A Squared: Travel Tuesday: Poutine & Sight Seeing in Vancouver, BC

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Travel Tuesday: Poutine & Sight Seeing in Vancouver, BC

As I have mentioned before, the opportunity to travel is definitely one of the perks of my day job. And being able to check Vancouver, BC off my travel bucket list was a highlight, for sure. While I don't normally have a ton of personal time to spend during my work travel, the trip from Chicago to Vancouver was a long one (and not the most convenient) so we ended up in the city mid-day Sunday with no work commitments until Monday morning giving us a few solid hours to explore the city. And while an afternoon isn't nearly enough time to do much more than scratch the surface of this amazing city, we did get to experience a few of the great things that Vancouver has to offer.


The architecture in Vancouver is amazing and I snapped tons of pictures to share with Alex while I was there. So much of it is new construction or has popped up since the winter Olympic games were held there. I'll definitely be bringing Alex back again someday to explore it further.


One of the most unique things about Vancouver is how much of it is right on the waterfront-- connected by a network of rivers and inlets, we found it easiest to get around the city via their various tugboat and ferry taxis. The ferries were the perfect way for us to quickly get from the Granville Island Public Market back over to the downtown area. And the lights/views on the water at night were so beautiful.


We also headed just north of the city earlier that day to check out the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. While crossing the giant suspension bridge got a little scary in a few places, the views were gorgeous and unlike anything you'll see or experience here in the Midwest!


Along with the main suspension bridge, there is an entire network of bridges and platforms the connect through the tall Douglas Fir trees in this wooded areas. They provide great (and sometimes terrifying views) down into the valleys and woods below-- some from as high up as 110 feet above ground. And it was a serious workout!


And on the food front, I have another post coming your way featuring a great restaurant meal that we enjoyed while in Vancouver. But one thing we were on the hunt for while in town, was the best poutine. Poutine is a uniquely Canadian [guilty pleasure] dish, so my boss polled a few bartenders and locals while in town to find out their suggestions. The unanimous response was that Fritz European Fry House in the city's Yaletown neighborhood was home to the best. So, we had to check it out!


Fritz is a tiny place with a walk-up counter and enough seating for maybe 6-8 people, so this is definitely designed as more of a grab-and-go fast (and also late night drunk) food place. It's real claim to fame though is the crazy amount of customization that Fritz offers for its poutine. While traditional poutine consists of french fries topped with cheese curds and chicken gravy, Fritz offers dozens of options from chili to pesto to soy cheese to peanut sauce and beyond. Whatever you can dream up to top your fries with, they've got it...


While tempted to customize my poutine with some of the delicious options that Fritz offered, I decided to go pretty traditional with my order: cheese curds, chicken gravy, and a little Frittessaus (basically mayo or aioli) on the side. Stephanie also went traditional, but subbed in non-dairy cheese with a side of their spicy curry ketchup. Now, most of you know that I'm not a huge fast food lover but this poutine was really well done with crunchy fresh cut fries, a thick salty gravy that tasted like the real thing (not the kind of gravy you'd normally expect at a fry house that's open late night), and stringy melty cheese curds. It's not gourmet and it's definitely not light... but it was really good!


16 comments:

  1. so pretty! i've heard vancouver is a beautiful place and i've always wanted to visit! xo jillian - cornflake dreams

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    1. It is gorgeous and I would have loved to have spent more time there!

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