Fat Jack’s Homestyle Diner at The Mighty Fraser

Typically you expect to see hipsters, the tattooed, toque and black t-shirt wearing twenty-somethings in Vancouver on Main Street between King Ed and north towards Kingsway. Sometimes they will head further east as far away from Main Street as Fraser Street. Rarely though will you see them east of that.

So imagine my surprise when I pulled into Fat Jack’s Homestyle Diner at the Mighty Fraser Motel a few miles on the other side of Boston Bar and many, many miles east of Vancouver’s Main Street and I saw a room full of hipsters. Hipsters working in the kitchen, a hipster organizing and clearing tables, another hipster bringing menus around to people. All I could think was, hipsters in the Fraser Canyon? This is logger country. Railway worker country. Rancher country. Not hipster country!

So when a young lady wearing a well-worn and faded black Smith’s T-shirt came over and brought me a cup of JJ Bean coffee I couldn’t help but ask, “what is going on with all these hipsters in the Fraser Canyon?”

She laughed and said, “Well an opportunity came up and we couldn’t resist buying this restaurant, motel, apartment building and the two houses here on this property!”

Wow. After several months of renovating, Fat Jack’s Homestyle Diner is now open and serving up food to the hungry highway travellers.

Laszlo Veggie Burger
Laszlo Veggie Burger

So about the food. I have stopped in at Fat Jack’s three times now. I have gone back because I wasn’t sure if I could truly believe what I had found; excellent quality diner food done with a hipster twist in the Fraser Canyon. Weird but true.

On my first visit I tried their veggie burger. They call it the Laszlo Burger is because it is named after their chef Laszlo. Laszlo join them at fat jacks after working at The Foundation in Vancouver, yes, on main street.

The veggie burger was delicious and at $11 a good value. It is a patty made in-house and has a combination of things in it such as split lentils, walnuts, quinoa, brown rice and other grains. It is so much better than the standard store-bought pre-formed hockey puck type veggie patty. On the bun there was a slice of tomato, some thinly sliced red onion, and some chunks of lettuce. It was simple looking and yet perfectly done.

The fries are cut in-house as well. They are the big steak chunk style fries. Once again, a hit with me.

Pulled Pork with Mac & Cheese
Pulled Pork with Mac & Cheese

On my next visit I decided to do the pulled pork sandwich test. The pulled pork was good. For $13 it was good, but not great. After eating a pulled pork sandwich at Re-Up Barbecue, one does get spoiled about their pulled pork.

However the baked mac & cheese that came with my sandwich was out of this world good. The small side of apple slaw was also excellent.

Today I visited Fat Jack’s for the third time and I had breakfast; a three egg omelette with bacon, mushroom and cheddar cheese. This omelette is perfectly named because it is loaded with bacon and beautifully seasoned little mushrooms and cheddar cheese. There is no skimping on ingredients. Before cooking the eggs must have been whipped up into a frenzy because the omelette was thick and fluffy and sat up tall and proud on the plate.

Bacon, Mushroom and Cheddar Omelette
Bacon, Mushroom and Cheddar Omelette

The hashbrowns cubes, like the fries they serve are prepped and cooked in-house. Seasoned with big chunks of salt they were a welcome breakfast side dish.

With the thick cut multigrain toast, a side of berry jam and breakfast was ready for me. All in it was $11.

As I said in the beginning their coffee is top quality JJ Bean coffee and my cup was always full. At $2 I thought it was good value.

They have a good looking menu for kids so I am sure that on my next trip up the canyon with my kids I will be stopping into Fat Jack’s and trying out getting their verdict kid’s menu.

Although Fat Jack’s Homestyle Diner is a little bit more expensive than the typical fast food joint, I think the quality of food is well worth the price. This is my new stopping place in the Fraser Canyon.

 


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One response to “Fat Jack’s Homestyle Diner at The Mighty Fraser”

  1. todd Avatar

    thanks for swinging by(repeatedly)and thanks for the props!
    see you soon for sure