Monday, January 31, 2011

Salty Tounge Cafe

The Salty Tounge Cafe is the daytime incarnation of the Long Table at the Irish Heather. Having been to the Long Table on a few memorable occasions (first and second,)one that has yet to be documented and one that is going to happen tomorrow, I thought it was high time that I hit the place in the daytime. I hear that Reese Witherspoon had a sandwich there once. All good enough for me.

I was down in Chinatown picking up my prize from the Vancouver is Awesome fundraiser (woo hoo!) and I felt it was a perfect time to head the the Salty Tongue.

saltytounge 004

They had a nice crowd for lunch but there was plenty of seating as they do have the long table. I like that it is the only option for seating.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Ebi Ten (Robson)

I have walked by Ebi Ten on Robson many times. It is in the strip of fast food type restaurant by the Library. I have had hit and miss luck with these places. More bad luck than good. One of my co-workers suggested that I try Ebi Ten as she loves the sushi there. Okay, I am always up for a recommendation.

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Mistake. I was doing some errands and didn't have a lot of time left in my lunch so I went for some of their take out rolls. Not a good choice, it turns out.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Creme de la Crumb (CBC Plaza)

One of the perks of working at my location is that we are two blocks away from the Library. One might assume that being so close to the Library that I would return every book on time. Doesn't happen. I like to think of late fines as doing my civic duty in keeping the Library open. You are welcome, Vancouver.

I was returning some books, late-sigh, last week so I decided to run across the street for a sandwich at the CBC Plaza. The restaurant there used to be a Bread Garden. I really don't like the Bread Garden so I never used to eat there. Last month Big M and I went to a live taping of the Debaters and we chose to meet at the Bread Garden which turned out to have changed owners and is now a Creme de la Crumb. I had a quick sandwich there and was surprised by how much I liked it but I didn't have my camera with me to get a photo.

cremedela 006

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Fresh Bowl South East Asian To Go

Laksa has become my new obsession ever since my dinner at Bo's. Last week, during a failed attempt to give Salsa and Agave's a second go, I ended up at Fresh Bowl South East Asian To Go.  A small take out joint tucked into the very end of Yaletown.

Fresh Bowl 004

I have peeked in the window here a couple of times during my trips into Yaletown. I like the decor- bright, modern and clean- but the prices seemed a bit on the Yaletown expensive to me. $10.00 for a noodle bowl? But, I was running out of time on this day so I decided to give it a go.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

JJ's Fine Dining (Vancouver Community College)

I love schools. My early 20s saw many a haircut at the hairdressing school that used to be on Cambie St. It was cheap and there is a supervisor there, what can go wrong, right? I feel the same way about culinary school dining experiences. I had a great time at PICA so I was looking forward to trying the cafeteria at Vancouver Community College.

A perfect opportunity appeared on Monday when Cool J, of Lez Reno fame, emailed with an open lunch date. Jax is always up for an adventure!

On the way to the caf, we went past the formal dining lounge, JJ's Fine Dining and thought this sounded like a great idea. They run on the idea that the culinary students are the serving staff and the chefs. After confusing the first student by asking if we needed a reservation or if we could walk in and eat, another student decided we could and sat us.

The best part of the restaurant- watching the chefs make your food on a giant TV in the dining room.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Biercraft Tap and Tapas Bar (aka Stella's on Commercial)

Biercraft Tap and Tapas Bar used to be Stella's. I find it strange when a restaurant changes names. Especially one that has been around for such a long time- and to a much longer name. Why? Trying to find to the answer on their website is no help. They talk about opening the first "Biercraft" in 2005. Well, it was true but it was Stella's. They never mention the name "Stella's" in the website. Why work on a brand for so long just to ignore it with a name change?

We have been going to Stella's for years (and to Santo's before that, to lay down some old school Commercial Drive, yo). Great beer selection, nice room and good food. Great luck if you are able to get a seat on the patio in the summer.

BierCraft
Photo by Knightbefore_99 on Flickr.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Urban Thai Bistro

Back to the real world of the 5 day working week. Sigh. That does mean that I will back to a more normal lunch and blogging schedule.

Note- this is the first posting with pictures from my new camera that Big M gave me for Christmas. He was tired of looking at my crappy pictures. He also gave me a "Digital Photography for Dummies" book. I am now going to state that obviously I have not started to read the book, or the camera manual, because the quality of these pictures is terrible. They will get better, I promise...

2011 is also our big office move. We will be moving to a more central downtown location in June so I am trying to finish up some of the Yaletown places that I want to go to before that time. So Courtney and I decided to head to Urban Thai Bistro. They used to be on regular rotation for some of my coworkers but I had not yet managed to go there.

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Re-Up BBQ

The last downtown lunch of 2010 happened on a cold, but beautiful day in Vancouver. I could think of no better way to celebrate the beautiful day than by going for some street food. A Twitter suggestion from @YVRBcbudz led me in the direction of Re-Up BBQ. Great suggestion since I had not made it to them yet.

Located at the Art Gallery near where the countdown clock was (still is?  I didn't notice...), the Re-Up sell pulled pork sandwiches and iced tea. Period.

ReUp BBQ 001
(picture taken on Dec 30, 2010- Vancouver rules!)