A Foodie's Day in West Vancouver

With the warm weather coming, what better time to go travelling around our delectable country than the Spring and Summmer? I don't know about you, but when I plan a trip, it usually revolves around eating. Of course, it is even better when the designated restaurants are close to the places I want to visit. I thought it is therefore my obligation, as a Vancouver native, to welcome fellow foodies from around the world to my beautiful homeland with a food friendly itinerary.

Vancouver is well known for its beautiful mountains and ocean, so what better way to sightsee than to head over to West Vancouver and enjoy tourist traps such as the Capilano suspension bridge, Grouse Mountain and Horseshoe Bay?

I would start my morning off with a visit to the Bakehouse in Edgemont Village and have either one of their breakfasts or my favourite, the Pumpkin spice muffin. Then take a little stroll around Edgemont Village as it houses two other noteworthy places: Delaney Coffee and Cobs Bread. I only ever drink Mochas at Delaney because they are simply the best, with the chocolate whip on top.

I suppose you would then head off to Capilano suspension bridge enroute to Grouse Mountain. They are both highly renowned for scenery and walking tours. After all that excercise, I would definitely recommend a casual sushi lunch at Sushi Station. I mean what kind of visit to Vancouver would be complete without lunch at a sushi spot? We have almost as many sushi restaurants as we have Starbucks. If sushi is not your thing, West Vancouver is also known for its Persian and Iranian food. A good place to sample them is a cool little place called Arian, where the nice woman behind the counter would give you little samples of the sauces and patiently tell you what is in each dish.

After lunch, there are several places you may want to visit: Lonsdale Quay, Horseshoe Bay or Lighthouse Park. They are all beautiful spots where you can see the Ocean. In between, you may want to visit the Savary Island Pie Company or Yaas Bakery for a snack.

You have a multitude of choices for dinner. For casual food, you have Mythos (great Greek food). For something hip, you have the Ocean Club Restaurant and Lounge where they serve up cool appies like mini shortrib burgers. And for something special, there is The Salmon House, which serves our famous salmon in one of the most scenic restaurants in the city.

I hope you enjoy Vancouver as much as all the tourists I see milling around our beautiful city!


The Bakehouse 1050 Queens Road, West Vancouver 604-980-5554
Delaney Coffee House various locations
Cobs Bread various locations
Sushi Station Japanese Restaurant 1643 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 604-990-8897
Arian Food and Bakery Corp 1412 Marine Drive, West Vancouver 604-922-9599
Savary Island Pie Company 1533 Marine Drive, West Vancouver 604-926-4021
Yaas Bakery 1860 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 604-990-9006
Mythos Greek Taverna 1811 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 604-984-7411
Ocean Club Restaurant and Lounge 105-100 Park Royal South, West Vancouver 604-926-2326
Salmon House On The Hill 2229 Folkstone Way, West Vancouver, 604-926-3212

La Regalade

I like food, and my friend Michelle likes good causes. So we combined forces and went for Dining out for Life on March 29, 2007. This worthy cause happens one day a year when participating restaurants donate 25% of their food revenue to charities supporting local people living with AIDS.

We went to La Regalade, which is a very popular French Bistro in West Vancouver. Upon arrival, we were met with waiters and waitresses with French accents and a daily specials board with many tempting items. Michelle and I took a while to decide, and finally settled on sharing a couple of items: La Frisee Salade with hard boiled eggs and Bacon, Home made Pate, and Beef Bourguignon.

The Frisee Salade was delicious and totally brought me back to the days when I travelled to France and enjoyed lunch on the sunny patios of sidewalk Bistros. However, I prefer a poached egg in the salad instead because the runny yoke brings out the flavor of the salad dressing.

I was not crazy about the pate, even though Michelle tried to convince me that the dry texture is a deliberate part of the "rustic" French peasant cuisine that the restaurant is known for. However, I think there is a difference between yummy rustic and yucky rustic. Besides, there were dark grey spots in the pate that did not look particularly appetizing.

The Beef Bourguignon is DELICIOUS. I have to admit that it may even taste better than the one I make from Julia Child's cookbook. It is served with a dish of bubbling scalloped potatoes. And when you mix in some of the sauce from the Beef Bourguignon into the potatoes, you get an explosion of heavenly flavor that comes from ingesting pure fat.

*I would have added a picture of the Beef Bourguignon, but by the time it came, I already had a glass of wine ..or two, and forgot to document it.

For Dessert, I took the suggestion from one of my students who frequents the restaurant with her French parents and ordered the Floating Island. This consists of a light fluffy merigue on top of Creme Anglaise and topped with hardened caramel. It was the perfect finish to the hearty meal we just had.

Taste: 3.5 out of 5
Creativity: 3.5 out of 5
Appearance: 4 out of 5. Main dishes were mostly presented in cute little pots and the pate was served tableside from the terraine dish.


The Verdict:

Although there were some hits and misses with this restaurant, I would definitely go back again. That is a good sign because I am notoriously fickle with restaurants and would only go back to the ones I think has the potential to impress me with other dishes they have. I would go back to try the Kidney Special, which smelled wonderful from a neighboring table, or the prime rib with marrow that my student recommends I ask to have served with their heavenly mash potatoes.

La Regalade: #103-2232 Marine Drive, 604-921-2228

Raincity Grill

After a grueling day of dealing with hormonal teenagers, my coworker Brandy and I decided to treat ourselves with a nice meal and glass of wine. Food and wine have long been comforts in life, but when you have them at the Raincity Grill, they truly become an experience.

There are many places in the world that have bigger and better restaurants, but Vancouver is second to none when it comes to scenery. It is even harder to beat having dinner facing the sunset at English Bay inside Raincity Grill, especially when the food is made with the best and freshest local produce.

We arrived too late to have their super deal of a 3-course Early Bird Special ($25) and not hungry enough for their scrumptuous Hundred Mile Tasting Menu ($60). Instead, Brandy had the Seared Pacific Sablefish with Bacon and Cabbage Saute and Squash Gnocchi ($28), and I had the Seared Scallops with a Brioche Bread Pudding and Fennel Salad ($29). Yum!!

The charming waiter started us with a perfectly chilled Sauvignon Blanc and some tasty grilled flatbread lightly brushed with butter and sprinkled with sea salt. The Sablefish pratically melts in your mouth, and the Scallops were seared to perfection. Although the accompaniments are delicious, they pale in comparison to the clean fresh taste of excellently cooked seafood.


Taste: 4 out of 5
Creativity: 4 out of 5 (The pairing of Scallops with hazelnut puree was beautiful)
Appearance: 3.5 out of 5


The Verdict:

As you can tell, I am quite fond of this restaurant and would highly recommend it for a night of R&R. The atmosphere is soft enough for romance, yet sophisticated enough not to make non lovers awkward. The food is lovely and compliments the setting wonderfully.

The Raincity Grill: 1193 Denman St., 604-685-7337

Ouisi Bistro

Every Thursday, I browse through the new edition of the Georgia Straight and scout out the dining section. It is almost embarassing the kind of excitement I get from finding out that Meinhardt, the gourmet goody store, is having their first sale, ever. Now, there are two things in life that make this girl very happy: food and sales.

Since I was in the South Granville neighborhood, I thought I would check out Ouisi Bistro. I heard mixed reviews about this place, mostly bad, but some good. Now there are those of us in life who take others' advice to heart, and there are those, like yours truly, who have to fall into the hole to see how deep it really is. So I made a dinner date with my friend Tracy for our night of Southern comfort.


It was a Thursday night, and the restaurant only had a few tables occupied. We ordered the crabcakes ($10) for appies and shared the Catfish Etoufee ($20)from the Cajun menu, and the Creole Beef Tenderlin Tips ($19)from the Creole menu.


The food:

The crabcakes were cheap, but they also looked and tasted cheap. It was two tiny morsels that settled on top of a bed of lettuce. At least the lettuce looked fresh, but the cakes were lukewarm
and you can taste the filler with a touch of crab. I would have to say that I enjoyed the cornbread basket more, not that it was anything special.

The Catfish Etouffee was niether good nor bad. It was exactly as described in the menu: catfish simmered in a holy trinity roasted tomato broth, served with a rice pilaf. But it was fairly bland for a Cajun dish. The fish is flaky as catfish always is, but tasted "fishy".

The Creole Tenderloin Tips were simmered in a dark roux that tasted mostly like a sweet dark barbeque sauce. The meat was tender, and I kept eating it only because it tasted better than the catfish. Seriously though, if they were going to serve beef braised in barbeque sauce, then they should just say it as it is and don't try to pull one over and call it a roux.

Presentation: 1 out of 5 = everything was just slopped on in true Southern style
Taste: 2 out of 5 = a little worse than mediocre
Creativity: 2 out of 5 = only because they thought of substituting bbq sauce for a roux

The Verdict:

Let's just say that it was a good thing that the main purpose of our meal was to catch up on love and life rather than indulge in culinary delight. For that, Ouisi Bistro served its purpose because it had a good atmosphere. The waitstaff was good in the sense that they did not interrupt us much, but bad because even though we were deep in conversation and hardly noticed, we still have to wave them over for water and wine refills. Let's just say that we were glad we had an Entertainment Book coupon so at least it was a discounted meal.

Ouisi Bistro 3014 Granville Street T: 604-732-7550