Paul’s Place Omelettery

Restaurant: Paul’s Place Omelettery

Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch
Last visited: March 14, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Fairview/South Granville)
2211 Granville Street
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4 (based on 3 items)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 3.5
Additional comments:

• Breakfast all-day
• Breakfast/Lunch only
• Open daily 7am-3pm
• Looks nicer insider than outside
• Popular to locals
• Famous for omelettes
• + $.75 for egg whites
• Busy/line-ups for brunch
• Free refills on coffee
• Cocktails available
• Cappuccino/Mocha/Latte/Espresso
• Burgers/Sandwiches for lunch options
• Washrooms are not wheelchair accessible (upstairs)
• Meter parking

**Recommendation: Da Vinci Omelette (also haven’t tried enough)

I’ve heard so many hit and miss stories about Paul’s Place Omelettery that I finally made the effort to check it out myself. It’s undeniable that it’s a local favourite and that it’s packed and busy with line-ups out the door for Sunday brunch. I’d wait 15min, but not more than that…that’s how good it is. So good enough to wait a bit, but not that long…make sense?

Knowing what to expect will help make your decision and settle whatever differences people may have over it.

These are not your traditional fluffy and hearty omelettes – so if you like those you’re at the wrong place. These omelettes are almost gourmet style, They’re delicate and almost crepe like with lots of filling. It’s quite cheap especially for the area but the portions are also quite small. It also totally depends on what you order. The server was a vegetarian so it as hard to get a recommendation. I want to go back to make a bigger dent in the menu…so I would go back but it’s not urgent.

• Paul’s Place Omelettery is most famous for their omelettes which are made with 3 eggs, cheddar, edam and cream cheese unless specified otherwise. (You’re pretty much paying for the stuffing/cheese because the omelette is pretty small…they must use 3 mini eggs)

Added note: Apparently food and service was better with original owner Paul. I can’t add to that b/c I don’t know as this was my 1^st visit.

On the table:

Da Vinci Omelette 5/6

• Wild game chorizo sausage, mushroom, tomato, spinach & Feta only $9.95
• Includes buttered multi-grain toast, our signature jam and fruit. Add pan fries $1.50.
• It really bothers me that it was $1.50 for pan fries…I think it should come standard on any breakfast plate.
• Anyways…this is the most popular omelette.
• My friend got it with egg whites – yeah if you don’t have to…don’t.

• The omelettes are made with real eggs but they’re really thin and delicate almost like egg crepes without the flour. I think they add a lot of cream/milk to them so they’re really thin and pliable. The best part is that they’re perfectly cooked…barely any brown.

• It savoury, spicy and juicy with the sautéed veggies. It’s packed with a fair amount of ingredients and a decent amount of Feta that gave a creamy salty bite to the whole omelette.

• The wild game sausage isn’t gamey so I liked it. I’m very sensitive to this flavour too. It’s nice and spicy, but also store bought…but I still liked it.
• The jam I thought was a slightly better store-bought brand of jam…I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell it was “signature” until re-reading it now…it didn’t taste homemade at all.

• They serve it with 2 different hot sauces.
• The one in the squirt bottle is similar to a pureed salsa. It’s not exactly chunky, but there are some finely pureed tomatoes. It’s very tangy and the kick is totally afterwards.
• The one in the vinegar is almost like a Frank’s hot sauce.

The Devon 3.5/6

• Smoked salmon, shrimp, asparagus, onion & Brie only. (The seafood is served cold) $10.50
• It was one of those it’s good until I have someone else’s…and then mine isn’t that good anymore.

• It was a bit sweet for me…especially after having the other omelette. Then I just couldn’t get over the sweetness. It might have been too many caramelized onions.

• It’s packed with ingredients and about 2 asparagus spears in here so they don’t cheap out on that part.

• The part that bothered me was that the brie didn’t melt. I just ate cube of brie. I think I had 4 pretty big pieces and I was surprised to get so much.

Pancake 2.5/6

• Single Pancake (Side) $1.95
• I ordered a single pancake because I like trying pancakes…although nothing will beat the biggest pancake ever I had in LA or the lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes in Kelowna.
• This was actually a pretty big pancake so I was happy. It was sitting for a while but they were really busy so I think it could have tasted better.
• The pancakes here are almost like cupcakes, but not as sweet. I think they use cake flour and they might even use some vanilla extract or a little bit of sugar because they have a cake flavour to them.

• It looks good and tasted good but the texture wasn’t soft and fluffy. It was slightly rubbery and that’s because it was overcooked. they have the potential to be really good, but they just need to be fresh and eaten right away.
  
• I had to saw through it…mind you it was a butter knife…but pancakes shouldn’t require steak knives…or even any knife.

• They serve it with pancake syrup and not maple syrup...that’s extra.