Hummingbird604.com » Yaletown

Creme de la Crumb (Yaletown)

Raul — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:25:05 +0000

Total surprise for me: edible food in a coffee shop that is licensed to serve booze and within a half a block of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, where many of the theatre and musical shows I attend is. As Charlie Sheen would say, I call that WINNING. Creme de la Crumb in Yaletown, right underneath the CBC Vancouver is definitely a surprising gem. I wouldn’t call their cuisine high-end or upscale, but it was good enough and I didn’t have any problems with it.

I stopped by Creme de la Crumb a few weeks back when I was waiting for JT to meet me for the opening night of the Canadian premiere of Mamma Mia (Broadway Across Canada). I probably had never seen it not because I was blind, but because somehow Creme de la Crumb never registered in my radar. But I’m very glad it did. I ordered a 3 items combo ($8.99) and a bottle of Coke Zero ($2.50) for my dinner.

Overall, as I mentioned, a nice surprise that the food was good enough for dinner. I would probably not go out of my way here for a “romantic dinner” but for sustenance, BUT OF COURSE. I was able to survive going through almost 3 hours of musical theatre thanks to the fact that I had had dinner before, and that it was tasty and good enough at Creme de la Crumb.

Disclosure: I paid for my dinner on my own dime.

Games People Play: Curated Visual Arts Exhibition and the Pride in Art Community Show

Raul — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:15:42 +0000

‘Maturity means to have rediscovered the seriousness one had as a child at play.’ -Friedrich Nietzsche

For obvious reasons, I have a big stake in promoting GLBT (queer) issues, and one of the festivals I look forward the most is the Queer Arts Festival (having written about it last year). Thus it is my pleasure to invite you to the Opening Night for 2 Visual Arts Shows on July 26th at 7pm. FREE admission.

Games People Play: Curated Visual Arts Exhibition opens on July 26th at 7 pm and is on exhibit everyday until August 13th at 11 pm at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall (181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC, Canada), 11 am-10 pm weekdays and 11 am-4:30 weekends

To celebrate the North America Outgames in Vancouver this summer, the Queer Arts Festival has chosen Games People Play as its theme for 2011. And I really love their rationale behind it:

Queer cultures often emphasize elements of game-play: from camp to butch/femme to strictures of “straight looking/straight acting”, we play around with identity and its shadows of artifice, passing and trespassing. The curators are encouraging artists to queer the idea of games and play: board games, bored games, war games, mind games, drinking games, parlor games, gender games, games theory, game shows, word play, gun play, foreplay, BDSM play, playing the fool, playing by ear, playing along, playing around, playing for the team, playback, playmates, team sports, blood sport, water sports… With this exuberance of possibilities we will build a show of divergent investigations; a game for viewers to trace commonalities and conflicts along the through-line of gaming.

Curated by Persimmon Blackbridge, SD Holman and Jeff Gibson. I really hope you can attend, it will be some of the best art you’ve seen.

George Wainborn Park (Yaletown)

Raul — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:35:48 +0000

I love the George Wainborn Park, although I’m quite disappointed that I haven’t been able to find any information on Wikipedia on it (surprising, eh?! but thankfully my good friend Gus Fosarolli came through with information directly from the Vancouver Parks Board website on George Wainborn Park). It’s a park located in the marina side area of Yaletown, very close to the David Lam Park and the area around Beach Crescent, in Yaletown, right across from Granville Island.

While some people don’t find “constructed” or “architect-built” parks very exciting (e.g. urban parks that have a somewhat sophisticated feel), I really like them. Obviously, I still have my heart won over by parks like Trout Lake (which, with its lovely lake, looks very much like a non-urban park, despite the fact that it is embedded in a very residential neighbourhood). But I do enjoy walking around George Wainborn Park, in particular along the seawall.

There are some nice restaurants in the vicinity of that area, including C Restaurant, Nu and the Stone Grill.

Have you ever had the chance to walk around this lovely park?

The urban architecture of Yaletown

Raul — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:30:12 +0000

The more Yaletown densifies the more I am in awe. It’s a beautiful neighbourhood with great density, but with ZERO affordability.

I honestly wonder what residents of Yaletown, particularly creekside, feel about it. I have a tonne of friends who live in this area, particularly the marina side. I’ll have to ask them!

Restaurant review – Capone’s (Yaletown)

Raul — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:49:19 +0000

This past weekend was without a doubt one of the most challenging I’ve had in a long, long while, not only because of Blogathon Vancouver 2008 but also because I’m so behind in my own work. It was therefore very nice to see that my body decided to still respond on Sunday night despite the fact that I was severely sleep-deprived.

Gus had offered to take me out for dinner, and coincidentally, JT and I had agreed to skip this Sunday as we had spent Friday together because of previous commitments on Sunday night, so it worked out perfectly. After a few naps, I met Gus and Russ in Yaletown and we proceeded to scour the streets of Vancouver in search of some good Italian food.

Let me tell you one thing – if you think your favorite restaurant is going to be open, you are WRONG. We tried for Scioppino’s and they were CLOSED. Wierd. But luckily for us, Capone’s was open. To say that this was good times would be a gross understatement. This was GREAT times.

The service was good, although at some points our waiter kind of seemed to wander around. But I can’t complain, the company was really outstanding and I had a really great time. I have to say that my sense of humour is really very similar to that of Gus and Russ’ and that’s something that makes a nice meal even better, to share it with friends that can relate to you and to whom you can relate as well. Ah, good times!

We all ordered different varieties of pasta (after an antipasto platter that was really delicious, but unfortunately contained cheese so I had to skip on that one). If I recall correctly, we ordered chorizo and prawn fetuccine, ancho chicken linguini (this was my choice) and AAA tenderloin & mushroom linguini. Mine was really good, particularly because I love ancho chile.

As for drinks, Capone’s mojito is REALLY good but their martinis are weak. And they don’t have a Bellini (shame on them). My photos don’t do our dinner justice as it was late-ish at night and I didn’t want to use my flash.

Apparently, Capone’s has live jazz but we didn’t stay that late. Oh, and let me tell you. There is a LOT of eye candy in Yaletown Thanks to Gus for taking Russ and me for dinner as this was a highlight of my weekend!

Restaurant review – Goldfish Pacific Kitchen

Raul — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:00:56 +0000

I had always been curious about Goldfish Pacific Kitchen, more and more recently since I have been spending more time in Yaletown (and I have noticed the increase in eye candy!). Also, I rarely consume seafood as I am more of a meat eater (and somewhat vegetarian, I’d say I’m like 40% meat eater and 60% vegetarian). I was recently invited as a guest to GoldFish Pacific Kitchen and couldn’t resist the temptation. An invitation to such a good restaurant is not something you can pass on, so I decided to take one of my closest friends with me.

JT is usually one of my most frequent dining companions and therefore, it was just appropriate that he shared this experience with me. I didn’t read any restaurant reviews nor listen to any commentary about Goldfish so that I could go and have a unique experience on my own. We both decided to go for the Prixe Fixe (what Goldfish calls ‘Le Sharp Deal’), a three-course meal that is served from 5:00pm to 5:55pm (and yes, you can order at 5:54pm for sure!). For $ 25.00, this is one great value for your meal, since the mains are usually about that price. My photos don’t really do justice to the meal, so you’ll have to forgive the quality. But the food is simply great.

We both ordered the mustard greens for starters, then I chose a salmon dish and JT ordered the ling cod. We complemented our meal with some bacon rice. The salmon was most definitely to die for, delicate and flavorful. The bacon fried rice blew me away, as it seems like such a simple dish yet I found it delicious. Finally, for dessert JT ordered the creme brule (of which I had to have the caramel crust) and I ordered the gelato.The dessert was extraordinary. I have to say that Goldfish’s creme brule is definitely my favorite, so far.

I had a chance to go back a second time as Steve Jagger invited Rebecca Bollwitt and myself to come join him for lunch. Same great experience, prompt service, great food (and awesome company, of course). This time, I ordered the maple soy chicken (really, really good) and also a side of fried bacon rice. Really good (although I think I ate a tad too much, hehe).

Without a doubt, these two have to be some of the best experiences I’ve had with customer service. Our server (in both cases, lunch and dinner) was simply outstanding, very knowledgeable, prompt, friendly and not pushy at all. Albert was also paying attention to every detail. Given my recent string of bad luck with restaurants’ customer service, I was quite happy to find Goldfish’s high level of service.

Another element that I really liked was finding out that Goldfish Pacific Kitchen is so interested in issues of sustainability. Goldfish is an associate of the OceanWise program AND the Green Table network. As I have mentioned before on my blog, I’m always interested in issues of greening restaurants.

Would I go back to Goldfish? Absolutely. While they are very different concepts, I would be willing to substitute my beloved Water Street Cafe for Goldfish for a celebration. This has to speak volumes to how much I liked Goldfish, because the Water Street Cafe is the location where I have celebrated Valentine’s Day and my birthday for the past few years (with JT, no less!). I am sure we’ll be celebrating either his birthday or mine at Goldfish in the near future. And to Goldfish, keep up the good work, you guys!

Restaurant review – Provence Marinaside (Yaletown)

Raul — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:13:23 +0000

Spending time with good friends over brunch is always fantastic. I had never done brunch with Monica nor with Tanya and thus I jumped at the possibility of hanging out with two of my favorite gals for brunch. We met at Provence Marinaside, at the foot of Davie Street, in Yaletown. I have had dinner at Provence before, but (as you may have noticed by the fact that I do not have a restaurant review of it), dinner there was anything but memorable. And this time, Provence Marinaside didn’t make an impression on me either. The saving grace was, of course, the company. I love both Tanya and Monica and we had such a great time that the food and service at Provence was somewhat irrelevant.

The added bonus was seeing Michael Weatherly (of NCIS and Dark Angel fame). Weatherly is an actor I’ve always liked a lot, and from what I could see, he didn’t seem conceited at all. I was *this* close to say “hey Michael” but refrained myself. Geez, after all these years living in Canada AND living in Vancouver, I can still get a bit star-struck.

The food was really nothing to write home about, it was decently good breakfast, but honestly, screwing up breakfast is rather hard. I ordered scrambled eggs with fruit, toast and veal sausage. Perhaps not the best choice. The veal sausage was WAY too strong and it looked really pretty ridiculous. For about half the price, I could have gotten better scrambled eggs and sausage at an equally sophisticated restaurant (Crave on Main). I would rate the level of service and pricing at Provence Marinaside with the same of Figmint on 12th and Cambie (whom, if you recall, I didn’t like either).

Again, this wasn’t a BAD breakfast in terms of food, but it wasn’t something I would write home about or a rave review. The company was really what made it all worth it, because the service was pretty appaling. We didn’t get refills for our water, nor for our coffee, and I had to ask THREE times for jam. I am NOT impressed. If you’re charging high-end-ish prices, you should give me high-end-ish service.

Hanging out with Monica and Tanya, was just unbelievably awesome, and I got a lot of really important and useful advice in regards to my life in social media and also, in regards to the job search. It was very calming to hear them both reassuring me that I’ll be getting a good job. We also laughed a lot Good times, indeed. Although next time, I’ll probably suggest we change venues for brunch. I am not coming back to Provence Marinaside. Not until they have fixed their level of service