I had a note the other day from Robin Coope, who thought it would be a good idea to get folks discussing what their favourite food shopping street is in Vancouver. Great idea, Robin!
Except I’m expanding the range beyond Vancouver to the Greater Vancouver area, because I know there are some great food shopping streets in Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, and so on. I’m not looking for great restaurant streets…just places where you shop for great ingredients.
Examples? Main Street between King Edward and about 28th Ave in Vancouver, for Windsor Meats, a neat little Italian deli, the Lebanese shop for all things Middle Eastern…or what about that stretch of Lonsdale in North Vancouver where all the Iranian shops are gathered? 
You get the idea, please share your fave raves.
Of course there is a prize. One of the entries will win a ‘Shop with A Chef’ tour, courtesy of Eric Pateman of Edible Vancouver, a company that specializes in showing clients the best parts of the British Columbia food scene. During your tour, you will shop with a top Vancouver chef, then head to his or her restaurant kitchen to cook the ingredients! It’s a very fitting prize for this particular contest.
There are two ways to enter. One, by clicking on the ‘Comments’ link below and typing your entry. Two, by calling the Early Edition’s Talkback line and recording your entry at 604-662-6690. Contest closes Friday, May 13th at 6PM PT. I’ll review the entries and announce the winner on Tuesday, May 17th during my regular appearance at 8:24am on the Early Edition.
Like many Vancouverites, I have the good fortune to find fabulous food practically on my doorstep. My food shopping paradise is a T-shaped bit of East Vancouver, bordered on the west by Victoria Drive and on the east by Slocan Street.
I start many of my shopping trips at Bosa’s, on Victoria at Turner. You have to start at Bosa’s because if you get there after10:30 on a Saturday morning, the line-up for the deli counter snakes all through the store. Dozens of Nonas ordering up the ingredients for dozens of Sunday suppers with the grandkids makes a homey racket. It’s my choice for quality Reggiano, prosciutto, fresh California walnuts (for breakfast! with crumbly blue cheese and fresh juicy pears and crispy crumby baguette) and countless yummy tidbits like sun dried tomatoes and provolone wrapped in roasted eggplant. That the women who work there dote on my young daughter and often slip her a piece of chocolate is just a bonus.
A quick walk due north takes us to the Gourmet Warehouse, which is a little paradise of luxury. I love to wander the aisles and fantasize about dinners to come, but what draws me there week after week is Lesley Stowe’s highly addictive Rainforest Crisps, my favourite lunch, smeared with a bit of chèvre and topped with caramelized onions, with a salad of spring mix, sliced strawberries, pecans and balsamic vinaigrette on the side.
Back up to Hastings, I push my daughter’s stroller east and we continue to load its basket with the ingredients for our week’s meals. Donald’s market gets my vote for Vancouver’s best all ‘round independent grocer. There isn’t much you could ask for that Donald doesn’t stock, and the fresh and bountiful produce is extremely well-priced. For the past month we’ve been gorging ourselves on strawberries and mangoes de manila.
Farther along, we visit our butcher, Rio Friendly-Meats for our Sunday steak (seared and topped with Balmí Balsamic sauce, from the Gourmet Warehouse), or thick cut pork chops (that I’ll braise with sliced gala apples and sweet onions from Donald’s). One more block east and we can stop in for a quick lunch of pupusas and plantains at El Pulgarcito, where I pick up tiny dried black beans, crema cheese, fresh white corn tortillas, dried chilis, horchata or Mexican hot chocolate and epazote, some of our staples.
Just one more block to go, and we stop into the Wheelhouse for fresh fish, snapper to be poached in the juice of a blood orange or prawns for pad thai.
I suppose it might be quicker to just hit a local Safeway and get everything under one roof, but shopping in our neighbourhood is one of the simple pleasures of our weekend. And we have the great privilege of eating like royalty, all for a fraction of what people pay on the west side!
I love to shop on Broadway between Blenheim and MacDonald. The area maintains its Greek character even as some shops and restaurants change over time. The Parthenon, a phoenix of a store that has burned down and been rebuilt twice since I’ve been shopping there, has an amazing rannge of Greek and European spices, tins, and spreads. And a good deal on saffron. Minerva’s is an equally interesting deli across the street, where heaps of Greek olives are put out to sample on weekends. In the area too, you’ll find 4 or 5 produce markets, the best, and most crowded of which, is Young Brothers. If you can squeeze your way in through the high crates of produce surrounding the doorway, without getting bumped by a worker pushing a palette of peppers or berries, then you can shoulder your way down the narrow isles to a selection of …well, any produce you can think of, from lychee nuts to rapini. And a newer addition to the street is Notte’s Bon Ton, the decadent pastry shop with an old-world atmosphere and the best butter cream cakes in the world. These shops cover Greek, Chinese, and French merchants and goods. This was the first neighbourhood I lived in as a student in Vancouver, and then, after living out of town for several years and returning, I found it even better than when I’d left. Luckily there’s an ATM at the beginning of my route!
A favourite street for me is Commercial Drive (fondly jnown as The Drive)l I start my morning at Continental Coffee where I drink my cappicino and people eatch. I also buy my coffee beans for the next couple of weeks. A very friendly family operated business and the coffee is the tastiest and the beat buy for for exspresso beans. Across the street to a small local bakery to purchase my bread products and some home-made biscotti…m..m..m..good.
Next door is The Grotto Deli with mouth-watering goodies and great appetizers for that special dinner or to enjoy on your own. There is a wide range of olives, sundried tomatoes, artichokes and eggplant in oil. (they also make great sandwiches).
Te numerous varieties of pastas seems endless and find them especially tasty.
The supply of various oils and vinegars is amazing and the prices seem to be reasonable compared to other syores. I always grab a half a dozen cans of olives stuffed with anchovies.If you want truffles or truffle oil this is the place to look.
As you cross the street there are several produce stores with wonderful brightly cloloured displays of the fresh fruit and veggies. As I am a great fan of sweet peppers, they are always good, fresh and inecpensive. Inside these stores they are often filled with wonderful new items to try.
Sweet Cheriban make the most wonderful Samosas and is a good lunchtime meal which can be frozen and eaten at a later date.
Other than shoping for food, lots of stores are fun to pop intoo;
everything from shoes, fabrics, disigner furniture, custom-made jewelery, and of course “Wonderbucks” for those good deals.Lots of great lunch places for the time when all this shopping has made you hungry.Thedifficulty is choosing which one to ear at. Who could ask for more??
Yes, there are scattered spots throughout the city that offer great specialty food items and uber-cool shopping scenes. There’s hipster Commercial drive; upscale Granville Street; and health-conscious Fourth Avenue. But there’s another great food area and it’s on an innocuous, busy stretch of street from Hastings & Kamloops to Hastings & Nanaimo. And lucky for me, it just happens to be in my neighbourhood, all walking distance from my house.
My Saturdays start off at Wheelhouse Seafoods for some fresh wild salmon. I may get some Stella Bay oysters if they’re in season or halibut cheeks, and the candied salmon is always a must-have on the weekend. The owners have expanded and now offer non-medicated meat and poultry. Now I can do all my ‘wild’ hunting and gathering protein shopping in one place.
Cross the street and I’m over at Scardillo’s deli. They make the best fresh ricotta. They gave me a recipe for an instant dessert – mix ricotta with cocoa powder and Frangelico liqueur – and voila, you have a creamy, decadent custard. I also buy my Proscuitto salami, Bresoala, Crotonese and Taleggio cheese fixings there too. Further down the street at the Pine House Bakery I find the best accompaniment for coffee on Saturday morning – coconut cocktail buns. 3 for a buck and some pennies for tax and then I’m off to for my staples and produce.
Across the street, Bianca Maria’s is another haunt for Italian taste sensations, plus those ladies ooze warmth. You can’t get out of the store without being called “dear” at least 10 times. They have great Mozzarella di Bufala (water buffalo bocconcini) and stuffed sun-dried tomato olives. When I want to change it up from Scardillo’s, I’ll head over there for my taste of little Italy.
Now for produce mecca, Donald’s, at the corner of Hastings and Nanaimo. From Naam miso gravy to bbq duck to figs, there’s variety – and deals. I bought 6 heads of romaine for $1.99 last week and we ate Cesar salads for a week. They have Earthbound organic boxed greens, organic kale and there’s a food section dedicated to health nuts. Who needs to traipse downtown to Capers anymore? Donald’s has great deals on produce and at the same time offers an authentic, shopping experience where you can mix it up with Italian nonnas, stroller-armed mamas and street-wise locals. If you want fancy oils and spices, you can always head a little further west to the Gourmet Warehouse, there you’ll be sure to rub shoulders with other foodie cognoscetti.
I’d like to recommend a neglected shopping area that’s not all chi-chi and trendy around Willingdon and Hastings in Burnaby. A few blocks either way and you can do just about everything your heart could desire.
First stop at the McGill library to borrow a cookbook or two. Then head west along Hastings to the liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner. West past Willingdon and Hastings on the south side of the street are a bunch of Italian grocers and bakeries that have great value and selection. Head back east, picking up some fruit and vegetables at the produce store, then stopping into the newly redone Safeway where they have a wide variety of boutique carry-out foods as well as their extensive grocery aisles.
If you didn’t get something to munch on, stop at the X-Site Cafe for the best burger around-complete with roasted red potatoes and a salad. Then you might want to catch a new movie at the Dolphin theatre for $6 or swim and water-slide at the Eileen Dailly Pool.
You can spend a whole day in this neighbourhood shopping area. Apart from exploring the funky food stores you can do a lot of other interesting things.
I have to agree with another listener about Main Street from king Edward to 28th as a great place to satisfy all your culinary, and if I may add, your soul-food needs. To begin, Windsor Meats boasts not only high quality food but has so much personality you want to try everything. The staff not only are interested in what you are cooking but also give great mouthwatering suggestions – so much so that you want to come back and share your creation with them. To find Windsor Meats just look for all the happy dogs waiting outside the shop for a special doggy bone.
Then across the street is Tina & Toninas, a great Italian deli that fulfills all you need and more – as you soon find that the Italian trip abroad you were craving is also satisfied. A little further down Main street is Halal Eastern Mediterranean store that will keep you busy for a long time wanting to taste and imagine exotic meals – you can’t help but double what you went there for and always leave the store with something new to savor. We have two great family run produce shops. I have to comment on how the couple who run the Tasty Produce store, who are just as sweet and sincere as their produce, also give you happy/healthy advice and knowledge about the selection in your basket. You can’t leave the store without a slice of fruit you’re offered and a smile on your face.
I could go on about the culinary shopping needs one has to satisfy on their grocery list (I have yet to say anything about Solley’s Bakery, the frozen Chinese vegetarian dim sum, Quejos South American, coffee, dessert shop, and the liquor store all in our Main street neighborhood) but no matter what you’re after, one thing you will always find in your basket after shopping on our little strip is that the true food – soul food – the kind of stuff that puts a smile on your face and excitement in your kitchen is all here.
Another little place that is a real jem and hardly known is the family run European Import store that’s located on Prior street, south of the Terminal Train station (not to far from those “cheap” backpacker hotels on Main St. This place is definitely worth checking out. You’ll feel like you’ve landed in some old grocery store in Germany. You have to check it out, it even has a room totally devoted to chocolate! You can get novel holiday treats, cheeses, meets and preserves all right there, be warned though–let your culinary instincts take over because little is in English, luckily the staff are great and will help translate. Must buy are always a bottle of Austrian Pumkin seed oil, spatzle noodles, and packages of cucumber dill salad dressing.
I know that there will be a number of people who nominate Main St. between King Edward Avenue and 28th but they are missing the best places to start your shopping on Main St.. For staples, I would go to I.G.A. at 13th Avenue, but crossing the street to pick up a loaf of Cape Seed bread at Cob’s is a must. If you are lucky, they are still selling their version of San Francisco’s sourdough bread which holds its own against Boudin’s which is only available in S.F. on Fisherman’s Wharf. From there it is just a few steps to One-O-One (or Yek-O-Yek) a deli and bulk food store run by a friendly family from Iran. Pick up some spices, herbs, hommus and Backlava if you dare. Now you must proceed up Main St. directly to Liberty Bakery at the corner of 21st and Main where the prices are remarkably priced (compare with Starbucks!) and the pastries are made with only the best of ingredients, namely, real butter, real cream, etc. The best bargain is the coffee cake which is decadent. A friend asked me if it was “legal to eat?” Sit down for a bowl of homemade soup and a panini before you continue shopping. From Liberty Bakery, I go to Windsor Meats just south of King Edward Ave. (where you can buy Don Genova’s Duqqa as well as splendid meats) and then I cross the street to Tonina’s Deli and pick up wonderful olives, cheeses, and for the following week, some shaved Black Forest Ham. I then go on to Tasty Produce and pick up my reasonably priced produce and fruits. The owners of Tasty Produce are unfailingly polite and helpful. Your basket should be full at this point but if you need to rest, back track to Liberty Bakery and have a lemonade (or latte) and bask outside in the sun or sit inside and enjoy some ancient game (the game pieces are available).
My favourite street for food-shopping is Commercial Drive. I usually begin with buying the “essentials” at Safeway on Broadway. The store is spacious and well stocked. Next, I stop for a cappuccino at one of many Italian café’s – Café Calabria or Continental Coffee House being the most popular — or I opt for a wonderful Gelato.
Slowly, I make my way to the busy Santa Barbara Market, where on the last Saturday of every month the line up to the deli counter is unreal! The Market offers a great variety of goods at very reasonable prices; in addition, one can sample every salami and cheese sold in the store.
All along the drive the colorful grocery stores spill onto the sidewalk. Fresh fruits and vegetable are among the least expensive in the city.
Commercial Drive houses a few specialty stores with grains, olivs, nuts and spices, as well as wonderful bakeries and flower shops.
I end my shopping adventure with a well deserved, delicious thin-crust pizza at Marcello’s.
My favourite shopping strip in Vancouver? Robson Street. I know, I know – its every teenager, tourist and shop-a-holic’s favourite shopping strip and the crowds on a sunny Saturday afternoon or during the crucial countdown at Christmas can provoke a type of pedestrian road rage. But no, for food too, just walk a little farther west…..
I live at Nicola and Haro Streets in the West End with my family. I love to cook, and my children just love food (mostly green apples and strawberries though!). For everyday groceries and for important dinner parties, everything you need is reliably always within walking distance – that’s the best part about this area too, if you live here – everything is within walking distance!! No driving!! No parking!!
My first stop for produce and some general groceries and deli items is Capers. The staff there are knowledgeable, wonderful people, and they treat my children and I with care and respect. The array of fresh produce is astounding sometimes and no matter what type of food you are preparing, you can usually find what you are looking for. The best thing about Capers? They take away the fear of trying something new – don’t like it, bring it back. No problems.
Even though I am a pseudo-vegetarian, my boyfriend, and now my children, eat meat – especially sausages and bacon. I have since discovered the greatest little butcher in the Robson Street Market. Always friendly, and from what I understand from those that eat it, great meat! And for fresh fish and shellfish, and my favourite, BC Spot Prawns, there is a wonderful fish market in there too. Great prices, wonderful quality, and really friendly.
If you are still missing some ingredients for a meal, or something was too expensive at Capers, there are numerous small grocery stores and corner markets for general produce as well as a really great Asian grocery store and European specialty store too.
And, as always, there is a Safeway. It is usually the last place I visit, and usually involves purchasing things like toilet paper and laundry soap, but it is handy and convenient.
Now, for the wine…..well, entrepreneurs pay attention! Our Liquor Store closed over a year ago, and the wine in the Robson Market, is well, what can I say. Blah! A high end cold beer and wine store would be marvelous!
There is also the greatest little cooking store, Chocolate Mousse, there too, so if you need a new pan, pot, cookie cutter shape or even last minute gift for someone, its all there.
The best thing about living in the West End and Robson Street? If you royally screw up dinner in a bad way – take out is just a phone call and thirty minutes away!!! Yeah! And the abundance of fantastic, diverse restaurants around here is stunning.
Thanks for reading about my favourite shopping area, I always enjoy listening to your show with Rick.
Like several others who have written in, my favorite shopping street in Vancouver is definitely Commercial Drive between Parker St. and about 2nd Avenue. Partly it’s because I can do practically all my shopping on foot from where I live … but it’s also because there are some wonderful and idiosyncratic stores and people. I’ve lived all over town, but, to me, Commercial is the best stretch in town for people, prices, and products.
To name just a few:
There’s La Grotta del Formaggio (the cheese cave) at 1791 Commercial (between first and second) where we go every few days to get wonderful Italian pasta, extra virgin olive oil, blocks of Reggiano Parmesano for grating, and, when they’re available, cans of San Marzano tomatoes. We like Fortunato and his family (and extended family), including especially his daughter Sandra who recently had a beautiful baby girl.
In that same block are the hardworking women at J, N, & Z Deli where they smoke, roast, and prepare all sorts of sausages, pepperoni, ham hocks, bacon (and other meats and cheeses). They also have fresh pork cuts (including spare-ribs) and a selection of hard-to-find eastern European foods. Saturday mornings J, N, & Z is the place to go for chunks of still-warm roast pork with crackling – a good item for Saturday lunch — and slices of their amazing meatloaf.
For produce, some favour Norman’s in the 1400 block of Commercial (and they do have excellent prices and variety, plus Norman loves to SING and has a wonderful voice) – but our produce market is the Santa Barbara at 1322 Commercial, known also for their very busy and inexpensive deli counter. We get our country-style bread there too.
I could name a dozen more little niche stores, but that’s a start…
Just about anything else we need is available at our East End Food Co-op (open to both members and non-members) at 1034 Commercial, between Napier and Parker. They carry a full range of regular groceries including Avalon milk, free-range eggs, organic vegetables and fruits, free-range chicken, cereals, and pickles. A great place to schmooze with neighbours.
One thing Commercial Drive doesn’t have is fresh seafood (it used to… there was a little place called “School of Fish” but it closed a couple of years ago) so now for seafood we need to go farther afield (like to the T&T supermarket at 1st and Renfrew or better yet to the Rupert Fish Market at 22nd and Rupert) – but Commercial Drive has nearly everything else we need. It’s the best.
My favourite shopping street is Lonsdale Ave. in North Van. Let me take you on the quick walking tour. If you’re coming from overseas, take the seabus and it will deposit you right at our first stop – the Lonsdale Quay, at the bottom of Lonsdale (well, pretty much). Besides the colourful feast of fresh fruit and veg, creatively displayed, you will find a gem of a Thai store where you can stock up on lemongrass, kafir lime leaves, galangal and pretty much any other Thai ingredients you need. There is the Stock Pot for delicious stocks, delis and a butcher, a bakery and a fabulous fresh fish shop.
Now, step outside and we’ll take a quick hoof up the hill. No, you don’t need your mountain boots – we do have paved streets on the North Shore.
Our first stop is a little jewel that is also one of those great stories about small businesses who make it big; the Artisan Organic Bakery on the 100 block. Would you believe that this tiny little bakery is supplying packaged half-loaves of daily-baked, organic breads to WholeFoods? Fresh, whole loaves go stale before you can use them, so I find the half-loaf a perfect size for two. You should try their raspberry and white chocolate chip mini loaves. And their ciabatta, and…..oh, let me stop, we have shopping to do!
Further up the hill, on the block just east of Lonsdale on 3rd, there is Fiesta Filipino, where you can find a variety of ingredients from the Philipines. Then, heading past a few little ethnic stores, you’ll get to the 1100 block where you’ll find the Mountain Top Wheat and Gluten-free bakery.
Up and on, you’ll pass Safeway on 13th, but we simply must stop in at one of the best Iranian stores – The Meat Shop and Deli, on the 1300 block. It’s narrow, there’s always a lineup, but if you want a good deal on meat, or feta, or olives, this is your shop. Of course they have other Iranian goodies, too – especially the ethnic breads.
On the very next block is a new teashop if you’re into specialty teas.
Keep heading uphill to the 1500 block, and your knees will weaken in the Golestan Bakery. This Iranian bakery sells bite-sized cookies by weight. And you will be surprised at how many treats you’ll come away with for not very much money. Many of their delights are made with chickpea flour, but it’s the fragrant cardamom that gets me going. This one is a must if you’re in the neighbourhood.
You’ll pass many other grocery stores as you head up to 19th, which you simply must do, because on the corner is Pars. Pars is probably THE Iranian store on the North Shore. When you enter, it’s pretty crowded with goods and spicy aromas, which instantly transport to a far away, exotic place. They have everything except meat (that’s what you’ll go to the Meat Shop and Deli down the hill for). Spices you’ll not recognize, bags of dried chamomile or lavender flowers, pickles, preserves, ghee, zataar, you name it, they have it. This shop is a real treat.
Over the road is the Organic Coffee Shop where you can buy a variety of organic coffee beans. And on the next block is a New Apple Farm Market and a Seven Seas Fish Shop.
Onward and upward (perhaps you should take a bus now) on the 2200 block is the Queensdale Supermarket which sells fresh organic goods.
This is it. Our final stop is the pub on the next block. Well done, you’ve made it up a pretty steep hill if you have got this far.
Another vote for the Drive! A perfect Saturday morning for me is a loop around McSpadden Park with the dog, then up to the Fratelli Bakery for a sticky bun mmmmm….. (Cobb’s recently opened across from Fratelli’s, but there is no comparison.) Then, back home for coffee with a stop at the Aylool Market for a newspaper (friendliest convenience store on the drive).
Once I’ve had enough coffee, there’s groceries to be got at the Grotto, Norman’s and the free range chicken place by the Kitchen Corner. The Donald Market has recently opened on the Drive – great all round grocery store, but no BBQ duck in the window yet.