Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

News stories from the Renfrew-Collingwood community in East Vancouver

Category Archives: Eating Out


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Eating Out in RC: Boteca Brasil

Boteca-Brasil

The bright and festive atmosphere of Boteca Brasil will transport you to someplace warm and cozy. Photos by Paul Reid

2545 Nanaimo Street, Vancouver
Call 778-379-7995 for reservations
Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner

BY PAUL REID

Even on a dark and rainy Vancouver day, the bright and festive atmosphere of Boteca Brasil will transport you to someplace warm and cozy. And if you are thinking of where to take your sweetie this upcoming Valentine ’s Day, Boteco Brasil will fit that romantic bill.

In Brazil, a “boteco” is place where you go for delicious food, lots of drinks, good music and hang out with friends. Boteco Brasil is where you can do just that – just what the RC area needs! On some nights your dinner at Boteco will be accompanied with live music . You will enjoy some classics of the “música popular Brasileira” (well known as MPB), bossa nova, pop, pagode, samba and many classics of Brazilian music.

Yes, it was a rainy Sunday afternoon when my accomplice and I made this visit to Boteco. No live music at this time, but there was music and as mentioned, our spirits were uplifted, not only by the atmosphere, but by the friendly staff. I’ll add here too, during the sunnier months, one can sit outside on Boteco’s large patio – sweet as well. Probably Renfrew-Collingwood’s best patio.

Back inside, we ordered some drinks. There are lots of fine ones to choose from: a variety of bottled beer, draft beer, wines and some cool-sounding cocktails. There is Cachaçam a Brazilian distilled spirit made from sugar cane. Also Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail, made with cachaça, sugar and lime. So what did we two wild and crazy kids order? It was an orange juice for her and a Brazilian roasted coffee for me.

Boteca-Brasil-Bobo-de-Camarao

The Bobo de Camarao is made of seasoned shrimps on a creamy stew made with red palm oil, cassava, coconut milk, celery and bell peppers.

For the food, the accomplice ordered the Bobo de Camarao ($17): seasoned shrimps on a creamy stew made with red palm oil, cassava, coconut milk, celery and bell peppers. I was drawn to the Feijoada ($16): authentic Brazilian style black beans and pork stew served with basmati rice, sautéed kale, farofa, vinaigrette salsa and a slice of orange. We also ordered an appetizer of Coxinhas ($9) which are crispy potato-based dough pockets stuffed with shredded chicken and spices.

The Coxinhas arrived, along with a garlic infused sauce, and mmm, no wonder these are described as Brazil’s favourite snack – really nice and tasty. The Bobo de Camarao, which my accomplice was sweet enough to allow me to try, was equally impressive. The coconut taste of the sauce reminded me of some Thai dishes I have eaten.

My Feijoada was also good. As with everything else, you could tell that it had been prepared with love and all fresh ingredients. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about arranging it all. Our very pleasant host explained that the farofa, which I would later learn is a toasted cassava flour mixture used on barbacued meat and hearty stews, can be sprinkled on top.

So basically, you can mix it all together, and boy, and girl, was it good – very nice and filling. I barely had room to finish off the accomplice’s Bobo de Camarao.

Now, it would be time for dessert, but as you now know – we were too full for dessert, BUT, there were some nice-sounding ones: Bolo Prestigio ($6) a rich Brazilian chocolate and coconut cake with “beijino filling and brigadeiro” topping. Also, Pudim De Leite Moca ($6) A rich and creamy flan topped with caramel sauce.

So there we have it – Boteco Brasil would be a good choice to take your sweetie, on Valentine’s, or any time, lunch or dinner. Until next time food fans – bon appetite.

Copyright (c) 2018 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Eating Out in RC: Pho 99 Broadway Tech Centre

2915 Hebb Avenue (at Renfrew)
604-255-3135

BY PAUL REID

Pho 99's Combo Roll plate. Photos by Paul Reid

Pho 99’s Combo Roll plate. Photos by Paul Reid

Greetings food fans. Let me tell you about one of the newer eateries in town, just opened on Easter of 2017. This is definitely the most modern pho restaurant that I have ever encountered. When later talking with manager and franchise owner, Mr. Khanh Tran, he explained to me, “There has been a change in philosophy with our generation, compared to the baby boomers before us.

“They would just cook the food and not pay much attention to the dining area. Now, the new generation wants to create an ambience and the atmosphere, to give the customer a full dining experience, one that is comfortable and relaxed.”

Seafood Noodle in Hot and Sour Soup

Seafood Noodle in Hot and Sour Soup

And that it was. My accomplice and I shared a Combo Roll plate ($7): one salad roll, a fried roll and a grilled minced pork roll. It comes with two delicious sauces. Mmm. I also ordered a large Seafood Noodle in Hot and Sour Soup ($10): with vegetables, squid, prawns and crabmeat. My accomplice had a small pho with chicken meat ($9).

The food arrived swiftly and I will just say that everything was oh-so delicious. Loved it!

Tran explained more about the pho-losophy. This is a meal about balance. All of the ingredients that you put in to the pho soup are there to balance one another out. The crunchiness of the bean sprouts balances with the soft noodles; the lime helps to cut through the fat; the basil goes well with the beef aroma; the hoisin sauce (that brown sauce on the table) can be added if you think the soup is too salty; the hot sauce and jalapenos are there for you to control the spiciness.

Pho 99’s broth takes a full 18 hours to get ready, which adds to that irresistible flavour. Yum!

Tran runs Pho 99 Broadway with his wife, his brother-in-law, Quy, and the full support of his entire family.

“This is Pho 99’s 10th location,” says Tran, “11 if you count the U.S. location,” Tran’s first restaurant.

A local hit with the students and staff of Broadway Tech Centre, Tran hopes to bring the best service and food that they can to our community.

“For us, the bottom line is the people. Did they have a great experience. In our culture, it is the honourable thing to give your guests the best that we can, to treat them as best as we can, and that is our philosophy here.”

Helping out the local community is also very important to Tran and his family, who were among the Vietnamese boat people forced to flee Vietnam. “We have begun working with a local nearby church, St. Jude’s, as well as to provide local high school graduates with ‘celebration vouchers’ for a job well done. We look forward to when the new business becomes more sustainable so that we will be better equipped to help our community even more.”

I suggest you visit Pho 99 and experience the new generation of pho restauarants for yourself. Bon appetit!

Copyright (c) 2018 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Eating Out in RC: The Captain’s Boil

3309 Kingsway, Vancouver
Phone: (604) 565-3999

BY PAUL REID

Eating Out in RC: Captain's Boil

“Everything that we ate at the Captain’s Boil was delicious.” Photo by Paul Reid

Greetings food fans. We journey now to one of Collingwood’s newest restaurants – the Captain’s Boil. The Captain’s Boil is actually a franchise with 16 locations now across Canada.

“The Captain’s Boil was inspired by Cajun seafood boil, where freshly caught seafood is boiled and served right away to retain its freshness and tenderness. The Captain’s Boil took this idea further by adding aromatic Asian spices to enhance the natural taste of our ingredients,” says the CEO and founder, The Captain.

Captain'sBoil in Renfrew-Collingwood on KingswayAs this franchise is aimed at the millennial crowd, we older types may or may not immediately appreciate this style of dining, which The Captain describes as “feast like a pirate! dine like a captain.” You may be surprised to find that the tablecloth is a sheet of paper, that all of the utensils and bowls are plastic and Styrofoam, or that the food arrives in plastic bags. Or, maybe I have just never been to a Cajun seafood boil, which I hadn’t, until now.

But that’s how it is. The Captain explains, “By removing all the unnecessary hassle of table settings and cutlery, we make sure that the food is ready-to-eat — from sea to table.” Also, once we’re done, I guess they can just fold up the paper tablecloth and voila – no dishes.

My sweetie and I arrived one Wednesday evening around 6 pm to find the Captain’s Boil quite busy, but a table was available. You may have to wait awhile on the weekends. We examined the menu and found out about the Captain’s steps.

The first step is to “choose your catch.” My sweetie and I ordered one order (pound) of King Crab Legs and one order of clams. Originally, my sweetie had ordered lobster, which said “market price” next to it. The waitress was kind enough to let us know that one lobster was currently $45. “Can we order half a lobster,” I asked, being kinda poor and all. That was not possible, so the King Crab Legs, at $19.95, was this beggar’s choice.

Step two, you choose your flavour. The options are Cajun, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Sauce or the Captain’s Boil (a “perfectly balanced” combination of the other three sauces). We chose Garlic for the clams and the Captain’s Boil for the crab legs.

Step three, you choose your heat: non-spicy, mild, medium or fire (smokin’ hot). We love the spice but thought we better take it easy, so we went with medium on both. In retrospect, I think we could have handled the fire.

That’s it for the steps, but you still have many add-ons or sides to choose from as well. We decided on an order of the Cajun Seafood Fried Rice ($10.95).

My accomplice immediately put on her bib and plastic gloves; I decided to wait a bit. The rice arrived first. We scooped some rice into our bowls. We agreed – very delicious. Next came our bag of clams. It was time to put on my bib and gloves. You just reach in, pull them out and have at ’em. The garlic flavour was intense. I guess that’s what you would expect from something in a bag swimming with garlic. I must say though, if you love garlic, like I do, it was pretty darn tasty. Soon after our crab legs arrived. Again – delicious.

You do have to work for your dinner with crab though, and I still don’t know how crazy I was about eating with plastic gloves and utensils on Styrofoam. Now that I know the Captain’s philosophy (“We serve our food messy to let you enjoy it in a fun and unique way”), I guess it was pretty fun; a change for sure. One thing that was also for sure — everything that we ate at the Captain’s Boil was delicious. Our hostess was pretty friendly too. Well done, Captain’s Boil.

Bon appetit.

Copyright (c) 2017 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News