Today we were at the last showing of Elf at the downtown Vancouver location of the Rec Room. Having only opened late summer, this is their first Christmas and they were celebrating with some unique special events, such as this.
This is the Eat Along with Buddy the Elf, a 4 course menu that is served in conjunction with the featured movie. For those familiar with the movie, the following menu descriptions and recap will make sense.
Coincidentally, I actually watched Elf for the first time a couple of days before, at a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concert, so was prepared for today’s showing. Where I realized that the VSO had cut out some scenes, I now got to see it all now, and was prepared to capture them as they tied in with our food below.
The event was held on the main floor, in their bar/lounge area, before their large television screen. With plenty of seating this was a great venue to host such an occasion and tickets sold out.
As tables were seated, servers brought around small bags of buttered popcorn for the table to share. An unexpected and appreciated gesture, considering we were here for a movie. Although it would have been nice to have one each, per person, given all hands going in and this proves to me less sanitary as such.
The movie didn’t start until 30 minutes after the advertised event start time and I came hungry, so was happy to have the food come sooner that expected for the first course at least.
I assumed it would be timed with the movie, as the name suggests, that when Buddy ate, we would too. However, everything came well before, whereas I heard that it was more aligned during last week’s showing.
The first course was your choice of an espresso martini or coffee with whipped cream and Oreo crumbs. This one was inspired by the scene where Buddy discovers the “World’s Best Cup of Coffee”, during his first day in New York. This was a regular cafe advertising that their coffee is the best, which the innocent Buddy believes to be true. He congratulates them in the beginning of the movie then takes Jovie on a date there mid way through it.
I got the former and ironically found it accurate to the movie as your average cup of Joe, found at any corner cafe in New York. It was pretty standard with no depth. However, you are drinking it for the novelty, and less for its flavour.
The second course was spaghetti, as a tribute to the iconic and most memorable spaghetti with syrup and candy scene in Elf. However our sun-dried tomato and goat cheese spaghettini only came with the latter. A dish of tangy Skittles and chocolatey M&Ms was presented for us to self sprinkle over our mound of savoury pasta. Although I would have liked some maple syrup as well, as that is what Buddy uses the first time he has red sauce spaghetti in the human world. It is only during breakfast, the day after, that you see him dress up his pasta in chocolate sauce, marshmallows, and crushed pop tarts as well. So for this reason this course didn’t feel accurate and was somewhat disappointing.
As for the way it tasted, I didn’t mind the combination, and found that it gave the otherwise bland noodles some interest. I also liked how the colour of the candy was quick to bleed into the pasta, giving it a green and blue hue for whimsy. Without it, there was not enough tomato and cheese to season, and it could have used more salt and pepper to taste. This dish was mostly pasta noodles, and I was not a fan of the texture of the greens, finding that it clashed with the harder candy.
If not with the noodles, it would have been nice to have a shot of maple syrup anyways, seeing as they mention it so much, and Buddy even gets a large jug of it as a Christmas present. Although on the same token, the tickets are an affordable $40 per person, so you are really getting what you pay for from this movie and an experience.
The third course was a bit of a stretch for me. Powdered sugar mini donuts served alongside the snowball fight where Buddy and his step brother Michael take on local school kids and win. However, these do not look like the snowballs they were intended to be. The kitchen could have done donut holes to be more accurate and/or fully drenched them in powdered sugar to best look the part. As is, these looked as disappointing as they tasted: dry and crispy, where as I wanted a soft and pillowy donut, like cake. I also didn’t like how it tasted like oil and grease from the fryer. I ate one and passed on the other two.
The fourth course was my favourite of the lot, a nod to New York with street meat and pretzels, served with ranch and honey mustard for dipping. There was no direct tie in to the movie, outside of where it is said to take place. This was a regular hot dog wiener and bun: thick and juicy, and exactly as expected. Similarly the pretzel was as expected, except cut in to bite sized servings for portion control. The honey mustard is what made them memorable.
However, I would have liked to have noodles instead, as the movie does reference a bowl. This was what Jovie was eating in front of the TV when she saw Buddy on the news. Then again it is, “Eat Along with Buddy the Elf” and not Jovie.
Other than that this was a great experience and worth the $40 for something fun and festive to do. And the event doesn’t end there. On every place setting was a Rec Room bracelet and band giving each guest the ability to play 10 games. The Free Games are limited to blue card reader video games only and exclude redemption games, merchandisers, physical games and attractions. The games are also only valid for 60 days after the Eat Along with Buddy the Elf event.
Although you can no longer catch the Eat Along with Buddy the Elf experience, given its popularity and the number of tickets sold, I can see them repeating this concept with other movies in the future. I would like to see this done with food-related, cartoon favourites like Ratatouille or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
The Rec Room Granville
855 Granville St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1K7
(778) 374-1500
therecroom.com
