Favorite PNE food (Merged)

[Kayaksoup]

I admit it. We went. Only for the food

Lets see. Corn dogs, minidonuts (1 bag for 2-gotta save room), Hunky Bills, and Wiggle chips....

Of course I had to check out the animals. Then it was off home. Fun, silly, that is what it was about for us.

Oh yeah, and I took pictures.

Edited September 1, 2004 by Kayaksoup (log)

[Rhea_S]

I worked at the PNE one summer and my favourite was always the "No Air" gelato. That was before all those gelato places became so popular in Vancouver. I think I managed to try every single flavour by the end of the fair. I hated the donuts because there was a donut stand right beside my information booth and the smell became unbearable. I love the beaver tails with a squeeze of lemon and some cinnamon, or with a slather of nutella.

Favourite non-food PNE event: superdog show. I didn't even own any dogs at that time, but I spent every single break watching those incredible dogs.

[quattroporte]

Hey everyone,

As you can see, I'm one of the new kids on the E-Gullet block, but I thought I'd throw this one out there anyway. I LOVE the PNE!! Born and raised in Vancouver, I've attended all but 4 Fairs, and I think you all know the reason why by now....The Food! So bad, but so good!

My personal favorites: Pogo's (with ketchup AND mustard drizzled over the sides), Jimmy's Hamburgers, extra onions, of course, Fisher Scones, but only if they're warm, and the freshly squeezed lemonade And who can forget....Those Little Donuts! Just thinking about it makes me giddy

Anybody else have fond food memories of the PNE?

Regards,

Sandi

[Paul B]

Little donuts, obviously. But I'll also go for the foot-long hot dogs.

[canucklehead]

Peorogies!!! I am going to eat those until I pass out.

The fresh potato chips - so goooood. I was there the first year the potato chip place set up shop and the operators were so overwhelmed but happy - it was like they had won some sort of carnie lottery.

I have said it before - but fair food (PNE and Night Market especially) renders me into an unthinking walking gluttony machine. My ability to discern good from bad evaporates and my inner cookie monster is unleashed.

[BCinBC]

When I was a kid I loved the cotton candy, candy apples, corn that had spent the day soaking in butter, greasy crappy fries, etc.

Now when I return to the PNE, Playland, or just about any "carnival" type atmosphere, the smell that first wafts up my nose... well unfortunately I associate it with barf. :shrugs shoulders:

However I can quickly rectify this by walking over to the burger cart where the smell of frying onions overpowers everthing else.

[mtigges]

I don't love the PNE. Not even a bit. Last time I went was to take my cousin who was visiting from Europe. And, my wife had never been. I ate donuts. I almost bought a blender. The time before that I bought a bamix. I hope to never return. Sorry if I sound curmudgeonlike.

The bamix is good, though I still feel unclean for buying something from what amounts to a live infomercial. Can anybody else own up to buying kitchen utensils from the PNE?

Mark.

[Keith Talent]

I hate the PNE. The burgers at Jimmy's Lunch are total crap, quite possibly made with rodent, rather than beef. Gray, greasy and cold. Mmm. What the hell is wrong with you people? Give your heads a shake. The PNE is horrible, it's not even camp ironic fun like Nightmarket. It's brutal food below a quality that would be deemed unaccepatable at the Surrey Place Mall Food Court. Onions? Onions are the draw? Seriously? 'Cuz it's pretty easy to cook them at home you know. You could even take some down to Vera's or Fat Burger and load them up if that was the sole attraction. Plus that way you wouldn't have to endure parking on the lawn of some sour faced east side Nimby rip off artist.

Those crap donuts are no better than Timbits, and not nearly as good as Krispy Kreme.

I hate the PNE, I wish it and it's simple minded civic cousin, The Symphony of Fire or whatever the hell they'tre calling it these days ("Hey look Cletus, lights in the sky! And purty music! And a big boom!) would depart our city and allow us to at least maintain a slight veneer of sophistication. Stupid PNE .

[quattroporte]

I hate the PNE. The burgers at Jimmy's Lunch are total crap, quite possibly made with rodent, rather than beef. Gray, greasy and cold. Mmm. What the hell  is wrong with you people? Give your heads a shake. The PNE is horrible, it's not even camp ironic fun like Nightmarket. It's brutal food below a quality that would be deemed unaccepatable at the Surrey Place Mall Food Court. Onions? Onions are the draw? Seriously? 'Cuz it's pretty easy to cook them at home you know. You could even take some down to Vera's or Fat Burger and load them up if that was the sole attraction. Plus that way you wouldn't have to endure parking on the lawn of some sour faced east side Nimby rip off artist. 

Those crap donuts are no better than Timbits, and not nearly as good as Krispy Kreme.

I hate the PNE, I wish it and it's simple minded civic cousin, The Symphony of Fire or whatever the hell they'tre calling it these days ("Hey look Cletus, lights in the sky! And purty music! And a big boom!) would depart our city and allow us to at least maintain a slight veneer of sophistication. Stupid PNE .

←

Yikes!

Edited August 10, 2005 by quattroporte (log)

[BCinBC]

The smell of frying onions is definitely a draw when the alternative is the smell of barf. Is Jimmy's Lunch enough to draw me to the PNE? No. But once I've been "convinced" of going there, well, what can you do? (I haven't been for a couple years now, perhaps it's time to moisten up my bingo pen and get a new Pokemon keychain at the ring toss.)

Since I don't eat cotton candy or candy apples anymore, I will definitely agree that the Richmond Nightmarket is superior in the food dept, but the PNE has what it has: carnie food.

Mark: what is a bamix?

[Keith Talent]

Granted you're right, but any equasion where you've voluntarily submitted to having to pick where one side is "barF' is perhaps and equasion yo0u should avoid. Here's a better idea; Avoid the PNE spend the money at Parkside/Chambar/Wherever instead.

[mtigges]

I hate the PNE. The burgers at Jimmy's Lunch are total crap, quite possibly made with rodent, rather than beef. Gray, greasy and cold. Mmm. What the hell  is wrong with you people? Give your heads a shake. The PNE is horrible, it's not even camp ironic fun like Nightmarket. It's brutal food below a quality that would be deemed unaccepatable at the Surrey Place Mall Food Court. Onions? Onions are the draw? Seriously? 'Cuz it's pretty easy to cook them at home you know. You could even take some down to Vera's or Fat Burger and load them up if that was the sole attraction. Plus that way you wouldn't have to endure parking on the lawn of some sour faced east side Nimby rip off artist. 

Those crap donuts are no better than Timbits, and not nearly as good as Krispy Kreme.

I hate the PNE, I wish it and it's simple minded civic cousin, The Symphony of Fire or whatever the hell they'tre calling it these days ("Hey look Cletus, lights in the sky! And purty music! And a big boom!) would depart our city and allow us to at least maintain a slight veneer of sophistication. Stupid PNE .

←

Mr. Talent has ranted the correct. Nicely said. I was being diplomatic. Thanks for entertainingly saying what I was too chicken to say myself.

But while I'm embarassing myself by admitting to being wooed by a touchable infomercial, I'll embarass myself further and use an Emerlism. A bamix is a boat motor.

See: http://www.bamix.com/

I believe it to be very good, and recommend it 100%. My brothers Mother in-law has owned one for somewhere around 20 years. Definitely a good machine.

[edited to add: Welcome to eGullet Sandi.]

Edited August 10, 2005 by mtigges (log)

[shelora]

I had a job when I was 14, serving foot long hot dogs at the exhiibition. The dogs started out fine and dandy, showcased glistening in the front window of the stall.

If business was a little slow, the hot mid-day summer sun turned them green. We served those puppies, regardless. Smothered in onions, who could tell?- except later, when the suckers were whirling about on the Zipper.

The only thing I loved about the exhibitions like the PNE, were the well seasoned, fast talkin' carnies, hawking the latest rip off kitchen tool. Watching those guys was mesmerizing.

My girlfriend had a job that same year serving cotton candy. Her boss - a snaggle-toothed chain smoker - did most of the twirling. One evening under the make-shift lights, my friend observed a moth fluttering, oops, right into the cotton candy. Boss lady kept on twirlin. Stunned, my friend politely told her what happened. The boss never missed a beat and said, "we're charging 50 cents extra for the meat!"

I admire your enthusiasm quattroporte. Bon appetit!!!

Edited August 10, 2005 by shelora (log)

[Jeni Hicks]

I only go for the Whale's Tails

Um - and I did buy some of those "Toastabags" one year. The idea of making a grilled cheese sandwich in the toaster really spoke to the evil inner child in me.

[canucklehead]

I hate the PNE... Stupid PNE .

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Mr. Talent has ranted the correct. Nicely said. I was being diplomatic. Thanks for entertainingly saying what I was too chicken to say myself.

←

Next you'll be posting that Santa Claus is dead.

[quattroporte]

Jeez Keith - sounds like you need to cool off with one of those lemonades I was talkin' about! Granted, you're right about those burgers - they are pretty gross. Just wanted to have a little fun with this thread - I can't explain why those disgusting foods appeal to me, other than it was the highlight of my summer when I was a wee one.

And just so you know, I'm going to Parkside next week. Word.

[kontemporary]

Granted you're right, but any equasion where you've voluntarily submitted to having to pick where one side is "barF' is perhaps and equasion yo0u should avoid. Here's a better idea; Avoid the PNE spend the money at Parkside/Chambar/Wherever instead.

←

Haha, I realise this is only something an eGulleter would say in Vancouver

[Vancouver Lee]

Those crap donuts are no better than Timbits, and not nearly as good as Krispy Kreme.

←

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.

[Daddy-A]

The only good thing about the PNE this year is watching me out-eat Ling.

There ... I said it. The gauntlet's been thrown down.

Oh yeah ... I merged the two PNE threads as well.

A.

[Vancouver Lee]

The only good thing about the PNE this year is watching me out-eat Ling.

There ... I said it.  The gauntlet's been thrown down.

←

THAT will get me back to the PNE.

One word of advice: sell tickets and fund your kids university education.

[peppyre]

That I definitely want to see. Hmmm...the next eGullet even "Who Can Puke First!"

Lee, I can't believe that you had lousy donuts. When I was there last year, I managed to get a bag that had just come out of the fryer and they were heavenly. What you had sounds just terrible. I have to admit, that the only thing that I can bear to eat at the PNE now is the fresh corn.

[Ling]

The only good thing about the PNE this year is watching me out-eat Ling.

There ... I said it.  The gauntlet's been thrown down.

←

*picks up the gauntlet and smacks Daddy-A with it*

WHO'S YER DADDY NOW?!!!!!!!!!!!!

...heh heh. The showdown will have to take place in September though. I have to write finals the next 2 weeks and then my friend's coming up from Cali at the end of August!

[Vancouver Lee]

Lee, I can't believe that you had lousy donuts.  When I was there last year, I managed to get a bag that had just come out of the fryer and they were heavenly.  What you had sounds just terrible.  I have to admit, that the only thing that I can bear to eat at the PNE now is the fresh corn.

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I know - I was seriously disappointed. They have all the same equipment as Tiny Tom's back in Gotham North, but I guess they need some additional training on how to use it.

My recollection of TT's is that they take the donuts out of the fryer immediately, put the in the bag, then scoop a large spoonful of sugar on top. They pinch the top corners of the bag and flip it over, thus closing it up tightly. You then take away piping hot donuts and you get to shake it around yourself and distribute the sugar.

Maybe during the PNE when they are doing more volume the donuts get served quicker.......

Anyone know their dough recipe? I'd like to take a crack (pun intended) at making these at home...

[Keith Talent]

See, here's the thing with the donuts that the vendors don't get, you're paying approx. twenty five cents for the ingredients, and four bucks for the freshness. The donuts are merely a way to convey heat/grease/sugar. It's not the donuts that are good, it's the fact that they're smokin' fresh.

And I'm not joking about redirecting money away from the fair, and towards a local dining spot. I could easily have a great dinner almost anywhere for the cash dropped at the PNE last year. Cheap it's not.

[butter]

See, here's the thing with the donuts that the vendors don't get, you're paying approx. twenty five cents for the ingredients, and four bucks for the freshness. The donuts are merely a way to convey heat/grease/sugar. It's not the donuts that are good, it's the fact that they're smokin' fresh.

And I'm not joking about redirecting money away from the fair, and towards a local dining spot. I could easily have a great dinner almost anywhere for the cash dropped at the PNE last year. Cheap it's not.

←

I'm glad to hear you went to the PNE last year. I was worried that your children would end up with huge therapy bills later on because you deprived them of the PNE experience. It's guaranteed they will remember the good times at the PNE over any moules frites they may have had at Chambar. Lastly, just pack a lunch.

BTW, do they still sell those hairy monkeys on elastics there?