®Best of Vancouver

Best of Food & Drink

by The Georgia Straight Staff on September 19th, 2007 at 7:12 PM

RESTAURANT TO EAT MEAT

  1. The Keg Steakhouse & Bar
      Various locations
  2. Memphis Blues Barbeque House
      1465 West Broadway
  3. Gotham Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar (tie)
      615 Seymour Street
    Samba Brazilian Steakhouse (tie)
      1122 Alberni Street

VEGGIE RESTAURANT
 ”East Is East—not technically a veggie restaurant, but their vegetarian options are amazing!”

  1. The Naam
      2724 West 4th Avenue
  2. The Foundation
      2301 Main Street
  3. Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant
      3068 Main Street

GELATO SHOP

  1. La Casa Gelato (tie)
      1033 Venables Street
    Mario’s Gelati (tie)
      78 East 1st Avenue
  2. Mondo Gelato
      Various locations
  3. Dolce Amore
      1590 Commercial Drive
      772 Thurlow Street

ALL-DAY BREAKFAST

  1. Denny’s Canada
      Various locations
  2. Bon’s Off Broadway
      2451 Nanaimo Street
  3. IHOP Restaurant
      Various locations

BRUNCH

  1. Milestone’s Restaurant
      Various locations
  2. Sophie’s Cosmic Café
      2095 West 4th Avenue
  3. Provence Mediterranean Grill
      1177 West Broadway

LATE-NIGHT TAKEOUT

  1. Wendy’s
      Various locations
  2. McDonald’s
      Various locations
  3. The Naam
      2724 West 4th Avenue

COOKING SCHOOL

  1. Vancouver Community College—Culinary Arts
      250 West Pender Street
  2. Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
      1505 West 2nd Avenue
  3. The Art Institute of Vancouver– Dubrulle Culinary Arts
      300–609 Granville Street

RESTAURANT (CHAIN)

  1. Earls Restaurant (tie)
      Various locations
    Milestone’s Restaurant (tie)
      Various locations
  2. Cactus Club Cafe
      Various locations
  3. White Spot Restaurant
      Various locations

RESTAURANT BATHROOM
”I really like the Bollywood movies at Rangoli”

  1. Cactus Club Cafe
      Various locations
  2. Moxie’s Classic Grill
      Various locations
  3. Joey Tomato’s Mediterranean Grill
      1424 West Broadway
      550 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam

RESTAURANT FOR FINE DINING
”Not really my thang, y’know?”

  1. Lumií¨re Restaurant
      2551 West Broadway
  2. West Restaurant & Bar
      2881 Granville Street
  3. Bishop’s Restaurant
      2183 West 4th Avenue

RESTAURANT FOR CHEAP EATS

  1. Hon’s Wun-Tun House
      Various locations
  2. Stepho’s Souvlakia Greek Taverna
      1124 Davie Street
  3. Hawker’s Delight (tie)
      4127 Main Street
    McDonald’s (tie)
      Various locations

KID-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT
”Kids should not go to restaurants”

  1. White Spot Restaurant
      Various locations
  2. McDonald’s
      Various locations
  3. Café Deux Soleils
      2096 Commercial Drive

ROMANTIC RESTAURANT
”Bridges (upstairs)—that’s where I got proposed to”

  1. The Cannery Seafood House
      2205 Commissioner Street
  2. Parkside
      1906 Haro Street
    Le Gavroche (tie)
      1616 Alberni Street
  3. Lumií¨re (tie)
      2551 West Broadway

PATIO
”Since I moved within a block of the liquor store and got that free love seat, the winner is my own front porch”

  1. Bridges
      1696 Duranleau
  2. The Boathouse
      1795 Beach Avenue
  3. Havana
      1212 Commercial Drive

NEW RESTAURANT

  1. Crave
      3941 Main Street
  2. Fuel
      1944 West 4th Avenue
  3. Chow
      3121 Granville Street

ETHNIC RESTAURANT
”Kintaro Ramen—$6.95 gets you into noodle heaven”

  1. Vij’s 1480
      West 11th Avenue
  2. Banana Leaf
      Various locations
  3. Hon’s Wun-Tun House (tie)
      Various locations
    Nyala (tie)
      4148 Main Street

COFFEE HOUSE (CHAIN)
”Anything but Starbucks (aka the Catholic church of coffee)”

  1. Starbucks
      Various locations
  2. Blenz
      Various locations
  3. Bean Around the World (tie)
      Various locations
    Tim Hortons (tie)
      Various locations

COFFEE HOUSE (INDEPENDENT)
”Cuppa Joe—roasted locally”¦and not all good coffee places have to be Italian. Coffee doesn’t even come from Italy!”

  1. Continental Coffee
      1806 Commercial Drive
  2. Caffí¨ Artigiano
      Various locations
  3. J.J. Bean
      Various locations

FAIR TRADE COFFEE

  1. Salt Spring Coffee Co.
  2. Ethical Bean
  3. J.J. Bean

TEA SHOP

  1. Steeps
      895 West Broadway
  2. T
      1568 West Broadway
  3. Murchie’s Tea & Coffee
      Various locations

BAKERY (BREADS)

  1. Cobs Bread (tie)
      Various locations
    Terra Breads (tie)
      Various locations
  2. Uprising Breads Bakery
      1697 Venables Street
  3. Mix the Bakery
      4430 West 10th Avenue

BAKERY (PASTRIES)

  1. Notte’s Bon Ton Pastry & Confectionary
      3150 West Broadway
  2. Fratelli Authentic Italian Baking
      1795 Commercial Drive
  3. Cobs Bread
      Various locations

PRODUCE/GROCERY STORE

  1. Kin’s Farm Market
      Various locations
  2. Capers Community Market
      Various locations
  3. Choices Markets (tie)
      Various locations
    Donald’s Market (tie)
      Various locations

ORGANIC PRODUCE STORE
”I have yet to see any store sell inorganic produce”

  1. Capers Community Market
      Various locations
  2. Choices Markets
      Various locations
  3. Whole Foods Market
      925 Main Street, West Vancouver

B.C. BEER

  1. Granville Island Brewing
  2. Kokanee
  3. Okanagan Springs Brewery

LOCAL MICROBREWERY

  1. Granville Island Brewing
      1441 Cartwright Street
  2. Storm Brewing
      310 Commercial Drive
  3. Russell Brewing
      200–13018 80th Avenue, Surrey

BREW PUB

  1. Yaletown Brewing Company
      1111 Mainland Street
  2. Steamworks Brewing Co.
      375 Water Street
      900 Main Street, West Vancouver
  3. Granville Island Brew Pub
      1441 Cartwright Street

WINE STORE

  1. BC Liquor Store
      Various locations
  2. Liberty Wine Merchants
      Various locations
  3. Marquis Wine Cellar
      1034 Davie Street

RESTAURANT WINE LIST (LOCAL WINES)

  1. Raincity Grill
      1193 Denman Street
  2. Aurora Bistro
      2420 Main Street
  3. Vintropolis
      1809 West 1st Avenue

RESTAURANT WINE LIST (INTERNATIONAL WINES)

  1. West Restaurant
      2881 Granville Street
  2. Raincity Grill
      1193 Denman Street
  3. Brix (tie)
      1138 Homer Street
    CinCin Restaurant (tie)
      1154 Robson Street

B.C. WINE/WINERY (WHITE WINE)
”The Naked Grape—you gotta love the name too”

  1. Mission Hill
      1730 Mission Hill Road, Westbank
  2. Burrowing Owl
      100 Burrowing Owl Place, Oliver
    Grey Monk (tie)
      1055 Camp Road, Okanagan Centre
  3. Quail’s Gate (tie)
      3303 Boucherie Road, Kelowna
    Summerhill Pyramid Winery (tie)
      4870 Chute Lake Road, Kelowna

B.C. WINE/WINERY (RED WINE)

  1. Burrowing Owl
      100 Burrowing Owl Place, Oliver
  2. Mission Hill
      1730 Mission Hill Road, Westbank
  3. Quail’s Gate (tie)
      3303 Boucherie Road, Kelowna
    Summerhill Pyramid Winery (tie)
      4870 Chute Lake Road, Kelowna

Comments

4 Comments

porcupinemighty

Jun 17, 2008 at 9:00pm

This is the most dissapointing best-of list to date.

It should reflect the "Best places"

not the most popular defaults like "denny's" as a best restaurant for breakfast.

lost one.

Olund76

Sep 10, 2010 at 11:48am

Regarding indepentend cafes, I disagree with cafe artigiano. First of all, they are a chain and aside from the look, I think their coffee sucks.

In any order on that list there should be added one of these:

1. Pure Coffee House
2. Wicked Cafe
3. Brazza Cafe & Gelato
4. Bump 'n' Grind

whatthefisETHNICnowadays

Oct 16, 2007 at 4:14pm

Where am I? Is the Best of Nashville? or Spokane? This is Vancouver right? A fair newbie to these streets, I turn to what I've been told, is a fairly good source for what's what. So surely the best of the folk who are in the know for what's what, would be on the cusp, the cutting edge right? I despair for this rainsoaked town if that is true.

Aside from Denny's topping the best breakfast when there are gems like the Elbow Room or Dutch Shoe, because the staff of the Straight can't control the voting public BUT BUT BUT.......What the HECK is the category ETHNIC RESTAURANT doing on this list? What is Ethnic exactly? I mean, I think I've seen thai noodles on Earl's menu. I think Chambord is Belgian...oooooh but that dude is white right? But so are Italians generally. So WHAT IS ETHNIC in VANCOUVER? There is every other food category, then all the browns, yellows and et al. get lumped in with 'ETHNIC'. Gawd, who da editor on this rag? To shed some light on my frustration or confusion I ASK what is white food then or rather WHAT IS NON-ETHNIC FOOD? in 2007? in VANCOUVER? in CANADA?

ho-the-f-hum

Where is a gurl to turn to to find the best of Vancouver in more granular categories.... we do have that variety. Afterall, didn't over a 100 restaurants open here last year? Isn't that enuff to warrant the poll to include...
Best Dim Sum
Best Sushi
Best Mexican
Best Curry
Best Noodle
Best Korean
Best Pancake
Best Mussles.....oh but 90% of that list is incorporated right? in ETHNIC.

John Burns

Oct 17, 2007 at 1:51pm

Having edited the contributors' side of the Best of Vancouver - but not the Readers' Choice Ballots - I can say I've been scratching my head a little over that one as well.

It's a good point you make, whatthefisETHNIC. I'm going to circulate this for some thinking in the office. Don't give up on us yet!

<em>John</em>