Eating Through Montréal

Recently I was in Montréal for a week and spent some time eating my way through the city (at least for meals that weren't catered at the conference), and had a delicious time eating my way though various types of cuisine.

Olive et Gourmando
This restaurant in old Montréal is more of a café-type place that's open through lunch, and tends to specialize in sandwiches. This place tends to give off a hip feel and seating is generally pretty limited. I ordered a Mr Miami sandwich along with the soup of the day, and I was decently impressed with the food. The sandwich definitely was pretty substantial, and definitely a lot better than most others that you just see come out of a fridge into a sandwich press. The soup, which was some kind of chicken and feta soup, was very good and definitely unique. However it was pretty pricey at over 20 USD, which is right in line with the hip vibe (which I don't understand).

Stach Café
Stach Café is also in old Montréal and specializes in Polish food, which I very rarely encounter. The restaurant has definitely a quieter feel, and the pace of the meal seems deliberately slowed, providing a more relaxing time in the restaurant. The krokeit, a filled breaded crêpe, wasn't cooked all the way through, as the filling was warm while the outside was hot. The accompanying mushroom bechamel-like sauce, on the other hand, was most excellent. I also had a mixed plate of pierogis, which were pretty good, though the portion size was a little small. My favorite dish was the dessert, which was a peach cobbler with sweet cream (and probably the least polish thing I had).

Patati Patata
Patati Patata is a tiny restaurant, and takeout orders are pretty common. It's a place for good cheap burgers and poutine (and a beer as well), and you can have a full lunch for around 10 CAD. I had the patatine, which is poutine with some peppers, mushrooms, some other stuff, and extra sausage. Overall this was very good, and proof that good poutine doesn't have to be expensive.

Qing Hua Dumpling
This difficult to find restaurant in Chinatown basically does only dumplings and offers a wide variety of fillings. The steamed ones are very similar to soup dumplings, as there's quite a bit of soup (though it's sold as steamed dumplings). They're better than what you can find at Din Tai Fung in the states (to be fair the outlets in the US are far inferior to those in Asia). My main gripe is that the flat part of the steamer was woven bamboo, and the dumplings would start to stick to it after a while.

Au Pied de Cochon
This was the one nice sit-down place we went to during the week, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Reservations are difficult to get on short notice, and the only time I could get that week was a 9:30PM reservation. While it's a nice restaurant, it definitely can be very loud, and at times the waiter couldn't even hear us. The restaurant is highlighted by its many dishes containing foie gras, and it definitely didn't disappoint. We ordered foie gras poutine as an appetizer, and I'd have to say it was probably the richest poutine I ever had with generous portions of foie gras. I ordered the Plogue à Champlain, which is a huge piece of foie gras on top of some bacon and a pancake covered in a maple glaze. The foie gras melts in the mouth (for real, especially compared to any meat), and the maple wasn't overly sweet. Dessert was excellent as well, though they made a mistake and gave us a maple poudding chômeur instead of our pecan pie. The pudding was excellent, but the maple crème brûlée was very sweet. We ended up taking the pecan pie to go, and it still tasted good the next day despite the hardened crust.

Schwartz's Deli
The restaurant is pretty reminiscent of a cafeteria, with long shared tables in a small crowded space. The house specialty is smoked meat sandwiches, and you could get either a sandwich or a platter (with a heap of meat on one plate and bread on another) and request meat on the fattier or leaner side (or in between if you're into that kind of thing). The only other thing on the sandwich is mustard, making the meat the start of the show. The sandwich is amazing, with just enough fat on it to help it come apart as you eat it. The food there is also pretty cheap, considering how much meat you get in a helping.

Dic Ann's
Dic Ann's is a Canadian burger joint (and they also serve poutine) that serves a very thin burger. The whole thing put together might be around one inch in thickness. I found a Dic Ann's food truck, so it might be different from the dine-in establishments. The standard burger is just meat and a bun, as a burger with veggies is another menu item entirely (and I'm not sure the food truck carries those items). In addition to the option of having cheese, the burgers can also be dressed with some kind of sauce. Overall it's alright as a good fast-food burger, but definitely a unique approach to burgers.

Félix & Norton
Right next to the Dic Ann's truck at the old port of Montréal was this cookie truck, which also sold cookie ice cream sandwiches, with a square block of ice cream stuck between two cookies. I liked the cookies, and the added ice cream was nice in the warm afternoon, but overall this was good but not great.

Vua Sandwichs
I'm a huge fan of banh mi, so naturally I had to stop by. The offer two sandwich sizes and a wide variety of meats. I ordered both a grilled pork and bbq pork sandwich with extra veggies. For those of you that are familiar with Lee's Sandwiches, which kind of skimps on the filling, the portions of vegetables and meat were pretty generous and tasted pretty good. I was a little disappointed that they ran out of the coconut shake, but I ordered a mango shake and wasn't too pleased, as it tasted like (and definitely looked like) the added mango powder to a shake and just a tiny bit of actual mango.

My First Waffle House Experience

A few weeks ago I experience the southern staple for the first time. I actually had a chance last year when I was on the gulf coast and there was one right across the street from my hotel, but I couldn't quite get around to going there. This time, I was in North Carolina and there was a Waffle House around the corner, and I was not about to let this opportunity slip by.

As I was dining alone, I sat at the counter and began consulting the menu. Of course I had to get a pecan waffle, and since I eat a lot, eventually decided upon adding a side of hash browns. I also threw in a salad to pretend like I was eating healthy (especially since this was the last night of a 4-day trip in North Carolina and I hadn't been eating particularly healthy at all). After all of that I added a Texas bacon cheesesteak melt since I was still a little hungry.

Naturally with the Waffle House you're not expecting gourmet food, but instead something that's always reliable. I was generally pleased with the food-I was a big fan of the waffle, and the pecan was a great addition. Perhaps I should consider adding nuts to my breakfast items next time I'm at Portage Bay. The hash brown was typical, and wasn't too starchy. The melt was definitely interesting, as the bread itself went on the flat-top and the cheese was added at the very end (right before the cooked meat was placed on top of it). It did taste a little cheap, like something that might come out of a freezer box. Overall good, but not great, but that's what you expect when you come the Waffle House. Perhaps next time I should go late at night to see how that goes.

Paseo and Un Bien

For those of you who are familiar with Seattle's food scene, Paseo closed down and reopened under new ownership, and Un Bien opened under the direction of the son of the former owner of Paseo (or something to that effect). Both have essentially identical menus (at least for the important stuff) and pricing, so naturally I had to go visit both so see if either of them were able to conjure the magic of the old Paseo.

Paseo seemed to try to replicate everything as is to ensure the continuity of the brand-the sandwiches are more or less the same size (maybe a little smaller-still around a food) and the amount of onions is still gratuitous, creating the hot mess that we all have come to know. I tend to order only the scallop or the fish of the day sandwich, and so far I've noticed few changes, if any. However, I've been told by others that the signature Caribbean roast sandwich is drier than it was previously.

Scallop Sandwich at Paseo (Click to Enlarge)

Un Bien, on the other hand, seemed to try to start anew. The sandwiches are much smaller (maybe around 8 inches), and the onions are not overflowing. Overall the sandwich is much cleaner to eat and appears to try to appear as higher-class food, despite the shop essentially being a shack on the side of the road. I was a little disappointed in the portion size and the lack of onions, though I suppose they're only trying to maintain the flavors of Paseo without the huge greasy mess. There weren't that many scallops in the sandwich, but they were cooked just as well here as they were at Paseo. I've been told that the same signature Caribbean roast sandwich has much better meat at Un Bien.

Scallop Sandwich at Un Bien (Click to Enlarge)

I'd still personally recommend Paseo if you're still looking for the old Paseo, but Un Bien does bring another option to the table if Paseo is too messy.

Seattle Restaurant Week

This past evening wrapped up this edition of Seattle Restaurant Week. Now, before I continue, I'm not the person who takes pictures of all their food to share on Instagram (I don't even have one).

A friend of mine and I had dinner at The Georgian at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel. This was the first restaurant that I went to that had a dress code since I ate at Lung King Heen in Hong Kong last summer. Since it was restaurant week, there was a three-course prix fixe menu.

(Click to Enlarge)

After the duck liver amuse bouche and bread offering (including four kinds of butter), I started with the Caesar salad, which was presented in a most interesting way. On the bottom was a rectangular sheet of cheese, with a long bundle of lettuce leaves on top of the cheese. The crouton (yes, singular) was also a thin rectangular slice. This was definitely the first salad I had that required a fork and knife. The salad was followed by the cod, which was flavorful and not dry, which tends to happen a lot when I order it at restaurants. Dinner was finished with the lomoncello and lemon drop (which was a piece of shortbread topped with lemon sorbet and toasted meringue). Overall, other than the presentation of the salad, there wasn't too much to write home about (though of course there wasn't anything detracting from the experience). I suppose the restaurant week selection is just a taste of what the standard (and pricier) menu offers, and helps get diners through the door.

Poke...In A Wrap?

Today my apartment complex has its big open house to try to attract students to move in next year, and in addition to balloons and cheap swag, there was a food truck they catered for the day. Of all the things I have seen on food trucks, this was the first time I say poke served on a food truck. This particular food truck, Sam Choy's Poke, operates multiple food trucks in Seattle and surrounding areas most days, and offers poke (in addition to other options) served over rice, on a salad, or in a wrap. Since it was free, I obviously had to try it.

(Click to Enlarge)

I tried the spicy salmon wrap with a spicy aioli sauce (the little container in the back). Overall the concept of the wrap wasn't bad (rice + greens + slaw + wasabi aioli + poke) and there was a good amount of poke. What I didn't particularly like was how the rice was warm while everything else was cold, sometimes creating areas of different temperature in my mouth. The poke itself was pretty good, though. Would I pay $9.50 for one of those? Probably not, but it's still decently good such that I could enjoy it for free.

Sparkling Green Tea?

This past Friday at 99 Ranch Markets I tried something called "sparkling green tea". I thought it was a bad idea, so naturally I tried it to see how it would taste. It looked like regular green tea, but it really didn't taste very much like green tea. It tasted kind of like carbonated liquid green tea mochi, which doesn't sound very good and certainly doesn't taste very good.

I should probably not try these random foods/drinks from Ranch...

Don Chow Tacos

Today for lunch I tried Don Chow Tacos for the first time, and it definitely won't be my last encounter with their Chinese-Mexican fusion cuisine. I initially found out about them through Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives show. It was a slight adventure finding them, as the truck had to move due to Pasadena parking enforcement. I found them outside Pasadena City Hall, and ordered two kung pao chicken tacos ($2 each) and two bbq pork chimales (Chinese tamales) ($4 each).

My half-eaten chimale (Click to Enlarge)

The first thing I tried was the bbq pork chimale. It was more or less what I expected, though the bbq flavor was very strong to the point it was a little overpowering. The sweet bbq wasn't a huge hit with me, since I generally don't consume sweets. However, the rest of the chimale was delicious. The salsa on top was definitely a nice touch and holds it all together.

My kung pao chicken tacos (Click to Enlarge)

I finished my lunch off with the two kung pao chicken tacos (medium spicy). The tacos were small and double-wrapped, which is typical of taco truck tacos. I would have to say this was the highlight my of meal. The chicken was wonderfully seasoned and had enough kick to satisfy. The onions and cilantro finished the taco well and definitely made the tacos something to try again with a different meat.

For information on when Don Chow Tacos will be near YOU in the LA area, check out their website.