Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Hot Chocolate Festival at Leonidas (downtown Waterfront Convention Centre) ? Well, not exactly. The festival is long over for this year, but they are introducing the flavours they presented into their regular menu. I only found this out Saturday night at their lovely 100th anniversary Easter weekend event. Disclosure: How did I get outed as a blogger? I wasn't in there five minutes and somehow I got tagged. C'mon! I don't even have my picture on this blog. So, okay, I guess I should say that the staff got me pegged as a food blogger from the get go. I normally go undercover. Incognito. Couldn't get away with that this time, though. But hey, it's not I was the only one who got free treats here. Everyone did, and you could have too, if you'd signed up for it . About a year and a half ago, Leonidas opened at the new Convention Centre at the Waterfront in downtown Vancouver. You may have attended their Grand Opening special in December 2011. The emphasis the...

UPDATE: Read some early reports / intel on this event at http://www.meetup.com/FoodBloggers/events/111301152/ Got this in my e-mail yesterday: Please join us, for "A Night of Temptation and Indulgence” at Leonidas on the Waterfront , as we sip on wine, nibble on gourmet delights, and savour the richness of Leonidas, celebrating 100 years of  Belgium’s favourite chocolate. What to expect: A fun intimate Meet & Greet with the team Networking Opportunities Wine & Cheese Bar Leonidas Chocolate Tasting Hors d'oeuvres Chocolate Fondue Bar Leonidas Signature Hot Chocolate Bar A selection of dessert items Door Prizes Gift Bag of more Happiness! The event runs through this Easter Weekend: Thursday March 28th, Friday March 29th, and Saturday March 30th. 6 PM. Register FREE at EventBrite .

Huge portions for your money, considering the alternatives springing up nearby, such as Meat and Bread . Afro Canadian Restaurant is an Ethiopian restaurant with assorted fast food on the side. You can get spinach pie, falafel, even pizza, all for just a couple of dollars. The main draw, however, is the Ethiopian fare. The helpful and friendly owner will brief you on how it is served and eaten if you've never had it before. The slightly-sour pancake-like injera bread is torn off and used to pinch a portion of the stew-like items on a very wide plate. You can order single types of stew or sampler plates. Rotti ($4) That's how it's spelled on the menu. I'm a sucker for roti of all kinds, so I decided to try it. It looked suspiciously like a Casa Mendosa 10" tortilla shell -- you know, those that you can get at Superstore. For $4, however, you get a LOT of filling (either chicken or beef), plus a salad on the side. Not especially tasty, but decent enough ...

Last week I mentioned a $5 to $10 off coupon that came with the BC Casinos mailing -- which, apparently, not everyone received. Hmm... Well, on Thursday I got another casino mailing, this time from Gateway Casinos. Normally I'd have just thrown it out since I'm not a gambler, but on closer inspection it revealed two coupons for 2-for-1 buffet at Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby . The coupon does not indicate that any gambling is required. You do have to show an Encore card, but signing up for that is free, comes with no obligations and (at the River Rock, anyway) I also got a free pen with it.

The restaurant sign for Mandalay Lounge & Steakhouse has a one-tusked elephant on it. Hmm... That, plus the decor, made me think this was a south east asian restaurant, except it also says Lounge and Steakhouse. They do serve steaks, but also have a menu of comfort food type items. There's a downstairs, a quieter upstairs, and an upstairs patio that is positioned for a nice view, except that the brown water at the mouth of the Fraser River, and the sliver of Shady Island , isn't really all that great a view (but that's just my opinion). I can see how it'd be a lot nicer if the sun ever comes out and we have a proper spring and summer. The staff are super friendly, and if you're not careful and engage your server in conversation, they might end up a part of your table if it's not terribly busy and they can stop to chat. I suppose some people are into that and like to chat up their server, so it's in large part up to you to just stay focussed on your...

Even with a $5 coupon and going for lunch, Curve Lounge is way overpriced for mediocre food. It's got some plusses for location and ambiance, but not enough. I had been warned about this place by my Richmond friend, but since I had a coupon good for any BC Casino restaurant, I thought I'd give it a try. I balked at the prices initially, but gave it the benefit of the doubt because the casino's fine dining restaurant, Tramonto, is upstairs and maybe from the same kitchen comes high-quality food. Well, if that's the case, then maybe the same mediocre food quality from Curve Lounge will show up in Tramonto... On top of that, the print menu is dirty and shabby. Could they not have at least clean menus? It's shortly after Noon on a Saturday morning. Surely it can't have been manhandled by guests already. As is my wont, I looked for whatever was strange/curious on the menu. I asked my lovely server to suggest something along those lines, and this is how things ...

If you've received this mailout, don't be so quick to throw it out. It contains two coupons for $5 to $10 off dining at their restaurant, and it does not stipulate that you have to play slots or otherwise gamble at the Casino. It also doesn't say that you have to go in with a guest in order for your guest to use the "for your friend" dining discount, so theoretically you could go twice. According to guest services, you must accompany your guest for them to use the guest coupon. They also mentioned the coupon was good for the buffet as well, but I didn't test that. Pay attention to the limitations: March 6th to March 30th only, Wednesdays to Saturdays only, Noon to 8pm only, NOT at Fraser Downs Racetrack & Casino.

UPDATE (2013-April): See the chef's own blog about his behind-the-scenes experience putting this even together.  Includes some really beautiful pictures of the menu. Chef Hiroaki Takeda returned to his culinary roots at Johnston Heights Secondary School to present a "culinary experience" of fine dining. I was lucky enough to hear about it and put myself in for a ticket right away. Tickets were easy enough to get: Fine dining? In Surrey? And in a high school? Sort of a bleak-sounding setting for fine dining, but the free venue combined with a lot of volunteer help from students (including four servers per table of eight , plus live music ) let them sell tickets at just $40 per person (no taxes added on top of that, but gratuity not included) for a 10-course using locally sourced ingredients, and to cover the cost of renting tables and chairs so guests didn't have to sit on those foldable high school cafeteria tables. A 10-course at a restaurant might be $55, and...

My friend and I aimed to a late-ish lunch at Abigail's Party just this past Saturday. I think we got there around 1pm but it was still packed. About 15 minutes later, things died down considerably. If you want to skip the line-up, got a bit later. There's no shortage of window shopping just up the street to occupy your time, if you're not wasting it circling around for parking, that is. It's pretty tiny on the inside, and if you go in during rush-hour, there's a chance you'll be seated on barstools at the sort-of-communal table, or worse, at the table right at the door where you'll get a blast of winter cold to chill your food every time someone opens the door. Try to be seated cozily inside. There is NO brunch dessert menu! Horrors! Our lovely and friendly waitress Eloise tried to helpfully point out a couple of dessert-ish items, but honestly, it just didn't feel the same. She did look in the kitchen to see whether they had started prepping dinner...

Finally dropped by this place to check it out. When I was younger, I was into the whole pencil-and-paper tabletop role-playing game stuff and it was a real treat to see lots of interesting items that make up the decor in The Storm Crow . Dungeons & Dragons, assorted fantasy, and a bit of retro style ray guns. If you're sitting at the bar, ask to check out the tin of Unicorn Meat. 200% rainbows out the ass from old unicorns, apparently. The menu isn't on their website, but it is on their Facebook page , so it's probably best if you go there instead. Chickpea Fries ($6) with sriracha mayo Pretty big order for an appy. Definitely good to share or alone as a light meal. I think they can easily do a more manageable half portion for $4. It's ground up chickpeas and doesn't seem to be anything else in there. So it came across as rather dreadfully bland. Nicely fried. Think crispiness on the outside with hardly any oiliness to the taste or on your fingers. Came...