Browns Social House

Yesterday was a perfect Vancouver day. I joined my good friends Jason and Irena for a walk around the seawall. The sun was shining at it was gorgeous out. I don't think I have ever walked the entire seawall, and it took about an hour and a half, and I enjoyed it immensely.

We then met up with Ivan after his bike ride at Global for a late brunch (I have reviewed this restaurant before). They do have a wonderful weekend brunch menu...they all had the wild mushroom fritata which looked amazing!!!! Unfortunately because I recently found out I am allergic to eggs and dairy, I opted for a few of their satays instead. Their patio is a great place for a weekend bite...but a tip for you (from the waitress) at 3pm it changes over to the dinner menu and all of the prices jump up considerably. So it was 2:55 and she told us to get our orders in ASAP. So if you don't want to break the bank....get there before 3pm and enjoy their excellent brunch menu!

We zipped home after that, and changed quickly to head out to Port Moody to celebrate our friend Chris's birthday. We met them at Browns Social House in Newport Village. I have been to Brown's before, and the only thing that really impresses me about this place is the atmosphere. There is now a Brown's on every corner...they are popping up everywhere....but they are smart, because they are opening up in the burbs..where sometimes there just aren't as many options. The food is pretty typical of a chain restaurant...uninventive and boring...so I would categorize it amongst the usual suspects of Earls, Milestones, Joeys, Cactus etc etc. That said, I was pleased to see that they had some healthier options on the menu.

I had the Tahitian Tuna "Healthy Social Bowl" it was good. Seared ahi tuna with a nice light sauce on the side...a salad and some plain white rice. They call their rice "Almond rice" which sounds really nice...but I am allergic, so I asked if they had any other type of rice...thinking it must be infused with Almond milk..or perhaps Almond extract or was some type of nice aromatic roasted almond risotto....but nope....as the server said "oh its just rice sprinkled with almonds on top, so no problem..we can leave them out. Easy enough....but not very inventive.

The meal was clean and healthy however, and was priced fair at $15...you don't get much fish...but it was a perfect amount for me and if you want to add more you can for a few extra bucks. Ivan had the Wonton soup, which he said was not bad...it looked delicious...but he said the broth tasted like a bouillon cube, the wontons themselves were okay...but there were only 3 or 4 and a bit of chicken, which he said was good...and lots of bean sprouts...so he felt was kind of lacking in substance.

The cocktail menu was also priced very fairly and had a few fun martinis on it. I tried the rasberry lemon drop...which was fresh and tasty...although a few too many rasberries for my liking. And Chris had the chocolate pecan pie for his birthday, which Ivan ate most of I think...and they both said it was delicious.

The crowd and the buzz in this restaurant was great....young, and vibrant and a great place to get together with friends....not the best food in town by far...but for a decent price, you can sit back, have a bevie and enjoy.