On the 7th day of Christmas, I’m craving meatatarian sandwiches
4 Comments
Karen Hamilton
December 16, 2011
On the seventh day of Christmas, Foodsters drove to me
Seven meat-filled ‘wiches
Six buns a-steaming
Five Memphis Feasts!
Four poutines
Three Peking Ducks
Two Japadogs
And a steaming bowl of chicken congee.
There are rare occasions where the convenience of meat and bread in hand trumps my Asian leanings toward noodles and rice. When this happens, these are the places I turn to.
La Brasserie: Brass chicken sandwich
Rotisserie chicken, brined in beer. Gravy. Buttermilk biscuit. A mountain of slivered, crispy onion. $7. Yes, please.
Find this mouth-watering creation in 3 locations: the La Brasserie restaurant on Davie & Thurlow, their original street cart on Georgia & Granville, and their second street spot on Georgia & Burrard.
Meat & Bread: porchetta and meatball addictions
If you ask me out to lunch on any given day, don’t be surprised when I suggest meeting at Meat & Bread. Despite my frequent patronage, it’s still a gut-wrenching experience at the counter each time I decide between the porchetta and the meatball. I typically wind up choosing the porchetta–no self-respecting Filipino would deny themselves any variant of lechon–and persuading my lunch mates to get the meatball or the daily special. Then I steal nibbles from their sandwiches. Dilemma solved.
Bada Bing: a Philly cheese steak that won’t weigh you down
It may well be that everyone’s talking about Anthony Sedlak’s newest venture (I for one had a good first visit), but the cheese steak that continues to steal my heart is the foot-long from Bada Bing.
by foodtruckapp
Made with halal beef that’s been sliced razor thin, topped with melted Monterey and stuffed inside a soft Italian loaf, you’d think that eating a foot of it would be a challenge to your digestive system. Instead, you’ll find that Bada Bing’s combination tastes elegant and subtle, which makes it easy for even a lightweight eater like myself to polish off the entire thing.
Unfortunately, the lack of a consistent web or social presence makes Bada Bing’s food truck difficult to spot. Make sure to track their lunchtime and evening whereabouts using the Street Food App on your smartphone before calling a delivery service like Foodsters to wrangle a ‘wich for you. The Street Food App also has food cart landing pages on their regular website for those that are not smartphone-enabled.
What sandwiches are you addicted to? Inquiring minds want to know.
From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).
Categories: Blogging for Social Change, Downtown, Food, Food Purveyors, Gastown, Restaurants, West End
On why I hate sandwiches but love Meat & Bread
2 Comments Karen HamiltonDecember 14, 2011
This is what I think of when I hear the word sandwich.
Take a look at the other members of Chow.com’s Sandwich Hall of Shame >
My sandwich trauma stems from a childhood overrun with Wonderbread and lunch meats of questionable provenance: liverwurst, bologna, spam, Vienna sausage. [Spam and Vienna sausage are magic with rice, though.]
by Kevin H.
Scarred by this kind of sandwich history, I find myself amazed at how I have come to frequent Meat & Bread, one of Gastown’s newest breed of minimalist, casual eatery.
The restaurant is exactly what it claims to be: a place with a small but stellar selection of meat and bread. You will find 4 sandwiches to pick from on any given day.
Porchetta, $8. They pronounce it like “pork-etta”. Fattylicious roast pork chopped together with its juicy stuffings and topped with salsa verde. My favourite.
Meatball, $8. 3-5 giant, oozy, spicy rounds of pork drenched in housemade sambal. My husband’s favourite.
Daily Special, $8. Previous offerings have included jerk chicken, duck confit with blue cheese, and braised turkey leg. You can check out what is on feature that day by visiting their website before you arrive. I occasionally cheat on my porchetta with these temptations, and it is a constant battle at the counter between the tried-and-true and the I-can’t-believe-you-can-offer-that-in-a-sandwich.
Grilled Cheese, $7. Shaved onion and aged white cheddar melting goo between generously buttered toast. I ordered it once for my daughter but she kept stealing bites from my porchetta…so no photo, sorry.
They do veer off course to entice you with their single dessert item, which is simply labelled ice cream sandwich on their menu board. Don’t be fooled…this is a to-die-for concoction of maple & bacon ice cream, sandwiched between stroopwafel-like wafers that are similarly infused with piggy grease. If you haven’t tried this out yet, I suggest you split one of their regular sandwiches with a friend so you can have enough room in your belly for dessert.
Photo courtesy © Cathy Burrell of Cathy Eats
If you like their housemade mustard and sambal as much as we do, grab a jar off the shelf near the entrance and keep it in your fridge for sandwich emergencies. Extra handy when you take M&B fare to go and find, like we have, that the usual dollop of mustard present on your cutting board plate is unfortunately not something that can be easily transported.
There’s not much to dislike, but I have found a few minor areas for improvement:
- Stock Coca-Cola. The mom & pop colas are just not cutting it for me. I feel like a jerk for smuggling in my favourite carbonated bevvie from the pocket of my daughter’s diaper bag. [UPDATE: They now sell locally made Sip sodas--these herb-infused sparkling waters are a great fallback, but I still ask for less guilt and more Coke, pretty please.]
- Be open for dinner. One diner came by at 5:05pm and was aghast to see that he was too late for a sandwich. He looked at my cousin, who was on her way out, and asked, “Nooo…?”. “Yes,” she replied sadly. “No! No,” he exclaimed. My cousin looked sympathetic. Up and shaking went his fist, and from his mouth came a wail straight out of a Star Trek epic: “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” I hope he got his sandwich fix the next day.
- Be open on Sundays. I need you guys 7 days a week!
Maybe I’ll see you at the Meat & Bread communal table one day soon.
Categories: Downtown, Food, Gastown, Restaurants
On the 4th day of Christmas, I’m craving beaucoup de poutine
7 Comments Karen HamiltonDecember 13, 2011
On the fifth day of Christmas, Foodsters drove to me
Four poutines
Three Peking Ducks
Two Japadogs
And a steaming bowl of chicken congee.
Vancouver makes an admirable poutine. Sure, it’s not straight from Montreal like the one above, and the cheese curds don’t tend to squeak like mice in a cage, but the total package is delicious enough to satisfy any Vancouverite’s craving.
Davie Village’s La Belle Patate is widely known for being the city’s poutine benchmark. Some believe that the family-run company makes even tastier poutine than what can be found in Montreal. I’m not completely sold on that statement. It’s close, but I need my cheese curds to be a lot more noisy before I’ll dare to say that someone in Vancouver does it better.
When you’re hungry for poutine after a night of shenanigans and LBP is already closed, head downhill on Davie to Belgian fry hot spot Fritz.
Want more upscale poutinery? Try La Brasserie’s breakfast poutine during weekend brunch. I haven’t had the chance to go there myself, but palates I trust can do nothing but rave about this dish.
Image © Noshwell.com – used with permission. Read Noshwell’s La Brasserie breakfast review >>
I’ve also had high-class frites at Gastown’s Boneta. I think of it as a poutine, elevated: their rendition of gravy, curds and potato is too delicate to treat as street food or rustic fare. As divine as it may look and taste, the dish is a very reasonable $10.
Our dark horse pick, Frenchies Diner, is a great lunch option for the Dunsmuir working crowd. The choices are more gimmicky than those at La Belle Patate, but I am not one to contest an offering of poutine with steak! They can handle your extra Quebecois hankerings with Steamies, smoked meat sandwiches, and tourtière.
These poutine purveyors don’t deliver, so if you’re stuck at home and poutine pangs strike, consider asking Foodsters to pick your order up for you.
Got any other GVRD recommendations for memorable poutine?
From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).
Categories: Blogging for Social Change, Downtown, Food, Food Purveyors, Gastown, Restaurants
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Articles by Karen Hamilton
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