Chez Meme Baguette Bistro (The Heights, Burnaby, BC)

I am a huge fan of The Heights neighbourhood in Burnaby. I love the small businesses, I love the community, I love the murals, and I love the history behind the Heights. Their annual Hats Off Day (taking place this year on June 5) highlights this sense of community while celebrating the history. It was the Hats Off Day of last year that I wrote about Heavenly Bites, an Indian restaurant that served tiffin boxes / set meal that came to under $10.

Unfortunately, due to a medical situation, Heavenly Bites closed up suddenly. Almost as suddenly, a couple months ago, Chez Meme Baguette Bistro opened up in its place. M spoke about it a couple times, as he passed it on his commute.

He mentioned it enough that the name and location stuck. However, when we tried to visit them, they were always closed. Reason? Their limited hours - as the restaurant is run by a couple with younger children, Chez Meme is only open during 8am-3pm, Monday through Friday. As of writing, they have plans to open one Saturday a month, but will have to work out the scheduling and babysitting. :)

So how did I manage to visit Chez Meme Baguette Bistro? Well, the bossman gave me a whole day off this year for my birthday. ...And, well I literally had a doctors appointment that ran into lunch!

The first time I visited Chez Meme was with FMace, cousin Nate, and Chez Henri. "Chez Henri", you say? Well its suitable that I introduce Chez Henri in this particular post. He lived in France for a period of time before he came to Canada. One of the first times he went into MacDonalds in Canada (for breakfast, no less) he was under the impression that everyone spoke French. So Chez Henri (who didn't speak an ounce of English at this point) walks up to the counter at MacDonalds and orders a "Jus D'orange". The stunned girl (I think this was in interior BC or something) hesitated, then continued with the order.

Chez Meme concept is simple - French bistro food in the form of omelettes, baguette sandwiches, and other offerings like a duck confit and brioche french toast. A fresh batch of soup / potager is prepared regularly, and it shows!

The first time, I ordered a Bourguignon baguette. All the sandwiches come with your choice of salad, soup, or fries. The soup of the day was the spinach, fennel and apple. While the portions may look small, I was pretty stuffed. Upon viewing the photos at home later that day, M got some "lunch envy". He was a little upset that I'd gone there without him! For good reason though - the baguette was crisp with a slightly chewy interior, and the pulled beef short rib was complemented well by sharp horseradish and slightly sweet carmelized onions. The soup was a light accompaniment to the meal. I was surprised that the soup was so fresh. It was pureed, but the quality showed through.


Fmace had the Sarladaise - an omelette with duck confit, potatoes and onions.This is a French omelette: moist, tender, and no colour on the omelette. The filling was rich - shredded duck meat and onions. The bite that I sampled did not have potato... As the restaurant name implies, the omelette was served not only with potatoes, but with crusty baguette as well. The baguette was fresh and crisp, but the potatoes could have been crispier and seasoned better.

Cousin Nate settled on the Brioche French Toast, banana and maple syrup option. Honestly, if Nate wasn't there that day, I would have ordered the French Toast. The slices of brioche were light and fluffy. When I asked Nate whether he liked his (Chez Meme) french toast or his moms' French toast better, he thoughtfully sighed out a long, "moms...." with a long sideways look at his mom.

Chez Henri ordered a Jambon-Brie baguette, also followed by their daily soup. Although you cannot see it in the photo, the baguette was full of oozing, melty cheese.

Chez Meme Baguette Bistro is a fairly small operation with about twenty seats. It was packed at lunch hour, for good reason. There was even a couple people  waiting for seats when we left!

On a subsequent visit, M and I had a chance to savour more of Chez Memes' baguettes. M ordered a Cordon Bleu sandwich, while I (on my meat ban) ordered a From'ton.


The Cordon Bleu was a ham, chicken, and emmenthal sandwich with dijon mustard on the side. M thoroughly enjoyed this, and would order it again. My From'ton was a sandwich of brie, pear, and walnuts. When it came, I was excited that they didn't go cheap with the cheese; however, upon finishing my meal I was ready to take a nap. :p While I enjoyed the combination of melted, creamy brie, sweet pear, and crunchy walnuts, I would have liked to have more pear (it was canned, I believe), and for the walnuts to be roasted / toasted. It said toasted on the menu, but the walnuts looked like they were out of the bag when I got my sandwich. Even so, I got a euphoric foodie high when I had the odd bite that included brie, walnut, pear and baguette!

We both went with the soup of the day, a fresh tomato, fennel, and Italian parsley soup. Once again, it was a nice medley of flavours. I think Chez Meme has convinced both of us to start using more fennel in our cooking.

Overall, we liked Chez Meme. It is unassuming, delicious and food is prepared fresh. I only wished their children would grow up faster so that they'd be open on weekends. ;p Chez Meme Baguette Bistro is a nice addition to The Heights community.

Chez Meme Baguette Bistro
4016 Hastings Street
Burnaby BC
P: 604-299-1141

Zawa (The Drive, Vancouver, BC)

Patios what good summers are stitched with!

Prior to this week of rainy weather, me and M headed out to The Drive on a sun-shiney weekday evening to take in some cocktails and grub. The intense heat of the office and the lack of motivation to cook brought us out to the patios of Commercial Drive...

While the popular spots like Havana, Memphis Blues, Fets, and The Reef were quite full, we went to the end of the Drive for some sunshine and serenity (as well as available free parking! :)



We decided on Zawa since it was close to where we were parked and the menu looked goof-proof: pizzas, burgers, sandwiches and pasta.

To start off, we ordered a bellini and fuzzy navel. The drinks were quite affordable, although we ordered bellinis the rest of the night - the fuzzy naval was extremely plain!



There were two waitresses on staff that night, plus the owner. The patio was quite busy, and the turn around was quick, considering people were lounging, chatting in groups, and enjoying the sun.

We did, however seem to get the one waitress that was completely disinterested in her job. She was unhelpful with suggestions and slightly aloof. One could say that she didn't like her job, or that she lacked the personality for the job. Or, it just wasn't her day.

It took a while to flag her down to take our orders, and it was probably about five to ten minutes after I placed my order that I noticed that she didn't ask me what type of bun I wanted my sandwich on, nor did she ask me what type of side I wanted.



I ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich and I wound up with a chicken sandwich on a wheat Kaiser roll (I wanted ciabatta) with caesar salad (I had wanted fries - possibly yam fries, if they had them). The chicken sandwich was a touch dry, but it had the right toppings - cheddar, bacon and guacamole. The caesar salad was good - you could taste the salty parmesan and anchovy, but the Kaiser roll was not the right fit for the sandwich. When we got our food I was just starving so I just ate.



M ordered the seafood fettucine, which came with shrimp, prawns, and clams in a cream sauce. I could detect some MSG in the sauce but overall, it was quite good for the price - there was a lot of seafood in his dish!

With reasonable value and options like "build your own burger / sandwich", I'm sure I'd eat at Zawa again. However, the service was quite lacking. Hopefully next time I can luck out and get the right waitress!

Zawa

920 Commercial Drive [map]

Vancouver, BC

Phone: 604-255-0470