The Bon Vivant Blog

If you are strolling along the seawall, Provence Marinaside is a good place to stop for a bite to eat. If it is nice outside, one of the patio tables is a great place to eat, drink and people watch or be watched. Although it can be crowded, so be prepared to wait if you [...]

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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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Sunday morning, after another late night. I am stadium-ed out after the concert, Flyers game, and 76ers game, and the lads are off to see the Eagles play. I’m going to laze around town today, having some brunch, and taking a leisurely stroll through Philadelphia’s awesome art museums. I look up best brunches in Philadelphia [...]

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I’ve said before that I think “lets just go here” is a recipe for disaster when walking around town in terms of food, but once in a while, it just works out – as it did at the Continental (another one of the Starr restaurants like Butcher & Singer). Breakfast after a late night. We [...]

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Landed in Philly and hungry after a milk run from Vancouver. First things first: get good food. The Crown Plaza on Market Street had free wi-fi in the lobby, so I checked out ‘best breakfasts philadelphia’ online – there were no shortage of opinions and places, but none came up that were either close to [...]

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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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I’ve been to a million brunches in Boston before – it is a city that knows brunch and does it well. Any neighborhood will be dotted with Saturday- and Sunday-morning lineups of young people in Red Sox hats outside, waiting for their omelette, coffee, and OJ. My friends always lived on the north side of [...]

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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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