We finished our cross border shopping in the late afternoon. We were contemplating whether to go back to Richmond for dinner or have a late lunch in Bellingham.
At the end, Nanzaro suggested to have lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Belingham.
This location was quite busy even though it’s way past lunch hour.
A distinctive feature of Five Guys is that it displays it’s ingredients like peanut oil and potatoes in the seating area. (more…)
The summer vacation had started. Nanzaro is eager to come with me for some groceries shopping because I promised to bring him to the newly opened Vera’s Burger Express in Aberdeen Mall in Richmond.
Although it is still early around 11:00AM, there is a short line up. Nanzaro told me that this location was a Burger King before Vera’s Burger Express took over. He sure has better memory than me.
For the opening of this location, Vera’s Burger Express advertised in the local newspaper by offering a $5 coupon. This offer expires on 30th June 2011.
Vera’s Burger seems to have won numerous awards for their burger as displayed on the banner at the store front.
Vera’s Burger Express has an opened kitchen where we can see the action going. Occasionally, we can see the flames from the grilling of the burger. This is what Nanzaro ordered, … (more…)
Updated: 2nd Nov 2014: This restaurant is closed according to Urbanspoon.com
Nanzaro was happy when I told him that we are not going out for Asian food for a change and asked him what he wants to eat. The instant reply was “gourmet burger”.
He loves burgers. He used to love sushi. Twice a week he will call me at work just to ask me to bring something back for him. It used to be sushi, in particular, spicy tuna roll AND California roll. Nothing else, he doesn’t want any fancy rolls … just spicy tuna roll AND California roll. Oh … he is so fussy with his sushi. We must make sure that the wasabi and ginger does not get packed along with the sushi. He will refuse to eat the rolls if it is contaminated with “wasabi” or ginger.
And then for the last three months, he doesn’t want sushi anymore. Now he is always asking me to bring home a Big Mac … and it must be a combo. The drinks must be a medium Coke with no ice and the fries must be a large one. He is a creature of habit.
Gourmet Burger? So I brought him to a place I heard a lot of. A lot of people liked it but I did not know much else about it. For some reason, I thought Burger Burger is a “gourmet burger” restaurant just like Splitz Grill or Burger Etc.
I was rather taken aback when we arrived at Burger Burger. Suanne and I was looking at one another rather puzzled and for a split moment we were wondering if we should just go somewhere else. The place did look beat up and was not particularly tidy.
No, it wasn’t a problem with me. It is just that I went with one expectation and did not expect to find Burger Burger to be a hole-in-the-wall. For some (odd?) reason, I was thinking that this is gonna be like Burger Etc.
The inside were rather untidy. Sorry, I am just telling it as I find it. There were papers and magazines strewn on some tables. There were some left over burger baskets and drink cans uncollected. The windows were stained with finger prints and oily marks — more so because this is a burger place where people eat greasy burgers with their fingers. The plastic Coca-Cola clock on the wall was chipped. The floor is a bit sticky too.
It is truly a burger shack in every sense of the word.
The place is not really big with about 7 small tables that seat two. I like the chairs. It is so retro. I don’t think you can find these kind of chairs these days.
So much for not wanting to go to an Asian place. Apparently, Burger Burger is owned and operated by a Korean couple. They are really friendly people especially when I was so undecided on what I wanted.
Click on the image above if you find it hard to read the menu. We pretty much focused on the Burgers section and ignored the rest of the menu. It doesn’t do justice to get anything else but burger in a place called Burger Burger.
They have all sorts of burgers including Bulgogi, Teriyaki, Salmon, and BBQ Beef Bun.
Besides what is on the board above, they also have combos which included fries and a drink.
Nanzaro decided really quickly. He immediately said he wanted the Burger Special Combo A. I was curious why he chose that when I don’t think he knows what is in it. You know his answer is? He said anything with “A” is better … just like AAA beef is better. *shrug*
This is really cheap. It is only $5.69 and it included a drink and fries too. The Korean lady told me that this is their … (more…)
Disclosure
This post is written using a $10 gift card given by White Spot.
Suanne has a big collection of coupons like you never believe. She clips coupons from the papers diligently and stashes it in her small drawer. So we get a lot of them. Some of them are sent directly from businesses to us with the hope that we will write about it.
Over the Christmas holidays, Suanne took out all her coupons and checked the expiry dates. She knows that a lot of them expires at year end.
She found two from White Spot. There is a coupon for a free Legendary Burger Platter which is worth about $9 which Nanzaro got for doing some community work. We also had another gift card (with $10 value) which White Spot gave chowtimes.com four months ago when they were promoting the Pirate Pack.
So we decided to go and use them before they expire.
It had been very long while since we had been to White Spot. It must have been at least 5 years already. Which is kind of strange I guess for a Vancouver food blogger not to have written about a very successful Vancouver based chain.
White Spot started in 1928 and that make it over 80 years old. Given that long history, White Spot claim themselves to be the “oldest successful chain in North America”.
We went to the White Spot in No 3 Road and Ackroyd. There is another White Spot in the Richmond Center but we decided to go to this one which is bigger. Our boys did not want to go out because they were “too busy” … with their new PS3 games and notebook they got over Christmas. Nanzaro had always wanted to use the coupon for himself but this time he just said “It’s OK, mum. You just go ahead with dad.” — without taking his eyes from the video game.
We were rather surprised how busy White Spot is. There is a wait for tables despite that this restaurant is quite big. We are thinking that it could have been the holidays where people tends to eat out than cooking at home.
White Spot has a weekly Bar Specials. We ordered one of their frozen cocktails called the Mango Madness which costs $4. It is a frosty blend of mango and rum.
It was good. It was more mango than it was rum actually. I can tell because my face did not turn red.
I got a question. How do you get to the sugar at the rim of the glass? I mean, they provided a drinking draw. If they did not have the straw, then drinking straight from the glass makes sense. Do you drink from the straw and then lick the rim? Is that how you do that?
Suanne was hysterical when I did that and the people at the neighboring table laughed too. *shrug*
We got their biggest burger platter. It is called the … (more…)
Hi All:
Chowtimes were informed by McDonalds USA that they were launching a new burger nationwide yesterday. Please note that this is currently being launched in the US and not in Canada. Normally we would not be interested because it’s for the US but since they offered to provide us BOG (Be-Our-Guest) cards, we jumped on it and said yes.
The new products are called the Angus Third Pounders. Obviously from the name itself it is large … a third larger than the quarter pounders. As a matter of fact, this is the first new burger launch from McDonald’s since the Big N’ Tasty burger was added to the menu in 2001 … eight years ago.
The Angus Third Pounders are available in three offerings: Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese and Mushroom & Swiss. The big-big difference between this and the other McDonald’s burgers are the introduction of ingredients never seen before on a McDonald’s burger:
It seems like McDonalds is upgrading their burgers to offer (more…)
At work, I report to someone whose base is in Atlanta. I don’t see my boss very often. Maybe once every quarter. Last month, he told me he’s coming over to Vancouver and did not state his agenda for the visit. Some of us were uneasy because I know the company had clamped down on traveling during these uncertain times. Who knows, right? For all we care, he could be here to serve Termination Notices! I mean serving of Termination Notices had to be done by the boss and in person too.
Nothing of that sort happened. LOL!
Do you guys ever get worried about losing your job?
I used to read a lot in the papers of some company laying off 10 people here, 1200 there, and 50 in another place. They were just numbers … and it did not hit home until I began to hear about substantial layoffs in Vancouver companies … EA, McKesson, Best Buy and others. All of the sudden, I began to know names of people who had been laid off … they are no longer numbers, they are real people … and people I know. *shudder*
Enough of these depressing thoughts … back to food.
So, the thing is I brought Frank (my boss) and Stevie who are both from Atlanta out for dinner. As much as I would love to bring them to the best that Vancouver could offer in terms of ethnic food, I know the Americans would not really enjoy it. I played safe and brought them to a burger place.
I brought them to Burgers Etc. I could have brought them to a pricier place but as you know, expenses are harder to claim these days and trying to pass a $50 per head dinner is not going to fly. But then Burgers Etc is not exactly really cheap.
Burgers Etc is well known as the “Best Burger in Metro Vancouver” by viewers of CTV News. Burgers Etc is not a big place with just about 10’ish tables or so. I guess this is a place where people come pick up a burger, eat and go. (more…)
Nanzaro is like a pitbull. When they latch on to you they never let go. Nothing makes them let go of their deadly jaws.
For some unknown reason, he had been hankering Suanne and I for “gourmet” burgers … not just any burgers … but GOURMET burgers. McDonalds, Burger King and the likes will not do.
Nanzaro did some research over the net and narrowed his choices to either Splitz, Burger Etc or Moderne Burger. We settled for Splitz because the slogan on the http://splitzgrill.com website says “a true gourmet burger joint”.
It had been quite a while since Suanne and I last had burgers. Moreover, it is good to have non-Asian food for a change.
Splitz is located on Main St at 27th in Vancouver. This place is actually a spin off from the very popular burger joint in Whistler.
Ordering here requires you to go through the process of first placing your order at the front of the aisle. You then move on to the garnish station where you tell them the sauce and toppings you want. Most of the toppings are included in the price but some are extras, like sauteed mushrooms and bacon.
The dining area is spacious and clean. It was not really comfortable but I do think that this is really fast food where people pop in, grab a sandwich, eat and go.
Both Nanzaro and Arkensen ordered the Legendary Splitz Burger Combo. The combo costs $9.45 which included a small fries and small fountain drink. I am not sure why but Nanzaro ordered his pretty plain. He hates greens and so just opted for honey mustard despite me telling him he can have as many sauce or toppings he wants.
Despite the simple burger, it really looked very enticing — moist and juicy. This really shows how well they do burgers.
Arkensen had the same as Nanzaro’s but he had the basics … ketchup, honey mustard, tomato and lettuce.
Suanne and I shared a burger because we know it will be too much for if we ordered one for ourselves. We had the Grilled Lamb Burger (no combo) which costs $7.75. I asked for the Splitz Sauce and Medium Salsa for the sauce and everything but pickles (I don’t fancy pickles). (more…)