Vancouver food carts [2012]

During the spring and summer months of this year, W and I visited various food carts that were dispersed throughout the downtown core. Since my work place wasn't very close to the majority of the food carts in terms of walking distance, often times I wasn't able to go try them out on my regular lunch hour. I had to take vacation time from work in order to conduct most of these visits!! Now that's dedication! 

 

We went to Mom's Grilled Cheese cart on a blustery cool spring day. This cart was located on Howe St. and Robson St. near the Vancouver Art Gallery. Browsing through the 70's diner-themed menu, we decided to go with the classic grilled cheese sandwich and a hot cup of tomato soup. What could go wrong with this classic combo?

Grilled cheddar cheese on white bread with pickle on the side

Roasted Tomato Soup topped with Basil Mascarpone

 

The grilled cheese was everything that you'd expect. The bread was grilled perfectly with butter on the outside (so it was quite greasy handling it) while the cheddar cheese was melted and gooey on the inside. It came with a side of chips and a slice of pickle. The pickle was a nice addition to help cut the richness of the sandwich.

 

The tomato soup was a good partner with the grilled cheese as the tangy and sweet tomato also helped offset the oiliness of the sandwich. The greenish cream you see floating is actually the basil mascarpone. Originally, it looked like a dollop of cream but eventually it melted into the soup providing an herby creaminess. On that cool windy day, the cup of soup also acted as a handwarmer while I was waiting for my grilled cheese.

 





Brass Chicken Sandwich

Beer brined rotisserie chicken in gravy, on a buttermilk bun, topped with crispy onions and dijon mustard

Next, we headed to La Brasserie Street at the corner of West Georgia and Granville St. As lunch hour was nearing the end, luckily we did not have to wait in line. Their sandwiches were pretty huge! All those fried onions poofed up the sandwich so it was actually a little difficult to eat without them spilling out. The bun was great in that it was a bit chewy but not tough which held up the fillings well.The chicken was moist but it seemed a little lost amidst the onions. Once we've squished the sandwich down, everything shined through in each bite.

On a sunny summer day midweek, a coworker and I headed out to Waterfront for lunch as she wanted to try Fresh Local Wild, on the corner of Burrard and West Hastings St. I, on the other hand, wanted to check out Ze Bite which was just a block away on Burrard and West Cordova St.

 

Oyster Po'Boy (left)

Sawmill Bay jumbos, trailer made tartar, sesame seed bun

My coworker, K, loves oysters so she ordered their Oyster Po'Boy. I took a bite and the meaty oysters were very crispy on the outside but still retained its creaminess inside despite its small-ish size. I found it pricey (around $11) for just the sandwich. If it came with a side of chips to make it look more like a meal, it would have been better.

Beef Bourguinon (right)

Slow cooked beef with red wine, vegetables and herbs

I wanted something hearty so I opted for a bowl of Ze Bite's stew. Well...I was quite disappointed with their beef bourguinon. Firstly, the beef was not stewed long enough so it wasn't tender yet. The tuber veggies (potato and carrots) did not have enough time to absorb the juices in the stew as well so they were not soft and lacked flavour, especially the potatos. At $11 a bowl, it didn't seem to be worth its value for the small size and flavour of the stew.

On another day in which I have taken the afternoon off, W and I headed over to Holy Perogy (used to be located on Homer St., beside the Public Library). As indicated in their name, they specialized in perogies!

W and I decided to go with the classic cheese and potato perogy with sauteed onions and sour cream on top. The cheese they used was white cheddar, and with the sour cream and onions that were sauteed until just translucent, the whole package looked very pale and bland. I don't really remember but I believe their perogies were not pan fried either...I think they were just boiled. The cheese was not very pronounced so it lacked quite a bit of flavour. There were at least 6 to 7 good sized dumplings in there so it would make a filling lunch. I'd suggest trying their other zesty flavours rather than this one.

The last food cart visit was on another warm and sunny day. I was amped to go visit a couple more places before summer was over! As W and I were walking along Alberni St. we saw a crowd hovering around Le Tigre, a new food cart that popped up in downtown recently. Apparently, the Food Network show Eat Street was filming at Le Tigre that day!! So cool that we got to catch some of the filming and customer interviews! However, Le Tigre was not on my list of carts to try so after watching for a few minutes, we headed off to....

The Kaboom Box II on West Georgia (between Burrard and Thurlow)! I was soooo looking forward to trying their Oyster Po'Boy but they did not have it on their menu that day!! BUMMER!!!

Crab Cake Po'Boy

Canadian rock crab, deep fried and served with organic greens and house-made lemon-garlic aioli. 

Well, without our 1st choice, we went with a similar #2 choice: the crab cake po'boy. The guys manning the cart were nice enough to cut the sandwich in half as W and I were sharing! The crab cake was still really good though, despite my disappointment with the oyster po'boy. It had a light, crispy crust while the cake was filled with lots of crab meat. Though I couldn't really detect much lemon-garlicy flavour in the aioli, it did help keep the sandwich moist. The bun was soft and chewy which complimented the crab cake. I liked how it wasn't very messy to eat, except for a few stray greens falling out.

Reading an article from The Vancouver Sun, I found out that there was a new player in the food cart scene: Mogu! This cart specialized in Japanese-inspired fast food featuring 3 different sandwiches and chicken karaage (marinated fried chicken). I had to go check it out! After walking a couple blocks, we arrived at the corner of Howe St. and Dunsmuir St. I absolutely loved the artwork on their food truck! It had Godzilla chasing after a crowd of people holding Mogu sandwiches!

Pork Miso Katsu Sandwich

Breaded deep fried pork cutlet, house made red miso sauce, Asian hot mustard coleslaw

This was the sandwich that I wanted to try. The description screamed UMAMI (translation: a pleasant savoury taste) to me already! We noticed the sandwich was pretty big (good value)! The fried pork cutlet was smothered in the red miso sauce then topped with a small amount of coleslaw that was laced with wasabi (the hot mustard). There's no lacking in flavour here! Each bite was filled with the miso sauce, almost to the point where I thought it was bordering salty. I would have liked to have more coleslaw in there to break up the rich sauce and to give the sandwich more crunchiness. Aside from the tender pork, the bun was like a soft and slightly sweet brioche bread so a better heaping of coleslaw would have helped give the whole sandwich more texture. By the last few bites, the sandwich became a soggy mess due to the soft bun soaking up all the sauce.

Well, those are all the food carts I have visited this year. In a month or so, most of the food carts will go into hibernation over the winter or move to other parts of the city to continue their business. We will have to wait until the spring time for the carts to come alive again on the downtown streets. Until then, I will just have to stare at my photos and try to reminisce all those umami flavours!

Cache Bistro - Brunch #2

1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

My sister organized a bridal shower for her good friend and the afternoon's activities were relaxing mani and pedi's at a spa in Yaletown. So, we decided to have brunch first at Cache since my previous brunch experience there was pretty good.

Perusing through the menu, I didn’t know whether to order a breakfast item or a brunch/lunch item. Decisions decisions! My sister was gracious and agreed to share our plates so I could sample 2 dishes.

House smoked wild Coho salmon and gruyere sandwich

Open faced with onion jam cream cheese, onion, fried caper, hand cut pomme frites, soup or organic green

I selected the open-faced sandwich as it sounded appealing. For my side, I opted for the lobster bisque. Visually, everything looked really fresh and tasty. In reality, it was just so-so, except for the bisque. The bisque was A++!! There was no lacking in flavour and richness in this soup and it was yummy to the last drop. The sandwich, on the hand, needed a bit of work. Essentially, it was the baguette that was the problem. It was cold, hard, and the crust was super chewy. Even the steak knife that I requested to cut it did not help at all. While I was trying to saw the open-faced sandwich into bite-sized pieces, all the toppings came tumbling down onto the plate. In the end, I took bites of each element individually rather than eating them all in one well-mannered bite. I think it would have helped if they toasted the baguette so the crust would be crisp and easier to cut through. Either that or they should have used fresh baguette. Bread was not good at all.

Double Cheese French Omlette

Swiss cheese, cream cheese, black forest ham, chives, choice of white, whole wheat or multigrain toasts

My sister decided on the omelet and I requested for the yam hash rather than regular potato hash. A few minutes after we put in our order, the waitress came back informing us that they ran out of yam hash!!!!! NO YAM HASH!?!?!?! I was so looking forward to their yam hash!!! I was greatly disappointed and I seriously had half a mind to just walk out and go somewhere else to eat. She advised that the chef could give us yam fries instead. Well, with no other choice (I was very adamant on having yam) we reluctantly went with yam fries. I have never paired yam fries with an omelet.

The omelet was not bad but not spectacular either. The cheese inside the omelet was not ooey-gooey but there were ample amounts of cheese and ham inside. The yam fries were good in that they were crisp on the outside and soft in the inside but it just wasn’t my yam hash. They also apparently forgot the toast that was supposed to arrive with the omelet. My sister did not realize this until the next day. I was too distraught about no yam hash that I did not realize this either. Another disappointment.

Dessert Sampler

(L-R) Blueberry tart, Chocolate pot de creme, Ginger creme brulee

Between 9 girls, we ordered 2 dessert samplers to share amongst us. Their desserts of the day sounded attractive when the waitress recited it for us. When I heard “ginger crème brulee” that did me in and I convinced the other girls to order the sampler.

What a big fat disappointment. As a crème brulee, it was quite good. It was creamy, thick, rich with vanilla and had a nice “not-too-thin, not too-thick” crunchy torched topping. As a GINGER crème brulee, it was absolutely blah. There was no ginger flavour at all. I’m not sure if they were trying to be considerate so as not to overwhelm people with ginger but seriously, if they called it ginger crème brulee, I expect at least a tinge of ginger aroma or flavour. There was nothing here.

The blueberry tart was your regular blueberry tart. Nothing special there with a seemingly store-bought frozen tart crust, fresh blueberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Totally something that I could re-create at home.

The chocolate pot de crème was the best out of the 3. The dark chocolate was dense, smooth, and just slightly sweet so the dark chocolate shined through. But still, only 1 out of the 3 desserts met my expectations. I felt so guilty too because I convinced the whole table to order the desserts but they fell short of expectations.

Side note: When we were ordering, some of the girls asked me for recommendations. I suggested the crab cake benedict as I quite liked it when I had it last time. The girls wanted their eggs poached to medium and it was noted by the waitress. However, when their food came, their poached eggs were fully cooked! The yolk was hard throughout! When I saw that, I immediately wanted to tell the waitress but the girls didn’t want to make a big deal out of it so they just ate it as is. I felt so guilty (again) because I recommended it to them but it did not come out as expected. I was so enraged too!! I know the chef is usually not like this so I am thinking that this is an extremely off day for him. But if the chef is a professional and has expectations of himself, I think the chef has a right to know…

I was majorly disappointed in my second brunch at Cache. After this visit, I talked to W about it and he said that one of the sous chefs had left the restaurant not so long ago so he’s guessing that the head chef was still trying to handle the kitchen without a helping hand. Hopefully, this was just a one-off situation and that he’s gotten a better hold now. Because the chef and the owner of the restaurant are friends with W, I really hope that Cache will succeed. I do think that this place is a gem in the Yaletown neighbourhood.

*Sorry for the long-winded post; I really wanted to air out my disappointments from this meal.