Dinner Without James

I'm still up in Vancouver without a kitchen and James is at home eating from my latest "fridgeventory" of pre-cooked frozen dinners I left for him.

Much like LA, Vancouver is filled with all types of great Asian food (maybe not quite the wonderland of regional Chinese we have in Monterey Park) with much less traffic. I popped into the food court at the local H Mart Asian supermarket for a quick Korean seafood pancake -- the only white face in a sea of hungry shoppers. Not bad at all and a short walk from the hotel.

In The Footsteps of Anthony Bourdain

I don't generally try to walk where Bourdain has walked. I don't see a meal of seal in my future or even cobra heart. But here in Vancouver I found myself literally across the street from one of the milder weird food outlets he has profiled, the local phenom known as Japadog. That's right, hot dogs (and brats, sausages, veggie and turkey dogs) done Japanese style with wasabi mayo, teriyaki sauce, bonito flakes, grated radish, edamame -- all the usual suspects layered on a toasty bun. The photo above shows our Tonkatsu -- fried pork cutlet (instead of a dog), below is one of today's specials -- a rice cake instead of a roll and really delicious stewed beef (Japanese chili?) on a waiting frank. On the side? Shaken fries treated to your choice of topping. We went for chopped crisp seaweed -- now that's a snack worth going back for.

That little yellow bag? Just one store down waits a great Japanese import. The custom filled, painfully delicious, cream puff's from Beard Papa on a great lunch block in Vancouver, BC.