Seth Rogen, David Chang eat through Vancouver in new Netflix series
Credit to Author: Stephanie Ip| Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:48:01 +0000
If you’re going to get stoned and eat your way through Vancouver, who better to guide your way than Seth Rogen?
Rogen, Vancouver’s comedic pride and joy, stars in an episode of celebrity chef David Chang’s new Netflix series Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, which premiered on the streaming service this week.
“I reached out to Seth Rogen because Seth was born and raised in Vancouver and Seth knows Vancouver incredibly well,” says Chang in the opening minutes of the episode.
“I am positive that most of the activities will revolve around smoking a joint and like, you want to be cool because it’s Seth Rogen but I’m mostly fearful that I will lose my mind on camera.”
Here’s a rundown of where Rogen and Chang spent their day in Vancouver.
The pair kick off their day with a morning joint on the quiet side of Queen Elizabeth Park. The park offers one of the highest viewpoints within the city of Vancouver, along with beautifully manicured gardens and a conservatory.
“I don’t want to share compliments I’ve been given but Snoop Dogg told me I was the best joint roller he’s ever met in his entire life,” says Rogen, while sharing a joint with Chang.
Celebrity chef David Chang (left) and actor Seth Rogen (right) share a joint in Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park in an episode of Netflix series Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
The first food stop of the day sees Rogen introducing Chang to the Granville Island Market.
“I grew up coming here. One of my best friends worked at a fish stall in high school and a girl I had a crush on worked at the doughnut place,” says Rogen, revealing he and the girl dated for three days before she dumped him and hooked up with two of his friends.
Chang and Rogen also chat with Lee’s Donuts manager Carol Kaesbauer who says she has served Rogen at the shop frequently over the years and invites the pair to see how the famous Lee’s jelly doughnuts are made.
“It’s tremendous,” says Chang after biting into a jelly doughnut. “Dude, I’m gonna die. What’s going on?”
Rogen comments that he’s “always chasing the dragon of jelly doughnuts because no jelly doughnuts are as good as this jelly doughnut.”
Actor Seth Rogen (left) and celebrity chef David Chang try sugar doughnuts at Lee’s Donuts on Granville Island in Vancouver, B..C. in an episode of Chang’s new Netflix series.
Following their doughnut stop, Chang and Rogen hop a fishing charter with Captain Jason Assonitis with Bon Chovy Fishing Charters to fish for Chinook and trap Dungeness crabs.
The pair wax poetic about city’s Seawall, whether the Vancouver Canucks will ever win a Stanley Cup or if the city’s just really good at rioting, and Rogen’s non-profit group Hilarity for Charity with wife Lauren, which raises money for Alzheimer’s research and care.
Chang holds up a Dungeness crab.
Lunch takes the pair to Mount Pleasant where they stop in the popular Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant for dim sum, including chicken feet. The dish is often a polarizing one, even for those who grew up around dim sum, let alone anyone who isn’t familiar with Chinese cuisine.
“Would I have ticked it off? Not necessarily,” says Rogen with a hearty laugh, but admitting that he enjoys it now and then.
The actor also shares that it wasn’t until he saw The Breakfast Club that he realized ethnic food isn’t commonplace for everyone the way it is in Vancouver.
“Molly Ringwald’s character is eating sushi and everyone’s looking at her like she’s a f-cking alien and I remember me and my sister were like, ‘What’s weird about that? Like, everyone eats sushi,’” says Rogen.
Chang (left) and Rogen visit Sun Sui Wah in Vancouver, B.C.
Following a post-lunch toke, Rogen takes Chang to Van Dusen Gardens where the pair attempt to complete a hedge maze.
“We would do mushrooms and go to this hedge maze,” Rogen confesses of his younger years.
The hedge maze is one of only six in North American and consists of some 3,000 pyramidal cedars planted in 1981, according to Atlas Obscura. The pair manage to make it through the maze but not without a few wrong turns and copious amounts of laughter.
The garden is open year-round and admission starts at $8 for adults.
The pair are turned around in the Van Dusen Gardens hedge maze in an episode of Chang’s new Netflix series, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
On their way to their next stop, Rogen swings by his childhood neighbourhood and reveals that his mom Sandy – who is a hilarious Twitter presence in her own right – was “the worst f-cking cook.”
“We would go out to eat all the time because we didn’t want to eat my mom’s food,” Rogen admits, before the pair devour samosas outside Apna Bhaia and discuss cooking without rules.
Rogen (left) and Chang devour samosas on Fraser Street in Vancouver, B.C.
The episode’s final stop is dinner in Richmond, where some of the region’s best Asian cuisine is found.
The pair head to the underground parkade for Superstore where Hong Kong BBQ Master is tucked away. The eat-in and carry-out spot often boasts line-ups of people hoping to pick up whatever they can from the day’s menu before dishes are sold out.
The pair chat with owner Eric Leung and son Anson, who now manages the diner, about the boom of Chinese immigration following the 1997 British handover of Hong Kong to China and why Chinese cooking done well is rare.
Chang and Rogen dine on Chinese melon soup, Hong Kong-style honey BBQ pork, crispy roasted pork and soy chicken.
Rogen (left) and Chang enter Hong Kong BBQ Master in Richmond, B.C. to cap off their day.
To wrap up their day of toking and snacking through Vancouver, Rogen takes Chang to the Vancouver Aquarium to meet a certain sea creature.
Late last year, the Vancouver Aquarium sought suggestions on what to name its newest Giant Pacific octopus. To no one’s surprise, Rogen – who at the time was riding a wave of popularity having spent the summer as the voice of TransLink – managed to rally fans to vote for, yes, “Ceph Rogen” to be the cephalopod’s new name.
The episode ends as Rogen and Chang try to feed Ceph Rogen, marvel at jellyfish and what owning a jellyfish tank says about one’s ego, and how Rogen’s love for Vancouver is certainly no act.
“You genuinely, no bullsh-t, love this town,” concludes Chang.
“I really do. As you see, there’s a lot to love about it. It’s not a hard place to love,” says Rogen.
Rogen points out an anaconda in a display case at the Vancouver Aquarium.