I've walked by this place along Main Street in Vancouver numerous times because I'm always in the neighbourhood. The only reason hubby, baby and I went in this time was because their little blackboard had breakfast specials on it, and boy, I'm a sucker for breakfast!
Slickity Jim's Chat and Chew - quite the moniker, but it has a nice ring to it. It was just after lunch rush that we sat down, the place isn't all that big so next time I won't be bringing my stroller as we wouldn't have been seated during lunch rush. And yes, there will definitely be a 'next time'!
It wasn't until we were leaving that I saw a tiny sticker out front that said, 'You Gotta Eat Here!'. "Gee..", I thought to myself, "... No wonder I liked it!" So I'm just kind of reiterating what people have already said about this place! It sure deserves it though. (You can find the television show on Food Network Canada's website, back from May 2013.)
I love that this place serves breakfast until 4 or 5pm (depending on the day), and happy hour from 4-7pm. I just about always have an early dinner, so this makes me feel better about my horrible food spending habits. Oh well, it's for you guys now so I feel like that's a good enough reason! ;)
ON WITH THE FOOD!
Slickity Jim's Chat and Chew has (appropriately) given the majority of their dishes awesome names. Does anyone else wonder how 'The Breakfast of Broken Dreams' got its name? I definitely wondered that, so I ordered it. If I could rename that dish, it would be, 'The Breakfast of All My Dreams'. I never liked stinky cheeses before I got pregnant. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that it was all of a sudden 'off-limits' because it posed a risk to my growing child that it became appealing. The 'Do Not Touch- Wet Paint' effect. Of course I'm gonna stick my hand in the wet paint! (My child is healthy though, he's pretty amazing but I'm SO biased!)
All the elements of the dish were wonderful, but I would have added ham or prosciutto (since I like meat. A lot!). The toast was crispy, the eggs were my favourite level of poached, spinach and caramelized onions are always freakin' delicious and very hard to screw up in my opinion. But the sauce! Lovingly draped over it all and not overwhelmingly so. The waitress said it was about 1/3 gorgonzola, so I was expecting it to be pretty ripe-smelling/tasting, but it was so balanced. The potatoes were probably the only thing I would have liked to change. I felt they needed ketchup. I dislike putting ketchup on my hashbrowns or potatoes in general, but they were just so dry. I prefer potatoes to really just have salt and pepper because they're yummy on their own, so adding ketchup feels like a disservice to the poor little tuber. To each his own, I suppose. And their little orange slice on the side is a bit dated. I remember lots of places doing that a long time ago, but not so much anymore. It was yummy though!
So hubby ordered the 'Society Made Me What I Am', and to his surprise, he actually enjoyed it. (I have to interject here - this name sounds like lyrics from a rock song angsty teens would have listened to in the 90's. Hilarious!) He was so torn because there were so many menu items he wanted, but one thing in each of them was not to his liking. He's a bit picky sometimes. This dish had veggie sausage, but as he would put it, "It looked the least bad, so I ordered it". And he loved it! He said he would not have known it was veggie sausage had the menu not listed it. I was also very glad this came with a salad because I'm always on him about greens. If hubby is satisfied with the food, it was definitely worth ordering... Especially if he actually liked fake meat! It's a miracle, I tell you!
Potato shot! Is there really any such person who doesn't like crispy potatoes?
This time we ordered dessert. Hubby had a featured pie and I had their chocolate quinoa cake. Wooooooow, chocolate and quinoa, I never would have imagined! There was a sort of quinoa crusty layer on the bottom which was delicious, but the nuttiness throughout the cake was magnificent! Also gluten-free and I believe vegan. Fudgy, rich, decadent. Walnuts would probably have elevated the flavour a bit, but why mess with something already so yummy? Just my opinion!
Hubby's pie options were fun. That day, the pies were: blueberry basil goat cheese, apple, key lime and butter pecan. He said he was so tempted to get the blueberry one, but because of the goat cheese, he didn't. Oh well, maybe if they have it next time we go he'll hopefully order it! He got the safe apple pie instead. His thoughts were: it's classic. He wanted ice cream, but unfortunately they were out at that time. Not too sure if the watermelon sun burst was their normal presentation, but it sure is cute! And yummy.
So there you have it! Good food, fun names, good deal. Definitely will stop by again. Who wouldn't be tempted by "A Woman in a Flowing Dress Kissing Her Lover" or a "Tip Toe Through the Tulips"?? What would you readers like to try? Would you rename any of the dishes? I'd like to hear from you!
Side note: hubby said I had to take a picture of their clock and post it. At Slickity Jim's, it's always 5 o'clock! Wait does that mean I always get happy hour prices?! Kidding, of course. Wouldn't that be nice though....