When I say apples, you may think of the fall season. This mentality should change. Apples, depending on the variety, are now available almost year round - from September/October to somewhere between March and June. In fact, BC Tree Fruits, the largest apple producer of local apples in Western BC, is celebrating Apple Month in February!
Novo Pizzeria – Old World Ingredients with New World Creativity
If there was one secret to great food, it’s passion. When someone really cares about the food they are serving, it shines through. This was my first time trying Neapolitan pizza. It’s a thin crust pizza cooked in an old-fashioned wood burning stove that heats up to almost 600 Celsius, for 60 to 90 seconds. This is done to produce a crust that is crispy on the outside yet still moist and chewy. “Simplicity is beautiful” rings true at Novo.
[Food Truck] La Brasserie Street
As part of the Dine Out Vancouver festivities, a new component called "Street Food City" was introduced this year. It's a gathering of a number of food carts in Vancouver at the Vancouver Art Gallery plaza for just three days during the DOV period. Thankful to have a boss who enjoys food as much as I do, we made a trip down to Street Food City as part of our team building exercise. After checking out all the food carts, we have decided to try La Brasserie Street. My boss actually has tried it before, but he did recommend this cart and said he would have it again. For me, sadly I haven't done my part in visiting all the food carts in town, even though my office is close to many of them, so I was happy to give this a try.
C Restaurant – Dine Out 2012
I received an invitation to a sit-down media dinner at C Restaurant, to sample its Dine Out menu. I said yes without a blink. C Restaurant and I go way back. In fact, it all started with a DOV dinner back in 2004, when the menu was - hold your breath - only $25. That was before my photo-taking/food-blogging time, but I remember it was a very enjoyable dinner, especially for the value of it. Then, I went back for another DOV dinner in 2008, and the price already went up to $35, nonetheless a wonderful meal. In 2011, I visited C again for one of its tasting menus, courtesy of deal coupon discounts; it was a different experience because the dishes were smaller in portion and I could tell that the culinary direction had changed since my 2008 visit (sorry, was in hiatus mode so there wasn't a post on this). This media invite has piqued my interest in trying the now more upscale C Restaurant, at an affordable $38 DOV price.
Black + Blue – Dine Out 2012
Despite the expected, typical hits & misses during Dine Out, I tend to use this period to try out new restaurants and assess the potential return in the future. If a restaurant could impress me during this time, it would probably be even better when visiting post Dine-Out. This year I continue this tradition, and first up, Black + Blue, the latest addition to the Glowbal Restaurant Group empire. Frankly I didn't know what to expect from this restaurant because I've heard mixed reviews about it, in fact mostly negative both from regular diners online and my coworkers. Keeping an open mind, I gave it a try.
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