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.

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!

New York: Brunch at Calle Ocho

On Sunday (Oct 28th) right before Sandy hit the East Coast, Jimmy made a reservation for us to have brunch at Calle Ocho, a popular Latin fusion restaurant located inside the Excelsior Hotel in Upper West Side.  Even though it was brunch, our reservation was at 2pm.  Why so late?  We knew we were gonna be hammered from the night before with the Halloween celebration, and none of us woke up before noon haha.  Good planning ahead :P

Calle Ocho is popular for brunch because of their unlimited sangria offerings!  As long as you are eating, you get to order any sangria off their menu, and damn they are strong.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the ones I tried, but really, I was not in the mood for any more alcohol in my system.  The sangrias were strong too since they add shots on top of it.  I can see this place being really fun, but after a heavy night of drinking, alcohol was the last thing I wanted..


Calle Ocho
Inside the Excelsior Hotel
45 W 81st St
Upper West Side
New York, NY 10024
calleochonyc.com

Calle Ocho's menu.  Calle Ocho is essentially Cuban infused with other Latin cuisine.

Sangria offerings.  I want something lighter so I went for Blanca and that turned out to be one of the strongest... The Havana Banana was really good though.  Strong still, but refreshing at the same time.

All sorts of baked goods to start your meal.

This was definitely our favorite.  In fact, it reminds me of the cheese bread you get at Brazilian restaurants.

Strawberry butter.  Awesome.  

Smear that shiz on everything.

Link and I each got the Vaca Frita.

Cuban skirt steak, Latin fried rice, tomato escabeche, avocado, and fried eggs.  Sounds amazing right?  It was pretty bland though.  The colors were so vibrant so I was expecting flavors to pop.  My favorite was probably the eggs and the tomato escabeche, which is essentially seasoned and marinated tomatoes.

I asked for hot sauce and the waiter brought out 3 types!  The orange looking one is probably made with habanero, cause it was surprisingly spicy.  Even the chipotle hot sauce in the back had a nice kick to it.  The pickled jalapeno was very good and I killed that little cup in a few bites with the steak.

Jimmy & Janice decided to share and went for the Gallitos.  Make your own tacos!

Guacamole and other toppings.

Scrambled eggs.  Fitting for brunch.

Cuban homefries.  

Chorizo!  Not as greasy and heavy as Mexican chorizo.

Edwin ordered the Cuban Sandwich.

Roasted pork, panela basted ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles.  This was actually my favorite.  Juicy pork, and the panela (unrefined cane sugar) basted ham had a nice sweetness.  Nice crunch on the bread too from the press.

Chimichurri fries.  A little different from the Argentinian chimichurri that I love but still good.

In fact, Janice & I liked it so much, we decided to order more to share haha.

In the end, I thought Calle Ocho was whatevers.  The food didn't stand out too much.  I'm sure I would've liked it A LOT MORE if I was actually in the mood to take advantage of the unlimited sangria.  Damn vodka!

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Afterwards, we decided to walk through Central Park since Edwin needed to get macarons from Laduree as gifts.  By 4pm, half of NY was empty already as people were getting ready for Hurricane Sandy, and Central Park was pretty empty.  Definitely a first.

Outside.  Macarons here are expensive...

I ended up getting a dozen as well, and I originally planned to go home and take pictures of it in a nicer setting, but they told us the macarons will only hold for 4 days in the fridge, and I got stuck there for more than that... so we devoured Edwin's dozen one night after we drank, and I gave a few out right before I left.  For a dozen it was around $36.  Pricey drinking snack haha. Next time!

After Laduree, we headed to a few markets to try to buy some food since Sandy was pretty much shutting everything down.  Businesses were closing already even though the storm was hitting late at night.  Markets were crazy.  Long lines, shelves empty... definitely a new experience.  Afterwards, we got back to Jimmy's, rested for a bit, and got ready for our reservation at Momofuku Noodle Bar.