Yaletown Brewing Co - Yaletown

I really don't mind it when my girlfriend asks me to go downtown with her to buy fabric at Dressew. With a long list of restaurants to go to I welcome any invitation to go out and if I do something nice for her, it means that she will put up with me going to a restaurant and taking pictures.

Yaletown Brewing Company was on the menu for today, I knew little about the place so I was looking forward to going. They had some nice looking beers on tap but unfortunately I can't always go hard at lunch time.

We just wanted to snack and I was drawn instantly to the Short Rib Sliders - Tender pulled beef, tangy Nagila Pale Ale BBQ sauce served on a pretzel bun.I love short ribs and I love pretzels so I knew this would be good.

Now for $11.99 I can't really call this a good deal, but man were they tasty. The sauce had a perfect amount of tangyness to it and it was a very enjoyable appetizer. I think they should include 4 of them in the price...that may just be the glutton in me talking though.

My girlfriend had actually been here once before and she knew exactly what she wanted. The Smoked Applewood Cheddar, Potato and Ale Soup - A rich and hearty soup made with our own fresh Nagila Pale Ale and topped with

smoked bacon, Crème Fraiche and green onion.Just reading the title of the soup you knew it would be good. It was so good that the next day we tried making our own version at home, we couldn't quite get the taste right :(

 

I really can not pass much judgement on the restaurant because we only had such a small selection of what they actually offer. We both enjoyed our food and I would love to come back to try some of the beers in the future.

Subeez Cafe Restaurant Bar (Yaletown)

The day began at Eat Vancouver, It was my first time going because last year due to circumstances I couldn't go. I thought for a $16 ticket ($14 online) it was a very good deal and I got to try a lot of good samples (llama jerky was a first for me).

My girlfriend had an appointment at a spa in Yaletown late afternoon which left me wandering about. I was soaking up some sun on Marinaside but I knew that I would have to eat again soon. We were going to go to Moxie's because it was on the way to Stadium sky train station but while we were walking Homer St. I saw a cafe and looked at the menu.

I had never heard of the Subeez Cafe but the menu looked good and I liked the name so we decided to stop in for a quick bite.

chicken & brie sandwich -
chicken breast, brie, baguette, demi‑glaçe, garlic mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle. $13

I didn't really get a good look at the interior because I wanted to eat outside so we grabbed a table outdoors and ordered.

My girlfriend didn't end up ordering anything because she wasn't very hungry..she wasn't very hungry until she started eating my french fries (I think she was lying). I can honestly say that the fries that came with the sandwhich were the best I've ever had...ever. If I had known how good they were I would have ordered a side dish of them, so perfectly crisp and delicious, my stomach is rumbling just thinking about them.

 I'm not sure if there was a special seasoning on them but they were fantastic.


chicken & brie sandwich

 The sandwich itself contained a nice plump and juicy chicken breast which I was happy about, I like my meat (please don't take that in the wrong way). I found it hard to taste the brie, but brie doesn't really have a strong flavor to begin with I guess. I really enjoyed my meal here and wish I had heard about this place sooner, I guess we just got lucky walking to the sky train a certain way to stumble across this place. The inside looked quite big and I am sure it is a pretty popular local spot. The other sandwiches on the menu looked delicious as well and I would love to try them.

Final Thoughts:  Best fries hands down, I didn't have anything else on the menu but I really enjoyed my dish. Prices aren't that bad, I feel like for the quality the price was well worth it. The space is fairly large and it looks like it could be a fun place at night, I beleive it is a cafe/restaurant/bar.

Rodyney's Oyster House (Yaletown)

1228 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC V6Bwww.rodneysoysterhouse.com

(604) 609-0080-Located  right by Yaletown Roundhouse Station
-Low Tide Mon-Sat 3-6pm
Freshly Shucked Oysters $1.50 each


I had been waiting and waiting for a $50 pre paid master card I had won for a look-alike contest  through the Vancouver TV Week Magazine, see post here. Finally it arrived and I was excited to use it for a free meal (being a student, dining out is not always affordable). At first I was thinking about using it at La Bodega since I have been wanting to go back but I had been craving raw oysters for a while now and I thought I would check out Low Tide at Rodney's Oyster House.

The first thing I noticed was a very casual relaxed atmoshpere..which I appreciated, no one seemed to be in a hurry and everyone was enjoying themselves.

I ordered a Miller Genuine Draft (reminded me of being in high school again) and then took a look at the menu to see what I was feeling. I knew I wanted Oysters so I ordered six of them. We were brought a bunch of dipping sauces that people put on the oysters.. Being so manly I didn't want anything to cover up the taste but there was some interesting ones.

I did try some of the sauces on the complimentary bread just to see what they tasted like. In the middle there was a pepper vodka.. something a little different. These sauces are used to put on the oysters, I guess if you don't like the taste of them these help mask it. My only experience was oysters are smoked oysters in a can (a Christmas tradition in my family) and oyster motoyaki at japanese restaurants.

The Oysters came served on a bed of ice, freshly shucked and ready to be consumed.

I asked the server where the oysters were from and he said Cortez Island. I thought it was pretty cool that these oysters are caught in British Columbia, I think it makes them taste better knowing they're from close by. I just added a squeeze of lemon juice to my oysters then let them slide right down. I thought they were very good, I wish they had been bigger though, I think I could have eaten ten more. I managed to get my girlfriend to try one too, she was surprisingly good about it.

I also orderd the Scallop Galette, which was potato crusted scallops served on a bed of mixed greens.

These were very tasty, I only wish there was more of them. The scallops were cooked perfectly though and tasted great.

Lastly we ordered the Smoked Salmon, which came with rye bread, capers, red onions and cream cheese.

I didn't eat any of this, it was for my girlfriend. I wasn't really able to get good pictures because of the lighting and I thought it would be rude using a flash so I worked with what I had.

I thought it was kind of funny I saw two other people who were dining take pictures with their cameras..either they were tourists or food bloggers.. I realize now how obnoxious it looks waving your camera around, I will try and be more discrete about it though.

Final Thoughts:I really enjoyed the food, I would have liked to

sample some of the other oysters they had there.

I didn't get enough to eat however I was starving after (note I am 20 and have a huge appetite).

Salsa & Agave Mexican Grill- Yaletown

I've seen so many raves and reviews about this place I realized I pretty much had to go.

I am always keen on going somewhere new and my usual go to Mexican place is Las Margaritas on W.4th, but today I wanted something else. My woman and I headed over to Yaletown for lunch at Salsa & Agave. I don't even remember what time we arrived but we had a short 5 minute wait to be seated due to the place being full. I have always wanted to try  Tortilla soup, and today my wish was finally granted. We lucked out and got seated next to the window which was great for taking pictures because we got some good light!

Anyways enough of my ramblings and onto the food.

Of course we were served complimentary chips and salsa.

Not really much to say, they were..chips and salsa.

I ordered the Azteca Soup (tortilla soup, chipotle pepper, diced avocados, cheese & sour cream), and my lady got the Pastor Sopes (thick handmade corn tortilla with beans, lettuce, sour cream, cheese & avocado sauce, pastor being pork in a red spice sauce).

I was really happy with the soup. It completely lived up to my expectations of wonderful soupy bliss. The Sopes were very good as well. The only complain was that the pork could have been a little spicier.

Of course a bowl of soup wasn't enough for me, I also ordered the Rolled Taco's Combinacion Delos Tres (stuffed corn tortillas pan fired, topped with lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, cheese & avocado sauce, the three came with Shredded chicken, Shredded Beef, and Potato).

These were excellent. I loved the shredded beef one. The potato and chicken were equal in my opinion but I have to give the win to the Carne Asada.

I had read about this restaurant on Chow Times about some interesting drinks, a rice water cinnamon drink and another Hibiscus flower drink. I inquired to the waitress and she was nice enough to bring us two samples of each drink to try. I stuck with water but we did get the Rice Water drink.

That's it! I really enjoyed this place, I can see why it was so highly rated. The waitress even told my girlfriend she had pretty eyes, which equaled a bigger tip from us haha.

Dine Out Vancouver 2011 Society Dining Lounge Yaletown

27/01/2011- Running from Jan. 24th to Feb.6th as described by Tourism
Vancouver Dine out "is a city-wide celebration of food and British Columbia wine and is the largest restaurant promotion of its kind in Canada. Virtually every type of restaurant in the city gets involved, giving you the chance to taste Vancouver's hot restaurant digs, new hit eateries and neighbourhood favourites all for a reasonable prix-fixe price."

Chopped Salad

My girlfriend and I looked through the menus of restaurants offering the 18$ three course item dinners. There were $28 and $38 but we stuck with the 18. We looked through the list of restaurants and decided on one where be both found things we wanted to try. Society Dining Lounge was the winner, located in Yaletown I was surprised my jeans and button up were fashionable enough to get in.  The inside was crowded but they had the outside patio set up with heaters which was just fine for me. We got the dine out menu and I started off with a drink, a Stanley Park Amber Ale. Never tried this beer before but I thought it tasted quite good.

Stanley Park Amber Ale

The beer was a great way to start of a very tasty meal. For starters the choices were a split pea soup, a pickled beet salad (no thank you), and a chopped salad (bacon, tomatoes, chicken, white cheddar, yes please).
I got the chopped salad and my girlfriend ordered the split pea soup. We both enjoyed our appetizers, I however forgot to save any of my salad for my girlfriend to try.

The main courses gave us options of a
Truffle Salisbury Steak, garlic mashed potatoes, pearl onion jus,Ahi Tuna Casserole ahi tuna, mushrooms, diced celery and peas, four cheese sauce, and  Home-made Butternut Squash Perogies roasted butternut squash filling, wild mushrooms, sour cream, wild boar bacon.
I personally am very partial to meat so I decided on the Salisbury steak and my girlfriend who loves squash naturally chose the butternut squash perogies. Both entrees were done very well and tasted fantastic.

Salisbury Steak

Butternut Squash Perogies

Dessert

The Dessert menu was fixed so there was only one option, named All The Way dark chocolate cake, butter cream filling, vanilla gelato. I had no idea what
this was going to look like so you can imagine why I was very surprised when it came out. I really had no complaints about this place, the wait staff was extremely friendly the overall atmosphere of the place was just awesome, looked nice, food was great would love to come back and try their regular menu.


The Good:
- Interior is really great, bathrooms have mouthwash, which I mistook for soap
- The food we got was very good
The Bad:- The Menu's were huge and took up the whole table
- A little pricey