The Cascade Room’s a great spot for a drink and a nibble but the food’s uneven and more quality control is required
Mia Stainsby
Sun
The bar at the busy Cascade Room on Main Street. Arrive early or be prepared to wait in line. Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
While having dinner at The Cascade Room, I phoned some friends we’d be picking up at the airport. “Are you at a party?!” they bellowed so I could hear.
I might as well have been. This place opened with a bang. A couple of weeks later, the place was packed by 6 p.m. By 6:30 there was a lineup out the door; by 7:30 when I left, about 20 people were on the sidewalk waiting for a table. Instant party! The no-reservations policy adds to (or does it create?) the pile-up.
It must be an ineffable je ne sais quoi underlying its success because quite honestly, the food was erratic — some dishes were very good, others were downright disappointing. But most of what I tried over two visits was quite unremarkable. Were there a lot of looky-loos? Was it the great prices ($12 to $14 for mains)? Will the ardour cool? Was it the inviting music (The Clash, for example) and casual ambience, a vibe for drinks and meeting friends?
Or does it have to do with the owners’ hip pheromones — the quartet run the successful Habit restaurant next door and made a lot of friends when they ran Tangerine in Kitsilano. Bartender Nick Divine also brought over friends from the swish George Lounge in Yaletown.
When I asked why they’d cannibalize Habit by opening right next door, the answer was sensible: “The owner was getting offers from other people and we thought if someone’s going to compete with Habit, it might as well be us,” says Wendy Nicolay, who co-owns both places with Nigel Pike, Robert Edmonds and brother David Nicolay. The latter two also run interior design firm Evoke and of course, they’re the minds behind the interior space here.
Frankly, I’m surprised at the uneven food. Chef Travis Williams did a fine job when at Adessa, a contemporary Italian spot in Kitsilano. I last tried his food at LK Dining in Yaletown where he’d lurched into Latin food and he’s also cooked at Bluewater Grill and Cincin.
The Cascade Room is meant to be casual — the menu features some appetizers, pizzas, pasta, sandwiches as well as lamb curry, meat loaf and halibut with chips. There were only two dishes (appies) I really enjoyed — a spiced calamari dish and steamed mussels in lager with double-smoked bacon, tomatoes and frites.
A green salad was fresh and crisp with delicious candied pecans and goat’s cheese but ruined by a too-tart vinaigrette; a tortilla pie was unremarkable; mushroom fettuccine needed more seasoning and flavour; prosciutto pizza had a thin, tough, cracker-like crust, a sad excuse for pizza crust; the halibut and chips featured a very nice halibut (the batter was anemically unappetizing but the chips were very nice); grilled lamb sirloin sandwich featured a very tasty curried tomato chutney but the lamb wasn’t exciting.
Desserts were disappointing. We were told the chocolate tart was light and mousse-like but it was dense as chocolate truffle and was weak on chocolate flavour; an “apple crisp” was really a stuffed baked apple, only the apple was still too hard.
That’s not a good batting average. Some dishes can be rescued with easy fixes but there’s obviously got to be a lot more quality control in the kitchen.
Servers are super friendly and quite honestly, I think it’s a great spot for a drink and a nibble but it’s not somewhere I’d go with a great big hunger for great food.
THE CASCADE ROOM
Overall: 3
Food: 2 1/2
Ambience: 3 1/2
Service: 3 1/2
2616 Main St., 604-709-8456. Open for dinner seven nights a week and soon will be serving lunch, as well.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
