grayelf

Thanks, George -- I did that post in kind of a hurry, compiling from a bunch of sources. I should have edited better, cuz I knew about LAB and G'pod (though not VDI).

List of possible higher end/"splurge" restos (not exhaustive, some I've tried, others gleaned from reliable food enjoyers): Bishop's Parkside West Blue Water C Boneta Tojo's Five Sails Fuel Gastropod Conor Butler Le Crocodile Voya Lumiere/DB Bistro Moderne Lime Octopus' Garden Cioppino's Gotham Joe Fortes Bacchus Chambar Cioppino's Rodney's Vij's Fuel Morton's (for a double porterhouse and football sized potato) West Il Giardino Cobre 'Burbs: Pear Tree (Burnaby) Pearl on the Rock (White Rock) Val D'Isere, Bearfoot Bistro (Whistler) La Buca or L'Altro Buca (family style 6+ course chef's menu) Cheap'n'cheerfuls: Peaceful Noodle Legendary Noodle (the one on Main) Phnom Penh Guu with Garlic (can be spendy if you like to imbibe) Nuba Cafe (the one on Seymour, didn't love the new one on Hastings) Go Fish Argo for great lunch specials or solid diner regulars Deli Nippon for chicken based ramen and tasty okonomiyaki myriad bahn mi, pho and bun places on Kingsway dimsum in Richmond if you have a car Alvin Garden for Hunan in Burnaby if you have a car That's enough for now. Happy to provide specifics if you are interested in any of these. Have fun with your planning!

Thanks so much for posting on Nippon Deli! I saw it a few weeks ago when we went to Cuu Long but it wasn't open on a Sunday evening. I'd go just for the okonomyaki! Also sorry to hear about Menya -- we only went once and it was decent but not hugely memorable. It is the closest and easiest to park at ramen place for us, but I consider myself warned. Will make the trek to Knight and K'way instead

As noted above, Dona Cata was the most authentic I'd found in Vancouver but was very taco-heavy until their move and menu expansion. If that didn't appeal for whatever reason, there is a new option. Kinda goofy name but great food. It's Don Guacamole's 1333 Robson. We went on Monday night and it was slammed at 7 pm. It's pretty small (4x4 tops, a bar and some two tops down the side). We waited half an hour for a table for four. The strawberry margaritas were excellent (real strawberry puree), the sangria delicious and the Coronas cold The food was uniformly tasty, starting with three complimentary salsas (a ridiculously good verde, roja ahumada and fresca) as well as a bowl of limes and of course totopos. The sopa azteca was well executed and even better with a squeeze of lime, but the pozole really hit the spot. Apart from using head lettuce instead of cabbage it was the best pozole I've ever had with a delicious hearty broth. The hominy alone was worth the price of admission. We also tried the mulitas which one of my DC's gave the thumbs up (too cheesy for me), the tostadas (a sub for the sopes which they had run out of) were very good apart for the massive slice of beefsteak tomato which should have been cubed and the inadequately drained head lettuce which made things damper than necessary but not egregiously so. The tacos are served taqueria style and you can get as few as one, with a choice of several different toppings including lengua. I tried the al pastor which had a decent char and flavour but was a tad gristly. All of the corn items (tortillas, tostadas, taco shells) were high quality whether housemade or no. And the bill for four very stuffed people was $130 plus tip, which is exactly half what we paid at Chill Winston on Saturday The room is relatively spare and modern but not offputting -- nary a sombrero in sight which is kind of a nice change. Service was a bit rushed at times but very pleasant despite a kitchen mixup on the taco choices. I would definitely go back to try more items. Tons of mexicanos frequent the place as well which I take to be a good sign.

The one across from Dolcetto is more than a rumour: Artigiano signs are already up inside and out. It is about four doors east of the Tim Horton's on West Broadway at Balaclava, next to the hobby store. Is there another Timmy Ho's on West Broadway, or are you talking about the small one at Hemlock in the gas station? ← Oh yeah there's another Tim's, a big "mothership" about half-way between Oak and Cambie beside the Shoppers. ← Right, I remember it now -- and I think I know the vacancy you are talking about. That is some expansion!

The one across from Dolcetto is more than a rumour: Artigiano signs are already up inside and out. It is about four doors east of the Tim Horton's on West Broadway at Balaclava, next to the hobby store. Is there another Timmy Ho's on West Broadway, or are you talking about the small one at Hemlock in the gas station?

I noticed the signs are up for the new Artigiano on Broadway near Bayswater... now there will be two good coffee shops in that block with Dolcetto across the street

Great thread! I am sitting here with a box of Trung Nguyen purchased last year in one of the mid-sized Vietnamese grocers along Kingsway (between Fraser and Knight). It was $4.89 for the 2x250g bags as described above. The ingredients listed are: Arabica, Robusta, Cherry and Catimor. I love the chocolatey flavour noted by sanresho and find this brand to be extremely smooth. Also, oddly but goodly, I never seem to get the "rattlies" from TN, though it is high test full on caffeinated. We only buy Longevity, because it is cheaper, thicker and has a higher ratio of cool-sage-dude on the label than the Safeway brands :-). It is also easy to get in Kits, as they sell it at New Apple (Bway and McDonald) for $2.69 (300 mL tin). We got the little coffee drip dealy as a present but know that it was purchased at one of the stores on Kingsway as that is how I found out where to get the TN coffee. I believe it was under $5.

We used to go to Modern Club a fair bit but finally gave up because of the ridiculously long waits for food. The okonomyaki at the Clubhouse is a bit too thick for my taste but nice and noodly, and very filling -- two people could share one. I haven't tried it at the Eatery, Zipang (thanks for the tip, twinkienic) or Guu so can't comment. The only other place I've tried it was at Sai-Z. It was good but of the noodle-free variety. The best okonomyaki I've had in Vancouver was courtesy of a Japanese group I belong to. We got together one summer evening and made our own. It's not that hard...

Okay, I'll play :-). An Epicurean cutting board with the little trough around the edge (cut our very first home-cooked turkey on it) A Calphalon 8-egg poacher (made my very first eggs Benny on Christmas Day) Gomashio (Japanese sesame salt) Cyprus mediterranean finishing salts Some gorgeous home-made ginger molasses star cookies (these were actually for New Year's A gift card to Gourmet Warehouse, which I used to stock up on Feridie's peanuts, Cosmos caramel corn, Callebaut chocolate chunks, fancy chips and various cheeses. What I gave was a really good way of preparing brussels sprouts which won over even the haters :-).

Oops, dead linkage: try this http://scoutmagazine.ca/2009/01/05/first-l...on-main-street/ (Nice pix, Andrew).

Good thing I come to eG once in awhile ... would have missed this info! Couple of blocks over ... is that North or South? On the Firehall side or the other side? ← Dine Here says 5076 Victoria Drive, Vancouver Tel: 604-436-2232 but it was definitely a couple blocks further north, still on the east side of the street (not sure about firehall).

I walked by Kei's today at about 2 pm and they were indeed closed -- sign on the door said just for today. Lights were on in the back and young Asian woman was bestirring herself at some unidentifable task. Oh no! I hope they're ok... Maybe they went back to Japan for an extended visit? ← My understanding is that the husband has got some real health issues. I really hope that a speedy recovery is made - and that they open shop again real soon. ←

Thanks for your sneak peek (which for some reason I couldn't find on the Scout site without this link, my techno-bad). I have been waiting with anticipation for the opening and since we were right across the street today during the Culture Crawl, I suggested to my companions that we see what we could see. As we were peering in the large front window and gesticulating wildly at the architectural details (two of the group are an architect and an engineer), one of the workers came out to chat with us. No big deal, you might say, until I tell you that this involved walking all the way around the building as the front door is not yet functional. Giovanni introduced himself as the guy behind the bar (way to multitask) and asked if we would like a copy of the menu. Why yes, yes we would! So we trundled round to Station Street and he kindly invited us to step inside while he was getting the sheet for us, it being a chilly early evening. Needless to say, we were soon roaming the main floor ogling the setup with Samantha the manager. The 30-seat wine bar in the back is going to be a big draw, I'm guessing. Oh and that menu? Nothing over $18, and lots of choice without being too ambitious: Six antipasti, four housemade salumi, three pasta and one risott, three pizza, four mains (chicken, beef, ling cod and pork) and four contorni. I only wish we weren't booked up all this week or we would be knocking down the door (once one is actually installed).

My own home-made version of moo gratiem (tweaked with cilantro root and the addition of wilted spinach): garlicky porky goodness.

ooo, i've been wanting to try this place! it's called "Alenka" i believe. ← Yep, sure is... drove by on our way to pho last night but sadly it was after hours...

That's great -- was just thinking about this post yesterday as we were driving along Great Northern Way.

According to Urban Diner, a modern Greek resto called Piato is coming in there.

Reasonably priced seafood in Vancouver is surprisingly hard to find. You might want to check out some of the Chinese restos for this. For non-Asian, definitely check out Go Fish. I think the spot prawns were done as of the end of June, but they put whatever is fresh off the fishing boats a few metres away on the menu. Their tacones are tasty and a nice change from fish and chips, for example. And it's hard to beat the location -- just be sure to go early as they close around 6:45 pm. And be prepared for lineups. Another place to try that is relatively moderately priced might be Fish Cafe. There are two locations, one near Kits Beach on Yew Street and one in Kerrisdale on West 41st Avenue. I've not been to the Kits one since they relocated from 4th Avenue but both restos do simple preps with fresh fish and they also have good crab cakes according to the parental units (I am allergic so cannot attest personally).

And if you don't make it for izakaya when you're staying downtown, GIsle is pretty close to both Zakkushi (4th and Burrard) and Hapa (on Yew). Do grab a reso if you go to either though -- I am a fan of the things on skewers at Zakkushi.

Thanks for this, Global. I can't picture the locale at all. Could you give a bit more detail on the type of resto (decor, casualness, price etc)?

A few things to eat if you find yourself in Vancouver: Salt for a late afternoon ploughman's moderne snack Cobre for a pan-Latin dinner Peaceful for great noodles and dim summy stuff (lunch or dinner) Patisserie Lebeau for sweet and savoury brekky waffles (go early) Nuba for healthy but v. tasty Lebanese in a funky setting (two locations) One of Andrey Durbach's restos (Parkside, La Buca) for muscular Italian Aurora for locally sourced creative dishes without blowing the bank (great weekend brunch) Go Fish for super fresh "fish shack" offerings with a twist in a supernatural BC setting (one word: tacones, especially if the cod version is on the specials menu; ask for extra hot sauce on the side instead of the cole slaw) Green Lettuce for Indian-Chinese food Rangoli for a taste of Vij's minus the wait (don't know if they'll have crickets on that menu though) Argo Cafe for a post-modern take on the diner (breakfast and lunch only -- be sure to check out the lunch specials like duck confit or seared tuna for like $12!?) 49th Parallel for coffee (either at their flagship store on 4th Avenue, or at the Edge Cafe with a great breakfast or lunch, or at Cafe Medina with yet another waffle, or at Prado if you find yourself on Commercial Drive) Denman/Robson (West End) for an izakaya crawl -- check out the Guus, Zakkushi (for things on sticks), Kingyo, Hapa and maybe throw in a Korean joint or two for fun If any of this sounds interesting, I can post more details...

It's going to be a PHAT. From the Urban Diner archives, two months ago: I spoke with Kaminsky just a few nights ago and they're on track, give or take a few days (probably give). I'm looking forward to it. ← My bad -- must catch up on UD postings...

Just noticed Cheesecake 101 on 4th has packed it in, ostensibly to focus on their wholesale business...

Urban Diner says Moderne Burger will be back this Friday. Please please please please