Two Chefs and a Table provides a fishbowl of comfort against the harsh reality outside
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Two Chefs and a Table owners Karl Gregg (left) and Allan Bosomworth offer duck comfit salad and apple grilled pork chop, new potatoes, beet greens, baby carrot, fennel and apple cider jus. Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
TWO CHEFS AND A TABLE
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 44
Ambience: 3 1/2
Service: 3 1/2
Price: $$
305 Alexander St., 778-233-1303. www.twochefsandatable.com. Open for lunch Monday to Friday; brunch Saturday and Sunday; dinner, Wednesday to Saturday.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
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I felt like an intruder, guilty of a B&E. Two Chefs and a Table is a charming little bistro-style restaurant that just opened with a solid menu of good-value meals. It’s funky and warm and friendly and it’s right in the middle of edgy Railtown, on Alexander Street, where the sidewalks are the living rooms and bedrooms of the homeless and where, as we arrived, an elderly man was being treated by paramedics on the street. On a pole outside the restaurant, bylaw signs instruct people not to camp or set up tents or sell merchandise.
Two Chefs and a Table, though a tiny space, has expansive windows, so you are in a fishbowl of middle-class comfort against the hard bite of reality outside. This is bushwhacking into virgin restaurant territory.
The tiny building was previously owned by Sean Heather, of the Irish Heather, Shebeen and Salt. He was going to open a place called Pepper until he got busy moving the Irish Heather and Shebeen across the street into new digs. (Salt, by the way, is plunk in the middle of edgy Blood Alley and happens to be a raging success.)
Anyway, back to Two Chefs. It’s open for lunch, brunch and dinner and the principals also cater.
I’ve only tried dinner and, as I said, I noted the great value, particularly the five-course prix fixes, which change regularly and cost $36 to $44, depending on what’s on offer. (Prices tend to rise with fall and winter dishes.) A la carte mains I tried were $18 and $22.
The owner/chefs are Karl Gregg (who cooked at the Red Door) and Al Bosomworth (who cooked at Feenie’s), and I’d say their food is fine bistro. Flavours are clean, plating is carefully designed against a palette of white porcelain and the flavours come home.
My fish chowder featured fresh halibut and salmon; their house-cured salmon (a little chewier than others I’ve had) was very good; Polderside chicken didn’t require much, as its flavour speaks for itself; Hecate Strait halibut seared with miso looked great and I enjoyed it, but a guy might have been left wanting more.
My partner ordered the prix fixe twice and there were no repeat dishes, except for dessert, in visits a week apart. The first time he was treated to a shaved asparagus with Grana Padano (cheese) salad; pasta with fresh prawns; vine-ripened tomato and goat cheese salad; duck rillette with berry compote and, to finish, a soft cheesecake.
On another evening, he coursed through roasted beet salad with orange and goat cheese; beef tenderloin bolognese pasta; halibut and cod cakes with dill vinaigrette; apple-grilled pork chop with veggies and fennel apple cider jus and, once again, soft cheesecake for dessert.
Desserts are thin on the ground. There was only one, both times we visited. There was one server covering the 27-seat restaurant and he wins a Mr. Congenialty honourable mention. A cheerful disposition goes a long way on the floor.
The wine list is an ever-changing tableau as it conforms to new menus.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
