food: Stepho’s saves starving SFU students
Christine G. Louie,The Peak
1124 Davie Street, Vancouver (Between Bute and Thurlow
(604)683-2555
True story. My three friends and I had just spent the entire day studying at the Vancouver public library. The four of us were inflicted with midterm-stress symptoms: fatigue, irritability, and emotional instability. We were walking aimlessly from the library, debating where to go, when the rain came pouring down. Things could not have been worse for us until I miraculously thought of the most hospitable restaurant where four soaking wet and weary students could find warmth and food: Stepho’s on Davie Street.
We went to the back of the line — a thirty-minute wait. My friends began complaining (excusably, since none had eaten there before).
“I’m hungry!” one friend whined.
“I don’t want to wait!” my other friend moaned. Both did not see the benefits of waiting in the cold, winter evening to get into the one of many Greek restaurants in the downtown area. I ignored them. Being a Stepho’s veteran, I knew that they would thank me for enlightening them with the Stepho’s Experience after our bill came.
The house wine was a mere $15.00 per litre. Never mind that it’s the roughest of the rough. Wine is wine to the impoverished student, and after our third glass we couldn’t tell the difference between white and red. For those who have parents funding their education, Stepho’s has more drinkable wines from $20.00 and up. Prices may be off by a dollar or so — my memory of the night is a little foggy. Perhaps because I didn’t splurge for the Australian Merlot.
The four of us started off by sharing the garlic prawn entrée: a dozen prawns lovingly embraced in a pungent garlic-butter sauce ($9.99). All entrées are served with a huge pad of rice, a great Greek salad loaded with olives and feta cheese, and lemon-and-herb-infused roast potato wedges. The piece of pita bread lay untouched as we devoured the food. Next, we shared the vegetarian lasagna: a skillet of buttery noodles cradled with various roasted vegetables and béchamel sauce ($5.99 for a small, $8.99 for the large). The roast lamb was a scrumptious mound of tender, smokey meat ($8.99). The chicken souvlaki was nice, as well ($9.99). The kalamari entrée was even more enormous than the other dishes — so large that whenever one of us forked a morsel, five or six little kalamari pieces fell to the table ($9.99).
Or maybe at this point we were just really inept? It doesn’t matter.
The point is the food is super cheap and super large. The only complaint was that the table was too small to hold all the food. We had to move the pile of pita bread that accumulated on the table, as well as the candle, salt and pepper, and flowers.
Poli’ oreo’ fagito! (Great meal!)