Vancouver Lee

Excellent timing for this thread. I spent the afternoon today chasing my 6-year old around the PNE. Being a huge fan of Tiny Tom's Donuts (the Toronto version of Fundunkers), I had the try the Vancouver version. I was most unhappy to find that they suck. Extremely greasy and unevenly sugared, they are left to sit and cool/harden/petrify before sale while they soak the bag through with left over fryer oil. In the bag I had, you could actually feel the grease squeeze out of the donut when you bit into it. Blech. Oh, and the PNE experience as a whole? If Playland was any indication, Keith knows of what he speaks. Someone tried to bum a cigarette from the guy in front of us in line, and he said no, that he only had two left. The other guy jokingly suggested that he should take the opportuity to quit, to which he replied that "only quitters quit". What a fun place.

My apologies, Burger fans, for the unannounced hiatus. Continuing with the theme of upscale burgers in Kitsilano, our next Burger Club gathering will be at the newly re-opened Moderne Burger on August 28th. Unless there are strong objections, the 6:30pm start time seemed to work well so we'll keep it there.

Didn't Keith just move into a new house? They can unload and move it on from there. I'd be happy to help out.

Satellite images of the restaurants we are discussing. We are truly obsessed. Good thing we hang around with each other as I don't think anyone else would understand.

While I agree that the idea of sushi from a gas station is rather disturbing, has anyone actually tried it? I have to admit that I'm a little bit curious.....

Thank you very much indeed for this pervasive report Merlin--wonderful and much appreciated. There are a number of us going up for the wedding and it seems I'm in charge of herding the kittens. Cheers to you, Jamie ← In case you're interested, I posted my impressions of Il Portico last winter. I'll try and dig out the link later.

Yeah, Cougars. It's my son's favourite hot dog stand. We end up stopping here about twice a week as we bike past it on the way to the Seawall. The guy who runs it is a nice guy, and the Smokies are especially good.

Wow, Ann, that tenderloin looks amazing. That's a corn tortilla over top of and underneath the meat?

I agree 100%. We were eyeballing the burgers on other ferry passengers' plates and congratulting ourselves for packing a lunch. After seeing them my son didn't even want to order one, and he devours a McDonalds hamburger like Elvis on a donut.

The last place I had really great nachos was at Jack Astors back in Toronto (deliverance from which I daily thank God). What set them apart was tons of cheese, and their secret ingredient: ground beef. To those cooking nachos at home, how do you keep the chips from getting soggy? I've tried to make them in my oven, and while a hot oven keeps the top layer crisp the inner layers get soggy from the melted cheese/salsa/guac/etc. What local brands work best?

That's huge, IMHO. I've never been a big fan of salmon or tuna burgers, as invariably the "patty" is overcooked, which for me means the fish is well done. I like my salmon just like I like a steak - rare to medium rare. If I can get a salmon burger done medium rare - well then a whole new world has opened up for me......lol

Sodexho Chicken Burger? What were you thinking?

I thought seriously about not posting this, as this makes 6 posts in a row and comes dangerously close to outing me as the geek that I am... I finally got around to trying the burgers at Skyhawk, the restaurant at Boundry Bay airport today. First problem, all the different food choices have been given really dumb names like Captain Kirk, Stormtrooper, etc. In a low voice so nobody heard me, I ordered a "Paratrooper, hold the onions, with fries". At Skyhawk, that gets you a cheeseburger with mushrooms. Ordering something "On the Char" at Fatburger is cool, ordering food named for science fiction movie characters is not. The food arrives, and it's a prefab, frozen burger on a slightly stale bun with plastic orange cheese and McCain frozen fries. About the best thing I can say is that the tomato and lettuce were fresh and crisp, and the mushrooms were properly sauteed. Otherwise.... Here's the bright side: It's going to make the Feenie Patty on Sunday taste that much sweeter.

The vendors moved to Hastings and Main and switched to crack. Bigger margins.

...eagerly awaiting a response.......

I haven't grilled the chops yet, but the ground lamb from Tenderland made *fantastic* lamb burgers. I combined the lamb with some chopped fresh mint, a little orgeano, S&P, and stuffed them with a disk of frozen goat cheese. Grill for about 6 or 7 minutes, top them with feta and let them rest, then serve on a portugese bun. They were so good we had them for lunch yesterday AND today! Up tonight: filets.

Cassoulet for breakfast? You go, girl! Edited to second Arne's comment - it looks amazing.

I ate at Tonquin Prime Rib Village last fall. Not the greatest room/decor/ambiance, but the prime rib was excellent.

I'm signed up for the swarming. Do they allow drinking during the class?

Picked up some porcini ravioli and gorgonzola & walnut tortellini from Zara's tonight. We served it with Zara's tomoato pesto sauce and some shaved reggiano parm. Overall, it was pretty disappointing. The tortellini had very little discernable gorgonzola or walnut taste, and the ravioli, although a little better, was still fairly bland. The sauce was quite good, however, and rescued the meal. We loaded up on lamb from Tenderland tonight: rack of lamb, lamb kebobs and ground lamb along with some beef kebobs and sirloin filets. My brother arrives tomorrow from Alaska and we plan to feed him well this weekend!

Unfortunately, we didn't see the review of Sobo until the trip home, otherwise we would have stopped and tried it out. Next time.....

Somewhere in Coombs, I believe. Neither my wife nor I remember exactly, as we were still laughing too hard from Goats-on-the-roof and the giant lawn gnome....

We didnt have a chance to stop by (we were late for the ferry), but it would seem that Port Alberni is home to TWO authentic drive-ins. The J & L Drive-in at 4422 Gertrude Street has car-hop service, according to the Pacific Rim Visitors Choice brochure. It says that J&L was voted Best Burgers on the Island by the Times Colonist. So who is heading to Port Alberni next and is willing to report backÉ

Put me down for a six-pack. Shame Da Francescos isnt still around. I have no doubt they would be on the list.

Just back from four days in wet and rainy Tofino. What we ate: Wednesday night dinner was at On The Rocks, the bar at the Wickininnish Inn. My son a pizza from the kids menu, my wife had a salad, and we both had a bowl of seafood chowder. I prefer my chowder a little thicker and more rich, but the bowl was chock full of big chunks of seafood and that made up for it, to be sure. Our first time to the Wick - beautiful room and I could easily see myself sitting beside the fire some wintry afternoon sipping red wine and watching the waves crash on the rocks. Breakfast Tuesday was cinnamon buns and coffee from Common Loaf. My flying instructor told me that the cin buns from here were with the cost of the flight all by themselves. Ours were very dry and stale. YMMV. Dinner on Monday night was a take-out pizza from Breakers in Tofino. Not really gourmet, but very cheesy with thick-sliced toppings and a just-thick-enough sauce with a strong tomato flavour. Now the pizza is worth the flight....... BTW, driving home today we passed a sign advertising Bratwurst and Currywurst. The mind boggles....