Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Caught up with a dear friend over Sunday brunch and Burdock and Co. was her pick. Busy busy busy but they take reservations! Table spacing is tight AND the tables are light and not bolted to the floor, so don't bulldoze your way around. Didn't get a non-alcoholic drink menu right away so ask about it. Coffee and tea available of course but also a small selection of Fentimans . Risotto ($17) biodynamic aged rice , sunchoke, walnut Looks deceptively simple and therefore can look initially disappointing. Even if you overlook the biodynamic aged rice portion of the item, it is actually surprisingly tasty thanks to the flavourful oil. Portion may seem small compared to whatever your dining companion is getting but it's not very watery so it works out to be a decently filling portion. Fentimans Dandelion & Burdock Not overly sweet, interesting flavour, and strangely very little aftertaste. My friend had the rather hearty-sized looking chickpea tagine tha...

Still thinking vegan and there were intriguing-sounding things on the menu, so I decided to try the Chickpea sit-down restaurant (not the food cart). Interesting choice of locations as it's right next door to also-vegetarian Meet on Main. Busy starting around 6pm till maybe 8.30pm, so best bet is to squeeze in early or resign yourself to a later-night snack. Table turnaround doesn't look that bad, though, but you might be waiting outside the door as the waiting area isn't that big. Style of food is similar to that popularized by places such as Nuba and Jamjar, so nothing too weird and meat-eating friends out for Lebanese probably won't care. A good gathering place as it's vegan with gluten-free option -- this is pretty lowest-common-denominator food nowadays. ChickTea ($3.50) mint, ginger, organic sugar, and lemon Pass on this if you are are used to stronger-tasting pouch teas. If you do get it, let it steep for a long time or it will taste like hot wate...

Just back from a little get-together at the Steel Toad near Main Street Skytrain Station. Nice airy space with very high ceilings. Tables a bit narrow especially if they are going to seat you opposite someone else, so full-on dinners for everyone can be tricky. I went with just drinks and test a couple of interesting-sounding items on the menu... which sadly didn't turn out so interesting, so I don't know if I'd go back for mains. Free WiFi! Look in the drinks menu near the bottom for the password. Chips & Dip ($5)  beer salt crisps with roasted garlic chip dip Salting very inconsistent. Random chips may taste oily. Chips generally large and in good shape. Presentation good. No crumbs or broken chips on the plate. Beer salt? Don't be swayed -- tasted like deep fried chips with a dusting of salt. Sometimes too much on the chip and you get a sudden salty overload. Dip was garlicky and OK. Not quite enough for the plate of chips. Dickie's Ginge...

Brightly lit little mom-and-pop outfit on Main Street. Would normally have given it a miss except my friend had been there before and recommended it. Restaurant interior and layout is awful but they have some nice pieces if you look around, like a very long painting of horses frolicking. TIP: Look around for a ceramic jar of chili paste swimming in what is possibly sesame seed oil and liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds. It's fragrant and not that spicy-hot. Highly recommend you give this a taste and think about whether to add it to your order. My flatbread-in-soup would have been way tastier with a liberal helping of it. Pao-mo (homemade flatbread) in soup ($8) beef, lamb, or tripe I got the lamb one on the owner's recommendation. Surprisingly fragrant soup. The small chunks of torn-up flatbread didn't do much for me but it did make the soup heartier. Looks simple but pretty tasty. Portion size is like a small pho bowl. Felt a bit stingy on the meat but the ...

  Sal y Limón has a basically clean space but once it gets busy (around 6pm, maybe peaking at around 7pm or so) clearing tables becomes slower. This is in part due to the mess people tend to make eating the finger foods. Tons of used napkins all over the place. Clean-up is actually not so bad to do yourself, so if you need to secure several seats together, you can clear the tables yourself (there are tubs for dishes near the self-serve cutlery station) and wipe down the top with napkins. Otherwise, if you prefer to wait, table turnaround time is usually pretty fast. Don't be daunted by the lineup. Their nearby competition ( Los Cuervos Taqueria Y Cantina ) is just as busy and supposedly just as good, so pick a line and stick with it instead of jumping around. Table spacing is actually pretty decent with space to move and movable tables. TIPS: Examine the menu and nominate someone to place your group order. This keeps the lineup from inflating. The others in your party can ...

As you probably know, Starbucks gives out birthday drinks to cardholders . My birthday was almost a week ago, and I completely forgot to redeem it. But the person at the counter was still willing to honour the offer!--And in no way did he hesitate or make me feel bad about it. He said the offer was recorded on my card, so it would just be a matter of checking to make sure the offer was unused and applying it if still valid. Voilà! Free drink, almost a week late. Thank you Starbucks.

On Saturday I did a  Hot Chocolate Crawl  for  Hot Chocolate Festival 2015  with a fellow Yelper and we hit three places. French Made Baking had the best hot chocolate of what I tried that day. It's a tiny place but they've sort of opened up the back to have seating parallel to the kitchen area. You have to walk through to get to the one washroom shared by patrons and staff anyway. HOT girls cooking away in the kitchen. Of course we're not talking hot-because-of-your-tight-black-Cactus-Club outfit type hot. More like sweet girl-next-door feminine hot. Not having hairnets help with that. Each day a different hot chocolate will be featured, however some flavours may be available every day. As well,  the popular "Lord of the Hot Chocolate" - a festival favourite of previous years - will be on the menu every day. All drinks are made with Valrhona chocolate . #25 - "ONLY THYME WILL TELL"  Orange and Thyme infused Dark Chocolate (72% single origin, ...

On Saturday I did a  Hot Chocolate Crawl  for  Hot Chocolate Festival 2015  with a fellow Yelper and we hit three places.  The Last Crumb Bakery  was the second stop. It's actually a remarkably large place that feels a bit like a high school cafeteria. Spacious seating. Just one washroom and you need to ask for the key. Can I take points off for that? (Please note that the bakery and cafe is closed on Mondays. See hours below.) At The Last Crumb Bakery and Cafe they make their hot chocolate sauce in house from a rich, high quality Dutch Cocoa. #39 - "TRIPLE GINGER SPICED HOT CHOCOLATE" Triple ginger hot chocolate. Served with handmade Ginger Apricot Sconscotti (biscotti made from our delicious, handmade buttery scones.) Available: January 17 - February 14 #40 - "CHOCOLATE CHERRY LUST" Sour cherry hot chocolate. Accompanied by a fluffy, handmade, vanilla speckled marshmallow.  Available: January 17 - February 14 Triple Ginger Spiced ...

The best feature of La Petite Cuillère  ("the small spoon") is the space. It is decorated with beautiful tea sets in cabinets, and atop those if you cast your gaze up, is a flotilla of model ships. Convenient coat hangars sport cameos of might-be-famous persons. Unlike afternoon tea houses that aim for "elegant" or "refined", the furniture here feels more cozy and "at home". When you're at the table, it feels like you're at your old-fashioned grandma's dining room for Thanksgiving. Overall, the ambiance feels closer to "adorable Alice in Wonderland", minus any tacky wackiness. A big plus for La Petite Cuillère is its location compared to what it offers. At that busy intersection of Kingsway and Broadway, to duck in here for an hour or so is to escape into a quiet, tranquil oasis. Service is friendly and enthusiastic, although our server had a creepy talent for putting on the most disconcerting agonized look that is sure ...

Unlike many places, East is East will still offer their full regular menu in addition to their Dine Out Vancouver menu. In competition with their Dine Out Vancouver $28 menu will therefore be their regular all-you-can-eat Chai Feast for $27 . For dinner, the kitchen opens at 5.30pm, but even by 5pm there will be patrons and by 5.30pm the place will probably be full, if the Saturday evening our party was there is any indication. Since the restaurant is already busy when the kitchen opens, you can expect your plates to come out somewhat slowly. Dine Out Vancouver 2014 Menu ($28) Appetizer Mango Prawns - Tiger prawns sauteed in a spicy mango, lime leaf and star anise curry on basmati rice. (Gluten free) picture or Tibetan Mantu - Dumplings stuffed with green onions, chives and herbs topped with dehydrated yogurt and lentils. (vegan) or Boulani - Traditional Afghan whole wheat roti stuffed with potato, green onion, yam and herbs. (Gluten free option) (vegan) Entree C...

Just back from Chicha . Our dining group was on the early seating (5pm) and with good reason the restaurant asked us to be done by 7pm as they were just about line-up-at-the-door busy. Tables tend to be for groups and the bar is for couples, or so the seating seemed to be assigned. It's a small, tight place. The main lane between the tables and the bar can get traffic jammed, and your waitress won't be able to get past the people loitering there. Happily they are no longer cash-only (but no AMEX, which is understandable as of the credit cards, that is the priciest option for businesses). Going undercover as a food blogger has drawbacks, including not trying to steal the menu or take notes when I'm there. So I'm gonna have to go from memory here... Chicha Morada ($3.50) The spice mix makes this taste like Christmas! The spices also settle to the bottom, so stir it between sips from the straw. Slightly on the too-sweet side, but you can wait for the ice to me...