Category Archives: comfort food

Street Meet

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Serving up Mediterranean influenced food, the Street Meet truck has hit the streets and is feeding hungry diners their take of Mediterranean  and Italian comfort food.  The truck is headed up by Chef’s Mike Carter and Alessandro Vianello.  I’ve had the pleasure of eating Alessandro’s food when he was Head Chef at Prestons so I knew the cooking would be solid and they would be putting out a great selection of items.

The truck’s location has been changed around since they 1st hit the streets, you can now find them at the corner of Burrard and Pender St in front of Joey’s Bentall.  There serving up lunch Monday-Friday from 11:30am-3pm(ish) and there open on some Saturdays-I’d advise following them on Twitter for daily updates.

A signature item they have are there Pork Belly Bites with an Italian Agro Dolce Sauce, $7.00.  The pork belly was a perfect balance of sweet and sour with a melt in your mouth texture.  I gobbled these baby’s up real quick.

This is what I call pig candy.  Mixed in with the pork belly-potato chips to my surprise.  They added some more great texture to the bites.

The Risotto Balls stuffed with braised pork and topped with a truffle aioli, $5.00.  I was waiting to try these bad boys for a while.  I have a deep love for risotto and risotto balls are included in that love.  These are filled with tender braised pork and the risotto is cooked with tomatoes.  The risotto itself was still nice and creamy while the outside was crunchy and drizzled with truffle aioli.  Again I’d say these are a must try item and so worth $5!

The Beef and Guinness Pie.  This savory pocket pie was filled with tender Guinness beef, pearl onions and other yummy vegetables.  The pastry was the traditional pot pie crust, not to greasy and it didn’t break apart when eating the pie with my hands.  For $6 it’s a great snack to eat on the go.

Tiramisu Cannoli’s filled with a rich mascarpone cream, $3.00 for 2 mini cannoli’s.  These were absolutely amazing.  The filling was rich and creamy because they use mascarpone and it was whipped well so there was a great fluffy mouth feel to it.  The flavor was just like a tiramisu and went well with the cannoli shell.

So far I’ve been very happy with everything I’ve had from the Street Meet truck and I’d recommend them to anyone looking for something in the comfort food department.

Street Meet on Urbanspoon

Quick Noms-Cartems Donuterie

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Recently I’ve had the pleasure of getting to try some of the other Cartems Donuterie flavors that weren’t in my earlier post either because they were sold out or their brand new creations to the Cartems donuts family.

First up is the Carrot Cake donut. With the oats on top to provide a nice texture, the inside of this donut is soft and delish. Grated carrots and spices make up the inside of this unique creation. This is one of the original flavors that I was wanting and waiting to try.

Sea Salted Caramel Chocolate Donut. A match made in heaven is what this is. The chocolate donut was moist and rich while the caramel had a depth of flavor (like when comparing milk and dark chocolate in flavor) and a grittiness from the addition of the sea salt. This is an adult treat and isn’t a caramel donut that a kid would like.

A citrus dust donut. The only way I can describe this is fresh and bright. The flavors are ones that any citrus lover would like and the sweet glaze compliments that tang from the citrus dust.

The mole 2.0 flavor donut. This is another new creation, flavored with 3 different chili’s, cardamom, cinnamon and other spices make this a complex flavor treat. After takin my 1st bite I could taste the spices but the heat from the chili’s was a creeper and hit my palette about 10 minutes later-a totally different experience from their Sweet Heat donut.

I enjoyed all the flavors I’ve had so far and with the creations that there dreaming up Vancouver’s donut obsession will continue without a doubt.

Cartems Donuterie (Pop-up Shop) on Urbanspoon

Quick Noms-One Saigon

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One of the pho places that I had yet to visit downtown is a little hole in the wall called One Saigon on Hornby St.  I found myself passing by later in the afternoon~if your a Foursquare user you get 30% off your food bill for checking in after 3pm!, you walk in and order at the counter, the menu is small but there is a bit of everything good in Vietnamese cuisine and the daily specials are worth checking out as well.

I placed an order for a couple of standard items I usually get:

A bowl of chicken pho that was around $7.50

And some spring rolls, you get 4 pieces for $5.50 or so and they are served with the usual sweet fish sauce concoction.  I found the wrapper for these to me nice and crisp but a bit greasy, on the plus side they were piping hot.

With my bowl of pho all fixed up with the usual suspects-Thai basil, bean sprouts, lime and some hot sauce, I was really impressed with how light the broth was yet it was comforting and a treat to eat.  They also get major props here for freshness of ingredients, my bean sprouts were milky white and crisp.  The noodles were not over done and there was just the right amount for the size of the bowl.

I had a satisfying meal here and the service was great, the food was fresh and tasty and the 30% off with a Foursquare check-in will have me coming back to eat a ton more from the menu.  I’d easily recommend One Saigon if you’re looking for a solid Vietnamese meal that won’t break the bank.

One Saigon on Urbanspoon

Salsa and Agave Mexican Grill

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Real good Mexican food isn’t so far away if your downtown or in Yaletown thanks to Salsa and Agave.  The place is a hit with a lot of the neighborhood residents and my good friend @MaryInVancity, you can check out her review of a lunch she had recently by clicking here.

Every table is given house made salsa and chips, I really dig the serving dishes that they use here.  The salsa is tangy without being blow your head off hot.

The special of the day on my visit happened to include something that I was looking to try anyways~the Azteca Soup, and a small burrito of your choice off the menu for $9.50.

The soup is a tomato/chili base with diced avocado, tortilla chips and cheese then drizzled with sour cream, I love tortilla soup and this is just like that and the addition of the avocado was a complete winner and something that I am going to have a lot more often in my soups and stews.  It wasn’t too spicy, also the size with the combo is a small which was a perfect lunch size.

My burrito choice was an Al Pastor and it was also filled with house made re-fried beans.

The sauce had a sweet note to it from pineapple used in the cooking of the meat, the sauce wasn’t overly spicy and the meat was nice and tender.  The beans were pureed smooth but weren’t gloppy.  With this and the soup it was  a perfectly filling meal and I didn’t have to break the bank.  I also had a glass of horchata and the side of tomatillo salsa added a nice tang to the burrito and was a nice dip for the chips as well.

Salsa & Agave Mexican Grill on Urbanspoon

Max’s Burgers~Bacon Marmalade Topped Goodness

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Attention burger lovers and addicts~there’s a new dealer in town and his name is Max and he’s gonna have you coming back for more!

Chef Connor Butler is the chef and rain’s behind the menu and the space used to be Max’s Deli owned by Bruce Redpath and Redpath Foods, he’s still the owner of the building and is the owner of Max’s Burgers.

It’s a step up from Vera’s and Sunset Burgers and is ment to appeal to the Stackhouse Burger Bar and Romer’s Burger Bar crowd with fresh ground chuck brought in from Alberta and in-house made Brioche bun’s, with extra add-ons like blue cheese, applewood smoked bacon and house-made bacon marmalade!, Hollandaise sauce, red onion rings, sautéed mushrooms he’s really setting himself apart from the others on the market. Besides burgers the menu also features ancho-chili spiced Sloppy Joes, pigs in blankets, real black truffle mayo dips, crab po’boys, a $55, 24 ounce “Behemoth” burger that comes with a pitcher of beer and all the types of fries they have~it’s gonna become a Vancouver go to spot for burgers I totally think.

My visit was on their 2nd day of opening, I walked in just 12pm and it was totally packed so I went and relaxed out of the pouring rain at the Starbucks close by. I got back in around 1:30 and it I got a table without an issue. When you walk in your intuition tells you to walk up to the counter and place your order and grab a seat but it’s not the case here and confused me and a lot of other people~grab a seat if you want to eat in and a server will come over and take your order.

The menu is full of really great sounding burgers and sandwiches and the boozy shakes sound great and something that I’m definitely going to try in a future visit.

For this adventure I wanted to try something that I heard great things about~the British Columbian Burger for $12.50, it has their house made bacon marmalade as well as Apple Wood Smoked Bacon on it as well as all there usual toppings~shredded lettuce, tomatoes and fried onions that are a free option as well as their house Big Max Sauce. All burgers come with hand cut Kennebec fries.

This bad boy was totally delicious, the different flavors from the bacon marmalade and the beef went totally beautifully together, I had to employ the Tripple D Guy Fieri move~the hunch, the juice would have totally ran down my arms!, it’s a 3 napkinr’ and a definite must try.

My fries unfortunately were the weakest part of the meal and needed to be cooked longer~I left 3/4 of them and just chowed on my burger, I’d totally try the onion rings that they have~I saw some orders of them and they looked really good.

Max's Burgers on Urbanspoon

The Templeton-Quality Food,Snappy Service!

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One place that packs them in every day is The Templeton Cafe on Granville Street.  The Templeton has occupied the space since the mid ’90′s but it’s been a diner since 1939 so the old school fixtures and vibe inside is totally authentic.

The place usually dies down around 1:30-2pm on the weekdays so it was a great time to visit and grab one of my favorite things and snap some pictures.

The shakes here are not to be missed, there made with hand scooped hard ice cream and whole milk, served in the mixing tin but glasses are available if you ask.  There thick and rich just like they were made back in the 50′s.

They also make custom made sodas as well, in the summer I’ve had many a cherry limeade made with fresh limes and cherry syrup and soda~crisp and refreshing it’s a diner classic.

This is the 777 Burger Platter, it’s a 100% certified lean organic beef on a sesame kaiser bun, all burgers come with mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickle and your choice of soup or mixed organic greens or house chipped fries or garlic mashed potatoes,  For $10.50 it’s a solid choice if you’re a burger lover.

The burgers here are really juicy and the organic beef is a great choice.

Fries here are classic skin on, thick cut chips, crisp and seasoned with some pepper as well as salt, you get a nice portion of them and they aren’t greasy.

If you find yourself downtown you should definitely check out The Templeton, it’s totally kid friendly and your sure to find something to satisfy your appetite with the varied menu that goes from breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Templeton on Urbanspoon

Acacia Fillo Bar-A Hidden Gem In A Foodies Paradise

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Hidden away in Denman Street between Delaney’s Coffee Shop and Fatburger is Acacia Fillo Bar. I’ve walked by here a million times not knowing the hidden gem that was right beneath my eyes.

Opened in 2005 by Vera and Ziggy, Vera is bringing traditional Bulgarian baking and comes from a family in the restaurant business and she a owned a successful restaurant and catering company in her home country before coming to Canada.

The service here is warm and friendly, the staff are ready to answer any questions you might have, it’s a comfortable, relaxing place to enjoy breakfast and read the paper with your coffee and a lot of the locals seem to believe that we well-it was constantly busy on both of my visits and pretty much everyone I saw eat the compliment the chef of how good everything was and I totally agree with them!

The signature dish here is the Banitza, it’s like a layered phyllo pie but the layers are end to end instead of on top of each other~it’s totally delicious and a must try for your 1st visit.

This is the spinach and feta banitza, all of the banitza’s have eggs in them but you state the other fillings more than the egg, the feta used here is from Bulgaria and all the phyllo here is made from scratch, what really got me was this~from a photographers point of view

the individual compartments of flavor and layers of phyllo and how they translate in a  picture~OK now back to the food!, I loved this dish!

It was served with a small spinach salad with balsamic dressing and a side of plain yogurt with pepper~both the salad dressing and yoghurt help cut the richness of the banitza, for $8.50 it was a great meal and a solid value.

Next up is the leek, feta and egg banitza, just like the spinach but leek this time, the flavor on this one was more savory because of the leek and the feta stood out more on this one as well~again another delicious dish and the same price as the spinach and feta banitza.

Lastly I tried something else on the menu~a filled Phyllo, this one was mushrooms and spinach

This was made fresh because they were out at the time, the filling was simple~just spinach and sautéed mushrooms, it was ok but I enjoyed the other items I had more, there were also 2 different sides with this main

a simple salad like with my other meals

and roasted potatoes and yams, these I really liked, the yams were nicely seasoned and so were the potatoes.  This meal was a  bit more than what I had before-$16 and change including a can of pop.

At the end of the day I enjoyed my visits here and am definitely going to make it a regular breakfast spot, if you find yourself in the area and want to try something a little different check Acacia Fillo Bar out, they are also open for dinner and have a selection desserts made in-house as well as catering services available.

Acacia Fillo Bar on Urbanspoon

The Spot Cafe

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The west End and specifically Robson and Denman is packed with dining options that span the ends of the earth but if you’re looking for a regular mom and pop coffee shop The Spot Cafe fills that roll quite nicely.

It has all the usual sandwiches and salads that you would expect to find as well as wraps and Panini sandwiches.  The owners work right in the restaurant and are there to answer any questions you might have, I’m not sure how many generations of the Korean family work here but it looked like the owner’s elderly parents and his kids all work behind the counter and making the food so you really do get the vibe of a family operation.

They offer some drinks sweetened with cane sugar and can be found in these glass bottles~it’s just like the sprite from the 70′s before corn syrup started screwing everything up!

I feel like a good test for a place besides trying an omelet is to try a clubhouse!~just kidding~I love’s me some clubhouse sandwiches and that’s what I felt like having, they do there’s here with house roasted shredded chicken instead of the sliced stuff you find at most places.  I watched the older lady making this and it was she was delicately assembling a bomb ~a food bomb that is, she was precise in her placement of all the ingredients down to each piece of chicken.  I used to work above a Korea run sandwich shop on Homer Street for a couple of years and it was they had some of the most well prepared sandwiches I have ever had and this place reminds me of it completely.

I watched the older lady making this and it was she was delicately assembling a bomb-a food bomb that is, she was precise in her placement of all the ingredients down to each piece of chicken.  I used to work above a Korean run sandwich shop on Homer Street for a couple of years and it was they had some of the most well prepared sandwiches I have ever had and this place reminds me of it completely.  For $7.95 it was a good value and a solid sandwich and I’d come back and eat here again for sure.

The X Spot Cafe on Urbanspoon

House Guest

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House Guest is the latest new restaurant in Gastown, after opening its doors in October the buzz about House Guest has been growing so when @MaryInVancity asked where would be good to go for a friend’s birthday dinner the other night I suggested we check out House Guest.

We got there around 7:20 and were asked by the hostess if we had reservations-we didn’t, after a few minutes we were informed that we could have a table till 8:30 when a large party was coming in, we figured that it would be enough time to have dinner so we went in.

The room has been completely transformed from the previous places that have been here, now the design and decor reminded me of a American Route 66 road house meets a space in Soho New York-it totally works and totally sets the mood.

The food is very American Regional and head chef Kayla Dhailwall is putting her unique spin on these classics, by that I mean the dishes are classics in different parts of the United States~a couple of the dishes I had on this visit are big in the Southern US and the head chef Kayla Dhailwall is putting her unique spin on these classics.

We all started with a few drinks, beer in my case for $7 each, Mary went with a cocktail called the Femme Fatale for $10~it had sweet vermouth, rye whiskey, absinthe, orange bitters, demerara, lemon and angostura bitters~it was boozy and she didn’t like the licorice flavor of the absinthe, I love my beer and czechvar lager is a solid choice if you want something light.

For appetizers I ordered the PMC with Red Eye Ketchup for $9, these are something I have never seen before but the main ingredient is one of those things huge on the States~Pimento Cheese~it’s a homemade cheese spread that contains the pimentos used in green olives, cheddar cheese as well as a creamy cheese such as cream cheese as well as seasonings~it tastes like really good nacho cheese, these were kicked up because they were macaroni and cheese and the red eye ketchup was killer as well as unique~red eye gravy is another big southern thing~it is a pan gravy made after frying a ham steak and contains black coffee and was big with cowboys and campfire cooking, it had a sweet taste to it but the coffee adds that depth similar to chicory.

Also I got an order of their homemade Crab Tater Tots with Tarragon Remoulade for $7, these were awesome and totally unique!, they were light and this was achieved by adding the crab, the remoulade was tart with lemon as well, one thing to watch out for is that it’s not a thick sauce so it might drip on you.

We were given a complementary order of the Short Rib Poutine, it was a different take on “poutine”, they use waffle cut potatoes so they were crisp like potato chips, the red eye ketchup was the “gravy” and haloumi cheese was used as well, the thing that we all really enjoyed about this was the braised melt in your mouth tender short ribs, the cheese was quite salty and because of the type of cheese it is it doesn’t melt. The consensus at the table was that this dish would have been better is traditional fries were used. You also have the option of adding pulled duck with an anchovy truffle mustard if the short rib isn’t your thing.

Mary had the Shepard’s Pie for $18, it had braised lamb shoulder, minted mirepoix, wild mushrooms, truffle whipped potatoes and natural jus. I sampled some of this and it was delicious!, the lamb was super tender and the potatoes were light and well seasoned. I’d totally order this on another visit.

Next up was the Sea Platter for $30, it consisted of skewed tempura halibut & hickory sticks, prawn cocktail, seared tuna, Candied salmon, seared scallops, crab tater tots, tarragon remoulade, anchovy & truffle mustard. It was a decent size for 1 person but would make a good appy if shared by 2 people. I didn’t try anything but the guest who ate it said they selections were good and the fish was nice and fresh.

I ordered this as well as another dinner at our table, it’s their version of a veggie burger called the “Cheese” Burger on the menu for $16, it consisted of a root vegetable & pinenut kofta , grilled haloumi , onion pakora , chutney ,baba ganoush and a Kachumber salad with rosewater tamarind dressing. Both of us missed where it said on the menu that it was veggie burger and were both surprised when we got our mains, it has definite Indian flavors and the patty kind of broke apart while eating this so it was kind of a let down, the salad was really good and had long threads of cucumber in it. Kachumber salad is a traditional Indian salad made with cucumbers and tomatoes and is a bit sweet.

For dessert we went with an order of the homemade Churos with Caramelized Spiced Sugar and Dolce De Leche and a ed Velvet Sauce. This was on the house but we all agreed that there was too much sugar on the outside, the sauces were interesting and a novel concept but were a bit thin on the consistency side, I don’t think I’d get these again.

You have the option of having a dessert trio here, your choice of 3 for $12, we went with the deconstructed cheesecake flavored with kaffir lime and a coconut crumb crust, the smore’s were next up~homemade vanilla bean marshmallow, basil ganache, banana and graham cracker crumbs~the basil threw is flavor wise with these and while I didn’t mind it the other people at out table didn’t dig these. Lastly we had the frost “hot” chocolate~chocolate ice parfait, vanilla bean marshmallow and ginger crystals, it also had a warm chocolate sauce poured over it but by the time got to it was frozen!, it was an OK dessert but the star of the plate was the cheese cake.

The menu it self looks pretty good and I’d definitely make another visit to try some of the other items plus the ambiance at House Guest is worth a few drinks alone!

House Guest on Urbanspoon

Cosca

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Cosca is one of the newest restaurants to open in the busy west end dining scene. Located on Denman street right by English Bay it’s right in the middle of some fantastic dining options.

I visited once right after they opened this summer and it was an OK dining experience. Myself and @MaryInVancity decided to come and check out there January 2012 Dine Out menu~3 courses for $15.95, with a number of options if main course it looked like a great variety options that all sounded pretty good.

You get your choice of Cesar salad, soup or mista salad for your 1st course:

I went with the mista salad

Mary went with the soup which happened to be tomato basil. The thing that you can’t tell from the pictures is the size of my salad~it was tiny and Marys bowl of soup was a full size bowl, the thing that both of ours had in common was the very coarse fresh ground pepper~we both had our mouth blown off with heat after getting huge chunks of pepper.

For my main I went with the Meat Lovers Lasagna

Mary went with the Fettuccine Pollo Lemone which consisted of fresh egg pasta, grilled chicken breast, artichokes and a lemon cream sauce. This was a really good pasta dish and the artichokes helped cut some of the richness of the sauce, the chicken was nice and juicy but the one draw back was the sauce could have been a bit thicker. My meat lasagna had beef, veal, Italian sausage and pork in it, the portion was huge but the filling was really salty and it took away from the dish and out of the 2 mains we had Marys came out on top and is something we would both order again.

For the third course you get your choice of three desserts~ tiramisu, tartufo or chocolate cherry tart.

We chose the tartufo and the tiramisu, Cosca has made some big claims on their social media that they have the best tiramisu in the city and everyone that has tried it seems to really like it, that being said it was pretty good!, it was rich without being heavy and the espresso flavor was really nice.

The Tartufo consisted of delish chocolate gelato with a hazelnut mousse inside~this was kick ass and really, really good!. We both enjoyed our desserts and thought they were the best part of the meal.

One thing that glared out to us was one thing and it might be small but it stuck out to us~every table but us was served complementary bread~I don’t know if it was because we were trying the dine out menu and that’s why we didn’t get any or they just forgot but I think diners should have the same experience of all other diners regardless of what menu they are eating off of if it was because we were eating the price fixe menu.

Cosca on Urbanspoon