The Wallflower Modern Diner

Restaurant: The Wallflower Modern Diner
Cuisine: American/Eclectic/Diner
Last visited: October 16, 09
Location: Vancouver, BC (Main Street)
Address: 2420 Main Street
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: n/a (didn’t try enough)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Independently owned and operated
• Contemporary diner
• Old fashioned homestyle comfort food/cooking
• Diner items w/modern twist
• Simple classics seem more reliable
• Casual
• Vegetarian friendly
• Vegan friendly
• Gluten free friendly
• Limited wine list
• Breakfast until 4pm
• Lunch and dinner
• Friday and Saturday brunch
• Closed Sunday

** Recommendation: Burgers, Meatloaf Wellington (but I didn’t get to try it, should be really good based on their burger patties)

I’ve been meaning to try this restaurant every time I’m in the area, but always go for The Foundation in the end. At last, I finally made it. I was reading their menu and specials board but what convinced me was the owner of the shop next door telling me that the food was really good.

It’s not a truck stop diner and not pretentious either. It’s one of those trendy diner places located on Main Street offering homestyle classics with a slight twist. The lighting is a bit dark and the decor is artistic so it has a lounge-like atmosphere during the evening. It’s nothing gourmet and it’s home cooking with a gourmet twist, but there’s effort and it’s affordable. Almost everything is made in house which is great, but it’s also not so amazing that I’m dying to go back. I would go back to try more things though, so I can get a better idea of what they offer.

On the table:

Wallflower Burger – 4/6 (Very good)

• Eggplant spread, tomato, cucumber, pickles, lettuce, raw red onion, and melted Havarti
• This is a piled high burger with fresh ingredients and a thick patty!

• The highlight is definitely in the patty – and they tell you this right on the menu: “The Wallflower patty is our secret recipe with beef, pork and seasoning.”
• This patty is pretty delicious I must say. You can definitely tell it’s fresh and homemade.
• The patty was flavourful with the combination of meats and they worked it just enough so that it was still tender.
• The first bite was really juicy and delicious, but as it got cold it started to taste dry and not as great, which is somewhat expected.
• The cucumber was a great addition to this burger and the melted Havarti was generous.
• The pickle was a little distracting and I don’t think they need it even though I like pickles.
• It could have used a lot more eggplant spread and no pickle because the pickle kind of overpowered it.

• I couldn’t really taste the eggplant spread at all and they didn’t give much of it.
• I’m pretty sure the eggplant spread is the same one they serve as their “eggplant dip” on their appetizer menu.
• It looks almost like hummus, but doesn’t taste like it.
• The eggplant is pureed with maybe yogurt because it was tangy with lots of garlic powder and maybe some cumin too.
• I could barely taste the spread in the burger though – I could only taste the garlic powder from it.

Crab Cake Dinner  – 1.5/6 (Poor-Okay)

• Crab, curry, onion, apple and peach served with veggies and salad.
• This was one of their more creative dishes, but it didn’t work out. It was a recommended dish too.
• There was hardly any crab in the crab cakes.
• For $12 I didn’t expect much, but it had a lot of filler and breadcrumbs and little crab.
• The inside was mushy and the the exterior definitely tasted like cardboard unfortunately.
• It had a thick Panko crust and it also wasn’t crispy.
• They used some cumin, but overall it could have been saltier. It came with curry mayo for dipping, but it didn’t help.
• The apple and peach was served on top and I thought it was going to be in the crab cakes.
• The peaches were canned being October, but the apples were fresh. I wish it was executed more like a salsa.
• The veggies were zucchini and bell peppers which were simply sauteed and well seasoned.
• The Caesar salad was standard and lightly dressed with shredded Asiago cheese instead of Parmesan I think.

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