Browns Socialhouse Point Grey — Restaurant in Vancouver

Went there for brunch on Saturday. Here were the highlights:

Girlfriend and I both ordered a fried egg sandwich, because honestly the "brunch" menu they served was otherwise aggressively mediocre. Poor selection, so we just went with something basic, figuring that it was a simple order with simple flavours that's pretty easy to make and enjoy. In the tradition of Brunch, AKA "drunk breakfast", I ordered a caesar with my meal.

The caesar arrived first, so that's what I'll talk about first. The glass was about 60% ice, and wasn't an exceptionally large glass to begin with. And yes, okay, you can get away with serving a lot of ice with some drinks; a gin and tonic, or a vodka soda come to mind. Perhaps even a rum and coke, albeit you're not doing it any favours. But adding extra water to a caesar of any kind basically just makes it water with some tomato soup in it..Watery tomato soup with some vodka in it, but watery tomato soup nonetheless. A caesar needs to be a fairly thick, heavy drink that almost acts as an appetizer in its own right. But as it was, it made me feel like I lived in soviet Russia after a particularly harsh winter, and all but one of the tomato crops had died. So my family took the few tomatoes that survived the freeze, and mixed it with the only two things available: vodka and snow, in order to stretch the few tomatoes we had until supplies could arrive from the city.

And the sandwich? Almost forgot about that, and to be honest, I'd be better off. The fried egg sandwich was essentially just that; one particularly small egg, with a few strips of something passing for bacon, some shredded lettuce and what I think was hollandaise. The two tiny strips of bacon we received were flavourless, and the little bit of texture it might have offered was entirely overwhelmed by the brioche bun. I assume that they use the brioche bun because that's what they use for the burgers that they'd serve during non-brunch hours, and so they can't be bothered to buy anything else for the pittance of a brunch that they advertise. But this particular brioche bun was fairly rubbery and bland, but definitely a hardworking no-nonsense sort; because how else could its lack of flavour manage to overwhelm all other ingredients nestled in its bready crevice?

The hashbrowns were on...

Decided on this place because it accepts UBC flex dollars. We ordered the tuna poke, chicken pizza and steak. The steak was dry and more medium than medium rare. Passable. The fries were very good though. The tuna poke was very overpriced and certainly no where close to many poke joints. The pizza was horrible. The semolina was burnt and left black marks on your hands and clothes. I ran my finger across the bottom and came up with a sludge of semolina. The manager who seemed annoyed when I complained about this. Black semolina sludge. Wow. Imagine if Spacca, Nicoli or Via Tevere served this. Manager seems to imply that we did not know how to eat pizza. For me, I think that their cook does not know what pizza supposed to be like. I know that I am not going to a pizza joint or steak house or poke place, but honestly, have pride in what you serve and make sure they are served well. Passable is not acceptable. Needless to say, we are not coming back, UBC flex...

We met a friend for dinner and decided on Brown's. I always like the food and atmosphere but this is a different Brown's restaurant. We used to go to the one on 4th Ave in Kitsilano but it closed a year ago. There is a different feel at this Brown's and I also noticed the prices are higher. I ordered my usual Southwest bowl with the Cajun chicken. It was good. My wife ordered the dragon bowl and our friend the chicken quesadilla. All good. Washed it down with glasses of red and white wines. The service was okay. Our waitress put more focus on a table of 4 Irish lads who kept ordering beer. But it was fine because we had a good time catching up and not being disturbed by idle questions other than if we needed more wine There were plenty of people in the restaurant and we stayed pretty late. Enjoyed the setting, the food and the wine. We will definitely come back for another round of food and drinks. Hopefully the service...