Downtown cafe has earned a loyal following for its welcoming service and deep, smooth coffee

Mia Stainsby
Sun

It’s not necessarily the coffee that jolts you into wakefulness here. It’s the staff. “Good morning!” rings out every few seconds as customers come in for their morning on-switch. With owner Mario Trejier, it’s more of a bass bellow. No matter how grumpy you are, you can’t help but buck up amid such cheeriness.

You don’t need the exact address on the street because you just follow the music, which spills onto the street from this narrow little coffee bar.

But more to the point, three cheers for the coffee here. You know, for a coffee-addled town, there’s not a lot of good coffee to be found. At Mario’s, you get lovely crema, even with a straight-ahead decaf Americano. The flavour is deep, smooth, just a hint of bitterness.

One of the reasons for the great coffee is Trejier uses more grounds than the average cuppa joe. The other is, he’s the barista. “For 12 years!” he says.

Mario’s passes another test that other places fail — bitterly — even when owner-operated. The service is so welcoming, they have ancient loyalties. Customers are welcomed by name, sometimes in unison by staff.

If his name has a familiar ring, it might be because of Trejier’s 15 minutes of fame, back in the early 1990s. He had a coffee bar in the long-gone Eatons at Pacific Centre. When they wouldn’t renew his lease, favouring a dumbed-down coffee chain, fans revolted en masse and media swooped in on the David and Goliath dust-up.

“My customers went ballistic,” he says. In the short-term, David lost; however, by the time Eatons went belly up, Mario’s was re-established and going strong where it still sits today.

Its proximity to the Four Seasons and Metropolitan hotels brings in some Hollywood types. Michael Keaton recently spilled some of his coffee and when a staffer went to clean up, the former Batman actor jumped in. “Pass me the cloth — I can do that. I used to serve coffee,” he said.

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MARIO’S COFFEE EXPRESS

595 Howe St., 604-608-2804

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Galvanic charge to taste buds

A.R. Wodell
Sun

A touch of melancholy hangs over the beach in the depths of a West Coast winter, but even on a dark Saturday evening, White Rock’s Marine Drive restaurant strip invariably has its fair share of customers.

The Green Papaya, near the eastern edge of the action, bills itself as offering “a fusion of Vietnamese and West Coast cuisine” — an intriguing pairing that demands sampling.

Decor is not the establishment’s strong suit: Its unpretentious interior is more redolent of a faux Mediterranean or Mexican restaurant, and the kitchen, far removed from the entrance, denied us that welcoming puff of spicy steam that characterizes more traditional Vietnamese eateries.

Things looked up once we were handed our menus and had a chance to peruse chef Tony Tran’s promised blending of east and west. Though the multi-section menu offers pastas and steaks, it’s the selection of Vietnamese-accented tapas — from spring rolls to bruschetta on chimmichurry toasts and grilled greenback mussels with a tamarind barbeque sauce — that really get the fusion message across loud and clear.

There’s an entire page devoted to pho, offering several variations on the standard Indo-Chinese beef noodle soup, plus a guide to the recommended DIY garnishing technique.

From the tapas menu we elected to split an appetizer order of stuffed “betle” leaves (also known as betel), which arrived promptly, glistening blackly on skewers like postmodern lollipops. Leaves filled with minced beef had been drizzled in a thick balsamic reduction sauce, steamed and dusted with ground peanuts; we weren’t able to detect much taste or texture from the betle leaves themselves, but the combination was delicious with a pleasantly spicy aftertaste.

We ordered the lemon grass and coconut chicken breast and the tropical fruit steamed halibut as entrees. Both delivered a galvanic charge to the taste buds — suddenly we were ravenous. Presentation was contemporary and surprisingly formal, creatively stacked inside wide, white soup plates. Portions were generous, and every bite disappeared. The chicken dish created an appealing balance between the unctuous sweetness of coconut and the fresh tang of lemon grass, with a final hot and spicy kick; it was garnished with mango and papaya dice and leaves of raw baby spinach. The pan-Asian tropical fruit salsa and ginger gastrique was deliriously tart and sour, yet never to the point of overpowering either the perfectly cooked halibut or its delicate jasmine rice base speared with carrots and asparagus stalks.

Dessert seemed superfluous, but the mention of a melon sponge was too interesting to pass up. The flavour was delicate yet intense, enhanced by a splatter of bittersweet chocolate and a touch of fresh fruit.

The Green Papaya appears committed to finding its own way of doing things, somewhere between the casual tradition of family-style Asian eateries and the grander conventions of an upmarket bistro.

Tran is enthusiastic about bringing Vietnamese cuisine to White Rock, and hopes to make the Green Papaya not quite as casual as most traditional Vietnamese restaurants. He says his goal is introduce his patrons to new tastes and “to take Vietnamese food to a new level.”

As a local favourite offering friendly service, reasonable prices and experimental yet satisfying flavours, the Green Papaya has considerable potential. We hope to return to sample the pho menu or, when an afternoon walk on the beach seems a bit less bracing, such lunch specials as a papaya clubhouse and a panko-crusted halibut burger with wasabi mayonnaise.

A.R. Wodell is a Vancouver freelance writer and editor.

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IN THE SUBURBS

The Green Papaya

100 – 15057 Marine Dr., White Rock

604-536-9811. Open daily 11 a.m to 10 p.m

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

One of the greatest features of the new space is the sake lounge and bar, which will soon have its own menu

Mia Stainsby
Sun

The $800 Kitano knife isn’t just for show. It’s as smooth as a Porsche; an amazing cutting tool. If you put the cut fish under a microscope, you’d see a clean surface that somehow dams in the juices. A lesser jobbie tears fibre, releasing moisture.

That’s just one answer to the “why” behind Hidekazu Tojo’s celebrity chef status. Okay, he’s a colourful character, a superb marketer and attracts celebrities like iron filings to a magnet, but hey, good on him! The night we visited to check out his gorgeous, crisp, modern new digs (costing upwards of $2.5 million), Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler had called offering congratulations.

“Jessica Alba is coming next week. I have message from her,” Tojo says. “The prince of Holland [is] coming in March.”

Some dishes are named after his famous guests, like the Magnum P.I. Tamaki — “Tom [Selleck]’s favourite.”

“Hello, my friend!” Tojo shouts across the room when Trevor Linden and his wife walk in. They sit next to us. There was no fawning, no fussing over them, after an initial attempt to find them a private room. One wasn’t available.

With mere mortals, however, service is a weak point in this high-end Japanese restaurant. I feel they coast on laurels.

Tojo bought the property from a regular customer and built his dream restaurant. “I can stay here forever,” he says, exhaling with relief upon seeing others having to move because of sky-rocketing rents. One of the cool features about the new space (he really did outgrow his former unremarkable second-floor rental) is the sake lounge and bar which will soon have its own menu. There’s also a large private room for 30 with a rock fireplace and adjoining outdoor garden.

I’m a big fan of Tojo’s sushi and sashimi but find his cooked dishes sometimes overwhelmed by sauce. The sushi is absolutely superb, with pristine fish, lovely sushi rice and the best nori. I ordered uni nigiri because really good uni, which should taste of ocean, is a rare find in Vancouver. I found it here.

After a Northern Roll, tuna tataki (which came with orders from the top: “No wasabi, please!”), we moved to the hot dishes — ankake tofu, which features delicious deep-fried tofu but such a delicate dish shouldn’t be wading waist-deep in sauce. And ditto, the halibut cheeks; beautiful fish, but too much sauce. Tempura, though, was a different story — not at all oily, delicately battered, and veggies and prawns perfectly cooked — it was impressive.

A meal at Tojo’s will be expensive (the tempura was $21 and the halibut cheeks, $27) but you are assured of quality and the man certainly knows seafood. A meal of sushi, though, is more painless. Our maki was $8, and tamaki, $6.50.

“No, we are not expensive,” Tojo says when I bring it up. “We use the best ingredients, no MSG, everything is cooked from natural products. It’s the right price. I compare it to high-end French restaurants. I use the same material.”

Rice is all-important and Tojo mixes high-grade, one-year-old and two-year-old rices. Younger rice contains more moisture and helps with the sushi sticking action. He uses about 20 per cent of the young rice because he doesn’t want it too sticky.

Those who worship at his feet order omakase ($60, $80, $110 or up), letting the chefs take control of their care and feeding.

It’s where you find the chefs at their most creative (and sometimes bizarre), with dishes like soybean nori with ume (sour plum) mozzarella cheese and mountain potato; scallops with rhubarb; hirame and monkfish liver wrapped in sui choi; and king mushroom and lion mane mushroom in parchment.

While there’s enough staff to ensure prompt and steady service, as mentioned earlier, it’s not stellar. Upon arriving, we discovered our reservation wasn’t recorded. While discussing our meal, our server had wandering eyes, conveying indifference and impatience. Others, however, were more genuinely friendly.

And watch as sake becomes a bigger deal in Vancouver as it takes centre stage in Tojo’s sake lounge, a another Tojo first in the city.

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TOJO’S RESTAURANT

Overall: 3 1/2

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 4

Service: 3 1/2

Price: $$$

1133 West Broadway, 604-872-8050. (www.tojos.com) Open 7 days a week for dinner.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Something to crow about

Mark Laba
Province

SENHOR ROOSTER RESTAURANT

Where: 850 Renfrew St., Vancouver

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-434-1010

Drinks: Fully licensed

Hours: Tues.-Thurs., 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sun., 5 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Closed Mon.

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As a kid, my two cultural idols were Foghorn Leghorn and Mr. Spock. I soon realized I’d never attain the cool logic and personality of a Vulcan, but I could certainly embrace the barnyard idiocy and blustering banter of a half-cocked rooster. I imagined that if old Foghorn Leghorn wanted an ounce of respect, he might go off to some European boarding school and return not as a Southern hick but as a rooster of wealth, breeding and good fortune, perhaps as Senhor Rooster, the playboy known from the Costa del Sol to Portugal.

Hearing about this place, I was anxious to taste how chickens got an upgrade, making the transition from the world of Col. Sanders to the flame-grilled piri-piri sauce-spiked sunny shores of the Algarve. The chef and owner, Daniel Alexandre, has been making small waves in the culinary community with his unpretentious restaurant, now moved to bigger digs and attracting the stalwarts of the Portuguese community along with those looking for rustic flavours, grill mastery and great saucing.

Paid a visit with the X-Man and we arrived to find ourselves the only ones in the place. It felt like one of those Mafia scenes where the restaurant is cleared out for a meeting between crime bosses. But the X-Man and I barely have a nickel to rub between us, so if I wasn’t knocking him off, I doubted he was planning my demise, either. That settled, we got down to the real business of the evening — eating. The owner and chef himself, Mr. Alexandre, served us and said it wasn’t always this slow a night and the weekends really start hopping when he has live music and a dance floor going. I think with the recent move and Dine Out going on, this restaurant has been overlooked and is well worth the discovery.

Started with an appetizer of grilled sardines ($9.95) and a small complimentary plate of Portuguese sausage and some very tasty and zesty pickled veggies and olives to get the palate kick-started. The sardines were of the large variety, meaning not those skimpy things crammed into tins that bill themselves as millionaires. These critters seemed as long as my forearm and grilled to perfection before being finished off with a slight basting of olive oil and balsamic.

“Watch how it’s done,” X-Man said as he de-boned the sardine like Hannibal Lecter. The flavour was amazing, a little earthy, a little salt-water laden with the balsamic tweaking the pungent fish flesh with a bit of sweetness.

For mains, X-Man chose the dry cod with onions, shredded potato and egg ($18.95), while I took on the succulent flame-grilled whole Cornish hen ($16.95). X-Man’s dish is a Portuguese classic, a hearty mound of complimentary flavours that truly embodies the rustic nature of Mediterranean comfort. My Cornish hen was simply amazing, piri-piri sauce sumptuously encrusting the flame-tinged skin and protecting the juicy meat. A fresh side salad cooled the tastebuds ignited by the fiery homemade piri-piri.

One visit can’t do justice to the wonders that await, from prawns piri-piri to crab cakes, pork and clams to baby back ribs as well as specialty items like paella or the mariscada seafood platter. And, of course, a Cornish hen so enticing it would have Foghorn Leghorn shopping for a wedding ring.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Hearty flavours from the sun-drenched shores of Portugal.

Grade: Food: A; Service: B+; Atmosphere: B+

© The Vancouver Province 2007