Quick hits from a recent solo trip, in more or less chronological order:
Straight Out of Brooklyn Pizzeria--Arrived late and hungry and plenty of fans leaving the soccer game at BC Place were lining up at this slice spot on Robson Street, so I joined them. Slice of white pizza just out of the oven was a good start to the visit. Seemed like a place that was born to serve slices to drunk people late at night, but they actually closed quite early, about 10 PM on a Saturday night.
Solly's Bagels--still-warm sesame seed bagel, what's not to like? Supposed to have good cinnamon buns as well.
Footo Croissant--Footo apparently stands for "Fresh Out of the Oven", which was not in evidence during my visits. Plain croissant was okay. Garlic croissant, which I'd never had before, wasn't that garlicky. They have some more ununsual flavors including maple bacon and something with pistachios. Decent breakfast pastry option if it's near your hotel.
Pacific Centre Food Court--Needing a quick early lunch before meeting someone, I thought I'd grab something here, but all the options looked nasty, so instead I grabbed a donut from Tim Horton's, which is no better than Dunkin' Donuts but still has to be done at least once on every Canada visit. The Oreo donut with the Stanley Cup logo on the frosting was amusing in light of the struggles of Canadian teams this season.
Banana Leaf Malaysia (Robson St Location)--Sambal Tiger Prawns were a bit more belacan-forward than I would have expected in a North American restaurant, but flavors were muted overall. I like the version from Cradle of Flavor better.
Granville Island Market--Glazed sour cream donut from Lee's was excellent. Room temperature rosemary rocksalt bagel from Sigel's was demanding on the jaw.
Salam Bombay--Paint-by-numbers Indian lunch buffet downtown.
Bubble Tea--I liked Shiny Tea (locations at Crystal Mall and Aberdeen Square) better than Chatime on Robson Street.
Nicli Pizza--You don't go to Vancouver for the pizza, but the Diavola pizza was very good. Place was dead at 6:00 on a Monday evening, maybe one table occupied and a couple solo diners at the bar.
Beer--lots of places heavily focused on "local micros", with 20+ taps but not much variety of styles. It struck me that Canadian craft beer hasn't made much of a mark south of the border, maybe Unibroue but that's been owned by big breweries for a while now. Didn't make it to Alibi Room.
Saboten Express--In the food court at Aberdeen Centre, I think this is the only North American location of the Japanese Tonkatsu chain. I'm not a Tonkatsu connoisseur but it was great for food court food.
Dinesty Dumpling House--Robson Street location, not to be confused with the Dynasty Seafood Restaurant discussed in above posts. Steamed pork soup dumplings were good, short ribs in black pepper sauce also good but I'd probably get something else next time. The guy at the table next to me was complaining to the waitress about his chicken dish.
Bella Gelateria--Belgian Brownie and Burnt Caramel both hit the spot. The Yaletown location is also a proper restaurant with pizza and other Italian offerings.
BC Place--Concession options weren't very inspiring. There was a Vij's stand with a couple offerings including a lamb curry but I figured it wouldn't be representative of their best efforts. Ended up getting a smoked brisket sandwich which was overpowered by the cabbage-based topping.
