Hummingbird604.com » Cambie

Biercraft (Cambie Street)

Raul — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:00:57 +0000

While I’m totally happy that there are many businesses flourishing on Cambie Street (apparently, Biercraft being one of them), I’m not that happy when the establishment has really expensive beer. Maybe because (a) I’m not a beer drinker (b) I’m not a beer snob and (c) I am there just primarily for the food. And while the strawberry beer (Fruli) was pretty good, I’m totally flabbergasted at $7.50 for ONE beer. Regardless of whether it’s a specialty beer or not.

The decor at Biercraft is pretty good. Actually I came here once with Susie Gardner to have a beer, but wasn’t impressed with their drinks assortment. This time I had brunch with Cisco Grajales III and we had a pretty enjoyable brunch, although again, I’m not totally impressed with brunch places where they don’t have my usual staples (hot sauce that isn’t Tabasco, etc.) – but that’s totally my own bias.

I ordered a Biercraft brunch (scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast, $9.50). Since they didn’t have hot sauce that wasn’t Tabasco, I had to order a side order of salsa (which, while generous, I was still charged with). And then I got overcharged with one more pop than I ordered (while the server swiftly reimbursed me, I was less than impressed). I can’t fault her as she was incredibly sweet, but the beer being so expensive and the fact that I had to pay for something I usually get free other places (a hot sauce that I like) sort of tarnished my experience. I have had better brunch at The Nice Café for half the price. My scrambled eggs were fluffy and well done, but the potatoes were hard to chew and without much flavour, although I will admit the rye bread was pretty nice.

Overall, I’m glad Biercraft is doing well, I’m glad we have a good place for an extensive selection of specialty beers and decent food, but for what I ordered, I can easily name 5 places on Main Street that are (a) closer to me and (b) less expensive than Biercraft. Visited, checked it out, tried it out, not coming back unless it’s for beers with my friends. And hanging out with Cisco made it all worth it.

Disclosure: I paid for my brunch ($27) on my own dime.

Alexis (Cambie Street)

Raul — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:21:50 +0000

A few weeks ago, Minna, Jay, Nathan and I went to see Robin Hood (Minna won the tickets I gave away for the ITSAZOO Productions performance). We had a great time, and by the time the play was over, we were hungry so we settled on Alexis (formerly Alexis Taverna, and on FourSquare it reads Alexi’s). It’s a Greek food restaurant I had eaten at many times when I was doing my MBA and PhD.

While the service was really weird (the waitress must have had a really bad day, she wasn’t on top of her game), the food can’t be faulted as it’s always filling and flavourful. The owner is a really sweet guy and he remembered me from the many times I had eaten there. I am particularly fond of Alexis’ souvlakia as well as their melitzano.

I’ll have to come back another time as I don’t think it’s fair to assess the service of this particular waitress on a night when she probably was a bit off. But as I said, the food was good and I think Nathan, Minna and Jay liked it too. More importantly, I am glad that the Cambie corridor is getting more traffic, because honestly it was sad to see during the construction stages of the Canada Line.

Sushi Bang (Broadway and Cambie)

Raul — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:00:36 +0000

I’ve been a frequent customer of the inexpensive $5.99 and $6.99 sushi combos that Sushi Bang has. It’s not the most amazing sushi in the world, but it’s good. And more importantly, it’s not very expensive. Sushi Bang is good sustenance sushi, quick and good for a “I don’t have the time to go find another sushi place, this is good sushi, I need to take the Canada Line for my next appointment” kind of lunch.

Milestones Crossroads (Broadway and Cambie)

Raul — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:45:24 +0000

I’m really not sure why the area around Broadway and Cambie is now called “Crossroads” but I think its name is fitting. I was very concerned with what would be of this area during the Canada Line construction. But seeing a number of restaurants opening and business in general blossoming (from what I can see as I walk down Cambie Street now) really makes me hopeful.

One of those new restaurants, and one of my absolute favorites in the Milestones chain of restaurants is Milestones Crossroads (@milestonesxrds on Twitter). I recently wrote about Milestones on Robson, and I have eaten at just about every other Milestones in the city. The interesting thing here is that not only is this particular location a franchise, it’s franchised by local entrepreneurs. I was invited by Andrea Mac Farlane to the opening of Milestones Crossroads and I brought along some of my close friends (Minna Van and Jay Catalan from The Network Hub and Nathan Tippe and Andre Malan, both from UBC).

These folks have fairly substantial audiences on Twitter and also have good blogs, AND appreciate good food (we had a few nibbles from their menu), great drinks (one of them a new, Erin martini, completely lethal!) and a wonderful atmosphere. We all wanted to share our experience at Milestones Crossroads. The opening had a summery, Hawaiian flavor. The Beat 94.5 also joined us on site to offer awesome music and live entertainment. I fired a couple of interview questions to the franchisers of Milestones Crossroads, which I’m reproducing below.

1) Why Milestone’s and why a franchise? You could have chosen any other restaurant to franchise, but you sought Milestones, what made you guys make that decision?

We both have many years of experience with Milestones and felt Milestones is a brand that aligns well with our values.

2) With so much variety of restaurants around the Cambie corridor, it might look like a challenge to open a new restaurant in the neighbourhood. What made you guys decide for this particular location?

We believe the Cambie corridor will be the new hot spot for Vancouver and we love competition. It makes everyone better. Perhaps most importantly, when we had the opportunity to secure such a great view of downtown and the North Shore mountains, one which is so rare in this city, we had to take it!

Overall, it was a great experience to have a taste of what Milestones Crossroads has to offer, and I want to take this opportunity to thank Andrea for the invite, to Erin Maher for connecting me with Andrea and to Milestones Crossroads for welcoming me and my crew along. As you might have seen on Twitter, we had an absolute blast!

Elysian Coffee (Broadway and Ash)

Raul — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:52:59 +0000

I used to live near Broadway and Cambie a few years ago (when I was doing my MBA/MEng). I remember that I felt so incredibly lucky because, even though we didn’t have the Canada Line yet, we had excellent bus access. It would take me 30 minutes using the 99 B-Line to get to UBC. I could get to Commercial in 10-15. And I had excellent restaurants near by. But not amazing coffee shops.

While admittedly, now you have a Starbucks and a Blenz almost kitty-corner from each other, and even a Cafe Artigiano near by, I always have had a soft spot for independent coffee shops. While Elysian Coffee now has another location (something that kind of makes it now a chain, heh. But I love their coffee, and now that they have wifi (yes, they do!) and a cute patio, I think I’ll be there for a coffee often.

I know for a fact that my good friend Linda Solomon (founder of The Vancouver Observer) loves that particular location of Elysian Coffee, so I might decide to drop by and have coffee with her sometime soon. Have any of you, my dear readers, been to this location of the Elysian Coffee?

Restaurant review – The Edge Cafe (Broadway and Cambie)

Raul — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:29:21 +0000

I had the pleasure of meeting with Julie Wright, Gus and Russ for brunch at The Edge Cafe this past weekend. I had previously reviewed The Edge Cafe on Ianiv and Arieanna’s Vancouver Coffee.

My first impression of The Edge Cafe hasn’t changed. It is spacious, comfortable, pretty cool. The food we had was pretty good, actually in regards to my order, it was spectacularly good. I ordered a Yukon breakfast ($ 12.00) which came with a double side of ham (pretty good, filling, the quality and taste were very good too). The coffee is from 49th Parallel which is also a very tasty brand of coffee (and it’s bottomless, so you get frequent refills).

For the price, it’s good value for your money. However, I’d have to say that as far as brunch goes, the Edge Cafe is on the higher-ish end of the scale. I’ve had brunch at Crave and it’s less expensive (and of course, the greasy spoon places are even LESS expensive). But as I mentioned, the food was great and I can’t complain. The place filled up rather quickly after we arrived, but the service was prompt, friendly and the staff were very attentive.

Restaurant review: Sushi Boy (Cambie and Broadway)

Raul — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:02:25 +0000

Technically located at the corner of Broadway and Yukon, this sushi eatery could very well be considered only an eatery and not a full-fledged restaurant. But that’s minutiae. I really loved their sushi. I have to say that most of the eateries I’ve been having sushi at, it’s pretty much the same sushi. I mean, I don’t find any substantial variation. From Kishu Island to Kishu Mountain to Toshi’s to Ninkkyu, I can’t see much variation. However, the Sushi Boy is a local favorite of those who live/work around the Broadway and Cambie area.

Do you have any particular sushi restaurant you enjoy?

Cambie Street is open for business!

Raul — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:10:23 +0000

Everyone who knows me at least a little bit knows that I’m all about supporting local businesses, and sticking up for struggling small firms. Since my PhD dissertation examined firm closure, it would be just obvious that this is a topic near and dear to my heart. But there are other reasons why I am always all about the small businesses on Cambie. One of them is that the construction of the Canada Line, negatively affected numerous establishments along Cambie Street, forcing them to close.

John Bollwitt had previously written about the woes of the Cambie Street struggling establishments, particularly as they related to the construction of the Canada Line. Just because I am the way I am, I decided to launch my little personal campaign to support businesses on Cambie. At the time, my blog didn’t have the readership to really have any impact. Today, I think that my blog readers could really help alleviate the struggles of the Cambie Street merchants by going there more often for dinner, for a coffee, to the theatre or simply, a bite to eat.

However, despite the then small readership of my blog, my own personal actions did provide some businesses on Cambie with at least some support. Trixi’s, the crepe place on 17th and Cambie, has become “our place” for AF and myself. We hang out here with regularity, since it’s pretty much located right equidistant from each one of our places. The crepes here are extraordinary and they make mine without cheese, which I appreciate a lot.

Recently, AF took me and her mom to Trixi’s for lunch and we then did a quick walk around the Cambie Village (which technically still is somewhat part of Mount Pleasant). It was great to just spend time with AF and her Mom, particularly because my own mother is unable to come to Vancouver this summer, and I always have connected very well with the parents of my friends. And since AF and I treat each other as though we were brother and sister, I guess we all become one big extended family!

I asked Ernest (owner of Trixi’s) to give me a little video interview (thank you Flip camera!) on whether the businesses have coped and it was encouraging to hear that yes, business seems to be picking up on Cambie. Since I am not self-hosted yet, I can’t embed the Flickr video, but you can watch the mini-interview here.

I noticed the existence of “Mount Pleasant Cheese” right on the same block around Cambie and 19th, and we decided to engage in a little adventure and enter this store. MPC specializes in Canadian cheeses, and they have (oh sweet surprise!) wine jellies. Suffice it to say that you can now know what my next munchies contribution will be to any potluck – crackers and wine jelly.

We then went for a walk through 18th between Cambie and Main, and had a chance to see (again) my dream house on 18th and Columbia. *sigh* If only I had had enough money to buy this house, I would have retired and had my own little Mexican restaurant, coffee shop, dance studio or even my own consulting office. But alas, I didn’t have the cash to dish out for this house. But I can still walk around there and sigh any time I see it. It’s been recently renovated and the studio space is for rent.

All in all, good times. The walk and lunch and then lemonade at Liberty Bakery were definite highlights of my day, as it was having tea today with Phaedra (who kindly made bath salts for me, as I told her that I had recently discovered the marvels of baths!). While there are many virtues I appreciate of Phaedra, one of the ones that really touches me is her ability to speak honestly and directly with me. We were very, very tired and we admitted it to ourselves. We still had a great time, but we were also able to recognize that when our energy levels were low, it was time to go home.

And now, back to the grind…

There is a world beyond Cambie, you know?

Raul — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Having met so many new great folks in Vancouver has also meant that I’ve had to share pretty much my personal history time and again. Every time I say “I live around Main Street, in the Mount Pleasant area”, EVERYBODY tells me something like “oh that is such a great neighbourhood, it’s so lively, it’s a very happening part of town, Main is so great“. True, Main is a great area, I will not deny it.

Photo credit: CanadaPenguin on Flickr.

Many people seem to think that Main is also a hotbed for hipsters and artsy folks. I won’t deny that either. With trendy, awesome galleries like Jem Gallery, Blim and Little Mountain Studios, it’s kind of hard not to see Main as a happening, artsy, trendy, chic area.

That’s the reason why I was so incredibly taken aback when I heard numerous people tell me that “they never go as far east as Cambie“. EXCUSE ME? There IS a world beyond Cambie, you know? I will confess that when I lived in Point Grey, Fairview Slopes and South Granville, I rarely ventured beyond Cambie. But denying that there is much more to explore beyond Cambie is kind of ridiculous.

*SIGH* Don’t get me wrong. I love Cambie, and I’ve had great times around there. But I have fully embraced my condition of East Van boy (well, technically not that much of a boy as much as a young man), and I’m fully happy with it. Funny how it goes, a lot of people tell me “you’re not really East Van. You’re *barely* East Van, you’re pretty much West Side”. Hmmm. No, I don’t think so. And I’m proud of living in East Vancouver, having a little cute apartment around Main and being a Mount Pleasant/Riley Park resident. So there.

Upcoming event – Christmas on Cambie

Raul — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:54:00 +0000

For some reason, I always seem to be behind every other bloggers on the news front, so I am a bit afraid to bring something up to people’s attention just because I think it has been covered in more depth and better by other bloggers (see just for a few examples, Rebecca on the Vancouver mascots, Paul on the non-usability of iMove and John on the challenges faced by Cambie merchants).

However, I think this time I may have some very fresh news for you loyal Vancouver and non-Vancouver readers. From the owners of Trixi’s, one of the most fabulous crepe places this side of Paris, I got the following email:

Dear Trixi’s Customers,

It’s been a while that you have heard from us. We have some great news. As of Sunday, December the 2nd, the trench will be paved over and cross streets from 16th to 19th will be open again. In order to celebrate the progress of the Canadaline construction in the Village the Cambie Village Business Association together with Canadaline are inviting friends and neighbours to “Christmas on Cambie” on Sunday, December 9th from 12 pm to 5 pm.

For more info see http://www.cambievillage.com/.

We are very excited about this and hope you will come out to visit sometime soon.

We look forward to seeing many of our customers again and serving you one (or two) of our delicious crepes.

Ernst and Beatrix

I love going to Trixi’s and have been a loyal customer for almost two years now. And I am also a strong supporter of businesses on Cambie, both promoting events and being a customer of Cambie businesses (even if it means having to navigate and negotiate street intersections, etc.) So I would strongly encourage you all to go on December 9th. Furthermore, since I will not be in Canada by then, would readers please go back to this post and leave a comment with your experience at the event? Thank you.

[Note] The link for Trixi’s is actually a Canada Line link, but they are promoting Trixi’s, for which I didn’t find a website. But you can look at the Cambie Village Business Association website for more info.

Restaurant review – Sha Lin Noodle House

Raul — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:17:00 +0000

I went to Sha Lin Noodle House a couple of weeks back with A, because she was feeling not very well yet hungry, so we headed to Broadway and Cambie for lunch. Now, if it was up to me, I probably would have just made her chicken soup, but she likes this place.

Another strange quirk of mine: I dislike Chinese food, in general. I can do a couple of dishes here and there, but for the most part, I don’t like it at all. Bad memories from living in residence. That being said, the gyozas and noodle soups here (they call them pulled noodle soup) are just unbelievable, and not expensive. I can see how A really likes this place, and she is not the only one. I found a review of Sha Lin Noodle House on Beyond Robson as well!

Restaurant review – Favorito Pasta Trattoria

Raul — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:30:00 +0000

I am known for my love of Italian food, and I jump at every opportunity that I get to either make it or go out for dinner and have it. With my Mom’s recent visit to Vancouver, B and C offered to take us out for dinner and we settled on Favorito Pasta Trattoria (552 Broadway, pretty much between Ash and Cambie). Favorito has pretty much every Italian dish you want, although I again settled for something a bit fusion – penne with curry. I know, oh the heresy!

With all the construction around the Canada Line, I have made a point of eating around Cambie more often (support local business is one of my mottos). So, I was pleased to go to Favorito (even if it isn’t technically located ON Cambie, it’s close enough). The food was excellent, and the service was impeccable. Of course, the best part was the company. C and B are married and they have always made me feel part of their family, and I am very grateful for having friends like them.

I would recommend Favorito, although I found that the music was a bit too loud for me. But I am sure they’d compromise if you asked them to turn the volume down, as the service was excellent and attentive. And the best part of it all? The food is not expensive. So, good food, great service and your wallet won’t have a hole… what else can you ask for?

PS – In addition to another friendly reminder to sponsor me and encourage you to donate for A Loving Spoonful (again, the money goes directly to the charity – Blogathon only keeps track of who has raised how much money) I would also like to encourage you to comment. Many people are awake already (I noticed comments on Miss604’s blog and other Blogathon-related blogs, so I decided to open up my comments and leave them non-moderated). Throw ideas, comment on the content, encourage us.

PPS – I hate that most corner stores will open until 9 or 10 am. Didn’t anybody tell them that I need breakfast food? I’m getting hungry! So now I’ll be forced to go to one of the 24 hours stores that charges a premium for the mere fact that they are open 24 hours (well, that’s the convenience right?).

Restaurant review – The Mongolie Grill (Broadway and Cambie)

Raul — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:42:00 +0000

One of my close friends (T) is leaving for Ottawa, so a bunch of us agreed to go out and have dinner with her before she left, and we settled for The Mongolie Grill. I can’t recall the last time I ate there, but it seems like a popular location and I hadn’t had Mongolian food in a long while so I thought “why the heck not”. Furthermore, it was T’s farewell so I am not one to complain about location choice when my friends are leaving town.

Anyway, the deal in this restaurant is that you choose your meats, veggies, noodles and sauces and then they weigh your place and stir-fry it. Quite simple. Surprisingly for me, all my friends (all of them female) knew the weight of their food, approximately. So did I, but I think it’s because I cook too. I think that helps

So we had the patio, our server was attentive (I wasn’t shocked at the high level of service, but she was nice enough) although splitting the bill was a bit of a hard time. Nevertheless, if you think about the fact that it came to about 12-15 dollars per person, and they serve complimentary rice, it wasn’t that bad. We weren’t served the soup, though (now that I think about it – I did not even remember!) but I am sure we could have if we had remembered to ask.

The food is nice and the cook is a really nice guy, but I am not entirely sure people are satisfied with the level of service of this particular location (Broadway and Cambie). I read some pretty nasty reviews that are here and here.

I can’t complain much because I got what I wanted: tasty food and the company of awesome friends, in a well ventilated space (we got the patio). But I suppose that there are good and bad elements to this restaurant. In my view, it’s worth coming with lots of friends… there are discussions around “what are you having for dinner” all the time

Eating out and the construction of Canada Line on Cambie

Raul — Thu, 03 May 2007 07:15:00 +0000

If you’ve known me well enough, you’ll know that I am all for promoting local business. I had a long conversation with S, B and H while my brother was in town (I won’t give out details of the chat, but it was a really fun drive with them on the way uphill to Point Grey). But the thing is, since I am a Vancouverite now, I want local businesses to succeed.

Thus, every time I have a chance, I try to guide people to my blog where I’ve reviewed several places located along the Canada Line construction. It really makes me sad to read that many businesses have closed down. I won’t enter the political debate because that’s outside the realm of my blog (and although I have an opinion, I think it’s best if I keep myself out of this discussion). But at any rate, I am keen to promote businesses along Cambie because I know that lack of customers is perhaps one of the factors that has been driving businesses to shut down operations.

So, I’ll make a quick overview of the places I’ve been to (or suggest a few places that you can go to) that are directly on Cambie St.

Tomato (near 17th and Cambie)
Trixi’s Crepes (the best crepes in town, near 17th and Cambie)
Thai Away Home (great Thai food, near 17th and Cambie)
FigMint (I wasn’t pleased with their food but I’ve read other reviews and they seem to like it, so why not – check it out for yourselves, near 12th and Cambie)

If you have any other recommendations, I’d really welcome them. I have heard from the owners of several establishments along Cambie that they really need their business to pick up, so I’m doing my part to help.

Restaurant review: Trixi’s Crepes (Cambie)

Raul — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:50:00 +0000

I have been neglecting to write Trixi’s restaurant review because I’ve been swamped with work commitments. But I can’t delay it anymore. Last Sunday, I went there with two of my best friends and we had crepes for dinner. Yessir, crepes. I admit it, I was shocked myself. I am usually a fan of Trixi’s for 3 pm crepe and tea on a sunny day (as I have done numerous times with one of my closest friends) but they wanted a savoury treat and I wasn’t about to say “oh I am sorry I’m a sweet crepe kind of guy”.

So, there I went with a herb-chicken and mushroom crepe (without cheese but with tomatoes). It was, as usual, fantastic! But I was more shocked about the fact that I had enjoyed a savoury crepe rather than a sweet one. Of course, I shared a sweet crepe for dessert. Prices are fantastic (with 6 bucks you can have crepe and ice-cream and for 10 bucks you got yourself dinner). The owners are sweet and adorable and they’ll come to your table to tell stories. So, kudos to Trixi’s. It is located right across from Tomato on Cambie and almost 17th Avenue. My favourite crepe restaurant (and yes I know Cafe Crepe, and I like their crepes too, but Trixi’s has a homey flavour to it).