Pretty Hot and Tasty...

In my continued attempt to expose my mom to foods within yaletown and downtown Vancouver, I took her to Pretty Hot and Tasty a few weekends ago. It has become our Mommy and Me tradition, brunch/lunch on Saturday. I had heard about PHAT for a while now, but haven't had a chance to try. When I realized they had brunch specials as well as flown-in Montreal smoked meat, I knew I had to go.

My mom had been hankering for a Tuna Melt for a few weeks now, but has always been too lazy to make it for herself. When I lived at home, it was one of the things I would make on weekend for breakfast. I guess she missed it. It's served with a small cup of coleslaw and a giant pickle.

Normally their Tuna Melts are served on a bagel, but to accommodate my mom, they agreed to do it on rye bread instead. How nice!

The special touch here is that they use both mozzarella and cheddar cheeses in their sammy. They put the cheddar down first, load up some tuna on top, and then smother it all with mozzarella. When the whole thing melts, you get the flavour of the aged cheddar, but the gooey-ness of the mozzarella. Brilliant!

I had to get the Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich...no coleslaw here, just a pile of meat and a pickle.

Made the traditional way, it's about an inch of shaved smoked meat, piled between two slices of marble rye (cue Seinfeld episodes memories for those born pre-90s). You're asked if you want mild or hot mustard with it, but other than that, take it as it comes. They know what they are doing.

To give you context as to how thick the meat is, here is my very healthy (post-Friday night drinking) beverage of V8. It might look like a lot of meat, but I managed to finish my half. The other half went to my non-meat loving (thus the tuna melt) mom, and she inhaled it too! Both of us appreciated the fact that the bread wasn't toasted. The softness of the bread along with the thinly sliced smoked meat were a perfect combination. You just didn't feel like you were eating a pile of meat...more like a fluffy combination of meat and bread.

As we were sitting there, I perused the rest of the menu. I leapt off my chair when I saw that they had Latkes! I haven't had those in years. I went inside to order, but there was a lineup...of course. I flagged a server down and asked for an order of latkes...he graciously offered to whip them up for me, and I could just pay later, instead of waiting in the lineup. The portion you see here is the side order...they have one double the size if you want a full order. It comes with a small side of sour cream, which I didn't use, but my mom thought was a nice touch. The best part about then is that they come piping hot...as all latkes should.
This was another successful outing for my mom to yaletown. I know it is a true success when she says, "we have to bring your stepdad here!". So PHAT, we'll be back!