Jan-chan’s Tidbits

Yesterday I went to have Father’s Day dinner with Al and his family. We got to Italian Kitchen Restaurant a little earlier than we expected but they were able to accommodate us. After about 3 minutes, we were seated up stairs. On the way up to the 2nd floor, we passed by the open kitchen. It was very neat as this is the first time I’ve seen an open kitchen that is…well, very open. There were no divider or glass, it’s almost like the kitchen you have at home.

It didn’t take long to decide what to get for dinner. We ordered an Antipasto Platter for two to share as the starter. Al’s mom and dad ordered the Father’s Day Platter, Ken ordered a roasted pork tenderloin, while Al and I got the Seafood Platter. All the platters has a minimum order of 2.

While waiting for our food to arrive, I made a comment that there were water marks on the knives. Checking the utensils seems to be one of my favourite thing to do at restaurants lately, which turned out to be a good thing because after I made that comment, we all noticed that some of our knives and forks were dirty. Here’s a picture of my fork:

There were stuff stuck on the tips of the fork. Ugh, I’m not putting that in my mouth. So we had our utensils changed not once, but several times. Even the serving tongs got dried stuff stuck to it. We were not impressed with their dishwasher.

The food arrived and it looked gorgeous! I really liked the idea of the sharing platters. However that’s about all the raves I can give to the food. It looks great but when you eat it, it’s lacking something. What it is lacking? Taste! It seems like they didn’t add any salt to the food or any other spices/flavourings because there is just no taste at all. For example, the wild salmon from the seafood platter. It’s seared perfectly, cooked on the outside and still a bit rare on the inside. But when you bite into it, it doesn’t even have the natural salmon taste (*removed the “fishy taste” since it was confusing people, what I meant was the natural flavor of the salmon*). Even the previously frozen salmon fillets I bought from Save-on-Foods has more flavour than this. And all I used to marinate it with was salt, pepper and some olive oil. I even over cooked it because I can never tell when it’s done. Here are some photos of the dishes:

I was pretty disappointed with the food. From a restaurant that classify itself as a “business-casual” setting I’d expect the food to be better. However, since dessert is made by a pâtissier, I still have hope that the dinner will have a happy ending (for my tummy). And sure enough, I was right. The desserts were fabulous!

I ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake with Espresso Ice Cream (yes you guessed it, I ordered it just for the ice cream)! Al got the dessert platter which has contains a mini lavender infused creme brulee, raspberry semi-freddo and a wedge of hazel nut and chocolate ganache torte. Ken got the Maple Panna Cotta. All of them were really delicious. I would definitely recommend coming here for the desserts! Here are some mouth watering photos:

On the way out, I decided to take a photo of the washroom. What’s so special about the washroom? Well it’s a washroom for both male and female. I guess to eliminate lineups? Inside you’ll find a toilet AND a urinal, opposite of each other. Technically speaking 2 people can use one washroom at the same time…ok lets not get into that. Anyways, aside from that, they also stock the washroom with mouth wash and toothpicks. I thought that was a very good idea as there were multiple times where I wish I had sneaked in a toothpick with me while I went to the girl’s room.

To see a picture of the washroom and more from Italian Kitchen, visit my Picasa Album.

PS: I’ve left them with a very detailed comment regarding the food as well as the utensils. I’ll let you know if they follow up with me.

On Sunday, my family plus Al and Meg went to Joe Fortes Restaurant to have an early Father’s Day celebration. I know my parents love seafood and would love to try the seafood tower.

We got there around 6:30 and got seated upstairs. I’ve never been to the second level before and was surprised to find that it is much brighter than the lower level since the skylights let in a lot of natural lighting. There were a lot of choices on the menu and it took us a while to decide on what to eat.

Everyone had seafood chowder except me. I had the Maryland Blue Crab cake which was really nice. The server told us that the food came a little late because there was a “situation” with my crab cake. I wondered what it was…maybe the crab tried to run away?! Joe Fortes have two different seafood chowders, New England - the creamy version, and Manhattan - the tomato soup. Both were equally yummy.

For main course, Al ordered a swordfish steak while Meg and Dave had the classic cioppino. It has, as stated on the menu, “prawns, scallops, alaskan king crab, clams, mussels,fresh fish, calamari”. It comes in a spicy tomato broth, much like a bouillabaisse. Personally I think the cioppino is your best bet if you can’t decide on what to order. All that seafood for $32. It’s a win-win situation. My parents and I shared the 3-tier seafood tower. It was huge. It had more seafood than we thought. Everything on the tower (I didn’t tried the oysters but dad and Dave said they were really fresh) were yummy. This is the first time I’ve ate “cold” seafood (they were served on ice). It’s a very refreshing experience. I did find that the lobster were just slightly over cooked. The three of us, with help from Meg, Al and Dave, couldn’t finish the tower and ended up having to take a box of seafood home.

Here are some pictures of the food and interior of the restaurant.

More pictures are in my Picasa Album.

We were pretty stuffed but there is always room for dessert! Al had a cafe caramel. Dave had the tiramisu while Meg got the creme brulee. Mom and dad shared a NY cheesecake. Again I’m the odd ball and ordered the daily sorbet - raspberry and pear. It turned out to be the best dessert among us! Everyone raved about the raspberry sorbet. It wasn’t too sour or sweet. Perfect to eat after a meal.

Last Friday I went to pick up Al after work and we took a walk in Gas Town while waiting for Ken to join us for dinner. I don’t usually walk along Water Street and shop there but this time I managed to find something interesting which might have me coming back.

John Fluevog Shoes Store

As we were walking back towards the skytrain station, a sentence from a store window caught my eye “A walk in the park soothes the Soul.” So I looked in the window and saw this:

See that back drop in there? I was interested in finding out what it was. The store clerk was nice and told me I could take pictures inside the store. It turned out this is the John Fluevog Shoes store (as you can tell from the title on the mural). What strike me as interesting aside from the mural is the way the store is laid out. The shoes are displayed on very low tables as well as what looks like a log split in half (see one of the pictures). I’ve never seen Fluevog shoes before but I liked a lot of the designs. I’m definitely coming back later on for some shoe shopping.

One more interesting fact about the store is that the space actually was never there before. The store was built on an ally way. You can see the side of the two buildings, with their windows, inside the store. They had used a glass roof to let sunlight which makes the store very bright and welcoming. The design studio is located on the 2nd floor near the back. The sales clerk told me they actually design the shoes right there. Very cool.

saltlik - A Rare Steakhouse

For dinner, we decided to check out this restaurant we passed by a few weeks ago called saltlik. The menu looked reasonably priced so we head in with hungry stomachs. Al ordered a beef soup and crab cakes ($13), I had a double bacon cheese burger with skinny fries ($15) and Ken got steak with truffle infused sauce ($21). I’m not a big fan of burgers, but those skinny fries were calling my name! The twins also ordered some martinis for $7 each. I’d highly recommend the Smiling Geisha. It’s very refreshing with the cucumber juice. Of course I can’t miss dessert. I ordered a lemon tart which was bigger than I had imagined it to be. The meringue was very well made, slightly crispy on the outside but gooey on the inside. For the price and the quality of the food, I’d pick saltlik over Keg or Earls. Here are some of the pictures.

More pictures from saltlik in my Picasa album.

Misc Pictures

On our way to saltlik, we ran into a bunch of bikers which were riding in downtown for the closing of the Bike to Work week. Here are some pictures I managed to take while some sped by us (click to enlarge):

Since my knife skills are very bad, I precut most of the stuff the night before but this can easily be done in 30 minutes since the cooking time isn’t that long.

Pasta with Veggies & Sausage
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• Pasta of your choice
• 2 cups Italian sausages - cut into large chunks
• 2 carrots - cut into small pieces
• 1 onion, large - diced
• 3 shallots - diced
• 1 bulb of garlic - peeled, minced (we love garlic so adjust amount to own preference)
• Italian herb mix or any other combination of spices of your choice as seasoning
• pepper flakes for some heat if you like it spicy

1. Boil water to cook pasta. Once you’ve added the pasta to the water, heat up a big pot with about 1/2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Add sausage and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from pot and drain of excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp.
2. In medium-high heat, add the garlic and shallots. Cook for 2-3 minutes. When it start to turn brown (caramelize), add in the onion and carrots with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water or stock. Scrape up any brown bits on the pot. Cook the veggies for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if pot is too dry. Add in the sausages, spices and pepper flakes. Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until carrots are soft and sausages are heated. Remove from heat.
3. The pasta should have finished cooking so drain it, reserve about 1/2 cup of the liquid. Add the drained pasta to the sausage and veggie mixture. Toss it up with a dash of fresh pepper (optional) and it’s ready for plating. If it’s too dry, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to give it some moisture.

Note: This is the first time I’ve made pasta without sauce so let me know what you think if you try it. The twins said it was good but I don’t really trust them (they might only say that because they don’t want me to stop cooking!). Oh if you notice, I didn’t add any salt in the mixture because I find that the sausage is already salty enough for my preference.

I’m sure this recipe is out there but I made mine after reading Rachael Ray’s Poor Man’s Gumbo. I made this recipe to serve about 6 people. It was enough for 2 nights’ dinner for the three of us and Al’s lunch. We’re not big eaters though so keep that in mind.

Chicken, Sausage & Tomatoes Stew

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cubed
1 cup of smoked sausages - cubed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion - cut into big pieces
2 carrots - cut into small pieces
3 stalks of celery - cut diagonally into small pieces
2 cans (796ml) diced tomatoes
1-2 can(s) tomato paste (use two if you want the sauce to thicken up faster)
dash of paprika, chili powder, pepper flakes (add to suit your taste)
salt & pepper

1. Marinate chicken with paprika salt and pepper for about 15 minutes. In a big pot, heat 1 tbsp of the oil and brown chicken pieces on all sides, for about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and add in the sausages. Cook sausage for about a minute or two. Remove from pan and drain off excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp (if there isn’t enough, add some olive oil).
2. Return pot to medium heat and add onions. Cook until it start to get translucent. Add in celery, carrots and the tomato juice from the two cans of diced tomatoes. Cook, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan, for about 3-5 minutes. Add in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the chicken and sausage. Reduce heat and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or until it’s thicken to the desire consistancy. Add the chili powder and pepper flakes.

Serve with rice or crusty bread.

Note: I don’t like my tomato sauce too sour so I add a few tbsp of sugar at the end. Just add it a little bit at a time and taste test it to find the right amount.

Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me this week so no pictures for the recent recipes.