A veggie burger craving satisfied: Blue Plate Diner

Meeting up with a friend downtown a couple weeks ago, we found ourselves off to Blue Plate Diner for lunch a little before noon.

Since moving to Garneau a couple years ago, we barely ever make it to Blue Plate anymore. Actually, neither Charles or I could remember having been there in the past six months or so. With the lunch menu seemingly unchanged, there were a few decor updates to keep us on our toes - new paint and a divider between the seating area and the 'bar'.

With the place filling up quickly, we decided on burgers all around - the friend with a Pemmican burger, Charles with the beef burger, and me with the veggie burger. All of us also went for the soup - a curried vegetable and almond.

I also went for a chai latte, and Charles for coffee

After a quick perusal of Avenue's Top 40 Under 40, our burgers came sailing to our table. The Pemmican (bison) burger, full of dried blueberries, was reported to be very well flavoured by our friend, although maybe a little overcooked. From the looks of it, I also thought there might be a little too much ciabatta in the burger-bread ratio, but he didn't seem to mind. Charles beef burger was enjoyed as in previous visits, and he said it was both well flavoured and well cooked.

Pemmican Burger

Beef Burger

As for the veggie burger, I should first say that our friend gave me a pretty hard time when ordering it - "What, are you becoming a vegetarian again?" Firstly - no, I'm not. And secondly, Blue Plate's veggie burger is simply amazing, and although I've been tempted in the past by Pozole Chicken Enchiladas, tuna melts and meaty weekend dinner specials (that, don't get me wrong, were all good), it always comes back to the veggie burger here. Beets, turnip, zucchini, sunflower seeds, and carrots all make for a wonderfully flavoured patty that doesn't suffer from fillers like TVP, tofu or frozen peas, carrots and corn. This is a veggie burger that is proud to display its fresh vegetables (particularly the beets, which I think is the key here), and I will continue to enjoy it, vegetarian or not. (Okay... rant done!)

A very cheesy veggie burger

The soup went over well, with Charles and our friend both appreciating the texture of the ground almonds throughout. I enjoyed the slight spiciness as well as the flavour, but the gritty texture was too much for me. But there's always another soup of the day around the corner.

Content with our burgers, and with a good veggie burger rant under my belt, we parted ways. Sampling a few other veggie burgers around the City (namely High Level Diner's, Urban Diner's and more recently, Next Act's), it's still only the High Level version that offers anything comparable to Blue Plate's for me.

So hopefully we can start heading back to Blue Plate a bit more often, as now that those veggie burger thoughts are refreshed, I know I won't be able to resist cravings for long.

Blue Plate Diner
10145 104 Street
780.429.0740