Chow Times

The Cannery Seafood House on Commissioner Street, Vancouver

Ben — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:23:03 +0000

It’s such a shame.

It’s such a shame that such a fine restaurant like The Cannery are forced to close through no fault of theirs.

Last week, I had a week long strategy planning session with our core project members who came from several countries. The meetings were grueling to say the least. On the last day of the meeting, it rested upon me to organize a team dinner. I love planning dinners like these and chose one of the best place one could go to for such team dinners — The Cannery.

If you have never heard of The Cannery, you will never accidentally bump into this place. It is because it is located out of way. As a matter of fact, it is located right in the middle of the Vancouver Port.

To get to The Cannery you need to clear the port security although it is generally no fuss. They will ask where you are going and they will let you through if you just say you are going to The Cannery.

It will feel kind of weird because located in the middle of warehouses, silos and train tracks is a restaurant very unlike what you will find elsewhere in Vancouver.

The moment we walked, my guests were already remarking how this place exudes the old-fashioned attractiveness and charm. When I told them this place will close in just a few months, they said the same thing … “what a shame”. That is said even before we had started eating.

Gail was saying that they can never replace a place like this. They can’t just close this and hope to reopen it in another place with the same experience. Sha said that it will never be the same again. I agree.

You really got to see this place for yourself. I felt it is just the perfect restaurant for just about any occasion. There are nice little corner with the view of the Burrard Inlet for a nice cozy romantic dinner. At another corner is a casual setting at the fire place.

We got ourselves a very nice corner for our group of 13 people. I could not be happier myself. :-)

Our waitress was a cheerful person and knows the food and drinks they serve very well. Too well, because she rattled off such a long description of the martini that most of us just did not understand what we got. Most of us had that martini “with a dash of raspberry” you see on the right.

We had a few bottles of wines to accompany the food. One of them was Syrah which they all raved about. I had the strong red wine but really, I can’t tell the difference between this vs other red wine. Our waitress offered someone in our party to taste it before they are poured for the rest of us.

Looking at the number of bottles we ordered throughout the night, I can imagine how much this is all gonna cost. Good thing I am not the one who had to expense it!

It was very dim in the restaurant. I had to push the ISO setting to “enhanced” in order take these pictures. Even that, it came out with motion blur for some picture. But really, am glad it turn out mostly OK even with these difficult lightings.

The bread was nothing to shout about and does not wow us at all. I had tasted better … but …

… the lobster oil with the balsamic vinegar pretty much made up for the ho-hum bread. This is produced and bottled in Vancouver and is the invention of their Executive Chef. You can actually buy them at $25 a bottle (see here).

I had a lot of the bread with this dip.

Their menu is laid out as “first course” and “second course” instead of the normal Appetizer and Main.

My first course is the Roasted Mussels ($16). The mussels was kind of OK — no big deal. It was served on a sizzling cast iron pan resting on an iron stand. The better part was not the mussels but the gravy and the really crispy bread.

Here are some of the other first courses that the others in our party ordered. The Cannery’s first courses are …
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Wilted Spinach Salad with Quinoa, Grapes and Tomatoes

Suanne — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:56 +0000

Looks like the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors has a theme in this week’s meeting. One common ingredient in Spinach. Spinach is rich in iron and calcium and it’s Popeye’s energy booster. As fussy as Nanzaro is, I’m glad that he likes spinach.

Sydney and Lorna made this Wilted Spinach Salad with Quinoa, Grapes and Tomatoes. This salad is slightly unusual that it’s served warm. This salad can be varied according to your preference. Instead of grapes, you can try experimenting with dried fruit, like cranberries and raisins. You can sprinkle the salad with toasted nuts, sliced avocados, or drained canned chickpeas before serving.

We were quite surprise that the grapes stained the quinoa purple.

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Roasted Parsnips

Suanne — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:00:35 +0000

Christina and June roasted some parsnips for the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. Roasting parsnips really brings out the vegetable’s sweet flavour. This recipe can be multiplied endlessly – just count on about one medium parsnip per person.

Roasted Parsnips have a strong aroma to it. Not everyone will like it. Paul just tried one and said no thank you. This is the first time Paul tried parsnip. This recipe is for 1 serving.

Ingredients

1 parsnip

1 teaspoon olive oil

pinch of salt

Parsnip is a root vegetable related to the carrot. Parsnips look like carrots, but are white (or pale yellow) instead of orange in colour. It has a stronger flavor.

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Post tags: Community Kitchen, Parsnip, Recipe

Creamy Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs and Spinach

Suanne — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:00:51 +0000

The next dish which the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors made is a bean soup. Soup is comfort food especially in the colder fall and winter. This bean soup is adapted from Cara Brunetti Hillyard and it serves 6. Chris and Paul made this soup.

Chris and Paul made two versions of this bean soup. One is the creamy version while another is the broth version. The creamy version is smooth while the broth version has more texture to it. The soup is very filing too with the beans as a source of protein.

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Post tags: Community Kitchen, Garbanzo Bean, Recipe, Soup, Spinach, White Bean

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Suanne — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:00:48 +0000

Under normal circumstances, I will end a series of the community kitchen meet up with the dessert but for this week’s South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors, I will start with dessert. The reason is, Charlene started off the day’s cooking with a quick briefing on baking. Charlene observed some very common mistakes in her several seniors kitchens and she decided to share them with this kitchen.

Baking is unlike other cooking that you can estimate the ingredients and more or less in fine. Baking is science as the right amount of ingredients are crucial for the reaction of the of the processes to achieve the right texture in the baking goods. Here is a summary of the briefing.

One must use a dry ingredient measuring cup to measure dry ingredients. To measure flour, use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup until it overflows. Then, use a knife or spatula to level the flour. Do not tap the measurement cup as this will compact the flour and yield more flour than needed. Do not scoop the floor directly into the measuring cup and try to level the flour by pressing against the wall of the flour container as this will also compact the flour.

One exception in measuring dry ingredient is measuring brown sugar. You have to pack the brown sugar and the brown sugar should take on the shape of the measuring cup when you turn it out.

When measuring liquid, place the cup on a flat surface and check the liquid amount at eye level.

So, with the above fresh in mind, Ken and Frank started working on the Spiced Pumpkin Bread recipe.

This Pumpkin Bread recipe is adapted from Vern Bertana and it makes 2 loaves. This bread freezes well. Wrap the loaf with saran wrap and place in a ziplock back and store it in the freezer until you have company.

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© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: Bread, Community Kitchen, Pumpkin, Recipe

The Naam on West 4th and MacDonald, Vancouver

Ben — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:08 +0000

From being a family who usually have light breakfasts at home, we find ourselves going out for breakfasts quite a number of times lately. All this started since we first went to Bon’s Off Broadway which serves one of the best $2.95 breakfast in town.

Frankly, Suanne and I are not big fans of breakfasts but we got to make it up to Nanzaro who was still mentioning about him missing the breakfast in Bon’s. So we woke up bright and early last weekend and went to The Naam. What we did not tell Nanzaro though is that Naam is a vegetarian restaurant.

Naam starts serving breakfast at 6AM. You might think, wow, it’s early but actually they are opened 24 hours. The Naam is located on West 4th Avenue near the intersection with Macdonald St.

The beauty of going there early at 7AM is the quietness. The place exudes that kind of morning calmness with people enjoying a big breakfast, hot cup of coffee with a book in hand. The wooden varnished tables and casual decor adds to the charm of this place.

It was not like that for long. By 8AM, this place was absolutely buzzing with customers and getting service from the waiters is a true test of patience.

You know, you can’t just build a restaurant with these kind of ambiance these days. The total mood, character and experience we see here is built over the 40 years that The Naam had been in existence in the core of the Kitsilano neighborhood.

The Naam has a big breakfast menu. You could probably imagine that it took us a while before we finally settle on our selection. Anyway, if you can’t read the menu above properly, click on it for a larger image.

Hot Coffee and Hot Chocolate was $2.50 with free refills of coffee. The hot chocolate cup had a paper napkin tied to it. We were wondering why they did that because this is the first time we had seen anyone doing it. Does anyone know if there is a practical reason for this?

The hot chocolate was pretty good. It tastes like it is made with cocoa powder and is unsweetened. We like it this way but knowing Nanzaro, he hates it. To him, hot chocolate is not supposed to taste this way and it has to be sweetened like those you find in Denny’s and IHOP.

The Naam describes themselves as a “Vancouver’s Oldest Natural Foods Restaurant”. They pride themselves as saying most of everything they serve are made in premises, using pure and fresh ingredients.

Nanzaro opted for the Breakfast Quesadilla ($9). It has red organic corn tortillas with scrambled eggs. You can opt for tofu instead of eggs.

You got to hand it to Naam. Their breakfasts are …
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© ben for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments
Post tags: Breakfast, Restaurant Review, Vancouver, Vegetarian

Guu in Aberdeen, Richmond

Suanne — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:30:46 +0000

It’s getting tougher to look for a new cake place for cake meet with Polly. I got a couple of places to check out but only found out that they are open late in the afternoon which does not suit our timing. It was also a rainy day and we ended up in Aberdeen Center in Richmond. At least the car park is covered and there is plenty of parking spaces. That’s why we ended up our cake meet at Guu in Aberdeen.

Guu in Aberdeen opens for lunch at 11:30am. That is still ok with us. Since we were there at about 11:00 am, we had some time to do some groceries shopping before our lunch. Polly likes to do her groceries shopping on Friday as most groceries places are packed with people in the weekends. As for me, I like to do my groceries shopping at the beginning of the week as I seldom cook during weekends.

Guu is a Izakaya type of Japanese restaurant. All the servers will greet you the moment you enter and leave the restaurant. They are full of enthusiasm. I like their high spirit. The only other Asian restaurant that practice such greetings are Taiwanese restaurant. However, they are more subtle.

Polly likes Guu’s cup and condiment holders, especially the cup with the fish imprints. Chinese restaurants usually have toothpicks at the counter but in Guu, they actually have them on the table. What a nice touch.

We ordered two items to share. The first item was called the Guuu’d Box. It’s on the lunch special menu. This bento box costs
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© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments
Post tags: Cake Meet, Japanese, Restaurant Review, Richmond

Go Fish at False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf Near Granville Island, Vancouver

Ben — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:23:17 +0000

The best fish and chips in Vancouver is not a a place where you would stumble upon despite its close proximity to the one of top tourist destination in Vancouver, Granville Island.

Even if you so happen to stumble upon it, you would probably not give this shack a second glance if not for the hordes of customers.

But believe it or not, this humble looking fish shack is started by no other than the same chef behind the Bin 941 Tapas Parlour. That alone explains pretty much the popularity of the food.

Besides the food, it also had a million dollar view of the False Creek. This is certainly a gem of a place.

It is the type of place where you would recommend to tourists and you can be quite sure that they will be impressed with it. Go Fish is so Vancouver — beautiful view and good fish.

Their prices are not too expensive considering that they include GST. Click on the image of the menu above to get a clearer view.

Their specials are shown on the chalkboard. We wanted to just order the Scallop Sandwich but they were JUST sold out.

You place your order at the side of the shack. There was not a line at all when we were there. We had expected a long line as that day was beautiful with the sun out. I guess it was because it was cold and windy that afternoon.

Even that, we were told that it will be 10 minutes for our order. One can just imagine how long the wait is on a busy day. They make the food only when you order it, even the fries, so that you get absolutely the best.

For fish and chips, they had cod, salmon or halibut. Too bad they don’t have a combo of all three. They only have it either-or.

We thought we try the more expensive halibut. It is $10 for a piece of the fish and fries. Interestingly, it is served in a Dim Sum bamboo basket. It is so practical.

The fish looked and smell great. It was piping hot too having just been taken out from the fryer. The menu mentioned that the batter is made with …
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© ben for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments
Post tags: Restaurant Review, Seafood, Vancouver

Toffee Apple Cake

Suanne — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:19 +0000

Chris shared this Toffee Apple Cake recipe with the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors as dessert. According to Chris, this cake is tops. The best part is we can make most out the local apples in the fall.

This Toffee Apple Cake is very moist and almost custard like. The toffee bits topping add some crunch to it. This is certainly not a dietary kind of dessert. Well, it’s ok to let ourselves indulge for a treat once in a while.

Chris and Paul worked on this dessert. This recipe serves 24.

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Post tags: Apple, Cake, Community Kitchen, Recipe, Toffee

Mashed Cauliflower

Suanne — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:00:42 +0000

The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors served Mashed Cauliflower as the side dish for the Turkey Meatloaf instead of the regular mashed potatoes. Mashed Cauliflower is popular among dieters, who crave for mashed potatoes but with lesser carbohydrates.

The Mashed Cauliflower is delicious, diet or no. It has the texture of mashed potatoes and the taste of cauliflower. Being Chinese, we seldom have mashed up food except food for baby.

Ingredients

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into small florets (about 6 to 7 cups)

2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter

2 to 4 tablespoons water or broth

sea salt to taste

This recipe is adapted from Whole Foods Market and it serves 4. Helmut and Lorna made this very simple side dish.

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Post tags: Cauliflower, Community Kitchen, Recipe