Oishizo!

Updated recipe for Costco Rib Roast

2026-07-31T13:58:45.833-07:00

Purchased from Costco on a Tuesday, dry aged in the fridge until Friday, standing straight up on its back.

Paint it with olive oil, add your dry rub, then back in the fridge until Sunday.

Sunday morning, throw it in a cold oven and turn the heat up to 250f/121c

This time I cooked it standing up for 3 hrs but the internal temp didn’t quite reach 47c after 3 hrs so I laid it down bone side down and cooked it for another 30min this way. Also added a few sprinkles of soy sauce.

Since my guests were running a bit late, it basically rested for maybe 5-6 hrs.

Once we were ready to eat, I threw it back under broil u til it started to smoke and put it came like this.

Not sure if it was the extra dry aging time in the fridge, or extra time cooking or extra time resting, but it was probably the best result I’ve had so far

Trail! And the Columbia Steakhouse and Bar

2025-06-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

So, I visited Trail, BC for the first time in my life. I was sent there for work and here are a few pics from the trip. I know, the activity on this blog has been spotty the last few years, and I'm not promising to get back to a regular routine here, but here are a few pics from the trip, including pics of one of the best steaks I have ever eaten.

A pub I went to with my colleagues during lunch, pics of their food, not mine, lol!

A 2 meter long sturgeon that I saw in the Columbia river. The thing must have been at least 100 years old. It was massive, though hard to tell in these pics.

Despite being on travel status, I ate pretty frugally.

Hard to believe this massive fish stayed alive with this zinc/lead smelting plant right here in the middle of town.

Nice view from the office.

Columbia Steakhouse and Bar in the Best Western. Pic of the private dining room, snapped this pic because the regular room was full of people and I didn't want to bother blurring out everyone's face.

https://www.bestwesterntrail.com/dining

I don't normally eat salad, but since the hotel gave me a coupon towards an appetizer, I used it on something somewhat healthy, and this Wedge Salad, with ranch sauce that was made in-house, was probably the best salads I've ever had. Topped with crumbled blue cheese, and bacon....It was worth going just for this.

Behold, the 18oz center-cut ribeye.

Just the right color and temp, nice crust on the outside, this thing was one of the juiciest, tastiest steaks I've ever had. It was so flavorful, just the right about of char to give ever bite that smoky flavor, seasoned to perfection, nice mix of lean and fat. It was truly an experience like none other. Even the grilse tasted good, and yes, I ate it all.

No, I didn't have room for the chocolate cake, but I ordered it anyway.

Mothra

Trail Airport Food Court

No, I didn't fly in this on the way back.

5Kg Rib Roast

2022-12-29T15:23:00.001-08:00

Suika

2022-12-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

Japan trip 2022 food pics with other stuff

2022-09-16T11:25:00.002-07:00

4kg Rib Roast for Christmas Dinner

2021-12-24T09:44:00.002-08:00

I've done this before and I can do it again.... Maybe... Hahaha! I dunno, I'm no expert so this might come out total crap.

Last year, I decided to skip the turkey because I'm the only one in my family who actually likes Turkey. This year will be the same.

Costco's Rib Oven Roast. Usually I cook up a 1kg steak (inspired by Rajio's 1kg steak) , but last year, I cooked this 3.5kg monster. This year, I'll try a 4kg roast.

Unwrapped the thing, leaving it to dry out a bit tonight, just in the fridge, uncovered (two nights before cooking. Flip through the pics, you'll see an ishobin (1.8 litre sake bottle) of Koshi No Kanbai to give you a sense of scale.

@rajio_japanese_public_house If you are reading this, please bring back your 1kg steak!!!

#beef #steak #ribsteak #meat

#rajiojapanesepublichouse

#ribroast

#meatlover #thekeg

#thekegsteakhouse #koshinokanbai #肉

#越乃寒梅

2kg Rib Oven Roast from Costco - Rajio-style

2020-03-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

The last time I cooked one of these, I didn't get any pics of the cross section, so I figured I'd snap a few more pics. Costco didn't have any single-bone rib steaks handy so I just grabbed a double-decker and split it down the middle.

When I took it out of the packaging, I realized what a monster of a steak I brought home.

I let the steaks sit under some plastic wrap for a few hours to get the steaks down to room temperature.

Then I hammered the steaks with coarsely ground salt and pepper.

Lay the thing down on a hot cast iron with some olive oil or grape seed oil.

Throw some garlic cloves down for some added flavour. I see a lot of people throw in a sprig or two of thyme as well, but I can't be bothered.

After searing the edges and flipping the thing over, I toss in a wad of butter and start basting the stead.

I sort of wanted to eat the second steak as is, but my guests would not approve. Anyway, both into the oven to finish them off after searing

When the steaks are nearly done, I splashed them with soy sauce and keep them in the oven for a few more minutes.

This is important. You have to let the steaks rest after cooking them. It's unnerving to let them rest too long for fear of them getting cold, but it has to be done. If you cut them right after, they will bleed to death and you'll end up with some ruined steaks.

My friend brought over some sake and Scotch to go with the steaks.....the bottle of sake is one of those 1.8l ishobin bottles, so needless to say, we barely got though half of it and didn't even touch the Scotch.

The steaks came out a bit more cooked than I hoped, but my guests (Asian) prefer their steaks like this, which would be medium well, to well done (aka ruined). Still, these didn't turn out too badly and tasted pretty good.

Not pictured is the cilantro and wasabi, which taste surprisingly good with these steaks.

2lb rib steak from Costco

2019-06-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Lol, it's been a while since I posted in this blog. Been busy doing other stuff and food blogging was doing two things: Making me fat and making me poor. I just couldn't sustain eating out so much anymore and I was putting on mad amounts of weight so I just had to walk away from it all.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be updating this blog like I used to, but I may visit it once in a while.

Let's start with a 2lb rib steak I picked up from Costco. I originally got the idea from this izakaya called Rajio. I went there a few times with my iaido class and they serve this insane 2lb steak that's just out of this world. I found a similar, if not exact same cut at Costco so I decide to try it out at home.

Of course, I needed some liquid courage to cook such a beast, so Johnny Walker helped me out a bit.

Got into cast irons from my brother, this one is from Bass Pro and I got it on sale for $20.

Hot, smoking pan to sear the hell out of the steak.

Sear the edges after the other side was done.

Throw in a wad of butter along with some sliced garlic.

Bathe the steak in the garlic butter concoction,

Some green stuff to make the dinner somewhat healthy.

Pull it out of the oven after a bit and pray it was not ruined.

I probably should have take pics of the inside, but I was too busy eating and thanking Crom that I didn't screw this steak up, lol!

The Keg - Guildford (Surrey)

2013-01-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights before Eric went back to the Philipines.....or was it before I went to Japan? Anyway, not too long ago, we went with Jay to the Keg in Surrey. I was on a diet (still am) so I told myself to stay away from the bread, the appies, skip the fried stuff and no deserts. Of course, these two bastards would never let me have my way and the next thing I know, I'm saying to hell with the diet and started shovelling bread, crab cakes and deep fried calamari down my neck, polished off with a Keg Size Prime Rib and a Billy Miner's Pie for good measure.

The two instigators.

The lovely sourdough bread I said I wasn't going to eat, but did (and nearly using up all the whipped butter in the process).

Eric doing.....God knows what, haha!

I had the crab cakes once before (at the Richmond Keg), and I found them overseasoned. The server told me that it was because they use Dungeness crab meat which is cookedin salt water. I think she didn't know what she was talking about, but didn't bother arguing the point. These ones, on the other hand were perfectly seasoned, and I didn't find myself chasing them down with a gallon of water. (I don't mean to trash The Keg in Richmond, I've always had good experiences there. I think the Prime Ribs there, especially the Omega, are are suspiciously cut larger than spec).

What's the best way to lose weight? Eat high-in-cholesterol deep fried squid of course. These were a bit spicy, and the dipping sauce was a perfect compliment mixed with sweet and spicy. We didn't leave even a single crumb.

Eric again....showing us his expertise at pleasing calamari, haha!

The pork back ribs were good, but not as good as mine, haha!

Of course this is something I could not replicate at home, The Keg Size Prime Rib. Hand-crafted in heaven by *insert favouriet diety here*, this succulant peice of beef has almost no rival. Anyway, if you've read my other posts about The Keg, then you're probably bored to death of my worshipping this fine peice of beef, but there really is no other comparison for the same price point. The Keg in Guildford delivered it to me exactly as I asked, fat and bloody, and it tasted every bit as good as I expected.

Remember that Drinking and Driving commerical way back when?

Eric at the end of his limit......just kidding, there's till pie.

Usually I can't eat anymore after the Prime Rib, but lately, I've developed a liking for this desert. Billy Miner pie. It's probably nothing you want to eat on your own, and it is big enough to share with several people because it's not overly sweet or rich, despite the appearance.

Our experience at The Keg in Guildford was awesome as expected. The staff were attentive, friendly, and there whenever we needed anyone, the food was oustanding as usual, and we would definitely go back. I guess the only issue is, I'm not often in Surrey :)

Sha-lin Noodles

2012-12-30T19:22:00.003-08:00

My dad's been telling me about this place for a while, and though I've heard of it and seen it, I never thought to go in. I was sort of reluctant to try it, but my dad said give it a shot, so I agreed. Either I was really hungry, or the food was pretty good. We started off with a cold plate of what might have been beef. My mom makes this stuff all the time, so it had a real home-made taste to it. I'll have to remember not to order this next time because I could get this at home.

Haha, my dad thinking the exact same thing as me. It wasn't bad. No, it was actually quite good, but when I go out to eat, I want to eat stuff that I don't usually eat at home.....

...like this. Lamb stew/soup. My parents never cook lamb, and I've never tried it myself except when I eat out. They say that when it's cold, you should eat lamb, but I have no idea if that's true or not. Anyway, you want a gamey soup, this is it. It tastes like lamb, mixed with some veg. I'd probably order this again on a cold day. It's soup, so it'll warm you up. Not sure how lamb is supposed to get your body temperature up, just because it's lamb.

Green onion pancake, you can never go wrong with this. What drives me up the wall are places that under cook it, the dough is still raw in the middle, or they don't use enough oil, or it's just not seasoned right and needs salt. This place was none of those - it was done right and tasted great. It didn't seem to match everything else we had, but I still liked it.

Zha Jiang Mien, I have no idea how to say this in English, so just trust me when I say it tastes good and you should try it. No weird meats in it, in fact I'm pretty sure it was pork.

Would I go back? Well, the food that I tried at Sha Lin wasn't particularly exciting, just like this post, but it tasted good, so yeah, I'd probably, if I were in the area and I was hungry.

Ramen Jinya with two clowns

2012-12-29T22:37:00.001-08:00

Ah, not much going on here except two clowns fighting over a bowl of ramen. My buddy Eric was in town and since he's been really into ramen lately, we took him to Ramen Jinya. The last time I had ramen with Eric was at the now defunct G-Men Ramen where he ordered TWO bowls of miso ramen. This time, he just ordered extra noodles, but Jay took on the challenge of two consecutive bowls of ramen.

I really have no idea how they did it. I love ramen, and I'm a particularly big fan of the very unhealthy variety where the broth is so thick, you could walk across it, where the chashu is so fatty, you'd swear you bit into a whale belly, where it's slightly on the salty side and you're screaming for a glass of water after you're done. And that is why I love Ramen Jinya. It's got nice, thick broth, it's well seasoned, and they are not shy about serving some really fatty chashu. If you want health food, go eat a salad.

Old Country Buffet - Bellingham

2012-12-29T22:22:00.000-08:00

I started going down to Washington occasionally and there was this one place that always stuck out in my mind, but I never visited - Old Country Buffet. I heard about it, saw it on Urban Spoon, but never went so I took the plunge and paid a visit. Haha, definitely not fine dining, but you know what, it got the job done. I was full of tasty food (translation - comfort food) for cheap. It reminded me of Uncle Willy's but more variety for about the same price.

I piled on all the stuff that looked tasty including fried chicken, pork rib, mashed potato with gravy, quiche, and a bunch of other stuff I can't identify by memory.

They had some sort of penne in a white cream sauce that actually didn't taste half-bad.

That's the pork rib, and to tell the truth, it wasn't all that bad.

Haha, mac and cheese, I couldn't resist. I had to try it. Once was enough.

This was some sort of cream soup. It might have been clam chowder? I had the cheese and broccoli here once and I felt really guilty after.

The prime rib was most often medium to medium well, and they only have creamy horse radish. I'm personally not a big fan of creamy horse radish, but hey, I only paid 10 bucks for this lunch.

Popcorn shrimp.

The deserts were on par with Uncle Willy's.

Would I go back to Old Country Buffet? Haha, I have to admit, I've been back a few times already. Like I said, it's not fine dining, much of the menu isn't particularly healthy (well, I bypass the salad section, which is actually quite large), but you're not paying an arm an a leg, so if you think about how much it costs nowadays to eat at Rotten Ronnie's or Burger Thing, then this ain't such a bad deal.

Steak at Home

2012-12-27T18:21:00.002-08:00

Man, I have totally neglected this blog. I tried to get back into it a while ago, but I fell off the wagon and thought it was sort of mendokusai to keep blogging. I was sort of bored of it, and there was also the issue of taking too many pictures and not having the time to organize them and upload them. I think I was also getting more concerned with ranking on Urban Spoon than just writing. From now on, I'll try to stick with why I started this blog: to take shiny pictures of food I eat and maybe write a bit about it.

My buddy Eric comes into town once or twice a year, and he always buys too much food for his short stays. Instead of letting the food go to waste, haha, sometimes I pick up his scraps. This is a dinner I slapped together based on 100 Eric leftovers: Steak, mini potatos, asparagus and garlic prawns from M&M Meat Shop:

I don't know why, but this particular steak wasn't very red and came out almost looking like pork in these pictures, but I assure you that it once mooed. Despite the color, it came out pretty damned tasty.

The prawns and asparagus.

I was going to par-boil the potatos and pan fry them a bit, but had a craving for garlic mashed potatoes so I ended up doing that instead.....as if there wasn't enough garlic in the prawns and the pan fried asparagus.

These pictures were taken with a Nikon P100. I think I ended up trading it in for a P500 shortly after because the P100 really, really sucked. I'm currently using the P500 and the Olympus EPL-2 that Eric gave me.

I think I gave up and ended up using the flash to get a better shot.

Jade Seafood Restaurant - I WILL NEVER EAT HERE

2012-11-02T13:33:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't posted any reviews for a while, and I've pretty much dropped out of the food blogging scene but I read this article titled "Inter-Chinese race row in Vancouver over shark's fin soup" and it kind of bothered me.

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1074402/inter-chinese-race-row-vancouver-over-sharks-fin-soup

I don't have a particular politcal stance over this Shark Fin's Soup business, I could care less to tell you the truth (but then again, I am a HUGE fan of Foie Gras) but this David Chung character is a bit of a moron if you ask me. He's trashing Vancouver City Councillor Kerry Jang for trying to get cheap polical votes, but this David Chung comes across to be as a greedy businessman only interested in lining his own pockets. Sure, go ahead and not vote for Jang, see if we care. But what about all the Canadian Born Chinese you've just insulted with your comment about us not being Chinese?

That split was emphasised recently by David Chung, head of the BC (British Columbia) Asian Restaurant and Cafe Owners Association, who said that Jang was not equipped to represent the Chinese community, or understand the importance of shark fin to Chinese culture.

"He was born in Canada, influenced by Western culture from a young age and is totally unfamiliar with Chinese culture - unable to understand the historical relationship Chinese have had with shark fin and the innate bond we share," said Chung, owner of the Jade Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver's satellite city of Richmond.

"He is not Chinese, he is a banana. He is only doing this to get cheap political votes. Many people in our industry have already announced that we will not vote for him during the next election," said Chung in a Chinese-language interview with Ming Pao's local edition.

So, because I was made in Canada, I'm not Chinese? This is my personal message to David Chung:
You sir, are an %^$&#, and I will never eat in your restaurant. And I'll be sure to pass on your sentiments to all of my CBC friends and family.

Here's another article on this clown:

http://straight.com/article-827016/vancouver/restaurant-owner-says-bananas-dont-get-importance-sharkfin-soup

“I think this kind of thing is none of the business of the city, and it should be the judge[ment] of the federal government,” Chung told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview today (November 5). “City council, what do they know about sharks, really? They know a lot of things about development, health, education. They do a good job, but what do they know about sharks? Kerry Jang for example, what does this guy know about sharks?”

But let me ask him this, what does this clown know about Sharks? He knows they make him a ton of dollars, that's for sure.

“His culture is totally Canadian, and he has no feeling for shark fin,” Chung reiterated to the Straight. “Canadian-born Chinese are based on Canadian culture....They’re called bananas for a good reason. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s not to be degrading. It just describes it well.”

Yes, I have no feeling for shark fin, only because an it's overpriced, bowl of stringy crap in a starch-based soup. I love a ton of other Chinese food, but I guess according to Chung's scale, that's not quite enough to be Chinese.

Chung views the involvement of Vancouver city councillors in the proposed shark-fin ban as an attack on Chinese culture. He said that a ban would infringe on a person’s fundamental right to choose what to eat.

Attack on Chinese culture my $^%. This logic is just about as stupid, rich condo-owners at UBC who
wre against the building of St John's Hospice for the dying because it was "bad luck"

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/vancouver-chinese-condo-owners-oppose-st-johns-hospice-dying-2747266.html

Here's another article about this moron:

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Shark+shouting+match+erupts+over+soup+Richmond+Jade+Seafood/7130185/story.html

You can tell he's full of great manners. Nobody pointed a gun at David Chung to come to Canada, if he doesn't like it here, there's still no gun pointed at him to stay. The door is wide open for him to return to whereever he came from.

Sun Sui Wa - Richmond

2012-09-20T07:55:00.001-07:00

You know a blog is in decline when posts come up only every few months and the only pictures that are posted are from a crappy phone cam, haha! But I promised a friend I would get back into it so here we are. My buddy Eric was in town and we hit a couple of places like Le Crocodile, and The Keg, but I've reviewed those places already and this time around, I only had my phone cam so I'm not going to repost. We still have to go to Bishop's one of these days, but that will have to wait till his next visit.

So the night before Eric went back, he tells me he has a craving for seafood. I was thinking ok, let's go to Alleluiah and he can have the baked seafood on rice but he had other things in mind. We ended up at Sun Sui Wa, a place that evidently has no late night combos of baked seafood on rice that comes with a cream soup and ice lemon tea. I let Eric do the ordering and we started off with this scallop and mushroom soup (at least I think there were mushrooms in it). I guess they were using dried scallops to make it, so the first thing I thought of was how I was going to replicate this and my mind drifted to the Chinese medicine shops in Chinatown that sell dried scallops. I figure dried scallops, enoki mushrooms and cornstarch? Anyway, it tasted good.

Eric ordered Alaskan King Crab steamed with garlic and green onions. It was a medium sized one apparently, but there was enough to feed about ten people and there were only three of us this night. I have to tell you, I don't eat much Alaskan King Crab, maybe a few times a decade. It sure is a step up from dungeness crab, which is already a treat so when Eric ordered this, I couldn't stop grinning. The three of us stuffed ourselves to the point where we actually had about a quarter of the dish left. The crab was steamed perfectly and the meat came out from the shell without much effort. Surprisingly, the garlic didn't overwhelm the flavour of the crab. Since we had leftovers, when the staff were packing it all up, I made sure that they didn't pour out the drippings. It's packed full of flavour that you could easily make a crab bisque with it, or dump it into pasta, or cook veggies with it. It would be criminal not to.

On top of ordering crab, Ercic also ordered scallops steamed in a similar sauce of garlic and green onions. The three of us were on sensory overload from the crab already and the scallops came half-way through. Surprisingly, we were still able to enjoy the scallops. Again, steamed perfectly, not rubbery at all.

Another shot of the crab. I know we had veggies at some point in the evening, but I guess I was so distracted by the seafood, I must have neglected to take a picture of it. The food at Sun Sui Wa was pretty good, as was the service. The staff was always there to make sure we had clean plates, the dishes came quick and they were always friendly. You know it's a better than average Chinese restaurant when they give you the wet wipes before and after your meal, haha!

Parker Place Food Court - Shanghai Goodies and Lai Taste

2012-07-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a month of firsts. First the Beaver Tails, now Viet Namese Subs. Can you believe I've never had a Viet Namese Sub? Anyway, I'll get to that later. I was out with my parents and they were giving me the Parker Place Food Court tour. They go for walks everyday and part of their routine is to go someplace to get a snack. It used to be Richmond Public Market for the longest time, now it's Parker Place for XLB and and Viet Namese Subs. I decided to meet up with them after one of their walks and was really, really hungry so we ordered a bunch of stuff to try.

I usually can't handle spicy, but sometimes I like to tempt fate like here with the Hong You Cao Sou (No idea how to write it properly). Anyway, essentially it's wonton noodles in a spicy sauce. It wasn't too bad considering it was a food court, and you really can't complain about the pricing.

Sen Jian Bao (again, no idea how you're supposed to spell it) were okay, but a bit dry inside compared to some other places that serve it. Still, they were tasty overall and for the price, it's hard to complain.

XLB! I can't believe I'm using this acronym, because I always thought of them as Shao Long Bao, but then again, I guess that depends on what part of the world you're from. I could never figure out how the hell you get a "sh" sound out of an "x", but whatever, that's opening a whole other can of worms. The XLB were not too bad, skin was a bit thick, but still tasty. They had a decent about of soup inside so more or less made right. There's this place in the Aberdeen Food Court that makes better food-court xlb, but that's just my opintion. These are definitely still good enough to eat that I won't bother walking to Aberdeen if I'm already in Parker Place. Decent food, cheap, quick and easy. Chinese fast food at it's finest. Yeah, I'd go back.

Part two of the tour was my introduction to Viet Namese Subs. Now, being in the Parker Place Food Court, some might question the authenticity of this Viet Namese shop. For me, I couldn't care less who made it, as long as it tasted good.

I tried the pho and the cuts of beef were quite different from what I'm used to. Thicker, and more of it. The quality of the beef was good, unfortunately the broth itself didn't have very much flavour (haha, maybe not enough MSG). Anyway, the star of this shop isn't the "pho", it's the subs. Authentic or not, they taste awesome, and there's no way to beat the price - cheaper than dirt.

We ordered two types of subs, the pork and the fish. Both were absolutely amazing. The pork was tender, with a thinly breaded coating. It was like veal (yeah, I know, veal is baby cow and we're talking about pigs here). The veg wasn't overwhelming the meat, and I think the combination of the pickled radish and carrot combo (sort of sweet and sour) along with the celantro is a perfect paring to the deep fried pork. This combo comes wrapped in a lightly toasted French-style baguette. It wasn't hard, it wasn't chewy, it didn't fall apart and every bite was suprisingly neat because none of the ingredients fought against the other as in some other subs.

The fish sub was also delectable. Same veg ingredients, and a perfect blend of textures. Best of all, a stupidly low price considering you get a very tasty and rewarding meal.

Gonna try the brisket next time. Had the beef, hope the brisket will be better. Or maybe I'll just order more subs next time! I never had a Viet Namese Sub before, so are they all this good? I will definitely have to start experimenting with other places, but damn, Lai Taste really delivers for less than a fist full of dollars.

Beavertails - Holy %&$# these are good

2012-07-12T08:38:00.001-07:00

How is it I was born in Canada, grew up in Canada, yet never experienced eating a beaver...tail? Haha, all kidding aside, I got to partake in this magical experience for the first time at Lonsdale Quay Public Market. I've seen people line up for these things, and now I sorta get why. Apparently, they're not that high in fat and calories (less than a muffin or scone according to them), but something that tastes this good can't be good for you, haha!

I wonder how much fat and calories are in the Nutella one that I had?

So this was my taste of amazing. I found it was light and fluffy with a thin crispy coating, every bite melting in my mouth, held together only by the generous coating of Nutella. I could eat a dozen of these. I can't remember if wheat was the only option, but mine was wheat and it helped assuage my guilt for eating such at thing. I can't wait to go back, haha!

Alaskan King Crab at Lucky Tao

2012-07-10T16:38:00.001-07:00

God, this should have been posted bak in April or something, haha! I have really been neglecting this blog since I started that other hobby, but anyways, let's see if I can get back into it.

Alaskan King Crab was in season a few months back and all the Chinese restaurants were having their deals on. The one we chose to try was Lucky Tao. I haven't had Alaskan King Crab for ages and to be honest, I can't tell the diff between good quality and bad since I hardly ever have it. Take dungeness crab meat, throw it in a pool of garlic butter and I doubt I could tell it from Alaskan. But anyway, here we are at Lucky Tao.

The place was pretty crowded and considering we had a reservation, we still had to wait quite some time well past our reservation time. The staff worked hurriedly, with no time for idle chit-chat or smiles.

Out waiter brought out a crab to show us that the meat was indeed real, and not pre-frozen. I had my doubts originally because the tanks were filled to the brim, overcrowded even, with Alaskan King Crabs, yet everyone was ordering Alaskan King Crab. Then I saw a delivery of live crab brought in unceremoniously through the center of the restaurant and saw that yes, they just had a steady supply crabs.....I know, that sounds weird.

The first course was the legs, all opened up for us and served in this buttery garlic sauce. There were way too many of us, so I onyl had about two legs. Garlic and butter is always a good combo, especially when added to just about any seafood, so yeah, it tasted good. Not sure if it tasted $15.95 per pound good, but it tasted good. Funny thing was, I swear I didn't get a pound's worth of crab, haha!

The set meal allowed for a side dish so we chose deep fried prawns in seasoning salt. It was pretty tasty and the prawns were of a decent size. Good thing everyone else was holding out for the next crab dish so I got most of the prawns, haha!

Some sort of meat and veg, not worth mentioning.

Next was the fried rice served in the crab head. I honestly didn't detect much crab meat here, and the fried rice was a bit substandard. And *uck! What did they do with that gooey stuff some people call crab brains or Kani Miso? Oh, if they threw it out, what a waste it would be.

No idea what this was....some sort of jello pallet cleanser. The only reason I ate so much of it was because after our meal, I was still really, really hungry. It worked out to about $45 per person, and I felt a bit scammed because I was still hungry at the end!

Would I go back? Well, probably not. The service ended up being really good, two older gentlement were our primary servers and they were pretty nice. But damn, Alaskan King Crab is pretty expensive for me, so on that alone, I would probably not go back. The food tasted good overall and the service was decent, but to leave with $45 less in my wallet, and still be hungry is the biggest sin.

Olive Garden - Never Again

2012-04-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

After all the commercials, all the hype, and all the referals I get from some of my friends, I finally tried Olive Garden....for the last time. I think the last time I was this disappointed was when I had the Baked Seven Cheese Ravioli from Boston Pizza, Coquitlam. Anyway, we were down in Washington, probably for the first time in years for me, and I wanted to try something other than Jack-In-The-Box. Haha, we pulled into the parking lot, and there was nothing except BC plates!

We were starving, and easily susceptible to the shiny pictures in the menu. There were only two of us, so God knows why we ordered this platter.

I almost ordered this as well, thankfully I had a pang of conscious intelligence that kept me from doing so.

One of the things I really like about American restaurants is they have unsweetened iced tea. They call the sugary stuff Nestea, which is really an abomination of the original beverage.

I guess one of Olive Garden's charm is the comp salad and bread. The salad was nothing to write home about. In fact, it really left me nothing to write to you about either. Cheap greens cut unevenly, minamally dressed, and those red onions (I could have probably done without eating those) all tossed together in a cheap plastic bowl.

The bread was at least warm, but nothing particularly spectacular about them....reminded me of cheese bread, without the cheese.

Did I mention the greens (well, in this case, the whites) were unevenly cut? I don't often find chunks like this, not even at Uncle Willy's.

So, the platter of previously frozen appies came and it was of such a substandard, it probably wouldn't have passed for food even in a university dive-bar.

The fried cheese tasted like the standard-issue mozzerlla sticks found in Costco, or Denny's. Not bad eaten, if you're pouring gallons of beer down your neck during a beer-bong challenge.

The stuffed mushrooms were heaving. Overseasoned to the point where I could feel my blood pressure rise with every bite. There was kalamari on this sampler platter as well, but I'm not even going to bother talking about it. Bottom line, don't order the platter.

The spaghetti and deep fried eggplant didn't taste good, just weird. The seasoning in the tomato sauce just didn't match the deep friend egg plant, and the noodles...not al dente, not seasoned, and felt like they were straight out of the boiling water....not even a drizzle of olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking together! It was college cafeteria noodles all over again.

Mine tasted good only the first few bites, but then I realized how salty this dish was. I like my ramen salty, but this was unreal. There was probably twice the recommended dosage of salt in my dish, and I managed to finish it with several refills of iced tea.

There was a bonus linguini noodle that came with the spaghetti.

Classy.....instead of the chocolate, I would have preferred a mint, or a gallon of water.

My first, and last time to Olive Garden. What a horrendous pasta experience, and with dishes like the ones we had, I really have no idea how this chain stays in business. Thank heavens for places like Italian Kitchen, Italian Tomato, and Anton's.

Moxie's on Davie

2012-04-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it was me, or if it was just daytime. I hadn't been to a Moxie's in a while, and I think I've only gone at night, but the presentation on the food just didn't look as nice as I remembered. Who knows, maybe it might have just been this location, I'll have to give them another try sometime to make sure.

I ordered the Sirloin Steak Salad, something I knew tasted good before. It seemed different in many ways. First, there was a lot more food on the plate than I remembered, which is a good thing when the food tastes good. And it did, but there was something else different about it and I still can't quite place it. It just didn't look as appetizing as I remembered. Maybe it was the choice of greens, or maybe it was just the lighting. The sirloin steak was cooked just the way I like it - bloody rare, it came with the goat cheese, and the same dressing as I remembered.....no corn bread. I could swear it used to come with cornbread that tasted like banana bread. Anyway, it still tasted good, and there was a lot of food, so I wasn't disappointed at all.

Here's another shot of my steak salad. It came with refular bread with goat cheese on top, so it was different than before, but not in a bad way.

My colleagues didn't complain about their food, nor did they offer me any so I could write about it, haha, but one thing that did catch everyon's eye. Someone found a grape in their soup. I have no idea if this was supposed to be there or not, but it was kind of weird to find that in one's soup, haha!

The Gillnetter Pub

2012-04-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

After spending a few hours at DVC Ventures , some of the guys and gals like to go to the Gillnetter Pub to unwinde a bit. Haha, for me, being at the range feels like unwinding, but what the heck, I tag along after to for some unecessary calories.

They've got my favourite Scotch - Chivas, which is always a plus for me.

I heard some of the other food here is actually quite good, but I'm not usually hungry so I end up splitting a monster platter of nachos with everyone else.

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but they really, really layer in the cheese, and just about every chip inside the pile has cheese melted to it. There have been some days where we'd swear there was more cheese than chips. I'll have to make an effort to try something else next time I go to DVC.

Boston Pizza Grandview Highway

2012-04-18T13:56:00.003-07:00

I've never had a good experience with Boston Pizza before, and I don't know if it was because I wasn't expecting much or because I ordered the right thing, but I actually had a good experience at the Boston Pizza on Grandview Highway.

A couple of my old co-workers got together and went to Boston Pizza to grab a bite to eat. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was nice to get together with them finally.

We started off with a couple of appies that turned out pretty tasty, including some potato skins and some sort of Thai Chicken. Actually not too bad, and would have been awesome with a couple of cold ones, but I was driving.

I knew that my Baked 7 Cheese Ravioli was an epic fail during the last time I was at Boston Pizza, so I steered clear of any pasta they wanted for $16. Anyway, they had some sort of special that was floating around $10, so I ordered the Taco Pasta.

I know what you're thinking, is this the same Peter that so vehemently ripped apart the Boston Pizza (Coquitlam) in a scathing review? Yep, I tore a strip out of them, but I guess in this case, the price matched the taste and quality so there was nothing to be bitter about. The pasta was actually cooked al dente, the green onions were freshly cut, the garlic toast wasn't bone-dry, and the strange combination of Tex-Mexican and Italian actually worked.

There were some other dishes ordered, and the concensus was good all around, but in combination to some appies and my own dish, I was pretty content. The service here was good, and the staff were friendly and attentive. Would I go back? Probably, if I was in the area.

Milestone's Coquitlam

2012-04-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a fan of Milestone’s for a while now, and I know it’s not fine dining and not on par to the likes of Chop, The Keg, or Joey’s, but it’s a pretty good bang for your buck as far as family restaurants are concerned and the food is definitely a step above say White Spot, Swiss Chalet, Denny’s or Red Robin’s (are the even around still?). I know I’ve been to this location before several times, but when I went through my postings, I couldn’t find one for this location. We stopped in to this place after a day at the range and settled down to what was really my first meal of the day. I don’t recall eating anything all day, but I guess I was having too much fun sending anger down range, haha!

The spinach and artichoke dip is a long-time favourite at Milestone’s and probably one of their signature appies. The dip itself is served warmed and comes with bottomless tortilla chips....wish the dip was bottomless too, haha!

I ordered my usual favourite - the Four Cheese Burger. It comes with a quality sesame bun, decent burger patty, veg and 4 lovely cheeses including goat and feta, and it’s topped with roasted garlic that literally melts in your mouth. I ordered mine with a Caesar Salad that was also topped with the same roasted garlic.

We ended up with some sort of desert our server talked us into, not even sure what it was but it sure looks tasty doesn’t it? Haha, I think it was a freshly baked double chocolate cookie topped with ice cream. The service here was as good as any Milestone’s (with the exception of the Yaletown location which I was not amused with one particular time. This location, I would go in again if I was ever in the area.

Dim Sum at Bing Sheng

2012-04-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

I went with my parents to visit my Grandma's place a while ago and from her place, we walked to Bing Sheng. We've been here before and I'm usually pretty hungry when I go, and pretty full and happy when I leave.

Chicken knees, haha! I've got a couple of friends that get creeped out by this sort of thing, but I love the stuff. Would be better on a hot summer night accompanied by an ice-cold beer or some sake, but it's nice for breakfast as well, haha!

The congee was piping hot, and stayed hot for along time, probably because of the stone pot. It also didn't seperate and get all watery half-way through your meal like some places I know.

The hagow are crammed with shrimp and the skin is thin enough that if you're not careful, the whole thing will grenade on you.

Steamed pork ribs were built up with butternut squash filler, which isn't that bad. I was tempted to order a bowl of rice and just dump the leftover drippings into it, but I refrained.

The siumai were also on the large side, and packed pork and shrimp.

Have I mentioned I love egg tarts?

Steak at Jay's

2012-04-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

Once in a while, I like to spoil myself and go to my buddy Jay's place for dinner. His dad likes to throw a huge hunk 'o meat in the oven, just to remind me of how awesome a chef he is.

Just look at that glorious slab of cow, roasted to perfection. Now you know why I'm friends with Jay, haha, kidding.

And it's not just the meat, it's all the other stuff that comes with it, all the fixin's...stomach's grumbling, time to cut this short and go get something to eat....