Now that the crumbs have fallen on the Westender’s jam-packed (and 18th straight) Best of the City issue, I hope it’s safe to serve up some of my own personal Best of the City picks, all in an effort to create your perfect Vancouver meal that won’t break your bank.

Best salad

For your starter, the greatest salad in Vancouver can be found right in the heart of downtown, at Finch’s (353 West Pender at Homer). The line up can be annoyingly long (though they do offer order-ahead service), the staff is cooler than you and they know it, and the décor somewhat resembles a garage sale at the end of the day, but once you receive that beautifully presented prosciutto and vine tomato salad with a hard boiled egg on top, circled by leafy green lettuce and sprinkled with cracked pepper ($11.45), all is forgiven.

Best taco

For your second course, behold one of the culinary reasons I was swayed to move to Hastings-Sunrise: Tacofino (2327 East Hastings at Nanaimo). The place is always swarmed, but I swear it’s worth it. All you need to do is get a seat, then order two fish tacos ($12) and a jug of beer. The tacos are stuffed with crispy local lingcod as fresh as if I caught it myself in Desolation Sound, complimented with cabbage, and salsa fresca – but hold the mayo (at least on my tacos). It’s a perfect West Coast treat, and yes, that’s Canucks president Trevor Linden chowing down in the corner!

Best pizza

For your main, let’s go to Main. Allow me to settle the age-old Vancouver argument once and for all. The best pizza in town can be found at a cute little hole in the wall on what was once one of the most notorious blocks in the city. Pizza Farina (915 Main at Prior, right beside the Cobalt Motor Hotel), famously “opens at 5pm until the dough runs out”. Farina serves beautifully thin, fresh, light, delicious pizza that should be scrumptiously enjoyed as soon as it comes out of the oven for maximum taste bud impact. Trust them and get the special ($16), with arugula on top, even if you can’t decipher any of the other Italian ingredients. Fair warning: if you leave their front door open, prepared to get yelled at.

Best chocolate chip cookie

For dessert, you should know that chocolate chip cookies are my favourite food, and I consider myself a life-long connoisseur. I am in constant in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I have scoured Vancouver for years for the very best, and keep coming back to the same place. The all-time greatest chocolate chip cookie can be found at… The Dish (1068 Davie near Thurlow). Go early so they aren’t sold out, then sink your chompers into these absolutely delectable three-bite cookies ($1 each) that are fresh-baked every day, using oatmeal, lots of love, and a super-secret ingredient the owners won’t reveal. I’ve been known to buy two-dozen of these heavenly morsels at a time, and those cookies are one of the main reasons I was reluctant to move out of the West End.

Those are my Best of the City picks for delicious eats that won’t have you in a barrel and suspenders after paying the bill. Feel free to share your favourite quality budget bites with me on twitter, or in the comments section.

Check out all of my #VancouverShakedown columns in the Westender here.

I’ve read it cover to cover ever since I first picked it up at a downtown cafe when I was a curious teenager about 25 years ago… my band The Smugglers were lucky enough to be on the cover almost 15 years ago exactly (see above) … and now, in 2015, I’m proud to announce that, as Vancouver’s oldest indie rocker, I am fittingly writing a weekly column for Vancouver’s oldest entertainment weekly, The Westender.

The column is called Vancouver Shakedown, which is mostly a reference to an old Smugglers chestnut called “Shakedown!”. And shaking down Vancouver is what I’ll essentially try to do each week for you in print… stories of this city I love so much: good and bad, ugly and beautiful, sad and joyful, and hopefully some funny stuff thrown in there, too.

We have it all in this Terminal City by the sea, and it’s the city I’ve chosen to live in for my entire life. Now I have the pleasure of writing about it each and every week. I consider it an honour, and I hope you enjoy.

You can read my inaugural column here. The Westender comes out every Thursday and is available for free throughout the city. If you have any subject you’d like me to cover, get in touch on twitter: @grantlawrence #VancouverShakedown. Thanks in advance!

Rock on!

Grant Lawrence

PS. The cover photo above is L-R: David Carswell, Beez, me, Nick Thomas, and… Jeff McCloy. Our pal Jeff was in the Smugglers for about a year in 1998-99, filling in for Beez. For this cover shoot he was filling in yet again, this time for for our drummer Graham Watson, who lived in Nanaimo (still does) and couldn’t make the photo shoot. Jeff, Nick, and former Smugglers drummer Bryce Dunn went on to form the Tranzmitors a few years later.

Was it the rising tide of the Idle No More movement? Was it was ‘reconciliation‘ finally becoming accepted vernacular for open-minded Canadians? Was it simply great art being recognized by mainstream Canada? Whatever the case, 2014 was a dominant, award-winning year for exceptional Canadian Aboriginal culture, and hopefully, a sea change of acceptance, mutual understanding, and enjoyment for the future.

Here’s some highlights:

The Orenda wins Canada Reads.

Joseph Boyden (who is of Anishinaabe and Scottish heritage) won big on the CBC with his epic and bloody third novel in his Bird family trilogy*. To simply call this bestseller ‘historical fiction’ is to completely undersell its breakneck pace, drama, and excitement, let alone its reminder that this land’s rich human history stretches far before 1867. A must-read for all Canadians, defended deftly to victory by journalist Wab Kinew. (Kinew will host Canada Reads in 2015). *…which actually isn’t a trilogy… at the 2014 Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, Boyden announced that he has TWO more books coming that follow the further adventures of the Bird family).

A Tribe Called Red wins the Juno Award for Breakout Group.

Winning a Juno is often about strategy, because an artist can pick which category they hope to be nominated for. Many apply for what feels to be the sure thing; the easiest route. In A Tribe Called Red‘s case, that category would be Aboriginal Record of the Year. The Ottawa powwow-step trio of First Nations DJs refused to be pigeon-holed to that category, instead going for Breakout Artist of the Year, which almost always goes to a white rock or pop act. Not in 2014.

Tanya Tagaq wins the Polaris Music Prize.

Tanya Tagaq stepped out of Canada’s most remote territory, spent years plying her unique musical style, and in 2014, stepped into the limelight of Toronto to win the $30,000 Polaris Music Prize, arguably the country’s most prestigious juried music award. Not only did her album Animism win, the Inuk throat singer from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, dedicated her career-changing performance to Canada’s missing Aboriginal women, whose names streamed seemingly endlessly behind her as she raged and contorted on stage.

This is Tanya Tagaq's mom and me at the 2014 Polaris Prize Gala. It was only her second time ever being in Toronto, and she was there to witness her daughter win big.

Thomas King wins two major literary awards for nonfiction and fiction.

Author Thomas King, who is of Cherokee and German-American descent, had a huge literary year. In February, the 71-year-old won the Charles Taylor Prize for his hit international bestseller The Inconvenient Indian, and in November, he won the GG Award for The Back of the Turtle, his first novel in 15 years.

First Inuk NHL player Jordin Tootoo publishes bestselling memoir.

All The Way: My Life on Ice may not have won any awards in 2014, but it was an instant national bestseller. Jordin Tootoo‘s brutal, extremely raw, honest memoir of his struggle to get to and stay in the NHL is an infectious read. The highly likeable but damaged Tootoo comes from a far-north background of substance abuse and tragedy, yet he still managed to become an elite athlete, and be the first-ever Inuk / first-ever player from Nunavut in the NHL. The ridiculous racism he endured at the minor league level alone is sickening. And Joseph Boyden wrote the introduction. Full circle.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section! Thanks for reading.