The Fish Shack

Since Dine Out 2013 is creeping up on us, Michael and I thought it would be fun to head out to Vancouver for the night. I came across The Fish Shack when I was browsing around for Dine Out inspiration, surprisingly Fish Shack's regular menu seemed more tasty than their Dine Out, and I was keen on trying it. I also knew Michael would be up for any restaurant that focuses on seafood.

Michael and I usually avoid franchise restaurants, and The Fish Shack is owned by the Glowbal group, but I feel that the people at Glowbal have their fair share of hit restaurants. Also since the Glowbal group is such a well recognized company in Vancouver, I arrived with high expectations.

Fish Shack is located in the tip of Vancouver's party strip at 1026 Granville Street. For those scratching their heads wondering, "Didn't that place use to be an Indian restaurant?" Yes. It used to be Sanafir, also owned by the Glowbal group, but in my opinion was a major "miss." I felt it was over priced and served unappetizing "Indian fusion" food and the restaurant made me feel like I was in Moulin Rouge.

The restaurant is bright and inviting

Now it has become The Fish Shack. The place seems to be fun place to eat, kick back, shuck some oysters and have have an ice cold beer. The restaurant is laid out exactly how Sanafir was with the outside patio and upstairs dining room as well. The walls were decorated with warehouse pallets, I thought it was such a clever way of decoration, but Michael on the other hand thought it was rather "low budget" looking. I loved how the bar area, the lights were hung with ropes, it looked like it should have been part of a boat by the harbour.

On an unrelated note of the restaurant, I just have to say their restrooms are an individual room suitable for the ladies and gents. It was very uncomfortable going to the washroom and having a urinal two centimeters away from me, and another thing that bothered me was that the restroom was insanely dark.

Their menu is laid out in a newspaper headline style

But let's talk food. The Shack's menu served many traditional west coast seafood delicacies, fish and chips, oysters, clams, lobster, you name it they got it. I had mentioned from a post while back, that ever since Michael and I dined at Crab Pot in Seattle, Michael has been on the hunt for the same concept as Crab Pot, getting a hammer and just whacking the heck out of his food. For myself, I feel like I did it in Seattle, I don't need to do it here and I'm only along for the ride.

Does anyone else think the spikes on the hammer are a bit unnecessary?

I was curious to see what their oyster burger tasted like and I saw many diners get their fish and chips which looked really tasty and also their steamed mussels looked divine. But I knew Michael wanted his crab pot experience again. At the shack they have the same concept with the hammer. They offer two choices one is the small catch ($20 per person) which offers dungeness crab, mussels, snow crab, prawns, calamari, cray fish, corn, potatoes, and chorizo. With the big catch it has everything and add an extra lobster ($30 per person). Of course the portion was not as big as Crab Pot but the idea and all was there.

A small portion - but cheaper - compared to Crab Pot

I do think the crabs and calamari tasted really good, it was full of meat and tasted very fresh. Dipping the food in liquified butter was just heaven on earth, my entire dinner went in there. As for cray fish, I have never tasted it before it looked like a mini version of a lobster, I'm not sure if cray fish is the same as crawfish but I would think crawfish would taste similar. I thought the cray fish tasted very fishy and I couldn't handle more than one. Michael thought there was a good amount of crab and especially liked how the server left a jar of spices for us to sprinkle. The seafood broth was a nice touch too. He thought there could have been more clams and corn though.

We still haven't found a restaurant that exceeds the expectations set by Crab Pot. This small catch meal for me was a mediocre and I think it's a little "meh." Michael thinks it was worth it for the cheaper price, it's still the same type of experience. But I think the other selections on the menu would be fantastic and wonderful and I am determined to taste their other dishes.

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Flying Beaver

I know some of my friends like coming to the Flying Beaver to grab a beer at night and relax by the lovely view of the water. The pub is located off of the Vancouver International airport at 4760 Inglis Drive. You can check in for your seaplane to the island and have a meal at the bar before you leave. Michael and I often go to Flying Beaver when we don't know where else to go.

It's a typical bar but their menu is rather more fancy than what most would be used to. I love the interior of the bar because it is all wooden and has snowshoes and various other Canadian pride items displayed, which I think is a little witty and fun.

Caesar salad and garlic bread

I was originally going to get a sandwich today but I quickly changed my mind when our waitress told us about the specials. How could I  resist their specials menu's mac and cheese? The dish arrived served with little steak bites with caesar salad and garlic bread on the side ($13.95).

Mac & cheese

The mac and cheese was actually rather light even though it was oozing with cheese everywhere, maybe because the cheese sauce was runny instead of thick and heavy. The steak wasn't too tough but was a little chewy. I would say it was pretty good. The caesar salad tasted classic with Parmesan shavings on top, but the garlic bread didn't taste very garlicy. I did enjoy dipping my bread in the mac and cheese sauce though.

Prime rib with scalloped potatoes and asparagus

Michael had the prime rib with scalloped potatoes and asparagus. He thought the meat was a little tough, but for its low ($15.95) price, it had a ton of flavour and was worth every penny. Michael especially liked the scalloped potatoes, he said they were cooked with just enough crunch and were sliced thin enough to make every bite delicious.

Flying Beaver is fun place to eat at and we think that its a great place for casual dinners for the days where you have no clue where to go for dinner.

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Miss Delta

Howdy partners! Since we don't get much southern love in Vancouver, I like to try as much of it as possible in Portland.

Miss Delta restaurant

Miss Delta says that they make everything from scratch and the four of us that night were all so excited to try their food. The restaurant is located at 3950 North Mississippi Ave. in Portland. The area around the restaurant seemed very adorable and had a lot of fun restaurants around the place as well. Miss Delta is a decent size with about 10 tables or more. It had old black and white pictures that showed the restaurant's past as a butcher's shop. Modernized, the restaurant was rather hipster-esque with its adorable brick walls.

My fried chicken dish

When enjoying southern food I feel I must have fried chicken. I was lucky to be able to choose two sides with my combo dish ($14), and I chose mac and cheese and coleslaw. The portion of my dinner wasn't big as Screen Door and I would have to say Miss Delta isn't as tasty as the other restaurant. The chicken was too fried, the layers of the fried chicken were very thick. When I use my knife to cut the chicken it was just all crispiness and it wasn't as meaty as I would've liked inside. I thought the meat available was moist, however. The mac and cheese was simple and I was very happy with it. I could tell it was home made, it was cheesy and surprisingly didn't feel heavy. I felt that the coleslaw was tasty as well, the dressing was creamy like a traditional coleslaw should be like and had a light horseradish taste to it as well.

Steak of the day

Michael had the steak ($16) which was no surprise at all, there are daily cuts and Mondays was sliced flank steak. It was served with blue cheese butter on top, he got mashers on the side with greens with apple vinaigrette dressed on top. He wished there was more greens but the steak was absolutely so good. He said it was tender and tasted delicious with the butter on top. It was served at a decent portion, the outside of the meat was darkened just enough and the inside was slightly pink. The mashers tasted like any other mashed potatoes with gravy, except there was a slight peppery seasoning in there with a little heat. We thought it was a unique little surprise.

Pulled pork sandwich

My best friend has always wanted to eat some good southern food. She chose the pulled pork sandwich from the Monday special ($8). She thought the pork wasn't pulled enough because there were some pork bits that were a little too big. The barbeque sauce that was dressed on the pork was delicious but a little more on the spicy side. She didn't mind it though. This was definitely a messy dinner for her. She felt that her sandwich bread should have been more enclosed, like a hot dog bun. She said the bun was a bit rough, it scratched the roof of her mouth, but towards the middle of her sandwich the bun didn't seem to be that bad after all. She also got the mashers on the side for a small extra fee ($3 cup).

Mac and cheese with sausages

Last but not least, it was her boyfriend's first time in Portland eating southern food. He had the Trashy Mac which was also the Monday special ($8). It was the traditional mac and cheese served with ambrose sausages. He thought there was a lot of strong flavours to the sausage which was particularly memorable. He also said the mac and cheese had a lot of creamy texture and it beats instant mac and cheese out of a box any day.

We'll be back, Miss Delta

I thought Miss Delta was a fun place to go with all my friends and I am eager to come back to try other southern dishes since I felt that the fried chicken was mediocre. See ya later.

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