A Lucky Lunch in Chinatown

There are worse things than being stuck in Ottawa when it's Chinese New Year's. If you're at the Ben Ben for it, you'll probably enjoy the spring rolls, and you may score a lucky envelope with a candy from your member of parliament in a purple jacket.

Manon loves a parade and she loves New Year's

That dragon can really demolish a cabbage!

Restaurant Ordering Tip: Use the # sign

Here's a fairly typical order for Manon and me at the Pho 99. A number 37, vermicelli with grilled chicken and spring roll, for me ("like always," as one of the waiters used to say); A number 41, vermicelli with grilled beef and spring roll, for Manon (because she feels like having beef today and doesn't feel like having soup); and a number 54, coffee with condensed milk for both of us.

But do you see what I did? I put a # sign in front of the 54. Because I don't want them to get mixed up and bring us 54 orders of number 2, that would be 108 rolls with shredded pork and salad because there are two per order.

I'm thoughtful that way.

Avocado Shakes and Northern Style at Ju Xian Yuan

The first part of this posting is for everybody. Because Asian restaurants in Ottawa have actual Asian customers, they have begun serving beverages that are popular in Asia. One of these beverages is the avocado shake. If you are familiar with avocado as the main ingredient in guacamole this will seem absurd to you.

Listen up: My trust rating on Technorati may only be 14, but I do not give bad advice about food and restaurants. Avocado with ice cream is delicious. Avocado shakes are delicious. Order one when you have the chance unless you are lactose intolerant or have some problem with sugar.

[The rest of this post is about one of the restaurants in Ottawa where you can get an avocado shake. Out-of-towners may simply read the post below about dancing at Blue Skies, or move on. I suggest you try one of the links in "Dave's recommendations on other sites" over on the sidebar.]

We love that Northern Style!

Manon and I had our first date at Man's Restaurant. It had big portions of delicious food at low prices. Our kind of place. So we were disappointed when it closed and reopened as Ju Xian Yuan. But not so disappointed that we couldn't try the new place.

And tonight was the night.

Wow, it was good!

The first few pages of the menu offered "Northern Style Cuisine" I've never had anything described as Northern style before, so I ordered us three things from those pages.

First was the Northern Charcoal Style BBQ Skewered Lamb (5 skewers: $6). I have not had kebabs this good since I was in Ghana. Tender and spicy. Manon said something about cardamom. I'm not good at distinguishing spices so I don't know, but these were awesome.

The next dish out was the Northern Style Egg Plant with Chef Sauce. Also fantastic. ($8.95). [If you've got an anti-eggplant thing, you really should try to get over it. Think of it as one of those things you do to build neural pathways and stave of Alzheimer's. Don't tell me you can't do this. There was a time you didn't like the taste of beer.]

Then the Spicy Chicken ($9.95). Absolutely perfect.

We finished everything except a few mouthfuls of steamed rice and the chili peppers in the Spicy Chicken.

I'm looking forward to next time. There are a lot of dishes I have to try.

Ju Xiang Yuan Asian Cuisine 641 Somerset Street West Ottawa , ON , K1R 5K3 613-321-3669 [Hours]

Moo Moo's Ice Cream in St. John's, NF

Moo Moo's Interior; photo: M. Blouin

If you are in St. John's in the summer time. You will almost certainly go for ice cream at Moo Moo's. They have an excellent selection of flavours to please all tastes.

Abigail and Jessica enjoying their selection; photo: M. Blouin

I understand that when available "Moon Mist" is not a flavour that pleases all tastes. For example, while my young friend Jessica enjoys it, her mother has a long list of unpleasant things she would rather do than eat Moon Mist ice cream.

If you are particularly gluttonous, you may decide after eating your ice cream cone to have a second cone, but to make it a soft cone.

Dave making a mistake so you won't have to; photo: M. Blouin

Based on my one experience, I would advise against this. If you must have more, stick with the "hard" ice cream. Unless you enjoy something that resembles frozen milk more than the soft ice cream you are used to.

Moo Moo's Ice Cream Inc Address : 88 Kings Road, A1C6L7, St. John's, NL Telephone : 709-753-0999

Dramatic News at the Pho 99

A surprising thing happened at the Pho 99 last week. Instead of asking "same thing?" my server gave me a menu.

I gave her a surprised look.

"New menu," she said.

It had to happen. Winter turns to spring, students graduate from school, plants grow and die and restaurants update their menus.

Here is the important news:

1. The #37 is still the #37. (As is the #35, Kathy A was happy to discover.)
2. Hot coffee with sweetened condensed milk is now #54. (If you write down #52 you will not get condensed milk).
3. Yes, the prices went up, but it's still extremely good value.

[Previously: #37 at the Pho 99]

#37 at the Pho 99

Pho 99 120 Lebreton Street N Ottawa, ON 232-7280

My favourite Vietnamese food is at the Pho 99. I go there two or three times a week and almost always order the #37. [Vermicelli with grilled chicken, imperial roll and salad]. About twice a year, I order the #39 [grilled pork instead of chicken]. Once every couple of years I get a cold and then I'll actually order pho (which is soup).

They used to have a waiter who seemed offended that I only ever ordered the #37. "Same thing," he'd say in a disdainful voice. You might think I was projecting my insecurity, but several times he asked, "why not try something else?" and another time he brought me a #38 (beef) "by mistake". But he eventually seemed to accept that it wasn't just that I'm a narrow-minded non-Vietnamese person, but actually just someone who really, really likes the #37. I think he graduated university because he's not there any more.

The curent staff seems very comfortable with my predictability. I do occasionally change things up by also ordering a #52 - Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. Exceptionally delicious. [If you order it, do not, I repeat, do not order a second cup. It will wreck the rest of your day and may put you into tachycardia. The waiters will warn you if you forget my warning, but they can be fooled into thinking you know what you're doing. You don't.]

Here are some reasons that the Pho 99 is the best:

1. They have chicken as a vermicelli option. Most of the other restaurants don't.
2. They give you more meat and more vegetables than the other places do.
3. The imperial roll (which is pretty much a spring roll when served with the vermicelli dishes, and oddly is one of those soft, translucent rice paper rolls with the shrimp when ordered as #1 on the appetizer list) is particularly tasty.
4. They have excellent hot sauce in jars with little spoons on the tables. (They also have another kind of hot sauce that you might mistake for ketchup because it's in a red squeeze bottle, I find it too sweet.)
5. They don't have the roll-up dishes (if I want to make my own meal, I eat at home).
6. It is less than two blocks from my house.

When my #37 arrives:

1. I cut the the imperial roll with my spoon, then dip the pieces in the vinegary sauce (which should not be confused with the free tea the restaurant provides).
2. I apply a generous quantity of hot sauce,
3. pour the vinegary sauce over everything,
4. mix everything together, and
5. eat it all up.
6. If necessary, I use the spoon to finish up the last little bits.

Wow, it's good.