This article appeared as part of a larger feature on Canada's best restaurants in the Weekend Post of October 28, 2006, which can be found online at nationalpost.com/restaurants.
Prices are for two people, eating an appetizer and a main course and sharing one of the more modestly priced wines on the list, except where otherwise noted. Limited disabled access means there may be a step or two and the washrooms may not be wheelchair accessible.
1. Aerie Resort: Teetering above Vancouver Island’s Spectacle Lake in an inn made up of several villas, the Aerie’s Normandy-born chef Christophe Letard works wonders in a dining-room honoured by Relais & Chateaux. He gets his ingredients from such unusual sources as a neighbourhood monk who forages for mushrooms, and applies his classical French technique to glorious effect. Four courses each for $75 apiece is a bargain, when one of them could be Cowichan Valley duck breast with pine nut ricotta, duck rillette, “Georgie’s vegetables,” nasturtium, wild blackberry sauce. You’ll likely find something to please you among the 600-plus bottles on the award-winning list. $200 for two. Limited disabled access. 600 Ebedora Lane, Malahat, Vancouver Island, 250-743-7115. Website: www.aerie.bc.ca.
2. Araxi: The embodiment of elegance, Whistler’s Araxi is the sort of dazzling restaurant you don’t idly wander into but make a reservation at, and then look forward to, drooling, for weeks. It has just lost chef Andrew Richardson, but replacement James Walt is fresh from a stint as Executive Chef to the Canadian ambassador to Italy and is most unlikely to disappoint. Start by selecting half a dozen oysters each from an array of B.C.,Washington and East Coast bivalves; proceed to Queen Charlotte ling cod, parmesan polenta with puree of peaches and cream corn, Bright Lights chard and pickled white, red and orange baby carrots. The wine list regularly scoops up medals. Treat yourselves admirably for $170. Disabled access. Dinners only. 4222 Village Square, 604-932-4540. Website: www.araxi.com.
3. Banana Leaf: Not every fabulous restaurant in Vancouver is high-end. Banana Leaf, which has three locations, serves gutsy, exotically delicious Malaysian dishes in a warm, casual environment that feels true to the food’s roots. Don’t miss out on the Roti canai (flaky bread with curry dip, $3), and when the fresh, shell-on Dungeness crab (about $30 apiece) is on offer, absolutely go for it, although you can dine here much more cheaply. $100 for a crab dinner would include a bottle of Gewurtz. Disabled access at 1096 Denman St., 604-683-3333 and 3005 West Broadway, (604) 734-3005; no disabled access at 820 W. Broadway, 604-731-6333. Website: www.bananaleaf-vancouver.com.
4. Bearfoot Bistro: Even in Whistler, a resort where great restaurants abound, Bearfoot Bistro is something special. Wine Spectator has declared its list one of the most outstanding in the world; such disparate characters as Bill Gates and Hell’s Angel Maurice “Mom” Boucher have dined in its cellar (though not together). Twenty-seven-year-old wunderkind chef Melissa Craig astonishes with plate after plate on the order of Pan-seared weathervane scallop, braised veal cheek pine mushroom ragout, truffle jus. If you’ve already taken a second mortgage to stay at one of Whistler’s better hotels, sell one of your eyeballs and splurge further on the chef’s daily five-course tasting menu for $125 per person, and the sommelier’s five-course wine pairing for $120 each. Disabled access. Dinners only. 4121 Village Green, 604-932-3433, www.bearfootbistro.com.
5. Brix: The intimate brick courtyard, heated for year-round use, is ideal for canoodling, but wherever you sit in this cosy Vancouver eatery, the food is terrific. Executive chef Jason Wilson can start you off with something like Gold and red beet ricotta tower, warm with butter lettuce salad in a fig aioli, toasted pine nuts, grapes and green apple salsa. Follow that with Alaskan sablefish, ancho pepper crusted with wild prawns, potato gnocchi in lobster essence, asparagus spears and “black sambucca” crème fraiche. You may not have room for the dark chocolate fondue. $115. Disabled access. Dinners only. Closed Sundays. 1138 Homer St., 604-915-9463. Website: www.brixvancouver.com.
6. C Restaurant: Executive chef Rob Clark never wants for inspiration because he absorbs it directly from the ocean lapping at C’s doorstep, on Vancouver’s False Creek. With lovingly prepared seafood Job One, C is for people who worship at the altars of texture, flavour, and freshness, not giant portions. Recently, it was serving Grilled Sechelt sturgeon with preserved tomato, frisee, fingerling potato, and “crispy smoke.” Your first two courses and wine will set the two of you back about $170; add dessert for $11 each. Disabled access. Dinners nightly; lunches May-September and Dec. 11-23. 1600 Howe St., 604-681-1164. Website: www.crestaurant.com.
7. Chambar: A hit from the instant it opened, Chambar meshes a gentrified room featuring exposed brick walls and groovy chandeliers with Belgian chef Nico Scheurman’s dynamic food. You could start with the Beignet de poisson, which is halibut and candied ginger beignet, crab and pea shoot salad and lemon remoulade. You can’t miss if your entrée’s a $19 order of mussels, which come in a Coquotte, Vin blanc or Congolaise sauce in a big pot, with frites and mayonnaise. C’est comme en Belgique! Wicked cocktails, too, like the Blue Fig martini served with a bite of Danish blue cheese. Disabled access. Dinners only. $110. 562 Beatty, 604-879 7119. Website: www.chambar.com.
8. Cru: With husband-wife team Mark Taylor and Dana Reinhardt playing seasoned sommelier and stupendous chef respectively, Cru works like a dream. The long, narrow room is inviting, the wine list has earned cross-country raves and Reinhardt’s food will knock your socks into outer space. The Prix Fixe menu is your best bet, with three courses for $36 each. Tamarind-glazed pork tenderloin, scallion pancake and pan-Asian slaw, anyone? Dinner’s $112 pour les deux. Limited disabled access. Dinners only. 1459 W. Broadway, 604-677-4111. Website: www.cru.ca.
9. FigMint Restaurant & Lounge: Chef Lee Humphries hails from the U.K. and he has a spanking new, spartan, London-style room to work with in the lobby of the Plaza 500 Hotel. Marvellous dishes come out of his kitchen, like the Pan-roasted AAA beef filet with cippolini onion “tart Tatin,” Stilton cream, and porcini sauce Bordelaise. Testament to his imagination is the lounge’s Cheese progression, where a flight of four beers in shot glasses is presented alongside four servings of good cheese, so you can taste how well they complement each other. $125. Disabled access. W. 12th and Cambie. 604-875-3312. Website: www.figmintrestaurant.com.
10. La Regalade: Here you’ll find big, French, bistro food, set in the lively atmosphere of a snug and glowing boite in West Vancouver. Owner-chef Alain Rayé makes unapologetically authentic starters such as smoked herring fillets on warm potatoes, and serves entrees like Chicken fricassee with lemon confit in a family-size casserole dish. Split both starter and main and you can each have a Floating island. Can’t make it? Buy the eponymous cookbook. $125 for a memorable night. Disabled access. Closed Sundays and Mondays. 2232 Marine Dr., West Vancouver. 604-921-2228. Website: www.laregalade.com.
11 & 12. Lumiere and West: These two restaurants have been duking it out for the title of Vancouver’s premier establishment for so many years, the conflict is a joke -- they’re equally haute. Lumiere executive chef, cookbook author and TV host Rob Feenie’s talent is inarguable. Expect petite, exquisitely prepared portions in a sleek room, slightly off the beaten track, where the stars are well-chosen wines and dishes like Squab Breast, pan seared foie gras and pistachio crusted confit leg with truffled gnocchi and huckleberry sauce. The eight-course prix fixe menu costs about $225 per person with wine, or $260 for 11 courses. Disabled access. Dinners only. Closed Mondays. 2551 W. Broadway, 604-739-8185. Website: www.lumiere.ca. West, meanwhile, is a soigné white linen rendezvous situated amidst the high-end shops on South Granville, close to the Stanley Theatre. A chef at the pinnacle of his powers, David Hawksworth whips up inspired dishes like Lamb shank crusted with pistachio and orange, sweet and sour eggplant, polenta alla Romana. Dinner is $160 plus. Disabled access. 2882 Granville St., 604-738-8938. Website: www.westrestaurant.com.
13. Memphis Blues Barbeque House: Memphis Blues gets top marks for its classic Southern-style barbecue. These are fatty meats like pork butt and ribs smoked for hours over slow heat, sauced up, then presented in giant portions with coleslaw. You could eat the smoke wafting out of this attractive BC success story, where b & w photos of bluesmen dot the walls while their music dominates the sound system. $8 gets you a pulled pork sandwich with “pit beans” and slaw, $14 gets your pal a half-slab ’o’ ribs. Co-owner Park Heffelfinger’s clever wine list helps make MB a standout. You won’t need a starter -- instead, demolish pecan or peach pie with caramel bourbon sauce for $4 apiece. $65 for a mess of ’cue for two. Disabled access at most locations. 1465 W. Broadway, 604-738-6806; 1342 Commercial Drive, 604-215-2599; 1629 Lonsdale, North Vancouver, 929-3699; 289 Bernard Street, Kelowna will open soon. Website: www.memphisbluesbbq.com.
14. Mission Hill Family Estate Winery’s The Terrace: Sadly, this outdoor restaurant, with its spectacular views of grapevines sloping down to Lake Okanagan, is only open from May through mid-October for lunches and June 16-Sept. 3 for dinners, as weather permits. But if you’re in the Okanagan then, don’t miss dishes like Winery-made wild boar sausage, leek and spaghetti squash and fried bread dumpling. Celebrated executive chef Michael Allemeier (late of Calgary’s Teatro and Vancouver’s Bishop’s) is the big cheese at Mission Hill, and offers a Private Dining Experience for six to 200 people, but chef Tim Cuff presides over the Terrace and has garnered numerous accolades. $100 gets dinner for two. The winery itself is crazily grand; be sure to take a tour. Disabled access. 1730 Mission Hill Rd., Westbank, 250-768-7611. Website: www.missionhillwinery.com.
15. Raincity Grill: Raincity may be the quintessential Vancouver restaurant because it’s both luxurious and visually connected to nature, overlooking glittering English Bay. Chef de cuisine Andrea Carlson strongly adheres to the modern chef mantra of local, fresh and seasonal and her food is never less than outstanding. Her mains include such clever concoctions as Roasted Polderside Farms duck breast with apricot and ricotta tart, green beans, marjoram-preserved apricot, apricot jus. Fab wine list. Great lunches and brunches. Dinner is $120 and up. Limited disabled access. 1193 Denman St., 604-685-7337. Website: www.raincitygrill.com.
16. Sooke Harbour House: This is a total sensory experience, well worth the trip to Sooke on Vancouver Island. Wander the inn’s adjacent beach, inspect its collection of local art, and admire its gardens, whose main purpose is to provide chef Edward Tucson with ingredients like daylilies and woodruff flowers for his wildly inventive dishes. Lately, they’ve included Grilled Hecate Strait halibut with ruby beet mint sauce and sorrel puree, scallion flat bread, baby bok choy and calendula butter poached sunburst cauliflower (sheesh!). Island wines, and those from elsewhere in BC, pepper a list that’s 2,500 strong. Go for the four-course menu at $75 per person, with wine pairings for another $19 to $29 apiece. Disabled access. Dinners only. 1528 Whiffen Spit Rd., Sooke, 250-642-3421. Website: www.sookeharbourhouse.com.
17. Sun Sui Wah: It’s not difficult to find great Chinese food in Vancouver, but Sun Sui Wah is another story. More elegant than your typical Chinese restaurant, SSW’s dim sum is superb, but it is legendary for its seafood. When king crab is in, order that and the live creature will be dispatched to heaven in a trice, then served up two ways, the legs steamed in a mild garlic concoction and the body deep-fried with spicy salt, cream and butter, or ginger and green onion sauce. In the spring you’ll get a better bargain; right now, the crab is $23.80/lb.and 6-8 lb. crabs are the norm. A bit of veg, a bit of rice, and you’re beyond sated. $200 for two if crab’s your choice, less otherwise. Disabled access. 3888 Main St., 604-872-8822; 102-4940 No. 3Rd., Richmond, 604-273-8208. Website: www.sunsuiwah.com.
18. Tojo’s: You might find yourself taken aback by Tojo’s ersatz décor, with its framed, signed photos of lesser celebrities and tables that may not be arborite but might as well be. But it’s the chef’s skill you’re here for, and Hidekazu Tojo is internationally renowned for his sushi-making finesse. Expect some of the freshest, most remarkable fish, rice and nori combos this side of the Pacific. Seasonal specialties include Mushimono, which is smoked sablefish and pine mushroom steamed in Tojo’s bonito stock for $28. Omakase (chef’s choice) dinners of four to six courses range in price from $60 to $110 per person; add a bottle of sake for $35 for a total of $155-$255. Disabled access. Dinners only. Closed Sundays. 777 West Broadway, 604 872 8050. Website: www.tojos.com.
19. Vij’s: A word to those put off by Vij’s no-reservations policy: even Harrison Ford has to queue, and he doesn’t mind. The food in this luminous room is magnificent, a blend of coastal ingredients like salmon and prawns with the multifarious textures and sophisticated spicing of different cuisines from all over India, paired with a small but select wine list. The Marinated lamb “popsicles” with fenugreek cream curry are a mainstay. If you can’t get here, courage -- owner Vikram Vij and his wife, chef Meeru Dhalwala, came out with an unintimidating cookbook this year (Vij’s: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine) so you can try these dishes at home. Disabled access. Dinners only. 604-736-6664. 1480 W. 11th Ave. Website: www.vijs.ca.
20. Zambri’s: When BC’s Italian-Canadian CBC radio food columnist Don Genova makes a point of going to the same unpretentious Italian restaurant in Victoria every second Friday night, something’s going right at this popular family-style joint. Turns out, this ain’t your mama’s spaghetti dinner -- pasta with a crab ragout is one of the more beloved items on the ever-changing menu, which also features specials like Braised pork shoulder with fava beans, morels and lemon served with polenta. $105 for two. Disabled access. Closed Sundays and Mondays. 110-911 Yates St., 250-360-1171. No reservations. Website under construction.
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