It’s that happy time again in the year! The Vancouver Food Cart Festival 2014 has returned to 215 West 1st Ave Vancouver Olympic Village, adjacent to the Cambie Street Bridge. Between West 1st Ave and the seawall, over 20 delicious and popular food trucks gather to impress. We came here early for a special event with Yelp Elite – lucky us to avoid the line ups and snap up some yummy samples before diving into full sizes.

Food Cart Festival Vancouver 2014 Food Trucks:

• Aussie Pie Guy
• Blue Smoke BBQ
• Chili Tank
• Didi’s Greek
• Dougie Dog
• Feastro
• Finest at Sea
• Guanaco
• Holy Perogy
• JJ’s Trucketeria
• The Juice Truck
• Kaboom Box
• Le Tigre
• Mogu
• Mom’s Grilled Cheese
• PazzaRella
• Roaming Dragon
• Soho Road
• Street Meet
• Taco Fino
• Taser Grilled Cheese
• The Reef Runner
• Vij’s Railway Express
• Yolk’s Breakfast
• Ze Bite

Interesting in partcipating? Vancouver Food Cart Festival is still accepting food cart vendor applications.

Culver City Salads | 1065 W Hastings St Vancouver, BC V6E4M1 |  | We sampled a delicious salad made with quinoa, chickpeas, almonds, kale, shredded carrots. I am absolutely in love with Culver City Salads and wish they would feed me everyday.  What we love about Culver is that their delicious vegan salads are made with tons of colorful vegetables, proteins and their dressings are made from scratch, gluten free with local farms and whole ingredients. One sample simply was not enough, we had to purchase a full size salad.

Quinoa Salad $10: Celergy, orange pepper, yam, cauliflower, radish, chickpeas on top of a bed of greens, topped with shredded carrots, beets, seeds and avocado! We picked a creamy chipotle dressing. Christina Culver tells me it is one of the most popular combination! Score!

Vij’s Railway Express | Various locations in Vancouver |  | Shameful I have never been to the actual Vij’s restaurant still. But at least I can say I have tried this amazing Indian food truck! Vij’s Railway Express features Butter Chicken, Naan, Seared Pacific Cod in Mango Sour Cream Curry with Cumin Basmati Rice and Naan, Citrus Zest Confit, Curry, Ginger. etc. For samples, we were snacking on a chickpea, mango chutney, onion salad with rice puffs. It is a very appetizing salad and not spicy at all. Perfect for all you skeptics that Indian food is spicy.

Curry Chicken and Chickpeas: Served with Basmati Rice and Naan bread. This was quite well proportion and was perfect for us to share.

Yolk’s | 110 Dunsmuir Vancouver, BC V6B 1X7 (Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain Station)  | | I love Yolk’s Fried Chicken and Waffles made with panko crusted chicken breast (juicy like a thigh) drizzled over with maple syrup and gravy. Now you can also visit the Yolk’s Restaurant on 1298 East Hastings Street, Vancouver (where the Brave Bull House of Steaks used to be)!

Soft warm waffles with salted caramel dip. Delicious! Get a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice or mint lemonade to go.

Johnny’s Pop’s | Various locations in Vancouver | | Johnny literally drew a crowd – a really large crowd. Rightfully so because his popsicle treats are made with simple wholesome ingredients that is exciting, fun, and really delicious. My favorite was avocado lime and mango-yogurt-strawberry. You can drool over Johnny Pop’s Instagram, but wouldn’t you want your own? Follow Johnny’s Pop on twitter to find out where his next location is. Usually along Athletes Village in front of Tap and Barrel, along the Seawall, Granville Island or obsviously at the Food Cart Festival!

Ze Bite – A Taste of France | 898 W Cordova St Vancouver, BC | | Ze Bite was sampling chicken crepes and also ham baguettes. Their gluten free savory buckwheat crepes are quite good and is even slightly crunchy. All their meat are marinated so it is flavorful. Our favorite is the Ze Moroccan Crepe – Gluten free savory buckwheat crepe with marinated chicken, mint, hummus, tomato sauce, and mixed greens.

Cloud Nine Cotton Candy | Various locations in Vancouver |  is super cute little buggy. Baby blue and white really has me going. They serve shave ice, handcrafted soda, and organic cotton cnady with coconut, lychee, pear and other appealing flavors!

Jamaica Blue Cold Brew Coffee |  421 Industrial Ave, Vancouver, British Columbia V6A 2P8 |  made with premium blend of Certified Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee for a bold strong taste that is not very acidic. On a hot summer’s day, this coffee was perfect mixed with a little cream! There is agave syrup if you prefer a little sweetness. Glad we got our sample and our full size coffee to go – just before the line formed behind us!

I have a wild idea, wouldn’t it be awesome if the Food Cart Festival could also play the Chef Movie on big screen? What was your favorite part of the Food Cart Festival? And what would you like to see more of next year? Let us know!

Vancouver Food Cart Festival 2014
URL: http://www.foodcartfest.com/
Cuisine: International, Food Truck, Street Food
Hours: Noon to 5pm

215 West 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Y 3V5

East of Main Cafe is a tapas / cocktail bar in Chinatown, more specifically it is located across the street from Phnom Penh and Caffe Brixton, around the corner from  The Union, and The Parker. Within this 100m radius are some delicious treats… And when we first saw East of Main Cafe boarded up, cardboard boxes everywhere, chairs staking, and shelves empty restaurant erecting… we knew something good was forthcoming…  I had to spy inside!

Now East of Main has been open awhile, the bar is fully stocked and the place is gorgeous and filled with origami cranes floating up top. We came here specifically for lunch (we were not overflow traffic from Phnom Penh as so many others have discovered this place)…

Chickpea Kale Salad sm 4 | lg 6:  feta, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, walnuts with added Egyptian spiced albacore tuna seared rare (+5). The kale didn’t have that raw green hard to swallow taste. It was well massaged and rested. The salad was light, bold and lightly acidic. The Egyptian spiced tuna tasted of cardamom and a similar mix to creole.  If tuna isn’t your thing, perhaps option for shawarma chicken or harissa spiced snapper (+4). This salad is something I’ve mapped in my mind to replicate at home for lunch… 

Harissa Spiced Pacific Red Snapper Pita Wraps 8.50: all pitas come with lemon yogurt, garlic tahini, hummus, green leaf lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. The snapper was deeply marinated with sweet paprika, cumin, coriander and sherry vinegar for that acidic fire. A generous portion and something different from the usual ham and cheese sammy.

So how was the food you asked? Definitely double tap worthy!

East of Main Cafe
URL: http://eastofmaincafe.com/
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Tapas Bars
Hours:
Mon Closed
Tue Closed
Wed 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Thu 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Fri 5:00 pm – 12:00 am
Sat 5:00 pm – 12:00 am
Sun Closed

223 E Georgia St Vancouver, BC V6A 2Z9
(604) 899-2777

Xai Verandah Lounge in LA, California. This beautiful place blends old world timeless Mediterranean elegance with contemporary chic. A relaxed mansion setting with lush gardens and canopy seating for outdoor dining; something Vancouver so desperately need (if only weather permitted).

What Xai Verandah features is weekend brunch and Happy Hour Hookah. Hookah aka Shisha is a single or multi stemmed instrument for smoking flavored tobacco thru a water basin. My first experience of Hookah was in South Korean in this swanky bar in Hangdae called Oi (Seoulgrid’s awesome photos or see the following 2 photos  )

Hoohak flavours available are delicious – pomegranate, apple, watermelon, candy apple, etc. Brunch menu is awesome as it consists of brioche French toast, bennies, pancakes, omelettes and other traditional Middle Eastern brunches and Lebanese breakfast mezze.

Crispy toasted pita chips

Nutella Pancakes $11.95: Homemade pancakes served with hazelnut nutella, fresh berries, and loaded with whipped cream. Pancakes are fluffy but it isn’t something that represents this restaurant. But if you are looking for comfort, this is not a bad choice.

Two Eggs any Style $6.95 with added Merguez sausage $3.95: Served with toast, Xai spiced potatoes. The sausage is of fresh lamb, beef stuffed into a lamb intestine casing. Spiced flavours of chilli pepper, sumac, fennel and garlic dominate. I expected presentation to be slightly nicer – ex. potatoes wasn’t served semi-mashed.

Also recommended is the chicken hummus, Xai House Blend Tea. It is a custom blend with a hint of spiced Earl Grey of cinnamon, French vanilla, cardamom, and cloves. Add steamed milk to any teas.

There are so many choices here that it was really unfortunate we had limited stomach space and we don’t live in LA. I would love to revisit this trendy restaurant lounge.

The interior space during night times is also very charming. If you think Nuba Vancouver or Sanfir are sensual, than you will definitely need to come visit Xai Verandah Lounge. Free flowing white drapes, white seats, booth seats… Keep your eyes peeled for Groupon like vouchers, sometimes you will find a “daily deal” for this place.

Xai Verandah Lounge
URL: http://www.xailounge.com/
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Hours: 10:00 am to 11:00 pm

7677 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046, United States
+1 323-969-0090