The Observatory (Dine Out Vancouver 2010)

Numéro deux, this one's at the $38 option.

The Observatory
6400 Nancy Greene Way
North Vancouver District, BC V7R 4K9
(604) 980-9311

To take full advantage of the beautiful weather since this year's Dine Out got pushed back, I planned dinner reservations according to weather predictions from two sources as well as sunset times. I was determined to have a nice view. I seem to be cursed. The weather today was dreadful. It was overcast and snowing on the mountain, it was exactly like looking through a thick fog.



In addition to my weather woes, traffic was stalled all over Vancouver due to multiple accidents. A 15 minute car drive turned into an hour, and as a result, we had to skip the Theatre in the Sky. I will digress a bit, dinner reservations at the Observatory has a few complimentary perks. In addition to the Theatre in the Sky show, the skyride up and down the mountain is also free. In the winter, there is even a sleigh ride and free skating on the pond, weather permitting.

To make matters worse, we found out that the car was leaking engine coolant (wish I remembered to take a picture of the green fluid). On the way back, we had to resort to using water on a pinch. Wait that's not all, when I got home and started editing the photos, I realized that I forgot to turn off the High ISO settings. Hence, the pictures for the night are ridiculously grainy, so much so that I couldn't really adjust any of them without the grain becoming even more apparent. So I apologize for the poor pictures.

On with the food...

Monk McQueens (Dine Out Vancouver 2010)

This is my first dine out of the year and it's one of the $28 options. I did not initially want to come here since I noticed that they do have a 2 for -1 entree entertainment book coupon. However, a friend wanted to come here and the menu looked decent enough. Street parking was difficult to find in the area, but there is pay parking somewhere along Moberly Road ($1/hour).

Monk McQueens
601 Stamps Lndg
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3Z1
604-877-1351

The first thing I noticed was that the restaurant smelled a bit funky. If you get seated in the middle of the dining room, ask to be moved because you'll get a way better view by the windows. The second thing I noticed is that they added a third option to their Dine Out Menu, some of the options may have been vegetarian. We stuck with what was on the website, though.

The bread was good, but the butter was too hard and difficult to spread.



The Bloody Mary Spirited Mussels (Sky vodka, tomato broth,dill, garlic & shallots) looked great and tasted great. The broth was a tad salty though, perhaps from the mussels themselves, which impaired the other flavours from really acknowledging their presence.

Choosing restaurants for Dine Out Vancouver

Something that I've learned is that you can't assume you're getting a good deal with Dine Out. I'm not saying that Dine Out isn't worth it, you just have to know where to go and pick carefully in order to get the most value out of the event.

Here's how I choose:

1. Compare the prices between the Dine Out menu and the Regular menu
At times, DOV will be more expensive than if you ordered à la carte. Although, they toughened up on this by removing some of the culprit restaurants this year, especially in the $18 tier. More often, Dine Out sometimes only works out to be free dessert or free appetizer. Think about if it's really worth it to have to book in advance and deal with how busy the restaurants are, particularly if you don't normally order appetizers or desserts (like me).

2. Check if the restaurant has a prix fixe or early dining menu.
Some restaurants have deals that are on par or even better than Dine Out. One drawback is that these taster menus often have less selection than during DOV, but not always!

3. Check if the restaurant has entertainment coupons (or even coupons from the Georgia Straight).
Many restaurants often have 2-for-1 entree coupons in the entertainment book. So if you already have one, the coupons are often cheaper or equal to the discount from Dine Out, plus you get more selection. You can view the restaurants that have Entertainment coupons here (warning: huge list): http://vancouver.entertainment.com/discount/search.shtml?Ntt=Dining&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

4. If you absolutely adore a menu that a restaurant has during Dine Out, #1-3 can be ignored. This particularly applies to restaurants that have items not normally found à la carte.

The Pit Burger Bar (UBC)

Nothing on the menu is spectacular and their mozza sticks and popcorn shrimp were notably small and not worth it. However, I do enjoy the waffle fries, belgian fries, and the occasional faux poutine.

The Pit Burger Bar @ UBC
6138 Student Union Blvd (Student Union Building)
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

(604) 822-6511

Normally this wouldn't warrant a post, but... well see for yourself. Below is what my friend and I have dubbed, the Poutina (our friend Tina was with us when we got it).



Waffle Fries $2.75
Side Gravy $0.50
Xtra Cheese $0.60
---------------------------
$3.85 (GST included)

This combination was nothing short of heavenly in taste, but awful in smell. I likened it to the insides of a shoe or an unwashed sock.

It was a huge triumph in being able to order this as we have tried on several occasions without avail. Supposedly, the staff aren't allowed to make this at all and the cashier made a mistake for us. We've gone back (unsuccessfully) everyday for about two weeks trying to relive our success. Since they were willing to do waffle fries with gravy alone, I tried buying a cheese string from the Delly, which worked out to be cheaper than the Poutina but nowhere near as tasty.

Maybe with enough awareness, they'll put the Poutina on the menu someday. I am hopeful.

Dine Out Vancouver 2010

Reservations have been open as of around 12 am, still lots of dates available. I noticed Blue Water Cafe isn't participating this year though. 

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/dining/dineout.php

April 26 - May 6, 2010

$18
Ashiana Tandoori Restaurant
Au Petit Chavignol

Ragazzi Pizza

I'm going to digress a bit and mention that while a lot of people are against cheap 2 for 1 Vancouver pizza, I rather like it for what it is. For me, it's pretentious to nitpick over the authenticity of every slice of pie. Instead, I adopt an attitude that appreciates the innumerable styles of pizza that exists. Not to mention, there is a wide range of personal tastes for such a varied dish, not only in flavour but for texture as well. With that aside, Ragazzi is not one of the cheap 2 for 1 pizza parlours. To change things up a bit, I wanted to try a pizza different than the style found in abundance around Vancouver.

Ragazzi Pizza
2996 E 22nd Ave
Vancouver, BC V5M 2Y3
(604) 433-2235

After lurking Chowhound, I settled Ragazzi. I don't have proper pictures, unfortunately, since I didn`t have my camera.

I think this was the 17 inch Quattro Stagioni (Ham, Salami, Ricotta, Mushrooms and Basil). The cost was $22 with GST included. It did take awhile for the pizza to come out, but we were happily watching the 2010 Paralympic Opening Ceremony on their big screen TV while we waited.



The toppings were noticeably good in quality. The crust was also good, but a little more toward the plainer and cracker-like end of the spectrum. There was still chew, but not enough for my personal tastes. I am biased towards thicker crusts though. The sauce had a nice flavour to it.



I found it pricey for what we got, especially since it wasn't a filling pizza. I would go back, but would probably order something more along the lines of a simple Margherita and do take out for sure.

Poutine at Brado Pizza

My friend and I have been on somewhat of a poutine binge. We started with Costco then expanded our horizons with Zako's Deli, A&W, and UBC Pit Burger Bar. Posted on the wall at Zako's was a list of top poutine places in Vancouver. Brado was on the list, so it was our next stop. The poutine turned out to be great so we decided to go back again with more company.

Brado Pizza
1399 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC V5L 3X5
(604) 251-7251



Above is a large regular poutine. The poutine at Brado is a lot different than at other places. For a lack of a better word, everything was "smooth", especially the gravy. The gravy was glossy and its consistency was very soft, kind of like a gel. Even the fries felt like they were polished smooth. The cheese curds were squeaky and not cold, which I enjoyed. Portion wise, it's a much better deal than at Zako's, but doesn't beat the Costco by Stadium Skytrain Station. I have to say that I am pretty sick of poutine at this point, but there's still lots of places to try.