango banana yogurt smoothie. It was so good that I ended up ordering one for myself as well! It was very creamy and thick due to the yogurt, and was refreshing as well. You could definitely taste both the mango and banana in the smoothie. As a bonus, it came with a fresh strawberry and a slice of cantaloupe!

All in all, we enjoyed our visit to Cora. My plate wasn’t too special, but I really liked how much fruit they included. The one thing that sticks out about Cora for me is the abundance of fresh fruit and the friendly atmosphere they have. The standard breakfast plates are nothing special, but they go one step higher with the amount of fresh fruit that is served with each plate.

-Carmen

Cactus Club Cafe (Coal Harbour)

July 8, 2014

I had a catch up day with one of my friends a few weekends ago, and decided to meet at Cactus Club Coal Harbour for a late lunch. Unfortunately, it was pouring buckets that day, which was a teeny bit disappointing because I really wanted to enjoy lunch with a beautiful view of Stanley Park and the seawall!

There was also some kind of fundraising, “Amazing Race” style race going on in downtown that day so we saw quite a few sprinting, panting, and exhausted runners outside. Felt bad for them since it was raining so hard. It ended up clearing up once we were finished eating though. Despite the gloomy weather, we had a good lunch and our server was extremely friendly!
We were both super hungry by the time we met up, and decided to order a starter dish to share. We ordered the goat cheese flatbread ($12.75) which came with caramelized onions, grape tomatoes, basil pesto spread, wild argula, and balsamic glaze.

The argula and grape tomatoes tasted extremely fresh, and went well with the basil pesto spread and balsamic glaze. The flatbread itself was warm and soft. I have been really loving my flatbreads lately! The one I had at Milestones was delicious as well.
My friend ordered the pesto chicken quesadilla ($11.50) with a side of yam fries for an extra $4.25. I didn’t try it, but my friend enjoyed it very much and had no complaints!
Since I already ordered a burger a few days ago at Milestones, I felt bad indulging in one again. So I decided to get the grilled tuna club because it seemed like a healthier choice. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of my rare-seared tuna, as I was imagining a thin slice. It was a bit messy to eat since it was pretty big, and I was trying not to spill the tuna juice everywhere. Since it was seared, it had a nice smoky taste to it but the tuna was also very thick and juicy. The greens that came with the burger were also very fresh.

Overall, I had a great experience at Cactus Club. I loved their menu items and the food was delicious as well. Restaurants like these really focus on customer satisfaction and service, which I really appreciate!

-Carmen

Red Wagon

June 11, 2014

Hi everyone!

The last time I’ve been to Red Wagon was almost three years ago, back when it was starting to gain traction and recognition. I remember my visit that time was average at best. I didn’t understand why people raved about this place so much! =P

So, after constantly driving by this place and seeing it lined up out the door and around the corner, I decided to try this place again last month with my two other friends for lunch!
We came on a weekday, a bit past 1pm so it wasn’t that busy. When we arrived, there was only the big 6 person round table so they told us to just sit there. Later on, a party of 6 actually came in and they had to wait for our table so we felt kind of bad. But we couldn’t really switch because the only empty tables were small, and would definitely not fit the three of us.

The three of us were also pretty hungry, and ended up ordering quite a lot of food that we all split!
We ordered the trucker ($12.50), which came with 2 eggs, 2 buttermilk pancakes, toast, home fries and a choice of bacon or sausage. The home fries were their style of hash browns, they were seasoned well and came with green onions which gave it a better flavour.

The toast and sausages were pretty standard, and you can ask them for a side of homemade jam. As for the pancakes, let’s get into them here:
Of course, you can’t go to Red Wagon without trying their famous pulled pork pancakes with Jack Daniels syrup ($13.50). The pancakes were cooked perfectly, in all their buttery, indulgent, and guilty goodness. Since it was made with buttermilk, they were really rich.

They were also very fluffy and had a nice texture. We ended up using all the JD syrup and dipped the remaining 1/4 of the pancakes with the regular syrup. As for the pulled pork, it was very juicy and tender with a slight barbeque taste to them.
We should have stopped here with the chorizo meatball sandwich with a side of fries ($13), but we didn’t. Out of all four dishes we ordered, this was my least favourite, but it wasn’t bad, either. I felt that the bread was very dry and hard to chew. The chorizo meatball was a bit dry as well.
Phew! After sharing those three dishes, we were all stuffed. However, their cute dessert chalkboard was advertising pie and ice cream, and we all wanted to try it. We actually ordered two of these, because we thought our other friend was going to join us but we ran out of time, so my friend ate one herself.

They had either apple or strawberry rhubarb (I believe it was $5, plus an extra $1 for ice cream). I would have preferred more strawberries over rhubard, the rhubarb made it taste a bit more tart. The vanilla ice cream made it taste a bit sweeter and went really well with the pie!

Our bill including tips came to $60. It was a pretty satisfying meal, but I’m not sure if I would want to wait in line during high peak hours for their food. My favourite was their pancakes due to their fluffiness. Service was also very friendly and attentive!

-Carmen