When you declare that all the dishes on your menu are $4.95, the prices on the bill better deliver. But to win Best Cheap Eats in a cutthroat culinary landscape like Vancouver, the food has to be something special, too.
At The Famous Warehouse on Granville Street, all the food – from the roasted beet salad to the braised beef dip – is indeed going for less than a fiver, but unlike other restaurants that wave the flag at that price point, your meal actually comes on a proper plate, with full table service and a team of Red Seal chefs behind the scenes.
“That’s the thing that really blows my mind with our team,” says executive chef Matt Deacon-Evans, when reach by phone at his Montreal location. “Is what we can get done with $4.95.”
Deacon-Evans oversees the food program for the entire $4.95 chain, which includes The Famous Warehouse (aka Granville Warehouse, aka El Furniture Warehouse), The Moose, The Dime, Hastings Warehouse, The Factory and The Capitol on Davie, and nine more cheap eats emporiums across the country. Coming from a fine-dining background, Deacon-Evans says that when the recession hit in 2008, he and his partners at The Moose saw an opportunity to offer quality pub and comfort food at prices you could afford to spring for every day, and the $4.95 movement was born.
“We were just trying to make something interesting,” Deacon-Evans recalls. “We wanted to elevate our food program but at the same time we wanted to make it really accessible. […] We really wanted to create that local place that people could come all the time. At our $4.95 price point, you know, you can come for lunch with your colleagues, dinner with some friends, and then party late night. And we try to make dishes for all that.”
Enter pub-style favourites like maple bacon potato skins and yam fries, healthy choices like the Union Street noodle salad and vegan quinoa with crisp green apple, and late-night winners like the crispy mac ’n’ cheese and best-selling Works burger (boasting premium Alberta beef and a delicious mess of fixings on a toasted brioche bun). Meanwhile, all the food is made to order, and there isn’t a microwave in sight.
“I love the cheap eats thing,” Deacon-Evans says. “But we don’t sell cheap food. We’ve decided to sell our food for cheap. And I do take a hit on our margins,” he adds with a laugh, “but our goal was to serve millions, as opposed to gouge the 30 people I have tonight.”
