Vancouver and West Van franchises dish out a combo of good food, nice digs and a room with a positive vibe
Mia Stainsby
Sun
The interior of Browns Social House at Park Royal features modern decor with a touch of retro. Photograph by : Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun
If you want a lesson on just how to act when life throws you a punch, take a page out of Scott Morison’s book.
The one-time reject of BCIT’s hospitality and tourism program went on to be something of a tycoon in the local restaurant industry. He and a partner started up the chain of enormously successful Cactus Club restaurants; he sold his share and opened the first Browns Restaurant in North Vancouver in 2004 and then, soon after, another in Yaletown.
He offered Browns chainlets to franchise owners and the most recent to open were on Fourth Avenue and in West Vancouver’s Village at Park Royal Mall; both opened on the same day last month and there’ll be more to come.
The menus are the same, although the Fourth Avenue location cut back on some items because of kitchen constraints. Both have lots of eye candy on the floor.
At Park Royal, we were greeted by a bevy of blondes. Our server — super friendly and cheerful — wore a black bustier made family-friendly with a black top worn under it. The decor is modern with a touch of retro (blow-up Ken Lum-like photos of Santa Monica in the ’70s and touches of Rob and Laura Petrie decor). It’s more spacious and a touch more sophisticated and quieter than the Kits location, where by the end of my meal, I approached meltdown from the incredible din of music and chatter bouncing off the hard surfaces of tile and wood.
Despite its separation from Cactus Club, Brown’s feels like a close relative. The menu is smaller but with the same affordable price points. It hasn’t changed much since its debut three years ago but now there’s an executive chef dedicated to working on the menu.
“There’ll be menu changes in the summer and fall,” says Carl McCreath part-owner of the Fourth Avenue operation.
You’ve got the selection of salads and starters, burgers and sandwiches, “spa” bowls, and entrees (three out of seven are steaks). At the Fourth Avenue location, I liked the green papaya salad, an enormous serving of refreshing flavour. Lobster wings are tasty, although there are gentler ways to handle delicate lobster meat than to mimic chicken wings. The most expensive dish, a 10-ounce New York steak, proved juicy and worth the $28.
I’m not sure why the Halibut Bowl was served in a bowl, as it was fish, rice and salad and would have been easier to eat on a flat plate. The halibut was nice and fresh, though.
As they sailed by my table, I noticed many of the Browns appetizers could win look-alike contests — golden brown, bite-sized edibles. At the Park Royal location, kung fu chicken (golden bite-sizes) came with a too-treacly chili sauce; wok-fried squid was tasty with a fresh ginger relish; the Hollywood burger approached fast-food quality except at twice the price of $9.
I wasn’t enthralled with dessert at either location — a key lime pie was more like custard pie with a tiny bit of tang; a chocolate banana bread cake with vanilla ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce and whisky butter was too dry and miserly with the sauces. The drink menu features smart, affordable wines, daily drink specials and a few celebratory items like the Moet & Chandon and some reserve bottles of wine.
As the crush at the door shows, Browns is successful with its formula of decent enough food, nice digs, servers who show they’ve some training under their belts, and positive vibes that could lift one out of drowsiness or depression.
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BROWNS SOCIAL HOUSE
Two new locations:
2296 West Fourth Ave., 604-733-2420
Village at Park Royal, 900 Main St., West Vancouver, 604-922-9306
www.brownsrestaurantbar.com
Open for lunch and dinner, 7 days a week and brunch on weekends
Overall: 3
Food: 3
Ambience: 3 1/2
Service: 3 1/2
Price $/$$
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
