Deacon's Corner

FOOD

101 Main St. Vancouver                                  deaconscorner.ca

Deacon's Corner bills itself as the "Original Gastown Diner" and the "best place for your hangover cure." It does indeed over up some impressive — and sizable — breakfasts. But how are its burgers? Short answer: stick with the breakfasts. The burger was dry and had that out-of-the-freezer taste. It was also considerably smaller than the bun. To be fair, one member of our group did enjoy his "filthy burger," but that's because it was slathered with pulled pork, cheese and bacon. Oddly, some fries seemed over cooked, while others were cooked just right. The mixed-berry pie for dessert was probably the highlight.

AMBIENCE
We like the spacious booths and old-school decor with framed black-and white photos from the surrounding area. (Side note: as one of us locked up his bike outside the restaurant, he came under unprovoked verbal assault from an unsavoury neighbourhood character, prompting more than a few checks out the window to make sure said bike was OK).

SERVICE
Great! Cheerful and humorous — still managed to make us laugh when she informed us that they had run out of beers.

VALUE
Kinda disappointing.

Summing it up, eating at Deacon's Corner is like driving an early 90's Camry with a body kit around Saltspring Island with Kim Kardashian in the passenger seat and listening to Daft Punk's Get Lucky (visited on May 27, 2014).

Moderne Burger

FOOD

2507 W. Broadway, Vancouver                          moderneburger.com

Moderne Burger consistently ranks high on various blog sites, but reaction in the group was decidedly mixed. Votes ranged from 6/10 to 8/10. They definitely don't skimp on the patties — they're fresh, with good thickness. The problem is they lacked flavour. There was a hint of a sweet sauce but it was slight. "Not sure if it's something about my taste buds," one member of the group said, but the burger had a "watered down" or "watery" taste to it. The member of the group who praised the burger had extra toppings — fried onions and mushrooms — so that may have helped. There was a complaint about "bun integrity" and another complaint about the bun being "chewy."

AMBIENCE
We like the retro vibe, checkered floors. But why are the booths so small?

SERVICE
Staff are very friendly and chatty — almost to the point of being exceedingly so.

VALUE
At $10.95 for a basic platter, Moderne offers decent value.

Summing it up, eating at Moderne Burger is like driving a Chevy Corvair down Iona Road in Richmond with Arsenio Hall in the passenger seat while listening to Hulk Hogan's theme song "Real American" on the radio. (Visited on April 15, 2014).

White Spot (Kitsilano)

2518 West Broadway, Vancouver                         www.whitespot.ca

FOOD
Well, what can we say? Who doesn't have a soft spot for White Spot and its Triple O Sauce? We had originally intended to go to Moderne Burger but it's closed on Mondays, so we crossed the street to the reliable Spot in Kitsilano. Little has changed with the Spot's signature burgers since our childhood Pirate Pak days — and that's a good thing. It's a reliably tasty burger even if the "Bigger" burger is a tad on the smallish side. There were mixed opinions about the addition of lettuce and tomato but it was minor quibbling. We loved the crisp bacon and the bottomless fries (and gravy!).

AMBIENCE
Cozy and comfortable. Our booth seating was a tad tight.

SERVICE
Very friendly and attentive.

VALUE
At $12-$13, the burger combos — again with endless fries — represent pretty good value, we'd say.

Summing it up, eating at White Spot is like driving a 2014 Toyota Corolla down E. 12th Ave. between Fraser St and Clark Drive with Ryan Seacrest in the passenger seat and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here playing on the radio. (Visited on March 10, 2014).

The Tomahawk Restaurant

1550 Philip Ave., North Vancouver          www.tomahawkrestaurant.com

FOOD 

Around since 1926, family-run Tomahawk is a North Vancouver institution. It was featured on the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives where host Guy Fieri gushed over the restaurant's signature roast beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding and beef dip sandwich. But what about its burgers? Tomahawk has a large roster of them — the "Skookum Chief," "Dagwood Super," "Chief Capilano" among them — featuring organic beef patties, eggs, and wieners. Unfortunately, the consensus among the group was that it doesn't matter how many "doodads" you add, you still have to have a good burger at the core — and the core was lacking. Patties were sorta dry, the "Tomahawk sauce" was barely detectable. Shredded lettuce was a nice change up. Fries were cafeteria-like.

AMBIENCE

Comfortable. We like the history of the place and the unique aboriginal art work all over the walls and the throwback ginger ale in a bottle.

SERVICE 

Competent. Nothing stood out.

VALUE

Despite our misgivings, we've actually been here three times now. The value is decent and we like the "comfort food" vibe and dose of nostalgia of the place.


Summing it up, eating at The Tomahawk is like driving an older model Nissan Maxima through Chinatown with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the passenger seat while listening to Cutting Crew's Died in Your Arms (visited on January 22, 2014).