Katsu Burger

I mentioned in a previous post about the spectrum of fast food burger joints.  Let's change continents for a second, go to Japan and talk about MOS Burger.  When I lived in Japan, MOS Burger was my favorite fast food restaurant.  It was fast, fresh and always delicious.  Granted, the name MOS didn't lend itself well to selling an image of a tasty burger.  But when talking to a Japanese friend about my love for MOS Burger, she asked me if I knew what "MOS" stood for. I did not know and had no clue that there was meaning behind the name.  

Go to the MOS Burger website, it describes the origins of the MOS Burger name:  The "M" in MOS stands for Mountain, O stands for Ocean and S stands for Sun.  "MOS" - Mountain, Ocean and Sun.  However, my friend mentioned two other things about MOS Burger that left an impression on me and on why I like them so much:

1. MOS is a contraction for "Most Delicious Burger".  Delicious?  Oh hell yeah.  
2. MOS tastes so good is because of the sauce.  The sauce? you ask.  Let me explain.

In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Force as an energy field that surrounds us and binds us together.  The Sauce in a MOS Burger, like the Force, surrounds the burger will flavor and binds all of the ingredients together into a well rounded and tasty package.  

Spicy MOS Cheeseburger (image courtesy of MOS Food Services, Inc.)

Look at the Spicy MOS Cheeseburger as an example:  bun, tomato, meat sauce, jalapenos, onions, cheese, meat, mayo, mustard and bun.  When you bite into a Spicy MOS Cheeseburger, the first taste that hits you is the meat sauce, followed by the rest of the burger. It doesn't overpower the burger but just makes it all the more flavorful. There's a huge dollop of it in the burger and adds so much.  It is an elegant burger, for a more civilized customer.  Yes, I'm using Star Wars to make a point about a burger. Deal with it.

"an eclectic combination of Japanese comfort food mixed in with some Hawaiian swagger and American burger goodness"

I mention this because my experience at Katsu Burger was very similar: of all of the ingredients that make up a Katsu Burger, it's really the sauce that left an impression on me that elevates the burger from fast food staple to fully realized gourmet burger.  Is it better than Lunchbox Laboratory?  Is it a MOS Burger replacement?  Let's find out:

Katsu Burger.  Hard to find, harder to forget.

Step up to the counter to order.  Simple, straightforward menu. And ... ohhh! Pocky!

Located in South Seattle, in the Georgetown District, Katsu Burger is located in a remote part of town that's somewhat difficult to find.  But once you find it, you'll pretty much know where to go and where to turn.  It's a small restaurant, with seating for about 20 people and when I arrived, it was about half full.  The menu is an eclectic combination of Japanese comfort food mixed in with some Hawaiian swagger and American burger goodness. While there was a good selection of burgers to choose from (from the Tokyo Classic (deep fried beef patty with Japanese mayo and tonkatsu sauce) to the Teriyaki Chicken (deep fried chicken with pineapple, Japanese mayo and teriyaki sauce), I decided to get the following:

• Samurai Select (beef patty breaded in panko (Japanese bread crumbs) deep fried, with bacon, pineapple, wasabi mayo and tonkatsu sauce)
• an order of nori french fries (fries seasoned with aonori(bits of green seaweed)) with wasabi dipping sauce
• cole slaw mixed with wasabi. 

Samurai Select with Nori French Fries w/ wasabi dipping sauce.  And wasabi cole slaw.

It took about 8 minutes for my order to arrive but when it did, I was overwhelmed.  First off, all of the burgers are huge.  My Samurai Select was stacked high with cabbage, onions, sauce, the aforementioned breaded and deep fried beef patty with pineapple and bacon; it had all of the makings of a gourmet burger that rivals the gourmet goodness found at Lunchbox Laboratory.

I think I'm going to cry ... beef patty, breaded in panko and deep fried. Topped with cabbage and tonkatsu sauce

I was trying to get my hands around the burger but gave up.  It was just too big so I used a knife and fork.  You can tell how juicy the burger was by just cutting into the deep fried beef patty. And then I took a bite. The beef patty was tender, juicy and flavorful.  The cabbage, pineapple and bacon added a nice spin to the typical burger taste.  But, similar to my experience in biting into a MOS Burger, it was the tonkatsu sauce that blended all of these uniquely different tastes together. It was like biting into everything that you love about Japanese food while biting into everything great about a local greasy spoon, all-American restaurant, all at the same time.  I unfortunately didn't taste much of the wasabi mayo, which was a bit of a disappointment but the combination of tonkatsu sauce with the burger and condiments made it a great burger tasting experience.  I wouldn't say it was better than Lunchbox Laboratory but good enough to stand on its own as something different but still delicious.  I can go to either restaurant and be happy.

Nori french fries with wasabi dipping sauce.  They also had other dipping sauces, including curry mayo, miso honey mustard and spicy mayo.  Need to come back and try the other flavors

The fries were served hot out of the fryer with little flecks of green seaweed that added a nice sea-salty taste to the crispy shoestring cut fries. The kicker here is the wasabi dipping sauce. Just like the tonkatsu sauce elevating the Samurai Select burger into new level of burger goodness, the dipping sauces add just enough jazz to the already jazzed french fries to add a new spin to a familiar taste:  mayonnaise mixed with the right amount of wasabi to give it the sweet, spicy taste you will definitely love.  

Wasabi Cole Slaw.  Mix well before eating.

Before digging into the cole slaw, our server told me to mix up the cole slaw since the wasabi mix tended to settle at the bottom of the cole slaw.  Glad she told me about it since there was a lot of wasabi kick to the creamy cole slaw taste.

Two great tastes that go great together. Note the pineapple and bacon in the burger.  Ok, I'm hungry.

Katsu Burger is simply great.  While the restaurant itself may lack the shine and polish of Lunchbox Laboratory (it looks more like a teriyaki place), don't make the mistake in thinking the restaurant setting reflects the quality of the food.  Hardly.  Using the sauce to bind all of the different flavors together, Katsu Burger is a fine dining experience and highly recommended. MOS Burger will still have a special place in my heart for Japanese fast comfort food but if I'm not in Japan, Katsu Burger is the next best thing.  Come for the burgers, stay for the sauce.

Katsu Burger

6538 4th Ave. S (at E. Marginal Way S)

Seattle, WA 98108

206-762-0752

http://katsuburger.com

Novilhos - Brazilian Steakhouse

I wasn't expecting my brother to make a second appearance in the Pacific Northwest but when he told me that he was coming up to Redmond for a conference, our first immediate thoughts were the same: when are we going to get together and where are we going to eat? Last time, up in Vancouver, we went to Hawksworth and filled up on steak. This time around, we decided to do something similar but different at the same time. How, you ask. Simple. Novilhos: Brazilian Steakhouse. It's steak (similar) but served buffet style (different). It's my brother and myself (similar) but with two of our close friends (different). How was the restaurant? Was it as spectacularly delicious as Hawksworth or different? Let's find out....

"If you're a meat lover, this place is for you."

Novilhos is located next to the Factoria Mall, in its own building so there's plenty of parking. The restaurant gives off a classy vibe. Walking into the darkened entry, it reminded me of walking into a night club.  We were greeted by the receptionist and once we mentioned our reservations, we were immediately seated.  We sat in the main dining room but I saw several rooms off to the side, most likely used for large parties. Our waiter quickly appeared and asked us if this was our first time at Novilhos. We said yes. He then kindly explained to us how things work:

1. you grab your salad/appetizers from the salad bar first.  Fill up on as much salad and appetizers you want but save room for meat.
2. on your table is a coin shaped red/green card that each guest has.  The red side is displayed when you're seated.
3. once you're ready for meat, you turn over your coin to green.  Green means meat.  Meat servers, who are often circling around the main dining area, will stop by and offer what they're serving.
4. while pigging out on all of the fabulous meat selections, you're welcome to back to the salad/appetizer bar as much as you want

Red side of the meat service coin.  With fried bananas.

Let's start with the salad and appetizers.  Along with leafy green lettuce and vegetables, you can choose from other various prepared salads, such as caesar, potato, pasta, and cole slaw. There are also a number of breads, hams, cheeses, eggs, rice and fruit selections. I stocked up on a little bit of everything.  Each table also gets a basket of warm cheese bread, mashed potatoes, and fried bananas. Very nice spread.

My friends and my brother decided that it was meat time and flipped their coins to green. Within a minute, a server appeared holding a giant skewer with a thick steak covered in mozzarella cheese.  The server carefully sliced off a piece and asked my brother to grab the slice. Each guest has their own set of tongs so using his tongs, my brother grabbed the generous slice of meat and put it on his plate. The server did the same thing with my friends.  I was still eating my salad.  Next came the rib eye, followed by pork loins, then chicken wings and sausage.  If you're a meat lover, this place is for you.  I decided to go for another round of salad.

My "salad".  That round thing on the left is a meatball.  Very delicious.

By the time I was almost done with my second helping of salad, my brother had a concerned look on his face and was wondering if 1) I was on a diet (of course not!) and 2) if I was feeling OK.  I told him I was pacing myself.  I finally flipped over my coin to green and started pigging out on everything that was being offered, including the bacon wrapped chicken (scrumptious), filet mignon (juicy), and sausage (pretty good).  By this time, my brother and my friends were starting to realize that they needed to slow down.  They were consuming too much meat too quickly.  They already went through two rounds of meat and they were already starting to feel the need to stop.  I kept on eating.  More chicken wings, spare ribs and rib eye please.

Protein! And carbs! The best of both worlds. Who needs vegetables?!?

But even my pacing didn't help me in the end.  By the end of the third round, all of us were on the ropes: too much meat consumed too quickly.  But the beauty of buffet is that you can take your time and enjoy the food or enjoy the conversation with your dinner guests so while resting (I was munching on more of the appetizers), we talked and had a really great time.

We finally decided that we had enough and dessert was presented to us.  Unfortunately, we didn't save enough room for dessert (auxiliary stomach, usually reserved for dessert, was used during the third round of meat eating) so we had to pass. I did take a picture:

Too stuffed to eat anything else.  That cheesecake looks good though.  I mean, look at it!  Next time!

Overall, a meat lover's paradise with nice salad/appetizer selection for all of your grazing needs.  It's $48 for the full meat and salad course but if you're in the mood for various types of meat and want it all you can eat, this is the place to be.  Just remember to pace yourself.

Novilhos - Brazilian Steakhouse

12405 SE 38th St

Bellevue, WA 98006

425-603-1111

http://www.novilhos.com/

Lunchbox Laboratory

Imagine that there are two categories for Burger Goodness.  You have Fast Food Joints, that are the standard bearers of fast food burgers, where they're made super quick and without much flash.

• McDonalds - baseline hamburger.  Consistently familiar.
• Carl's Jr. - good burgers, love the Western Bacon Cheeseburger
• Five Guys - not bad; lots of burger condiments to choose
• In and Out - the standard, most basic and most delicious burgers in the world

And then you have your Sit Down and Order Off A Nice Looking Menu Types of Restaurants that serve a supposedly better burger at a slightly higher price.  I had the chance to eat at the Lunchbox Laboratory this past weekend and this place definitely falls into the second category. 

"And the best thing about this? There is no way to mess it up."

Lunchbox Laboratory signage. Seattle Lab. It's autumn and I'm hungry!

There are three locations in the Puget Sound area:  Bellevue, Gig Harbor and Seattle.  I went to the Seattle one with my friend.  What's cool about Lunchbox Laboratory is not just their huge selection of burgers to choose from but the multitude of combinations in bringing together a custom ordered burger to your liking.  Just as the name implies, you get to play around with all of the ingredients (from meat choices to dipping sauces to the number of patties that you want for your burger) to come up with a masterfully delicious concotion. And the best thing about this? There is no way to mess it up.  

My friend ordered the Upstate New Yorker with three patties; it looked like a heart attack just waiting to happen. With Super Beef (which is Lunchbox's American Style Kobe Beef), Monterey Jack Cheese, Onions, Super Gorgonzola Spread and Buffalo Ketchup, it had all of the makings of an edible Empire State Building.  It looked quite decadent, New York style.

Upstate New Yorker Burger.  Yes, that's three patties.  The little cup behind the salad is a cup of jalepeno mayo for the fries

I had the Tear Jerker, which comprised of Super Beef, Pepper Jack Cheese, Onions, Jalepenos peppers, Habanero Mayo and Satan's Tears Ketchup.  The ketchup wasn't as devilishly hot as the name implies but it was quite flavorful, like ketchup mixed with tabasco sauce.  I ordered it with two patties (one patty equating to about a 1/4 pound of ground beef) and that seemed too much. 

The Tear Jerker with two patties. That red stuff is Satan's Tears Ketchup. I did cry a little but it was tears of burger joy.

Overall, this burger was super flavorful, with a bit of kick.  The meat had a lumpy shape to it, as if someone had just handrolled the burger to order.  It's wasn't hard at all when it arrived; it was rather juicy with some flavor.  But the flavor of all of the condiments that come in the burger (from the habanero mayo to tabasco infused ketchup) added more than enough spicy zest to make me sweat.  

Is ... is that bacon salt? And garlic? Wait! Cinnamon? So much flavor!

You get to choose your sides and I got the standard issue skinny fries.  They also had tater tots, housemade chips, sweet potato fries and Mac and Cheese selections.  The skinny fries were OK.  Super thin and salty but lacked any potato taste.  Next time, I'll have to get the tater tots or chips to compare.  Tots would have been better since I could have experimented with the various seasonings they had available.  Mmmmm ... bacon salt.

They had a fair selection of appetizers, shakes and spirits but after a half pound of burger heaven, I decided that eating any more would be too hazardous to my health and decided to pass.  Next time, Lunchbox Laboratory!  I'll see you next time with my empty stomach in tow. Highly recommended for a real gourmet burger.

Lunchbox Laboratory

1253 Thomas St.

Seattle, WA 98109

206-621-1090

http://lunchboxlaboratory.com

Also in Bellevue and Gig Harbor

Kukai Ramen & Izakaya

Up until now, you had to go out of state or out of country to get good ramen.  Yes, there are a number of restaurants in the Seattle area that serve ramen but none of them were considered as "good".  Boom Noodle (which was in Bellevue Square but no longer) was pretty much all style and no taste with their ramen selection.  I read about Kukai opening up late last year to positive reviews and had to try it out to see if this was the best ramen in town.  I'm happy to say that it indeed lives up to that statement.

"... had to try it out to see if this was the best ramen in town"

My friends and I arrived at Kukai at around 1:30pm, missing the lunch crowd.  I heard that at noon, the wait can be pretty long so we were lucky that we were seated within 5 minutes.  The restaurant is long and narrow, with tables and chairs aligned on one side of the restaurant and an open kitchen on the other side. Walking inside, we were greeted with a warm "Irasshaimase" and once seated, we were greeted to a generous selection of appetizers and ramen.  From shio (salt) to shoyu (soy sauce based) to tonkotsu (pork broth), Kukai has the full set of ramen choices, including chicken ramen, spicy and shio yuzu (salt with citrus fruit) ramen.  I was tempted to get the shoyu ramen but saw that they had tsukemen (ramen noodles (either hot or cold) served on a plate with dipping sauce) and had to try it out.  Didn't try any of the appetizers so I'll have to come back to try them out.

My friends had the shoyu ramen.  The presentation of the ramen was ok; the topping were few and scattered around the top.  I was half expecting some bean sprouts and a dash of sesame seed oil but overall, it was serviceable.  I didn't get a taste of it but something to try out next time.

Shoyu Ramen:  soy sauce based broth with spinach, seaweed, bamboo shoots and chashu (pork)

 Tsukemen (noodles with dipping sauce):  wider noodles with spinach, shredded seaweed, bamboo shoots, and chashu (pork).  Delicious.

The tsukemen, on the other hand, was sheer perfection.  The noodles mixed with the shoyu based dipping sauce was super tasty.  The wider noodle lends itself well since there is more surface area to pick up the flavorful broth.  You get a good mix of slurping and chewing that made the eating experiene a pleasure.  The dipping sauce itself was slightly sweet with some tanginess, and mixed with scallions and a little chili powder, it was a welcome variation to the standard issue ramen.  The chashu pork was tender and almost melted in my mouth and elevated an already delicious dish to super yummy goodness.  I really liked it a lot.

Kukai is, without a doubt, the best ramen in town.  It certainly rivals Santoka Ramen in Vancouver, BC and a lot of the other ramen shops in the Los Angeles area.  It's certainly closer so I highly recommend going.

Kukai Ramen & Izakaya
14845 Main St
Bellevue 98007
425-243-7527
http://kukai-ramen.com/index.html

Daniel's Broiler

My wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary and my birthday in August.  It was a belated celebration and were fortunate enough to get away from the kids (who were at a sleepover) to enjoy an evening out at Daniel's Broiler.

"What can I say?  14 ounces of beefy goodness"

Situated on the 21st floor of the Bank of America building in downtown Bellevue, it commands an impressive view of Bellevue, Lake Washington and downtown Seattle with the Olympic Mountains in the background.  We arrived a little bit before 6pm and while the restaurant was bustling with folks, we were seated immediately and greeted by our server.  He asked us if we celebrating anything special and after telling him about our belated anniversary and birthday, he congratulated us, which was very nice of him.  He made some fabulous wine and appetizer recommendations and left us to look over the menu.  My wife ordered a glass wine, based on the waiter's recommendation and ordered the Spicy Barbecue Prawns.

Meaty shrimp.  Tangy sauce.  Great way to start a meal.  Oh!, and there was bread!

I was half expecting the shrimp to be on a skewer drenched in thick brown barbecue sauce so I was surprised to see the appetizer look more like Shrimp in Chili Sauce, something similar to what we had at Guu With Garlic.  It had the right amount of barbecue tanginess without being overly sweet and hearty meatiness with each morsel of shrimp that made a great starter dish.  I would have liked to have seen more shrimp.

My wife ordered the Lobster Club Salad, which had a generous serving of lobster meat mixed in with dressing and garnished with avocado and egg on top of mixed greens and tomatoes.  The dressing was a wonderful combination of thousand island, red wine vinegar, soy sauce and lemon juice.  It looked great but alas, I didn't get to try it out since my dish had arrived at the same time. 

Lobster Club Salad ... lobster meat, avocado, egg, mixed greens, and little bacon bits ... yum.

I ordered the rib eye, medium rare with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.  What can I say?  14 ounces of beefy goodness, cooked to tender perfection with loads of flavor.  The garlic mashed potato was very tasty.

It's a steak.  Of course it was good.

We ate slowly, savoring every bite and enjoying the lovely ambiance of the restaurant.  Once we were done with our meal, our waiter brought out the dessert menu.  We spent a good amount of time, pouring over each of the dessert entries and almost came to a decision (I was going to get the cheesecake) when our waiter came over with dessert, compliments of the restaurant.  He again congratulated us on our anniversary, my birthday, our getting away from the kids and brought the following:

Mmmm ... dessert and candles.

This was a pleasant surprise:  his and hers dessert with mini chocolate cake, fruits and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a candle.  Our waiter said it was on the house, which was a very nice gesture on the part of the restaurant.  We were tempted to still order dessert (I want my cheesecake, dammit) but we were full so this little sampler set was the perfect size and the perfect way to top a wonderful evening.  Highly recommended, whether you're celebrating something or not.

Daniel's Broiler - Bellevue

10500 N.E. 8th, 21st Floor

Bellevue, WA 98004

425.462.4662

http://www.schwartzbros.com/daniels-broiler/daniels-bellevue/

Guu with Garlic

[A continuation of our (my brother and myself) eating adventure in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  We went to Hawksworth for dinner (read the review here) and was now ready for our dessert ... izakaya!]

To be honest, Guu with Garlic wasn't our first choice for izakaya style Japanese food.  Our first choice was Hapa Izakaya on Robson Street.  The reviews have been good on Yelp and saw on Yelp that they closed at midnight so we left the hotel at around 10:30pm and made our way.

We arrived at Hapa Izakaya at around 10:45pm but they were closed.  Perhaps not a lot of business on a late Thursday evening.  We were a bit disappointed but since there are a number of good places around, we decided to head to Guu with Garlic, which was just a block away.

"It was time for some comfort food"

When we arrived, there were a number of people streaming out of the restaurant. We peeked inside and saw that there were a large number of folks inside, including two rather large parties. We thought we would have to wait a while but we were seated immediately at the counter. Behind the counter, three Japanese cooks were slaving away at making some very delicious looking treats. We picked up the menu and ordered right away. After our high class eating adventure at Hawksworth (ribeye, summer vegetables, cheesecake for dessert), it was time for some traditional and non-traditional comfort food.

We started off with ama-ebi (sweet shrimp) with a ponzu based dipping sauce.  Looked good but I didn't try it because I was eating this ...

Shrimp in Chili Sauce.  Came out hot out of the frying pan.  The crispy texture provides a lot of room of the chili sauce to stick to it, making each bite savory and flavorful.  Not super spicy which is just perfect for me.  The dishes starting coming out quickly so we moved onto ...

Beef tataki.  Yes, more raw meat, only without the bone.  And with the dipping sauce.  Followed by:

French fries with cajun mayonaisse.  Now at this point, we drift away from your traditional izakaya and get down and dirty with real comfort food, like:

Chicken wings.  Deep fried but oh so tasty.  The sesame oil on the cabbage was a nice way of eating some kind of vegetable.  Next time, I'm going to try out the karaage.  Deep fried but I'm sure it's just as tasty as these wings.

Overall, a nice contrast from Hawksworth.  Love the izakaya atmosphere, where the chefs and waitstaff yell "Irasshaimase!" or "Welcome!" when a customer walks in.  It's a fast, noisy, bustling type of restaurant (even at late night) but all of the dishes were great.  I have to say that I'm glad that Hapa Izakaya was closed since it gave us the opportunity to try out Guu with Garlic. If there was one thing that I didn't like about Guu, it was that there wasn't enough garlic on our dishes.  But, outside of that little nit, it's highly recommended and well worth the trip.

Guu with Garlic

1698 Robson Street

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

604-685-8678

http://guu-izakaya.com/robson

Hawksworth

My brother was attending a conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and since it was just a short drive up from Seattle, I thought I would visit and hang out with him for a couple of days.  We both love Vancouver; there is something extremely cosmopolitan about the city without being too tourist-y.  I will admit, however, that there is one glaring problem with Vancouver:  there are just too many good restaurants to choose from.  Both my brother and I scanned through a countless number of Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews of restaurants in the Vancouver area, covering the whole gamut of culinary goodness:  French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Northwest seafood.  You name it, there's a good restaurant for it.

So, upcoming arriving in Vancouver and meeting up with my brother, we must have spent at least a good 20 minutes on trying to decide on where to eat.  When we couldn't decide on a restaurant, I blurted out "Hawksworth", based on a strong recommendation from one of my co-workers (thanks JCOS!).  So, we looked at the reviews on Yelp and yup, they were mostly positive.  We then looked at the website and wow!  Those pictures on their site looks scrumptious.  So, it was decided right then and there:  we were off to Hawksworth.

Located in the Rosewood Hotel off of Georgia St. in the middle of bustling downtown Vancouver, you walk into the darkened entry and are greeted by a couple of elegantly dressed receptionists.  Very classy.  We were led through a comfy looking lounge into the main dining area, where our table was situated next to a wall.  It was about 5:30pm so it wasn't crowded.  A French gentlemen, who mentioned that he was from the south of France but whose name for the life of me I cannot remember, was our waiter and he reminded me much of Bronson Pinchot (Balki from Perfect Strangers (or better yet, Serge from Beverly Hills Cop)).  I half expected him to ask me if I wanted an espresso with a little lemon twist.

We opened up the menu.  There were so many enticing entree choices.  My original choice was getting the caramelized alberta striploin with shishito peppers but my brother saw the For Sharing menu item and decided that we should both get it.  What is the For Sharing menu item?  30 oz heritage angus bone in ribeye with potato gnocchi, summer vegetables, crispy marrow with a red wine jus and butter hollandaise sauce.  All for the low down price of $125CAD.  So, it was decided right then and there:  For Sharing, medium rare.  Pro:  red meat!  Somewhat of a con:  30 minute wait for it to be cooked to perfection.

My brother wanted an appetizer and ordered the English Pea Soup, which had lobster and prosciutto with a black pepper creme fraichi.  I passed on an appetizer because I wanted to save room for dessert.  After a few minutes, my brother's soup arrived ... in style and made me realize that I should have gotten an appetizer as well.  Missed opportunity!

English Pea Soup

The soup bowl contained lobster bits and prosciutto while the pea soup came in its own container.  The waiter (who still hadn't asked me if I wanted an espresso with a little lemon twist) then poured the hot pea soup into the soup bowl, mixing with the lobster bits, creating a very hot and fresh take on soup presentation.  I took a sip and it was divine.  Very creamy and flavorful.

After a 30 minute wait, the ribeye arrived ... also in grand fashion.

30 oz Heritage Angus Bone In Rib Eye with Crispy Bone Marrow ... pure awesome

Mmmm ... potato gnocchi with summer vegetable bourquetiere.

Two great tastes that tastes great together

Crispy Marrow.  Bite-size explosions of flavor 

The presentation itself was marvelous.  My initial reaction in seeing a large bone with a slab of meat attached to it as dinner was something to the effect of watching Fred Flintstone eating dinner.  It was barbaric and there was something of a caveman vibe to it.  But we were hungry so we dove in, caveman style.

The meat had the right amount of pink; not bloody but certainly not the toughness you would find in a medium cooked steak.  Biting into it was heaven:  tender but not chewy, flavorful without the need of any sauce.  The outside of the steak was slightly seasoned which complimented the earthy taste of raw beef.  Add that to the summer vegetables and the potato gnocchi and you have yourself a splendid meal.  There were two sauces that accompanied the steak:  the Chimichurri red wine jus and the butter hollandaise.  The red wine jus had a slightly sweet taste of sweetened soy sauce but without the salty aftertaste.  The butter hollandaise was very creamy with a slight tang of yogurt which was a nice contrast with the red wine jus.  I preferred the red wine jus but in all honesty, I ate most of the rib eye without any sauce at all.  Overall, the ribeye was a winner.

I should mention about two things:  the potato gnocchi and the crispy marrow.  At first glance, the puffy/crispy bits of marrow on the ribeye looks like simple garnishments but it's part of the meal.  I took a bite into one, half expecting to bite into something like an onion ring.  Instead, to my surprise, it was very tasty:  crisp like an onion ring but packed full of rich flavor.  For the gnocchi, I wasn't sure if these were baked or pan fried but there was a slight fried texture to the potato gnocchi that gave it a slightly tarter-tot meets pasta taste.  Both added so much to the main dish and vegetables.

It took my brother and I some time to go through the meal but we weren't in a hurry and we somehow managed to eat the whole thing.  Here's the proof:

Yabba dabba done

How do you top of a meal as grand as a 30oz angus rib eye?  With extravagent dessert, of course.  I was full but there is always room for dessert (thanks to my second stomach dedicated to desserts, sweets and the occasional appetizer as dessert).  My brother got the passionfruit, coconut and white chocolate while I went for the chèvre cheesecake.

Passionfruit, Coconut and White Chocolate

Not your ordinary cheesecake:  chèvre cheesecake with green apple sorbet and walnuts

I didn't get to try the passionfruit, coconut, white chocolate triple threat that my brother had but it looked very inviting.  Presentation, for both desserts, were great.  When I think cheesecake, I typically think of the thick New York style cheesecakes with the graham cracker crust.  This cheesecake was much different but just as delicious:  the cheesecake itself, which was shaped like a tube, was very light and fluffy, almost like whipped cream.  Next to it was a walnut cookie with a dollop of green apple sorbet.  I think they should rename the dessert as Green Apple Sorbet with chèvre cheesecake because the spotlight was definitely the sorbet:  lightly sweet with a tangy green apple taste that went well with the crispy texture of the walnut cookie.  The yuzu marinated apple cubes and the caramelized walnuts raised the dessert to the new level of dessert deliciousness.  However, the kicker was the brown butter sauce droplets.  They dot the the dessert plate and one taste simply blasts you with so much rich, cinnamon-y flavor.  Highly recommended.

In fact, if you're going to be treating yourself to a fine meal with excellent service, I highly recommend going to Hawksworth.  From beginning to end, each portion of the meal was delicious.  Upon leaving, we were presented with one last bit of dessert:  fruit jelly candy and marshmallows.  

Delicious to the end, a great dining experience at Hawkworth

Hawksworth Restaurant

801 West Georgia Street

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

604-673-7000 extension 1

Located in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, corner of Howe & Georgia