Greens restaurant

We went to Greens for the Saturday pre-fix menu for my celebratory dinner. First thing they brought out were lightly pickled cucumbers, radish, goat cheese and bread. Yummy antipasto combo, too bad it was a small platter.







One Salad was spinach, ridicio, pumpkin seeds, carmelized onion and cheese shavings with vinaigrette. Was okay, any other restaurant it would be good but since it's Greens we have higher standards. The fig salad was more on par with Greens expectation. Figs were charred so they were served warm, sweet and creaming with creme fresh piped in the center. The watercress and cantaloupe had a nice citrus vinaigrette. Excellente vinaigrette!







Spinach raviolli was filled with a soft mozzarella which melty gooey-ness. The sauce I can only guess was butter based, and tasty. Mixed about were pine nuts, sweet tomatoes, spinach and purple colored basil.

The mushroom custard tart was the best thing. I usually hate how tarts have a thick oily crust, but this was done well with the cream o'mushroom flavor throughout. The mushrooms were some exotic kind which I can't name but it was nice and chunky. Sides were great; Perfectly seasoned rosemary potatoes, yellow and green wax beans with beans, and watercress.







Dessert was little anti-climactic. I forgot I don't really like vegan stuff because I like animal products, so I go and order the vegan chocolate and banana cake. Kinda tasted like carob product and I could tell there was no dairy in the solid chocolate hunk. Was okay, we ate a good portion. The other dessert was chocolate icecream served over hazelnut cookie macaroon and caramel. We actually had it before so we knew it would be good.







Greens experince is always preety good. You need reservations because the restaurant is very popular. The service is very solid and attentive. Our reservation was at 6:45pm so it's perfect time of the day to dine with the sunset.

Fresh Choice

Salad bar restaurant. . .starts off good, but like a cheap chinese restaurant. . . afterwards it wasn't *THAT* good.

Venus Restaurant

Hungry and too lazy to cook we decided to go out to dinner on Friday night in Berkeley. Wanted to try Venus for dinner so we decided to go there. Luckily got a good parking space near by.

It was 7pm, prime dinner time and the place was pretty full, but luckily we got a seat. I don't like the open kitchen because the place was a little loud. Plus we had to sit in close proximity to some cozy couple on a date. The guy seemed much older and sounded like a pretentious idiot hippy, so I was really grossed out by the woman ooogling him. Sorry, I digress.

For appetizer we had the fig salad. I've started to order my dressing on the side like I used to in Milwaukee. I had higher standards for California, but it seems they still over dress salads so I must resort to dressings on the side. The dressing was a really nice port wine and balsamic reduction. The figs were sweet. Good salad.











Dinner we had the Halibut and Pork chop. Pork chops were served with potatoes, cabbage and apples. I like apples or apple sauce with my porkchops, but David not so much. The cabbage was dressed with a mustard/horseraddish tasting house so I didn't like it so much. The mashed potatoes were good and no doubt filled with some fat. The pork chop was cooked very well.











The halibut was okay. Not to much taste in the fish itself but it was done nicely. It was served with spinach, tomato compote and risotto cakes. I didn't like the fried risotto, kinda tasted dry. . .although David liked it. The tomatoes were sweet. There was some pickled ingredient I didn't know what it was. The basil oil was a nice touch.



Overall aside from idiot couple next to us, Venus is a good restaurant with that organic California ingredient stuff. Pretty good meal and okay value for the price. Desserts didn't look so appealing and we were full, so we went home satisfied.

Abkahzi Tea Garden - Victoria, BC

We stopped for a snack and tea. Food was okay, nothing special, but it photographed really nicely. The tea pot was kept hot the whole time so they must have baked it or something to make it like that.

Binner's B&B Breakfast - Victoria, BC

We ate two breakfast's at our B&B. Our hosts changed the table setting every day. The first morning was bright pink and the next morning was a flowery pattern. Breakfasts were nicely prepared and served with coffee and fruit juice.

The first monring we had a pear and blueberry crisp topped with whip cream. There were some cinnamon rolls too. For breakfast we had apple pancakes and sausages.












Our second breakfast started with a fruit cup, a crossant and yogurt. A new fruit juice was served too. The main breakfast was a mushroom omelet with asparagus. Also homemade toast was served. Pretty good stuff.

The Med Grill - Victoria, BC

We went to the Med Grill on recommendation from our B&B hosts. It was pretty crowded for a Sunday night, but it was a Sunday before a holiday so I guess that explains it. Our host said they had a prefix menu. Usually that means you have at most 3 or so entrees to chose from, however when we called them they said there were 11 choices. What they really meant to say is that they offered a 4 course meal for reduced size and price. The price was pretty good $17 for it. Now I didn't expect that much food, but it was funny how they served the first two on little plates. The antipasto was a bruchetta with roasted garlic.

I chose the house salad and David had the thai peanut salad. Both were pretty good, but as usual too much salad dressing. Sigh.










David had the Hake(white fish) and I ate the chicken Spaetzle. The fish was okay, nothing special with a cream sauce atop. The spaetzle was pretty tasty. Although I think there was probably a hell of a lot of oil to make it taste that way.










For dessert I had a chocolate cream and David had chocolate moose. Basically the chocolate cream was like a dark chocolate creme brule and the moose was a light version. Both were quite good.



The service was krap. We complained and the waitress blamed it on the kitchen. Didn't get much but a free dessert next time. . .Grr. Oh well, we weren't in a rush so it wasn't a big deal.

Steamroller Buritto - Vancouver, BC

We weren't too hungry so we just got a quick bite to eat. Stopped in on steamroller and ordered a burrito to split. It was kinda expensive. . . 7.50 bucks. . .grr. Well it was pretty good though. Surprisingly everytime we ate out the food was pretty good. I have low expectations after living in Milwaukee where you can have lots of below mediocre experiences. Anyway, the burrito was sitting in a sauce which I thought wouldn't taste too good but it was pretty good. The size is not as much bulk food you'd expect from chipole or quodoba.
THE TOMMY BURRITO
spinach tortilla, spanish rice, chicken, jack cheese,
garlic yogurt sauce, our famous tomatillo sauce
Also available veggie-style: spinach tortilla, spanish rice, carrots,
black beans, jack cheese, tomatillo sauce, garlic yogurt sauce

Tuscany - Bowen Island, BC

We walked up to this restaurant after our kayak adventure. It was 4pm in the afternoon and we were catching the end of lunch and not to many people were there, so we though it odd that we could only sit at the tables for two.

We ordered a salad with pear, sundried tomatoes, artichokes and topped with parm shavings. This is probably the best salad I've eaten at a restaurant no kidding. I was just talking about how places douse the greens with dressing. . . I hate that. This place somehow covered the greens sparingly with dressing but each leaf was coated and seasoned perfectly. I can't say the rest of the ingredients made the salad, I just appreciated that it wasn't sopping.

The pizza was great. I could've eaten another one. Time out on the water makes you hungry. I like the thin crust pizza better.




Luckily we had some time before the ferry was due so we could have dessert. Chocolate hazelnut tartufo with raspberry in the center. Yummy to the tummy. :-)

Pretty good restaurant, I would have loved to have dinner there. The prices were very good too. Aside from the *piff-piff-snoot* German waitress with no refills, service was still satisfactory and the food. . .I could've eaten double of everything.

The Keg - Vancouver, BC

Hungry from a long day of running around we found a steak restaurant in Vancouver. I was watching the woman in the kitchen prepare cecar salad after salad. I hate how most restuarant here drench salads with salad dressing. I usually order the dressing on the side. However the cesar salad was excellent here. Solid basic taste of refreshing romain lettuce tossed with parmesean and lightly coated with dressing. Our dinners came with salad and veggies for just a few dollars more, otherwise you'd get meat an potatoes.









Dinner was right at expectation level. Aside from the frozen beans, everything else was good. My garlic mash was laced with fatty cream and the sauteed mushrooms were whole. Our meat was cooked just right. Solid.

McDonalds Breakfast

We ate breakfast at McDonalds for a few days because it was right below our hotel. I think the mcmuffins in Canada are much better prepared too. Much better service too than the lack luster service in california hoods.