Edible Canada at the Market - Vancouver, BC

Edible Canada is actually a culinary tourism and retail store based in the Granville Island Public Market.  They provide chef guided tours through the Market, chef demos, kayaking culinary tours and once in a while, they'll have guest chefs come in to prepare menus.  It's been getting some buzz lately (with help from a bacon take out window - we'll get to that later) and so this Piglet had to see what was going on.  Off to Granville Island, tour destination of the masses!

Minimalist chic decor, friendly hostess and although it isn't on the water, there's plenty of foot traffic for some great people watching from the patio or window seats.  There's an open kitchen for some entertainment and a store in the back carrying locally produced and artisanal items.  We'll check out the store after the meal!  Onto the food!

Chai Tea Latte - $4

Milky Chai goodness...  Perhaps a little sweet for this meal but on it's own, it was a very nice drink.

Duck Rillette Breakfast Poutine - $16

Soft poached free range eggs, roasted diced potatoes, cheese curds, asparagus, demi glaze

It looks kind of small when it gets to the table and I immediately think I should've gone for the side salad as well.  *sigh*  The eggs are poached perfectly so I break them apart to eat with my poutine...  the poutine, particularly the demi glaze, is on the saltier side but when mixed with a bit of egg and runny yolk, the salt is balanced out and the other items in the dish are enhanced.  The potatoes are good but they're mostly soggy and there's only a few crunchy bits from time to time.  The cheese curds are awesome - my French Birdie would be proud they used the right kind of stringy cheese for poutine.  I like the addition of the crisp asparagus to break everything up and the duck is moist and flavorful but I just wish there was more - at $16 for 2-3 pieces?  Come on!  Give this Piglet a little more protein!

Canadian Rockies Beef Burger - $13

Grilled medium, with bacon jam, smokehouse cheddar, caramelized onions, dill pickle, housemade ketchup

So this is how a medium grilled burger tastes like!  It's moist, delicious, flavorful and with a hint of that bacon jam...  *drool*  The burger looks small but that patty is super thick!  Even though Monkey is really hungry, the burger is enough to fill him up.  I kinda wished I got the burger...  But it also perturbs me that for that price, there are no sides included.  

Duck Fat Fries - $5 (added to the burger)

The fries are salty, crispy and cut from real potatoes.  They're good but we both can't figure out what frying the fries in duck fat does...  I honestly can't taste the difference.  Maybe if one order fried in regular oil were served right beside it and we could do a taste test a la Coke vs. Pepsi, then we could MAYBE taste the difference but otherwise, they were just fries.  The real star of the show were the sauces - the housemade ketchup reminds me of salsa because it's made from real tomatoes with no added preservatives.  And then there was the bacon aioli...  Oh bacon aioli...  Everything should be dipped in it.  Fries, chips, tempura, vegetables, rice, tennis rackets...  everything.

In the back of Edible Canada is a small retail space that sells some local and artisanal goods, ranging from different balsamic vinaigrettes, rubs, lobster oil (decadence!) and all the way to unique preserves.  What caught my eye though was this:

Bacon Salt - $9.95 (200 g)

It really tastes like salty bacon!  Monkey and I were amazed by the taste but what could you possibly use bacon salt for??  The salesperson says we could mix it with eggs, potatoes and anything that would traditionally go really well with bacon.  SOLD!  Took all of 2 seconds to convince Monkey...  LOL.  I think I'll go back at a later time to pick up some other items that looked very intriguing - eat at the restaurant and also get a 10% discount for everything you buy in the store.  Nice!

Service is very slow and the our server was hot and cold despite the restaurant not being at capacity the entire time we were there.  One moment she's nice, one moment she ignores us - not sure what her deal was or why it took so long to get our drinks, order and get our food.  But the service is not why you come here, it's the food.  Local ingredients, seasonal menus, care and innovation drives the food here and I think it would be worth a trek out to give it a try.  Oh, and if you get the burger, make sure you get it medium and not well done - taste the difference!  Bon appetite!


Pros:

• Seasonal/local ingredients used and available for purchase
• Good food
• Takes reservations by phone and on Open Table
• Free parking available

Cons:

• On the pricier side
• Free parking is very hard to get on the weekends - in fact, the roads become a parking lot when you're driving around Granville Island on the weekends
• Odd/slow service