Acme Cafe
51 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Depending on who might be reading this, it is possible I might be overstating the obvious but I will play safe. To those who haven’t visited Vancouver Downtown, it can easily be separated into West End, Yaletown, Gastown, Downtown Eastside, Granville, Coal Harbour and so on. For the most part, if you are savvy enough of the transit system, you can pretty much get from point A to point B in Downtown in less than 15 minutes. Driving? Well, let’s just say driving in Downtown Vancouver at lunch time might not be the best of ideas. As a result, my visit to restaurants in Downtown Vancouver are mostly restricted to West End (where I work) and Coal Harbour (with some odd ones in Granville). For the rest, I tend to go on weekends.
With that said, there are times I might be somewhat narrow minded. If there is a restaurant I certainly want to visit, I don’t even bother to make plan B. However, that’s was more I less I had to resort to when I tried to go to the Greedy Pig on a Saturday at around noon sharp just to find out that they didn’t open that day until 2:00 p.m. (despite their web site says they open at 11:30 a.m.). WTF?! While Bambo Cafe while just next to it, I wanted something… Different. Whipping out my iPhone and checking Urbanspoon app, I then went to Frannie’s Gourmet Deli just to find out they do not open on weekends and holidays. At that point, I was starting to think there was some sort of conspiracy against me. Now, there were a lot of places I could stop and get lunch; however, it just that I wasn’t really in the mood for burgers or similar fare (this is because I was driving the following day to Tacoma… Yes, posts for next week will be from Tacoma!). Tired, hungry and thirsty, I recalled Acme Cafe which Sherman blogged earlier that week. And, while I commented I wasn’t in a hurry, hunger prevailed and to Acme Cafe I went.
From the outside this would be an “eyesore” to the area… OK, probably not an eyesore in that sense of the word. Rather, if you look around, you will notice this place actually looks quite “nice” compared to their surrounding neighbours, including the now closed diner at the back of Save on Meats. Did I mention the store next to it might raise some conservative eyebrows? But, then again, this is Vancouver…
Upon walking in, I was given the option to seat anywhere and, per usual, I ended up seated at the worst possible place. I believe I have a nack to do this, darn it! That place was the table next to the window (not the stool section but the actual window). Wait, isn’t such place “better” for taking pictures? Normally, yes; however, the angle by which sunlight was coming in plus how the table was setup prevented me from taking advantage of such setting. And, as usual, I didn’t find that out until it was too late… >_<
As for the food, I had some serious debate as to what to order. See, I didn’t grow up eating meat loaf or chicken pot pie or similar dishes. In a perspective, I was out there in the unknown. But, I know what I like and will most likely make my assessment based on that factor. Having said that, I narrowed down my choices to the meatloaf, chicken pot pie and the crock pot special. But, in the name of variety, I ended going for the meatloaf sandwich. Why? Because it comes with a soup and I can sample the meatloaf as well!
The soup that day was bacon potato soup with pine nuts. The pine nuts were OK but didn’t add much overall. Had they skipped the nuts, I would have been fine with it. As for the soup, it was quite starchy and a creamy texture. There were actual pieces of bacon in it but, given it was in the soup mode, there was no chance it would be crispy. However, in the end, it isn’t a soup I would necessarily order by itself. It wasn’t bad but, instead, it is the type of soup. I would have personally preferred a less starchy with less cream type of soup…. But, then again, that’s because I didn’t grow up having this particular type of soup.
As for the sandwich… I found the bread to have a chewy consistency but only to the first 3 to 5 bites. Afterwards, that consistency is not really that noticeable. So, from my perspective, it was good. As for the meatloaf, it didn’t feel that seasoned but it is possible it was masked by the other ingredients. Anyway, I actually liked the meatloaf. Sure, it was a bit smoother that I would expect but it was quite moist (even despite the sauces in the sandwich).
In the end, I will have to admit it was a decent meal. Sure, you might be able to get an equally good (if not better) sandwich in Finch’s or Brioche. But, in those places you won’t dishes found here in Acme Cafe (like the chicken pot pie). Would I come back? I thik it might be an option; just that for regular dinner on weekdays, it is too far for me. Oh, well…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Good to see you had the meatloaf sandwich. I liked it personally. However, I only got a small piece and that would probably explain why I thought the bun was too chewy. Since you had the whole sandwich, I can now see, maybe it was fine and probably needed to be to stand up to the filling. I only wish their prices would be slightly lower.
Sherman, agreed, $12 for a soup and sandwich is a bit steep. From a diner type meal perspective, I might not necessarily come, as it is not something I would crave. The question is whether those who grew up eating this will crave it…
that’s a brave place to open a cafe but i guess the whole area is under an attempted renovation. i think the place next door sells FMB’s too
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