The Bon Vivant Blog

For ages now we’ve been going on about how great the macarons are at Pierre Hermé while we haven’t been giving the other challenger, Ladurée even a chance. This is like seeing Joe Frazier go at a heavy bag and saying that he’s the best boxer in the world. It’s like seeing a Picasso and [...]

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Amazing. Not only does he produce the best pastries that I have had in North America – and better than many I have had in France, but he has replicated his business in North Vancouver and opened a Kitsilano branch. He will be busy. Saturday morning – about 11:30 (late start) – we pick up [...]

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Wednesday – Remembrance Day – mid-week brunch with M. Medina has been open for a while, and is owned by the same folks that own Chambar – and located right next door to the same. I’ve heard legendary stories about Medina’s brunch and waffles, so even though we knew we’d have to wait, we thought [...]

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This was probably my favourite store in Italy. It’s inside an old church that has had its inside torn out and about 4 floors of books and restaurants installed. It’s a huge bookstore, with at least 3 restaurants – one for sandwiches, one for pasta, and one that is a wine bar (there may be [...]

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Bakeries occupy this special place in my heart – the good ones are run by people who love food, who put that love into what they do, and produce an exceptional product that just makes you happy. Flour is this kind of a place. Sunday morning – pouring rain and blowing wind, I was going [...]

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In the heart of extremely trendy Yaletown is Urban Fair – this grocery store/cafe is so trendy, perhaps it isn’t in the heart of Yaletown so much as it is the actual heart of yaletown. That one I’ll leave to the urban anthropologists – I’m just the food guy. Anyway, if you need very pricey [...]

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