Dropped by Burgoo in North Vancouver (Lonsdale, next to Quattro and The District) on Thursday evening for a light dinner. It looks quiet from the outside, but was quite busy in the inside. The waitress at my table suggested Mondays and Wednesdays might be quieter days, but it was chancy.
For just a light dinner, I ordered the Wild Mushroom Pate ($8) and Pacific Chowder ($8 for a full portion, $6 for a half portion).
The Mushroom Pate was a cold dish, a mound of finely chopped mushroom rather than the traditional slice cut from a slab held together by broth jelly.
It was't super-mushroomy tasting, and it came with a bowl of thinly sliced baguette that I thought could have been a bit less toasted and maybe more freshly prepared (i.e. warm). It was crispier than a biscuit, and that always makes taking half-bites (which you had to do because of the size of the slice) tricky because it can fall apart on you. A slightly less toasted one, with maybe a bit of chewiness left in it, would make it more comfortable. In any case, this is a trivial quibble.
The portion was good enough to share as a starter between two or maybe three people. Remember to use a generous gob of pate because you'll probably run out of baguette otherwise.
The Pacific Chowder was more soup than chowder or stew. It's listed as a "soup", so really I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that what came to the table was about two-thirds soup and one third chunky ingredients. Definitely use the lemon wedge as it is bland otherwise.
I also tried pepper (which you can freshly grind yourself from the grinder at every table), and this worked best when dusted on top each time you take a spoonful, rather than trying to grind a teaspoon into the soup to add taste and a bit of heat.
Because it's not so much chowder or stew than soup, the large bowl isn't as daunting as it looks and probably won't do you if you are looking for even a light dinner, unless you eat like a bird.
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