Last week, I had a festive lunch with a couple of dear friends at Café Il Nido. The food was scrumptious, the conversation was scintillating and we were all having a jolly good time - until they asked about my next column.
I haven't had the best of luck with new restaurants lately and was dreading the thought of having to write a negative review for Christmas Eve. I'm honestly not a Grinch at heart.
"Why don't you write about this place?" one of my girlfriends suggested.
Indeed, why not? Whenever people discover what I do for a living, they almost always ask about my favourite restaurants. So in the spirit of giving, here's my oft-recited list of Vancouver's tried and true.
BACCHUS RESTAURANT
"What's the most romantic restaurant in Vancouver?" I hear that request all the time. You really can't go wrong at this voluptuous, velvet-draped love den, especially at this time of the year when the fireplace is crackling and the Christmas lights are twinkling. Chef Lee Parsons, who trained under Raymond Blanc at London's esteemed Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, is cooking some of the finest full-bodied French food in the city: 845 Hornby St. (in the Wedgewood Hotel); 604-689-7777
CAFÉ IL NIDO
This hidden gem (tucked below the Manhattan Apartments, behind Starbucks) is perfect for girly get-togethers and intimate tête-à-têtes. The cozy, low-ceilinged room is unpretentious and owner Franco Felice is utterly charming. The simple trattoria cooking won't blow you away, but it's dependable, authentic and decently priced. In warmer weather, the courtyard patio is a tranquil oasis in the heart of the city: 780 Thurlow St.; 604-685-6436
CHOW
I love everything about this restaurant. The room, with its white drywall and polished concrete, is chic and modern. The cocktails are to-die-for delicious. The service is down-to-earth. The food is locally sourced, mostly organic and all very high quality (think heritage-breed Berkshire Pork from Sloping Hill Farm or sunflower-seed-fed ducks from Polderside Farms). Chef Jean-Christophe Poirier lends a Quebec-style heartiness to regional West Coast cuisine and a finesse that's quite astonishing for mid-priced small plates: 3121 Granville St.; 604-608-2469
CIOPPINO'S
MEDITERRANEAN GRILL
This bustling Yaletown warehouse conversion, perfect for splashy special occasions, has big-city ambience, oodles of celebrity clients and one of the best wine lists in the country. The Tuscan grilled meats and light-bodied seafood pastas are outstanding. And contrary to popular belief, the menu offers excellent value. I tested most of the recipes in Pino Posteraro's cookbook last year. His famous veal-cheek pappardelle, slowly roasted in a luscious brown stock, took me almost three days to prepare. In the restaurant, a bowl only costs $25: 1133 Hamilton St.; 604-688-7466
GASTROPOD
When I ate the legendary bacon-and-egg-flavoured ice cream at Heston Blumenthal's world-famous Fat Duck restaurant last summer, I thought it tasted like bacon-flavoured Drano - interesting, but not very appetizing and obviously chemically derived. When I tasted Angus An's bacon-infused ice milk at Gastropod the next month, I thought it tasted like a creamy gelato infused with double-smoked bacon and licked with a dark hit of molasses - interesting, yet natural and unexpectedly delicious. Mr. An is, bar none, the most innovative chef in Vancouver. He dabbles in molecular techniques, but never at the expense of flavour: 1938 West 4th Ave.; 604-730-5579
GO FISH
It's just an outdoor shack at the foot of the Fisherman's Wharf. But this unassuming takeout shop serves the freshest, tastiest tempura-battered fish and chips in the city - in addition to awesome daily soups, simple grilled fish nestled on huge mounds of greens, spicy wild salmon tacos, and plump oyster po' boy sandwiches on soft Portuguese buns. Why can't someone do something like this indoors? 1504 West 1st Ave.; 604-730-5040
RANGOLI
