Five Loaves

Mama Meata Pasta at Boston Pizza (RIP)

It is with great sadness that I write this post, so I will be brief.

Pasta Tuesdays at Boston Pizza used to be one of my favourite day specials at any restaurant. Every Tuesday, you can get any one of their pastas for only $9.75! This is quite the deal, considering that some of them are usually upwards of $13-$14 bucks. Each time I went, I only got one pasta: The Mama Meata Penne. The Mama Meata always lived up to it’s name; it was the mother of all meaty pastas. Sometimes when I eat a pasta, I need to ration out the meat so that I will have enough for every bite. With the Mama Meata, it was the reverse: I had to carefully eat small amounts of pasta with each bite because, more than likely, I’d be left with a huge mound of meat at the end.

The Mama Meata was made with smoked ham, pepperoni, ground beef, spicy Italian sausage, meatballs and a little bit of penne. With that kind of combination, I really don’t know how you could go wrong! Unfortunately, Boston Pizza has decided to pull the Mama Meata from the menu. I did a bit of googling, and it seems that they were attempting to limit the amount of trans fat on the menu. Regardless of the reason, Mama Meata, you will be missed!

Note: At Boston Pizza, you can still *try* to order the Mama Meata. Even though it wasn’t on the menu, I asked for it last Tuesday and they made it for me anyways, although they also told me not to count on that happening each time.

Screamers at Husky Market in Vancouver

I was having a bubble tea at the Dragon Ball Tea House when it dawned on me that I might be able to get a Screamer across the street.  I remembered from reading Jeff’s post on Vancouver Is Awesome that the Husky Market at Oak St & W King Edward Ave sold them and he was right.  Yay… another location to get this awesome summer treat!

While the Screamers at Danny’s Market and Baguette Time are masterfully assembled by the staff, its strictly a DIY affair at Husky Market.  This means that you can do Screamer experiments!  Change the soft serve to slurpee ratio!  Go wild! Use your imagination!

It appears that Screamers are all the rage this summer.  Yum-O-Rama, 604 Foodtography, and Sherman’s Food Adventures have all posted about it as well as my first Screamer review here at Five Loaves.  Even The Richmond Review wrote an article about it last week.

Enjoy everyone!

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Did you get your free slurpee from 7-11?

Its a hot sunny Saturday, July 11, 2009. What a perfect day for 7-11 to give out free slurpees! Did you get your free slurpee? When I swung by to get my free slurpee, it was not busy at all.

These slurpee machines will be working hard and overtime today!

I filled my small cup with Dr. Pepper Cherry then I was ready to bounce!

Lulu Island Winery Grand Opening in Richmond

Several years ago, owners John Chang and Allison Lu started Blossom Winery at a storefront location in a Richmond strip mall. The store welcomed a steady stream of tourists from Taiwan, Japan, Korea and China. They exported most of their blueberry, raspberry, and ice wines to these markets.

Tourists came to taste and purchase wine. Some customers asked, “Where are your vineyards?” This prompted the owners wanting to provide the ultimate wine experience for their customers.

From these humble beginnings, Chang and Lu opened Lulu Island Winery, a new 22,000 square foot facility in Richmond. The facility is situated on 14 acres of land at 16880 Westminster Hwy by No. 7 Road. It has multiple tasting rooms and a restaurant will be opening soon. The grape vines were planted more than a year before the completion of the new facility.

read more…

Pearl Castle opening in Richmond Centre!

Update (Oct 06, 2009): Click here for review of Pearl Castle at Richmond Centre.

Update (Oct 04, 2009): Pearl Castle at Richmond Centre opened!

Update (Aug. 2nd, ‘09): Found out the the Pearl Castle at Richmond Centre is actually a franchise, and not a corporate branch. This could raise some questions about quality and consistency! Also, as of today, they are still not open. You can see them still painting the walls..

Pearl Castle, probably one of the best bubble tea places in Richmond, is opening up an expansion store inside Richmond Centre! They’ll be taking over the old Kin’s Farm Market space opposite Carlton Cards and McDonald’s near The Bay.

So far, everyone I’ve talked to about this is pretty excited. If Pearl Castle can maintain the level of quality that has made their Sexsmith restaurant famous, the new location should do very well! The new location has a very large space, with plenty of room for a kitchen as well as a dining area. Since you can access the store from outside, we can also expect that their hours of operation should remain the same as the current location.

I don’t know when the new Pearl Castle will open, but if you follow this blog we will let you know once it does (along with our impressions of course!) If any one has any additional information, please post it in the comments. The only link I could find was on the Richmond Center website under ‘Coming Soon’: http://www.richmondcentre.ca/store/index.ch2