Photography | fabliss

Lemonade | Studio City, CA

i was so excited when they announced that a lemonade was opening up in studio city! it is one of my favorites!

concept: healthy cafeteria style.

keep in mind that lemonade is one of those places that has a handful of solid dishes that you just have to know to order… the other dishes that are way too healthy are not for everyone (like me. i’m just not a beet dish person). my go-to:

salads:

pineapple chicken, green beans, coconut, jalapeño, jerk dressing (my favorite)
cauliflower, golden raisins, almonds, curry
avocado, cherry tomato, pine nuts, lime
butternut squash, brussels sprouts, red flame grapes, almonds

braises:

meatball (only if i feel like i need something substantial)
jamaican jerk chicken

protein:

pineapple chicken

my normal order is two portions (two salads) ($6). if i am starving, then i get two salads and a braise ($13) or a protein.

jamacian jerk chicken (above). pineapple chicken (below).

ambience: casual. keep in mind this is cafeteria style. pointing out that there is always a line here at lunch/dinner. good thing it moves quickly.
parking: metered on ventura blvd. good luck.

Lemonade
12401 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604

By fabliss | March 31st, 2014 | Food, Photography, Restaurants | 0 Comments

Minami | Vancouver, BC

i have to say this upfront. minami was our best meal in vancouver… actually. it was one of the best…in our lives. yep. lives.

we stumbled on this restaurant after strolling around in yaletown on our last day in bc. (side note: there are so many awesome looking restaurants on mainland street. why didn’t we find this earlier?) also, when we looked up restaurants in vancouver, this one was not on our radar because there just wasn’t that many reviews of this place.

beautiful restaurant.

so minami is known for aburi, flame seared sushi. we have never had this type of sushi before! so they flame sear their sushi to enhance the flavor. …so delicious.

per the suggestion of our waiter, we ordered:

spicy kaisen soba peperoncino ($15) – prawns, squid, scallops, sweet pepper, shiitake mushroom, jalapeño, tempura bits, chili-garlic soy
premium aburi sushi lunch sampler ($27) – a selection of aburi, roll and oshi sushi (12 pieces)
aburi salmon oshi sushi ($15) – pressed BC wild salmon, jalapeño, miku sauce
aburi ebi oshi ($15) – pressed shrimp, lime zest, ume sauce

so the spicy noodles. freaking amazeballs. so delicious. i don’t even know what else to say.

we got the premium aburi lunch set (12 pieces) so that we could try a little bit of everything.

the salmon aburi is delicious. this is their popular one (this and the shrimp aburi. the premium set comes with two pieces of each). i would like to point out that it was extremely hard to only take half a bite of this in order to photograph. #selfcontrol

so the rest of the rolls were awesome but we have no idea what we were eating since it’s chef’s selection.

we loved the shrimp and salmon so much… we ordered more al a carte.

food: food here is a game changer. preparation is incredible and like nothing else you have ever had (umm…the fish just melts in your mouth). trust me. oh and presentation is beautiful. for us, it was very unexpected that we would fall in love with a sushi joint in vancouver, but we did. our favorites – shrimp aburi, salmon aburi and the spicy noodles. you must try all of these! fo sho.
service: everyone (especially our waiter) was helpful and attentive. after our meal, we went over to the sushi bar to thank the sushi chefs for an amazing meal. they were uber friendly… we would definitely sit at the sushi bar next time for a different experience.
ambience: beautiful restaurant. sleek. clean. oh, and a very pretty bar!
overall: we think about the aburi sushi at minami all the time. like i said, best we’ve ever had. best. it is on the pricey side but well worth it. we want to visit vancouver again just to eat this again. why can’t la have aburi sushi?!

Minami
1118 Mainland St
Vancouver, BC V6B 2T9 Canada
Neighborhood: Downtown, Yaletown

By fabliss | March 30th, 2014 | Canada, Food, Photography, Restaurants, Travel | 0 Comments

Costco Food Court | Vancouver, BC

after we tried fritz’s, we wanted to find more poutine!! when we did a search, one of the more surprising results was costco! everyone raved that the poutine at costco was very comparable to fritz, at a slightly lower price (CAD $5) … but a lot bigger!

…they were right!

we trekked quite a long way to try these babies out (in the rain). we loved it! i know what you’re thinking… it’s costco. yep, that is what we thought too! it’s pretty darn good here. and given the price and size, we consider this a winner.

Costco Food Court

605 Expo Blvd

Vancouver, BC V6B 1V4

Canada

Neighborhood: Gastown

By fabliss | March 22nd, 2014 | Canada, Food, Photography, Restaurants, Travel | 0 Comments

Peaceful Restaurant | Vancouver, BC

we absolutely had to go to the peaceful restaurant in vancouver after (i) it was featured on triple d and (ii) after my co-worker highly recommended this place to us. they are known for: hand pulled noodles.

sidenote: this place is a little bit away from downtown so thank goodness chelsey had a car!

here is what we ordered:

pan-fried pork dumplings ($8)
dan-dan noodles (spicy, tangy peanut sauce, minced pork & spinach) ($8)
peaceful house stir-fried noodles (served with seafood, pork, vegetables & chilli garlic sauce) ($13)

dumplings were a great app. hot, crispy with a yummy dipping sauce (soy sauce based?).

based on the a recommendation from our waitress, we got the dan-dan noodles. i mean, this dish is classified under “sauce noodles” how do i not love it?! so the noodles… are AWESOME. we get why people rave about the noodles. they were so good! perfectly cooked and smothered in a peanut sauce… so if you aren’t a peanut fan, then don’t get this.

the peaceful house noodles were also great! great flavor. noodles are wet (since they were sitting in a ton of sauce…my favorite kinda noodles). this was a winner. i would definitely order this again.

food: a lot of people are turned off by the fact this is a tourist spot since it was featured on triple d and a lot of reviewers point out that some dishes are good but a lot of them are mediocre. i get it and can definitely see that. …good thing all of our dishes were great! we are fans. no regrets. i will say to those who are contemplating coming here… this is a hole in the wall with great noodles. don’t come here having the expectation that this will be the best meal you will ever eat. just come in for some fresh, delicious noodles.
service: efficient
ambience: not fancy (standard chinese restaurant) but clean and well lit.
overall: this will hit the spot on a cold day. a tip – you will go into an immediate food coma after your meal. plan accordingly. oh, and cash only.

Peaceful Restaurant
532 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1E9
Canada

Neighborhood: Fairview

By fabliss | March 2nd, 2014 | Canada, Food, Photography, Restaurants, Travel | 1 Comment

Fritz European Fry House | Vancouver, BC

we’ve had la’s version of poutine (from animal) and we loved it. but we were excited to try the real thing in canada! when we searched for poutine, fritz was one of the more popular places who specialized in french fries smothered with gravy. …i mean just look at their menu.

we just went with a standard poutine (large)… no toppings and no special dips (even though i wanted to try them all).

i always thought “poutine” fries were just gravy fries and didn’t realize that cheese curds were an essential part of this canadian dish!

food: freaking delicious!!! fries came out hot, gravy was even hotter. despite the heat, our little cheese curds didn’t really melt (mind blown). gravy tasted great and was my favorite part. oh, and the fries were crispy. delicious.
atmosphere: very small. there is only one little table/bench inside. we just took our order to go.
service: there is one lady (assuming that it is the owner) who takes the orders and makes your food. we were glad there were only 3 people up in there. expect to wait a little bit for your food (hope you aren’t starving). we heard this places gets packs during peak times.
overall: great fries. we read that portions are on the small side. we thought a large was the perfect size for us and CAD $8 didn’t seem that expensive since it was our meal… but we were tourists. what do we know?

Fritz European Fry House
718 Davie St
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1B6
Canada

Neighborhood: Downtown, Granville Entertainment District