VANCOUVER — Restaurateur Laurent Devin is bringing back the basic crème brûlée.
At his Vancouver restaurant Bistrot Bistro, Mr. Devin prepares the classic French custard the way it's been made for generations, using plain old vanilla beans for flavouring.
Too often, he says, restaurants mess with the time-honoured dessert, adding Grand Marnier or other unorthodox ingredients as they strive to become more innovative.
"You eat it, and okay, it's cute, but it doesn't have the taste of a crème brûlée any more," Mr. Devin said.
Sean Heather's Salt Tasting Room offers diners a menu of 10 cheeses, 10 cured meats and 10 condiments - and that's pretty much it. (Rafal Gerszak for The Globe and Mail)
Restaurants in New York and Los Angeles have already begun shifting back to basics as people seek food that is true to its origins. Now, a growing number of Vancouver restaurants are catching on, moving away from the last decade's trend of mixed menus and fusion cuisine and reverting to simple, often traditional, food.
At Bistrot Bistro, which opened earlier this year, the menu features mainly classic dishes such as boeuf bourguignon and lamb navarin, cooked as they are in Mr. Devin's native France. La Buca serves Italian staples such as tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce. And Mistral French Bistro, now in its second year, offers classics such as cassoulet.
Taking simplicity to the extreme, Salt Tasting Room has a menu of only cured meats, cheeses and condiments.
Local restaurateurs and foodies say it was only a matter of time before the trend reached Vancouver, where restaurants have long mixed cooking styles and ingredients from around the world.
"A lot of the best chefs in the city are definitely going with simpler preparations," said industry vet Ken Brooks.
Mr. Brooks, the new manager of Gastown's long-standing Al Porto Ristorante, which specializes in traditional Italian food, has worked in the Vancouver restaurant industry for 17 years. "The frou-frou treatment is [applied] less and less."
He said it's becoming harder to compete in internationally inspired West Coast cuisine, since so many restaurants of that type now exist in the city. And because West Coast cooking incorporates such a range of influences, diners aren't always sure what to expect.
Local culinary doyenne Barbara-Jo McIntosh, owner of Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks stores, agrees that some restaurants push the boundaries of convention too far.
During a recent dinner, Ms. McIntosh found herself puzzling over a grilled cheese sandwich with pear compote and microgreens - as a dessert course. "It was a great dish, but it wasn't dessert," she said. "I think sometimes we can try and be too creative."
Ms. McIntosh said part of the appeal of simpler cuisine is that it's casual. Even if it's traditional, it's still unpretentious.
The trend is also largely influenced by a growing demand for seasonal, local ingredients, she said. People are not only interested in the cultural origins of their food, but in where it is cultivated.
Sean Heather, owner of Salt Tasting Room, said people are now savvier about food and have a greater appreciation for "clean" dishes that combine two or three flavours at most.
"There's nothing like a piece of fish simply grilled or pan-fried," he said. "A little squeeze of lemon juice, a little dash of olive oil, some salt and pepper and bingo!"
Such basic meals taste best when the ingredients are fresh, rather than frozen and flown in from other parts of the world.
Mr. Heather said the concept of Salt would never have worked in Vancouver 10 years ago. But following the culinary scene in New York and London, Vancouverites now have a renewed interest in rustic foods such as charcuterie and artisan cheeses.
His restaurant offers a changing selection of 10 cheeses, 10 meats and 10 condiments, from which diners build their own plates. Mr. Heather said Salt has been so successful he is now looking to open new locations.
But Vancouver's new appetite for simplicity and authenticity doesn't mean fancy and inventive food is on its way out. Andrew Wong's popular Wild Rice restaurant specializes in modern Chinese cuisine, described as a blend of east and west.
He says Vancouver is big enough for a wide range of restaurants, and suggests there will always be a place for innovative and complex menus, especially when they, too, use fresh, local ingredients and are executed well.
"I think you pick your camp and you just go with what you want to go with," he said.
At Bistrot Bistro, Mr. Devin acknowledges that some diners might find his food outdated or boring, but he is unapologetic.
"That's what I like to eat," he said, "good, simple food well done."
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