Meat & Bread

I will start with high-falutin quote:
"Too few people understand a really good sandwich."
James Beard

My love of food wrapped in dough has sent me to many a sandwich shop. I have been without a favorite sandwich shop since So.Cial Custom Butcher Shop and Deli closed it's doors. Enter Meat &Bread.

Twisted Fork Bistro

A tale of two brunches, Part Two- Twisted Fork Bistro

Sarah gave me some sunchokes that she grew in her downtown garden plot last week. During the handover I mentioned that I was going for brunch on Sunday with Yvette. Sarah told me that her favorite brunch place was the Twisted Fork Bistro on Granville Street.

"You need to get there early because there is always a line up. It is a bit of a hidden gem so don't go telling everyone about it", she told me. "Of course I said, I won't tell anyone.".

Well Sarah, that was a lie. I went, there was a line up, and the food was amazing so I am going to tell the world!. Sorry, sugar.

Photo from the Scout Magazine set on flickr (mine did not turn out)

Three Lions Cafe

A tale of two brunches, part one- Saturday.

It was a beautiful Vancouver weekend for brunching. Luckily for me, I received two invitations for brunch on the weekend. Happily for me, they picked a different day and both invitations involved shopping! These are a few of my favorite things...

The Saturday brunch invitation was from Wendy. It was baby/daddy bonding day for Gabs and Rocket so Wendy and I left them sitting the couch watching football on the computer. Wendy wanted to do some shopping on Main Street and suggested the Locus for breakfast. I like the Locus' food enough, but Big M and I were there fairly recently. So we went to the Three Lions Cafe.

Restaurants: Sweeney's of Yaletown

Another beautiful fall day in Vancouver led to another search for an awesome lunchtime Yaletown adventure. Today I was in the mood for a sandwich. I did consider some street food but I was still cold from my bike ride to work in the morning so I went for a sit down joint.

Today's lunch was Sweeney's of Yaletown. I like to troll the restaurant twitters on Urbanspoon to see what everyone is offering for lunch specials. Sweeney's was offering spicy beef chili with black beans and a slice of fresh focaccia for $8.50. I can't eat chili but it sounded intriguing enough to check out their website.

Sweeney's motto is "slow food-fast". The website stated they use environmentally friendly products (their takeout containers can be composted), and the food is made to order from local ingredients whenever possible. Sounds great to me! They do offer the menu online so you can go prepared.

Vegetarian French Dinner Party

On a recent dinner date, LL made a comment along the lines of "well, you eat out a lot", which made me ponder.  Aside from lunch, I don't really eat out all that often.  I used to eat out a lot, Pre-JC, and I do eat out more now with the blog, but I really do a lot of more of my own cooking these days.  I just don't post those pictures because they are not as interesting.  The perfect solution to the boringness of those pictures, video montage!  Look for that here soon as I figure out how to do it....

Or have a dinner party!  It has been a long time since I had a dinner party.  We haven't seen Jay and Robin in probably as long (bigger hermits than Big M and I!)  Done.  Now I can show off some fancy cooking skills that I learned in French cooking class.  To make it extra interesting, Jay is a vegetarian who doesn't eat cheese.  Vegetarian French Dinner Party!  I did make Robin in charge of dessert as she went to pastry school.  I am not going to pass up that opportunity!

It was my search for a veggie-French menu that led me to my new favorite food/recipe site, Epicurious.  I enjoy how this site will offer individual recipes or menus by holiday, party theme or ingredient.  I really love the menus section as they not only list out  the recipes in the menu, many offer an info tab that gives wine parings or timeline tips.  Super helpful. 

After the search was done I chose:
Roasted Garlic Soup with Parmesan
Strawberry Goat Cheese Spring Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette
Wild Mushroom and Leek Galettes
Tomatoes Provencale

Restaurants: Poke'm

Balls! Big M had the day off and it was a gorgeous October 1st, so we decided to try another street food cart. Today's choice: Poke'm on the corner of Hornby and Robson, across from MAC.



The motto at Poke'm "Forget sausages. Go for the balls." Okay! They even have T-Shirts that say that. She said they would be available to purchase soon when they get a website. I totally want one.

Restaurants: Favorites Edition- The Clubhouse

First, some back story.  Big M took some holidays and he came downtown to take me on a lunch date.   I had bought some boots at Army and Navy the day before which I couldn't fit in my bike bag, so I drove the car to work.   Big M rode his bike to meet me.  He rode his bike down the same bike path that I rode my bike down every other day that week.  Except for today. 

Why is that a big deal?  Aside from the obvious health and environmental reasons, it is because on his way home he found $120.00 LYING ON THE BIKE PATH!  I ride that path every day and never have I found any money.  Jealous- Yes.  Jealous x 10 000.  Who was the fool that just stuffed $120.00 in his back pocket so that it could fall out?  If I have $120.00 in cash on my person, it is very safely tucked away in my wallet in a place that I can' t lose it.  Not this guy.  So Big M wins, buys himself some weird keyboard-y synthesizer thing, and takes me to one of our favorite restaurants, The Clubhouse for some sushi.

For years, the Clubhouse has been in the middle of nowhere, but now is in the middle of the Olympic village and hipster town on west 2nd beside the Party Bazaar. I am not really sure what it was before the Clubhouse, but from the decor on the inside, I would guess some sort of Italian, golf theme restaurant. There are golf murals on the wall and great Italian style pillars throughout the restaurant.



I would describe it as eclectic. Big M says the owner of the restaurant was the guy who opened the Eatery. They added a signature wall by the bathroom and a wall full of patron photos to the golf murals and called it good. I like it.

Restaurants: Favorites Edition- Green Bamboo

Pho is an awesome food concept. Dinner in soup with noodles- props, Vietnam.

My first Pho, strangely, was in Calgary with my brother. I have been on the search for my favorite bowl in Vancouver ever since. Currently, that is at the Green Bamboo in Burnaby.

Big M started a job on Kingsway in the Metrotown area last year. His goal: try every Pho restaurant in the area. That is a lofty project. Worthy of it's own blog. He made it to two. He stopped because the Green Bamboo is that awesome.

Restaurants: X-Site Grill. Blog Crossover Edition- Lez Reno-date!

On Tuesday, Big M and I went for dinner with the lovely ladies from Lez Renovate, LL and Cool J. It made me realize that I need a cool nickname. Big M, LL, Cool J and Heather-The Hammer?

Cool J had been recommending that we try the X-Site Grill for sometime as it is up in our hood of NoBu. The X-Site is a favorite of LL's because it features a $4.95 lunch and a $6.95 dinner special. In fact, everything on the menu is under $10.00! They serve a selection of burgers, 2 types of steaks, some pastas and souvlaki. They also have a rotating drink special where the drinks are between $2.00-$4.00.