Food, Glorious Food

For all the griping I've been doing lately about Vancouver (and trust me, I've been doing a lot more than I've posted here for all to read!), I must say that tonight I was reminded of one very, very, very special thing about Vancouver that might just make all the rest of it worth it - the FOOD!

It wasn't that I hadn't had the pleasure so far on this trip of savouring some of the totally fresh, often quite healthy, and amazingly flavourful food that Vancouver has to offer... But tonight, after watching yet another Chutzpah Festival show (Betsey Salkind's "Anne Frank Superstar" - pretty funny, but not flawless), I went out for drink and a bite to eat with my dear, lovely and longtime friend Roselle, and had a "culinary experience" worth writing about! Now, we almost ended up at yet another typical Vancouver hippy-staffed vegetarian restaurant (and if those of you from Toronto are picturing anything at all like "FRESH", you're picturing something way too polished and sleek), though I'm sure it would have been quite tasty, however flaky. But as we waited forever to be seated by the slower than molasses servers, and compared our own tales of liking Toronto and Montreal way more than we like Vancouver, Roselle suddenly remembered a new place up the street that might be a little bit more "buzzing", as she put it. So we walked a block and a half to "HABIT".

Now, even though the place was pretty much empty by 11pm (hey, we are still in Vancouver, and it's a Thursday, not yet the weekend after all!) HABIT definitely had more of an awake, city vibe going on. And oh my lord, The Food. The glorious food was soooooo good! I had almost forgotten what it was like to eat fresher than fresh fish, when you're in a coastal city! Roselle and I split a crisp and fresh beet salad, as well as the freshest, most succulent sesame encrusted albacore tuna... ever! And to top it off, this place declares on their menu that they get their fish from sustainable fisheries and their meat from humane farms - something that really means a lot to me, as I am struggling to find ways to live more sustainably in these somewhat terrifying times.

So yes, the options for healthy, tasty food in Vancouver are quite abundant. As I drove home this evening I found myself reminiscing over my lunch of fresh salmon salad roll with lemon & spinach cous-cous that I had the other day at Granville Island (picture the St. Lawrence Market, only way bigger, fresher, juicier, healthier... better), and my late lunch/early dinner today with my brother at the Havana Cafe, where I had the freshest (ooh, there's that succulent word again!) portebello mushroom wrap - oh my. Mmmm, and tomorrow my parents are taking me out to one of our favorite Indian restaurants, the Samosa Garden... And now all I can think about is making sure I go for sushi sometime before I fly home on Monday morning...

Yes my dears, if you're ever looking for a vacation with moderate weather (the rain is sort of a perpetual threat) and fabulous food - come to Vancouver. The view of the mountains and the proximity of the ocean are an added bonus.

Mouth wateringly yours,
Triple M.