Let them rustle you up some truly awe-inspiring dishes . . . with punch
Mark Laba
Province
At Grub, the menu offers a variety of thin-crust pizzas, but the best choices can be found on the blackboard, with its scrawl of fresh offerings every day. Photograph by : Gerry Kahrmann, The Province
Review
Grub
Where: 4328 Main St., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-876-8671
Drinks: Fully licensed.
Hours: Tues.-Sun., 5 p.m.-late; closed Mon.
It’s hard for a man without a 10-gallon hat, spurs on his heels and sagebrush in his moustache to actually say, “I’m gonna rustle up some grub.” Well, I think it’s high time to bring the tradition back, although maybe with a five-gallon instead of a 10-gallon hat, so as not to look so conspicuous. In my case all my 10-gallon (or should I say 3.785 litre) hats were left at the hat check at Al’s Possum Shack and Discotheque and I’d lost the stubs so all I had for grub-rustling was my Arrow Mach II poly-synthetic blend shirt. Which fitted the bill just fine when I stepped through the door of this new eatery, where the hip, minimal design and modular ’70s curvaceous plastic chairs matched the sleekness of the Mach II’s styling. I was like an otter in water once I fished the mothballs out of the breast pocket.
Pale wood tables, a bright-yellow bench seat running the length of one wall and unusual wallpaper with a pattern of small repeating doodles that reminded me of the hallucinations I once had when I accidentally OD’d on Neo Citran evoke both a contemporary and retro-modern design. The doodles appeared to incorporate a microwave oven, a cow and other things I couldn’t make out.
As eclectic as the surroundings, the menu is a perfect balance between comfort and creativity and the cocktail list positively old-fashioned as are the alcohol-injected punch bowls you can order for your table, guaranteed to enliven any gathering.
The key to this place is the daily fresh sheet, which is the real mainstay of the menu. Dishes change daily and the blackboard scrawls offer up meat, fish and veggie options. Nevertheless, there is one stable menu that offers a variety of thin-crust pizzas, a few salads, a charcuterie plate with meats and cheeses and a sharing plate of excellent bread, hummus and an olive tapenade. But the fresh sheet is where it’s at.
Peaches and I began with the incredible Grub Chopped Salad ($9), a permanent resident here, so have no fear of availability. It’s salads like this that make a nation great. No frou-frou Eurotrash shrubbery that’ll wilt if you look at it the wrong way — just good hefty romaine, cabbage, crispy bacon, rosemary-dusted ham, avocado, Roquefort cheese and devilled egg.
For mains, I picked jerk marlin with a tropical fruit salad, homemade coconut corn bread and candied yams ($16). Magnificent with a jerk spicing that had a slow-building heat, it’s like a tropical sunrise that takes its time to unleash its subtle powers. Paired with the sweetness of the yams and the cool bites of mango and pineapple, it was like my tastebuds were shooting the breeze in a hammock strung between palm trees on a secluded beach.
Peaches opted for the unbelievably good cumin-crusted rack of lamb with a wonderfully creamy mushroom and roasted red pepper risotto ($16). Lamb was perfectly cooked to that pinkish hue that all lamb lovers covet and the addition of a kumquat reduction for dipping lent a sweetness to the savoury meat.
A homemade dessert called a Boston Mini ($7) built from sponge cake layered with vanilla bean custard and topped with strawberries and chocolate sauce was a great finale. I would’ve like the sponge cake a touch lighter and the chocolate sauce warmer, but why quibble with such trivial matters when this is awe-inspiring grub-rustling for the 21st century.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Cooking finesse without being fussy, and creative without losing the comfort factor.
RATINGS: Food: A Service: A- Atmosphere: A
© The Vancouver Province 2008
