Jackalope Bistro
760 Yates St.
778-430-5673
I read about Jackalope Bistro on the blog Your Restaurant Sucks [your-restaurant-sucks.blogspot.com], and it sounded pretty exciting. Jackalope is located in that little alleyway between Johnson and Yates, by the movie theatre. It was been countless restaurants previously, including a short-order pasta place(Fasta Pasta), and I think it was a pizza parlour before that. I have walked by many times, but I never realized how small that space is. I went to eat lunch a bit late, just past 2 o’clock so no one else was inside eating. The owner/chef was inviting, and the interior was bright and relatively clean. I checked out Jackalope’s menu online(www.jackalope.ca) before my visit because I heard they had multiple options for vegetarians. I went for the black bean veggie burger with coleslaw(5.95 for the burger, extra 1.00 for the slaw).
The food came quickly, and he thoughtfully dropped off some water. The slaw was standard but it had some green apples in it, served over a bed of tiny shredded lettuce. The flavour was crisp. The burger tasted like a black bean and rice burger I made a few weeks ago. It had a nice crispy crust on it, and packed full of nice spices and textures. The avocado was a nice touch,and the aioli had a nice citrus punch to it. For $6.95 it’s a no brainer. Especially in this downtown core area, Jackalope is a nice option rather than pizza or a 15 dollar burger at Pink Bicycle. The food is no frills, but that’s what is charming about it. I appreciate the homey-ness of it all, and it was all delivered with a smile. I wish the owner the best of luck, he seems to be on the right track for success. They have extra seating outside the bistro too, and they serve brunch burgers as well.
Cheers
-Eating Victoria
Call me crazy but 6$ for a burger just doesn’t seem right – what has gone into that meat that allows it to be so cheap? Pink Bike may be 15$ for a burger, but at least you know that 90% of the time you’re getting happy, non-mass produced, hormone free local meat.
Hey Kristy!
Great point! I had the veggie black bean burger, but the meat options are quite cheap as well. Pink Bicycle definitely has the ethical/moral trump card on the matter, but I wonder how much of that price is novelty/food trend bumping it up. I heard that Jackalope grinds their own meat for the patties, but I don’t know who their supplier is for the meat, definitely worth looking into.
So pleased there are more vegetarian friendly places –we’ll definitely give them a try next time we’re downtown. BTW: Love the blog. Being a newcomer to Vic it’s not easy to figure out where the places are that veggie eaters can eat tasty goodness.
Cheers
Thanks Robvious. I’m newly vegetarian, so I am trying my best to find decent places to eat. Honestly, I haven’t found it easy, I find that most menus are dominated with 80% or more containing some sort of meat or animal product. Stay posted, thanks for reading, Cheers! -Eating Victoria