Supping in Vancouver

Tapastree Restaurant
1829 Robson St
Vancouver, BC
Ph: (604) 606-4680 or Reserve Online

Although I live downtown, there are so many excellent places to eat south-east of Burrard Street that I have spent little time checking out restaurants around the Denman Street area and the West End. But this evening we were going to attend the opening night of Theatre Under The Stars production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at Stanley Park so I decided to visit Tapastree. I love tapas style eating because one can try small tastes of several different dishes and I really looked forward to  this meal. I did not expect to be blown away as I was, by the flavours and the excellent value.

Calling all Foodies - and active Vancouverites too.  Want to eat in fine restaurants with great discounts off your bill? Want to rent a jet-ski or skidoo for half the usual cost?

On Monday, July 12th, Vancouver based GoodNews.com launches its website at www.GoodNews.com. GoodNews is a voucher deal site with a difference. Actually several differences.

Vancouver based, it not only promotes local businesses but also supports local causes by donating part of the voucher price to a cause that is their featured charity for a minimum of two weeks at a time.

 Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver is their launch cause partner, and 10% of every sale as well as  $1 for every new sign-up  to their site until July 23rd, will go to this cause.

Until the launch on Monday. you can access the daily deal at the pre-launch website. On Monday the link changes to GoodNews.com. The company has been running a pre-launch test of their process. And I was lucky enough to be able to try it out.

Market by Jean-Georges
1128 West Georgia St.
Vancouver, British Columbia
Ph: (604) 689-1120 or Reserve Online

I have enjoyed two dinner meals at Market by Jean-Georges and on both occasions have been impressed by both the quality of the food, and the impeccable service.  I also had the opportunity to sample the black truffle fontina cheese  pizza and the rice cracker-crusted seared tuna on Michelle Ng's recent Downtown Foodie tour: (Guest Reviewer Amanda takes the Vancouver Foodie Tour).

This review focuses only on the second time I dined at Market, prior to seeing a play at the PAL Theatre on Cardero. As usual we were there for an early dinner, around 6 pm. We were seated immediately at a nice sized table. Iced water was brought promptly.

Society Dining Lounge
1257 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC
Ph: (604) 629-8800 or Reserve Online

We have previously enjoyed several meals at Coast Restaurant, the previous Glowbal Group restaurant at this location on Hamilton Street but since Coast has been re-incarnated on Alberni Street, and the eatery at this location was reborn as Society, we have not had the opportunity to visit either the new Coast or Society.

  The mantra for the new Society is "comfort food. completely re-imagined." Sounded interesting so on a recent warm summer evening we strolled across to Society to enjoy some casual dining out on their patio.

 We decided to share three dishes. The crispy calamari  with smoked red pepper aioli  was hot and crisp with tender calamari. The smoky flavour really came through in the dipping sauce.

The Edge Social Grille and Lounge
1100 Granville Street,
Vancouver. BC
Ph: (604) 681-3433 or Reserve Online

The Edge Social Grille and Lounge was one of the restaurants we visited on the recent Foodie Tour hosted by Michelle Ng:  Foodie Tours rediscovers Granville Street 2010. I so much enjoyed the flatbread samples at The Edge provided for the tour, that I vowed I would return for a meal at the Grille as soon as I had an opportunity to do so.

It was around 8:30 on Sunday evening after a couple of hours of dance classes, Country-2 Step and West Coast Swing at UrbanDance on Granville, that we decided to drop in to The Edge for a light supper. The restaurant was fairly quiet and our server, Briana, was quick and efficient. Having expended a lot of energy we were really hungry so to get an idea of the range of dishes, we decided to share 4 appetizer plates.

Oru in the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel
1038 Canada Place,
Vancouver, BC.
Ph: 604-695-5500 or  Reserve Online

Although located in the Fairmont Pacific Rim,  Oru is a "free-standing Pan-Asian Bistro", serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.

We visited Oru for lunch and were impressed by the open airy feel of the room. Oru is derived from the Japanese word "to fold' - think origami. As you can see in the picture below right, this motif is apparent in the ceiling decor.

A large gleaming open kitchen stretches along the the width of one wall, and the tables are spaced comfortably far apart. Oru features a community table that seats 12, and also has a private dining room that can reasonably entertain up to 14 guests at a time.

Zest Japanese Restaurant
2775 West 16 Avenue
Vancouver, BC, V6K3C3
Ph: (604) 731-9378 or Reserve Online 

 Enroute to see Twelfth Night at Jericho Arts Centre we stopped off for dinner at Zest Restaurant, tucked away near the corner of 16th and MacDonald.

On the Granville Street Foodie Tour, I learned that Zest and ShuRaku (on Granville Street) are sister restaurants. The ShuRaku taste samplings reminded me of how as I had enjoyed a meal at ShuRaku last year, and that I had eaten at Zest before as well.

This meal would be my second at  Zest, and I remembered being very impressed by the taste and the presentation of the food on my previous visit. 

We had a nice-sized secluded table near the window and the service was efficient and unobtrusive. We decided to choose four dishes to share. One was local tuna sashimi, which is always a favorite of mine. 

Rediscover Granville 2010

If New York City can successfully turn Broadway at Times Square from a taxi-clogged major street into a summer pedestrian mall with sidewalk cafes (New York, New York 2009 - Theatre, Food and Dance)  it's not surprising that Vancouver can do the same for Granville Street. It certainly worked well for Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics in February - summer, with patio dining along Granville, should be even better.

Charles Gauthier of the Vancouver Downtown Business Improvement Association kicked off Michelle Ng's Media Granville Street Foodie Tour by telling us of the Rediscover Granville 2010 initiative that is already underway. Until September 5th Granville Street is closed from Hastings to Smithe and the VPD will also close the 900 and 1000 blocks between Smithe and Helmcken on Friday and Saturday nights from 9 pm.

Several programs have been developed to enhance the ambience of the area. One is to bring back buskers, to play on Friday nights from 5 to 7 pm, and to have three summer busker concerts on the 700 block from 7 pm to midnight on July 2, August 6 and September 3.

Even more important to foodies - more than a dozen restaurant, pub and bar patios will be open and between the 500 and 800 blocks, these patios can extend right out to the curbs for the summer. There will also be temporary seating in the middle of the street between the 600 and 800 blocks to encourage lingering.  Check out the picture of in-street seating on Broadway, New York. A thought ... when does lingering become loitering? I hope that the rowdies don't mess up this great idea.

And the Granville Street Foodie Tours aim to introduce the dining public to the plethora of great restaurants and pubs that have opened up along this location.

The Media meet The Granville Street Foodie Tour:

At the Arts Club Chef's Cooking Class I attended last year I had a real blast and picked up some excellent tips for the kitchen - and the barbecue.  After chatting with Joe Fortes Executive Sous Chef, Curtis Webb, and Pastry Chef Kelly Urbanoski, I was impressed by their enthusiasm for these events - and was really excited to participate in this year's Celebrity Chef class where they would be cooking and teaching.

The only problem was that owing to a moment's indiscretion on my part during the earlier interview, a kitchen secret I had closely guarded for several years would be bared to the world - or at least to the 18 people present in Sandra and Peter's kitchen for the cooking class. And what would that do for the image of urbane foodie I was so carefully cultivating?

Casting aside such trepidations, my notebook, my camera and I arrived at our host's home on the dot of 6 pm. Sandra, who has generously donated her home for these fundraising events on multiple occasions, welcomed us and showed us into the kitchen which was a hub of activity.