Finally this week, the nights turned cool in Vancouver. The Pacific light is flickering out earlier, and the early autumn sundown is lit in nursery colours of baby blues and pinks. But on this night the lights burn brightest in Yaletown, one of the country's strongest and most competitive square kilometres of restaurants.
Eating possibilities run thick on Yaletown's narrow streets: Big box Italian restaurants Cioppino's and Circolo duke it out in a mock spaghetti western near one corner, while at Rodney's Oyster House, the oystermen are in full shuck, and in Bluewater Café's raw bar, chefs Max Kitsuda and Yoshi Tabo hoist knives to deconstruct a big-eye tuna -- they're the cut-men you want in your corner.
At Elixir, on the corner of Davie and Hamilton Streets in the belly of the newly opened Opus Hotel, executive chef Don Letendre is already getting slammed. Despite a 20-year résumé, he's the new kid on this block. After exiting Kitsilano's Moustache Café two summers ago, Mr. Letendre toured many of North America's better restaurants, on a reconaissance mission for a new modern brasserie at the upcoming hotel.
What Mr. Letendre saw in his travels to 40 restaurants, including Daniel, Pastis, Jean Georges and Gramercy Tavern in New York, and the French Laundry, Masa Restaurant and Restaurant Gary Danko in California, only confirmed his smart intention: Brasserie food, caught through the lens of France, means deep braises, charcuterie, stinky cheeses and furry Rhône wines. Several months before opening, he played a trump card in hiring as his chef de cuisine the accomplished Frédéric Desbiens, who cooks with a pleasing Gallic intensity.
Depsite the anticipation (the restaurant opened Sept. 13), our first meal at Elixir was slightly disappointing. The hotel's lobby bar provided a solid start. Much like the demographic of its patrons, it combines vintage antiques with contemporary Starck. Impossibly attractive female servers, wrapped in tight Jacqueline Conoir graffiti tops, delivered lusty cocktails. Other lounge dishes were impeccable too: a hamachi sashimi with seared foie gras in a soy-mirin glaze, lacquered pork ribs with a knockout jicama coleslaw, and a pretty trio of soups, including a delicious demitasse of chilled chawan mushi with Dungeness crab.
But once inside the wood-panelled Elixir, hung with fin-de-siècle prints, the early cooking was tentative, with some dishes under-seasoned and less than the sum of their ingredients. The onion soup seemed spare, its broth not strong enough to support the caramel of the onions. A frisée salad with smoky lardons, which would have benefited from a punchier vinaigrette, came off bland and its poached egg top hat was overcooked.
A return visit in daylight, however, showed beautifully coddled eggs on top of house-cured salmon, generously layered over Puy lentils and brioche. The plate paired brilliantly with a Sonoma Cutrer Russian River chardonnay, recommended by David Robson, Elixir's wine director.
But it was in revisiting the dinner menu that we found the kitchen's intensity, which recovered quickly and precisely from a wobbly start. With training wheels off, each of the dishes had found its soul -- seasonings sharpened, the beef broth in the onion soup more deeply reduced, eggs properly runny in the frisée salad. Even the china service was corrected: An unctuous coq au vin was served in a bowl instead of on a plate, promoting its braising liquids into every mouthful.
The side dishes bounced too, with haricots verts garnished with fleur de sel; and a gratin of potatoes, once too polite, now topped with a plank of Gruyère burnished under the salamander. Mr. Robson's wine list, impressive enough for a start-up, is also fleshing itself out -- smartly chosen, top-of-the-list Cascadians understudy for more expensive French ringers.
The much abused crème brûlée, the culinary equivalent of a fashion victim, came up spades. Elixir's version combines bananas and pistachios, and is served with rosemary shortbread. We sensed Gallic intensity at work. A tarte au citron, the dessert choice for many right after meat, was also delicious. But it was an order of profitéroles that won over the day -- tiny, perfect pastry éclairs arranged over a puddle of chocolate. Their interiors were creamy, and as cool as this early autumn night is sure to be. Elixir: at Opus Hotel, 322 Davie St., Vancouver; phone: (604) 642-0557; Web: http://www.opushotel.com. Dinner for two, with wine about $125. Open seven days a week.
Jamie Maw is the food editor of Vancouver magazine.