Reddit Recipes

Sup FoodBitches,

So I know I’ve been lacking in the blog post area already, but unfortunately my puppy chewed through my AC adapter for my laptop, and I’m currently waiting for my replacement to be shipped from Japan. To tide you over I thought I’d share a few things I’ve found whilst surfing the net. And don’t you worry, I’ve just landed my self a job at a great local spot, The District, so be prepared to follow me on my quest to enjoy (and document) every last item on the menu!

Thought I would share this one because it seems not only delish, but vegan friendly!

http://thehooteats.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/avocado-hummus/

Secondly, I love this little infographic that someone shared on the r/food sub-reddit, and know that I’ll be putting it to use ASAP.

Bon appetit!

FoodBitch Out!

Tofino Food and Wine Festival

This weekend I was I went up to Tofino for the final days of Feast BC (May 16^th to June 3^rd) and to attend some events for the Food and Wine Festival that was taking place there from June 1^st to 3^rd. While I did get to attend one of the organized events for the weekend, most of them were a little out of my price range, though I would’ve definitely spent the money had I started planning our trip a little earlier. We did get to check out the Cocktail Show that took place at the Schooner Restaurant on the Friday night, which feature guest bartenders from various locations. Two of them were from Vancouver: Jacob Sweetapple who bartends at Chambar, and Jason Brown who bartends at Calabash. The third was a bartender from the Schooner, Shaun Ingalls. It was their job to invent cocktails and pairings for the evening. The set up wasn’t too bad at $30 for four drinks and four canapés. Though I was initially put off by the fact that his base alcohol was Absolut, Jacob Sweetapple took the cake for me for best cocktail of the evening with his blackberry liqueur and vanilla bean syrup mixture. Oddly enough the drink I was most looking forward to—with Hendricks Gin as its base liquor, chamomile tea and honey mead—was by far the most disappointing. It could have had to do with the fact that the bartender responsible was about 45 minutes late for the event, so most of his ingredients were unprepared, including his advertised yet absent component of the drink: the green apple foam. The canister was sitting on ice as I watched him mix my drink, and when I asked about it he said it wasn’t ready yet. It was a pity, and I think his drink suffered because of that.

After the event had petered out we went upstairs where they were still serving dinner to order a few more drinks and some appetizers. I have to say, before this weekend I was not a huge fan of oysters. I re-try them constantly in an effort to change my mind and up until this weekend it was to no avail. But this weekend changed me! Starting with the raw oysters on the half-shell served with bubbly at the Cocktail Show, which was only seasoned with a little bit of salt (perfection!) to the Nami Nori Oysters they were serving upstairs in the restaurant area, if I now enjoy oysters as much as I did this weekend I will die a happy woman.  You can truly taste and FEEL the difference with fresh out of the ocean oysters! All of our oyster appetizers at the Schooner were super tasty, but please be forewarned. Whatever you do, do NOT order the baked brie. Unless you like your brie so breaded and deep fried that it is beyond recognition, you will NOT be pleased with this dish. I honestly don’t even know how they get away with calling it “baked” brie when it has so clearly been submerged in a fryer.

Aside from that I didn’t get to attend any other Food and Wine Festival events as they were sold out by the time I got around to organizing, although I would have really liked to check out the Burrowing Owl dinner that took place at the Wickaninnish Inn. If I find any good reviews/blog posts of that evening I’ll be sure to post them.

But just because I couldn’t attend any other events, did not mean that I couldn’t eat excellent food! We decided to use the rest of the weekend to check out some of the local talent, including Sobo and the Spotted Bear Bistro.

Sobo was very good and I hope to go back because I was a little too hungover from the previous night’s festivities that I wasn’t very “present” for the meal. I did get a good picture of my egg sandwich with smoked tuna “bacon” and avocado. It was pretty good hangover food, the ingredients were fresh and tasty, and their buttermilk biscuit was crispy and flakey and just all around good.

Sobo Egg Sandwich

The Spotted Bear Bistro was great. I was hoping to go there for dinner as they had a Pho on the menu that I just found so intriguing that I had to order it, but I was out-voted and we decided to hit brunch instead. No mistake was made. We all had great breakfasts, though I only got to taste two of them myself. Because I actually experienced them, I’ll start with those.

My boyfriend and I decided to share the “Marie Antoinette”—a banana bread pudding French toast with Chantilly cream and house-made blackberry syrup—and the “Fat Bear”—a crispy pork belly served with two poached eggs, hashbrowns and toast. It was a perfect mix. The banana bread pudding was surprisingly not as dense as I thought it would be which was good, considering it was a huuuge portion.  They were both excellent, although I feel the crispy pork belly could’ve used more seasoning. Perhaps I am just ruined by the cinnamon-heavy version I got at the Red Wagon, but I wanted more from my crispy pork belly. But let’s let the pictures speak for themselves…

The “Marie Antoinette” Banana Bread Pudding French Toast

The “Fat Bear” Crispy Pork Belly Breakfast

My brother ordered the Spotted Bear Breakfast which was a typical breakfast set up—two eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and toast—the real reason he ordered it though was for the house-made sausage. He must have enjoyed it too, because he refused my request for a bite!

The Spotted Bear Breakfast

My sister ordered the Pinche Aguacate, a vegetarian-style eggs benny with avocado, slow-roasted tomato, and goat cheese cream. It looked pretty tasty as well, take a look for yourself!

The Pinche Aguacate

Well that sums up my weekend in Tofino! I had a blast, and learned that Tofino’s restaurant scene is a force not to be reckoned with. I should have known though—it being the birth place of Tacofino! It’s definitely a great town with a great emphasis on fresh, local ingredients, which is always the best kind of dining in my opinion.

Welcome Food Bitches!

Hello readers, and welcome to the maiden voyage of my new blog, Food Bitch. In the time to come I’ll be posting recipes that I enjoy making, and reviews of restaurants in the Lower Mainland.  And on that note, let me introduce you to the subject of my first post, some place that you will rarely ever find a student of the esteemed Capilano University. So let’s start things off with a bang with the divine cuisine of Fraiche.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the ten winners of a special tasting menu designed for VANEATS by Fraiche’s head chef, Jefferson Alvarez. Though the prize was a free meal, diners had the option of upgrading from the special VANEATS menu with their guest’s purchase of the $95 “Conservative Menu.” This prix fixe consists of a five course meal with 2 oz wine pairings for each course. Being the thrifty shopper and eater that I usually am, it was hard to part with such a big chunk of my paycheck, but my boyfriend and I split the cost. And oh boy—was it worth it!

The first course was brought to us in a shallow bowl with a miniscule amount of local BC spot prawns in the centre. My boyfriend and I both had a moment where we were like… uh, is this it?? But then two servers came around with small pitchers of Gazpacho, and we both sighed with relief. We didn’t take a picture of the gazpacho as the star of the dish was really the spot prawn and you couldn’t see it floating around in the soup. The presentation was more theatrical and did not really translate to photograph. The flavours of the gazpacho itself were also somewhat unimpressive. The server had said something about the wine pairing (the Miguel Torres “Esmeralda,” a blend of Moscati and Gewürztraminer –to die for!) being used to compliment the heat, though neither me nor my boyfriend got any hint of “heat” from the dish.

Perfect Egg

The second course was far more enjoyable. It’s definitely a tie for me between this and the duck parfait for best dish of the evening. This is Chef Alvarez’s “Perfect Egg” and oh, is it ever perfect. It also helps that I LOVE mushrooms, so this dish was just spectacular for me. The egg is done almost sous vide style; he slowly soft boils it at a low temperature for over an hour, which leads to a wonderful consistency. The egg was soft, but not runny, and the yolk was creamy and delicious. The server recommended that we break the yolk and use it as a sauce with the wild mushrooms and the brioche croutons. This dish was such comfort food, but it wasn’t too heavy; it was aptly titled indeed! Perfect!

Duck Parfait

The third course… mmmm… I just love pate. In all forms. I think this dish was called the “Duck Parfait” and was essentially a slab of duck pate with a little apple salad on the side served with impossibly thinly sliced croustinis. The pate was so creamy and smooth and with the light sweetness of the green apple salad and the gentle crunch of the croustini, this dish was just heaven. Those croustinis, I’m still trying to figure out how they made them, it’s almost like they took a deli slicer to a loaf of bread and then slowly toasted them in the oven. They were literally less than a millimeter thick, which was great because there’s nothing worse than struggling with a big chewy/crunchy croustini and making a big mess all over the place. It really allowed me to focus on the flavours as opposed to the assembly.

Flat-Iron Steak

The fourth course—the entrée—was a peppered flat-iron steak served with various types of carrots and asparagus, and a few little fingerling potatoes as well. I’m never one to order steak, I’m not the type that likes sawing at a big hunk of meat, but this steak was so tender that I ate every last bite. It was so peppery as well, there was a very good level of spice to the dish. But I do feel that the previous two courses overshadowed this dish. It was good, but not as awe-inspiring as the other two.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Finally, last but definitely not least, dessert! I had already spied this dish at another table and was immediately intrigued. It is a sticky toffee pudding—such a good, classic dessert—but with a Jack Daniels caramel sauce, a little puff of house-made vanilla cotton candy, a little scoop of vanilla ice cream, and few little “cranberry cubes.” This was tasty, although I wish I had gotten more caramel sauce, and I didn’t get a whole lot of JD flavour from the caramel either. The cotton candy was adorable, of course, and immediately melted in my mouth, but again I didn’t get a whole lot of the vanilla flavour, just sugar. It was definitely a tasty dessert, but did not live up to the standards set by the previous courses in the meal.

All in all I very much enjoyed my first experience at Fraiche and would like to thank both the lovely people at Fraiche and at VANEATS for allowing me to experience my first fine dining excursion in Vancouver. I definitely recommend Fraiche and think it is the kind of restaurant that all who call themselves Foodies or Vancouverites must experience at least once in their life! If not for the amazing view, then definitely for the spectacular food.

FoodBitch out!