This afternoon I had the pleasure of going with a long time friend of mine and his parents to the Jack Lonsdale’s Public House in North Vancouver.
My BFF and I both started out with a beer sampler each – this is where the customer chooses four draft beers. It is an interesting way to try a number of beers without having to get all beer silly because you only get a little glass of each one you choose.
I ordered their Fat Tug IPA ale and the Pyramid Apricot Ale along with two other beers. The IPA, as one would expect, was a very, very hoppy beer. It was good – really good, but I cannot imagine drinking an entire sleeve of that much hoppy beer.
The Pyramid Apricot Ale was an excellent beer. There was a distinct taste of apricot in the beer however it was not overwhelming. Just an all-around interesting, unique beer. I suppose the beer aficionado would cringe at an apricot flavoured beer but I enjoyed it.
The four little glasses of beer although cute and an interesting way to try a variety of beers is certainly not good value. My BFF’s father ordered a sleeve of beer and I think it was six dollars whereas the beer sampler was nine dollars. It’s okay if you want to try a number of beers but certainly don’t do it for value.
For lunch my bud had calamari and a Caesar salad. Seeing as I am such a foodie freak, I had to sample my buddies calamari. The pieces were not the usual small rubbery rings of calamari. Each segment of calamari on the platter had an almost lump-like shape, almost like a chicken nugget.
Fortunately the flavour and the texture of the actual squid inside were excellent. As you chewed through the batter that surrounded the piece of squid there was a hint of zip and zest to spice it up. That spice really hit a positive note for me.
My burger, the Between the Sheets Burger was also very tasty. With my burger order I had the choice of sticking with their regular fries or for a buck 50 upgrade I could get yam fries or some kind of a salad. I chose to stick with the regular fries. My choice of staying with the regular fries paid off.
The fries were super crisp, lightly salted and very full of flavour. The fries were excellent; perfectly cooked, crispy enough to stand upright in their funky little container.
The burger was also good. Good, not great. I have to admit I’m not a big fan of beef hamburgers because all too often the patty, especially large beef patties tend to be too dry. I was figuring that this one would not be too dry because inside of the patty, between the sheets as they say, was a layer of goat cheese – you can see it oozing out of the burger in the picture above.
On the menu it also said that the burger comes with a “bacon jam” and aioli. When I used my fork and pulled some of the bacon jam out it had a wonderfully smoky, bacon flavour. However, when I took a bite of the burger, the beef patty and goat cheese overwhelmed the bacon jam. The good thing about the goat cheese though, it did give the burger some moisture so that it was not a dry hockey puck like so many monster burgers turn out to be.
The handful of spicy arugula on top of the burger patty and the single slice of tomato were probably enough to keep me from getting scurvy but not enough to be important to the flavour of the burger.
Bottom line, the Jack Lonsdale Pub on Lonsdale Ave, in North Vancouver was a hit with my BFF and his parents. The service was friendly and attentive and the food was worth a return trip. Perhaps not all star food, but pleasing enough to make me want to come back and sample more of their menu.
One thing that I do find curious about Jack Lonsdale Pub is the attire that the servers were wearing. Considering it was lunch and the people in the pub were, well let’s just say middle-age or higher, I was surprised to see the servers wearing very, very short black skirts and very revealing tops. Somewhat odd. I’m not sure if that attire works with the moms and dads and grandparents who appeared to be the demographic in the pub. Perhaps it does work but it does strike me as a bit odd.
If I have time or I need to go back to North Vancouver, I would not hesitate to go to the Jack Lonsdale Pub again.
