Au Pied du Cochon

Au pied de Cochon, Montreal, Quebec

Oh My God, this was the richest, biggest most decadent restaurant meal I have ever had. This place believes in “everything in excess”. I must have had 10 000 calories in my meal and I loved every single one of them. I asked the waitress for a nutritional breakdown of the menu and she laughed at me. I smiled back. This is not the restaurant to ask foolish questions like this. Do not come here if you are on a diet. Come here if you want blow your head off, not to mention your belt buckle, good food. I mean, what restaurant serves “pig head for two”? That’s right; a big honking roasted pigs head served on a platter and brought to your table so you can pick at all the good chunks of head meat. I hear the cheeks are good. This is not a place for the squeamish.
I had to of the restaurants signature dishes. Both highly recommended:
Poutine with Foie Gras. Poutine is a Quebec specialty. Fries, cheese curds and gravy. Done right this is stick to your ribs good food. Sticking to its “excess is best” policy here we add foie gras. Like I said, OMG, just shoot me know because I’m going to have a coronary shortly anyway. This place should have emergency resuscitation paddles at every table. For those experiencing dizziness, nausea and shortness of breath, just reach under your chair for the paddles.
Duck in a Can: Once again rich beyond explaination. Winner of best canned anything I’ve ever had. This is what they do. Take a regular tin can, stuff it with cabbage, bacon, duck, foie gras, herbs and spices, seal it tight, and put it in the oven. Bring it to the table, open it with a can opener and then just dump it, with a big glug, on a mound of mashed potatoes and toast. Never mind, just watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KItyF7XyfFQ

A most outstanding recommendation for Pied du Cochon. A must visit when in Montreal.
www.restaurantaupieddecochon.ca

Crave Restaurant, Vancouver. BC.
Main Street Vancouver, from roughly Broadway to the north and 33rd Ave to the south, has morphed over the years into an eclectic trendy strip of shops and restaurants. No Cactus Club just yet. I can’t be too critical, I must admit, I do eat a Cactus Club on occasion. BTW, does Rob Fennie really spend any time in the kitchen? But I digress. Back to Main Street and my current favorite main street eatery, Crave.
Crave is one of those restaurants that just get’s it. And by that I mean, great food, good prices, good service and just a really cool feel. It’s one of those ”It” things either you have it or you don’t. Crave does.
I was there with 3 friends, hanging out on the back deck, enjoying a hot Vancouver summer evening and a couple of bottles of pink Kettle Valley Pinot Gris.
We shared a whole bunch of Appies. Most definitely the restaurants signature dish; short rib poutine parmesan truffle fries, short rib jus. Talk about rich, shredded beef short ribs covered in sauce on top of house fries. If you like fries, this is the restaurant for you. Not your usual processed McCains frozen crap. Fresh cut in-house and awesome. Add, popcorn shrimp, lightly battered with sweet chili mayo. I could in fact eat these like popcorn.
I had the organic beef crave burger with bacon and cheddar as my main. More fries. Nice. The burger tasted great. My only knock on the whole thing was a square focosia as the bun. As a burger traditionalist, what the hell? Just use a really good round bun and don’t serve the burger open. I don’t get that either. It’s funny how you can be nitpicky on certain things. The result of course is a demerit to an A-, even though I still can’t get those fries out of my mind.
Check them out at www.craveresaurants.com
They just opened a new location in West Van. I look forward to the trip.

Go Fish

Go Fish, Vancouver BC

Is it really worth the line-up? Expect ½ hour waits on a slow day, just to get to the order window. That’s what my wait turned out to be and then another 10-15 min to pick up my order. So is it worth the wait? Yes. I know that because I’m really looking forward to going back wait and all. Go Fish is a trailer like take out joint at the Granville Island marina just west of Granville Island along the seawall. Although to be fair they do have a small deck area for eating in. Well, eating out actually because that’s were you are. Most people grab their order to go and sit out on the sea wall. Fabulous location. So maybe the appeal is combination location and eats. Digging into great fish and chips on the Vancouver waterfront is not a bad thing.
I had the Halibut and Chips. The fish was fresh. All of their fish is fresh, never frozen, major kudos. The batter was good, not great. The fish was good. Up there with the best fish and chips I’ve had. The real star for me, were the chips and tartar sauce. The tartar sauce was fantastic. It had a flavour I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It drove me mental. I’m still thinking about it. Fantastic. The fries were fresh cut, crispy, hot and just a bit greasy. I love that. And I love Go Fish.

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Kangaroo Burger Mate
Waterstone Grill. Langley, BC Canada.

I’ve never had kangaroo before. And kangaroo is certainly something you don’t come across often (never before for me) here in Canada. So when the waitress told us it was the special, I was all over it. I have to say the burger tasted great. I give this burger a solid 8.5/10. On the novelty kangarooy side the burger had a gamely taste. I like that. Sort of like a kicked up lamb burger. On the it’s a burger side, very good as well, fresh bun, good sauce, tasty salad. Why did I have salad? I should have had the fries. I must have been feverish. My apologies to those out there that think kangaroo are cute and should not be hambergerized. I’ve had a few occasions since to gage people reactions to the whole kangaroo thing. Apparently kangaroo are too cute to eat. I will endeavour to only eat ugly animals in the future. Although I must say I had negative reactions to eating guinea pig in Peru as well. I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
I haven’t been back to the Waterstone Grill since so I don’t know if it’s still on the menu, but I would definitely order it again if it is.
http://waterstonetaphouse.com

Fat on a Stick Report.
My addiction to chicken wings.

Milestones, Langley BC. Canada

Spicy Thai Chicken DrummettesToasted sesame-cucumber mayonnaise, peanut sauce

Rating: 8.5/10

These would have been 9/10 but a bit on the salty side. Milestones have been serving these wings for ever. And rightfully so. Why change something that works. Great flavours. Big juicy drummettes. The toasted sesame-cucumber dipping sauce is a great cooling balance to the spicy wings. Awesome. I usually order hot wings at bars and restaurants. Becouse, usually when a restaurant try’s to get fancy with wings it doesn’t work. The Lure Bar in Victoria is a good example (on the blog May 25th). Here it works and it works in spades. I hope they never take it off the menu.

http://www.milestonesrestaurants.com

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Cactus Club Café. Nanaimo. BC Canada
Bacon Cheeseburger 7/10

One of the best burgers in town (Vancouver BC, Canada) was at the now defunct Feenies. Feenies was the casual dining establishment of iron chef Rob Feenie (yes he did beat Morimoto). Now that Feenie is the food consultant, guru or whatever you call him at Cactus Club, I expected a pretty awesome burger coming my way. What came my way was a pretty average burger. The beef was tasteless. The red pepper relish had potential but it was spread too thin to be a player.
Hey Rob, take this off your signature list. I had a burger a few days later at Milestones. It was on nobody’s signature list and it kicked ass. Sorry.

And also, sorry to say this burger did not meet expectations.

http://www.cactusclubcafe.com/

Vij's Restaurant Vancouver, BC

Vij’s Restaurant.

Vancouver BC
Rating: A

I’ve heard a lot about Vij’s. Mostly glowing reviews, some calling Vij’s the best East Indian restaurant in North America. I’m always a bit sceptical of the “best” designation. How does one judge something like this? None the less glowing reviews always peaks my interest so I must visit.

Right of the top, let me say that I am not an expert on East Indian cuisine. I like it. I’ve been to many East Indian restaurants. I cook East Indian at home occasionally with varying success. East Indian food is something that is not innate to my senses.
Unlike Mediterranean or North American cuisine, were I can pretty much imagine what something should taste like given the spices herbs and other ingredients. I do not have this ability with Indian Cuisine.

This was our menu for the evening:
(There were four of us and we all decided to share. Highly recommended)
Sounds great, even if I have no idea what the taste will be like.
Mutton Kabob with Bengali Style Curry
Punjabi Heart Attack (Spicy cashews, raw sugar, panear and ghe) chased with quinoa salad in lemon dressing.
Garam Masala sautéed Portobello mushrooms in porchini cream curry
Coconut curried vegetables with Cholia rice pilaf
Grilled pork tenderloin (naturally raised) with pistachio, dates and glazed orange split pea, spinach and garlic mash.
Beef Short Ribs in Cinnamon and red wine curry with warm greens
Lamb marinated popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on turmeric spinach potatoes.

I may not know what everything should taste like. But I do know this.
I liked it. I like it a lot.

The standout for me was the Mutton Kabob. Soft, moist, loaded with good old lamby goodness. I would just go back have that as a snack with a cold beer. Oh my. In fact, talk about perfect bar food. I would skip the chicken wings for this. And that’s a hell of a statement from somebody that has never skipped chicken wings in his life.

The food at Vij’s is all about the sauce. And the sauces are absolutely outstanding. Deeply layered flavours, nothing overpowering, just layer upon layer of flavour. It seems strange, but the best way to describe it is to compare the food to a deeply layered full bodied red wine. In both cases the flavours hit your taste buds like a brick and then linger and develop over time.
To me, this is the biggest difference between Vij’s and other East Indian restaurants. Others overpower with heat and curry. Here the flavours are intense yet subtle. I know it sounds contradictory, but try it you’ll see.

So the question then, what is real East Indian cuisine? Are other East Indian restaurants tweaked to North American tastes? Or is Vij’s really authentic East Indian cuisine. I suspect that Vij’s is really an East Indian fusion restaurant. OK, more East Indian less fusion. But tell me, were in India do they make a “red wine curry? I don’t know. In the big scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. The taste was outstanding.

Aside from the food, the feel of the restaurant was laid back, unpretentious. I like that staff bring around trays of appetizers for you to try while you are waiting for a table or waiting for your meal to arrive. Very homey. I love that Vikram Vij was actually there greeting guests. Let’s be clear, he probably doesn’t have to be. When was the last time anyone saw Bobby Flay in a kitchen restaurant? Sorry to pick on you Bobby. But as a celebrity chef/owner you almost don’t expect the star to be there. The fact that he is and is present regularly from what I understand, scores big points with me.

Fantastic food. Great restaurant. I’ll be back. But why do they not take reservations?

Wesite: www.vijs.ca