Vancouver is in many, many respects still a provincial town by which I mean it is a young city with a cultural scene (specifically theatre and culinary arts) that continues to evolve. Food is in its infancy here and trends that hit New York and Toronto shores years ago are novel here now. Witness: macaroons. Witness: the dearth of molecular cooking establishments (Hamid Salimian’s fine Diva at the Met notwithstanding). Witness: the tiny handful of top tier restaurants (Blue Water Cafe, C, West, Hawksworth, L’Abattoir). Witness: the current donut rage (I’m not even sure the cupcake rage ever hit Vancouver) led by newbie Cartems whose store is but open 10-3 and is often sold out by noon; expect a line.

1) Cartems, bought today to celebrate Friday; 2) fabulousness sure; healthy? well …. though that chocolate one you see with the sprinkles in top right hand corner is all vegan and baked not fried … and freaking delicious

As the local entertainment weekly, The Georgia Straight, noted this past week in its edition on the Vancouver foodie scene, the city lacks the population to anchor fine dining. The outrageous cost of living here limits discretionary spending and dining out is often cheap eats or seats at the ever growing chain restaurants that dominate (and dare we say dumb-down menus across the Lower Mainland) including: Joey’s, Catus Club and Earl’s. Vancouver does do sushi very well sure, its street food scene puts Toronto to shame and can vie with some of the best south of the boarder, and I would challenge you to find a more diverse (regionally-speaking) array of Chinese restaurants in all of the Americas.

I’m not sure where I was going with this actually suffice to say the donuts and the article got me thinking of it. Tonight, we’ll head east to try Bitter Tasting Room.