Huge, luscious BC spot prawns are one of the most delicious things to be found in the waters around Vancouver. Sweet, firm, peachy-pink and tender, the prawns are sustainably harvested by local fishermen, which means I get to enjoy eating them and feel all cozy and self-righteous about it. Score. The brief spot prawn season is on right now, and will only last for another two weeks or so. I trundled down to Fishermen's Wharf near Granville Island to get my fix.

Nevermind chose its bizarrely downbeat name well. It doesn't have much going for it. Some friends and I stopped by recently, lured by their fishbowl margaritas, but I wish we'd stayed on my patio with some home-brew instead.

The menu at Nevermind looks like it was lifted directly from Generic90sPubMenus.com. The atmosphere is nonexistent at best, and often actively depressing, what with the completely un-ornamented patio and the plain black booths and dim lighting inside. Even the catch-phrase "Liquids and Solids," lacks lustre . The place isn't even trying to try.

Degan posted about her sad experience of pizza rejection recently, which reminded me of my favorite low-end neighborhood pizza parlour: Uncle Fatih's. Uncle Fatih himself claims to proffer "the best ghetto slice in Van city." Apparently that's a real source of pride! I'm not sure what to think about that. A bunch of you guys mentioned Fatih's in the comments of this post, and someone else even suggested it (yes, I know, ironically) as a quintessential Vancouver eatery, so I know I'm not the only fan of his work. Catch the 99 B-Line east to the end of its run at Broadway and Commercial, and you can't miss it. It's the hole in the wall with the lineup spilling out into the bike lane every evening at dinner time. It's also the only pizza place I know of with its own MySpace.

... to Chinatown, at least. There's nothing I love more than an unpretentious, under-the-radar restaurant with really great food. Although Chinatown's Phnom Penh restaurant's been praised by the likes of Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain, it still seems to escape the notice of many locals. I had to nag my friends and family endlessly until I convinced my sister and her boyfriend to check out Phnom Penh with me. And it was seriously worth it. This unique Vietnamese-Cambodian restaurant in the heart of Chinatown an absolute star.

My personal quest to find a Vancouver burger that can stand up to my dad's continues at Vera's Burger Shack. Vera's is a Vancouver institution, and it seems like people either love it or hate it. I guess more than a few really love it, since it's been around since 1977. I was stranded up at UBC the other day with nothing to eat, so I decided to check out their on-campus location.

Vancouver's obsessed with sushi, people. Obsessed. I can't get over it. Some streets have as many as three or four options in a single block. We've got floating sushi, couture sushi, operatic sushi, unfortunately named sushi, deep-fried sushi, and lots and lots of dirt-cheap sushi. The latter option is my fall-back when life gets in the way of cooking, and Britannia Sushi on Commercial Drive is my favorite go-to.