Is there really a blue dog in the restaurant? Not exactly, but Blue Dog Kitchen is still worth visiting if you’re ever in New York City. I found this place on Yelp in the morning before my mom and I headed out for yet another day of wandering around the concrete jungle. I am glad I came across this place because it did not disappoint!
The restaurant is pretty small and located on the main level of an apartment building (or maybe it was an office building? don’t remember). The only downside to the restaurant is that it is really cramped.
We’re talking almost elbow to elbow room and if you’re sitting beside the wall, you need to move your table in order to squeeze by or you risk knocking over stuff from the next table!
Blue Dog burger, $16.50: After ensuring that the burger had no dairy in it, I was good to go! The Blue Dog burger consists of a custom blend brisket-chuck beef, fried egg, applewood bacon, veggies, and fries. I asked for the burger to be cooked well done, as I am a bit wary of eating raw ground beef.
The burger was really juicy and flavourful, while the veggies were nice and fresh. The egg and bacon was a fantastic addition to an already delicious burger. The bun was also lightly toasted and slightly sweet. Overall, a really delicious burger!
Free range chicken burger, $15.50: The ground chicken burger was delicious as well! Even though it looks pretty simple, the patty was bursting with juicy flavour, much like the beef.
Our fries were also piping hot and crispy! I wanted to have more of the fries, but was already really full from such a big burger.
Overall, we really enjoyed our lunch at Blue Dog. I would love to come back here should I visit NYC again. The service was really attentive, friendly, and very knowledgeable about their food.
Yay!
Thanks for reading!
Carmen
Prawn tempura nabeyaki udon, $11.50: The price for the udon was a bit steeper than what I normally would pay, but Ebisu is a bit more upscale. I don’t like when the tempura comes inside the soup, as it makes it soggy. We quickly took the tempura out before it got super soggy.
Miso soup, free: This came with the other dish. The miso soup was pretty standard, but I liked how it came with a good amount of tofu and seaweed inside.
Ebi sunomono, free: Again, this came with the party boat that we ordered. Both of us aren’t really big fans of ebi sunomono, but this one was pretty standard.
Chicken teriyaki boat, $14.95: Don’t let the giant boat fool you, because the boat is actually only good for one person. It looks big but it isn’t really thaaaaat much food.
Chicken karaage, $8.25: Yum, this was delicious! My stomach is pretty sensitive to oily foods though, so I only ate the small piece. However, it was very crunchy and fresh! We would definitely order this again. Although, we came back to this location a year later and the chicken karaage was not as good.
Osprey Village is a new development in Pitt Meadows right by the river. It reminded me of a quaint little seaside village, similar to Steveston but a lot more quieter, community focused, and no salt water smell.
If you didn’t already guess by the name, Jia Plus serves Asian style beverage and snacks. All the syrups are made daily by Vicky, and the teas are brewed fresh! The price is really reasonable as well.
The cafe has five tables inside and does not feel cramped at all. There are also a couple of patio seats, which are perfect for the summer! The high ceilings and warm lights makes it feel very comfortable.
Passion fruit green tea w/ pearls: It had all the qualities that I looked for in a bubble tea, and more. The jasmine green tea and a really fragrant and floral flavour, which is my absolute favourite when it comes to green tea. I am very picky about my jasmine green tea and this one tasted absolutely perfect. In addition, the pearls had the perfect chewy consistency and tasted fresh.
Ramen: Apart from the drinks, Jia Plus also has some food items as well! The majority of us ordered the ramen. Vicky cooks the broth from scratch, and you can really taste the quality in it. The ramen also comes with a slice of tender pork, egg, and bamboo shoots. It was very comforting and filling, perfect for the cloudy day when we visited.
BBQ Chicken Rice Bowl: I know, it doesn’t look like a rice bowl right? The rice was actually underneath the greens! Sadly, I didn’t get to try this because the dressing had dairy in it. However, my friends are also all foodies and I trust their opinion when they said it was really good!
Jia Plus also offers cute little macaroons!
We walked by Five Senses, and it looked pretty busy so we gave the menu a quick look. After seeing the high ratings on Yelp, we decided to try it! I’m glad we came here before the dinner rush because there was a pretty long line up afterwards.
Banchan, free: The banchan was pretty much the same as what you would get in Vancouver. However, I’ve never seen the clear, cold noodles mixed with veggies on the far right before. That was probably my favourite dish out of all of these. The noodles were served a bit chilled, and had a really strong sesame oil taste to it! The kimchi packed a lot of heat as well.
Sul lang tang, $12.99: I honestly don’t know why I keep ordering beef bone stock soup when it usually isn’t that tasty. I’ve come to accept the fact that Korean beef bone soup is usually pretty flavourless, and this was pretty much the same. On the right hand side of the photo, you can see the salt that it comes with, but I had to ask for another plate of it because it still wasn’t enough.
Soondubu, $13.99: I had wanted to order this as well, but wasn’t really feeling like anything spicy. This is the seafood tofu soup. It came with a generous amount of tofu and seafood, and was super filling. We found it to have a good amount of spice to it as well. Overall, a really comforting and delicious dish!
Banchan, free: To start, we received our complimentary Korean appetizers. Nothing too special here, just your average banchan with no complaints.
Ggorigom tang, $14.95: Slow simmered ox tail and bone marrow broth with brisket. I ordered this because I had this at Jong Ga and it was really delicious, and wanted to see it it matched up. Nope, not even close. The broth had no taste, it felt like I was just drinking cloudy water with a chunk of bone and some green onion flavour. There was also barely any brisket inside, I think I managed to find a couple tiny measly pieces.
Soontofu jigae, $10.95: Continuing on with the disappointment, Cinnamon was shocked when her ‘seafood’ tofu soup arrived with barely any seafood! There were a few pieces of shriveled up seafood, all of which could fit on her small spoon. When she told the staff about this, they brought it back with a couple more pieces of seafood but it was still a very tiny portion. The seafood also did not look fresh at all, judging from how shrunken and shriveled they looked.
Yukgaejang, $10.95: Finely shredded beef stew with mushrooms and vegetables in a spicy beef broth. Although Lollipop shouldn’t be eating spicy food, she couldn’t resist! Again, the protein in her bowl was lacking. She didn’t find it super spicy either, and thought that it would have come with more spice.
Seafood pancake, $21.95: This was probably the only decently delicious order that we had of the night. The seafood pancake was filled with a generous amount of seafood, that looked a lot fresher than what the seafood they put in the tofu soup.