Four Seasons eatery serves aged Alberta prime beef cooked on an infrared grill
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Knee-deep in his work is Scott Dolbee, executive shef at Tour Seasons Whistler, were the restaurant, Fifty Two 80 Bistro, will be changing to a steak house.
AT A GLANCE
Fifty Two 80 Bistro
4591 Blackcomb Way, Whistler.
604-935-3400.
fourseasons.com/whistler
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: f3 1/2
Ambience: f4
Service: ff3 1/2 Pr ice: $$$
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
When I reviewed Fifty Two 80 Bistro in the Four Seasons Resort Hotel in Whistler six years ago, it shone in its newness. It flexed its youthful muscle and disarmed me.
I got carried away, with good reason, and used adjectives such as gorgeous, artful and sublime in describing the food.
There’ve been a couple of changing of the guards in the kitchen since Jason McLeod revved up that kitchen. Just before the Olympics this year, the menu shifted its target to a more carnivorous market and pitched itself as a modern steak house.
Soon a news release will announce a name change to reflect the ode to steaks — quality steaks at that. Executive chef Scott Thomas Dolbee sources Alberta prime grade, aged 40 days (all the better for tenderizing and flavour), and he’s installed an infrared grill.
“It cooks the meat consistently, perfectly and really, really quickly,” says Dolbee.
The menu isn’t as ambitious or creative or refined as it once was, so it’s disappointing in that way, but the quality remains, and some servings, I found, are outsized.
Bone-in braised Angus beef shortribs were actually boneless, but the meat was succulent and had great flavour. I suppose when it comes to steak houses, it’s not out of the question to see plenty of meat on the plate. There was, I’d say, about 10 ounces, lapped in a very good sauce.
On the topic of sauces, it’s a bit of a flavour cacophony. You choose one of six rubs and then six sauces are delivered with the meal.
I ordered B.C. spot prawns, and these beautiful creatures demand little more than air kisses of sauce. I chose a rub I thought would go with seafood — lemon Buddha rub — and added creme fraiche bearnaise sauce. The prawns were like ballet dancers forced to tango. When it comes to the seafood, especially, the kitchen should do the layering and composing of flavours.
Both starters we tried were more interesting than the usual on a steak house menu. Both the wild mushroom agnolotti carbonara with pea shoots, pecorino cheese and prosciutto and a house-cured salmon “pastrami” with roasted beets, were finely prepared.
The meal starts to add up as veggies and starch must be ordered separately at about $6 a pop. That said, a poached egg and grilled asparagus side dish was great. A perfect, round egg atop the asparagus, spilled out a yolky sauce, once punctured. Fingerling potato and bacon lyonnaise was a great sidekick to the meat dish.
A dessert we shared was meant to be a reformed black forest cake, but in my opinion, it went awry. It was a 14-layer (including the chocolate buttercream icing layers) chocolate cake with a dollop of cherry sorbet and another of whipped cream. The cake was way too big and heavy, especially as it was separated from the lusciousness of whipped cream and kirsch and saucy cherries.
The wine list is substantive, with lots of offerings by the glass, and the service comes with cheerful chit-chat, menu comprehension and a smile.
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