On the rare occasions that I have spare time, I spend it relaxing in front of my television. I am currently catching up on newer seasons of The Simpsons and re-watching the classic reruns. So when I heard that The Drive Canteen was having a pop-up featuring America’s favourite yellow family, I had to head down and check it out. I ventured down with Canteen super fan Mark a.k.a. @fooddaddyca and Diana of @foodologyca to check out the “All syrup super squishie art show”. Mark is a big fan of Doug (the owner of Downlow Chicken and Juke, to name a few of his popular restaurants), so keeps us apprised of such exclusive specials and limited release treats and eats.
However, today there wasn’t a new feature menu, or even a Simpsons themed hotdog to commemorate the pop-up. But instead, an art exhibit of The Simpsons as retold by Amsterdam artist Digestor aka Peter Orsag. The exhibit and show at The Drive Canteen runs from June 13-17th 2023; with the artist doing a meet and greet on the 14th, which we missed. Mark was there and now wanted to come back the next day to enjoy more of their limited release slushie to commemorate the showing, along with The Drive’s regular menu of funky hotdogs and fun chips.
The restaurant is marginally rebranded to fit The Simpsons theme. At the entrance there is a white, green, and red banner that bares a resemblance to the KWIK-E-MART reading “CAN-T-EEN”. Plus posters advertising the celebrated artist’s style of familiar characters from a specific Simpsons episode, against their trademark fluorescent pink, the very shade of Homer’s car.
When you walk in a wall is erected to showcase the canvas painted pieces for sale. They include Bart hopped up on Squishee syrup, Ned Flanders speaking to an annoyed looking Homer, and a dark skinned God sipping on a Squishee. All for sale for fans to take home and relive their childhood with, each time they past by it.
There were also stickers and prints for purchase as well.
Behind it, a chalkboard for your to play out the iconic Simpsons introduction scene, where it starts with Bart writing out his punishment. In our case “I will always eat glizzy”, which are what The Drive calls their hot dogs. “”Glizzy” is slang for hot dogs said to have roots in Washington, DC’s metropolitan area. According to HipHop DX, it became a nickname for hot dogs because the length of the barbecue staple is similar to the extended clip of a gun.”, as taken from Wikipedia.
There were also colouring sheets and markers for you to colour in your favourite Simpson characters from Milhouse to Otto, Marge, Homer, and Bart. We would do the latter 3 as we ate our meal below.
Naturally we had to get the All Syrup Super Squishie in a florescent seafoam green. It is Mountain Dew and not as sweet as its cartoon inspiration is said to be. Thick and frosty it helped to beat the heat on their sun-soaked back alley patio.
You also have the option of making any slush a Screamer, by adding some soft serve vanilla ice cream into the mix. The alternative was a “Duff Rootbeer” we passed on.
We three then shared The Canteen’s Glizzie Combo for 2: 2 Glizzies, 1 Side Noodles, and 2 Normal Drinks. Adding on another hot dog so each person could have their own.
The normal drinks are your choice of limited edition and/or unique flavoured pops. Mark choose a pineapple Fanta and a Strawberry Crush.
For the side noodles he went with a pre-made and pre-packages White Truffle Pasta Salad with orchettici noodles, garlic mayo, truffle paste, green onion, asiago cheese, and citric acid. This was a nice cold side to maw on. There was plenty of salty cheese flavour, I just didn’t get enough truffle.
The three hotdogs we had were the Turbo Coney, Mac and Cheese, and Pizza. Each a steamed wiener in a white bread bun, topped according to its name. The Mac and cheese was piled high with Kraft Dinner Mac and cheese and drizzled over with ketchup. The Pizza Glizzy included marinara sauce, diced raw onion, and Italian seasoning spice. And the Coney comes highly recommend by both Mark and Diana as a dog with ground beef, cheese sauce, onions, and mustard.
And on the side, we also got a Frito Pie. A mini bag of Frito ring corn chips topped with ground beef, salsa and slaw; basically like a travel ready bag of nachos you eat with forks. A fun treat that matched with the dressed up junk food eats that The Canteen is known for.
In short they continue to be a fun spot with the city’s largest collection of non-alcoholic beverages for purchase, plus a market of limited edition and imported snack and candies that you cannot find easily. And with plenty of unique reasons to visit them often they will continue to see me return time and time again.
The Drive Canteen
1111 Commercial Drive Vancouver, BC V5L 3X3
778-866-5662
thedrivecanteen.ca
