2011-07-29 Lunch @ VCC Cafeteria

250 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC

604-443-8300

During our lunch with Crispy Lechon at Wild Salmon, he mentioned that the cafeteria at VCC has some pretty cheap eats.  The only problem was, it's about a twenty-minute walk from my work...well, I needed the exercise anyway.

As soon as I walked in, an instructor was pleading for customers to order from the short-order student-cooks to give the students more practice.  Perusing the menu quickly, I noted the cheap prices and ordered a Steak Sandwich ($4.75) with a side of Fries ($1.70) as well as a Clubhouse Sandwich ($3.35).  Yup, I did what Buddha Girl tends to do when faced with hunger, over order, all for under $12 (after tax, plus extra for take-out containers).

I ordered the steak sandwich medium, it came out pretty much what I asked for.  Nestled between two slices of heavily buttered bread, the steak wasn't seasoned on the grill, it was really bland.  The steak needed lots of help from salt and pepper.  The cut of steak was what you expect for the price, it wasn't super tender or juicy, but it wasn't tough either.  As I mentioned, the bread was buttered way too much and I didn't want to use my hands for this, so it became a knife and forker.  There was also onion rings in the sandwich, while crisp, the batter had way too much beer in it, it was quite overpowering, I probably would have preferred caramelized onions instead.  Overall, it was a great value, but it needed a lot of improvements.  My first steak sandwich twenty years ago was open-faced, this one probably would be better served the same way as well.  The fries were not hot or crispy.  I could see that the fries were all pre-done, the student-cook was a bit too eager (or lazy?) and cooked more fries than needed, so there were lots just sitting in the warmer.  Other than that, they were just your basic frozen fries.

Okay, I had to discard most of the fries and the bread from the steak sandwich in order to move onto my Clubhouse Sandwich.  The sandwich was pretty good, it had a good balance of all the ingredients, bacon, tomato, lettuce, mayo, sliced deli chicken/turkey...I was impressed.  The only thing that failed was the bread, a small issue, but made the difference.  The toasted bread was was really soft with no "toasted" texture.  Anyway, overall, this was still a good sandwich.

A Macaroni Salad accompanied each of the sandwich.  Comprised of macaroni, celery, grated carrots, cashews, green onions and cilantro, this was a decent side but was a bit on the bland side.  The cafeteria at VCC is definitely a place to check out, the food was decent and the prices can't be beat.