Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Today’s post is going to be extra long because:
(1) I have not been posting as regularly these days and I’m feeling guilty 
(2) I happened to eat at Water St. Cafe twice during a 3-week span so I thought it would be better to post about both visits at once
The first dinner was a gals’ night out with Tricia and Juanita. It’s always fun to meet up at a new place for dinner. I’ve never been to Water St. Cafe before but both Tricia and Juanita had and were happy to go back. It also didn’t hurt that we had an Entertainment Book coupon that gave us a free entree.
After we ordered, we were presented with some fresh bread. There were two different kinds and they were both warm, which I enjoyed. The butter was also easy to spread, which is something too often overlooked by many restaurants.
Tricia and I shared the spinach salad, which came with tomatoes, goat cheese croutons, pancetta, pine nuts, and a red wine vinaigrette. The crispy elements in this salad went really well with the soft spinach. I also liked how the vinaigrette was very light and didn’t drench the salad.
Juanita had a Caesar salad to start her meal. This looked very tasty and Juanita enjoyed it quite a bit.
All three of us chose pasta entrees. First up was Juanita’s clam pasta in white wind sauce. This came loaded with clams (some fresh and some canned) and looked delicious.
Tricia picked the spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli. Although there weren’t as many pieces of ravioli as she would have liked, the ravioli was quite big and it was very tasty. Even though initial thoughts were that the dish was kind of small, it turned out to be very filling.
I chose the pesto linguine with chicken. I found the pesto to have too much oil puddled at the bottom but it tasted great overall. The linguine came with a lot of chicken chunks, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. I only ate half of this and ended up bringing the other half to work the next day.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable meal. We were too stuffed for dessert but luckily for you, we had dessert at the second Water St Cafe dinner…
Fast forward a few weeks and I was back at Water St Cafe for a Father’s Day dinner with my family. I’ll highlight some of the dishes we tried as well as dessert.
We decided to share a couple of appetizers that day and settled on the smoked salmon and the bruschetta. Although I enjoyed the tomato and basil spread on the bruschetta, I like my bread to be a bit toastier and crunchier.
The smoked salmon was very good. There wasn’t anything very unique about this dish but it was done well. The dill cream cheese went great with the salmon and triangle toasts.
Gricked decided to have the potato gnocchi with shrimp, prosciutto, and squash. If this sounds filling, it really was! Even after sharing with all of us, he still had about half left over, which he ended up bringing for lunch the next day. The shrimp and squash made for an interesting combination and this was a very tasty dish.
Most of us were too full for dessert but we decided to share a couple of items anyway. I decided to have the flourless espresso chocolate tart. For some reason, I thought this was going to be like a chocolate lava cake but it turned out to be more like a dense truffle tart. It also came with some preserved cherries, which went pretty well with the tart but created a watery soup in my dish, which I could have done without. I would have also enjoyed the cherries if they had a stronger flavour.
My grandparents and my mom chose the tiramisu. It tasted pretty standard and nothing stood out about it though.
The next time I’m at the Water St Cafe, I’ll probably do without the dessert and just stick with a main course. Their pastas were great but I’ll probably try their non-pasta mains next time just to see how they compare. I should also note that on my second trip to Water St Cafe, service was extremely slow and they seemed to be quite understaffed despite it being Father’s Day. I didn’t keep count but it must have taken us at least 20 minutes just to get the bill at the end.
Details:
300 Water Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-689-2832
Summary:
Food: 
Service: (mostly due to the slow service the second time around)
Price: $$
Posted in Vancouver, Lower Mainland Cities, Italian, Reviews | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
It was team lunch time at work so we all headed to La Piazza Dario down at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver. I never knew about this restaurant until recently but several of my co-workers have raved about this and even said it was better than some of the restaurants they went to in Italy. Because there were so many of us, I was only able to review and take pictures of my own dishes and Chris’s because he sat next to me.
I started with the Caprese salad, which had sliced tomatoes and boccocini cheese. The pesto on top of the boccocini and tomatoes added a nice punch of flavour. My tomatoes were also a bit on the crunchy side, which I prefer and think it makes a nice contrast with the creamy and soft cheese.
Chris had a Caesar salad, which he enjoyed quite a bit. There seemed to be a healthy amount of dressing, but it was not too overwhelming.
The Linguini al Pesto was a popular choice that day as Chris, Allison, and I all picked it for our main course. I also asked for a little bit of extra Parmesan cheese to be sprinkled over top. The linguini was full of great pesto flavour and not too heavy, despite it probably accounting for one’s entire carbs requirements for the day. :) It was simple but very tasty and I ended up polishing off the whole plate.
It was my first time at Dario’s but probably not the last. We came for lunch and the prices were quite reasonable with most pastas coming in around $13-14 and the meat mains coming in at about $13-15. Even though we were there at 11:30 for lunch on a Monday afternoon, the restaurant was actually quite full and it was a good thing we made reservations.
Details:
3075 Slocan St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-430-2195
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$
Posted in Italian, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2008
For the past few months, I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Steveston Pizza Co based out of Steveston Village in Richmond. I read reviews about how the pizza was so good, people would order it and would finish the whole box on their way home while still in the car! For me, pizza is always more of a lunchtime event and unfortunately, Steveston Pizza Co doesn’t open until 4pm on Tuesdays to Sundays.
Jenkins and I happened to be in the area one day so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to pick some up for dinner. Jenkins’ brother and dad were back at his house so we ordered two large pizzas to take back to his place.
The Italian pizza was loaded with pepperoni, Genoa salami, capicolli, olives, roasted peppers, and caramelized onions. The crust on all the pizzas here are thin and not oily at all. Surprisingly, all the ingredients on the pizza did not make the crust too soggy, even though it took us about 20 minutes to get back to Jenkins’ place.
We also ordered a Hawaiian pizza, which is one of Jenkins’ favourites. Similar to the Italian pizza, the Hawaiian also came loaded with yummy toppings…this time ham and pineapple. Both pizzas came with chunks of basil that were sprinkled overtop and roasted in the oven. This gave the pizzas a unique taste that really complimented both the base ingredients.
Most large pizzas at Steveston Pizza Co cost about $20, which is about average for even places like Panago and Pizza Hut. What is different about this place is that the pizzas taste MUCH better. Another thing I liked about these pizzas was that there was not too much cheese nor tomato sauce. I find that some places tend to overload on these two items, which makes the pizza turn out to be too heavy. If it was the summer, I would have bought a pizza to eat on the pier, which was just a couple of blocks away. :) Even though we put in our order just before six, there was a huge queue of pizzas waiting to be picked up already and a steady stream of people walking in to place more orders.
Details:
100-3400 Moncton St, Richmond
Tel: 604-204-0777
Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Italian, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
Victoria and I popped over to Sciue the other day for a quick dinner. It is billed as a bistro featuring Roman street food. When I was in Rome a few years ago, I couldn’t get enough of the pizzas and sandwiches for sale at the various stands and shops so I knew I had to try Sciue and see what it was all about. It is located in downtown Vancouver at 800 W. Pender St (by Howe).
Once inside, we quickly discovered that the restaurant was similar to Bread Garden or Cafe Artigiano in that there was a counter full of food that you can order and it seemed to be prepared fresh daily. Although they also have a variety of soups and salads, their featured items are the Roman-style pizzas…
…and panini sandwiches.
Victoria and I decided to split a mushroom pizza and the Emilia panini, which had prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato, and mixed greens. The pizza is prepared in long thin rows and the portions are cut by the server and then weighed to determine how much to pay. We asked our server to cut enough for one person and he heated it up in the oven for us.
I found the pizza to look much better than it tasted. Perhaps it was because the pizza was prepared earlier in the day, but the crust was very hard and difficult to bite into. The mushrooms were also a bit soggy, although there were lots of them.
Similar to the pizza crust, we also found the bread of the panini to be too hard and dry. The items in the panini (tomato, mozzarella, greens, and prosciutto) seemed like they should go well together, but did not seem to form a cohesive unit in this sandwich. I felt like this would have tasted very good if it was made fresh, which was not the case for us.
All in all, the concept of Sciue was pretty interesting but just didn’t work for me this time around. It is unlikely I will come back for dinner, although I may give it a try for lunch sometime. Most of the items they feature would work best if made fresh and just wasn’t meant to be saved for the end of the day. :) They also have a selection of Italian sodas, coffees, and desserts (including gelato!).
Details:
110-800 W Pender St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-602-7263
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Italian, Reviews | 2 Comments »
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