Biercraft

Ah yes, another week has passed, and thus another breakfast/brunch is upon us! This week, I chose a place that I've gone to a number of times, even for brunch, but have never written about. Biercraft, formerly known as Stella's before a bakery in Winnipeg threatened to sue them for using the name, is a Belgian taphouse that can be found on both Commercial Drive and Cambie Street. I went with the Commercial Drive location (1191 Commercial Drive), since it's closer to home and work, which I had to get to after this meal. You can welcome back Maria "Baby Snakes", once again. I'd say that you can expect to see her most every week now!

As I've said, I've come to Biercraft a number of times, but it's mostly been for beer-outings and the like. More recently, they've begun doing Saturday/Sunday brunches from 10 til 3. I've always enjoyed the service, food and beverages, so there's no reason to not write a blog on it, eh? Let's just take a look and see how right I am...

Maria and I showed up literally at opening time, so seating was wide-open for us to choose. We went with a spot by the window, since the further-back parts of Biercraft tend to be fairly dark. After we sat down, we were brought a couple of waters and a pair of menus. Each of us ordered a coffee ($2.75 w/ free refills) and took a look at our menus. The couple of times that I've done brunch here, I've gone with the French Toast, since it's just a delight for me. That being said, I decided to go with something different this time around, just to shake things up. Meanwhile, Maria wasn't feeling like actual breakfast food, so she went with an item from the sandwich menu. We didn't have to wait long after putting our orders in for our food to arrive...
I went with a caramelized onion/goat cheese frittata, which came with a mixed salad and hash browns.
And Maria decided upon a BLT croissant, which also came with a salad.

With our food now in front of us, we took to eating. My first bite, as always, was of the hash browns. They're kind of a gauge for me, since if they can't cut it without me adding seasoning, then it's a signal that the rest of the food will probably be bland. Sadly, my tongue was met by the bland taste of previously-frozen, plain ol' potato. As I took a bite of my salad, I was also disappointed by the taste of salad greens and possibly a hint of garlic. Apparently, they dressed the salads with a -very- light garlic and oil dressing. Either way, it lacked zing in almost every regard. The one saving grace of the meal was the frittata, which tasted fairly nice. The combination of caramelized onions and feta is one of those lovely sweet/savoury flavour combos that I enjoy. At the same time, was it worth $12? Nah. On the other side of the table, Baby Snakes agreed on the blandness of the salad, and hers was bigger than mine! Her sandwich was quite tasty, though, so that's a plus. But, once again, worth the $12? Hardly.

So, in conclusion, I hate to say it, but I can only bring myself to give Biercraft a mere 2 Bacons overall. Don't get me wrong, the staff/service is amazing and the atmosphere is lovely. But, when it comes to food, I'd stick with their tapas menu in the afternoon/evening and their beer selection. For the price that's being charged, I expect a lot more out of the food that I'm being served, as opposed to a lackluster dish. If I were to come back for brunch, I'd probably stick with the ol' French Toast and a mimosa, since the coffee isn't really all that good either, especially for $2.75.

Stay sharp, kids
Jesse