The Swiss
1904 Jefferson Ave
Tacoma, WA
Unlike a lot of you, I seldom travel for pleasure. It is not that I don’t like it; rather, I need that extra push to do so. In fact, I recently went to one thanks for that “small” push… More details when the post goes up! 
But, back to the topic of travelling: More often than not, when I travel, I do so for business purposes and, given most of my clients are in the US, that means having to deal with border crossing and US Customs. I am sure all of you have had your share of experience. I am just going to summarize mine to almost six hours from Vancouver to Tacoma (border crossing included) on a trip that normally shouldn’t have taken more than 4 (even doable in 3. Just in case, Tacoma is ~30 minutes further south from Seattle in I-5). In my case, because it took me so long, by the time I arrived at the hotel it was already past 9:30 p.m. and, in my hurry just to get to Tacoma, I didn’t make any stop to eat something. Given my share of crappy experiences, by now, I should have learned by now that I should fill up my tank rather than rely on what I can find at the hotel… Anyway, “damage” by done and by ~10:00 p.m., I was looking for something to eat. Guess what? Nothing open nearby. Should I be surprised? “Fortunately”, still at a short walking distance from the hotel, I noticed The Swiss, a nearby pub was still open. Hungry? Tired? Hey, that works for me! (After all, that’s literally how I ended up going to Hooters!).
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Tagged as:
European,
pub,
Tacoma
Checkers Bar & Grill
1755 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC
OK, OK, the World Cup is over but I still have posts in the queue from those days… Sorry? ^_^;;; So, similar to my posts to Fogg N’ Suds and Dover Arms Pub, PO and I chose to go to pubs to watch the games – except that day there was no game. Despite that, PO was fine to visit a pub just for kicks (or drinks). At first, we were planning to go to some pubs in English Bay but, guess what? When we arrived, despite it had a sandwich board outside and the doors weren’t locked, there was absolutely nobody there! We took a peek around and there was absolutely nobody. So, without further hesitation, we just turned around and look for the closest pub and, among the several ones, we ended up going to Checkers Bar & Grill.
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Tagged as:
pub,
Sandwich,
West End
Great Bear Pub
175 – 5665 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
Almost a month ago, on my way back from Seattle/Tukwila, I was in delivery mode after crossing the border. I ended up delivering goodies to different people and, knowing that Sherman and his hockey team was playing that night, I decided to bring some stuff for them as well. That’s because, well, they were good to me as well since they let me join them for after game dinners (in this case, Pattaya Thai and Tenhachi). The place they were supposed to meet was Black Bear Neighbourhood Pub. Bear… Bear… For some reason, at first, I thought it was in Kingsway, as in THIS Great Bear Pub, instead, that place was in North Van. OK, it was a long drive but, hey, when you see people with happy faces, that’s what matters the most. But, that “bear” thing stuck in my head and one night, I decided to go to Great Bear Pub…
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Burnaby,
pub
Dover Arms Pub
961 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
Following my post on Wednesday on Fogg N’ Suds, on another day, PO and I were out for lunch and, once again, we chose to go to a place were you could watch the football games. Of course, in the West End, that translated into a pub. Instead of going to a place in Robson, we chose to Denman and that resulted in Dover Arms Pub, an English theme restaurant/pub. With such a large exterior location, I can’t help wonder myself why it has taken me so long to visit it!
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Tagged as:
Lunch,
Pork,
pub,
Vancouver,
West End
Fogg N’ Suds
10720 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC
1323 Robson Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC
Unless you are living under the rock, or probably an American or Canadian without any too much connection outside of North-America, the Football World Cup is currently going on in South Africa. Yes, football, as in that sports that you actually use your feet to kick a ball 90% of the time, unlike *ahem* American football. Go ahead, we can have a discussion about naming conventions and what not but, unlike, NBA, NFL, MLB or even NHL, where the “championship” is local (read: North-American minus Mexico), the FIFA World Cup is a global event. It is a simple sport and, if you want to play, you only need a team and some open space. Hell, at times you can even “improvise” a ball and some sticks to mark the goal. Rules are quite simple and, unlike the before mentioned sports, what is called on the field sticks. No instant replay, no fancy technology. (Sorry, England, you got your Wimbley Goal 30+ years ago…).
Now, putting all those issues aside, given the time difference and, in part due broadcasting, one of the games were scheduled around noon our time, which means going for lunch to watch the game! Going to a fancy type restaurant for lunch to watch a game sounds a really bad idea so, instead, PO and I went to more adequate places to watch the football games: a pub. In this case, we went to Fogg N’ Suds, located in the same block as Hon’s in Robson. In fact, it is right in front of Dea Bak Bon Ga on the second story!
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Downtown,
pub,
Vancouver,
West End
Mick O’Shea’s Irish Pub
328 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21201
I arrived at Baltimore Washing International airport (BWI) at around 7:00 p.m. but did not get to the hotel until 8:20 p.m. It wasn’t because it was far but rather the confusing directions in the airport. It took me a while to find the baggage area and after that find the appropriate way around to get transportation to the hotel. In the end, I managed to find an information kiosk and, as per their suggestion, I ended up taking a shuttle. It was $14, which is not bad considering I paid over $40 in cab fares on my way back from the hotel to the airport on my last day…
Anyway, after checking in, I was wasted. I hadn’t had anything to eat since a scone I had almost 11 hours earlier. I was willing to walk a bit to find a good place to eat however, given the time and the weather (it was quite windy and raining lightly), I had to settle for anything close by. And that place close by was Mick O’Shea’s, a pub a block away from the hotel.
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Tagged as:
Baltimore,
Burgers,
pub
