The Friday Dish: Taste of Yaletown and the best protein’n'protein appetizer ever
It’s Friday! Whoo-hooo!
Today’s deal is something super special. Something I’ve been waiting in anticipation for. Today’s deal is also the biggest event of October (besides Dia de los Muertos). It’s…Taste of Yaletown!
Wow, am I excited about this. Think Dine Out Vancouver, but right now, only in Yaletown (which is great because Dine Out doesn’t start till the end of January!). The Taste of Yaletown runs from October 13th through October 31st and involves 25 restaurants. The fixed price menus are $25/$35/$45. The menus are available here, but because I care so much I perused every single menu to come up with this list of highlights. Why? Because I love you.
Here are the Top 10 dishes that grabbed my attention:
1. Yaletown Brewing Co.—Stout Brownie: Whiskey and Stout infused brownie, served with vanilla bean ice cream. If there is one thing I love, it is drinking and eating my alcohol at the same time.
2. Rodney’s Oyster House—Surf n’ Turf Dinner for 2: One pound Atlantic Lobster & an 8oz AAA Sirloin Steak with Roasted Potatoes. It says “Dinner for 2,” but I wonder if I have to share?
3. Charm Modern Thai—Green Tea Chicken: Pan-seared green tea and lemongrass marinated organic chicken breast with orange and ginger glaze served with sautéed vegetables. I’m not a big green tea fan, but this menagerie of flavours sounds exotic and delicious.
4. George Ultra Lounge—Kobe Beef Burger: Red Dragon Ale, Dijon cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, hand cut fries & a kosher dill pickle. Simple and unpretentious beef burger: I like it!
5. One Hundred Days—House Made Meat & Cheese Raviolis: Mascarpone & veal stuffed, Kobe beef ragout, fresh herbs, parmesan cheese. Meat, pasta, and cheese is always a winning combination. Plus, this restaurant is only open for 100 days! Get it while the novelty lasts!
6. Hapa Izakaya Yaletown—the whole darn menu! Appetizer—Aburi Hotate Salad: Qualicum Bay scallops seared at your table, served with organic baby green salad topped with celery root dressing. 1st Course—Wagyu Beef: Wagyu beef pan-fried with soy based sauce, served with seasonal veggies. 2nd Course—Crab Sushi: Dungeness crab and avocado rolled and deep fried tempura style served with spicy mayo. Dessert: Home Made Ice Cream. Now tell me that this doesn’t sound like one scrumptious meal.
7. r.tl—Tart tatin: Upside down apple tart with sweet & salty caramel. I’d like to see how this compares to the corner suite‘s tart tatin, which would be hard to beat.
8. Hamilton Street Grill—Appetizer: West Coast mussels, chipotle cream, house cured bacon, cilantro lime pistou. Mmmmm Mmmmussels.
9. Provence Marinaside—Warm Goat Cheese Salad: Herbes de provence crusted, mixed greens, beurre blanc, balsamic reduction. While I’m not a huge fan of Provence, because I think their dishes can be very hit or miss, their Warm Goat Cheese Salad is very possibly the best salad I have ever had. Ever.
And now, the moment you have all been waiting for:
10. Capones Restaurant & Live Jazz Club—Lobster Macaroni. Macaroni & Cheese and Lobster? My two most favourite foods in the whole world? Oh…my…gods. It’s a dream come true.
In celebration of Taste of Yaletown, I’m skipping the scares and going straight to The Friday Dish, which is also inspired by today’s special announcement.
The Friday Dish is Brix‘s Qualicum Bay scallops. This delectable appetizer comes wrapped in prosciutto, on a bed of barbeque duck fried risotto, scallions, crisp garlic and shallots. I love me some protein wrapped in more protein. Nom nom nom nom.
Got food news or event information for me? Tweet me @VancouverBites!
Actually, Dia de los Muertos is in November (Novermber 2nd). Sorry… ^_^;;;
For some reason I might be about the only person in Metro Vancouver who is not necessarily enthusiastic about Taste of Yaletown (or Dine Out Vancouver for that matter). Except for a handful, most of the “deals” would be similar to what you might get on a daily basis.
Oh, that’s right! I always think of it in association with Halloween, but it is after, so…
For me, I think it just provides the motivation to go out and finally try a place that I’ve been “meaning to try.” For example, I’ve been wanting to try Rodney’s for a while, so now I’ll try it because it’s all psychological now–oh no, It’s only going on till the end of the month? That sort of thing.
The other thing I like about it is that I find places I would never have even known about. For example, you know about my macaroni and cheese kick? Well, I have never even heard of Capones, let alone known about their lobster macaroni. But now I know and now I have a new Mac to try.
I don’t really think of it as saving money necessarily. During Dine Out, we went to Provence and it ended up costing $170! That is hardly a “deal.” So, in that regard, I don’t fool myself. If the menu looks good, I’ll try it for that reason alone.
KimHo, I can’t agree with you more about DOV or TOY! In addition to not being that great a deal, the food also tastes mass-produced which is not surprising as almost everyone is the restaurant is eating exactly what you are having.
vancouverbites, that picture of the bacon-wrapped scallops looks so delicious! Did you take that? Talk about food porn!
Yep, I take all my own pictures (unless noted).