What do you get when you combine great coffee with high quality doughnuts? Answer: the worst kept secret in town.

I’ve been busily working away at preparing to open the second café for 49th Parallel, which will feature doughnuts under the brand of “Lucky’s Doughnuts”. Why doughnuts you say? Why not?!

The idea of doing doughnuts began stewing in 2007 when 49th owner Vince Piccolo and I began traveling to some of the coffee trade shows in the States. Every town that we went to had a quality doughnut shop where we would go in the morning to pick up a box of doughnuts to take to our coffee booth. This will be our attempt to create that same marriage between coffee and doughnut here in Vancouver.

For the project I have traded in my barista’s apron for a chef’s jacket. After our trips in 2007 I began to take pastry classes in America with a specific emphasis on doughnuts. Back home we’ve utilized the talents of pastry chef Dawne Gourley to develop our own doughnut recipes. Dawne has worked as a pastry chef for many years creating recipes for Bishop’s, Giovane and currently serves as the brand director for David Hawksworth’s Bel Café.

Here is a link to Dawne’s blog: here

The space is located at 13th and Main Street and is shaping up quite beautifully. The reclaimed wood and Gastown brick are a departure from the very polished look of the 4th avenue location. Vince has taken the reigns in creating a beautiful cafe, starting with the neon sign that we just put up out front.

We anticipate to open in late May/ early June.

~ Colter Jones

Rarely do I find myself near Fraser and Kingsway, but I think that I might have to start visiting more often. Recently Matchstick Coffee opened up at 639 East 15th (near Les Faux Bourgeois) bringing quality coffee to a neighbourhood that sorely needed it. The name Matchstick denotes a sense of simplicity and old-timey charm that is reflected throughout the space. Beautiful large cuts of aged wood are prevalent throughout the white-walled room, which is quite open and tasteful. Even the espresso machine is painted a subdued forest green.

Matchstick is owned and operated by Spencer Viehweger, Annie Viehweger and Aaron Braun who have all worked in coffee for years for companies like JJ Bean, Crema in West Van, and Elysian Room.

Spencer and Aaron, who used to roast for JJ, will soon have their own roaster up and running, but for now they are serving Phil & Sebastian coffee from Calgary. The roaster is already planted in the back of Matchstick, but like anything that requires an amount of perfection it will take time.

The limited amount of baked goods stresses the attention to delivering quality items that are still fresh and made with quality ingredients. Delicious. The espresso setup includes a brand new Mazzer grinder and La Marzocco Linea, which are both specialty coffee mainstays. Drip Coffee is being brewed to order on the Coava cone, which Revolver in Gastown helped introduce the city to. The shop is open from 7-6 everyday according to the website. Enjoy!

Matchstick Coffee Roasters
639 E 15 Avenue | Vancouver (Fraser & Kingsway)
Tel: 604 558 0639
info@matchstickcoffee.com
www.matchstickcoffee.com

Twitter

~ Colter Jones

pH5: the slightly acidic state at which an animal’s muscle tissues come to rest after slaughter. With pH7 as neutral, it’s slightly left of centre but not radically so—figuratively speaking, it denotes an environment ripe for change. An apt moniker for chef David Gunawan’s latest adventure.

The former executive chef of West Restaurant recently returned from a three-month stage at Belgium’s Indewulf with renewed focus and passion for his craft. David’s travels through Spain, Flanders and the Nordic region spurred a leap in his already-evolving culinary approach, inspired in no small part by the simplest of dishes: “Prawns grilled over homemade charcoal at Asador Extebarri and served completely unadorned except for a sprinkling of sea salt. That’s it. Nothing to compete with the gentle smokiness, the prawns’ delicate sweetness. No excess of ingredients to hide behind. Just two elements on a plate. One dish at Noma had more components to it than my entire tasting menu at Extebarri.”

He poured his newfound inspiration into conceptualizing pH5, a cooperative food and dining movement that “rebels against convention and current trends while embracing the land and the purity of the ingredients that it offers us.” Its goal: to bring people’s focus squarely back to the essence of food and drink at its most basic through an ongoing series of thematic meals and events.

Participating in pH5 will be farmers, purveyors, cooks, sommeliers and barmen who are just as passionate about the integrity of the process as they are about the finished product. Beyond the plate and the glass, though, David aims to remove the formality of fine dining and cultivate a relaxed, unpretentious experience.

pH5’s inaugural five-course $70 menu celebrated vegetables in all of their simple glory. He explains, “I wanted to create a different persona for vegetables, equating if not exalting their status among other culinary ingredients. Each dish highlighted the distinctive flavour profile of each individual vegetable, although certain dishes emulated the environment in which the vegetables were found.”

The gauntlet he threw down for himself? Three elements on a plate and nothing more. Parings featured Osake by Masa Shiroki of Granville Island’s Artisan Sake Maker and imaginative cocktail creations by Tanya Roussy of Maenam. David offers his reflections on the evening’s dishes:

Amuse • Warm juice of white beets, macintosh apple and horseradish / sourdough bread by Myra Maston of Thierry

1st • Compressed kohlrabi, concord pear granité, salted Asian pears, watercress from Hannah Brooks farm

“This dish was inspired by my meal at Relæ, a Danish restaurant that strongly emphasizes vegetable cookery. I wanted to highlight kohlrabi, an under-recognized ingredient, using the comforting taste of pear as a familiar flavour reference. Salting the pears eliminated their dominant sweetness and allowed the kohlrabi to shine.”

2nd • Smoked cabbage, juniper and goat’s milk potato purée

“We treated cabbage as meat—cured it in salt, sugar and spices, similar to making a pastrami. By smoking it whole over charcoal at low heat, we charred the outer layer while preserving the texture of the inner layer. The results were more than surprising because the outer layer tasted fermented with a lot of umami, while the inside remained blissfully sweet—just like the core of a medium-rare beef.”

3rd • North Arm Farm heirloom carrots roasted with hay butter, Alpindon cheddar foam

“Finished this dish with burnt hay to mirror the way farmers would burn their fields at the end of harvest.”

4th • Jerusalem artichoke, Meyer lemon purée, brown butter vinaigrette

“Two different sunchokes. The hard white skin was charred to create a crispy texture while keeping it soft inside. The red was half boiled before roasting in the oven to retain its pure flavour.”

5th • House-made organic yogurt in three different textures / meringue, marshmallow, ice

pH5 meals will be held once weekly until April when they’ll shift to a monthly schedule. The next five-course dinner is slated for Wednesday, January 25 and a limited number of seats are still available. If you’d like to attend, be put on the mailing list for future events, or contribute your time and talents and participate, please email David Gunawan directly at ph5dining@gmail.com.

~ Joie Alvaro Kent

My first visit to Novo Pizzeria and Wine Bar in the former Incendio space beside Fifth Avenue Cinemas in Kits, was back in early August while it was still coming together after a complete tear-down to the studs, followed by an extensive renovation to accommodate the separate venting stack for the new wood burning oven. This time around I returned to taste the food, in particular, the classic margherita pizza, which is my litmus test for the current authentic Neapolitan pizza wave underway in our fair city.

The newly transformed space is a smartly laid out open concept, furnished with black leather banquettes, wooden table tops and a comfy wine bar, complete with a state of the art preservation system. The walls are covered with extensive stone work, and the wine bar and surrounding ceiling have some custom wood accents made from wine barrel staves. The eye is quickly drawn to the bright orange flames of the forno oven at the centre of the kitchen. Burning alder wood, the temperature hovers around 800 degrees Fahrenheit, the proper hearth baking temperature required for a 90-second Neapolitan pizza.

Novo Chef Michael Nokes invites me into the kitchen to watch the process of pizza making close up. Using Italian Caputo “00″ flour from Naples (the “00″ is a Italian rating that shows how finely ground the flour is and how much of the bran and germ have been removed), Michael easily pulls the dough into a circle with just a few efficient motions. With a gluten content of 11-12%, Caputo flour is blended to be consistent and give the dough just enough stretching capability without too much elasticity or ‘bounce back’.

He then ladles on the house made sauce, which uses San Marzano tomatoes sourced from California for their consistent high-quality and year-round availability, and then adds thick slices of fresh mozzarella cheese before placing it in the hot furnace oven for baking.

^ Margherita pizza, fiori di latte, tomato sauce, basil ~ $13

Within 90 seconds and after a few careful rotations, the sauce and cheese are bubbling hot. He uses the long paddle to lift the pizza to the top of the inside of the oven for one final blast of heat to sear the top, and it is pulled out for it’s final touches: a healthy splash of quality extra virgin olive oil and careful placement of fresh basil leaves.

Novo’s pizza is a fine balance that works, and one they continue to tweak daily. One of the signatures of an authentic Neapolitan pizza is a bit of charring of the dough, but not too much as it will create an unsavoury bitterness if overdone. They achieve just the right amount of crisp and chew with a nice bubbly crust, which is utterly delicious. Simple food well-prepared really is hard to beat.

If pizza is not your obsession, there are a lot of other classic Italian dishes worth considering. Here are a couple I sampled:

^ Antipasti board, daily selection of vegetables, salumi, and cheese ~$14

^ Sicilian Meatballs, currants, pine nuts, reggiano, marinara sauce ~ $8

While being next to a popular movie theatre is certainly good for business, the owners want to be known as a neighborhood restaurant. With a solid and well thought out concept and pizza this good, I think they won’t have much of a problem drawing them in.

NOVO Pizzeria and Wine Bar
2118 Burrard Street | Vancouver
Tel: 604-736-2220
info@novopizzeria.com
www.novopizzeria.com

Twitter | Facebook

HOW TO GET THERE

~ PK

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/1/6y1PoX – media preview

For a long time, eating pizza in Vancouver has meant either dial a pie or buck a slice, neither bearing much resemblance to the storied original pizzas from Naples, Italy. The bacon double cheeseburger pizza, paired with a zesty ranch dipping sauce, unofficially signified the beginning of the end of the “2 for 1 build-your-own” era, leaving curious cooks and customers scratching their heads, asking themselves “How did this happen?”, and “Now what?”.

It now appears that the answer was to push the reset button and return to a time when crusts were thin and not stuffed with rubbery mozzarella, high quality toppings were deployed with restraint, and the pies themselves were lovingly stretched by someone with some know how. The recently opened Verace Pizzeria, conveniently located not far from the Stadium Skytrain station, is among the first few local eateries hellbent on reviving the widely abused food. Intrigued, I jumped on the opportunity to check out their work.

The storefront features a sidewalk dining area, while a step inside revealed a space suited for tables of few or many (60 to 80 peeps). The room itself is classically rustic and earthy, helped along by the numerous shades of brown provided by abundant wood and leather, as well as the paint. The warmth of the colour scheme is nicely augmented by the constant flicker of flames from the 900 degree pizza oven, which also acts as a real eye magnet given the amount of action that takes place in and around it.

^ Funghi - Porcini cream sauce, roasted cipollini balsamic onions, mixed crimini, portabella, and oyster mushrooms. Topped with fresh oregano, grana padano and evoo. - $18.25

Pizza of this variety is strictly regulated around the world, and if the few rigid guidelines are met, the pies are can be certified authentic. “00” flour is a must, as are the famed San Marzano tomatoes, and the only cheese permitted is fresh mozzarella (cow or buffalo) and grated hard cheeses like parmesan or pecorino. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is generously applied whenever suitable (almost always). The pies are to be prepared in an ultra hot brick oven, ideally heated by burning wood. The owners of Verace have decided to forgo certification; the tomatoes, for one, aren’t San Marzano, but instead another Italian variety that was carefully chosen and deemed better by the Chef. The oven itself isn’t wood burning, which eliminates the need for an expert fire tender and the space required to store an unbelievable amount of wood. The gas oven allows the cooks to focus entirely on the correct preparation of the pie, instead of being intimately knowledgeable about the strange and unpredictable tendencies of a pile of burning wood.

^ Prosciutto e Rucola - Plum tomato sauce, fior di latte mozzarella topped with prosciutto, fresh arugula, grana padano and evoo - $18.25

The menu at Verace is large, and is comprised entirely of flavours associated with Italy. This means you won’t be finding any BBQ Chicken pizzas here. The classics are present (Margherita, Romana), as well as some not so classics that could be real crowd pleasers (one example features balsamic reduction, asparagus, truffle oil) as long as that crowd isn’t composed entirely of Nonnas. A variety of salads and antipasti are also available for those who require more than a nicely made pizza to be satisfied. The lunch menu has calzones, and the brunch menu apparently had to feature a variety of Eggs Benedict pizzas, complete with poached eggs and Hollandaise. Authentic? Nadda. Tasty? Probably. Ultimately the notion of 100% authenticity is limiting, and forgoing the certification affords the Chef a certain amount of freedom to separate Verace from the rest of the pack.

A food as approachable as pizza deserves a wine list to match, and so there is an ample selection of whites and reds, as well as some pinks and sparkles, all of which are offered by the bottle or glass. There’s also a well stocked bar for mixed drinks, and some Grappa for those who seek it.

Verace is one of a few places in town that puts their pies together in a way that’s at least close to how it’s done in Italy. The fact that there’s competition in this soon to be crowded arena can only mean good things for people who love pizza, which is approximately everyone.

189 Keefer Place | Vancouver
604-669-5552
www.veracepizzeria.com

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Open 7 days a week: 11:30am – 3:00pm and 5:00pm – Late Monday thru Friday, and 10:30am – Late on the weekend.

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~ Jacob Galbraith

eatapeachforhours.com

(Photo by Flckr SqueakyMarmot under create commons license)

It’s a great story, a satisfying tale that adds to the mythology one of our great city icons. Young Dynamic Entrepreneur (in the form of Mark Brand) Saves Downtown Eastside Institution Save On Meats! Wrecking ball averted! Greedy developers thwarted! Hurrah!!

And without any irony, this is a great accomplishment. At every step of the way, Mr. Brand has shown smarts, energy, and enough chutzpah to move mountains in this corner of Gastown/DTES. But as with every compelling story, the really interesting stuff happens between the lines – and a deeper truth is revealed if you are willing to explore and look carefully.

Replacing what had been a very large horseshoe butcher shop area and a dining counter in the back, the space has been split into two, with a dedicated butcher shop on one side, and long diner in the other. What is immediately apparent is how approachable everything is – clean wide open rooms, with gleaming floors and counters, and goofy chatty signage. The friendly expansiveness in both rooms pulls you in for a closer look.

The straightforward diner menu is full of coffee shop classics – solid and reassuring, like a good firm handshake. Everything is made in house, including the burger buns and biscuits, a quality that you can immediately taste. The Save On Meats Burger is simple beefy satisfaction, accented with bacon, cheese, tomato and iceberg lettuce – all with a pile of fries. And at six dollars, the value proposition is overwhelming.

The meat loaf with sides of carrots and peas, meaty gravy, and smooth mashed potatoes is a cafeteria classic in the best sense. The biggest surprises on the menu are the sundaes. How awesome is it to tuck into a gooey dessert and not be overwhelmed by crushing sweetness? The house made ice creams, chocolate toppings, and fruit sauces all have a genuine old school flavour. The Knickerbocker Glory is particularly tremendous.

The meat shop has been stocked with a range of shoppers in mind. Choices include pork loin roast at about two dollars a pound, lovely house made sausages, and Cornish game hens and squab if you’re feeling a little fancy. I’ve seen the butchers patiently walk a local customer through a purchasing decision – giving them good advice on how to get the most bang and quality for their limited buck.

For me, the real story of the new Save On Meats is about respect. Respect for a local institution that for decades has served the poorest postal code in the country. Respect for local residents, ensuring they have access to well butchered meat and food cooked from scratch at attainable prices. In the US, if you lived in a neighbourhood like the DTES – your food choices would be limited to gut rotting processed foods.

Mark Brand could have hipstered up or foodified Save On Meats, turning it into a fetish of nostalgia, but he hasn’t. A friend, visiting from Montreal, she told me that she has seen lots of places pay lip service to the idea of revitalization, but nowhere has pursued it with the earnest enthusiasm that Save On Meats has shown so far.

When I was a child, walking from Chinatown to Woodward’s along East Hastings, the streets would be full of gritty characters, but there was the energy of a real living neighbourhood. I am glad to see that the new Save On Meats has decided to truly inhabit it’s neighbourhood, both in location and spirit.

~ Canucklehead

Edible Canada recently opened its doors right in the heart of Granville Island. The long-standing and expansive vision of chef and entrepreneur, Eric Pateman, the business (originally known as Edible Vancouver, then Edible British Columbia) has grown from humble beginnings as a 400 square foot stall in the market selling locally-sourced artisan products to a brand new 3,500 square foot purpose-built culinary centre. Complete with a retail store, glassed walled demonstration kitchen, and bistro with a take-out window, Edible Canada is set to showcase the best local cuisine and products like never before to tourists and locals alike.

According to Pateman, “all of the different facets of the company intertwine and work together very well – from the bistro and the retail store sharing the same space, to the guest chefs utilizing products off our shelves in their recipes, to the chef guided market tours, showing guests where the ocean wise fish is coming from that they can order for lunch in our bistro – it’s all very cohesive and fluid. Everything we do reflects our tagline – Sightseeing for your taste buds. This space is a testament to the hard working producers and farmers within our province, and now with this scope and scale we can bring in products from other provinces and territories as well. Vancouver is a world class culinary destination, and with 12 million people passing through Granville Island annually, let’s show them how incredible Canadian food and wine is.”

The bistro seats 170, including an expansive wrap-around patio. Every facet of the space was designed with sustainability in mind – from the recycled fir table tops, to the beach-scavenged cedar hostess stands (carved by Granville Island carver Clarence Mills).

The sustainable measures extend to the exterior as well; as part of the deal struck with the landlord and a corporate sponsor (GE), Edible Canada has two electric vehicle plug-in parking stalls beside their patio, utilizing one of the city’s first level 2 (full charge in 6 hours) electric charging stations.

^ Market Salad, goat cheese, Okanagan vinaigrette - $4

The bistro’s menu is a testament to how far British Columbia has come as a culinary destination with every product being sourced locally, even including the famous lobster oil recipe salvaged from the now closed Cannery Restaurant. The entire menu had me conflicted in a good way; I wanted to try everything! I eventually settled on the market salad with goat cheese and the pork belly. Both dishes were simple, fresh and perfectly executed, letting the quality ingredients speak for themselves. The compact wine list is a greatest hits of BC wine with contributions coming from the Okanagan, Vancouver Island, the Fraser Valley, and one lone gamay from Niagara. For beer they have Driftwood and Howe Sound on tap and an extensive craft bottle list from across the country. Even the spirits are all Canadian, showcasing everything from whisky, gin, vodka, and even sake.

^ Sloping Hills Pork Belly & Loin, celeriac and apple purée, pickled vegetables - $20

Edible Canada is showing great leadership by integrating and supporting local food and beverage artisans in every aspect of their business and setting a new standard for sustainability. The entire country should take notice because this is the bright future of Canadian cuisine.

Edible Canada
1596 Johnston Street | Vancouver
Tel: 604.682.6681
bistro@ediblecanada.com
www.ediblecanada.com
Twitter |  Facebook

HOW TO GET THERE

Hours of Operation:
Sunday to Thursday: 9am – 9pm
Friday & Saturday: 9am – 10pm
~~~
Breakfast: 9am – 11am
Lunch (weekdays): 11am – 4pm
Brunch (weekends): 11am – 4pm
Bar Menu: 4 – 5pm
Dinner: 5pm to close

~ PK

The City of Vancouver isn’t short on venues, to be sure, but what it has lacked for ages is a place that pays as much attention to its events as it does the other aspects of its operation. Translation: it’s hard to get a good bite at the same spot you’ll witness a great show, cut a rug, etc. Attending an event in this city usually means starving in the line up, getting blasted on unfortunate draft, taking a beating in the sweaty crowd, and then eventually wandering the streets in search of something cheap and greasy to soak up the poison. The newly opened Electric Owl, located in the building that once housed the legendary American Hotel, aims to put an end to those sorts of shenanigans.

The building underwent a much needed renovation, transforming from a dilapidated east side dive to a modern industrial haven for the culturally starved and traditionally hungry, and is now ready to host a new generation of interesting characters. Said characters are encouraged to show up in groups large or small, as the space is as flexible in concept as it is design. The Electric Owl is capable of the type of intimate seating arrangements you may find in a restaurant, as well as setups better suited for party time. Whichever way you want it, it’s up to you and approximately 200 of your nearest and dearest to fill it up and do your thing while the team at the Owl does theirs.

^ Heirloom tomato and daikon salad - $5

A menu loaded with izakaya-style options makes perfect sense given the vintage Japanese magazines and manga that are found on each of the many tables. On said menu, you’ll find properly executed classics like Albacore Tuna Tataki (seared rare and sliced) and Ebi Mayo (prawn tempura), as well as less traditional but equally welcome and tasty dishes like the Heirloom Tomato and Daikon Salad, where the perfectly ripened tomatoes were served atop a pile of simply dressed shaved daikon. Only the plate of deep fried yam heaped with spiced walnuts proved lackluster; it was a bit sweet and boring.

^ Oven-roasted yams with salty sweet walnuts and shredded nori - $5.20

^ Seared BC Albacore Tuna with a tosa soy sauce - $6.80

Izakaya cuisine is designed to be eaten while drinking, so it stands to reason that there would be an ample selection of beer, wine, sake, and signature cocktails. My crisp pint of Russell’s IP’eh was ideal for the heat and played nice with the food, and the Whisky Sour was, interestingly deviant in that it used pineapple as its source for acid.

Ultimately, the Electric Owl aims to make your life both better and easier by giving you a nice place to eat before it turns into the kind of place that you dance or take in some kind of show. The people involved seem very interested in creating a scene, and are keenly aware that the eventual success of the establishment depends on it. Keep your eyes peeled for something that suits you and check it out.

ELECTRIC OWL
928 Main Street | Vancouver
Tel: 604-558-0928
electricowl.ca
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Restaurant Hours of Operation:
5pm to Midnight Monday to Sunday

~ Jacob Galbraith

eatapeachforhours.com

With the exception of Burrowing Owl’s Sonora Room, there wasn’t a lot of quality wine-forward dining options in the South Okanagan. With the opening of Miradoro, a joint venture between Tinhorn Creek and restaurateur Manuel Ferreira (of Vancouver’s famed Le Gavroche), BC’s famed wine region continues to mature, as planned, into a prime culinary tourism destination. 

^ Tinhorn Creek winemaker Sandra Oldfield leads a wine tasting in the barrel room

To start us off right on our visit, Tinhorn Creek’s resident winemaker, the talented and affable Sandra Oldfield along with assistant Korol Kuklo and viticulturist and vineyard manager Andrew Moon, led our group through an informative tasting of the winery’s flagship offerings paired with some bites from Miradoro’s new tapas menu.

Note to wine nerds: Sandra has made a small quantity of rosé with some of her beloved Cabernet Franc grapes and it is only available at the winery store and in the restaurant. That alone is worth the trip!

Miradoro, the new 4,000 square foot restaurant features 65 seats indoors and 65 seats outdoors on a wrap-around deck with panoramic views of the South Okanagan Valley below. Liberal use of natural woods and cork bring a nice warmth to the large open concept and the construction and operation of Miradoro all reflect Tinhorn Creek’s commitment to sustainable practices, from the passive solar design of the building to a kitchen composting program that nourishes the surrounding vineyards, as well as a soon to be planted herb garden in the backyard.

^ The Miradoro patio overlooks the valley and also the property's amphitheater where they have an exciting concert series planned for the summer

Before breaking ground, Tinhorn Creek worked with The Land Conservancy to identify native plant species to be replanted after construction, minimizing the impact to the natural habitats surrounding the restaurant.

True to form, locavore Chef Van Geest also has ambitious plans to take full advantage of the surrounding farms to source for the restaurant, drawing upon the region’s annual harvest to stock the restaurant larder with food at its prime flavour using different preserving techniques.

Here are a few photos of the dishes we sampled from the lunch, dinner, and dessert menu that were seamlessly paired with some of Tinhorn Creek’s award-winning wines.

*NOTE: these pictures are of sample sized plates. The actual dishes have larger servings.

^ Chorizo Consommé, peas, olive caviar

^ Grilled Humboldt Squid, red fife wheat berry salad, grapefruit, caper vinaigrette

^ Pizza Funghi - morel mushroom, asparagus, Okanagan chevre

^ Forno Roasted Chicken, fingerling potatoes, prunes, bacon, sage

^ Roast Lamb in yoghurt & ras al hanout with preserved apricot, carrot puree, cous cous

^ Dulce de Leche frita – fried custard with citrus salad

^ The talented team behind Miradoro, General Manager and Sommelier Justin McAuliffe, Executive Chef Jeff Van Geest, and Restaurateur Manuel Ferreira

A big congratulations to the staff of Miradoro and Tinhorn Creek Winery for all their hard work bringing this dream to reality. I am thrilled to report, we now have another exceptional reason to make the trip to the South Okanagan and drop in for a visit!

32830 Tinhorn Creek Road | Oliver

Tel: 250-498-3742
info@miradoro.ca
www.miradoro.ca

HOW TO GET THERE

Hours of Operation:

Lunch – 11:30am to 3pm
Lighter Fare – 3pm to 5:30pm
Dinner – 5:30pm to 9pm

~ PK

Last week, I was invited to try the new dinner menu at Commune Cafe on the corner of Seymour and Nelson. This place has always intrigued me, as it rather quietly dropped into a very prime downtown location flexing an ambitious high-end cafe concept and some serious pedigree. Service Excellence Consulting’s Annette Rawlinson (C, Au Petit Chavignol) and Chef Tina Fineza (Flying Tiger, Les Faux Bourgeois, La Taqueria), helped refine the concept and developed the locally focused menu showcasing seasonal and fresh items sourced from Vancouver’s abundant small producers, farmers, butchers & bakers.

For the space’s design, they brought in award winning Evoke International, whose simple and colourful re-imagining of a modern cafeteria fits perfectly into the quickly evolving neighborhood that straddles both the entertainment district and the outer edge of hipster Yaletown.

Organized around the large food display units and menu boards with a large communal table dominating the centre of the room, the space is comfortable, clean and simple. With the addition of a dinner menu, Commune Cafe brings more serious food offerings while keeping the most important aspect of their casual concept intact, the value.

From the starters, shared plates and mains, nothing on the food menu is over $15. The beer list is all Canadian craft (Red Racer, Phillips, Steam Whistle, Lighthouse, Propeller, St Ambroise, Unibroue $6-$6.50); the wine list consists is of 10 (5 red. 5 white) by the glass ($6-$11) or bottle ($27-$50) are all BC. The top quality coffee is 49th Parallel and the loose-leaf tea is from Shaktea.

click here to view the menu

Here are a few of the highlights from the evening’s tasting:

^ Warm chicken waldorf, celery salad, pickled grapes, candied walnuts - $8

^ Sangak Iranian flatbread, bacon and caramelized onion - $10

^ Sangak Iranian flatbread, tomato and bocconcini - $9

^ Seared salmon risotto, smoked bacon, garden peas, preserved lemon - $14

^ A sampling of the desserts on offer

If you are in the area and are looking for some quality food and drink that won’t break the bank, Commune Cafe is definitely worth a try.

1002 Seymour Street | Vancouver
Tel: 604-681-2551
Email: info@communecafe.ca
www.communecafe.ca

~ PK

Last week, during an impressive display of corporate solidarity in the newly renovated Mackenzie Ballroom at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, seven of the Pacific Northwest region’s Fairmont Hotels joined together to help launch their new “Lifestyle Cuisine Plus” program that is being implemented across all of company’s 64 hotels and resorts worldwide.

This new culinary program aims to give more options to guests with specific diet-dependent conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and gluten free, as well as unique dietary preferences including, macrobiotic, raw and vegan diets.

From the press release:

Fairmont chefs have been trained to prepare a vast array of special dietary and allergy-specific meals and are equipped with Nutritionist Pro™ by Axxya Systems (www.axxya.com), cutting-edge recipe analysis software to help customize entrees and menus to fit with guests’ requests for caloric and nutritional requirements.

Here are samples of some of the new creations:

^ Zucchini, Carrot, Portobello and Cashew Butter Pave (raw – Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club)

^ Cornish Crab Cake and Marinated Cucumber & Grapefruit Salad with Homemade Aioli (gluten free - Fairmont Bab Al Bahr)

^ Chocolate Ganache Flan (vegan - Fairmont Hotel Vancouver)

Guests can enjoy these flavors in their own homes too, by visiting www.everyonesanoriginal.com, for original recipes for appetizers, entrees, desserts and beverages from the Lifestyle Cuisine and Lifestyle Cuisine Plus menus.

While many hotels are struggling to find their way in a challenging economic landscape, full marks to the Fairmont Hotel chain for continuing to show creative leadership and finding new ways to offer their customers a better value for their business, fostering a greater brand loyalty. As the saying goes, “lead, follow, or get out of the way!”

For more information, visit www.fairmont.com

~ PK

After weeks of late-night construction, the former Zigz Urban Bistro location at 2960 Main Street has finished renovations and re-opened as “Hyde”. The effervescent new owner, Crystal Lowe (a local actress) has lovingly transformed the space into a cozy and playful little restaurant and bar for the neighborhood, a nice fit for this East Side community that actively supports creative, local and independent businesses over corporate franchises.

Inspired by the works of Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton, the decor is dark and fanciful with most of the furnishings being sourced along Main Street’s antique row.

The space has 38 seats inside with 8 at the bar and a 12 seat patio outside. Chef David Grey’s (formerly of The Charlatan, Locus) menu is straight up comfort food made with fresh, local and organic (wherever possible) with appetizers ranging in price from $4.95 for yam fries to $11.95 for a serving of Salt Spring mussels w/ frites; the entrees range from a very reasonable $10.95 for a burger (chicken, beef, or lamb) to Southern-style fried chicken at $14.95 at the top end.

The bar program is particularly enticing. The cocktail or “potions” list created by bartender Jackson Berlin (formerly of West) offers an impressive list of nine vintage cocktails (Sazerac, Mahattan, Pimm’s Cup etc) along with eleven modern creations all coming in at $8.75, with the Reverse Sazerac Sour as the one exception, which uses Absinthe and costs $11.25.

There are 6 draft taps that focus on local craft beer (currently R&B’s Red Devil, Raven Cream Ale, Red Racer IPA & lager, one rotating tap, along with Strongbow cider). The wine list is value focused with 3 red and 2 white offered by the glass at $6.75-$10. The coffee is by JJ Bean.

^ Twisted Lasagna - fresh-made pasta sheets rolled up w/ mozerella, goat cheese, baby spinach, roast tomotoes and peppers, & toasted baguette ~ $12.95

^ Southern-style fried chicken w/ beer baked mac'n cheese and housemade cornbread muffin ~ $14.95

If you need a couple more reasons to encourage you to pay them a visit, the Hyde has weekly burlesque performances on Saturday nights at 7 and 9 pm as well as future plans for a comedy night on Wednesdays starting in March.

2960 Main Street | Vancouver
Tel: (604) 709-6215
www.hyderestaurant.com

HOW TO GET THERE

~ PK

Once The Soho pool hall, next the Plan B restaurant, and then a hilarious and bizarre homage to Britain’s greatest boozy misogynist super-spy called Shakin Not Stirred; this prime retail space in Yaletown has seen much change over the past few years and the latest looks to have finally secured all the proper elements to stay for the long run in this upscale neighborhood (namely, the right concept and lots of cash).

Enter The New Oxford. Riding the re-surging London-style pub wave they helped re-imagine and popularize into a string of successful watering holes around town (Academic, Cinema, Granville Room to name a few), the rock-solid Donnelly Group has taken the keys to 1144 Homer Street and polished this long and beautiful Yaletown heritage space with their own signature style of dark wood, leather, brick, and iron.

On a recent visit, I was happy to see bar and beverage director Trevor Kallies’ new drink list makes a shift from the typical DHM beer line up of macro-lagers towards some quality local and import craft beers, such as, Phillips Phoenix Lager, Hop Circle, Driftwood Farmhand Ale on tap as well as Deschutes Mirror Pond in bottle. (see drink list here)

I have not eaten any of their food yet (their beer was delicious), but the menu looks pretty good. (see food menu here)

~ PK

Some excerpts from the press release:

A tongue-in-cheek nod to both the world-renowned University of Oxford and British sporting culture…Vintage touring bikes line the ceiling, leading the eye to a looming portrait of literary genius, misfit and Oxford alumni Oscar Wilde. A long view of the room – which runs the width of the entire city block – reveals rustic gray millwork, classic pub-style furniture and black & white photos of various other notable Oxford grads. The 50-foot long cantilevered bar serves as the room’s centerpiece, leading visitors into a ‘study’ motif, complete with taxidermy, original-print hardcover books, vintage sporting gear and more comfortable seating.

Although the New Oxford is under the umbrella of the Donnelly Group Public Houses, guests will find a little taste of things to come, as it will also serve as a litmus test and launching point for new cocktail and dining menu items for the entire group. The innovative food menu utilizes fresh local ingredients and Ocean Wise seafood, complemented by a vast drinks menu. Guests will find handcrafted cocktails created by Bar & Beverage Director Trevor Kallies, a varied selection of feature whiskeys, well-priced wines by the glass and a rounded selection of draught beer and import bottles.

1144 Homer Street | Vancouver (Yaletown)
Tel: 604.609.0901
www.donnellygroup.ca/oxford

HOW TO GET THERE

Hours of Operation:
11am – 1am Monday – Thursday
11am – 2am Friday
10am – 2am Saturday
10am – 1am Sunday

The Le Magasin  space in Gastown has been through many reincarnations since its inception in 1911 and with the most recent, McLean’s, it appears to be going through several all at once.

The awkwardly named So.Cial at Le Magasin has been renamed and re-outfitted by former Vancouver Canuck hockey star Kirk McLean in a grey-on-white style accented with white roses and serving continental-inspired West Coast fare.

Like So.Cial, this restaurant ambitiously comprises the formal dining room, downstairs bar, sidewalk patio and sandwich shop and squarely occupying the “something for everyone” camp serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks. The main dining room is fairly muted and formal, with a special area set aside for “Kirk’s table” where Kirk is able to communicate with the kitchen and his guests from an always reserved wing-back chair. But downstairs, “Kirk’s bar” is a schizophrenic mélange of antique books, flat-panel TVs, retro throw cushions, a back-lit Rampant Lion…and more white roses. In a small space below street level, it feels part attic and part rumpus room.

Mingling in this space over sangria and wine at a recent event it seems that this venue is best served as an after work drinks spot, where standing and nibbling would be on the agenda. We had Tuna tartare with avocado and nori chips, easily sampled with one hand while holding a glass of pinot gris in the other. The nori chips are a nice touch, both visually and flavour-wise and make a nice scoop for the tartare although the tartare could have used some more ponzu as the predominant flavour was bland avocado.

Fior di Latte, an appetizer size salad of fresh cow’s milk mozzarella was served with roasted cherry tomatoes and arugula tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The menu cites this dish’s ingredients as including fresh basil rather than arugula, so I’m not sure if the intention was to be more along the lines of a Caprese salad or if they’re making some last minute menu changes. Regardless, the way it was served positioned the bitter greens at one end of the plate and the bland cheese at the other, with only the dressing to join them. This dish could be greatly improved with a little tweaking.

The seared flat-iron steak tataki is done in a tangy Asian-style with citrus soy and grapes, garnished with flat-leaf and black sesame seeds. The grapes are an interesting contrast to the richness of the meat and I enjoyed both the flavour and crunch from it but the Humboldt squid with chorizo, lime and sansho pepper aioli was my favorite dish, spicy and full of flavour.

They seem to be trying to do some innovative things with the menu and with some more refinement and tasting, they might be able to sort out the inconsistencies in flavour and pull it off. However, they are open seven days a week and are virtually guaranteed to be busy with their fail-safe affiliation with hockey fame and location on Water Street.

~ Degan Beley

Yesterday, I attended a sit-down tasting and media preview of Chef Marc Thuet’s Conviction Kitchen Season 2 being shot right here in Vancouver at landmark restaurant Delilah’s in the Westend.

The premise: “What do you get when you take one of the countryʼs top chefs, throw in a kitchen crew of ex-cons with no culinary experience, and give them just weeks to open a high-end restaurant from scratch?”

Well, the obvious answer is a “reality” show that will no doubt produce the requisite drama needed to hook viewers into watching a whole season of highly-entertaining kitchen porn, but if you look a little deeper, there is also a very human tale of redemption that makes a meal at Conviction Kitchen both memorable and rewarding.

Chef Marc Thuet, a self-confessed former “…hard-drinking, drug-taking, unfaithful, bankrupt lowlife”, along with his “explosive…perfectionist” wife and business partner, the alluring Biana Zorich, are on a culinary mission of mercy. Over the next few weeks, they will be providing tough love and mentorship to a group of ex-cons looking for a fresh start and a new career, all the while helping re-open a popular restaurant that launched the martini cocktail scene in the mid-eighties, now on the verge of celebrating her 25th birthday.

Here are a few shots from the brilliant 3 course meal I enjoyed yesterday, prepared and served by the show’s participants:

^ Chef Thuet's charcuterie & terrine platter, pickled vegetables and garnishes

Chef Thuet’s Alsatian choucroute is legendary, with much of the famed charcuterie being flown in from his Toronto restaurant for the show; my favourite was the silky smooth liver terrine on some of his fresh-baked Petite Thuet breads.

^ City TV's Breakfast Television Host, the effervescent Dawn Chubai is ready to eat

^ Choucroute de poisson with white spring salmon and ling cod quenelle

^ Alsatian pflutta served with braised pork belly and lamb cheeks

^ Lindt chocolate tarte and cocoa gelée

Conviction Kitchen is being shot everyday in the restaurant until August 7th and the dining public is encouraged to come be a part of the show and experience first hand Marc and Biana’s warm hospitality and tremendous efforts to transform this group of ex-cons into skilled and productive members of Vancouver’s hospitality industry.

^ Owner, Daniel Frankel, Season 2 Kitchen Confidential ex-cons, Chef Marc Thuet & Biana Zorich

Season 2 of Conviction Kitchen will air on Sundays at 9pm on Citytv this fall.

Delilah’s Conviction
1789 Comox Street | Vancouver
Tel: (604) 687-3424
www.delilahs.ca

~ PK