Original Joe's Restaurant & Bar

Restaurant: Original Joe’s Restaurant & Bar

Cuisine: American/Canadian/Pub food
Last visited: February 26, 2010
Area: Multiple locations - Richmond, BC (Ironwood)
1215 Davie Street
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5
Service: 4.5

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4

Additional comments:

• Multiple locations (Canadian franchise)
• Offers traditional/classic bar food
• Made from scratch dishes
• Big portions
• Great for beer
• Lots of seating
• Daily drink/food specials
• Busy during game nights
• Very casual atmosphere
• Free parking
• Big screen tv’s
• Great for snacks/beer
• Wine available
• Small selection of desserts
• Mon-Sun 11am - midnight

**Recommendation: Joe’s Red Tractor Nachos, Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich, Sweet Potato Fries

Original Joe’s is a really casual restaurant/bar/pub serving up traditional pub food made from scratch! I actually wouldn’t have guessed from the looks of it, but it is! They have multiple locations in Canada and in Vancouver and the lower mainland. This one I visited is the newest location – it’s the Richmond location that opened in January 2010.

I came to watch the Olympics Canada VS Slovak hockey game and we won…so my good spirits and enthusiastic atmosphere may influence my review to be higher than normal. Having said that I also don’t feel like I’ve tried enough to give a proper review, but I would definitely go back to try more things because I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed everything for the most part. The food was much better than expected and very affordable with big portions. It’s not pretentious and similar to places like Kelsey’s – definitely more bar/pub then contemporary restaurant like Earls which is also bar-ish.

They have daily specials at a bargain price – so there’s always something going on.

On the table:

Crantini

• Medium $9.50 Large $11.50
  
• It was on special for $4.75.
  
• It had 1 oz of Vodka but I could barely taste any…it was pretty much cranberry juice.

**Joe’s Red Tractor Nachos 6/6

• Crisp tortilla chips piled high; layered with melted cheddar and mozzarella, roma tomatoes, red and green onions, black olives and jalapenos. Served with fresh tomato salsa and sour cream. Full 15.99 – Half 12.99
• Add spicy beef, chicken or pulled pork 3.99 Guacamole 2.99
• I ordered a half order with chicken and they are seriously ENORMOUS. The really wonder if a full size is twice as big for $3 more…seriously the half order could feed 4 and looks like a full order.

• These were delicious! Lots of cheese, really fresh ingredients and big pieces of vegetables.
• You can’t really screw up nachos, unless you cheap out and don’t give enough toppings or cheese.
• I added chicken and it was nice big slices of grilled chicken breast.
• The salsa had corn in it, which was awesome.

**Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich 4.5/6

• Slow roasted pork shoulder, pulled, then “mopped” in your choice of sweet onion mustard, cider pepper, or southern style BBQ sauce. Topped with honey slaw and served on a fresh white bun. Served with your choice of 2 sides.10.99 (They serve all the sauces on the side)
  

• This was piled high and loaded with pulled pork and lots of honey cole slaw.
• The pork wasn’t too juicy, but still good, and with the BBQ sauce it was fine.
• I asked for all 3 sauces, however the server forgot 2 of them. I think the sauce I ended up getting was southern style BBQ sauce. It was a very tangy BBQ sauce with a big kick! It was almost like there was Frank’s hot sauce in it and tons of Worcestershire.

• I really liked the cole slaw. It was very lightly dressed, not a gloppy mess so the veggies weren’t soggy. It was a tangy dressing and mildly sweet with a touch of honey. Nice and crunchy.
• The bun was just a regular burger bun. Nice and soft though.
• 

Mango Pasta Salad – Side 1.5/6

• I didn’t like this side. It was a very simple pasta salad with dill like mayo dressing. The dressing was light but I thought it would be a sweet mango dressing.
• There was pretty much zero mango taste. The mango was little bits of fresh mango tossed in the salad. I found 2 pieces the size of bacon bits in the entire bowl.
• It didn’t necessarily taste bad but because they called it mango pasta salad, I was left very disappointed.
• It tasted like a very lightly dressed regular pasta salad with some black pepper, red onions, and red bell pepper. There wasn’t much bell pepper either.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Gravy – Side 2/6

• This was the most traditional mashed potatoes I’ve had.
• The mashed potatoes are very smooth and quite creamy, and although they claim everything is made in house…the potatoes tasted like packaged mashed potatoes. No garlic or additional flavorings…it was just any old mashed potato.
• I’m pretty sure the gravy is packaged, it really tastes like it.
• They topped the mashed potatoes with fried onions or shallots – which were extremely soggy and not good.

Steak & Prawns 4/6

• 6 ounce grilled steak and a skewer of prawns (your choice of garlic or Cajun) served with your choice of 2 sides. Friday special for $15.99
  
• I don’t expect a supreme quality of beef and you have to take into consideration it is pub food – so lower your expectations a bit.
• It was decent, it had a coating of course rub with sea salt on it and it was grilled really well. The meat was tender – not steakhouse quality obviously, but still very good.

• The prawns were not made in house – I think they’re the pre seasoned frozen ones from Sysco Food distributor. I can’t confirm, but from appearance and the fact that you can chose the flavours I’m pretty sure they are the pre-prepared kind. They are still good, but just not made in house.
• They’re a bit small and obviously fresh ones would be better, but for $15.99 – they do the job.

**Sweet Potato Fries – Side 5/6

• Cut thin, fried crisp and seasoned with a house made spice blend. Served with our signature dill dip or chipotle sauce.
• Extra 1.99 as a side, or 6.99 as appetizer
• I thought they did a great job with these!
• They’re very lightly seasoned and not that salty at all, but still flavourful. They are cut thin so they were actually very crispy.
• I think they served it with the dill dip because the sauce wasn’t spicy at all…however it was orange so I’m not sure. It basically tasted like a yogurt based dip with dill flavour – so it was almost like a mixture of dill dip and chipotle yogurt dip…but not spicy.

Caesar Salad – Side 2/6

• This was just a standard quickly thrown together Caesar salad. Not much else to say here. A few bacon bits and croutons on top.

Sushi Garden

Restaurant: Sushi Garden – Japanese Restaurant

Cuisine: Japanese/Sushi

Last visited: January 25, 2010
Area: Burnaby, BC

4635 Kingsway
Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4

Service: 3.5 (Despite comments on poor service, I actually had good service)

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 3.5

Additional comments:

• Cheap sushi, that’s good!
• Bang for you buck
• Pretty generous portions and big pieces
• Extensive menu
• Some creative/fusion rolls
• Lots of seating and still very busy!
• Very casual
• Very busy at lunch and dinner
• Set menus
• Same owners as California Sushi in Coquitlam
• Line-ups/wait list right at 6pm
• Dine in/Take out
• Serves alcohol
• Mon-Sat 11am-10pm
• Sunday 11:30-9:30pm
• Free parking at rear

**Recommendation: Alaska roll, Tuna Gomae, (Also popular for Dynamite roll, chopped scallop roll, sashimi)

I’ve been to Sushi Garden on several occasions, but every time I go I always have to wait 20min before I get seated. It’s busy in there all the time! Even when I get there at 6pm there’s already a waitlist. The main reason: the price! Yes it is a cheap sushi joint, but is it good? I think it is! The pieces are pretty big (not like Samurai Sushi big, but still big) and you can eat like a king for $12-15 including tax and tip! It’s nothing fancy and they have a huge menu so it’s a great go-to place. The value is definitely there and when I’m up for quick, satisfying and something affordable – then this is a great choice.

So apparently the owners are Korean although some of their recipes seem to have some Chinese influence. (You’ll see what I mean). There are some fusion/creative dishes which, as you know, I always like! It’s a pleasant surprise and unexpected for a sushi joint of this style.

I was with my friend who was visiting from Austria and we were shopping for hours at Metrotown across the street. Originally I wanted to go to a nicer sushi place, but we were too hungry and wanted something close by. He had only tried sushi once at a Chinese restaurant in Austria so I had to bring him for sushi! I know?! What an alien right?! He ended up trying Shanghai River, Sushi Garden, Japadog, La Belle Patate, Benkei Ramen, Blendz Coffee, East is East, smoked salmon, candied salmon, and maple syrup with French toast! I think that’s a pretty damn good introduction/summary of Vancouver/Canada!

On the table:

**Tuna Gomae 4.5/6

• Tuna sashimi marinated in gomae sauce and spinach $4.95
• It’s tangy, nutty and citrusy because they mix the gomae (sesame) sauce with ponzu vinaigrette. It’s a pretty big bowl with 8 big cubes of tuna.
  
• The tuna isn't the best quality and it's not really cut in a way that would enhance the most flavour. But there's still so much sauce and it's so flavourful that it's strong enough to absorb into the tuna.
  
• 
• I really like how they give you some spinach gomae on top too.
• This photo is from last summer so I can’t comment on it too much because it was a while ago. The sauce was more like a vinaigrette than it is a sesame sauce though...however I remember it being good.
• I would have ordered it again, but I didn’t know if it was “too exotic” for the Austrian.

Haru Maki 3.5/6

• Vege, tobiko, crab meat $3.50 (Their definition sucks! Of course people wouldn’t order it if they don’t know what it is!...but I guess I would lol)
• My definition: Crabmeat, cucumber, red pepper, avocado, pea shoots and tobiko wrapped in a rice paper roll $3.50
• Ok, for what it is and the price you pay…totally worth it! It’s not the best, but it’s still good. The best ones I’ve had thus far are the ones at Ki-Isu Sushi.
• It reminds me of a Vietnamese salad roll, but instead of vermicelli it’s crab! A lot too! It’s creamy from the avocado and crunchy from all the fresh vegetables. It was a great appetizer. I could have used more tobiko, but for $3.50 I’m not complaining. It was still good!
• They served it with a Teriyaki Hoisin sauce which was great…but along side was a Japanese salad dressing that tastes like Thousand Island dressing. The Hoisin was great but the Japanese salad dressing did not match. I mean does mixing Teriyaki, Hoisin sauce and Thousand Island salad dressing sound good to you? I was good with just the Teriyaki Hoisin sauce. I actually asked for more sauce because they didn’t drizzle enough.

Tako Yaki 2/6

• $3.75
• If you’ve never tried tako yaki than these are good! But if you have then this is a 2/6 because they’re a pretty cheap version of the real deal.
• Tako Yaki is simply baked or fried octopus balls. It’s a popular street food usually made of batter, dice octopus, pickled ginger, green onions and topped with fish/squid shavings, Japanese mayo and okonomiyaki sauce (thicker sweet sauce).
• These ones we re a bit mushy and mostly consisted of batter. I had a very small small piece of octopus in mine, but just one and it was a bit tough from being overcooked.
• I wanted more filling, because they were a bit too airy although the main ingredients were there. I could taste the pickled ginger and onion although it was very little.
• It was creamy, gummy and almost like a glutinous dumpling. It’s like eating a very soft mochi.
• I like the texture and flavour of these; they’re soft, chewy, salty, sweet and a little bit juicy oddly enough. They’re not amazing here, but they’re not bad either.

**Alaska Roll 6/6

• Avocado, tobiko, salmon $3.95
• This is THE roll to order here. It’s delicious and what I’m guaranteed to order it every time I come.
• The avocado is almost like guacamole. It almost seems like they mash it a bit so it’s really creamy and actually quite rich. You need to really like avocado to like this roll.
• The sauce is what makes it different and so good! You don’t need any soy sauce or wasabi with it. You can if you want, but it’s not necessary.
• The sauce they drizzle on top is their own unique sauce. It tastes like a Miso Ponzu type sauce. It’s very tangy like citrus vinaigrette and savoury and sweet to because of the Miso paste…I’m certain it’s in there!
• It’s a perfect one-bite piece of sushi and they don’t use the rice to make it look big. The rice is flavourful too.
• It could use more salmon, but for $3.95 it’s fine. I would have liked some cucumber in there though. Give it a nice crunch because everything was really creamy, however the sauce breaks it up and is the perfect touch.
• I actually asked them for an extra side of sauce...I really like it. They didn't charge me either which is nice.

Dynamite Roll 3/6

• Prawn tempura, cucumber, avocado, lettuce, tobiko $3.95
• This is another one of their most popular rolls. I’m not sure why though. I think it’s quite normal and there’s no special sauce that comes with it.
• It’s a pretty big roll though. There was a lot of cucumber and I think too much because it was the dominant flavour. Not really much else to say here.
• Again, I do like how they don’t use the rice to make the sushi look big.

Island Roll 2/6

• Cooked tuna, tamago, fish flake, with fresh kiwi sauce $4.95
• This is one of their creative fusion rolls. I need to try at least something “different” and not just the popular items right?!
• This one was a bit dry because the tuna was jut a canned cooked tuna and I think it needed to be marinated more. They just marinated it in mayo and not enough of it either.
• The kiwi sauce was literally fresh kiwi mashed up. It was sweet and citrusy.
• Overall the roll was salty and sweet, but more on the sweet side. The kiwi actually didn’t work as well as I would have liked. It was a bit overpowering and the roll needed to be saltier.
• There’s also tamago in it although it doesn’t say on the menu. It doesn’t matter though because you can’t taste it at all. Besides the kiwi sauce the tuna was the only ingredient I tasted.
• This roll is actually better if you dip it in soy sauce and wasabi…yes even with the kiwi sauce. It works!

Ocean Wise Turns 5 Media Dine-Around

Event: Ocean Wise Turns 5 Media Dine-Around
Date of event: January 23, 2010

The 1^st Ocean Wise event I attended was the Seafood Chowder ChowDown last November. That was a great event, and this one was even better! This time I was invited to attend the Ocean Wise Turns 5 Media Dine-Around. It was a fully-hosted evening of culinary adventure and yes, I was quite jealous of myself!

First, I want to congratulate the success of Ocean Wise and wish them a happy 5^th birthday.

Ocean Wise is Canada’s leading sustainable seafood program. In 2009 Ocean Wise welcomed over 120 partners and in April they brought the program national. Most likely you have seen the Ocean Wise symbol on your menu at one point or another. I could go on listing facts about the organization, but I won’t…that’s the point of having my media source being a blog…I have the freedom to write ;) (Yes, I know I have a little blog, but I like to think I have a bigger voice :D)

No, I’m not going to bash Ocean Wise because I do support what they’re doing. I respect that they don’t solicit restaurants to participate in their program. Instead they allow restaurants to approach Ocean Wise willingly. I think this is the way to advocate social change, give clients the freedom of choice. That being said, the other side of the argument is: is it fair when a restaurant only offers Ocean Wise to their diners and thus the diners are ‘forced’ to pay the extra dollars? Don’t the diners have a choice since they’re the ones that are paying?

Again, I do support Ocean Wise, but I just want to stir up some discussion. A reason why I support it is because Ocean Wise is promoting positive social change. In my definition “inappropriate fishing” shouldn’t even exist. Bottom line: if the method isn’t sustainable – change it. Ocean Wise is the long term solution and when all the fish is gone from over fishing everyone will really be paying more than the extra couple dollars.

Personally I think a lot lies in education. I think diners should want to choose Ocean Wise and not have to choose it because it’s the only option. Therefore I think there needs to be more initiatives on educating the public about the harms of overfishing, bycatch, and habitat destruction. Buying Ocean Wise is one thing, and knowing why you’re buying it is another.

Anyways, I am Follow Me Foodie, so let’s get back to the event and the food.

The event was a fully hosted evening that kicked off with a champagne reception at the Aquarium. From there we made a toast to 5^th year anniversary for Ocean Wise and many of their achievements in 2009. This includes being the winner of the 2009 Pinnacle Award for Supplier of the Year!

We were all separated into groups and taken on a bus provided complimentary from Landsea Tours (sustainable transportation). The two restaurants we were going to be surprised with were 2 of Vancouver’s newest Ocean Wise restaurant partners. Can’t you feel my excitement?! The following list is Vancouver’s newest Ocean Wise Restaurant partners. The ones in bold were the restaurants I got to visit.

MEDIA DINE-AROUND Restaurants:

Aria Restaurant and Lounge - Westin Downtown, Vancouver BC

Burrard Bridge Marine Bar and Grill, Vancouver BC

The District, North Vancouver BC

The Edge Bistro, North Vancouver BC

Fraiche , West Vancouver BC

Griffins – The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver BC

Revel Room, Vancouver BC

Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, North Vancouver BC

Tapenade Bistro, Steveston BC

Zen Japanese Restaurant, West Vancouver BC

After my dinner at The District and The Revel room we ended the night at C Restaurant. C Restaurant is the founding partner of Ocean Wise so it was the perfect spot to end the evening.

On the table:

The following is just a teaser, please keep checking back for reviews and details of the food.

Restaurant 1 – THE DISTRICT

Location: 13 Lonsdale Ave North Vancouver, BC

Chef: Executive Chef Paul Mon-Kau

Smoked Salmon Caesar

• Wine pairing: Pentage Pinot Gris or Van Westen Viognier
• Ocean Wise salmon: Wild BC/AK salmon – Chinook or sockeye (as per our Seasonal Wild Pacific Salmon Recommendations)

  

  

The District Mussels

• Wine pairing: Triple Karmeliet Ale or Road 13 Honest John's Red
• Ocean Wise Mussels: Mussels (sustainably farmed; off-bottom culture – minimal to no habitat damage; no feed necessary; no pollution from farm)

Red Wine Cassis & Cardamom Poached Pears with Vanilla Gelato

Restaurant 2 – REVEL ROOM

Location: 238 Abbott Street

Chef: Executive chef Tyrell Brandvold & Chef Joel Silva

Pecan Crusted Pacific Sablefish

• Braised kale, bacon, and charred tomato vinaigrette
• Sablefish (Sustainably caught: Alaskan by bottom longlines, BC by traps; minimal bycatch & habitat damage; strong management; resilient species & abundant)

West Coast Jambalaya

• Salt Spring Island mussels, Manila clams, spot prawns, chorizo, rice
• Mussels (sustainably farmed; off-bottom culture – minimal to no habitat damage; no feed necessary; no pollution from farm)
• Manila clams (sustainably farmed; on-bottom culture with hand harvest; minimal habitat damage; no feed necessary; no pollution from farm)
• BC spot prawns (sustainably fished with traps; minimal bycatch & habitat damage; strong management; resilient species & abundant)

Restaurant 3 – C RESTAURANT

Location: 2-1600 Howe Street

Smoked Baynes Sound Scallop

• Denman island herring “escabeche”, peashoots in multiple textures, compressed cucumbers, shallot vinaigrette

Selback-Oster, Riesling, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr

• Spatlese, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Gemany (Sustainable) 1998

Salt Spring Island Goat Cheese and Vanilla Mousse

• Sapo bravo stone fruits, spiced liquid marshmallow

Forbidden Fruit Winery

• Iced Apple Dessert Wine
• Similkameen Valley, BC (Sustainable) 2007

  

Vista d’oro Winery

• Fortified port style wine with Walnut brandy
• Langley, BC (Sustainable) 2007

Additional note: Due to the fact that this was an event exclusive to media, everything from transportation to food was complimentary. However there are no expectations from Ocean Wise or the restaurants and everything written is 100% of my personal thoughts and experience.