Small bites in a small restaurant an uneven experience

Mark Laba
Province

YEW YORK TAPAS BAR

Where: 1602 Yew St., Vancouver, www.yewyork.ca

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-730-8870

Drinks: Fully licensed

Hours: Mon.-Fri., 3 p.m.–midnight, Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m.–midnight

– – –

It’s said the camera adds 10 pounds. In the case of this place, it looked like the camera had added an extra 4,000 square feet. At least the website photos portrayed the joint that way but, when Ricky Roulette and I stepped through the doorway and rounded the bar corner, we were stopped short by a room barely big enough to hold a walrus after an all-you-can-eat buffet. In human terms the difference was like the scale between Kate Moss and Dom DeLuise.

Nevertheless, the space is cozy with low-slung modular couches and some tables tucked away hither and thither. A big projection screen was pulled down from the ceiling for the broadcast of a Canucks game.

Large windows give the room added light or, at night, an inky twinkling panorama and an overall sense of airiness and the feeling you’re hanging over an abyss. The kind of place that if you have a nose that whistles, even imperceptibly, everyone will know it.

Ricky Roulette and I plunked down at a table and started with a round of Sleeman’s Cream Ale and a plate of mascarpone-stuffed prawns cloaked in filo pastry and finished with noodlings of tomato cream sauce ($12.50). A very pleasant dish with six good-sized crustaceans that, although a tad overcooked, were saved from extinction by the cheese stuffing, pastry and sauce.

Next up was the antipasto platter ($14.50), a selection of meats, cheeses and bread.

“What’s the difference between antipasto and antipasta?” Ricky Roulette asked me.

“Well, like matter and anti-matter, both are explosive when they converge but the pasto implodes, creating a black hole whereas the antipasta explodes shooting noodles outwards into space.”

“Uh huh.”

The antipasto platter was decked out with brie, Swiss cheese, a small bit of bocconcini, smoked salmon and some Italian-style ham and salami. A plate of bread drizzled with balsamic reduction accompanied the thing.

“So, essentially, an antipasto platter means the kitchen is lazy and you have to assemble your own sandwich,” Ricky Roulette observed.

Everything was tasty in this shlimazel except the bread, which was spongy and devoid of any crustiness. I couldn’t figure why, with the decent ingredients, they would skimp on the bread, which is the building block of this whole shindig.

Finished with the prosciutto and capicollo pizza ($13.50) sporting artichokes, red onion, tomato and mozzarella. They claim it’s a homemade crust and it was OK. The pie, about the size of a small frisbee, was loaded down like a pack mule with toppings. It had a healthy appeal and was at least partially satisfying.

Like the website, what you see may not be what you get. The menu is undergoing revamping, so many items the website boasts are no longer in existence. Still, the taro-root tacos with Dungeness crabmeat looked promising, as did the cheesesteak wrap. No dessert on the premises though and, as Ricky Roulette, a gambling man says, “10-to-one odds when it comes to diners who could sink this ship but the drinkers might add the necessary ballast.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: A tapas lounge shrunk down and looking for an identity.

RATINGS: Food: B-; Service: B; Atmosphere: B

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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

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

 

Thai restaurant’s menu features traditional recipes as well as ostrich, mussels and squid

Alfie Lau
Sun

You know you’re in for a good meal when it takes more than 30 minutes for three people to order five entrees.

That’s the case at the Green Basil Thai Restaurant in Burnaby, where more than 70 dishes featuring choices such as ostrich, duck, squid and New Zealand mussels can be served with curry, noodles or varying degrees of hot chili sauce.

Manager Daniel Chow and chef Ming Zheng have parlayed their decades of experience in Thai restaurants to craft a menu that allows diners to experiment and enjoy a wide variety of Thai dishes.

“We have tried Thai restaurants all across the world, including in Thailand and Hong Kong,” said Chow. “Any time we find something that we like, we’ll put it on the menu and give it a try.”

For example, Chow tried ostrich recently and once he found a reliable and affordable supplier, he couldn’t wait to put it on the menu.

“Ostrich is not as fatty as other white meats and it’s got a really nice taste,” said Chow. “Our customers are really enjoying it.”

Our appetizer was an easy choice: the lettuce wrap with ground ostrich and house green basil ($10.50). The ostrich meat was almost perfectly done, not too spicy and with just enough of a flavour kick. The cool refreshing lettuce was the perfect complement.

Three of our dishes came straight from the Green Basil specialties list — Chow and Zheng’s signature dishes.

These include roasted duck with Thai chili sauce ($11.95); the seafood medley featuring tiger prawns, clams, mussels, scallops, squid and fresh cod ($13.95); and the green beans and prawns with lime leaves, green basil and homemade spicy sauce ($13.95).

No meal is complete without traditional pad Thai served with shrimp, scallops and tamarind sauce ($10.50) and a Thai curry, which for us was the yellow curry paste with pork, carrots, potatoes, pineapple and coconut milk ($11.50).

“The duck is delectable,” said my Irish neighbour, one of my dining partners. His wife couldn’t get enough of the seafood medley, but she had to fight me off for the large New Zealand mussels that put Atlantic mussels to shame.

Surprisingly, my second favourite dish was the pad Thai, perhaps because it was the least spicy dish we ordered. A nice touch was the bean sprouts and peanuts coming on a separate plate for us to spread as we desired.

While not a huge fan of curry, I enjoyed our yellow curry, if only because the pineapple and coconut alleviated some of the spiciness from our seafood dish.

The green beans were perhaps the weakest dish of the night, if only because it didn’t sparkle like the other dishes.

Somewhat surprisingly, the three of us finished all five dishes with enough room for some homemade mango ice cream.

Green Basil has been open since November 2006 and its classy decor goes well with the food. On the weeknight we went, the place was packed with diners young and old.

“It wasn’t easy the first two months but our lunch specials, which are $6.95, brought in a lot of customers and they’ve liked us enough to come back for dinner,” Chow said.

With so many dishes to choose from, Chow was pretty quick when asked which one he likes most.

“You should have tried the chicken with cashew nuts,” Chow said the day after our meal.

“I think that’s one of our most favourite dishes. Next time, you have to order that.”

I have a feeling that may be happening soon because I’ve got another 60-plus dishes to sample.

– – –

GREEN BASIL THAI RESTAURANT

4623 Kingsway, Burnaby

604-439-1919, www.greenbasilthai.com

$50 – $100

Open 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

With 15 screens circling the room, you can fill your plate without missing a goal or touchdown

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Hockey season brings with it the annual hunt for pre-game sustenance. (And some even want food to go with those beers.)

One spot that’s somewhat under the radar is Beatty Street Bar and Grill, one of three food and drink venues in the Georgian Court Hotel. There’s the high-end William Tell, the Bistro at William Tell, and especially suited for for hockey night in Vancouver (or football, or a rock concert for that matter), there’s the bar.

On game or an event night, they fire up the barbecue. For $10.95, you choose two from the offerings of a beef burger, chicken breast burger or prawn skewers and then load up with all-you-can-eat wedge fries, macaroni salad, cole slaw and tossed salad. And of course, all the fixings for the burgers. Now, that’s what I call a big deal.

The menu doesn’t get all pretentious and sticks instead to basic bar food — pizzas, chicken wings, burgers, pastas, salads, panini, sandwiches. It’s a notch above though — after all, it comes from the same kitchen as the William Tell (different section and cooks). Dishes are $9 to $14.

If you plan to watch the game on TV, there are 15 screens circling the room (no big-screen, though) and views from all around. There are nine beers on tap and on Friday and Saturday nights — karaoke! Apparently, karaoke must go on even on game nights (I can only imagine!) and according to one staffer, football fans are louder about voicing their opinions than hockey fans because of amounts of beer consumed.

If you want a little fancier pre-game meal, you might opt for the bistro next door. There, you’re more likely looking at $15 to $22 for an entrée. But I wouldn’t show up with my face painted white and blue and green.

– – –

BEATTY ST. BAR AND GRILL

755 Beatty St., 604-688-3563.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen serves up hearty fare to satisfy a big appetite on a chilly day

Mia Stainsby
Sun

If you’re anything like me, the colder weather sets off a sometimes insatiable hunger. I think it’s the survival instinct kicking in, my body preparing for an ice age. What it needs is a place like Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen to get over this hunger hump.

As the name suggests, the food is Eastern European with sturdy dishes like cabbage rolls, beef stroganoff, sausages, goulash soup, piroshki and burek, a phyllo stack with cheese or meat fillings.

The hard-working Erika Marinovic’s cooking is right up the alley for bottomless appetites. Witness the truckers from across the nation who have heard of her and frequent the place for a good, honest feed.

It’s not just fuel food, though. Marinovic goes the distance to do it right. She makes her own phyllo pastry, saying she won’t use the “frozen stuff from Toronto that everyone else seems to use.” Hers, she says, is thinner and superior.

Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen has become something of a crossroads, attracting various ethnic communities. The Chinese — as well as Spanish, Mexicans and Slavic customers — love her tripe soup. The African Canadian community are taken with her bread, which she bakes daily. “They don’t even speak English but somehow they found out about it.”

At one time in the 1980s, Marinovic used to run a restaurant in Surrey called Mermaid Seafood. She’s working harder than ever now as customers are asking for their own favourites. Borscht is one of them and it will soon be on the menu.

“I don’t try to be over-complicated,” she says. “This is good old-fashioned comfort food like grandma used to make and she didn’t have 100 items on hand to make it.”

As for why it’s called Bernie’s Balkan Kitchen, you might ask why it’s the former owner’s name on the sign rather than her own. I think it should be good old-fashioned “Erika’s Kitchen,” plain and simple, not over-complicated.

– BERNIE’S BALKAN KITCHEN

7340 Kingsway, Burnaby. 604-526-6580. Open 7 days a week for lunch and to 8 p.m. for dinner.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

From the food to decor, the environment is unique

Mark Laba
Province

THE ITALIAN KITCHEN

Where: 1037 Alberni St., Vancouver, website: www.theitaliankitchen.ca

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-687-2858

Drinks: Fully licensed

Hours: Mon.-Fri., lunch 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., dinner, 4:30 p.m.-10-11 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., dinner only from 5 p.m.

– – –

When I was a kid, if you said Italian cooking to me I pictured the guy on the can of Chef Boyardee. Later, my tastes became more refined. Not enough to look confident in dress pants, but enough to bluff my way past a maître’d with a minimum amount of smirking on both our parts.

I still feel out of the big leagues when it comes to the swanky eateries and if I’m always in the kitchen at parties, as the song says, then I pick this kitchen to hang out in.

This place is definitely a party, with an ’80s soundtrack that bounced between Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Billy Idol.

The furnishings have that ’70s rec-room styling, spiffed up as if Hugh Hefner were dropping over for a visit. It makes sense, considering the bold and beautiful hormonal pool present, complete with breast implants and six-packs you could hammer nails with.

White tablecloths and sleek, black seats like you would imagine a supermodel parking her butt on during Milan fashion week dot the room, while dark wood panelling and large sepia-toned rustic photos of Italy act as counterpoint to the contemporary trappings. A second floor houses a second bar with swanky white furnishings and glimmers like a night in Rome with Gina Lollobrigida.

Owned by the Glowbal Restaurant Group, the same folks who brought you Coast, Sanafir, Glowbal Grill and AFTERglow Bar, these people create unique dining environments, kind of like theme parks for the belly and brain.

Peaches and I took seats at the 18-metre-long white marble bar and watched the two women beside us take cellphone photos of each other posing with their heirloom tomato salads. We kicked back with glasses of Dino Illuminati Riparosso, a cherry-saturated red as robust as Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. A definite lip-smacker. Kudos to the bartenders here, who free-pour a nice, hefty glass.

The wine was a good match for our appetizer pizza of burrata cheese, zucchini blossoms, tomatoes and basil ($15). Simplicity itself, but the excellent ingredients, including the creamy burrata with soft centre and mozzarella casing and the delicately flavoured zucchini blossoms, showcased nature’s harmonious balance.

Peaches then took on the incredible spaghetti with truffle cream, Kobe beef meatballs, tomato-garlic confit and ricotta cheese ($25). The price is steep, but one bite flooded the senses with pleasure. The meatballs are as tender as Sophia Loren’s lips and the sauce is pure decadence.

I had the papparadella with lamb sausage, napa cabbage, fingerling potatoes, peperoncino and extra-virgin olive oil to finish it off ($15). An intriguing mix of flavours and textures. Honestly, I wolfed this dish down like Romulus and Remus after skipping lunch.

There’s plenty to enjoy here, from the ravioli filled with Dungeness crab and mascarpone cheese to the chicken satimboca to the crispy Mediterranean bass with spinach and pancetta. Plus grilled tenderloin and side dishes like gorgonzola polenta or asparagus with pecorino zabaglione. And a shlemiel like me felt like Giancarlo Giannini here, even though I still can’t grow a moustache.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Classic Italian gets a revamping with an upscale, yet casual, approach.

RATINGS: Food: A Service: A

Atmosphere: A

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

TS Fourth restaurant from the people behind Glowbal, Coast and Sanafir, Italian Kitchen has some seductive offerings

Mia Stainsby
Sun

All of a sudden, I’m liking Italian food again. Like most spoiled-rotten Vancouver diners, I’m shamelessly promiscuous, and lately, I’ve been having dalliances with Japanese izakaya, rekindled torrid affairs with French bistro and been infatuated by restaurants with great small-plate dining. I’m easily seduced by delectable comfort food, too.

But when presented with a dish like spaghetti with truffle cream and Kobe meatballs, tomato garlic confit and ricotta, how could I resist and how could I not want more of the country where it came from? The new Italian Kitchen is one sexy seducer.

It’s project numero quattro by the folks who run Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar, Coast and Sanafir restaurants — they’re pros and their restaurants figure large in the hipster scene.

Italian Kitchen widens the net a bit. On my visits, yes, there were hipsters displayed prominently in the loud and loungey downstairs area; upstairs, it’s more real people — the middle-aged, families, single diners.

Nonetheless, the place is lively from top to bottom, including the wide-open kitchen downstairs counter. Bulging bowls of bright red tomatoes, roasted potatoes and other foods on the counter stimulate the appetite as you walk in.

The owners brought over lynchpins from Beachhouse at Dundarave Pier in West Van — chef Ryan Gauthier and general manager Robert Byford. Gauthier’s spaghetti dish was thrilling and others are scrumptious to middling. Another dish I really enjoyed was the lamb sausage and chanterelle pizza which came with a surprise last-minute egg on the topping; pierce the yolk and orange spills out (sign of a great egg) like sauce over the pizza. Yu-mmee!

Gnocchi were light puffballs, strewn with wild mushrooms, pinenuts, porcini mushrooms and goat cheese. Another yum. Gorgonzola polenta, a side dish to be ordered as an extra, was light, mousse-y and very enjoyable. An appetizer of zucchini blossoms filled with burrata cheese, drizzled with arugula pesto could have been oily and heavy, but wasn’t.

Most popular, apparently, are the share dishes — the pasta platter ($15 per person); the met platter ($30 per person) and the fish platter ($27 per person).

Some dishes didn’t enthrall: the braised calamari with chorizo, garlic confit and risotto wasn’t memorable; risotto of smoked trout, mascarpone, peas and shaved blue marlin didn’t work at all, the delicate smoked trout buried and suffocating under a mound of risotto and blue marlin braesola topper not quite resonating with it.

Desserts (I tried the tira misu and chocolate ravioli with mascarpone) seemed more like valiant attempts rather than the work of a competent pastry chef.

The service aspect is to be commended. They don’t stint on staff and they’re welcoming and friendly, albeit not entirely competent. Again and again, they served dishes to the wrong side of the table. And of note, salt has now joined the pepper mill march to the table.

“Himalayan salt?” they ask holding a pink rock and grinder. My feeling has always been, it’s the chef’s job to season the dish with salt and pepper. Salting is one of the most important and difficult aspects of cooking and can make or break a dish.

The wine list is big on Italy, especially the reds; if you want to match by the course, there’s a generous selection by the glass and carafe.

One thing, though. What’s the urinal doing in the women’s washroom? I spun around and left only to see the figure with the pointy dress on the door. Is it perhaps a tranny-friendly zone?

ITALIAN KITCHEN

Overall Rating 4

Food Rating 4

Ambience Rating 4

Service Rating 4

Price $$

1037 Alberni St., 604-687-2859, www.theitaliankitchen.ca

Open for lunch and dinner, Monday to Friday; dinner only, Saturday and Sunday.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Team of judges taste-test the city’s best, awarding 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters on West Fourth with the annual Krups Kup of Excellence

Joanne Sasvari
Sun

Things are percolating on Vancouver‘s always stimulating coffee scene.

“You’re very, very fortunate in Vancouver. You’re definitely the most accelerated coffee culture in Canada,” said Raffi Kouyoumdjian of Krups, the coffee equipment company.

Just days after a Vancouverite — Michael Yung of Park Royal’s Caffe Artigiano — won the Canadian National Barista Championship in Toronto, Kouyoumdjian was in town for the third annual Krups Kup of Excellence.

This year’s winner is a place that’s so new, the paint has barely dried on its walls.

“I’m very appreciative of the fact [that we won], especially since I think it was our fifth day of business,” said Vince Piccolo, president of 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters on West Fourth Avenue.”The café is still not even completed.”

The Krups Kup is held each year in cities across Canada “to educate consumers and support independents.”

A team of judges comprising sommeliers, chefs and media (including this writer) travelled around the city, visiting cafes from North Vancouver to Commercial Drive to Kitsilano.

The day began at the Wedgwood Hotel with a tutorial on coffee tasting.

“I parallel coffee to wine. Just as there are different grapes, there are different beans. The analogy of tasting is very similar,” Kouyoumdjian explained.

We would be tasting espresso because it is the purest form of coffee.

“It really is the root of all coffee beverages,” he said.

Each cafe would be judged on its appearance, friendliness and knowledge of its staff, presentation of the coffee and, of course, the coffee itself.

The coffee should be a reddish hazelnut colour, he said, with a froth — called crema — that’s fairly thick and does not dissipate when stirred with a spoon. “If it leaves a big black hole, it’s under-extracted,” he said.

Espresso is “under-extracted” when the hot water passes too rapidly through the coffee, resulting in a pale, watery espresso.

If it’s over-extracted, it’ll have a pungent, burnt taste, with a thin, dark crema sometimes marred with white streaks.

“It should taste bittersweet. It should not taste burned,” Kouyoumdjian added. “It should appeal to all your senses: the smell, sight, even the sound of the cafe.”

We began our tour of Vancouver cafes amid the bustle of the busy Caffe Artigiano on Hornby Street, continued to the candy box charm of Thomas Haas patisserie in North Vancouver, had a taste of old-school coffee culture at Continental Cafe on Commercial Drive and savoured Wicked, home to Canada’s second-place barista, Cady Wu.

49th Parallel was our last stop.

Where other cafes were functional, this one was simply beautiful — all cool modern design with turquoise and chocolate décor elements, soaring ceilings and even an artist-designed espresso machine.

And the coffee was remarkable, as it should be. After all, Piccolo was the founder of Caffe Artigiano, which he sold last October to concentrate on the roasting company he’d started with his brother Mike.

The brothers will only have the one cafe, at least for now, but it’s already proven to be a pretty special place.

“We just wanted to focus on the coffee and make sure you had the best coffee around,” Piccolo said.

It seems he succeeded.

– The Vancouver winner of the Krups Kup of Excellence, 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, is at 2152 West 4th Ave., 604-420-4901, www.49thparralelcoffeeroasters.com. The other national winners are: Dark Horse Espresso Bar in Toronto, Toi & Moi Cafe in Montreal and Bumpy’s Café in Calgary. For more information, visit www.krupscoffee.ca.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Owners Abdel Elatouabi and Leo Fouad have conjured up a bit of Marrakech or Casablanca in dining haven in Gastown

Mia Stainsby
Sun

LA MARRAKECH MOROCCAN BISTRO

52 Alexander St., 604-688-3714. Open for lunch and dinner, Monday to Friday; dinner from 5:30 on Saturday.

Overall: 3 1/2

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 3

Service: 4

Price: $$

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

– – –

When the belly dancer approached, all a-jiggle, my husband pleaded urgently: “Trade places with me.”

I didn’t and she pursued and there he sat, a jaunty veil thrown over his shoulders, vociferously resisting entreaties to dance.

“C’mon! You’ve played to bigger audiences,” I hissed, referring to his abduction onto the Cirque de Soleil stage. I know belly dancers are part of Moroccan culture but this crowd wasn’t buying in. They ignored the dancer and the otherwise great ambience at La Marrakech Moroccan Bistro in Gastown.

Yup. Another great little food spot in Gastown (add to Jules, Boneta, So:cial of late) and we loved it despite the belly dancer (albeit a good one) and the Mad Max social scene on East Hastings that we wove through to get there. The restaurant, by contrast, is a cocoon of warmth and hospitality.

Owners Abdel Elatouabi (former owner of Bravo Bistro on Denman Street) and Leo Fouad have conjured up a bit of Marrakech or Casablanca in the former Jewel of India space.

Servers, dressed in traditional jabadors and fez, approach with elaborate handwashing gear (and sprinkle rosewater on your hands as you leave). The lights are low; Moroccan music fills the womb-like dining room. And a detail I appreciated — the cutlery didn’t go skateboarding down the slope of my plate smack-dab into the food as it often does these days.

The menu features the kind of dishes Elatouabi (the chef) cooks for his family, the dishes he learned from his mother and father, both food lovers. Appetizers run from $7 to $16 and mains are $15 to $25.

Couscous and tajine (stew) are what people know best of Moroccan cuisine, and you’ll find those here. But first, don’t miss Les Salades de Fez, a triplet of salads, including zaaluk (roasted eggplant), taktouka (grilled peppers) and matisha khiare (tomato cucumber). For a smaller refreshing starter, the golden beet salad in rosewater and pomegranate vinaigrette with pine nuts and goat cheese is tasty. Or for something more substantial, the bastilla d’djaj (braised chicken in saffron broth with almonds and orange blossom honey in phyllo-like pastry) and bastilla b’diala (marinated, dry-aged oxtail, braised with Moroccan spices and dried fruit on pastry) offer delicious tastes of Morocco.

I much preferred the stewy dishes to the more lightly sauced meat and fish. K’sksou royale (braised short ribs, vegetables, raisins over saffron) was tender and delicious and la casserole d’essaouira, with ling cod, mussels, prawns, scallops and merguez sausage in saffron tomato broth featured fresh, nicely handled seafood.

However, I wasn’t as keen about the pan-seared halibut with chermoula (overcooked, and the sauce was too light and thin for the dense fish) and while pan-seared duck breast with apricots and pistachios and carrot harissa sauce sounds like it’s full of flavour, it wasn’t.

For dessert, the m’hancha (pastry with almonds, orange blossom honey) was fine but I loved the accompanying fresh nougat and would have been happy were that the centrepiece. A matcha-flavoured financier with chantilly cream, raspberry sauce and pistachio praline was not remarkable.

What surprised us, though, was the Moroccan wine on offer (Bernard Megrez Kahina syrah grenache) with a concentrated flavour of black cherries. It was delicious. And to finish, you’ve got to try the lovely tea of crushed mint leaves (several varieties) and green tea.

 

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Sushiyama has expanded next door and the extra space is being gobbled up by customers

Mia Stainsby
Sun

SUSHIYAMA

371 East Broadway, 604-872-0053. Open for lunch and dinner; closed on Sunday.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

I’ve meant to write about Sushiyama for the longest time but it looks like they’re doing just fine without me.

Since I visited last in early summer, they’ve doubled their space, taking over a store next door, and still, the place is full. Now, at least, people don’t have to cool their heels wishing diners would hurry up and leave.

It’s a husband and wife operation (Francesca and Alex Shin) and they offer reasonably priced but fresh and tasty fare; the sushi is the mainstay.

They have about a half dozen specials made with fish from Japan — usually in the form of sashimi (blue fin tuna, red tuna, mackerel, baby yellow tail when I visited last) as well as a cooked appetizer. A sashimi plate with four pieces of fish is a modest $4.25.

There’s a long list of maki sushi but nothing gets out of hand when the chefs try something different — none of those overloaded rolls, which are so messy and unappetizing. One I liked was Sakura Roll, which had “soy paper” instead of the usual nori envelope; inside I found cucumber, shrimp, carrots flavoured in ponzu. Very nice.

A couple of others I wolfed down were the Super Calamari (squid, crab, avocado) and Mango Mango (mango, of course, tuna, lettuce and cucumber). The sashimi special that day was dazzlingly fresh — no complaints.

I like to try tempura at a new Japanese restaurant because good tempura batter is the mark of a good chef. Here it was light and crispy, as it should be.

The restaurant attracts a varied customer base. Near my table were three generations (including an infant) of a Japanese family; a young punk couple; two young women; and a corporate couple.

“When expanded, customer happy,” says Francesca, “because waiting, 20, 30 minutes.” Such patience says there’s food worth waiting for inside.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007