Christine "Jazz Hands!" R.'s Profile

If you haven't been to Barnston Island, you're missing out on an adventure. First, there's the wacky ferry to get over there. It's basically a tugboat with a barge attached that chugs back and forth across the river every ten minutes or so. You can drive, but the ferry has limited capacity for cars (maybe six?), no public parking on the island, and you have to back up off the ferry when you get to Barnston Island. It's better to leave the car in the free lot at the end of 104 Ave in Surrey and walk or take your bike. (The ferry is also free.)

Most of the island is private property (lots of "no trespassing" signs), although there is one park at the northwest corner with picnic tables and some marshy beach. A narrow paved road encircles the island, a 10 km route with very little traffic and plenty of scenery. On our summer bike ride, we saw everything from goats to eagles to skydivers, with views of Golden Ears Bridge, the North Shore Mountains and Mt. Baker in the distance. An abandoned home with brambles taking over the doorway was also strangely cool.

Barnston Island has a peaceful feeling, inhabited yet abandoned at the same time. One car passed us on the entire ride, and the only other people we saw were fellow cyclists and walkers. There are also no stores on the island, so be sure to bring your own water and provisions. You can say you've been somewhere without really leaving.

I hate having to update my review negatively, but this place has seriously gone .... overboard? The cute, fishermen-like boys are gone. The new staff of old ladies clearly can't manage a lineup.  When I tried to get a bowl of cioppino, they had no idea what I was talking about. And now they have one type of chowder available, Manhattan, no New England. The steamed clams and oysters are still the big draw, but good luck with jostling the crowd and figuring out how to get some service. Pass.

Though the cashier was lovely and friendly here, the pizza was unfortunately not as good as at the other Numero Uno pizza location over on Davie Street. The toppings seemed a little dried out and stinge, and they also don't seem to do the sesame seed crust here. But I appreciated the smiles.

This isn't a good place to go if you're monstrously hungry and just want a quick bite to eat ... but it is relaxing. In the space formerly (and temporarily) occupied by Soma, it's an unpretentious little lounge underneath a restored 100-year-old heritage house, which if I heard the waiter right, used to be a brothel?

Anyway, it's a relaxing space in which to wait ... and wait ... for your food. I'm glad I ordered a tall, yet reasonably priced pint of beer -  $4.50 for Red Devil. Cocktails are under $8 and there's a nice selection of wines by the glass, too. Natural light comes in through the western windows, and along one side of the restaurant, there's a cool panoramic photo of Main and Broadway that blends images of the past and present.

Ah yes, the food. Yay! Mr. Waiter, don't tease us by pretending to walk past us with four-cheese mac and BBQ chicken pizza and mini perogies. It was worth the wait and all so good. A flurry of trades soon go round the table - a slice of rich BBQ chicken pizza with sweet onions and saucy sauce for a tasty little perogy, a taste of sharp cheesy mac for a forkful of "Hollywood" salad.

By the time we leave, it's dark outside and the candles are flickering. A very good restaurant for a snack with a few good friends, that.

I'm a little scared. No, I'm very afraid. This store has assembled all the bad fashion trends of the late 80s/early 90s. Overalls. Floral print dresses. Southwest-inspired prints and pastel colours. Pattterned silk shirts for men and women. Quilted jackets. It's all impeccably styled, clean. White walls and display cases - it's more of a museum than a store, as if it were the costume room for any bad teen show you could think of (Saved by the Bell, Beverly Hills 90210). In fact, inside one display case recessed in the floor was an outfit I swear they could have torn off Jesse "I'm So Excited" Spano's back.

Visiting F as in Frank, I think I know now how the Baby Boomers must have felt when they saw us as teens going around in 60s tie-dye and granny glasses and buying Beatles albums. Because I'm looking at this 80s stuff now and cringing at the awfulness of it all. I wore that crap before it was ironic.  Now it's in this weirdly pristine store, like it was teleported here or kept in a time capsule or maybe even delivered by DeLorean.

It's just a little too perfect.

I had a wonderful mani/pedi at this sweet lil' nail salon. It's just down the street from New West Skytrain station and I had no problem getting an appointment for the same day I called. And while I was there, they seemed to get a lot of walk-ins, too.

It was tres cheap $30 for pedi, $20 for mani) and in no way did I feel rushed. In fact, counting the drying period - "OK, sit, relax," the nail tech insisted - I was there for well over an hour and half. I sat in the craziest massage chair ever throughout the whole thing, which included foot and hand massages, a skin softening treatment on my hands, nail and cuticle trimming, and of course, polish.

Despite my best efforts, I did muss the polish job on the way home, but for the most part, the colour is still going strong a full week later. Speaking of colour, I love the colour on my toes - OPI number 78! I remember this because while I was drying, another lady came in, saw my colour, and insisted on having it as well. How cool was that?

What I liked best about April Nail Spa  was the friendly neighbourhood feel, from the sweet nail techs to people in the next chair you could strike up a conversation with. I don't know, but maybe the sunny yellow walls have something to do with it - or maybe it's that they don't have those goofy pictures on the wall like Pure Nail Bar.

I'm making this the new rescue center for turning my battered digits into lady hands and purty feet.

I love this little hole-in-the-wall cafe. Just a counter and a couple of sidewalk tables, and some seriously good smells wafting out of the door.

The husband and I had just gotten into Nanaimo from the ferry and we were super hungry. We tried going to the spectacular-looking Modern Cafe up the street, but after seating ourselves at a dirty table and fetching our own menus and noticing that all the surrounding patrons still had only water glasses in front of them, we bailed and wandered a little further down the windy road in search of lunchtime eats.

And so, stumbled across Gabriel's, with it's Christine-friendly menu of curry rice bowls (butter chicken always gets my attention) and sandwiches with magical names like "pulled pork." With apple cider BBQ sauce. Sign us up for two, my man!

And just a few minutes later, they brought out the two sandwiches, open faced on two cute little boards. The pulled pork was tangy, dripping sauce onto the board it was served on, and helped out nicely by basic fixins' of pickle, lettuce and tomato. Maybe it was the hunger, but I think it's one of the best sandwiches I've eaten.

This place is classic diner - long lunch counter, vinyl booths, and lots of 50s memorabilia on the walls - James Dean photos, Elvis, Marilyn, old advertising posters, and a street sign from "Ragged Ass Road."

But beyond decor, nothing really out of the ordinary. Service is perfunctory, quick if not especially friendly; clientele seemed mainly made up of backpackers from the hostel upstairs. The menu is diner classic, complete with early-bird cheap breakfasts.

I had a nice Benny, that was made with bacon. Eggs Blackstone - learn something new everyday. You can't go wrong with bacon, though the Hollandaise could've used some more love - it was thinly draped over the eggs, and salty, perhaps made from a mix. I was unnecessarily annoyed when the hollandaise kept creeping over into the home fries. No, this is ketchup territory! Back, back!

A-OK about covers it. Eat, Pay, Leave.

Things I liked about the Buccaneer:

- small, family-run business
- suite for the price of a room
- window boxes full of flowers all along the railings
- free Internet access
- extremely reasonably priced in-room snacks
- free T-Hos coffee

Things I liked not so much:

- getting a funny look from the host when I asked upon check-in if there were going to be children in the room next to me - we were in town for a wedding, and the bride had just informed me that some relatives with about five (noisy, her word) kids staying there as well.
- on the second night, having two rooms on either side occupied by a group that was apparently together. All night, all the next morning, stomp, stomp, stomp, back and forth past my room. Thank god for earplugs and that separate bedroom in the rear (with a nice bed and ceiling fan for coolness).
- constant ferry traffic and thrumming from the boatyard across the way

(Yeah, I got noise issues ... is wanting quiet in a home-away-from-home such a bad thing?)

And this just mystified me:

- no housekeeping service on the only full day we stayed. Granted, somebody slept the entire morning away, but I made sure to put out the "Please make up the room" doorhanger the second we went out. But nothing. No refresh on the snacks, no new packet of coffee, no straightening of the linens? I felt a little robbed.  

Perhaps my expectations were too high. Expectations are death.

Seriously good sushi! Never mind the neighbourhood ... and yes, it's dodgy as all get out ... inside you're welcomed by the Japanese proprietess in kimono and if you like, can occupy one of the little tatami-matted booths along the walls. (Remember to remove shoes and put them neatly under the step before hopping on in, kudasai.)

The servers are all clad in kimono too, and very attentive. Oddly, they didn't serve the customary complimentary green tea that Japanese restaurants usually bring when you sat down. But I liked that they had all my favourite Japanese beers on the menu - Kirin, Sapporo and Asahi.

We ordered some gyoza and kushiyaki (prawn and scallop skewers) for appetizers while deciding on our sushi selections. Both were excellent - the gyoza tasted like homemade, with a wrapper that had none of that rubbery chewiness you get from a frozen product, and  kushiyaki were simply delicious, with just enough sauce and lovely with a squeeze of lemon.

For our sushi, we ordered the ebi roll (prawn and cucumber) and salmon maki, plus an assortment of nigiri: hamachi (yellowfin), tai (snapper), hokkigai (surf clam), and salmon. I was tempted by the chirashi sushi and special sashimi selections, but perhaps on another visit. There's definitely enough variety to keep a sushi fan busy for awhile. And everything is sooo good - even the humble salmon maki comes with a big plug of fresh, red salmon busting the seams, practically. The ebi roll was really nice too - not too much mayonnaise (I'm not a fan of mayo) and not a Roll of Ridiculous Size like some places serve.

The only criticism I might make is that the presentation of the food isn't terribly exciting. Our sushi was served on plain white plates, dollop of wasabi here, plop of ginger there. I'd love to see some laquerware, some wood blocks, some glazed ceramics - some serving ware that would match the authenticity of the rest of the experience.

As we were finishing up our dinner, some friends came in, and it turned out that our friend's boyfriend actually used to work at Tokachi many years ago. I think it's a sign of a good place when your former employees still come back to dine. We will definitely be crossing the bridge for this stuff again. (Note to Vong H.: the restaurant is actually west of the Port Mann.) Prices are very reasonable for the quality. Just say no to skimpy discount sushi! And set your car alarm.