Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Joe Fortes Blue Plate Bonanza ! If you're a fan of the daily Joe Fortes $9.95 blue plate special lunch , you may be interested to know that from March 14th to March 24th, you will be able to choose ANY Blue Plate ANY day. The choices and their regular days: Monday Seafood Pot Pie Tuesday Sausage & Braised Pork Cassoulet Wednesday Panko Crusted Haddock Thursday Chicken Linguine Friday West Coast Fish Cakes Also, starting April 5th, their lunch menu will include: Chicken and Waffles! Seafood Bowl Jambalaya Tuna Ciabatta

I've been to Joe Fortes several times for Happy Hour ( 2013 , 2015 ) though I haven't blogged all my visits. Since I've tried so many items, I figured this time, in addition to various orders, I'd try their sliders. Joe's Mini Cheese Burgers (3 for $7.95) cheddar cheese, pickles, coleslaw UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MUST YOU ORDER THE MINI BURGERS. McDonalds has burgers that taste better than these sliders. The patty is... mediocre. Dunno why they even bother putting this on the menu. You get a thin slice of cheddar, a slice of pickle, and honestly that's all I can remember when I peeked in the burger. Still, you get 3 sliders for $7.95. Which works out to more than 1 burger patty of meat. Shove the coleslaw into your mini-burgers to make them more acceptable. Go to a real burger place, like Sliders on West Broadway, to get really decent sliders. Go to McDonald's if you insist on mediocre burgers. But leave the sliders at Joe Fortes alone. Everythin...

A little while back I mentioned that Joe Fortes was offering certain menu items at 1985 prices this week . I finally got to go, and sad to say, it was my most disappointing Joe Fortes experience ever. When you are offering burgers for $6.95 and small bowls of Clam Chowder for $2.95, obviously you can expect the restaurant to be overwhelmed. No reservations. Bar seating only. People packed the lobby shortly before 11 AM. Staff understandably haggard but doing their best to keep a smile and their chins up. Still, not the best situation to expect great service and for the kitchen to put out the best meal. Clam Chowder 1985 ($2.95) Good deal as far as price for portion. Very chunky! Definitely not going cheap here with a soupy chowder. As chowders go, inferior to anything I had in San Francisco. Definitely lacking in richness of taste. Blackened Rockfish 1985 ($11.95) My plate was hot -- so hot that I couldn't hold it with bare hands for more than a few seconds. But the...

Got another e-mail from Joe Fortes today, with news and offers related to their 30th Anniversary . If you missed my last post on Joe Fortes offers, check it out as some of them are still available . Highlights in this latest e-mail include 1985 pricing on six select lunch items from Nov-16 to Nov-20 and the opening of their rooftop patio during the winter.

Just got a fantastic e-mail from Joe Fortes today, outlining various offers, including: "Brunch Bonanza": $9.95 weekend brunches from October 17th to November 8th.  Starting November 1st, when you buy a $100 gift certificate, you will receive a free $25 gift certificate.

Back to Joe Fortes for Happy Hour! Last time I was there specifically for their 4pm-6pm happy hour was way back in 2013  and the food is still just as good. Buck-a-shuck oysters are off the happy hour menu due to current oyster conditions, but its place they added Prawn Tacos, Three Cheese Bacon Mac & Cheese, West Coast Clam Chowder. There were some service hiccups this time, but based on their record with me and my parties so far, I'm going to assume it's a one-off. But here are some tips: TIP: When they ask you about water, "flat water" is probably bottled water and in any case costs $2 per person. TIP: If you go at happy hour and are seated at the bar, you *may* get the bar menu, which is incorrect and does not list the new happy hour menu items. Immediately ask for the Happy Hour Menu . No, it is not the same as the Bar Menu, even though they look the same. Even if you work off the wrong menu, you will still get happy hour prices, though. TIP: For ...

I heard about the Joe Fortes lunch menu "Blue Plate Special" on a Yelp Review of the Day and invited a few friends to try it at 11 AM -- basically right when the restaurant opens. Maybe because there was no dress code clearly / prominently indicated on the website, our party came dressed in a variety of casual outfits, including one person in just a T-shirt with a UFO logo and additional handwriting in ink (which he later explained to us as being from his orientation at the University of Waterloo). There was a case for his being under-dressed, but he was not intercepted at the door. (I am assuming here that he had not intentionally come under-dressed). A latecomer to our table just had shorts and a tank top for the summer heat, and he was detained by the hostess at the front door and not allowed to enter the dining area because of their "dress code". It had been explained to him the bare arms had been the problem, though this may have been a judgement call b...

The last time I was at Joe Fortes was years ago, for a vegan prix fixe special dinner. ( No, I'm not kidding ). Food was good, service was great. Neither have changed. On Wednesday our dining group popped down for their 4-6pm Happy Hour. The Happy Hour menu at Joe Fortes shows a list with daunting painful-to-your-purse prices, but which was OK at 50% off Happy Hour prices. Some items actually become a steal. Expect to be reminded that ONLY the Happy Hour menu is half-off as they apparently get people who get the wrong idea. NOT drinks, obviously, where restaurants make their moolah. Have a few drinks at your table to help them out, eh? It all started with making a reservation on OpenTable. Apparently restaurants don't check the messages on these reservations till much later because a few hours prior to our Happy Hour reservation, I got a call from the restaurant saying Happy Hour was first-come-first-served at the BAR. Reservations for tables were for dinner only. They we...

Yes, you read right: Joe Fortes . That bastion of steak and seafood actually turned out a 4-course gourmet vegan dinner for Earthsave 's Vancouver Meatless Meetup dine out event . Our four-course was... Roasted Red Pepper Puree, truffle gnocchi * Artisan Greens, champagne vinaigrette, sea salt * Smoked Portobello steak, crushed potato, grilled asparagus, pickled red cabbage, fresno chile sauce * Vegan Chocolate Mousse fresh berries Our table was started off with unlimited bowls of baguette slices, and small plates of olive oil and balsamic vinegar reduction sauce (which makes it sweet, like an oyster sauce ). The roasted red pepper puree tasted remarkably like Campbell's Tomato Soup. The salad ("artisan greens") was okay -- Your basic small salad with a delicate vinaigrette. So far, ho hum. There was a remarkably long wait before the mushroom steaks finally came to the table. Happily, it was worth the wait. Curiously, although the large portobellos wer...