2011-01-08 Quick Visit @ Winter Farmer's Market

Buddha Girl and I took advantage of the sunny weekend weather to drop by the farmer's market at Nat Bailey.  Yup, it was sunny, but it was really cold too, and dumb me wore short sleeves.  If you are interested in such markets, please visit Vancouver Farmers Markets for future dates and locations.

OFF THE WAGON

Various Locations, Vancouver, BC

604-376-0602 / 604-781-2214

The first place I spotted was tacos, and sure enough I ordered two without hesitation.

 
After I paid, I noticed that I just paid $7 for two tacos, that's a bit pricey, I hoped it was worth it.

On the left, we have the Slow Roasted Chipotle Pork, it's pretty much just pulled pork without the smokiness.  I thought it was somewhat bland, both Buddha Girl and I didn't like this.  The Fresh Homemade Chorizo was on the right, this was quite nice, even Buddha Girl thought so too.  The price point was a bit steep, I don't think I'll have this again.

 

ELI'S SERIOUS SAUSAGE

110 Dunsmiur Street, Vancouver, BC

604-366-0036

Hey, we found Eli's.  Buddha Girl and I have tried to locate Eli for a while but no success, until today.

 
Eli had a helper.  Buddha Girl and I both wanted our own brat, I won at rock-paper-scissors and got the one in a pretzel bun.

Hehehe, here's the pretzel bun, it's really good.  I really don't know what's on it, but it was really good.

Here's Buddha Girl's brat, much simpler in toppings.  Still very good.

Yup, I love to eat, after we each had a brat, we walked around, ate a bit from other vendors, then I ordered a 3rd brat with curry powder.  This picture's out of sequence since I had this before we left (oops, I didn't share this one with Buddha Girl).  Each brat cost $6, an extra buck for the pretzel bun.  That's including the HST.  I'd recommend the pretzel bun, even at an extra buck, you should try it at least once.  It's good.

  

CHILI TANK 

Various Locations, Vancouver, BC

604-721-1980

As per their website, the "tank" was a "ca1943 military soup kitchen".  This caught Buddha Girl's attention.

Buddha Girl kept on snapping pictures after pictures.  Yup, she was so fascinated with this.

A very simple menu, only two items, each at $5 a bowl.

I'm not a fan of chili with beans so Buddha Girl ordered the Chicken Chili and I had a few bites.  We both enjoyed this.  The flavours weren't too strong, but it was pretty decent.  Using chicken breast, the meat was quite dry.  Both Buddha Girl and I prefer dark meat.  We'd order this again.  The price was pretty decent as well.

 

BEERBRATS HANDCRAFTED SAUSAGES  

Various Locations, Vancouver, BC

778-232-4185

Not knowing what to try, the "beerbrats" caught my eyes.  Originally I thought it was some kind of "hot food", but later realized it's uncooked.

I ended up picking up a pack of the Tree Brewing Hop Head IPA, it's 4 to a pack.  After cooking it up at home (see 2011-01-08 Fish & Chips @ Chez Buddha), I'm definitely going to pick up some more to try.

 

BONCHAZ BAKERY CAFE 

426 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC

604-626-7215

While Buddha Girl was eating her bowl of chili, I wandered around for more food.

Freshly baked?  Usually, I don't have a sweet tooth, but this looked promising.

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to eat this.  But for $2, I thought this was really tasty, it's nice and hot, soft and not too sweet.  Buddha Girl ended up getting another one for herself.

 

LITTLE QUALICUM CHEESEWORKS 

403 Lowry's Road, Parksville, BC

250-954-3931

While I was waiting for my 3rd brat at Eli's, Buddha Girl wandered off to the cheese vendor.

We're not really cheese people, we just eat what we like, and after sampling a few from Little Qualicum, we settled on the Island Brie and the Oulala Hot Jill.

The brie was nice and creamy, the other was just okay, but Buddha Girl really liked both.  You think we ate enough?  Nah, we ended up visiting PanDa and Dirty Apron soon after.