Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Vancouver: Japadog, The Greedy Pig & The Alibi Room

Since we stayed near Gastown in Vancouver, we spent a good amount of time around that area since it was within walking distance, and there's a lot of great bars and restaurants.  One thing about Gastown is that if you like the hipster culture, then this is THE spot.  It's almost as if all the hipsters in Vancouver gathered in this little area.  For our last night, we decided to hit up a few spots around the area since hipster spots meant good food and drinks!

One of the must eats when visiting Vancouver is stopping by a Japadog location.  They are the originator of this Japanese fusion hot dog, and there's even a location in NYC now!  Before Alice, Calvin, and I headed off to Gastown to hit up our spots, we stopped by the brick & mortar location of Japadog on Robson for some appetizers :P


Japadog
530 Robson St
Downtown
Vancouver, BC V6B 2B7  

japadog robson street
Been to a cart location, now to their brick & mortar location!

our order
We decided to get four to share, with some unique to these Robson location.

yakiniku
Yakiniku Dog.  One of the hot dogs that's unique to this location.  Essentially, an Arabiki sausage sits on a bed of rice, then topped with yakiniku between bun.  It's like a MOS Burger gone cray cray!  Sauce was pretty damn good.

katsu
Tonkatsu.  Another unique to this location.  There's no hot dog in this, but a piece of pork katsu, drizzled with sweet mayo and katsu sauce and topped with cabbage between bun.  

oroshi
Oroshi.  Still my favorite hot dog from Japadog.  Grated dikon on top of a juicy pork bratwurst with some green onions on top.  So simple, but so good.

terimayo
The one that started it all, Terimayo.  Since Calvin & Alice never had Japadog, had to order the original.  Teriyaki sauce, sweet mayo and seaweed = winning combo.


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After Japadog, we made our way towards Gastown, and stopped by the first stop of the night, Greedy Pig.  It's a lounge/gastropub that focuses on whiskey cocktails.  Pigs seem to be a really popular thing nowadays haha.


Greedy Pig
307 W Cordova Street 
Downtown, Gastown
Vancouver, BC V6B 1E5

logo
Greedy Pig's logo on the menu.

Ward Eight with a Kentucky bourbon
Calvin's Ward Eight.  Classic cocktail, except their version is with Kentucky bourbon instead of rye.

Roughrider with CA rye whiskey
Alice's Roughrider.  Made with Canadian rye whiskey.  Not a huge fan of it cause it was super sweet.

Old Ripper though.  Made with Tennessee sour mash, pureed white peach, creme de peaches, fresh lemon juice, bitters, and egg white
Old Ripper.  Made with Tennessee sour mash, pureed white peach, creme de peaches, fresh lemon juice, bitters, and egg white.  Very hipster drink with the egg white, but it was the best one out of the three we tried!

menu
Part of their menu.  We decided to get the Marrow & Toast to share.

marrow
Marrow & Toast.  Roasted marrow bones, garlic confit, sea salt, truffle oil, arugula, and bacon.

marrow & bacon
The marrow and the bacon.

garlic
Marinated garlic!

baguette
Toasts.

creation 2
My own little bite.  The truffle oil was very light.  Sea salt was a nice touch since it helped cut through all the fat.


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We actually stopped by another gatropub but it was way too packed so we decided to go to our last stop, Alibi Room, a very hipster Canadian pub.  Why is it hipster?  Well, it's a pub that serves a ton of craft beers, including local brews, tons of interesting characters (saw a guy wearing a sailor's outfit there), and it's actually located a bit far away from Gastown, in an area that's a little shady.  


Alibi Room
157 Alexander Street 
Vancouver, BC V6A 1B8

front
Front of Alibi Room.  A bit hard to find if you don't know the area.

logo
Logo.  Lots of beers on tap.

maple beer
I wanted something a bit unique and local so I went with the Red Truck "Prev-Ale" Maple Ale.  Definitely get that maple haha.

tripel
Calvin's "Le Nez Rouge" Tripel.  A local brew as well.  9% Belgian tripel.

porter
Alice likes porter so she got the Phillips "Longboat" Double Chocolate Porter.  

fries
Must have something to nibble on so we got the fries.

vinegar and ketchup
Came with two condiments: housemade ketchup and chili garlic vinegar.  I am a sucker for ketchup made in-house so I went for that most of the time.

pork belly sandwich
Later on, we couldn't resist the piggy, so got the Pork Belly Sandwich, which was topped with beer braised onions, served with jalapeno coleslaw, and more fries.  Pork belly was not as good as Calvin and I liked, but the slaw was very interesting!  Gave us regular ketchup this time instead of the homemade.   


We called it a night after Alibi Room, but I was definitely surprised with the Canadian craft beer scene!  It just seems like all of Pacific Northwest is loaded with these breweries brewing these unique beers.  Should've saved some room for more beer instead of food haha.

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