Stella’s Less Than Stellar

Who doesn’t love a good, lazy, late morning brunch? I’m a loyal fan of the brunch, especially if there is also beer. Not that I am normally an advocate for AM drinking, but with Stella’s Tap & Tapas‘ huge assortment of fruity, delicious import beer, exceptions can certainly be made. And so it was with much excitement that my friends and I found ourselves at Stella’s (our second choice, actually, after finding out that Me & Julio was closed). And we were still excited when we ordered the Gauffres (Waffles) Bananas Foster ($9) - a waffle covered in a banana, brown sugar and rum mix then topped with whipping cream - and the French Toast with Brie and berry coulis ($11), which is accompanied with hash browns and a green salad.

And then we proceeded to get caught up on each others lives, while noticing that our excitement was dwindling slowly. Breakfast was taking an exceedingly long time. I had finished my Caesar and not been offered anything else. My friend had finished her coffee, requested a Belle-Vue Kriek, realized the waitress had forgotten it, asked for it again and finally got it, and still no food had come. We did the normal restaurant thing of craning around trying to figure out if the people all around us eating had come before or after us and came to the conclusion that the restaurant had been mostly empty when we arrived.

So we flagged down Niki, our incredibly uncaring waitress who seemed to forget about us constantly - forgot to fill our water, forgot to bring aforementioned beer, forgot to ask us how the food was, forgot to bring us the bill and then at the end forgot that there were 3 people at the table so she took one person’s credit card to ring through, then came for the next one, etc…). I want to say that she forgot our order as well, since it took 45 minutes for the food to arrive, but a loud “F***!” from the kitchen (thankfully after we received our brunch) may have indicated other problems going on there.

Like the inability to tell if a banana is ripe, for instance. When we finally did get our food, we were sad to realize that the bananas were no where near ripeness. They were little so green…little banana embryos that would have needed a lot more time to mature. Banana flavoured rocks, with that faintly fuzzy texture inherent to bananas. They were terrible. Coat anything in sugar and rum, however, and mix in some good company - my friend also reported that the Brie on French Toast was delicious - and all would have likely been forgotten, but the service never got any better.

I can forgive forgetfulness, but it was obvious that Niki just didn’t care. I’m sure she would have spent her entire shift updating her Facebook page if they had a laptop behind the bar (and maybe they do, that would at least explain the service).

Sadly, I love Stella’s, and especially their brunch. My only complaint up until now is that it occasionally gets too busy and noisy, but the food is usually spot-on and they have one of the best import beer lists in the city - many of them fruity and yeasty and perfectly matched with breakfast fare. I’ve even had the bananas foster waffles a few times before and enjoyed them, so I hope this was simply a (very) off day for the restaurant and not a sign of things to come.

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Stella’s Tap & Tapas

1191 Commercial Drive

Mon - Fri 11 AM - 11:30 PM, Sat - Sun 10:30 am to 11:30 pm

Belgian Fries Poutine Takes the Pain Away

When I read “Could I quit the drinking but keep the hangovers?” at Salon.com’s advice column, I thought I had come across a true crazy, asking nutty questions like that. But then this past weekend, I realized that the pain of a hangover justifies the comfort of hangover food, and so  there is something nice about that after all. I’m not going to quit drinking though! Just so we’re clear…

I actually wasn’t even really hungover this weekend, but sitting in the sun drinking coffee, I managed to convince myself that I was in just enough pain to justify having Belgian Fries’ poutine for lunch. And oh, it was so good! It even would have been worth the feeling of nails behind my eyes, but luckily it didn’t come to that.

At the first bite of hot cheese curd, fries and gravy, I think my heart melted a bit (or it may have just momentarily stalled in horror at the amount of artery clogging food that just entered my mouth). The fries were perfectly cooked and not too oily and the gravy was warm and salty. No complaints whatsoever.

Because I only am allowed to enter the house of poutine about twice a year, that’s all I’ve ever ordered. The cone of chips with various dips (chipotle mayo, roma tomato, chive, etc) look good too and I’ve always wanted to try the War dish. Apparently it’s a Dutch specialty involving fries, peanut satay sauce, mayo and onions. For some reason I can’t seem to find anything else about it, but the photos on the wall look pretty tasty. Deep fried Mars bars are also on the menu, but that is just too much of a heart attack in a dish for my liking.

I always forget that the large size is too big and soggy fries at the bottom of all that gravy doesn’t really make for good leftovers, so I suggest a regular serving accompanied with a glass of the sickeningly sweet peach drink that seems to be the house specialty. Get that down and hit the couch for an hour or two and you’ll forget all about last night’s Jagers.

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Belgian Fries

1885 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Leggo My Liege Waffle - Cafe Medina is Open for Business

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. What with the French Toast and the Eggs Benny…there is pretty much no bad breakfast food in my book. And if you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to enjoy it, so much the better. Not very surprising then that I’ve had my eye on Cafe Medina since the idea of it was whispered to the Internet. I’m a fan of anything the House of Chambar does, and even without a kitchen I’m happy to report back that Medina is cranking out some heavenly food.

For now (the kitchen will come later), what’s on the menu is waffles and coffee. For $6 you get a snack (or breakfast) sized waffle, with topping and a coffee. Tea can be substituted in and Lattes and other assorted coffee drinks are available for a little bit more. The toppings are where it gets interesting though. Depending on the time of day - or your penchant for sugar - you can have Organic maple syrup, yogurt, fruit, or a mouth-watering choice of flavoured chocolates and compotes.

The first time I was there I had the spiced caramel (above), but when I found myself back in the neighborhood 2 days later, I picked the Blueberry vanilla compote. Both were exquisite in the extreme, but I’m leaning on the blueberry for now. Next time I am going to have to get the Fig orange marmalade.

Like Chambar next door, Medina is lushly decorated in a modern European style. Lots of wood and brick accented by an ocean-y blue resin bar top and a series of blue-themed art on the walls. It effortlessly manages the divide between cool and welcoming.

Both visits have found the place packed - to the point of there being some confusion about whether you should order or find a seat first. To avoid having to eat your waffle standing or squished into the long wooden bar on reworked tin stools, the best process seems to be to go with a friend, get them to find a seat while you order. And of course then you can try 2 different toppings too.

The only thing I would change is that the waffle is served with a fork only. I don’t know if I’m the only one that had trouble with this, but the waffle needs cutting and so a knife would be a nice thought. Next time I will request one when I place my order…either that or just put the whole waffle in my mouth at once.

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Cafe Medina

556 Beatty Street, Vancouver (in Crosstown)

Mon - Fri 7:30 AM - 5 PM, Sat - 9 AM - 5 PM