Deer garden and then dannys screamers

Malay laksa w/ udon ///// Orange creamsicle to share for dessert

Hits the spot. I am in a food coma now.

Been to tap and barrel countless times.
When i had the steak, I went on a Monday, 11 AM, not busy, everything deep fried were freshly made, kitchen staff weren't busy. Unlike those who go there for drinks during happy hr + getting smashed, of course any pub food taste like shit at 8 PM on a Friday night during jam packed hours.

At Craft: the beer selection is legit which is why i enjoy going there.
i also went for lunch on a Tuesday, 11:30 before the rush. I had their Tomahawk Pork Chop: (Black garlic BBQ glazed pork chop served with sautéed greens and white cheddar grits.) It was legit. they did a great job, not over cooked, super juicy in the center.

Happy hour is cheap but their wings are shit.. for that exact reason.

Shabeens:

Behind Irish Heather. Did a private Scotch tasting.
Ninety Canadian Rye Whisky 20 Year Old $12
Glendalough 13 Year Old Single Malt $18
Craigellachie 13 yr $13
Macallan Sienna $25
Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach $20
Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon $unknown
Ardbeg Corryvreckan $20

300 bottles behind the counter and the scotch nerd had tasted them all. very knowledgeable.

Bao Down Gastropub + Raw Bar.
Their CHICKEN wings were AWESOME. fried perfectly. it had the longest description (free range, organic, blah blah blah blah), 8 wings for $16 bucks I think, it was legit, it was exactly why it needed that long title; to explain why it's so epic.
new on the menu so you gotta try, i'm pretty sure it'll be back as a regular menu item.

They have oysters, and happy hr etc. Sat by the bar and the shucker / bartender. He was having an easy day esp. when you don't need to shuck oysters like gong show at Rodney's. Super friendly and had a great conversation with him. PEI oysters were great.
Decor was ok, will be back to try the menu extensively.

Cuchillo
typical location, hipster food.
Their MOLÉ LAMB ALBONDIGAS was not bad. however, it was just two tacos on a plate. no plating
I went there to try their churros. The sauce, presentation and the DULCE DE LECHE TAMARIND BUTTERSCOTCH, CARMELIZED PINEAPPLE Y HONEYCOMB was good, however, the Churros was not fresh so that was a killer.
The drinks was also meh.

The mackenzie room
They have something called "I want it all" IWIA. $53 a person, 4 min, and you get EVERYTHING. 5 of their salads, 2 desserts, and 4 main courses.
EVERYTHING was a knock out. Everything is on a chalk board so it changes. Salads were refreshing, and each salad always had ONE critical element that was just awesome. I mean, come on... it's only a salad, but that 1 element made it work.

main course: from slow braise short ribs, bone marrow, paella type meal, ALL were great. Lovely sauce paired etc. The ONLY dish I had an issue with was the rabbit. Took lean and it was over cooked.

Dessert was a flambe of a pie for one of the dish. Very cool. Only issue was that the crust wasn't cooked properly.
BTW, the bartender is 1000% awesome. Amazing cocktails and they do take their sweet ass time making it good.
Amazing service, they came and wiped down our table every course and just really had a good flow on a rustic restaurant. yes it's in the shady park of tow, but parking was $1 an hr.

Prohibition.
awesome 1920/30s drinking place. hidden out of no where, pure drinking down to the basics. Didn't try to Absinthe (2 people min, $43 per person), bartendar has a tough and long night so i won't take it out on him. Knowledgeable and knows his drinks well (duh). Will go back but must go with someone who knows and appreciates alcohol.

Suspected norovirus closes Craft Beer Market temporarily after 6 customers fall ill:badpokerface:

JK, I've been to Craft twice. First time I went there I ordered the 20 Napkin Burger, it was impressive when it showed up, had a cute little slider on top.
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...t-edmonton.jpg
However the patty was very dry and the sauce was overly salty. One of the worst burgers I've had.
2nd time I just shared the nacho platter and got hammered.

I also went to Tap & Barrel once, very below average and with the 2 places a stones throw away I would pick Craft for their beer selection. Good for light snack and drinks but if I was in that area and looking for a real dinner I would avoid both.

The bartender at Mackenzie room... Was it a white guy with sleeves? Or a Philippino guy with tattoos and big plugs? I've worked with both and can confirm they are both fucking awesome, at their jobs and just being humans in general.

Sandbar for company dinner...

Red Thai Curry Mussels 8/10 (medium sized scallops but the quantity made up for it)

10oz New York Striploin + Seared Scallops 10/10 (Steak done perfectly along with well seasoned scallops)

White Chocolate Cheesecake 9.5/10 (not too sweet, just perfect to my liking)

You have lots of nice company dinners lol lucky bloke

^ 2nd one within 3 weeks :P

From what my colleagues told me. They went to Hawksworth for Xmas dinner... :pokerface:

Philippino guy with tattoos and big plugs. They literally said on the menu "drinks takes a long time" and hell yeah it did. Longer than usually but yes, it was a solid drink.

He was featured in teh BC Liquor magazine (restaurant and bartender) last quarter. Never really got a chance to sit at the bar.

Another dude who got feature was bartender at Torafuku. He was so fluid and passionate on making the drink you could see it when he's crafting his creations.

http://scoutmagazine.ca/media/2015/1..._9456_1024.jpg

+1 33 acres, I lock up my bike, get food at the food truck outside and a drink inside.

sun sui wah for birthday like usual lol

went down hill... 5/10 lol

Sura on Robson 7/10

Service was very on point, in Korean restaurant standards at least

Samgyetang (Ginseng chicken soup) had absolutely no ginseng flavour. Had a spicy squid bulgogi which was alright, and the vegetable pancake was good.

Luckily caught it at a good time and only had to wait 10 minutes. This place is usually packed whenever I pass by it. Definitely would've rated it way less if I had to wait any longer for it

Newton Beef Noodle House 4/10

Food: Alright. Service: Utter shite. It was slow and disorganized.

I was with a party of three. Two of us wanted cold water and one wanted tea. They brought two cups of tea and one cup of water. The tea tasted like dish water (it was plum tea).

We had to grab our own menus and wave them down to order our food. I ordered popcorn chicken with rice and it was alright, but nothing to write home about. Beautiful Island in Burnaby has the best popcorn chicken.

My order came around 1/2 hr after we ordered and the rest of the food came ~10 minutes afterwards. We asked for another cup of cold water and the waitress basically played hot potato getting the other waitress to bring the water to us. None of them couldn't seem to get their shit together except for one waitress who was doing most of the work.

They did the same thing when it was time for the bill. We had to go to the front to pay and get the hell out. I will never step foot in that place, the food is not worth the dreadful 'service'.

Le Crocodile 9.5/10

one of, if not the best dinners I've ever had. Stood above almost all the Michelin star restaurants I've been to last night.

Food was bang on, every dish. Party of 7 so we got to try a lot of different dishes but many of them we ended up ordering 3 or 4 of, and could have done more lol..

to start:
Tartare
Bone Marrow
Escargot (wow.. better than most places i had in Paris etc their presentation and sauce was insane)
White Asparagus
Pan Seared Foie in a demi glaze reduction
Le Croc's Gin Tomato Soup
Oysters (some of the best Kusshi oysters ive had, ever)
Lobster Tempura with Pan seared Scallops

Mains:
Braised Lamb Shank with gnocchi in a red wine reduction (This was my main, i knew i should have went with my gut and gotten one of the other 2 dishes i was looking at but ended up with the lamb.. i always find lamb to be rather bland, and even though this was fall off the bone tender, with an amazing reduction, the meat itself was not as flavorful as i had hoped, i would have taken anyone elses main over my own.

Lamb Chops with grainy mustard sauce
Veal Cheeks with Parpadelle in a red wine sauce
Prawns and Scallops in a cream sauce with angel hair pasta
Beef tenderloin with a Foie terrine on top in a reduction

It was 2 of our birthdays so as a special treat in between the mains and dessert they were nice enough to bring out the whole table a sample of their pear sorbet, 2 of them with birthday candles, really nice touch and great servers/Som working last night

The kitchen then sent us out a tart with shantrels and prosciutto mince, great little treat

for dessert i had the Cheese plate with a great sauternes along side it

few other people had the house specials going on, a grand mariner soufle, and a passion fruit creme brule with tart raspberry reduction, wow again, what a fantastic dish.

Wine was on point, went through 2 different magnums we had looked into prior to going and the Som was in full agreement with our choices. Great cocktails and martinis as well.

I had not been in probably 7-8 years, and had completely forgot my prior experiance, but man, it definately wont be that long till i return. Best Meal/Dining experience i've probably had in Vancouver hands down.

That prawn and scallop angel hair :sweetjesus:

Did you happen to try any of the other mains? If so which ones do you recommend?

The veal cheeks and parapadelle was excellent, I'd get it for sure

The tenderloin with the foie terrine on top was also insane. My buddy had the tenderloin cooked Chicago blue, and it was done absolutely perfect, that cut/cook mixed with the slices of the terrine on top was to die for.

I regret not going with the venison/confit or the veal done Neptune style with king crab. But after trying everything I think I'd have a hard time saying every dish wouldn't be one id recommend

Still deciding to go to Le crocodile or West for SO's birthday

do it. one of my fave restaurants

Heya,
I need to ask.
What do you feel (in the food department) is making them stand above other Michelin restaurants?

I mean, the menu you listed out looks good.
imho, any decent chef should be able to assemble a good looking menu on paper.
But what part of that execution do you feel elevated it for you?
The sides? The sauces? Presentation?

Hoping you might be able to illuminate what takes pasta + braised meat to Michelin levels.
Or say the lobster tempura?


Any insight you have would be most appreciated.

I've only been to three michelin star places, and none were three stars (kinda funny to say "only" but w/e lol)

been to:
L'atelier de Joel Roubechon Vegas
Antoine - Paris
La Tour d'Argent - Paris

All of them were definitely unique experiences, and in each one, mostly due to the $$$ we went with the tasting menus (which.. may be why i enjoyed Le Croc so much) I found many of the dishes i ate in these places to be non-memorable.. delicious at the time, but for the most part i was more Wowed with the presentation and setting than the food itself.

The most memorable dining experience I've ever had, and probably will ever have unless i can step up into the great 3 star places was at Tour D'Argent.. i find it hard to believe there are many more places in the world with better service, literally being waited on hand and foot. And the servers, Som, matridee (sp) couldn't have been nicer or more personable. By the time we were seated we were probably served by 5-6 different people.

at tour d'argent i had the traditional duck served in the gravy made from the bones and innards pressed through the silver "duck press" one of the oldest and most traditional dishes around. The taste was something i had never had before or since.. completely unique and a dish that really had me thinking and searching my pallet for the flavors. Outside of the duck the other dishes were unfortunately largely forgettable if it wasn't for pictures. a Cold cucumber salad with vegetable gelatin, again, very unique but i wouldn't say it blew my socks off. Followed by the pan seared thighs, a sort of confit in a vinaigrette. Great presentation, but flavor was kinda meh..

I know a lots of people have never experienced fine dining, and i even know some people who would argue the difference between a West, Hawks, Croc, etc and a Cactus club is negligible.

I'm a fairly easy person to please and believe i have a decent all around palate so when i see a menu like La Croc's i get pretty excited off the hop because almost everything there, im into. Love french cuisine, it's probably among, if not my favorite so it's already up there in my head as well.

So when i start digging into dishes like the Tartar, and it's fucking bang on then i get a little deeper into the taste with the sauce surrounding it and super thinly sliced cucumbers below, those small additions i really notice change the taste big time and give me that extra little wow factor as to how much i'm enjoying it

most of french food could be considered comfort food as well, so when i'm stuffing down bone marrow and a nice peice of foie, i'm almost just thinking like fuck.. are you kidding me? so decadent and rich lol

i think at the end of the day i've seen presentation good and bad but flavor never lies, and if you get me with that flavor i'm sold. A lot of the michelin places are so concerned with presentation that its almost like ohhhhh ahhhh looks so nice! but then the flavour presented is like X

just trying to get to and show off that one flavor they are looking to show if that makes any sense.. there are a few places on my list to go to which are obviously trying to reinvent the wheel and go completely outside the box like le bernardin etc. and are breaking things down so far that you are experiencing something completely different

And yea, in response to the last part of your post there, the Lobster tempura, and pasta dishes obviously arent really up to that Michelin star standard, any good chef i'm sure can pull out some amazing pasta dishes.. but looking at the meal as a whole, the mains were almost an after thought to top off the amazing dishes we were already into.

I'd sum up the meal as a whole to be fantastic, where as the Michelin meals i've had had some ups and downs, Croc had me start to finish, even with the somewhat disappointing Braised lamb as i said.

Sorry for dat run on mumblings

i liked le croc because personally i don't really care for food that tries to be too innovative and technically impressive. same reason i don't care for a place like alinea, or the fat duck, which are the types of places the michelin guide loves.
just make food that tastes good, has warm service and a cozy atmosphere.

during the right season, pastis i THINK serves that, or was it bishops, totally forgot which one but it was on W4th. i need to google again.

I know tastes are extremely subjective but theres no way I'd say Le Crocodile would be better than L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. That place blew my mind with the things they were able to do. I didn't know mashed potatoes could be so orgasmic before I ate there, among other things. Hell, even the bread and butter there was amazing.

No disrespect, we all love good food here. Just my opinion :)

It 100% depends on who put that food on your plate that night. No matter how calculated, how intense, how talented a chef is, they are at the mercy of the chef de partie that plates that food.

I'd rather have a piece of meat seasoned and cooked perfectly with a nicely seasoned pile of fresh yellow wax beans and butter, than a 63 degree egg with potato foam, porcini air and some fuckin fruit gel made from juice and agar agar.

I've never had yellow wax beans and butter.

:okay: