Mashed Thoughts

Bistro 101 at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts had a $18 Dine Out Menu and it proved to be very popular, the dinner hours booking solid on the first day the Dine Out Menus were released. I've been wanting to go back ever since we went last year, and this time, we invited our parents along.

I liked the look of the Dine Out menu and in addition to this you can ask your server if there are any specials that day. When we went, we could order a chicken dish as the main if we wanted to.

Like always, we get a complimentary bread basket and this time there were a lot more varieties of bread: baguette, brioche, sun dried tomato focaccia, cheese sticks, and a whole bunch more. I loved them all but especially the brioche. It was light and airy and so delicious! We polished the basket off in no time and was asked if we wanted a second. Hurray! More brioche!

With the bread basket, came three types of flavoured butter: sun dried tomato, chive and Parmesan.

As an amuse bouche, we were given scallop bruschetta with lemon zest. We all agreed that this tasted amazing!

BC Scallop with apple cider infused beet puree and micro kale salad

Mom chose the scallops for her appetizer but said the amuse bouche tasted better. lol

Yukon Gold Clam Chowder with homemade naan stick

K said the clam chowder was good but nothing special.

West Coast Seafood Cake - with fennel and arugula salad and mustard seed cream

I knew my mom would go for the scallops so I went with something different. I decided to try the West Coast Seafood Cake instead. It was pretty good, made up mostly of salmon.

Steelhead Trout en Croute with eggplant ragout and braised winter greens

On to the mains, my mom had the Steelhead Trout and gave some for me to taste and really liked it! It was cooked perfectly.

Pilsner Braised Boneless Short Rib with caramelized roots and pearl onions

Dad had the short rib but didn't find it amazing. He said it was a little salty.

Pan-roasted Duck Breast with rosemary gnocchi

I had the duck bread with gnocchi and it was delicious. I wasn't too fond of the sourness of the sauce but overall the plate was great.

Poached Pear and Amaretto Tart with Candied Ginger Ice Cream

Mom chose the poached pear tart and it looked amazing. She enjoyed eating it too.

Torrone Semifreddo with rum syrup

K and dad had the semifreedo. They seemed to like it.

Chocolate Cardamom Truffle Cake with coffee essence

Mmm truffle cake. The sauce tasted like coffee. It didn't really look that nice plated like that. But appearances, aside, the cake was deeelish!

At $18, the meal was well worth it. Their usual cost for a three course meal is just $24, which is still a good deal! Great place to eat good food at low cost. Always worth the repeat visit!

Here was their $18 Dine Out menu:

Appetizer

Entree

Dessert

Walking down Saint Jacques Street, W and I arrived at the oldest bank in Canada - the Bank of Montreal. Architecturally, it looks amazing with the columns, marble flooring and beautiful high ceiling. We wandered around inside for a while. There's not much to see but there are some displays of old bank notes and such. It still functions as a bank and it is the BMO headquarters!

My university group of friends chose this restaurant this year for Dine Out. Everyone wanted something in the $18 range and Rocky Mountain Flatbread in Kitsilano came up.

There is sort of two sides to the restaurant, one is where most of the kids are. I ended up going early and our table was changed to the other side where the kitchen was located. It was very busy!

The kitchen is open so you can watch the staff make your pizza and put it in the oven.

Nice food quotes on the wall behind our table.

You can choose any of the Base or Ascent Flatbread Pizzas or pasta for entries or other flatbreads for an additional cost.

The specials of the day are written on several chalkboards located in various locations around the restaurant.

Cream of Cauliflower soup

The starters was soup or salad. The soup of day was cream of cauliflower. One of my friends thought it was a little bland while the other thought it was just right. I don't know who to believe. =/

Basil Blackberry Salad - Assorted greens, crimini mushrooms, mango & roasted red bell peppers, tossed in a basil & blackberry dressing

The rest of us chose a salad for our starter. We could chose any of the three house salads: Fresh Herb Salad, Basil Blackberry salad or Fig & Goat's Cheese Salad. I was leaning toward the Basil Blackberry and the Fig & Goat's Cheese. I ended up going for the Basil Blackberry - as this everyone else. It was pretty good. I liked the mango in it and I can definitely taste the blackberry and basil in it.

Farmers Market - Tomato sauce, mozza, roasted eggplant, crimini mushrooms, parsnip, cherry tomatoes, pesto + goat cheese

We all ordered a different type of pizza for our entry but ended up swapping slices so that we could taste each others. There were five of us so we each ended up with two slices of our own pizza and four from the others. I decided on the Farmers Market, which everyone agreed, out of all we tried was the best. Score! The ingredients actually change I think, it is whatever they get that is in season from the local Farmers Market.

Apple Chicken - Organic tomato sauce, mozzarella & aged chedder cheese, certified organic rosemary lemon, pulled chicken, sliced local apples, shaved red onions, cherry tomatoes & housemade three herb nut free pesto.

The Apple Chicken came from the Summit flatbread pizza section and costs a dollar more than the others. I also liked one. The apples made it sweeter than the normal pizza.

Country Harvest - Organic tomato sacue, fresh spinach, spiced roasted BC corn, baked portobello mushroom, roasted red bell peppers & three herb nut free pesto.

Country Harvest was going to be my second choice - because of the portobella mushrooms. I liked it but A. thought the corn didn't need to be there and it's like missing something but she couldn't figure out what.

Naturally Meaty - Organic tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh spinach, spicy certified organic ground beef, Italian sausage, shaved red onions & sliced roma tomatoes. Topped with fresh herbs & asiago cheese.

Mmm, here comes the meaty pizzas. Naturally Meaty and All Beef Pepperoni were a little spicy. I preferred the Naturally Meaty pizza to other. Both were still delicious though.

All Beef Pepperoni - Organic tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, organic beef pepperoni, shaved red onion, crimini mushrooms & sliced roma tomatoes. Topped with fresh chopped herbs.

The pizzas were satisfying and I like the crunchy thin crust. Delicious!

Warm double chocolate brownie with ice cream

Dessert time! There were two dine out menu and also a third choice written on the chalkboard, which was the red wine poached pear. Normally I'd gone for the brownie but why not try something different? So I went for the pear.

Almost famous cheesecake

Red wine poached pear served with vanilla ice cream

We thought that they could have lost the orange slice on the place. It looked so out of place and made the desserts look tacky. The pear was ok. It wasn't really sweet so I had to eat it with the ice cream, which was yum.

I enjoyed my time there. Food was good and so was the company. It is always great to catch up with old friends. It's a nice casual place to enjoy dinner but we really didn't need to go during Dine Out since they offer the same deal every Thursday which lasts until April. It's a pretty good deal and worth the visit.

The $18 menu here: