KFC, but crispier, at Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar - Coal Harbour on Urbanspoon

It's an oyster place, but people talk about the fried chicken -- and with good reason! It's tasty.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar has a Kitsilano location, but they later took over what used to be Miku in the Guiness Building downtown. We went to that one. There's Happy Hour from 3pm to 6pm, which includes "buck a shuck" oysters.

At 3pm, it's pretty dead in there. Servers too. Not many servers, and those who are there are changing shifts. You may end up like our party, served by the bartender and mid-way that person went off shift and someone else took over. We ended up with confused billing, but that was understandable.
I'm not saying it's really their fault, but to just watch out for confusion during a shift change, and maybe to be more proactive about catching their attention if you need something.

"Cheese Chuts" ($10 for 4)

This was on the fresh sheet, so you might not see it all the time.
Four golf-ball sized balls of deep fried macaroni and cheese.
Rather bland. Not cheesy tasting. The Roof at Black + Blue does it better simply because they have truffle sauce.
Fun to eat but I recommend giving it a pass. Unless they someone kick it up in cheesiness.

New Orleans Style Gumbo YaYa ($18) Smoked chicken, fried chicken and Andouille sausage, okra, trinity, steamed rice

Overall this would have been better if not for the bitter stew. Maybe it's just done this way in New Orleans (we had a similar experience with bitter stews at Ouisi Bistro) but I can't say I'm a fan of it. As you may know from previous reviews, I'm not big on authenticity, but on tastiness.

Southern Fried Chicken ($18) Buttermilk mashed potatoes, greens, chicken gravy, honey butter

Winner. You must have this.
Drumstick and some sort of fillet, probably a strip of breast meat.
Tender and moist. Drumstick was underdone closer to the bone, though.
The crust was reminiscent of Kentucky Fried Chicken, but darker, crispier, and somehow less greasy.
There was honey butter? Anyway, the chicken was great all on its own. Eat some first before deciding if you need condiments.

1lb Louisiana Pork spare Ribs ($22) Slow smoked rack of pork ribs, Chewies KC style Barbeque sauce, Cajun fries, Southern slaw

I got to try one rib and it was pretty decent. Not exactly fall-off-the-bone tender, but tender enough and with a delicious sauce. Might be overdone with the amount of sauce, but you can just give it a shake. Next time I'm there I'll have to order this to share.

Peaches and Cream Cheesecake ($8)

As on the fresh sheet.
I was going to say it was slightly smallish for $8, but I think inflation has sort of caught up with everyone, so $8 is probably on par with what you can expect everywhere downtown.
This was actually really decent. A lighter cheesecake. Not super-sweet. Fresh, flavourful way to end a meal.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 3

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 10

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 9

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. An American couple who joked about being from "the land of the giants" -- and with good reason, because both of them were really tall! A cute Jewish mother-daughter pair who ducked out part-way to divert to Israel. I vaguely remember the issue of the daughter being an orthodox Jew was highlighted in France when, to make things easy, she just declared herself vegetarian for the wait staff. I also remember there was some logistics error in France because our party size was way underestimated or simply relayed incorrectly, and there was a shortage of food at dinner. Dessert came as an unopened can of yogurt. It did not seem like they tried to make it up to us later, either. Plus there was smoking every which way in France, and I had a helluva time with that. We were also in a hotel that seemed tucked away in the burbs, and not walking distance from anythin

Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

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