The Chopped Leaf

September 16, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Caesar (full salad) – Romaine, bacon bits, parmesan & croutons with creamy caesar

Chopped Signature (starter salad) – Romaine, onion, cranberries, feta, roasted pecans & croutons with chopped balsamic

African Spiced Lentil

M came down to join me for lunch during my internship a few weeks ago. Okay, yes my posts are becoming older and older! I just haven’t gotten time to get over all my summer posts. But anyways, I urbanspooned around for a place to eat in downtown, and also a place that served soup, since I was sick and also had my wisdom teeth pulled out. We ended up going to check out The Chopped Leaf, which is a salad, soup and sandwich place that is actually much nicer than a regular cafe. It seemed like a pretty new place, and I liked how you could see some of the chefs preparing the food when you line up.

Unfortunately, the daily soups change all the time, and all of the soups that were featured that day seemed to have some sort of spice. I opted for a Caesar Salad instead, which was quite boring I know. It was presented very nicely with bacon bits and all, and it was quite delicious. I wish there was a little more sauce, and I love my salads with sauce. Totally not healthy… M got the combo of soup and salad and he said they were pretty good as well.

Overall, The Chopped Leaf is a nice place to grab either take out, or a quick lunch or snack. It’s close by on Robson, and had quite a lot working people grabbing lunch. I found that their prices were a little high though, compared to what I could get at an actual restaurant. The prices are pretty much the same, yet I lack the service and ambiance. But oh well, it’s good if you don’t have much time.

Tera V Burger

September 5, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Barbecue Tempeh Burger – Organic tempeh, smokey barbecue sauce, fresh veggies and cheese on a whole wheat bun

Barbecue Tofu Wrap – Organic smoked tofu, fresh veggies, cheese, and smoky barbecue sauce in a whole wheat tortilla

Adventure time with K and J! We were originally supposed to try some vegan lasagna at a cafe, but unfortunately it was closed for good when we arrived. We were around the Broadway neighbourhood, so we decided to walk around to find a different place. Problem was, we weren’t exactly in the restaurant populated area of Broadway. We kept walking and started to get hungry and we spotted Tera V Burger. We checked out the menu and learned that it was a vegetarian so we thought it would be perfect. The place is supposed to be like a fast food burger chain and their mission is to try and make a movement for people to start eating vegetarian meals. You order your food first at the counter, and then you take a seat and they will serve it to you on a tray.

Both K and J got the Barbecue Tempeh Burger, which they said was quite delicious. Lots of veggies and an overload of barbecue sauce. For myself, I got the Barbecue Tofu Wrap since I wanted a small snack. It was actually quite filling and I was very full by the end. There were lots of tofu, and again, lots of barbecue sauce. Although the sauce was needed since the tofu was pretty much bland, I thought that it was almost too much, since it got really salty.

Not a bad place to go for some vegetarian burgers and wraps. The place was pretty empty, but I guess it’s pretty new. They also offer a variety of salads, sandwiches, and drinks.

L.A. Grill and Bistro

August 20, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Curry Penne served with Garlic Bread – olives, tomatoes & onions in curry cream sauce

Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich – toasted whole wheat bread with grilled chicken breast topped with house-made pesto, melted mozzarella, served with roasted potatoes & green salad

L.A. Grill and Bistro used to be a place I went with my friends back in high school. It was cheap with large portions, and their daily specials always attracted us back when we were students. Especially since I’ve moved away from that neighborhood, I haven’t been to Blundell Mall for quite a while. It’s kind of out of my way, but since I hadn’t had it since..probably high school, J and I decided to revisit it.

I got the Curry Penne, which was alright. The curry soup is definitely not the curry you get at Asian restaurants. It’s the westernized curry, which isn’t my favourite compared to Asian curry, but still not bad. All that pasta totally filled me up though.

You can’t expect any high quality food at L.A. Grill and Bristo, but the portions are definitely filling for the price you pay. It’s also got a very nice casual environment, and I think they offer some pretty good deals for late night snacks now too.

Boston Pizza

May 18, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Long Island Iced Tea

Nachos – Freshly made, hand-cut tortilla chips layered with cheddar and pizza mozzarella, topped with chicken

This is from a while ago now, but went to Boston Pizza with Jack for some late night casual drinks and some food to chat. The Long Island Iced Tea was pretty watered down so it actually tasted pretty good with less alcohol in it. We shared a plate of Nachos which was a huge portion! So cheesy, and the jalapeno peppers were so spicy! Still really delicious, and a great place for some drinks and snacks!

Hubbub Sandwiches

March 25, 2012April 25, 2013Leave a comment

Pork Sandwich

Marinated for 24 hours to be spicy and tender, then perfectly slow roasted.

Such a lovely day in Vancouver, but still pretty chilly. Went downtown to try Hubbub Sandwiches since people have been talking about these gourmet sandwiches. And of course I go on my food expedition with Steph! It was actually their 1st anniversary last week, which is when I went so they were having daily promos and giveaways all week! That day, if you bought any item on the menu that had chicken in it, you would be entered for a chance to win a gift basket! Unfortunately, Steph and I had come here hearing about the pulled pork sandwich and desperately wanted to try that! So no contest for us… Anyways, their concept is that there is “the sandwich” and then your “protein.” So basically, every sandwich starts off with the same base: pickled jalapenos, creamy garlic sauce, romaine lettuce, cilantro, and crunchy caramelized onions on top of a toasty baguette. And then you choose your protein, which they offer pork, turkey sausage, chicken breast, veggie or prawn! You would think how special can a pulled pork sandwich be, but believe me, it was amazing. First bite, i thought the baguette was a little tough and hard for my liking, but the pulled pork which was moist worked well with the tougher bread. It became easier to bite afterwards, and oh did it get really spicy too! I can’t usually take spice, and I could literally see jalapenos in my sandwich, but I still chewed on. The spice gave such a nice punch to the sandwich and the marinade had such a good flavour to it! They even had cilantro and onions in it, which I was never a big fan of, but I ate everything. All the ingredients just worked so well with each other. Now I know why they can just use the same base for every sandwich they make. Portions were also quite filling, as I only shared one sandwich with Steph and was already quite filled. So definitely go try it out when you’re in downtown since it’s extremely close to the shops and skytrain too. $9 for a sandwich is pretty pricy, but it’s definitely worth it.

Mom’s Grilled Cheese

February 28, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Mom’s Classic: Marbled Rye with Havarti and Double Smoked Bacon
2 Shots of Roasted Tomato Soup – topped with basil mascarpone
Pineapple Pop Shoppe Pop

Sunny day in Vancouver the other day! Okay actually, weather has been acting weird here, with hail and snow in end of February… but this was before that crazy weekend happened…So it was actually a nice sunny day, but windy and cold! Decided to head downtown to try out Mom’s Grilled Cheese! I have heard such great things about them, and who can resist grilled cheese sandwiches… I can just never get them cooked perfectly at home! Did a little google mapping, and realized that it was so close to Pacific Center! I guess I just never walk on that side of the street normally! We approached the truck with a lot of people surrounding it waiting for their food. Apparently, they are only open on weekdays during lunch hours. Steph and I shared a Mom’s Classic, where we got to choose our choice of bread and cheese. We chose the Marbled Rye with Havarti, and added $1.50 for some Double Smoked Bacon! Mmmm, mouths were already watering with the aroma coming from the truck! While we were waiting in the freezing cold, we saw other customers buying shots of Roasted Tomato Soup, and thought it would be a great idea to warm up! Good choice because it was so delicious!!! I’m not sure if it’s just because I was freezing cold, but the basil mascarpone topped on the soup made everything so much better! We waited for probably 5 minutes or more til our food came since there were a lot of people ahead of us, but when it got to ours, they had forgot to put bacon in ours. They however, quickly apologized and redid our sandwich. Something about their friendliness didn’t make me mad about the wait though. It seemed like they had regular customers as they knew each others names, and everything seemed so personalized when they presented your food with your name. They seemed like such fun and friendly people to talk to, and they even joked with customers that they are always illegally parked here, and to look out for the cops… I don’t know if they were joking or what, but they gave me a good laugh. We went back to Pacific Center to eat since it was freezing cold, and yum! It was so good! They also came with two pickles, and potato chips at the bottom that had the Ms. Vickie’s texture, but I think they are homemade. Also tried the Pineapple Pop Shoppe, which was actually pretty good! Reminded me of Jones Soda, with the colour and cool, vintage looking bottle. Really fizzy though, and probably not the healthiest thing. I will definitely be back for some Mom’s Grilled Cheese! I just wish they opened during the weekends!

Trees Organic (Richmond)

February 26, 2012April 25, 2013Leave a comment

Plain Cheesecake and Blueberry Cheesecake

I was craving for some cheesecake the other day on a random weekday afternoon, but everywhere was closed during that time! So I ended up going to the library to buy some cheesecake for Steph and myself so we wouldn’t starve ourselves during our meeting. And by library, I mean the Richmond Public Library, where there’s a little cafe you see everytime you walk by. It’s called Trees Organic, which is also the same one that is in downtown, Yaletown and Gastown! They say that they’re Vancouver’s Best Cheesecake, but I think that might be a little overrated. Definitely not the best I’ve had in Vancouver, but not bad! I’ve had the one in downtown before, and it was pretty good. I had the mango one back then, and at this location, they only had three flavours to choose from. There was the Plain Cheesecake, Mocha Cheesecake, or Blueberry Cheesecake. I always have trouble deciding what to get, so I just decided to go by how many pieces were left in the fridge. The less pieces left must mean that they’re the best sellers… well at least I like to think so! So I ended up with the Plain and Blueberry flavours, with whip cream on the side. The lady working was very nice, although service was a little slow since she was the only one on shift. After a long ride to UBC, I open the containers up to see my whip cream had totally smushed everywhere. Not so appealing, but it was still pretty good! I think I prefer the plain one to the blueberry one, but I think the mango one I had last time was better than these two… Not bad! At least it satisfied my cheesecake craving!

Sauder Exchange Cafe

February 3, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Mmmm I love samosas, and it’s always a great snack at school. I usually get them at the Delly in the SUB, but it was so far, so I just grabbed it at the Sauder Exchange Cafe inside the Henry Angus building at UBC. This one is a Beef Samosa – I’m guessing they have chicken and vegetarian as well. The pastry is not as thin as the one at the Delly, but I prefer the fillings in this one compared to the Delly. Also quite large in size! It is however, quite oily, but nonetheless delicious!