Cafeteria

For our anniversary this year, we thought we'd try Cafeteria, the newest venture by local restauranteurs Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart.

You'd think we'd have learned by now to at least look up the location of the restaurant we'd like to visit, never mind write down its address. But there we were, peering out of the windows of the bus as it zoomed down Main Street. We weren't too worried, as the area has a plethora of good restaurants, and we could always find an alternative. Fortunately, we finally spotted Cafeteria's inviting window and hopped off at the next stop.

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Browns Social House - Point Grey

A tradition in our family is to go out to eat on the last day of school. This year, we decided to go to Browns Social House for lunch. It was quite busy; I guess other families had the same idea.

As it was a glorious day, we sat out on the patio, nicely sheltered by a huge orange umbrella.

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Italian Kitchen

A while back, we received two gift cards to the Glowbal Group restaurants, and due to our weakness for Italian food, the clear winner was the Italian Kitchen.

Later in the evening, we had a recital to attend, and we informed our server of our time restriction. She was right on board, and handled this and our kids' dietary restrictions adeptly.

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Benton Brothers Sandwiches

When Benton Brothers opened their second location on Cambie Street, they began selling sandwiches there, but back at their original location in Kerrisdale ... no dice ... until mid-May when they announced that their enticing sandwiches would be available.

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Pair Bistro

Hidden gem alert! I'm amazed we haven't been to Pair Bistro before. Fair enough, it isn't in our neigh­bourhood, but still.

One of the defining characteristics of the culinary scene in Vancouver is the use of local ingredients. Given the abundance year round, we can't believe more chefs don't take advantage. Pair Bistro embraces this concept, offering ever changing menus based on what's in season.

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Aphrodite’s Organic Café and Pie Shop

It's great having friends that appreciate good food as much as we do. Meeting one of them for lunch, we decided to hit one of Kitsilano's shining examples of sustainable eating, Aphrodite’s Organic Café and Pie Shop.

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Red Onion

The Red Onion, one of several "destination" restaurants in Kerrisdale, opened a generation ago, back in 1985. Countless diners have enjoyed tasty fresh burgers and hotdogs while witnessing the bustle of the open kitchen.

Today was our first visit back since the restaurant was sold to new owners back in February. The place has been streamlined somewhat, with a smaller menu including fewer dessert options, but most strikingly, the loss of the red onion presented alongside your bill.

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Ajisai Sushi Bar

We love to try out new restaurants and bakeries, but this comes at a price. We often neglect our tried and true favourites. One of them, Ajisai Sushi Bar, is a legend, offering up the best sushi in Vancouver that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. As a bonus, it's within walking distance!

On a weekday lunch outing, we arrived early enough to get seated immediately, and ensconced ourselves next to the window, with plenty of natural light for photographs.

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Erbaluce

In Boston in early April without my better half, I was still determined to have at least one great dining experience. Lady Luck smiled me on this night. I was wandering around the Back Bay and into the Theater District when I noticed a promising sign, literally. Seeing the green and white Erbaluce sign adorning a typically attractive brick building just off Park Square, I walked over to peruse the menu posted outside. Although it was just past ten o'clock, a sign in the window indicated that the establishment closed at eleven. Perfect.

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Café Salade de Fruits

Inspired by our recent visit to Café Régalade, we jumped right back into our French food endeavours with a return visit to Café Salade de Fruits. We first ate here many moons ago, and it was our first stop during last summer's escapade when we eventually ended up at L'Abattoir.

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Café Régalade

When Steeve Raye Pastry opened last October, we were thrilled by Steeve's incredible creations. We were devastated to hear of its imminent closure in February and only moderately mollified by news of its replacement, Café Régalade French Bistro. A few weeks ago, while we were in Whistler, the bistro opened, and ever since we've been itching to go.

Well, we finally made it to Café Régalade, for Tuesday brunch. We would have gone the day before, but they are closed on Mondays. Funny how people like to have a day off.

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Araxi

The Top Table Group boasts four multiple-award winning restaurants. Having enjoyed CinCin, West and Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver, it was only natural that we book a table at their remaining one, Araxi, when we finally made a return trip to Whistler.

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Creekbread

I've noticed a trend in restaurant ratings. Whenever a place uses high quality ingredients, whether organic or sustainable or fair trade, it seems people are not willing to pay the price premium, and, as a result, their ratings suffer. Despite this, Creekbread still has a reasonably high rating on Urbanspoon, which I think is telling.

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Southside Diner

We ate at the Southside Diner only twice during our Whistler vacation. Good thing, too, or we wouldn't have visited as many other restaurants.

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BrewHouse

When you are dining out, the entire experience is often as important as just the food. The Mark James restaurants certainly understand this. And the BrewHouse restaurant in Whistler Village North hits the mark in so many ways.

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Fuji Market

To hear Fuji Market Sushi described, you might think of a small takeout area in a largish supermarket. However, I like to think of it as just the opposite, a smallish grocery area in a restaurant.

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Steelhead Diner

Take a group of eleven people, including three children; a location in Seattle's tourist central, half a block from Pike Place Market; and a busy Saturday brunch time. You might think that disaster was inevitable. Accommodating large groups is often a challenge for even the best restaurants. However, the staff at the still popular Steelhead Diner, which opened a little over four years ago to critical acclaim, weren't even fazed. On this day, they were clearly firing on all cylinders.

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Motomachi Shokudo

The popular Japanese noodle soup dish, ramen, has a bad rap due to the popularity of the instant-noodle version. Fortunately, in Vancouver, we can experience the real thing. While a few ramen places have opened recently outside the downtown core, the Robson-Denman area has most of the heavy hitters like Kintaro Ramen, Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, Benkei Ramen, the newly arrived chain, Ramen Sanpachi, and our destination, Motomachi Shokudo.

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Mochikas Peruvian Cafe

Several months ago, we wrote about the limited Caribbean repertoire of Vancouver's culinary scene. Another region of the world that is greatly under-represented is Central and South America, although you can find Latin American restaurants if you try hard enough, and there are standouts like the nuevo-latino Cobre. Fortunately, more and more places have popped up like Mochikas Peruvian Cafe, located in the Burrard Slopes area, which is home to various automobile-related businesses, including Platinum Touch Auto Spa, within which Mochikas is found.

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Coco et Olive

In keeping with our French food theme, I met a friend for lunch at Coco et Olive, a cafe that also sells cheeses, olives and olive oil (of course), and other fine foods.

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