Richmond is the place for food assuming of course you like Chinese or Japanese.

I definitely make the effort to get down there whenever I feel the craving for one.

Local Public Eatery (Joey's) is pretty decent in Kits, as are their other joints, but its hardly great (or priced correctly) (ie I wouldnt go to local public eatery unless i planned on drinking as well, except they fail @ cocktail creation imo). Never been to an Earl's (which may be owned by Joey's??) but they look cookie cutter as well.

The Keg is bleh...been several times for friends birthdays and never been impressed w/ their food.

Memphis Blues is pretty damn good, but as a BBQ aficionado their pulled pork is severely lacking and slaw is an embarrassment to a good BBQ joint. Ribs & sweet potatoe fries are definitely worthwhile. (Then again I've eaten my way through St. Louis, Kansas City, and perfected some of my own BBQ recipes, so I'm pretty picky on that front).

Hapa Izakaya, Haven't been, but Ill make a point to try it in the future

Agree with the previous poster that most of these do fall into the sysco boxed hollandaise type of chain.

Stephos has decent greek food, ill give you that...although being part greek and having had some ridiculously good homemade fare (where you get truly amazing greek food) I find it hard to eat out @ greek places anywhere.

Felafel King will go on my radar Adam, Haven't been but will try it for sure...theres this place in NY if anyone's ever there called mamoun's falafel that if anyone ever has a chance to try you MUST...I have yet to have a falafel anywhere that even comes close.

Vancouver has the upscale casual vibe down, I guess im just a bit of a food snob and was spoiled with the area I grew up in. I was always a stones throw from authentic non chain cuisine. Im in NY now and literally just had the best burrito ever off a food cart called Calexico which I frequent regularly when I'm home. Not to mention if you're paying higher prices we have alot of slightly less casual upscale restaurants in a similar price range to vancouver which are not standard sysco fare.

When I think through the best meals I've had in my life only one type of food is standout in vancouver, fish, specifically sushi (which i dont eat often) and fresh salmon (The Hamilton Street Grill ROCKED a carpacio wrapped piece of salmon over the creamiest risotto I've ever had).

Adam & MJ if you ever end up in NY ill show you what really good mid-level food is all about, I'd owe you that for all the pokercast episodes I've listened too

Oh, and Vancouver has NO real pizza...even Nat's NY pizza is barely passable and would most likely go under if it was actually in NY

I'd be down

and to the guy complaining so much about the food, are you fat or something why are you so obsessed with the quality of food

If you eat clean it shouldn't matter what it tastes like

...I'm unsure of how to respond, mostly because in my worldview I'd rather spend more money on better food than just about any other luxury money could afford me. Good food and drink are pleasures to be savored, not eaten gluttonously as you seem to imply (which most Americans do unfortunately).

Also I just can't fathom a world in which I've ever heard anyone utter the later part of your post; then again if I didn't choose Uni I may have gone to culinary school and I work in the industry cause I love it, not to pay the bills, so that gives you enough of a background on why I complain so much.

As to being fat, no, not some skinny twig either though, most likely b/c I enjoy my food

EDIT: That and before moving I'd heard RAVE reviews about the quality of food in Vancouver, and it is the biggest disappointment I've had from this city (which is sort of a backdoor compliment?)

And if anyone wants to get a Kits/UBC/DT Homegame going count me in. I'd offer my place but its far away from everything.

Earls - meh
Joey's - meh
Cactus Club - meh, good hiring policy for their waitresses
Browns - never been
Milestones - meh
Hapa Izakaya - pretty good but nothing amazing, music is way too loud
Memphis Blues - meh

I would much rather spend $20 more at places like the Raincity Grill.

Stepho's is great if you like sitting in line for half an hour to save two dollars on mediocre Greek food.

http://www.vanmag.com/

http://scoutmagazine.ca/

For starters, a couple good places to peruse for cultural happenings and dining in your adopted city.

Enjoy,

p.s. Find your mid-level places in these guides, like ReFuel (fried chicken fridays was dope), and def. go ethnic too, great chinese and indian and japanese and SE asian all over the city.

lol...


I dont think we have locked our front or back door in like ~15 years lols.

do not advise doing this if you live in this city, I would lock them, but i live on lakefront in a small town so its different.

this hasnt run the last 3 weeks ive been there to play (maybe b/c jarvis hasn't been there, idk)

a 5/5 plo and 5/10 NLHE mixed game is the biggest thing running on wednesday

Sweet, thanks, Ill check those out npknhldr, although already judging Vanmag as it has Whitespot in its top 5 burgers...thats a boatload of fail either for the city or the author of that list IMO, but it seems to have some other solid suggestions

FWIW I have really explored the city, my hating on Van food is not for lack of trying to find decent places, of which there are quite a few (none near me, and not in large abundance), the majority of the food imo still fits in with my above griping.

Give up some suggestions what you would consider decent in Van aside from Tojo's and Vij's...

Hamilton St Grill, Cardero's, Verace Pizzeria (assuages my pizza cravings), Granville Room (best of Donnelly's places), Memphis DOES have decent ribs despite my BBQ snobbery. Sophie's isn't bad for breakfast

...and there is this one REALLY awesome place which I'll post the name to later once I remember (stuck on the tip of my tongue and Im playing atm, it starts w/ an "A", is a girls name and is in Kits close to 3rd I believe, eaten there 3 or 4 times, its amazing and is a pretty good date place as well)

EDIT: Although I do MOSTLY cook for myself as someone who takes pride in my cooking abilities

Vij's is awesome . . . and surprisingly affordable.

West, Cobre's, Gothom's, Italian Kitchen, Coast, Diamond, Chill Winstons, Sip, Red Door to name a few

just wanted to mention phenom phen in chinatown for the best chicken wings...i try to get out there as often as i can...

many many fair priced japanese restaurants hard to think out which ones i like best...

i spent a year in HK after being born and raised in vancouver and i would say that we probably on average have better chinese food here...maybe some higher end places in HK may be better but in general for casual dining i would say that vancouver is better...

im not a huge fan of the chain style restaurants like the milestones, cactus club, joeys type places....i think they are good for the atmosphere but not so great when comparing what u getting to price...

but who likes spending 30-40 for dinner anyway? i think that there are ample places where you can still get a solid meal for sub 10 dollars... we have sooo many good vietnamese restaurants out here. couple of my favorite places are gold train on kingsway, pho quyen on fraser and 23rd and this little one on victoria and 34th-ish across the DQ there but i cant remeber the name...noodles range around 7-8 dollars or so for the large...

mannnn gettin hungry thinkin about the wings....

I agree. I lived at Burnaby and Burrard for a few years and was amazed at how people wait forever to get into that place and in any kind of weather. They put no value on their time. I went for lunch instead and had a good meal with no waiting.

As to all the other criticism about Vancouver food, I'm so glad I'm not so picky. I love our high end restaurants though I don't go often anymore but also enjoy many of the others that people are criticising.

I just got back from IKEA and while I was there, I saw 2 young men shopping in the glasses and dishes section. They had a lot of other stuff and were clearly furnishing a new abode. Of course they could have been doing it for many reasons (school, moving out of their parent's basement, etc) but I couldn't help but wonder if they were poker players newly arrived in town.

habit, cafeteria, la taqueria, nuba, cobre, chambar, guu, any sushi place ever, any pho place ever, like 90% of thai places, la quercia, etc etc etc.

Vancouver has sick food. Just look past the chains.

I don't get why people don't just eat simple, cheap, clean food like chicken, broccoli, oats etc.

Feel better, live longer

If by clean you mean unprocessed and lacking chemicals, I agree...although you should know the places I've been railing against are chains, which, as a rule of thumb do use alot of sysco/processed ingredients.

Other than that scientifically speaking if you have no health risks there is no clear "healthy" diet and anyone who tells you otherwise is leading you on as long as your diet has some semblance of balance.

For instance I would prefer a home grown falafel place that makes everything from scratch than some shwarma chain that buys all their stuff premade...it tastes better and is better for you.

There is no correlation as far as I can tell between what you are calling "clean" vs wtv "dirty" food is and taste. And screw it, if I can't eat food I like I'd rather eat it anyway and die earlier.

Vancouver is inundated with chains and its unfortunate, esp in areas close to UBC Kits and DT core, i think it's hard to disagree with that...and its a major downside to the city that I even have to spend time thinking about finding a place to eat; i should be able to pretty much just walk outside, but thats not the case ldo.

As far as I can tell if theres been any influx at all the grinders have stayed away from teh edge's 200 NL games, otherwise there'd be more people taking my money, not just the same old nits

I'll admit I only go out to the "good" or "pricey" places when I bother to go out.

Granville island market = the nuts, so no excuse not to make something fresh yourself really.

Nats is only passable by real pizza standards, but by comparison to other pizza in this town it is a life saver. Hamilton Street Grill is decent. Thee are good Pho places around if you know where to look as well.


As for grinders at 200NL, i don't think ppl made the move here to play low stakes live.

At one of those restaurants I saw the manager pour wine from one bottle into another (the Kits location).

The worst pizza I ever had in my life was at Chill Winstons. Great location if you like people watching.

Please don't mention Milestones and the such when talking about food choices. They are chains that are just ok. Not representative of any scene and the same stuff you get in any city. I'll agree finding something like southern soul food or Chicago pizza might be difficult, but Korean fried chicken is damn good and the sushi is world class. Vancouver does have some great food choices. There are plenty of places that I would give a four or five star rating (Yelp Elite here), here are a couple of options:

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/guu-with-garlic-vancouver
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/la-belle-patate-vancouver
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/twisted-fork-vancouver

http://www.sawasdeethairestaurant.co...site/sitep.jsp

best thai food ive ever had by a mile. blows anything i had in thailand out of the water. you will not be sorry.

Pretty cool to see all these GVRDers coming out of the woodwork. Has there ever been a Vancouver 2p2 meetup? We should set up some tables somewhere and watch the noob Americans experience real beer!

On food, it seems like everyone's right but approaching it from different views. Yeah Earl's Milestones etc is dull, but if you go higher end there is quite an exciting food scene. (good examples listed in last few posts)

And being on a budget is also ok if you want to search out the best ethnic/regional places. I'd stack Vancouver's Indian/Thai/Chinese/Vietnamese against most cities I've been to for quality and value.

But pizza? Yeah sorry we kinda suck there.

There have been several vancouver 2p2 meetups over the years.
We actually just had one last saturday with about 12ppl.