Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. -- What an incredible trip this was! These two cities offer a plethora of unique, appetizing eats while you enjoy their majestic landscape and bustling urban life.Let's start with Seattle...
Seattle is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful cities in the country. It has everything to offer including a beautiful diverse landscape (sandy beaches, unbelievable views, mountains in the background, Mt. Rainier), very friendly people (eco-friendly, hippies, gays, jauns...), and most importantly - diverse and unique eats.
Let's start with the CREAM CHEESE HOT DOGS! These things are probably in my top 3 best food-cart eats. I've told many people about this and the reaction I usually get is disgust. That is, until they try it. The hot dog is a kielbasa or a polish sausage. It is surrounded by fried onions, jalapenos and a generous amount of cream cheese on each side of the bun. I usually top it off with some hot sawce and I'm ready to go. After a night of crunking at the bars and listening to Sanjay boast about drinking the most alcoholic drink at the bar, there is nothing better than a cream cheese hot dog. It is such a simple concept but the flavors that enter your mouth are so intensely satisfying (that's what she said). The ecstasy or boner that one experiences while eating this is something that should be on everyone's bucket list. However, I must warn that eating too many of these (which is very tempting), especially after consuming heavy amounts of alcohol, can lead to disaster. Although, some might say that "it tastes just as good going down as it does coming back up".The next day, before we left to go see Steve Nash in Vancouver, we stopped in at Ivar's (a famous seafood chain restaurant in Seattle) for brunch. We ordered some mimosa's and bloody mary's with our seafood buffet. As with most brunch joints, you had your standard breakfast foods such as scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes, bacon (mmm...bacon), etc. Along with these, there were fresh crab legs, shrimp, seafood salads, amazing clam and salmon chowda, oysters, and others. Also, Ivar's is known for it's clam chowder and it is definitely something worth trying. It is very creamy and filled with just the right amount of clams, potatoes and other ingredients. However, there was a sweetness to the clam chowder that I didn't really enjoy.
After brunch, we headed to Vancouver to holla at the Canadians. If you ever get a chance to go to Vancouver, you MUST check it out. It is such a beautiful city with it's unbelievable views, one-of-a-kind parks, and bustling nightlife. Honestly, I went to Vancouver expecting to climb some mountains and see some elk, but there is so much more. We went out for some drinks on a Sunday night thinking the downtown/bar area would be dead, but it was as lively as Las Vegas Blvd on a Friday night. Many bars/clubs were so packed that the lines ran down the street.
I guess the point is: you should go to Vancouver and I am definitely going back there a few more times before I peace out. Furthermore, let's talk about the interesting food we ate there. That night, we stopped by one of Vancouver's neighboring city: Richmond. More than half of it's population is of Asian decent. There were certain points during my time there, when I felt like I was in China. The Vancouver/Richmond area is pretty much Shanghai: Vancouver branch campus. Anyway, we stopped by this sweet ass night market in Richmond and found some very interesting food. There were rows and rows of little shops, carnival-type games, and good eats. It was like one of those Chinese night markets that you always see on the food network where Anthony Bourdain eats scorpion on a stick. We each got a bunch of little things and tried each others food. There were fried squid, lamb on a stick (my favorite), twirly potato chips on a stick, dumplings, as well as many other delicious treats. It is a very unique experience that we do not get to have in the United States.
The next day, we went to this place called Japadog. You take a classic American hot dog, add some Japanese flavors to it, and sell it to Canadians and you have a recipe for success! Some of these Japanese flavors include seaweed, teryaki sawce, Japanese mayo, and Okonomyaki sawce (radiation). People seem to love it over there as there is always a huge crowd around the little restaurant. Although, I didn't really buy into the hype. It's a very unique taste and something cool to try... once. But, I don't think it's that special. I feel like it's the equivalent of going to Japan, and going to a place called "Amerisushi", where you buy sushi that has American condiments on it such as ketchup and bbq sauce. Hmmm.. might be good? HELL NAW! If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Next time I get a hot dog, I don't want seaweed it. I WANT CREAM CHEESE!
For dinner, 
we went back to Richmond for some traditional Szechuan cuisine. Ant found a place called S&W Pepper House that serves authentic Szechuan dishes, supposedly. Szechuan food is notorious for it's unrelenting spiciness from the use of chili peppers and peppercorn, which creates a very unique and addicting taste. The chili peppers unleashes the burn in your mouth and the peppercorn provides a strange numbness and tingling feeling. From my experiences with this type of food, it is extremely addicting but does take a toll on your GI system. At S&W, we ordered lamb, chicken, beef tripe, and fish. I'm not going to describe everything but the lamb was definitely my favorite, which was shredded lamb with cilantro, peppers, and cumin. All of the food was very flavorful and tasted pretty authentic. However, they definitely did not make this spicy to the max, since they probably looked at us as amateurs. Though, it was probably good that they played it safe with us, because we probably finished 2 gallons of water during our dinner.
After thoroughly running train on our GI, we headed back to Seattle. That night, we got some drinks and played darts and shuffle board (awesome game) at a local bar. It was time for our late night snack again. So, we decided to go to Beth's Cafe. A very unpretentious place, Beth's Cafe is one of the destinations on Man vs. Food, where Adam Richman attempted to devour a 12 egg omelet (only $15). None of us really wanted to try that challenge... except... Kenndy. Yeah, Kenndy got really hype and started wildin' out. He ordered one of the 12 egg omelets with ham and cheese... and about a pound of hash browns............... and toast. Not surprisingly, he did not finish the whole thing. However, he was a champion in that he finished the omelet part of the meal. Watching him scarf down that omelet was quite amazing, I must say. Incredible.
Lastly, we went to this place (forget the name) on the waterfront to get oysters for happy hour. They were pretty cheap, and very fresh. Not much else to say. Oyster season is in the summer so make sure you get them during that time in Seattle.
Oh wow, almost forgot! We also went to Salumi, which is a small italian deli owned by Mario Batali's father. It is only open Tues-Fri from 11AM til 4PM so you have to get there early to avoid waiting in line for so long. As you wait, you can see people from the window preparing the fresh, homemade pasta and gnocchi. The meat and cheese are very fresh. We got a plate of gnocchi, a platter of salami and assorted cheeses, and a dish with meatballs, beef, pork, and lamb. The meatballs are the best I've ever had and the gnocchi was perfectly cooked and seasoned. For the quality of food you get here, the prices are actually not bad at all. If you love Italian cuisine, you've gotta check this place out!This trip was so much fun and we certainly had a lot of great food. Much thanks to Ant for being such a great host and showing us around these two incredible cities.
