Commercial Drive, Vancouver -- top ten places to Chow?
A comment made about the development of the chow scene on the Drive in the last year got me wondering: what are you top (ten) places to have breakfast, lunch or dinner in this 'hood? I'm ashamed how little I know about the restos in this area, and it's time to rectify that, so please educate me and I will go forth and eat!
grayelf
Jul 01, 2008 12:33AM
This is my neighbourhood and know it quite well. I have lived here for a couple of decades. Keeping down to 10 is actually a challenge for me. There are perhaps 200 places to eat here representing dozens of ethnicities between 12th Ave and Venables (1.5 miles) - from pizza-by-the-slice to high-end sushi.
1 Lime Restaurant - a truly excellent sushi place - a bit of a neighbourhood secret really. They do superb sushi/sashimi and they serve their own house-made 100% buckwheat soba (a rarity outside Japan).
2 Stella's - a Belgian gastropub. About 30 Belgian beers and good pub food with a Belgian/Asian twist
3 Lombardo's - the best (IMO) wood-fired pizza in town. (Vancouver Magazine's Golden Plate Awards agrees with me)
4 Carthage Cafe - French/Tunisian. They now finally have a liquour license and can serve wine.
5 Dolce Amore - best gelateria in town, IMO.
6 Cafe Katmandu - Himalayan/Tibetan cuisine...and a meet up for the Philosopher's Cafe once a month or so.
7 Szechuan Chongqing - old-school Nixon-era Szechuan
8 Pondok - Indonesian. Inexpensive, and good
9 Prado - Coffee. One of the best in town. 49th Parallel beans. (JJ Bean is also very good)
10 Little Nest - a kid-friendly cafe and probably the best place to go for breakfast, IMO.
That's ten that I like. And there's more.
DiVino - soft-opened last night. I have yet to go, but I will in the next couple of weeks.
The Reef - Carib food. More of a drinking place for me.
Cafe Kathmandu - Himalayan restuarant - and meetup for the Philosopher's Cafe
Fet's - burgers and so forth. Scotch specialists too with dozens of premium scotch.
Me and Julio's - I have still to successfully dine there - having tried to go a few times now- but I expect it to be as good as Lolita's..which is a decent modern Mexican place.
Tio Pepe - Yucatan. This place has been here for years.
Rinconcito Salvadoreno - Homemade Pupusa.
Bouzyos - a decent Greek place.
MegaBite - my favourite pizza-by-the-slice and delivery. I ask for the thin crust. Super deal.
etc
Grab a map from here: http://www.thedrive.ca/ - it's a bit outdated.
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Thanks for the great list, fmed. I have been to only three of your choices (well, four as of tonight). I've started a best of Commercial file, which I'm sharing with my brother and SIL who live in Strathcona and want to learn more about Commercial.
Inspired by your post, the SO and I headed over to the Drive this evening and wandered up and down -- we saw all the places on your list except, for some reason, we missed Prado. And we ended up grabbing a gelato at Dolce Amore. They are indeed outstanding and we will be back.
PS I had the mascarpone, but also tasted the panna cotta and the dolce de latte. Tough choice!
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Wow..what a list fmed!
Is Prado better than Caffe Artigiano?
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I think so. Caffe Artigiano has many many inexperience baristas behind the bar these days (price of success, I guess). The baristas as Prado (especially the owner, Amy) are all pretty experienced (there may be one or two in training, but usually not at peak times).
I believe that they may be using the same beans - 49th Parallel's Epic Espresso Blend.
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Prado does use 49th Parallel Epic, but I'm pretty sure Artigiano has a tweaked blend from 49th, Artigiano Private Reserve. Not sure how different the two are though. I know I prefer Epic over the APR.
And yes Beach Chick, I would say Prado is better than Artigiano. The space is beautiful. It's in an old building with lots of exposed wood and brick. I love people watching from a window seat or out on the sidewalk with my macchiato in hand.
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Thanks for the intel on the beans peter.v. I'm headed over to Prado in a few minutes ;)
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Funnily enough, I'll be headed out to the Calgary outpost of Artigiano in a little bit!
Ah, and Beach Chick, Artigiano is a good option, especially in the downtown core where not many coffee shops of good repute exist. There are a few coffee threads kicking around on the board if you're looking for other shops. Regardless, Prado easily ranks among the best in the city.
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It's good to get expert validation from an experienced barista such as yourself, peter.v.
Off to Prado.....
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I keep meaning to check on the 49th Parallel website to see where in the city you can get their Epic Roast (besides flagship on 4th of course) and this thread has prompted me to do so... I'll post separately to promote ease of searching/reference.
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Thanks fmed and Peter for the heads up on the baristas at Caffe Artigiano..
I'm in San Diego but love to head up to Vancouver..one of the most gorgeous cities in the world..plus, the food is so bloody good!
Love Gerard's at Sutton Place!
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Nice list fmed, I second Dolce Amore, its the closest I've found to the gelato I had in Italy!
I will definitely have to try Lime for their soba noodles and I've been meaning to try the Little Nest for breakfast/lunch, what have you had for breakfast there?
Also a fan of La Grotto Del Formaggio for their sandwiches
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>>I've been meaning to try the Little Nest for breakfast/lunch, what have you had for breakfast there?
I was an eggs breakfast at around lunchtime - simple but well done.
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Is Dolce Amore even better than Mundo Gelato? ... My last visit to Vancouver I tried several gelato places and could not find one better than Mundo Gelato.
I LOVE gelato with a passion! I never made it over to Commercial Drive ... I am coming back 1st week in Oct. If this is the best gelato, I have to try it.
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Mondo is good...but I like Dolce Amore better. Mind you, I do live right in the neighborhood.
Give it a taste and report back!
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I would second fmed's assessment that Dolce Amore is better than Mondo Gelato, creamier, more flavour, based on my three tastes but I've not been to MG in a while so taste bud memories may be off. I also like that DA is a famiglia-run place.
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Little Nest is sort of scary
My 10
Lime is great before 9pm (cover charge for dubious bands after that)
Stella's is excellent
Carthage is good especially now with a licence
The Reef is as good as the one on Main
Wazubee is a very good deal , great wine prices , great wine list
Falconettis is a good bar , nice sausages
Casa Verde is one of the best portuguese places in the city
PCOV is also anexcellent deal
Rinconcito for pupusas and Coronas
Arriva for old school italian
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Knightafter's in the house.
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"Knightafter's in the house."
He's like a rock star only with food :-).
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And Kir.....
What's PCOV??
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PCOV is the Portuguese Club of Vancouver.
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Scary how, out of curiosity?
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All those screaming kids perhaps?
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I love Casa Verde :o)
Has anyone been to the Charlatan? I was debating whether it was worth it to try it out.
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I go there to drink...they have a good bar. I'm not a fan of the food especially compared to Stella's.
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Thanks for the scoop!
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My tops, in not an exact order:
- Lime: Great Sushi, very fresh. Great kitchen also. Their sablefish is outstanding.
- Stella's: Beer list is superb, food is good for what it is.
- Theresa's: great cheap Breakfast
- Continental Coffee: for coffee
- Me and Julio: good modern Mexican
- Rinconcito: Papusa's
- Wazubee's: Best wine list east of Gastown. Great prices, good eclectic mix. Food is hit and miss.
- Cafe deux Soleil: Fun atmosphere if you're with the right people. Vegetarian breakfast. Good smoothies.
- La Casa del Fromaggio: Sandwiches are outstanding, cheese selection good, but pricey.
- Carthage Cafe: Tunisian. Good cous cous.
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Great list Cancuk.
i wish Wazubee's had better food and service. The wine list is definitely topnotch....and very reasonable.
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Ya, I go there for the wine and stick to a salad or the Chicken Wazubich (spelling) with the garlic mayo dipping sauce for the fries.... I must admit, their fries are good.
Would like to try the Portuguese places, but would rather go with someone who knows what to order as I'm not very educated in the cuisine.
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Other than the winelist, the fries are the best thing about Wazubee's.
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Yup. Since I don't drink coffee, but am often there with peeps who do, that whole little tray setup thing they bring seems pretty nice, how's the coffee though?
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They do good coffee actually. I'm not sure where they source their beans.
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