Indie music on the side adds to the relaxed mood
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Greedy Pig co-owner Allison McKinnon with a glass of wine. Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
It has the ring of gourmandizing, being scolded and taunted all at the same time. Greedy Pig is a friendly neighbourhood noshery, a wonderful blend of great indie music (live as well as recorded), delicious comfort foods and easygoing attitude.
Patrons are models of street hip. The guys are in an assortment of hats — a toque, a backward newsboy cap, porkpie. There’s a loud, striped necktie knotted loosely around someone’s neck. And over there, a Cowichan sweater. And maybe not such a great trend, if it is one, is the pipe-smoking (goin‘ on outdoors) — like 1950s dads.
I mentioned the music. Owners Allison and Cameron McKinnon not only are vets in the restaurant industry working in various capacities in the front-of-house at Brix and Il Giardino, they’re also musicians. She sings and plays guitar and piano. He plays multiple instruments in a rock band called Old Ripper. To move along the relaxed mood, there’s a tight but nice selection of beers and wines, too.
From the food perspective, first of all, Greedy Pig offers a nice selection of charcuterie plates. Not too long ago, the idea of salami and cheese wasn’t exactly a gourmet turn-on, at least in North America. All of a sudden, it’s cool — or should I say, hot.
It started with great product from local companies like Oyama Sausage on Granville Island Public Market and JNZ on Commercial Drive and took off from there. Chefs began plating them temptingly (cut transparently thin) and serving them with scrumptious cheeses and condiments. Restaurateur Sean Heather was first off the blocks with his inspired charcuterie love-in called Salt; edgily, he located his contemporary homage to cured meats and cheeses and wine just off needle-strewn Blood Alley. Other restaurants followed suit but not in quite the dramatic fashion; for instance, Soma, off Main, offers a nice charcuterie but it’s an option.
So, too, at Greedy Pig. It offers an $18 Butcher’s Plate, where you select two cheeses and three cured meats that come with salsa verde, pear rum compote, grapes and baguette slices. There’s also a foie gras paté plate, a Bresaola plate, a country paté plate ($10 to $16).
But there’s more than cured meats and cheeses. The kitchen is not much larger than a chef’s wing span, so there’s not a lot of fancy cooking going on. However, the humble fare of panini, soups, salads and stews is affordable and made with local ingredients.
The McKinnons had friend Sean Sylvestre, who until recently was sous chef at Cioppino’s, develop the menu and then hired former Cioppino prep cook Neil Hiltz to man the kitchen.
I tried a couple of panini — duck confit with sour cherries and bitter greens and the pulled pork with fennel and apple slaw. Both were delicious. The Prairie Stew, a long-simmered beef stew in dark stout, had lots of tender meat and deep, rich flavour. There’s only one dessert so far, a rum rice pudding that was tasty enough to order twice. There will be more desserts soon.
Allison, who’s in charge of the wines, has put together a nice selection and the mark-ups are lower than average. The Caymus Conundrum, I found, is delicious and a great cheese pleaser.
If there’s improvement required, it’s the lengthy wait for food. We seemed to be the only table waiting and yet it took an inordinate amount of time to deliver the simple-to-prepare dishes.
THE GREEDY PIG
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 3 1/2
Ambience: 3 1/2
Service: 3 1/2
Price: $/$$
307 West Cordova St., 604-669-4991. www.thegreedypig.ca. Open Tuesday to Saturday, noon to midnight.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
