unexpected things in Vancouver

Consult Google Maps. Look for Vancouver, BC. Found it? Good. It's in western Canada, you may note. Not the Deep South.

And yet, there is southern BBQ to be found there.

I LOATHE food chauvinism even if I'm guilty of it myself. I find myself wanting to smack people who think, for example, that the British cannot offer good food. I despair of the unwarranted bagel snobbery of New York City. I laugh at the notion that east coast blue crabs are superior. All of which, of course, exposes my biases (I think British food has many fine points; Montreal bagels rock; west coast Dungeness and snow crab are the best).

And so it is that I snicker at the idea that the South is the only place that can conjure up BBQ. Whatever. Insert eyeroll here. And still, I was excited this past weekend while I was on a quick trip to Vancouver to get to a place new to me, Peckinpah in Gastown. Southern BBQ... mmmmmm! And I've stopped eating pork and beef!

No matter, there were a few options on the menu for me. Good beer for starters - White Bark. I enjoyed two pints. Also, the best darn chicken wings I've ever had. Smoked, and I added my own sauce. Tender, salty, good.

But in the end, it was just fun. Food that encourages finger licking. Friends and my sister,

all of us lined up at the bar to eat. A fun evening, managing to dodge the on and off heavy rain last Saturday. A place to take Conrad to some time in the future. An unexpected delight, and thank goodness for that. A little culinary surprise now and then is much welcome, I have to say.