Georgio’s Cafe & Pizzeria – Burnaby, BC

Georgio’s Cafe & Pizzeria
5236 Rumble Street
Burnaby, BC
(604) 568-6061

Situated practically across the street from Burnaby South Secondary School means a couple of things for places to eat in the area, of which there are a handful.  The lunch hour can be a mad hectic time for non-students to try and get in for a bite to eat.  As well, the eateries seem to make the wise decision of having special menu items which are priced and portioned accordingly for this hungry younger market.  Thankfully, they aren’t limited to the kids and us adults can indulge in these quick, cheap eats too.  One of these places is called Georgio’s Cafe & Pizzeria.

Despite the rather convoluted smattering of text and listing of offerings in their windows that seem rather mundane, a quick glance at the makeshift sign was what drew me in.  “Filipino style BBQ”?  What’s that I thought.  Sitting inside was a pair of teenage girls apparently killing time on a break between classes perhaps.  A man was behind the counter and I could hear some others in the back kitchen.  As I was scanning the photo-included menu board, I quickly spotted the pork and chicken skewered barbecue items, thus answering my call to action.

If my memory is right, this single skewer of bbq pork was $3.25.  As a takeaway item, it came right on the wooden stick (thus not allowing the Styrofoam container to fully close) and the base was layered with what was being dubbed Java Rice.  Mustard yellow in color and a fluffy long grain type of rice, this was actually quite nice and I enjoyed the earthy turmeric taste it imparted.  Especially when there was some of the juice drippings coming off the smoky, well seasoned chunks of pork and melding into the rice itself.  I think for a dollar more you can get two of these sticks.

For some reason, I decided to order a small serving of their “poutine“.  With their main grill and pot of oil up front behind the counter, I could see the female cook drop a handful of frozen fries into the fryer.  They were that crinkly kind that reminded me of the fries I would eat as a child in rural hockey rinks in Alberta.  The accompanying gravy also brought back flashbacks as well.  But the addition of simple mozzarella cheese instead of cheese curds was the real joke here.  But again, for around three bucks, I couldn’t complain too loudly.

Its nice to see that kids these days can still get hot, inexpensive (but perhaps not all that healthy) kinds of foods off-campus, if simply just to get away from the school cafeteria.  When I think back to my own secondary school days, we didn’t have any options that we could access without our cars.  As a parting note, I did see some dried-out looking slices of bland pizza sitting in a warming case, no doubt again for the allowance spending student clientele.  I’d stay away from that, as well as this self described “poutine”.