News

Vancouver is a serious food town. It's also a little crazy.

More than 100 restaurants opened this year. I doubt any city of a similar size in North America has seen so much moving and shaking in such a short time span.

As we bid adieu to 2007, I have compiled my list of the year's most significant culinary events, worthwhile trends and saddest slips.

Rob Feenie leaves Lumière

The biggest news story in the Canadian food press this year. Deservedly so, since Rob Feenie is the most famous chef in the country. He might sometimes act like a devil, but he cooks like an angel. I feel sorry for Dale MacKay, the new chef who got stuck in the middle of the ownership battle. But don't hold your breath.

I will not be reviewing his cuisine until the legal dispute comes to some sort of resolution, which I will duly report on. To do otherwise would be a conflict of interest.

Locavore is the new

religion

Locavore, the new verb and noun used to describe the concept of eating seasonal, locally grown ingredients, was selected as 2007's Word of the Year by Oxford University Press.

A group in San Francisco was credited with coining the term, but Vancouver's own Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon probably did more to popularize the trend by documenting their year of eating locally, first at Thetyee.ca and then in a book called The 100-Mile Diet.

Heroin chic

I didn't believe haute dining and crack junkies could happily co-exist. I was proven wrong. Gastown, Vancouver's last bastion for affordable rents, exploded with new restaurants this year. My favourites are Boneta, which features great cocktails and even better window-side theatrics (I've seen people streaking outside) and La Marrakech, a wonderfully kitschy Moroccan oasis replete with belly dancers and fragrant dishes tossed in rosewater, orange-blossom honey and pomegranate vinegar.

Requiem for the entrée

The traditional main course is dead. Mid-size plates, priced between an appetizer and an entrée, are the new way to eat. The trend, popularized locally by such restaurants as Boneta, Chow, Flite and Plan B, is also spreading across the United States, according to The New York Times. Some people think the concept is a rip-off. I like the variety it offers.

Dinner deconstructed

There once was a time when salads arrived at the table with all the ingredients properly mixed. Was that too much to ask? These days, dishes are artfully parcelled and scattered across plates - a bit of greens here, a little quail's egg there, and usually no room to toss. The restaurants that pull it off (Chow) are those that realize a whole is the sum of many splendid parts. The restaurants that don't (Deuce) seem to be blindly following trends.

On-site Butchering

And you thought Vancouver was the land of sprouts and lentils? Restaurants are big on meat these days.

And in a show of newly acquired respect for the long-lost art of butchering, many chefs are buying their carcasses whole, butchering the meat in their own kitchens and dry-aging steaks on site.

Sean Cousins at So.cial is the leader of the pack. He has his own deli in the back of the restaurant, where you can buy some of the tastiest sirloins in town. Rob Belcham of Fuel is also a serious devotee of the snout-to-tail philosophy. As an interesting dichotomy, I hear that he also serves up one of the best vegetarian tasting menus around. Jean-Christophe Poirier of Chow also butchers on site and rotates among cuts as the week progresses. (Anyone care to take a guess on my favourite new restaurant of the year?)

Mushy meat

The downside to this carnivore obsession is that everyone wants to try something new with a product that is not at all conducive to technical experimentation. Honestly, I think I might be sick if I have to eat one more limp or undercooked piece of meat.

Fuel turned my stomach when they served me a flaccid loin of pork slowly boiled under water with no sauce. What's wrong with a little char? Metro made me gag when they gave me a chewy piece of veal tenderloin grilled blue. Haven't they heard of connective tissue? It needs heat to break down.

Back to the basics

Stop the fusion!

Vancouver customers have spoken. They've had enough lavender-infused halibut slivers with vanilla "paint" daubed on the edge of their plates. They want simple, traditional food, done well. And they don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Why else would Jules Bistro in Gastown be packed night after night? The restaurant serves simple steak frites and a three-course table d'hôte for $23. This is what people want to eat.

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Side dish

Toast the New Year in style.

Herewith, a few dining options.

Bubbly Abandon

Pop in the New Year at NU Restaurant + Lounge. The $50 price of admission includes complimentary canapés, dance tunes from DJ the Stuntman and tiny bubbles from a Lawrence Welk-inspired contraption. 1661 Granville St.; 604-646-4668.

Cool Jazz

Chill out at Cin Cin Ristorante, which will be ringing in the New Year with a DJ and live jazz

saxophonist. The $40 cover charge (from 8 p.m. on) does not include dinner. 1154 Robson St.; 604-688-7338.

Civilized Debauchery

At Chambar Belgian Restaurant, tickets, $130, are all-inclusive of food and drink. 562 Beatty St.; 604-879-7119.

Soviet Chic

S Novim godom from the Opus Bar, where a Russian-themed fete will feature vodka bars, faux furs, zakuskis (Russian canapés) and funky tunes from DJ Steven Quarré of the U.K. disco label Hed Kandi. Tickets cost $150. 350 Davie St.; 604-642-0557.

Haute Hotel

The brand-new Yew Restaurant and Bar at the Four Seasons Vancouver invites you to ring in 2008 with simple sophistication, no cover charge and the standard menu. The one thing we loved from our sneak peak: The sommelier will open any bottle of wine, no matter how expensive, if two glasses are ordered. 791 West Georgia St.; 604-692-4939.

Alexandra Gill