The Edge - Sharp, But Could Be Sharper

I was recently accused of not having a cup of coffee for 5 months. On the contrary, I have been searching out some new coffee shops to explore. One of those coffee shops is the Edge on 8th and Yukon. When you enter it is laid out like a sleeker Bread Garden of old. It has display cases but in the background you can see a grill menu which serves breakfast and lunch in a little seating area to the side. The place has huge front windows and has a deck out front. It also has a little coffee bar stool counter that you can sit at if you are just darting in. I liked the fact that despite the dark modern colours used in the design, the place is relatively bright. I wasn't too crazy about the half service: order at the counter, you take a number and then they bring it out to you. The people are friendly and easy going, but the half service thing makes it feel a little bit like a cafeteria. It is a great place to sit down, read a paper, meet some friends and prepare to do some serious shopping at any of the box stores down the street. This place is a "I need to get a coffee and maybe a bite with my people before we head out" kind of place.

Out of 5 coffee grinding blades

Scene: 3 The locale is kind of funny right now because of all of the construction that is going on, and the box stores nearby. But as my Co-Host pointed out, the Olympic Wa-h-illage will be opening nearby so this place could be getting in early to season the edginess a bit before the games. The ability of bevies on the deck in the summer time could also amp up some scenery points. the staff seem cool but I think the place still needs to step out of a bit of the contemporary minimalist and get some art up on the walls.

Grub: 3 It has decent choices for the food, and what is served is good. The Edge Breakfast is the 2 eggs, choice of meat, hash and toast for $8. Not bad but could be better.

Coffee: 4 When I took my first sip I knew that it had that familiar flavour. I was pleased to find out that the shop served 49th Parallel beans which are my favourites! They even sell them whole bean by the pound.

Sunshine Diner Remains on the Sunny Side

The Sunshine Diner is one of those places that people love when they find it, and it soon becomes a destination spot when one thinks of breakfast or an old fashioned milkshake. The place is set up like a 50’s diner that sticks to the theme of Elvis, Marilyn, Coca Cola and American cars. It has a little patio area, tables and booths where people can meet and eat comfortably. Despite the fact that Sunshine is located in Kits and is frequented by people in the neighbourhood, it does get play from all kinds of folks. Everyone from construction workers to business people will go there. It kind of looks like Sesame Street when they sing the, “These are the people in your Neighbourhood” song.

The food is good, not profoundly terrific, but it is a diner after all. It serves up all the usual breakfast goodies served as a dish or a la carte. You have your picks of Eggs Benedicts, omelets, and assorted breakfast specialties. Our favourite is the 2 BIG Pancakes, if not for the ability to fill but the fact it has a fun name. Mind you, in our minds Bert’ still has the most buttery Pancakes to date. The servers are nice to you even if you loiter as long as they are not too busy.
If you haven’t already tried the Sunshine Diner, then you had better make your way over. Even though they moved into their newer fancier building up the street from their old location, they have still managed to maintain their feel good friendly neighbour appeal.

Scene: 3 – Despite the range of visitors who are there and that if you live in Vancouver, you have to know that this place exists, there really isn’t any good people watching. Ultimately you are in a diner with 50’s décor, which would be great if you were filming a scene from Happy Days. Unfortunately there is no Arthur Fonzerelli to provide that level of cool.
Grub: 3 – The food is diner food. It’s greasy but it’s good. I wouldn’t say that I would go there if I were a vegan or on a Weight Watcher’s – unless of course you were going for the high score.
Coffee: 2 It’s utilitarian with no chance of an espresso – I don’t think. Even if they did, the servers ain’t no baristas. The coffees, however, are bottomless.

Not Much to Roar About at the Lion's Den

The Lion’s Den café can be seen behind the little pie piece median from the intersection of Fraser and Kingsway. It is a little hole in the wall with a big personality. I couldn’t help but be constantly surprised once I stepped through its doorway. At first sight, you cannot help but be accosted by the Jamaican Bob Marleyesque décor which is literally crowned with a taxidermy lion over head. The person behind the counter was, I believe, to be a wildly outspoken Japanese woman who told us that we had to serve ourselves our own coffee, because she could not take care of us all day because she was by herself and she was hung over. As we served ourselves coffee from the eclectic thrift store mugs, we couldn’t help but notice that the menu was a fusion of your diner breakfast, Jamaican dishes nicely rounded out by your option of Japanese delights. We opted for the standard eggs, hash and bacon (which we were promptly told that there may be too many of us in the café and that there may not be enough bacon for everybody!) to set at least a baseline for food. To our surprise when we looked past the dumbwaiter window, we couldn’t help but notice that the kitchen was a kitchen one might find in a rental suite with about the same quality utensils. While we waited, we noticed a steady flow of people until the second staff member arrived. The actual breakfast was a decent enough home style breakfast and the wait wasn’t nearly as long as expected. It actually appeared that the place, despite it quirks, had a steady routine of abuse customers, take their orders and give them enough service that they might come back. Would I come back? Would I be a regular? Not on your life. But it’s kind of like after being hit in dodgeball. You are briefly stunned when it happened, you realize it was fun while it lasted, but everyone’s gotta have a turn.

Out of 5 Jamaican Lion Roars Mon

Grub 2: The food we had was alright but I have to say that everything else looked pretty sketchy and peering into the kitchen didn’t instill any sense of reassurance.
Scene 3: It was kind of interesting who went in there. There were workers, a couple of people who appeared to be tourists, and a few other random folks who were in and out. Strangely t seemed like it was mostly men in there. I doubt you would see any Kits types in there.
Coffee 1: The coffee was terrible. I think they had an espresso machine in there. In fact I am pretty sure it was a Saeco Barrista from Starbucks that looked like an alley cat after a night out with the Feline Fight Club.
Note: If you every have a hankering to play two person head to head table top Pac Man from the early 80’s, this place uses one of those exact machines as their tables by the windows.

The McDeal on the McCoffee

When I kept hearing strange murmurs about McDonald's having great coffee, I had to try it myself. It seems as though Mickey D's has taken a page out of Timmy Ho's by asking what you want in your coffee before you receive it so they can given you a false sense of having a custom made coffee. I took cream with no sugar and waited for my little morning liquid supplement to arrive. When I first tried it, the thought of McDonald's "Too Hot Coffee Scandal" ran through my mind. "Will I burn my tongue immediately and be unable to taste the coffee or will I hate it right off the bat?" I have to say my pessimistic views tainted my perspective before The coffee hit my lips. I peeled back the lid and took my first few slurps.

At first I thought the coffee was too hot and too bitter, but as I started slurping down a little bit more my opinions started to change. Perhaps it was some caffeine kicking in, or maybe the cream was finally mixing in with some of the coffee, or I secretly really wanted to like the coffee. Whatever it was I found myself enjoying the little cup of joe. The taste mellowed out and the little cup of coffee that could did it for me.

I actually picked the coffee up in a Bacon and Egg McMuffin with a hash brown for about 5 bucks. The McDonald's on Main near terminal is sketchy at best but serves your McFare the way you McExpect it.

Out of 5 McStars

Scene: 1 - Stay out of there if you can. There is a swanky McDonald's higher up Main around 30th, but the McD's on Main and Terminal is a semi convenient locale for commuters and a great place to go if you have collected enough cans and bottles to buy a McMeal.

Grub: 2 - Okay. It is a bit of a guilty pleasure but I know the food is not good for me which is why I can only rank it as a 2 at its McBest.

Coffee: 2 - Utilitarian. But, as far as brewed utilitarian coffee went, this wasn't bad. In fact it was better than the utilitarian swill I have at work which makes it a really high two. However, let's face it, a 3 means it has to be as good as a mediocre Americano. So until the McAmericano comes along this McRating stays.

Sorry, it must have been another Barney I know.

Deja vu? And I'm not just talking about seeing a second Bean Around the World on Main street just off Broadway. I'm talking about the fact that BATW is right next to Cafe Barney just like the BATW location on South Granville. The two joints took over the restaurant and cafe formerly known as Monsoon and Soma (Soma has a new location which opened fall '07 in the old vegan bistro formerly known as Hatch).

Cafe Barney has a clean décor like a Pier 1 showroom. It's seemingly more spacious and airy than its predecessor. The staff seem like it is going for hiring the Main street kind of gals and it is serving up a lot of the same fare that it has at its Granville location. To be honest, although the restaurant has history on the Granville strip, I wasn't all that impressed with this Cafe B. In the huevos rancheros I had,it claimed that it had fresh salsa but it was jarred salsa with some tomatoes cut up and added in, and my co-host seemed to be a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of sausage in her omlette. I know that I am treading in areas that I don't normally go but I have to say that my first impression of Cafe Barney was a little bit disappointing.

Will I go back again? Of course I will. The food was not so bad that I was repulsed into never returning. I just won't get the huevos rancheros again. The place has just opened in the past couple of months so they must have a few kinks to work out just like any other joint.

As for the coffee? I didn't actually have any. It looked just like any other utilitarian coffee I've ever had, even at Barney's on Granville. I'll just have to come back and have a second look at the cafe I thought I recognized.

Out of 5 soft poached huevos

Scene: 3 Very nice people. Our server was accommodating and attentive. As far as the rest of the staff? After working in restaurants when I was younger, I was always told having conversations about your social life out amongst customers while doing prep work was tacky. I can now see why.
As for the clientel, the people in there seemed mostly like the people who I mentioned who would search for this kind of food. Maybe they were people from South Granville who were playing tourist in the SOMA area.

Grub: 2 Like I said it wasn't repulsive. The menu had some variation but pretty straight up like a Pier 1 showroom. If you are looking for your up front no surprises, non vegan, non obscure vegetable prepared on a regular stove, then this place would be great.

Coffee: TBA – I'm going to assume it's utilitarian. I doubt that I will go with an americano the next time I go there even though it is probably offered on the menu. If I feel like an americano, I would rather walk the extra ten meters and go to BATW next door.