The Ultimate Vancouver Brunch Guide: Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

We’re taking a tasty tour of Vancouver’s many brunches to create The Ultimate Vancouver Brunch Guide. This week we’re digging into a hearty Southern brunch at Chewies.

You wont find any yogurt parfaits on this brunch menu.

In fact, the only fruit you’ll come across at Chewies’ brunch is atop a stack of house made waffles next to a healthy serving of bourbon maple cream and drizzled syrup. But what else would you expect from a New Orleans style brunch?

Known for its delicious NOLA-inspired hearty dishes, Chewies gives Vancouver its fill of Southern flavour at its two locations in the city. Their Cajun cuisine always arrives on plates piled high with potatoes and house smoked meats covered in thick sauces and gravies just like momma used to make.

If you’ve dined at Chewies before, you know you have to enter with a go-big-or-go-home attitude. There are no ‘light bites’ on this brunch menu, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Its two locations have slightly different brunch menus and hours. The Kitsilano location serves brunch weekends from 10am to 3pm, while Coal Harbour serves from 11am to 2:30pm.

The brunch at both locations is available alongside the restaurant’s regular selections – but we don’t know why you’d stray when the weekend one offers dishes like Breakfast Poutine with Kennebec fries and Quebec cheese curds, a house smoked Pulled Short Rib Hash, and a warm Southern Cornbread with whipped cranberry butter.

Keeping this in mind, it’s truly difficult to make a decision about what over-the-top mega brunch item you’re going to devour when you enter the Chewies Coal Harbour. We’d recommend going with a group so you can have a taste of multiple items without loosing your pant button.

A standout dish is a take on a Louisiana classic sandwich. The Breakfast Po’Boy is as sloppy as it is delicious. New Orleans french bread sliced and stuffed with applewood smoked bacon, Two Rivers’ bacon breakfast bangers, scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, and Cajun hollandaise. Like most of Chewies brunch items, the Po’Boy is served with crispy NOLA breakfast potatoes.

The bennys are all served with Cajun Hollandaise and two eggs on your choice on either a waffle, biscuit, or English muffin. Take your pick between the Canadian bacon, gulf prawns, crab cake, and fried green tomatoe varieties. We went for the golden fried crab cakes, which had a seriously spicy kick, and when combined with avocado it made for a perfect Southern twist on a classic eggs benedict.

Diners can also chow down on the Big Chief Breakfast, a breakfast spread packed with smoked meat like bacon and breakfast bangers (sausage rounds) and topped with thyme chicken gravy on an andouille and cheddar waffle.

If you do feel like sticking to a regular menu item, there is always the option to add an Omega 3 egg on top of Chewies’ classics like the Blackened Chicken Po’Boy and the Jambalaya made with smoked chicken, andouille sausage, Tasso ham, prawns, on spicy Cajun rice.

The star of the menu was the Southern Fried Chicken and Waffles. This is one of those “I need to try that” kind of dishes: crispy buttermilk waffles were topped with seasoned Southern fried chicken, coated in a Cajun honey drizzle, and sprinkled with thinly-chopped fresh chives – because we need to get our greens somewhere, right?

All of this can be washed down with one of the restaurant’s signature Chewies’ Caesars made with New Amsterdam Vodka, homemade hot sauce, fresh horseradish, Worcestershire, Clamato juice, and finished with a big juicy Cajun prawn.

For the meatlovers who are in the mood for our favourite breakfast bevy, try the BBC – Bacon Bourbon Caesar – made with house made pork belly infused with Bourbon, served with all the fixins and topped with fresh grated horseradish and bacon bits.

Chewies Coal Harbour serves brunch on weekends from 11am to 2:30pm.

A photo posted by Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar (@chewiesoysters) on Nov 9, 2016 at 11:24am PST

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

Address: 2201 West 1st Avenue, Vancouver
Phone: 604-558-4448

Address: 110 – 1055 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-620-7634

Instagram: @chewiesoysters