Down By the (Vancouver) Station: Eats

Vancouver's VIA Rail Station is located in one of the city's seedier, neighborhoods, a reality of the changing demographics over the decades that have dealt this cruel blow to many big-city train stations.

Since we're only in Vancouver for about four hours, we decide to try Campagnolo, an Italian joint just a block down Main Street that gets decent reviews from urbanspoon and Chowhound.

It's a pleasant place. The decorations are minimal - not a picture of anything, let alone Rome, on the cement block walls - but the ceiling is open-beam, comprised of massive rough old-growth fir, and worth gazing at.

Since it was raining lightly and cool outside (lucky we wore our jackets) we decided to make it a lingering Italian-style dining experience, and ordered wine and bruschetta (topped with roasted peppers, ricotta salata, and basil) to start.

For our main course Kathy chose Tagliatelle (pork ragú, basil, pecorino romano cheese) and Brian went with the Cannelloni (roasted eggplant, sausage, fennel, fior di latte).

The food was good, the service was friendly and helpful, the coffee we ordered for "dessert" was excellent, and the only shock was getting the bill and realizing that the taxes - and the cost of wine in British Columbia - have brought the cost of our meal before tip to about $100.

Maybe that second half-liter of red wasn't needed after all.