The Cascade Room

The Cascade Room is THE place to go to be seen in the SOMA area. People think you can only lounge and bar hop in downtown but the East side can hold its own. The Cascade Room is undoubtedly the scene of local hipsters and scenesters. It’s a casual restaurant that seems to have gotten the right formula in making it the quintessential neighborhood joint: good beer list, eclectic selection of cocktails, decent food, and friendly good looking staff. Plus on occasion I may have inadvertently twirted (tweet+flirted) with whomever is behind their twitter account.

I’ve been to Cascade numerous times now: going on random unsuccessful first dates, catching the Olympics Opening, watching a Canucks’ game and more. And soon, I do want to try to pop by and check out their Monday Quiz Night.

The below are a couple of dishes I had the last time I was at the restaurant. One side dish I recommend getting as a starter is the polenta fries which are thick, hot, has touch of spice and crispy served with spicy curried mayo dip. As much as I do like their fries, it’s hit and miss because there have been times when I found the fries to be salty. But they are good starters to have with a drink or beer.

My friend and I first shared a large plate of fresh Wild Rocket Salad (sorry no pictures were taken). The salad was mixed with cucumber, sweet red peppers, roasted pecans, Grana Padano, and mustard vinaigrette.

We also ordered the Mushroom Pizza

It’s a medium pizza of roasted mushrooms, pesto, edam & goat’s cheese, topped with fresh spinach. It’s a simple nice thin crust pizza with light flavours. I liked that even with the pesto and cheeses it wasn’t too greasy and messy. The thin crust was more the chewy side but I can’t critique too much as Cascade is not like a fancy Italian restaurant.

I think they serve one of the most generous cheese platters around

It’s large platter of three cheese selections with stewed figs, toasted nuts, with apple slices & crostini. That night we had brie, blue cheese, and edam (I think). At this point, I’ve had my fair share of cocktails and the cheese platter helped prevent further intoxication. I loved the sticky stewed figs and seemed to go well with all the cheeses.

I like the Cascade over it’s sister neighbor, Habit, because of the folks and atmosphere. Even though it’s not a kitschy lounge or a fancy fine dining establish, what it has in spades is atmosphere. When you walk in during a busy night, there seems to be that buzz in the air and you can see people having a good time. Aside from taking a date here, it’s fun times observing other first dates unravel in front of you.

The Cascade Room

2616 Main St

2 Comments

Liv

06/05/11 at 9:44

ah i love Cascade. Great food, drinks and atmosphere as you pointed out. I like that it’s casual and not pretentious. The folks behind the Habit/Cascade/Latitude restaurants really know what they are doing – i remember they had Tangerine years ago in Kits and it was a fave as well. They seem to have a knack of finding the next ‘it’ hood and menu formula.
lisa

06/05/11 at 10:21

I love the atmosphere at The Cascade whenever I go. You’re right, the eateries and lounges in East Van can definitely hold their own against downtown/Yaletown/Gastown. eight 1/2 is a fave spot of mine too.