Live music some nights and big-screen hockey
Mark Laba
Province
Tim Simpson with a ‘chaurice’ sausage at Falconetti’s East Side Grill. Photograph by : Les Bazso, The Province
FALCONETTI’S EAST SIDE GRILL
Where: 1812 Commercial Dr., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-251-7287
Drinks: Fully licensed
Hours: Noon to 12:30 a.m. every day
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When other kids dreamed of getting their driver’s licence and one day slipping behind the wheel of a Corvette or Mustang or Dodge Charger, I thought, how cool it would be to drive the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile.
What better way to impress girls than to pick up your date in a large sausage car with mustard- and ketchup-coloured seats and the thrumming of a powerful V8 under the bun? There’d be no doubt that the girl’s father would know you meant business and were a serious young man with great aspirations. Well, I’m still waiting for my day to take a spin in the old wiener casing but, in the meantime, I’ve discovered a place where sausage is king and if you put one of these critters on wheels, they’d run Oscar right into a ditch.
First, the point must be made that these are not hot dogs but homemade sausages of the finest order. Co-owner Carmine Falcone’s father, who owns the longtime Commercial Drive establishment Falcone’s Butcher Shop next door, is the creator of these tubular treats but the brains behind the sausage-style array is Carmine and business partner Eddie Dolmat.
Paid a visit with Peaches to this cool venue where folks were packed into the room, well, like sausage meat into casing. Johnny Cash playing over the airwaves, a bar that features some very spiffy back-wall masonry, a long black banquette seat with a line of round tables and stools down the aisle, a big booth up front near the grill and ornate semi-thriftstore architectural touches placed here and there for some hipster flair.
Somehow they manage to squeeze live music into this small venue and, on hockey nights, they pull down a big screen and Canuck fever takes over. In fact they hand out coasters with a Canuck’s name and number on it and, if your guy scores, you get a free drink. We got Matt Cooke but, though he set up an excellent screen shot that night, he didn’t get one between the posts.
The sausage lineup here is truly mind-boggling and, with the grill up front, my nasal cavities were flexing with savoury fumes the second I entered the joint. These behemoths of the bun will slap your tastebuds about like Saturday-night wrestling. And, of course, like anything in this world, you have to build on a firm foundation so the owners have a curved bun custom-baked for the sausages to snugly nestle inside.
Peaches and I have now sampled a variety of the fare here and I heartily recommend everything. Honey bratwurst, the Chaurice with Cajun-spiced chorizo, the 100-per-cent ground sirloin Polish creation, the tropical Thai Chicken with coconut, lime, curry and ginger or the Yucatan Chicken with cilantro and jalapeno (all $4.99). Plus the two most traditional styles in this sausage arsenal: the hot Italian or the sweet Italian with roasted red pepper and fennel-spiked pork. Don’t forget to order a side of Kennebec hand-cut fries.
There’s a bunch of other stuff here like beef kabobs, chicken or lamb souvlaki, calamari or breaded oysters but really, it’s the sausage that wears the pants in this house. Which is a far cry from where I live, as Peaches reminded me.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
