Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Since I don't watch TV anymore (no, not even the Food Network), I'm probably the last foodie in Vancouver to know about Argo Cafe . The one line on the website says it all: "Downtown food, at [an] East Van price". And oh -- CASH ONLY. The location is remarkably unappealing with small windows that afford barely a proper glimpse inside. Right next door is the Pedal Bike Depot. Maybe ironically, just one street over on Quebec is Organic Lives . Not too far away is the Olympic Village and more new condos and gentrification, so if you have Argo Cafe on your list, I'd go sooner than later. Even with the building boom slowed down, it's likely that gentrification will eventually wipe out the entire block in which this comfortably priced greasy spoon presently resides. The Argo Cafe is open 7am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, closed weekends and holidays. The kitchen switches over to the lunch menu at 11am. We were told the place is basically non-stop busy all day. Sti...

You may quite possibly have seen this picture shared on Facebook, via LikeACoupon . If you dig around, you can find some related links, like the IHOP National Pancake Day website and Facebook page , and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals . Looks good, right? All set for free breakfast tomorrow? So why did I put "Maybe" on my blog post? The problem I have with this is that USA is all over it. A Facebook share can go all around the world. Sure, there's IHOP in Canada, but what about Children's Miracle Network Hospitals? Let's start with IHOP. On the National Pancake Day details, the " Find An IHOP Near You " picture/link sits on an outline of the USA. This, to me, suggests IHOP is US based, and possibly Pancake Day is a US thing. The search page has a country drop-down, but the search page is not on www.ihoppancakeday.com, either. If you go to Children's Miracle Network Hospital and try the Hospital locator under the "Partners...

I sort of gave up on "authentic" VPN Certified Neapolitan Pizza after Nicli Antica Pizzeria , but that didn't stop me from trying Campagnolo with the Vancouver Fine Dining Meetup . I initially wanted to get the pork-and-duck bollito misto , but it had been rotated off the menu (which changes about once every two months) to align with what's available seasonally. Then I spotted the lemon-and-garlic pizza. If you didn't already know, there are two Campagnolo restaurants. There's Campagnolo Roma on East Hastings and Campagnolo on Main Street in Strathcona . The menus are slightly different. Neither are VPN Certified, and in fact, due to building codes the one on Main Street cannot have a wood fired oven, which is one of the requirements for certified authenticity. Campagnolog on Main turns out the same style of pizza with the same look and feel, so you're not missing much. The pizzas here are chewy and think, and the edge crust seemed to me rather a bit ...

I wanted to try something other than ham, eggs, and toast for breakfast (since I can just as easily get that at home), and there just aren't that many interesting breakfast places. The Medina Cafe definitely has a different take on it, with its mix of international cuisine though originally (and apparently still) famous for its Belgian waffles, now ringing in at $3.15 each -- and that's without any toppings, which are $1 extra. I feel it is a sad commentary on North American price inflation when a waffle is not overpriced at $3.15 in downtown Vancouver as a brownie in Starbucks might well be similarly priced. And that's without loading it with any expectations for that price tag. There's often talk of a line-up at the Medina Cafe, and if you go a bit later in the morning (say, 10am on Friday morning), there will be. But my friend and I got in just after 9 am just last Friday, and although the main room was packed, there was still some seating in the "back room...

Got this in my e-mail box today: Chance to win a year's supply of Kellog's Eggo Pancakes and Waffles . The fine print: †Contest sponsor: Kellogg Canada Inc. No purchase necessary. Contest starts on February 21, 2012 and ends on March 20, 2012. The contest is open to legal residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) only who have reached the age of majority in their Province/Territory of residence. There is one (1) Prize available to be won consisting of: One (1) Year of Eggo* Waffles/Pancakes to be awarded in the form of 52 free product coupons redeemable for Eggo* Waffles/Pancakes. Approximate retail value of the Prize is One Hundred and Fifty-Six Dollars Canadian ($156.00). Winner must correctly answer mathematical skill testing question to be declared a winner. Approximate odds of winning the Prize depend on the total number of eligible entries received by the Contest Closing Time. Full Contest rules are available online at http://kelloggs.ca/eggocontest.

Last Friday, I dropped by Shizen Ya on Broadway to get some takeout for myself and my notoriously hard-to-please mom. My mom had for some reason become impressed with brown rice, so I thought I'd try out some brown rice sushi on her. At other sushi places, you can sometimes substitute regular sushi rice with brown rice for about 50¢. Brown rice is processed less but costs more. Hmm... At Shizen Ya, USDA certified organic brown rice is standard. The seafood used at Shizen Ya also bears the round Ocean Wise sustainable seafood logo. On this trip, I got a Sakura Blossom Roll, a Spicy Tuna Cone, and a bit of their homemade Natto . Sakura Blossom Roll ($12.95; juicy fresh crab, spicy albacore tuna, cucumber, avocado, rolled with organic brown sushi rice, wrapped with wild sockeye salmon; creamy maple dressing ) This is a larger sushi roll, about 2" in diameter, compared to the typical smaller ~1" diameter rolls that sell for $5-$7. The bright red salmon on the outsid...

Happy Singles Awareness Day everybody. Good luck out there. I heard That you're settled down That you found a girl And you're married now I heard That your dreams came true Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you Old friend Why are you so shy Ain't like you to hold back Or hide from the light I hate to turn up out of the blue Uninvited But I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it I'd hoped you'd see my face And that you'd be reminded That for me It isn't over Never mind I'll find Someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you Too... Don't forget me I beg I remember you said Sometimes it lasts in love But sometimes it hurts instead Sometimes it lasts in love But sometimes it hurts instead Yeah You'd know How the time flies Only yesterday Was the time of our lives We were born and raised In a summer haze Bound by the surprise Of our glory days I hate to turn up out of the blue...

The 100-Mile Diet idea may have fallen off the radar, but it's still feasible and the 100-Mile Menu is still available at Raincity Grill . I knew I was handicapping the restaurant from the start, but I was too curious not to try it when I went to the restaurant Saturday night with the Vancouver Fine Dining Club . Once upon a time, before refrigeration and importing made everything available everywhere, people had to make do with what they could harvest and what they could preserve. If you try out some of the older "traditional" recipes, you may discover that everything you need for the recipe will be in-season at the same time: Precisely because the recipe was based on what was available to kitchens, without the benefit of shipping something over from the antipodes. Before evaluating the 100-Mile Menu at the Raincity Grill (or anywhere else), you have to give some leeway for what they can't use because it's not locally available. If something is on the bland...

There's something funny about the flatbread at Cosca . I think the dough is undercooked. I rallied a couple of friends to go to Cosca to try the flatbread again after having gone once before with the Food Bloggers in January to sample the pasta. I'd had flatbread there too, and the diners at our table immediately remarked how undercooked it was. At the time, I thought it was a fluke. Well, when both our pizzas came with undercooked dough last night, I guess it's some new pizza fashion. Yes, I actually carved the dough open and touched the inside, which was clearly still sticky, though not so much as to have a raw dough look. The result in your mouth is a slightly gummy experience that can stick to your teeth. The taste of the ingredients isn't so strong to begin with, and this experience is now compounded with a texture/feel in your mouth from the dough that dominates. If they keep this up, I recommend skipping it and going to a neapolitan pizza joint. Nicli Anti...

After wrapping up dinner at MARKET on Saturday night, my companions and I dashed over in the crisp cold night to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia to continue drinks and chatting. Sadly, the Bel Café had closed and Hawksworth was packed, so we sat ourselves at the bar in the 1927 Lobby Lounge . If you like the look of big ice cubes, you'll get it here with 8 cubic inch cubes. If you've never walked through the hotel after it's revitalization, definitely go! I mentioned it briefly after a glimpse when I went to the Bel Café for dessert , but it deserves a good look in the late evening when all is quiet. In addition to period decor and some interesting flower arrangements, there's a collection of fine art right in the lobby. On the hotel main web page is a link to a PDF summarizing this art collection . The bar in the 1927 Lobby Lounge is very tight in the narrow but deep lounge. If you find it a bit busy, you are free to sit elsewhere in the hotel's long and spacious ...

I wanted to take my friends from Chilliwack somewhere special as they don't come into town often. And they eat like birds. I settled on MARKET by Jean-Georges hoping that the small bites would be fantastically put together -- and fortunately I was right. Saturday February 4th was at the tail end of Dine Out Vancouver, but I still managed a reservation for three at 5.30pm, and was warned of a 2-hour dining limit. No problem. We took our time, but because we were just nibbling on small plates it turned out quite fine. Chatting the night away still saw us exiting just at 7.30pm, by which time the restaurant was buzzing. It's a tight semi-circular space with a smaller room and a bigger main room. In between is a bar, and additional seating all along the window. The very dim light in the smaller room near the stairway up from Alberni Street tends to blind you to the claustrophobic environment, however. Despite the business of the night, water was prompt and staff were impecca...

Overall, for a Dine Out menu of $28, Salmon and Bannock offers okay value and a sample of what sets them apart (bannock and game meat). If you're expecting aboriginal food to somehow be a very novel experience in taste and presentation, then you're already setting yourself up for disappointment and it can be hard to remove that element when you are evaluating the food, ambiance, and the restaurant as a whole. Seriously: What does "aboriginal food and presentation" look like to you? That said, the food is basically good edging up to very good. The novelty is really limited to the elk roast. If you're more serious about game meat then you might want to instead try one of the prix fixe fixed-menu feasts, which run from $30 to $50 per person, minimum 4 persons. The room used to be Habibi's, a hummus place. Now it's decorated with framed aboriginal art that seems to clash with the music that's played in the background (although, really, do you want to ...