And one of those unexplainable random memory bytes I can still remember what I had when I was there last.

It was a sampler plate for two with a New York Strip and Risotto. And I remember it being very good.

Tonight I’m starting with a Cherry Blossom sour. Gin, lemon, cherry juice and cherry brandy with the traditional egg white. A very nice take on a whiskey sour.

We are starting our meal with some Bison Carpaccio.

I’ve had bison before but never as carpaccio. It really was quite lovely. Not gamey at all.

Moving on with the mains had the Braised Short Ribs with Bone Marrow and mashed potato.

The short ribs were incredibly tender and the mash was great. Now if it was me making this (and I do a pretty good short rib myself) I would crank up the flavor on the jus. It was a little plain. Otherwise it’s a very nice dish.

Merilynn went with the Seafood Paella.

The dish was good but we really shouldn’t call it a paella.  No soccarat to speak of. Which is of course the best part of paella. They do say on the menu it is a saffron risotto so not completely misleading. We wouldn’t get it again though.

And we’ll just skip right past dessert tonight I think.

Pretty good overall tonight. The food is good and the atmosphere is great. The problem is that there is no shortage of decent food options in Yaletown. But the Flying Pig is a good choice if you’re heading that way for dinner.

8/10

The post The Flying Pig appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.

I’ve wanted to try Brix and Mortar for a long time, and tonight’s the night

After we got them to turn the patio heaters off (imagine sitting 1 foot from a roaring fire) we discovered the covered patio to be a very pleasant environment.

Now let’s get to the reason why we are here.

I bet you were expecting some food weren’t you?

Tonight is about drinking. If we accidentally eat some food that’s okay too.

So that’s a Basil Exposition. Gin, Orgeat, Basil syrup and Bergemot bitters. Very nice cocktail. Refreshing, with a good juxtaposition of sweet and sour.

We started with a cheese plate. Three artisanal cheeses and crackers with house made condiments.

The olive/mustard spread was the best of the three. One was Kimchi like, eww. And the other was very spicy. But everything went really well together.

I went with a Butternut squash/Lobster bisque next.

Yes that is a corn dog on the side. And it was surprisingly good and went very well with the soup. The soup itself was a little heavy on the butternut squash side. I’d like to see a better balance with the lobster flavor. It was also a bit on the sweet side. But still a very tasty bowl of soup.

Merilynn had Ling Cod. Served with aged cheddar grits, confit tomatoes and Nduja sausage.

That’s the first use of grits in this fashion I have seen and it really went well with the Ling cod, which was perfectly cooked. Everything works really well in this dish.

From the others I heard mostly positive reviews about their food. The duck breast was the best he had ever eaten. And he knows his food. None of them were thrilled with the seared scallops crudo. The wild boar rigatoni was good, not great. The chicken was excellent.

An awesome patio, good food and great drinks add up to a great choice for dinner in Yaletown.

8/10

The post Brix and Mortar    appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.