Restaurants
Make It A Habit to Share (If You Have the Cash)
Main Street has a million dining establishments that try to be original by way of design.
Habit Lounge is one of those. It's got a narrow space with great decor - simple tables, wood, lots of red, white textured walls, etc. I've always wanted to try their food, since I'd been to the neighboring Cascade (owned by the same people) before and had found it to be decent.
When we got there, the waitress told us that all of their plates were meant to share, so we ordered three to try: the Moroccan spiced free-run chicken wings, peppercorn crusted smoked tuna salad, and chicken satay with papaya salad and rice. The portions were surprisingly small for their price tag, and although all three were well-executed, they weren't memorable enough to justify their cost. We were most impressed by the chicken wings, which came with some sort of magical pomegranate sauce. After the three dishes, we were still hungry, so we went for sweet carrot and brie cheese perogies, which turned out to be the least tasty of the bunch. Although they weren't bad, the flavor of brie got lost in the heavy dough, and the caramelized onions that came alongside tasted like boiled cabbage.
Over $60 later, we left. The bill was for a total of four tapas and one 10-ounce 'sampler' glass of the wheat beer they had on special. So, yes, Habit is all about sharing and is supposed to be a "place where the neighborhood comes to meet." But unless hipsters have decided that the whole 'career' thing is trendy, I don't see how the neighborhood will be congregating at Habit anytime soon. That might explain why the lounge was half-empty on a Friday night.
Habit Lounge is located at 2610 Main St.
Mon-Sat 5pm-1:30am Sun 5pm-11pm
604-877-8582

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I don't think they'll have a problem. There are hipsters about, but you're just as likely to run into CTV personalities and the cast of Smallville in those few blocks. Someone has to keep Lark in business.
Anyway, Habit was a little cheaper in the past. Personally, I liked the perogies. I also liked the old duck ragu, the mussels, and the crème brûlée is usually good. Of course, you can get the latter at Cascade, so I've just gone there ever since it opened.
They used to have mad good fish cakes. Then they took them away. :(
I haven't been to Habit since last summer, but I enjoyed going there on occasion for a late-night drink. Cool music, good atmosphere (it would usually get fairly busy by 11 or so), and friendly service. I can't speak of the food though, as I would only ever get the bread plate (which was yummy).