VanFoodies.com

There’s a new food event in Vancouver that introduces us to some hidden (and not-so-hidden) gems in Railtown, while supporting a local charity. Running from November 1 to 30, Dine Railtown features nine restaurants in the Railtown neighbourhood, of which proceeds from the sale of their signature dish will be donated to support programming at the Powell Street Getaway, one of 42 sites operated by the Lookout Housing and Health Society across Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island.

The nine restaurants include Ask For Luigi (love their pasta!), The Belgard Kitchen, Cuchillo, LanaLou’s Restaurant, The Mackenzie Room (one of my all-time faves!), Pallet Coffee Roaster, Railtown Cafe, St. Lawrence (maple syrup chicharon, hello?) and The Uncommon Cafe. I was invited to a media tour to visit 3 of the participating restaurants.

First up, the brand new Pallet Coffee Roaster. Opening its doors on November 4, this location is the new HQ of Pallet.

It’s inside a high-ceiling warehouse, with lots of open space. I was particularly blown away by the skylights and beautifully designed living wall.

They will also be roasting their beans at this location so I can only imagine it being constantly filled with delicious smell of roasted coffee beans. For Dine Railtown, the feature is a Pourover Coffee plus any 340g Bag of Coffee Beans for $20. That’s essentially getting your pourover coffee for free. They will rotate their beans throughout the month but the Ethiopia I tried was quite good. Very fruity, quite rounded and I didn’t find it acidic like most other coffee.

Next, I never knew about LanaLou’s Restaurant until this tour yet it’s the first restaurant opened in this area back in 2010. Founded by husband and wife duo, Lana and Lou, LanaLou’s is primarily known for being a live music venue supporting local bands.

It has a home-cooked menu featuring comfort food using fresh, never frozen, ingredients. Its Dine Railtown dish is Quinoa and Brown Rice Salad Bowl, with a ginger tamari dressing, greens, grape tomatoes, avocado, beets, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. We also had the pleasure to sample some salsa and chips, yam fries and a gouda burger and they were all very tasty. What a hidden gem this is! Starting in November LanaLou’s will also be opening for lunch Tuesday to Friday.

Our last stop was the Settlement Building, which houses the Belgard Kitchen, Postmark Brewing and Vancouver Urban Winery. I’ve been to Belgard Kitchen for brunch before and really enjoyed it, and I’m no stranger to Postmark Brewing and VUW.

For Dine Railtown, they are featuring their No. 1 seller at dinner, which is the Yam Gnocchi with Lamb Ragu, with braised pork shoulder, brown sage butter, sweet peas. The gnocchi was pillowy and the lamb and pork ragu was hearty. For us, it was served with Road 13’s Seventy-Four K red blend and the pairing was great. Did I mention that Belgard only serves wines on tap? Currently they have 34 wines on tap, 17 reds, 14 whites and 3 rose, all BC VQA wines.

Dine Railtown is supported by the Strathcona Business Improvement Association (SBIA). As part of this initiative, they also launched an illustrative map drawn by local artist Tom Froese that highlights both well-known and hidden culinary gems located within the Railtown neighbourhood.

To learn more about Dine Railtown, visit strathconabia.com/dinerailtown. The event ends on November 30, 2019.