Urban Vancouver

Joe Fortes

777 Thurlow Street
604-669-1940

11am until 11pm seven days a week.

www.joefortes.ca

**2 stars (out of a possible 4)

A recent stop on our quest for the ultimate downtown 10 buck lunch was at enduring Joe Fortes for their Lunch Blue Plate Special. For nearly 25 years Joe’s has been considered a favorite seafood and chop house destination and a haven for suits around the piano and oysters on any given Friday afternoon. Right now they’re pulling them in at lunchtime with their different-everyday 10 buck lunch.

We went there on a Friday and true to form the joint was bustling with suits and tourists alike in a very upbeat jazzy atmosphere. We were shown to a small deuce and kind of wedged into a long line of table and our pleasant server organized the standard water and bread items while we perused the lunch offer. We knew we wanted the Special but I noted that going off that special menu puts you, not surprisingly, into the realm of the upper end of lunch pricing. One particular bonus was nicely starched linen napkins - a rarity at lunch.

Being a Friday the 10 buck lunch was Grilled Salmon Caesar Salad. We didn’t wait long. In a heartbeat our meals arrived. This made me instantly suspicious as perched atop the Caesar salad was the expected grilled salmon and I knew there wasn’t time to have cooked this to order. The salmon itself was a whole piece  - a good sign and unlike the often chunks or strips you sometimes see.

Unfortunately, unlike my companions salmon which she insisted was “fine”, mine was overcooked and hard on the outside,  dry and cool leading me to believe that my suspicions were well founded and that this fish was pre-cooked and awaiting an order.  The good news is that the friendly and attentive server immediately organized a replacement and when the second piece arrived  - after an appropriate cooking time -  it was perfectly cooked and delicious with light spice and a drizzle of olive oil over the top. That’s the good news. The slightly less good news is that the Caesar salad was decidedly lackluster with a very light uninspired creamy Caesar dressing - I confess I am not a fan of the creamy Caesar dressing in general and will cover that problem off another time. However, the croutons were nice, fresh and homemade. In addition to the basket of bread the salad also came with a rectangle of garlic toast that was fresh and tasty but not particularly special.

Overall, the atmosphere had that exciting downtown action feel to it, the service was very good and the food  - at least for a tenner - quite acceptable. We are looking forward to trying some of the other days.

Cibo Trattoria

900 Seymour Street

T  604-523-6188 

www.cibotrattoria.ca

Sorry this ones a bit on the late side, though it seemed a late release to me at the time it is good for the entire month of December. Cibo Trattorio sent out some info regarding their Holiday Cheers Menu. I haven’t been for this, or for any reason, but if you have let us know. 

Press Release:

A Perfect End to the Day – Holiday Cheers at Cibo Trattoria

Vancouver, December 16, 2008 – It’s finally that time of the year again…a time to make that shopping list and attack it with fierceness! Vancouverites all have their favourite boutique shops and places to find that perfect gift for their loved ones, but did they add a note to their list for a little “self holiday bliss”?

Centrally situated just one block from infamous Robson Street, Pacific Centre and minutes from Yaletown, holiday shoppers can enjoy the perfect end to their day at Cibo Trattoria.  During the month of December, Cibo Trattoria is offering a special Holiday Cheers Menu featuring a delightful three-course menu, including a glass of wine, for only $38 - available Monday through Saturday, from 5:00pm to 6:30pm, where one can leave their Christmas gifts with Cibo management while dining.  

Cibo Trattoria is one of Vancouver’s newest additions to the Italian culinary scene this year. Located in the newly renovated Moda Hotel, this 52-seat restaurant is under the expert guidance of Sebastien Le Goff (formerly of Lumiere and CinCin restaurants) and General Manager, Sahara Tamarin (formerly of Chow and Lumiere restaurants).

Executive Chef, Neil Taylor (formerly of London’s esteemed River Café), offers a contemporary Italian menu that focuses on local, seasonally evolving ingredients.

For you foodie keeners this announcement for Whistler Cornucopia 2009 was sent to us recently.

“Save the Date! Industry insiders know that the best way to launch into the festive season is with the insights and tasting tips from the world’s best chefs and breakout and award-winning wineries. Get a head-start on 2009, and save the date for Whistler’s 13th annual Celebration of Wine and Food, where insight meets abundance! Cornucopia is set for November 5 - 9, 2009.”

I’ve never actually been to this event but I’m told it is pretty amazing. If anyone would like to comment on their experience we’d be glad to hear it. I am going to mark my calender for next year and plan to attend.

Hurricane Grill

999 Marine Drive, North Vancouver, V7P 1S4

604-983-9444

1137 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, V6Z 2Y3

604-488-0555 

A quick post on a weekend birthday celebration that led to the Hurricane Grill in Yaletown on Marinaside Crescent. A tony address set on the water amidst Yaletown’s luxury skyscrapers. It was a cold evening and the Canucks were playing – a harsh shutout loss to Edmonton 3-0 for you fans in the readership – and the Hurricane Grill was an inviting upscale pub atmosphere with plenty of bigscreen tvs to feed the sportsfans amongst the birthday goers, which was most of us. Unfortunately the food was as brutal as the loss to the Oilers.

The menu is huge and tries to cover every possible base from grilled steaks to nachos, fajitas, pizzas, pasta, ribs, salads, and burgers. Our server suggested my partner and I start with their signature steamed mussels. To our dismay, we did. Firstly and typically, as any basic seafood cook knows, you steam mussels in the shell and those that open are good to go and those that don’t you toss as they have expired. These mussels were served with the other half of the shell already removed giving us no clue as to the health of the contents. The steaming “broth” was a horridly salty unidentifiable dark green liquid and the large rubbery mussels tasted of nothing leading me to believe they were cooked at another time and introduced to this nasty liquid later. My partner refused to eat more than one.  I was starving and ate about half before piling the shells plate on top of the main dish.

Since this was a sportspub-type evening I decided to go with a peppercorn cheeseburger as a main to compliment the lager. I was drinking I was hoping the mussels were a one off problem and the peppercorn sauce, I was told was delicious.  My partner chose one of her perennial favorite dishes - baby back ribs.

Sadly, burger was, overcooked, dry, bland and had an unpleasant texture. Three strikes. The peppercorn “sauce” was wiped on the bottom bun and not lightly brushed on to the burger during and after cooking as I had expected. I was able to work through about half of the burger before I couldn’t stomach it any further.

My partner’s ribs  - a half rack – were overcooked and dry. Clearly a theme for meats at The Hurricane. For both of us, sadly, the only “highlight” were the fries. And believe me this isn’t saying much.

In retrospect we absolutely should have sent our food back and complained but you know how it is when you are at a celebratory event that is hosted by the celebrator and you don’t want to insult the host and make a scene. We still should have. 

There were about 20 people at the birthday dinner and a quick poll around revealed a consensus of lackluster meals. To be fair, there was a report that the cheese pizza was “pretty good”. A corn chowder was remarked upon as “really good” but the wrap it accompanied was “boring and tasteless” and the diner wished she’d had only ordered the soup. A steak covered salad looked good and was said to be “nice”. 

The atmosphere and service, and pricepoint are all quite good. Too bad the food doesn’t measure up. 

Hey readers! Let’s get back to the business at hand on eatvancouver.net.

This is the first installment in our plan for a continuing series on the quest for the best ten buck (or less) lunches in the downtown core.  A tenner seems to be a popular pricepoint and we expect to partake in an ongoing assortment.

Oysi Oysi

1136 Alberni Street,

Vancouver, BC

Tel: (604) 682-0011

Hours:

Monday to Thursday: 11am to 10:30pm

Friday: 11am to 11:30pm

Saturday: Noon to 11:30pm

Sunday: Noon to 10:00pm

1 star (out of a possible 4)

The journey has led on occasion to Oysi Oysi Japanese restaurant on Alberni Street.

Sandwiched between Tim Hortons and the entrance to Carmanah Plaza, Oysi Oysi is always a bustling lunchtime location. I believe that price is the primary reason.

The lunchtime clientele always seems to be a thorough mix of Japanese students, office workers and construction workers from the numerous nearby sites.

The lunch menu has several options within options all under $10 bucks.  There’s the mix and match Eye Opener for $9.95 that is only available Monday through Friday with four categories and numerous options in each category. Then there are the everyday offerings of the Chef Special which is Ramen and 3 gyoza and the Oisy Special which is a pared down version of the Eye Opener. And lastly there are 4 Combo lunchbox type items.

My first visit I had the Eye Opener with the teriyaki chicken. sushi, rice, wonton soup and gyoza. It’s a good portion and a good size meal. Unfortunately the items themselves didn’t hold up to the promise.

The chicken teriyaki was overfried. The chicken itself was hard and overcooked and the breading was beyond crispy and more like crunchy. The teriyaki flavour is ok, a bit oversweet, and the sauce is very gelatinous with the beansprouts underneath very greasy. The wontons in the soup were tasty but the soup itself had a slightly antiseptic quality that made me think someone had squeezed a cleaning rag into it. Not pleasant.

Eye Opener

The sushi was the star of the plate with decent portions on the nigiri and everything fresh with a nicely lightly vinegared sushi rice.  Makes me think the nighttime sushi might be quite good. Lastly, the gyoza were simply ok. Not particularly notable. Certainly not made in-house.

The second visit I tried the Oisy Special choosing prawn and vegetable tempura, chicken teriyaki again (to compare) and a California roll. It also comes regardless of your choices with Miso soup and bowl of rice. 

Oysi Special

The meal came in under 3 minutes. Quite literally. Clearly prepared in advance as there is no way any of the cooked items were to order. This time the chicken was tender (almost like it was steamed) but you could taste the flour in the breading. As if it was fried to get the outside crisp but not enough to cook through to the chicken. Again, the beansprouts underneath were greasy. The Cali roll had the standard Pollock faux crab that we have all come to expect though I long for real crab in my rolls – I know some places do serve it this way but I think it should be noted somehow on a menu. I’ve probably been watching too much of Gordon Ramsey. Anyway this roll was pretty standard. Moist with mayo and the avocado was very overripe to the point of being strangely too mushy and almost watery in one piece. The tempura was overcrisp from being sat under a hot light but the prawn was nice and it wasn’t’ overly greasy as poorly executed tempura can be sometimes. The two vegetable pieces were both potato. The Miso soup was hot and delicious and the rice bowl perfectly adequate.

All in all, neither meal was particularly special aside from the price to volume ratio.

The quest continues!