Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar - Happy Hour

Happy Hour 3:30-5:30pm Daily

Buck-a-shuck Oyster, shallot mignonette, fresh horseradish $1 4/5 - They were really fresh!  I could have order another dozen.

Stuffed Olives, anchovies, ricotta, spiced citrus aioli $6 2/5 - They were really bad.  Up to a point where we wanted to send them back.  The olives were too thick and that was all what we could taste.  There were too little anchovies and ricotta.  We could taste it only when we had them separately.  We were expecting stringy cheese but nothing.  It would be much better if they were ricotta balls instead.  The aoili was tangy lemon but could not really tell if there was any spices.

Crispy Chicken Wings, fish sauce caramel, sambal chili, pickled vegetables $10 4/5 - Those were surprisingly good.  The caramelized deep fried wings had a crunchy batter with juicy meat inside.  I don't really any taste of chill.  $10 for 4 pieces of wings was a little too steep.


Korean Galbi Dog, american wagyu beef, pickled vegetables, chili paste, brioche bun $10 2.5/5 - It was a little disappointed.  The beef was mushy with not much flavour.  It might because of having it after the chicken wings.  Luckily, there was some chill paste was on the side.  The brioche bun was fresh but a little too dense for me.

Service 2.5/5 - The hostess was not very nice when she found out we were here for happy hour instead of dinner.  Our server and the busboy were nice enough to take our orders right away just to make it in time for happy hour.  Overall, I would go back for oysters and wings!

Lupo Restaurant & Vinoteca

Mixed Artisian Bread $6 3/5 - nothing memorable.  I think they were 3 types of bread: plain, olives, and focaccia.  Only olive oil was provided (no vinaigrette nor butter).

Octopus carpaccio, pimento, limoncello 2.5/5 - paper thin octopus.  I could only taste the olive oil but not the lemon liquor.

Vitello tonnato 2/5 - Our server recommended this.  It was tender but it wasn't great.  The tuna sauce was not fishy at all.

Taglierini wild mushroom 4/5 - best dish of the night.  Flavourful with truffle oil.  Generous amount of mushrooms.  It was more like a sautéed pasta instead of a saucy one.

Lobster Ravioli 3.5/5 - The dough was thicker than what I could like.  Decent amount of filling but not too flavourful.  I think they were more crab than lobster.

Penna bolognese 2/5 - I could barely find any meat.  It was also too salty.  We had less than 1/3 of it.  Our server Michael was smart enough to notice that and took it of our bill.

Veal porterhouse steak, wild mushroom 3.75/5 - we ordered 2 of them but there was a lack of consistence.  One was medium rare and the other was medium.  The sides were a little too salty.

Sabelfish, grappa and orange marinade 4/5 - My second favourite.  The sabelfish and spinach were a little too salty.  I think it was because they marinated it for too long.  The fish was fresh, juicy and cooked perfectly.

Housemade gelato (pistachio, chocolate) 3.5/5 - both flavours were not as strong as I expected.  I could barely tasted the pistachio.  There was no pieces of pistachio.  I would have guessed tiramisu instead of chocolate.  It might be the cocoa powder.

Chocolate fondant, blood orange gelato 3.5/5 - I was expecting chocolate molten cake but there was no liquid.  The chocolate was too rich and too cold for the liquid chocolate.  The gelato tasted citrus but I couldn't tell it was blood orange.  It was also the most melted one.

Grand marnier, mixed berry cheesecake 3/5 - could not taste any liquor.  The cheesecake just like the only I could find at Safeway.

Housemade sorbetto 3/5 - coconut and I couldn't remember what was the other one.  The coconut didn't stand out as much as the gelato.

Service (hostess 2/5, server Michael 3.5/5) - We were there on New Year's Eve.  We received a phone call 2 days before telling us they will only serve 3 or 4 course dinner ($75 and $95 respectively).  It was kinda late to find another reservation so we decided to keep it.  At the same time, we asked if we could add 2 extra seats (making it from 4 people to 6) but the lady on the phone said no.  We asked if we could put our names on the waiting list but she said we had to call back on the day of the dinner.  We tried the day before and no luck.  She asked if we wanted to cancel our reservation instead.  3 pm on New Years New Years Eve, I called back and the hostess said they had no problem giving us a reservation for  (before I explained that I wanted 2 extra spots instead).  She said we had to be at separate tables so I said no.  They were at least 2 empty tables around us.  There was a round table for 6 right behind us.  On our way out, Michael told us that they had some last minute reservation.

Michael was really nice and attentive.  He made sure our glasses were filled and checked on our food a few times.  He also didn't charge my Bolognese after I told him it was salty.  He asked if we wanted to pack our leftovers and offered some panna cotta cake?  I think that was what he said.

Overall, everything was alright expect the hostess (or the lady on the phone).  I had high expectation for this place but nothing really told out.  I don't mind going back but nothing was significantly good that I had to go back.



Countdown at Riverrock

Morocco West

Zaalouk (Eggplant spread with house-made bread) $7 3/5 - very salty.  You will need more bread for this (+$2).

Bouillabaisse (Seafood medley with house-made rouille) $13 4.5/5 - very creamy.  I w

Moroccan-braised chickpeas (slow-braised with raw-el-hanout) $5 3/5 - nothing special.  Chickpeas in tomato sauce.

Merguez Sausage Samosa (Moroccan-style with smoked tomato chutney) $11 4.5/5 - very good and tender.  Matched with the tomato chutney sauce.   My only complaint was too little meat.

Chicken Bastilla with Moroccan raisin demo-glaze $12 4/5 - chicken baklava with cinnamon and icing.

Chicken Bastilla with Moroccan raison demi-glaze $12 4/5 - chicken baklava with cinnamon and icing sugar.

Duck a l'Orange with red wine braised cabbage $15 4/5 - tender, not gamey at all.  The orange jus soaked right into the duck breast.  Red cable was good.  Not salty at all like the other red cabbage.

Chicken Kebab, saffron rice, sweet pepper coulis $11 2.5/5 - Juicy but nothing special.  I could taste the saffron in the rice.

Seafood Sampler $16
Emrozia Cod with chermoula lava beans 4/5 - I like the texture of the cod.  It was not overcooked and mushy at all.
Chermoula Prawns with cilantro pesto butter 3.5/5 - All I could taste was sour because it was sitting on a slice of lemon.
Pipita-crusted Wild Salmon with basil tomato pilaff 3/5 - the salmon was a little overcooked.  Nothing memorable.  The spices were not very strong neither

Beef Kefta with parsley pesto and olive jus $10 4/5 - juicy and tender with Afghanistan spices.

Award-Winning Lab Couscous (Ras-el-hanout braised lamb, root vegetables, chickpeas, onion confit, raisins, Moroccan jus) $24 4/5 (very high for a lamb dish for me) - tender and not gamey at all.  Fluffy couscous.  The vegetables were a little undercooked.

Meat Sampler (Beef Kefta, Ribs, Quail) $15
Ribs 3/5 - tender but nothing remarkable
Quail 5/5 - reminds e of crispy chicken.  Not gamey at all!

Moroccan Salade a l'orange, orange blossom, rosewater, honey, cinnamon, mint $7 3.5/5 - Someone said it tasted like soap water but it was fine by me.  The orange blossom was stronger than the rosewater.

Honey Lavender Panna Cotta (wildflower honey, lavender, fresh fruit) $8 4.5/5 - Light but could not taste any lavender.

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie $9 3.5/5 - creamy, not overly sweet.  The chocolate covered most of the pumpkin flavour.

Cherry and Ricotta Strudel, Cointreau, fresh cherries, mixed berry coulis $9 3/5 - nothing memorable at all.  It is the most boring dessert of the night. 

Couscous Brûlée, Apricots, prunes, raisins, cinnamon, creme anglaise $8 3.5/5 - I had high expectations for this.  Couscous texture with a layer of brûlée.

Automatic 18% gratuity for 8+.  Food was a little slow but still acceptable for a big group.  Music was not ethnical.  One thing I really like about this place was that most of the meat were not gamey at all.

Twisted Fork Bistro

Too bad they don't sell their jams but not the pickles.  Some of the dishes they tried too hard to using the jams.

Marinated scallops served with caramelized onions, potato puree, local double smoked bacon and corn relish $12 4.5/5 - very well done.  Good quality and perfectly cooked scallops.  The creamy potato puree went better with this sauce than the lamb shank.  The in-house bacon was to die for.


Pound of mussels in cream sauce topped with fries $16.5 4/5 - The cream sauces was rich but not overly rich.  Went well with the complementary bread.  Don't leave the bread soaking too long or it would be too salty.  There were decent amount of mussels were tiny (thumbnail size).  I thought the fries were polenta fries (or a different texture than regular fries).

Chorizo and corn risotto topped with asiago cheese and fried jalapeños $11 4.5/5 - Perfect al dent risotto.  The sauce was a little oilier.  Comes with pickled corn.

Braised lamb shank with potato puree, French beans, pickled carrots, and lamb sauce $19 3.5/5 - Not a big lamb fan.  Very tender lamb shank.  The pickled carrots were very good.  Too bad they only sell jams but not pickles.

Caramel mousse with raspberry coulis, almond tuile, maple syrup ice-cream $8 4.75/5 - The mousse was lighter than regular mousse.  The maple syrup ice-cream was so special that none of us could recognize the taste until we checked the menu. I didn't like the raspberry coulis.  It was too rich and did not went well with the mousse.  It would be much better without it.

Ricotta cheesecake topped with a peach plum compote and fresh mint $8 3/5 - It was crumbly and not smooth at all.  The peach plum compote did not went well with the ricotta cheesecake.  We made our own chocolate cheesecake with the chocolate terrine.

Frozen dark chocolate with raspberry sorbet and almond tuile $8 3.5/5 - The chocolate terrine was super rich.  The raspberry sorbet helped the balance but not enough.

Portions were bigger than expected.  I thought they would be tapas size when I looked at the price.  At first they told us the wait was 30 minutes so we went across the street to check out the bakery.  The hostess said they could text us when our table was ready.