A guide to food places nearby both Douglas campuses
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
Nearby both campuses is Snowy Village with its silky-smooth shaved ice that melts in your mouth like snow.
During the past decade that I have been going to the college—mainly the David Lam campus—the neighbourhoods surrounding both campuses have evolved. More apartments were built around the David Lam campus, the Evergreen Line allowed faster transfer between both campuses, and the expansion near New West made it a hub for the New Westminster campus including the new Anvil building. Over time, food places and restaurants opened and closed while some historic restaurants including The Old Spaghetti Factory and C-Lovers Fish and Chips are still open to this day.
As restaurants cease to require the BC Vaccine Card for dine-in consumers, it is time to explore any menu changes since the pandemic began two years ago. You may already know some of these places, but if this is your first year at the college, here are key places to get to know.
The Spud Shack nearby New Westminster Station is one of the most famous poutine places in the Lower Mainland. Just before the pandemic began, they went back to serving their poutine in reusable plates. Recently, they revised the recipes of some of their poutines to include more topping and fresh ingredients.
Nearby both campuses is Snowy Village with its silky-smooth shaved ice that melts in your mouth like snow. If you want to accompany it with lunch, there are grilled cheese paninis and Taiyaki with your choice of filling including the usual sweet fillings like red bean but also savoury fillings including sweet potato.
The famous pizzeria Famoso on Commercial Drive expanded to former locations of Ricky’s All-Day Grill including the Coquitlam Centre location where they serve authentic Neapolitan pizza with the same quality that you would expect from the long-running chain. If you want the same quality pizza on a budget, there is Pizza Garden where they have a lunch special where you can get two slices of pizza and a drink.
For a quick bite to eat, there is a place called Whatafood where they have Brazilian street foods like bites including Whatabites that are filled with cheese. Taco Tuesday fans can go to Quesada which also serves burritos. Two restaurants that offer Happy Hour are Kelly O’Bryan’s Neighbourhood Restaurant featuring Irish pub-inspired dishes and Piva for modern Italian cuisine.
One dish I like is Bubble World’s fried chicken cutlet with plum sauce on the side that you can either dip the chicken in the sauce or pour on top. There are plenty of bubble tea places competing with Bubble World including the recently opened bubble tea place Tiger Sugar just next door to the entrance of the Anvil building. It is one of the bubble tea places that have a special type of bubble tea where the pearls, as well as boba, are put in the drink warm before being mixed with milk and brown sugar.
After a long day at either campus or before or after a meeting or going to a club event, there is something for everyone to eat nearby.
