In 1886 the City of Vancouver was leveled by fire. Hastily built, ramshackle, wooden structures went up like a book of matches infecting their neighbours until the city of Vancouver was no more... Vancouver, then, was built up around the original ramshackle tinderbox of Gassy Jack whose public house, pub for short, was said to have been built in a day at the cost of a barrel of whiskey drunk hungrily by the workers during construction. The Great Vancouver Fire of 1886 was started when property owners, I'm looking at you, evil CPR, railway-tycoon dorks, thought it would be faster clearing their gifted parcels of land than cut down trees. When the smoke cleared only one building continued to tower over the smoldering remains... The majestic Hotel Edward at the corner of Water St. and Cambie! Something about little pigs and their preferred building materials comes to mind! If you have a Google machine give them a glance. New development plans for the adjacent building include a Jetsons-style addition of a couple of stories seemingly hovering above the historic building that, since 1988, has housed the venerable Water St. Café.

Have you ever met someone and almost immediately thought to yourself "he's nice I wonder if he wants to be my friend for the rest of our lives?" Water St. Café blesses you with smiling face after smiling face from a notably congenial service staff and management team. Our server Clint made us feel like we were in a hidden camera show whose aim was to give diners over-the-top-excellent customer service and gauge their shocked reactions. What a genuinely kind and warm person!

We left our brunch in Clint's learned hands and out came a locally-sourced espresso from Vancouver company JJ Bean. It was hard to distinguish from the Italian bean I guzzle gallons of per month and opened my irises a good 10-15%! Toss them, similarly, into your Google and check out their amazing philanthropic endeavours. For my dining companion, girlfriend and personal doctor something with a little more heft: the Gastown Kir. Local Odd Society Cassis, Prosecco with a lemon twist. A perfect amount of sweetness from the Vancouver-distilled Cassis and lemon to counteract the tart subtlety of the Italian sparkling white wine, give it a try! If you're ever served a Kir where they stir the Cassis in and turn the entire cocktail pink Clint says report them to the authorities!

While sipping our drinks out came 3 dishes: the Dungeness Crab Benny, a new, yet to be released, breakfast sandwich and, off the dinner menu, their Gnocchi alla Puttanesca. The Benny had house-made foccacia, BC Dungeness crab, eggs, avocado, and Hollandaise sauce with their famed lemon herb potatoes. I felt a little cheated by the foccacia, full disclosure... It was so soft and fresh and delicious that it literally melted away in my mouth. Have you ever seen that video of a raccoon trying to wash cotton candy in a puddle that he was about to eat and then his little brain exploding when the yummy food disappeared? Ya, that. I can't adequately express the deliciousness with the mere words of mortals, you'll have to go!

The breakfast sandwich, yet to be named, had a layer of battered shoe string potatoes, veg and a very nicely spiced Chorizo patty. Super fresh bun, lettuce and tomato rounded out of near perfect breakfast staple and, again, those lemon herb potatoes... mmmmm... Water St. Café's Gnocchi hearkened me back to driving an hour or two into the Italian Alps outside Venice to try a Gnocchi dish once rated the 'Best on Earth.' I found Water St. Café's Gnocchi soft, smooth and with a nice balance of the sweetness of the tomato-based red sauce lightly coating the Gnocchi and jumbo prawns counteracting the tang of the olives, capers, anchovy, parsley and garlic breadcrumbs. Their Italian offerings are Vancouver-famous (and Vancouver Island) for good reason!

Seeing us noticeably struggling to sit up straight after the food onslaught Clint went ahead and did the right thing and brought us another round of drinks and dessert. Now I like a good mojito. No, that's wrong. I LOVE a good mojito! Their peach mojito recipe was clearly laboured over to perfect it and it shows! If you're not hungry and just thirsty maybe you head over just for that? Watch the most visited tourist attraction in Vancouver, the Gastown Steam Clock, toot its little song on the quarter hour while you sip your beverage on their wrought iron patio? I don't know, I'm just spitballing here. The Flourless Chocolate Cake came bathed in a rich raspberry couli, dark chocolate crumble and fresh berries. If it wasn't right in the title of the dessert I would definitely have thought it was packed with flour in the usual confection way, but out of sight and out of mind. Nothing is missing in this dessert and, even though we were full to bursting, it disappeared quickly!

In anticipation of another catastrophic event in the Fraser Valley and Water St. Café, again, being the only business left standing best to orient yourself with its location now, yes? You'll thank me and in turn I'll feel good directing more people their way to bask in the history, great food and drinks and all those smiling faces!