The menu will focus on flavourful comfort foods when the kitchen is fired up in a few months
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Sebastien Le Goff, consultant for the Moda Hotel Group, stands above one of the distinctive chairs in the Uva Wine Bar. Photograph by : Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun
Uva Wine Bar is a work in progress but already, it feels as smooth as the polished marble of the bistro tabletops here. It’s a watering hole for sophisticated sorts who appreciate affordable, smartly chosen wines; throw in some smartly chosen staff, too, and it’s a real pleasure to spend an hour or two, sipping and snacking.
I always appreciate good-quality sound systems; here, it’s great and adds to a laid-back, pampered experience. My partner and I could have taken a shift as servers as we looked like them in black and denim.
The guiding hand behind Uva is Sebastien Le Goff, the guy with the heavy French (Brittany) accent. Most recently, he was general manager at Lumiere but he’s worked for the venerable Oliver Bonacini group in Toronto. He’s a thoroughbred when it comes to understanding hospitality and his presence keeps the room from slipping into a plain old bar.
Uva is Italian for grape and soon the Italian theme will spread from Uva to the yet unnamed, unopened trattoria in Moda Hotel, the remake of the Dufferin Hotel, shaken free of its tired datedness. As well, a sports bar will soon open, with no shortage of big screens for European football, rugby, cricket and, when they’re playing, the Canucks.
The missing element is the kitchen. Right now, Uva, a room that has been stripped back to its 1906 marble and tile and wood, is all about wine and charcuterie. The food scenester’s excitement over charcuterie is unveiling talent that’s operated under the radar, like the brothers who run Moccia Italian Market, where Le Goff buys his air-dried, cured meats (www.moccia.ca).
Uva offers a selection from Moccia’s as well as three cheese plates with condiments. Le Goff is going the extra distance to get his hands on great Italian cheeses as they aren’t found in abundance in Vancouver. Currently, there are six Italian cheeses and three B.C.
Plates of three cheeses are $16; three meats also ring in at $16 — steep when there’s very little labour involved in preparation and the servings are high-end, meaning ultra-thinly sliced meats and small portions of cheese. At the same time, the food is part of a well-orchestrated boutiquey experience, including wines selected by a very wine-savvy Le Goff — so I wasn’t complaining. Rounding off the cheeses and meat, there’s a salad (arugula with bresaola and parmesan), oysters on the half shell and olive mixes.
Wines are heavily tilted to Italy and I’d suggest you consult Le Goff for help in that direction — he’s the lean, compact one with glasses. To start you off, he suggests Feudo d’Elimi, Catarratto di Sicilia 2006, a white for $6 a glass ($31 for a bottle, “refreshing for spring and summer.” For a red, he suggests Tenuta del Portale Starsa, Basilicata 2005, at $9 a glass ($41 by the bottle), “a bit rustic, partially fermented in oak, low alcohol, beautiful, earthy and dry cherry flavour.”
There are about 20 wines by the glass, including a couple of bubblies; wines by the bottle are divided into old world and new world reds and whites. “It’s a fairly small wine list,” he says. “I’m not going after a big list.”
The kitchen is eight to 10 weeks from completion and when it’s fired up, the Uva menu will focus on flavourful comfort food — stews, panini, soups. “The kind of food that reminds me of places in Milan, Barcelona and Paris,” says Le Goff, “the kind of places grandparents would take you to, with really good ingredients and suppliers to work with.”
But with or without the back-up of hearty food, Uva does the wine bar genre perfectly.
UVA WINE BAR
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 3 1/2
Ambience: 3 1/2
Service: 4
Price: $
Moda Hotel, 900 Seymour St., 604-632-9560. Open 5 p.m. to 1:45; to midnight on Sunday.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
