Somewhere in the wild blue yonder of the Great White North between Vancouver and Jasper in British Columbia is the town of Blue River. Little can be said of this town except for its potentially exciting excursions on bear safaris. There is very little food to be had and one of, if not the only restaurants in town is called Tony’s Grill. With a minimal menu that was made even smaller by either the lack of deliveries or large influx of eaters, I was able to find my way to their super cheap cheeseburger to see how Blue River did burgers.

I ordered without lettuce, tomato and onions, with fries on the side and evidenced by that picture, it looked pretty good. Sure it was about as basic as you can get, but quite often that is all you need. Unfortunately, the burger turned out to look a lot better than it tasted. It was cooked all the way through, which was fine because I was in a tiny little diner in the middle of nowhere, but the cooking had left it nearly as dry as a hockey puck. This was an issue that was much harder to handle than the burger’s general brown-ness.

The fries, however, were damn good. And I must also say that my wife had a Greek salad and loved it. So perhaps Tony’s Grill is worth a stop in the wilderness, just not for the burger.

Chinatowns are an interesting phenomenon. And not so much in the fact that a group of people from a country showed up to a new country and settled in one area, but in the way that they no longer really seem to be representative of China. Case in point: while in Vancouver, I knew there was good Chinese to be found, and rather than point me to Chinatown, my hotel pointed me to Richmond, which he called real Chinatown. By real, he meant that the Chinatown on the map was simply no longer authentic, if it ever was. By recommendation, we went to a place called Rainflower to devour dim sum before undertaking the long drive to Jasper.

As opposed to the dim sum I have grown used to, Rainflower took more of a dumpling house tactic of letting the customers mark off their desired dishes on a checklist. This was a nice change from the often-overwhelming carts being pushed around by people who seem disappointed every time I pass on an option.

Despite this difference, Rainflower’s food wasn’t really any different from any dim sum I have had before. Tasty shrimp, flavorful pork, custard tarts and rice noodles all rang true, plus I was pleased to see xiaolongbao included in the offerings. Being one of my favorite Chinese dishes, it seemed that Rainflower knew how to make me happy. It wasn’t my favorite xiaolongbao, but it sure was a nice addition.

Now, I must say that as happy as I was with the typical dim sum I had at Rainflower, I couldn’t help but think Vancouver could offer me something better. It had satisfied my hunger, but with such a great Chinese population and easy access to Asia and the oceans, I had some lofty expectations and while Rainflower met the lowest of expectations, I would like to wager that something better is out there.

Contrary to my belief based on visits to Canada from Detroit when I was a wee boy, the Great White North is not a cheap place. Gone are the days that an American dollar could be exchanged for a toonie. Instead, the US is now the place Canada looks to for cheap stuff, making it difficult for an incoming grad student on a road trip budget to eat. Yet, somehow we found our way to Joey Broadway in South Granview, a modern Canadian restaurant with a great-looking menu and Goldilocks-esque just-right pricing. Not to mention a killer patio.

And speaking of killer, they also had a great deal on Whistler Whiskey Jack Pale Ale, a beer from nearby Whistler, for $2.99, so for just about the only time on the our trip I indulged. I also indulged with my meal, a Lobster Grilled Cheese to end all lobster grilled cheeses. Stuffed with Atlantic lobster, brie and cheddar, this was a grilled cheese I have to admit I probably couldn’t have made in my toaster. It was also served with cocktail sauce and let me tell you it was nothing short of amazing. And I’m not even a big brie guy, but each bite I took only made me sadder that I would have one fewer bite to eat in the end. The bread was perfectly crispy, the cheese to lobster ratio was perfect and, well, wow.

It seems that there is a good reason Joey restaurants are popping up all over Canada. Joey has hit on something good and something to remember.

Oh and did I mention it came with fries? Yeah, those were good too.

Although traditionally a French-Canadian specialty, no trip to Canada can be complete without a trip to some sort of local poutinerie. Yes, a poutinerie is a place the dishes out poutine, that ingenious gravy, fry cheese curd concoction that was most likely devised as a way to survive the winter in the Great White North. And despite the beautiful weather, I made my way to Fritz European Fry House in downtown Vancouver to get poutine in me.

As an afternoon snack, I only ordered the medium and then asked the grumpy woman behind the counter if I should add anything else to the mix of fries, gravy and cheese curds. She begrudgingly told me Real Bacon (as opposed to bacon bits) was popular so I begrudgingly asked for some in my order. The result was some pretty fantastic poutine. The fries held their own against the onslaught of gravy and the cheese melted just enough to keep me happy, but not so much as to turn the whole dish into a sludge. I appreciated the bacon, but also didn’t feel that it was entirely necessary. Bacon never hurts, but in this case it didn’t necessarily help either. Poutine, however, always helps. And coming from Fritz it helps even more, even if the customer service could use a little work.

After Portland we made our way into the Great White North, although surprisingly Canada wasn’t quite covered in white in the middle of the summer. We began in Vancouver, and I found myself a Japadog stand to satisfy my hunger. In case you are unable to read between the lines, Japadog is simply a Japanese hot dog stand, serving up typical Japanese-style hot dogs and other interesting hot dogs with Japanese toppings on them. It’s been around since 2005 and is pretty well-regarded in the street food scene. At least it was regarded enough that I can say that I had heard of them at some point in my life.

After much deliberation, I decided to get their Three Cheese Smoky, a classic kurobuta pork hot dog with Swiss, Havarti and cheddar blended into it. In true Japanese style, a series of gashes were cut into the hot dog for a reason unknown to me, but it did feel authentic at least. I also ordered some shichimi (Japanese chili seasoning) and garlic fries to accompany my Japadog experience. I took a blurry picture of the dog, squeezed some ketchup out and then went on with devouring.

My initial reaction was that this was certainly a step up from the typical hot dog vendors in big cities. This wasn’t some boiled and soggy-bunned hot dog from a cart. This had taken planning and thought. Yet, it wasn’t so amazing that I felt the need to tell the world about Japadog. Surely, this could have something to do with the relatively boring order I made, but had the other hot dog options not been so laden with veggies things may have been different. Nonetheless, a Japanese hot dog cart is a cool thing and something I’m glad to have at least tried.