Wowza it’s been a while, but like every other person around my age I’m being swarmed by school and work. I recently gave myself a break and headed up to the 10th anniversary of Sasquatch Music Festival ! I hate tanning because I look like Pocahontas at the end of the day but it is pretty inescapable so after four days of being in the sun I am this slightly overcooked color with a couple of lobster markings. After spending a few scorching days and freezing nights camping we made our way to Seattle where I revisited The 5 Point Cafe I describe as somewhat of a punk rock diner, which really succumbs all of Seattle in one word.
Seriously, you can`t go anywhere else where you won`t be swarmed by crust punks walking their malnutritioned dogs. I ordered the eggs benny while my date ordered the chicken fried steak which on the menu boasted to be the biggest in Seattle! Eggs benny was pretty good, I`m not a huge hollandaise sauce lover but this definitely tooted my horn.
Bigger is better in the states. Our meal with coffees came to a whopping $25. Not too shabby regarding we barely even finished our plates. Off we went to explore Pike Place where we picked up some awesome nectarines and jazz apples.
My second venture was to find a place called The Barbeque Pit, unfortunately even though we went there at 1 and they said they opened at 12, they still weren`t open. So I cost myself some data usage in the states and mapped out another place, which after driving into an obvious Chinatown spot I realized that it was probably a BBQ pork or something of some sort. Lucky for me though we drove by a sign that said BBQ on the way to Chinatown so I backtracked and came upon R&L Barbeque.
The gorgeous smell of barbeque made me melt once I opened the door. We were greeted by an extremely friendly elderly African-American woman who was excited to hear our story and how it was our first time trying BBQ in the states. We ended up getting a half pound of brisket and a half pound of ribs with a side of slaw.
Although a little dry in some parts, this BBQ was like nothing I have ever had. Oh, and the aroma was even stronger coming off our food !(obviously because it was the direct source..but still!) The fatty parts of the brisket melted in my mouth and I was in meaty heaven. We devoured our food and when we finished she asked us how it was and explained to me how they cooked it in this giant brick oven. I hope to definitely return someday !
Now here`s my favorite part.. when we hit Vancouver. The food here is what made me fall in love. I mean, I am one that usually complains about city life and how much I hate it to small town living but boy, I can`t stop thinking about Vancouver. Our first food stop was La Taqueria, a small sliver in the Gastown district.
With the seductive price of 4 tacos for $9.50 I ended up getting (I`ll just put what they actually were instead of bothering you with the mexican lingo) beef tongue, beef cheeks, chicken in chocolate mole sauce, and sweet and sour pork. I have to say my favorite was the beef cheeks. It was my first time ever having the cheeks of any animal and sweet mother were they delicious. Melt in your mouth delicious.
After frolicking around the Gastown area for a while we got a little thirsty and wanted to check out one of the many gastropubs in the area. We ended up choosing The Irish Heather, which had a gorgeously decorated inside with a friendly bartender to boot. Oh and I did I mention that there was no tv here… yes! No tv! Awesome! I treated myself to a Howe Sound IPA and we shared a Hot Tongue sandwich (beef tongue). I can`t find any of this stuff back home so I figured I better load up on my miscellaneous meat parts while I was here!
The tongue was prepared amazingly, it had a gorgeous marble texture all through out it and tasted like premium roast beef. I mean, if you were really looking for that tongue taste, you would for sure find it.. but at first bite, no way. The fried onions and mozzarella made this into a million dollar roast beef sandwich for me. The bartender laughed when he saw our faces while we were eating, but we were too busy being in food heaven to care.
So after our gut busting afternoon we settled in for a bit until we met up with a friend and got some midnight pizza. Our friend that lived right by Commercial Drive recommended Fire Pizza and funny enough when I had walked by it earlier in the day I had wanted to go inside to take a picture of the pizza because it looked so perfect. The sign outside said $1.67 for an XL slice… that sold me already.. we got four of these XL slices for $7. Why cant we have stuff like that here in Edmonton!!
I decided to get something from both ends of the spectrum, a veggie spicy mushroom and the meatlovers.
I apologize for the blurry picture but I was definitely hasty to dive into these slices. The full mushrooms on the pizza were little flavor bursts in your mouth. Pizzazed it a little bit with some ranch and hot sauce… I could say it is one of the best slices I have ever had.. The crust was just the right size, not too thin not too thick, and it didn’t have that extra big end part so I wasn’t eating a big dry crust at the end. By the end of my first slice I was already filling up so I devoured my second piece so I would have no leftovers. (such a piggie, I know!) And that concluded our Vancouver adventure.. but if that wasnt enough there was one more stop we made on the long 14 hour drive home.
Kamloops seemed like the most decent sort of half way stop on our way home so we opened up the good ol Urbanspoon app and found a newly opened restaurant just off the highway named Fiesta Mexicana Restaurante. Now I totally understand that they are new and probably still working out the kinks but my coffee was a luke warm temperature, which was really my only chief complaint. I ordered a pork chimichanga which was a deep fried tortilla that came with refried beans and pico.
About half way through my meal we ordered some hot sauce. HOW could this hot sauce not be served with every meal!! This was a bold spicy house made hot sauce, I don’t know what authentic Mexican is, but regarding that I have never had anything like that, I’m going to assume that that hot sauce was pretty damn close.
Well there is my trip in a nutshell. Maybe more then a nutshell, but it is a lot less detailed then I could have been ! Hopefully I will get to go on a mini food vaca before the end of the summer!
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5 Point Cafe
415 Cedar St, Seattle, WA
R&L Barbeque
1816 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA
La Taqueria
322 W Hastings, Vancouver, BC
The Irish Heather
212 Carall St, Vancouver, BC
Fire Pizza
1918 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC
Fiesta Mexicana Restaurante
793 Notre Dame, Kamloops, BC
Sticky glutinous fingers 