Burnaby BC
Off for lunch with the GFs ex. Not awkward at all.
Now have you ever noticed that there are some similarities with Earls, Cactus Club and Joey? I started picking it up a while ago but it really smacked me across the face this weekend. Like your wife found out you were sleeping with your secretary and slapped you kind of smack. It was the Crab Cakes that made me start digging.
I don’t see Crab Cakes on too many of the restaurant menus that I frequent. Now I see it twice in two days at similarly themed spots. A little too weird. And there are more similarities. Joey and Cactus both have Szechuan Chicken lettuce wraps. They all have some kind of dynamite roll.
I must investigate! It’s the Watergate of Vancouver restaurants. A conspiracy of faked moon landing proportions.
Ok maybe that’s overstating things a wee bit. But it does make one wonder.
So after a quick google search I discovered that one family now owns all three chains.
I’m really not sure how I feel about that. In some ways I almost feel deceived. I’ll reconcile my feelings by acknowledging that at the very least the food is good.
Speaking about the food…..
We started off with the Street corn Avocado dip. Pleasantly surprised would be my assessment of this Appy. Freshly made tortilla chips to scoop out what turned out to be an excellent dip. The corn was sweet and paired wonderfully with the avocado. The Valentina crema gave a good balance of the sweet and the feta added the saltiness to round out the flavours. I’m getting this again.
Kung Pao up next. 5/10 Chilis. They warned me that’s a lot. Ok ya they were right. But boy was it good. I think almost everything about this dish was perfect, with my only complaint being a little light on the chicken. Vegetables cooked well. Just the right amount of sauce with a good balance of salt and sweet. And those Chilis burn! But a good burn.
And finally the dish that brought us to this point in the first place. The crab cakes.
Can I pick the better of the two versions? I’m not sure actually. Both were good. The Joey cake was smaller and firmer, with a really crispy exterior. While the Earls was looser, but bigger and the corn was much more forward, which complements the crab well. However it didn’t have the crispy, flavourful exterior. Was also a few bucks pricier.
In the end though, it’s Crab. So who cares. They were both great. For me Crab is one of those “perfect” foods. I can’t remember too many times in my life I’ve ever been disappointed with a crab dish.
One thing that has come out of this weekend? Not sure I’m gonna put too much though into deciding Earls, Joey or Cactus tonight anymore.
Food 9/10
Ambiance 8/10
Value 6/10
Service 7/10
Overall 8/10
Read my Joey review here
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