Timber!

Great Meatloaf Burger Special

Timber is the more casual, straight forward, sporty, younger sister to Forage! and right next door.   It's a comfortable gastropub or bar and grill with great windows to watch some of the Robson pedestrian traffic (on the quieter west end of Robson) and high food standards that match the good quality at big sis' (Chef Chris Whittaker at the helm for this one too).   It's still easy to spend a lot of money on her though, as with similar bar and grill type places.  The menu choices feel a bit limited to me, but what I had was very good.  

Good Caesar

Bad (But Fun) Caesar

The Caesar salad, though small in size, was so tasty.  Best thing I had there.  I was wishing I had twice the amount for $12, but it had style - herring dressing, jowl bacon, fried garlic, bannock croutons, and nice big flakes of parmesan.  The meatloaf burger wrapped in bacon pictured above was really delicious ($16, served with house-made potato chips that I wasn't crazy about, but the server let me choose fries as the side dish, and I accidentally in the end received both which was nice of them).  I think it should be a regular menu item.  Even the pretzel style bun was soft and enjoyable.  The fries were fine.  and was served with what I'm guessing was a house made "ketchup" - it was tangy with a fresh tomato (rather than cooked tomato) flavour.  It was fun to have something different, but I would enjoy regular bottled ketchup just as much.  Interestingly, it went much better with their potato chips than their fries.  

I wasn't so much a fan of the Caesar cocktail though.  They have some fun Caesar's and I tried one with their (I think house made) pepperoni and a great, dramatic chicharron (best part).  Very smokey flavour and made with tequila (I love tequila) and honestly didn't like the drink that much but I'm not a really huge fan of Caesar's but enjoy them when I'm in the mood.  It was just too much - too smokey, too intense, too spicy (not in terms of heat) and just didn't feel balanced to me, but people who order Caesar's regularly might enjoy it.  But I had a really nice glass of zinfandel (Joel Gott) there which made up for it.  

They also have a whiskey flight and for $19, it was worth trying once, and I was in the mood for sipping scotch.  I enjoyed the Balvenie Doublewood the most, which had a powerful and pleasant nose.  Didn't like the harshness of the Canadian Lot 40 Single Copper Pot Still, but added a few drops of water to mellow it out a bit.  The Lavagulin was a good for contrast, with its intense smokey peaty characters, but not necessarily something that I would make a point of ordering on its own.  Their cocktails and wines are around the $8 or more range, so this was a good deal but in the end I only really liked the middle one.

I like this place - it's not too crowded, and has a relaxed feel, the servers are really friendly and know what they're doing (another benefit of being run by the same people as the more upscale restaurant next door).  And it's Canadiana themed which makes a lot of sense for the hotel and the tourist traffic in the area (but not a problem for a resident of the neighbourhood like me).  For example, I really like the seating upholstered in Canada Post bags - who knew those bags were so comfy to sit on?  Well, the interior designer of the space, I guess!   The mascots of the place are a taxidermied beaver and Canada goose.  There are TV screens everywhere for sports if you are looking for a place to watch the game, and they have Supper and Cask events.  It's not the regular neighbourhood hang out place I was hoping for (cost, menu choices) but I really enjoyed it the two times I visited.  It's a good addition to the area, and I think it will attract more walk-in customers than Forage! simply because of the windows and open look, even though Forage also has a similar casual aesthetic and style (but with more of an obvious theme of locally sourced sustainable products.  Timber benefits from those sources, but is just themed more on Canadiana).

Just a note that it's spelled Timber, not to be confused with Timbre on Commercial Drive, which I have not tried.