11.--Taquiera Jalisco

"We are serving your area since 2006"

I love authentic Mexican food, which is why I make a point to stay away from any food chain with the word "Taco" in its name when I want some. Fortunately for the city of Surrey, there are now several restaurants to choose from when I have a craving for Mexican food, not the least of which is Taquiera Jalisco, whose sign boasts that "we are serving your area since 2006."

Table coverings brighten up the place

To call Taquiera Jalisco small and unpretentious is perhaps dressing the place up a little. If they didn't have aggressive signage out front you would never know it existed. Even then you hesitate between two doors that might very well lead to someone's apartment (choose the one on the right). Once through, however, you feel like you stepped into a small family-run place in Mexico. It has a well-used charm, and every square foot of clear floor space (there isn't much) has been given over to five or six tables, with just enough room for a little corner counter and a couple of shelves backed up against the wall like gringos on the losing side of a Mexican stand-off.



You don't get--or need--a lot of tortilla chips

The servers are quiet, almost shy, but a smile or two and a kind word receives a warm smile back. They bring you your menus (the front of which proclaims warmly that "Mi casa es tu casa") and, after ordering, they also bring you a small tray with store-bought tortilla chips and two decidedly not store-bought dipping sauces: what looks like a salsa roja and a salsa roja Mexicana. I can't be certain, though. Both salsas are very spicy, not so that you suddenly feel like you've taken up fire-breathing as a career, but enough to make you glad you ordered  something  cold  to  drink.  Dance,  taste-buds, dance!




My chimichanga looked like a bull

The three of us ordered, respectively, a chicken chimichanga, a chicken quesadilla, and a beef burrito. In every case the portions are large, nay,huge; healthy appetites are welcome here. We were impressed to see small slices of beef--not ground--in the burrito. The chicken in our quesadilla and chimichanga was diced breast meat, generously stuffed in along with the rest of the filling. Nothing is greasy; in fact, the chimichanga wrap was almost like a pastry crust; faintly crispy and very satisfying.  The rice was not terribly memorable but did have the benefit of being flavored lightly with something. Perhaps it was cooked in chicken broth. I found it acceptable, fluffy but perhaps a tad dry. The salad was that ubiquitous iceberg lettuce/tomato/green onion mix you find everywhere in North America, but at least it was fresh and crisp, and its texture balance the plate out nicely. For beverages my sister had tea, I had rice water--and very nice it was, thank-you--and my brother-in-law had a Mexican Coke. 

The much-desired Mexican Coke

A quick word about the Mexican Coke. Remember how (and I may be dating myself here), a long time ago around 1985 or so Coke replaced the old Coke with the New Coke, and then decided to bring back the old Coke and call it Coke Classic, but it never really tasted the same? Well, the Mexican Coke tastes like the original Coke, not that Coke Classic cra--er, stuff. It made me wish I had ordered it instead of my very nice rice water. A quick trip to Wickapedia (long live the 'Wick) informs me that most Coke in North America is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, while Mexican Coke is sweetened with cane sugar. That truly may be the reason why it tastes like original Coke, and I mean Coke from waaaay back. But I digress.
The meals are very reasonably priced--all of our entrees were about ten dollars each.



The beef burrito

I can hardly wait to go back there. I want to check out the cooking implement I saw stacked on the floor by the counter, which I suspect might be an authentic metate y mano. I'm not certain, because I didn't take the time to really look at it. At the very least, it makes for a great excuse to return.

Do yourself a favor and go. Treat yourself to a good Mexican meal. Treat the servers kindly. Tip well. They deserve it.






Lower left--matate y mano?

I suspect the kitchen is tiny





























10.--FOOD FIGHT!--FISH & CHIPS

Stomachs, get ready to ruuuuuuuuummmmbbbbbble!

(FOOD FIGHT! Is featured in this blog the first Saturday of every month)

AL & JAN'S FISH & CHIPS VS. SALTY'S FISH & CHIPS

This is one food fight I’ve been looking forward to, because I love fish & chips, and while I’ve been to Al & Jan’s, I haven’t been to Salty’s, so it was a win-win situation for me. I got to try a new fish & chips place out and have one I know to be good. Yay! We decided to go for the basics: a piece of cod each, some fries, and the coleslaw. The prices are similar to each other, sometimes identical on both take-out menus. Service is fast and friendly, with Al & Jan’s edging Salty’s out by a hair—the young man who served us at Al & Jan’s was genuinely warm and eager to please. You wanted to come back just for the service. The girl at Salty’s was also nice, but you could tell you were just a possible tip.

Salty's cod, chips and coleslaw

Salty’s packaging was a little slicker, as befits a food chain; wrapped in white paper with a charming inner liner made to look like a newspaper, with a forgettable seafood recipe printed on it. Al & Jan’s was the classic inner white paper lining bundled up in an outer wrap of actual newspaper. Salty’s had a proper little Styrofoam bowl for its coleslaw with a proper little cardboard box for its fries and Al & Jan’s coleslaw was a little more antwacky--it came in a Styrofoam cup with lid and the fries were bundled up with the fish. I like the fries bundled up with the fish. Looks more authentic.

Al & Jan's cod, chips and coleslaw

Al & Jan’s cod is classically battered, crispy and a little greasy (but no more so than Salty’s), and very flavorful. The flesh was flaky and tender. Salty’s coating looks like a cornflake coating but isn’t. It also is nicely crispy, but the coating tasted very one-dimensional; like it had been made with flour and club soda and that’s it. I don’t know how they make the batter to get that interesting texture but the flavor just wasn’t there. Also, the cod was a bit chewy.

I also had a problem with Salty’s fries.  Both places had tasty fries, but since the last few we ate were barely warm (hey, it takes a while to eat this stuff) we had a proper test; most fries are good when hot, after all; it's when they start to grow cold that you find out if you got your money's worth.  The inside of the fries at Salty’s had a less pleasant mouth-feel once they cooled, almost glutinous, whereas Al & Jan’s were more like what cooked potato should be in texture.

My sister and I were split on the taste of the coleslaw. I preferred the grated look and texture of Al & Jan’s but thought the dressing on Salty’s was far better—creamier and more of it. My sister preferred Al & Jan’s all the way, because she doesn’t like the dressing to overpower the cabbage. This is why there is a weight difference between us. We both agreed, however, that Salty’s coleslaw was more colorful, having both purple and green cabbage and more carrots.

The differences aren’t huge, but if I am equidistant from the two and want fish & chips, I will pick Al and Jan’s every time. So will my sister and brother-in-law.

WINNER:  Al & Jan’s

9.--A Great Little Diner

No self-respecting Lower Mainland blogger would forget to mention The Round-up Café, a little walk-by-fast-and-you-miss-it diner a block or two from the Whalley Skytrain.

It first opened in 1949, when Louis St. Laurent was prime minister for Canada and Nisga’a Chief Frank Calder was elected to the B.C. Legislature. Postwar prosperity was beginning to assert itself. Bacon was 50 cents a pound. A pound! Newfoundland joined the Canadian Confederation, and seedless watermelon, Jolly Ranchers and instant pudding were invented. The Round-Up Café must have done well, because it was still going strong ten years later when it was bought by Orest and Goldie Springenatic. Orest was Ukrainian and an avid baseball enthusiast, two things that figure heavily in the café, with its perogies, Ukrainian sausage, borsch and cabbage rolls, and the myriad of baseball pictures on the wall from Surrey’s past. Outside it boasts one of the few old neon signs left in Surrey, a cowboy on a bucking bronc, that makes me feel like all the good things from the past are not yet quite gone, and gives me hope.

I hadn’t been to the Round-Up in many years, though I do recall that their breakfasts were really good. This time, however, we decided to do lunch and check out a couple of the non-Ukrainian offerings on the menu. The first thing we noticed was that the diner is nice and clean, and stepping in through its doors is like stepping back in time. I was disappointed to notice the jukeboxes gone from the booth tables (like I said, it’s been many years), but other than that it retains its small-town, simpler-times feel.

Not much can really be said about the food. It’s good, standard fare, satisfying and of average value. The water tastes a little funny, like it’s been poured from a tap, but other than that the food is fine. I had the club sandwich on whole-wheat, my sister had the Reuben sandwich on rye and my brother-in-law had the Bases Loaded burger with cheese, mushroom, onion and bacon. Service is good--the waitress was friendly and allowed us time to decide what to have without making us feel rushed. The order arrived at our table in ten minutes. They’re a bit chintzy on the pickle; one thin slice on the side. This wouldn’t bother most people but I carry pickle-related baggage from my childhood and so I noticed. It wasn’t the best food in the world but we’re not talking thirty dollars a plate, either. I’ve had worse for more money.

It’s easy to see why the Round-Up Café has lasted 63 years. It isn’t the best flavor or the best of anything, really.

It’s just plain good.

8.--Fraser Valley Food Show Winners

If you missed the Abbotsford Food Fair this year, you missed a real treat. In addition to LB Emporium (mentioned in last week’s post) they had 92 other exhibitors, plus 19 alcohol exhibitors in the Wine, Beer & Spirits tasting pavilion, five restaurants in the Bite of the Valley area , a Master Chef competition, daily cheese seminars, a Food Network Celebrity stage, a Grapes & Hops presentation stage, and a Great Canadian Sausage Making competition. One could attend all three days and never have to make a meal, there were so many delectable samples to try.

The winner of the Master Chef competition was chef William Tse, executive chef of the Sandbar Seafood Restaurant on Granville Island.

The Great Canadian Sausage Making competition was a little more extensive, winner-wise. Windsor Ontario’s Robert Bornais took the amateur division with his wonderful chorizo, and won in addition gold standing in the Game, Italian, and Breakfast Link sausage categories. Manfred Cross won gold as well for his bratwurst, and Steve MacLeod also won gold standing in the Farmer’s sausage category.

For the professional division the grand winner was Viktor Kozak of Sedo’s Old Fashioned Butcher Shop & Deli in Salmon Arm, B.C. with his salami entry, winning gold standing as well in the Liver/Braunschwieger and Chorizo categories. Other gold standing winners were Mink Lindsay of Hopcott Premium Meats, Pitt Meadows (Andouille, Boudin, and Italian sausage categories; Dianne and Dale Herbert, Davis Quality Meats, in Abbotsford (Kielbasa and Breakfast Links); and Gerry Gelderman, Gelderman Farms, Abbotsford (Farmer’s and Specialty).

Robin Brooks won the People’s Choice award for his Kielbasa sausage, also winning a gold standing in the Bratwurst category.

In my opinion, though, everyone there was a winner. Especially the people who went to see, and taste!

7.--Life is Spicy at the Fraser Valley Food Show

I have never been to the Fraser Valley Food Show at the Tradex in Abbotsford (last day is tomorrow, Sunday Sept. 16, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). This morning  I dragged my sister and her husband out to see what it was all about. Certainly their website made it seem exciting  ( http://www.fraservalleyfoodshow.com/ ); but I thought to myself, how good could it really be?

I was going to write a single entry regarding this food show, but after having spent a delirious afternoon eating and drinking, I discovered that, like the chip, you just can't have one post. This is going to take a few. For those of you who can't make it to the food show tomorrow, remember it for next year. It's a foodie PNE--even better, because  the parking is cheaper (five dollars), the entrance is cheaper (nine dollars for adults), and you get way better samples to try. Delicious samples. And the booths are amazing. It's foodie heaven.

Vivian Balbeck (L), and Donna Stuart (R)

Take, for instance, LB Emporium, our number one favorite, a boutique spice company that presses all the right gourmet buttons. The owners are a couple of can-do, charming women by the name of Vivian Belbeck and Donna Stuart.

"We're high school sweethearts," Vivian joked (they've known each other since grade eight). I said I might put that in my blog.

Donna asked me not to. I promised that I wouldn't...

Their spice mixes are amazing, complex and versatile; although each mix is recommended for certain meats, I would put them on anything and everything. They have a new retail-warehouse in Port Kells at Unit #12-19889 96th Avenue, Langley. You can get all the information you want by checking out their website-- http://www.lbemporium.com/

One of the really interesting things Donna mentioned is that they generally prefer to use fruit powder in their spice mixes instead of sugar, powders that are high in antioxidants and bought locally. "The fruits are fresh-picked and the process for turning them into the fruit powder begins that day," she explained. "Most people think spice rub blends are a simple thing, but the background is really interesting." They even have one rub sweetened with carrot instead of sugar. How guilt-free can you get?

These two entrepreneurs also named their spice rubs. We bought Hot Daddy, African Queen, Put Me Anywhere, and Last Tango in Paris. All four were chosen on the basis of the spices that were in them and the intoxicating scent (they have samples of the spice out so you can see and smell them). Plus, how can you not buy a spice named after your favorite Bogart movie? How can you say no to the flavor of Marlon Brando?

Who has the time these days to mix and try different spice combinations? In this day and age, when you never have time to mix, taste and tweak spice combos for your food, these girls do it for you, and do it brilliantly.

 Check 'em out.

 

6.--Sweeeet! The Honeybee Centre

This past week my eye fell on an online ad for the Tea Hive Café, a little spot nestled comfortably in the Honeybee Centre, located on Fry’s Corner. It was a very small menu indeed, but since I hadn’t been to the Honeybee Centre in ever so long my sister and I decided to go and buy some honey and check the café out.

You have to go. Not just for the pie at the café, which is really, really good, but for the pleasure of looking and testing the different kinds of honey, taking a self-guided tour, and checking out the courses they offer, like beekeeping and candle-making. (By the way, this is a very kid-friendly place.)

We were greeted as we came in the door with a warm smile by Karen Downey, who couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the benefits of honey. She explained that all their honey was unpasteurized; since the honey is not heated up, valuable enzymes in it are not destroyed.

We ordered the apple pie, mine accompanied by a lovely pear green tea, my sister's paired brilliantly with a delicious chai redolent with spices similar to those we traditionally use in apple pie, and then went into the “greenhouse” to sit and wait for our orders to come to us. The place was charming. One side has several tables and chairs and the other has more of a sunroom feel, with small glass-topped tables surrounded by wicker easy chairs. There is a small bookcase with books and magazines you are free to browse through while you wait. A little goldfish pond sits in one corner, pretty with plants, and everywhere there is information about bees and honey.

Karen told us they order the apple pie from a gourmet bakery, and I believe her. It was full of chunks—not slices—of apple. A scoop of vanilla ice cream nestled beside it and both pie and ice cream were drizzled with Rewarewa honey, changing it from good to fabulous. The honey took on the characteristics and flavor profile of caramel. Absolutely delicious. Do try it with the green tea—the sweetness of the dessert off-sets the teas natural mild astringency and makes for a memorable combination.

After our treat we went back into the store area and began tasting the honey at the honey bar set up for just that purpose. Karen explained that the nutrients are different for each honey, depending upon what the bees were feeding on.

Unprocessed honey has antibacterial properties because it contains natural hydrogen peroxide and it has an acid PH. But Manuka honey, for instance, has additional antimicrobial activity because the Manuka bush the bees feed on contains something called methylglyoxal. I didn't like the Manuka honey. It tasted medicine-y to me. I did, however, like the buckwheat honey, which is somewhat reminscent of molasses and is probably amazing in bbq sauce applications, and the clover honey tasted, as my sister so aptly put it, "like our childhood". I remember our mother always buying clover honey. The blueberry and cranberry honeys were amazing. Once we finished tasting we selected a jar each--my sister the cranberry and I, our childhood--and paid for our choices. We were a little sticky. If you go, take wipes.

Karen gave me a couple of brochures (I could do a blog on the Honeybee Centre alone) and let me know about their website. You can visit the website by clicking on this URL:

  www.honeybeecentre.com

Go. Enjoy. Taste honey. Learn about bees. And don't forget to try the apple pie. 

 

5.--FOOD FIGHT!--SMOOTHIES

Stomachs, get ready to ruuuuuuuuummmmbbbbbble!

Jugo Juice vs. Booster Juice

This will be a semi-regular event here on Anywhere There's Food.  This week we're comparing the smoothies of Jugo Juice against the smoothies of Booster Juice.

The first place we went to was Jugo Juice, a kiosk at Guildford Town Center located upstairs in the mallway between Motherhood and Aldo's, near the Bay.  The service was phenomenal. There was no line-up so we stood back a little and ordered three "snackies"--their smallest size smoothie at 14 ounces. Jugo Juice has a lovely selection; 26 smoothies, seven different juices, eight grilled wraps and 3 grilled flatbreads. They're tops in nutrition, too, as their information pamphlet, displayed prominently for one to take home, is quick to point out. They boast five plus servings of fruit and are 100% sorbet free, using instead 100% pure, unsweetened juice.

There were two servers behind the counter. We ordered a Copa Banana (banana, pineapple, tropical nectar and a hint of coconut), a Pineapple Powerzone (strawberries, pineapple, tropical nectar, and orange juice), and for my brother-in-law, a Caramel Buzz (banana, low-fat frozen yogurt, caramel, and iced coffee). All three orders were taken, filled and we were walking away from the counter in two and a half minutes. The bill came to $13.78.

Then we went to Booster Juice, located unhelpfully twenty minutes away at 12080 Nordel Way, just down a few doors from Shoppers Drug Mart. When we got back home we discovered one much closer, at 10153 King George Blvd, in the Central City Shopping Center, but of course it never occurred to us to check before we went. My sister works near there, we saw it, and that was that. If you're closer to Guildford go to the Central City one, and here is why:

When we walked in there was  a couple of people ahead of us and one girl behind the counter. No one else. She would take an order, take the money for it, fill the order, and go on to the next person. This meant, of course, that each customer had to wait before they could even give their order. As others came in, the wait got longer. She wasn't slow, but they really needed another person there to get the orders out. I tried to ask her why there she was the only server there, but she looked at me like she didn't understand what I was asking. She was busy, like I said. It made me wonder if someone had phoned in sick, they weren't doing well financially and could only afford to have one person on, on a hot Saturday afternoon, or if someone in charge was a cheapskate. It seems to have a similar number of smoothies, wraps and stuff, in addition to quesadillas, but we really couldn't tell because there was no brochure that would tell us and we weren't about to stand and count the menu items posted on the huge menu board. We asked for, in 12 ounce size (their smallest), a Canadian Colada (pineapple, coconut, bananas and frozen yogurt), a Pineapple Freeze (Pineapples, bananas, strawberries and vanilla frozen yogurt), and a Mean Mocha (frozen yogurt and iced mocha; not sure of all the ingredients) for my brother-in-law.  It took fifteen minutes for the order to be filled, paid for, and given to us. The bill came to $12.60. This is actually very close to Jugo Juice, which was marginally more expensive but also was larger by two ounces per small container. I didn't get the comparable prices for the 24 ounce, a size identical in both places. My bad.

For Jugo Juice, calories per 14 oz. (snackie) is as follows:
Copa Banana--189 calories
Pineapple Powerzone--136 calories
Caramel Buzz--305 calories

For Booster Juice, calories per 12 oz. is as follows:
Canadian Colada--266 calories
Pineapple Freeze--203 calories
Mean Mocha--a whopping 362 calories

~~Taste~~

 

A quick look at the calorie count will tell you which chain our tastebuds preferred. Loaded up with a frozen yogurt reminicent of ice-cream, Booster Juice tasted best to us, hands down. But Jugo Juice was a close second, and nutritionally speaking is clearly superior for the same price.  We must remember what these businesses are selling--yummy health. So I am going to take the moral high ground, healthwise, and announce Jugo Juice as the winner.