Category Archives: pastries/cookies

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

Solly’s Bagelry In Mt.Pleasent

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Solly’s has been serving up there award winning bagels and Jewish comfort food to Vancouverites for many years now. The area has gone from being a deserted after 6pm business area to a great family filled neighborhood that adds to the charm of Solly’s. There is lots of seating inside and some patio space outside when the weather is nice. The sandwich counter runs along one side of the restaurant and the ordering system is kinda messed up, if you want a sandwich or something to eat in you order at the far end of the counter and pay at the other end but if you want just some bagels to go or a dessert you can order that at the pay area.

Food wise I was in the mood for a sandwich so I went with there full “meat” deal which is a pastrami sandwich on rye and choice of spinach salad or soup for $11.75. All together it was a nice sized plate of food and the thick cut potato chips were a nice touch-they had a great seasoning on them.

The salad was dressed with what tasted like a soy vinaigrette, the almonds were a great touch but the mushrooms were a bit of a disappointment, they seemed to be really water logged and tasted kinda blah, other than that the spinach was good and it was a decent salad compared to what other places offer up.

My sandwich was a solid pastrami sandwich, the meat as you can see was sliced pretty thin but it packed some big flavor and the mustard but that richness of the meat.  If I were to do one thing to make this sandwich better would to have thicker sliced meat.  The pickle on the side was a solid choice as well, it was crisp and tart with a nice dill hit.
Solly’s also offers up a ton of take home and frozen Jewish delicacies and at the end of the day the price might be a bit high but you do get what you pay for and supporting a local business is always a plus.

Solly's Bagelry (Mt. Pleasant) on Urbanspoon

Deacon’s Corner

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Deacons Corner sits on the border of the Downtown Eastside and Gastown and is serving up classic diner food and all day breakfasts. I can remember eating here years ago when it was a generic white box and the food was pretty so so. Now with the same owner as Gastown’s Cobre being the proprietor of this joint the good food and solid service have arrived at The Deacons Corner.
On my first visit I had the classic clubhouse with fries. For $11.75 you get the usual suspects in a classic clubhouse-freshly roasted chicken, fresh tomatoes and lettuce and perfectly cooked bacon. This was one of the best clubhouses I’ve ever had and it’s simply because of the fresh ingredients. The fries here are hand cut and tossed with salt and pepper and are totally addictive.
On another visit I tried their daily special-a ham steak sandwich with bacon, Swiss cheese and cheddar with a bowl of potato, ham and leek soup for $10.00. This was a bit hit and miss for me, the soup was the off part, I got a few big chunks of bay leaf on my first few spoonfuls and consequently that’s all I tasted in the soup from then on. The sandwich on the other had was good and full of porky goodness with the thick cut fried ham steak and the bacon. It’s a classic diner sandwich at the end of the day.

The burgers here are where it’s really at, the toppings are classic and fresh and again I went with the fries.

Each burger here comes with 2 homemade little patty’s, the meat is cooked on a flat top grill and I chose to add cheese. For $9.75 this is the best and cheapest burger I’ve had in a while, when it’s put all together you get this:

The perfect burger!, they have a couple of specialty burgers on the menu that look really good so if you’re looking to satisfy that craving for a perfect cheese burger check out the Deacon’s Corner and they’ll hook you up right.

Deacon's Corner on Urbanspoon

Lunch At The Acme Cafe

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The Acme Cafe is a favorite of mine when I’m looking for a new take on diner classics so on this visit I tried their take on the chicken club sandwich.

I started with one of their solid milkshakes, in this case I chose the espresso milkshake for $5.25 and I must say the make a great one that has a couple fresh shots in every shake.

This is the star of the show, the Acme’s $12 take on the chicken club contains the following ingredients: multi-grain or white bread, chicken, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato, arugula, sun-dried tomato mayo and grainy mustard. The sun-dried tomato mayo and grainy mustard add a totally unique taste and flavor to the sandwich and the fresh roasted chicken is moist and tender. Sandwiches here come with broccoli almond slaw and potato chips-I went with all slaw and I must say they have really good dill pickle spears here.

One thing that’s not to be missed here is the dessert case by the front door.  It’s stocked fresh daily with homemade cakes, pies, cookies and other yummy pastry’s by Peggy and the amazing pasty chef they have in-house.

Acme Cafe on Urbanspoon

Back To Thierry-This Time With Mary

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I hit up Thierry again this week for some deserts and this time I took Maryinvancity along with me to try some treats after a Canuck’s preseason home game~what better way to drowned one’s sorrows than with fine deserts!.

When we got there around 9:30 the place was packed but we were lucky and scored a table on the patio, we grabbed a selection of deserts so on to the food!

Chocolate Opera Cake $6.95, a layer of chocolate ganache and chocolate butter cream with coffee type liquor and topped off with a  think hard layer of chocolate, for being so small this bad boy packs a punch and is quite rich, I really enjoyed it but Mary found it a bit to rich.

Blueberry Tart $6.55, like the exotic fruit tart I’ve had before but with just blueberry’s and vanilla pastry cream, I like the fruit tarts here and Mary also really enjoyed it, we both commented on how rich the pastry cream is without being heavy.  This dish is a total winner.

Chocolate Trio $6.95, layers of white chocolate mousse, milk chocolate mousse and dark chocolate mouse with 2 thin layers of chocolate cake, the mousse’s are really rich and creamy yet are light and airy so it’s actually pretty easy to eat one of these yourself.

Assorted Macaroons $11.95 for 7, by the time we got here a lot of the popular flavors were sold out, in this selection we got a couple of chocolate with hazelnut butter cream, a lemon, a key lime, a cappuccino and a chocolate with pistachio butter cream.  A couple of the bigger macaroons were kind of hard to eat but most were soft and tender and the butter cream fillings were really nice, some of the  macaroons have a little surprise in the form of a jam or real fruit drop in the butter cream middle~really nice.

Thierry Patisserie on Urbanspoon

Revolver Coffee

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Revolver Coffee has opened it’s doors and these boy’s are bringing an interesting take on your cup of joe. It’s owned by the Gianniakos family who also owns the Crema in West Vancouver. The new Gastown cafe is actually operated by the four brothers and Vancouver designer Craig Stanghetta, the man behind the design of Meat and Bread, Pizzeriafarina, Stackhouse Burger Bar and L’Abbattoir is responsible for the look of the place.

Revolver is what premium tea houses are to tea lovers but in coffee form, the deal here is the coffees are all specifically prepared depending on the type of beans and roast the customer chooses, you also only have one choice in size~12oz so it really is all about the specific coffee, they employ a very cool brewing processes including steel filter, clever, aeropress, siphon or French press for a nominal extra charge.

You really do get a hand crafted cup of coffee just for you and that really comes thru here.  The brothers really love coffee and have a passion for doing it right.  Besides coffee and espresso you also can munch on cookies and other fresh baked pastries~the croissants are killer.

For $3.50 for a hand crafted cup of coffee what more can you ask for ??, Revolver Coffee is a welcome addition to the neighborhood and Vancouver food scene.

Revolver Coffee on Urbanspoon