Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar : Coal Harbour Location

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar is a New Orleans inspired restaurant serving Cajun and Creole dishes such as gumbo, jambalaya and fried chicken. The first Chewies opened in Kitsilano and the second location is located at Coal Harbour in Downtown Vancouver. At the Coal Harbour location, Chewie's happy hours run from 3:00pm to 6:00pm and I believe some appetizers are 50% off and oysters are $1.00 to $2.00.

We arrived around 2:30pm and were too hungry to wait thirty minutes for a cheaper deal, but a couple of tables waited and the staff had no problems with it. The atmosphere at Chewies is fun, casual and laid back, where none of the staff looked miserable. Our server was also professional, friendly and polite, but not very attentive. A few of our dishes sat at the counter for a while before they were delivered and we constantly kept hearing "service please" from the kitchen.

But meh, he was friendly. He did not have any problems when we asked to have three courses instead of having all the dishes arrive at once because of the small table issue. As for the interior, the restaurant is fairly spacious (excluding the area with half booth seats) and Chewies has a patio too.

Re-Up BBQ

Restaurant or food stall?

I have been wanting to try Re-Up for quite some time, pretty much ever since the hype from their food trucks and of course, I love barbecue meats. But, the thing is I never knew where the food trucks were! LOL. So when I heard Re-Up opened up their own restaurant at New Westminster Quay, I was pretty excited and complained every week of how I wanted to come down here, for months. And finally made the visit.

With a colourful, organized and easy to read chalkboard menu, Re-up's menu is pretty much like any other barbecue joint. Platters are available with one type of meat along with two sides, or a larger platter with all the fixins to sample every type of meat. The restaurant offers breakfast, chilli, chicken wings and of course, barbecue meats and sandwiches. In addition, apparently the fried chicken is supposed to be pretty good here! Customers pay at the front and when the food is ready, head to the pick up area when the number written on the receipt is called out.

Hog Shack Cook House

Hog Shack Cook House is located at Stevetson in Richmond, and seems to be my-go to barbecue house. On my prior visits, I always order the Johnny's Jurassic Platter which comes with side ribs, beef ribs, chicken quarters and pulled pork. The platter is more than enough for two and there will be leftovers! By the way, this is coming from a girl who would attempt to finish it all alone too. But to be fair to myself, the only reason I cannot finish the platter is because the barbecue sauce tastes the same and my tastebuds get bored of the meats.

Walking in for a late lunch around 3:00pm on a weekday, the restaurant was dead and our waitress was friendly. The only reason for revisiting Hog Shack for the third time is because Memphis Blues was horrible. Although I do not remember Hog Shack serving amazing food and the always seemed more average to me. I mean, there has to be a reason why we wanted to try Memphis Blues right? Anyways, instead of ordering the usual platter, we chose our favourite meats and passed on the chicken and pulled pork.

Memphis Blues Barbeque House : Commerical Drive location

My photos have been looking pretty blurry lately so I decided to start using my digital camera (do people even say digital camera?). The camera looks really cute, I might upload a photo later of it later. I think I got the camera in December 2009 (since the first photo taken was from then) and it is a touch screen as well as hot pink. The price for the camera was ridiculous since it was a touch screen and I got it mainly for that reason, plus, it is hot pink. After using the camera for a couple of weeks, I dropped it once and thought what was the point of using a camera when I have my phone? However, now that I have dropped my phone many times and the lenses are scratched, I appreciate the camera now! Plus, the camera looks very cute and despite dropping it once, still looks brand new and feels like I just bought it LOL.

I have been wanting to try Memphis for a while but could never find the restaurant! The restaurant's exterior is not well lit and after trying to find the restaurant ten times, I was finally successful. Memphis is a self serve restaurant - order at the counter, pay and grab your drinks. We did not know this until the waitress told us to grab any seat and said, "when you're ready to order, come up to cash". The restaurant has a casual old school Southern atmosphere and comfortable booth seating arrangements.