Eating 1000 Meals

Went to this Internet Marketing seminar at the Paradise Point Hotel. It's a beautiful hotel near Sea World in San Diego. I met Jim Cockrum and his assistant Ron there. Speaking at this 2 day event were Gary Halbert, John Carlton, Frank Kern, Ed Dale, Rich Schefrens, Bob Serling and many more gurus.

Lunch was served in a lawn setting in the midday sun. There were salmon, beef, pasta and so much more. Good conversations, fantastic ideas. It was great meeting others with a similar mindset that we did it again the next day.

It's a weekend I won't soon forget.

Labels: san diego dining

Spent an hour walking around Old Town section of San Diego. Lots of history here. Nice museums. Passed by the most haunted house in California.

Quite a few restaurants here. Decided to check out Fred's Mexican restaurant. Seems like a party type restaurant with loud parrot in a cage up front. There's inside and outside sitting. We sat outside. Had a fajita, beer, salsa chips. The beer went down good.

The one noteworthy event that happened was - all of a sudden, a loud bang was heard. My friend was so shocked that he had the deer-in-the-headlight look. The expression on his face was priceless.

The bang might have been a car backfiring or someone shooting a gun. I figured it was the parrot and went back drinking.

Labels: vacation san diego dining

Visiting San Diego brings back warm memories. Last time here, 10 years ago, I remember saying I would like to retire here. Similar feel to Vancouver, only warmer and no rain.

We had heard that there were some nice restaurants on No. 3 St. As we drove by, noticed signs advertising the Taste of San Diego. Stopped by a couple restaurants, but since we are regulars at Thai Palace in Vancouver, the choice was easily made. As part of the Taste of San Diego, the restaurant had set up a table on the sidewalk to 'sample their wares.' They had Pad Thai and other food - the staff was continuously running back and forth.

Inside, we had a nice cold beer. Tiger, I believe. I had the Pad Thai. It was ok.

Even though the Mea Kwan Thai is run by folks from Bangkok, it wasn't like it was super-authentic or anything, as we do have a lot of nice Thai restaurants in Vancouver - some better, some worse. So we are kind of spoiled here.

What do you do, when you arrive in Vegas at 10pm, tired and hungry? Naturally, you seek out some good cheap eats. For years, we have gone to Arizona Charlies for their $2.99 steak and eggs. That is, until last time, when some of us had queasy stomachs afterwards after dining on oily eggs and chewy steaks.

This time, tried another cheap deal at the Hotel California's Redwood Grill in the Fremont district at about midnight. Their graveyard shift special included $3.99 steak and won ton min. Food was not bad, then again, it always seems that the first time you try a place, it's always the best. Subsequent visits usually change one's perception and reveal it for what it is - a cheap eat and all it implies. Law of diminishing returns.

This place has a huge Hawaiian following.

White Rock has certainly changed. What was once a one-fish-and-chip-shack town is now a tourist trap albeit a scenic tourist trap - especially along restaurant row on Marine Dr. The parking here is a bitch, but the view is nice. Sorta like Angelina Jolie.

Walked all along Marine Drive and finally settled on Troll's. It's not the greatest of places but it would suffice. The honey lager was good, the seafood clubhouse was not bad. Service was slow, but we had time to kill.

What better time than to reflect upon the changes in White Rock over the last 30 years. Was it all for the best? It's now bigger, but better? As more money is pumped into the local economy, there'll be more restaurants, condos, parking lots, everyday stress. The price of progress? or is there something inside each of us trying to seek a simpler life?

There was an opening for a guinea pig as Tim Horton's just had their own grand opening at the Waterfront Food Fair. The lineup was long with a confusing configuration. The location is not the best, way in the corner of the mall. They have multi-cash registers but there is first day confusion about whether there should be one line or multi-lines. I knew I should have brought my own yellow queue tape and traffic cone.

Long story short - the couple in front of me bought multiple items, but Tim ran out of an item, so instead of 2 they now had one sandwich. Then,one by one they started deleting items from their purchase. All the while I'm standing in line for 15 minutes, money burning a hole in my pocket. I won't be back until they are up to speed.

Old number 2 would be rolling in his grave now. (Trivia note - Tim Horton was a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player who wore the number 2.)

Scoozi's is a Mediterranean restaurant I pass by every week. The patio juts out on a relatively busy sidewalk filled with tourists and business people walking up and down with the obligatory beggar occupying the corners.

I've always wanted to try the restaurant. Finally decided to visit on a Friday afternoon. Outside was full, so we went inside.

The skinny on this place is that while it's a nice restaurant with decent food, a personable host and wait staff, it's a tourist trap. The prices are much too high. The bill for 3 people topped out at $71. I had 2 beers and only an appetizer - tzakziki with pita ($6.99) as I had lunch elsewhere.

My colleagues had pasta. Their bills were much higher than mine.

We were not impressed.

Second time at this restaurant. It was a birthday dinner for an uncle attended by all the relatives, cousins, nephews, etc. We talked about travel, politics, current events, stocks, day trading, work, school, golf. (Here's a nugget - one uncle day trades bank stocks).

Oh yeah, we had squab, crab, fish, beef/broccoli, soup, pig neck,chicken, noodles. Your basic 10-course meals.

I believe the prices are very reasonable. But the main thing was - a good time was had by all.

Decided to drop by Fu Ramen to use up my loyalty card. I had 9 stamps on my buy 10 Ramen get one free card. After I parked, what did I see - the same restaurant but with a completely different name. Red Tuna Sushi & Noodle. WTF. I felt like kicking myself. Why didn't I take advantage of my loyalty card. I was only one off a free meal. Uggh.

That pissed-off feeling soon passed. I went in anyways. Red Tuna looked the same, only under new management. It was the same setup - a counter for 10 people plus one table.

I ordered the ramen combo - seafood ramen (2 prawns, 2 scallops, egg, meat, squid)+ gyoza (50-cent add-on) - all for $9.53. ($8.50+.50+gst). It was a good satisfying meal but it would have been better if i had redeemed my freebie ramen. I learnt my lesson.

Wedding banquet at a ballroom at the Sutton Place Hotel. Cocktails, catching up with old friends. Suddenly, a bell rings and we are seated at our table. The bride is beautiful, the groom has grown up - a lot different from the kid I used to know.

The dinner -
Salad with chicken breast, which was ok.
Lobster bisque, much too salty.
Prime rib - rare, blood red with 2 prawns, 2 scallops, asparagus, and tiny carrots. The prime rib I left half-finished on the plate and I'm a big meat eater. That's very telling. However, the prawns and scallops were good.
Dessert- wedding cake with mango sauce -good.

The wedding couple were gracious but hotel does not pass the test. For big events - stay away.

One of the ritzier Chinese restaurants in Richmond - the dinner for 10 is about $450. On the wall are pictures of the chef with some celebs - one of them being Michelle Kwan - the American figure skater.

The ten course dinner begins with a jelly fish plate, then it's broccoli & scallops. Crayfish, prawns with mayonnaise and nuts and crab soon follow. Mushroom (that look like abalone) & vegetables, soup, fish, fried rice, e-fu noodles brought the dinner to an end. It was a excellent meal.

Service was good with plenty of plate replacements. Noticed that the waiters always take away the fancy chopstick rest/thing first when cleaning up.

Small authentic Japanese restaurant, very reasonable prices.
$5.50 for ebi don (5 tempura prawns + rice) is a very good deal.

Recipe for a satisfying lunch at the other food outlet at Crystal Mall that serves siu lone bows (meat dumplings). Northern Meixi was reviewed previously.

serving for 2, takes about 20 minutes.

1 order of 5 siu lone bows ($3.50)
Add a $4.95 bowl of pork chop noodles.
Mix a $5.25 bowl of wonton soup (10 wontons).
Stir
Throw in a short 15 minutes wait,
then presto, a meal for 2 that will satisfy the munchies.

Serve with tea and styrofoam bowls.

It's a brand new pho bistro, next to Kishu and A&B Sound. Used to be Tribeca - you can still see remnants like the small statues, plants and the old menu board which hasn't been changed but which make this place seem chaotic and confusing. My new tagline for Dunkin's Donuts of 'it's not fusion, it's confusion' would apply here as well. Something about Vietnamese restaurants wanting to be all things to all people. It's enough to call out the guy that does the extreme makeovers.

Another thing of note - when you go to a pho restaurant, you order pho, which arrives fairly quickly and look similar to the phos at Pho Hua . One should not order something stir-fried as the order is rather 'lean cuisine'.

Speaking of makeovers, my prediction is that the wall between Kishu and Ben.Z will come tumbling down and it'll be one big restaurant.

As opposed to the high-flying Joey Tomato's, this restaurant has been around much longer - 15 years - and is very much, a laid back West Coast diner, whose mantra was fresh, healthy food. Originally opened by former Olympians, Diane and Doug Clement, they injected 'fresh and healthy' into this once-sleepy strip on Cambie.

In those intervening 15 years, this area has changed noticeably. For one thing, there's more restaurants now. There's even a Capers, a block away.

We used to wait for the bus in front. Instead there's a nice patio now. I remember there was a grocery store, where we bought our comic books and an old barber shop in the middle somewhere. The barber shop is still there, enveloped by the restaurant, which took up the space occupied by the grocery store and I think, the first store front at the end of the block.

There's a decent wine list, but I ordered a Timberwolf Pale Ale ($5), a rotisserie chicken sandwich ($7.75) and potato dill salad ($2.95). At its core, Tomato is still a laid back diner, maybe too laid back.

Late Sunday afternoon, with at least 4 waitresses, I noticed they were busy setting forks and spoons for the dinner trade, that they didn't seem to see all the people coming in.

In my mind's eye, I visualize the classic Jack Nicholson scene in Five Easy Pieces or was that Easy Rider, where he orders all the fixings, then one by one remove them all, just to piss off the waitress.

Then, thud, like a moon landing, my order arrived. It was good and I was satisfied.

It was good to come back to the old neighbourhood.