{"id":8779,"date":"2016-09-05T12:39:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T20:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/?p=8779"},"modified":"2016-09-05T14:16:45","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T22:16:45","slug":"tasting-plates-west-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/tasting-plates-west-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Plates West End by Vanfoodster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The West End<\/h3>\n

I was invited to another Vanfoodster<\/a>‘s Tasting Plates event<\/a>, and this time the tasty adventure took place in Vancouver’s West End. This neighbour lies west of the Downtown area, the cluster of eateries of different cuisines starts at Davie Village, one of the most vibrant communities, down on Davie street all the way to English Bay at Denman street, where beach front restaurants and bars are popular among the visitors and the locals. While The whole Denman street is packed with gastropubs, bistros and Asian restaurants, you will find some of the best Ramen joints in North America at the north end of Denman at Robson street. The West End part of Robson street also consists of busy places for delicious food. Besides a dozen of Korean BBQ places near the west end of the street, you fill find numerous casual or fine dining spots all the way back to the downtown core area.<\/p>\n

The Tasting Plates of the Evening<\/h3>\n

We started at Marqui Wine Cellar<\/a><\/strong>, where we greeted with friends, old or new, and enjoyed a glass of of 2014 Santa Carolina Reserva Carmen\u00e8re<\/strong> Wine
\nand Vera\u2019s Famous BBQ Burger<\/strong> from Vera’s Burger Shack<\/a><\/strong> . The slider-size beef burger was also loaded with havarti, bacon, fried onions & bbq sauce, paired nicely with the full bodied red wine.<\/p>\n

\"Marqui<\/a>
Marqui Wine Cellar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Vera's<\/a>
Vera’s Famours BBQ Burger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Tartine’s was just right across the street, we decided to skip the line-up and went straight to Grotto<\/strong><\/a>. It\u00a0looked\u00a0elegant and chic inside the basement Italian eatery with the dark wood decors.\u00a0\u00a0The thin crust pizza slices they offered included the Funghi<\/strong> and Prosciutto<\/strong>, simple but flavourful. I was impressed\u00a0how the umami taste could be achieved from\u00a0good quality cheese.<\/p>\n

\"Grotto\"<\/a>
Grotto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Worked up an appetite with the yummy pizza, we were ready to take on a bigger meal at Verifood Pasta Cafe<\/a>, the furthest buy levitra canada <\/a> destination on our gourmet map at the north end of Denman.\u00a0\u00a0We tried:\u00a02 Meatballs<\/strong> with Italian sauce and b\u00e9chamel and a side of focaccia, the\u00a0Pink Gnocchi with Pesto<\/strong> and the\u00a0Tiramis\u00f9<\/strong>, all very humble and comforting dishes freshly made in the house.<\/p>\n

\"VeriFood<\/a>
VeriFood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We walked back a little bit towards English Bay for our next stop Milano Coffee Roaster<\/strong><\/a>. It was a delectible\u00a0caffeine fix with the Affogato<\/strong>, made with the La Futura<\/em> <\/strong>espresso and Vanilla been Gelato<\/strong>. I was also offered an Americano<\/strong> featuring their award winning Butter<\/em><\/strong> espresso.<\/p>\n

\"Milano<\/a>
Milano Coffee Roaster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Milano<\/a>
Milano Coffee Roaster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although I was looking forward to\u00a0sweet treats at Styo Dessert<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0I found out they also served savoury items like the Ham & Cheese Stuffed Waffles. Using the fluffy and slightly crunchy Belgian waffles\u00a0makes such a great idea for ham & cheese. We also tried the Cinnamon & Apple Stuffed Waffles,<\/strong> the Signature Tart Frozen Yogurt<\/strong>, and the Classic Milk Ice Cream<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a>
Apple Cinnamon Stuffed Waffles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"ham<\/a>
ham & cheese stuffed waffles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I\u00a0didn’t expect to see such a small feast at Tartine Bread and Pies waiting for us. They served us 3 homemade stews: Mexican Chicken Cream Corn<\/strong>, Paprika Pork Goulash<\/strong>\u00a0and Good Guinness Beef Stew<\/strong>. I was equally impressed by all of them, which were complemented with a hearty\u00a0Rustic White Bread,\u00a0<\/strong>also made in-house. And at the end of our Tasting Plates journey, we didn’t leave empty handed – everyone was presented\u00a0a small\u00a0to-go box\u00a0of dessert treats, a trio of pies: Raspberry Sour Cream<\/strong>, Blackberry Apple<\/strong> & Coconut\u00a0Meringue<\/strong>. \u00a0I could hardly\u00a0wait to get home try them!<\/p>\n

\"home<\/a>
home made stews and bread<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Next Event<\/h3>\n

The next Tasting Plates event will be in Port Moody<\/a>\u00a0on September 21, featuring a great selection of eateries and breweries, which will be a unique experience as microbreweries are flourishing\u00a0in the area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The West End I was invited to another Vanfoodster‘s Tasting Plates event, and this time the tasty adventure took place in Vancouver’s West End. This neighbour lies west of the Downtown area, the cluster of eateries of different cuisines starts at Davie Village, one of the most vibrant communities, down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[177,97,249],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/image-4.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8804,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8779\/revisions\/8804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}