Mamie Taylor's - YVR Chinatown brunch, hold the dim sum

Breakfast in the big city - Vancouver to be exact, in Chinatown - but hold those dumplings. This feast had nary a shui mai or har gow....

Only the address of Mamie Taylor's would make you think the food would lean towards Asian - once you're inside. There are certain hints to suggest what lays waiting for you.

Keep your eyes peeled for it as you stroll East Georgia....

TUC Craft Kitchen - make friends with the new(er) kid in town.

Another Vancouver trip....another great restaurant to eat at. It's a tough hobby, but someone's gotta…well eat and talk about it.

TUC is a new'ish restaurant near Gastown on West Cordova St. (they've just marked a year in business). Sandwiched in between the Army & Navy and the Woodward's condos.

The space is very "loft" feeling - with high ceilings, exposed pipes, reclaimed wood and neon sign art (think cool, partial cafe sign, not eye-rolling MillerTime).

Bao Bei - Dim Sum Tapas & some fabulous cocktails

Another Vancouver entry - to a place we've been wanting to visit for a while....Bao Bei, located in Chinatown in Vancouver - on Keefer St, about half way between Columbia and Main St.

French brasserie meets Chinatown.

The Chinese part has some cheeky cards in the restaurant to help you with…

But they are serious about the food, the space and the cocktails…

Red Wagon Diner - circle this wagon and attack

The Red Wagon Restaurant in Vancouver has been popular since, well, pretty much the day it opened. No surprise then that Guy Fieri and his TV show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives (Triple D's to the fans) made a stop at the restaurant to film an episode.  But if you don't have Guy's credentials, you may have to time your visit based on how long you want to wait for a table (we hit it on a Friday, so we expected a line; a Tuesday? Maybe not so much...). But, as they say, it's worth the wait.

We arrived at the Red Wagon and, after putting our name on the wait-list, strolled a bit of East Hastings to bide some time - and it's an interesting area - great stores and food shops abound. On our return (and hearing our name called), we saddled up to two stools at the counter (and a front row seat to the bustling kitchen)…

Dinesty - steamy goodness in YVR

On (another) recent trip to the big-city of Vancouver, we happened upon the Robson Street location of Dinesty Restaurant (we had izakaya'd already the night before, so soup-dumplings sounded like a good plan for day two).

Dinesty has a dark, modern interior with a long line of shiny wooden tables along the entrance wall and a larger space near the back of the restaurant....

YVR - Kishimoto - lighting my sushi fire!

Another meal in the Big Smoke of Vancouver while visiting/businessing. We had targeted either Mexican or Sushi and my niece was in a sushi mood....so off we went to try Kishimoto.

Tucked among a million other restaurants and stores on Commercial Drive, Kishimoto can easily be found by the line-up out front. We (being newbies) were not versed in the customs, but didn't fare badly (meaning - when you get to the line-up, go write your own name on the list found at the front door; fortunately, we didn't lose our placing by missing this rather important step).

Once seated inside the bustling room we ordered some drinks and a few different items to share together. The menu is large with selections of sashimi, sushi, inventive rolls & box sushi, donburri, tempura and a whole lot more.

We started off our little buffet with a dish of agedashi tofu - piping hot and delicious....and the picture may be missing a piece as we dove in right away....

The first sushi plate to hit our table silenced us with it's sheer presentation. A cucumber roll.  Yes, a simple cucumber roll. Not sure if they fancied the plate up because it was for my niece, but it was stunning (and then closely followed by our platter, with more stunning garnishes).

YVR - Bestie - the wurst doesn't get much better

Road trip! (well, Ferry trip! at least)

We have popped over to Vancouver for some visiting and socializing (which should actually read, targeting restaurants and dragging friends and family to them, but who's splitting hairs?).

First stop is Bestie, a new sausage restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown, that's bringing the taste of Berlin to the west coast of Canada: currywurst, my friends. Currywurst is a Bavarian sausage cooked, sliced into small rounds, set atop fries and covered with a curry-ketchup sauce.

Nestled into a storefront in Chinatown, complete with the existing signage from a few of the previous tenants, is Bestie. Neon sausage outline to beckon you, stylin' oranage seats to get comfy if there's a wait.

Currywurst: it's a big thing in Germany's capital city - they even have a museum dedicated to currywurst....

Vancouver (YVR)

Bestie

Dinesty (Robson Street)

Kishimoto

Mamie Taylor's (brunch)

Red Wagon Diner