Exploring Granville's 700 block

Just one block and really just one side of the block, the even side. This is my friend Gill's school project. She invited me to tag-a-long for a bit of sightseeing, some school research, shopping and sushi.

We walked through a construction zone of activity. Vancouver is working to install a new public transit rail line which will link downtown Vancouver to the airport. We walked down the short block passing Crepe's cafe (a small chain about 4 of these are scattered throughout the Vancouver area), a clothing store, Claire's (the popular accessories shop), a hair product place and then we discovered the beautiful Vancouver Block building.

The Vancouver Block building, designed by architects Parr and Fee, standing at fourteen stories was built in 1912. While the style and taste of this Edwardian structure is somewhat questionable, its clock, framed by Greco-Roman ornaments is most definitely eye-catching. (from http://www.urbanvancouver.com/node/218)

Illuminated revolving signage and fixed signage graced the top of the tower for much of its history.- Penthouse opens out to a roof terrace.- Terra cotta sculpted caryatids and corner brackets at the top of the building.- Dials of the clock are 22 feet in diameter, on what was the largest clock in Canada when the building was completed.- A minor earthquake on December 7, 1918 stopped the clock.- The clock hands and hours are outlined in neon.(from http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=113300)

Following our walk down Granville we headed through the shopping district on Robson Street, then back to the Pacific mall where I found a new beanie (love argyle) and Gill picked up her favorite blush.

We stopped for a bit to eat at a little sushi spot, Kitto Japanese House, on the 800 block of Granville just across from the Commodore, where we went bowling (see past post). The sushi rolls were good: California - always a favorite, spicy tuna - tingly, avocado - loads of the green stuff and the house roll - worth a try. The prices were reasonable, the service was good and with a friend sushi is always fun.

We tried another Sushi place on 4th Street today for lunch. Hi-Nippon Japanese Restaurant.

I love sushi, it's probably my favorite going-out-to-eat food. The menu looked appetizing with bento box lunch specials but the roll selection was slim and there wasn't even a spicy tuna hand roll (which they call cones. That sounds funny to me, like an sushi ice cream cone).
We settled on the house special, Genkki roll - unagi (eel), crab and something tempura'ed with a special chef sauce over the top - it was the best of the three rolls we tried.

We did have the option of sitting in a booth where you have to remove your shoes first and sit "Japanese" style (much like Yoshi's in Oakland). But we opted for the window seat and maybe that would have made the experience more memorable.

We're still on the search for the best (inexpensive) sushi place within walking distance. We'll have to find a good review on dinehere.ca or try Brown Rice which isn't listed yet. It has a great outside seating area, if the sun comes out long enough to dry up the puddles, to sit and people watch.

Restaurants in the area are plentiful. There's food for every desire. And the best part is that it's walking distance from our place. Now our last place in the Bay Area wasn't close to anything. You had to drive via freeway to the market and the nearest pharmacy was still a short drive or a good heart-pumping walk. But no longer.

Broadway has a large array of eateries, shops, pubs, bakeries, produce stands, and every thing else one would need to live and work. J and even walk to work. Amazing.

Tonight we feasted at Kitsilano Sushi. Tried the house special - a mixture of tuna, salmon, crab, avocado, wrapped in lettuce, seaweed and rice with tobiko. Large slices making it a definite two biter. Or if you want to reduce your rice intake just pick out the large pieces of fish.

The miso was good but overall the sushi rolls were a lot of rice and not much flavor. The spicy tuna hand roll was had a large wedge of tuna and plenty of spicy goodness.

But overall I agree with the online reviews, most people had to be there for the price not the quality. We'll try one of the other sushi places on the street next time.