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Vancouver Dining Update- Ouest Meets West

Darryl Beeson

Some believe that the best hoteliers are Swiss, but Canadians are rewriting the rules.  The saying used to go,  "I wouldn't sleep in a restaurant, so why would I eat at a hotel?"  Yet Vancouver now has hotels that strive to secure great chefs and menus.  They must, because the city's freestanding restaurants can be tough competition.

Consider newly opened OUEST, a restaurant located in the trendy but tattered neighborhood at Granville and 13th 2881 Granville St., 604-738-8938).  Chef David Hawksworth returned home to Vancouver after eight years in Europe, working with Marco Pierre White at The Canteen, Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, and most recently Bruno Loubet at Isola. Hawksworth inflames Ouest with classically trained technique that celebrates the food elements of the Canadian west; West meets Ouest.  His flavors are intense, the sauces painstakingly reduced. The crisp duck confit is the real thing, and his delicately shaped carpaccio of tuna with fennel and crab is a great chance to taste flavors from nearby waters.  Ouest's pan-fried filet of veal shows no constraint, surrounded with morels and truffle shavings. Braised halibut follows tandem with local asparagus and more mushrooms.  Brian Hopkins, sommelier and maitre d' at Ouest, has composed a wine list that snags some impressive Canadian wines,  plus hard to find selections from California and Alsace.

It is a mistake not to allow for dessert at Ouest, especially when patissier Thierry Busset tempts with seasonal fruits, delicate pastries and powerful chocolate dishes. Chef Busset's commands confections such as tarte Tatin, souffle, house-made chocolates, ice creams and sorbets. Along with training under Albert Roux at Le Gavroche in London, Chef Busset further honed his fine-edged technique at Marco Pierre White's three Michelin star establishment, The Restaurant in Hyde Park.

HENRY WU'S METROPOLITAN (645 Howe Street; 604-602-7788) is directly across from the venerable Four Seasons Hotel.  Talk about a food fight! The Met's DIVA restaurant orchestrates the area's ingredients in a worldly fashion.   They have rewritten the 'dining in hotels' rule to read "Cook global, grow local."  The entire Diva menu is a joy, especially the seafood selections.  Try the Stilton based cheesecake with a glass of provincially crafted ice wine or tawny port-styled wine. Emory Haines is both the Sommelier and Restaurant Manager.

Back to the streets where the freestanding restaurants compete, new comer BLUE WATER CAFE AND RAW BAR (1095 Hamilton Street, 604-688-8078) holds court in the revived, gen-X gentrified neighborhood of Yaletown.  Think shellfish, sushi, sake, and Martini.  The long bar's design includes an ingenious super-chilled, stainless steel track along the entire length that permits patrons to rest their drinks on rejuvenating frost.   The mechanics of the device are the same as used in hockey arenas. One imagines the night cleaning crew arriving with a very small Zamboni.

Also in Yaletown is CIOPPINO' MEDITERRANEAN GRILL (1133 Hamilton; 604-688-7466), a good destination for Italian-Franco cooking.

And for hot bar action, seek the Wedgewood Hotel's bar that precedes entry to the stately BACCHUS Restaurant (845 Horby St., 604-689-7777). Though a place for afternoon tea, cocktails soon govern.  Chef Robert Sulatycky, consonants and consonance not withstanding, calls upon French technique to create.  The area's fresh food components here are altered slightly with a Mediterranean nuance--which  Eleni Skalbania, the hotel's Greek-born owner, might have some influence over.

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