Bon's Off Broadway

Bon's Off Broadway
2451 Nanaimo St.
Vancouver, BC

I am lucky enough to live right around the corner from one of Vancouvers great greasy spoon diners. Bon's off Broadway is definately a place to go if you're in the mood for some great cheap breakfast. The atmosphere is super relaxed and if you get there early enough (before 9) you wont have to wait in line.
Bon's is a little kitchy with movie posters and silly things on the walls. It's interesting to look and and some good conversation starters if you're into past-their-prime singers. Now to the food!
The $2.95 breakfast is insanely cheap and means that you can get eggs, potatoes, toast, bacon and coffee for 5 bucks with tax! You will not find that many places in Vancouver, or anywhere for that matter. The breakfast is basic but the eggs have always been cooked perfectly and the food comes out fast. Great servers and good diner coffee make this a great place for a breakfast after a night out. It can get a little crowded mid morning but it's worth the wait if you want to save a couple bucks. If you want a refill on your coffee be assertive and go grab the pot yourself, it's self serve coffee here!
Give Bon's a try one Sunday morning, hopefully it will be added to your 'breaky when broke' list.

Update: I recently revisted Bon's on July 9th, 2011 (with my family) and July 30th, 2011 (solo), and it's as good as ever. The eggs were perfect and there was some hillarious new writings on the walls. I have also noticed that Bon's has been showing up a lot in the 'I saw you' section in the Georgia Straight. So it may be a place for finding love too, who knows???

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Magazines for you Foodie's out there

If you are a foodie but can't afford to eat out all the time you may be like me! I have been on a quest to find some great foodie magazines that have great (and easy) recipes. Below are a few of my favorites. I tend to buy the magazines but if you're more of a computer person, their websites are great too!

OLIVE Magazine:
I found this magazine randomly in the magazine section. It's sometimes hard to track down but it is my number one pick for great tasting, easy recipes and great articles about food travels.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/magazine/olive/


Food Network Magazine: There are always some really fun recipes in this magazine and it is reasonably priced.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-magazine/package/index.html


Savuer Magazine: There are usually some really interesting recipes in here and allows you to experiment with unfamiliar ingredients.
http://www.saveur.com/


Bon Appetit:
This Magazine is definately food porn! Love it!
http://www.bonappetit.com/


If you have any suggestions for other great Foodies Mag's post them in the comments below, I'd love to hear what you all are reading.

Stella's Tap and Tapas Bar

Stella's Tap and Tapas Bar
1191 Commercial Drive
Date of Visit:September 11, 2010

After helping move friends to a new home I was generously repaid with a dinner at Stella's on Commercial Drive. I had never been before but had walked passed about 100 times. Upon entering, there is a nice warm light and inviting atmosphere. There are two defined sections with the bar to the left and the dining room to the right. The decor us up to date and comfortable. We did have a bit of a wait (which was worth it by the way) in a very tiny entrance area. This is really my only criticism of the entire experience. It was extremely squished and people are pushing past to get their name on the waiting list and pushing past to get out after eating... very akward. But after 20 mins(maybe longer) waiting we were seating at a great table in the dinning room and had some of the best service of my life! Our waitress was so knowledgable and friendly, I asked for her recommendation of a less 'hoppy' beer and her choice was excellent. They have a menu just for their beer (http://stellasbeer.com/taps/) selection which can be daunting but also extremely fun to look at and choose which one you will get next.
Everything on the menu from their 'filet'-delphia cheese steak appy to their pork tenderloin main dish sounds amazing and tastes even better. Me, my boyfriend and our two lovely friends ordered 4 starters.... yes, 4! The edamame was cooked well and the hint of ginger added some great flavour to what I usually find as being very bland veggie. We also shared the sundried tomato hummus, piquin chilli & pomegranate molasses glazed chicken wings and the 'filet' delphia cheese steak. The cheese steak is actually little buggets of filet mignon with beautifully melted goats cheese and a sweet and tangy cranberry salsa on top. It was cooked perfectly and came out of the kitchen fast and hot.
For my main I ordered the Pork tenderloin, which was absolutely amazing, but what really stole the show was the INSANELY creamy sweet fresh creamed corn that came with the tenderloin. It mixed well with everything on the plate and had a little extra pepper, which added some bite to the creaminess and sweetness of the corn. I could eat a whole gallon of that stuff, NO PROBLEM!
Our waitstaff was very on the ball, we never waited to order and our main waitress was very friendly but not overbearing. I wish every dining experience was a good as this one. All four of us had a great time and a great meal and agreed that we would return back to Stella's on the drive again for beer and to stuff our faces with great food. You should too!

Update: Stella's has now changed their name to BierCraft Tap and Tapas Bar.

Stella's Tap and Tapas Bar
1191 Commercial Drive
http://stellasbeer.com/commercial

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Me & Julio- Commerical Drive

Me & Julio


Commerical Drive


Sat. June 5th

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon following a coffee tasting with a friend I was walking down commerical drive in search of some good food. My friend who had previously lived in East Van off of Commercial Drive sugggested Me & Julio.

We found a great seat on the patio and ordered a pitcher of Sangria that was full of mango and pineapple. It was the perfect start to our meal. After a couple sips of our drink the waitress came and took our orders, which were both for the turkey tostadas. When they arrived they looked and smelled wonderful. From the first to the last bite the dish was amazing, it had complex and full flavours and the turkey was very moist and fell apart when your fork touched it. there was still a crunch with the tortillas and the chipotle sauce added some extra kick to the meal.

All in all, my experience at Me and Julios was wonderful. The service was great, the atmosphere was fun and relaxed and the food and drink was excellent. I will be going back there for sure and I recommend you try this place out too!
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Carthage Cafe

Carthage Cafe

1851 Commercial Drive

Vancouver, BC

After eating no solids for two weeks following having my wisdom teeth removed I was finally ready to take the plunge back into normal food. Lucky for me Vancouver is in the middle of "Dine Out Vancouver". Which is a celebration of BC food and wine in which you can go to many restaurants within Vancouver and other areas of B.C. and pay a set price (either $18, $28 or $38) for a 3 course dinner.

I was told about the Carthage Cafe by my roommate and her girlfriend. They love the place because it offers great vegetarian options as well as interesting meat plates. When I saw Carthage Cafe on the list of restaurants offering this deal I emailed my roommate and her girlfriend and we all decided to meet there for supper. It was recommended to make reservations, so with those made we headed over at 6:30.

We arrived at supper time and the place had a few people but filled up quickly. The bright red table cloths made the place bright and inviting. The size is perfect for a cafe and allowed it to feel cozy. The waitstaff was friendly but after being checked on about 9 times during our meal it became a little overbearing and we were hoping for a little less attention. I chose from the Dine out vancouver menu while my friends chose from the every day menu.

My Meal choice:

Doigt de Fatima $8.95
(Mix of cheese, beans, tuna & eggs in spring roll
pastry - served with salad)

Chicken Tagine $18.50

Tart of the day: Date

The Meal was brought up in perfect timing, there was no long waits between dishes. The glasses were constantly filled and I never felt like I was waiting for anything. Now, the food. I really want to say it blew me away but I found it to be ho hum... the Doigt de Fatima was very tasteless. I couldnt taste any spice or flavour in the spring roll, the salad with the spring roll was more flavourful and enjoyable. I found the Chicken Tagine very salty rather than spicey and couldnt really taste the saffron and lemon that I was hoping to. The Chicken was very tender though, which was the one redeeming part of the dish. The date square was a little too hard for my jaw to handle so it was passed off to the other guests at the table, who seemed to enjoy it. The stand out of the night was the tunisian coffee. It was this wonderful combination of flavours of strong dark coffee and rose water. It was a spectacular taste and was sweet and amazing. I would go back just to drink that wonderful coffee.

I did enjoy going to the Carthage Cafe because I like the atmosphere and my friends swear by their couscous. The staff there is really friendly but I did not think the food was anything spectacular. The flavours were lacking and the seasoning was off. If you are a vegetarian and in East Van, this may be the place to go but for a night out where you are spending your hard earned money you may want to pass and keep heading down the Drive.

The Templeton

I have heard that The Templeton is the place to go for breakfast but I had some extra time before a movie one day and decided to take a walk down Granville to check out this place. When I walked in i was surrounded by this wonderful diner with a tonne of character. I was able to get a table at the front where I could people watch. I didnt have much time but service was quick and I ordered a 777 Burger and their soup of the day, as well as a cherry coke, just to top off the diner experience. The Cherry coke was great and made me feel like I was eight again! The burger was good, everything you expect a burger to be. the meat was cooked well and I wasnt disappointed but not blown away. If you looking for a place to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere and have a good buger than The Templeton is the place.

On a side note, I did return later for breakfast with a few friends and we all enjoyed our breakfasts. I got the 'big ass breakfast' and a friend tried the Huevos Rancheros, which she always loves.

All in all The Templeton is great because of its atmosphere and its history. The food is great diner food and you'll be tempted to have more than one cup of coffee. It's a definite place to go if you're visiting Vancouver and want to visit a favorite of the locals.

Cafe Medina

Soon after I moved to Vancouver I went wandering around ChinaTown. Predictably, I got lost, but stumbled upon this cute little Cafe Called "Cafe Medina". It is a small but well organized cafe located along side Chambar, both Cafe Medina and Chambar's Menu are beligan inspired.
I Inlisted the help of my friend, and fellow coffee Blogger http://coffeevancouver.ca/, Robert. We had some difficulty finding a time that worked for both of us due to the limited hours of the cafe but we finally made it on a wonderful sunday morning. Although there was a line up the wait was well managed and we were seating fairly quickly. My interest was first peaked when i saw that they offered a Lavender Mocha on their Menu. It is something i have never seen before and I am a huge fan of the smell Lavender. Would I be a fan of it in my drink? HECK YES! The Lavendar Mocha was amazing and has since become my all time favorite drink in the Vancouver area. I drop in whenever I can just to grab a Lavender Mocha. My friend Robert chose the Lavender Latte and was pleasantly surprised by how mild the lavender was and did not over power the espresso.
Now on to the food!
I will always choose breakfast food if given the chance and the Fricasse was calling my name. This dish included: 2 fried eggs, braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, arugula, applewood cheddar. It also came with a side Grilled foccacia. This was AMAZING! the eggs were cooked perfectly and oooozed all over the ribs and potatoes. Teh arugula gave the dish some green which i really appreciated. The ribs were cooked perfectly and the sauce was flavourful. I loved all the flavours in this dish and I would highly recommed it if you are looking for something different for breakfast.
The service at Cafe Medina was wonderful, the Staff was very friendly and the set up was easy to manuvure. It is close to the skytrain station and is a great stop when visiting china town (or getting lost trying to find it). Two thumbs up!
Cafe Medina
556 Beatty St. Vancouver, BC
http://www.medinacafe.com/
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A foodie in Van

I have moved to my favorite place in the world, Vancouver, British Columbia! I have been out exploring, eating and drinking and now I am finally going to post some reviews and pictures of the places I have been. Vancouver is a perfect place for someone who loves food and coffee like I do. I have mostly explored the east side and downtown but I now have begun to try some restaurants and cafes on main street. I have fallen in love with Granville Island, had several encouters with JJ Bean and had many one night stands with local bistros(some good and some bad). All in all I am finding some great restaurants and loving everything that this city has to offer, be it edible or not! Keep checking back for more reviews!!!