I tend to go the more traditional route with their properly poached eggs, turkey sausage, toast, and homemade jam. Or, a yummy BLT with a generous serving of bacon on crispy ciabatta bread.

Seb’s provides good quality food & portions at a reasonable price. It is certainly one of the better brunch joints in Vancouver. As a popular neighborhood restaurant, expect to wait in line on the weekend during prime brunch hours. Go early or expect to grab a cup of coffee from the staff and peruse the kitchen gadgets for sale in the entry way while in line.

Seb’s Market Cafe
592 East Broadway( @Carolina)
Vancouver
(604) 298-4403

The menu is simple but interesting. One soup prepared daily, five salads (all vegetarian), five sandwiches, a daily quiche, a cheese plate, and a charcuterie plate.

I enjoyed Mike’s Reuben sandwich with a beets & cheese salad. The sandwich was rich from the excellent corned beef*, a smattering of sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and melted swiss cheese on rye. On the side, my marinated beets with frisee and goats cheese was a light, fresh accompaniment.

My dining partner went for the meat ball sub, featuring the now famous meatballs from sister restaurant Judas Goat. The meatballs were rolled in a tomato sauce, tucked into a soft bun, and topped with shavings of ricotta salata cheese. Delicious & moist with a salty bite. On the side was the Mediterranean macaroni salad, tossed in a tomato dressing with arugula, olives, and feta.

Dishes I have my eye on for the next visit: Good ‘ol potato salad, a TLT (T=smoked trout), and the grilled cheese with smoked jarlsberg, brie, and caramelized onions.

Sandwiches range from $8-9 dollars, and you can add a salad or soup for $3 more. Great value for what you’re getting. The restaurant is also open for breakfast, serving coffee & baked goodies.

Weekday lunches are looking up!

Everything Cafe
75 East Pender Street, b/w Carrall & Columbia
Vancouver
604-681-3115

* The supplier of corned beef is Mike Vito, of J. Beethoven’s corned beef fame. If you ever see them at Granville Island, do yourself a favour and buy some for dinner at home one night. INCREDIBLE!

Tucked into a teeny space on Granville Street between Pender & Hastings, walk into a heavenly smelling shop filled with baked breakfast goods, plenty of treats, and gourmet sandwiches for lunch.

Examples:

- The memorable vanilla bean cinnamon bun. Moist, gooey and rich with a vanilla bean icing, it’s the perfect size treat. Not so big that it’s “too much” and not so small that it’s not enough.
- A rice crispy square filled with cranberries and chocolate – I love good rice crispy squares!
- Scones and loafs, all freshly made from scratch each day
- Light and fluffy Belgium waffles. They were making them last time I was in the shop. It took some serious willpower not to buy about 10 of them.
- For lunch, a pan seared salmon sandwich with rich garlic aioli and arugula. Light, but satisfying

Chef/owner Lydia Lai and her staff are usually on hand to serve up your food and give you tips on maximum food enjoyment (ie. put the cinnamon bun in the microwave for 20 secs for maximum gooey-ness). They’re all very lovely – the type of business and people you want to support.

Also available for catering, I hope to keep coming back to Crème de la Crumb for a long time.

Crème de la Crumb Bakeshop & Catering
Twitter – cremedelacrumb
466 Granville Street, (b/w Pender & Hastings)
(604) 683-5595

Part modern diner, part coffee stop, Acme Cafe is in the slightly dodgy part of Gastown, east of the Woodwards building. It’s well worth the extra steps, especially as a breakfast or lunch spot. Details:

• Open the door to the cafe and you’re greeted with a clean, gleaming, beautiful room. The colour scheme is black, white, and chrome, giving off a fresh ambience to the restaurant. I think it has a modern diner look, but my husband is adamant it looks nothing like a diner – see what you think.
• There’s 2 areas when you walk in – one for take-out orders and one for dining in.
• The breakfast menu looks lovely (will try soon), but lunch and dinner include a nice selection of sandwiches and comfort food classics like Macaroni and Cheese or Meatloaf. I enjoyed a hearty Chicken Club sandwich, loaded with fresh veggies, cheese, and bacon with a hefty side portion of potato chips and a scoop of the most excellent broccoli almond slaw. The broccoli gives a different texture to a standard coleslaw, and the dressing is mayo-based with a hint of sweetness. So. Good.
• Acme Cafe offers online ordering too, so you can put in your order, walk over, and your food will be waiting for you
• If possible, leave room for sweets – there’s milkshakes and floats (good marks from my ice-cream addicted husband), and fresh baked goods, like soft & chewy 3-bite cookies or the most incredible looking pies, which I’m trying next.

There’s lots of reasons to make return trips to Acme Cafe.

Acme Cafe
51 West Hastings St (east of Abbott)
604.569.1022

Some highlights:

• The menu includes breakfast from 6am-11am, a lunch menu of pizza, soup, salad, and panini, and a extensive list of sweets, breads, and cakes.
• Menu prices are quite reasonable – the restaurant wants to be a go-to spot for more than just hotel guests. Pizzas are $9, a soup & sandwich combo is $12, and paninis are served with a crisp salad for $8-11.
• Locals can pick-up a fresh artisan loaves of brioche, sourdough, and wheat breads for $6 to take home.
• There’s a beautiful case of whole cakes, pies, and tarts (available by the slice too), including an Apple Galette, Tiramisu, Devil’s Food Cake, and Strawberry Shortcake.

I grabbed a window stool looking over Cordova St, enjoying a nice breeze through the open windows, reading a paper, and munching on my Genovese panini – a slice of roasted turkey breast, pesto, taleggio cheese, on a fruit and nut bread.

I’d say portions are on the small-medium size – not huge, but enough. When I toured the hotel last year, they showed off their huge and beautiful hotel kitchen. All bread and charcuterie and made fresh in-house, and top quality.

Giovane is a great spot for a nice, light lunch. Look for for the big, yellow lower case “g” sign, pointing you to the restaurant off of Cordova St.

Giovane Cafe, Bakery, & Deli
Fairmont Pacific Rim
1038 Canada Place (outside entrance on Cordova just west of Burrard)
604-694-5501
Open daily 6am-8pm

It was a beautiful day and I had a friend visiting from Ottawa, so we decided to drive into Deep Cove for a change of scenery. Deep Cove is a sleepy community surrounded with beautiful water and mountain views. We rolled into the village and took a lazy walk by the water and surrounding neighbourhood, eventually heading to Gallant Street, the main strip of Deep Cove where we found some amazing shops and sweets:

Room 6 - I have to say, it’s rare these days that I come across a store packed with so many amazing things! Room 6′s tagline is “special things for nice people” and do they deliver. I think we spent over 30 minutes in the small shop, which is full of housewares, toys, jewelry, clothes, accessories, and more. Here’s my list of lovely things spotted:

• Stationary from Main Street’s Regional Assembly of Text and beautiful wood cut cards from Night Owl Paper Goods
• The most beautiful wood mirrors and hand mirrors from local artist Alex Henderson of Henderson Dry Goods
• An addictive-smelling maple syrup candle in a maple syrup tin
• Identity brand t-shirts, which are excellent printed tees of Canadian symbols. For example this awesome zamboni tee. I bought my husband a Canadian Geese Identity tee years ago and haven’t seen the brand since, so I was very excited to see the tees here.
• Gorgeous wood jewelry from local artist Billy Would Designs
• Cute & crafty soft animals made by hand from Tiny Warbler Designs
• For the kids: the awesome “sockodile” kit and the crazy Monster Factory toys
• Decadent chocolates from local chocolate shop CocoaNymph

Yes, I know this is a long list. It could have been longer. If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping, this would be a good one-stop place. It’s a great mix of unique and local items that are thoughtfully chosen. I’ll be back!

La La’s Home Decor: A couple doors down from Room 6 is La La’s, another store carrying nice gifts, housewares, and accessories. I was particularly drawn to their selection of headpieces. I slipped a few fun ones on and was tempted to buy one for my next afternoon tea event.

Honey’s Doughnuts and Goodies: My dad raves about this place and it’s quite famous for having some of the best doughnuts in Vancouver. They make a cake style doughnut, and they came in honey, maple, and chocolate the morning I visited. We split a maple and a honey doughnut and they were…okay. I found them quite dense, more cake-like than a doughnut, and a tad too heavy. The honey dip at Lee’s on Granville Island is still the best in town.

Our Deep Cove morning complete, we headed back to Vancouver and to Main Street’s Regional Assembly of Text shop after being inspired by their wares at Room 6. But that’s another post.

My visits to Thomas Haas are usually on a Saturday and go something like this:

• Walk in and see huge line up
• Gently push my way through to the display window to find next to nothing left
• Decide if I want to wait in line
• Wait in line and order the amazing hot chocolate
• Stare at the chocolate boxes for sale and consider buying more
• Leave thinking “what a madhouse!”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always worth it, but I can’t say it’s the most relaxed experience ever.

But today was a great weekday morning. I have a friend visiting from out of town who loves croissants and I took the day off work to take care of some errands. So we woke up early and arrived at Thomas Haas for breakfast. It was busy, but not crazy busy like it is on the weekend. It’s amazing how satisfying a coffee and pain au chocolat can be for breakfast. France is SO going to be my next European trip.

Lately, I’ve been braving the Thomas Haas line-ups to pick up a small box of chocolates as a holiday party hostess gift. They come beautifully wrapped and how can you go wrong with chocolates like pistachio marzipan, salted caramel pecan, earl grey tea, merlot, or balsamic honey? Other great hostess gifts: a package of the excellent hot chocolate mix (read the ingredients – you will find no disgusting chemicals here), chocolate bars, and the famous sparkle cookies.

And, if it’s your responsibility to bring dessert and you’re not in a baking mood, any of the Haas desserts will make you a star.

The cafe is open for breakfast and switches to a daily sandwich selection at 11 am every morning. A great excuse to stop for a light lunch and dessert treat.

The only drawback? They’re closed Sunday and Monday…so wait in line and get your fix.

Thomas Haas Patisserie-Chocolate and Café
2539 W. Broadway, Vancouver (b/w Larch and Trafalgar)
604-736-1848
Open Tuesday-Saturday

Also in North Vancouver:
Unit 128, 998 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver
604-924-1847

The food here is awesome. Fresh, local, organic, and well executed. While all types come to Little Nest, it’s a restaurant/cafe designed for kids and families as well. Scrambled eggs and the muffins at Little Nest are a must. Expect lots of happy kids running about, toys scattered around, and a good buzz of conversations in the room.

My full review and food overview is on Granville Online magazine – HERE.

I was downtown early this morning so decided to stop by the Kolachy Co for breakfast and coffee to go.

I probably shouldn’t say this, but the easiest way to describe a Kolachy is to picture a gourmet style pizza pop. A fresh bread exterior stuffed with a variety of breakfast or lunch flavours.

This morning I had the Western, a kolachy filled with egg, bacon, peppers, and cheese. I’m also a big fan of the corned beef hash and veggie scramble varieties. For lunch, think spinach & feta, mushroom pesto, or bbq beef. Read the menu.

Why this concept works for me as the perfect on the run meal:

• Each kolachy is warm, but not hot. So you can eat it right away.
• No greasy exterior or super saucy filling. I hate it when food to go is so messy there is no way you are eating it without getting something on your shirt. This is yummy, clean eating with pretty much no clean-up.

I’ll definitely order some of these for my development team at work when we’re doing OT through lunch. It’s a great alternative to sandwiches for lunch meetings. Have it for breakfast, lunch, or a quick snack.

Prices are reasonable. My Western kolachy plus a small coffee was under $5 this morning.

Note – the main location is on Beatty Street. The Bentall Centre location was also sold this year (and turned into a bubble tea shop).

Kolachy Co. Stuffed Full of Goodness
888 Beatty Street (near Nelson)
604-488-0200

Most restaurants are not worth that wait. Some are. Here’s what I think:

WORTH THE LINE UP

Vij’s Restaurant, 1480 W. 11th @ Granville), South Granville ‘hood – I have friends who have never been to Vij’s because they hate the fact they can’t make a reservation and they hate the idea of waiting.

Well, it can suck but at least everyone waits equally. I have mentioned my love for Rangoli before (Vij’s cheaper casual/take-out sister restaurant) and I do go to Rangoli more because it’s an “everyday” place with less waiting. But when I want a night out, Vij’s is perfect. Last time I was at Vij’s, we took a seat outside in the sun, ordered a bottle of wine, and my friends and I chatted while the Vij’s staff passed around lots of yummy appetizers like pakoras or the addictive cassava fries. Our wait was long, like 2 hours (it was Friday night), but it was lovely. And the excellent dinner we ate made me forget about the wait.

That said, if you really want to limit your wait, go on a weekday evening, late. I arrived at 9:30 on a weekday once and waited 15 minutes.

Anton’s Pasta Bar, 4260 Hastings St in Burnaby -Anton’s is totally NOT my place. I find the pasta overcooked, seasoning bland, and it’s pretty much a “whatever” to me. BUT, Anton’s isn’t for me. Anton’s is for people that want big portions and a carb overload, and they deliver. I was expecting big the first them I went, but the portion was double/triple my expectation. It’s big. So if you want big, wait in line with the others. I’ll be at La Buca, Campagnolo, or La Quercia. To each their own!

SOMETIMES WORTH THE LINE UP

The Naam, 2724 W. 4th (@ Stephens), Kitsilano ‘hood -  A 24 hour vegetarian restaurant with a huge menu including burgers, soups, noodle dishes, and salads. The Naam’s miso gravy is so famous they’ve bottled it and is available in many local grocery stores. I can’t say it is worth the line-up most times, but when it’s late at night and your options are fast food, Denny’s, and the Naam…I’m going to the Naam no matter how long the line up is.

NOT WORTH THE LINE UP

Toshi Sushi, 181 E. 16th (@ Main), Mount Pleasant /Main St. ‘hood – I’ve been to Toshi several times and it’s good. Good menu and fresh sushi for a very good price.  But 1 hour lineups? Come on! There are so many good sushi places at a similar price range that I have much better things to do with an hour wait. I have friends that live a block away from Toshi and they don’t go because it’s not worth the line-up. They cannot even order take-out some evenings because the restaurant is too busy (they order from Zipang up the street at Main & 23rd, fyi).  Bottom line: Good sushi, good prices, long wait. Not worth it if you have a long wait.

Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe, 2095 W. 4th Ave (@ Arbutus), Kitsilano ‘hood – Sophie’s is a diner style restaurant, with lots of crazy decor and memorabilia on the wall everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I would not want to dust that place. Food is pretty good. They do lots of diner classics, have a big breakfast menu, and do have very good milkshakes. I can’t pick out a standout item though. Yet there is something about this place that draws the crowds and Sophie’s is famous for its weekend brunch line-ups out the door. I never wait. If you do want to check out Sophie’s, weekdays are line-up free, as are evenings.

Stepho’s Greek Taverna, 1124 Davie St (@ Thurlow), West End ‘hood – I lived in the West End for a few years and I will never, never, never, NEVER understand why people flock to Stepho’s. Let’s think about this. Most people order souvlaki when they go for Greek, right? Ok. At all restaurants you get 2 skewers of meat when you order souvlaki, right? Ok. Stepho’s is known for their big portions for small prices. You STILL only get 2 skewers of meat. So you get a little extra rice and potatos? Big freak’in deal. AT $10.95 a meal, it’s not that much cheaper. Still, I can walk by Stepho’s any day of the week as early at 4:30pm to find a line up of people waiting. I will never get it.