VANCOUVER SLOP

BIGGER THAN A BREAD BIN - HOUSE OF DOSAS

2010-01-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Monday night can be a hard night to get sushi but it is a great night to go for Dosas. The House of Dosas on Kingsway has a special on Mondays where all dosas are $5.99.

The first time you have a dosa, you will laugh and be amazed by the size of these things. They are actually soo large that table real estate becomes an issue. The filling doesn't go end to end.

Our tabled ordered a mixture of dosas. The paper dosas appeared to be bigger and thinner than the regular dosas but tasted equally as good as the regular version. Everyone seemed to be quite pleased with their meal and for the price it was a great value.

Next time you find yourself outside of your favourite Japanese restaurant reading a sign that says they are closed on Mondays take a trip to House of Dosas for a cheap and tasty meal.

House of Dosas
1391 Kingsway
Vancouver BC
Houseofdosas.ca

Office Reference
Is it bigger than a bread bin? Is is something I can put in my mouth?

Matt

CBC - RUTH REICHL INTERVIEW

2009-12-28T22:31:00.000-08:00

I was listening to CBC Radio One today, and they were re airing an interview with Ruth Reichl. Ruth Reichl has held various influential positions in North America including food critic for the NY Times and the LA Times, and most recent Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine.
I enjoyed the interview sooo much that I will be buying her book. A good part of the interview is archived on the website CBC Radio One website, so go check it out and give it a play while you are cooking your next meal.

Trust me, it is worth your time.

http://www.cbc.ca/books/MT/2009/10/ruth-reichl-gourmet-magazine.html

Matt

MAURYA - FOOD COMA

2009-12-21T23:17:00.001-08:00

Buffets. I grew up on these things, Uncle Willy's, Foody Goody, Vegas, Reno, Sushi spots, Dim Sum. At one point it was cool to eat this much, in college I would even pack a couple of zip locks to take some pizza home. What was I thinking. The quality is generally sub par, and what fun is it to be that full.

This weekend meal took me to Maurya. If you ever need to get in a food coma, here is the spot. Maurya offers all you can eat lunch on weekends for $12.95. The atmosphere is nice, and the food is of good quality and tasty especially considering the price. If I was a high school or college kid, I could imagine killing hours here.

On the buffet menu are the following:
Vegetable Pakoras
Papadums
Beef Masala
Butter Chicken
Methi Aloo
Tandoori Chicken
Chili Paneer
Turnip Carrot
Salad Bar
Fresh roti
Mango mousse
gulab jamun

Everything was tasty but all you can eat Indian food can really take you out, I was in the need for a nap the whole day and I even skipped dinner. It was one of those meals where I had to undo my top button on my skinny jeans.

Maurya
1643 West Broadway
Vancouver BC

Matt

COO COO FOR COCONUT!

2009-12-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite chocolate bars is Almond Joy and now I have some new coconut favourites.

1. Macapuno - Filipino coconut ice cream. If you can find the stuff in the gold tin, thats the one to get.

2. Liberte - Coconut yogurt. Add fruit and you will be in heaven.

Trust me on this one, both have a fairly subtle taste and people who say they don't care for the flavour of coconut are loving these two.

HST

2009-12-15T21:29:00.000-08:00

I received an email from a reader regarding the HST and a campaign that was created in response called No Meal Tax. The No Meal Tax campaign was created by the Canadian and BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association in a fight to exempt the restaurant industry from HST. They have created a website that serves as an online petition. If you want to make a stand against HST on the restaurant industry check out
www.nomealtax.ca

I haven't been following the details behind HST and the restaurant industry in detail but I will dedicate sometime this weekend to do some research. There is no question that this will have a serious affect on the restaurant industry resulting in many restaurants closing their doors and obviously I am not down with paying an extra 7% on my meals. Come to think of it, HST may shut this blog down.

I do/did favour the carbon tax but I will have to do some more extensive reading on this one. Regardless of my stance there should be a forum for those who oppose the HST and nomealtax.ca is the this forum.

If you have some thoughts on HST, let me hear em.

WEEKEND ESCAPES

2009-12-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

Every once and a while, my friends and I take a trip to the island to basically eat and drink. This weekend was no exception. The menu looked like this

Friday night - nachos with cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Two bottles of vodka and a lot of Okanagan Springs 1516 (beer).
Saturday - First meal - scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage, bacon (of course)
Dinner - 5 lb sack of mussels, 6 crabs, mushroom fried rice, chicken with herbs
Sunday - Fritata, potatoes, bacon, sausage.

One of the food highlights was the chicken that we got from Qualicum Beach. Our friend recommended this spot, which was basically a self serve shack at the front of the farm. The self serve concept was new to me, and was a clear exhibition of trust in the community, there was even a money bag filled with change if you needed it. The whole chicken was 21 dollars, a dozen large eggs was 4 bucks and the sausages were about 2 bucks a piece. The shack is generally unmanned but the farmer came out because us big city kids were taking pictures and he wanted to see what all the flashing lights were about. The farmer Dirk explained to us that he sends his chickens to slaughter 80 miles out and they are sold out of his shack here and to restaurants on the mainland such as Bishops and Fuel. Pretty cool to find a spot like this.

I got to make the mussels and I now know why they cost so much at the restaurant. The prep took a considerable amount of time, culling them, ripping off the beards, and then scrubbing them clean. The crab is easy.

We had a great weekend filled with shotgunning beers, eating amazing meals, rock band, and Pictionary. A couple people drank too much and had a rough night.

CIOPPINO'S MEDITERRANEAN GRILL

2009-12-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

I guess I am known to eat ghetto meals but sometimes I get fancy.

If you haven't been to Cioppino's I recommend that you go to have an amazing experience. For some reason at this high end eating establishments I feel compelled to order an appetizer and a drink, so I started with a Caesar, and an appetizer of mussels. Both were very tasty.

For dinner, we ordered
Fettuccine with classic meat sauce “alla bolognese” | $ 25.00
Linguine with half lobster, tomato-cream-lobster sauce | $ 35.00

I normally would pick an animal that came from our local waters and pick crab over lobster but based on a recommendation I ordered the lobster. 35 dollars is pricey for a meal but a lobster is not a cheap animal (although the market price for lobster has dropped significantly) and this dish was fantastic. Tomato cream sauce, basil, a hint of sweet chili oil, an amazing crustacean and an al dente pasta makes for a fantastic meal. The bolognese was also very tasty but their use of short ribs for their meat sauce made it very rich, still delicious.

The atmosphere is fantastic, and Chef Pino even came out to ask us how our meal was (a nice added touch). For dessert the short heart chocolate cake is incredible. Not your cheapest meal but definitely a fantastic one.

Cioppino's Mediterranean Grill
1129 Hamilton Street
Vancouver
BC
Matt

PINGS - FOR RELAXING TIMES

2009-11-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

PINGS
I took another trip to Pings after hearing that they changed their menu, plus I have been hearing numerous reviews from friends giving the place great praise. We took a trip to Pings late on Saturday night at 9:30pm, after my soccer game.

I enjoy the atmosphere in the restaurant but I miss the old run down Pings signage. The menu was filled with tapas items which is quite different from my first visit. As my friend commented everything sounded great but of course my pessimistic ass said of course everything sounds good off the menu thats why they write it like that (yeah, sometimes I can be that super negative guy that no one wants to hang with).

After perusing through the menu we got our order together. We ordered the following:

Kinpira ($3.50) - Burdock root and carrot. The textures and taste were fantastic. The sauce consisting of mirin and shoyu was a nice complement to the various textures.

Tofu Bang Bang Salad ($8.00) - A fantastic salad. Lettuce mixed with carrots, daikon, cucumbers and tofu crispy wonton skin. The crunchiness of the wonton skin made this a wicked salad. Very well thought out.

Pings Poutine ($7.00) - Fries with vegetable curry and paneer on top. This dish had some very interesting flavours.

Ika Karaage ($6.00) - An excellent deep fried dish.

Sake drunken chicken ($6.00) - The flavour from these things blew my mind.

Baked Scallops - Off the daily menu. Holy crap these things were amazing.

Black Sesame Ice Cream - the first spoonful was interesting but after that I couldn't stop eating it. I then became that guy who eats way more than his share.

I also ordered a glass of Suntori Whiskey which was incredibly smooth. For relaxing times drink Suntori times. Those are some true words.

I have to admit the food was really damn good. Prices were reasonable, service was on point, and the atmosphere was great. Taste wise and value wise they got it down. Do yourself a favour and grab a crew and go try Pings out.

Pings

2702 Main Street

Vancouver

pingscafe.ca

Matt

TOP SLOP #13 - ROB RIZK

2009-11-30T00:34:00.001-08:00

Rob Rizk - Promoter and DJ - Gmanandrizk.com / Fortune Sound Club

1. Chambar , 562 Beatty Street

2. Market by Jean-George , 1128 West Georgia Street

3 Kingyo Japanese Izakaya ,871 Denman Street

GINGERBREAD COMPETITION

2009-11-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread 2008 Timelapse from creative room on Vimeo.

An amazing event. 10 local architecture firms are competing to make the best gingerbread house. All entries must be made with edible materials and constructed at scale. More info here.

TOSHI - GET THERE EARLY

2009-11-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

Toshi Sushi
I managed to get in touch with Ben from Chowtimes.com and he suggested we meet at Toshi Sushi for dinner and some food blogger politicing. I haven't been here for a year but I remembered that I had to get there early. We got there at about 4:45 and there were already people forming a line, 5 mins later there was a line up of 10 people. If you are eating at Toshi's Sushi you really have to plan ahead, if you don't get there right when they open then you have to go about an hour later when the early crowd is finished their meal and is leaving. Every seat in the place was occupied within 5 mins of the doors being open. Not many restaurants have lines like this, Toshi's and Stephos are the only ones I can think of.

Ben and I perused through the menu and I suggested a few items. The box sushi ($7.25 - which is not on the menu but it seems that everyone now knows about it), the baked eggplant ($5.75 - which has become a very popular dish) , appetizer tempura ($4.50 - 2 prawns, 1 potato, 1 bean, and a sweet potato), the house roll ($6.75- prawn tempura, avocado) and the salmon cheek ($9.50).

The two sushi rolls showed up first and they were very tasty. The box sushi consists of a slice of prawn, salmon, scallop, spicy mayo, avocado, lemon with rind and then shaped in form of a box. It is a really tasty roll and the lemon rind adds a very refreshing element to it. The house roll was tasty but in my opinion didn't stack up to the box sushi.

One great thing about Toshi's is that they have very tasty cooked food. The tempura was very well priced, and was on par with most Japanese restaurants, but the highlight was the baked eggplant. I don't even like eggplant however when baked with a miso glaze, I have no problems shoving this thing down my throat. The last dish was the salmon cheek, crispy skin and flavourful meat. You can tell by the photos that it much more than just cheek (half the collar actually).

All in all, Toshis is a great spot. They offer a great selection of tasty raw and cooked food at an affordable price which makes them stand out from their competition. The only issue is that they draw long lines and they have a strict waiting list policy. You could be like us and go at 5:00 but I hate the fact that I am eating at the same time my grandpa would.

Check out the Chowtimes review of this meal. Chowtimes is one of the first food blogs of Vancouver. Real OGs.

Matt

Toshis
181 16th Ave
Vancouver BC

There appears to be a few rules at Toshis. It could be becoming the sushi nazi.

1. Please write your name and number of people in your party on the waiting list.
2. When name is called, all people must be accounted for. NO EXCUSES!
3. Groups larger than 6 people are not recommended.

KINGYO - LUNCH TIME!

2009-11-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

Izakaya style restaurants have been the big dining trend the past few years. This year has been about izakaya restaurants opening their doors for lunch. Kingyo on Denman St. being on the top of everyone's list, they too have stepped into the lunch game. As you would expect Kingyo to do, they've stepped up the game and is offering a tight little lunch menu with straight bangers! Kingyo is not messing around here. They've kept the lunch opening pretty low key but the place was a full house this past sunday.

Japanese people love nothing other than a good serving of curry on a winter weekend afternoon. So I dropped in for their Kanazawa Katsu-Curry. In Japan, curry served in fancy restaurants always come in elongated oval shaped dishes, not round ones (I don't know why). My curry dish with pickles and cabbage on the side, good size pork cutlet on top of dark rich curry over rice all served in an oval dish reminded me of fancy outings with my grandparents in Japan.

My friend ordered the "Super Slow Stewed" Pork Kakuni Bowl. A healthy serving of the extra tender pork sat on top of a bowl of rice with green onions and nori sprinkled on top. The order came with a bowl of miso soup, pickles and a little dish with japanese mayo with cod row just for the folks who like to eat their pork southern style.

The food was excellent and we capped off the lunch with their Almond Tofu for dessert. The items on their menu range from $9~$14 with a Delux Bento for $16. Most definitely going back for all their other items.

Kingyo

781 Denman St

604-608-1677

www.kingyo-izakaya.com

O-toro

TAKE 5 X VANCOUVER SLOP

2009-11-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, time is up. The pictures of all the entries are found here . Thanks to all who sent in an email.

A representative from Take 5 will pick their favourite ones and the winners will be contacted via email shortly.

Congrats to those who are selected and thanks to Take 5 for hooking up the gifts certificates.

Above: A picture of my on Halloween dressed as Lisa Simpson as the state of Florida.

MUSHROOM MAN

2009-11-18T19:01:00.002-08:00

Took a trip to the island with a crew of friends and while walking around in the Cathedral Grove we were stopped by this dirty (unclean, as opposed to perverted) man. He came out of his RV and offered to sell us some chanterelle mushrooms. He gave us this very confusing explanation on how to identify the good ones and then told us a story about how he came face to face with a cougar (he did an amazing re enactment of the cougar).

We bought a few handfull of mushrooms for 20 bucks and we were very excited to cook them up the next day after they dried out. I had a little concern that we bought magic mushrooms or some ones laced with poison. We took a picture of license plate when we left just in case someone had to investigate our death. In the end, they were tasty and we didn't hallucinate or die.

Chanterelle mushrooms rule

TAKE 5 X VANCOUVER SLOP

2009-11-16T00:26:00.000-08:00

I have decided to extend the Take 5 X Vancouver Slop contest until November 22, 2009. Here are a few of the entries so far.

Up for grabs are five $20 gift certificate to Take 5 Café so get your photo in ASAP.

Come on people. Almost everyone has a camera and / or a camera phone, don't be lazy.

Matt

LA TAQUERIA - THE BEST TACOS IN VANCOUVER

2009-11-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

Blogging about restaurants can get very boring when you are eating meals that you would just call average. Mediocre food is easy to find.

I took a trip to La Taqueria after hearing many good things. This place blew me away! La Taqueria took over the old Nuba location, it is small with limited bar seating but it doesn't feel dirty or grimy.

La Taqueria states on their chalkboard that they use organic ingredients and make an attempt to source local products where possible. Soft tacos were $2.50 for the meat versions and $2.00 for the vegetarian/vegan options. I had three different types:

De Cachete - braised Chilliwak Pork Cheeks
Pescado - grilled seasonal fish with pico de gallo - today it was Albacore Tuna
Arrachera - house marinated Canadian AAA skirt beef

All tacos were served with cilantro, lime and onion. There were also pickled onions, jalapenos and three extraordinary homemade salsas to complement your tacos:

Mild - avocado and tomato
Medium - chipotle (ridonkers tasty!!!)
Hot - I think more traditional...can't do super spicy so we didn't try it out

The tacos were amazing. I felt that the mixture of sauces, meat and other ingredients was very well thought out . The beef and the pork cheek tacos blew my mind away.

I'm in love because this place is downtown, and hands down serves the best tacos in the city. As my friend stated, this place blows Dona Cata out of the water.

Go give this place a try. Highly recommended if you love Mexican tacos.

La Taqueria
322 Hastings Street West,
Vancouver, BC V6B 1K6
(604) 568-4406

P.S. They also have daily specials like chorizo, lamb, etc...my friend has tried many and says whatever it is, order it. Guaranteed amazing.

Matt

CONGEE NOODLE HOUSE

2009-11-12T21:35:00.001-08:00

I cruised by Slickity Jims to take a look and then decided to grab some chow at Congee Noodle House. As always the meal was solid, we ordered the sweet and sour pork chop, large dow me yu (pea tips), chicken hot pot (not shown), black bean chicken chow mein and a bucket of rice. This time it cost a little more than usual, and ended up being 55 dollars.

You can't go wrong with Congee Noodle House, cheap and tasty. Question, anyone willing to admit that they tip less at Chinese Restaurants than other spots. My friend once said you ruin it for all the Chinese people if you tip too much.

Congee Noodle House
141 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6K 3A9

Matt

RIP SLICKITY JIMS

2009-11-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

I got stuck in a serious traffic jam on my way to work, so I ducked off the beaten path of 12th ave and went down to Broadway only to find a group of fire trucks and police cars. There was a massive fire on Broadway and Main. I wasn't sure what was affected unitl I heard on the radio that Slickity Jims, and Kishu Star were burnt down. Slickity Jims was a staple for some of my Main Street friends. I only ate their once and the food was pretty good and I did find an egg shell in my breakfast and I planned on returning but I guess that may never happen.

TOP SLOP #12- JEFF HAMADA

2009-11-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Jeff Hamada - Booooooom (one of the best sites on the internet says VancouverSlop, Technorati and everyone)

Guu (Gastown)
My favourite of all the izakaya joints in Vancouver. Fantastic service and probably the best quality Japanese cuisine you'll find at this price. I always get the Tuna Tataki, Ebi May, and I like their verision of Okonomiyaki.

Tandoori Kona (Richmond)
This is my favourite spot for Indian food. Great quality butter chicken and very flavourful curry. Ridiculously cheap lunch specials, too. If you're ever in the area, it's worth it.

Nuba (Downtown location)
If you're looking for a Lebanese spot this is it. One of the best falafelsI've had in the city. I recommend the toasted deluxe!

BURGER HEAVEN

2009-11-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Burger Heaven
This lunch at Burger Heaven reminded me of my times in the suburbs in the 90s. Old cartoon art that looks like Garfield or Marvin, low rider trucks and some folks with some truly suburban hair cuts.

I only had a short amount of time to chow, so I kept my order simple, a bacon, mushroom, cheddar burger with fries/wedges (13 bucks) and a bottomless pop. I am one of those kids that takes full advantage of the bottomless pop and I usually have at least two or three refills during my sitting. The service was on point even though the place was busy and the atmosphere was interesting (hanging plants, old photos of customers, old cartoon art, and media accolades framed on the wall).

The burger was one of the sloppiest ever. Stacked with mushrooms, dripping with cheddar and two slabs of bacon hanging off of it, this burger guaranteed a stain on my pants. Taste wise the burger was juicy and flavourful. Not quite exploding with flavour but really damn good. It ranks high on my list of burgers, perhaps in the top three (better than Veras). The wedges weren't that great but you can upgrade to yam fries if you want. The problem is how often do you make trips to New West? I make an occasional trip to go antique/vintage shopping and next time I will grab a burger after and then some maple soft serve ice cream at this other spot that I forget the name of.

Burger Heaven
77 10th St
New Westminster, BC

Matt

KALAMATA

2009-11-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Kalamata
I find there are many pitfalls with Greek food. The meat is too dry, the potatoes are not crispy enough, the rice is just bland or it is just not worth the price tag. I like many have stood in line for Stephos and walked out stating that was a great meal/great deal. I like many have also walked two doors down to Takis and said screw the line up at Stephos.

I needed a new Greek joint and I have tried many but always walked away unhappy until now. Kalamata was recommended to me by a friend that was hit and miss with previous recommendations. This time it was a hit. We ordered the beef souvlaki and the garlic prawns. The meals come with a nice sized Greek salad. I substituted mine for a green salad but regreted it because the raspberry dressing was weird and the Greek salad was way better.

The prawns were garlicky as described, actually really garlicky. Bring some gum or breath mints cause you will be representing halitosis when you leave. The rice was super flavourful, potatoes were great and the beef was tasty and moist.

Service was a little slow but the food was great. The price was on par with most Greek Restaurants at about 15 dollars per dish. Best Greek food in town? I wouldn't say that but it is a new fav.

Kalamata
388 West Broadway
Vancouver BC

Matt

VANCOUVER SLOP x TAKE 5 CAFE GIVEAWAY

2009-10-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Slop in collaboration with Take 5 Café™ is giving away five 20 dollar gift certificates redeemable at any Take 5 Café™. All you have to do is submit a photo of yourself eating or drinking (you can hide your face if you want to or be as creative as you want) to Vancouverslop@gmail.com. The photos will be placed on Vancouver Slop and the five winners will be selected on November 20^th 2009 by Take 5 Café™. The last day to submit your photos is November 15^th

Take 5 Café™ has seven different locations in Vancouver and Burnaby, so you’ll have plenty of options when redeeming your gift cards. Enjoy custom roasted coffee, quality panini, soup, pasta and more at your local Take 5 Café™

Get your photos in and check out
www.take5cafe.com
Twitter: take5cafebc

VS LONG TABLE

2009-10-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

We managed to work it out with the Irish Heather and have a Vancouver Slop Long Table dinner. We have a few spots left, so if you are interested in having some pig with us then send me an e-mail and hopefully we have a seat for you.

BTW I am not paying for you.

vancouverslop@gmail.com

Update: It seemed like everyone had a great time. There is something about breaking bread with 50 people on one long table that feels great. Good food and good company.

DESERTS

2009-10-26T01:40:00.000-07:00

Deserts is one of my favorite lunch spots. I actually heard the owner say that I am one of her regulars. I've always wanted to be a regular, kinda like Norm in Cheers. (speaking of Norm from Cheers, why didn't they ever show his wife's face? That always bothered me.) There are two typical lunches that I normally order. One is the Chef Special which is two types of curries on a bed of rice with a half pita, for $6.50. On my extra hungry days I tend to add an extra samosa (great sauce that goes with it) which after taxes is an extra dollar. The second lunch choice is a Felafel with Tabbouleh salad for $7.75 (if you want just the felafel by itself it's $5.50). The felafel is solid isn't as good an Nuba's but it's a close second in my opinion. I never thought I would like Tabbouleh since I don't like parsley, but I really enjoy the Tabbouleh at Deserts. Maybe I do like parsley, it's a mystery that will never be solved.

I usually like to take pics of who I am eating with, since I was eating alone I took a picture of the samosa.

On a totally unrelated topic, I was at the Irish Heather's Long Table Series today for their turkey dinner (which was very tasty by the way) and I happened to sit beside another guy named Vince. Wouldn't it be cool if there was a long table series just for people named Vince? Actually that would be a very impractical and the novelty would wear off quick. At any rate here's a bonus pic for the Vince I met today.

Deserts
905 Commercial Dr.
Vancouver, BC V5L 3W8
Tel: (604) 251-4171

Love,

Vince

So.Cial at Le Magasin

2009-10-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

We went to Social for a friend's birthday. It was my second time eating dinner there, the first also being for a birthday, and heard the chef had since changed; a new menu is always exciting. The atmosphere in the dining room of Social is nice; dark with moderate lighting, red walls, wooden columns, high, engraved ceilings and lots of seating (big tables and comfy seats good for dinner parties), it's also a fairly quiet atmosphere, which is good for chatting. They also have a lounge area downstairs. First up: free goods. These are always a nice touch, and a nice surprise. The server brought out starter veggies and chips, served in a mini clay pot with yogurt dip; really cute. My one suggestion would be to leave the chips out on the plate, they get soggy sitting in the dip. Next came an amuse bouche of beet puree with salmon, served atop of crispy bread and some sort of flavoured oil, it was really tasty; nice little treat. Bread with butter was served, and although some of the guests complained that the bread was too salty, I love almost all breads and didn't really notice this.

Up next: appetizers. We started with the Crispy Plate for $9, the birthday girl loves anything crispy, and this plate promised to deliver - chicken, fries, potato chips, and bread, accompanied with a dip. It's rare that you can say this, but it was too deep fried, it made you feel unhealthy eating it (not that deep fry is healthy, but this was something else). The chicken was all crisp and no meat, and the taste of deep fry was overwhelming, you couldn't really distingish one bite from the other. As for the dip, it was of the yogurt variety, which I didn't think matched the deep fried items in taste or texture. Pulled Beef Poutine for $9 was next. I love poutine, and this one was pretty good; the cheese, beef and fries were in good proportion to eachother. If anything, and that's cause I'm picky, the beef could have been a bit more shredded, some of the beef bites were pretty big, and it would have been nice to get some fry, cheese and beef in every bite.

Finally, the mains. I went with the Local Chicken with carrot puree, crispy dophinoise potato, new baby corn, glazed salsify and jus for $15. Quite the description, right? (I had to look up salsify, and for those of you who are interested, and it is a a purple-flowered, composite plant, whose root has an oyster-like flavor and is used as a culinary vegetable; it is also called oyster plant, vegetable oyster). The presentation was lovely and seasonal, the colours of fall. The meal itself was okay, nothing spectacular, but not bad....could have used a bit more juiciness in the chicken and a bit less savoury of a jus. Other mains that were ordered included the $20 Pan Seared Wild Salmon Salmon with local nugget potatoes, beets in different textures and celery foam, the $26 Queen Charlotte Halibut with clams, green onions, cauliflower stems, puree spinach and clam foam. Again, the presentation on both these dishes was amazing, beautiful colours and textures. I can't comment on the taste, but I do have to add that the flavour/smell of the clam foam was too much for the girl who ordered it, and she switched it up for the AAA Ribeye....

Service wise, they were on it and the food came quickly...almost too quickly, the table was a bit crowded at times, some of the plates could have been cleared faster.

As an aside, their Deli Sandwiches are really good, and huge.

So.Cial at Le Magasin
332 Water Street
Gastown, Vancouver BC
http://www.socialatlemagasin.com/index.htm