Photo Credit: ecstaticist.
So I’ve dedicded to start a new project for dining in 2010. The tagline of this site is “Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Vancouver” and so instead of of traipsing around Vancouver’s culinary delights in the random way I have been for the last (almost) 2 years, I am going to present my finds country by country.
I still have a bit of a backlog of reviews, so I may post those interspersed with the project and if I feel really keen, I may even post some recipes.
First stop on the grand tour: North America. Got any favorites you’d like to recommend?
Categories: African · Asian · Australian · Belgian · Cambodian · Caribbean · Chinese · Cuban · Dutch · Eastern European · El Salvadoran · Ethiopian · Filipino · French · German · Greek · Himalayan · Indian · Indonesian · Irish · Italian · Jamaican · Japanese · Korean · Latin · Lebanese · Malaysian · Mexican · Nepalese · News · Persian · Romanian · Scandinavian · Singaporean · Spanish · Srilankan · Taiwanese · Thai · Tunisian · Vancouver52 · Vietnamese
Tagged: restaurant, cuisine, Vancouver, culture, travel, ethniceats.ca, degan beley, world, dining, dine out, project, Vancouver52, 52 in Vancouver
Every country has some form of dumpling and meat on a stick shows up all over the world too, from Indonesian satay to American county fair corndogs. Why? Because somewhere along the line we discovered that skewering a piece of meat was a handy way of cooking and eating our protein. And also because it tastes good.
One of my favorite meat on a stick meals is Greek souvlaki. Usually pork or chicken (but sometimes lamb or beef too), it’s cooked without a lot of spices, but served with pita and garlicky tzatziki. I love it, but my sister and I ate so much of it in Greece a couple of years ago that she still can’t order it. My friend and I ended up at Piato Estiatorio, a relatively new restaurant on 4th. To be fair, I haven’t been yet because I haven’t heard great things about it and my hesitation was compounded by the several quizzical looks I got from people on the way there when I told them where I was going. I guess they haven’t made much in-roads with the locals.
But it’s a beautiful room, blue and white as all greek restaurants must be, with stylish accent pieces set against painted brick. And the menu had several items that jumped out at me, including the seafood souvlaki with skewered Albacore.
They brought (pita) bread and butter to start and I ordered the lemony chicken avgolemono soup, which I thought would be perfect for the cold I was starting to get. It was delicately flavoured and light and delicious. Next I had the standard souvlaki, which at Piato is lamb and pork belly, accompanied by a Mythos beer – something else my sister and I had a lot of in Greece.
I wasn’t sure how pork belly was going to hold up on a skewer and while it was definitely tasty, it seemed like a less fatty part of the pig than pork belly. The lamb leg was also good and the platter came with grilled onions, peppers, asparagus, fresh tomatoes, pita bread and lots of tzatziki.
I think Piato’s trying to re-style themselves as a more stylish Greek taverna, and if that’s the case, I should have had something more stylish than meat on a stick. The soup was good and the souvlaki was fine, but there’s plenty of greek places around town that do it better.
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Piato Estiatorio
1835 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
Categories: Greek
Tagged: avgolemono, beer, degan, degan beley, dinner, ethniceats.ca, kitsilano, lamb, meat, meat on a stick, pita, pork, pork belly, skewer, soup, souvlaki, tzatziki, Vancouver
I recently moved away from Commercial Drive, which is pretty much a foodist’s heaven with its plethora of food shops, eateries and watering holes. These are the things I miss most.
10 best of the Drive:
1. Sausages and whisky at Falconetti’s, a dark, cavey little bar that is also open to the street. Excellent handmade sausages and fries accompany a decent bar selection and good people pouring. 1812 Commercial Drive.
2. Old-school Italian at Arriva Ristorante. The Drive was the original Little Italy and eventhough it’s much more diverse now, this is still the place for authentic carbonara or bucca alla amatriciana. 1537 Commercial Drive.
3. The Ravioli Store for fresh made pasta and Italian prosciutto. 1900 Commercial Drive.
4. South China Seas for spices, hard to find ethnic ingredients and cookbooks. 1904 Grant Street (at Victoria Drive).
5. Coffee from Calabria, Bump & Grind, Prado and Continental. No, sorry, I’m not picking one. They’re all favorites for different reasons; Calabria for making me laugh with its utter cheesiness – 1745 Commercial Drive, Bump & Grind for it’s bohemian furniture and comfy atmosphere – 916 Commercial Drive, Prado for its sleek minimalist decor – 1938 Commercial Drive, and Continental for the smell of roast beans and the undercurrent of revolution – 1806 Commercial Drive.
6. La Grotta del Formaggio for cheese and sandwiches. 1791 Commercial Drive.
7. Tandoori Palace, which is as close as I can get to having a regular haunt. I’ve only ever had their channa masala, but I’ve had it a LOT. Comfort food. 1439 Commercial Drive.
8. Bacon from JN&Z Deli. Enough said.
9. Havana. The food can be hit or miss but the deck, the décor and the pitchers of mojitos will sway you always. 1212 Commercial Drive.
10. Mediterranean Specialty Foods for amazing fresh hummus, spanikopitas, olives and assorted other Greek delicacies. 1824 Commercial Drive.
Not to mention the many fresh produce markets, bakeries and little ethnic eateries lined up for blocks. I’m looking forward to checking out my new neighbourhood, but I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll still be making some trips back to the Drive.
What are your favorites?
Categories: Greek · Happy Hour · Indian · Italian
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Around Vancouver in 52 Restaurants
