The famous foie-gras stuffed stuffed burger is served at db Bistro Moderne in Vancouver.Laura Leyshon/The Globe and Mail
Gourmet hamburgers may be a dime a dozen these days. But there is none so fine as the original, the legendary db Burger created by New York celebrity chef Daniel Boulud.
So when I heard that Mr. Boulud is shuttering his two Vancouver restaurants, Lumière and the adjacent db Bistro Moderne, on March 13, I raced over to devour one of his $29 softball-sized patties for the last time.
As I raised my lips to the multilayered extravaganza - consisting of a creamy foie-gras centre surrounded by a truffle-marinated boudin of wine-braised short rib, wrapped in juicy red, freshly ground prime sirloin - a reverse-Proustian pleasure invaded my senses.
No sooner had the warm juices dribbled down my chin than a shudder ran through me and an image of the future revealed itself. The taste was that of a big city in which petty provincialism and culinary Philistinism were no longer the sine qua non of the local restaurant scene.
Well, you can't blame a girl for dreaming.
Vancouver is not the first city to lose this star-studded chef. Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn Las Vegas resort closed last summer after its five-year operating contract was over. Mr. Boulud's management fees are by no means cheap and have proved onerous for much deeper pockets.
We are, however, the first to lose him so farcically.
The saga began in 2002, when David Sidoo and his wife, Manjy, lent Rob Feenie the money to open Feenie's. Mr. Feenie repaid the loan, but later had financial problems. The Sidoos bailed him out with a new deal that gave them 95 per cent control of the business, slashed Mr. Feenie's salary and limited his freedom to spend the restaurant's money.
To say the relationship didn't go well is an understatement. On Nov. 1, 2007, Mr. Feenie walked out. Four months later, the Sidoos announced their partnership with Mr. Boulud. He was the first international superstar chef to come to Canada and the world was watching.
Mr. Feenie is a sensational cook, there's no doubt about that. But Mr. Boulud is an even better one. Under his direction, Lumière and db Bistro Moderne served some of the most divine restaurant food to be found on the planet.
Sadly, many Vancouverites didn't bother trying it. Foodie sentiment was stacked against Mr. Boulud. He was an interloper, charged the critics, swearing they'd never step foot across the threshold. He was a fly-in celebrity chef, they sneered, who spent time more signing cookbooks than he did in the kitchen.
The Sidoos may have underestimated the local loyalty toward Mr. Feenie, but I think a lot of that loyalty was built on hypocrisy. The critics conveniently forgot that that they had once lambasted Mr. Feenie for similar reasons.
I'll never forget the conversation I had with a judge for the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. "We really stuck it to them," he said, privately gloating over the fact that Lumière and db Bistro got only an honourable mention in the French category. "We weren't going to let the outsiders win." How small-town is that?
It's true that there is a trend away from formal dining all over the world. But in every big city there is still room for a few special-occasion restaurants with multi-course tasting menus and a champagne-stacked cellar. The three-Michelin-starred restaurants of the world are rarely profitable. They're either labours of love or vanity projects for a chef's brand.
Such was the tiny, new Lumière, squeezed to almost half its original size. "This would never happen anywhere else in the world," Mr. Boulud pointedly said to chef-de-cuisine Dale McKay at the launch party. It's no secret that Mr. Boulud wanted to close Lumière, or at least move it downtown. It was never meant to make money, although it did keep the business in Relais & Châteaux other prestigious clubs.
Lumière was a primarily a matter of pride for Mr. Sidoo - a trophy he refused to give up. And who can blame him? db Bistro Moderne was supposed to be the cash cow. Unfortunately, it never received the respect - or traffic - it deserved.
Yes, Vancouver is oversaturated with French bistros. But you can't compare the plain old steak frites at Pied-à-Terre or Les Faux Bourgeois to db's escargot and chicken oyster fricassee. This succulent mélange of lightly crisped tenders, slippery snails, garlicky button mushrooms, chewy spaetzle, crunchy hazelnuts and a glossy, emerald-green parsley broth thickened with trotters elevates an ordinary bistro dish to the gastronomic stratosphere.
This is excellent, innovative, labour intensive and lusciously layered food that is in a different - world-class - league from the standard fare at any other French bistro in town. If Vancouver couldn't recognize that, we don't deserve it.
Alexandra Gill