Ravenswood Winemaker’s Dinner with Joel Peterson at The Flying Pig Restaurant in Yaletown, October 30th, 2012.
I could hardly contain my excitement when I received the email invitation for this event from Heather, as the past wine paired dinner (Robert Mondavi at Blue Water Cafe) I attended was spectacular. I had no doubts that this event would be equally amazing, and so on Halloween Eve, I made the trip out to Yaletown and skipped my dodgeball duties. Sorry VDL!
“In this brave new enologically altered world, where wineries compete to produce wines that mimic the latest darling that’s captured wine reviewers’ fancy, we stand by our love of Old-World winemaking. Ravenswood continues to set a standard for uncompromising wines that are true to the places where the grapes grew – nothing less, nothing more” said Joel Peterson. read more »
It’s been a while since I tried out a VANEATS.ca package. So far to date, I’ve tried out 10 of their different packages, and most of them have been pretty good bang for the buck deals and quality. Now when I received the email asking me to try this out, I had a very vague memory of reading about it somewhere… oh on GoodEat! Anyways, I said sure, why not, there’s beer in it and the items looked good.
Now for some backstory, this location USED to be Sammy J Peppers, a local restaurant with multiple locations (all of the lower mainland ones have since closed, ie Richmond, Burnaby, etc..) that’s owned by 2 brothers. However, one split and sold the name, kept this location and renamed it. Apparently he also owns The Blarney Stone in Gastown…just some information that I gleaned from the manager.
A couple weeks ago, I went over to Victoria for the weekend to play in the 8th Annual Victoria Dodgeball Championships. On Sunday morning, we decided to have a late lunch before catching the ferry back home. The Pink Bicycle wasn’t open yet, and we were starving, so I drove around until I spotted Flying Otter in the harbour.
I opted to sit on the heated + covered patio/dock to hopefully get a glimpse of the seaplanes coming in, but all we saw was this whale watching tour boat come back in. read more »
I made my way to The Oakwood Canadian Bisto for two reasons, to visit an old friend, my ex-First Cook, and to try out their food. Unfortunately, I only accomplished the latter as he was gone on vacation, but that only means I’ll get another chance to visit again.
Coming from work, I already had in mind what I was going to order. Not the $11 brunch items, which in all actuality is a great deal considering it’s all local and made in house, but the Burger.
The Oakwood Burger: sesame bun, buttermilk fried onions, applewood cheddar, relish, aioli and alfalfa sprouts $15
Here the burger patty is house ground meat and made per order, cooked the way you want. I chose for medium rare, and it came out still pink and soft inside, perfect! I liked the use of alfalfa sprouts and the modest amount of fried onions on the bottom. The only bad thing I can say is where’s the tomato? I also wasn’t a total fan of the bun, quite doughy and dense. Other than that, it was a very damn good burger, something I can and will order again.
Ah Prestons. You didn’t make a big splash when you first opened, and you got a second chance at life when Popcorn brought you to everyone’s attention with the big menu relaunch party. Now I think you’ve finally got it going right, it’s just a shame about the location in DT, it’s a bit farther out from the rest of the core.
I brought Ellie along with me for this dinner, mainly because I haven’t seen her in a while, and I missed out on a whole bunch of her recent birthday celebrations.
Prestons Pulled Pork Poutine, crispy french fries, Quebec cheese curds, Rickards Red Gravy
Chicken Karaage, garlic sake marinated chicken, flash fried, served with spicy sambal lime aioli and miso cabbage slaw
A choice of:
1/2 Rack of Baby Back Ribs, sweet hoisin & ginger glazed pork ribs, roasted fingerling potatoes, crunchy coleslaw
BC Halibut Wrapped in Double Smoked Bacon, served with creamed leeks, quinoa, honey shallot j’us
Maple and Double Smoked Bacon Creme Brulee, served with julienne slices of pickled granny smith apple
Technically, this is three different appetizers, but it’s well, portioned for a single person. This doesn’t bode well for those who buy this package looking to share, as it’s kind of awkward, or it could be very intimate.
It would be nice if the kitchen could split up the chicken kaarage and crab cake into two smaller portions, but still equivalent to one….however, it’s honestly a minor snafu in my opinion, it’s not that hard to just slice something in half myself at the table. I hate it when people ask me to cut their burgers in half for them, so I wouldn’t ask the same.
Something about this Chicken Karaage tasted off, or rather, different. I think it’s the batter, it’s not as crunchy as well, an Asian restaurant would do. Big chunk, still moist and juicy inside with a sambal sauce that had quite a kick.
Prestons Pulled Pork Poutine. Um, where’s the pulled pork? Aside from that, it was just that, poutine..gravy wasn’t too meaty, cheesecurds slightly melted, fries crispy the way I like. Nothing amazing, nothing bad.
The Dungeness Crab Cake was a pretty big croquette, and was my favourite of the three mini appetizers. I had fun fishing out the small fried capers, which I love.
Given the option of 1/2 Rack of Baby Back Ribs, or BC Halibut Wrapped in Double Smoked Bacon, Ellie chose the halibut. Secretly, I was rooting for the halibut as well since I had ribs the night before out at Embers BBQ House out in Mission, and was feeling a bit bbq’d out.
The halibut came cooked perfectly, still soft and flaked with a light touch of the fork, with sides of vegetables and the ever popular super food, quinoa. I thought this was a very very generous portion. You see, originally, when I showed Ellie this package and explained what it was, she said really, is this meant to be shared between a couple? It’s not a lot of food.. but when she finished her half of this halibut, she said she was no longer feeling hungry and was quite satiated.
For dessert, we had the Maple and Double Smoked Bacon Creme Brulee. What in Gods name is this? Looks like creme brulee, tastes like… not creme brulee. Sweet, salty, meaty and custardy ALL at the same time. Trust me, while that sounds like EpicMealTime (basically) it was actually really good, and I was wondering how exactly did they get the flavour of bacon in this..was it oil? Had to be oil, just cook up your bacon, collect the oil and voila, substitute it anywhere. Like in a dessert! Our server quickly went to the kitchen to double check this for my curious mind. Yep!
To take your taste buds to another level, add a bit of the pickled Granny Smith apple to your scoop of creme brulee and let the flavours intermingle.
For all the haters out there, well..your loss I suppose.
I like Prestons, it’s not bad, it’s not a big chain with heavy hitters, and it’s local, having opened up the original location up in Coast Hotel Chilliwack in 2009.
From a purely monetary point of view, it’s defintely worth the $21 [not including tax+tip] because Prestons is the same caliber and level as Moxie’s/Cactus Club/Earls and etc, and you’d much sooner find a snowflake in hell before getting this much food for that price.
Add on the great social media and customer interaction that they have on Twitter and Facebook along with some very good drink specials for everyday of the week, this is a great date package.
On November 29, 2011 Kevin had the opportunity to attend The Mac Shack‘s media tasting event. I also had the pleasure of attending with him, along with Rick Chung, Meplusfood, The Food Queen, Gastrofork, Ariane and others (will link later). I had tried their food 2 months earlier when Kevin brought his leftovers from the Grand Opening to our VDL Skills Clinic, but I didn’t really remember the taste (it was a Brooklyn).
The affair was fairly relaxed, sit down and samples were going to be brought out along with some drinks, both Granville Island Pale Ale and Lager were available along with red and white wines.
The Original was plain but had a rich cheesy taste. The noodles were not my favorite but after speaking with the owner, he pointed out that the elbow pasta (typical of Kraft dinner) were available as well if requested. read more »
Another day, another willing dining partner, this time in the form of Andy. Actually, I think it was more just cause he was available and had a lot of free time. I actually can’t remember, I think we were supposed to go somewhere else to eat but it wasn’t open..? Refresh my memory Andy. So somehow we just ended up at Red Wagon, Andy’s suggestion.
The interior has a clean refreshed diner look, old school style garage lights hanging down and low back seats lining a long bar. A few tables fill the main area up front.
They have a somewhat scattered list of beers with some local representation, Phillips and R&B. Fittingly, the R&B beer was a bottle of East Van Bitter. ’cause you know, E.Hastings & Nanaimo is East Van. Represent.
New Westminster. There are so many good eats here that are largely unknown to the rest of Vancouver, it’s kind of sad, but also feels good to find them and share the good word. Case in point, Burger Heaven and Burger Burger. This little cafe on Columbia and 6th is an example of one. Around lunch time, it gets busy here, with nearby office and construction workers, VPD staff and of course other students like me coming in to grab some food. Forget going to Starbucks for a $5 drink and a $5 breakfast bagel, come here instead.
Paul and Judy are here everyday (actually, might be just Mon-Fri, not sure about weekends, I’ll double check the hours) making breakfast, sandwiches and soups. Paul will be the one taking your order, and Judy will be the one making your food. Cutest Korean couple I have ever seen. Paul’s also very understanding, once I didn’t have enough cash on me and he said just bring it next time, don’t worry about it.
I’ve eaten my way through almost half the menu, and I recommend the Smoked Turkey, Club House and the Breakfast Club the most. They also have a soup&sandwich deal on the other wall. Remember though, it’s cash only.
With our friend Robert in town from Edmonton, we took him out to do as many touristy things as possible, one of which includes going to Gastown and seeing the Gassy Jack Statue and our famous Steam Clock. All this walking around town meant we had to stop for some food to replenish before dinner, so we stopped at Chill Winston for some appies and drinks.
Chill Winston occupies so much patio space on their corner, it’s a little outrageous. Even with all this space, you can still expect a wait during summer if you want a table, as there are usually some set aside for reservations. Not wanting to bother with waiting, as it was one of those dreary cloudy “summer” July days, we sat inside on their comfy couches.
Victoria? What the heck am I doing in Victoria, our province’s capital, notorious for old people and the slow pace of life. Well, I was here for a dodgeball tournament, which we, of course, won.
For winning, we got an envelope full of prizes. Some were gift certificates for restaurants, others were free admissions to some events. The fancier Italian restaurant we wanted to go to wasn’t taking reservations and would only have space available after 9pm, much too late for a team that was in an arena from 930am-6pm with barely any food ingested, so we drove over to John’s Place.
Freeeeesh hand made pies. Apple and Lemon Meringue, which we both ordered to go at the end, and was consequently devoured once we got back to our hotel.
With a lot of money to spend on food for the 8 of us, the boys commenced drinking. Here is one of many $3 screwdrivers that Rogan and Coop had. Cheap and easy to drink.
DON CORLEONE’S RICE BALLS $6.95
Basmati rice, basil and seasonings rolled into balls, stuffed with mozzarella cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and fried to a golden brown with a side of tomato sauce.
Fried rice balls? Well seeing as you can fry anything from beer to kool-aid, why not rice? These were delicious.
Pete and Ju, can we try this out with your deep fryer? : D
Ty ordered CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATLOAF $8.95
Our own Southwestern meatloaf smothered in a smooth mushroom gravy and served on a bed of mashed potatoes.
Ellie had the VISIONS OF MAMA’S MEATBALLS $8.95 with extra meatballs.. which Ty didn’t end up eating because he was full from his own order.
I stole his Mom’s recipe off the Bob Dylan Show on XM radio and it’s to die for. Three tender, succulent meat balls simmered in a tangy tomato sauce on a bed of linguini pasta.
Toresa had the MONTE’S VEGGIE QUESADILLA $8.50. A grilled flour tortilla with sliced mushrooms, sliced peppers, red onion and cheddar cheese. Cut into 3 wedges and served with sour cream and salsa on the side. + Grilled Chicken $4.00
While I ordered the.. SILENCE OF THE LAMB BURGER ( De-Lecterble ) $10.50 Our own 5 oz. fresh ground lamb patty, a touch of spice, grilled and topped with sliced Edam cheese, mango chutney and crispy fried onions on a kaiser with leaf lettuce and sliced tomato.
Under all those onion strings, is a patty that was absolutely oozing. I couldn’t pick up my camera after cause my hands were just soaked from all the oil and juices. One of the more memorable lamb burgers I’ve had, and I’ve tried plenty.
Can anyone identify what year this picture of Kirk McLean and Trevor Linden is from? We definitely had the Canucks on our mind over the weekend, as it was just after the riot had happened.
There was some filming recently, so look for them on Food Network Canada as part of the “You Gotta Eat Here!” show. Some other places that will be on this show are Neighbours Restaurant (see blog post) and Agro Cafe. What really made this meal great was the service. Our server Paul, or was it something else… it’s been a while, was a character. Really, he was. He not only serves here at John’s Place, but is also in the film industry usually as an extra. There’s a plethora of framed pictures on all the walls, and some of them have the owner John in them. Many are signed by celebrities as well.
A solid option for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Brunch is supposedly very busy and there’s lineups, so be prepared to wait.
About