Eating our way through VanVan

      A few weekends ago I boarded a greyhound bus headed north bound to Vancouver, B.C. for a ladies weekend with my cousin and a few of her friends. Beyond the laughing, loving, shopping, drinking, “diva-ing out”, dancing and the incessant yet integral chatter of sex and boys there was wonderful food. There really is no better way to get to know a city than to get to know a local; they are the key to the places that a tourist guide will never show you nor where yelp may lead you to. Now let me just say...I lucked out! These local ladies had amazing suggestions on places that they loved and also ones they were waiting to try themselves. Touring the city without a car and instead a few pairs of heels (and an additional pair of flats in recovery from the heels) gave me a new perspective on VanVan even after visiting there periodically throughout my life. Vancouver really is an easy place to travel around, there are so many transportation options besides just wandering. I also came to realize how bike-friendly of a city it is. There are so many well marked bike lanes and bike stalls. Needless to say I wish I had mine, but thats another trip. 

      So about that food...like I said WONDERFUL is the correct word here. Since I arrived first at the hotel and had a few hours to kill, I decided to head out to nearby Granville Island for lunch. Granville Island isn’t just a place for shopping, theater, recycling, and art; truly it is a foodie fantasy island. Once I found my way to the Public Market my eyes widened to take in all of the fabulous enchanted food stalls before me. I think I went around the whole place three times before I decided on what to eat. There really is everything from crazy tea to house made sausage to head cheese to dragon fruit to garlic whips to Nanaimo bars. Random food craziness abounding. I was feelin’ a cold deli case mishmash so here begins my gastro tourism bit:

I began my drooling at the meticulously designed produce stalls. These cherries were perfectly tart and sweet with such a dark flesh. Mmm. (I know a produce department that might want to take a cue from these guys.) 

  

After I got the "healthy" part over with, I was drawn to the shine of the refrigerated glass deli cases at Zara's. Here I grabbed some huge Dolmades. I cant get enough of these guys, I mean come on...little bursts of lemony-herby-oniony rice wrapped in pickled grapes leaves dripping in olive oil, yes. Also I tried little pickled red peppers stuffed with a creamy blend of fresh ricotta and feta cheese. I think I'd make the switch from jalapeno poppers to these guys in a heartbeat. 

Next to my favorite stop: Dussa's Ham and Cheese. I love this stall because there is so much wonderful meat and cheese to choose from and the vendors are so nice and willing to have you try it all. Last time I visited I tried some squeaky cheese curds and Swiss landjaeger, they were bomb. The landjaeger had a crisp snap of the casing with a salty-super-chewy-cured meaty goodness inside. This time I went for the Gypsy Salame (the one covered with all the pepper flakes in my pic). It had just enough spice and was almost like an aged bologna. This too was bomb. 

Cant stop now. Next I found myself at another well established Deli counter...Duso's Italian Foods. This ones a biggie; they do everything here. You can pick up fresh made pasta or salads for dinner along with a crazy assortment of dried goods, anti pasti and cheeses. I headed for the olives first. Duso's makes this Citrus Mix of greek olives that are to die for. There are threads of lemon zest throughout and the brine is perfectly salty and lemony. Next was the sun-dried tomato feta spread. I'm assuming they just use a blender to mix together a few ingredients but damn its good. It is heavy like fresh poured concrete on a piece of bread and richly creamy and smooth like melted chunky peanut butter. To finish off the sale I grabbed a bit of their marinated artichoke spread. Now I rarely meet an artichoke I don't like but this was exceptional. There wasn't too much olive oil so it wasn't too filling, plus there was an even mix of olives and peppers to not overpower the artichoke bits throughout. Excellent all around. 

So put my foodie finds together and what did I get...? Twas such a lovely late lunch that I ate out on the large patio behind the Market. Its such a great spot because it looks right up at Downtown VanVan. The sun was shining bright and there was even a local band playing near by my picnic bench! 

  

Off the island to more bomb eats after the jump break...Come on, I know you want more.

      After a long walk along the Seawall at sunset and a drink that I left up to another's choosing, called the "Mind Fuck" (pardon my Canadian, kahlua and vodka who knew?) I was reunited with my cousin and her entourage of beauties. We set our sights on "appies" (what I came to realize as what Canadians solely refer to appetizers as, love it btw) and drinks. We got all prettied up and walked to Yaletown to a trendy, dare I say "chain" restuarant called Cactus Club Cafe. Despite my food snobbiness directed at chains, I really liked it. We had yummy cocktails and even beef carpaccio that's raw meatiness just melted into the bruschetta bread.

      The next morning we decided to fuel up our bodies with some French fare at Cafe Crepe on Granville St. I had an amazing brie, prosciutto, and spinach crepe. Such a good idea to fold brie into that  triangle of morning delight. I traded some of mine for some of my cousin's coconut crepe. Here's was yummy too with its light lemony sugary coconut filling. After some big americanos we were ready to hit the streets and shop. Too much great stuff VanVan. 

      After a long day out we headed back to the hotel for the pre-funk. On the way back we stopped at a BC liquor store and I must note we got samples! I never get booze samples here, Canada is so cool. Any who after well earned showers we got hotted up and made some refreshing mixed drinks with these Palm Bay spritzers, which I would normally refer to as a "bitch-beer", but in Canada they use vodka not malt-liquor like you would come to expect here in the states from such a fruity fizzy option. Again Canada = so cool. Now it was time for din. 

      Back down to Yaletown to a Japanese tapas themed restaurant called Hapa Izakaya. After we had a big cheers with our Sake Margaritas we tried plate after plate of fabulousness. We started with a hot stone rice bowl that our equally hot waitress stirred and cooked at our table. It was like an asian risotto with lots of strong meaty flavor, so good even the Veg from our group had to taste it. The Agedashi was the best I'd ever had, we all just wanted to drink the broth that came with. Our ginormous sushi roll was delightful, especially with the mango sauce drizzled along top. Then to my fave of the night the incredibly tender and flavorful short ribs. Somewhere in there we had some round of shots with a Dragon in the name, they were mighty good. Go to this place and eat. Do it. 

We were then ready for Chinatown where we danced the rest of the night away at Fortune Sound Club.  Skip to 2:30 AM. Gathered up the girlies, got into a cab with a cab driver who apparently wasn't too fond of lesbians and was offering to tell us the secret behind true love (yet never did, such a tease) and decided we needed to eat again. Hmm what do you do for late eats? Most hungry drunks go for the hot dog carts and walk up pizza joints but not us, we prefer poutine! Again again I love Canada. You can get poutine until 4 AM here in VanVan at a place called Fritz. The line is insane, but well worth the wait. Havent heard of Poutine? Its really very simple its fries+cheese curds+gravy. IT IS THE BOMB. Also it soaks up a nights worth of tequila & tonics like a greasy fatty sponge should. Plus at Fritz, you have the option to add a dip for your gravy soaked fries...so many dips, so little dry fry, still a good idea. I went with feta onion. 

Seemingly hangover free, I awoke to the last day in VanVan. We were all feelin' like a big meal so we decided on Subeez. After packin' up the hotel we dragged our bags a few blocks and sat down in this quite avant-garde styled restaurant with large nude sculptures and giant wax-dripped candelabras everywhere. Def a sight to be seen. The food too was great. I started with a cute coffee with an extra glass of cold water and a bit of extra cream, then i decided why not a Caesar. Do as the locals do and use Clamato instead plain tomato juice. I went with the veggie-benny (eggs benedict) that was served with a salad. Sure Canada, serve me salad with my breaky. The eggs, oh the eggs; the yolk was like sharp cheddar cheese in color. Mix those runny yolks with the rich hollandaise...way to start the day. The waitress even grabbed me a bottle of Hp sauce for my potatoes. Hp is the tastier cousin to ketchup and should be welcomed to greasy spoons here in the States. Girl can dream right?

 Well there we have it. My ladies weekend that doubled as a foodie getaway. Hell I even had a good salad on the Amtrak train back home! Thanks VanVan for your wonderfulness. Be back soon I promise.