Perch

Greetings and salutations to you all!  It's summer in Vancouver, which means that I have a lot of time off of work.  This, of course, means that I have more time to pick and choose with places that I go for breakfast!  Today, Kimmy and I hit up a joint in the DTES, just off of Gore Street, along East Hastings.  Some of you probably know it, but I'm going to tell you about Perch (337 East Hastings Street).

I'm not exactly sure how long Perch has been operating, but it seems fairly new to me.  It's hip, it's funky, and most of its' menu is gluten-free.  It's not necessarily a breakfast joint, as it opens at 11:30am and only has two breakfast items on the menu.  It's more known for the gluten-free pizza and burgers, from what I've been told.  Anywho, it was a Wednesday and it was "early", so Kimmy and I were able to seat ourselves.  We were immediately brought a couple of menus, which were shortly followed by coffees ($2.25ea) and waters.  As I said, there were only two breakfast options on the menu, so both of us went with the bacon (tofu for Kimmy) & eggs ($7 each).  I was tempted to get a burger, but I had just gotten back from Alberta where I had pretty much nothing but burgers, so yeah, breakfast!  During our short wait, I noticed how reasonable the drink prices were, as they were posted on the menu board across the restaurant.  $4.75 for domestic bottles, which included Blue Buck and Seed Spitter, and only $5.25 for imports, including Mirror Pond and Newcastle.  Not bad in this city, that's for sure.

Within 10 minutes, our food arrived....

As you can see, they weren't messing around with portion sizes!  I had the multigrain toast, while Kimmy had marble rye.  I started with the bacon, which was done just the way I like it, soft and not crispy.  The potatoes were also quite good, not too seasoned but not bland either.  The salad tasted pretty good, though I did get a couple of blackened leaves.  The toast was, well, toast.  The eggs were the part that threw me off a bit, though.  They were kind of over-done and rubbery, which is about the opposite that anyone wants their eggs done.  I also had a bit of Kimmy's tofu, which they had seasoned with what tasted like Montreal Steak Spice.  Not going to lie, it was actually a winning combination!  With all of that said, price-wise and food-wise, I'd have to give Perch 4 Bacons overall.  The service ruled, the coffee was good, the prices were decent and the food was mostly good.  I definitely want to give their burgers and pizza a try, though!

Stay sharp, kids
Jesse

El Camino's

Greetings and salutations to you all!  It's been another long span since my last update, hasn't it?  It seems like I'm more interested in eating rather than writing or something.  To be honest, I've just been going to a number of places that I've already reviewed, so updates have been sparse.  Lucky for us, yesterday included going for breakfast at a place that I've never been!  I'd like to introduce you to El Camino's, a Latin American-flavoured joint located just off of 16th Avenue, on Main Street. (3250 Main Street)

I remember Cam telling me about El Camino's back a few months ago, but promptly forgot about it.  It's a fairly new place, from my understanding, so it makes sense that I haven't committed it to memory before.  Much like many of the new cafes/restaurants that have been opening in Vancouver, it's fairly small and straight-forward.  A bar with a few seats greets you at the door, while the opposite wall is lined with tables for 2-4 people each.  A group of a few booths are also located in the back of the place.  Cam and I arrived before our friends Devon and Sam, and the place was already packed, so we chose to sit at the bar.  Unlike many people, we don't find it totally necessary to sit at a table when eating.  Plus, you ever notice how long people will wait in line to sit down, even when there's spots open at the bar?  I guess they're just not in a hurry or something, which I can relate to.  So yeah, we sat at the bar, ordered a couple of coffees and began looking over the menu.  El Camino's touts itself as a provider of "Latin American Street Food", and the menu doesn't disappoint.  Beans, salsa(s) and spicy ingredients pepper the menu (did you like that pun?  Yes you did!) items, making it tough for someone to pick just one thing.  I finally decided upon a Spicy Shrimp Scramble, while Cam went with The Hangover (to match how he was feeling that day).  I also ordered a classic mimosa, simply because I wasn't hungover and felt like it would be a good thing to have on this rainy Sunday morning.

The servers (only two working at the time) were slammed almost immediately after we arrived, so the service was a bit slow.  At the same time, as I said to one of them when she apologized for the wait, "If people were in a hurry, they wouldn't come into a place like this.  They'd hit McDonald's."  That's kind of my take on most restaurants/cafes/etc, though.  The people that come walking into a place, order food and immediately follow it with a mention of what a hurry their in, or something to that effect.  If you're so strapped for time, what are you doing sitting down at a restaurant?  Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent, so back to breakfast!

It wasn't a relatively long time to wait for our food, and when it did arrive, we were ready for it...

Spicy Shrimp Scramble

The Hangover

Holy crap, the potatoes were awesome!  As we all know, I like to eat them first, and generally judge a place on its potatoes, and El Camino's did not disappoint!  The toast was also quite tasty, I must say.  Most of all, the scramble was just the right amount of spicy.  Not so much that it masks the flavour (or lack thereof), but enough to make you want to have a drink.  Speaking of drinks, my mimosa had a bit of orange juice in it, to colour the champagne of course.  If you like a stiff drink at brunch, this is the place to be.  Meanwhile, Cam made short work of his Hangover and enjoyed every bit of it.  I tried some of the tortilla chips and they were also lovely.  With the bill coming in at about $24, taxes in, it was a bit pricey but totally worth it.  Plus, I could have easily saved $7.50 by not having the mimosa, so yeah, can't really complain about the price, especially considering not only food and coffee quality, but also the quality of the service.  The servers did their best to keep an eye on everyone and keep a smile on their faces even with how packed the place was this morning.  Kudos!  For that, El Camino's scores 4 Bacons from the Team!

Stay sharp, kids
Jesse

Greenroom Diner

To cap off our trip to Tofino, Eliza and I picked a little diner that had recently opened up.  We had seen the menu and an ad for it at the camp site that we stayed at for the last two days, so we figured that it could be a fun time!  Let me introduce you to the Greenroom Diner.  Located on the right-hand side of the road as you're entering town, tucked away a bit along the water (approximately 634 Campbell Street), it doesn't just jump out of you.  But, maybe that was part of the draw for us.

The view was quite nice, and the interior was plain and clean.  One of the two very pleasant servers seated us at a booth and gave us menus, while getting us each a coffee ($2.25 w/ refills).  Apparently it was the first day of their new menu, so score for us!  It was a collection of the usual breakfast suspects, along with a couple of specialties.

After mulling over our options, we came to our decisions.  Eliza decided upon a "Benny Gone Green", since she's one for the ol' veggie options.  Meanwhile, I had a serious desire for some pancakes, probably due to low blood-sugar or something.  The server asked whether I wanted my bacon crispy, to which I replied, "No please, I like mine a bit soft."  She laughed because she had just had a conversation with the cook about how everyone orders their bacon crispy.  I'm just going against the grain, apparently.  Anyway, we placed out orders and conversed about whatever happened to be on our minds that day.  We were brought regular coffee refills and the server stopped a couple of times for a bit of conversation.  It's always a nice touch when servers are genuinely interested in talking, as opposed to just rehashing the same crap about the weather, etc.  Regardless, it wasn't long until our food arrived...

Pancakes, topped with fruit and lemon cream-cheese, with bacon ($12)

Benny Gone Green (can't remember exact toppings), with fruit ($13)

The bacon was soft, just like I asked!  The pancakes were also and awesome mash of flavours, and were done just right.  On the other side of the table, Eliza voiced her pleasure with her benny.  (She gets the sauce on the side, thus the lack of it in the picture.)  The eggs were cooked well and looked quite fluffy to me.  The plates did lack a bit in the presentation department, what with the amount of empty space on them.  At the same time, the quality of the food outweighed the quantity, so it'd be silly to complain too much.  Overall, the Greenroom gets a whole 4 Bacons from me!  It's got good vegetarian options, and the food in general is good.  The service is also awesome, as is the coffee!

Stay sharp, kids

Jesse