As some of you may remember, Animated Meat first came to life in 2008 as a way to document some sights that managed to slip through the cracks of most popular travel websites. You may also remember that the original website was built on Apple's now defunct iWeb. From there, it migrated over to WordPress where it met an untimely demise at the hands of Russian hackers. Many of those old, pre-2012 entries have found a new home here in the Before the Now section. I would consider these posts as my starting place as a writer, probably comparable to a musician's first demo tapes. They are very rough, but I took them all seriously and wrote each one with passion. While I would like to believe that I have matured in my abilities as a writer, it is my hope that I carry this same blind passion into all of my new efforts.

Japadog - Originally Published 2009

June 24, 2018

My sister-in-law recommended this place, not because she had eaten there, but because she saw Anthony Bourdain eat there. I’m not much into celebrity chefs [this portion edited out in 2018. Please see note below]*

Well, once again yours truly was wrong about something. It turns out that Bourdain was on to something. This place is great. It was one of the more original places I have eaten at in a while.

Japadog offers up grilled hotdogs topped of with Japanese style condiments. Imagine if a sushi chef ran into a hotdog salesman. Two great tastes that taste great together. This is a must do while in Vancouver.

*The portion of this post was written in 2009 when I was a younger man and had a much smaller outlook on life. I made a cheap joke about Anthony Bourdain's drug addiction. Now that I am older, I would like to believe that I would have taken the higher road. Rest in peace, Anthony Bourdain.