Restaurants in Ladner

Nestled in a cozy brick building in Kerrisdale, Avenue Grill Restaurant has served a menu’s worth of diverse food since the 1920s. The head chef honed his knack for Mediterranean cooking in Europe—reflected in the eatery's Mediterranean sandwiches, with grilled eggplant and zucchini on focaccia—but also crafts pastas, fresh seafood, and three-egg omelettes. An ample wine selection complements Avenue Grill's sundry dishes, and seasonal specials incorporate only the freshest and most polite ingredients. In the dining room, vases filled with flowers top tables and vibrant paintings of blooming floras and lolling hills adorn the walls.

Eager to share the culinary traditions of both their culture and their family with fellow Vancouverites, Joanna and Nick Cruciat opened Transylvania Flavour in 2004. They have since been lauded by the Globe and Mail for creating “rib-sticking fare” and fostering a “cozy Old World charm” within their homey space. Upholding this dedication to authentic Eastern European eats are the restaurant's chef and European chef consultant, who join their culinary powers and Dracula figurine collections to forge traditional Transylvanian specialties including roasted beets, cabbage rolls, and perogies. Affable servers whisk these homemade masterpieces from the kitchen into the yellow and red dining room, setting steaming bowls and plates to rest on top of crisp white tablecloths.

Starting at 11 a.m. each day and continuing through the early hours of the next morning, The Dunbar Public House keeps mouths happily munching away at globally influenced fare washed down by local brews. Televisions broadcast the day’s sporting events as the wait staff lays down plates of yellowfin-tuna bites with wasabi ginger, or nachos piled with jalapenos and guacamole. A Snake Bite beer cocktail—a mix of lager, cider, and blackcurrant—pairs well with the signature Dunbar burger, housemade from either beef, chicken, or fish and topped with up to seven fixings, such as sauteed mushrooms or swiss cheese. Weekends greet brunch seekers with eggs and Harvey Wall Banger cocktails, which melt away workweek tension caused by stressful jobs or offspring whose names are difficult to pronounce.

At first blush, 9th Avenue Grill’s menu looks pretty standard: there's a denver omelet flecked with canadian bacon; buttermilk pancakes smothered with warm syrup and butter; and a couple burgers stacked with cheese, bacon, and onion. But then you notice the eggs benedict. 9th Avenue calls them Bennys and there are 10 varieties, from a Sicilian recipe with pesto-marinated feta, tender grilled chicken, and sun-dried tomatoes to a low-carb option served sans english muffin with turkey bacon on a bed of spinach. Build your own benedict with ingredients like roasted turkey, artichoke hearts, and havarti, and finally prove city council wrong for denying your proposed pancake tower to heaven.

Working in a sweltering kitchen for hours at a time can be a struggle, but Chef Tracy Rowand has spent more than a decade doing just that. Since graduating with honors from Dubrulle Culinary Institute in 1995, Chef Rowand has been a mainstay of the Vancouver food industry. Currently, she helms Taste to Savour Catering, taking fresh, seasonal ingredients and turning them into customized spreads for weddings, corporate events, and weight-lifting competitions for tables. Sample menus stand as a tribute to Rowand’s training and talent, brimming with creative dishes such as mussels in green curry broth, salmon and chive fritters, and grilled lamb crostini with artichoke puree. Rowand also recently expanded her enterprise with a café, where visitors can sample plates of quiche, naan pizza, and other unique nibbles.

Primo's Mexican Grill—one of Vancouver’s oldest Mexican restaurants—bustles with chefs whipping up hearty platefuls of authentic Mexican fare forged from family recipes. Patrons dine surrounded by rust-red walls dappled with 50 years worth of old photos snapped since the restaurant’s founding in 1959 by former B.C. Lion Primo Villanueva. Under the helm of Joel and Jensen, the third generation of Villanuevas to preside over the lively kitchen, culinary wizards architect zing-infused eats using mouthwatering ingredients including fresh mango, San Francisco Bay shrimp, and fresh pico de gallo salsa. The lunch and dinner menus brim with traditional dishes including fajitas and quesadillas alongside modern tapas dishes that encourage patrons to exercise their kindergarten-taught sharing skills or squirrel-taught hoarding skills. To further bolster the restaurant’s casual south-of-the-border atmosphere, eaters break bread in a dining room replete with decor including a leaping faux swordfish and a painted bison skull. A fleet of high-definition TVs perch above the bar, transmitting sports games for the grateful eyes of attentive customers.