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Published: April 10th 2009
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JapaDog
Un-f**king-believeably good. Before I had left for Vancouver, a collegue of mine had sent out an email to an old colleague of hers with whom she worked with on The Electric Playground while it was on the Science Channel. I had heard nothing back from this guy until I woke up on Friday morning with a “Come on by!”. This man was Victor Lucas, creator and host of the Electric Playground (now EP Daily), which runs on G4 TechTV in Canada and online. Seeing as this was a rare opportunity, I hopped in a cab over to Greedy Productions on the north side of the city where EP Daily was getting ready to film. The show is basically a daily rundown of video game/entertainment news and features, with reviews and colorful commentary thrown in the mix. I met Victor, who could easily pass for a Dane Cook - Corey Feldman love child with his looks and voice. Vic took me around the offices where he showed me the set and introduced me to a bunch of the crew members on the show. Then he walked me past a wall of what must have been at least 3,000 Playstation 2 games which would have
gave any gamer a total nerdgasm. I will say, however, the rock band set up in the break room was pretty sweet (just sayin’…). After meeting a couple of the fill-in hosts and graphic designers, it was time to start filming. I watched as Vic and his crew produced the episode that will air the following Monday. Vic nailed his lines like a professional, and the camera and audio guys danced around in perfect harmony. After filming, I got to talk with the camera guy who gave me some tips on what I should check out in Vancouver. I thanked Vic and the crew and headed back to the Olympic Village park where I got some great b-roll with the tripod. Seeing as I was going to do my main filming project tomorrow, I went back to the hotel to drop off some equipment and hit up downtown Vancouver for the afternoon.
Since it was just around lunchtime, I decided to try to knock-off Canadian version of Chipotle, the Red Burrito. When I say this is an exact replica of our beloved burrito institution, I’m not kidding. The walls are painted red, there’s the same exact choices of meats,
the same toppings, and dare I say, the exact same price. I got a “spicy beef” (barbacoa) “burrito dish” (bowl), which was actually quite good, but it just doesn’t top the C in my opinion.
After my late lunch, I walked along Robson towards Burrand, where many of downtown Vancouver’s premiere shopping is. As a basis of comparison, it’s much like the M street part of Georgetown here in D.C. Of course, I had to stop by one of my favorite clothing stores, Roots, where I picked up a new hoodie and a couple of tees with their famous beaver logo. I’m not much of a fashion person, but I’ve always enjoyed their style and outdoorsy, Canadian vibe. I also popped into the HMV where I was looking for some local Vancouver music, but couldn’t make out which artists were directly from Vancouver, as most of the labels had the general Canadian flag. Afterwards, I discovered the rap group Sweatshop Union, which I became quite fond of. Then, as I walked further down Robson, and saw one of the most frightening things I have ever seen in my life. I had heard about this before, but did not believe
it until I saw it. There, at the intersection of Robson and Thurlow, was the Starbucks directly across the street from another Starbucks. I mean, given the fact that I had walked by about 20 during the day, 2 more couldn’t hurt. It was just unbelievable. Were the frappacinos better on one side than the other, or was the tea a little warmer at one? I had no idea, and I was in no rush to find out. On the list of "Top 10 ridiculous things I've seen in my life", this was up there.
I walked back towards Burrand where I had to make one final stop before I went back to the hotel to workout and get ready for the evening. If you watched the Vancouver episode of No Reservations, you might remember that he made a stop at his hot dog cart known as JapaDog while filming the show. Needless to say, I had to try it. I found the cart directly across the street from the Denny’s on Burrand and was greeted by two friendly Japanese girls. For my late afternoon snack, I decided to go for the Terimayo dog (all beef dog, teriyaki sauce,
JapaDog Menu
What to choose... Japanese mayo, fried onions, and seaweed) and the Okonomi (sausage made with korobuto pork, Japanese mayo, cabbage, and dried bento flakes). Coming from a guy who is a big fan of the half-smoke at Ben’s Chili Bowl, I was a little wierded out by the seaweed on the dog, but in all honesty, those were some of the best hot dogs I have ever eaten in my life. If you also know me, you know that I absolutely f**king hate mayonaise. However, there is something about Japanese mayo that makes it edible. Plus, the nice coating of soy sauce covers up a lot of the taste. If you try not a whole lot of exotic foods while in Vancouver, I highly recommend JapaDog. There are 2 more specialty dogs on the menu, which is all the reason to make a trip back!
Knowing that I had to get up very early to get down to Granville Island and film the next morning, I wasn’t going on an all night bender like the night before. However, I had to make sure I had a sushi experience while in Vancouver. I headed down Granville and walked into Sakura sushi bar to
Sea Bass Sashimi
Hey Food and Wine Magazine, give me a call... take a seat right amongst the chefs. With a pear-sake cocktail in hand, I was ready to do some damage. To start, I had fresh sea bass sashimi with a yuzu-citrus dipping sauce that was so good, I could have dipped hard boiled egg in it and it would have tasted amazing (another food-hate of mine). Then for my main course, I had a volcano roll (tuna, crabmeat, cucumber, and seaweed with a very spicy sauce) that was presented in the shape of a volcano, with the sauce serving as the lava. It looked almost too good to eat, but I knocked that plate out with ease. Settling up the tab, I headed back to the hotel to prepare for the big shoot the next morning..
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