My New Westminster Foodie Crawl

After my very successful foodie adventure in downtown Vancouver, I decided it would be fun to do a round-up of the places I like to eat while in New Westminster so I arranged all my client meetings from last week to be held in New Westminster eateries.

Let me begin by saying that there are many great places to eat while in New West and the places that I describe here are simply the places that I like to pop into now and then for a variety of lessons. I will also add that I paid for my meal at each place and the eateries did not know that I would be writing about the meal that I had at their joint.

All that being said, let’s begin with my “Gold Standards” for New West eateries.

For the best frites (or french fries) in New West (or Metro Vancouver in my opinion) I return to the Spud Shack. Located in the New West Skytrain station beside the movie theatre, these are the fries that all other fries strive to equal. Admittedly, the bowl in the picture is their poutine, but even their regular frites are amazing. Perfectly crisped on the outside. Perfection.

The next place I will go if I am in a bit of a hurry and only have time for a sandwich is the Big Star Sandwich Company on 12th Street just up from Fat City Tattoo.

The guys from Big Star told me they have an ancient dude under contract to make them the best corned beef this side of Montreal and I tend to agree.

Simply delicious. The meat is just salty enough to be delicious. And just as importantly, each bite is perfectly tender so that you can enjoy a mouthful without worrying about the entire slice of meat coming out of the sandwich in one piece. To balance out the salt in the corned beef there is a schmeer of mustard on the top slice of bread and a healthy spread of mayonnaise on the bottom.

While eating the sandwich I like to take a big bite a chunk out of the dill pickle. This is my Gold Standard to which all other sandwiches are compared.

And then we head down the hill to an unlikely place for a foodie to wander into, The Terminal Pub. Although you may not realize it from the location or the surrounding buildings, the interior of The Terminal has been renovated so that it is a very stylish room.

Earlier this week I held a client meeting in The Terminal and my clients were very impressed with the decor and with the food. Of special note, there are many menu options for people who require gluten free items. And I’m not just talking about salads.

If you want your burger served on a gluten free bun, they can make it happen.

I had the burger they call the El Conquistador. When it first arrives at the table it is simply stunning looking but then I realized that it was just two monster-sized onion rings inside the burger that made it so tall. Once they are removed it is just a huge burger.

Although the overall burger was very tasty, the burger patty was a tad too dense for my liking. I suppose I prefer the more homemade style patty like you would have at your mom and dad’s backyard barbecue. Let’s be clear though, it was an excellent burger package with the cheese and thick slices of bacon inside the bun.

And the fries were also very enjoyable. Not as perfect as the frites from Spud Shack but The Terminal’s were large fries, crispy on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside.

After The Terminal Pub I ventured over to what we used to call the New West Quay. That site has been rebranded into what we now call the River Market and it is a foodie’s haven. There are many food and restaurant options available in the River Market. I started at the classic burger joint, Wally’s Burgers.

I’ve had their Chuckwagon Platter before (and enjoyed it) but did not feel like having a beef burger on this particular visit. Instead I went for the Chicken Cordon Bleu burger with a side of fries.

Wally’s Burgers serves up these fabulous burgers on what looks like an entirely inadequate white bread bun that you think will never hold together. Somehow they always do hold together though and you end up licking the little bits of burger goo off your fingers afterwards.

Swiss cheese and two awesome slices of back bacon really added to the deelish factor of the burger. However, I chose the $1 option to add a jalapeno poppers to my burger but I did not really notice any significant heat in the burger.

The kind of skimpy bag of fries were good. Not great, not bad, just passable-good.

Right around the corner from Wally’s is Re-Up BBQ. Southern style barbecue done up right.

I had another client meeting in New West and we decided to meet up at Re-Up BBQ. This suited my purposes quite nicely. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with two sides – an amazing buttermilk biscuit and a little Mason jar of black bean and corn chili.

My pulled pork was excellent. Tender and tasty with none of that too-tough meaty mouth feel. Perfectly seasoned with their light sauce – be aware, there is none of that Texas-style super thick barbecue sauce stuff here – this is Carolina style with the vinegar sauce squirted all through it. My personal favourite barbecue style.

The handful of cabbage coleslaw on top of the pulled pork adds just the right counterpunch to the meaty flavours of the pulled pork. Once again the bun is heroic in holding the sandwich together while I munched away at it.

My lunch date had the beef brisket sandwich and he reported full satisfaction with his sandwich. The beef was tender enough that he did not have the pull-the-whole-load-out at one time problem.

As a side dish he had potato salad made from Russian blue potatoes. The one piece of potato I tried was just a tad undercooked. My lunch date devoured the salad and had no complaints about it though.

So these are just a few of the awesome places to eat in New Westminster. Other places I have enjoyed eating at in New West include the Sixth Street Grill, the Hide Out Cafe, Cockney King’s Fish and Chips, Burger Heaven and the River’s Reach Pub.

I have also just been informed by a nacho expert that the Paddlewheeler Pub at the Rivermarket has what she is calling the best nachos she has had in Metro Vancouver. All in all, it looks like I will be have to do a part two New West foodie adventure! Until then, enjoy your lunch!!