O, Korean food. You sweet, spicy, and delicious bastard you. 

Two weeks ago, three of my best friends came to visit me in NYC as we squeezed in a tiny room that could barely fit my bed, dresser, and my desk. We basically slept on top of each other (we're REALLY good friends). OKAY. That's not the point of the story. The point is is that we went to a restaurant called Boka one night while trying to find places to drink in St. Marks.

For those who don't know what St. Mark's is: it's basically a cultural street in East Village, where you can basically go in any restaurant and have a delicious meal or awesome drinks. If you don't think your food is adventurous enough, you can also get a piercing or get inked in the many tattoo/piercing parlors in the neighboring buildings to get your pants wet from too much adventure.

Okay, back to the story. So walking around St. Mark's, we saw many appealing restaurants from the outside, but the lines were much too long. Remember, it was a Saturday night and everyone was already drunk at this point and people are trying to satisfy their drunk munchies. Then we stumbled upon Boka. I have to be honest, from the outside, it looked a bit sketchy. But once inside, it was actually large and comfortable (except for waiting room, which could only fit two parties at a time without being in the way of the people coming in and out of the restaurant. Seriously the waiting room was smaller than a Starbucks bathroom). The atmosphere offers a fusion of the modern Asian and your local hipster.

Crab and Avocado - $5.60                                  Salmon, Tuna - $5.85

We opened with Boka Rice Balls. I ordered the Salmon, Avocado Rice Ball and Josh ordered the  Crab and Avocado Rice Ball. This dish was pretty good. The rice was sweet and there was enough inside the ball to balance the rice to meat ratio. The rice balls reminded me of the lunches I'd buy from my Korean friends back in high school. O, don't you just love when you order appetizers with a side of childhood memories? No? Okay. Nevermind. Let's move on.

Combo Large (10 wings & 5 drumsticks) - $19.95

Look, let's be real together for once. I'm a simple man. I like TV, video games, and chicken wings. Okay, maybe Boka couldn't offer TV or video games, but it did a damn good job with the chicken wings. With two signature flavors of "soy garlic" and "spicy" (Yeah, it's just called spicy), the chicken wings were by far the best thing I've had here. Boka is also known for their wings/drumstick dish. I wish I had enough chicken wings in NYC to state that this is the best chicken wings around, but unfortunately I haven't. However, I would confidently say that this is the best chicken wings I've had in NYC so far. There's your statement right there.

The wings were crispy, as if it was triple battered. The flavors were both amazing and true to their name (holy moly the spicy one). I do prefer the spicy one though, since it was also sweet, adding an interesting twist to the chicken wing. I think the drumsticks were delicious as well, but I preferred eating wings because you lose a lot of the crispiness through having the bigger chicken with less skin.

Watermelon Soju - $29

But you know what they say, "you can't have wings without a drink". I don't know who exactly said that, I think it was Galileo or Martha Stuart or something, but I've heard it before. Maybe it was Rachel Ray or something, ANYWHO, we got drinks. 

OooooOooooohhhhh yessssss. Look at that beautiful thing known as the Watermelon Soju. Okay granted the alcohol to watermelon juice ratio favored alcohol, it wasn't too bad. One $30 watermelon holds up to 4 glasses, but if the drink isn't good, the watermelon holds up to 4 disappointing glasses. Yes, I said it, I didn't enjoy the watermelon soju. I'm no soju connoisseur, nor am I one for alcohol, but I didn't enjoy the taste of a bottle of soju mixed with New York's tasteless watermelons. I admit, I enjoyed the presentation and pouring the drink from the watermelon, but I don't think it deserves its title as a signature drink. I wouldn't have ordered this if it didn't come in a watermelon. I won't be ordering this the next time I come back.

On the bright side, at least we were able to get good instagram photos out of this disappointing $30 drink!

DAMN, NORGEATS! BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE DOPE FOOD POSTS!

That's right! I AM actually back to doing this again. It's been two years since I last posted on this food blog. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT SH**?! TWO YEARS! Seriously, it feels like yesterday since I last put something up. Don't worry though, I AM back and will be treating myself every Saturday to a night out, since I am trying to get back to shape.

SATURDAY = CHEAT DAY

SUNDAY (or 1-3 Business Days) = POSTING

Since it's my first day back on the blog, I went the extra mile (JUST FOR YOU GUYS) and visited THREE restaurants that day. Rathbones for lunch, Boka for dinner, and The Spot for dessert. Of course, I did not journey alone. I had my trusty roommate and food enthusiast, Josh Aponte, tag along with me.

The only reason I found myself stumbling into this place was because of my lovely girlfriend having a craving for beef dip last Summer. I'm not sure if it's a Canadian thing, but beef dips aren't as big here. Usually, it'd be a staple item on your typical Taphouse, Milestone, or White Spot, but I had to actually google search restaurants that had this item.

Also, fun-fact, they call it FRENCH DIP here!

Rathbones feels like a local pub. Why? Because it is a local pub!

The first thing Josh (my roommate) and I ordered was Chicken Nachos to start. If you know anything about me, I'm a sucker for good nachos. But honestly, this was nothing special. It was good "drinking nachos", but I wouldn't call them anything more than that. The chicken was rarely noticeable and the guac was minimal. At least it was fairly cheap for basic nachos. 

Chicken Nachos - $8.95

NOW. For the main reason we're here. French Dip.

French Dip - $10.95

One word: JUICY. The bread is actually made with garlic bread, giving it its buttery flavor. The bread was crisp as well. This isn't the most attractive dish, but what it loses in plating, it makes up for in taste. The fries are finely seasoned as well. After eating this sandwich, you'll definitely feel sleepy since it is surprisingly heavy.

Roast Turkey Sandwich - $9.95

Josh ordered the Roast Turkey Sandwich. It was basically roast turkey, cranberries, stuffing, and gravy in between a basic burger bun. I'm not a big cranberry-during-Thanksgiving fan, but this sandwich wasn't too bad. It was definitely packed with turkey, but the gravy was a bit undermined.

Overall, Rathbones is a pub that does food fairly well. It's not the go to spot for foodies, but hell, I live a bus stop away. I can see myself coming back for the french dip ever so often, since on Fridays, French Dips are only $6.95! Otherwise, you'll probably find me here for casual drinks with buddies.

It's been awhile, Foodies! There's been a lot going on for me recently and I mean A LOT!

1) I have recently been hired to work for Aritzia

2) There is only ONE MONTH left until the opening of my cabaret

With all this keeping me busy, it has been difficult to post on the regular. WORRY NOT, I'M BACK!

My older cousin is in town for the weekend for a business trip so my brother and I decided to have breakfast with him in Gastown before we headed to work. We decided on Deacon's Corner.

I've actually read about this place, especially on Facebook, and have been waiting to try their funky sandwiches such as a macaroni and cheese sandwich that I saw on Facebook.

101 Main Street, Vancouver, BC

The store is diner styled and had quite the variety of breakfast items to choose from. Some were the classics kind of breakfast but there were a lot of interesting dishes like the Carolina Pulled Pork & Pancake.

I decided on the Southern biscuits, sausage, and eggs. It came with two house made buttermilk biscuits, 3 sausage patties, country gravy, has browns, and three eggs of your style (of course I choose classic scrambled w/ cheese).

It was good, but I can't really expect so much from a diner. The eggs were quite basic, nothing too special. The hash browns were sort of bland, could've used more crunch or maybe seasoning. The sausage was actually pretty good. It was surprisingly spicy. The gravy was not bad, but it tasted too non-homemade. I actually expected the biscuits to be softer and more fluffy, but this was not the case. It had a similar consistency as a bagel, which was weird too me (I'm not that much for a biscuit eater).

Southern biscuits, sausage and eggs - $10.95

Everything on that dish was pretty acceptable. Though it wasn't the most amazing dish I've ever had, it was not bad! In fact, it's better than many of the diners i've been to in New York. I'm pretty sure that Deacon's Corner is more famous for their interesting sandwiches rather than their actual breakfast. I am definitely coming back to try those cool dishes! 

"I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time" so I ordered French toast during the Renaissance."

-Steven Wright

There is nothing I like more than a line-up of unique food trucks! If you foodies of Vancouver don't know by now, Lonsdale Quay holds a weekly night market on Fridays from 5PM-10PM, which hosts a number of amazing food trucks. Not only that, but they also have many little shops that sell jewelry, clothes, and other handmade products.

As part of this celebration, my girlfriend and I have decided to attempt on trying different food trucks every Friday! Hooray exploration!

For our first taste, we went straight to dessert at Funnel Cakes. Not necessarily a food truck, but a food stand, Funnel Cakes specialize on... you guessed it... FUNNEL CAKES!

If you didn't know, a funnel cake is basically deep fried dough. It had sort of a donut-y taste. It was really good. I ordered the Traditional Funnel Cake, which was drizzled with icing sugar and cinnamon. It was sooo good. It was a little bit soft an chewy much like a donut and sometimes crunchy like some kind of sweet chips.

Traditional Funnel Cake - $5

After walking around trying to decide which actual food truck I should try first, we finally decided to try Ze Bite, which specialize in French food.

It's supposedly "A taste of France in one bite!"

We ordered the Ze Français. It was surprisingly REALLY good. It had a simple recipe of lettuce, ham, dijon mustard, and goat cheese, but it was actually kinda unique. It was the actual bread itself that was a game changer. It was soft and delicate. I'm not really sure what it was, but it looked like an overcooked crepe.

Ze Français - $8.50

Finally, we went to Taser Grilled Cheese. This wasn't really a food truck, but it was a food stand. They specialized in (obviously) grilled cheese!

Unfortunately, they didn't have that large of a menu, but each dish looked very interesting.

We ordered the So Gouda. It was made with smoked bacon and caramelized apples surrounded by gooey melted gouda cheese. This was very delicious too. This was my first time ever trying apples in a savory dish. Its sweetness surprisingly complimented the grilled cheese and it made me want more!

So Gouda - $7

Overall, for our first time visiting the Lonsdale Quay Night Market, we were pretty impressed. There was a number of food trucks to choose from and each were very unique. I am excited to visit this place again to try a different dish!

"Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive"

-George Bernard Shaw

Happy Belated Father's Day!

For Father's Day brunch, we went to Pier 7, a restaurant and bar on Lonsdale Quay's Shipyard and Pier area.

The outside was modern looking and slick. Its location is really nice. It is right in front of the water, so the view was amazing. 

As nice as its location was, the menu was disappointingly small. It was somewhat pricey as well.

I got a Classic Caesar. It tasted pretty good. A great way to start the morning!

Classis Caesar - $8

For a starter, we ordered a Crispy Calamari. One word: terrible. Thee first thing my whole family agreed on was that it was way too salty. It was as if they had old calamari in the kitchen, re-seasoned it, re-fried it, and served it to us.

Really, it was THAT bad. At least that's what we thought.

Crispy Calamari - $12

I ordered the Ahi Tuna Club. It's seared rare ahi tuna, bacon, ranch, and fries. It wasn't too bad, but it was in the bland side. Drenching it with ketchup really boosted the taste though. I wasn't very impressed.

The fries weren't too bad. They were actually pretty good. Some were soggy (the good kind of soggy) and some were quite crispy. No complaints there! Maybe just a tad bit more salt.

Ahi Tuna Club - $16

My mom, my sister, and my uncle ordered the Pier7 Burger. It had aged cheddar, crispy bacon, garlic aioli with fries. I didn't really try it, but it didn't seem to impress my family's taste buds. It was quite basic and having it as the restaurant's "signature dish" was disappointing.

Pier7 Burger - $16

 Giving this restaurant another chance, we tried their Pan Fried Dungeness Crab Cake. Served with garlic aioli, this dish was actually pretty good. The crisp edges of the cake complimented the creamy sauce it was served with.

Pan Fried Dungeness Crab Cake - $15

Overall, I wasn't to impressed. In fact, I was extremely disappointed with everything about this restaurant. With its location, I had high hopes and expectations about the place. The food wasn't great, the service was slow (extremely slow), and we even found hair in my step dad's food that we had to turn it away. If it wasn't so expensive, I would've been a bit more lenient, but the fact that this could be classified as somewhat a formal restaurant, it was a huge disappointment. 

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

-George Herbert

ADVENTURE!

Today was awesome! I climbed the Chief in Squamish with my two friend's, Ryan and Jeremy. We literally hiked for 3.5 hours just to climb up 700+ miles of mountain. 

Throughout the entire hike, the trail would change from being a nice, flat trail to open areas and rocky climbs.

There were even epic points of the trail where holding on to a chain was necessary to aid you up the side of huge rock faces.

After an hour and a half of climbing, we finally made it to the top of the Second Peak, which was 655m tall! It's amazing to think that it only took 1.5hrs to climb the mountain from the very bottom to the top!

Due to Ryan's kindness and generosity, I was able to enjoy this amazing Vietnamese Sub. It was a little cold, but after a hike like that, ANYTHING would've tasted amazing. Not to say that the sandwich on it's own would be an delicious dish. It was enough to hit the spot for us to move on to the next peak.

On the way to the Third Peak, we saw a group of people, I'm not to sure what the actual name of the activity is, but swinging. Think of it like bungee jumping but in a swimming motion. It was really intense.

This was the view from the Third Peak. It was not as great as the Second Peak, but it was still breath taking.

and... here my friend Ryan being artsy.

Overall, that was an awesome hike and a delicious sandwich. Hopefully this will be a weekly or every 2 weeks kind of event.

"Stop and look"

-Anonymous

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL!

This sandwich wasn't anything special. Just a plain old sandwich with whole wheat toast, chicken mixed some mayonnaise and onions, and lettuce. It was quick and easy to make. Nothing too fancy!

But the best part about eating this sandwich was being able to enjoy it outside in the calm and sunny weather. The weather in Vancouver has been amazing recently: hot and sunny in the day and warm and breezy in the night. Just awesome!

Just to add for an update to my life:

1) My buddy Juan and I are organizing a cabaret for charity around August 9! It should be hilarious and entertaining.

2) I now work for American Eagle Outfitters in Park Royal. Hooray job!

That's basically the main things going on in my life. Until next time foodies!

"Sandwiches are wonderful. You don't need a spoon or a plate!"

-Paul Lynde