Snif! That’s it. This is the last of the Bacon Quest. It’s been a good six weeks writing this piece for 24hrs news. A great opportunity to talk about something I love. You can download the published version in PDF format HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below. Stay tuned for a new subject, next week

Bacon Quest – the search for Vancouver’s undiscovered bacon.

Episode 6 – The Final Bacon

My journey to discover new and exciting bacon isn’t just the six week stint you’ve read in this newspaper, but a lifelong journey. Like anything, it has its ups and it has its downs.

I recall in 2007, there used to be a place in Yaletown called Lucky Diner. Lucky was the place for breakfast if you were in the area as, at the time, it was owned and operated by the experienced restaurateur, Sean Heather of the Irish Heather, and if there’s anything the Irish know, it’s breakfast. Well, that and potatoes but we’ll save that for another quest.

So, as the story goes, I’m experiencing Lucky Diner for the first time and I order breakfast from Mr. Heather’s sister, Roisin. Breakfast includes bacon or as they called it on the menu, ‘belly bacon,’ which is really why I ordered it in the first place. So breakfast finally arrived, I look down and am greeted with two strips of bacon.

Two freaking strips, I think to myself. What? They couldn’t spring for the third?

Then I started to analyze the situation a bit – I’m thinking to myself, do these people not like me?

Is Ms. Heather still angry with me for finding out the secret location of Salt before they launched? Am I going to taste bitter almonds next and wind up in an Eastside dumpster?

I bit my tongue and didn’t say a thing and am glad that I did. When I finally did try the belly bacon, it became immediately clear that this is bacon unlike any other – the bacon of the gods, tiny but so rich and salty that eating more than two strips would indubitably be a sin.

I found it, the holy grail of bacon, and I lived to tell about it.

Today when I spoke to Exec Chef Lee Humphries at the Irish Heather, he informs me that they still have access to such a treat. I’ll be there soon, I’m sure.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, part entrepreneur, part social media thought leader and part foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com, publishes a miscellany of his musings at raj.jp.

Wow! That week went so fast that I forgot to post up the latest Bacon Quest episode! What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s the search for Vancouver’s undiscovered bacon! You can download the published version (that appeared in 24hrs) in PDF format HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below.

Bacon Quest – the search for Vancouver’s undiscovered bacon.

Episode 5 – Drink your Bacon

The thought of drinking one’s meal is a foreign concept – I remember years ago when then Captain of the Canucks, Messier, anted up to the table at the Ken Bogas’ Yaletown hotspot Mangiamo (now Goldfish), jug of green liquid in hand, singing the praises of such a beverage.

I thought he was nuts.

In hindsight, regular consumption of this green beverage is probably the reason why Bogas, the Alpha-male I once looked up to, is sporting a new set of tits and goes by the name of ‘kaitlyn.’

Back to Messier, what type of crazy person drinks a jug of green stuff and calls it their breakfast?

Isn’t the consumption of food more than just the process of mastication?

It’s about sitting down at a table and  sharing , isn’t it? Sharing with friends, family, felines and even foes.

Well, a couple of days ago, the talented mixologist and self proclaimed bacon aficionado David Wolowidnyk from West restaurant demonstrated to me that breakfast could be both sipped and shared.

Upon hearing of his bacon-infused bourbon creations, I immediately challenged him to change my mindset, and in response what he created was the ‘All-day Breakfast;’ a bacon and egg flip comprised of Bulleit Bourbon infused with bacon, a whole egg, Cointreau, Angostura Orange bitters, orange juice and garnished with spiced-pear jelly on toast.

Everyone at the bar got a sip that day and we agreed, bacon, eggs, toast, OJ and bourbon is a great start to anyone’s day.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, part entrepreneur, part social media thought leader and part foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com, publishes a miscellany of his musings at raj.jp.