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Posts Tagged ‘Commercial Drive’

Hello 2023!! 2022 is a wrap and there’s so much to be grateful for and to celebrate. With things returning to a new normal, I had the pleasure of discovering a lot of new places last year. Many are worthy a repeat visit and of them all, here are my 10 favourite bites/sips. Now keep in mind this list is about the specific item listed, because one can’t possibly like everything at every single place. These dishes just really stood out for me. Interestingly, only a couple of these places were hosted tastings. The rest were paid out of our own pockets. Also remember, restaurants rotate their menu on a regular basis so what I had listed here may not be available anymore (and I will try my best to specify below), but I’m sure you would find something you like if you decide to visit these restaurants sometime soon.

And without further ado, in no particular order, here are the 10 items:

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Life has been busy so I didn’t really look into Dine Out Vancouver until there were only 2 weeks left. There were a few interesting, attractive menus but many came from restaurants that I’ve been before. Since I don’t dine out very much these days, I wanted to use the opportunity to try some place new. Then I spotted a good deal at Social on Commercial Drive. Social has only been open for a few months, back in October 2020 in midst of the second wave of COVID.

Social offers a 3-course menu for only $25, and it’s available for lunch or dinner. Sure, you don’t get to choose your appetizer or dessert, but there are 4 options for entrees, including trout and 8oz sirloin baseball steak. I thought that’s really good value for your money. On their regular menu, the trout would be $28 and sirloin baseball steak costs $36. I decided to take Mama Lam there for lunch.

Food

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Famoso has always been on our list of authenticity when it comes to Neapolitan pizzas. Some may find its dough too soft or soggy but that was the texture of the Neapolitan pizzas we had in Naples, the birth place of this pizza variety. When Famoso recently launched new menu items, we gladly accepted the invitation to give them a try.

Food

Before we got to the new items, we ordered the Polpette al Forno (Spiced Pork Meatballs) to start. They were meaty and juicy, not much filler, and the meatballs held together really well. What made this addictive was the tomato sauce. It was the same sauce you would find in the Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella Balls; it tasted fresh, tomatoey (if there is such a word) and we really liked the acidity in the tomatoes.

Polpette al Forno

Then, we took our first bites of the new items. The Korean BBQ Pork Pizza could be deceiving. At first we found it a bit sweet from the BBQ sauce and hoisin sauce, then bam! the heat finally hit you and now it’s a fine balance of sweet and spicy. It didn’t look like a lot of meat in the toppings either, but turned out to be just right. If you like Asian food, you will enjoy this Asian twist to an Italian classic.

Korean BBQ Pork Pizza

The Paesano Fire Bread Sandwich (Pulled Pork Sandwich) is different from most others. (more…)

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Peter is back for another guest post! If you don’t remember him, he’s a friend of mine from Toronto. I met him while he’s working in Vancouver, but he’s moved back home since. Recently he returned for a short visit, and made around town for some sushi:

Now that I no longer live on the West Coast, people always ask me what the number one thing is that I miss about Vancouver. And my answer is always: sushi!

So when I returned to Vancouver for a week-long visit this summer, naturally I spent a great deal of time hitting up all my favourite sushi spots.

Sushi King House

First stop on the tour was Sushi King House in the Granville-Marpole area. This was a favourite years ago, and due to its proximity to our hotel, it was a great choice for our first meal of the day. As the name may suggest, Sushi King’s claim to fame is its larger-than-average nigiri (had to eat it in two-bites!), maki, and cones. The must-order here is the chopped scallop (roll or cone). Definitely one of my favourite rolls, and this was the best I’ve had all week – cold, crisp, clean-tasting scallops lightly dressed with mayo and tobiko. And the rice was perfect too. Sushi King is also one of my favourite places to order toro. Beautiful slices of albacore tuna belly. Melt in your mouth, and very clean tasting. The first bite instantly had me contemplating a move back to Vancouver. This is an extremely casual, little gem of a restaurant. And the friendly service will keep you coming back – our server still recognized us (after four years!) and asked us why we haven’t been back in so long. We returned two more times that week!

Sushi King House

8176 Granville Street, Vancouver
sushikinghouse.com

Sushi King House on Urbanspoon

Bay Sushi Cafe

Later that afternoon we headed downtown to Bay Sushi Cafe. Known as “Sushi Bay” to its many regulars, this is a busy, casual, lunch-time spot located on Seymour Street, directly across from Hudson’s Bay. The winner here is the spicy tuna roll – made with avocado, a small amount of tenkasu (tempura bits), and I swear I tasted a hint of gochujang (Korean chili paste) in the mix. It’s by far my favourite spicy tuna in the city. The chopped scallop is also great here, and their salmon and tuna nigiri are consistently good. Mainly a lunch-time spot, Bay Sushi Cafe closes early at 7pm each day and is closed on Sundays. (And yes, we returned just before closing that night to get a second round of sushi to go!)

Bay Sushi Cafe

678 Seymour Street, Vancouver
baysushicafe.com

Bay Sushi Cafe on Urbanspoon

Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen & Sushi Bar

This was a new one for me. Having never been to Commercial Drive, my friend offered to take me to his favourite (and what looks to be the busiest) sushi place on the Drive. We headed out for lunch on the day of the World Cup final, and despite the lack of a TV, Kishimoto was packed. (more…)

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Remember going to Famoso for the event featuring world acclaimed pizza chef Roberto Caporuscio from New York City and truly enjoyed the pizzas, I purchased a deal voucher to re-visit Famoso. I wanted to see if their pizzas taste just as good without the live guidance of chef Caporuscio.

I wanted to do it now also because of our recent trip to Naples, where we had the authentic Neapolitan pizzas from L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, a local pizzeria that has been around since 1870. It was nice and hot; the dough was light yet chewy, toppings were fresh. It was so good we’re still re-living the moments 6 months later.

L'Antica Pizzeria da MichelePizza oven at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele

Margherita from L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele

Food

Enters Famoso, and an encore of the Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella Balls again because we really liked them the last time. And they were just as good as I remembered! The tomato sauce was flavourful, savoury yet not acidic. The fior-di-latte was rich, creamy and gooey; combined with the prosciutto slice this just tasted wonderfully with the tomato sauce.

Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella Balls

We ordered two pizzas. First, the Funghi. (more…)

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