And some amazing small plates of food to match

Mark Laba
Province

KINGYO

Where: 871 Denman St., Vancouver

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-608-1677

Drinks: Fully licensed

Hours: 5:30 p.m. to midnight every day

– – –

Izakaya restaurants are fast becoming the new Starbucks of Vancouver. There seems to be one going up on every corner and it won’t be long before banana bread and frappacinos are replaced by green tea and blowtorched mackerel. Hearing about this new joint and its stylish leanings I paid a visit with my brother The Professor and his wife, Mrs. Brains and Beauty for company.

The joint was jumping to say the least and the interior design is pretty eye-catching. A small bar is covered with a roof of ceramic tiling with aged post-and-beam ornamental lumber that seems removed from the Forbidden City. A long communal bench in the centre of the restaurant is divided down the middle by a tall grove of live bamboo, brushed concrete walls add an industrial touch to the feudal Japan stylings, tables are built of ancient doors and traditional Japanese widow screens get a sleek black modern update.

Plenty of alluring libations for sipping, from inventive cocktails to premium hot or cold sake. All go well with the small-plate menu or Japanese tapas as we now call it. The back of the menu delivers a small treatise on salt, this place utilizing three types: from Utah, Himalayan crystal salt and a sun- dried Japanese sea salt.

We began with a daily fresh sheet offering of tuna sashimi ($11.80), the slippery critters a voluptuous deep red and the soft texture of Rita Hayworth’s lips, all elegantly draped over cubes of ice and surrounded by a tumbleweed of daikon radish strands. Needless to say, the presentation, like all dishes here, was beautiful. Oh yeah, the fish was good, too.

Ms. B&B glanced around at the trendy Japanese youth chowing down. “Amazing style. Retro meets hip hop mixed with grunge. It’s like Grandmaster Flash remixing Kurt Cobain while wearing Hello Kitty sweat pants.”

Next up, grilled black cod with miso ($9.80), a tasty dish with the salty miso invigorating the buttery fish but a tiny portion.

Then it was grilled yellowtail cheek ($7.80) simply served with salt. “Yikes,” The Professor said looking at the dish. “This thing looks like they went out and found the jaw of a pterodactyl.” It really did look prehistoric with a couple of big fins sticking out but with a great salt-coated skin and altogether delicious.

Onward to the fantastic Stone Unagi Bowl ($8.80) with grilled eel and pickles on rice, served at the table in a sizzling stone bowl over which the waitress poured egg so that it cooked on the spot. Amazing flavours in this dish as well as with the grilled mackerel ($7.80) done up with lemon, dill, onions, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and soya sauce for a kind of Japanese-style mackerel with a Mediterranean twist. Finished off with the ebi tempura rice ball ($6.80), three portions consisting of a rice ball with prawn tempura nestled on top and capped with salmon roe, served on a square of seaweed. You simply wrap the seaweed around the whole shlimazel, pick it up and pop it in your mouth. Like a Japanese taco.

This place begs a return visit with dishes like the ebi chili pita sandwich, grilled pork cheek and cream crab cake beckoning to me. And when Starbucks starts serving a beef tongue frappacino, I’ll be the first one in line.

THE BOTTOM LINE

All of God’s creatures beautifully laid out for eating.

Grade: Food: A-; Service: A; Atmosphere: A+

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

One couple was so impressed, they took a photo of a dish they particularly liked

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Most people don’t obsess about the food they’re eating at restaurants. Unlike me, they barely comment on it, the flavours of their own lives being much more exciting than mine, obviously. It’s not that I spend the whole evening eavesdropping, but my ears are like radar to key food words.

Interestingly, at Fuel, we were bracketed by tables of diners who spent the entire meal kibbitzing about their food and one couple took a photo of a dish they were particularly keen about. Now that’s a sure sign of something extraordinary happening on the plate.

For me, Fuel is all-around fabulous. The food is utterly divine, servers are casual but well-seasoned and confident and a sommelier elevates the experience with his wine knowledge.

I was impressed to see he doesn’t upsell; his recommendation was actually one of the lower-priced wines and it was perfect with my dish. And there’s no purse-lipped formality — my jeans and motorcycle jacket fit right in. (I think.)

And I like the fact that, unlike in hot downtown restaurants, there are no Paris Hilton carbon copies here. It’s strictly a more settled Kits crowd. Staff recognizes return visits and remembers details.

Prices, for the exquisite food, are reasonable. Mains run from $25 to $34. Owners Robert Belcham, the chef, and Tom Doughty, sommelier and front of house guy, went for a small but elite crew in the kitchen. Instead of hiring a bunch of line cooks, they have half the number of experienced chefs who can work faster and smarter.

The room is streamlined and simple and modern. The entire kitchen is open for the eyes to devour, vis a vis the bar or from the street as chefs do prep work at the window. His background includes a stint at the spectacularly famous French Laundry in the Napa Valley. Most recently, he and Doughty were at C and Nu restaurants.

Belcham conducts the food like a maestro, controlling and balancing flavours and textures. It’s ultra fine cooking without being so sculptural, you hate to eat it. A simple pumpkin soup impressed the heck out of me. He extracts fresh, natural flavour by juicing the vegetable and using minimal heat.

In a bit of theatrics, the soup is poured atop a luscious seared scallop at the table and sprinkled with candied sunflower seeds.

Sidestripe prawns with Monterey squid and housemade chorizo featured angelically tender prawns; the onion consomme with smoked Spanish paprika and manchego cheese revs you up gently for the main act; lemon and parsley risotto came with an exclamation of beautiful smoked albacore tuna perched plateside; rainbow trout is beautifully buttery; Fraser Valley lamb couldn’t have been more succulent. A two-mushroom salad with poached egg is a tribute to a perfect tasting egg. The secret’s in the seasoning.

The pastry chef (formerly worked at C and Lumiere) is doing a great job, too. The fromage frais cheesecake with clementine sorbet and litchi liqueur humiliates most other cheesecakes.

Diners can opt for prix fixe menus — four courses for $59, five courses for $69 and six for $79, not bad deals at all.

Our server certainly knew how to win friends and influence tips — calling me “mademoiselle,” when I should be “madam.” He seemed to enjoy speaking in future tense

when presenting dishes. “It will have sidestrip shrimp . . . It will be braised . . . .”

Servers walk tall and proud and on delivering a dish or wine, slide behind the back in a Jeeves-like posture.

Doughty isn’t looking for wine awards with hundreds of cellared bottles. Instead, he moves it along with the menu, bringing in different wines to go with each dish. “My job is to find good value,” he says. “At Fuel, every other person asks for a recommendation or pairing.” His list is written in ascending order of price.

At meal’s end, we were munching on a plate of mignardise the kitchen sends out (passion fruit gelee, anise truffle, caramel with sea salt, coconut macaroon in this case).

“It’s nice to have a meal that affirms your faith in food,” my partner so rightly said, savouring the shock of flavour in the gelee.

– – –

FUEL

Overall: Rating 4

Food: Rating 4

Ambience: Rating 4

Service: Rating 4

Price $$$

1944 West Fourth Ave., 604-288-7905. Open for lunch and dinner.

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

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Freshly steamed crab, exquisite jasmine duck among Chinese dishes done right at New Westminster eatery

Alfie Lau
Sun

As a Chinese-Canadian, I rarely go out for Chinese food because, quite frankly, my mother’s cooking has spoiled me.

I know what good chicken chow mein or properly cooked seafood should taste like and I won’t stand for substandard Chinese fare.

So when a colleague suggested that I try the Dragon Palace Chinese Restaurant in New Westminster, I figured the only true way to gauge its food quality was to bring my mother along for her expert opinion.

I also brought along my older sister and her husband, who have a similarly high set of standards.

As we entered the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised by how upscale the dining area was. Dragon Palace definitely had that new feel about it, having just opened in September — and with more than 125 menu items to choose from, we would have some tough dinner choices.

Manager Charles Zhao has put almost every conceivable Chinese dish on the menu; he has three chefs on staff, with expertise in Shanghai-style (sweet), Szechuan-style (spicy), Cantonese and Chinese-Canadian fare.

“I live in New Westminster and I couldn’t find a good place for Chinese food,” Zhao said. “I saw a need for good Chinese food without having to go to Richmond or Vancouver.”

As a noted seafood and duck enthusiast, I couldn’t resist the fresh steamed oysters — a veritable steal at six on the half shell for $10.95 — the steamed crab and the jasmine duck.

My family, hoping to add a bit of variety to the meal, ordered the chicken with special chili and ginger sauces, the pork chops in orange sauce, steamed gailan, also known as Chinese broccoli, and the old standby, chicken chow mein.

The duck and the chicken came out first and I couldn’t get enough of the jasmine duck. With a fragrant smoky barbecue aroma, the taste was exquisite. Often fattier and oilier than chicken, this was crispier and lighter than the traditional barbecue duck served in Chinese restaurants.

The chicken, served cold, was a hit with my sister; she loved dipping it in ginger sauce. I, on the other hand, preferred the chili sauce, which added a kick.

Just when I thought the meal couldn’t get better, the seafood came out. The oysters, while very fresh, were slightly overpowered by the black bean sauce they were served in — a minor complaint.

Since there’s no elegant way to eat freshly steamed crab, four pairs of hands dug into the assorted legs and claws on the table and before long, all that was left was shells.

“Very well cooked,” my mom commented between finishing off her crab and starting on the oysters.

By the time the Chinese-Canadian dishes were served — the pork chops in orange sauce and chicken chow mein — it seemed like holiday dinner at the Lau household as elbows flew and food disappeared at a record clip.

The pork chops were a hit with my sister and her husband — “I don’t think Mom would cook this at home,” she said — and the chicken chow mein, while not as good as my mother’s (nobody beats Mom), was very well done.

When I talked to Zhao several days after our meal, he pointed out that Dragon Palace is a perfect complement to Kirin Sushi, the Japanese restaurant next door that he’s helped operate for the last decade. By giving diners a choice between several popular Oriental cooking styles, he could give discriminating diners a different type of meal almost every night of the week.

And yet, the final word on Dragon Palace has to go to the “expert” I brought along.

“My birthday’s coming up,” my mom said. “Maybe we can come here for dinner?”

– – –

DRAGON PALACE

45 Eighth St., New Westminster (across from the New Westminster SkyTrain station).

Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week. For more info, call 604-528-8839.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Mark Laba
Province

DONA CATA MEXICAN FOODS

Where: 5438 Victoria Dr., Vancouver

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-436-2232

Drinks: Jarritos, horchata, agua fresca and soft drinks

Hours: Tues.-Sat., noon-9 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m.; closed Mon.

– – –

When I walk into a place to be confronted by a bevy of bowls of homemade salsas beckoning with a spicy murkiness that could make an iguana sweat, I feel like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Intestinal Fortitude.

So it was with this small place. I truly felt like a culinary explorer and really, that’s hard to come by in this town these days. I mean, we’ve got the West Coast-locally sourced shlimazels laid out in artistic presentations suitable for framing in your stomach lining, the profusion of fusion-style eats where balsamic is rubbing shoulders with black bean and bonito flakes or tapas that are tapped out from overkill. So sometimes you just want to escape.

Dropped in with The Law and Small Fry Eli for some truly authentic and all home-cooked Mexican food. Painted directly onto the walls of this eatery are child-like brightly coloured images of Mexico, like burros and avocados and cacti. Mexican music is playing, everyone’s talking in Spanish and the place is hopping with a boisterous south-of-the-border energy that makes you feel you’ve travelled thousands of miles just by crossing the threshold of this taqueria.

Nineteen seats for eating in and, at the counter, the lineup of magnificent salsas and covered steam trays are ready to reveal the secretly spiced family recipes within.

Owner Brenda Cortez de Castrejon is cooking up her grandmother’s recipes (her grandmother ran a taqueria and meat shop in a small town in the state of Morelos, Mexico, for 45 years) and for whom the restaurant is named and, along with her husband Jenner Rodriguez manning the front of the room, is working up some serious Mexican mojo for the tastebuds.

When Mr. Rodriguez saw my confusion at some of the dishes’ ingredients he said, “Here, let me put together something for you. You’ll like it.”

So it was the combo platter for me ($7.50), which came with rice and beans, three small tortillas for wrapping and Mr. Rodriguez added two meats: longaniza, which is a homemade cured spicy-pork sausage and carne enchilada, chili-steeped pork that’s not as hot as it looks. Both have a wonderful rustic flavour from the spicing and slow-cooking.

I also sampled the pozole ($7.50), a corn-hominy soup with large slivers of tender pork and with some oregano and chilis sprinkled on top. With deep-fried bean tacos on the side, which you’re supposed to dip into the broth, it’s a meal unto itself.

The Law tried the chicken tacos ($1.50 each) and Small Fry Eli nibbled on tortilla chips. We went crazy with the salsa offerings. I’ve been to places where salsa is an art form but here, it’s a masterpiece. Jitomate, chipotle, chile de arbol, macha, Mexicana, verde, avocado and an intriguing chilis and peanut concoction. Each has its own distinct taste and range from soothing to fiery.

Matched up with meats like grilled bisteck (beef), chicken mole or the pork al pastor simmered with pineapple, it’s a marriage of earthy ingredients and heavenly flavours.

The menu reads like an edible quest with entries that include tacos campesino, alambres con queso and nopalitas con longaniza (cactus with sausage).

Wash it down with a Jarritos or agua de horchata and to top it off, when you get home, throw back a tequila or two to aid the digestive process.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Slapping the tastebuds silly with amazing food and salsas.

Grade: Food: A; Service: A; Atmosphere: B+

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

Mark Laba
Province

1. Nick’s Spaghetti House: It doesn’t get more classic than this with decor still in place from 1956.

631 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, 604-254-5633

2. Rosa’s Cucina Italiana: Rosa Gabriella cooked for 21 years at Nick’s Spaghetti House before opening her own place and the photo wall of celebrities is a testament to her adoring patrons who would follow her to the ends of the earth.

2331 Clarke St., Port Moody, 604-939-7500

3. Carmelo’s: A classic Italian restaurant without the cheese-factor and great homemade pastas combined with traditional recipes.

1448 Marine Dr., West Vancouver, 604-922-4719

4. Papi’s Ristorante Italiano: Owner Ken Laci’s family goes back to 1946 in local pasta history when they had a restaurant opposite the Penthouse, owned by their cousin Joe Filippone. The legend continues out Steveston way.

12551 No. 1 Rd., Richmond, 604-275-8355

5. Cipriano’s : Red-and-white checked tablecloths, Zeller’s paintings of Italian scenery, meatballs the size of asteroids and pasta portions you could live on for a week.

3995 Main St., Vancouver, 604-879-0020

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

La Buca opened in the chill of December and promptly had to shut down for repairs — but a sneak preview showed good times ahead

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Anyone who’s watched Opening Soon on Food Network understands the perversity of opening a restaurant, often a trip to purgatory and back.

La Buca felt some of that heat. Actually, it didn’t. It opened in the chill of December and alas, there was no heat. So they promptly closed to fix the problem, only to find that repairs ricochet like bullets, exposing wounds here and there. Now they’ve opened for sure, for sure.

If track record counts for anything, La Buca will thrive and make a lot of Westsiders jump up and down with glee. The chef and co-owner is Andrey Durbach, of the fabulous Parkside restaurant on leafy Haro Street. His sidekick owner, Chris Stewart, handles the maitre d’ role with giant aplomb. He’s massaged customers in the best service-oriented places in town, like Bishop’s and Le Crocodile.

La Buca is trying for a neighbourhood appeal, keeping haute-iness and haughtiness in check — as well as prices — but I wouldn’t be surprised if guests from “away” hop the fence. Who doesn’t like a good-value meal in an unpretentiously sophisticated place?

I managed a sneak preview before La Buca abruptly closed for technical fixes and the place was sailing smoothly (except for a slight chill) in its infant stage. Stewart was the consummate front guy, gliding on his well-oiled experience. And Durbach shows his signature moves — gutsy, flavourful food, never overwrought or blatantly show offy. La Buca’s menu, as you might expect, is Italian. And it really is.

He doesn’t import Japanese, Chinese or Indian ingredients into the dishes or deconstruct or tweak. It’s a pure and simple “why fix something that’s not broken?”

Starters are $9 to $11, pastas are $14.50 to $17 (and there are about a dozen), entrees run from $21 to $24. There’s a heavy dose of veal, making up four of nine dishes.

I had first-rate mussels in white wine plated in a tidy circle; a fisherman’s soup was thick with delicious seafood; Tuscan bean soup, a specialty, was rustic and warming.

Of the mains, the lamb tenderloin with braised kale and beans was again, hearty and wintery; I thought the Cornish game hen grilled under brick was a winner but it was taken off the menu because it kicked up too much smoke in the kitchen. Vincigrassi is a lasagne-like pasta with porcini, Parma ham and fontina — it suffered from texture monotony but I did like the pumpkin ravioli with sage butter, as plump as a pregnant belly and made creamy with mascarpone cheese.

I’m of two minds about the garlic bread. When it comes fresh to the table, I devour it like a pit bull, it’s so delicious, but noticed as it sits, it takes on attributes of bread that was heated in microwave. (Rock hard crust, too-soft interior.)

Desserts didn’t fail me. There’s a stellar tira misu as well as a must-try ricotta tart with cherry sauce.

The wine list is compact with more than a nod to Italy. Served by the bottle, a half quartino (4 ounces) and quartino.

– – –

LA BUCA

Overall: 4

Food: 4

Ambience: 4

Service: 4

Price: $$

4025 McDonald St., 604-730-6988.

Open nightly from 5 p.m.

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

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Great food, student prices

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Still kind of bandaged and bruised from the hit you took over holiday spending? Pacific Institute Of Culinary Arts will be gentle on you in that way.

Being a culinary school, you get a bit of a break. The cafe section has a selection of sandwiches, salads, soups and entrees as well as a gorgeous array of pastries. You’d never know it’s run by students — the food is better than most cafes.

I recently discovered a great little sandwich there — cured meat between a bun-sized gougere. I liked the idea so much I’m going to be mixing up a batch of gougere myself. At PICA, they also make focaccia, ciabatta and croissant sandwiches, costing $3.50 to $4.95.

Entrees change daily and cost around $5.25. They are pre-made so they don’t have the a la minute freshness but who are you to complain, at those prices? The day I phoned, there was chicken breast with blue cheese sauce and mashed potatoes, and grilled Arctic char with fennel sauce, roasted peppers and saffron rice. Portions are lunch size.

And now if you step around the curve of the showcase, you will be assaulted by temptation. The pastries are colourful with fruit mousse domes and glistening with glaze. These are very well-directed and taught students — the pastries wouldn’t be out of place in a French bakery. The stars of the show, I’m told, are the Pasuwa and Royale. The first has layers of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse studded with chocolate chunks and cheesecake, then enrobed in a chocolate glaze. The Royale is layered with almond dacquoise, gianduja and feuillentine (crushed crepe flakes) and milk chocolate.

While the cafe is ordinarily where you pinch the pennies, the dining area outfoxes the cafe in January and February with their annual two-for-one discount. Two can dine for lunch or dinner on a three-course meal for $24 and $36, respectively.

– – –

PACIFIC INSTITUTE OF CULINARY ARTS

1505 West Second Ave., 604-734-4488. Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Mia Stainsby
Sun

I’m sure Vancouver’s howling winds and biblical rains deterred diners, and the boil-water advisory created snarls in restaurant kitchens, but all in all, 2006 was a very fine year. Restaurants rode in and out of the year on the back of a strong B.C. economy.

“There’s a high level of optimism,” says Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association. The boil-water advisory had an up side as far as he’s concerned.

“One thing we learned was how quickly and professionally this industry responds. It showed we can prepare ourselves for the Olympics or a crisis. It was pretty cool,” he says. (Apart from some coffee shops, most restaurants stayed opened during the water advisory.)

The Olympic Games looms large in his mind as a challenge to the industry.

“In 2010, when we invite the world and when they leave, what they’ll remember are their experiences in restaurants. I’m going to make sure it’s good. Restaurants are the driving culture in cities and communities throughout B.C. That’s my personal opinion,” he says.

BCRFA is working on getting restaurants on board by showcasing B.C. products, being superhosts and offering advice and resources to restaurants. Productivity and technology issues are huge, too, with worker shortage. “We have to learn how to do more for less,” he says.

One of the optimists, Sean Heather, sees his flagship restaurant, Irish Heather, as something of a barometer for the industry. Readings were so good, he opened a couple of new places and another one is on the way in a couple of months. (His restaurant Salt opened last year. Lucky Diner squeaked in at the end of December. Pepper opens at the end of February.)

“We’ve been doing exceptionally well, breaking all previous records and we’re not doing anything different than before,” he says of the Irish Heather. “There’s way more money and a lot more people are eating out now.”

The fact that people spend $20 on a glass of whisky “without batting an eye” is a pretty good indicator, he says. “And we’re not talking tourists.”

Many Irish Heather customers are local architects and graphic designer types — when they’re flush, the economy, and thus restaurants, are A-okay, so long as the basics are covered.

As usual, hundreds of new eateries opened in Greater Vancouver last year, and they met with varying degrees of success. One restaurant, Century, started out as a vibrant newcomer early but by year’s end the chef with the sexy Latin moves in the kitchen had moved back to the U.S., the food slid downhill and the Latin American theme was left to the music and Che Guevara mural.

A couple of highly anticipated restaurants didn’t sprint fast enough to cater to the lucrative December trade — Fuel and La Buca will be opening soon.

And of course, some newcomers stood out from the rest. Here, then, are my picks for the top 10 best new restaurants that opened in 2006.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Rare

1355 Hornby St., 604-669-1256

With moves as fine as a Swiss watch, Rare wins out over other smooth movers like Gastropod and Sanafir and over the downright lusty La Regalade Cote Mer. In the end, Rare’s technically challenging dishes, flair and extensive food offerings and wines got my vote for best new restaurant of 2006.

And Rare does indeed serve up some rarities, like frog legs sauteed with parsley and pine nuts and thyme beignet and sorrel puree. To cap it off, their house bread is leavened with a starter made with Seymour Mountain wild yeast. I recall unusual palate refreshers between courses — a blood-orange seltzer one evening and a carrot seltzer on another occasion.

I had a halibut so fresh and cleanly cooked, I could pluck the fillet like white rose petals. An Okanagan quail, stuffed with sweetbread and sweetened with honey and served with a boar bacon ratatouille, was a beautiful balance of deep flavours.

A french rack of suckling pig was juicy and tender, served with apple and wilted romaine. Beef cheek with marrow and smoked lentil ragout shows Rare isn’t all about silky smooth; it knows lusty, too.

I haven’t returned since my early visits, but one weak area back then was the desserts. Chef Brian Fowke worked in Toronto before moving back to Vancouver and was thrilled to find himself in a horn of plenty — he works closely with fishers and farmers and other suppliers to keep the menu lively. Game meat has become a big seller and when available, he buys Nicola Valley deer, wild Arctic caribou as well as fishing bycatch, such as octopus and skate, from fishers.

THE REST

Gastropod

1938 West Fourth, 604-730-5579

Just watch. Angus An will be kicking serious butt. He’s got the chef’s equivalent of a lethal karate kick. At 27, he opened his first restaurant and nailed it with two moves — great food, great value. His exceptional three-course meals are $42.50, or if you prefer, you can order a la carte. Gastropod earned more buzz than Rare, thanks to great value and high visibility location. Dishes to try? Oysters with Horseradish Snow, Shallot Reduction and Sweet Sauterne Jelly. Tuna Mille Feuille, which transforms flabby tuna into a thing of beauty. Cheesecake that will restore your faith in that tired old dessert.

La Regalade Cote Mer

5775 Marine Dr., West Vancouver

604-921-9701

For the very same reason the first La Regalade in Ambleside is such a hit, the Reye family’s second take on rustic French bistro food (emphasis on seafood this time) is worth an excursion to the ‘other’ side, almost to Horseshoe Bay, in this case. It’s not perfectly groomed or refined food. It’s honest and straightforward and asserts itself deliciously: beef cheeks in red wine with potato gnocchi (light as a sigh); grilled whole snapper; deepfried white baitfish; scallop carpaccio and onion tart — all mouth-wateringly good. Desserts are always a pleasure here and the ile flottante is sheer bliss.

FigMint

500 West 12th Ave., 604-875-3312

The kitchen and bar are doing a wonderful job here. To wit, a buttery lamb with pomme fondant, fennel confit, tomato jam and thyme jus; gruyere souffle with roasted pears, arugula and walnut emulsion; chilled avocado panna cotta with grilled tiger prawns, smoked steelhead roe, celery leaf salad and gazpacho dressing. The bar sends out cocktails with side nibbles, some of which are for mixing into the drink. Even the water comes with a tray of condiments. When I’ve visited it seriously lacked buzz, though. The Cambie Street construction hell doesn’t help and neither does the high price point for that neighbourhood.

Salt

45 Blood Alley, 604-633-1912

It’s not as if Salt has an amazing chef pulling rabbits out of a hat. The magic is in the concept and how its played out. One giant chalkboard menu. A list of cured meats. Another of cheeses. And another of condiments. For $15 you order three items from each column. If you order a flight of taster wines, you get a cheat sheet, telling you what’s what. Now it might sound like a ploughman’s lunch to you, but to me, it’s the convergence of a holy trinity. Salt gives charcuterie a glam name. Salt is located in un-glam Blood Alley.

Ocean Club

100 Park Royal, South Mall

West Vancouver, 604-926-2326

With Frank Lloyd Wright architectural bones, Ocean Club simulates Yaletown cool in sleepy West Van. Off a mall, no less. Supposedly, it’s for the northerners who loathe crossing bridges for a downtown feel. I don’t know if the location quite captures Yaletown, but inside, Ocean Club looks gorgeous and the food is very good. The menu, featuring sophisticated comfort foods includes a honey-I-shrunk-the-food take on steak and eggs with steak, quail’s egg, a column of tuna tartare and neatly stacked fries. I loved the mac and cheese with braised beef short ribs. Makes you smack your lips.

Kingyo

871 Denman St., 604-608-1677

Noise and hustle bustle in a restaurant either gives it a good buzz or drives me crazy. Here, it works — the jazz, dishes clacking, diners yakking, cheerful servers, chefs straining vocal chords with “Irashai” as customers pour in. And to shore it all up, interesting izakaya style food and cool surroundings with hits of old Japan. All-important seafood is picked with tender care and I liked some of the whimsies like the “stone unagi bowl.” The server fills a dangerously hot stone bowl with rice, mixes in raw egg and cooked eel. The hot stone cooks the eggs and crisps the rice. Delish! The kitchen sources quality ingredients like specialty salts, Kobe beef and high-quality rices.

Crave

3941 Main St., 604-872-3663

The “best” can be hot without being haute. The menu doesn’t dazzle with knock-out looks or a particularly creative menu. What owner/chef Wayne Martin brings to Main Street are his considerable culinary skills — he used to be the exec chef at Four Season Vancouver before downsizing from a staff of 32 to a kitchen where he does breakfast, lunch and dinner service and scrubs the grill before he leaves. He’s hooked on great ingredients and treating them with utmost respect. A Texas flank steak (marinated in beer, lime juice and barbecue sauce) was delicious and the crabcakes, which stand tall and proud, are the same as he served at the Four Seasons, he says.

Sanafir

1026 Granville St., 604-678-1049

The hippest place to open this year, Sanafir sports a loungey bed upstairs and the food comes in triplets of flavour — Indian, Asian, Mediterranean — a flight of three dishes arranged on a wooden tray. At about $14 per trio, you’re getting a lot in labour and food. Sometimes, though, too many elements wrestle for attention on a plate. The room, slick and modern, makes you look good even at your worst. Sanafir is run by Glowbal Restaurant Group, already noted for Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar, Coast Restaurant and Afterglow Lounge.

Beyond

Century Plaza Hotel

1015 Burrard St., 604-684-3474

Like Figmint, this one’s a result of hotel surgery and the operation was successful. The old Roy’s Steak and Seafood house shed its tired old-world garb and became thoroughly modern with clean, sparse lines. They hired the Four Seasons Vancouver sous chef who created a sophisticated menu meant to please hotel guests and hip urbanites alike. While most dishes are quite enjoyable and the kitchen uses fresh, quality ingredients, there is some room for improvement, considering the high price point.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Serial restaurant opener Sean Heather branches out into Yaletown with his latest concept, Lucky Diner

Mia Stainsby
Sun

I think I’ve discovered another entry for the DSM (the psychiatrist’s manual of disorders): the inability to stop opening food establishments.

Sean Heather could be the textbook case. He began innocently enough with the roundly successful Irish Heather restaurant in the late ’90s. He then added the funky Shebeen Whisky Bar across the cobblestoned alley. Salty Tongue opened next door to Irish Heather, a logical extension with a daytime menu of great sandwiches, soups and baked goods.

Then the openings accelerated. Along came Limerick Junction, then Salt, as well as the pint-sized operation of a hot dog cart, Fetch, in Gastown (closed for the past few months but reopening this month). Lucky Diner is the most recent in his sizable collection of restaurants. It leap-frogged the Gastown boundaries of his previous turf into Yaletown.

Heather keeps a “little black book” of concepts and there’s at least four more to come. Pepper opens next month in Railtown. Snout, a charchuterie/fromagerie retail shop in a one-room refrigerated room, is set to open in Gastown in the spring. Heather seems to abhor repetition and his venues are no cookie-cutter businesses. They do, however, all have a certain funky je ne sais quoi.

Heather seems to attract A-list bar managers. At Salt, he scored Jay Jones, formerly of West, as manager. He employed Chris Stearns, formerly bar manager of Lumiere, for a short time as well. At Lucky Diner, Mark Brand, former Chambar bar manager, is intoxicating diners with a milkshake — a bourbon milkshake so smooth, you could easily drink yourself into a stupor.

Meanwhile, the food is straight-ahead diner and the place is open for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Chef Dan Tigthelaar was sous chef at Aurora Bistro and, in case you’re wondering, his name means “tilesetter” in Dutch.

It’s a menu with stacks of pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and burgers and meatloaf for din-din. Prices seem somewhat retro, with dinner mains averaging $9 to $15 and topping off at $20 for a 28-day aged half-pound ribeye.

I’m wrong. It’s not entirely straight-ahead diner food. The chicken pot pie for instance has hidden charms. The chicken is free range Maple Hill Farm. Before roasting it off, the leg is removed to make a pampered confit, which is then mixed with the roasted meat. The dish comes with sides of buttermilk mashed potatoes and mashed minted peas — the idea being, you stir some of those into the pot pie to thicken the sauce after bursting through the puff pastry cover. “It’s a have-fun pot pie,” says Heather.

I had fun with the chili dog with chipotle chili and sweet corn relish. Like the burger, it’s a wide load and one must work the mandibles to accommodate the tall, proud, spreading structures. If not careful, the chili in the hot dog could slither down your forearm but that’s part of the fun, staining my white top and all, ha, ha. The burger meat is organic and very flavourful.

I wasn’t quite as enamoured of the smoked belly bacon-wrapped meat loaf in the same way (I like it more loose and moist). Conversely, the wild mushroom, cheddar, parmesan and asiago mac and cheese, which was too loose and moist (I like it tighter and baked off and cuttable).

Iceberg lettuce in the retro salad cannot be hailed for its flavour but I do like its crispy crunch that other lettuces lack. Crabcakes served over oyster chowder were nice and crabby and if you like pecan pie, you’ll like the Lucky Diner version with maple syrup and bourbon and a crust that did not, as is commonplace, turn me off.

It’s a Yaletown kind of space (clean, open and uncluttered) with homages to the old-time diner with some retro furniture, Janice Joplin belting out Piece of My Heart and daily Blue Plate Specials. Missing, though, are hard-bitten, gum-chewing waitresses in uniform with their order pads. To make up, there’s a sassy bourbon list as well as a friendly wine list, with everything available by the glass. Bartender Brand’s cocktails stick to the old-fashioneds, like, well, the Old Fashioned and Manhattan.

The restaurant motto under the logo reads: “Come sad. Leave happy.” Just knock back those bourbon milkshakes.

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LUCKY DINER

Overall: 3 1/2

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 3 1/2

Service: 3 1/2

Price $/$$

1269 Hamilton St., 604-662-8048. Open 7 days a week. 11:30 a.m. to late, Monday to Friday; 10 a.m. to late 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