Brunch at White Spot

Saturday was the first nice day that fell on a weekend in a long time, so my roommate and I decided to go for a hike.  But we wanted to eat first and opted to go to one of our go-to places for cheap but cheerful food: White Spot.

I have said here before that I love White Spot.  They do great burgers and milkshakes and they do a decent Eggs Benny.  Since it was brunch and I wanted something hearty, I went directly to the brunch menu, pretty sure that I would order the Eggs Benny.  But then something caught my eye: the Santa Fe Breakfast Burrito.  The menu indicated that this was a new item, and here is how it's described on the menu and web site:

Your choice of fresh chicken breast or tender Canadian pulled pork, scrambled Omega 3 eggs, cheese, sautéed tomatoes and green peppers wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. Served with our trio of sauces – avocado salsa, tomato salsa, cilantro sour cream and red nugget Smashbrowns™.

You know what, I said to myself, let's try something different for once!  So I ordered the burrito and waited with anticipation.

When my plate came, I was underwhelmed by the appearance of the burrito.  Here it is:

 Granted this isn't the greatest shot in the world (the lighting in restaurants in general is suckage and often pics come out crappy-looking), but am I crazy or is this not the most un-exciting dish you've ever seen?  I thought it was very plain and colourless.  I had thought that perhaps there would be cheese and/or sauce ON TOP of the burrito, or something to bring a little life and colour to the dish.  There was not.

The flavour of the dish was also very underwhelming.  Though there were onions & peppers in the filling, the innards of the burrito were poorly seasoned and bland.  It could have used something like a bunch of chili powder, or something flavourful.  Instead, there were the veggies, the chicken strips, the scrambled eggs, a tiny bit of cheese (this whole dish needed way more cheese in general!)  The salsa on the side was a great help; I just wished there was salsa or something inside the burrito.  The corn & avocado salsa was just OK - I'm not a fan of corn off the cob.  But even the salsa didn't have enough kick to it and the sour cream was pretty useless.

I must also say that this is the second or third time I've had these newfandangled red nugget "smashbrowns."  They are not very good!  In fact, they are very boring!  I would much, much rather have had a traditional hashbrown.

So, this was a disappointing meal.  And I'm disappointed that I'm disappointed.  Usually, White Spot is a sure bet - which is why I keep going there - but taking the risk this time and having something new just didn't pay off.  I'll be back to Eggs Benny or a burger the next time I go for brunch.

BTW, my roommate T had the chipotle chicken wrap and she really enjoyed it.  It's one of her faves.  Here it is:

I kept wishing during my meal that I'd ordered the same!

A Couple of Miscellaneous Vancouver Meals

There is one chain restaurant that without fail pleases me every time I go there: White Spot. Call me crazy, but I love White Spot! And when there is one in my vicinity (none here in the Kootenays) I make a huge effort to go to one for a meal because I just love their food. It's comfort food at it's best. They make great breakfasts, they make great burgers, they make great milkshakes, they make the best coleslaw ever, and they're just a comfortable place to go for a casual, yummy meal.

I ate at White Spot three whole times in the 8 days I was a the coast. Terrible, I know, but also awesome! I didn't take pix of all my meals there, but here is the BC Chicken Burger, which is one of my perennial faves.

Now onto something a bit more refined but just as casual and yummy. I had a visit with a blog friend on the Saturday morning I was at the coast - the day with the best weather on the trip, BTW - and we headed into the city from Maple Ridge to Granville Island. I adore Granville Island! It's a quintessential Vancouver experience and I try to get there every trip. We only had a short time for lunch, but luckily there are lots of quick places to choose from at their food fair. I knew I was going for waffles at Miura shortly with my brother and also that he and I would be having dinner, so I went for something small and light: a bagel with cream cheese & lox. Yum!

And this was our view from outside the market, where we sat in the sun to munch:

Incidentally, I was there during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and one of the fancy bakeries in the market was selling all kinds of these, which looked great:


Very cute, but I didn't buy one. That Saturday was one awesome day of food for sure!