through the eyes of the a70

Picked by VanMag as 2011 Restaurant of the Year, Best Restaurant for Informal Dining, and Best Casual Italian, I don’t think you can go wrong by trying La Quercia. It was recommended by a co-worker and we decided to go for the $60 11 course menu. Their courses were served family style, so it was more or less sharing plates for enough people. Since the dishes are decided by the chef, each time the experience may be different. I’ll attempt to go through the names of each course from memory. Definitely worth a try if you’re looking for some creative Italian cooking.

A week ago, a couple of friends and I checked out Ensemble Restaurant in downtown which opened a few months ago. The chef is Dale MacKay, who won the Food Network’s Canada Top Chef show just recently.
The prices on the menu were definitely manageable. All the entrees were less than $25, priced for anyone with an appetite for good food!

I chose the Dungeness Crab for appetizer, Pulled Pork Sandwich for entree, and the Soufflé of the Day for dessert. The food was great. We had to wait on a couple of occasions, but as Sonny says, it can only get better.

If you just want some dessert, definitely try the soufflé. The combo with the sorbet was excellent.

Tried out another neighbourhood cafe on the weekend called Rhizome Café on Broadway and Kingsway, this time it was more of a late lunch, but they were still serving brunch. They pride themselves on having organic, fresh food, with fair traded coffee.
We were sad to hear that they were all out of the english muffins for the eggs benedicts, otherwise would’ve loved to try it there! I settled for the omelette.

Waited a bit longer than would’ve liked, since I was suuuper hungry!

First trying out this restaurant on the weekend for brunch… now I see why there’s always a lineup!
After looking through the menu and trying to decide on what to order (because so many things looked good), ended up ordering the special – Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict! Yum.

Japanese restaurant in Yaletown area, never noticed it before, but they had some pretty special and delicious rolls!

1275 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver (website)