It was an odd discrepancy.
Earlier this month, Cibo Trattoria in the Moda Hotel didn't receive any of the top prizes at the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. A few days later, I readthat Food & Wine magazine has declared it one of the two best boutique hotel value restaurants in the world, right up there with the great Alain Senderens' communal-dining restaurant at the über-hip Mama Shelter hotel in Paris.
Cibo's general manager Sebastien Le Goff shrugged off the local shutout. "As my grandfather taught me, awards are like bombs, they rarely hit the people who deserve them," he joked.
So true. But once in a while, they do hit the mark.
Take Cru Restaurant, for example. After placing second in the small plates category at the Vancouver Magazine awards for five consecutive years, the West Broadway underdog finally toppled the perennial gold-award winners Bin 941 and Bin 942.
The upset victory was the first of several mild surprises during the gala ceremony for the magazine award's 20th anniversary, which also saw the Bearfoot Bistro trump Araxi for best in Whistler and the tiny, regionally rooted La Quercia capture best new restaurant.
Cru owner Mark Taylor gave a hilarious (albeit unprintable) speech that had the crowd in stitches.
It seemed like a good excuse to revisit Cru, which I have never reviewed and had kind of fallen off my radar.
If the Bins were a heavy-metal rock concert, Cru would be a chamber recital. In terms of ambience, it's difficult to imagine two close competitors less alike.
Whereas the Bins are loud, cramped and crazily colour-
ful, Cru is modestly reserved with its spacious banquette seating, white linen, soft lighting and languorous oil landscapes hung on beige and pale-wood walls.
I never thought I'd complain about a restaurant being too quiet, but the mood here is so mellow we can overhear every conversation in the room.
Of course, that means everyone can hear us too.
"Who are you calling chubby?" our waiter jokingly interjects.
Uh, ourselves! In a different setting, his witty repartee might be construed as overly chummy. But tonight, it adds some much-needed levity and keeps us amused.
On the plate, executive chef Alana Peckham deftly balances her own thin line between dull and perfectly poised.
We start off slightly underwhelmed with the beets, shoots and leaves salad ($9), which has scant shoots and only a few small beets.
The fennel and goat cheese tart ($11) is remarkable only for its subtleness: The cheese is insipidly mild and the flavour of the fennel has been completely sweated out.
So imagine our surprise when the crispy duck leg confit ($16) explodes in our mouths with exquisite blasts of smoke and crackle.
The duck, a classic dish that is messed up more often than you might think, is perfectly cooked. It's laid over a creamy bed of goat cheese, spatzle and Savoy cabbage hash and blanketed with a warm bacon dressing that is brightened up with exactly the right amount of vinegar to cut the fat and keep the flavour fresh.
Oloroso-sauteed mushrooms ($13) is another smart bomb of a dish that skillfully checks the sweetness of the sherry and extreme buttery richness of its brioche podium with sharp aged cheddar and the sourness of a thick balsamic glaze.
Syrah-braised short ribs ($18) are so commonplace in Vancouver, I'm hesitant to order them. Lucky for us we do, because Ms. Peckham somehow injects new life into these tender beefy bones.
Although the braise looks like a sticky mess of molasses, it's barely sweet at all. Her masterly touch with acid has pulled it off again. Too bad the thin side of macaroni and cheese isn't a bit bolder.
Cru is well known for its weekly changing wine list, which has earned accolades across the country. Beyond value and diversity, the menu boasts a colour-coded system that helps its diners pair the featured wines and dishes.
It's a very helpful, unpretentious touch that sets this restaurant apart from so many others that seem hell-bent on confusing customers as much as possible these days.
Five small plates is the perfect amount to satisfy these two "chubby" diners. (Cru also offers larger plates with its $39, three-course prix fixe menu.).
If we had more room, we'd indulge in the grand cru chocolate truffle with peanut butter mascarpone mousse, which certainly entices. Instead, we nibble on a dainty platter of house-baked cookies ($8) and later lament that we forgot to take the leftovers home.
Cru might not blow you away. But it's a pleasantly relaxing, fully composed casual restaurant that's still going great guns.
Cru: 1459 West Broadway,
604-677-4111
