he little sister of Burgoo’s West Point Grey location may not be as well known as it should be, but give it time. For years, the Burgoo at West 10th has filled the area with the smell of good, hearty, made-to-order soups and stews. Now, with the local joint expanding to Lower Lonsdale, Burgoo is a welcome alternative to a relatively dreary food scene.

The new storefront, clean and well-lit, has all the important ingredients of the original: a friendly staff and quick service for eating in or taking out. Located in the neon heart of Lonsdale, this wood-edged cabin serves their familiar specialties: bowls of high-quality soups, Chicken Tikka and Irish stew; the Chicken Diablo (a sandwich of chipotle-spiked chicken with tomato and cheddar).

Burgoo makes a worthy spot for a quick lunch, but it remains curiously pricey. A large Caesar salad, for example, clocks in at a whopping $10.50 for the large size: it's just the standard variety, with the usual parmesan and crunchy croutons. With a liberal amount of roasted chicken, bacon and romaine, the open-faced, filone bread chicken Caesar sandwich is a better deal at $7.50. The B.B.L.T. & C. - bacon, romaine lettuce, tomato and white cheddar with lemon mayonnaise, served on toasted filone bread - is a killer contender at $6.95.

The stews are a Burgoo tradition; the Kentucky Burgoo, Chicken Tikka and Jambalaya bowls are available year-round, but regardless of how rewarding they are they aren’t summer plates. A better summer bet is the El Diablo ($7.25), a wonderful sandwich of roasted chicken and chorizo with red onion, tomato and white cheddar served open faced on toasted multigrain with chipotle mayonnaise. Regardless of the season, this is down-home cooking, the kind of stuff you might make yourself for small dinner parties if you had a farmers-market habit and a subscription to Bon Appétit. It’s damn good, and the Sticky Toffee Pudding with molten caramel and fresh vanilla ice cream is an inspiration.

The design has the same cottage feel with wood paneling, a fireplace and stonework, and this location has more seating than the original. If the new location has a little less charm than the original, where outdoor and window seating makes dog and stroller watching a breeze, we can only hope Burgoo displaces some of the un-friendlier fast-food burger outlets around town. - R.L.