Restaurants
Vancouver's Best Cheap Eats 2012 - continued
By Rebecca Philps published Jun 1, 2012
Our guide to the city's best-value, mind-blowingly delicious meals including artisanal pizzas, fragrant pho, and more
Saravanaa Bhavan
955 W. Broadway., 604-732-7700
Even our stubbornly carnivorous friends buckle for Saravanaa Bhavan, the South Indian veggie room where chef’s special dosas, like the two-foot-long paper masala, a crispy-thin crêpe filled with spiced potato and onion, painted with ghee, and accompanied by a bowl of daal and creamy coconut, chili mint, and fennel-dotted tomato chutneys, is just $8.50. And you can’t beat the takeout “tiffin” lunch special, $5, which offers a choice between four mains—paneer butter masala (roasted cottage cheese cooked with rich butter gravy), “chilly” mushroom (that’s chili and mushroom), baingan bharta (minced roasted eggplant), or palak mutter (spinach sautéed with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and peas)—with naan, rice, potato masala, and dessert.
LA Chicken
160-11780 Thorpe Rd., Richmond, 604-278-4737
The best fried chicken (and we’ll suffer no argument) is found at Willie Mae’s Scotch House, but if the 4,600-kilometre commute to the Seventh Ward in New Orleans seems extreme (wimps!), consider a trip to LA Chicken in Richmond. Poker-faced staff make the juicy pieces to order, and a four-piece original or spicy chicken dinner comes with fries, salad (one of the three amigos: potato, coleslaw, macaroni), and gravy, all for just shy of $12. You’ll want to eat it right away, though the charms of industrial East Richmond are few (save for that ginormous new IKEA). En plein air be damned: this is parking lot fodder and that suits us fine.
Nimby Burger
2210 Cornwall Ave., 604-734-3589
Back in the heady days of 2009, you couldn’t lob an artisanal patty without hitting a menu featuring some sort of gourmet burger. (RIP db Bistro.) Meat-bomb cravings are still happily satisfied at joints like Max’s Burger, where weekly specials like the $10 British Columbian (salty, juicy, with just the right amount of patty popping out of the bacon-marmalade-licked brioche bun) plus a $3.75 sleeve of beer, make for an inexpensive Monday dinner out. But in this cheap-eats universe, there’s an even more satisfyingly Scroogy option: the $5.99 Dooblay (double meat, double cheese) burger from Nimby in Kitsilano. Those in the know order it Buster-style (topped with fried onions) and call on its hangover-prevention powers at next-door Local, where it appears for the same price on the late-night menu.
Via Tevere
1190 Victoria Dr., 604-336-1803
Viateverepizzeria.com (are your speakers on?)
Vancouver’s current pizza craze was born from a perfect storm of food fetishism and a belt-tightening economy. Of the many worthy contenders for sexiest pie, we’re crushing on Via Tevere, which pulls off that neat trick of being planted in its neighbourhood but atmospherically transporting: the room has a buzzy, cozy bonhomie but the yawning, teal-tiled, wood-fired oven at the centre of the room announces that the pizzaioli mean biz. Purists can rest easy: the blistery, minimalist margherita ($11) with its tangy tomato, creamy fior di latte mozza, and aromatic basil shows how brilliant a few simple quality ingredients can be.
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PLUS: CHEF's PICKS!
Karl Gregg of Two Chefs and a Table knows a thing or two about building a brilliant-value plate, so when he says he hits up New Town Bakery for chicken congee, spicy pork buns, and braised short ribs, we follow suit. Also on his list: "great breakfasts under $10" at Helen's Grill on Main; and highfalutin comfort-food hits from Moms Grilled Cheese Truck (try the Jackson 3, a triple-decker of sourdough mortared with brie, Boursin and gruyère). Gregg can't resist the two-beer-and-a-burger deal at Famous Warehouse, he gets his pho fix at Saigon Café, and he swears by the sausage rolls at Woodland Commissary.
CIBO Trattoria's Neil Taylor finds good value on the dim sum menu at Kirin and at Phnom Penh, which offers "the best chicken wings and fried rice. The butter beef is killer too." For a quick snack he recommends Zakkushi-"charcoal-grilled meat on sticks!"
Chris Mills of Joey Restaurants goes for nasi goreng at Hawkers Delight; bahn mi at Kim Saigon; and #1 with thick noodles at Wang's Noodle House.
Ted Anderson of Campagnolo Roma and the newly opened Fat Dragon (we love his crunchy squid bao buns, a steal at $2.50) gets his cheap-eats fix at Q Go Ramen on Broadway at Granville and praises the punchy, spicy Northern Chinese cuisine at Nine Dishes on Kingsway.
