Mistral French Bistro

Today was a special day – we went to Mistral French Bistro (www.mistralbistro.ca) for lunch. Mistral is probably my favorite lunch spot anywhere. Yes, anywhere. We are not the sort of folks who eat lunches like this on a regular basis. We’ve been there to celebrate (a long leisurely lunch can feel more decadent, and so celebratory, than dinner), to turn an ordinary day into a special one, or, as in today, to perk up a bad one. (The bad day actually happened last week, but we couldn’t make it to Mistral until today.)

We arrived at just after 1 pm. The staff were all occupied when we arrived, and it took a few moments before someone came over to greet us. Once noticed, a server came by on his way to a table to tell us he’d be with us in just a moment (letting us know that we’d been seen), and another immediately followed and we were given our choice of several different tables and seated. Water and menus arrived quickly. A server took a little longer (I was feeling a little ignored), but once he came by, he was very helpful and efficient.

Usually we have one of the lunch menus, which are a fabulous value. (My favorite is the Marseille, because I love the bourride.) But today we ordered off the a la carte menu. We started with the Assiette de Charcuterie to share. It’s prosciutto, duck rillettes, and duck pate, with cornichons and an onion jam. (Chris wants me to make the jam. I think I’ll need to try it a few more times to figure it out…) The proscuitto is not in the typical Parma style (nor did it seem to be San Daniele). It seems to be cured for a little less time, giving it a different texture and taste. Not bad by any means, just different.

It was a cool drizzly day, and so a stew or braise was what the day called for. The chef must have been a fortune teller, because one of the specials was a beef short rib stew. We both ordered it. Braised in veal demi-glace and red wine for 8 hours, what could be more perfect? There were mushrooms, pearl onions (and parsnips or turnips?) in the braise and some baby carrots and a ricotta concoction on top. Chick pea flour ‘cakes’ were served alongside. It was incredibly rich. Delicious, but rich. I would almost have preferred the served sauce be cut with some veal stock or a little wine. Chris thought that simply serving less of it would have worked. It was that intense. However, despite the fact that we were both thinking of ways to do something about/with the sauce, neither of us could stop eating it! Think of a really good dark chocolate mousse, the kind where a few bites is enough. Chris finished his, and I got through half and brought the rest home. (Half the meat, that is. I don’t think much of the sauce made it home.) Neither of us could eat a morsel more, so we passed on coffee and desert.

Chris’s wine selection was perfect for the meal. A 2000 Cahors, with substantial tannins and acid, that not only stood up to the meal, but really enhanced it. It was a little tight when opened so we had it decanted, which helped substantially.

At the end of the meal we chatted with the server who was very knowledgeable about local foods and wines. I asked about the prosciutto, and he told me where they get it from. He also divulged his own favorite place to procure charcuterie. (When I go, I’ll be sure to write about it.) We also got some tips on some new BC wines to try. It was a fun ending to a really lovely meal.

I must confess that I have never been to France, and so cannot really say that the food at Mistral is authentic. But they have certainly convinced me that it is. I imagine that were I to go, I would find the same dishes, hopefully prepared with the same excellence.

In sum, we love this place. The food is clearly prepared with skill and care and is always flavorful. Service is consistently good. And they can always guide you to the right wine for your meal. Although today we chose a wine without assistance (we didn’t need it), on other visits we have gotten some help from Minna. In fact, it was she who introduced us to Joie Noble blend (www.joie.ca/2005_joie_vintage_spec_sheet.htm) and first got us to start drinking BC wines again. We have been there for dinner as well (our second anniversary?), and very much enjoyed it. But it’s lunch that we go for again and again. It’s not perfect, no place is. But it more than deserves all our thumbs. I heartily suggest you go. Warning: It is not particularly veggie-friendly. It’s OK if you eat seafood, but if you don’t, this is probably not the place for you.

4 thumbs.

The Galley Patio & Grill

After a bit of a travel ‘adventure’ I finally arrived back in Vancouver yesterday afternoon. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say I was very happy to land, and even happier when my suitcase arrived. (It had been directed to Goose Bay by accident – YVR, YYR, whatever…) It was nearing 4 o’clock, and neither of us had eaten lunch, so Chris proposed that we go and grab something to eat. The suggested destination was the restaurant at Jericho beach. A fantastic idea on a beautiful Vancouver day.

The Galley (www.thegalley.ca) is the restaurant at the Jericho Sailing Centre (www.jsca.bc.ca). It is an order-at-the-counter self-serve place with plastic baskets instead of plates. The menu is pretty basic: burgers, sandwiches, salads, fries, things of that sort. They do have vegetarian options. Essentially, it’s a basic pub-style menu appropriate to the venue. It is licensed, and they have a small but decent selection of local beers and wines. [They even have the La Frenz viognier, something the winery itself if out of (www.lafrenzwinery.com)- see my earlier posts on our visit to the Naramata Bench.] But the real reason for going there is the patio. It has one of the best views out there. Not a people-watching view, a spectacular, remind-you-how-lucky-you-are-to-be-in-Vancouver sort of view. And no fancy furniture. Just plain old plastic patio chairs and tables, which, be warned, are often a little unstable. (So hold on to your beers!) It was just what I needed after my travel travails.

Although I said you don’t go there for the food, don’t take from my statement that the food isn’t worth eating. Most of it is quite good. Nothing spectacular, but better than many places with much less in the way of views. I ordered the basic Angus burger with cheese, and Chris had the Jamaican jerk chicken burger. Both come with fries and are around $10 each. We also each ordered a beer. They have 12 and a 16 oz sized beers, which I like, because 16 is too big for me. (Yesterday I forgot about the smaller size until after we already had our beers.) The angus burger was perfectly fine. Not the best burger I’ve ever had, but certainly something I’d order again. The fries were well cooked, possibly overcooked for some, but perfect for my tastes. Chris’s jerk chicken burger was disappointing. All heat and no flavor. The heat was not an issue, as he loves hot, but the lack of flavor was. There was a lot of mayo on the burgers, but I’m sure that you could order them without. (Something Chris often does but forgot about yesterday.) We usually have the buffalo burgers, which have always been good, so maybe the jerk was a little out of their wheelhouse. We’ve also had the nachos on a previous visit, which were OK. The onion rings at the next table looked amazing, and I plan to try them on our next visit.

In sum, it’s pretty much as advertised. A basic venue with a great view and more than decent food and drink. And you can feel good about supporting a great community resource (the Sailing Centre). Dress casual; it's on the beach.

3 thumbs up.

Nichol Syrah (2005)

I'm posting this one from Phoenix, AZ. What am I doing here? It's a very long story, involving a work trip to DC, a thunder storm, and about 4 different attempts to get to Vancouver, which somehow ended with me doing an overnight stint in Phoenix, and my bag possibly, but not certainly, being in Goose Bay, Nfld. No BC food or wine to report on here. But, I did receive an email from Chris with the following tasting notes on one of the wines we bought on the Bench.

Nichol 2005 Syrah (www.nicholvineyard.com)

-notably, old world in style (the tell-tale "barn-yard" / earthy nose)
-yet noticable fruit & acid on the font end
-smooth finish, but with little or no tannin (as contrasted with Syncline;
you can really appreciate what the hotter WA summers add)
-Thus, the overall impression is of something much lighter than Syrah
-actually much better the next day. Still not at all tannic, but mid-mouth flavours rounded out with a recognizable hint of tobacco

The other wine he mentions, Syncline (synclinewine.com), is one we tried on a trip to Hood River, Oregon, last summer, and which I really loved. (Unfortunately, I can’t remember which of their two syrahs it was that we bought. They are quite different as I recall.)

Chris did also comment on the price of Nichol wines. Nichol reds are often a little lower in price than many other similar quality BC reds, and so relatively a better value.

Baru Latino

Yesterday, I was having a bit of a bad day (work), and to cheer me up, Chris suggested we go out for a drink later. (We’ve both been working well into the evening most days lately.) Then we found out we had a new nephew, and so had something to celebrate! We decided that bubbles were definitely in order for the evening. Nothing elaborate, just a quick pre-dinner drink and maybe a nibble or two. (Dinner was already in the works - Malaysian-style short ribs.)

Baru Latino (www.baru.ca/index2.php) was selected as the destination. It’s close by so an easy place to pop in and out of. We were immediately greeted at the door, and selected our own seats at the bar. (I’m happy to say that they have different seats at the bar than they used to. Before they looked good, but were hard to sit in for long. Much improved!) We pretty much knew what we wanted and so were ready to order quite quickly. The server was right on top of things, and was there to take our order very promtly. The host/server/bartender was alone that evening, but very efficient (at least we found him so) despite doing everything himself.

I’ve always found their wine list to be a little lackluster, but they did have what we wanted this time. We each had a glass of cava (Spanish bubbly), and shared an order of the Hunduarian Coconut Ceviche. I am not a cava connoisseur and so can’t say whether the cava on their list is a good one or not. (Cava connoisseurs are out there - just ask my friend Craig.) But we were perfectly happy with it; it was exactly what we wanted that evening.

The Hunduarian Coconut Ceviche is not what one typically thinks of when one thinks of ceviche. It’s a little creamy and lacking the typical acid-cooked aspect of many ceviches. We knew this, having ordered it before. I did think that it needed a pinch more salt and a bit more acid this time, although Chris disagrees. (This may have been a result of my long run that evening, leaving me a little dehydrated and so craving salt.) In general, the ceviches are our favorite items on the menu. They are always good. (The others are more familiar in style.) The fish is always really high quality and fresh. I like the Latin Chips too. The rest of the menu has highs and lows, or more accurately, good days and bad (i.e. it is inconsistent). Again, the ingredients are always fresh, but sometimes the combinations are not quite as good as they could or should be. Although Chris says it has improved recently. (He sometimes eats there when I’m away.)

Summary: Great place for ceviche, OK place for dinner. I wouldn’t cross town for dinner here, but if you’re nearby, or just want an evening of drinks and nibbles, then it’s a fine place. (Clearly we like it enough that we've been more than once.)

2 thumbs.

FYI: They have live music on Tuesdays, something we hadn’t realized before going. It made selecting a seat tricky. One end of the bar was too close to the door, which was open with a little bit of a draft, and the other was too close to the musician, which made it a little loud (there was already someone in the middle of the bar). We went with loud, which turned out to be fine. The guy who played the third set of the evening (the second we saw) was actually quite pleasant to listen to.

Fraser Valley Berries

Today’s post is not about a restaurant, a wine, a meal, or a store. It’s about a season – berry season. On Saturday I drove out to visit some family in Hope, which entails driving through the beautiful, if often somewhat smelly, Fraser Valley. (It is agricultural, after all.) My mother wanted to stop at one of the local berry farms, something I was more than happy to do. When we opened the car doors we were almost overwhelmed by the scent of strawberries. I’d never smelled anything like it! It was really incredible. It also meant that we had lucked out. The place we stopped at had blueberries and raspberries (as did others), but unlike most others, still had some strawberries.

I was a little too inspired, buying a flat of blueberries, 2 large baskets of strawberries, and a small one of raspberries. The raspberries were for eating, but I had big plans for the others. Yesterday, while rocking out to Miss Kitin and The National I made a batch of strawberry-fig preserves, a batch of my tea-time strawberry preserves (secret recipe, excellent on scones), and a batch of spiced pickled blueberries (an excellent accompaniment to charcuterie, maybe I’ll go pick up some more of that wild boar terrine). Today I made blueberry-orange preserves (it was Belle and Sebastian and Of Montreal playing today). I’ll finish up with a blueberry pie this evening. I love making preserves, they are such a wonderful use of the fresh bounty of the season. And my friends and family love my making preserves too: They benefit from my efforts at Christmas.

What a wonderful time of year! Go out and take advantage of what is fresh wherever you are.

The Noodle Box - Kitsilano

We went and grabbed a quick lunch at the Noodle Box (www.thenoodlebox.net/) the other day. Both Chris and I ordered the daily special: BBQ duck and prawns with veggies and some sort of sauce on thick egg noodles. I ordered it mild, he got it spicy. It was very tasty, something I’ve found to be true the two previous times we’ve been. However, the spicing has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Mild seems to mean anything from 'burn-your-mouth' to no spice at all. And hot varies likewise. On this visit, there was no heat whatsoever in mine, which was perfectly fine; they have three different condiments you can add at your table to add spiciness, allowing you to control it exactly. (I added lots.) The hot was perfect for Chris this time. He was left with little beads of sweat on his brow, just like he likes it. So we were both quite happy with the spicing, but be warned, this is not always the case.

They seem to be a green business, encouraging composting in addition to the more usual recycling. Despite this, the first time we went, which was in the winter, they felt compelled to heat the outdoors. I guess the cooks were hot, because the front door was propped open. The patrons, however, were not (hot that is); most of us were eating with our coats on! All this, and the heat was on. (Very Vancouver, doors open and heat on in the middle of February.) Apparently, the irony was not as apparent to the staff as it was to us.

Summary: tasty food, inconsistent spicing, but a pretty good deal for a quick lunch. We’ve been multiple times and we will go back.

2 thumbs (1 each).

Petales D'Osoyoos

Another successful pairing to report. Last night (at home) we had buffalo flat iron steak marinated in red wine, garlic, topped with bacon, onions, and mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, spinach topped with crumbled blue cheese, and a salad of cucumber and fresh fava beans with a cream mint dressing. The wine, Osoyoos Larose Petales D’Osoyoos. Was it the absolute best wine we could have paired with the meal? I don't know. We have several good bottles of French and a lot of BIG California cabs in the cellar, any of which probably would have been fantastic with the meal. The real question is whether or not it was a good meal for the wine, the answer: it was. It had more than enough tannins (and acid) to stand up to the meal very nicely. All without making us focus only on the wine. Instead, we enjoyed how the food and wine interacted, nothing playing a clearly staring role, instead, working in concert with each other to make beautiful music. (Don’t get me wrong, the wine is quite lovely to drink by itself too, as previous posts attest to.)

A plug for fresh fava beans: They are a hassle, requiring shelling and then peeling, but when they are in season, they are totally worth the effort!

I purchased the buffalo at my neighborhood butcher shop, called simply, The Butcher. They have very high quality meat, and great service, all without a trip to the craziness that is Granville Island. Check it out. (www.thebutcher.ca).

Salsa & Agave Mexican Grill

At last! Something I thought I would never eat in Vancouver- decent Mexican food. So I should be up front about this. I thought Vancouver had bad Mexican before I ever lived in upstate New York (with great seasonal places catering to the farm workers) or California (which needs no explanation). You see, once upon a time I lived in Mexico. I made it my mission to taste a lot of food while there, and learn as much as I could about how to make it (something I don’t do often, as the ingredients can be hard to find here). I like fancy Mexican food just fine, but what I really love is well prepared ‘regular’ food. I’ll admit it, I am a Mexican food snob, especially when it comes to ‘street food’. There is nothing better than a great taco or torta from a cart with questionable provenance!

Chris had tried this place called Salsa and Agave (1223 Pacific Boulevard, no website to link to as yet) a little while ago with some friends who are also Mexican food snobs, and who have had no luck finding Mexican they like much here either. (To be fair, Chris is pretty choosy about Mexican food too. He’s had enough authentic Mexican food with me that he knows what's what.) All three gave it their approval, and I was looking forward to trying it. So when he suggested that we go there for dinner last night, I was apprehensive, but excited. (Too many places here do Mexican and Spanish together, which makes no sense, or do things like use Spanish and not Mexican chorizo, which have totally different flavors! So I was not holding out too much hope lest I be sadly disappointed yet again.)

We got there just before 8 (they close at 8:30), and got the only table available. We decided that we both wanted sopes, which come 3 to an order but without sides, so we also ordered a side of rice and a side of beans. Chris got carne asada, al pastor (which is pork in a sauce) and carnitas (a slow roasted pork of sorts). I ordered al pastor, carnitas, and chorizo. We also ordered a tamarindo jarrito (me) and an agua de Jamaica (Chris), a drink made from hibiscus I believe. The service was very friendly…and not so good. Made me feel just like I was in Mexico. We asked for water about 10 minutes after ordering, because although they brought us some chips and salsa right away, we had nothing to drink alongside them. At some point, we did ask for our drinks and the server was a little shocked to ‘be reminded’ that we had ordered any. (She went and checked the bill, and sure enough, there were 2 drinks on it.) The chips were not homemade (too thin, multi-colored), which was disappointing, (they’ve got to have plenty of leftover tortillas at the end of the night they could use for chips the next day), but the salsa was. Be warned, it was not the standard pico-de-gallo that is often served. It was a cooked salsa. Not cooked as in Pace-Picante-out-of-a-jar. Cooked as in, made from pureed roasted tomatoes that were very likely then cooked. It is very authentic, and something I hadn’t tasted (except at home when I occasionally make it) in years! We got our drinks just before the sopes came. Again, fresh made sopes would have been good, but these were likely purchased, either that, or made too far in advance. Nevermind, because what was on top was wonderful! They could easily have put half the meat on they did, they were so loaded, they were a little hard to eat. But tasty! My only complaint about the meats is that it’s too bad they have to use such lean pork for the carnitas. Pigs these days have so much less fat than they used to, and that means less flavor. (According to Harold McGee, 2004, North American and European pigs have half to 1/5 of the fat they did only 20 years ago!) But that is not the fault of the restaurant.

The rice and beans were fine. I prefer white rice to red, and black beans to pinto or red, probably because in the region where I lived, that’s what the folks ate. But I recognize that there is much regional variation in Mexican foods, and my preferences are just that, my preferences.

So to sum up, the food was terrific, and service was friendly (if horribly inefficient). Oh, and did I mention how reasonable the prices are! I can’t wait to go back.

4 happy thumbs!

I discovered a new cheese store - Les Amis du Fromage

Have I mentioned yet how much I love cheese? It’s my weakness – not chocolate, or cake, or ice cream – it’s cheese. It’s a tough call, but if I had to give up coffee or cheese, I’d have to go with coffee. (There’s always tea after all.) Last week, we tried a really wonderful raw milk cheese from Quebec at Salt (which will at some point get its own well deserved post). When we asked if there might be any place we could buy some for ourselves, the server suggested Granville Island or a cheese shop I’d never heard of, and promptly forgot the name of. (I have a horrible memory for names.) But my memory was jogged while watching an episode of “Living Vancouver” on CBC where they did a segment on entertaining with cheese featuring Allison Spurrell of Les Amis du Fromage (www.buycheese.com). Looks like I’m the only person in Vancouver who’s never been there! So yesterday I hopped on my bike and went in search of the 2^nd Ave. store to rectify this.

I found it. Valhalla for a cheese-lover like me. (OK, so I’m not a warrior gloriously slain in battle, but you get what I mean.) They didn’t have the cheese I was looking for, but I had expected that. (The server at Salt said it was very unlikely we would be able to find it here.) So I bought two others, a cheddar with Isle of Aran whisky, and Bouq ‘Emissaire, a raw goat’s milk cheese from Quebec (which Salt was also serving when we were there last). Chris likes cheddars more than I do, and I like goat cheese more than he does. The obvious solution – one of each. We had some of the cheddar last night. It was surprisingly mild. A little sweet actually. One of the cheddars I’ve most liked in recent memory. Importantly, the cheddar fan liked it too. We haven’t tried the BE yet, but I’ll write that up when we do. I also bought a wild boar terrine with apricots, which we also tried that last night. I would definitely recommend that for your next party. Tasty! I’ll be back.

As you might imagine, we didn’t eat the cheese and terrine alone, they were accompaniments to a bottle of Poplar Grove (www.poplargrove.ca) The Legacy (2004), not because we necessarily thought it would go, but because it was already open. For just sipping, I definitely liked their Merlot better. But The Legacy was definitely food-friendly. It had good acid and tannins. More structure than the Merlot. Could easily have been left to sit for a few more years, and even improved a little with the time. The take home: for drinking, pick up the Merlot, for a dinner wine, go with The Legacy’s a great choice.

Carla’s Pomegranate Chicken Recipe

3 lb. chicken, cut into pieces

Marinade:

2/3 c. soya sauce (I prefer Chinese)
2/3 c. pomegranate molasses
1/3 c. dry sherry
¼ c. canola or other light flavored oil
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Same amount of fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
Fresh ground pepper

Mix together marinade ingredients. Pour over chicken pieces and let sit (in the fridge) for 1-2 hours, turning half way through.

Start the chicken pieces, skin side down, in a grill pan over med-high heat for a few minutes. Watch it carefully, as the sugar in the marinade with burn quickly! Finish in a 325-350 degree oven (for about 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces).

Nichol Gewurtz, Poplar Grove Merlot, & Petales D'Osoyoos

As promised, a report on some of the wines we bought on the trip to the bench. As also promised (threatened?), notes on a meal cooked at home.

On Thursday we had an impromptu dinner party with some friends who we often eat with, but who, for various reasons, won’t be able to join in for a while. This was ‘discovered’ at about 3, leaving me little time to plan. Luckily, while driving back from the Okanagan, I had been occupied (some might say obsessed), with planning (an imaginary) BC wine meal incorporating some of the things we had tasted there. So I had some ready ideas to call upon.

I had been looking for a cheese from Poplar Grove to start out with, but my local cheese place didn’t have any in stock and I didn’t have time to run all over the city, so I went with something new, an ash-ripened camembert from Moonstruck Organic Cheese Inc. (www.moonstruckcheese.com). It was quite good. The rind was a little off-putting, but it was nice and creamy, and got us started off well. Although we usually like to start off with something bubbly, I wasn’t sure that we’d make it through that in time for the first course, so we went ahead and opened the Nichol Gewurtz.

It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but from the winemaker's description, it sounded like it would pair well with what I was making: seared miso and sake marinated scallops, served over a puree of local English peas (with chicken stock, shallots, ginger, and mirin), and topped with carrot and daikon dressed with rice and white balsamic vinegars. The Gewurtz was perfect with it. Nichol makes a drier, less lychee-floral Gewurtz than many places in the Okanagan, which is just what the dish needed. The main course was pomegranate chicken, miso glazed potatoes, and broccoli tossed with sesame oil. (It was what we were having for dinner anyway. Maybe if I get ambitious I’ll post the recipe…if I can remember what I did.) We had intended to have it with Lost Canyon Pinot (from California, www.lostcanyonwinery.com/wines.htm), but the bottle we had turned out to be spoiled, so we quickly opened a pinot a friend had recently brought us from Oregon, Duck Pond Cellars (www.duckpondcellars.com) instead. Another successful pairing.

Dessert was some mixed berry pie I had made the day before. Our guests brought a Late-Harvest wine from Paradise Ranch (www.icewines.com/home.html). It was a Chardonnay/Riesling blend. I’m still not sure what I thought of it. It was the least sweet dessert wine I’ve ever had, and so it was good that my pie was a ‘little’ tart.

The evening didn’t end there. We ended up chatting for so long, that we decided another bottle was in order. Wanting to stay as much with the BC theme as possible, we opened a bottle of Pétales d’Osoyoos from Osoyoos Larose to show them one of our new finds. It was as good as we remembered from our dinner at the inn. Later, it was a bottle of 2004 Merlot from Poplar Grove (www.poplargrove.ca) that we picked up on our trip last year. We hadn’t tried it before, so had no idea what it was going to be like. It was really really delicious! (Although they say the stuff will cellar for years, it seems to us that it would have been well past peak in anything more than another year or two.) We will definitely buy more. Funny that I’m ending talking about BC reds, given what I wrote earlier about the whites. However, I still stand by my position that the whites are generally better. In my opinion, it's really about value for money. You can get really wonderful BC whites for relatively little money, but reds, you have to spend more on, and even that’s no guarantee.

Till the next notable wine or meal, which hopefully won’t be long!

Vij's Restaurant

After three years in Vancouver, we finally made it to Vij’s (www.vijs.ca/index_in.htm) last weekend! It’s been on our list of places to try forever, but the famed wait has always seemed a little too much for us. But we decided to brave it – we were going out to dinner with some vegetarian friends, and Indian is always a good option for veggies and non-veggies to eat together. Chris and I were the ‘advance party’ and got there just after the first sitting had been seated, put our name on the list, got some drinks, and settled in for the wait. As promised in every review, complimentary appetizers quickly appeared. I must admit to being a little star-struck when Vij himself came outside to serve some! (Many of the reviews I’ve read of Vij’s talk about ‘free’ appetizers, but nothing is ever really free. The cost is in the time you spend waiting for your table – which hopefully is with company you like and so not really much of a cost – and it necessarily adds to the prices on the dishes on the menu.) You’d think that ‘complementary’ might be shorthand for so-so, but they were all very very tasty, which was good, because we were getting pretty hungry by the time we got our table 2 hours later. They certainly left us wanting to taste more.

One of the reasons the wait was so long was a table of 8 that was sitting and sitting, and sitting some more. But once we were seated we were very glad that they had! It was Daniel Boulud, Tojo, and two other chefs who we think were Frederic Haut-Labourdette (Bistro Pastis) and Posteraro (chef/owner at Cioppino’s). What a table! And despite the presence of the celebrity guests, Vij made us feel like we were the special guests in his restaurant. We were seated next to the door and he noticed that one of our friends was a little cold. He came by to see if she’d like the door closed, and although she said she’d be fine, he had it closed anyway. It was opened again later, and he went and quickly sorted that out for us (to be truthful, before we had even noticed it was open again). And he checked on us personally several times after we were served, asking about the food, getting us more naan, etc. However, we weren’t alone in this treatment. He was all over the restaurant making sure all his guests were having a good experience.

We started with the jackfruit in black cardamom and cumin masala to share. It was mentioned in many reviews (that and the crab, but we wanted something that was veggie-friendly). The texture was interesting (we eat sweet jackfruit often, which has a different texture), and the sauce was delicious. We sopped up every bit with the naan. For dinner our companions had two of the three vegetarian options, and seemed to enjoy their mains. I was waffling between the grilled port tenderloin and back ribs in fennel seed, ginger, and coconut curry with roasted cashews and the beef shortribs in cinnamon and red wine curry with warm greens. When Chris ordered the pork, I went for the beef. It was fantastic. Melt in your mouth, incredible flavour. Slight heat, and a magical combination of spices. I am a Vij’s convert. The pork was quite tasty and a big hit with Chris, but we both thought that the shortribs were magic.

In sum, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Vij’s and will definitely go back. The numerous reviewers who are less then enthusiastic about the restaurant just don’t get it. They want traditional Indian dishes, which this place doesn’t deliver. What they do do is wonderful things with traditional ingredients and techniques combined in novel ways, alongside terrific service. I finally understand what all the hoopla is about.

4 thumbs!!!

Visit to Naramata - Day 2

The next day after packing up the campsite we were off to the other side of the lake. We stopped by the Bench Market (www.thebenchmarket.com/home.php) to grab a quick (and late) breakfast. I love that place! It’s filled with all sorts of great products, and the food they make there is always fresh and tasty. (Note: I find their coffee a little weak, and so drink americanos instead.)

From there it was on to the inn. They have bikes there that guests can use, which we used last year to go wine tasting. They're a little heavy though, so this year we brought our own. So after checking in, we hopped on our bikes and rode off in search of wine. Last year we were mostly tasting reds and avoiding the whites, reflecting our general preferences in California wines. We learned, too late as it turned out, that the magic is all in the whites on the bench (e.g. Joie!!! can you sense my enthusiasm for them?). This year we did not replicate that mistake. We started off at La Frenz (www.lafrenzwinery.com). We tasted their Semillon, Gewurtz, Alexandria, and liqueur Muscat. I liked the Semillon, but Chris didn’t so much. The Gewurtz was nice and we returned the next day to buy a bottle. (One of the advantages of tasting on bikes is you don’t buy much right away. So you’re less likely to open a bottle bought at the end of a day of tasting a few months later and go ‘what was I thinking?’) The Alexandria was a little too sweet, and the Muscat confused me. It had both floral and crème brulee going on at the same time. In the nose, this was intriguing, in the taste, not so much. I wish they hadn’t been sold out of so many things, because I really do like their whites (their Viognier in particular - clearly I’m not the only one) and we would have bought more.

Next we tried to go to Laughing Stock, but they aren’t open on Mondays. (Despite what I said about reds in the area, we really like their reds, their whites less so.) That’s OK, we already know we like their wine. So we did a little backtracking and went to Hillside Estates. They have a restaurant, and as it was getting closer to 3 than to 2, we figured some food might be a good idea. It was quite good. We had a caprese salad, crispy oysters, and the Okanagan cold plate. The salad was really nice. The tomatoes seemed fresh from the garden, perfectly sweet. (The kind of thing you don’t get in the city so much.) The sauce the oysters were served with was a little confused. I would have gone with either a spicy pepper/sundried tomato sauce or an apple cream sauce, not all in one. Sometimes less is more. But the oysters were so perfectly cooked that I loved the dish anyway. The cold plate had highs and (unnecessary) lows. The cheeses were great, the terrine was very tasty, and went perfectly with the cherries, there was too much tapenade, but it was perfectly fine, and Chris quickly ate all the gravlax, so I assume they were good too. The problem was with the tuna (which isn’t listed as being on the plate). It was very fishy, so much so that we couldn’t eat it. We both thought that they should have just gone with something else local, like some nice smoked trout or something. Why serve things you can get anywhere instead of highlighting the local products (which the rest of the plate did quite well)? Of course, lunch at a winery would be incomplete without wine. Chris had the Gewurtz (with the salad) and the Cab Franc (to go with the wild boar terrine), I had the Riesling (oysters). The two whites were perfect accompaniments, and the Cab Franc was surprisingly tasty. It had a real smokiness from the barrels, but not so much that it was overpowering. After lunch we popped down to the tasting room to try their other offerings. The ones we had at lunch were our definite favorites, and we bought a bottle each of the Riesling and the Cab Franc the next day.

Our last stop of the day was Nichol Vineyard (www.nicholvineyard.com/). One of the great things about going to less-developed wine areas (from a tourist perspective) is that you have a better chance of meeting the winemaker. Ross Hackworth was pouring in the tasting room the day we were there. Talking with the winemaker always gives you much more insight into the wines, something we really enjoyed. He was only pouring the Syrah on Monday, but we bought that as well as the Pinot Gris (which we’d had at a restaurant in Vancouver before) and the Gewurtz on his recommendation. The tasting room was going to be closed when we were heading out the next day, so we were trying to figure out how we were going to get the wines. He offered to drop them off for us at the inn later that evening! You don’t get that kind of service (or wine) in Napa!

Our day was not over yet, we still had dinner at the inn’s dining room. (After a game of scrabble over tea on the balcony outside our room.) When we were there last year dinner was good, but not fabulous. It felt like the chef was trying too hard. (The service and local wine list were excellent.) This year it was all great! We had two different salads as starters with some excellent local wine (I had the viognier from Marichal, can’t remember what Chris had), and then a halibut special and the house made pasta with goat cheese and spinach. Both were excellent. We finished up with a cheese plate (a variety of cheeses from Poplar Grove – the Harvest Moon is my favorite which I buy quite frequently at Pane e Formaggio www.pane-e-formaggio.com/home.html) and found a new BC red we love Pétales d’Osoyoos from Osoyoos Larose. We loved it so much we bought two more glasses to take back to our room, which we drank outside under the stars on the balcony.

I’ll let you know when we drink the wines we bought.

Visit to Naramata - Day 1

We just got back from our second (does that make it annual?) trip to the Okanagan. Last year we stayed at the Naramata Heritage Inn and Spa (http://www.naramatainn.com/) for 2 nights and then went camping with friends at Okanagan Lake North PP. This year we did it the other way around, camped first for one night, then went to the inn. Much better idea! The first day we were there we went to Sumac Ridge (http://www.sumacridge.com/default.asp) to pick up a bottle of something bubbly. (We know their Stellar's Jay Brut, and figured it would make for good tippling around the campfire.) We ended up doing a tasting and were really impressed by their Pinnacle Sparkling. We were very intrigued by their Pinnacle White (still). They describe it as tropical fruit, but we both thought it was very herbal, sage and rosemary and the like. Quite different from most of the whites on the bench. We bought the Stellar's Jay and a bottle of rose, which I quite liked.

On the way back to the campsite we stopped at a fruit stand and picked up a fresh-made peach pie for dessert. It was very good. So was the wine.