La Belle Patate - Review 2

Restaurant: La Belle Patate - Review 2

Cuisine: Canadian/French/Fast Food
Last visited: February 19, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown/West End)
1215 Davie Street
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 5
Service: n/a (Met the owner, so I’m biased – but he’s really nice to everyone)

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Owner Pascal Cornier from Montreal, Quebec
• Specializes in poutine
• Very authentic
• Recently opened (couple months now)
• Original location in Victoria, BC
• Offers 30 different kinds of poutine
• Offers vegetarian poutine - Traditional poutine is vegetarian
• Poutine sauce imported from Montreal
• Fresh, made upon order
• Fast food
• Take out/Dine in
• Open daily 11am-late

**Recommendation: Traditional Poutine

This is where I started my quest for Vancouver’s Best Poutine on Davie Street. Since then I have re-visited La Belle Patate on a couple occasions to try their other items. In my opinion their poutine wins the most traditional and authentic poutine.

The cheese curds are definitely what makes these poutines stand out and memorable. They're real cheese curds - that squeak becuase they're so fresh!...and they don't melt, it's the real deal. However now that I've revisited on a couple occasions, my rating goes beyond them having excellent cheese curds.

On this visit to La Belle Patate’s it was to try their other items at my own expense. I’ve tried 4 of the poutines now, but of all of them I still think the traditional poutine is best. They're all still very good, but that’s the one I still recommend. I'll still keep trying others just in case...I want to be sure.

La Belle Patate - Review 1

On the table:

Smoked Meat Poutine 3/6

• Small $7.50 Medium $8.50 Large $9.50
• I got the small size – which is enough for one – they’re quite heavy and filling.
• Besides poutine, La belle Patate focuses on their authentic Montreal smoked meat as well.
• I thought this poutine was good, but the smoked meat was a little too salty for me. The flavour was really simple, not many spices (if any) – just salty.
• The smoked meat is almost like ham rather than a brisket and it has a charred-barbeque taste rather than a smoked taste.
  

• It’s not like deli ham, but like a ham you would have on Christmas. It’s a cross between that and a brisket - but it is beef. They’re pretty lean pieces and they give you quite a bit, but I wasn’t crazy about them.
• The gravy was the smoked meat gravy, but it still reminded me of the vegetarian poutine sauce they use on the traditional poutine. I actually couldn’t tell much of a difference.
• The fries are made of red potatoes and they’re a thicker hand cut fry.
• Again the best part was easily the cheese curds, however overall I still like the traditional poutine better.
• 

Breakfast Poutine 4/6

• Egg, bacon, onion Medium $10 Large $12
• The smallest size you can get is a medium for this one – which is what I ordered. It’s huge!
• I prefer the breakfast poutine at La Brasserie hands down. This one is still very good, but after the one at La Brasserie – I don’t think any breakfast poutine can beat that one. It was so delicious!

• The egg was a scrambled egg and I wanted more of it. It was a bit dry and overcooked (front piece that looks like a wrinkled cheese curd in the photo).
  
• I know a poached egg is too ‘gourmet’ for La Belle Patate, but I wanted the egg to have a runny yolk to mix in with my gravy. I would have even liked a fried egg – which isn’t ‘gourmet’.

• I loved the onions and how they were sautéed nice and soft, and sweet. They weren’t to the point of caramelized, but almost there. I could have used more of this as well.
• The bacon pieces were those standard bacon strips that are quite fatty. I think it's about 2 strips of crumbled bacon - it's cooked on the spot upon order but they're too salty, fatty and not crispy enough. I'm not a fan of bacon in general (yes, I can almost HEAR all the jaws drop...but bacon should always be crispy I think)
  
• Overall I enjoyed this poutine, but I wanted more eggs and onions. It was also quite expensive at $10, considering La Brasserie’s gourmet breakfast poutine is only $12…and just a couple blocks down the street.

Galvaude 3/6

• Chicken and peas Small $7.80 Medium $9.90 Large $12
• They have a BBQ Galvaude version which has a meat based poutine sauce. The original galvaude is served with a vegetarian poutine sauce.
• This one had lots of peas, a decent amount of sliced grilled chicken breast and cheese curds.
• Needless to say – but the cheese curds were best as always.

• The peas are not the frozen Green Giant peas, but they're those dark green canned mushy ones. They're not as sweet or crunchy and I prefer frozen ones. But I think it might be more authentic with the canned ones.
• Authentically I’m pretty sure Galvaude Poutine is supposed to be served with shredded chicken and not grilled sliced chicken. I would have preferred shredded chicken for a poutine, but the grilled was still good.
• It’s a very basic and simple recipe.

Traditional Poutine

Valentine's Day 09 - 15 Course Dinner

A LOVE AFFAIR WITH FOOD…

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day! (This is the post for Sunday Feb. 21 and Monday Feb. 22, 2010...couldn't "waste" it on one day...took a long time to make ;))

I didn’t do anything really special on Follow Me Foodie for Valentine’s Day so I’m doing it now.

As you know, my best friend and I really enjoy cooking and baking…well if you didn’t know, not you know. (It really pays off to be friends with us! ;)) This is the same friend I made 3 kinds of crab cakes with for our Christmas dinner – See my post for My Holiday Dinners and Feasts.

Anyways on Valentine’s Day last year we got together and made a 15 course dinner…for the 2 of us. Yay! Fun right?! It was! And we ate it all. I wanted to do an appetizer thing so I suggested that we make 3 appetizers each…except I went overboard and couldn’t stop and ended up making 12 appetizers. Well we actually had 12 savoury and 3 dessert courses which came to 15 courses in total.

So here’s a sneak preview of what happened last year.

Added note: Sorry, but I have no recipes for anything...(well might have an idea by memory, and I'm not sure what her recipes are) but I like to cook and so does she but we're not chefs (she could be!)...we just really really like food and I like to go with the flow :)

15 Course Dinner Menu

1) Deep Fried Mac n' Cheese Balls with Pomegranate Salsa - by SC
2) Coconut and Panko Crusted Prawns with Sweet Chili Sauce - by SC
3) Chilled Strawberry and Cardamom Soup (palette cleanser) - by SC
4) Baked Creamy Crab and Artichoke Dip with Pine Nuts - by SC
5) Red Beet with Feta, Almonds and Balsamic Reduction - by Me
6) Red Beet with Honey Glazed Pears, Cranberry & Pink Peppercorns - by Me
7) Sicilian Salad - Pasta shells, sun dried tomatoes, basil & lemon caper dressing - by Me
8) Caramelized Onions, Sesame Pork, Garlic Spinach and Candied Walnuts on Baguette - by Me
9) Creamy Chicken Ragout topped on Yam and Sweet Potato Cake - by Me
10) Sweet Potato, Yam & Snap Peas with Caramelized Onions and Sweet Chili Balsamic Glaze - by Me
11) Edamame Pesto Rotini - by Me
12) Lemon Orzo with Feta, Spinach, Almonds & Cranberries - by Me

Desserts
13) Homemade White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies with Espresso Ice Cream - by SC
14) Baked Pumpkin with Pumpkin Seed Cookie, Caramel, Vanilla Ice Cream & Pecans - by Me
15) Half Baked Chocolate Brownie with Red Beet Compote & Vanilla Ice Cream - by Me

A few highlights...

Deep Fried Mac n' Cheese Balls with Pomegranate Salsa - by SC

Coconut and Panko Crusted Prawns with Sweet Chili Sauce - by SC


Chilled Strawberry and Cardamom Soup (palette cleanser) - by SC

Baked Creamy Crab and Artichoke Dip with Pine Nuts - by SC

Red Beet with Feta, Almonds and Balsamic Reduction - by Me

Red Beet with Honey Glazed Pears, Cranberry & Pink Peppercorns - by Me

Caramelized Onions, Sesame Pork, Garlic Spinach and Candied Walnuts on Baguette - by Me

Creamy Chicken Ragout topped on Yam and Sweet Potato Cake - by Me

Dessert 1 - Homemade White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies with Espresso Ice Cream - by SC

Dessert 2 - Baked Pumpkin with Pumpkin Seed Cookie, Caramel, Vanilla Ice Cream & Pecans - by Me

Dessert 3 - Half Baked Chocolate Brownie with Red Beet Compote & Vanilla Ice Cream - by Me

Vancouver's BEST Poutine on Davie Street - Conclusion

This is Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 4 of 4.

Follow this link to watch my final thoughts on the poutines I had on Davie Street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Ev9NJibIA

The Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 1 of 4

The Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 2 of 4

The Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 3 of 4

Please subscribe, rate & comment at my Follow Me Foodie youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FollowMeFoodie Thanks!

The following is the written conclusion and summary of The Quest for Vancouver's BEST Poutine on Davie Street with material that may not be included in the videos.

The Topic: Quest for Vancouver's BEST Poutine on Davie Street

The Contestants: La Belle Patate, La Brasserie, Fritz European Fry House

4 Poutines later, the results are in!

In terms of authentic French-Canadian poutine, I’d have to give 1^st place to La Belle Patate. It’s pretty much the real deal in terms of authentic poutine. However this doesn’t necessarily mean it was the best tasting…for that ___________ takes the win! You'll see that blank filled in next week...in a bonus episode ;)

Overall the cheese curds at La Belle Patate stole the show, yet La Brasserie had the best gravy. As for the poutine at Fritz European Fry House, it was always a solid choice until I took on this challenge...I know…what a “challenge” I had right? Well to be fair, you try eating so much poutine and going to work afterward…that was a challenge! (I could have easily taken a nap…and I don’t know if I would ever wake up…)

The following is a quick recap/summary of the 3 poutines:

Poutine 1 - La Belle Patate:

This is not representable of what is actually ordered. I'm so embarrassed...I forgot to take my picture before I started eating it. I didn't follow usually routine because this was for the video blog.

La Belle Patate Traditional Poutine 6/6

• Small $5.50 Medium $7.50 Large $9.50
• Red Potatoes, hand cut, skins on, freshly fried
• The “gravy” or as they call it the “poutine sauce” is actually completely vegetarian. (A wheat based sauce)
• They do offer meat “gravy” or meat “poutine sauce” and it’s under the name of “BBQ”
• Best cheese curds - fresh, firm, squeaky, don't melt
• Authentic Montreal poutine
• Foil to-go containers
  

Poutine 2 - La Brasserie:

Truffle Poutine 5/6

• Fries, cheese curds, pork gravy, truffle oil $9
• Kennebec potatoes, hand cut, skins on
• Gourmet poutine
  
• Best pork gravy with lots of truffle oil, a bit of a kick and freshly cracked black pepper
• The cheese curds were part mozzarella cheese rather than an actual cheese curd.
• It’s savoury, very aromatic with the truffle oil
• Comfort food with a gourmet twist.

Poutine 3 - Fritz European Fry House:

Poutine 4/6

• Small: $4.50 Medium: $5 Large: $6.50 Jumbo: $7.50
• Russet Potatoes, hand cut, skins on, freshly fried
  
• Firm and a bit crispier than the other two.
  
• Layer their poutine - fries, cheese curds, gravy and repeat.
• Good ratio of ingredients.
• European Fry House - focus on dips
  
• Gravy enhanced with black pepper and some dried herbs.
  
• Mozzarella cheese curd - stringiest of all 3 places.
  
• The most ooey gooey, saucy and cheesy poutine.
• Muchies/Hangover food
• Styrofoam to-go container

Added note: This review is a little different because it was for my video blog. Therefore the food at La Belle Patate, La Brasserie, and Fritz European Fry House was complimentary, (although I did offer to pay) but my opinions are still honest and as non-biased as I can be. The opinions and views expressed in "The Quest for Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street" review and video are those of Follow Me Foodie/Mijune only. There is no paid advertising and as always I write for the benefit of the customers and not for the restaurants.

La Belle Patate - Vancouver's Best (Authentic) Poutine on Davie

The Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 1 of 4

This is the first vlog for Follow Me Foodie. My quest for the best poutine on Davie Street started off at La Belle Patate. For the next episode please subscribe to the Follow Me Foodie youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FollowMeFoodie or visit back for updates!

The Quest for the BEST POUTINE on Davie Street Part 2

To launch the 1st Follow Me Foodie video blog this review/post will be the post for Wednesday and Thursday. The following is the written review as well as more details about La Belle Patate that are not included in the video.

Restaurant: La Belle Patate

Cuisine: Canadian/French/Fast Food
Last visited: January 7, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown/West End)
1215 Davie Street
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 5.5 (Based on just the original poutine)
Service: n/a (Due to this special review, I'm biased)

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Owner Pascal Cornier from Montreal, Quebec
• Specializes in poutine
  
• Very authentic
• Recently opened
• Original location in Victoria, BC
• Offers 30 different kinds of poutine
• Offers vegetarian poutine - Traditional poutine is vegetarian
  
• Fresh, made upon order
• Fast food
• Take out/Dine in
• Open daily 11am-late

**Recommendation: Traditional Poutine (only thing I've tried)

The Topic: Quest for Vancouver's BEST Poutine on Davie Street

The Contestants: La Belle Patate, La Brasserie, Fritz European Fry House

4 Poutines later, the results are in!

My quest for Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street started off at La Belle Patate!

In terms of authentic French-Canadian poutine, I’d have to give 1^st place to La Belle Patate. It’s pretty much the real deal in terms of authentic poutine. However this doesn’t necessarily mean it was the best tasting…for that you have to keep watching/following my video series!

I discovered La Belle Patate driving up Davie Street and from the outside it kind of looks like hole in the wall. I thought it was a take-out only kind of place, but I was really surprised with the inside. It’s actually very spacious and there’s actually a nice sitting area that makes it more of a “dine-in” kind of place rather than simply “eat-in”.

My expectations started to rise as I saw a Montreal Canadian flag hanging and I also heard the owner speaking French. I knew I was in for a very authentic poutine. The menu is extensive and they offer 30 kinds of poutine. There’s a lot of different styles of poutine and a lot of meat options, so I was very surprised to learn that their traditional poutine was actually vegetarian!

What is Poutine?

Using the most common definition a poutine is fries, cheese and gravy. However the real authentic definition of a poutine is fries, cheese curds (specifically fresh cheddar cheese curds), and poutine sauce or “gravy”. (Some people will object to the word “gravy” – but it’s supposed to be a chicken based sauce).

On the table:

This is not representable of what is actually ordered. I'm so embarrassed...I forgot to take my picture before I started eating it. I didn't follow my usual routine because this was for the video blog.

Traditional Poutine 5.5/6

• Small $5.50 Medium $7.50 Large $9.50
• The fries were hand cut, skin on, Red Potatoes and very fresh. They were a bit thicker cut with a crispy outside and very soft and fluffy inside.
• The fries were completely covered in gravy and the bottom layer got a bit soggy, but that’s expected.
• To my surprise, I was very surprised…the “gravy” or as they call it the “poutine sauce” is actually completely vegetarian. It wasn't obvious it was vegetarian unless you knew. It’s a wheat based sauce and it carries a shine, so it gives the illusion of being a bit oily or greasy. It is salty and it still has a meaty flavour so I was surprised to hear it was vegetarian. I'm pretty sure it's thickened with quite a bit of cornstarch because it's pretty thick and jelly-like or glutinous in texture.
• They do offer meat “gravy” or meat “poutine sauce” and it’s under the name of “BBQ” – so anything with the words “BBQ” will be meat based. I actually want to try that and do another comparison.
• I didn't get to try the "BBQ Poutine" at La Belle Patate. I wish I did because I actually feel like that version should have been the "Traditional Poutine".
• Cheese curds
• The cheese curds are the best cheese curds I’ve had in Vancouver so far. The cheese curds are definitely the highlight here. They’re very fresh and they squeak when you chew them. A sign of very fresh curds!
• They’re really generous with them and there are big chunks of it and they don’t lose their texture or shape because they don’t melt. Yes they don’t melt, so don’t expect the ooey gooey stinginess you may be used to. An authentic poutine isn’t supposed to have cheese curds that melt because that would mean they are using mozzarella.
• He gets them in from the Fraser Valley and it’s not even a mozzarella or a white cheddar cheese. It’s actually called “cheese curd” and it has the texture of very firm mozzarella so I thought it was a white cheddar cheese, but it’s not. The flavour is similar to mozzarella, but a bit deeper and it's so firm it breaks apart when you chew it.
• I really love how they served them in foil to-go containers. It was perfect! It literally retained heat until my project was done...2 hours later!
• A few things that bothered me…
• I really think they should call the “Traditional Poutine” a vegetarian poutine and then the “BBQ Poutine” the traditional poutine…for me, a real traditional and authentic poutine should be meat based sauce.
  
• The cheese curds are super squeaky and fresh, but from my research and knowledge an authentic poutine should have white cheddar cheese curds.

Added note: This review is a little different because it was for my video blog. Therefore the food at La Belle Patate was complimentary, (although I did offer to pay) but my opinions are still honest and as non-biased as I can be. The opinions and views expressed in "The Quest for Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street" review and video are those of Follow Me Foodie/Mijune only. There is no paid advertising and as always I write for the benefit of the customers and not for the restaurants.

Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant

Restaurant: Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant

Cuisine: American/West Coast/Fast Food/Seafood
Last visited: January 9, 2010
Area: White Rock, BC
15479 Marine Drive
Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: Fish: 6 Other stuff: 2
Service: 5

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Family owned
• Since 1975
• Specializes/famous for fish and chips and tartar sauce
• Huge portions, huge pieces of fish
• Only one kind of fish: Cod
• Deep fried and breaded everything, except for salads
• Familiar to locals and tourists
• Line-ups
• Homemade, family recipes
• Great for families/seniors
• Very casual, fun atmosphere
• Special: Buy 3 pieces and get 1 FREE
• Great option for picnic on the beach
• Some burgers, sides, salads available
• Award winning “Travelocity.ca selected local favourite”
• Dine in/Take-out
• Take-out window, patio area
• Accepts inteac/Visa/Mastercard

**Recommendation: Fish and tartar sauce (I’d even pass on the chips)

The first time I heard about Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant was at a family dinner. Thanks to me we always end up talking about food! :D My cousins and I were sitting at a table talking about the best fish and chips in the city. I was talking about how I wasn’t impressed by Pajo’s in Richmond and then with high enthusiasm one of them blurts out “Moby Dick! Moby Dick in White Rock is THE BEST Fish and Chips in Vancouver!” I could hear the passion in his voice and the excitement in his eyes. We could all feel it…it was pretty hilarious. Nonetheless all of us put it on our list of places to go!

So I came here literally right after my 3 course brunch at Giraffe Restaurant down the street. This was pretty much my second lunch, but I just had to try it! While waiting for Kim to arrive, I spent 20 min. walking up and down the street to burn off brunch so I would be hungry again. Kim and I have been talking about it for ages, so I’m glad we finally made it!

Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant has been around for ages, and not much has changed since its opened…not that I was alive then, but it doesn’t seem like anything has changed. It has the family owned atmosphere with that “tacky” quality fish and chip places have. It’s fun though and it suites the atmosphere, so I liked it! Even the service is very family-owned – everyone seems to be grinning from ear to ear and you can feel that they really appreciate your business from the moment you walk in to the minute you leave.

Some (very few) people may call it a "tourist trap", but I don't think so. I was there visiting in the winter and it was packed with locals. Ultimately you do get a huge piece of quality fish that's fried very well with homemade tartar sauce...I could pass on the other items though.

On the table:

**3 Pieces Fish & Chips 6/6

• $16.60 (If you order 3 pieces you get 1 free! The offer isn’t advertised, but they’ll give it to you.)
• Yes, this was the best fish and chips I’ve had yet. However I don’t have much to compare to because I don’t have fish and chips too often. I could, but I doubt I will find better than this.
• The fish is premium quality Alaskan Lingcod and they slice and filet it in house! It’s the biggest deep-fried fish I’ve ever had. The meat was was juicy, tender, flaky and fried golden brown to perfection.
• The batter is the 2^nd part to what makes this fish perfect. It’s a really thin crispy batter, to the point of almost forming air pockets. It was that light and I’m so surprised at how well it held on to the fish, the fish didn’t separate from the batter. I want to taste more fish than I do batter, and in this case I did. It was the perfect ratio.
• To my surprise, one of the first things I noticed was that the fish and batter were not seasoned. There was no pepper and very little, or I think none at all – salt! Usually this would be a big deal to me, because there should be some salt to enhance the flavour, but it didn’t bother me here too much because the star of the show was the tartar sauce!

  

Tartar sauce 5/6

• Small: $.80 Large $1.40
• The tartar sauce is another famous item at Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant.
• Start off with a premium ingredient and serve it with a homemade sauce…how can you go wrong?
• People say it’s the best tartar sauce ever, so I had my expectations set high. I wouldn't call it a classic tartar sauce though.
• It smells and tastes like dill vegetable dip and ranch salad dressing mixed together. It’s mayo based, so a bit thicker than a salad dressing. There’s lots of dill, some pickles and minced onions too. It could really be used as a potato chip dip or for a potato salad. It was creamy, but maybe a bit thinner in texture than a traditional tartar sauce. It was excellent, but the dominant flavour is dill and for a tartar sauce I would like a bit more of a pickled flavour.

Chips 1.5/6

• Small $3.90 Medium $4.90 Large $5.90
• To be honest I could do without the fries. They’re hand-cut Yukon Gold fries with the skins on (even though the menu says they peel the skins by hand).
• They’re a bit sweeter because they’re Yukon golds and they would have been excellent if they cooked them well. They were very oily though and soggy because they were soaked in oil. They were almost wet, and I had grease all over my hands.
• They could have been so good, but I think they need to re-assess the cooking temperature and time…or even just fry them twice or fry them longer in hotter oil. It catches me off guard because they nailed the frying time on the fish and the batter was so light and crispy.

  

Clam Strips 1/6

• Breaded clam strips served with cocktail sauce $4.90
• I was not feeling this at all. The batter was completely opposite of the batter on the fish. It was dense, crunchy and reminded be of the batter cheap pubs use for their onion rings. Or it reminded me of heavily battered popcorn shrimp, but with a fishy taste. The batter separated from the clam meat; however the clam itself was quite tender. It was a whole lot of batter and not a whole lot of clam.
• The clam strips were also quite bitty too. There were a few that were at least 2 inches and then a bunch at the bottom that were really small.
• I also didn’t like how they served it with 2 random onion rings. It was almost like they knew the clam strips looked a bit pathetic so they added the rings last minute to make the dish look fuller. How did they taste? Like a regular onion ring. It wasn't the fish batter or the clam batter, but somewhere in between.
• Cocktail sauce: The cocktail sauce was more on the ketchup side than it was on the horseradish side. It was quite mild, so I think it catered more to kids and seniors with sensitive taste buds. It was a bit tangy and lemony but I like a stronger kick to my cocktail sauce.

Cimona Cafe

Restaurant: Cimona Cafe

Cuisine: American/Breakfast/Brunch/Cafe
Last visited: January 2, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC (Steveston Village)
#210 – 3791 Bayview Street
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 2
Service: 3

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 2

Additional comments:

• Since 1999
• Popular to locals
• Owned by Mediterranean family
• Homestyle/Casual/low maintenance food
• Café/Catering
• Typical American/West Coast diner food
• Extensive menu
• Family diner style
• Old-fashioned
• Focus on catering
• Breakfast until 2:30pm
• Daily breakfast specials until 3pm
• Daily dinner specials
• Do not go by prices on their website, they’ve increased a bit
• Breakfast is café price, very inexpensvie lunch and dinner
• Outdoor patio available
• Mon-Sat 8am-9pm
• Sunday 8am-8pm

**Recommendation: Smoked salmon wrap

I’m not going to lie; it looks nicer from the outside. The inside is very causal, dated and I felt like it’s where a fisherman would go for a ‘fancy’ meal in the old days…

It’s very family diner style with small wooden chairs and tables. It definitely feels community supported and familiar with locals in the neighbouhood. I’m assuming there are regulars that have been coming here for years that order a morning coffee with the same food every Sunday morning.

The menu is pretty big and I assume they do a lot of casual catering. They serve the typical salads, wraps, soups, sandwiches, pastas and meat and potato entrees. They’re quite popular for breakfast and the prices are pretty cheap. Breakfast is Denny’s pricing, but a little more “gourmet” with bigger portions. I haven’t tried their lunch and dinner, but they are about $1 LESS than Denny’s with their lunches at about $7 and dinner at around $10-12.

The food was very mediocre and they claim to focus on healthy, however I don’t know if it’s “healthy” as it is just fresh and made upon order. The food wasn’t greasy or anything, but it also wasn’t that good or very impressive.

On the table:

Seafood Benedict 1.5/6

• Wild salmon, baby shrimp, served on a crisp English muffin, topped with hollandaise sauce served with hash browns $9.99
• This was their daily special served until 3pm. Having brunch in Steveston Village I almost feel like it would be taboo not to order seafood.
• Ok this wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I would much rather have smoked salmon eggs benedict. It was loaded with wild salmon and baby shrimp, but the wild salmon was fully cooked flaked wild salmon. It was overcooked and almost dry.
• It was a very fishy tasting eggs benedict and I wasn’t a fan of this canned salmon taste…I don’t know if it was in fact canned, but from colour to presentation to flavour the seafood benedict just didn’t work for me.
• The hollandaise sauce was really bland and almost flavorless. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was from a package. It was a very pale yellow and not very creamy or rich at all.
• The poached egg was pretty good though. They didn’t ask how cooked we wanted it and I forgot to put in a request but they served in medium. I prefer mine soft so that when I cut into the yolk it will be runny and creates its own sauce. Then I dip my hash browns, toast and everything else in it! Yum!...but that didn’t happen here. I can’t ding them if the request was never made though.
• The description says “crisp English muffin,” but mine was not crisp. It was actually very soggy and I questioned if it was toasted at all.

Hash browns 3/6

• So the menu says “health conscious,” but I’m not so sure because their hash browns were deep fried. The hash browns were those potato nuggets and they taste like frozen McCain fries in nugget form. I mean they’re pretty tasty with some dried herbs on them.

Western Omelette 2.5/6

• Red onion, green pepper & black forest ham. Served with hash browns and toast. $7.49
• Option: Substitute free range eggs for $1.50 Substitute egg whites for $1.00
• The omelette is their popular breakfast item. I can’t help to think maybe a little bit has to do with the portion size. It’s quite big.
• They do make it a bit differently too though. It’s almost a layered omelette pie rather than a fluffy omelette. Each layer has ingredients and each layer is kind of stacked so it’s a dense and thick omelette.
• The omelette was a bit overcooked and dry for me, but there were lots of ingredients and for being overcooked it actually didn’t taste bad. I don’t think they put any salt and pepper in it, but there were so many ingredients and there was lots of ham which made it salty enough.
• The red onions were roughly chopped and almost raw though. They were really crunchy and they needed to cook those for longer before adding the eggs.

Smoked Salmon Wrap 4/6

• Eggs, red onion, smoked salmon, and cheddar cheese. Served with hash browns. $8.99
• Ok so they really need to work on their plating. I mean even adding a simple fruit garnish would have made the plate look more appetizing or even just full. They almost just spread the hash browns around to take up more room on the plate.
• The wrap itself was good though, it was my favourite thing we ordered. It was really big, and nicely stuffed and very fresh. It more like a breakfast burrito than a wrap to me. It was quite hearty with lots of ingredients.
• The eggs are scrambled and not overcooked this time and they give you a lot. It almost made 1/2 of the wrap. I don’t think they season the eggs with any salt, and it didn’t need it. The ratio of the other ingredients gave it enough flavour.
• The smoked salmon got a little bit cooked with the heat of the eggs, but that’s bound to happen. They gave at least 2 layers of this as well. I really liked how the salmon was spread out in the wrap and not only in one section of it. It was on both sides of the wrap so they gave you quite a bit. It was put together really well.
• The cheddar cheese isn’t overwhelming either. They didn’t use too much, but it was more or less a nice thin and even layer that is fully melted to hold the wrap together. They used just enough so that it wasn’t greasy and it actually tasted like a hearty and relatively healthy breakfast. It’s also on a whole wheat wrap. It’s very simple with no additional sauces or anything fancy, but I liked it!