The original plan was to go to Boneta. Alas, we found out at the last minute that it's closed on Sundays, so we had to quickly come up with an alternate restaurant for dinner. Italian Kitchen was one of those places that opened when I was away from Vancouver, so I didn't catch much of the press surrounding it. My friend also hadn't heard of it before, so we were walking in there with clean slates. As we stepped in, I was immediately impressed by the simple and sleek design of the room, and the way it contrasted with the brightly-lit bar. We chose to sit at a more secluded corner booth inside (although there is a small but inviting patio!), and immediately began scoping out their menu. Choosing was difficult, since the restaurant offers a good deal of variety in terms of both appetizers and mains. After we finally made our selections, it wasn't long before the antipasto arrived at our table...

With the Victoria Day long weekend now behind us you're probably getting down to business right about now, sorting through all of your tasks and wondering where your next business lunch will be.

Sala Thai's Burrard Street location is a good option for lunch with colleagues, potential clients and even your mom when she comes to town. The prices are reasonable for a casual dining environment that borders on having a formal atmosphere.

I ended up at Legendary Noodle because I had been bugging my Chinese-teacher-turned-friend to take me for Chuan'r, a type of Chinese meat-on-a-stick street food. It's very popular and available all year round, but is best had on late summer nights, while sitting outside with a bottle of Tsing Tao beer. When we got to Legendary Noodle on Main Street, we were informed that Chuan'r was only available at their Richmond location. A little disappointed but very hungry, we decided to stick around and give the handmade noodles a try.

There were three of us, so we ordered three appetizers and three noodle dishes. We started with the Tudou Si, a type of shredded potato dish available in pretty much any restaurant in China. It was very well done, with just the right amount of spice and flavor. We then tried the Pea Shoots with Garlic, which were fresh and incredibly tasty. I would go back again just to have them. We also had Guo Tie (fried dumplings) - these were a favorite of mine in China, but the ones at this restaurant had just a little too much ginger for my liking.

More on the main dishes after the jump...

Are you a picky eater? No? Well then, do you like eating really creative sandwiches perhaps? The Salty Tongue Deli might be the spot for you. Unlike other sandwich options in Vancouver the Salty Tongue Deli serves up exactly what you want on demand. That's right - they have a selection of sandwiches but you can substitute everything on the menu.

When you are ready for a REAL adventure I would take things a step further and use the handy form to create a sandwich from scratch. To do this you must pick up this piece of paper near the till and check off what sandwich options you are craving. For my selection I chose some turkey, cranberry relish, humus, banana peppers and some greens. Sound gross? It was! I did enjoy it though because I picked everything myself so I had nobody else to blame.

When I think of Vancouver's Gastown I'm often thinking of all the places to get a soup and sandwich at lunch. Today though, I have another pleasure on my mind: the rich and flavourful tastes of Incendio Pizzeria, a well-known haunt for locals and tourists looking to fly under the radar and enjoy some time with friends.

The signature of the Incendio brand is the wood fired brick oven that is used for their home style thin crust pizzas. With all the fresh ingredients kicking around the kitchen this restaurant also features a
wide selection of salads and pasta dishes to keep you coming back when you're not in the mood for a slice.

My friends and I have a checklist. And on this checklist we have items that we need to do together sometime in the near future. Hikes, good movies, restaurants... they're all on there. But the more we try to whittle this list down, the larger it grows, as ideas always get tossed in the mix every single time we all meet.

Our latest attempt to check an item off on the list involved a popular style of Chinese food. My good friend, affectionately referred to as "C-Donk", has resided in Vancouver all his life, but yet surprisingly he's never tried the Chinese cuisine (more like religion) known as dim sum. So taking personal responsibility as a noble member of the Chinese community, I found the perfect restaurant to de-virginize him to the dim sum experience.

And so we ventured over to the "ghetto", East Van, to a somewhat isolated Chinese restaurant with a damn

good reputation. Happy Valley Dim Sum Seafood Restaurant (I love Chinese restaurant naming conventions!). It's rated on Dinehere.ca as one of the best dim sum joints in our little corner of the Pacific Rim. This place was little bit off the beaten track, but well worth the journey. It's actually just up the hill and around the corner from the Rupert Skytrain station. It's too bad this place isn't immune to the long queues that plague the other traditional two-dollar dim sum institutions that we also frequent - you'll still need to line up after 10 a.m. on weekends if you haven't made reservations.