Vancouver, BC

We snuck up to Vancouver, BC this weekend for my birthday. It was quite possibly the funnest birthday I’ve had in awhile. I don’t make a big deal about it, but Andrew suggested we go. I can’t say no to that. No way.

Vancouver is about 5 1/2 hours away depending on Portland and Seattle traffic. We left on Thursday at 5pm, and ended up in Seattle by 7:30pm. Since we had time to spare [is there really that much of a difference checking into your hotel at midnight or 2am?], we stopped at Tamarind Tree. Holy hell. Biggest menu of absolutely delicious Vietnamese food. We shared some of the most crisp, flavorful spring rolls and a spicy peanut sauce. I had the Ha Noi pork noodles — grilled pork slices, pork patty, pickeled kohlrabi, green papaya served in mixed herb fish sauce. It was ridiculous good. As was the kumquat martini. I stole a few bites of Andrew’s chili lemongrass beef noodles. Just. Wow. No photos because it was really dark.

We arrived in Vancouver sometime around midnight. We stayed at the Marriott Vancouver Pinnacle Downtown, which is pretty much a hotel in the middle of the financial district. The service was spot on, and the view from the 24th floor to the harbor was really pretty. Friday morning was a stop at Yolks, a food cart.

We’re talking about amazing farm fresh ingredients taken to the next level. I had hand-carved honey ham, a poached free-range egg, house-made dijon, fresh spinach, and aged white cheddar on an English muffin, an organic potato skewer with lemon and truffle oil, and locally-roasted coffee. I’d wager it was the best poached egg I’ve ever eaten. Everything came together into this amazing bundle of breakfast joy. I could have eaten there for every meal. No complaints.

Breakfast was followed up with a lot of walking/shopping in downtown Vancouver and the surrounding areas. It was in the mid-to-upper 30s, but sunny. Perfect for walking around all bundled up. The sun never fully rises that far north, and it totally tripped me out. By 1:30pm, it felt like nearly 6pm. I don’t know how people do it!

We ate a late lunch at Meat & Bread, a specialty sandwich shop offering a few select goodies a day. They ran out of the porchetta earlier in the day, so we split corned beef [with sambal gherkin mayo, pickled cabbage, dijon] and the chicken nacho [Rossdown chicken, tomato black olive salsa, crispy corn chips, cheddar, avocado lime sour cream]. Both were mouthwateringly incredible, fresh, and oh-so-flavorful. If I had to pick, I’d go with the corned beef, but really you couldn’t go wrong either way.

More walking, more shopping, coconut cupcakes were eaten. Happy birthday. The highlight of the evening, and really the whole premise of going up Vancouver in the first place, was to see John K. Samson play a show at the University of British Columbia. You might know him from The Weakerthans. Maybe not. He’s a creative writing resident, known for his beautiful and thoughtful lyrics. He was teaching workshops that week, and capped off the trip with a show and a conversation with the head of the department. You can see part of it here. Andrew took video and audio of most of it. It was really incredible.  Did we eat a baguette, meat, and cheese after the show in the hotel room? I’ll never tell.

The following day started at Red Wagon Cafe. It’s fresh diner food, created in a way that doesn’t leave you a ridiculous food baby for the rest of the afternoon. They show pork a lot of love, but I strayed to the spinach, aged white cheddar, and mushroom omelet. It was a pretty brave move. I feel like an omelet is so easy to screw up, but they didn’t at all. It was a beautiful, simple, and delicious piece of breakfast. It wasn’t heavy or greasy. It wasn’t bland and dull. It was wonderful. We wandered around other neighborhoods, ate Timbits, drove through Stanley Park, and rested up for a night of food and drink gorging.

We wanted to have dinner at Calabash Bistro, focusing on Caribbean cuisine. Something we don’t have much of in Portland! It was packed, so their hostess took down our info and sent us over to Bitter Tasting Room. It’s a beer drinkers paradise. It would fit into Portland seamlessly. I had a pint of Racer Red Pumpkin by Central City Brewing in BC. Local! Pumpkin! Delicious! We made plans to go back after dinner, but ended up distracted by other things. Dinner was so, so good. Their mixologist was sent to a nationwide cocktail contest, so he knows his stuff. I had a Coconut Jumby [El Dorado 3 year old rum shaken with fresh organic coconut water, agave syrup, muddled lemongrass, mint and lime zest] and a sipping rum that I can’t remember for the life of me. I’m not much of a rum person, but their whole menu is devoted to it. I’ll give anything a shot. For dinner? Poutine. A trip to Canada isn’t complete without any. This was a jerk poutine that was much, much lighter than the traditional stuff. It was super flavorful, not super heavy. My entree was a traditional Jamaican dish, ackee and saltfish sauteed with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spices. I’d heard so much about this combo, and it’s every bit of fresh and delicious. It wasn’t super fishy, and all about the light and refreshing flavors of the fruit and vegetables.

The night wasn’t over. We’d end the night in the one place I had been dying to try since I knew we were headed to Vancouver. Salt. It’s a wine tasting room, but even more special than that. The space itself is crazy. It’s down a street called “Blood Alley.” Sketchy, right? But the actual interior is dark, warm, and cozy. Bring on the exposed brick walls. The best way to experience Salt is to go with the wine flight and tasting combo. You can either pick your three flights, and let the staff pick your meat/cheese/condiments to go with. Or vice versa. We picked the meat/cheese, and let them pick the wine/condiments. Mind. Blowing. These people know their stuff. I sampled a local chevre, chicken liver pate, and Valdeón, a Spanish blue cheese. They paired it with raw honey, some peppers, and fig and walnut bread. The wines? Perfect, and totally unlike anything I would have ordered myself. As if that wasn’t enough [Andrew had his own set of stuff, too], we split the goat cheese cheesecake with apricot preserves and two dessert wines. Why not, right?

We got out of Vancouver that next morning, but not before stopping at Forty Ninth Parallel coffee roasters for a cappuccino and a donut/scone from Lucky’s Doughnuts. Well, I had the featured sweet scone of the day. Rain started on our way out. A 70 minute wait to get back into the country ensued.

Best birthday ever.

[Photos by Andrew]