Minoas Taverna (Burnaby BC)

Whoa...how do I blog again?

What format do I use again?

It's been a while! (to quote a certain blogger.)

It has been a while. Between personal losses to great personal gains, this year has been somewhat of a misfit rollercoaster, and I believe that I've come out a stronger person. I thank you for continuing to read and checking in (if you have - I am not going to be so vain to believe you checked in at all!). I also thank the fellow bloggers (You know who you are.) for encouraging us to blog again (or at sometimes, to eat again, by dropping off random baked and/or fried goods). How long will I stick around this time? Who knows?

I haven't written in so long, in fact, that I honestly can't remember how to dissect the meal. Perhaps the real reason for posting this entry is... Well, a week ago Elaine invited a couple of us out to Minoas Taverna, a Greek restaurant located at the very tip of Smith Avenue (read: right at Kingsway). We were joined by Sherman, Kim, and two SOs (or rather, as Sherman would probably put it, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to dine with them. *inside joke!*)



Minoas has been in operation for as long as I can remember. I used to live in the area and *always* asked my mother about that "weird house on the hill that always had Christmas lights on". It wasn't until I was older that, armed with an entertainment book coupon, I would visit with my brother or even M a good decade ago. From what I remember, the family that ran the restaurant used to live in the basement of the restaurant. They've since moved out, but still run the back and front of the house. Their son also does real estate and you'll find a posting (or five) of his in the lower landing of the restaurant.

We all shared an appetizer platter that came with pita, spanakopita, mushrooms, meat dolmathes, hummus, calamari, and tzatziki. While there was a lot of variety on the platter (and Minoas offered mushrooms, something other Greek restaurants do not), M and I felt that the platter was a little small. To put things in perspective, we shared the appetizer platter (same price) with another couple at Cristos a couple weeks ago, and could barely touch our entrees. I think me and M could polish off the appetizer platter pictured above, plus our entrees (well, M at least. I'm not a porker... ;p) Meanwhile, our fellow dining companions thought it was acceptable.

The dips (tzatziki and hummus) were garlicky, just the way we liked it, and the spanakopita was crisp but warm and flavourful. My favourites would have had to be the dolmathes and surprisingly, the mushrooms. They were served warm and were lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon.

It is always tricky dining with food bloggers. You hesitate to tell everyone what you're ordering, for fear of ordering the same thing. Then you play the game of ordering *last*, so that any last minute changes can be made, for the reason above.

That was exactly the case with M and Sherman (but you know. gotta keep the bromance alive...me, I just always get in the way.) They both ordered the roast lamb. It was a Tuesday, and the lamb was on special for $13.95. However, since we were using Entertainment book coupons, we weren't eligible for the "Tuesday special" price. Each entree came with a greek salad, carrots, half a potato, tzatziki and rice.

I ordered my usual lamb chops. Unfortunately, I wasn't asked how I'd like them done. I would have requested medium rare. The chops were done medium. To the restaurants credit, the lamb chops were mostly moist, but it erred on dry in some places. As I had some left over, I packed it home as usual, but knowing that it would be ultimately dry when reheated, piled on some tzatziki.

The (surprise) winner of the night would have had to be the moussaka that Kim ordered (although, please refer to his entry for his "but" to equalize the votes). The moussaka had bouts of potato, zucchini and eggplant but was still meaty. Actually, as we were reviewing our orders, I confessed that I'd wanted the moussaka, or even the vegetarian moussaka...but opted for the lamb chops to write about something different. :)

Elaine ordered the bifteka. This was another surprise as I'd rarely seen it as a stand-alone entree, only as an appetizer or as part of a platter. A trio of bifteka / meat patties comprised the entree and mostly everyone remarked how tender they were - usually the meatballs that I'd come across in Greek restaurants were dense and charred; these were moist, looser, and not as heavy.

Dinner came to about $23 per person, after discounts. For what we paid, it was fairly decent food. Service was prompt and the food arrived quickly. While value could be arguable, we also received another coupon with our meal (where did I put it now?). I'm just not as sure that I would go out of my way to visit, or that I would visit without a coupon.

After dinner, Mijune dropped by with a special sweet something for us - a jumbo donut from Texas! Apparently these donuts are in high demand and known they are for their slightly flakey, slightly sweet and original texture. Mijune was such a great spokesperson she even convinced a self-professed "old guy with gout" (just some random Minoas patron) to try a bite.

Many thanks to Elaine for remembering us and organizing this weekday dinner! Thank you to Mijune for the goodies. Thanks to Kim for the encouragement, and Thank you to Sherman and M for allowing me to sit in the corner and pretend that I was eating with them. ;)

Until next time!

Minoas Taverna
3823 Kingsway
Burnaby BC
P: 604-430-2545



Read what others thought:
Elaine
Kim
Sherman

Food Bloggers Dinner: Deutsche House / Vancouver Alpen Club

The Food Blogger dinners have been happening more frequently - its nice to see some familiar faces, but even better to meet the fresh faces behind some of the new (to me!) blogs. On this occasion, the location was Deustche Haus / Vancouver Alpen Club on Victoria Drive at 33rd Avenue.

The venue was huge - a regular dining area with an L-shaped bar, a back room where a communal gathering of older folk were dining and playing cards, and an upstairs area where dancing was going on. Question - is the upstairs area their "catering" area? Is it licensed for food? (Just curious.)

We showed up a little early and spied  Jenny and Ricky still in their van, then Joyce and Bing enjoying some sun across the parking lot. As it was getting close to the meeting time, we trickled into the dining hall and spotted Kim at the other end of the room.  Soon thereafter, Sherman, Yen, Victoria, Ethan, Jonathan, Ann and Dee, Karl, and Anita joined us.

As Kim had been organizing the meal a couple weeks prior, he'd mentioned that he had wanted to order the festplate; for a mere $80, four (or more, in my opinion!) people could feast on a platter of various meats and sides. Alternately, when we were seated, the waitress suggested the special on the Wednesday we were there: we could pick from their schnitzels, pair it with a beer, for the low price of $15.

I had "reserved" one of us for the festplate, and although the special was tempting, M also went for the festplate.

After a long wait, we were slowly given some beverages. (Insert wait.) Then we given some bread and butter. Actually, we were given an obscene amount of butter to begin with and for a while, we joked around that we were having whipped butter hors d'oervres... When the bread finally came we quieted down a notch and temporarily satiated our appetites (and mouths :) with the soft, supple bread. It was bread straight out of the bag - no toasting or warming up here.


As the festplate diners had been warned (on the menu) that the platters would be 30 minutes, we idled away our time with conversation. Once the food began to arrive, however, it became a circus. Food papparazzi anyone?

The above were a variety of schnitzels that was ordered by bloggers who did not opt for the festplate; I did not have a chance to sample any of these but they looked good, and I liked that there were beets and broccolini as a side. The schnitzels were only $15, and included a beer! I also liked seeing the spaetzle (middle), a German dumpling that is generally made from a batter of herbs, egg, flour and water, a may be served by poaching in stock or water, then served as is, or further cooked by a quick saute. I haven't had or made these in almost ten years - I think I'll try my hand at them again soon! Poaching yields a more moist dumpling; sauteeing can sometimes cause the spaetzle to puff up slightly (due to the egg in the batter) and / or crisp up on the outside for a different texture.

Finally, the moment came when the platters of meat came out:

On the platter was the 1 eisbein, 2 kassler, 2 bratwurst, 2 leberkäse, 1 schweineschnitzel and sauerkraut. The side dishes came separately and consisted of mashed potatoes, dumplings, red cabbage and an ample supply of mustard.


The mashed potatoes were mildly fluffy but nothing special. They tasted a little better with a sprinkle of salt and some mustard. The dumplings would be the fail out of the sides. At first we didn't know what we were eating - then some referenced the menu and identified the gummy mass we had been chewing were the dumplings. I suppose some overworking of the dumpling dough had occurred, or that the starch in the dumpling had begun to gelatinize. Everything tasted better with a slathering of the mustard!

A closer look at the meats on the platter, clockwise from top left corner: eisbein (essentially a ham hock, the first one is with the fat cap; second photo is with the fat cap removed), leberkäse (German bologna), bratwurst (sausage), Schweineschnitzel (pork cutlet, pounded thin, breaded and fried) and kassler (salted pork chop).


Our favourite was the bratwurst. It was easy to eat and went well with the sauerkraut and mustard. Overall, the ham hock comments varied from a favourite, to "slightly bland". It is important to note that German food is of this style - minimal seasoning, cooked through, served with kraut and mustard. With that in mind, and comparing the food to Balkan House (another European restaurant in New Westminster) as well as a friend who we've had the pleasure of cooking for us, the ham hock is Ms favourite. For me, it was a little salty, it would be nice with some of that bread from earlier in the evening. The same could be said of the salted pork chop, although thethe pork chop was the driest of the meats. However, this could very well be due to the meat having to endure a thorough picture taking by our group.

The surprise? The German bologna reminded Karl of his German roots; for me, it reminded me of nights at grandmoms house! My grandmom used to fry or steam up slices of spam because it was one of the things I would eat at her house when I was a wee one (she cooked her steamed eggs different than my mother; although it was my favourite dish, I just couldn't eat grandmoms! The spam, however...:) So I liked it. Now, I won't degrade it to say it was spam. The texture differed a little bit, but bologna - yes it was.

We also liked the pork schnitzel. It was a lot of meat though - the platter could definitely serve five, maybe even six people, although the people gathered around Ms' platter (we weren't platter partners!) managed to meagerly finish theirs. In my "platter party" was Sherman, Kim, and Yen. Although Sherman and Kim are big eaters, me (with my on again, off again meat ban!) and Yen were no match.

Even so, some bloggers had room / made room for dessert. On the left, a traditional apfelstrudel / apple strudle, on the right, an order of crepes with vanilla ice cream.


While the food was acceptable, the service was a little lacking. It took us a while for our single waitress to take orders and expedite food. There was also a huge wait in handling / settling the bill. Although many of us were paying by cash, and had only ordered the festplate, it took about half an hour in a lineup for everyone to pay.

FYI, there was also an unverified account of rodent(s) observed at the time of dining. However, if you look up the online reports at Vancouver Coastal Health, no records in the last couple years report any pests (the last inspection was November of last year, the one prior, in July of 2008). That's quite remarkable for a building and neighbourhood of this age. ;)

Vancouver Alpen Club / Deustche Haus
4875 Victoria Drive
Vancouver BC
P: 604-874-3811

February is for Saps, anyways, so here we go.

In light of the fact that it is February and February is for saps, and I have sap instead of blood running through my veins, and also the fact that the first anniversary / birthday of this blog was blogged about half-heartedly earlier this year, and given that the "launch" of this blog was soft anyways, here is an obligatory birthday / first anniversay post for the blog that is Yum-O-Rama.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to you, the reader, for following along, and commenting on our food exploits. It motivates us to hear the feedback, positive comments, and constructive criticism. Thank you to everyone who knows us in RL and has told us they like seeing where we are eating and posting about! Thank you to the family and friends - it feels good to know that you are reading. I love it when you say that you had sudden cravings for Japanese / baked goods / fruit / [insert food here] after reading the blog (Iz!)! Thank you to everyone for dining suggestions and tips! Thank you anyone who has cooked for us, who has ever had us in their home for dinner / lunch / a snack.

Thank you for anyone who has ever gotten us a kitchen gadget or cookbook or passed on a recipe - you inspire us! Thank you to all the food bloggers, worldwide - your restaurant reviews, recipes, photos and content give us something to aspire to. :)

Thank you to the forum posters and fellow bloggers for showing the linky love! Thank you tweeters for following us, thank you to the fans on facebook! It is always nice to know that you are listening.

I'd like to Thank my momma who cooked me dinner the other night. She made some delicious local rock cod, and my favourite cruciferous vegetable, cauliflower sauteed with garlic, squid, and momma-magic.



The fish was *fresh*, even though I had to do the recommended scraping of the bones with a teaspoon as to "not break the fish" (as in, the fish, the fish! Don't break the fish!!! Use a spoon!). On that note, I'd also like to thank Daddy-ah for stopping eating (in his own home, even!) while I produced my camera and snapped a couple photos. Perhaps I have finally trained my family to stop eating long enough for me to take photos! (Or they know that if I have a hand, chopstick, fork or spoon in the photo, I'll have to take a second, third, fourth or fifth photo to make up for it. And that takes longer than just stopping for a couple seconds.)

Thank you to little yee yee for making me learn to love my (now favourite!) vegetables, broccoli and cauliflower! Who knew that little games like "planting" broccoli and cauliflower florets in a bowl of rice would do the trick? Thank you to g'ma for introducing me to spam! And ensuring that I had to like eating five to six meals a day when I was in elementary school! :p

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! This second year of Yum-O-Rama will be full of more consistently-posted content that is delicious, fresh, and insightful!

Now feel free to drink some shots of espresso, or 40proof vodka to water down all this sappiness! Have a great weekend!

Food Bloggers Dinner: Brave Bull's House of Steaks (Hastings, Vancouver, BC)

It's been a while since the last Food Bloggers Dinner - last time it was the end of June and Alvin Garden in Burnaby. This time, only a handful of us made it, and we met up at Brave Bull's House of Steaks

I hadn't been home all day, and didn't check my email, so I was very glad that Jenny from My Secret Eden (and her boyfriend K), Frank from Foodie Adventures in Vancouver, and Kim from I'm Only Here For the Food! showed up - apparently I'd missed the round of emails suggesting a cancel for the nights' dinner. With my recent luck, however, I'd very glad that Kim, Frank, Jenny and her boyfriend showed up (and my M showed up too - yay!). I've been having a string of no shows and have been stood up on more than one occasion as of late, so really guys - thanks for showing up!

Everyone has seen or heard of Brave Bull's House of Steaks at one point or another. I remember driving by and noting the $8.95 Prime Rib and Sirloin Steak specials, but thinking nothing of it.

However, after our dinner this weekend, I would have to say that the best special of Brave Bull's House of Steaks would have to be Linda Lum herself.



She was exceptionally sweet and kind and took the time to chat and joke around with us, when she had some time. She explained that after she had received Kims' large reservation, that she'd called in her grandson to help out. I felt a little bad after she said that, but then she said that even though our reservation shrunk a little, there were extra patrons on the other side of the restaurant, and thus the kitchen was backed up.



M started off with some pan fried oysters. Originally, he'd wanted to order the "Captains Plate" which consisted of pan fried oysters, deep fried prawns, scallops, and sole for only $8.95, but Linda let us know that since the kitchen was so busy, they'd run out of the Captain's Plate. While there was no Captain's Plate, and there was a delay in the kitchen, the cook had added on a couple oysters to our dish - six oysters for the party of six at our table!



Every entree that is ordered at Brave Bull's comes with soup, your choice of potato, vegetables, and garlic bread, and the prices range from $8.95 to $14.95!



It was no surprise that most of our table (made up of guys) ordered the "13 - 14 oz T-Bone Steak"...although it was later found that M had rarity - an "I-Bone" steak! ;p At about a dollar an ounce, everyone agreed that the T-Bone steak was good value.



Jenny ordered the sirloin, and I ordered the veal cutlet (Both $8.95). Jenny's boyfriend ordered the pork chops (another $8.95 plate!), which I would like to try on a revisit to Brave Bulls:



After the dinner rush had died down a little, Linda came by and chatted with us for a bit, and true to all the reviews stating that dining at Brave Bulls is like being welcomed into your grandmothers' home, we witnessed some real "grandmom-ism". I had anticipated that our plates would be inspected prior to removal, and had luckily finished about 98% of the contents on my plate. Others were not so lucky, however - Linda made a comment about how someone hadn't finished their meal...while my inner child snickered and I swallowed my last bite of food. haha! I guess I regressed into a five-year-old at that point!

Brave Bulls had opened in 1985, and the cook used to work at Angus Steak house. In 1991, they made the decision to freeze the prices - hence the $8.95 Prime Rib and Sirloin Steak specials. She also dug out a scrapbook of postings from Tinybites and Raul's blogs. We let her know that she'd have more to add to her collection once we were done. :)



I really felt welcomed by Linda - she reminded me of grandmothers and kindly neighbours and family friends from my childhood. When I left, I actually kind of felt guilty that I hadn't given her a hug! (And this is from a kid who *abhorred* the habitual hug and kiss from family friends!)

For the record, I would return to Brave Bull's - not necessarily for the food (although I'd like to see if Brave Bull's makes better or comparable spaghetti than my own grandmom! haha! - sorry pou pou!) but for the hospitality!

Other attendees' takes:
Kim - I'm Only Here For The Food!
Jenny - Secret Eden

Brave Bull's House of Steaks

1298 East Hastings Street [map]

Vancouver BC

Phone: 604-253-4728

Food Bloggers Dinner: Alvin Garden (Burnaby, BC)

One cloudy evening, thirteen Vancouver food bloggers (and their spouses / significant others) decended on Alvin Garden in Burnaby for dinner (and joint food photo session :). It was an event organized by none other than Sherman of Shermans Food Adventures, at a location suggested by Kim of I'm Only Here For the Food! In attendance were the bloggers behind 604 Foodtography, Ho Yummy!, Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken!, TBDFBTI!, [eating club] Vancouver, and La Petite Vancouver.



Tucked away behind Metrotown (as us old folk remember it!) and the Bonsor recreation center in Burnaby is Alvin Garden. While some would disregard it driving by (as I have - I have a couple of friends who lived / live nearby and I've never even noticed it!), Alvin Garden would probably classify as a "fan toung" (a Chinese 'trattoria'?) for the locals as it filled up (and continued to fill up!) while we were there. There also seems to be a conflict in the name out front on the awning and the name on the napkins above. Perhaps similar to how Excelsior Chicken Noodle House has a completely different meaning from their Chinese name?

We ordered a number of dishes, ranging from soup to hot pot, encompassing egg, pork, duck, vegetables, fish and everything in between. However, part way through, we noticed that we hadn't ordered a lamb hot pot that we'd seen on every other table throughout the restaurant, or a tantalizing cauliflower and meat dish (and I LOVE cauliflower!).

I suppose we were a spectacle - a table of thirteen, madly snapping photos photos every time the server placed a dish on the lazy susan. I felt pretty normal for once - I was kind of in the shadow of a number of Canon and Nikon DSLRs, (and a tester Sony). Even with my red camera, I didn't stand out too much. :)





I honestly do not remember that much about the food - the beer-braised duck had nice flavour, although I detected more Shaoxing / cooking wine instead of beer. And somehow I managed to get all wing tip bones both times I tried to sample the dish. The soup was also a nice, sweet alternative to all the fiery chili that was going about the table.



I did come by this interesting spice in one of the dishes. [eating club] vancouver tells me that it is a Sichuan peppercorn. I can't explain the flavour - I thought I was chomping into a regular peppercorn, but it gives off this slightly soapy, floral, lavender-like mouthfeel as well. I think I'll use some with pork. Hmm.

There were a lot of interesting conversations going around the table - parking lot mayhem, certain restaurant review sites, and foodie talk alike. It was good to put some faces to online personas and to enjoy some food together, if only in our paparazzi-style obsession. :)



What I do not recommend ordering are the corn cake cones above. They were bland in flavour and had a texture reminiscent of playdoh. (Not that I would know...) The dough seemed to have been overworked and sugar / salt were absent from the recipe. As Sherman put it, "[I don't remember much,] but I remember *those* things!"

I do plan on going back to Alvin Garden - I'd reorder the pumpkin cakes, mapou tofu, and the steamed egg, and I'd try out the cauliflower dish and the lamb hot pot.

Alvin Garden

4850 Imperial Street [map]

Burnaby BC

Phone: (604) 437-0828


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