For my most wordless post…

As you have realized already, I was in Edmonton, Alberta, in part, to experience a *real* Canadian winter. Making good to their title of “The Festival City”, I went to one that happened during my visit: The Deep Freeze Festival – a Byzantine Winter Festival. Enjoy this photo essay!

While it is true that I take a lot pictures of food, probably way too many, once in a while, I would like to remind people I also take pictures of “other things”. So, for my trip to San Francisco, here are some “random” pictures I took. Enjoy this photo essay!

Welcome San Francisco!

Last weekend, I participated in a food bloggers festival organized by Foodbuzz. I can’t deny that I certainly enjoyed having them as sponsors and participating in this festival was interesting in its own ways. I wanted to attend last year’s festival; however, due to work scheduling conflict (which resulted me in going to New Jersey), I couldn’t attend. It certainly didn’t help when Sherman “bragged” about it. *Shakes fist!!!* So, for this year, as soon as I received the email confirming the days of the event, I booked those days off. I won’t be denied this time! There were a lot of events and I ended up attending a couple of them; however, the ones that probably might entice more to people are the Street Food event, the topic of today’s post, and the dinner gala, which will be the topic of next week Sunday! Of course, I was there for the weekend and I can guarantee your there will be other posts, hehehehe. So, without further ado…!

The event was setup at an undisclosed location (yeah, right… ). OK, it was in a warehouse which created some real challenges: namely, I won’t be able to effectively use a flash. >_< Not so good illumination and not being able to effectively use the flash = not so good pictures… Moving on…

Where we were greeted at the entrance by some porchetta! Hmmmmm…. Pork…!

Given the majority of participants were female, you bet there will be lots of cupcakes…

At the tables, this center piece. I didn’t try any of these.

There was a gift exchange and, in my case, I got this bag of mud (?) salt courtesy of No Recipes. In my case, I gave away a bottle of BC VQA wine.

After speeches and what not, it was time to hit the carts! If you know me by now, you should know that I would certainly hit this first!

Porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti. To put it bluntly, this puts Meat and Bread to shame. Sorry guys, Meat and Bread is good for what it is in Vancouver but this is even better. Some (namely, Mijune who was with us there) might argue the bread was too thick but I thought it was good for this type of sandwich. The potatoes were OK, since it soaked the drippings from the pork but, c’mon, porchetta all the way!

Real Korean tacos from Namu. Unlike the ones served here, these use no tortilla flour; instead, it relies on the seaweed to hold the “filling”. It was interesting in its own ways but, otherwise, there seemed to be something *missing*. Also, the fact the seaweed was a bit chewy didn’t help (though, it could be also because they didn’t want it to be toasted and too brittle so it couldn’t hold the filling).

Tacos (pork and beef) from Tacolicious. If I were to put things in perspective, it had a lot more meat “filling” than the ones I am used to; however, the pork ones was slightly dry (which I thought it was odd). The beef one (short rib) was better but, otherwise, it was OK. Probably my bias against Mexican food?

“Mind your Tongue” (?) food “truck” (it was more of a large bus). In this case, Viking gumbo and vegetarian paella. Of course, we were wondering if vikings actually had gumbo or how well you could make a paella into a vegetarian dish. Anyway, in both cases, if we stuck with original intent/description of the dish, it was OK; however, for what was served, I thought was good in its own ways. I know this sounds contradicting so let me put it this way: no okra, the rice was mixed in and so on. However, as a rice dish, the gumbo had nice ratio of meat (sausage, seafood) and well seasoned so kudos for that.

Pizza from Pizza Politana, which included a wood burning oven! I will have to admit the pizza had really good qualities of its own (thin, crispy, good ingredients); however… It was just pizza? They brought two versions, a vegetarian and a meat version by adding some really thin sliced prosciutto (?). Sorry, despite it was good, it wish there was something more.

Fried pork served on a brioche-like bun from 4505 Meats. The individual ingredients were fine; however, together as a sandwich it was a fail. The brioche-like bun was extremely soft to the point it didn’t really hold the pork loin. The pork loin was good by itself; with the other components, it lost a bit of their taste. I could keep on going but… Nah… >_<

Top down, braised lamb cheek sandwich, escargot puff lollipop and New England lobster cappuccino, all from Spencer on the Go (or its flagship restaurant Chez Spencer). If there was a food cart that sort of failed, it would have been this one. The reason is that all the food felt short. The sandwich was the best of the three but felt short compared to the others. The escargot lollipop was overwhelmed by the puff pastry and the sauce didn’t really help. Finally, the lobster cappuccino was a bit bland and thin. OK, it is not a bisque but, regardless, it felt short.

Indian style wraps from Curry Up Now. I had mixed feelings about this: I guess piggybacking on the Mexican hype, they provided the “burritos” with some Indian flare but using spices meats and/or paneer. The result was a spicy feeling but, otherwise, it didn’t feel too exciting.

There were a couple of more food stands – an ice cream and a beer one but pictures didn’t turn out well and wasn’t in mood for booze. Overall, most of the food cart concepts were interesting, just that the execution was mixed. Then again, I must keep in mind this is a catered event so it might still not provide a true representation of their potential. Overall, I had fun with the event so I don’t think I should be complaining too much!

To close this post, I will be changing the next couple of weeks post schedule to Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday – all of these from San Francisco. These posts will include San Francisco fare ranging from burgers, a “well known” local dish, dim sum (in a dive out of all places), through the Tenderloin and a visit to a celebrity chef restaurant! So, so you on these days!

Oh, here is Mijune’s post, as well as Sherman’s post!

White Spot
Several locations in Canada
1616 West Georgia Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC

A quick reminder of my background: I wasn’t raised in Canada and, as a result, there are a lot of things “Canadian” I didn’t grow up with. One of those things was White Spot’s Pirate Pack (and come to think about it, I didn’t even grow up having Happy Meals). So, when White Spot sent an email (*) to some of us food bloggers about this event, I was enthusiastic. Hey, why not! (After all, it is for a good cause!). So, on that day, I decided to drop by to “experience” it.

(*) As a personal decision, I do not participate in such promotions or events. If I choose to go to a restaurant, it will be on my own.

Now, this post is a bit different compared to the other post – it is more of a photo essay. How come? Because, well, I have been to White Spot previously and, in this case, things weren’t that different. After all, it is a chain!

Yesterday, I wrote about my trip to Edmonton, Alberta for BC Day (here in BC) or Heritage Day (in Alberta) long weekend. For today’s post, one of the showcase events during that weekend: Heritage Festival. Don’t we have festivals here in Vancouver, like Caribbean Days, Greek Day or Summerfest, Powell Street Festival? Yup, we do. However, how about a festival that takes a full park and tents of over 60 countries participate? As I have been saying about Edmonton ever since I came back: Sure, Vancouver has a lot of great “features”; however, we take them for granted. On the other hand, Edmonton does not have similar features but they make the most out of what they have. So, for a long weekend in summer, that’s what they have been doing for the last 35 years… So, my visit to this event in Edmonton, Alberta… Enjoy this photo essay!

Yup, blue sky the whole time!

Considering the festival starts at 10:00 a.m., Trinh and I arrived relatively early (by 11:00 a.m.). Even then, a lot of tents weren’t ready yet, not to mention a lot of people had arrived yet. However, that quickly changed…

We were walking around for a while and, eventually, different perfomers started appearing in the different areas around the William Hawrelak Park (where the festival takes place). Latin American? You got it. South Eastern Asia? Yup, that as well. European? Yup. Again, given there were 60+ countries, most general areas were covered!

OK, OK, food time!

And here is what we ended up getting:

Satay, from the Malay/Singaporean stand. We got it because it was suggested by “L”.

Maple Sno Cone from the Canadian stand.

BBQ Sardines from Portugal

Kvass from Russia.

Anticuchos (beef heart) from Peru.

Yuca (cassava) from El Salvador (though, other stands, particularly Latin American and African) had cassava as well).

Waffles from the Dutch stand.

Bannock from the Aboriginal stand.

Mango’s Loco Mango on a stick rolled in lime juice and spices

Prior to Trinh leaving early (she had a prior commitment, I stayed in the park, enjoying the day), we walked past the Peruvian stand and notice a dish they had for sale and which she commented it looks “dirty and phallic”. Let’s just say I spent some time trying to take a picture of that dish. So, after she left, I trield several times that dish and eventually gave up…. Nope, that’s not the end of the story… As a result of my fail, I said to myself “hey, I still have some tickets!”. So, I just got it. What is that dish? Just keep on reading/scroll down!

Yup, I will have to agree, it does look phallic! As for how it, well, taste, it caught me somewhat off guard.

The banana was frozen prior to dipping it into some melted chocolate. Because I didn’t know about that part, when I bit into it, the fact it was frozen caught me completely off guard. It was almost like a popsicle with a chocolate coating. Alas, as interesting as it sounds, the fact the banana was frozen didn’t work for me. However, people seemed to really like it (there was always a line).

So, there you go. Given our claims of multi-culturality here in Vancouver, how come we haven’t organized an event like this? Until you find an answer to that question, I hope you enjoyed this photo essay!

After we went back to the Legislature and then to West Edmonton Mall (no, it was only one visit to WEM, I am narrating things slightly out of sequence), some of Trinh’s friends were having dinner and they were very gracious to let me join them. The real kicker/interesting part? The person cooking (“L”) is a food blogger who drove from Calgary to cook the dinner! (No, he wasn’t there cooking for me but for their friends. I just happened to be there at the right time… Lucky? ). Here are the dishes “L” cooked.

OK, actually, this is a drink prepared for me…

(Warning, this post is a photo-essay of sorts. It contains a lot of pictures and, as a result, I have broken it in part 1 and this part 2).

OK, let’s try again, this is what “L” prepared for us!

Trinh was also gracious to share some of the goodies I brought for her from Vancouver.

I won’t deny that I am a wimp when it comes to alcohol. But, what surprised me was that I myself chose to accept some really unusual drinks mixed (like the one seen at the beginning of the post). Now, I won’t disclose what was in the actual mix but the combination, while extremely bizarre, it actually tasted “good”. (However, I can sense at the same time how some people will look at you really funny).

University of Alberta

Day two was mostly Heritage Festival, which will be the topic of a separate post. Afterwards, I did a solo walk through around the Old Strathcona area, specifically Whyte Avenue. (Trinh had a prior commitment but would join me afterwards). While it is no Robson Street or Gastown or Yaletown (drawing some comparison to Vancouver), I thought it had some character of it’s own. Alas, I was able to walk a good stretch of Whyte in no time…. But, there was a really good reason for me to go to Whyte: it is where Furusato is located and the place were I was going to meet no other than Chris of Eating is a Hard Part and Sarah of Shinning Happy Photos! I have met Chris on-line for quite some time already with both of us commenting in each other blogs. In a funny way, I told him that, next time he is in Vancouver, I would invite him to a sushi place of his choice (in his case, Shiro). However, who knew that I ended up visiting him in Edmonton first! The one part I feel guilty about was that Chris ended up paying for the bill… So, Chris, when you come to Vancouver, I promise I will more than make up for that one! (Hopefully it won’t be when I am out in a business trip…)

After dinner, we decided to stop for another gelato place. Well, I was on holidays so, technically, there were no restrictions!

Cantaloupe sorbet and Mango Tofulati

This time, we ended up sharing a scoop of sorbet and tofulati, a gelato made with soy milk rather than, well, regular milk. Again, no comparisons here but I will have to say they were quite good in its own ways. I liked how the sorbet was almost the consistency of ice cream, though you could still “feel” the ice crystals. And, as for the tofulati, you could actually forget it wasn’t dairy. The one bad part of the equation was that the mug it was served on was warm. WTH?! I guess they have it warm for coffee, not for this. Oh, well…

On my final day in Edmonton, I was treated with something really special: One of Trinh’s favourite dish, prepared by Trinh’s mom herself. Mom’s cooking FTW! Here, bánh xèo – according to Wikipedia, “Vietnamese savoury pancakes made out of rice flour, water, turmeric powder, and sometimes coconut milk (in the Southern regions), stuffed with slivers of fatty pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts and then pan fried“.

bánh xèo

There weren’t any pieces of pork but I don’t think it was needed, as despite there was a lot of bean sprouts (which tends to be bland by itself), the shrimp made up for it, not to mention there was some external help. So… How do you eat this? Well, take some lettuce, put some of this pancake mixture, wrap it with some herbs and dip in a fish sauce mix (in this case, Trinh suggested some chili sauce). After seeing how this was prepared, eaten and how much I liked it, I am really tempted to prepare some myself. Will see!

Finally, for the rest of the afternoon, we decided to take a small road trip… But, by mistake, we went the wrong way! In the end, we semi-randomly used a backup plan, which ended up being the Devonian Botanical Garden. I will have to admit I really liked this garden; however, because it was in the mid of summer, it won’t have been as “pretty” as it could have been during, say, spring. But, still…

Afterwards, we went to a Chinese restaurant, with another of Trinh’s friend. Did I mention you could actually find good Chinese food? Well, that’s the reason you will have to wait, as it is yet-another-pending post!

So, overall, how was this trip? I will have to admit I had almost no expectations but, in the end, I was really glad I went. I met great people (Trinh’s friends, Chris and Sarah, et al), not to mention I learned something really important about Edmonton: Unlike us here in Vancouver, they don’t take things for granted. In our case, we “expect” so many things (specially weather) that we can procrastinate on a lot of things. However, in the case of Edmontonians, they fully take advantage of what they have. Sure, parts of town looked “dead” but, still, if you really wanted to, you can still find things to do. So, unlike others, I won’t diss you and call your city “Deadmonton”. It is just a matter of what you make out of it.

Trinh, I really appreciate the time you took to show me around. Without it, I might have ended spending three days in West Edmonton Mall and ended up having that not-so-high opinion of your city. So, once again… Thanks! (I guess, I will have to out-do that next time you are in town! )

About a month ago, I wrote about an out of town guest whom I called TNG (and, from here on, after given authorization to use her real name, I will refer her as such: Trinh). Truth is Trinh is from Edmonton and has been in Vancouver a couple of times. As for myself, living in Vancouver for 8+ years, I have seldom been around town other than usual places. So, when my task was to showcase some “other locations”, well, I had to resort to the help of others. And I believe it actually worked, as Trinh seemed to enjoy the places we went, not to mention the dinner we had at City Temple of Shanghai in the end (not necessarily the food but, at least, the company). So, a couple of weeks prior to BC Day, somehow the idea pops out: Would I consider visit Edmonton, given I haven never been there? (Just in case, they celebrate Heritage Day on that same long weekend). At first, I was hesitant but, in the end, why not! So I checked with Trinh and that seemed to be a good idea. So, I booked myself a ticket to the place a lot of us diss (and sometimes even themselves) as “Deadmonton”.

(Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the airport or some major sign saying “Edmonton”. However, given the high price of gas in BC, I think this works quite well…)

(Warning, this post is a photo-essay of sorts. It contains a lot of pictures and, as a result, I have broken it in part 1 and part 2).

So, 2.5 days in Edmonton, what to do? Where to go? Though there were some activities planned (specifically, I wanted to go to the Heritage Festival), for the most part, I left the rest to Trinh, i.e., let her showcase Edmonton. And, just in case, to take it out from everybody’s mind, yes, we did end up going to West Edmonton Mall but, to paraphrase Trinh, I had a face of despair (not exact quote but it is representative of what happened). I am sorry but, while I understand the enticement of such place, with an indoor amusement park, a water park and all that, in the end, it is a mall. Nothing wrong with me taking a stroll (and I will assume a good place to do so if it is below 0C outside) but, still, it is a MALL!!!! OK, enough ranting. What I wanted to make emphasis here is that, for this trip, West Edmonton Mall wasn’t a place I had in mind (or considered) going but, because I am sure I was going to be asked and partially due to “suggestion” of all Trinh’s friends and family, we went there just to take it out of the list. So, what places we ended up going? After having lunch first (sorry, it will be in a different post…), we were in the Downtown Edmonton area and it just happened that Taste of Edmonton was taking place.

Whenever you find Chinese people, there will be a Chinatown, right?

Now, this is Taste of Edmonton!

Did we end up getting some food, despite we just had lunch? Oh, yeah! Now, first a small reminder of this post I wrote over a year ago (it is a short one and will open a new window. Go ahead, I will still be here!). Yes, it is what you are thinking!

Lingnan stand

Dry Spicy Chicken

The booth of the Lingnan. Here, Miles (to the right) and sister Mandy (left) were serving Kung Pow Chicken and Dry Spicy Chicken – We ordered the later. I think the description was partially suited to what was served: it was darn dry, either because of the excessive batter or the meat used (not to mention a lot of small chunks). I don’t think I tasted any spiciness…I know, I know, this isn’t authentic Chinese but, given their fame, you would think they should have some standards. But, I guess, it is demand that trumps that. But, fear not, at least, I had a quite good Chinese meal in Edmonton. Yup, I said it, OK? So, wait for that post, now!

Bacon wrapped scallops

Nope, that wasn’t all! In festival like these, you will see some smoke and, whenever you see smoke, there will be some griddle/grill action! Here, bacon wrapped scallops. We couldn’t really taste the scallops (not unexpected considering it is a land locked city) but… Ah… Bacon… (drool…!) Was it worth it? Well, yes and no. Let’s just say that, on the same weekend, as mentioned above, there was Heritage Festival…

Now, moving on, here is a place Elaine and Chris’ suggested we visited – the Legislature:

Sort of a skyline of Edmonton?

Despite it is not that big, there was something quite evident: similar to Queen Elizabeth Park here in Vancouver, it seems to be a primer spot to take wedding pictures. In fact, I think I counted over 10 couples in the park and surrounding areas! (At one point, when we were walking one of the lanes, a photographer asked us to hasten our pace so she could take a picture!).

Da Capo. Hmmmmm…. Gelato followed by a visit to a dentist.

After walking around, Trinh took me across a bridge over the Saskatchewan River (Groat Road) to a place she had a keen interest going: Da Capo. Reason? It seems she had made previous attempts to visit it but, almost every single time, it was closed. So, in a way, it seems I was a lucky charm because it was open this time! And what was there?

Gelato – Nocciola (hazelnut) and Myan (sic?) Cioccolato

Given it was relatively hot those days, we ended up going for gelato. I know, I know. There will be some comparisons drawn with Bella Gelateria in Vancouver. If that is the case, please do not. Instead, I would compare it to, say, Dolce Amore. If that is the case, I will have to say it was quite decent.

Now… part 2!

A couple of weeks ago, I had a really great week because… Well, a lot of things happened, all of them in a good way. Needless to say, me and my camera = some pictures!

Remember DVP? I met her for dinner at Ebisu on Broadway a couple of months ago. I found out she likes hiking and, I myself, was more than willing to give it a try. Truth is, after living in Vancouver all these years, I still can’t believe I haven’t visited a lot of great places we have at a short driving distance. In this case, I tagged along for a hike to Diez Vistas (“Ten Views”) trail around Buntzen Lake. Me being crazy enough, I brought my camera with me! And here are some pictures I took:

I know, some of you might be saying “WTF with this picture?!” OK, what happens is that, while we were going uphill, after a somewhat steep section, this bird (pheasant?) jumped out of nowhere and scared both DVP and me! (In my case, I was more scare of the fall had I “jumped” back!). Funny thing? It stayed right there until I took this picture… >_<

Sorry, I would have taken more pictures but, truth is, we “missed” a couple of more Views, not to mention I wanted to conserve some strength for the rest of the hike. Oh, just for the record, it took us ~6 hours to finish it. According to a friend of mine who hikes with some frequency, she can do it in ~4 hours (the lower end of the range) but, for a first time, 6 hours is good enough. Ouch… I guess I really dragged DVP on this one! Oh, just for the record, I did fall once. To quote DVP, “It isn’t a hike until somebody slip or fall!”. OK, I guess that was me… Finally, we didn’t see any bears… ^_^;;;

On another day, one of the most interesting things happened to me. I have mentioned a couple of times already that I have met people thanks to food blogging. So far, the people I have met are from Vancouver itself. The special part about TNG is that she is NOT from Vancouver. It just happened she is comes to Vancouver with certain frequency and asked me once about restaurants. We missed each other when she was here earlier this year (I was in Panama) but, fortunately, this time I was not only available but served also as a guide. Asking people for suggestions as to where to take an out of town guests, the idea to visit Squamish came. So, to Squamish we went!

Murin Lake

Shannon Falls

Given this is a food blog, it would be wrong not to include some food right?

Yes, *this* bus

After visiting some of the local trails, lakes and parks, it was almost lunch time and we decided to go to a place we drove by by earlier that day, Mountain Woman. Story goes, a couple had an abandoned school bus and decided to open a restaurant with the condition the husband would cook if and only if it was called Mountain Man. However, the couple split and the wife kept the “restaurant” and renamed it Mountain woMan.

TNG left the ordering to me. Let’s just say that was a bit of a mistake on her side. In a wacky attempt to try as many dishes as possible, I ended up ordering fish and chips as well as prawns, as seen above. Despite its thick batter, it actually tasted quite good! It had that characteristic prawns taste, though, because it was fried, not necessarily that seafood taste. Alas, they didn’t clean the prawns so, it is possible you will run into that “vein”.

Here, the fish and chips. Compared to what is served at some places… *cough*Pajo’s*cough*, these pieces were quite large. Alas, it was extremely oily and bland. Unlike Moby Dick‘s where the fish was bland but the tartar sauce salvaged; here, nothing salvaged it… To make it overkill, the fries were bad, as we barely touched it. Conclusion? It was a pass for me.

If you thought I was going to drive almost 100 Km just for fish & chip you are completely mistaken! After we had lunch, which, again, was a bit disappointing, we went to Squamish and to Grilled Fromagge for some, you guessed it, cheese sandwiches!

While we just had the fish & chips barely an hour prior, we still made an order here and rather than ordering individually, we ended up sharing one grilled cheese sandwich. Here, their Holy Cheeses: Swiss, Holy Sauce, applewood and bacon. When it arrived, it was served in a really interesting way: they split that single sandwich between the two of us (served on different plates)!

I will have to say this sandwich was quite good in its own ways! However, me being raised Chinese… The only issue I had was, oddly, the cheese! No, it was good; just that because I seldom eat something with so much dairy in it, there were instances it felt really it was a chore… Regardless, I am sure there will be a lot of people whose background is different from mine and have a really good time with it. The bacon stood up by itself, as well as the applewood..

After that, we went to a nearby micro-brewery and TNG sampled some of the beer (sorry, no drinking and driving, I am a responsible driver!). In the end, we checked with the front desk and they told us about at nearby trail that leads to the ocean. This is the closest to the Ocean we got ourselves into: somehow, that trail took odd wacky turns and we got “lost”!

After Squamish, we went back to Vancouver and… Well, you will find out later this week!

Greek Day
3230 West Broadway Street
Vancouver, BC

Greek Summer Festival
4641 Boundary Road
Vancouver, BC

Last year, around this time, I went to several festival (for eample, the Scandinavian Mid Summer Fest, Latin Summer Fest, Powell Street Festival and so on). One that I couldn’t make it was the Greek Day, as it conflicted with another personal matters (as mentioned in my Scandinavian Mid Summer Fest post above). Despite I went to Greek Summer Festival, in-lieu of the Greek Day, well, it isn’t necessarily the same. So, this year, I made sure I went to that festivity, despite the weather was un-summer like. But, hey, weather hasn’t stopped me before! So, without further ado, a small photo essay of this event.

The event took place in Vancouver West Side in West Broadway between McDonald and Bleinheim Street

Greek goodies…

More goodies…

Did I say goodies?

You got to have a stage, right?

I guess there ought to be some people in costumes…

Did I say food??? However, most of the same stands were selling the same dishes…

Preparing gyros

My gyro… Not from the stand mentioned above. It was a fail because it was more in lines of ground meat rather than that sliced version.

I didn’t order this; instead, I took it from somebody else… Without her noticing! Shame? What shame?

I also ordered a pork souvlaki…

I also ordered a chicken souvlaki from a different stand. It was better prepared than the one from the pork soulvalki.

At least Greeks are better than Chinese, from the dessert’s perspective…

Ended up ordering a galaktoboureko, custard sandwich between phyllo with a hint of orange. Yumm!

Now, as the subject of this post suggests, I also went to the Greek Summer Festival. This event will be up until July 11th so you still have a week to go! Now, I went twice already and there are chances I will go again so the pictures below are based on what I have ordered so far. Since I don’t expect things to be that different from last year to this, things like lamb will be… Oh, well, almost the same as last year! But, as for what I have ordered so far this year…

Pork souvlaki dinner, with salad, bread, tzatziki and rice – $14

Greek yoghurt with honey. Disappointed it was scooped out from a commercial container… And charge $3 for it!

Spanakopita (appetizer), served with tzatziki – $4

Nimby Burger
2210 Cornwall Avenue
Vancouver, BC

What? Another burger place post? Well, true, I wrote about Five Guys Burgers and Fries last week but, considering that the rest of the posts for this week would have ended up being that of Asian restaurants, I thought, nah, this might be “worth it”…

Now, Nimby Burger (as in… Not In My Back Yard?) has made some noise in the last couple of weeks, including what I believe is the best method of testing if the restaurant (as set up) works: serve their food free. I mean, why should I pay a restaurant if they are still tweaking things? Aside from that is the fact it imitates principles similar to that of a well known burger shop in the US, In-n-Out Burger. While I haven’t been to In-n-Out, at least I know how I like my burger. With that in mind, I went there the weekend after they opened.

I arrived about 15 or so minutes after noon. It was a drizzling that day but not enough to discourage me from ordering outside. Yup, you order outside and have fun finding a place to eat them! But, of course, before I even consider it, is the process of ordering and wait for your order.

My order of fries being, well, fried!

I ordered a dooblay, which is two patties and two slices of cheese, along with some fries and a drink. I wanted to go overkill and order the milk shake as well; however, I was a bit too early and they weren’t ready to dish those out. After almost ten minutes, which I consider was somewhat long, I got my order and walked to the nearby beach. As in *this* beach…

Yes, alas, it was cloudy…

As mentioned, a dooblay and fries. Some noticeable things right away: Unlike a lot of burger shops, the burger wasn’t completely wrapped. That is double-edge sword: if you are not planning to eat it right away, it gets cold really easily; however, since it is not fully wrapped, it does not get “steamed” inside by the heat of the beef patty. I would assume most people would buy it and eat it right away so that won’t be an issue.

Before moving to the burger, let’s go to the fries. When Sherman visited Nimby Burger, he made mentioned they were “limp, oil-soaked and lifeless, they need to be better”. After he made mention of it, Nimby Burger’s management mentioned they had “fixed” it. So, did they fix it? Well, it wasn’t limp nor oil-soaked or lifeless. Instead, it was just starchy and devoid of any taste… Part of the problem is that, since they are made to order, it can’t really achieve that fluffy inside, crispy outside texture. Furthermore, it seems they held back some seasoning so… No.

Now, back to the burger, it wasn’t as heavy as the one I had at Five Guys. The meat had a soft texture while also showing some slight char taste. From that perspective, it was good. Since the patties were thin, I wasn’t expecting too much in term of juices; however, in the end, other condiments made it slightly damp. Not necessarily something I would have expected; instead, it had mixed feelings. It add some more taste but too much liquid detracted the overall eating experience. On that note, I didn’t see a bacon option and no mention was made about lettuce or tomatoes so I assume these are “by default”.

While I want to compare it to Five Guys, reality is that I can’t. Part of the reason is the price difference, as each dooblay is $5.50. On its own, it is decent, just you have to answer the question of whether this small, somewhat light burger is worth that price. However, the rest… Not necessarily so. Did I mention the fries were $2.50 and pop was $2.75? ($3 for milk shake). If we keep that in mind, suddenly the price gets closer to what I paid at Five Guys which would make Nimby a loser from that perspective. So, to me, in the bigger scheme, while it has some qualities of its own, in the end, I believe there are better options. Burger Burger anybody?