The North Shore has its very own pop-up restaurant.
It’s hopping right now but if you don’t get in on it soon, you’ll miss it. And here’s a further, fascinating twist to this development: this pop-up business (a “pop-up” is just an enterprise undertaken with a definite end-date in mind) is on the eve of expansion.
Does this all sound a bit tricky to pull off? Not to worry, co-captaining this unique initiative is none other than the operational mastermind behind the Shipyards Night Market, a weekly cultural phenomenon with enough moving parts to make a watchmaker dizzy.
Five and Dime Cantina, the new uber casual, no pretense eatery occupying the small space that was once El Matador, tucked into the lower corner of the same building that is home to Café by Tao, is a joint venture between owners Amber Cave and Ingrid Doerr, the latter well known on the North Shore for organizing the aforementioned night market. Five and Dime is a pop-up to the extent that Cave and Doerr are operating within a finite window.
The building in which the business is housed has been sold to developers. Café by Tao is moving to a location that is effectively across the street, planning to plant long-term roots for its already heavily frequented raw and vegan food emporium.
Five and Dime will move into the old Café by Tao space for the short time that remains on the available lease, for the purpose of expanding its offerings, especially its roster of fresh-cut salsas that serve as signatures of the restaurant’s simple, value-minded menu. With a sitter for the kids secured last minute, my wife DJ and I made Five and Dime our spontaneous date-night destination, arriving a stressfully short while before the restaurant’s published Thursday evening closing time of 9 p.m.
We needn’t have worried; like its approachable, welcoming fare, Five and Dime’s operating hours are not rigid. It was close to 10:30 p.m. by the time we left the room, bellies filled.
As its name suggests, Five and Dime serves almost all of its food for a fiver. Tacos, nachos, burritos, and quesedillas are all just five bucks in their standard iterations, which are vegetarian, making use of ingredients like ripe tomatoes, cilantro, lime, chillies, avocados, beans, corn and seemingly endless quantities of housemade corn tortilla chips.
For an additional $3, patrons can add their choice of proteins to any of the above. Proteins include slow-braised pulled pork, albacore tuna, salmon, chicken, smoked tofu and a handful of daily specials. Other menu items include hand-made jalapeno poppers (fresh jalapenos sliced lengthwise and stuffed with a tasty cheese preparation, with optional bacon bits), kale Caesar salad, and an all-day breakfast offering of organic egg with cheese and salsa, served with your choice of available proteins, presented as a taco or burrito.
DJ and I began with a shared order of kale Caesar. The salad featured a mixture of kale, spinach and romaine tossed in a creamy (but not heavy) garlicky dressing, with croutons and shaved parmesan. I found it curious that a restaurant that makes nearly everything from scratch appeared to be using packaged croutons, but then
DJ reminded me that this salad, with its generous quantity of very fresh leaves and deftly balanced dressing was only $5, and my nitpicking observation felt decidedly petty.
With every dish ordered comes a ramekin of hand-cut salsa; diners may choose their preferred variations from a list of eight creations. With four dishes on order, our next plate up was a plate of crispy, fresh, and very tasty tortilla chips with our chosen assortment of salsas, which included Tropical (pineapple, mango, papaya and spices), Cowboy (corn, beans, peppers and tomatoes), Kermit (tomatillo with pineapple) and, stealing the show from the very first bite through to the last drop, Hot Fresh (tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, lime and cilantro).
The Hot Fresh salsa was, admittedly, the most conventional mix of the lot and what most of us understand when we hear the term salsa, but its familiarity in no way tempered its deliciousness. The ingredients all tasted market-fresh and co-existed in the clearly hand-chopped, recently assembled collaboration, in perfect harmony.
DJ’s order of vegetarian tacos featured two soft tortillas filled with cabbage, corn, avocado, and beans with chipotle sour cream, comprising a substantial but fragrant and season-appropriate meal. I opted for a quesadilla, choosing deeply caramelized, faintly molasses-flavoured pulled pork as an add-on for the 10-inch tortilla stuffed with melted cheese and served with salsa.
A shared order of baked nachos, generously covered in cheese and jalapenos, served with guacamole, though very tasty, proved completely superfluous. We washed our meals down with chilly bottles of Corona and tall lime Margaritas, also priced at just $5 each. Our meal was $45 before gratuity. You have until spring of 2017 to check out Five and Dime at their current location, 131 Esplanade Ave. 604-770-3364
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
North Shore News dining reviews are conducted anonymously and all meals are paid for by the newspaper.
