I started the weekend off pretty slow because I got flu & COVID vaccination on Thursday morning which pretty much knocked me out on Thursday, no sleep on Thursday night, and only barely feeling better by end of day Friday.

Saturday

Did some errands on Commercial Drive and made note of a lot of new places or about to open.

Belli Pizza

Picture of the Belli Pizza entranceway, they have a menu outside the door. There is some graffiti on their glass doors.
BELLI IS A NEIGHBOURHOOD PIZZERIA SERVING UP NY STYLE PIES, NATURAL WINES, AND MORE

Apparently opened Oct 14th.

Nasa Bakery & Cafe

A new Turkish bakery, on Commercial near 1st (the old chicken place). Simit (Turkish bagels) and all sorts of other good stuff!

Nomo Nomo

Yōshoku Inspired Dining Bar and Cocktail Club (洋食ダイニングバー・アンド・カクテルクラブ)

— IG @nomonomo

Nothing visible from the outside other than this cool looking red and white square sign.

This looks super cool and I definitely want to go! I would drink & eat everything on their menu!

Dante Italian Sandwich

Connected to the folks behind Via Tevere, and as it turns out, also Don't Argue. Yes, I will eat a loaded sandwich.

Many details in this in this Vancouver is Awesome article.

Italian sandwich shop opening second Vancouver location
Mamma mia, another place to get loaded Italian deli sandwiches!
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/food-and-drink/italian-sandwich-shop-dante-opening-second-location-commercial-drive-vancouver-11248139

Bonus picture of the wall mural of Saki Maki, which is next door to Dante. Which also is new to that location.

It ended up being a bit of a cold and rainy day so Rachael decided to try the drinking chocolate that I brought back from Toronto.

I bought a bunch of things to try from SOMA when I went to Toronto. We both really like anything with yuzu in it.

I had mine "straight" in a little espresso cup, and Rachael added hot oat milk to hers. Rich dark chocolate, not too sweet, not too bitter, with those strong yuzu citrus notes. Very tasty!

Sunday

Artopia Studios (IG: @artopia.vancouver) is a new art / maker / creative space at 550 Cambie managed by The Narrow Group. They were having an open studio day so we made plans with some friends to swing by in the afternoon.

Rachael and I walked over in that direction early, and stopped in at Mercato di Luigi for lunch on the way. We've been in once before for their panini sandwiches, they also have a small pasta menu.

A twirled pile of spaghetti with crispy lardons of guanciale, sprinkled cheese, and a poached egg on top.

I tried the carbonara. Look at those fine crispy guanciale pieces. Tasty!

Then on to Artopia.

Studio board of the different spaces and info about the people in them.

Unfortunately, it seems like they didn't really get the message out to the people with space there, so there were few people open to receive people.

Our friends hadn't eaten yet, so we wandered around Gastown and settled on Waffleland Cafe.

A plate of Norwegian waffles with sliced peaches, ice cream, and whipped cream, plus pistachios and honey drizzle, with cappuccino and other drinks on the table.

I'm not much of a sweet waffle person, but I wanted to try their Norwegian Waffles and ended up with this somewhat over-the-top peaches and cream combo. Our vegetarian friends really liked the smoked tofu and vegan chicken nugget options, both with Belgian Liège waffles.

I wrote the first half of this weeks ago when it happened, so just sitting down to write some other things and decided to finish this one off first!