64.43USD + tip.
Updates from Vancouver - taken out of context.
re: discovering someone else had beat me to BBQ poutine and the best 65 dollar (not including tip) meal of my life.
...
We found the aforementioned, well-recommended BBQ joint and I ordered the BBQ poutine. I was really disappointed as the meat wasnt actually smoked (boo fake bbq, from a place that insists it's real) and they didnt use cheese curds (they used some kind of white shredded cheese - maybe mozz) but it served as a proof of concept. The fries were really good, the pork was okay (even if it wasnt smoked) and the sauce was amazing - all together, it was a tasty dish but certainly nowhere near as good as it could have been. Now I know, however, that when I do it, I'll be able to do it right and it will be one hell of a creation.
Later for dinner, we found this place called the Granville Room. The room was one part Good Life upstairs, one part Good Life downstairs, and one part News. The food and drink was out of this world.
We were happy to find the Monday special was 2 for 1 appetizers so KT and I each got one for a meal and one to share. I started with the Baked Bocconcini- Fresh mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto, baked and served atop a garlic herb crouton. It came with a basil cheese sauce and a small side of greens. The contrast of texture was amazing, starting with a thin layer of crunch from the cooked prosciutto, a nice snappy, only slightly melted on the outside, but still fresh on the inside mozzarella and the final crunch of the crouton at the end. The unsalted nature of the mozzarella cheese balanced the saltiness from the prosciutto well, and the addition of the basil sauce put it over the top. As for the greens, there was a hint of nutmeg in the vinaigrette- an interesting flavor for a nice arrangement of bitter greens, but it actually worked quite well. I've never had a salad that tasted like desert, and that came pretty close.
KT had an unremarkable mushroom soup. I figured I'd give it a shot, but I'm still not on the mushroom bandwagon. Sigh.
I was so impressed with the baked mozzerella dish that I wanted more so we opted for another pair of 2 for 1 apps. Curious to see what they'd do with some classic dishes, I got an order of bruschetta and a cheese plate. The cheese plate was fairly traditional but outstanding with a lemon rind fig paste, and a sweet almond sliver concoction to highlight a few incredible diffrent types of cheese. Bruschetta is as bruchetta does, but the addition of crumbled goat cheese made it stand out...
Oh and drinks! I started with one of their signature drinks, the fireside: Grand Mariner, apricot brandy, peach juice shaken and garnished with a flamed orange zest. Next up were two classics - a sidecar and a dark n stormy. I finished with the Vanilla Jack: Jack Daniels infused with vanilla bean, a dash of sweet vermouth and bitters. Of course a drink like this needs to be garnished with a cherry- my only complaint was the run of the mill maraschino cherry! Such a brilliant drink deserves a nice plump, top quality spiked cherry instead.
...
Note to self- post up the other entries, probably in a random order. Vancouver's downtown east side, the fried bananas, and all the other random stuff
re: discovering someone else had beat me to BBQ poutine and the best 65 dollar (not including tip) meal of my life.
...
We found the aforementioned, well-recommended BBQ joint and I ordered the BBQ poutine. I was really disappointed as the meat wasnt actually smoked (boo fake bbq, from a place that insists it's real) and they didnt use cheese curds (they used some kind of white shredded cheese - maybe mozz) but it served as a proof of concept. The fries were really good, the pork was okay (even if it wasnt smoked) and the sauce was amazing - all together, it was a tasty dish but certainly nowhere near as good as it could have been. Now I know, however, that when I do it, I'll be able to do it right and it will be one hell of a creation.
Later for dinner, we found this place called the Granville Room. The room was one part Good Life upstairs, one part Good Life downstairs, and one part News. The food and drink was out of this world.
We were happy to find the Monday special was 2 for 1 appetizers so KT and I each got one for a meal and one to share. I started with the Baked Bocconcini- Fresh mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto, baked and served atop a garlic herb crouton. It came with a basil cheese sauce and a small side of greens. The contrast of texture was amazing, starting with a thin layer of crunch from the cooked prosciutto, a nice snappy, only slightly melted on the outside, but still fresh on the inside mozzarella and the final crunch of the crouton at the end. The unsalted nature of the mozzarella cheese balanced the saltiness from the prosciutto well, and the addition of the basil sauce put it over the top. As for the greens, there was a hint of nutmeg in the vinaigrette- an interesting flavor for a nice arrangement of bitter greens, but it actually worked quite well. I've never had a salad that tasted like desert, and that came pretty close.
KT had an unremarkable mushroom soup. I figured I'd give it a shot, but I'm still not on the mushroom bandwagon. Sigh.
I was so impressed with the baked mozzerella dish that I wanted more so we opted for another pair of 2 for 1 apps. Curious to see what they'd do with some classic dishes, I got an order of bruschetta and a cheese plate. The cheese plate was fairly traditional but outstanding with a lemon rind fig paste, and a sweet almond sliver concoction to highlight a few incredible diffrent types of cheese. Bruschetta is as bruchetta does, but the addition of crumbled goat cheese made it stand out...
Oh and drinks! I started with one of their signature drinks, the fireside: Grand Mariner, apricot brandy, peach juice shaken and garnished with a flamed orange zest. Next up were two classics - a sidecar and a dark n stormy. I finished with the Vanilla Jack: Jack Daniels infused with vanilla bean, a dash of sweet vermouth and bitters. Of course a drink like this needs to be garnished with a cherry- my only complaint was the run of the mill maraschino cherry! Such a brilliant drink deserves a nice plump, top quality spiked cherry instead.
...
Note to self- post up the other entries, probably in a random order. Vancouver's downtown east side, the fried bananas, and all the other random stuff