Before I go on sounding too biased, I have to say that I have had the opportunity to eat at some good restaurants in Langley and of course one of my all time favourite places is the Mozart Bakery and Cafe which is located in Langley.

But as it turns out I was looking to find a nice place for us to have dinner in Langley a few weeks ago. Our friends Paul and Marj who were in town and were staying at a hotel in Langley. My selection for a restaurant for us to go to was primarily driven by the proximity to their hotel but it so happens that I had already eaten before at the Sonoma Grill and knew it to be a good restaurant.

It being a Tuesday night, the restaurant was pretty empty and we had good, attentive service even though we were fairly leisurely in enjoying our evening. I started my meal with a chorizo crab chowder and had a pesto sable fish main course. The sable fish course was particularly good.

The Sonoma Grill was undoubtedly not the only place to eat well in Langley. In this particular case, the evening was more enjoyable because of the friends that we dined with more than anything else but I can recommend the Sonoma Grill without hesitation.

Baden

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Sonoma Grill
20598 Fraser Hwy, Langley
604-534-2104

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Let’s assume for a minute that you don’t happen to live in one of those other 28 countries and happen to actually shop at Save on Foods. As such, you are probably aware of the Save on More customer loyalty card that we have. If you happen to have one of these cards, you can sign up on the Save on More web site to receive recipes via email. One of these such recipes happened to arrive in my inbox a few weeks ago which immediately drew my attention.

Moroccan lentil soup was the title of this recipe and the combination of spices, vegetables and of course, lentils seemed to be an intriguing recipe that I wanted to try.

One change that I made to the recipe was to increase it by about 50%. All of the ingredients scaled evenly with the exception of the water. I needed to add more than 50% more water as the extra lentils seemed to drink up more water than I expected. Adding additional water at the very end to make the soup reach a desired consistency was an easy fix.

The final result was a delicious dish and my only reservation is that I didn’t increase the original recipe by 100% instead of just 50%.

Give this recipe a try and you’ll agree with me that this is going to be one of your long term favourites.

You can find the original recipe for the Moroccan Lentil Soup on the Save on Foods web site here.

Baden

Deep Cove is a small village at the eastern end of North Vancouver right by Indian Arm (which is a Marine Regional Park) and in summer time or other sunny days becomes an incredibly popular destination to visit.

I have been to Deep Cove about 4 or 5 times and almost all of these times during the summer time and never as early as March. However with temperatures around 12 degrees and sunny today, I was not surprised to see so many people there. Admittedly, there were no crowds picnicing or barbecuing like there would be during the summer months but when we stopped for a coffee at around 12:30 there was a lineup right out the door.

Undoubtedly, the major drawing factor for people coming to Deep Cove is the view across Indian Arm. The official name for the park located at Deep Cove is Panorama Park and the name is well deserved given the spectacular vista that can be seen from the beach.

If you’re planning on visiting Deep Cove during the summer time (especially on a weekend), I highly recommend that you don’t wait until too late in the day as finding parking can be a challenge. However, I consider Deep Cove to be one of those places that you should make a point of visiting at least once – if not many times, during good weather.

Baden

Mozart has a complete case dedicated to pastries and baked goods so choosing something is surprisingly harder to do than might be imagined. On one of my visits I picked up a box of coronettis which are the cone-shaped pastries filled with cream. I’ll defer any descriptions of the wonderful taste and texture of the coronettis to the above picture which pretty much sums up how it tasted.

In addition to the individual pastries that we’ve always enjoyed from the Mozart Bakery and Cafe, I’ve often gone there to pickup a cake to bring home a dessert when we’ve had company over for dinner. One such example of this was a delicious Ginger Peach Cobbler which I brought home about a week ago.

While I go to Mozart for lunch regularly (it’s a few minutes away from where I work), it is an ongoing challenge to leave without a small box of pastries under my arm. Something that doesn’t happen too often.

Baden

Wally’s is one of those places that seems like it’s stuck in a time warp and hasn’t changed in any measurable way in those decades that I’ve been going there. Certainly the menu hasn’t changed and the interior of Wally’s has the same harsh florescent lighting and faded pictures of the burgers that they offer.

However, none of these things matter and if anything, only add to the charm of Wally’s. It’s the great food that brings everyone back again and again.

One of the staples that Wally’s offers of course if their Chuck Wagon burger. Made up of two burger patties tucked under a perfectly toasted fresh oval-shaped bun, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

Everyone who has been to Wally’s is familiar with the faded newspaper article that they had on their wall (probably from the 70′s) with the headline “There’s no guile in Wally’s”. A pretty strange headline by any measure, this newspaper clipping was sadly no longer on the wall on our visit today and only the faded area of the wall to reminded of this old standby.

When you’re in the mood for a unique burger experience and want to try something other than the regular place that you might usually go to, check out Wally’s Burgers and be prepared to begin your own decades long experience.

Baden

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Wally’s Burgers
2703 Kingsway, Vancouver
604-434-2930

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The ethnic flavour along the Burnaby Height area is definitely Italian you can find all kinds of great restaurants and specialty stores for anything in this category of Italian foods. Of this category, one of our very favourite store to buy Italian food is known as Cioffi’s Meat Market & Deli.

If you decide to visit Cioffi’s (especially on a weekend), first be prepared to find the store pretty crowded. It’s been like this every time that we have gone there and really says a lot about how popular this place really is. Second, if you want to buy anything from the deli counter, and believe me you will, take a number as soon as you walk in the door.

The sheer variety of the products that Cioffi’s carries is quite amazing considering that it is such a small store. From dozens of different kinds of cheeses to fresh meats and sausages of every variety to dry and canned goods – they’ve seemed to have a little of everything.

Behind the deli counter there is a small army of women in uniforms running back and forth running an array of slicing machines and putting together the particulars of everyone’s orders. At any one time there is at least 10 people lined up at the counter so the need for the numbers is an absolute necessity to avoid a riot.

When we were there last weekend, I picked up a bunch of their fantastic spicy Italian sausages which I will soon be making as the key ingredient in my spaghetti sauce. Deep red with chunks of meat visible through the casing, these kinds of made-fresh sausages are nothing like “name brand” sausages that you find in stores. If you’ve ever eaten these types of real sausages, you’ll never go back to anything else.

If you plan on going to Cioffi’s, I strongly recommend that you park your car for a few hours and stroll along Hastings street and enjoy the many different stores and even stay for lunch at one of the local cafes. After even just one visit to The Heights, you will be counting the days until you return again.

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Cioffi’s Meat Market & Deli
4156 Hastings Street, Burnaby
(604) 291-9373

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Baden