BCinBC

Another ex-pat Victorian with my (possibly outdated) 2 cents: Pagliacci's - best table bread in the city, large flakes of salt, drool drool. Plus Howie the owner is good for a laff. HSC - used to be "the place" when I grew up, had my first and only glass of watermelon juice there . I went back a couple years ago with another ex-Vic and it was still fun but the food was only about a 3.5 (out of 5). Eugene's - small Greek place on Broad just off Trounce Alley, love the gyro! Don Mee - (relative involvement disclaimer inserted here) really good dim sum, probably the best in the city, but honestly I would only rate the dinner as "good" (fortunately Mom is fairly computer illiterate so I think I'm safe) (and I'll insert another disclaimer in here, which is when you live in Vancouver, your standards for just about any Asian cuisine rise pretty high) (and my parents are Chinese so you know how home cookin ranks). Sam's Deli - maybe it's because I was friends with many of the "sandwich artists" there, but man those shrimp sandwiches were a miiiiile high! Thanks Suzy! Torrefazione's - my sister said that Starbucks bought them out; nonetheless their coffee remains excellent. Plus v good atmosphere. John's Place - if you gotta have dessert, go to John's Place.

I used to work beside an Esquires, and forced down a cup or two of their brew. A coworker called it "old man coffee" - it was so weak, you could be 80 and drink it all day long with no discernable effect. Eventually we ended up starting a coffee club; pooled our money, bought our own beans from a wholesaler and wore out a few coffee makers... but in the words of Agent Cooper of Twin Peaks, we had some Damn Fine Coffee.

I tried the place off Lonsdale (probably Persepolis) years ago. It was my first venture into Persian and it was okay, but perhaps my taste buds were not properly seasoned? And sincerest apologies to anyone who takes offence if this suggestion is waaay off (really!), but I have also been to the Afghan Horsemen on Broadway and it was very interesting - moreso than the Persian place IMHO.

The Tomohawk serves up some great hangover remedies. Best bacon ever! I was in there one morning when I saw a biker-type (Harley not Rocky Mountain) order the "Mixed Grill" (see Vancouver's website link above). Didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or ready the defibrillator...

The place at W1st and Yew, a couple incarnations ago, used to do a whole Atlantic lobster. It was small-ish (1-1/2 lb) but I thought it was pretty cheap (didn't quite know how they made money off it). And you got the whole shebang - cracking, scraping, sucking the green stuff... Sadly I haven't found a decent replacement yet.