agog

I also saw Ben's post in the Vancouver forum. First a bit of history. Both my grandparents were from Toysan. My grandmother emigrated to Vancouver in the 1890's. My dad and his 4 brothers and sisters were all born in Vancouver's Chinatown in the 1920's. The house is still standing to this day. Sometime during the 40's or 50's he travelled back to Toysan, met my mum, got married and moved back to Vancouver. Here are some food related recollections that I have. My mum was very traditional and always cooked the rice in this beat up pot. The handle had fallen off years before and there was just a bare metal piece to hold onto. She must have cooked with this pot for over 30 years. After the rice was all scooped out she used to make "fan jeu" or "fan noong". For anyone that doesn't know what this is, you put the pot back on the stove and brown the remaining rice that's stuck to the bottom of the pan. My brother and I used to fight to see who would scrape the rice from the bottom of the pan. We never added water to soften it. We just took a big spoon and went at it. Does anyone know the Toysan name for this? I got the above two names from some co-workers but that's not what I remember my mum calling it. Of course, there was the almost daily "yook beung" and "ham yee". I think she cooked the dishes the same way they used to cook in her village because whenever we ate at relatives the food always looked more normal than how we ate at home. I'm not sure if this next one is a Toysan delicacy or what. Cow's brains. At least once a year my mum would boil a cow's brain in an earthenware pot inside a large metal pot for around 4 or 5 hours. Then my brother and I had to eat it. To this day, I'll eat any kind of food anywhere no questions asked. If you can cook it and serve it on a plate, I'll eat it. I have no qualms about eating anything. My mum also used to boil up all sorts of crazy concoctions that I used to drink. One other thing that was made a little different was the "joong". She used to soak the leaves in our bath tub for about a week before using them. There was always a large chestnut, a piece of fat about the size of your index finger and the bright orange egg inside. She also used to make the square sweet one with the red jelly topping inside. Does anyone know what that red material was or was it just food colouring? I never ate it as a kid much preferring the traditional joong. That's all I can think of for now.

That place was a Dutch deli as I recall-it also was said to have an excellent licorice selection. Given my predilection I never darkened their door and the place passed from existence in the mid to late 70's. ← I'm not sure if this is the same place but there is/was a store that sold horse meat on Hastings about 2 or 3 blocks east of Main Street on the north side. They actually had a hanging sign that had the picture of a horse head on it. I understood this is the way horse butchers advertise in Europe. It was still there in the early 90s so it's likely a different store. Also, I remember it being there in the mid 60s.

Oh, we remember all right! Check out this thread for a stroll down memory lane. Jello with a whipped-cream puck anyone? ← There was also a Dragon Inn at the corner of Kingsway and Slocan, at the corner where 33rd hits Kingsway. I think the building is still there and it's always been a Chinese restaurant. Wasn't there also a Rickshaw near the corner of Kingsway and Nanaimo, right next to where the Gulf Oil gas station was or is this the one people are referring to?

And here's one that will test memories: Scott's Cafe on Granville Street. You'd plan to meet an object of desire "under the Birk's clock" (when it was still at Granville and Georgia) and then retire for some kitchen food (chicken pot pie?) at Scott's. I believe that its predecessor (or possibly another restaurant entirely) was Love's Cafe. I also remember with affection--from the same era--the original Seymour Buffet on the sixth floor of The Bay. J. ← The White Spot at Georgia and Seymour was previously a Scott's Cafe. I don't know if it had anything to do with the one on Granville or they were just using the same name. This would have been sometime in the 80s. Does anyone remember Mr. Mike's? They had a bunch of locations around town but I ate a lot at the one on Granville Mall. They used to have this big sign in the window advertising a steak dinner for $4.99(?). You got a not so bad char-broiled steak, a baked potato in gold tin foil and a side salad. There was nothing better as a teenager than to take the bus down to Granville Mall (before they widened it and banned cars), have dinner at Mr. Mike's and then see a movie. If I was really hungry, I'd order a second steak. This was back when all of Granville would be lit up with all the neon signs.

Wasn't there a Topkapi restaurant about 4 doors in on the southwest corner. We used to eat here as a change from Fresgo's. I don't remember an upstairs restaurant near that corner. Maybe I just never looked up.

Cous Cous restaurant was on Robson Street across the street from about where Cin Cin is now but it wasn't in an old house. I remember it was kind of weird because you could sit right in the front windows and people would be walking literally one or two feet away from you on the sidewalk.

I remember that at Cysco's (sp?) in Kits (in the old Roger's Sugar building I think). That was one of the few places my folks took my brother & I for a "fancy" dinner. A. ← Are you thinking of Cisco's in that brick complex right at the end of the Burrard Street Bridge? I think that used to be called the Wometco building. I'm pretty sure that used to be the site of the old Coca-Cola bottling plant and Wometco was the name of the bottler.

I just took a look at the updated list and out of curiosity decided to count how many of the restaurants I'd eaten at. Somewhere around 60 and here's the reason why. I was born in Vancouver many years ago and while I was going to UBC during the 70s I lived in a basement suite that had no cooking facilities so I ate out every day lunch and dinner. Yes, every day. This continued for about 7 or 8 years so I've eaten at a lot of Vancouver restaurants. I'll also eat any kind of food so any new restaurants that opened during that time I'd probably give it a try. Any meals eaten after 2 am though were almost always at Fresgo's on Davie as I used to hang out at a bar called Capolini's (Cap's) just around the corner on Burnaby Street. Does anyone else remember this place? Here's a question to test everyone's memory. Where was the first Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver and when did it open? I'm not sure I have the correct answer but there's two I'm thinking of that might have been the first.

I remember eating quite a few times at Someplace Else also. It was located just to the right of where the Georgian Court Hotel is now. There was always a hotel there but I don't recall if it was called the Georgian Court back then, way before it was renovated. It might even have been attached to the hotel. The interior was what really caught my eye. It was the first time in Vancouver that I'd eaten sitting at these big plush wrap around leather booths. The same ones that you see in Las Vegas showrooms. It also had all these art deco lamps and sconces on the wall. As chocklateer said, "another time another place". The food was pretty decent too.

Ah yes. Family meals out on the deck at Frank Baker's. That bastion of culinary wonderment from the days when buffet dining and Copper Kettle restaurants were all the rage, the stuff of childhood memories. The James Bond mobile in the glass showcase out front. And who can forget the fig leaf on the statue of David in the women's washroom. It was attached to a buzzer that rang throughout the entire restaurant, thus identifying all curious onlookers. They just don't make restaurants like that anymore. ← The Copper Kettle was a chain of all you can eat smorgasbord. One time we decided to have a contest to see who could eat the most so we brought a postal scale and plunked it in the middle of the table. I think there must have been 8 of us at the table. We sure got our share of food that night. I don't remember how long we were there or how many trips we made to the smorgasbord but the winner (not me) ate 7 pounds worth of food. I only managed a measly 5 pounds.

Fado was a Portuguese restaurant owned by the same family that started the Bino's restaurant chain. That's why it was underneath the Bino's restaurant there. One night in 1980 or so, a friend and I were sitting in that very Bino's around 1 am. On their placemats it listed that there were 8 or 9 restaurant locations so we decided then and there to visit each one that very night. We drove all over town and had a coffee and side of fries at each one. It was just one of those things you do when you're young.

It was called The Green Door and I ate there many times in the 70s and early 80s. It was in the alley between Pender and Hastings. You entered off of Carrall Street. The main thing about it though was taking friends there for an adventure because no one believed there was really a restaurant there. It really had just a green door but there was a sign above the door. I actually have a picture of this somewhere. There were rumours that there was also either a Red Door or Orange Door, I can't remember which but I was never able to find it or verify that it even existed. Didn't Lee Poulos also open a restaurant in Gastown called The BreadLine or something similar. It was kitty corner to the Steam Clock. I worked in Gastown for five years in the mid 80s and think I've eaten at every place it was possible to eat at in the area during that time.

The Kaplan's downtown is located on Alberni Street between Burrard and Thurlow right across the street from the Kobe Steakhouse. I had lunch there last week and they've been open about a month now. I had the pastrami on rye and my friend had the Montreal smoked meat. She's eaten at Shwartz's in Montreal and agrees it's very similar. One thing I noticed was that she got the smaller sandwich ($7.25?) and I got the full size ($10.25?). We compared the sizes and mine didn't look like I got much more meat than she did. The only reason I was a bit disappointed was that the counterperson said they were done by weight and I didn't think I got $3 more at all. Both of them were still stacked huge though. Another minor complaint was that the rye they gave us was tiny. Maybe we got the ends of the loaf because there was barely any bread to hold on to. I really liked the coleslaw which my friend doesn't eat, so I got her portion too. That kind of made up for the slightly smaller sandwich. I also had the Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda ($2.50). Overall it was a very good sandwich and I was pretty stuffed afterwards especially after drinking the Cherry Soda. Another thing is that they have two different kinds of mustard in those plastic squeeze containers on the island. There's a hot and regular. The hot tastes kind of like the hot Chinese mustard you get at restaurants with a bit of honey added. I kind of like that taste. I've never had that on a sandwich before. The deli is also very bright and roomy. Almost everyone sits up on stools at these large yellow islands. When it's busy, which it was, there'll be people sitting directly across and next to you. I think you can also sit right against the window to people watch on Alberni. There might be 4 or 5 regular sized tables. The next time I go back I'll probably try one of their Chicago dogs. I think they have three on the menu. Is Marshall Cramer the same fellow that used to run Tribeca on Seymour about 5 doors down from A&B Sound? I thought I had read that somewhere. I used to eat lunch there before they switched owners and the one thing I miss is that I like my rye bread toasted really well. I'm not sure if Kaplans will do that.

I was browsing through the archives and ran across this post on Vietnamese subs. For a while there I was eating at least two a week. My favourite location is at a place called Bale (pronounced bah-lay). It's kind of like a Vietnamese deli but they only make submarines and these sweet takeout desserts in plastic cups. It's a tiny little place at the corner of Main and Georgia in Chinatown. It's mainly takeout but they have two tiny tables for people that want to eat in. I've been eating here off and on since 1986. The same husband and wife have been running the place. I always get the special sub without hot peppers. I have no idea what kinds of meat is in the sub and have never asked after all these years. There also used to be a store of the same name at the little mall at the corner of Kingsway and Fraser but I don't know if it's there anymore. For anyone that's never tried a Vietnamese sub you should. For $2.50 you get this sub that's full of so many different kinds of flavours you'll never go back to a traditional submarine sandwich.

Does anyone know where there's a good selection of Valrhona chocolate bars in town? When Urban Fare first opened they used to have a standalone refrigerated Valrhona chocolate display. You used to be able to buy about a dozen different kinds of chocolate bars. I've kept all the round metal tins because they're handy for storing lots of other things.