One of the reasons I accepted Van Houtte’s invite to fly a Foodist to Montreal last month was so that I can see, first-hand, what the bagel fuss is all about. I came home armed with 2 dozen samples from St-Viateur, whose bagels are rumoured to be quintessentially Montrealesque.

Not convinced, I called Foodsters to pick up contenders at a couple of bagel shops for a good ol’ fashioned Bagel Smackdown.

We then served the remainder to our Foodists guests when we invited them chez nous for a Montreal-themed potluck. The results? Our local bagel purveyors stood up quite well to the benchmark from Montreal, to the point where our guests couldn’t identify the supposedly superlative ones from St-Viateur.

Here’s where to start if you’re looking for Montreal-style bagels in town.

Solly’s: eat ‘em au naturel

Look at the photo above and decide which you’d pick up first. We thought that the bagel in the upper-right corner satisfied the hunger in our eyes best, and our readers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagr.am heartily agreed. The cake-like interior was moist and springy; this translated to the most enjoyable chew before bagel met toaster. If you like to eat your bagel fresh from the shop and without dressings, head on over to Solly’s.

Siegel’s: lover of cream cheese

Siegel’s was our top pick for a toasty treat. The bagels were a little too bland and yeasty to eat straight out of the bag, but get them crispy and slathered with cream cheese and they couldn’t be beat. The smoked salmon cream cheese that you can grab at the shop was pretty memorable, too.

PHAT Deli: smoked meat and benny bagel delights

PHAT Deli wasn’t part of Bagel Smackdown but it gets honorary mention here. It’s the first place I wrote about when Tiny Bites began nearly 4 years ago, and it’s the first place that made me fall in love with the bagel. I’m still drawn in every now and then for an Everything bagel with freshly made dill cream cheese.

It’s is also the first place that comes to mind when I’m in the mood for a bagel-style Eggs Benedict. My favourite style of benny at PHAT is chock full of tomato and avocado. The replacement of bagel for biscuit makes this dish a lot more filling than usual, so split it with a friend if you’re a small eater like me.

Where do you go for a bagel fix?

From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).

The Chinese way of making meat-filled pastries are so assorted and delicious that I’ve decided to put my Top Three variations under the same umbrella of craving. Here we go!

New Town Bakery: the king of steamed buns

You can find  steamed buns in nearly every dim sum restaurant in this city. Those tiny, snow-white puffs of sweet, steamed bread hugging a rich core of stewed BBQ pork appeal to many a dim sum enthusiast…but not me. I much prefer what Chinatown’s New Town Bakery has been hawking for years: steamed buns of various meat and vegetable incarnations, as massive as the size of  your fist.

New Town Bakery is a Filipino’s steamed bun mecca, so I’ve been a patron since I was a kid. My latest favourite is the $1.70 chicken steamed bun. Unlike the best-selling $1.50 pork asado, which I loved as a kid and whose centre oozes with meat glaze much like its dim sum counterpart, the chicken bun is filled simply with chicken, fine and minimally spiced, allowing the airy sweetness of its freshly steamed bun to be on equal footing in your mouth.

I popped into New Town this week with my daughter and Tiny Bites contributor, Bruce. They’ve recently moved to a new location–2 doors west of their old digs–and are slashing 10% off their entire menu from now until December 18th. Come in and grab lunch for as little as $3, order a dozen to go, or save even more by choosing bags of frozen buns by the half-dozen for your leisurely enjoyment at home.

Peaceful Restaurant: for pan-fried pork bun lovers

Photo courtesy © Melody of Gourmet Fury

When I’m not in a steamy mood, I stop by Peaceful Restaurant for their Huang Jing pan-fried buns. Pan frying the bun adds a layer of colour and crisp that contrasts wonderfully with the chew of its wrapper and the delicacy of its pork and scallion filling. You can also ask for steamed pork buns–the salted pork interior is similarly mild and I find that it’s a hit with the kids…especially mine.

I once had to commute outside of downtown to satisfy my pan-fried bun cravings at their Broadway and Cambie location, but the opening of their second restaurant on Davie and Seymour has turned the occasional foray into nearly weekly visits. Sadly, there is no Peaceful Restaurant within walking distance when we move to Marpole next month, so I will rely on Foodsters to get their fare to my doorstep.

Lin’s: the best xiao long bao in the world?

If neither of the bun varieties above are floating your boat, then surely xiao long bao will. They can be found at Peaceful Restaurant and most Shanghainese eateries too, but I believe that they’re best experienced in Vancouver at Lin’s Chinese Cuisine and Tea House. There, you’ll find that the sheer flour wrapper, hot bursts of pork stock, and ethereal dumpling meat will intersect in mouthfuls of bliss.

And according to some–*cough* Condé Nast *cough*–Lin’s might just be serving the best xiao long bao on Earth.

What kind of bun are you craving today, and how are you getting it to your door?

From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).

The Hamilton household loves its meat, particularly in the form of pulled pork or brisket slathered in BBQ sauce. And this is why we love Memphis Blues.

Any of the Feasts offered by Memphis Blues makes for great game day fare. The Memphis Feast–the smallest of the options but by no means meagre–contains enough pulled pork, brisket, beef ribs, riblets, sausage, and BBQ chicken to feed four or a very hungry duo. Comes with all the fixins’, too: fries, cornbread, coleslaw, baked BBQ beans, and a cupful of BBQ sauce for dunking. If you didn’t stock up on booze ahead of time, add on the Bucket O’Beer for $9.95.

Memphis Blues does their own delivery out of the Commercial Drive, South Surrey, Hillcrest Village, and Kelowna locations, between 5-9pm at $2 a pop with a $20-25 order minimum. Outside of those time zones and locations or below that budget, ask Foodsters to help out. They may even grab you the Bucket O’Beer as long as you can produce your ID at the door.

From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).

by iwona_kellie

From Congee Noodle House, of course.

Every time I’ve gotten sick this year–which has been pretty often since flu season kicked in–my poor husband drives over to Broadway and Main for the only food I eat when my throat burns and my lungs ache.

It’s quite the ordeal. First, he has to stop by at the bank to ready himself for the cash-only counter, then wait 10-20 minutes for the order, then return home to an ailing and grumpy wife who was trying desperately to stay awake to prevent their exuberant toddler from trashing the place.

It’ll be much easier to get Foodsters to deliver it.

From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).

The restaurant sits across the street from the new London Drugs and 50 paces from the sparkly Whole Foods along the Cambie corridor. Also nearby are a camp of similar noodle shops such as Sha Lin and Lucky Noodle. Why these restaurants decided to operate under such stiff competition is beyond me, but Peaceful Restaurant scores a point in my book for most engaging storefront.

Despite the array of items that peddled housemade noodles of every variety, our eyes were drawn to their selection of dumplings. We opted for the Mandarin pork dumplings pictured above – 10 pcs for $6.95.

We also couldn’t resist the Schezuan hot chilli wontons for $5.95. Its nomenclature leant towards redundancy, but it was a fitting name and our favourite of the meal.

Rather than the usual order of cutting noodles with beef or pork, we selected a stew-like dish called Xin-Jiang noodles: chicken, potato, star-anise reduction, and 3 types of hot pepper with a bed of hand-pulled noodles. The neighbours to my left were riveted by the arrival of this bowl as it sizzled and crackled and wafted rich spice in their direction. It was enough diversion for them to tell us that they’ll order the Xin-Jiang noodles on their next visit.

What’s on the menu for our next visit to Peaceful Restaurant? Another bowl of those fabulous chili wontons and further exploration of their affordable dumplings and noodle soups.

Peaceful Restaurant
532 W Broadway | Vancouver
(604) 879-9878
www.peacefulrestaurant.com 

Update — Buzz Bishop and I discussed Super Bowl food options on Virgin Radio 95.3 this evening.  Below is a clip of our chat, where Buzz suggests selecting beer according to team colours.  Great idea!

Tiny Bites talks about Super Bowl XLIII eats on Virgin Radio (95.3 FM)

Do you go gaga over the NFL? If so, you’re either hosting a Super Bowl party this Sunday or going to one. This year, we’re finally doing the former (even though Kurt’s Broncos and my beloved Patriots are not in the running…boo hoo).

You shouldn’t be surprised that we won’t be ordering pizza. Instead, we’ve scrounged the interweb for munchies that will represent the cuisine of Pittsburgh and Arizona without getting too gourmet on our  football-crazy friends.

Below is our shortlist of dishes from which we’ll choose from.

Go Steelers! Pro-Pittsburgh eats

• BBQ Chipped Chop Ham Sandwiches (Accidental Hedonist)
• The Ben Roethlis-Burger, with bacon weave upgrade (BBQ Addicts)

Go Cardinals! Pro- Arizona eats

• Sliders with Chipotle Mayonnaise (Food Network – Bobby Flay)
• Soft Pretzels with Queso Poblano Sauce or Mustard Sauce (Food Network – Bobby Flay)

[What can I say? We like us some Bobby Flay.]

Other football-friendly eats

• Memphis Blues Super Bowl Party Pak - Don’t have a grill or the time? Feed 8 people with a slew of barbecued meats, chili and wings from our favourite BBQ house. Order ahead for this $89.95 take-out special.
• Our rendition of Spicy Oven-Baked Chicken Wings (adapted from Fearless in the Kitchen: Innovative Recipes for the Uninhibited Cook by Christine Cushing)

Partisan beer choices

If you’re a guest to our or others’ Super Bowl parties this year, consider bringing beer representative of the team you’re cheering for.  Iron City seems to be the popular choice for Pittsburgh brew while Arizona-founded Chili Beer looks mighty intriguing. See if you can find them in Vancouver – I’ve been having a tough time with this search myself.

• Beers of Pittsburgh (Beer Expedition)
• Pennsylvania breweries (Wikipedia)
• Arizona breweries by city – check out Glendale or Phoenix first (Beer Expedition)
• A guide to Arizona breweries (United Nations of Beer)

Brew connoisseur Rick Green of BC Brews chimed in with a pseudo-Arizona pick from Victoria-based Phillips Brewing Company. Look for their Phoenix Gold Lager at a BC Liquor Store near you.

Enjoy the game around town

If the bar scene is more your style, check out what some of  Vancouver’s pubs and restaurants are offering for sustenance on February 1, 2009.  Know of others showing the game in the city? Drop me a comment here.

• Library Square Public House – my husband’s fave after-work hangout. Stadium-style menu, $16.10 buckets of Budweiser, $3.90 sleeves of Granville Island brew, and a roast pig! Come in after 3pm.
• Kingston Taphouse – 11am marks the start of Kingston’s Super Bowl specials .  Drop in to enjoy the game, door prizes, and even a comedy act, or buy a $20 ticket to assure you a seat, a Prime Rib Burger and some Granville Island Beer.
• Memphis Blues’ Super Bowl All-You-Can-Eat Party – The fun gets going at noon. $10 pitchers. Another $20 gets you unlimited pulled pork, chicken, catfish, rib ends, coleslaw, potato salad, BBQ pit beans, and Memphis Blues’ signature BBQ sauce. (Commercial and North Van locations only)

Other Super Bowl XLIII resources

These additional sites may help you with the planning of this year’s Super Bowl shenanigans:

• Planning a Steelers Super Bowl Party (About.com Pittsburgh)
• Pittsburgh vs. Arizona Super Bowl Food-Off (Endless Simmer)
• Super Bowl Challenge: My Local Beer Quest (the Epi-Log on Epicurious.com)

What will you eat and drink on Super Bowl Sunday? Send me your tips and/or your favourite Super Bowl recipes.

I’ve had my signed copy of the Memphis Blues cookbook for quite some time, but it was only this week that we cracked it open to take a shot at their super-fantastic way of making cornbread.

It turned out alright for my first try, and my guinea pigs at work seemed to like it well enough. I’d do a couple of things differently next time:

• Use a larger baking pan: the recipe called for an 8×8 square pan, which I used, but we had enough batter to fit it comfortably in a 9×12 pan.
• Reduce the amount of creamed corn: the liquid from the can is most likely the reason that our cornbread carried a lot of moisture.
• Add a hint more sweetness: even with the creamed corn, the final result didn’t come close to the amount of sweet that I taste in Memphis Blues’ restaurant offering. Perhaps I’ll supplement it with brown sugar or honey next time. Any suggestions as to which kind of sweetening agent I should use?

My acquaintance of Congee Noodle House was limited to sick days, when all I can stomach is a steaming bowl of congee. Turns out that this place is also a regular late-night pick for the SalsaVancouver.net crew.

There were a variety of vegan-friendly options, such as their fried tofu (my favourite of what we ate) and the garlic gai lan. The quality of the food is good for the price and is a far healthier choice than the late-night, post-clubbing dive of a Chinese restaurant on the corner of Granville & Davie.

A Memphis Blues smoked prime rib sandwich! $9.95 for a mound of marbled heaven, slathered with BBQ sauce, Carolina mustard and served with thin-cut fries. Just look at all that marbled goodness.

This sandwich is a rare treat for lovers of this Vancouver barbeque mecca. I asked co-founder Park Heffelfinger how often this sandwich is available; to my chagrin, I heard “only once or twice a year” and “for special occasions like Father’s Day” in his reply. So it must have been kismet that I dropped into Memphis Blues this day of all days.

I’ll be dropping by with my dad next month for Father’s Day on the slim chance that we’ll see the chalkboard announcing the return of the smoked prime rib sandwich. And if my dad doesn’t order it, well, dang it, that just means more for me!

Want more Memphis Blues?

Check out the restaurant profile that I’m slowly building out as well as the photos below, which contain snaps of the Memphis Blues cookbook launch at Liberty Wine Merchants over at Park & Tilford. I’m going to try my hand at the cornbread recipe some time this week.