food blogger Archives - Page 16 of 17

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

August 2, 2014

One of my friends and fellow food blogger raved to me about Famoso, after asking her where I should go for dinner. After going on Urbanspoon and reading the great reviews for this place, I was very excited to try it out.

It took us 15 minutes to find parking in the Commercial Drive area, and we ended up going to a pay parking lot because finding a free spot was impossible.

Anyways, I tried to make a reservation for four at Famoso but unfortunately, they only accept reservations with parties of six and up. Fair enough, they told me that it shouldn’t be a problem to walk in past 7:30 on a Saturday night, so off we went!

We waited around 5 minutes for a table for four. I immediately liked the lively atmosphere, and the hostess was very friendly from the beginning. We were seated in the back, where we were able to see all of the restaurant. A server came promptly, and asked us if it was our first time here as their ordering system is a bit unique from other places.
Basically, they have menus, order sheets, and pencils on each table. To order, you write down what you want on the notepad (if you want), and then walk down to the pizza counter, where they place your order for you. From there, a server will bring the pizza to your table and they take care of your needs from then on. You pay for the pizza at the end of the meal, with your server.

After settling on our pizzas, my friend went down to the counter to place our order. Customers are able to see the pizzas being prepared, but there is a semi-wall between the ordering/prep station and the tables, which is good because it gives both parties some privacy.

Funghi pizza (14.75). This was one of their specialty pizzas and came with parmesan crema, roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, caramelized onions, and more! Cream and mushroom lovers would absolutely bask over this pizza! It was very creamy, and there were a lot of mushrooms on it.
Italian ham and crushed pineapple ($13.75). I thought this pizza was average, nothing really stood out to me. I wished that the ham would be spread out more, or that there was more quantity of it. The pizzas themselves were very thin, which is what Neopolitan pizza is supposed to be like, so I expected it. Since they are thin, they aren’t super filling.
Since the pizzas weren’t that filling, we decided to order some dessert to share. The affogato was $1 off and I have been wanting affogato for so long! After making a trip to the gelato counter, we decided on getting the mint stracciatella and another flavour below ($4 each after $1 off special).

Ordering dessert follows the same process as the food, servers will bring you your dessert after ordering it at the counter. I fell in love with the mint stracciatella at first bite. Mixed with the espresso, it was super creamy, heavenly, and delicious. The mint chips from the gelato became melted from the espresso, which made it taste even better!
The other affocato that we got was with the coconut gelato. This one was delicious as well, and we savoured every little bite down to the last drop of espresso. The quality of the espresso itself was very rich and dark. So good!

-Carmen

Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt

July 24, 2014

After visiting Steveston back in May and trying Sockeye City Grill, I came back here with a few friends for the evening. We ended up eating at Sockeye City Grill again, since I had a decent experience back in May. Afterwards, we took a beautiful evening stroll as the sun began to set around us.

We decided to stop at Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt, as we were craving some dessert and I didn’t get to come here during my last visit. Thankfully, it wasn’t too busy since we came on a weekday evening, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt is really popular and a prime tourist spot in Steveston, you will often see visitors strolling the pier with a delicious, fresh waffle cone in hand. Of course, we had to give it a try as well 🙂
Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt only accepts cash. One thing that I found strange was that they do not offer any ice cream samples to customers. I guess it helps speed up the transaction and also saves on cost.

However, it might be frustrating for customers if they can’t decide on what they want. Especially if they are tourists, what if they’ve never tried or heard of certain flavours where they’re from?
I was torn between having ice cream or frozen yogurt. I decided on getting the mixed berry frozen yogurt! I got the kids size in a waffle cone($2.75, plus extra $.50 for a waffle cone) The yogurt itself was pretty good, it was flavourful and had a nice texture to it. It reminded me a lot of Yogen Fruz, which I love! The star of the show would have to be the waffle cone though.

When I was handed the waffle cone, it was still warm from their machine. The waffle cone was so crispy, warm, and fresh. The price for the cone wasn’t bad either, I was expecting it to cost more since it’s a tourist area and the waffle cones are freshly made! I actually ended up going back for a regular size because the froyo and waffle cone was that delicious…..hehe…

(Also, I just realized as I was typing this that the picture included my nails! I did a review on the Etude House Nail Polish trio, which you can read as well)

A picture of Rooibos’ gelato, I forgot which flavour they had but they enjoyed it!

Another picture of Parmie’s gelato, I forgot what flavour she had as well! Sorry 🙁

Here is a bonus picture of the sunset that evening, which I captured at the end of the dock (Click for bigger and better resolution!). Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt is a great place to buy a delicious fresh waffle cone before exploring the pier.

-Carmen

Brewhouse (Whistler)

July 24, 2014

Another Whistler post! After settling down in our hotels and hitting up the pool (such a great time, by the way), we decided to finally grab some late dinner. After spending a long time in our hotel room browsing Urbanspoon and debating, we decided to try a small Italian restaurant that had great ratings.

It took us awhile to find it and when we finally did, it was packed and the wait was too long. We ended walking around the village a bit more, stopping here and there looking at menus, how full each place was, etc.

Eventually, we stopped at Brewhouse which looked decent from the outside. At this point, we were all pretty hungry and the hostess told us that there was no wait if we sat inside the restaurant, which was a relief! But if we knew what was in store, we would not have stopped here… *cue horror music* (Joking. Kind of.)
Turns out, there was a reason why it was so quiet inside the restaurant…It was so hot and stuffy inside the restaurant. There was no a/c, I’m not even sure if there were fans because it was that stuffy.

The patio doors were open, but it did not help. They had an open concept kitchen, with a big wood oven for pizzas, which explained why it was so warm in there.

I felt bad for the cooks because they were right beside the stoves and ovens, in full cooking, long sleeve and hat attire. We asked to sit near the patio doors, but for some reason, the hostess declined us and led us to a table inside the restaurant…
The beginning of our restaurant experience was not pleasant. It was super hot, and our server did not show up until twenty minutes later. At that point, we were getting hungry and really wanted ice water to cool down, but no one helped us. We tried to wave servers down but were ignored.

Thankfully, we finally got a pitcher of water so that we didn’t have to go through the challenge of finding servers to refill our glasses as often. One cool and trivial thing about the restaurant was that they had a train set that went around the whole restaurant. The trains advertised different companies in Whistler. It was pretty cool, but I could see it getting annoying as every 10 minutes you would hear this chugging train noise :).

Now, moving on to the food, was it delicious enough to make up for the lack of service and uncomfortable heat in the restaurant?
Nothing on the menu looked too appealing to me, and took me longer than usual to decide what I wanted. I decided to order their valley chicken pizza ($18). It came with free range chicken, prosciutto, apples, and sage. I actually enjoyed the pizza a lot, the crust wasn’t too oily and was very doughy.

There was a generous amount of chicken and prosciutto on it, while the apple slices enhanced the flavour. I didn’t end up tasting any of the sage though, but everything else tasted great together.
Macaroni ordered the wild mushroom fettuccine ($19). She despises peas and asked the server to exclude it, but they ended up including it as you can see in the picture.

She ended up just eating around all the peas because we didn’t want to go through the hassle again of waving down our server. I had a bite of the fettuccine, and it was pretty creamy and cheesy. If only they took out the peas for my friend, she would have enjoyed the dish a lot more.
Cheese and Cash both ordered the Thai chicken salad ($17). It came with marinated chicken, snap peas, mushrooms, cashews, green peppers, crispy onions, spring roll chips, and a peanut/sriracha dressing. They both enjoyed their salads, but noted that they didn’t taste the srircha in the sauce.
The boyfriend ordered the beef burger ($16) with poutine for an extra $3. He was very disappointed with the taste of the burger. It lacked flavour and put simply, it was just not good. He loves his burgers whenever we go out to eat, and this was probably the first time I have heard him say that he did not like his burger.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy my visit to Brewhouse. The food was decent, but the service and atmosphere needed improvement. The food was a bit overpriced, but that’s to be expected when in a resort town.

You would think that a tourist pub like Brewhouse would have better service, but it was very sporadic and the server was not that friendly either.

Also adding to the fact that it was super warm in the restaurant without a/c or a strong fan, it was just not a comfortable experience. I hope that this review did not sound too bitter, but I can not have perfect dining experiences every single time, and this just happened to be one of them :(.

-Carmen

El Furniture Warehouse (Whistler)

July 23, 2014

My apologies for not posting as regularly! I have been preoccupied with a few personal things, and I was in Whistler for two days last week. My friends and I spent a bit over a day soaking up the sunshine in the village, lounging by the pool, and basically just relaxing the past day in the 37 degree weather. It was a much needed mini break from the usual swing of things. During the past day and a bit that we were there, we ate out every meal, so keep posted on some Whistler dining adventures!

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We decided to come to the Warehouse for brunch the second day we were here. After doing some quick research on Google, I’m not sure if they are sister restaurants or not. The logo isn’t the same as the one in Vancouver, and they do not list each others addresses on their websites.

But nonetheless, El Furniture Warehouse in Whistler has the same idea – all food items are $4.95. I’ve never successfully ate at any Warehouse location before (Went to the one on Granville in Vancouver two years ago, sat down for 20 minutes and no one came so we left) so I was quite excited to try this place out!
Walking down the village stroll the evening before, the Warehouse was packed and full of noise at night. Coming back the next day, it was a bit strange to see the patio completely empty and quiet!

We were one of the only tables seated around 11:30 am, and decided to sit inside since it was ridiculously hot outside, and there wasn’t much shade for the tables (don’t let the umbrellas fool you). Unfortunately, there was no a/c inside the restaurant but we sat at the booth right before the patio, so we got plenty of fresh air where we sat.
Opening the menu, I was in shock at how everything was actually only $5. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not, this place was definitely the cheapest restaurant I’ve been to. If I have never heard of the Warehouse, I would never have expected that everything on the menu was $5.
Nachos | The “Works” burger & fries | Roasted turkey sandwich & fries | Chiang mai bowl w added chicken for $2.25

There was five of us and we each got an entree, and shared nachos and mini donuts. Starting off with the nachos, they were a bit disappointing because we got the bottom of the bag, so all we got under those seemingly large pieces of chips were crumbs. The chips themselves were crunchy, cheesy, and came with the sauce on the side.

Moving on to the the Works burger, I didn’t try this but the boyfriend enjoyed it. It was very juicy, and came with bacon, cheddar, and onions- for $5, it was seriously a good deal and he was stuffed. For myself, I ordered the roasted turkey sandwich. I absolutely loved the cranberry sourdough. Without the cranberry sourdough bread, it would have been very plain. The second side of my sandwich only came with a really tiny piece of turkey breast, the rest was just lettuce and cheese. I think when the chefs cut the sandwich, all the turkey breast moved to one side of the sandwich. I wasn’t upset though, because the first side of my sandwich came with a lot of grilled turkey breast 🙂

Cheese ordered a noodle bowl with a side of chicken for $2.25. The noodles were very chewy and this was the perfect dish for a hot afternoon like today. It also came with half an avocado and fresh veggies. Again, a very good deal!
Macaroni ordered the deep fried apple pie with ice cream for dessert. I was too stuffed by the end of my turkey sandwich (I didn’t even finish my fries!) that I had to unfortunately pass down the opportunity for what looked like amazing dessert. Alas, Macaroni ended up sharing it and everyone that tried it loved the pie.

We also ordered mini donuts to share. They were a bit too oily for my liking and I didn’t find them soft and chewy, they were abnormally crunchy. It was also covered with an extremely generous amount of sugar and came with chocolate dipping sauce. I probably wouldn’t order this again because of how oily and strangely crunchy they were.

We were so stuffed by the end of this meal that we didn’t up going for Cows ice cream afterwards, which is usually a Whistler tradition for me! People say that the Warehouse is a hit and miss, and you gotta know what to order. I probably wouldn’t order the nachos or mini donuts again, but everything else was delicious and worth $5. Our sever was nice and attentive as well, she kept our water pitcher full at all times and was quick to come to our aid. I would definitely come here again when I’m back in Whistler, and will probably be trying the Vancouver locations in the future as well 🙂

-Carmen

Milestones (Yaletown)

July 6, 2014

A birthday celebration was in order two weeks ago, and Milestones was the location of our dinner. We have been to this Yaletown location before, it is tradition for Smores to hold his birthday dinner here every year before going dancing 🙂

However, we had slight management issues which I will explain down below. This location offers a semi-private room that seats 30 guests. It is in the back of the restaurant, right before the kitchen and washrooms and is closed off on all three walls, except for one wall which is completely glass where you enter from the sides. Even though it is covered off, you do not feel completely isolated but it’s nice when there is a large party, and you guys want some privacy. There were many plates of food, beer, and wine that were ordered, but I decided to only focus on the food that I actually tried that night!
For starters, my two friends got the baked goat cheese and slow roasted garlic flat bread. It came with cranberry relish and fig jam as well.

All of the flavours of this dish complemented each other tremendously well. The bread was extremely soft and warm as well. Definitely a great starter dish!
For myself, I ordered the California burger which came with avocado, salsa, and bacon. I fell in love with this burger the last time I got it, and this time was no different either. I loved the inclusion of the avocado, and felt that all the flavours worked really well together much like the flat bread dish. The fries were pretty standard and came with freshly ground pepper as well.
The boyfriend ordered the stacked burger. Prime rib, Montreal smoked meat, bacon strips, cheddar cheese, plus more goodies. This is the epitome of an indulgent and guilty meal, but it was delicious.

The Montreal smoked meat was very tender and juicy, along with the mushrooms. Burgers like these are to die for, but important to have them in extreme moderation because they are definitely not calorie or fat friendly!
For drinks, I ordered the Sombersby cider which I got the day before at Elephant and Castle. I just took this picture from that previous post as I forgot to take a picture of it at Milestones.

My friends decided to share a pitcher of sangria. It was made with Sombersby white wine (same company as my cider), and was absolutely delicious as well! There were many fruits in it, making it super refreshing.

Now for the management issue: We had buy one get one half price entree coupons, which I think the management was upset at, so they told us that we needed a minimum charge for the semi-private room. We suspect that they had just added that policy that night due to the coupons. My friend has had his birthday here for the past six years and they have never mentioned that “policy” before.

We thought it was a bit rude and unprofessional for the restaurant manager to suddenly barge in during our dinner, and ask to talk to the birthday boy. Other measures could have been taken that were less invasive and awkward. There was no fine print on the coupons nor restrictions, so we weren’t breaking rules nor was it our fault; they should have specified the limit of one per table or something like that if they were going to be upset about it. We also ordered alcohol and appetizers, so it wasn’t like we were there just to solely use the coupons. Apart from the management, our servers were very friendly and attentive.

-Carmen