Updated 11th Oct 2014; This restaurant is closed. I start work real early today. 5AM. Crazy. So I end work early too. On the way back I spotted this huge…

Nanzaro was away at a training camp on a long weekend not too long ago. The training camp was all the way in North Vancouver. It had been a while since we had driven all that far.

35 km. Each way.

And all man, I hate driving through downtown Vancouver, along Georgia and the Lions Gate Bridge is simply exasperating. I find that the worst bridge approaches in Metro Vancouver is coming from North Van to the Lions Gate Bridge … especially when there is one lane opened. Gosh the drivers are so aggressive and many of them does not respect the alternate lane merge rules.

It is strange. Nanzaro’s training ended past 2PM and yet the camp did not provide them lunch. So he was hungry, understandably, knowing he is the kind of social person who will play and not sit down and have a proper breakfast.

I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he said burgers … gourmet burgers … and NOT fried rice. I know why he said that. You see, we also picked up his friend from the same training camp. I think he doesn’t want his friend to know he likes fried rice. LOL! Actually, Nanzaro likes burgers a lot too.

So, OK … I remembered that there is a place called the Deacon’s Corner on Main St that people were raving about and saying how cheap it is too.

It took us a few moments to spot the restaurant. From the street, you can’t really see the restaurant as there is no sign on the exterior of the building and the restaurant is recessed a bit from the edge too.

It is at the corner of Main and Alexander. The way I would describe it is that this is located right smack in between East Hastings/Main and the funky Gastown area.

Metal doors and windows with metal bars.

It is not surprising because Deacon’s corner is just about 200m away from the intersection of Main and East Hasting. That is the area that has the highest incidents of drug abuse, poverty, sex and crime … perhaps in all of Canada. There is a lot of work to be done in this area to solve these problems but this is going to take a really long time.

Are you scared going to that area? You know, generally, the people there are not violent. Some will stop you and ask you for money but if you just say no, they let you be. But Suanne is scared. Every time I drive past that area, she will lock the car door.

By the time we got to Deacon’s Corner with the traffic and all, it was already about 3PM. The restaurant was empty and we were the only customer.

We learned that they closes at 5PM everyday. They are opened early for breakfast (at 7AM) and so I guess this is more of a breakfast and lunch place.

This is very much a greasy spoon place. The decor was basic … nothing fancy. With the warm lights, I can imagine this is a nice cozy and bustling restaurant in a cold morning with a hot cup of coffee as a hand warmer … and with the smell of cooking from the kitchen. But at that time we were there, we were the only customer.

Service is friendly but really slow. It took quite a wait for the food to come. I did not check how long it was but I remember we waited quite long and saying that it should not take so long because we were the only customer there. Maybe it felt long because we were all hungry.

I remember reading reviews on the internet about how cheap their prices are. And I expected it to be so considering the location Deacon’s Corner is located.

I personally don’t find it cheap. It is not expensive but it certainly is not cheap. Their sandwiches costs up to $12 and the burgers is as high as $14. Big breakfasts are $13 and Scramble Eggs are $11.

Both Nanzaro and his friend went for the ultimate. It is called The Deacon and is $14.

It is burger with the common things such as cheese, bacon, fried onion and … (more…)

Secret Supper Club or Underground Kitchen.

These are some of the names that describes the popular private eating places that operates behind secret addresses, often in the homes of the chef. It offers a very unique experience quite unlike in a restaurant. The whole mystery of the unknown and being in a somewhat exclusive private party appeals a lot to those foodies who had seen them all.

My first experience of dining in an underground kitchen is at “12B”. I actually dined there twice. The first was when I was invited by the local Chowhounds and then I followed up by organizing one for chowtimes’ readers. I enjoyed both experiences.

Jonathan had been very active organizing such dinners for food bloggers. He earlier did one with an underground kitchen creatively called NFA, which stands for No Fixed Address. Suanne and I couldn’t make it for that one.

When Jonathan (who writes on the blog Food and Tell) organized a subsequent one to Swallow Tail, Suanne and I signed up not wanting to miss this one.

We met on a nice afternoon. Jonathan could not have picked a better day. I could have swore he ordered the sunshine for us too.

Having only experienced 12B, I like the start here. Meeting on the deck and soaking in the sun (although it was slightly chilly that day), it was just perfect to start the evening. The deck wasn’t really big enough to fit all of us. So it was quite a squeeze.

Let me think … I think EVERYONE was armed with a camera. I certainly remember there were lots of black SLRs poking at the very sight of food. Between us, we can do that without shame. LOL! I always think it is a spectacle for those of you who had never dined with a group of food bloggers. Yeah, admittedly we are not exactly the most well behaved. However, you must understand that we are working here.

I hope I don’t forget anyone. The bloggers who attended the event are Jonathan, Victoria, Mijune, Joyce, Frank, Anita, Kim, Sherman, Jenny and R.

The Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club does not seem very much of a secret club because they have a website and if you look, you can find their address.

The first course, the amuse-bouche, was served in the backyard. He he he … the cameras were already firing away even before it is set on the table.

This is a homemade pastry filled with stewed apple and topped with a tough gruyere cheese. Not much of a 1st course I would say. It was because I was hungry and wanted dearly something more substantial. 🙂

After a while we were ushered into the house and down to the cellar. The dining room was cool and dark … very much like an underground supper club in every sense of the word. I was thinking how different Swallow Tail is compared with 12B. In 12B, we could pop into Chef Tood’s kitchen and see him work. Here in Swallow Tail, we dine in the confines of a private dining setting.

The person behind Swallow Tail is known as Chef Robin. She hold such dinners about twice a week. I understand that she also conducts culinary tours.

The dinner at Swallow Tail costs $50 per person and has five courses (including the amuse-bouche above). While Chef Robin did say that the dinner stretched over 3 hours and she encourages a break in the middle, we actually ate through the courses without much of a break.

With an almost growling stomach and seeing butter on the table, I thought … OK, goodie, bread. Guess not.

Anyway, Chef Robin says that she likes to use wild, seasonal, BC, organic produce with a passion for crab and wild mushrooms.

The dinner started with soup. It is a soup with sweet pea, arugula served with homemade crouton. She also mentioned that she uses hand harvested stinging nettle which she rescued from … (more…)

This is just a quickie post since I had already done an in-depth review of Chef Todd’s 12B Underground Kitchen in this post here.

My first visit to 12B was when I joined a group of Vancouver Chowhounds. That was back in December last year. That sitting was full and I was only able to make it after someone pulled out to make room for me. It was just me who went … and poor Suanne had to stay at home.

So, I offered to organize another one for Chowtimes readers so that Suanne could also have the chance to experience dinner at 12B. The response from chowtimes readers was overwhelming … a total of 36 people responded!

I truly had a problem on my hands!

You see, 12B had always limited the number of people on each night to twelve guests only. I had several discussions with Chef Todd over the large number of diner. At one stage we were seriously exploring the possibility to do an unprecedented mega-sized group of 18!

But one thing led to another, the group eventually whittled down to a nice size of 12. Two main factors were in play.

The available dates were limited. Chef Todd is fully booked for Friday/Saturday sittings right up till early June already. Although weekdays are available, it is very limited, So we were left with the less popular days of week. Not wanting to wait for a few months, we had to settle for a Sunday night — which proved to be unsuitable for some.

The other factor was the price … the price increase. Back in December, the “minimum donation” for 12B was $50. Mid-way through the planning, Chef Todd informed me that the “minimum donation” is not longer $50, but $65. Understandably, that did not sit down well with some people. Frankly, I was really embarrassed about it having to go back to the group about this hefty 30% increase. Needless to say I was quite unhappy to be forced to deal with this.

So, long story short … twelve of us finally ended up attending the dinner.

12B dinners are BYOB event. I am not an expert in wine and so I asked Glen at work for recommendations. I wanted something that is red and something light too since I flush up red very easily.

Glen recommended the Pinot Noir from Nk’Mip. So I went to the BC Liquor store on Cambie. Oh gosh, I had never been in that place before and was so surprised how big and fancy it is. They carry almost every kind of wine and beer you can imagine. Suanne and I felt kind of lost in there.

LOL! Suanne and I was complaining the lack of vowels in First Nations names. Nk’Mip … how do you pronounce it?

It turned out that the bottle was not opened at all. Not only because everyone brought liquor but Keev even brought four bottles.

Chef Todd told me that he checked chowtimes’ earlier review the day before and made sure that he does not serve the same thing that I had in my last visit. That was considerate of him. I did not even expect him to do that at all but he did.

Chef Todd told our group the same thing he told us in my first visit — that he tries to make different menu every night. I still find it hard to believe that anyone who have such a repertoire of dishes … but that is what he said.

Suanne and I had a great time chatting about food. The group are made up of pure foodies — he he he … not bloggers who sometimes go to restaurants just for the purpose of writing reviews on the blog. These guys and gals are all there for one thing and one thing only … the food.

Among the group was Michelle and her university professor husband. They had traveled widely around the world in search of food. Since they sat directly across from me, I spent the most time chatting with them. It is so amazing being able to talk about the well-known restaurants we had been to, particularly in Spain which was still very fresh in my memory.

There was also Joe and Anya. Joe is not just a foodie but his name is one that some of you will hear of more and more over time. He is beginning to start blogging together with Matt on vancouverslop.com!

So, I am going to take the short cut in this post and refer you to HIS post on this meal at 12B. His post is located on this link. Go check it out! He is going to be helping me on the next project which is the … (more…)