It’s modelled on a 1950s theme with photos of Marilyn, Elvis and other stars
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Server Nikki Richard with a tray of milk and orange juice at The Sunshine Diner in Vancouver that is family friendly with a menu featuring all-day breakfasts, sandwiches and 12 kinds of burgers. Photograph by : Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun
How does that song go? Leave your worry on the doorstep. Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street.
Sunshine Diner did that two years ago.
It sat on the south side of West Broadway for 36 years. Two years ago, the present owner (who’s run it for the last 13) moved it a block east on the north side of the street — a sunnier side and, as I learned, less fumy.
Seems having a bus stop right in front of the original place was problematic in that way.
Now it’s basking in afternoon sun and has a patio for sun worshippers.
The diner, if you’re a stranger to the place, is modelled around a 1950s theme, with photos of stars from the silver screen — Marilyn, Elvis, Gable. It pops with colour — red and blue on the walls, black and white tiles on the floor and lots (too many) of Coca Cola signs. You sit in booths. It’s family-friendly with a menu featuring all-day breakfasts, sandwiches and 12 burgers. The burgers, I would add, taste real — made with 85 per cent lean ground. “We use six ounces of meat. Not two ounces, not four ounces. Six ounces!” says owner Dimitri Pantsios.
The Fat Elvis burger is a customer favourite, with bacon, cheese and avocado atop the regular burger. Fries are made from scratch. Burgers run $7 to $10 and sandwiches are $5.45 to $9.45. The clubhouse, Pantsios says, contains hot grilled chicken breast. “A lot of restaurants use cold turkey. It doesn’t make sense.”
Breakfasts, which include pancakes and bennies are $5.95 to $11.45.
The place is open seven days a week, daytime only.
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SUNSHINE DINER
2649 West Broadway, 604-733-7717
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
