Italian Day

Yesterday it was Italian Day at Commercial Drive in Vancouver. It was sure better than the time we went to Greek Day in Kitsilano, but it wasn't exactly the "OMG it's so authentic" that we overheard people saying on the streets.

We started off with a 2PM breakfast of Fanta Banana Slurpee for Pau and some Tonic Water for me to get us going.

As expected, there were several non-sense vendors that just enjoy the opportunity to sell a bit more, like promotional stands from bands, radio stations and Car2go. The restaurants of the street also set up an outside stand with foods that are no so very Italian, like butter chicken and sushi.

Out of all the activities expected for the day, like eating contests and Italian fashion shows, we only saw the very end of a cooking demonstration with "The Singing Chef". We got there at the right time!

Singing was actually the only thing we saw. A trio with dark tans and bright teeth at first, then the singing chef, then a very self confident guy in a pink silk shirt and a smaller karaoke style area.

After some good laughs, we started getting cranky from hunger and decided it was past time to have our first meal of the day. But everything was so full! The lines for the street vendors were huge and the prices weren't really that attractive and all the restaurants of the Drive were packed with long waiting times.

By 4PM we gave up on the theatrical Italian Day and went on to get great pizza on Gastown, at Nicli Antica, far from it all. It was really really good as always, but we were way to hungry to take pictures.
From there we walked back home, stopping for a Clover coffee on the way, Pau's new coffee preference that deserves a whole post about it.