Los Angeles: Bacaro LA

When I saw a deal for Bacaro LA, I sorta just jumped on the deal since wine bars tend to be pricey, and what a perfect chance for me to explore more wine bars around LA! It's a small wine bar near USC in Downtown. Not the best neighborhood but the place is popping with an hour wait on a weekday when I went! Good for them I guess, bad for my stomach.

Thanks to Groupon, I'm now spending way more than I should. But at the same time, Groupon has also brought me to places that I would probably never look for, so I forgive you Groupon.

Bacaro LA

2308 S Union Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90007

www.bacaroLA.com

One side of the wall is chalkboard and they write the wines they are currently carrying. Pretty cool.

They also created a bottle ceiling with empty bottles! Good use of them haha.

The small bar. The place itself is small so I'd so they make pretty good use of space here.

Our wines that we started off with: Poderi San Lazzaro "Polesio" Sangiovese 2008 and the Kopke White Port. I'm a huge fan of all Sangiovese and the white port was interesting. On the sweet side.

Their logo. I love how it is in the shape of a bottle.

Menu. Decided to go for the 3 tapas for $19 option. It's pricey but meh, go Groupon!

Poached shrimp with citrus chili sauce, shaved radish, parsley & basil. It's a cold dish so it's a bit weird at first but it is good. The citrus chili sauce gave it a little bit of kick and overall tasted very refreshing.

Pan-seared scallop with carrot puree, caramelized fennel. Favorite of the night! Didn't know you could caramelize fennel like that. Couldn't really taste carrot in the puree but definitely added sweetness. Great dish.

Grilled margherita pizza. Tomato sauce, mozzarella, and good crust is all you need for a good margherita.

Their tomato sauce had a lot of garlic, which I loved. Wish there was more basil though, but then again I'm a basil fanatic :P

Decided to order another and went for the prosciutto di Parma. Came with salted soft butter and baguettes. Very simple plate but cured meats and wine just go so well together!

Spread a little of that salted soft butter, add a slice or two of the prosciutto = happiness :]

Overall, the place is pretty neat, and has a cozy feel to it once the place quieted down a bit and people started to leave. It's a good place to have a catch up session with an old friend or just for happy hour after work. I'm for sure coming back for happy hour and trying out a few other tapas!

Vancouver: Life is Too Short for Bad Coffee - Day 3

For our last day in Vancouver, we decided to take it easy and do some shopping to bring back to family and friends, but of course, gotta visit at least one breakfast/brunch spot and just so happens there's a place in Vancouver that's known for their waffles and brunch.

Before that Amanda (who's still our driver and guide for the last day) brought us to Urban Fare, which is sorta like a... Dean & Deluca to me. It's essentially a market in the city but it is extremely pricey. I think I saw Breyer's ice cream going for $8!! It's like... 2 for $5 here haha. Nevertheless, we still went because you can buy some speciality items from Canada that you can't find it other markets.

Urban Fare! Modern looking place.

Of course every high end/specialty market has a crazy deli section and Urban Fare is no different. I wish they offered samples :P

So I ended up buying these Rogers' Chocolate Bar. The reason they are so special is that the the one in purple wrapper is actually Ice Wine Chocolate Truffle. Ice wine! I've actually had it once before (thanks Michael), and it's awesome. Nice semi sweet chocolate with hints of ice wine. You're not gonna get drunk off these but the taste is there.

There's also a cafe inside the market. Again, nice modern decor with wood accents.

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After Urban Fare, we decided to go to our brunch spot only to find out that we had about an 1 hour wait. I guess it's a good thing since that's a sign of popularity but man I was crazy hungry since it was around noon by the time we got there. I was also surprised to find out that this place had 4.5 stars on Yelp with 180+ reviews!

Café Medina

556 Beatty St

Vancouver, BC V6B 2L3

The front with the line.

Hmmm I wonder what I should get from here... maybe some coffee and waffles? :P

So true, so true.

So the whole time I was thinking of those big fluffy pancakes, but nope, theirs is more like the size of... a slightly bigger cookie. They make it before hand then lets it sit on the rack and toast it when the orders come.

Finally seated and the menu! Price is reasonable!

Of course HAD to get coffee so I went for the dark chocolate mocha. I actually like it a lot, especially since mocha is usually too sweet. The dark chocolate is a nice touch! Barista is hella good too at pouring.

Diana's milk chocolate lavender mocha. It's creamy and you can really taste the lavender.

White chocolate pistachio mocha. Yes they do specialize in mochas and this is really rich as well.

Vanilla latte. I like how they serve it in a clear glass so you can see the layer of steamed milk.

Mimosa, always a good choice for brunch.

Finally! The waffles! For each order of the waffles, you get one sauce so we went for three to share: milk chocolate lavender, fig orange marmalade, and the raspberry caramel.

The waffles are a little small but I guess they found that magic formula to have that perfect crispy & fluffy texture.

The caramel was definitely my favorite since the raspberry adds a little bit of tartness to the caramel. The milk chocolate lavender is interesting and the chocolate is extremely rich. I'm still not that big of a fan of lavender though. As for the fig orange marmalade, imagine a perfect orange marmalade with just a slight hint of fig.

As for the main dish, I went for the Fricasse, which is braised short rib that comes with 2 fried eggs, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, arugula, and smoked applewood cheddar. The short rib was full of flavor, making it a perfect choice if you're looking for a savory dish for your brunch. The eggs were over easy and I loved it when the yolk broke in half and runs all over the ribs, potatoes, and onions. It also comes with this huge grilled rosemary Foccacia bread that's perfect for soaking up all the remaining sauces!

My favorite was the Tagine though. It's rare to not see a benedict of some sort on a brunch menu but this is the closest thing that comes to it because of the 2 poached eggs it comes with. Besides a hollandaise sauce, there's an addicting spicy tomato stew with Mediterranean spices, and comes with merguez sausage, sundried black olives, and cilantro. It has just enough kick to make you keep eating. The sausage is not overly fatty and the olives and cilantro completes the Mediterranean flavor of the dish.

For the Foccaia bread with Tangine, it also comes with this great hummus with mint leaves that makes it refreshing.

The Paella is their take on the traditional Spanish dish. Comes with a baked egg, curried orzo, Hungarian chorizo, zucchini, red pepper, roasted corn, grano padano, watercress, tomatoes, and avocado. Yea, that's a party in your mouth for sure!

Canard Confit. We were totally expecting a duck leg confit, but it's actually sandwiches with shredded duck confit, sour cherry compote, brie, and anjou pears between pecan craisin sourdough. Watercress and caramelized pecans are on the side. It's a little disappointing since we were expecting a juicy fatty duck. The sandwich is still really tasty and I especially enjoyed the sour compote. Definitely makes you pucker a little.

I can definitely see why Cafe Medina is so popular in Vancouver. It's something that we don't even have in LA. The menu is just different enough to draw your interest but also familiar enough that you don't feel like you are adventuring too much out of your comfort zone. Great spot!

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Now... I still haven't had a true milk tea yet in Vancouver even though Tea Spot in Crystal Mall was pretty good. Lots of people recommended Pearl Castle so right before we headed towards the airport, we made a quick stop!

Pearl Castle

3779 Sexsmith Rd Ste 1128

Richmond, BC V6X 3Z9

Pearl Castle. Best way to describe it is that it is similar to Tea Station. They serve drinks with a full menu.

Connie and Diana's drink. Totally forgot what they ordered haha.

Amanda's green tea and I went with oolong milk tea with boba, or "bubbles" as they call it in Canada (weirdos :P). Of course got it with half sugar.

Milk tea was really good actually but the boba needed work. A lot of work. It was too bland and not "Q" enough.

After Pearl Castle we went straight for the airport and after taking a bunch of pictures at the drop-off zone, Connie & I finally boarded and said our goodbyes to Canada, but not before Amanda secretly stuffing these into my backpack...

St. Germaine's pineapple bun and sweet evaporated milk bun! Totally saved me on the flight since I was STARVING. Thanks Amanda!

Next time though, definitely making a stop in Whistler for some fresh pow! I saw sooo many people with their snowboards at the airport and all over Vancouver. Time to save up!

Vancouver: Vij's and Poutine - Day 2

Generally on these trips, there really isn't one restaurant that is a "must" for me but Vij's in Vancouver was a totally different story. Constantly hailed by critic as perhaps the best Indian in North America, I knew I had to check this place out and since I don't think I'll be coming back to Vancouver for awhile, I was determined.

Now, Vij's is a celebrated 60-seat restaurant in Vancouver, and many celebrated chefs or food personalities have stopped at Vij's to sample their Indian & Western fusion cuisine. Not really your typical traditional Indian restaurant, Vij's focuses on using local ingredients with Indian spices and herbs to make these delicious dishes. What's even more amazing is that the kitchen is an all-female staff!!

Vij's

1480 W 11th Ave

Vancouver, BC V6H 1L1

www.vijs.ca

Outside the small restaurant. We got there at 7:30pm and there was still a 1 hour wait.

Menu (click to enlarge). Yes, it is fine dining and quite pricey considering CAD is strong now. You generally order family style.

Decided to go for a class of wine so I went for the Torres Iberico Roja which was great with all the protein and was strong enough not to be masked by the strong spices. Quite spicy.

While you are waiting, they bring out several bite size pieces of hors d'oeuvres for you to nibble on. I have NO IDEA what they are but after each bite, I was getting more excited about the food here since they were so good. This was the only one I managed to get a picture of since I totally forgot about taking pictures of them. Don't know what it is but it is fried and there is lentils. Maybe their version of a lentil pakoras?

First up, beef short ribs braised in yogurt, fenugreek, and cumin curry. I'm a big big fan of cumin so as soon as I had my first bite, I couldn't stop. It's tender and not too fatty. When it's all done, I just took some naan and scooped out as much of the remaining curry as I could. Too good.

Saag paneer with lentil curry and chapati. Waiter said it is the most traditional dish on the menu. The spinach and paneer cheese combination is absolutely fantastic. Very creamy. Lentil curry reminded me of a spiced up version of veggie chili and perfect with the chapati (naan look alike).

Lamb popsicles. This is actually their most famous dish. They are marinated in wine, in fenugreek cream curry with tumeric & spinach potatoes. It just may be the best lamb I've had in North America. Usually I hate the gaminess of lamb but I did not care one bit since the sauces and spices work so well together. Loved it so much that I started to gnaw on the bones :P

Samosas stuffed with lamb & beef sauteed in fennel, cloves, and sumac. Uh... more please? An already great crispy samosa then made even better with the refreshing chutney it comes with.

Delicious naan.

Basmati rice. Nice a fan long long grain rice usually but they did something to it...

Of course, always room for dessert. It's mango-pistachio ice cream, and it even comes with edible silver. Silver is a little gimmicky but it's creamy and manga & pistachio are great together. (sorry for the horrible focus. boo)

Galub jamuns. It is sorta like... an Indian donut ball. Probably the same size as your typical donut balls but extremely dense and sweet so you definitely can't eat too much of it.

Overall I loved the complexity and the flavors of the dishes. Now I understand why there is all this hype surrounding Vij's. I was never that big of a fan of Indian food since I've had quite a few bad experiences including food poisoning, and even though Vij's is a fusion of Indian and Western cuisine, I am now convinced that I must give Indian cuisine a second chance.

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That same night, after checking out a few more places in Vancouver, we decided to grab some poutine fries, which is a favorite among Canadians as a late night snack or after drinking. It's pretty much San Diego's carne asada fries equivalent.

Fritz European Fry House

718 Davie St

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1B6

www.fritzeuropeanfryhouse.com

Amanda took us to Fritz, which is a famous poutine spot in DT Vancouver.

The menu! You can get poutine or just regular fries with dipping sauces.

We went for the poutine fries, which comes with their special awesome gravy and melted cheese curds. It is... freaking good. Savory, salty, and satisfying. Too bad we didn't eat it while it was fresh since we brought it back to our hotel but even then, the fries holds up well against the delicious gravy. The cheese curds adds some creaminess without the usual overpowering flavor of cheese. No wonder Fritz had constant traffic even on a cold rainy night.

I don't think gravy will replace my favorite topping of carne asada for fries but it is not far behind. It is time for me to hunt for a legit poutine spot in LA... Poutine fries adventure anybody? :]