'Appy Hour at The Flying Pig (Olympic Village)

B and I have been on a Happy Hour binge lately. Our latest visit was to The Flying Pig, where we've been for brunch and dinner before. It's always been solid: good service and good food.

It's amazing how different food is when served at Happy Hour and at Dinner. When we visited during Dinner, the Truffled Jumbo Macaroni was delicious and left you wanting more. During Happy Hour, it was bland and average. There was a good amount of it though, so you'll definitely be full.

B liked the Beef Carpaccio, but I thought the greens on top made it too bitter and overpowered the flavour from the beef.

I don't know why I keep doing this, but it's never a good deal to order a Meat & Cheese Board at a restaurant unless you know they cure their own meats. Based on the selection, I would've been better off going to Costco and getting a variety pack.

The Beef Short Rib Croquette was fine. I actually thought we ordered the Mac n' Cheese Bites from Dubh Linn Gate because the texture of the Croquettes were gooey and not meaty at all.

When these P.E.I. Mussels arrived, B's first words were "This must be the smallest serving of mussels I've ever seen." One of them was closed too, so we couldn't eat it. But we got 2-3 each. They were fine, we were just disappointed that they didn't catch the closed (dead) one.

Overall, we think Brunch and Dinner is good at The Flying Pig, but wouldn't return for Happy Hour.

Federico's Supper Club

Went to Federico's for Mother's Day Dinner. Usually I find that when a restaurant takes reservations on open table for a special day, it's a bad sign- I'm lucky I was wrong because Federico's was such a great experience.

We had a party of 11 and were charged automatic gratuity. Usually that would mean bad service, but our server Vladimir took great care of us.

As appetizer we shared the Fritelle di Baccala, Cozze e Fagioli, and Carpaccio Di Manzo.

I couldn't take a picture of the cod before the others dug into it. The dish was fine, the breading on the fish was crispy and not soggy at all- just wasn't a fan of the mint on the side.

The mussels were great. The sauce had lots of flavour and the mussels were cleaned and cooked well. The cannellini beans added great texture to it.

The carpaccio was also very good, although if you're not a fan of cheese you may not enjoy it. The truffle oil was pungent and so aromatic and enjoyable.

Some time between appetizers and main course, a guitarist set up camp on stage and started playing acoustic guitar covers of pop music. He was so good I actually noticed each song ending and start applauding. The live music really livened up the atmosphere and made talking to each other more enjoyable.

As our Primi, we picked the Pasta Challenge dish: Romagna Mia, pappardelle in beef and chicken liver ragu, accented with flavours of pancetta, vermouth, sage, tomatoes and Grana Padano shavings. It was so rich, but delicious. B thought it was "too" rich, but the liver was perfect for me. My advice, try it before the challenge is over (if you like liver)!

As our Secondi, I ordered the Bistecca alla Griglia, the flat iron steak, cooked rare. It was a decent sized piece of steak, but I think the chef erred on the side of MEDIUM rare instead of rare. It was still juicy and tender though. It was seasoned well and I loved the caprese tomato to lighten it up.

My brother had the Braciola di Maiale. He enjoyed it and said the pork was very tender.

Other dishes included the Merluzzo Arrostito and Scottadito. Both enjoyable.

Overall, the entire dinner was enjoyable and we would return again. Try it out before the pasta challenge ends!

Yaletown L'Antipasto

The last dine out of 2014 and with a great crowd.

A few of us got off work early so we met up at the restaurant first. It was so hard to find, we all walked right past it. I had to look for the address to find it and my friends only found it when I waved at them.

Since we arrived an hour early, they decided to completely ignore us until 6:30pm - though, they did pour water for us and bring us the menu. They also brought the drink menu but didn't ask if we wanted to order drinks. I wanted to order a scotch to keep me warm while we waited for the rest of the party to show up.

Our fourth member showed up right on time and I was able to tell our server we can order while we wait for the last member. Our last member was running behind and by the time the beef tenderloin carpaccio showed up, she was still on her way. Our server was professional enough to realize the heat lamp will warm the carpaccio and offered to put her dish in the fridge while we wait.

The beef carpaccio was a little oily. Luckily we had bread that wasn't served when we were seated to absorb the oil. Maybe that was the purpose of the bread and that's why they didn't serve us bread when we sat down. We were served olives instead, which is a bold choice since not many people like olives.

As main course I ordered the pappardelle rosse. It was pretty tasty. The pasta was al dente and the ribs, chicken and sausage added really good and complex flavour to it. The only downside was that it too was very greasy / oily. Luckily, I eat from picking food off the top. I packed half of the pasta home and was able to avoid the oil collected on the bottom of the dish.

As dessert I ordered the vanilla panna cotta. Solid dessert. Not too sweet and very creamy. Maybe too creamy because the mouth feel was more like a creme brûlée than a gelatin. It should be in the middle.

Overall an alright experience. Plus side, we got tonnes of chocolate with our bill - which was thrown at us, but hey, the restaurant was crowded.