Marmalade Cat Cafe

A long hungover drive to Reuben's old stomping grounds of Kelowna yielded good weather, beach visits, and senior citizens.  As this was one of Veggie Girl's first visits to the sunny okanagan, Reuben wanted to show off the beauty of the valley.  This started with a beach day in Peachland kayaking and swimming, followed the next morning by a bike ride in East Kelowna through the orchards and vineyards.

After working up an appetite on our orchard velo tour, we had a short time frame to eat before heading to the pool (lots of swimming in the Okanagan eh?)  With Reuben's keen sense of direction, and knowledge of his hometown he suggested the quaint Marmalade Cat Cafe, which has become a local landmark in the Pandosy neighbourhood.

Reuben, being powerless to the combination of chicken and cranberries went for the Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Sandwich (8.25).  This came on your choice of bread with sliced chicken, cranberry sauce, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers, red onion & cheddar cheese.  This also came with a mixed greens salad.  The sandwich was good, but not as flavourful as would've been expected.  Overall, it did hit the spot though, and was a decent value in an area not known for cheap food.

Veggie girl opted for the Grilled Pesto Chicken Panini with Cat Coleslaw (9.25).  This came with oven roasted chicken breast, artichokes, roasted red pepper, monterey jack cheese & pesto mayo.  This was tasty, and savoury, but the portion did not impress.  The value of the sandwich did not seem to extend to the panini. The slaw was simple, yet good, but again was not as much as we expected.  

Overall we would not rush to go back.  The Marmalade Cat Cafe is a really cool place in a nice area, but I feel the forte is on the pastries, snacks and drinks.  I feel that for a better meal I would venture elsewhere, perhaps Soy, or Hector's Casa nearby.  It should be mentioned that we were both very hungry when we arrived, and this may have influenced our opinions of the cafe.

Summary:
+ Patio is perfect in the Okanagan Summers 
+ Good for a light meal
+ Cozy, and good ambience

- Small portions
- Food was basic, and seemed like a side show

East Side Delicatessen (Park Avenue)

In the city of roses stands a gem that exceeds all imagination.  Portland is a great city for a number of reasons, but perhaps what we like most about Rip City is that it is unique in a very good way.  After playing tourist in 30 degree weather for the whole morning, we were feeling famished and needed to get our food fix.  We were near the University downtown, and fairly late for lunch, after hitting a food cart earlier.  This is when we tasted what Reuben now considers his favorite food.

Enter the East Side Delicatessen, a small local chain of deli's with a funky college vibe that doesn't appear to be much from the outside.  Although the restaurant was not busy, it looked intriguing.  That's the beauty of Portland, it always exceeds expectations.

Reuben went immediately for a Jamaican Jerk sandwich, one of the daily specials which came with a choice of bread, and toppings.  He went with the suggestions of our friendly server, and was not disapointed.  Tomatoes, Carrots, White Onion, Romaine Lettuce, Jerk Sauce, and a white sauce that to this day I can not identify created what might be the food equivalent of a clear day of skiing with powder, and no one in site.  For our non alpine readers, this means that it was phenomenal.  The best sandwich I have ever eaten, and I have given myself the nickname "Reuben" so that is saying something.







Veggie girl took a a special as well, and went for the Buffalo Soldier sandwich.  This had chicken, jalapenos, jerk sauce, cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers, and romaine, unfortunately the details are a little fuzzy as this was written some 8 months after this life changing experience.  This was also really good sandwich, and although veggie girl found it very spicy, Reuben did not think it was overwhelmingly so, and you could actually enjoy the flavours.

Both sandwiches were enormous, god bless america.  Reuben without a question rates this small deli in Portland as his all time favorite restaurant.  The combination of cheap food, amazing flavors, and bertuzzi sized portions are hard to beat.  This is a must try for anyone in the area.

Summary:
+ Prices are low
+ Staff was rad
+ Food was beyond good, and plentiful

- All the way in Portland

El Pilón Food Truck

The first pit stop on our Portland adventure was one that required a lot of decision making.  Given the amount of options, particularly in food truck form, Veggie Girl and I had a hard time deciding which to chose.  We even did our best to research ahead of time, but once we were presented with our options our indecisiveness started to get the best of us, and our appetites.  

Every city has gyro trucks, and I am by no means knocking the gyro, but we wanted something different.  One of the advantages of spending the weekend in the USA (Canada Day weekend) is that there is a bevy of Hispanic food.  Add to that the surprisingly large amount of food trucks, especially compared to Vancouver, and the low prices we atleast had some direction.

After wandering through the Portland Saturday Market, and being overwhelmed by gyro's, beaver tails, etc. we proceeded to find the lonely looking El Pilón.  The red trailer lured us in, and one of the owner's kids helped take our order.

We were both quite new to Colombian cuisine, but we were pioneers and ordered anyways.  The prices were low enough that if we didn't like it, we wouldn't feel bad not finishing.  The first item we order was the Meat Empanada ($2.00).

The outside of the freshly made empanada was crispy, and the size seemed on point given the price we paid.  I was dissapointed in the flavour of the filling though, it was somewhat bland.  Now this could be due to the fact that I was tasting mostly the crust (which was quite thin), or perhaps the Salsa, which was very tasty and fresh was meant to provide the additional kick.  

The second item we got was the Patacones with Meat ($4.60), which is there signature dish.  This dish alone made makes me wonder why people in Vancouver pay so much for food out of a truck.  It was really big, and had plenty of cheese and meat.  The twice fried plantain base was predictably crispy and definitely our favorite of the two dishes.  Once again the salsa was good to have, as I still didn't get a ton of flavor.

Overall the meal was a good start to our weekend in Portland.  We went in knowing essentially nothing about the cuisine, and left happy.  The price was right, and you could tell that this was a true family run business.

Summary

+ Cheap

+ Unique food

+ Fresh salsa

- Not a tonne of flavour without the salsa

Meat and Bread (Cambie)

Veggie Girl has grown up eating the great food Vancouver has to offer, Reuben on the other hand is just discovering it.  One of the most popular new restaurants is Meat and Bread, with two locations downtown.  One afternoon we met up at the Cambie location for lunch to get some sandwiches.  

We arrived to a short line, and were greeted by the friendly staff.  Immediately the first thing I noticed was how cool the interior was.  Aside from the Porchetta being sliced in front of us, there were communal tables, a punching bag in the back, and stumptown coffee available.  There was a real gastown vibe.

The menu is very simple, with 3 permanent sandwich choices and one special.  On this day the special was a Perogie Sandwich ($9.00) which contained Braised Ham Hock, Carmelized Onion Sour Cream, Bacon Cheddar Mashed Potato, Sauerkraut. Veggie girl ordered this, while Reuben went with the Porchetta ($8.00) with salsa verde, because it was his first time eating at Meat and Bread, and it seems like their specialty.

First of all, the presentation was unreal for a sandwich shop.  The cedar plank with waxed paper, and dallop of sauce almost made us feel bad for eating it.  

Reuben's porchetta sandwich was good, but did not live up to the perhaps too high expectations.  The flavours seemed mild, and the texture did not stand out.  With that said, it was gone within a few short minutes so it was by no means bad.  Next time he will probably try one of the other options.

Veggie girl's perogie sandwich was very good, and in hindsight perogies are always good.  The smooth perogies contrasted the crunchy sauerkraut.  The flavours also really blended together, which is impressive given the number of ingredients.  This was definitely the favorite.  

Summary:

+ Very cool restaurant

+ Very unique specials

+ Good sandwiches

- Porchetta didn't meet expectations, but perhaps these were unrealistically high.  It was still very good.

Schwartz's Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen

The Vancouver food scene has a lot of variety, but it takes a trip to a city like Toronto, or in this case Montreal to really understand what the west coast is lacking.  There are some great deli's in Vancouver, many of which I have yet to try, but none of them have the cult following that we see with Schwartz's.

While on a work trip to Montreal, I knew even before I had booked my tickets of atleast one place I had to eat.  I knew that this was a cash only institution, and was not set up to be a comfortable, or modern restaurant.  That isn't why people go to Schwartz's, and I was going there looking only for one thing, Montreal smoked meat.  This world famous symbol of the city bears resemblance to Pastrami, but it isn't identical.  The seasoning is different, and in general contains much less sugar than its counterpart.  

With the history lesson done, I found myself wandering Boulevard Saint-Laurent passing a host of ethnic restaurants ranging from Vietnamese, Japanese, Cambodian, as we would see in Vancouver, to Slovenian, Portugese and French which are unfortunately under represented in our great city.  

I already knew my order ahead of time, as it seemed to be the choice of several others who have visited, or even frequented the joint.  I went with the Smoked Meat Sandwich ($6.65), Pickle ($1.95), and Cherry Cola ($2.10).  It seems to me the value of the sandwich does not extend to the sides, but I wanted the real Schwartz's experience and was unwilling to compromise.  

I wasn't able to sit in the restaurant, so I took my food and found a park bench to enjoy it at.  The meal was excellent.  I was new to the cherry pop and pickle sides, but they went well with the sandwich.  

I call it a sandwich, but in reality the meat was the main attraction.  The rye bread, while good seemed to be there mostly to keep your hands clean, and the mustard did provide some zing, but didn't overwhelm the flavour of the smoked meat.  Check out the elevation on this sandwich though!  The meat was very tender, with an amazing flavour.  I admittedly do not eat as much deli food as I would like to, so I can't vouch for the authenticity, but I imagine that with an 80 year history they probably wrote the book.

Schwartz's is a must try for anyone visiting Montreal.  I was only there for a week, and didn't explore the whole city, but I would strongly encourage people to check out the neighbourhood surrounding Schwartz's, as the variety is hard to match and in my limited experience the food was better than what I found in the downtown core.

Summary:

+ Lives up to the hype

+ The sandwich has some serious altitude

+ They don't spread themselves too thin with a large menu

- Messy (I feel this is almost a plus)

- Busy, hard to find seating