Au Petit Chavignol is a restaurant built on cheese. And yet the restaurant is so small, you would think it would be enormous to accommodate all those cheese lovers out there. I think this is a Vancouver hidden gem, a tiny, cozy oasis of cheese. If you like cheese do yourself a favour and go.
I was eying the fondue but then I’ve heard so many good things about the burger here, I’ll leave the fondue for next time.
I had the cheeseburger, with 3 year old raw milk Quebec Cheddar, double smoked bacon and an egg.
Always add the egg because I think that Canadian dietary guidelines on levels of allowable daily cholesterol are way to low and plus there is this ooie gooie thing the egg does to a burger that for me is quite appealing.
Life like investing is really all about risk vs. reward. The risk in this case is elevated cholesterol levels leading to arthrosclerosis an early cardiovascular episode and eventually an agonizing death.
On the other hand adding an egg can send an ordinary burger into the realm of the sublime and that’s the reward in life enjoying ethereal tastes and pleasures.
I choose the egg. Ironically, perhaps both.
Here my burger was bordering on the sublime. Yes the egg pushed it in that direction but the damn patty was way too small and overcooked. Still, an easy 9.5/10. Oh, but what could have been? Perhaps a double patty next time?
Or maybe I’ll get the fondue and the burger at the same time and dip the burger in the fondue. Ooo, but no, that’s just crazy speak ;)
“Frozen Patties” the waitress replies somewhat ashamedly.
“But the meat comes fresh we portion it out and then freeze it and it’s not in the freezer long”.
Well then, that makes all the difference, if it's only in the freezer for a short period of time, sign me up! It’s the original Original Joes Burger for me, enhanced of course with bacon and avocado.
Original Joes is a chain, this one in the beautiful town of Vernon BC. In the whole chain hierarchy a step down from Earls but perhaps a step up from Boston Pizza. Does that make sense?
There motto gives you a good idea of their marketing positioning: Because you can’t get beer at a drive thru!
The burger is a step up from fast food for sure, but all in all a very average pub/grill restaurant burger, lets say 6.5/10. The bacon looked great, maybe that’s why they serve the burger open face but overall I couldn’t really hear it much in the orchestra of the burger. I think in this case the orchestra was playing a generic Britney Spears song from the days that she still had the cute factor and the avocado called in sick.
This was my first visit to Joe's. It is what it is. I’ll probably be back one day but I’m not in any great hurry.
I came across Floyds Diner on an episode of Food Networks You Gotta Eat Here.
Fresh ingredients, huge all day breakfasts, eclectic somewhat campy interior, they didn’t do a burger but looking at the other stuff I’m guessing their burger has to be good. I wasn’t disappointed, I got what I expected, a pretty darn good home made burger.
I got excited for a second when waitress said ok to my request for some pink in the middle patty, but alas, hopes were soon crushed when she returned and to me that the kitchen said my request was illegal. I'm getting tired of this debate. We settled on please don't kill my burger.
I'll give this burger a 7.5 - 8/10. A solid burger with generous guack and fresh ingredients. The patty itself although perhaps not dead did arrive comatose. This burger is another of those meatloaf burgers; I'm seeing a lot of those lately. This one had a nice hint of cumin. In addition to all the other stuff the kitchen mixed in. I'm a bit of a burger purist, just give me good quality beef perfectly cooked and I'm happy. Please leave out the spices and the breadcrumbs and the eggs and spices and filler. Still not a bad burger at Floyds, the filler works.
BTW, Check out the staff baby staff photos on the wall, what a great idea. As one of the servers put it “That’s all of us, we are family here”. I like that. I like Floyds.
