The other day, hubby and I celebrated our anniversary. We dropped little wiggle-baby off at grandma and grandpa's house and went on a long-awaited date! After humming and hawing about where we should go, driving clear across the city twice and forgetting that rush hour traffic in Vancouver is horrendous, we were at a bit of a loss as for where to go. We had backed ourselves into a corner and ended up in the industrial part of Richmond where there is nothing but warehouses and giant trucks. Or so we thought!
Cue teeny-weeny sign that said, 'BOY WITH A KNIFE' just as we were giving up to wait out the traffic or join it! To make an already long story slightly shorter, we followed the signs and found this lovely, albeit random, eatery in the middle of the industrial area!
The random location in no way detracts from the food. In fact, I'm a little jealous that the local industrial workers get to have such a great lunch spot!
So the grub. This place has happy hour from 3-6pm, 2-for-1 apps and drinks as listed on their menu. Their prices are average Vancouver prices for a place like this, and they offer standard-sized portions. Here's the menu:
To start, we ordered black pepper sauce wings and garlic truffle fries, since we had arrived during happy hour. For mains, hubby ordered the Old School Cheese Burger, and I had the Louie.
These wings were "knock-your-socks-off" good! In fact, we went back last night with friends to try the other flavours and I just remembered I have some in my fridge as I'm typing! Holy moly, breakfast of champions! But seriously, I'll be back for more. They were sticky and sweet from the black peppercorn sauce (which reminded me of almost a cross between honey garlic and teriyaki, slightly heavier on the ginger), also amazingly crispy underneath the sauce! Super moist and tender, as wings should be. Since they also happened to be gluten-free, they must've been tossed in potato or corn starch instead of flour prior to frying. The crispy layer was so thin, but made a definite crunch. DID I MENTION THE SAUCE? Yes, it was good. So good, in fact, they use it on other menu items! In case anyone was wondering, since we went back last night we decided to try the habanero lime and sriracha honey flavours. We were a little weirded out by dill pickle wings, but the waitress told us it was actually more popular than the habanero ones (which I found AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS also!) Very much worth it to drive 30 minutes out of our way, and then another 30 minutes to pick up friends around the city and bring them here for wings.
Garlic truffle fries. Wow-ee! You can taste the truffle oil and the garlic, and the salty, rich parmesan makes these fries one of my top fries ever eaten! The sauce on the side was some sort of aioli with more garlic and Dijon, and a hint of acidity privacy from both vinegar and lemon. Very, very good sauce! (The other was plain ol' ketchup!) Also ordered these last night, my friend and I were already at max capacity, but we kept shovelling these into our mouths anyways. Gluttons for truffle fries, for sure, but you know they're good when you're holding a baby and staring so longingly at the fries that your friends offers to shovel the fries in your face for you. Yes, super crispy, golden, not soft even 30 minutes later. Dunno how they managed that magic.
So the burgers! Hubby's first reaction was, 'Wow, the mustard...' as in, 'Gee, I could've done with less mustard'. But, as he got into the burger, he really began to enjoy it. Judging by the way the patty looked, they were hand-pressed and had yummy black crusty bits as if they were grilled. Slight inconsistencies in the middle, but we both agreed we'd rather see a bit of pink and brown than have a piece of leather. Not a super thick patty, either. Hubby's had a brioche-style bun which was probably his favourite part, and mine was gluten-free. Not the best gluten-free bun I've had, but held up OK-ish. The toppings on my burger sounded so I intriguing, "celery chutney, fresh crab", etc, but I was struggling with it all. It was a nice idea, and after the amazing appetizers, I really wanted to like this burger. It was a "Better Luck Next Time" for me. First bite was yummy garlic aioli and beef. No crab flavour (though lots there!), little avocado and literally half way through eating my burger I thought to myself, "wasn't there supposed to be celery chutney in here?" So I almost tore apart my burger looking for it, prepared to order another one (made properly!) so that I could do a complete review. I was super disappointed when I found it. Like I said, I really wanted to like this burger, but all the components (though yummy on their own) did not mesh well, in my opinion.
The second time we went, hubby got a beef dip and it was gone before I knew it. I also have to mention, hubby does NOT do salad. Both times, he got salad on the side (mostly because we ordered truffle fries) but he said, "it's good" regarding the salad. I feel like it's just a boxed spring salad, but if they can make him eat greens, then I'll take it!
So what? Is this randomly-located deli/grill worth the drive to Richmond near IKEA? Yes. Curb appeal? It's there! (Compared to their neighbours, anyhow. Hah!) Staff? Recognised me and hubby from just one visit the week prior, plus remembered we have a baby. Popularity? They only opened the grill April 20th this year, so not crowded for happy hour or dinner. A real diamond in the rough, I'd say! I just wish they were open on weekends!