Alibi Room - Vancouver, BC

Alas, time to move to another workplace...  *tear*  Life goes on but to celebrate my departure and satisfy the boys' thirst for beer, we decide on a modern tavern (hey, they called themselves that) in Gastown with good food and an extensive beer list.  The Alibi Room has over 50 local and imported craft beers on tap and all of their meat and fish products are locally sourced, free-run, naturally-raised or ocean wise.

Doesn't look like much from the outside.  The inside is minimal and rustic, especially with the long wood tables rather than the traditional 2 or 4-top seating tables.  It's loud but not so much so that you can't speak to your neighbours.  After a seating debacle (they cannot accommodate parties larger than 10, even when you make 2 reservations and try to sit close to one another), the Piglet party settles for a table downstairs and food is ordered...

Chicken Wings - 10

Free-run chicken wings with honey, garlic, chili and fresh herbs

I'm going to make a bold statement but I believe it to be true: these are the best wings I've ever had, hands down.  Why?  Because it's not just your run-of-the-mill deep-fried wings covered it sauce, these are something different.  The sauce is more runnier than your typical stuff (eg. hot sauce, honey-garlic) and pool to the bottom but that's ok because the wings are fried so well, they remain crispy despite being soaked in sauce.  Being soaked in sauce is a good thing here because the sauce is DELICIOUS!  It's a bit of heat, sweet, tangy with garlic undertones and the cilantro just counterbalances all of that.  The wings themselves are a nice size, they arrive hot and crispy on the outside and just super moist on the inside.  If you come here for anything, come for the wings!  I am thisclose to drinking the sauce...  Mimi Harvey says she wouldn't judge me because she'd do the same.  Ha!

 

Burger - 14

Pemberton Farms all natural beef burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, smoked onion mayo, fries and slaw

The beef patty is a bit dry, a tad on the overcooked side, so it's a good thing there's the smoked onion mayo, lettuce and tomato to give this burger some moisture.  I found the burger to be good but nothing amazing - if they cooked it to a medium rather than overdone, it would've been so much better.  The fries are warm and crispy but the majority of them are stubby, just a few cm long.  Did I get the bottom of the barrel of the fries?  The surprisingly element of the dish is the slaw, it's not dressed too heavily and the addition of the pumpkin seeds gave it a nice bite.  Overall, not bad but I think I liked Mr. Piglet's selection more...

Bison Cheese Steak - 15

BC spiced bison flank, peppers, onions and cheddar with punkin seed slaw and fries

This is one sloppy delicious mess...  the bison is so tender and spiced really well and with that gooey cheese and a bit of onions, it just becomes awesome.  I want to live in this bison flank...  I wish there was more of the bison filling - the bun to filling ratio just seemed a bit off but that was the only issue I could find.  Mr. Piglet offered me a bite but I could tell he struggled with the offer - I'm quite certain that if I had turned my back, that cheesesteak would've gone down the piehole without as much as a squeak.  Again the fries were mainly stubbies (what's with that??) and the slaw was a refreshing bite from the heavy cheesesteak.  We both agree we'd order this one again.


Beer?  Good.  Food?  Good.  Will the Piglets be back?  Absolutely.  Bon appetite!


Pros:

• Very good food
• Excellent beer list
• Great ambiance
• Responsible meat and fish products used

Cons:

• Pay street parking
• No seating parties over 10
• Very hot and cold service - some servers were willing to help us while others were just content to not listen