Lolita's and our Lack of Tlayuda

I fiiiiinally dined at the West End's Lolita's this past week, after several years of hearing good things about it and seeing it as I have walked/run along Davie, en route to Stanley Park. My family tried Lolita's older, brash cousin - Me & Julio - last year and I have discovered that I feel the same way about both of Jaison and Lila Gaylie's establishments.

Vancouver doesn't "get" Cal-Mex, let alone authentic Mexican cuisine. The appeal of West Coast Mexican food is its bold flavours, value, and satisfying simplicity. From Whale's Vagina (San Diego) to Blaine, every US city worth its salchicha offers an array of cheap and kickass Mexican restaurants. But nooooo...all you can get upon entering hoighty-toighty, chi-chi Vancouver is designer desayuna and yuppified yerbabuena. Yes, Lolita's has stellar cocktails and beautifully-plated entrees. Yes, Me & Julio's specials are super creative and will start a party in your mouth hole. But this is beside the point because Vancouver needs some Mexican restaurants that are somewhere between a taqueria and a boutique eatery, such as Lolita's.

My foodie pal and I ordered the Plantanos con Creama, the Turkey Tostada, and the Brisket Taquitos. To reiterate, the food created under the Gaylies is always punchy and pretty, so I cannot state that I did not enjoy my meal. I'm just getting sick of enjoying these types of $16 dishes, when what I would really prefer is a $5 tamale or $7 birria like I have had in countless Mexican cantinas and restaurants south of the border. I would definitely go back to Lolita's for a cocktail and those delectable plantains, but I'd probably eat somewhere else along Davie.     

One final thought: would you naturally want to dine at a restaurant owned by a guy named Jaison Gaylie? It's like wanting to listen to the music of a singer-songwriter named KT ("Katie") Tunstall or wanting to read a book by an author named Poppy Z. Brite. I should trust my gut more often, before I fill it.

Who Doesn't Like "Pea-ness"?

Since many of my posts are food related, I just had to share this classic food-television blunder. I've probably seen it over thirty times in the past couple years and it never fails to amuse:

Earl Muldon Snags Order of Canada

Prolific Gitksan artist Earl Muldon has been working as a full-time artist for over 50 years, and he is one of my favourite Northwest Coast Native artists. Having carved innumerable totem poles, created the monumental entrance doors for Vancouver's Museum of Anthropology (with several other renowned Gitksan artists), and lead a restoration project for the Gitanyow (Kitwancool) Hereditary Chiefs, Earl has an endless number of accomplishments under his belt...and he is still creating wonderful works. His pieces can be found in galleries around Vancouver and museums around the world.

His early years were absorbed by wood carving and teaching, at the highly influential and recently defunct 'Ksan School of Northwest Coast Indian Art, but he has been focusing on jewellery for the past decade or so. His work is characterised by traditional Gitksan formline design, flawless technical skill, and playful detail. 

Earl recently won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Aboriginal Art from the provincial government's Achievement Foundation. In June of this year, he also received membership to the exclusive Order or Canada, becoming one of the few Northwest Coast artists to ever receive this award.

*Photo courtesy of Lattimer Gallery

Hastings Park - Friday Night Light Beers

Hastings Park Racetrack, just north of Vancouver's Playland and PNE grounds, can always be counted on for mediocre horse racing, successful Mexican jockeys, expectorating old Asian men, spectacular views of the Coast Mountains, and sweet sweet gambling. While Hastings Park sits cantle to most of North America's racetracks (including Ontario's Woodbine, which just hosted the Queen for the annual Queen's Plate), it definitely has its charms and I enjoy supporting it.

Although Hastings Park has drastically cut-back their number of racing days over the past 10 years (there are only races on three days per week now), the management is trying hard to promote the joys of gambling, and to lure some of the hipsters in from Commercial and Main. Since last summer, races  run on Friday nights - instead of the afternoon - and these seedy soirees come complete with DJ spinning, $3.50 domestic sleeves, and movie nights. For example, they will be showing Top Gun on July 16th, and Beverly Hills Cop on July 23rd. Movies start half an hour after the last race, at about 10:30pm.

While I will likely be skipping these 80s gems, I do hit-up Hastings Park a few times every summer. I have a shameful addiction to hotdogs with grilled onions and $1 Exacta Box bets, and my incessant yearnings for broiled byproduct and cautious wagering are always satiated at Hastings Park. Plus, entrance to the racetrack is always free! You now have no excuses to avoid supporting this aging Vancouver landmark!

Keywords: Alex Dawkins, "Vancouver Event Listings"

Main Street Ping Pong

I miss Ping's. Of course, the co-owners of La Buca and Pied-à-Terre will always produce innovative dishes and perfectly-prepared ingredients at the new Cafeteria, but I believe that the funky Japanese yoshoku of Ping's was better suited to Main Street. Main Street already has restaurants that fit the Cafeteria mould: Grub, Latitude, and Crave. My friend and I really enjoyed our meals, but there were a few flaws that both lost this restaurant a letter grade and will likely dissuade me from returning.

First, the entrees were all one or two dollars overpriced...and the prices of the appies were too close to the prices of the entrees. For example, my duck confit was $16.50 and my starter was $12.50. Second, there was a flaw with each dish that we ordered, which prevented this Cafeteria from being upgraded to bistro or brasserie in my mind. My pal ordered the chicken schnitzel with shredded cabbage, spätzle, and sautéed morels. It was a colourful and comforting dish, but the chicken was dry. Don't get me wrong, it was well seasoned and flavoured, but it was anhydrous. My duck was served with a chorizo-lentil melange and - surprisingly compatible - peeled orange slices, but some of the lentils were hard. Lastly, the draught beer is available at market price, but Cafeteria serves it in a 12oz glass! This isn't even a cheapo North American 16oz pint! This was disappointing.

I must say that the starter/salad we both ordered was a bat mitzvah in my mouth. It was an embellished bacon and eggs, with the bacon wrapped delicately around asparagus cladodes, and a perfectly poached egg placed atop a stack of arugula and grape tomatoes. To confuse my mouth and enrich this awesome saladfast (half breakfast, half salad), the chef placed a small pool of salsa verde on the plate, which went very well with both the asparagus and egg.

Cafeteria is worth trying, but just like Parkside, it likely won't be around for long.

Keywords: La Buca, Pied-a-Terre, Cafeteria Main Street, Alex Dawkins

Catering to Coffeeshops

I love independent cafes, and I really do go out of my way to avoid (ball-and-)chain coffeeshops. However, I not really diggin this increasingly-popular trend of the cafe format being fused together with deli and/or catering getups.

I was recently exploring the yuppie-filled sidestreets and hippiecondo-filled blocks of Kits Point for new and quality coffeeshops when I spotted Quince just east of Burrard, on West 3rd Avenue. Quince is just one of the many catering outfits in the city that is also trying to pass as a cafe and deli. It reminds me of the now defunct Sensational Suppers or the popular The Butler Did It in that it is clearly a business focused on catering that attempts to attract passers-by with take-out meals and coffee. This is not a bad business model in theory but - like Communism or clear beer - it just doesn't work in practice. The focus on meal preparation, corporate customers, and large-scale food production makes it nearly impossible for businesses like this to create a setting wherein locals and people off the street can enjoy a quality coffee, tea, or baked good in a space that is comfortable and neighbourly.

Quince and the many catercoffeeshops that are popping up around town often offer quality product, in an isolated sense: they serve great coffee, they always have fresh pastry, the layouts are slick, they offer a wide range of catering services and options, and their take-out meals are outstanding. Unfortunately, when these elements are combined, the poor punter who is hoping to enjoy a crema-clad coffee at a local and inviting independent cafe ends up entering a space suffering from an identity crisis...a perfectly prepared, stylish identity crisis. 

Anti-Vampiric Nationalist

There are two big-ticket outdoor concerts coming to Vancouver's scenic Malkin Bowl this summer: The National (September 10) and Vampire Weekend (August 27/28). One of these concerts will be a highlight of the city's summer festivities, and the other will taint serene Stanley Park with hipsters, hipteenies, and nattering afro-prep pop music (yes...I just used an Oxford comma VW...so you can suck it).

Promoting their fifth and highly acclaimed album, High Violet, The National are at the peak of their creative powers right now. Hailing from Cincinnati and based in Brooklyn, The National produce a poetic, ponderous rock that is based around Matt Berninger's baritone vocals, and is reminiscent of The Tindersticks and Interpol. Their music is a mélange of shoe-gazing melancholy and percussion-driven East Coast indie rock, but the band's collective intelligence and ever-evolving sound prevent songs from becoming predictable or brooding. At times, I have worried that The National might fall victim to the forlorn, ruminant elements found in their songwriting, but their propensity for anthemic refrains and catchy rock riffs always pulls them out of the lurking doldrums. 

Having said this, I would take gloomy doldrums created by The National over Vampire Weekend's preppy-pep ska any day. I hate when Vampire Weekend is compared to the Talking Heads or The Police because VW is nowhere near as complex or talented as these two trailblazing bands from the 1980s. Sure, VW can muster up a few retro-infused melodies and clever lines, but they only have one sound. Their Congolese, Upper-West-Side-Soweto may have turned heads and sweater-vests on the Columbia campus, but the group has failed to develop and progress on their second and most recent album, Contra. Plus, how can you respect a lead singer that dresses like this (see image)?!  

I will admit that my feelings regarding these bands stem from interviews I have seen with frontmen Matt Berninger and Ezra Koenig. The former is witty, unaffected and passionate...and the latter is smug, cavalier and trendy. One should definitely separate the art from the artist when analysing, contemplating, and enjoying creative works, but researching these lead singers and watching interviews with the two bands have revealed that The National are established craftsmen and Vampire Weekend are merely transitory journeymen.

Both of these concerts have sold out, but you can probably find tickets on Craigslist. At the very least, buy/download High Violet!