Dissecting this Amazing All-Day Breakfast Burger’s Deliciousness

STACKED is a Scout column that aims to dig down into the delicious details of Vancouver’s better sandwiches and burgers. From banh mi and burgers to sliders and reubens, the goal is to craft and catalog an archive of awesome that visitors and locals alike can reference when at their hungriest.

The one dish that perfectly represents the food concept at the newly opened Bells and Whistles is chef Alessandro Vianello’s All-Day Breakfast Sandwich. It would be easy to think of it as a burger-centric take on a super-sized Sausage McMuffin meal (stuffing the two hashbrowns inside the sandwich), but it’s really so much more than that, and not just because it has the addition of special sauce and you can pair with a good beer while watching the game. It’s that it isn’t a pretentious deconstruction of something standard that was ironically rebuilt for Instagram likes. It is the standard, only taken to a higher, better, tastier level through the use of better ingredients. It’s nothing revolutionary; it’s just an exemplar of the restaurant’s concept, one we can hold in our hands and destroy with our happy faces.

1. It all starts with a soft, pliable sesame seed-dotted milk bun. A great delivery system for the whole thing that keeps its structural integrity even while being viciously attacked.

2. A goopy smear of special sauce. Think red relish, dijon, garlic powder, onion powder, and a couple other tasty things.

3. A gently seasoned fried egg with a medium yolk. I’d prefer if it was a little runnier so the flavour of the yolk would spread more thoroughly, but whatever…you can deal.

4. A pair of standard diner-style golden hashbrown triangles arranged in a square. These bulk up the sandwich’s overall girth and provide a little crunch on the tooth while also oiling the palate. Nostalgic flavour.

5. A maple sausage patty made with pork from Two Rivers. If it tastes familiar it’s because it’s the same mix that’s stuffed into the brunch sausage links at sister restaurant Wildebeest.

6. A slice of processed American cheese. They could fancy it up with something artisanal but the job of this “cheese” is to provide viscosity on the palate. Its flavour contribution is virtually nil.

7. Flat-top toasting. If I’m not mistaken, they squirt a little rosemary/garlic oil on the grill and set the bun upon it until toasted.