Brunch review – BierCraft Bistro

Eggs on cornbread - brunch at BierCraft Bistro, Vancouver, Nov 21 2010. Robyn Hanson photo

- review by Shawn Conner

Ever since Stella’s changed its name to BierCraft in an attempt to re-brand, I’ve become just a teensy bit less enamored of Vancouver’s preeminent Belgian beer outpost(s). With the name change has come some fiddling with the menu, including the loss of a favourite side dish, the sambal tofu, as Vancouver moves slowly but seemingly inexorably to a carnivore-only city.

But the food at Stella’s/BierCraft’s has always been better-than-average bar grub and reasonably priced, and so we thought we’d give the new menu’s brunch a try at the 3305 Cambie Street location, known as the BierCraft Bistro (Stella’s on Commercial is now the BierCraft Tap and Tapas Bar).

First, the menu. There’s variety here – “menu 1″ features sandwiches and mac & cheese, a salad and a steak-and-mushroom crock; “menu 2″ highlights more traditional brunch-type dishes, including a basic, baked eggs, a tofu scramble, three kinds of omelettes and four styles of eggs benedict.

I went for a perennial favourite, the huevos rancheros. BierCraft’s version is interesting; a disc of cheese and rice (what the description in the menu calls a “chili-spiced pilaf”) is sandwiched between a red tortilla and the eggs. There are no beans, refried or otherwise – instead, a clutch of coleslaw (the “salad” mentioned in the description, I’m guessing) tops the dish, with a scattering of fried-to-perfection hash browns ringing the edge of the tortilla. Despite the slight resemblance to the description – which also mentions green salsa, nowhere in sight – the huevos proved decent and filling, but does not demand a repeat order.

Huevos rancheros at Biercraft on Cambie, Vancouver, Nov 21 2010.

My companion fared better with her tasty “eggs on cornbread” dish which at least lived up to the menu’s description of “roasted tomato sauce, goat’s cheese and basil pesto.” For a brunch libation she ordered a “French mimosa” – blueberry juice and Blanche de Chambly, a French white ale with lime juice – which was a nice combination of flavours.

An Americano and French mimosa. Robyn Hanson photo

So in the plus column – Biercraft’s brunch menu boasts some variety, as well as the use of free-run eggs. This might account for the prices – our bill came to $42, including one alcoholic beverage, two brunch dishes and two Americanos. In the minus column; a somewhat bizarre take on huevos rancheros, and those prices. Which, if we’re going to continue our quest for Vancouver’s best brunch, are just something I’m going to have to get used to.