I've been wanting to try Milwaukee Market Creamery for a while, but different things always came up. Family dinners, friends in town, M doesn't like dessert...
Finally there was an afternoon that was suitably hot and I was jonesing for a sweet treat, and I didn't have to be anywhere in a hurry. And there was the perfect parking spot right in front!
Milwaukee Market Creamery offers a number of frozen custards, as well as cakes, burgers, and bevereages for the savoury-inclined.
The special the day I visited was the Tiramisu, a purple yam & coconut, and chocolate chips & oreo. I ordered the Tiramisu, but perhaps the cler was a little confused? I got something that was chocolate in flavour (nice chocolate flavour!) with some cookie and brownie / crust pieces in it. It was still yummy and delectably creamy, but not what I was expecting. The custard is supposedly lower in calories than ice cream, which is a nice plus since the portion that they give you is quite substantial. I didn't eat dinner until a couple hours later!
The proprietors are Filipino, and perhaps that explains the "purple yam & coconut" special that was also on that day. I'd be interested in trying that out another time!
Victoria Restaurant is another restaurant our family has been going to for a long period of time. It is in a good location, has free parking (for a certain amount of time) and is wheelchair accessible.
Sherman has already done quite a comprehensive post on Victoria Chinese Restaurant, and I have to agree with a lot of his commentary.
While service is above average and the dining area is large and spacious, Victoria Chinese Restaurant is typically uber-busy for dim sum, but quiet and even more spacious for dinner.
They do a lot of classic Chinese dishes, like a Dong Gua (Winter Melon) soup which is is cooked in the melon itself - steamed! There is also the Peking Duck with your choice of two or three eats - you can choose between soup, crepe wraps, or lettuce wraps.
My familys' trend at Victoria is to order way too much food. On the night that the photos for this post were taken, we actually had to take home the aforementioned winter melon soup amongst other dishes as for some reason, the orders for some dishes were doubled - our fault, not the waiters'. Sheesh. There have also been times where we've had to pack entire dishes home because someone will admittedly *forget* what we've ordered and add on two or three dishes halfway through the meal.
So personally, the thought of Victoria Chinese Restaurant brings up feelings of bloated food-coma and round bellies! :)
I went out with some old friends tonight. It was decided ahead of time that we'd meet at Lombardo's, and possibly dessert afterwards.
We were told that it was first-come, first-serve and no reservations were allowed, so we showed up a little early. The only spot they had for us were on stools right across from the hostess stand (i.e. right by the door). It was that packed!
Lombardo's is right below the Paramount / Scotiabank Theaters, between Azia and Earl's. Offering an assortment of pizzas, pastas, and chicken entrees, I'm sure a lot of people drop by for a bite before or after an evening movie. When you walk in, you enter the bar area, and have a great view of the wood-fired pizza oven. Looking up, you'll see a half-floor balcony above, with wrought-iron detail. It makes for an energizing, lively decorum, and the restaurant is well staffed and run.
We ordered an assortment of pizzas and pastas: Pizza Contadina, with ripe tomatoes, mozza, ham, salami, mushrooms and sliced green peppers, gnocchi with creamy meat sauce, baked lasagna, and Al Due Formaggi pizza, with tomatoes, two cheeses (we were guessing mozza & quark?), salami, ham and mushrooms. R also ordered some foccacia.
The foccacia looked great - light, bubbly, with herbs on top and a side of balsamic and olive oil on the side for dipping. I ordered gnocchi; while the texture of the gnocchi was a perfectly chewy and tender, it seemed to have been under-seasoned. There was no salt! Barring that, the creamy meat sauce that the waiter suggested was great. Chunks of meat in a hearty rose sauce, garnished with parsley. It was incredibly filling too - I packed a portion of it to go. Meanwhile, Ike who had ordered the same dish as I finished every last morsel on his plate.
H ordered lasagna. I told her that once I heard that we were going to an Italian restaurant, I *knew* she'd be having lasagna! She seemed to appreciated it, but from where I was sitting, it was a little burnt on one side.
J & O ordered the pizzas. These boys are definite carnivores - the pizzas arrived in tandem were thin-crusted creations with delicately sliced toppings. I'd made pizzas at home all week, so I just didn't feel like pizza, but if I had the chance to go again, I'd probably order a pizza.
R also ordered a tiramisu - she said it was extremely creamy and she could taste the rum. At one point, she said it was almost like butter - "I can't believe it's not bu-aaaah!" lol!
Sadly, Lombardo's downtown location will be closing on June 15th, 2009. The restaurant will be renovated, and a new menu and a new facelift, Lombardo's will opened under a new name. If you get a chance, try them out before they close!
Night two brought us to downtown Seattle. While I had been in an eight hour workshop, my mother had brunch in the hotel, went shopping, and took a nap in the afternoon. So she had lots of energy. Me, on the other hand - I was a little tired.
It made no difference. We took a shuttle from the hotel to downtown, and shopped for a while before we discovered that if we didn't eat soon (it was nearing nine o'clock), we'd miss our last shuttle back to the hotel. ...And as we had discovered the night before, there was *not much* to eat near the hotel...
We hurried along the downtown core, looking for something reasonable in price but also palatable. Mom wanted steak. You know. Steeeeaaaaak.
She asked me a couple times why I didn't look up all the Kegs in the area.
I rolled my eyes. "We didn't come down here to get something we could have at home!"
We decided on Von's Grand City Cafe, which the driver had recommended and that I had heard about from a friend or relative, or someone.
We were not disappointed.
I am probably biased on the fact that Von's had a huge slab of meat roasting and rotating on a spit that was displayed in the front entrance window, and the fact that they served two harried looking women with such ease and punctuality. I think we were in and out in less than forty minutes and the bill amounted to the same as the previous night.
We split a prime rib that came with a generous portion of fresh vegetables and a comforting portion of garlicky herbed mashed potatoes that had a gorgeous slab of seasoned butter melting into it. *yum*. I also ordered a caesar (bloody mary?) that really hit the spot.
I'd definitely go back to Von's. Even if just for a side of potatoes...
A plus was that Von's offered free fruitwood chips and a recipe fo two-day herbed chicken. The small paper bags were liberally strewn throughout the restaurant, so I grabbed a bag. Or two. I'll have to try the recipe out and blog about it!
Met up with some old high school friends for cocktails and catching up last weekend.
There was too much booze!
That being said, I also apologize for the quality of the photos. I *swear* they looked focused and beautiful that night!
The first time I tried to go to the "new" Cactus Club on Burrard and Pender, we got there too late after a comedy show at Yuk Yuk's and we ended up going somewhere else. What a pity, we thought - it had such a good location, with a nice large patio!
So on the night in question, we decided on either Joey's or Cactus - neither takes reservations on Saturday nights, so it was first come, first served.
The location was great - near skytrain and in the heart of downtown, with a mindset for attracting customers from the business area during the weekdays, and the party crowd on weekends. The plus was the large patio - it was set off from the street, so it wasn't dusty or noisy at all!
We ordered a round of appetizers, some entrees to share, and a couple rounds of drinks.
I started out with the tuna tataki - sadly, Cactus discontinued their tuna poke half a year ago - that was my favourite dish!!! While the tuna tataki was pretty to look at and delicious (after you drained / squeezed it of soy), it was no substitute for the tuna poke. Bring back the tuna poke!!
I took the next photo to demonstrate just how much soy was left over after finishing the dish. There was too much of it for my liking. bleeh.
The photo at the beginning of the post is the trio of westcoast pockets. I've always wanted to try these, M ordered them - he said they were delicious and I have to agree! A touch on the expensive side though - the three pockets were about $12. For that price, I think they were a little stingey.
Above: We also shared a plate of calamari. 'Twas good. You can't go wrong with calamari! I downed my appys with some margaritas, as they were on special on Saturday night.
...K also enjoyed some margaritas with me. I'm sure the lime margarita went well with his beef carpaccio?
Meanwhile, the other K had the spicy chicken with sweet chili sauce. After a couple rounds of drinks, M had a burger, K & S shared a quesadilla, and the other K had the sablefish. Chef Feenie always adds his magical touch to everything - everyone finished their food!
We even shared two desserts - the cheesecake, and a chocolate peanut butter bar. I *loved* the choco pb bar. I'm going to have to try making it at home. *stay tuned*
In all, it was a nice night - the weather was cooperative and it was a great night to sit and lounge on the patio. Even if we did drink too much and not remember much. ;) Here's to summertime...
Had a GREAT time at En Vogue last night. My super-special cousin dearest gifted me with a ticket for my birthday and we went together last night - not bad, as it accomplishes a whole gamut of my "29 things to do when I'm 29": 1) spent time with a family member, 2) went to a live concert / event.
Here's a great moment from the night:
...although one of the best moments of the night happened seconds after the video was shot - the fourth guy burst out in this beautiful sex-ah chorus. Loved it!
The absolute BEST moment of the night happened when En Vogue did Free Your Mind - the theatre went cray-zay!
This show was the first in Vancouver since they were reunited on the BET awards - I have to say, all the ladies look fabulous and they can saaaaaang. Terry, Maxine, Cindy and Dawn put on a great show and I *loved* it!
Ahem. Yes. We were originally going to make a night of it and have a great snack before, and a small meal afterwards - which we essentially did, but I didn't take any photos of the first meal! We dropped by Continental plaza in Richmond and chose to eat at "Ellie", a "Singaporean & Taiwanese" joint. As I was eating with a Singaporean, I asked her what she thought of the food. She said off the back that she was picky with her laksas, but once she tasted it, she actually thought it was ok. My cousin thought that the laksa would be served with a thicker, starchier noodle, but it was served with a vermicelli that I detected to be slightly undercooked. We also had the chicken wings (sweet and sour Thai sauce) and chicken skewers (yes, chicken chicken chicken!) and found them to be average to below average. The saving grace was that the bill only came to twenty dollars for three plates / two people. Meh. It was just a snack.
After the show, we made our way to Denman street downtown in hopes to have some dessert at True Confections. However, when we drove by, it appeared to be closed! We went to Kingyo Izakaya instead to get some grub. I've been to Kingyo before, and posted a review here.
Last night, it wasn't as busy as we went later at night and the place was almost closing. Subsequently, when we ordered a Chirashi cocktail (not a drink but a mix of sushi), we were informed that they had just sold the last one.
We did enjoy two refreshing drinks, a lychee gray (soho & grapefruit) and an aloe drink, as well as a salmon carpaccio, tako wasabi, kimchi udon, and beef tendon miso stew.
Our favourite dish had to be the salmon carpaccio - fresh slices of thin wild sockeye salmon served with mayo, onions, garlic chips and daikon sprouts. I guess we were craving lean protein! The tako wasabi, as we discussed, was so hot that it kind of "punched you in the face" - in a "nice way". :) I wouldn't change the dish as it was a nice, refreshing appetizer, served with seaweed / nori sheets for wrapping.
The cocktails were refreshing and not cloying. My cousin noted that Kingyo used hollowed bamboo (?) stalks as straws, which I found a nice touch. It served as a "green" utensil as well as a garnish!
The beef tendon miso stew was a comforting reprieve from all the "nouveau" items on the menu. I liked the chunks of radish, carrot, and beef in here.
Originally, I had ordered the kimchi udon because I wanted something different - little did I know that I had ordered it before. Oh well. I do believe that it was better last time - last night it was slightly too starchy. The flavour was great though! I'd still come back to Kingyo - it is, again, the slightly more grown up Guu and the food is still crave-inducing!
The service and the hospitality, along with the warm food, was a great ending to our already-fantastic evening.
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