Copa Cafe

Happy Friday everyone. After a quick downtown Vancouver shopping day, Michael and myself went to a quaint little Hong Kong style diner for lunch. Celebrating Michael's roots, you could say.

Copa Cafe is located on 4030 Cambie Street in Vancouver, and Michael and I have always passed by this restaurant on our way to downtown without much thought until a classmate of mine told me about it as a highly regarded place to eat. Chinese diners typically feature Asian food mixed with a casual western flavour, and are one of the places that I love going with my parents, not to mention a lot of my high school memories were made sitting in Hong Kong diners with my friends.

Be prepared to have trouble deciding though, their menus are usually huge. We both ate from the Mini Set Menu, I chose the Baked Chicken Fillet with Garlic and Cheese on Linguine for $7.95. It didn't arrive with as much cheese as I'd hoped for but the chicken breast was nice and tender. The linguine, however, was a little bland for my liking.

Michael had something a little more complex. He chose the Stone Pot with Rice for $8.99, going for the deluxe version for an additional $2 for two different types of meat, roasted chicken steak and diced short ribs. For the sauce, he chose coconut satay. Michael thought the meat was nice and tender, easy to chew, but said there wasn't enough sauce to go with all the rice. He also thought it was pretty neat he got to choose more then one meat.

Our meals came with complimentary drinks, a trademark of most HK cafes. I ordered the traditional Hong Kong style lemon tea, whereas Michael took the fancy route, with additional $2.50 Michael got Taiwanese milk tea with grass jelly.

In total the bill came to an affordable $28 including tip. Copa Cafe also offers a variety of deals, a Copa Cafe Point Card, which promises a 5% per meal rebate for a fee of $10 a year. We also received two coupons for free bubble tea for our next visit. I really liked coming here with Michael. We don't come to places like this as often as we would like to.

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Rodney's Oyster House

Sunny days in Vancouver are perfect for gobbling up freshly shucked oysters and chugging down an ice cold bottle of beer. We ended up at Rodney’s Oyster House located at 1228 Hamilton St. in Yaletown. I’ve always had a curiosity for this restaurant even when I was younger, but I never gave it a try until a childhood friend gave me the recommendation. Michael and I came here once and had a lot of fun, but I’m not sure why we never went back, so today was the day! 

Rodney’s is arguably the definition of west coast dining. The restaurant has an open bar where you can see staff chucking away the oysters, steaming the clams, and preparing drinks. Rows of oysters are laid out behind the bar and adorned with signs explaining where they were caught, giving a harbour-like feel despite being in the heart of downtown. The staff also looked very relaxed in their t-shirts and cargo shorts, even though the restaurant was completely packed, they seemed extremely at ease.

We were promptly seated and served with complimentary sourdough bread with capers and raspberry. The bread was moist, the capers added a great punch, and were just delicious! We ordered from their Low Tide 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. menu, happy hour if you will. I’m usually not the biggest oyster fan, but today Rodney’s really changed my mind.

Raw oysters were an affordable $1.50 each – we ordered 14 of them. The oysters do take some time to arrive, since they’re shucked by just one staff member behind the bar, but arrived with an appetizing platter of condiments, including the classic Tabasco, Worcester Sauce, white vinegar with capers inside, and a variety of self-concocted mixes. The sauce I chose to go with my oysters was called Shallots and Vinaigrette, dubbed “a classic in a French kitchen.” It gave the oysters a unique taste, going down very nicely and smooth, while Michael exploited the “concocted by the devil” Seawitch Sauce.

We also ordered the steamed clams, $10.95, from the Low Tide menu. Steamed in own liqueur and butter, the dish was simply marvellous with its light, fresh tasting broth.  Michael and I could have sipped that broth like soup.

Next, the beautifully presented Scallop Gallette arrived. The dish was a crispy potato encrusted scallop with plum sauce and a green salad. Perfectly cooked, the batter was light and crispy and complimented the dish rather than overpowering the scallops. The shellfish themselves were fresh, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, pairing nicely with the tangy plum sauce. The mixed greens were lightly drizzled with olive oil and vinaigrette, and came as a pleasant bonus to the plate.

Rodney’s has another location in Toronto, and I’d like to say hello to my cool aunt who lives in Ontario, if you ever get a chance to go to Rodney’s in Toronto, I hope you feel a wee bit closer to me. 

With two beers, our bill came to $71 including tip.

Rodney’s serves great food with stellar service, and its lively atmosphere is guaranteed to keep you coming back for more. We’ll be back.

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D'Anna's Cafe Italiano

We took a trip south of the 49th parallel today for a quick shopping trip to Bellingham and the Seattle outlet malls. Michael found D'Anna's Cafe Italiano in Bellingham surfing online and found nothing but great reviews. We decided to give it a try.

D'Anna's located on 1317 North State St, Bellingham, plenty of street parking with more space after 5:30 p.m. at the adjacent bank parking lot. It doesn't look like much from the outside, so you really keep your eyes open to spot this place. I always thought of Bellingham as a pit stop on the way to Seattle without really pausing to enjoy the town itself, and driving through made me realize Bellingham is actually a really cute place. I was a bit skeptical though, since I know there are many places that serve so-called "authentic" Italian food. But any doubts vanished when I walked in and was greeted by a strong garlic aroma in the air, I just knew he food was going to be great. The staff were all very trendy too, many wouldn't look out of place on Main Street Vancouver, or maybe a Death Cab concert.

They make food right before your eyes

One of the first things you see is the kitchen. The chefs work in the bar and you get to see your meal getting prepared well within visible sight. Probably makes the chefs go that extra mile too, since they know they're being watched by the people eating their food. If watching them cook wasnt enough, eating the food really proves the passion in creating their home-style, authentic cuisine.

Sauteed local Chuckanut clams

Michael and I started with the clam steam appetizer ($10.95), with the shellfish mixed in clam and lemon broth with garlic and parsley. The ingredients sound so simple, but the flavours are very complex and delightful. I think they also add a touch of alcohol to the broth. It made for a dish that was perfectly infused and complement each other very well. Complimentary homemade cheese-covered bread also followed every course, I'm usually disappointed by free bread, but D'Anna's really stood out with its taste, a cheesy goodness with a hint of tomato sauce covering perfectly moist bread. We also got a complimentary mixed greens salad, which came lightly dressed with vinaigrette and more bread.

Chicken parmesan with linguine

I was pretty torn between entrees. Should I get the Hot Sicilian Sausage Linguine, Chicken Parmesan, or the Spinich Gnocci served with vegetables and Panchetta? I ended up asking for a suggestion from a server, and was extremely surprised it took our waitress a good half minute to come up with a choice, everything was just that good. I ended up with the chicken parmesan for that traditional feel, served with linguine (16.50) The chicken had a nice outer crunch and was soft and moist inside. The cheese sprinkled on top was a nice bonus.

Lamb tenderloin with yummy gnocci

Michael had the Grilled Lamb Tenderloin ($23.50), eight ounces, smothered with mushrooms and served with spinach potato gnocchi, and tomatoes with butter sage. I tried it out and would have to say the gnocci was just perfect, absolutely delicious compared to the ones I had at O'douls, where it was more chewy than soft. These ones literally fall apart in your mouth, like little drops of potato and spinach heaven. Whoever made them must had godlike hands, they melt apart like butter on a hot pan. I daresay they tasted as good as the ones made in Italy. Michael said the lamb was very tender, super easy to chew and very flavourful. The sauce that was served with the lamb was a plethora of tastes, making for a great dip since the lamb didn't seem to be marinated previously. He said it also looks and eats much bigger than eight ounces. Either way, it looked delicious.

Italian soda

For drinks, I really did want to order Italian wine but I wasn't feeling that great tonight so I settled for Italian soda. I also got to choose different flavours from orange, vanilla, strawberry. Orange it was. It tasted like if Fanta made diet Fanta, not too sweet, which I really liked. Michael had a plain old coke.

Can't say no to complimentary bread and salad :)

The total came to $72 including tip. Michael and I hope we could go back the D'Anna's for their great food and extremely attentive staff. Not to mention the dozens of additional dishes they serve are all reasons in themselves. Ciao!

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