Char Siu is Chinese bar-be-que pork and it is awesome.  For prep, I take several country ribs (pork) and I poke the hell out them with chop sticks.  So the begin to look like sponges.  I put then introduce them to the marinade.  I have some fantastic Tupperware marinating tubs that I use – but if the batch is small I’ll even just use a one gallon zip-lock back.

I let them marinate for at least 3 hours, but prefer leaving them for a day or two in the refrigerator.

On the grill, I preheat the grill to 500 degrees, put the country ribs on and let them sear.  Then I move them to lower heat (300 to 400) and let them cook away from the flame until they are done.  Done is the second that they aren’t utterly raw inside. 

The result is a nice crisp outside, and soft and tender inside and an infusion of flavor that is second to none.

I often serve these with nothing more than mashed potatoes and eat them western style with a fork and knife. 

However, preparing a bit of bok choy and some Japanese somen noodles (sorry, they are hidden in this picture) and laying in hot sliced Char Siu and serving in a bowl with chop sticks is equally awesome.  The marinade and the juice from the meat sink into the noodles and make for one wonderful meal.

After having chocolate cognac in a Seattle restaurant, the race was on to replicate it.  It was simply too good not to have as often as possible.

The easy ingredients are to the right.  Good chocolate (no, not milk chocolate), at least passable cognac (in this case Hennesey VSOP), and cream.  There’s a also a secret ingredient which involves a bit of specialized preparation that I’ve been sworn to secrecy about by the chef whose original we reverse engineered. 

So it’s a beautiful, clear and cold night in Ocean Shores, and – clearly – Chocolate Cognac is warranted.  The last Mariners spring training game is on the television, the dark dark rural night has set in, and the drink must make an appearance.

Comfort food comes in all shapes and sizes, but some times it’s in the form of a very thick, very chocolatey drink with that unmistakable cognac accompaniment.

It likes to sit for 24 hours to integrate the flavors.  Always the hardest thing about making good food is delayed gratification.  Unfortunately, the microwave does not rule.

Unfortunately several other well rounded Japanese restaurants in the area have closed.  So, Kamei Royale must be patronized.  It must live. 

This night started with two skewers of salted ginko nut robata.  Straight ginko.  Sweet, slightly chewy, sort of starchy.  Punctuated by the salt.

This was followed quickly by their awesome agedashi tofu (right).  Their agedashi has a perfect battered skin, and very fresh grated ginger and green onions on top.

To the left in this picture is the seared tuna tataki salad.  Delicious rapid seared sushi with the inside still translucent and delicious.  These coming together was a perfect pairing of hot, cold, chewy and custardy.

Here we see them blow torching the Hamachi Inferno nigiri.  This was a rather large plate of Hamachi Nigiri with a thin layer of chiso leaves.  So, after the blow torch put a bit of a crispness on the top, the chiso gave an interesting almost minty punctuation inside the glutinous rice bed.

This isn’t something you find very often. It’s creative, tasty, and done with care. What I like about Kamei is that they will push boundaries.  In this case, I think, it really works.

What makes life worth living? Sweet potato tempura made with asian white sweet potato.  Kamei makes these as longer “fries” with an aioli.  The aioli is good – but I prefer normal tempura sauce.

Kamei’s is excellent. Tempura is light and fluffy and crispy.  Not even a hint of greasiness. 

I used to make a stop on every trip to Tama Sushi which had incredible sweet potato tempura.  It’s really hard to find sweet potato tempura in the states at all – and I’ve only seen it with asian white sweet potatoes once.  But .. seriously .. it’s the only way to do it.  They have a great flavor and hold up will to the frying process.  Other sweet potatoes get mushy.

The Oysters Motoyaki came with three very small very sweet oysters.  Perfectly baked.  The oysters are in an egg custard with a mayonnaise top.  The crème brulèe style top is like a light blanket keeping the stuff beneath warm.

While the Motoyaki came with toast points, they simply weren’t necessary.  The custard was totally worth eating with a spoon.  And rather quickly at that!

Next (quickly) came the deep fried soft shell crab and shrimp tempura.  The soft shell crab were huge.  And there were two whole crabs.  If you like crab cream, this is the dish for you.  Inside the crab, it had cooked into a rich and luxurious … well, like crab foie gras.

The shrimp was perfectly cooked, but clearly was there to decorate the plate and provide contrast to the dark and menacing crabs.

So this was quite a spread.

Our Menu:

• Agedashi Tofu
• Oyster Motoyaki
• Tuna Tataki Salad
• Hamachi Inferno
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Soft Shell Crab and Prawn Tempura
• Ginko Robata
• Coke
• Tea

Price:  $60.25 CDN

Kamei Royale
#211 – 1030 W. Georgia St.
Vancouver, BC

Now, Gastown was very awesome, the high end furniture boutiques vehemently denying the economic downturn hosted a surprising near-throng of 21st century yuppies buying things for their Vancouver condos.  Strollers that cost half a BMW wheeled around the uber-hot young women looking to satisfy their shoe fetishes.

In the middle of this is chill winston. Chill winston is large and open, with lots of wood.  Big draperies and windows calm you, as one would expect from a place  called “Chill”.

Chill Winston had a long list of interesting drinks for breakfast.  I went  safe with a Mimosa, which was nicely done and fairly priced.  Nothing surprising, but as I said, I was playing it safe.  Vivian had the Pursuit which was Absolut Pear, Apple Liqueur, Gazela Vinho Verde, Pear Puree, Ginger Puree and Lemonade.

I got very close to ordering my favorite named drink the “Spooning Jesus”.  Which is Amber Rum, Soho, Cointreau, and Lime.  But I just didn’t want that much .. stuff.  I wanted something simple on that particular sunny Vancouver morning.

For actual breakfast, we both got the benedict after a short, detailed conversation with the hostess about what, exactly, made a good hollandaise.  My mother spoiled me with her awesome hollandaise and bad hollandaise sends me in something approaching road rage without actually getting in a car.

Fear not, chill winston’s chef knows his hollandaise.  Even though it looks rather thick in this picture, it was absolutely perfect.  Nice and lemony, not mayonnaisey, and light and yummy.

The potatoes and fruit that accompanied were awesome.  Perfectly fresh fruit and very nicely done potatoes.

Especially if it’s a sunny day, take a walk through Gastown and give chill winston a shot.

In North America, Michèle Cake Company in the Kerisdale neighborhood of Vancouver, BC, has them absolutely nailed.  They move so many Po Taht’s here, that you can usually get them hot out of the oven.  And not just Po Taht, but egg tarts, coconut tarts, meat pies, turnovers, and a host of other delicious pastries. 

The pastries use only just enough sugar, the natural ingredients show through and aren’t covered up with an unnecessary need for sweet. 

Every trip to Vancouver includes a pilgrimage to Michèle’s to load up on pastries that end up being a good part of breakfast, lunch and snacks until they are gone.  Then, I just count the days until I can get back to Vancouver and replenish the supply.

There’s something magical about biting into them fresh from the oven, the eggs so fluffy, the pastry flaky and paper thin. 

A must-visit for anyone’s trip to Vancouver. 

They are:  

Michèle Cake Company
6033 West Boulevard
Vancouver, BC V6M 3X2, Canada
(604) 261-3284

Jim Benson

Hello, I’m Jim Benson.  I like to eat.  I have a management blog that I post food pictures in from time to time.  I also post food pics on Facebook and Flickr and Twitter and other places.  Because this has been so spread out, people have been becoming increasingly frustrated as my food pr0n has been hard to keep track of.  So, I’ve been asking me to have a dedicated food blog.  Here it is.

For me, food is the central social experience.  All cultures and subcultures have their food fixations.  People show respect through food, seduce each other through food, show their creativity through food, and generally celebrate life through food.

In this blog, I shall celebrate the things I eat, the people I eat them with, and the stories that ensue.

We arrived at 6:30 and by 7 it was packed.  In a down economy, in one of the biggest food cities in the world, Le Crocodile’s exquisite French masterworks pack the house even after 25 years of operation.  In a world where people are always seeking out what is new – Le Crocodile’s singular attention to detail never disappoints.

While Keith, the GM, is seemingly always within earshot, the staff is highly attentive in their own right.  The woman at the table to our right was speaking animatedly, I watched the hostess carefully watching this woman’s napkin.  The hostess tracked it like an eagle.  As the woman talked it moved across her lap until it finally fell to the floor.  Immediately, the hostess was there to retrieve it and bring the woman a fresh one.

Our table was appointed with its own ice bucket to hold the San Pelligrino.  Vivian and I ordered cocktails which were both lovely and, unfortunately, I neglected to note.  We were also both immediately brought to chef’s compliments which were foie gras and camembert tarts.  Very light and fluffy, very melt in your mouth.

My starter was this cream of asparagus soup with Dungeness crab.   Very nicely balanced, the soup was more of the cream than of the asparagus (and that’s not a bad thing).  The creaminess of the soup made a great bed for the crab.

No trip to Le Crocodile is complete without some escargot.  They do theirs up in a simple herbed butter in a thin shell made of spring roll wrapper.  The upshot is a classic escargot treatment with a shell that provides a nice crunch.  Very soon after arriving at Le Crocodile, you are fairly certain you’ll have to visit the gym.  We were greedily using the bread to get the last bits of juice when our main courses came.

This was followed for me by the roasted Fraser Valley duck with pan-seared foie gras and apple cider reduction.  There was zero error in execution of this dish.  The duck was perfect, the foie gras was perfect and rather huge.  The reduction was rich and delicious.

After the duck, one would think I would be full.  Which, I pretty much was, but a palette cleanser of yellow plum sorbet in a pool of pear grappa made its way to the table which woke me up for dessert.

For me, when it’s available, that would be their Gran Marnier Soufflé which is never anything short of awesome.  Fluffy, eggy, orangy goodness, it’s worth waiting for.

Vivian had the well-lit Crepes Suzette which was powerfully delicious.

As for price, I’m not saying it’s cheap, but I am saying that it is really very good for what you get.

Our Menu:

• Large bottle of San Pelligrino
• Two well made cocktails
• One glass of wine
• Foie Gras and Camembert Tarts
• Seared Foie Gras with a Calvados Reduction
• Asparagus Soup with Dungeness Crab
• Escargot
• Duck with Foie Gras main course
• Lobster tail, with asparagus and a ginger glaze
• Yellow Plum Sorbet in a Pear Grappa Bath
• Crepes Suzette
• Grand Marnier Soufflé
• Coffee
• and crazy attentive service

For $187 Canadian about $150 US, after tax.  I’ve been to far inferior restaurants in the US that charge you $50 just to use foie gras in a sentence.