GLC Garibaldi Lift Company Whistler French Dip Review

So I find myself in Whistler with my buddy Jeremy.  It's Springtime and the conditions aren't great but not working and playing in the mountains is basically what you want.  We had a great morning of new snow and pow on Sunday when we got up there and the conditions were worse from then on.  Regardless, it's so fun to be there and in the hills riding and relaxing.

So it turns out that I like French dips and they had one at GLC in Whistler.  Included cheddar and horseradish mayo and an option for bacon and mushrooms.

It was fun sitting there, it was a vibrant spot and I love being in Canada.

My board and foot FYI.  I've been snowboarding since 1990 and love it absolutely.  So fun!  I recently rode a OneWheel and it basically changed my life.  You mean I can snowboard EVERYWHERE?  OMG!  But I'm old now: 41 and have a lot of broken bones. Sad!

We weren't sure what the weather would be but we went for it.  Jeremy's family has a time-share there so we got some guy-time in away from the wives.

Warm and cold conditions.

Here it is.  I made sure to get the majo on the side.  It looks good.  The bread looks good, so does the jus.  Nice bamboo skewers as well.  And the salad with julienne carrots looked good, too!  O Canada! 

Beef looks okay.

Liking the skewer.

Jus dark if not thick.

Beefy and cheesy, yum!

Looks good dipped.

More Whistler highlights.

The associated Instagram post.  These are kind of fun to do.  Follow French Dip Reviews on Instagram!

Jeremy and me faking shared Olympic gold.

Double rainbow!

Pots of gold on both ends, for sure.

Tasting Notes

Smallish in size, generally
Thick jus, almost gravy-like (it's Canada, what do you expect?)
Happy I got horseradish mayo on the side
Wood/bamboo skewers.  Good job.
Great flavor
Good, chewy beef
Sandwich alone good
Thick jus gets a 3.5 (above average)
Small jus amount, sad!!
Quality bread 4 because of its small size but otherwise real good
Jus could have been hotter.  Sad!
Nearly a five in quality!
Jus flavor only 3.  Sad!

Bread 4

Meat 4

Jus 3.5

Non-Meat Toppings 4.5

Overall 4

This is a great French dip dipped into a somewhat thick jus in Canada.  

Prime Rib Dip at Issaquah Cafe, Issaquah, WA Awarded 2 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Not great) 6th of May, 2017 - Small size and lackluster cheese spoil a good opportunity

Setting the Stage

It was Saturday and I had been out hiking near North Bend.  I did the Twin Falls trail and it was pretty good.  The morning started foggy and rainy but by lunchtime it was sunny.  I tried going to Dough Zone, a new dumpling place, in Issaquah but the wait was over 15 minutes and I was impatient.  I was going to a meeting and didn't have the time to wait.  I knew I could go next door to Issaquah Cafe and sit at the bar, which I did.  It was the second day in a row I had had a French dip.  The one from the day prior at Lockstep was only okay but passable.  I was hopeful and expecting that Issaquah Cafe would do a good job.  Foursquare even had a review of someone who called their French dip "yum yum" so my hopes were high.  I have been accustomed to thinking of Issaquah Cafe and the related restaurants as good.  I think I even had this French dip in their Bothell location.

Tasting Notes

• I ordered a side salad with Bleu Cheese (as is the norm with me) and it came out right away.  It was a much fresher salad (chilled lettuce and place) than Lockstop the previous day.  It had a little cherry tomato, fresh and cold carrot stick and was otherwise good and enjoyable.  Good job on the salad, Issaquah Cafe.
• The salad dressing was served in cold aluminum cup, which I thought was also a night, even cute, touch.
• I give the salad a 4 of 5 for its fresh taste, coldness, speed of delivery and good croutons.
• I sat by a friendly mother of college-aged kids and we struck up a conversation about dining room tables. Ha.
• When I ordered the prime rib dip, it came by default with cheddar cheese which should perhaps give us immediate pause.  Who would put cheddar cheese on prime rib?  Also, there was no option for selecting the 'doneness' of the prime rib, which is also usually a sign of "meat" but not freshly sliced meat.  
• When the meal was served, it was clearly a small size, so that alone was not impressive or fun.   
• The meat was unimpressive.  One of the pictures above makes it look like there was a lot of meat in this sandwich but there really wasn't.
• I give this sandwich a 2 overall.  It was not tasty as a standalone sandwich and also didn't really blow your mind when dipped.
• There were visible bits of stuff in jus, which I think makes it seem nice and fancy and the jus as a standalone feature gets a 3 or 4.
• The sandwich was served with pickle chips, which I like. 
• They had a nice little feature was that one half of the sandwich had a green-frilled skewer and the other half had a blue-frilled skewer.  Go Seahawks!  But this didn't make the sandwich taste or seem any better.
• The cheddar cheese was melted and "embedded" with the rest of the meat and I did not find it to be additive or complementary. 
• Their burger dip comes with grilled onions.  Maybe this needed those again.  I wasn't a fan.

Conclusions

• Meat 2 - Not that great of prime rib, also not much of it, also no choice of done-ness.
• Bread 3 - Small size, toasted and buttered but just not impressed.
• Non-meat toppings 2 - Cheddar cheese that was not additive.
• Jus 4 - Visible bits but it alone could not save the lackluster sandwich.
• Overall 2 - Sorry to score this so low but I was not happy or impressed.  The cheddar cheese didn't make it much better and the jus, although good, was not good enough to bring the mediocre sandwich to the promise land.

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to North Bend Bar and Grill for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in North Bend, WA on this 7th day of September, 2016 - Prime Rib & Cheddar

So here we are at the North Bend Bar & Grill.  Jessica and I were out for date night (it was Wednesday).  We went to North Bend to check things out down there.  It's a cute little town.  Pretty limited but cute.

After enjoying clams as an appetizer, I zeroed in on the Prime Rib & Cheddar Sandwich option.  I had been in a "French dip funk" (I will explain later) and thought I might need to do it.  I wasn't that hungry so Jessica and I agreed to split that there French dip, plus it came with fries and a salad so we were good.  While we were getting settled I ordered a Rainier pint.  

So I had two choices for the dipped prime rib sandwich au jus.  I wasn't feeling up (at all) for the peppers and onions and even had a hard time talking myself into getting a sandwich with cheddar on it (was feeling like more of a purist that night).  So I went for this bad boy.  I see that they also have a turkey option, which I am sure is good.  But the prime rib wound up being pretty good meat, not surprisingly. 

Our waitress brought out the salad, which was quite nice looking.  That is carrots you see, not cheese.  And the lettuce was hearty and nice greens.

At first I was afraid that she had only brought out bleu cheese crumbles and the salad might be dry but this was just a (really) nice touch they do to their bleu cheese dressing is to top the serving container with the crumbles.  And it wound up being a very good salad!

As I mentioned, Jessica and I had agreed to split the French dip so we were both presented with a nice plate, good portion, good looking jus, and fries.  I wasn't so hungry, so this looked like a really good amount of food and Jessica even took half of hers home but she eats like a bird, sorry Jessica dear.

A close-up of the jus.  It was served in a fine, classic container, it was dark, looked quite hot, smelled good, looked rich, good, etc.  So I felt pretty confident that it would be good and it was indeed good.  It was perhaps overly salty but in general it was good jus.  When it comes to jus, it is better to err on the side of too rich rather than too bland.

Here's a close-up of the sandwich and the creamy horseradish sauce to its left.  The creamy horseradish was actually quite good: pretty spicy, etc. with a good kick but I prefer the non-creamy varieties of horseradish and as someone who in general does not like most foods overly rich or creamy.  The bread looked quite pretty, the cheese quite nice and the meat nicely crisped and such.  In general I was a fan of the presentation and felt like it would be a good meal.  

I don't know this man.  I was trying to take a picture out the window of Mt. Si behind him and he awkwardly looked over at me right as I was taking the picture so that didn't go well.  Sorry, dude, I hope you enjoyed your hamburger, conversation and glass of wine!

So here is the review, people:

• Salad good. It was a really good, nicely presented salad with nice ingredients and a fancier-than usual dressing that included a blue cheese crumble topping.   
• Jus good.  The jus looked good, hot, rich and thick upon serving and was delivered in what would be a proper container.  I wrote down that that jus was "really good" and it was also really salty.  I think we don't grade down jus for being overly salty unless it is really like over the top screwed up salty.
• Meat good.  The prime rib was indeed really good when eaten alone and seasoned quite nicely with a salty but good flavor.  The prime rib was prepared medium well and gets a strike against it because I was not presented with the option for it to be medium rare, etc.
• And then there was the bread.  Now the bread on the other hand looked okay overall and was of high quality but in general had a "floury" taste (and visible flour) and it was non-French.  It was especially spongy and not very porous (sidebar: it's called porosity or void friction and needs to get added to the metrics page).  You don't want an overly absorbent bread, which this was.  It wasn't too soft but it was also not buttered much if at all and it wasn't very toasted.  The bread did not ruin it for me but it also did not make or really help the sandwich in any significant way; the highlights were the salty meat and cheese and the quite rich jus.
• Cheese good.  The chedder cheese topping was of good quality, nice and thick.  It added benefit to the sandwich.  The sandwich alone (when eaten without the jus was pretty good but not to die for.  The meat was good.)   
• Horseradish cream was there, but whatever.  As I previously mentioned, the horseradish cream was good but of the creamy type and had the right amount of spiciness.  But I did not really splurge on it (one dip, I believe) as it is not really what I needed or wanted at the time. 
• Fries.  It was nice that they gave out both fries and a very salad.  The fries were only okay with some a bit on the mushy side.  As is my basic custom, they were dipped into ketchup.  Mustard was not on the table I don't believe and had it been I would have most likely used that mustard for dipping my fries into, okay? 

Ratings

• Overall sandwich dipped.  This sandwich was a 4 of 5 overall.  It loses points for the bread primarily. In general, this was a high priced meal at $15.99 but because it came with fries and salad, cheese, prime rib and the size was pretty good, it is not entirely outlandish, especially for the Seattle area.  It was also a nice feature and touch that they split it between me and Jessica and each portion was quite generous.  
• Bread.  I score the bread as a 2 of 5 for a few reasons: quite white in color, not buttered much if at all, not toasted much, not very crunchy, had some taste like flour, overly absorbent.
• Jus.  The jus I will score as a 4 of 5 primarily due to its saltineess but in general it was rich and good.
• Meat.  The meat gets a 4 of 5 for being crunchy and nice and salty and tasty and prime rib.  It could have been better had I been given the option to choose doneness but overall it worked very well with this sandwich and was enjoyable.
• Cheese.  I give the cheese (non-meat topping) a 4 of 5 given its quality, thick cut and value-add to the sandwich.  

So there you have it, dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. reader person.  I hope you enjoyed the review and will enjoy a French dip of your own very soon.  Or at least a conversation about one.