Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the Inside Vancouver blog, as part of special coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Vancouver's got great restaurants, but what about its street food?

The secret is officially out on Vancouver’s food scene. Earlier this month, The New York Times declared Vancouver among “the best eating towns in the history of the Winter Games.” Gourmands and epicures the world over are – at this very moment – feverishly blogging about the city’s innovative restaurants and chic-chic bistros. But for me, a city’s culinary clout isn’t just about the gourmet stuff. To truly be a culinary capital, a city has to deliver on the low-end, as well. And it doesn’t get any lower end than street food – no waiters, no tables, not even a door. New York’s got great street food. So does Tokyo. But how does Vancouver stack up? The answer: If you can find street food in Vancouver, it’s bound to be good. But finding it is the tricky part. Stringent health and sanitation by-laws mean there are very few vendors actually selling food on city streets. There are plenty of hot dog carts, of course, but not the kind of cornucopia of sweet and savory treats you see in other places. However, what Vancouver lacks in abundance, it makes up for in diversity, novelty and sheer deliciousness. 

The Terimayo at Japadog is topped with teriyaki and seaweed.

I checked out the street food scene this afternoon. Sure enough, the Olympic masses had quickly discovered the hidden (and not-so-hidden) gems. At Japadog, an innovative hot dog stand with an Asian twist, lines were even longer than usual. At the Burrard Street cart, I waited patiently for a Terimayo ($4.75) – a beef sausage topped with teriyaki, seaweed strips and Japanese mayonnaise. It might sound unconventional, even gross, but one bite and you’ll understand the appeal. The Japanese flavors – from seaweed, to daikon radish, to bonito flakes – complement the strong, smoky dogs in unexpected and delightful ways. And that’s not just my opinion. Celebs and food-hounds as diverse as Anthony Bourdain, Steven Seagal and Ice Cube have all raved about Vancouver’s Japadogs.

A favorite of Granville Street revelers, Babylon Cafe serves big, juicy shawarmas.

Next up, I headed to the busy intersection of Granville and Robson streets, both car-free for the duration of the Games. I was still a block away when I smelled the heavenly shawarma from Babylon Cafe. Now, technically, Babylon Cafe isn’t street food. They operate out of a storefront the size of a walk-in closet, with just enough room to pick up your order and be on your way (and you better be quick about it!). Their specialty is marinated chicken or lamb, roasted on a spit, then wrapped in a pita with lettuce, tzatziki sauce and tabouli ($5.95 and $6.95 respectively). Many places do shawarmas in Vancouver (or donairs as they’re also known), but few are so consistently busy and none cranks out such an intoxicating, stop-dead-in-your-tracks aroma. This afternoon, the line outside Babylon stretched nearly to the end of the block, filled with hungry fans dressed in red and white.

Cafe Crepe is Vancouver's late-night spot for snacks with a French twist.

Catty-cornered across the intersection from Babylon Cafe is another Vancouver (and Canada-wide) institution: Cafe Crepe. Again, street food purists might take issue with this choice. But, while there is a sit-down area, most patrons grab a crepe at the big take-out window in front and munch on the run. The place is open 24/7 during the Games, attesting to Cafe Crepe’s status as standby for late-night revelers along Granville Street. Crepes come in sweet and savory versions and range in price from $3.95 all the way up to $10.10 for a Speciale de Cafe Crepe, which includes Nutella, hazelnut and Grand Marnier. Stuffed already, I topped off my street food circuit with a simple butter and sugar crepe ($3.95), which comes wrapped up much like a burrito or gyro. A bit doughy for my liking, but – after a night on the town – it might be just the thing. I know I’ve just scratched the surface on this subject. Please weigh in with your picks for Vancouver’s best street food!

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Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the Inside Vancouver blog, as part of special coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Granville Street is one stop on the unofficial Canada Line pub crawl.

The Olympics have transformed Vancouver in many ways, not the least of which was the construction of the Canada Line – the city’s gleaming new rapid transit system. Built over four years and at a cost of more than $2 billion, the Canada Line enables Olympic visitors to zip all the way from the airport into downtown Vancouver in fewer than 30 minutes. And after the Games are finished, it will allow commuters from the city’s suburbs easy access to the heart of the city, saving time and reducing Vancouver’s carbon footprint. But the Canada Line can also be put to less noble purposes.

Shortly after the inauguration of the train last summer, party-minded Vancouverites began noticing that many of the Canada Line’s stations are conveniently situated near bars and clubs. The Canada Line pub crawl was born. The route isn’t set in stone and it would be impossible to visit all the bars along the way, but the crawl has caught on – offering a cheap, safe vehicle for a night of revelry and carousing.

In honor of the Olympics, I decided to do a mini Canada Line pub crawl of my own, visiting four stops right in the heart of Olympic action: Waterfront, Vancouver City Centre, Yaletown and (with an easy connection via the new Olympic Line street car) Granville Island. As I emerged from Waterfront Station, I found myself engulfed in crowds. The whole area is a nexus of Olympic action – with the city’s hotel district, the Main Media Centre and the ever-popular torch all clustered in the same few blocks.

I worked my way a few blocks over to Gastown, the lively waterfront neighborhood with no shortage of watering holes. To start the crawl, I headed into the Irish Heather, a relatively new player on the Vancouver pub scene and one that prides itself on authenticity. Inside, the ambiance is all dark wood and Guinness. I ordered an R&B Raven Cream Ale and was tempted to stay for the Heather’s unique communal dinner, where guests sit at one long table for a single, prix fixe Irish meal.

Start your pub crawl at the Irish Heather in Gastown, which also offers Irish meals at its really long table.

But duty called. While I could have walked to my next stop, I hopped back on the Canada Line to keep things official and got off at Vancouver City Centre, which is just next to the Granville Street pub and club district. I took a peek at the Irish House (which adjoins Doolin’s, another classic Vancouver Irish pub), but the long lines to get in were intimidating.

Instead, I found my way to the Railway Club, a Vancouver drinking institution tucked away on the second floor of a commercial building on Granville and Dunsmuir. The atmosphere in the Railway, which does indeed have a miniature train running through the bar, is always festive – even more so tonight with 250,000 Olympic fanatics in town. I downed a Central City Big Kettle ESB, another local microbrew, and continued on my way.

The Irish House near Granville Street makes a good stop on the crawl (But expect a much longer queue than in this rare line-less photo).

Next stop was Yaletown, the city’s trendy warehouse district and party central during the Games. Once the big LiveCity celebration site closes down at 11:30 each night, the bars along Hamilton and Mainland Streets fill with revelers looking to keep the party going. A popular spot is Society, a dining lounge located halfway down Hamilton Street. Inside, the big, open room is dominated by an oversized pink chandelier that looks a little like a pulsating jellyfish. To switch things up a bit, I tried one of Society’s signature drinks, a bourbon milkshake spiked with Jim Beam. Delicious – But in retrospect maybe not the best choice (What’s that saying about beer before liquor . . . ?).

Crowded in the afternoon, Yaletown's pub zone gets even busier at night.

My last stop of the night required a little leg work. I took the Canada Line to the next station, Olympic Village. From there, I caught the free Olympic Line streetcar to Granville Island, a waterfront district filled with gourmet shops, artisans’ workshops and – at night – several lively bars. During the Olympics, Granville Island is also home to some highly regarded party places – The Swiss House, Place de la Francophonie (see Julie’s great post) and Atlantic Canada House.

I stopped at the long line outside Atlantic Canada House, where fans had queued up to get inside the Kitchen Party – a small bar transformed to look like a Halifax pub that has nightly live music from back East. Inside, I couldn’t help sampling some of the local brew, a fiery liquor called Shine from Prince Edward Island.

Atlantic Canada House makes a great terminus for the Canada Line pub crawl, just expect a wait to get inside.

Needless to say, it was fortunate that I had decided to limit my Canada Line pub crawl to just four stations. Anyone else tried the crawl? Any recommendations for bars to visit along the way?

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Like birthdays and anniversaries, Olympics tend to be the kind of thing that sneaks up on you.  Next Friday, the 21st installment of the Olympic Winter Games kicks off in Vancouver.  Now, I live here.  For at least the last five years, it’s been just about all anyone has talked about.  But I know that the rest of the world has had more pressing things to worry about than crowning the next Nancy Kerrigan.  The good news is that if you still want to come, there are plenty of flights, beds and tickets available (For a price, of course).  I broke it all down for The Washington Post.

Vancouver Snapshot: Last-minute travelers’ sprint is a quadrennial Olympic event

By Remy Scalza, Special to The Washington Post

So between slogging your way through the Great Recession and following the inaugural season of “Jersey Shore,” you haven’t had much time to think about the Olympic Winter Games starting in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday. But now, all of a sudden, those Morgan Freeman commercials for Visa — the ones with the slow-mo shots of Olympic glories past — have you in the spirit. You want in, front-row center, as the next generation of Apolo Ohnos is crowned.

Is it too late? Maybe not.

Click here for the full article on The Washington Post site.

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Maybe Ben Franklin had it right.  Turkey booster until the bitter end, Franklin railed against the choice of bald eagle as America’s symbol.  “He is a bird of bad moral character,” Franklin wrote. “He does not get his living honestly.”  Up close, it definitely looked that way.  I had a chance to visit Brackendale, B.C., the world’s self-proclaimed bald eagle capital, while researching a story for The Washington Post.  A few eagles kind of looked like the majestic bird on the back of the quarter, but most were busy tearing into rotten salmon, which end up floating in the rivers after spawning is over.  One local lady called them nothing but big seagulls.  Still, it was pretty impressive to see dozens all in one place.

Vancouver snapshot: Bald eagles find a home in Canada

By Remy Scalza; Special to The Washington Post

The highway turnoff is easy to miss. On the rugged stretch of mountain road that connects Olympic cities Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., just past the midway point, is a small, handmade sign. Look hard and you’ll see a bald eagle in profile, beak painted a brilliant yellow, beady eye aglow.

Next stop: Brackendale, self-proclaimed World Eagle Capital.

“One year, we counted 3,769 bald eagles in one day,” says 40-year resident and avian enthusiast Thor Froslev. “You practically had to have a hard hat on to go outside.”

Click here for the full article on The Washington Post site.

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Vancouver's oldest microbrewery, Granville Island Brewing offers relief from Molson monotony with varieties like maple cream ale and honey lager.

While Canadian food, like poutine, may not be standard international fare, Canadian beer has found its way into refrigerators the world over.  Molson dates back to 1786 and now ranks among the world’s largest brewing companies.  Its importance to Canuck culture is such that “Molson muscle” has entered the Canadian lexicon as slang for beer belly.  But while Molson may be the most quintessentially Canadian brew (check out their I Am Canadian commercials if you’re in doubt), there are plenty of contenders for the title of best beer north of the border.

Vancouver, host of the 2010 Winter Olympics, is home to a thriving microbrew scene.  Considering the proud beer-making tradition in Pacific Northwest cities like Portland and Seattle, Vancouver arrived relatively late to the world of craft brewing.  The first microbrewery in all of western Canada opened in 1984 in the city’s Granville Island neighborhood, a one-time factory district reborn as a waterfront hub for bars and restaurants.  Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Granville Island Brewing built a reputation by offering full-flavored beers christened after local landmarks, like its English Bay Pale Ale (named after one of the city’s nicer beaches) and Cypress Honey Lager (named after the 2010 Olympic snowboarding venue).

Located beneath the busy Granville Street bridge, Granville Island Brewing is part of a pedestrian-friendly complex of restaurants, bars and markets clustered along the waterfront.

Despite its success in the local market, Granville Island Brewing has remained true to its humble roots.  I sign up for a Saturday brewery tour ($9.75) expecting a gleaming, modern operation, with bottles zipping off the assembly line.  Instead, I’m crammed into a dimly lit workshop that smells like baking bread with about a dozen other guests.  We munch on malted barley to find out where beer comes from, squeeze past leaky hoses to peer into the fermentation room and sniff fresh hops that, according to the knowledgeable guide, “smell a lot like cannibus” (This is British Columbia, after all).

While there are a few beer nerds in our ranks, anxious to show they know their Hefeweizens from their Dunkels, the group is pretty eclectic for a brewery tour, with older couples from China, a mom and daughter from Montreal and a couple visiting from Seattle.  And, overall, the feel is different from that of a slick, choreographed tour in the U.S.  After about a half-hour spent tracing beer’s epic journey from grist to mash to wort, we all pile out of the brewery for the tasting.

The tasting is held in Granville Island Brewing’s taproom, one of the more popular watering holes on the island.   The price of the tour includes four, six-ounce beers – a deal, especially with the two-for-one coupon on the brewery Web site.  I take a seat in front of  four full glasses, each tinted a different shade of amber.  After a few sips, any loyalties to Molson are wavering.  I try an IPA, a honey lager and a special edition bitter.  They’re all good, but one taste of Granville’s Maple Cream Ale and I’ve found a new favorite.  It’s smooth, with a strong body and sweet finish.  And the best part: It’s made with real Canadian maple syrup.

• Getting There:
  • Granville Island Brewing is located in Vancouver’s Granville Island neighborhood, a waterfront center of markets, shops and restaurants.  From downtown Vancouver, cross the Granville Street bridge to reach the island.
• Getting Around:
  • The brewery is housed in a modest warehouse at the entrance to Granville Island.  Parking can be hard to find, so try to arrive early on weekends and holidays.

• When to Go:
  • Tours ($9.75, including four, six-ounce tasters) are offered seven days a week at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and last for approximately 90 minutes.  Advance reservations are not taken, so arrive early to secure a spot.
• Tips:
  • Sign up for Granville Island Brewing’s VIP club on their Web site for a two-for-one tour coupon.

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As Canadian as maple syrup, poutine - fries topped with gravy and cheese curds - might be Canada's national dish.

With the possible exception of maple syrup, Canada isn’t really known for its contributions to world cuisine.  The Brits left behind a legacy of bland and boiled food that defined cooking here for generations.   In fairness, cosmopolitan cities like Vancouver and Toronto have embraced new flavors brought by immigrant groups, and both cities boast thriving Asian food scenes.  Finding a real, down-home Canadian meal, however, can be a challenge.

With millions of Olympic tourists about to descend upon Vancouver – many hungry for a taste of the “real” Canada – I decided to go looking for the classic Canuck meal in the city’s Granville Island neighborhood.  Technically a peninsula, Granville Island consists of a cluster of markets, shops and restaurants crowded onto a sliver of land jutting into a downtown inlet.  The main draw, apart from great views of the city and the mountains beyond, is the Public Market, where hundreds of vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables as well as gourmet meat, fish and cheeses.  But I’m looking for something a bit different.

In the shadows of one of Vancouver's busiest bridges, Granville Island is a factory district turned foodie mecca.

Just behind the market is the Backstage Lounge, a popular pub that smells like spilled beer even at two in the afternoon.   While the Backstage may be more famous for its live music than for its menu, it has earned an underground reputation for one particular dish: poutine (rhymes with “routine”).  French for “hodgepodge,” poutine is a Canadian take on cheese fries.  Deep-fried potatoes are sprinkled with fresh cheese curds, then drizzled with brown gravy and served in a bowl.  Though it originated in Quebec – where even Burger King offers a poutine option – the dish is now popular throughout the country.

My first bowl of poutine isn’t really a culinary awakening – fries are fries in any language – but I can see the appeal.  It’s high-calorie, comfort food:  perfect after a day of skiing in the mountains or – judging from poutine’s popularity in pubs – a night of drinking in the city.   And, with the Olympics around the corner, the best thing about poutine may be that it’s open to all cultures.  Popular alternatives to the traditional gravy include peanut satay, Alfredo sauce and curry.

So, anyone else have a high-calorie Canadian favorite?

P.S.  If gravy fries aren’t your thing, check out my post on Tourism Vancouver about the city’s authentic sushi scene.

• Getting There:
  • Vancouver’s Granville Island neighborhood is located just beneath the busy Granville Street Bridge, along False Creek inlet.  To reach Granville Island from downtown, cross the Granville Street bridge and follow signs to the Granville Island Public Market.
• Getting Around:
  • If arriving by car, get to Granville Island before noon to avoid trouble finding a parking spot.  The island itself, with its shops, restaurants and sidewalk performers, is best explored on foot. The Backstage Lounge – home to what many consider the city’s best poutine – is located on the water, just behind the Public Market.
• When to Go:
  • Most shops, restaurants and markets are open seven days a week.  Weekends and holidays are the best days for people watching and to catch free outdoor performances.
• Tips:
  • If you plan on trying the poutine at the Backstage Lounge, make sure to get a table outside.  The patio offers views of the inlet and the downtown skyline.

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