Holy crap. It's possible that Vancouver is not the culinary center of the universe, but to me it might as well be. Sure the mountains are majestic, and the ocean is expansive & beautiful, but what really sticks in my mind are the meals we made & the restaurants we frequented. Most notable of the restaurants this trip was Bandidas Taqueria. Here's a description of their ethics as posted on the website:
Owners & staff are dedicated to making Bandidas as sustainable as possible. We use compostable packaging, only serve local beer and wine, and make you bring your own cups if you want a coffee or juice to go. We try to buy locally and from smaller distributors. We use free-range eggs and organic tofu, tea and coffee. We recycle. We re-use old furniture and equipment when possible rather than buying new items. We have maintained being a car-free business, using bikes, baskets, and a locally made cargo trailer instead of a company vehicle. You might see one of us riding a bike down Commercial Drive, pulling our large blue cargo trailer loaded up with restaurant equipment or supplies. We welcome you to our restaurant, and are glad you are here.
I had Dani's enchiladas (Squash!? Mmmm) with the mole sauce & a salad, jesus it was good.
In other news, my aunt is a great cook. Being so close to the ocean & quite a few excellent fish markets, I requested that for our last supper we cook a Cioppino of sorts. My aunt suggested that she had a great recipe for a French style Bouillabaisse, so we set off to Granville Island to procure the necessary ingredients.
We made a few changes to the recipe, most notably refraining from straining the beautiful vegetables from the broth (who in their right mind would do this??) & substituting an orange pepper for the green (although controversial, my stance on the green pepper is an emphatic 'not a loser vegetable'. I do however maintain that they should never, ever be cooked). The results? I don't have enough curse words in my vocabulary to properly express how I feel about this meal. F'ing delicious & I'll be dreaming about it for many moons to come.
