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.

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

Continuing the bar hopping from the other day with my friend Ryan, I had forgotten that I wasn't in New York anymore and was reminded of how early restaurant close in Vancouver.

We walked for about 45 minutes around downtown Vancouver to look ANY open restaurant. We were desperate! It was a miracle when we found Guu's Kobachi.

735 Denman Street, Vancouver

When I saw the menu, it reminded me of Guu's menu and unique Japanese-styled food. It came as a surprise that with further research that this place was actually a branch of Guu! Everything they had on their menu was so unique and looked delicious.

But before we ordered food, we started with Sake. We spent so much at Raglan's Bistro that we felt kinda cheap so we bought the cheapest sake.

We had Gekkeikan sake served hot. Usually for sake, its served either cold or hot. It wasn't bad, it went down actually pretty well.

Gekkeikan - $5

For tapas, we decided on Black Calamari. It's basically calamari marinated with squid ink. It was pleasantly tasty! The dip it had was also an ink based sauce. It was sweet with a little hint of tomato. Yum!

This item was actually on their Friday special menu. So make sure you're there on a Friday to try this awesome dish!

Black Calamari - $8.20

 The final thing we ordered was the Beef Curry Poutine. It was slow stewed beef tendon curry with french fries and cheese melt. Since we were in a rush, we had to inhale these bad boys. It was served in one of those sizzling bowls. The great part about this was the curry seasoning. Apparently poutine was the theme of the night.

Beef Curry Poutine - $7.80

Overall, I had a great experience in Kobachi! The food was delicious and cheap (only spent about $21), the employees were very welcoming, and the atmosphere was fun. I would definitely come back here, next time with my family! A place like this is definitely a place my family would enjoy.

"It is the man who drinks the first bottle of saké; then the second bottle drinks the first, and finally it is the saké that drinks the man."

-Japanese Proverb

It's good to be legal. My best friend Ryan and I went to Raglan's Bistro to grab some drinks and food after watching Sentinel Secondary School's Cabaret.

I ordered a Hurricane of Shipwrecked. I don't exactly remember what was in it, but it was great. It had a taste of carbonated raspberry, it was really girly, but delish!

Shipwrecked - Hurricane - $14.95

Finally... the food! We ordered the Pulled Pork Poutine. It was a basic poutine with aged cheddar and gravy, but the twist is the sweet and tender pulled pork. Delicious!

Pulled Pork Poutine - $12

The final thing we got was a Double Cheese N' Chicken Quesadillas. It was pretty basic. It wasn't anything special, in fact, I probably wouldn't order it again. For its price, I would've been better off with another poutine.

Double Cheese n' Chicken Quesadillas - $12

Overall, it was awesome! The drink was great and so was the poutine, but unfortunately, the quesadillas was only mediocre. Ryan and I definitely enjoyed ourselves and the atmosphere of the place at 12AM was awesome.

"If life gives you lemons, make margaritas"

-Anonymous

Hello Foodies! I am finally back in Vancouver for the rest of the summer.

For my first homemade meal, my mother decided to do Korean food. From scratch, she made a Korean dish called Bibimbap. It had egg, seaweed, sweet meat, kimchi, rice, and other ingredients that I do not remember (oops, I should've payed attention!).

It was really good. Before you serve it, you mix it while it is still hot in the bowl. It becomes some sort of fried-rice-like dish. It was amazing. I haven't had homemade asian food in FOREVER!

The second meat dish my mother made was called Jaeyukbokeum (according to my Korean friend). It's a really interesting burst of spicy and sweet. The meat is really thin so it melted in your mouth. It was amazing!

At the end of the day, there is nothing better than a Mother's cooking. After eating cafeteria food and take out all month, it feels good to get back in the groove of eating homemade food.

"I have come to the conclusion that just as the Japanese live to work, Asians live to eat."

-Anastacia Oaikhena

My last couple of weeks have been insane. I've been extremely busy with finals, packing, moving back home, and working at the SoHo International Film Festival. From days where I had to wake up at 9AM to begin work to nights that ended at 5AM to begin sleeping for the next class, my life has been hectic. Finally after finishing all my final papers, I found the time to rest and go out to spend my last real meal in New York City.

My roommates, Josh and Eli, and I went to Brother Jimmy's BBQ for an All-You-Can-Eat-Feast. The feast included unlimited Northern or Southern ribs for a maximum of two hours.

1485 2nd Ave, New York, NY, 10075

The place had an awesome atmosphere. There was a huge range of people eating here. From families to single people looking for a fun night at the bar. They had really interesting decors such as ski ball machines and pin ball machines.

Since we knew were were going to go to an all you can eat feast, we starved ourselves a bit. We were SO hungry!

So we had ordered the Brother Jimmy's BBQ (HUMONGOUS) Nachos. It had chips, BBQ beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa & guacamole served with pulled pork. It was the most amazing batch of nachos I've had in New York. The chips were perfectly baked and the mass amount of topics just somehow, weirdly enough blended so well together. From the picture, it looks medium sized, but when I saw it in person, I could tell why they labelled it HUMONGOUS.

Brother Jimmy's BBQ (HUMONGOUS) Nachos - $14.50

You can tell by the look on Eli's face that this was a very special moment.

Finally the All-You-Can-Eat Rib Feast arrived. You had the choice of two types of ribs: Northern and Southern. It comes with cornbread and 2 extra sides. It also comes with a special discount for drafts of bud or Bud Light for $2 each.

These ribs were so nicely charred in the grill and it tasted delicious. It was so well cooked. You know its cooked when the meat just slides off the bone like hot butter. Just writing about this post makes me hungry for more ribs.

The two sides I ordered were regular fries and mac and cheese. They weren't anything special, but the mac and cheese was actually pretty good.

After this first batch, we had one more batch and we had no choice but to call our defeat. It was just too much to handle. This entire plate was already too much for one person, but TWO plates? That's enough for a beast.

All-You-Can-Eat Rib Feast - $19.95

Overall, this place had amazing ribs and delicious side dishes. I would actually go back here to try some of their BBQ dishes like a pulled pork sandwich. This place is actually priced really well for the amount of food you're getting. Especially their daily specials.

I consider this to be my last supper in New York City. Eating here with my two best friends was the best way to finally say goodbye to this beautiful city. So long New York, I will miss you.

I can't wait to go back to Vancouver. It's been much too long.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my barbecue"

-Mark Twain