So we’re slowly but surely fillin in that gap of Latin eats in town. Until a few years back, beyond el Rinconcito Salvadoreno, how many other authentic Latino joints did we have? And why hasnt Rinconcito been up in VIA yet? But while most of the taquerias in town seem to be centered around downtown or East Van, a coworker of mine told me about this cool joint close to me in Burnaby as she cooked tacos for us some time ago (there’s a Peruvian joint by Burnaby General Hospital as well, name escapes me). Like Que Pasa, el Comal has been around for some time (10 years) mainly as a tortilla producer/distributor but they just opened up shop as a eat in cafe a few months ago. You can get all the Mexican goodness you can expect to eat in-house and/or shop for Latin groceries and take home some oven fresh tortillas, tacos, tamales and more.

el Comal Mexican Foods
7650 Winston Street, Burnaby (south of Lougheed, between the Dairyland and Costco)

Those other taquerias that seem to be centered around downtown or East Van:
Taco Rico
la Taqueria
Don Guacamoles
Dona Cata
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Last summer I blew up my favourite Japanese fish shop in Angel Seafood, now I bring to you the meat equivalent.  For those of you who are not familiar with Sukiyaki is, it’s a Japanese style hotpot, more hot, less pot though.  The meat used is sliced very thin, kinda like a cheese steak.   You can find similar cuts at places like T&T, and you can also get the real deal at Fujiya, but like Angel Seafood, why not just go right to the source.

Sugiyama meats in Richmond has been around as long as I can remember, it’s tucked amongst all the body shops and cabinet places at 12191 Bridgeport Rd.

MORE SUKIYAKI

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I was first introduced to Que Pasa when they had a deli and retail outlet on W. 3rd.  I skated the West Beach  mini ramp regularly and sessions were commonly followed by a $5 burrito at Que Pasa.  I can’t tell you how many of them I have eaten over the course of my life.

If you aren’t familiar with them, Que Pasa is a local company, which manufactures some of the best taco chips as well as pre-cooked meals.  You can find their products all over town.

The ramp and outlet on 3rd have both been gone for awhile now, but I was pleased to see that they still run a similar outfit on 5 rd. in Richmond, just on the other side of the tunnel.  If you’re out in that neck of the woods, you have to give it a try!

For location and more: QUE PASA!

The first time I ever met now-longtime V.I.A. contributor, Calen Knauf, he went off on a tangent about the beauty of hard candy. Not hard candy that was born as hard candy but soft candy that had gone a little bit stale on the shelf and was that much better because of it. I agreed with him that sour soothers are better if they’re not super ooey gooey, that they become better with time, and I am happy to report to you today that London Drugs on Broadway at Cambie has stale… er… I mean… perfectly aged bags of Gummy Zone brand sour soothers (called Sour Tongue Tinglers) on sale for a mere 99 cents per 120g bag! I picked up 4 bags and I only hope that Calen doesn’t beat you to the rest of them.

If you haven’t been to El Purgarcito on Hastings near Nanaimo you have not yet lived, my friend. The $5 price tag on their delicious daily lunch special (Thursdays is enchiladas with rice and beans) is so unbelievable that I didn’t get a photo of it because I was rushing through lunch hoping they didn’t realize their mistake before they handed me the bill. Here’s a couple of details of the decor, please note the awesome avocado napkin holder as it is but the tip of the iceberg. Get some.

Apologies if this is your spot and I’m blowin it up!

It’s been a minute since I blew up anybody’s spot… maybe the last time was when IGA Marketplace was officially crowned Vancouver’s Ice Cream Sale Champion of the summer of 2009.

Well they’re back at it again for winter with these absolutely ridiculously priced cream pies. Yes, that’s 2 full sized cream pies for $2.98. Yes, that’s $1.49 each. And, yes, that’s ridiculous. Banana or chocolate. Get some.

A long time ago, before we started our semi-official “Blowin Up Your Spot” series of posts I blew up Kadoya on Davie. While picking up some takeout there the other day I couldn’t help but notice that somebody else is blowing it up even harder!

They’ve renovated their space since I featured them, and the menu is just as good as it always was.

Fellow V.I.A.er DJ Science and his lady Yoshi just alerted me to this insane deal at Future Shop: listed on the shelves at $19.99, when they go to ring in this 4GB USB thumb drive it comes up as $8.99! It’s also $8.99 in their online store. Not sure if it’s a glitch in the system or if they have a surplus of these and are blowing them out on the downlow but whatevs, if you need one, get one NOW before it disappears.

If you’re not sure about pricing on these, I just paid $50 for a 2GB drive just like this one. It is shaped like a piece of Lego and all, but still, this is a shocker deal.

Again, apologies if this is your spot and I’m blowin it up!

I went and watched District 9 at Oakridge on opening night last Friday. It was a little more full than the last time that I went, actually, it was jam packed. No thanks to me blowing up the spot (LINK), but partly due to Vancouver Film School grads who were responsible for helping make this amazing film. I didn’t know this before I got there but there was some dude handing out fliers promoting the fact that VFS graduate, Neill Blomkamp, directed the film and in all, around 30 Vancouver Film School grads were involved in the visual effects stuff. Woah. Cool. Check the featurette below and learn more at the VFS D9 mini site.

As of this very instant, 1PM on August 17th, 2009, the Canada Line Skytrain is open for business. I think it’s time you visited the Oakridge theatre, or just that mall in general. Or Richmond, have you ever really spent any time out there? Or maybe even just lunch at the airport, there’s an A+W there that you can get to without having to go through customs or any security checks.

I can’t believe I posted…’Hey…anyone know any spots?’  Where in the city are they not growing?  I’ve almost smashed my car twice, driving 70K squinting as I passed by some bushes.  Those two hot weeks have really paid off.  I’ll definitely remember this summer, I’ve spent the last two weeks swimming every day in North Van and then blackberry picking for five days straight in around the TransCanada trail in Norburn….it’s right out of a Douglas Coupland book…..except much less interesting.

My blackberry picking tips….If you got some…let’s hear ‘em! Read more

Nestled almost on a side street in a pocket of Kingsway that not many people have a reason to be hanging around, in that zone between Knight and Victoria, is a market I can’t believe I’d never been into before a couple weeks ago. Famous Foods is an affordable health food store and as you’d expect they’ve got all sorts of veggies, a small deli, sweet juices, cereals, breads, meats, all at super decent prices… but what I didn’t expect to find was Read more