Splitz Grill

Today I had the opportunity to go out and about a neighbourhood new to me in Vancouver, Main St. between about 12th Avenue and Kind Edward. It's a nice neighbourhood with lots of shops and eateries, a bit hipster-ish, but not too bad. We started out with a hot drink at Cafe Rustico, where I had a very bad iced mocha drink that cost too much, and after poking in and out of various cool stores, it was time for something to eat.

As a group we decided on Splitz Grill, 4242 Main St. because we fancied burgers and the prices were excellent. For the uninitiated, and that was us, the menu is located on a big board and you order at the till. The order gets printed out and yelled out to the cook and a tray with your order on it goes to the grill, which is open for all to see. From there, you get to personalize your burger with one of six or eight sauces, then you get to choose your toppings, they take your name, you go sit down, and, in our case, since it wasn't busy, they brought the food to our table.

The menu consists of a variety of burgers, including a lemon & garlic marinated chicken breast burger, a bison selection, and even a wild salmon. For vegetarians, there is a spicy lentil burger that I was assured by my vegetarian friend was not painfully spicy. The burgers were reasonably-priced, and for an extra couple of bucks, you can have a combo which means your burger comes with fries and a drink. If you want special toppings like onions, mushrooms, cheese, or bacon, those are individually priced on top of the base burger price. Also, Splitz does milkshakes, sundaes, banana splits, and stuff like that.

There was a turkey burger special on today as well as a tuna burger special, but I opted for a bison burger with cheese and mushrooms. For sauces, I chose the Splitz sauce, which was a tasty mixture of garlic, dill pickles, sour cream, mayonnaise, Tobasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. I was informed that this is their most popular sauce - and no kidding, I thought it was really good. For toppings, I chose lettuce, onions, and dill pickles (because you can't have too much dill pickle deliciousness).

The bison burger was fabulous. I have always enjoyed bison meat, and this was very well done (and well done). The fries, hand cut, obviously, and deep fried how they're supposed to be (blanched in oil first then deep fried again - you can tell when places don't do this), and the Splitz sauce had a great kick to it with that touch of Tobasco. And the burgers were huge! I finished mine, but my friend with the lentil burger could only eat half of hers it was so monstrous.


My only critique is that I would have preferred to have my cheese melted onto the burger rather than piled on with the other toppings.

Considering the location and the price of food in the city in general, Splitz was a really good deal price and portion-wise. I certainly had no complaints and I really liked the open kitchen idea so I could see the cooks doing their thing. Everything was fresh and well-prepared. I'd definitely go back.

Splitz also has a location in Whistler, too.

Vietnamese Lunch

As I said in Sunday's post, I no longer have to rely on LOGS and there is a great variety of places to grocery shop down here. One of my favourite places to go is T&T Supermarket, a large Chinese chain. And I have one within walking distance! Needless to say, I go there often. They have good prices and because it's a large chain, the variety is stunning. The exotic ingredients are both puzzing (pigs uteri) and exciting (fresh keffir lime leaves). The store closest to me has a food court, too, and it has several different cultures represented there. There is Korean food, Thai food, Japanese food, of course Chinese food, and one place I've been to a couple of times, Vietnamese food.

I have always enjoyed Vietnamese food, and one of my favourites is salad rolls with shrimp. I've ordered these a couple of times, for the not-so-bad price of $4.75. They are made fresh (unlike Save-on Foods' ones, which are terrible) and come with a tangy sauce.


But look at what else is in theses salad rolls. On the bottom, there are a couple of slices of that pale sausage similar to the one I encountered in my pho experience last year. I was a little surprised when I first saw this, but once I tried it, I really liked it. The sausage is very mild in flavour and is a touch - just a touch - salty. It's really good!

I also tried something new at my last trip there, Vietnamese carioca. They were described as deep fried rice balls, and I could see that they were coated in coarse sugar and drizzled with caramel. But when I bit into one, it was like biting into soft, mushy marshmallow. They were not balls of whole grain rice. I think this is more of a rice flour dumpling, deep fried. And they were really good! The texture of the balls was quite decadent and they used real caramel for the drizzle, not a caramel sauce. That really impressed me.


Lunch that day was yummy, and it only cost $6!

Bye Bye LOGS!*

*Y'all remember LOGS, right? The local overpriced grocery store I had to rely on back home in Rossland?

I've been volunteering at a refugee resource centre in the neighbourhood of Hastings Sunrise for a few months now, and I'm really enjoying it there. There's a community kitchen and once a week I make lunch for the staff and clients and do some baking, too. The clients love it; many of them live in poverty. Since this is a non-profit organization that has a small operating budget, I have to keep my meals cheap without sacrificing healthiness, and to facilitate this I've learned where to shop for the best deal in the neighbourhood. And there is a lot of choice when it comes to small, independently-owned markets.

The one we utilize the most is John's Farm Market at 2438 East Hastings. Their produce is hands down the least expensive of all the stores in the three block radius I try to keep myself to when I go out to do the grocery shopping for my meal.

John's is a very cultural experience for me. Right out front, facing the street, is a roaster/display thingy that usually has in it a selection of whole roasted birds and parts of roasted pig. It's touted as "Chinese BBQ" and man, does it ever smell good! Here is a closer look:


Cool, eh?

In addition to produce, John's does a bustling hot Chinese food take-out business that also smells amazing.

Price-wise, they cannot be beaten. I made a big pot of veggie soup for $6. Onions were 99¢ for 3lbs, cabbage was 49¢/lb...And I decided to do some personal shopping there after I was done volunteering, and I got bananas for 59¢/lb, mushrooms for 99¢/lb, pineapples were two for $5, green peppers were cheap...And the place is always busy! Even their canned stuff was cheaper than other places, and I wound up getting all my spaghetti sauce ingredients there for under $5.

I love this place! And I love the fact that it's a small independent business and I don't have to have that whole big name grocery store experience when I go there. I'm so glad I don't have to rely on LOGS anymore for my groceries! The staff are attentive and friendly, and the place has a nice feel to it. I'll be making it a regular stop on my way home from volunteering each week! And I'll have to try the take-out sometime, too!

Back!

March 1 seems like a good time to restart ReTorte. A lot has happened since the fall. I've moved twice, I've had a lot of stress and upheaval as a result of those moves, and I'm transitioning to life at the coast - the Wet Coast, that is. Yes, I am now coming to you from Greater Vancouver, Surrey to be specific. I just landed here a month ago.

Lately, I have started to miss my food blog, and I've felt very re-energized towards it since the new year, especially since I started using Pinterest. OMG, the food on that site is OUTRAGEOUS! So many things to try, so many ideas...it's almost overwhelming! I have two recipes from Pinterest on the go right now, as a matter of fact, and I'll definitely post the results when they are ready.

I have some new food adventures to write about, too. The variety down here at the coast is amazing, as I knew it would be. The array of cultures represented provides endless opportunities for delicious foodie exploration.

As a side note, Google has changed it's privacy policies after today, and so that might mean a change to WordPress. I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking about it. We'll see how it goes. I do find myself getting more and more disenchanted with Blogger, though.

Tomorrow: onto the food - I promise!

I hope all my readers are well!