Vancouver: Japadog, The Greedy Pig & The Alibi Room

Since we stayed near Gastown in Vancouver, we spent a good amount of time around that area since it was within walking distance, and there's a lot of great bars and restaurants.  One thing about Gastown is that if you like the hipster culture, then this is THE spot.  It's almost as if all the hipsters in Vancouver gathered in this little area.  For our last night, we decided to hit up a few spots around the area since hipster spots meant good food and drinks!

One of the must eats when visiting Vancouver is stopping by a Japadog location.  They are the originator of this Japanese fusion hot dog, and there's even a location in NYC now!  Before Alice, Calvin, and I headed off to Gastown to hit up our spots, we stopped by the brick & mortar location of Japadog on Robson for some appetizers :P

Japadog

530 Robson St

Downtown

Vancouver, BC V6B 2B7  

www.japadog.com

Been to a cart location, now to their brick & mortar location!

We decided to get four to share, with some unique to these Robson location.

Yakiniku Dog.  One of the hot dogs that's unique to this location.  Essentially, an Arabiki sausage sits on a bed of rice, then topped with yakiniku between bun.  It's like a MOS Burger gone cray cray!  Sauce was pretty damn good.

Tonkatsu.  Another unique to this location.  There's no hot dog in this, but a piece of pork katsu, drizzled with sweet mayo and katsu sauce and topped with cabbage between bun.  

Oroshi.  Still my favorite hot dog from Japadog.  Grated dikon on top of a juicy pork bratwurst with some green onions on top.  So simple, but so good.

The one that started it all, Terimayo.  Since Calvin & Alice never had Japadog, had to order the original.  Teriyaki sauce, sweet mayo and seaweed = winning combo.


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After Japadog, we made our way towards Gastown, and stopped by the first stop of the night, Greedy Pig.  It's a lounge/gastropub that focuses on whiskey cocktails.  Pigs seem to be a really popular thing nowadays haha.

Greedy Pig

307 W Cordova Street 

Downtown, Gastown

Vancouver, BC V6B 1E5

thegreedypig.ca

Greedy Pig's logo on the menu.

Calvin's Ward Eight.  Classic cocktail, except their version is with Kentucky bourbon instead of rye.

Alice's Roughrider.  Made with Canadian rye whiskey.  Not a huge fan of it cause it was super sweet.

Old Ripper.  Made with Tennessee sour mash, pureed white peach, creme de peaches, fresh lemon juice, bitters, and egg white.  Very hipster drink with the egg white, but it was the best one out of the three we tried!

Part of their menu.  We decided to get the Marrow & Toast to share.

Marrow & Toast.  Roasted marrow bones, garlic confit, sea salt, truffle oil, arugula, and bacon.

The marrow and the bacon.

Marinated garlic!

Toasts.

My own little bite.  The truffle oil was very light.  Sea salt was a nice touch since it helped cut through all the fat.


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We actually stopped by another gatropub but it was way too packed so we decided to go to our last stop, Alibi Room, a very hipster Canadian pub.  Why is it hipster?  Well, it's a pub that serves a ton of craft beers, including local brews, tons of interesting characters (saw a guy wearing a sailor's outfit there), and it's actually located a bit far away from Gastown, in an area that's a little shady.  

Alibi Room

157 Alexander Street 

Vancouver, BC V6A 1B8

alibi.ca

Front of Alibi Room.  A bit hard to find if you don't know the area.

Logo.  Lots of beers on tap.

I wanted something a bit unique and local so I went with the Red Truck "Prev-Ale" Maple Ale.  Definitely get that maple haha.

Calvin's "Le Nez Rouge" Tripel.  A local brew as well.  9% Belgian tripel.

Alice likes porter so she got the Phillips "Longboat" Double Chocolate Porter.  

Must have something to nibble on so we got the fries.

Came with two condiments: housemade ketchup and chili garlic vinegar.  I am a sucker for ketchup made in-house so I went for that most of the time.

Later on, we couldn't resist the piggy, so got the Pork Belly Sandwich, which was topped with beer braised onions, served with jalapeno coleslaw, and more fries.  Pork belly was not as good as Calvin and I liked, but the slaw was very interesting!  Gave us regular ketchup this time instead of the homemade.   

We called it a night after Alibi Room, but I was definitely surprised with the Canadian craft beer scene!  It just seems like all of Pacific Northwest is loaded with these breweries brewing these unique beers.  Should've saved some room for more beer instead of food haha.

Vancouver: The Original Guu on Thurlow

Last time I came to Vancouver, I didn't get to check out any of the Guu family of restaurants, so this time, made sure that was a stop.

There's several Guu in Vancouver, but each location is somewhat unique.  We decided to go to the original, an izakaya, and where it all started.  Why izakaya?  There's plenty in LA!  Well, I like visiting izakayas in different cities if I can because izakayas are generally much more casual, menu reflects local ingredients, menu changes often, and it's just a good way to relax with friends after traveling.  Beer + food!

Guu

838 Thurlow Street 

West End, Downtown

Vancouver, BC V6E 1W2 

guu-izakaya.com

Outside.  Of course, being an izakaya, it's not a big place and it was packed!  It's located near a popular street (Robson) so it is located at a good spot in terms of location.  Ended up waiting over an hour since we had a large group (Alice's friends).

Open style kitchen.  Place wasn't that big so we were separated into two tables.

Menu.  Ordered half the menu for three haha.

Specials that night.  Ordered a good amount from this menu too haha.

Of course, gotta get beer at an izakaya.

First up, Kabocha Croquette!  Sorta like a Japanese version of the Scottish Egg.

Mashed pumpkin squash with boiled egg croquette.

Kakuni.  One of the softest and tastiest pork belly I've ever had.  Sorry for the bad picture but I was really excited when this came hahah.  Who can resist that shiny looking pork belly.

Salmon Yukke.  Yukke means tartar but it is pretty much a soy marinated poke.  British Columbia salmon!  They also give you a quail egg on the side to mix it in for that tartar element.

Salmon on the shrimp cracker.

One of the specials, Gyoza Eggrolls.  Instead of stuffing gyoza fillings into dumpling skins, they used egg roll skins.

Tastes just like gyoza, except muuuuch crunchier.

Takoyaki.  Octopus ball.

Karubi.  Japanese version of the Korean kalbi.  On the sweeter side.

Grilled Smoked Salmon Neck from the special menu.  Fish collar is one of my favorite part of the fish.  A bit tough from the smoking but it is packed with flavor.

Gyu Tan.  Grilled beef tongue.  I'm... still not a fan haha.

Kaarage!  Fried chicken!

Tontoro.  Grilled pork jowl.  Don't know where they get their pork but it's awesome.

Love the texture of this cut of pork.  Fatty but with some tendon for that bite.

Shrimp Wonton Dan Dan Noodles.  It was sorta funny cause when we ordered it, the waitress was like "Very spicy!!" and kept on insisting that only order if we can eat spicy foods.  Calvin, Alice, and I ate it like it is nothing haha.  The peanut sauce part of it probably lessened the spiciness.  A few of the other staff stopped by and asked if it was spicy too.  Pretty legit for Japanese dan dan noodles!

The shrimp wontons.  There's even some preserved mustard green!  Impressed.

Was it worth the long wait?  Yes.  I get why Vancouver loves Guu.  It's a izakaya with tasty food, and the atmosphere is exactly how an izakaya should be: loud, busy, and a little smoky!  Next time, Guu Garlic for sure!

Saint Louis: Taste Bar & Brasserie by Niche

I think most people associate BBQ and pork with Saint Louis so when I visited Diana while she was there for her internship with Purina, BBQ was definitely on the top of my list.  Diana told me how she attended a speaker session on how a chef expressed the importance of design in his restaurants and how it was really memorable.  Just so happens, the chef, Gerard Craft, owns a few of the top restaurants in Saint Louis, so we decided to check out two of the restaurants while I was there!

We stopped by Taste Bar for a quick late night dinner on the night I arrived and then Brasserie by Niche the next night for a more proper dinner.  Taste Bar is a super hip spot with a professional mixologist on site.  Definitely expected a place like Taste Bar to be in SF or the hipster areas of LA, but not STL!

Taste Bar

4584 Laclede Ave 

Central West End

St. Louis, MO 63108

tastebarstl.com

Taste Bar.  Sorry for the crap lighting haha.  Had the camera on the wrong setting.

The open kitchen.

Paper coaster.  Saint Louis and Taste loves pork!

Food menu.  Since it was late, we decided to get one small plate and one large plate.  Had to get two pork dishes haha.

Since the drinks menu was created by a professional mixologist, I had to get one, and went for the Big In Japan, which is made with Yamazaki 12yr Whiskey, Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Byrrh, Cocchi di Torino Vermouth, Cherry Herring, and Laphroaig Scotch.

Diana's Far And Away, made with Fiji Apple Infused Hendrick’s Gin, Cocchi Americano, Lemon, Smoked Rosemary, and Don’s Spice.  Fancy fancy :P

Pork tartine with orange, fennel, walnuts, and pickled caramel apples.

The pork was super tender, but all the toppings was what made this open-faced sandwich bomb.

Pork burger with bacon & fries.  Had to add $1 for the cheddar cheese!

Nice thick pork patty.

Crunchy fries!

For the 2nd drink, I wanted to test the mixologist's skill and ordered an Old Fashioned.  Yea, he knew what he was doing haha.

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Brasserie by Niche is a French bistro by Gerard Craft.  Totally different vibe from its next door cousin, Taste.  It's loud and fast-paced, just like how a French bistro should be!  Good thing we made a reservation too cause the place was packed.

Brasserie by Niche

4580 Laclede Ave

Central West End 

St Louis, MO 63108

brasseriebyniche.com

Brasserie by Niche.

Front of the menu.

S&P.

Fresh bread!  Warm!

Since I liked the cocktails so much from Taste, decided to get another whisky cocktail.  Forgot the name, but whoa it just punches you in the face.  Definitely a sipping drink haha.

Had to get the French Onion at a French bistro!  Love the thick layer of cheese on the top, and the soup is piping hot too!

Diana's Mixed Lettuces with goat cheese, hazelnuts, and roasted shallots vinaigrette.   The hazelnuts were candied!

My entree, white bean with duck confit, pork belly, and sausage in tomato sauce.  I couldn't resist since it had three of my favorites: pork belly, duck, and sausage!

The pork belly hiding under the white bean tomato stew.

Diana's white fish, clams, mussels, potato, and croutons in a light cream sauce.   Very light and I actually liked this over mine!

I think overall, I preferred Taste Bar over Brasserie, just because I liked the creativeness of the dishes there.  There's also a high end restaurant in the Niche family, Niche, which does French cuisine.  Maybe sometime in the future!