So, then, the question to be answered is…..is their cappuccino REALLY the best in town, as the sign on their window claims?  I would have to say maybe not the best, but it’s actually pretty good and they do an impressive job of big foam with delicious melted sugar/chocolate sprinkle on top (not sure how they did that – perhaps a torch?).   Note: cappuccini in photo are doubles.

Now, the really interesting part for me was when I checked out the reviewers to see what they say about Joe’s – and it was definitely a surprise. Although Yelpers & DineHere reviewers gave it a generous average of 3 stars, UrbanSpoons gave it 4 1/2 stars, with 88% of the reviewers liking it! And I loved reading the story of Joe’s on their own website.  It seems this little neighborhood hang out has been hanging out on the Drive since 1974!  It’s part of the local culture, and we love the flavor that places like this give the Drive!  To quote their quote from “thedrive.ca”:

Before going to the PCOV, we checked out some of the reviews on Yelp and UrbanSpoon and were not encouraged. The first one that came up on Yelp described  ”Grumpy old Portuguese men sitting watching soccer and glaring at anyone who doesn’t look Portuguese that has the gall to try to eat here”, but did also say that the food is good.  Strangely, our experience was almost a polar opposite.  We arrived at an almost empty restaurant – the only other patrons a group of what appeared to be regulars watching a game on the wide screen t.v. and having a good time. But we were warmly greeted by a very nice young waitress who, it turned out, is here from Brazil on a working vacation.  The restaurant is quite large inside, divided into two sections – one side appearing to be the  formal area with white table cloths, etc. and the other side more like a sports bar with booths and t.v.  We chose the informal side as the other area was absolutely empty.  We honestly did not spot any grumpy people and no one glared at us, that we noticed.

Our waitress immediately brought us a menu and discussed our options on wine.  We selected a halibut dish for me ($17.95) and a Portuguese style New York Steak for Michael ($18.95), accompanied by large glasses of house red wine @ $5.00 each.  The service was quick and friendly.  However, sadly, we were not blown away by our meals.  My halibut was nicely grilled but Michael’s steak was over cooked and very chewy. Both were accompanied by plain steamed carrots, broccoli & cauliflower – healthy, but not very exciting.  My veggies included plain steamed potatoes but Michael had a bit of a bonus with PCOV’s special fries. They are thick slices of potato, deep fried, which end up being kind of crispy on the  outside and soft in the center.  Probably the most tasty item on our plates.

In fairness, our experience of the PCOV was only two items off of a much larger menu, and at a time when they were not at all busy. It’s possible that the good food we read about in a couple of the reviews is available and we just made the wrong choices, or came at the wrong time.  75% of voters on UrbanSpoon have voted in favor of the PCOV, even though 2 out of the 3 actual reviews were negative. Yelp rating is only 2 1/2 stars.  However, if the service in the past was very unfriendly and bad, as mentioned in various reviews, perhaps the management took the feedback to heart. We felt very well cared for and quite enjoyed our conversation with the young server.  Would we go back?  Probably not any time soon, but that’s partly because we’ve taken on this major task of reviewing all the restaurants on the Drive, and it could take us a couple of years to get back to any one place!

One thing more that I must share, though, is what a gorgeous walk down to the restaurant we had!  The cherry blossoms on our street are of a late variety so most of them aren’t out yet, but one solitary tree is leading the way. It was like being in a fairy  land with little pink blossoms blowing around us as we walked in the setting sun.  Beautiful!

Since we are blessed with a source for lovely, free range eggs from our Bowen Island egg producer, even simple eggs can be pretty special, especially when served with freshly baked home made scones, or the Cheese & Scallion Baking Powder Biscuits we prepared for our guests this morning.  However, when deciding what to serve 8 guests who may or may not show up on time, two of our main criteria for adding a food item to our menus is that it must be relatively easy to prepare in quantity and it must “hold” for at least a short time.  Many people may think that the easiest thing in the world to whip up for breakfast would be eggs – scrambled, fried, poached or boiled.  Toss a few potatoes in a pan, pop some toast in the toaster and, presto, breakfast!  However, as someone who has now been running a B&B in Vancouver for more than 2 years, let me tell you that eggs do not always cooperate!  Yet, to accommodate those special guests who do prefer a very traditional “Canadian” breakfast (which we do realize is pretty much the same as a typical American or British breakfast!), it was important to me to spend some time learning how to cook these delicate, tricky little bundles of deliciousness.  If you Google “perfect scrambled eggs”, you will see a lot of varying opinions about whether to add water, or cream, or sour cream;  low heat or medium heat, stir with a fork or fold gently with a spatula, etc.  After some experimenting, this is what I found works the best for me:

• Eggs: Crack 2 or 3 eggs per person in a bowl with lots of room for whisking.  Season them well with lots of salt & pepper, to taste.
• Liquid: I tried adding varying amounts of water, milk, cream and not adding anything. Both water and no water seemed about the same but I favor not adding any liquid for the fullest flavor.
• Whisking:  I usually whisk the eggs once when I crack them into the bowl, then heat my pan and whisk them again for quite a few seconds just prior to pouring them in the pan. The whisking apparently increases the volume of the curd and makes the eggs lighter and fluffier.
• Temperature: Place a non-stick pan on the stove over medium heat until it is medium hot – i.e. would not want to touch it, but not so hot that  it would brown the butter. (I used my new “green” non-stick ceramic pan.) Remove the pan briefly from the heat, put a chunk of butter in the pan (I used about 1 T for 2 people) and allow it to melt quickly & start to bubble prior to returning the pan to the heat.
• Whisk the eggs again, then pour into the pan. Immediately turn the temperature down to medium low.
• The key for me is LOW heat!
• No Stirring: Allow the eggs to start to set around the edges. Be patient, you want it to set into nice curds but not to brown. Then, using a heat proof spatula, begin gently pulling the cooked parts from the outside into the middle of the pan.  The uncooked egg will run to the outside.
• Know When to Stop Cooking:  Continue with this process until the eggs all over the pan are a mixture of cooked “curds” surrounded by some visibly wet, semi-cooked egg (perhaps 90% cooked/10% semi cooked).  At this stage, remove the pan from the burner.  The residual heat will continue to cook the eggs and they can very easily become over cooked.
• Serve: Plate the eggs with your favorite hash browns, bacon/sausage/ham, and warm, freshly baked baking powder biscuits dripping with melting butter & organic honey from your local farmers’ market.
• Delicious!  Now if I could just figure out how to do this for 8 people all at once!

There was a sign outside that advertised two burrito dinners for the price of one, which was $13.95, plus tax, so we went for the deal.  It was true that there were two burritos but the two burritos come served on one plate with a scoop each of rice, beans and salad, so really one meal with an extra burrito.  While we were waiting for the burritos, we munched on a complimentary basket of chips with salsa (not fresh cut) and checked out the decor.  Our first thought about the decor was “Where are those Restaurant Makeover people when you need them?”  Well, to be fair, it was really only the rows of plastic flags hanging from the ceiling that we found particularly unattractive – other than that, it looks like a basic little restaurant.)

We have eaten dinner at Palki’s several times, including a couple of staff parties, so decided this time to try out the lunch buffet. We didn’t manage to get down to the Drive until 1:30, so were somewhat concerned that the buffet might not be as fresh at it could be. However, that was not at all the case. We were greeted quickly and warmly by the owner/manager of the restaurant and shown to a lovely window table. Considering that we arrived well past noon, the restaurant was pretty busy, with guests at several tables appearing very content as they chatted and feasted on the nice variety of dishes. The selection on the buffet apparently is changed daily, except for butter chicken which is so popular that it’s included every day. The host took our drink order (chai, of course! What better on a rainy Vancouver afternoon?!), then ushered us to the buffet where it was difficult to resist filling our plate to overflowing (caution – there is a small charge for leaving food on your plate, so better choose sparingly the first time and go back for seconds if you are still tempted). We chose from a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, returning to our table to find piping hot naan bread  waiting  for us.  It was plain naan this time, and quite delicious, but our favorite is definitely the garlic & basil naan!

Rather than try to summarize menu items and prices, here is a link to Palki’s website menu: http://www.palkirestaurant.com/menus/.  I also as usual looked at a variety of reviews of Palki’s and one comment that particularly caught my attention was Mia Stainsby of the Vancouver Sun who suggested that “the food at Palki’s may not be as refined as Vij’s, the uber-Indian restaurant but…(full-bodied but gentle dishes)”.  We, too, have often compared Palki’s to Vij’s because many of our guests at the Bee & Thistle are foodies, drawn to Vancouver by our city’s reputation for fantastic food. They frequently have Vij’s on their “must try” list, which almost always leads to a chat about Vancouver’s best Indian restaurants.  We absolutely agree that Vij’s is very deserving of their reputation. However, we ourselves are not  willing to stand in line for an hour or two for the opportunity to experience “uber-Indian” food, and occasionally feel compelled to mention that the food at Palki’s is much more convenient and very good.  Generally, our guests who tried Palki’s have been very satisfied, with the only negative feedback being that some guests unfortunately experienced slow service (something that we have not encountered). On the other hand, most who tried Vij’s thought it was well worth the wait, so we would definitely not suggest anyone to take Vij’s off their list if they have the time to dedicate to the experience!  However, back to Palki’s reviews – Yelpers give Palki’s Commercial Drive location 3 1/2 stars (as did Mia Stainsby in her Vancouver Sun article, but hers was in reference to the North Vancouver location).  The reviews on UrbanSpoon were much more positive, with 88% of reviewers liking Palki’s Commercial Drive location and giving it a star rating of 4 1/2.  Dine Here Vancouver had an overall rating of 3 1/2 stars but most of the recent ones are very positive. One comment that surprised us was that the decor was not very nice. Hmmmm! We actually thought the decor very tasteful and well done, so there is definitely something to be said for personal preference.

In summary, it really looks like this nice local restaurant is on the way up after perhaps a few hiccups in service, which we hope are well in the past! We ourselves would really love to see it succeed and be part of the Commercial Drive neighborhood for many years to come.

As a Bed & Breakfast in Vancouver, a city striving to be the greenest in Canada, we are very excited about our recent partnership with Lakewood Lye Handmade Soap, a local artisan company which hand crafts soaps and bath products using 100% natural vegetable, coconut and olive oils, natural clays, spices and plant based ingredients, scented only with 100% pure and natural essential oil – no artificial colors or scents. It’s absolutely wonderful to partner with a company which shares many of our own philosophies, including buying locally, being as “green” as possible, recycling, natural ingredients, etc.  Lakewood Soaps is located only a few blocks from the Bee & Thistle Guest House, so you can’t get much more “local”, and their wonderful selection of products includes Coffee & Cinnamon Soap and Natural Vanilla Soap, two luscious flavors that seem like an obvious choice for a guest house specializing in decadent breakfasts!  Nothing like awakening your appetite for breakfast with these wonderful scents mingling with those of the fresh baked scones, muffins or cinnamon buns wafting up the stairs to your room!

Like many B&B owners, we have long been concerned about providing those lovely small little bars of soap in our guest rooms, knowing that most of them end up in the  garbage at the end of a guest’s stay having only been used a few times.  With the help of Lakewood Soaps, we discovered that there is a local non-profit group called Mission Possible that recycles soap and makes it available to people in need. http://www.mission-possible.ca/2MPRecycling.php We spoke with them today and found that they are in transition right now but anticipate that they will be back in operation in a couple of weeks or so, not only providing a wonderful “green” service, but also providing jobs for women living in the lower east side of Vancouver. Lakewood Soaps is similarly exploring the potential for recycling their wonderful hand made soap, which would make us very happy.  It just seems wrong to throw away a product that is so lovely, without using up every little bit of it!

Okay, so here’s the best part.  It’s wonderful that these products are made with ingredients that we hope are much kinder to both the environment and our skin, but the bottom line is that they are fantastic to use!  They are silky smooth on one’s skin and smell heavenly.   We hope that our guests will enjoy this little touch of luxury. And we hope some of them will support this fledgling soap company by purchasing products from the little supply we have on display. Our selection includes soaps with scents of Cinnamon Coffee, Peppermint Green Clay, Lavender Oatmeal, and Bath Salts of Lavender or Orange Bergamot.  We also have a sample Gift Basket, which would be lovely for a new mom or an old friend, but is so reasonably priced that it could even be a hostess gift instead of a bottle of wine or bouquet of flowers. Thank you, Lakewood Lye Handmade Soaps! We wish you much success!

When I popped by the Megabite at 1110 Commercial Drive yesterday (there’s another one further up the Drive) to pick up some menus and take a couple of photos, the cashier was very friendly and helpful and the store front appeared clean and well maintained.

They do also have a nice selection of pizza by the slice at $1.79, plus tax.   Interestingly, they also offer Poutine for $5.99 (surprising in a pizza shop?!) and Chicken Wings in hot, barbeque or honey garlic, 10 pieces for $7.99 or 20 pieces for $14.99.

I tried to find the usual Yelp or other reviews for this pizza place but all seemed to be referring to the Megabite location at Broadway, rather than the one at Commercial & Napier St.  Since the food is probably similar, I thought it would be reasonable to use those ratings for the food but not the service or quality of the store front. Yelpers gave it 2.5 stars, Urban Spoon 4 stars, DineHere 2.5 stars, and TripAdvisor 3.5 stars.  I didn’t work out the average, but probably about 3 or 3.5 stars on average.   So, I end this report as I began – not spectacular but not bad. If you want a quick pizza and you’re in the neighborhood, Megabite will serve the purpose.

If you are going to Tony’s for their freshly baked scones or muffins, get there early as they do sell out almost every day.  They usually offer a couple of varieties of each, along with their dark roast Umbrian coffee, at a very good price. During the early (long) days of painting the interior of our house, which when we bought it was frightening shades of dirty battleship grey (in the kitchen), Home Depot orange (studio suite), an electric shade of mustard yellow and green (on the second floor), etc., we often felt the need to come up for air and would wearily wander down to Tony’s for an emotional and physical boost of freshly baked goods and lots of caffeine.  We do have to admit to a soft spot for this cozy little cafe.  Which is why we are surprised to see that Yelpers are only giving it an average of 3 stars, and one reviewer on DineHere gave it 4 stars, which perhaps only serves to confirm that Tony’s is definitely not Starbucks!

To do our review, we went by there last week for lunch.  We shared a Lasagna special, which came with soup, salad or garlic bread for $5.95, plus tax, and a Spicy Sausage Panini with provolone cheese, home made spicy sausage (a big slab of sausage), balsamic red onion, green pepper and mixed greens for $7.25, plus tax.  Both were tasty, bearing in mind that they are pre-made and then warmed for service so don’t expect a waiter disappearing into the kitchen and reappearing with a chef’s creation just off the grill.  Portions are definitely generous and we could have shared only the sandwich and been satisfied.  The minestrone soup we chose for our side with the lasagna was hearty and filled with beans and veggies.  We also enjoyed the Umbrian coffee, which comes in 3 sizes but we opted for the 12 oz for $1.75.  As far as we know, most of the menu offerings are made in house – you can peek over the wall and watch the kitchen staff mass producing sandwiches, muffins, scones, etc. Tony’s also has a catering service, which we have not tried so cannot comment on.

If you find yourself wandering down the Drive or waiting at the nearby bus stop, and have a sudden caffeine urge, a very convenient little touch is the street side window service where one can pick up a coffee for only a loonie!  Handy and cheap!

We would sum up our comments about Tony’s Deli by simply saying that it’s part of the culture on Commercial Drive, a great place to sit in the window and people watch, or at the tables with “real” neighborhood people, and enjoy a very acceptable snack or lunch at great prices. It has very little snob appeal but if you’re looking for a casual, comfortable atmosphere and food such as your mom might make, we think you will enjoy a visit to Tony’s.

We went early on the first night of Dine out Vancouver, as we anticipated that it would be very busy, and we were not wrong.  The restaurant only had a few guests when we arrived, but very quickly filled up with mostly young people enjoying a Friday night on Commercial Drive.  The server talked us into trying their drink special – the apparently famous “Dark n Stormy” cocktail for $6.00. This was a new taste sensation for us, consisting of ginger “beer” (tea) made in-house and Goslings rum, among other things. Perfect and very warming on a chilly Vancouver evening! They do have other drink specials every night of the week, if one needs an excuse to pop by!  While we were sipping, the host started us off with their complimentary Johnny Cakes with Mango Coconut Butter.  YUM!!

Their Dine out Vancouver menu offered a choice of 2 or 3 menu items for each course. I opted for Plantain Chips with Jerk Mayo for my appy, and Michael went for Curry Lime Chicken Wings with Chayote Apple Slaw. Of the two, we would certainly choose the chips and mayo again as they were delicious.  For a main course, I couldn’t resist Jerk Chicken with Rice Beans and Slaw, while Michael thought the Escovitched Snapper sounded interesting (I had to look up what “escovitched” means – apparently a famous Jamaican dish,  WiWords.com says it’s “A process of cooking whereby meat (typically fish) is fried, then doused liberally with a pickling sauce made from vinegar, pimento,onions, pepper, (and sometimes carrots)”.  Neither of us were blown away by the snapper, but we were happy to have tried it. As for the chicken dish, I discovered that, if one doesn’t like chicken skin, then it’s pointless to order a dish where most of the flavor is on the skin. Michael enjoyed it though.   How is it that I always seem to like the dessert that Michael orders more than I like mine?!  I thought I couldn’t go wrong with Coconut Lime Tart with Mango Coulis – how tropical is that!? But I would have preferred to have a bit more flavor in the tart and a flakier crust, although the coulis was delicious.  He selected the fried banana with ice cream, which was very nice. I’m lucky he’s such a nice guy and shared 50/50.

Our conclusions – we loved the lively atmosphere and some of the food items were terrific (I would go back just for the coconut mango butter!). The Reef definitely is a destination for the young people and we enjoyed the laughter and fun that was happening at almost every table. However, I think we would agree with most of the Yelpers who are giving it an average of 3 stars, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that go up.  The most common comment we have had from our guests is that the service was was not great, but we did not experience that at all. The manager stopped by to speak to us several times and the server was very attentive, even when the place was packed. While we didn’t love a few of the dishes we tried, some of the reviewers have suggested that the Dominica Beef ($16) is excellent, West Indian Curry is recommended,  and the Curried Crab Cake Benny sounds delicious!  I think the jury is still out on this one for us and we may have to go back for more Johnny Cakes and Mango Coconut Butter while we check out some of these other dishes!